random information...

... because I can't think of anything that would justify an entire blog post to itself.

1) My camera's flash is broken. Hence the graininess of this photo (which I actually quite like but I won't mention that in the lawsuit), after I fiddled with the exposure on my computer. I took the camera back a few weeks ago, as luckily it's still under guarantee. But then they rang up and said they couldn't repair it here and would have to send it to the factory, which will take 4-6 weeks!!!!! Where is this factory - Outer Siberia? How frustrating! I live in a fast food culture and it is my capitalistic right for instant and illogical gratification.

2) I have decided that the coolest job ever (or at least, one of them) would be playing the saxophone on The Simpsons, in that part of the opening sequence where Lisa always plays a different improvisation for every episode and annoys her school band conductor.

3) Last night I started reading Faro's Daughter by Georgette Heyer. After about three pages I knew how the entire plot was going to pan out. I've read enough Georgette Heyer books to know this instinctively. Sometimes I can even figure it out from the cover illustrations. However, for some reason I couldn't put it down, and I continued reading right up until I finished the book at 2:30am. (I'm a fast reader.) Bad idea. Today at church I hid behind the piano and drank strong coffee from a thermos.

4) Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is coming out July 21st!!! Yippee! Already I've started thinking up theories that are, no doubt, entirely unoriginal. The Big Debate is, will J. K. Rowling kill Harry? My theory regarding this is: no. I think she doesn't want people to get too complacent and set in their ideas about how everything is going to turn out, because obviously Voldemort has to die. So, by refusing to say if he dies, and giving little hints that it's possible, I think she is actually just playing with our emotions and trying to make sure we are nervous and not-quite-sure right up until the last page. In my head I am convinced Harry will live. But I still have irrational fears. Thank goodness for my next Harry Potter fix! Ever since the U2 concert was over I've been lacking just a little of that Must-Not-Be-Run-Over-Tragically-Before-A-Certain-Date zing and now, I'm cured. It is bittersweet, though, knowing this is my last Harry Potter fix ever. Oh well. There's always fanfiction to fall back on!

5) I think I'm developing several phobias. The last few nights I have lain in bed unable to get to sleep for at least half an hour because every time I hear the tiniest noise I think: "It's a mouse!" I refuse to leave my door open because there is no way I am offering mice or spiders easy passage into my room. You may remember my mouse drama last year (if not, click here and here). I also experienced several mice scampering round my room at my old house, and on holiday at Christmas when I was feeling sick, and tried to sleep by the fire in the lounge at the scary Eco Lodge, I heard rats in the pantry. *SCREAM* Soon I'm going to live in Australia for a semester, and they have huge spiders and poisonous snakes there. I'm going to lose my mind. I know I'm a wimp.