A-Z blogging challenge "Z" - Zzzzzzzzz......!

I was going to say "Z is for HAAALLLELUUUUJAH!" but then I realised that word doesn't start with Z. So, yeah. Z is for what I will be doing now that the A-Z is at an end: ZZZZZZzzzzzing!

Okay, seriously, there are other Z words (including some names) I can mention. I may as well continue with the late-born tradition of throwing a bunch of words together and hoping for the best (i.e. no one good idea? Chuck many "all right" ideas together and hope for the best!).

Zachariah - the angel in Supernatural that I really can't stand! Guess I have something in common with the boys there. Hehe. In the words of Dean Winchester, "What a dick!"

Zerek - this is a character in one of my only-just-begun, perhaps-never-to-be-continued stories. I didn't come up with the name - I asked a bunch of friends for suggestions for a ruggedly handsome character's name. There were heaps of cool suggestions, but this one stood out. :D

zebras. I mean, come on! They're cute, stripey horses! And here is a photo of one at the Perth Zoo:

Now, some Z bands/artists:

• Zwan - Billy Corgan's short-lived "supergroup" band - they made some decent music, but in the end what ruined them was...themselves!
• Zebrahead - I guess they're classed as punk rock, and they tend to have a guy rapping in a lot of the songs, which I'm not a huge fan of. Despite how sometimes the vocals get on my nerves, I really love a LOT of their songs. I only heard them thanks to my brother's inherently punk rock music collection, which he left on my old computer (along with other stuff you don't want to hear about!).
• Zhané - to be honest, I only know one song of theirs - "Hey Mr. DJ". It was one of the popular songs when I was about 13 or 14. I used to compile my music from Rage video clips, and this was on one of them.

And unbelievably, that is all I have in my music collection. I'm going to have to scour Last.fm for free downloads of bands starting with Z. :D

Now some Z songs!

• "Zeitgeist" - the Smashing Pumpkins' album was titled Zeitgeist, but there is also a song by them with this title. It's just Billy and an acoustic guitar, but it's beautiful
• "Zeplin Song" - Courtney Love, from her solo album. This song is one of those I like most. It is a pretty rough album where she sounds like she's still struggling along in rehab, but it does have good songs
• "Zero" - how could I really go past mentioning this iconic Smashing Pumpkins track? Honestly, it's not one of my faves, maybe because it was overplayed so damn much. But it's still a bit of a classic!
• "Ziah" - there is a band called The Red Tree from Melbourne, AU, and I got a promo of some of their songs when I was working at RTR.fm - "Ziah" was one of the songs on there, and it's stunning!
• "Zion" - not a huge fan of the song, but it always reminds me of The Matrix. I guess 'cause it's on the soundtrack of Reloaded. Duh!
• "Zombie" - the Cranberries. Another classic song, but one I could never like that much because of Dolores's extremely irritating chorus vocals.

And that's it for my list of notable Z-songs! I could also mention albums, but...I want this to END already!! :P I will be around on Monday, May 2, to reflect on the AMAZING journey that has been the A-Z. Assuming it doesn't entirely slip my brain! But for now, I need a rest!! LOL.

I do however want to conclude with this:

Congrats to everyone who finished, commiserations to those who fell by the wayside (I was nearly there with you quite a few times :P), and THANK YOU to those who have accompanied me through my own A-Z. I already know what I'll do last year, if I participate in this - and it will be a lot less effort than this year was, both for me and for my readers! YAY!!

A-Z blogging challenge "Y" - Y is for...

yaks.



Oh, and there's a place called Yahk, not far from where my brother lives in Canada. I drove through it a few times in the last few years. ;)

yikes is a word I say quite often. "Yikes!" My characters occasionally say the word too.

"yech, that's groooosss!"

yippieeeeee!

yappy dogs - they grate on my nerves, make me wince, curl my hands into fists, and turn up the music really loud!

yammer on...something I've been known to do. Particularly in writing.

yelp...that's something I did once when I kicked a couch with my toe. I think I broke the thing (the toe, not the couch), 'cause it was never the same shape thereafter. ;)

yo! This really reminds me of the good ole '90s.

Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Youth Group - some bands.

And...because it's becoming a habit...

