Content

• I relaxed with mom and dad on Christmas Eve and Day.
• Boxing Day
• Mom and I went shopping at the Base. My haul
• Leather jandals and Grey tank from General Issue,
  
• White halter dress with navy hem from Hartleys. It has a large pocket right across the front, and
• The remaining Twilight Saga 25% off from Penney's at Chartwell!
  
• I spent the next three days reading my brand spanking new books. They are highly recommended! In reading order:
  
• New Moon,
  
• Eclipse, and
  
• Breaking Dawn
• I also watched TV1's Christmas Comedy Gala, Oliver Twist, Ballet Shoes, Gosford Park, and Lost in Austen. No I did not lose my remote. I have seen a majority of the movies on the other channels.
• Today I am meeting friends for dinner.
  

Fan art by kekoah, some rights reserved.

Rave: Polyvore

Gala Darling recommended Polyvore as a website allowing users to mix and match images to express individual style.

Users can

• Add items as an image from another website
• Other users can share your item
• The colours make a palette for new sets
  
• Each item can be tagged with keywords
• Make sets out of items via a drag-and-drop editor
• Blank panel acts as canvas
• Tabs saves space for navigation
  
• Media such as clothing types, accessories, backgrounds, text, music. 
• Save as draft, set and search results
  
• Comment on sets
  
• Favourite sets
• Join groups and submit sets to that group
• Add site members as contacts

I haven't made a set yet, but I will.

Yuletide Showdown

Is that kitty comfortable? People are shopping for gifts all over the consumer world. This year my dad told me not to put up the tree so I am making do with pictures of others. For example, I stumbled across some geeky ones at walyou.com.

Another is Wondermark by David Malki ! is a graphical blog in a nineteenth century theme. His 19 December comic installment [here] gave warning about Christmas cards.

Goodies for you:

• Crappy wrapping service provided by firebox.com. The retailer provides additional service to wrap the present in haste so it looks shop bought. You will have to confirm this for me. I do not shop online. It's the lack of though that counts.
  
• A gift for your computer desktop. [Christmas Wallpapers]
• Buying exotic gifts could spell disaster. This is a take on Taiwanese attempts to master English. [Products in Translation]
• My dad is NOT a grinch. His gift to me this year was to tell me about an article on experts needing 10,000 hours of practice to become elite in their field. [New York Times article] I should keep trying to become an engineer since I have spent half a decade to train so far. Here to the rest of my life...

Merry Christmas!

More on Twilight

I read up on Twilight and found a companion book on the author's official website. It is available for free download. [Midnight Sun]

Twatlight.

Twatlight.
Originally uploaded by the mia

I read Twilight by Stephenie Meyer yesterday. The book disappointed me. This comic strip sums it up.

I first saw Paramore's music video for the movie adaptation a month ago. I debated whether to buy the book each time I walked past the book in a store. I should have looked at the other books instead.

The novel would have worked much better as a short story. Much of the book was superfluous. The author spent three months to write it.

Overindulgence

I have already overstepped my dietary requirements for this holiday season. I ate a vanilla ice cream topped with frozen strawberries for dessert. Bad call. Lactose sensitivity caused me to doze off for two hours. I proceeded to get sicker after that.

I had hoped to reintroduce dairy products back to my diet. This was too much too soon!

Santa Extravaganza

Talked to Maiqing. (I apologised. How could I be so wrong!)

My Subway meatball lunch managed to fall to pieces towards the end. I savoured every bite. Do you wonder when things get more expensive people tend to appreciate it more?

Maiqing, Lily and I waited for the start of the parade by browsing through shops at Red Currant, Casabella Lane. The Christmas shebang was around the corner on Anglesea Street. View the photos on my flickr stream.

PMS Rant and Vent

Got in a terrible mood yesterday over nothing. Maiqing asked me to go to Camilsa's wedding because Jenny could not make it. When she picked me up she said Jenny was coming after all. This became a problem since I was not invited to the reception.

We made a wrong turn on the way. From my point of view they just ignored my directions in the car. We arrived after the bride!

The ceremony was so beautiful that it made me all teary eyed.

Maiqing and Jenny adamantly told me it would be awkward for me to turn up to the reception. I told them I could just deliver the wedding gift and not eat the lunch. They replied with the freeze out a la girl cliques.

I went home at that point. Exhausted, alone and more depressed than ever.

I am tired of being a substitute, of being invisible because my looks are ordinary. But most of all, I am disappointed by how few friends I have that I have to endure being treated this way.

There will not be a next time. I will just say no.

I think it's... Deli.cio.us!

Deli.cio.us has become my bookmark site of choice.

Bust Out the Pohutukawa Tree

This evergreen should be in full bloom near Christmas, but the one in my yard is losing its stamens already! At least the sight has put me in the spirit of things. Photo by arriba, some rights reserved.

Biology for Today

The pohutukawa (Metrosideros excelsa) is an evergreen endemic to New Zealand. It belongs to

• kingdom - Plantae
• division - Magnoliophyta
• class - Magnoliopsida
• order - Myrtales
• family - Myrtaceae
• genus - Metrosideros

Photo by Essjay is happy in NZ, some rights reserved.

Hamilton Gardens

The new section Te Parapara (information) is a Maori garden. There will be three types of traditional storehouses. I saw one of the intricate designs yesterday.

1. Pataka
2. Whatarangi
3. Rua

My brand new header

I am trying to make this image my new blog header.

Wedding Inspiration

My sister's wedding is in less than one year.

• Our Wedding Songs - from ceremony to reception, with lyrics.
• WedSmack - wedding themed blog. The author Blake Kritzberg sells wedding favours.
• One Stop Wedding Planner - free sign up to categorised resources.
• Napkin Folding - examples like the French pleat, bird of paradise and the rose arrangements
• Images to stir up your creative juices...

Image Credits: 1. ciro (rights) 2. wiedmaier (rights) 3. steena (rights) and 4. annemarlow (rights).