Don't You Forget About Me

So guys, apparently I'm going overseas tonight:

Yep. I'll be gone for about 2 weeks and during that time, I'll be spending 4 days in Taiwan and the rest in Vietnam. Taiwan, I'm okay with - Vietnam, not so much. It's not that I don't like Vietnam. It's just that my first world ass can only handle so much congestion and air pollution before I keel over and die. It was certainly... an experience... the first time I went. But apparently, this time we'll be spending a lot more time in the country (as opposed to the cities) so maybe it will be better? Or maybe you will never hear from me again because I've somehow managed to drown myself in a rice paddy. Who knows? It seems like something I would do.

I'm still not sure whether I will blog about my adventures or not. If I'm really bored, maybe I will. I remember spending a significant amount of time languishing in the hotel rooms the last time I was in Vietnam so you never know. To be honest though, I'm not a very good travel blogger. To anyone who might've read my (old) blog back in '09 or 2010 when I took a trip to the US, half of my posts were dedicated to taking pictures of squirrels and fire hydrants. Actually, if you go to my old blog and click on the tag in the label cloud that says "America" you can probably see what I got up to. Just be warned though, my style of blogging back then would probably make you cringe.

I've been a bit lax with my blogging lately. Sorry guys, I always seem to have something better to do. Plus, my Christmas was relatively quiet. I went to a few parties - two of which were family gatherings and the third was like a new friend's bbq. I didn't take many photos (reason number 658 why I would make a shit travel blogger) but what I do have, I'll upload here.

My sister made the pavlova. It collapsed but it still tasted pretty good. I have quite a funny story about the family gathering actually but maybe I'll leave that to another time.

I also went post-Christmas shopping at Castle Towers and bought heaps of clothes. Also, since my old wallet looked like this:

 I figured it was about time I got an upgrade:

 And then my inner geek reared its ugly head and I ended up coming out of EB games with this:

Don't judge me guys - don't judge me.

 

Lastly, one of the biggest highlights of my last three days came from simply spending time with NASTY C (minus the A). Every night at about 9pm, all five of us would head on over to Tian's house, roll out her giant sofa bed, pile on all the pillows, turn off the lights and watch a Lord of the Rings movie together. Even though it was basically just us watching a movie together, it was so fun. We tried to order pizza one night but couldn't be bothered paying the 10 bucks delivery fee so we defrosted one of Tian's. I love spending time with those guys. Combine that with getting the chance to introduce some of them to one of the greatest movie trilogies ever made and it was like one of the best things ever. I've missed being able to do things like this during the HSC year.  

 

Anyhoo, I've still got a bit of packing to do so I think I'll just leave you guys with a song from The Breakfast Club. It's not the original '80s version but it's still pretty good. Plus it fits the theme of this post! See you around guys! Here's to hoping I really don't end up drowning in a rice paddy...

Movie Review: The Hobbit

 

It probably doesn't surprise many people that I went through a Lord of the Rings phase a few years ago. (Hello, geek!). Unfortunately, I didn't know many people who shared this same interest so when I spent hours learning "Concerning Hobbits" on the piano, there was nobody to appreciate my noble endeavour. *sadface* Fast forward a few years and my fanaticism had died down. I still reckon the LOTR movies is one of the best trilogies ever made (and every time I hear the Concerning Hobbits theme song, I'm filled with a bittersweet sense of nostalgia) but I'm not one to complain just because The Hobbit seemed very different in tone and plot from the other three movies.

 

 

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Tian told me she came across a 3/10 rating for The Hobbit in a newspaper. (Even though that the IMDB rating is about 8.5/10). After watching the movie, I reckon the critic who gave the 3/10 rating was either a nitpicky Tolkien fan or expecting something of the same standard as the third LOTR movie (which won like 11 Academy Awards or something). Yes, the movie did drag a bit in some places and yes, I reckon the decision to split the book into three movies instead of two was totally uneccessary but none of that warrants a 3/10 rating. The actions scenes were epic, the plot was heartwarming and of course, I got me some Gandalf (and bonus! A hot dwarf as well!)

 

 

Even the excess eyebrow fuzz couldn't fully disguise the Mr Sexy-Face lurking just beneath that beard.

 

I'm not going to outline the plot because a lot of you guys either watched it with me or have seen it already. I will say though that that scene with all the dwarves singing "Misty Mountain Cold" in Bilbo's house gave me chills. (I posted it above if anyone's interested or just wants to relive it). I also loved the Gollum scenes even though inside I was mentally screaming at Bilbo to run him through with the sword - seriously, that would have saved Frodo about 3 movies worth of trouble. Actually, there were so many what-ifs going through my head while I was watching the movie that I'm sure all the LOTR fans in the audience were also thinking of. E.g. What if Bilbo had never picked up the ring? What if he had killed Gollum when he had the chance? What if Gandalf had just pushed Saruman off the cliff while in Rivendell? What if they had just decided to take the Eagle Express all the way to Lonely Mountain instead of hiking through all the glorious but difficult New Zealand terrain. Seriously Gandalf. Uneccessary much?