• "Y Control" - Yeah Yeah Yeahs
• "Yeah!" - Zwan
• "You" - Candlebox
• "You Ain't The Reason" - The 69 Eyes
• "You Are Here" - Star 69
• "You Create" - Lacuna Coil
• "You Say Yes, I Say Yes" - VETO
• "Young Upstart" - Strike the Colours
• "Your Voice" - Effigy

Holy crap! I know it looks like I'm all full of ideas here, but really this type of list is a result of having no good single idea to stick to. ;)

One letter to go!!

A-Z blogging challenge "X" - X-Files...and X-Static...and xylophones

Um, yeah...this is gonna be another of those "Argh, think of anything that starts with X!" blog posts. Because it's X, man!

Hey wait, that reminds me of X-men.

Okay, so here's a list:

• X-men - well, you know. Wolverine...I love that movie. I love...certain scenes...from that movie. Like the running-across-a-field-naked scene...yeah...
• xylophones - I do recall playing one of these, back in the days when I was getting piano lessons from my aunty (she's a music teacher, and has always taught piano on the side too).
• X-Files, the - I own the entire series on DVD, and it's definitely one of my all-time faves. I even liked the last two seasons which scarcely featured our hero and heroin at all.
• xenophobia - of this, I am not a fan!
• Xenophon - a Greek historian, soldier and mercenary who wrote in the 4th century B.C. Go Xen!!
• Also, here is a bunch of animals whose names start with the letter x.

Aaand for the heck of it...some songs beginning with X:

• "X-Static" - one of my favourite songs by the Foo Fighters, from their debut album.
• "X-Ray Eyes" - by Guster, a band whose albums I do not own but intend to in future.
• "Xanadu" - Olivia Newton John; this song always reminds me of my friend Jen. Hehe.
• "Xtal" - by Aphex Twin. I haven't heard many of this guy's songs yet, but this one is totally awesome! Far less disturbing than "Window Licker" was (mostly the video clip...lol).

I should also mention that there's a band called simply, X, who I discovered back in the days when I was determined to fill my Last.fm library with at least one artist from every letter of the alphabet (yes, I'm weird that way - it's similar to how I set myself a goal of writing at least one song whose title started with each letter of the alphabet). There is also a guy called Xavier Rudd, who I saw at a music festival once and who is amazing - he was playing several instruments at once, as well as singing! I'm not a huge fan of his style of music, but could truly appreciate his artistry.

And that's it - consider yourself Xd!

A-Z blogging challenge "W" - Whatever, Wiggles and Weezer

I was just going to stick to whatever, and admit that I have been approaching every day in the A-Z lately with a "OMG" and "WTF" sort of attitude. ;) In other words, OMG I have no ideas, and WTF am I going to do for this letter? But there are a few good Ws out there. Ooh, that reminds me...

This one time (not at band camp), I think I was talking about words that started with W (or maybe bands; knowing me that'd be likely) and I said, "There aren't many, but there are a few good Ws"... And then I was like, "Hey! Instead of A Few Good Men it's A Few Good Ws..." Anyway, now that I'm done with that tangent, let's get on with the post.

Whatever - it is a word I love to use, and I use it very often. It even starts out one of my own songs. I also make my characters say it a fair bit. Hehe. Depending on the novel, anyway.

Wiggles - all I can really say is...uuuugggggh, not a fan. ;)

Weezer - me loves this band! Especially songs like "The World Has Turned And Left Me Here" and "Say It Ain't So".

Woody's A Girl - this is my "one woman band" name, and it was inspired by a friend's kitten who everybody thought was a boy, but then turned out to be a girl. The kitten's name was Woody. She died pretty young, poor poppet!

Aaand...some of my favourite W songs:

• "Waiting" - The Smashing Pumpkins
  
• "Waitress" - Live
  
• "Wait and Bleed" - Slipknot
  
• "Waiting All Day" - Silverchair
  
• "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'" - Michael Jackson
  
• "Walking Back To Me" - Sam Brown
  
• "Wave of Anguish" - Lacuna Coil
  
• "Waves" - Superette
• "Waves" - Holly Miranda
• "We Die Young" - Alice in Chains
• "Well Might Again" - Corvus
• "What Is Love" - Haddaway
• "What She Said" - Laura Imbruglia
• "Where Boys Fear To Tread" - The Smashing Pumpkins
• "Where The River Goes" - Stone Temple Pilots
• "White Slavery" - Type O Negative
• "Whitechocolatespaceegg" - Liz Phair
• "Wild Thing" - Liz Phair
• "Wilma's Rainbow" - Helmet
• "Winnebago" - Foo Fighters
• "Within You" - David Bowie
• "Without A Reason" - Lacuna Coil
• "Woman In Chains" - Tears for Fears
• "Wonderful Life" - Black
• "Wooden Jesus" - Temple of the Dog
• "Words" - Madonna
• "Work" - Jimmy Eat World
• "Worry" - Magic Dirt

A-Z blogging challenge "V" - Voltron (and...)

When I was a kid, there was Voltron.

My brother and I loved it, but we loved the toys more. Like this one:

That guy actually came apart and the lions were their own separate creatures (yes, I remember that from the cartoon itself). Incidentally, I don't remember much more about the show itself. Blasphemous, no?! But I do know we watched the show religiously, and had the toys.

Of course, I wound up using the lions in other games, namely as Barbie's "pets".

Yeah...

I hear it's being made into a movie!? I don't even know if it has happened yet. That's how "up" I am on my childhood favourites and their current status in society. Of course, if there was a Jem and the Holograms movie rumour, I'd be scouring the internet for more information!

A-Z blogging challenge "U" - Ursula

Okay, so there are a few Ursulas out there that I want to mention, and they are...

• Ursula le Guin - I have not actually read her Earthsea series, but a few references lately have really made me want to add them to my TBR list! So I am going to, right now in fact, at GoodReads :D

• Ursula the Sea Witch - The Little Mermaid. Recently Charlotte Jane Ivory wrote a story for The Chrysalis Experiment in which she wrote from King Triton's perspective after losing his daughter Ariel. Of course she was inspired by the Hans Christian Andersen version of The Little Mermaid, which I haven't read yet. Another thing to add to my TBR list!!

• Ursula - from one of my old short stories, in which a group of teenagers go hiking in the woods and get caught in a landslide that kills 5
• Ursula Pamela Buffay, Phoebe's twin sister in Friends - heh
• Ursula Andress, Swiss actress and so-called "quintessential Bond girl"

• Ursula Hall - a hall you can live in at ANU (the Australian National University).

And that's the only Ursulas I can think of! Who am I missing?

Every time I think I don't have to post for at least one day...

...something comes up and I feel the absolute complete compulsion to post something!

This time it's Evil Editor's anniversary party, and QUITE the party it is! This is the 5th anniversary for Evil Editor, and I think that's cool! There are fun times to be had, and more importantly, prizes to be won! So go on over and check it out. And read the fun messages people have left already for Evil Editor on the Toasts & Roasts page. I know they entertained me. ;)

But not nearly as much as EE's blog does.

A-Z blogging challenge "T" - Thru the Eyes of Ruby (anatomy of)

Today I decided to do a very crazy and obsessive thing: lay out the anatomy of my favourite song of all time, Trisha-style! I am not musically trained, beyond training myself and beyond the piano lessons I did as a child. But this is my interpretation of the anatomy of Thru the Eyes of Ruby, my favourite song from my favourite album by my favourite band of all time (the Smashing Pumpkins if you hadn't picked up on that already from previous blog entries :D).

So...without further ado...!

Intro to this song

"Thru the Eyes of Ruby" is a 7.5 minute epic wonder on the double album the Pumpkins released back in...1995. I was 15. OMG. Anyway, this song is from the second disc, which is known as Twilight to Starlight (the first disc is known as Dusk to Dawn), and for me it really epitomises all that is awesome about not only this album but this band in general. The song has something for almost everyone (I say almost because it has nothing for techno bunnies or fans of extreme death metal :D). Anyway...here's a little breakdown of why I love every single second of this song from 0:00 seconds to 7:38 seconds.

Song breakdown, Trisha style

0:00-0:07 - piano intro
0:07-0:14 - electric guitar intro (lead and rhythm)
0:14-0:21 - drums kick in for build up of intro
0:21-0:35 - crescendo of intro (incl. guitar solo)
0:35-0:51 - quiet verse, bass very noticeable
0:51-1:18 - quiet verse lyrics begin: "wrap me up in always…"
1:18-1:29 - pre-chorus 1: "breathing underwater…and living under glass"
1:29-1:50 - quiet chorus 1: "and if you spin your love around…"
1:50-1:57 - pre-loud verse 1: "…dreams"
1:57-2:13 - pre-loud verse 2: rock sound - lead guitar part
2:13-2:22 - loud verse: "I believe in never…"

2:22-2:25 - drums take to the fore! First of the "drum fills"