 

 

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I loved the cameos from characters of previous films. It was so strange seeing Frodo pre-adventure. I was mentally comparing him to the Frodo at the end of Return of the King. Smiling, carefree Frodo... does not compute.

 

 

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The Hobbit really is different from the other three films though and I feel like I should clarify this. For one thing, they used tons of CGI in this movie. Like TONS. It was literally slapping me in the face every few seconds. I felt like Peter Jackson wanted to make use of all the technology that was unavailable to him 11 years ago. At times, the CGI usage was a good thing and contributed to the epic-ness factor but at other times, I felt like the movie lost some of its heart and realism that the previous three had because of all the special effects. CGI came at the expense of story, personal involvement and connection to the film. Also, the quest in the The Hobbit didn't have the same sense of urgency or importance as the one in the 3 LOTR movies and I think it was because in the latter, the whole fate of Middle Earth was at stake whereas the former was basically about reclaiming one lost kingdom. It was all very self-contained and isolated whereas the previous movies encompassed their whole world and all the different races.  

 

 

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Apart from those things, I still think The Hobbit does a great job of standing by itself as a great film. I went to watch it with some friends, and my sister and I were maybe the only ones there who had seen the whole trilogy. Everyone else's unfamiliary of the series didn't impact on their enjoyment of The Hobbit and I think that's a really big factor of its success. I really hope that after watching The Hobbit, many people who were previously leery of LOTR are inspired to pick up the first three movies to see what all the fuss was about. And even if they were left feeling a bit lukewarm by The Hobbit (which is really unlikely), they should still check out the previous films because they are all really different.

 

I'll leave you guys with an awesome version of "Misty Mountains Cold" I found on YouTube whilst searching up The Hobbit stuff. Click eet. You know you want to...

 

Who's Laughing Now?

There used to be people who told my parents that they were crazy for letting me transfer from a selective school to my local high school in a disadvantaged area. These people: relatives, family friends and even my friend's parents, once ended up making my mum cry. I didn't know what to do cause I was only in Year 7, trying to adapt to a new environment. To these people, I now say:

(You don't know how long I've been waiting to use that gif...)

Okay, gloating aside, guess how I'm celebrating my ATAR results?

....by marking 40 Anne Frank essays and writing end of term reports for kids I've only known 2 weeks.

Celebrating - nobody does it the way I do.

Song of the Week: "20 Years" by The Civil Wars

 

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Quick backstory on the video: The Civil Wars held a contest for filmmakers to create the official video for the song, "20 Years" from their debut album, Barton Hollow. This video, from South African production company, Innerview Productions, was the winner and depicts one of the realities of the South Apartheid regime. Often the husband had to leave his family to work in the mines to sustain his family financially.

 

It's a bit sad but suits the song so well.

 

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Hello world! (a.k.a the 11 people who read this blog - nice having you by the way). How's it going? Great? Not great? So-so? It's nearly Christmas - I guess that means we should all be happy or something. It's okay if you aren't though. Join the club.

 

To be honest, I really shouldn't be complaining; I have plenty to be grateful for after all. I guess I'm just a little bit worried about the upcoming HSC results. There's also the little matter of me having changed my uni course preferences quite recently and drastically rethinking my future plans due to a bit of an existential crisis... but we won't talk about that here. I'm too confused and lost as it is. Let's just sweep it under the rug and and suffer the consequences of denial later. There we go.

 

Instead, let me introduce you all to my new best friend!

 

 

This picture of my new Samsung Galaxy S III was taken by my recently replaced 4th Gen Apple iPod Touch. Oh the irony... 

 

Isn't he cute? I find myself constantly picking him up and fondling him whenever I have nothing better to do. He makes such cute noises when he's turned on! And his screen is so large... I know people say size doesn't matter but PHEW! That is one ginormous screen! And don't even get me started on how responsive he is to my touch...

 

Wait, what do you mean that last paragraph was dirty? You're dirty! Get your head out of the gutter! You've been watching way too many HBO shows haven't you??

 

Speaking of HBO, I've recently finished season 2 of Game of Thrones. My life has no purpose now (not that it really had a purpose before but like, you know what I mean). Should I start reading the third book? I really want to, because of that big controversial thing that's supposed to happen in the third season. At the same time though, reading the books kind of takes the fun out of the TV shows.