2:38-2:57 - post-verse crescendo; pre-lead guitar parts are alternated with lyrics: "and with this ring I wed thee true…"
2:57-3:07 - bridge 1/pre-chorus 2: "…dead…but no one's asking for the truth"
3:07-3:27 - loud chorus 1: "if you spin your love around…" with dominating lead guitar parts in the background
3:27-4:09 - bridge 2: bass dominant; soft drumming; "to the revelations of fresh-faced youth…"

4:05-4:09 dramatic ending of bridge 2, build up of drums, vocals

4:09-4:35 - loud chorus 2: "your strength is my weakness, your weakness my hate…"
4:35-5:28 - bridge 3, series of drum fills and dominant lead guitar

4:48-5:02 - quiet vocals: "the night has come to hold us young…"
4:55-5:01 - drum cymbals to lead up to crescendo
5:01-5:02 - drums to precede loud vocals
5:02-5:28 - loud vocals: "the night has come to hold us young" - SONG CRESCENDO
5:28- beginning of vocal crescendo: "…young!"

5:28- - bridge 3 outro, post-bridge crescendos

5:30-5:35 - lead guitar crescendo

5:40-5:54 - song outro 1; rich bass, electric guitar still dominant
5:54-6:54 - electric guitar fuzz cuts out, bass very dominant
6:54-7:38 - song outro 2; slide-steel guitar, bass and acoustic guitar outro, fading in as song outro 1 fades out

All lyrics © Billy Corgan, 1995

A-Z blogging challenge "S" - Supernatural...and S music

There are so many awesome bands I could talk about for the letter S. Maybe I'll mention some at the end. For now though, I want to talk about Supernatural, because it's one of my all-time favourite shows, and not just for the incredibly yummy man meat. I think it has some of the most brilliant dialogue of any show out there, and the plotlines are fabulous.

I've only watched up to the end of season 4, and I'm almost done with a re-watch of that. You see, I waited for a long time after the season 5 DVD came out, because the price was at $59.95 for most of that time. I went away in January for a few weeks, and when I got back I was sure the price would be down. Guess what? It was UP - to $79.95 or something ridiculous like that. But then I finally found it online (from the online version of the store selling it for $79.95) for $29.95. So I ordered it online and it finally arrived. But I was in the middle of a rewatch, so I haven't watched it yet.

I don't need to tell anyone much about the show. You can just go to the official site and check it out, if you don't know this stuff already!

Now, to end this entry with some awesome S bands/artists in my CD collection (and these are not all, they are just my supreme favourites):

• Sade
• Sam Brown*
• Screaming Trees
• Seam
• Sex Panther*
• Shihad*
• Silverchair*
• Silversun Pickups*
• Slipknot*
• The Smashing Pumpkins*
• Soundgarden*
• Stabbing Westward
• Star 69
• Stone Sour*
• Stone Temple Pilots
• Story of the Year
• Strapping Young Lad
• Strike the Colours
• Superette

*I've seen these guys live at least once!

I spent many hours while in high school in CD stores (including second-hand stores of course, where I found a lot of my singles collection - yes, I do have a large collection of singles), browsing through the S section. In fact, it was generally the first place I went to when starting to browse.

A-Z blogging challenge "R" - Reading

I have no doubt I'll be far from the only person talking about Reading for the A-Z letter "R". But I figured I could make this entry double as an update on what I've read so far this year, what I'm reading now, and generally how goal #12 on my list for 2011 is coming along!

So far this year I have read the following books:

1. The Gathering Storm - Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson
2. Towers of Midnight - Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson
3. The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner - Stephenie Meyer
4. Body Surfing - Anita Shreve
5. Piratica - Tanith Lee
6. To Kill A Mockingbird - Harper Lee (A'vron Classic Read #1)
   
7. The Brutal Art - Jesse Kellerman
8. The Calling - Inger Ashe Wolfe
9. Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen (A'vron Classic Read #2)
10. About A Girl - Joanne Horniman
11. Grotesque - Natsuo Kirino
12. Curiosity Thrilled the Cat - Sofie Kelly
13. Breakfast at Tiffany's - Truman Capote

You can read my reviews (which often contain spoilers) at GoodReads.

And my 14th book is the third read in the Classic Book Reads activity I'm involved in through A'vron - Burmese Days by George Orwell. I'm not far off finishing that, and then I have to make the difficult decision about what to read next! Of course, it's nearly May, meaning that I will have yet another classic book on my to-read list soon. But depending on when I learn which book it is, I may or may not have to order it and then wait for its arrival!

Trisha has read 13 books toward her goal of 25 books.

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13 of 25 (52%)

I'm quite impressed by the wide range of genres I've read in so far this year, and it's only going to get more eclectic by the end! I also want to mention that last month I wrote an entry about what I read in primary school. I still love those books. Hehe.

On some entirely unrelated matters, 1) I was interviewed recently over on J.C. Martin's blog. You can read the interview here. 2) I was recently given a Creative Blog Award by Deirdra, but I have yet to acknowledge it on here. I haven't forgotten it though! I will get around to it properly one of these days. Post A-Z, no doubt.

But back to reading... What are you reading right now?

A-Z blogging challenge "Q" - Quokkas

As someone pointed out to me recently, quokkas are weird creatures. "They're sort of...big marsupials with rats' tails." Well, yeah. I honestly haven't researched quokkas, to find out where else they live beyond Rottnest Island. But I noticed when I added that first link above that there is some info there, if you're into it. ;) Here are some of my photos of quokkas:




When you visit Rottnest Island (which is a fun thing to do if you ever visit Perth), you may see mangy quokkas around. This is because tourists feed them stuff they shouldn't be eating, and generally mistreat them. Quokkas have grown quite domesticated because they're so used to people. If you're in one of the cottages you might find quokkas coming up to your door, scavenging.

We sometimes hear of violence committed against quokkas by disgusting creatures trying to pass themselves off as human beings. I don't have anything else to say about those types of people except I daydream of the quokkas rising up and giving back what they've received there.

A-Z blogging challenge "P" - Perth, WA

It's only natural that I should focus on my home city of Perth for today's A-Z entry. For the letter "F" I focused on Freo (goooo alliteration!), which is closer to where I live, and I shared some photos. This time I will share some photos of the greater Perth area. In spite of all the downsides of living in Perth (most isolated city in the world, 5 pm curfew - just kidding, but seriously, this place is pretty dead), it does have its good points. Its vibrant local music scene, fun house parties (because when the clubs close at 1 am on weekends, what else can you do?) and absolutely beautiful scenery.

One thing I love about Perth is travelling far, far away from it. Then I get to return, and breathe a sigh of relief (except last time I returned, when I breathed a sigh of gross humid air). Perth people tend to travel a fair bit, probably because hardly anyone comes to visit us instead. ;) So we have to do all the travelling. But anyway...without further ado, here are some photos:

A-Z blogging challenge "O" - OMG

I'm one of the guilty ones who loves to say "OMG". I usually actually say it "oh em gee!" instead of "omg" the way other people say it. And now that it's in the dictionary, I feel a lot more justified in saying it. So everyone can expect me to say it all over the place, all willy nilly and stuff, from here on in! ;)

I also want to mention a contest that is OMG-worthy. Over at DearEditor.com there is a contest wherein you can win a free substantive manuscript edit, as long as you have a completed work of adult, young adult or middle grade fiction. It can be of any genre, but must fit one of those three major moulds. So go ahead and enter! I know I have!

Another OMG-worthy thing - I believe I have my idea for this year's NaNoWriMo novel already. And it's going to actually be YA paranormal. O.M.G.

P.S. How's everyone doing with this A-Z thing?? The end is sort of in sight. I mean, we're up to O already! Still, it's been a hard slog in some ways. And yet I've met a bunch of cool new people, and read a bunch of very entertaining and thought-provoking blog entries. So it's been well worth it, overall!

P.P.S. (I just had a thought...the next letter in the alphabet is P, so maybe I can do an entry on P.S., P.P.S., etc.! hehe) I am working on draft #4 of Sundown, and the word count has blown out by 6k already. Yikes! But I know I'll get it back down again. Just had to share...

Crappy internet

I just wanted to mention (and yes, once again here I am, posting on Sunday!!) that my internet is being extremely crappy today, and it's pretty well impossible to go around visiting other blogs and reciprocating visits from those who have left comments here. I will get back to you all eventually, I swear! And I don't even want to THINK about what's happened in Google Reader. Last I checked I had about 250 unread blog entries. And that was yesterday. Sadly, I'm thinking another "mark all as read" click is looming in my future.

Anyway, I hope everyone is having a great weekend! Here we are in late April, and it's still way too damn warm for my liking. This global warming shit makes me want to cry in misery.