 

I will now take a moment to disrupt the flow of this post to tell future Cynthia something:

 

CYNTHIA WHY'RE SUCH A BIG PUSHOVER?? I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU JUST AGREED TO SPEND TWO HOURS OF TOMORROW DOING THAT THING YOU WEREN'T GOING TO DO. GAHHH. YOU BETTER NOT BE LIKE THIS IN THE FUTURE, OTHERWISE YOU'D PROBABLY BE LIVING OUT OF A CARDBOARD BOX SOMEWHERE IN CHINATOWN!!

 

Ahem, right. So what was I going to say? Oh yeah, Tian and I will be performing at our school's presentation day next Tuesday as part of the violin ensemble. Yay! One plate of public embarassment coming right up! I swear, we've done these things so many times now that I don't even feel the shame of it anymore. I've probably grown skin as tough as elephant hide by now. Stare all you want people. Mrs M. ain't gonna make us stop playing anytime soon so y'all just have to sit there quietly and pretend you're enjoying our totally not-outdated Classical music.  

 

Till next time then guys.

 







Anne Frank and Love Actually's Cutie Pie to Join GoT's Cast

 

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Anne Frank and the cutie-pie from Love Actually to play Meera and Jojen Reed in Game of Thrones Season 3???

 

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HELL TO THE YES.



Things They Don't Tell You About Teaching (But Really Should)

Ever since I started this tutoring job, my respect for teachers has quadrupled in quantity. (To those who still don't know, I'm currently fumbling my way through English classes for junior high school students). I take back every single ungrateful or snarky comment I have ever made about any teacher, ever. This shit is hard. As tempting as it is to just word vomit every little detail and complaint I have onto this space, I've decided that that is something I will never do on this blog. The most obvious reason is because of privacy - I have no idea who will read/discover this blog and I can't take that chance. But also because this new "acting mature" thing warrants a certain degree of professionalism. Never bitch about your job online people. This is what I learned from dooce.

Instead, I will make a list of fun, all-in-good-spirit facts. (Yay! Lists!) So without further ado:

Things they don't tell you about teaching (but they really should):

• It is not enough to just spread your arms wide and scream, "TAKE MY KNOWLEDGE! TAKE IT! TAAAKE EEEEEEEEET!" because no one cares. Teaching is about 2% knowledge and 98% class management skills.
• Your mouth gets very dry after each lesson. Like a desert. But drier.
• Your feet hurt, especially if you're short like me and need to wear high, pinchy shoes for psychological reasons.
• Where have all the good men working whiteboard markers gone?? Where??
• Sometimes it is better to act oblivious than get involved
• Why does no one speak up when answering the roll?
• I feel like 3 more years of marking HW and I will be qualified to decipher encrypted FBI codes.
• Teaching makes you feel old.
• Students are funny. 
• The photocopying machine is scary.

Okay, I had more but I can't remember them right now. Apart from all those little gripes though, I like my job and I'm grateful that I got it. Here's to not screwing up (too badly) any time in the near future....

Joffrey Gets Cowpie'd and Jon Cops a Feel

Oops! I spoke too soon. All is right and dandy in "Game of Thrones Season 2" land. Boring? How could I have thought season 2 was boring?? I feel like jumping for joy, running marathons, sprinting up and down the townhouse yelling "Hallelujah!" But since I've promised to try out this new thing callled "acting mature", I will sit quietly in my living room and blog about it instead.

This probably won't mean much to non-Thrones viewers but to those who have embraced the dark side...

 

Erm... Jon Snow... I know the Wildling girl is sexy but this is neither the time nor the place..... Plus it's not like you could feel anything through those 56 layers of clothes y'all wearing.

 

Ygritte has singlehandedly revived my interest in Thrones. I mean, how could she not? She gave us my favourite line (so far) in season 2... 

"Did you pull a knife on me in the middle of the night?"

Yeah, I laughed because my mind was in the gutter but hey - it was funny, okay? Plus, I loved watching Jon become all flabbergasted every time Ygritte turned around and tried to seduce him. I thought the last few episodes had begun to take themselves too seriously but this one was like a breath of fresh air.

Also, I don't know if this is because George R.R. Martin is very much involved in the production process but I really love that the show gives us all these little tidbits that were never included in the book. I absolutely love the Arya/Tywin and Robb/mysterious foreign lady exchanges.

Here girl, for all I know, your father could've been the sworn enemy of House Lannister and you might or might not have a brother who's been butchering my men on the battlefield, but why don't you just sit right here and I'll feed you pork? Then afterwards we can talk about dragons and become best buddies.

Last but certainly not least, here's a gif of Joffrey getting cowpie'd. (Joffrey haters must've had a field day with episode 7 - a slap AND a cowpie?! Awesome!).

Good stuff man, good stuff.

(P.S. I still have 3 more episodes to go before I reach the end of the season though. Who knows? In that time my opinion might change again.)

Why I Don't Do Photoblogs

I would like to call this segment "Why I Don't Do Photoblogs", also known as, "Low Quality Pictures For Your Viewing Pleasure" or even, "I Think It's Time I Got A Real, Non-iPod Camera". Enjoy.

My sister's door. Not mine.... yet.



The worst thing you will have ever tasted.

A souvenir from my cousin's trip to Hawaii. From Macy's. Like in the movies.

My generous contribution to Nancy's Christmas Party.

At the Malaysian restaurant at Cabra.

Food glorious food.

Shoes.

More shoes.

Even more shoes!

L'Estrange Park.... like Bellatrix L'Estrange. Hehe.

The shoes unveiled.

The last two aren't from my camera (if you can't already tell from their superior quality).

It's ALIVE!!!

That's right. After my 4 week hiatus from blogspot, in which I posted nothing but the odd youtube video now and again, my new blog is FINALLY up and running(ish). Hooray! Whoop-de-doo! Praaaiiise the Lord!

Okay no, stop celebrating. Knowing me and my commitment issues, it will be a miracle if this blog even lasts longer than a week before I go crawling back to www.cynthias-reveries.blogspot.com. I can't help it you know. A certified doctor once classified me as "resistant to change". He wasn't a very good doctor and even I could have come up with that deduction but still.

Enough about my wishy-washiness though. You guys want to hear something tragic instead? No? Well I'll tell you anyway. I was this close *holds up fingers 1cm apart* to naming this blog "C's Reality".

Yes.

I am serious.

C's Reality.

See, I was thinking that since my high school blog of four years was named "C's Reverie", it was only logical that my post high school blog became "C's Reality". I then had a hallelujah moment and realised what a bloody terrible idea it was which is why you guys are now on www.ablibberinghumdinger.blogspot.com. I am still not 100% happy with the blog title/url but it was either that or waste another three hours of my life coming up with something better. If I do end up changing the url though, I'll tell you guys in advance. (I also considered "Oh My Blog" and "Honey Boo Boo Child" as other possible blog titles but sadly, those were already taken).

Speaking of wasting time, I DON'T UNDERSTAND WHY FINDING A DECENT TEMPLATE IN THIS TIME AND AGE IS SO HARD. It was almost as hard as formal-dress shopping. Almost. I mean, who NEEDS a rotating header? NOBODY needs a rotating header. I certainly don't need a rotating header. Do YOU need a rotating header???

Anyway, in the weeks I've been gone, so much has happened. I would like to blog about it all but 1) I don't have the patience to do that and 2) I doubt you have the patience to read it all. I will make a list though. Lists are good. I like lists.

So:

• I got a job
• I got my first paycheck
• I realised that I must have been a scrooge in my past life because even though I have money now, I can't bear spending any of it. This probably comes from me having been such a poor person for the majority of my life.... Or maybe I'm just stingy.
• I experienced the most scarring, traumatic experience of my life and surprisingly it wasn't even from something depraved that I read or watched. It came at the hands of a couple of Year 9 students. I can't talk about it here. The pain is too fresh.
• I had fun with the girls. Okay that sounds wrong.
• I met a creep at the park.
• I had my first alcohol shots and they tasted like ass.
• I checked my kobo e-reader and it told me that I'd spent about about 723.8 hours reading on it. I don't even remember when I got the device. Maybe 6 or 7 months ago.
• I tried watching Once Upon a Time Season 2 and got bored
• I tried watching Game of Thrones Season 2 and got bored
• I watched thirteen episodes of New Girl and got bored
• I watched 2 and a half seasons of True Blood and got bored
• Anything I tried to watch, I basically got bored of
• After living near Cabra for 18 years of my life, I finally realized where I could get pork rolls
• I realized that the HSC made for a very good weight-loss program
• I rediscovered my love for Ed Sheeran

There's more but I can't remember.

Anyhow, I think I'll stop here. I'll leave you guys with a song which Nancy recommended to me. And when it comes to Lana Del Rey, Nancy has good taste.

P.S. If anyone's still confused about the title of the blog, it comes from one of my favourite Luna moments in the last HP book:

After a while, exhausted and drained, Harry found himself sitting on a bench beside Luna.

"I'd want some peace and quiet, if it were me," she said.

"I'd love some," he replied.

"I'll distract them all," she said. "Use your Cloack."

And before he could say a word she had cried, "Oooh, look, a Blibbering Humdinger!" and pointed out of the window. Everyone who heard looked around, and Harry slid the Cloak up over himself, and got to his feet.

You gotta love Luna.