Music Spotlight & A-Z letter "N" - Nirvana (the band)

Well, I know I talked about Music in general last time, but I think it's only fitting I dedicate an entire post to Nirvana this time. This is a band that really did change my life, and I can't listen to any of their stuff without getting all nostalgic. Mostly it's the first album of theirs that I bought, Nevermind, that takes me back. It was the first CD I ever bought, and I had saved up for a fair while to get it. I was eleven years old when I bought it, and I didn't have a CD player, so I had to use my aunty's CD player to record it to tape. The tape I put it on was denoted by a shiny sticker (in those days I still bought a lot of stickers, the closest I probably ever got to being crafty. hehe) on one side.

I admit that one of my great influences in getting to like Nirvana was the guy I had a crush on in my last year of primary school. He was a huge fan of this album, and though I had already known and got to like "In Bloom", I think I can thank the crush's influence for me actually purchasing the album. Ha.

I also remember that I around the time I bought the album, Weird al Yankovic's version of "Smells Like Teen Spirit" was out on all the music shows. That may even have been my first exposure to Nirvana. Of course, I prefer the original tune, but I do totally respec' Weird al's take on it. Especially the sheep. I loved the sheep.

Nirvana get a lot of flack for being completely and utterly overrated. And maybe they are. I don't particularly care about that. What I care about is the music, and what it means to me. Nirvana, for me, were the beginning of a dramatic change in my life. They led me to Silverchair (who were teased and called "Nirvana in Pyjamas" in their early days), who in turn led me to Helmet and Primus and Soundgarden and Alice in Chains and all sorts of other bands that are today amongst my favourites.

Nevermind reminds me of primary school. Bleach (Nirvana's first album) reminds me of high school. It also reminds me of video games. For the letter D I focused on Donkey Kong Country, my favourite video game of all time. Well, Bleach and in particular Incesticide remind me of other games, mostly the Mario All Stars game that I had on Super NES. Bleach also reminds me of being down south with my best friend and coming down with chicken pox. Yay? ;) In Utero is an album that has less nostalgic value, but still features some amazing songs. And I still remember the funny moment when my friends and I accidentally discovered the secret song. Over twenty minutes of silence, and then BOOM! Not what we'd expected at all. (I have the Nevermind singles box set too. There are a few great b-sides, including the beautiful "Marigold", sung by Dave Grohl.)

Anyway, I'm done talking about Nirvana and the major impact they had on my life. But I'm not done listening, or loving, this band. In closing I'll say that right now, Nirvana are at number 7 on my Last.fm overall charts. They've got 1,271 scrobbles, but of course that doesn't count the hours of listening I got done during primary and high school. If only I could go back and count up those listens. ;)

THANK THE LIGHT tomorrow is Sunday. Ha.

A-Z blogging challenge "M" - Music

Today I am talking about Music, which is just about my favourite thing in the world alongside writing. Whenever I'm writing, I am listening to music. Music got me through high school and university (both times). Music gets me through each day at work (when I'm able to listen anyway; obviously I can't listen while on the desk serving library patrons :D That'd be considered anti-social I'm pretty sure). Music is sustenance and, as the saying goes (and I love this saying), "music is my boyfriend". Heh.

My poor kitties are subjected to my listening habits, so they'll hear anything from Richard Marx to Mariah Carey to Muse (have you noticed these artists all have at least one "M" in them?) to Melvins... I listen to rock, metal, alternative, pop, dance, and all sorts of sub-genres of all of those. I listen to music from the 40s on. I would listen to classic classical music (i.e. Mozart, etc.) if I had any in my collection. Just haven't developed that side of it yet. I listen to female singers and male singers, and even male singers who have since become females. I listen to my friends' music and, at times, I listen to my own.

In short, I'm open to pretty much anything. Tell me what I should hear, and I will give it a listen.

As referenced above, I also make music. Being musical runs in the family. My aunty was a music teacher, and she still teaches piano. That entire side of the family sings (usually, they harmonise. hehe). I learned piano up until I'd done Grade 2, then I got bored with lessons and gave up. I played in a band called Stuart and the Stuffed Turkeys in primary school - Stuart being our guitar teacher at the time. All the mothers loved Stuart, who was pretty sexy. I am now in a one-woman band all on my own. I recently acquired a bass guitar, so now all that's missing is drums. I'm thinking I will have to make do with percussion. ;)

Not only do I listen to music and play it, but I also write about it. My novel SUNDOWN was the first in what became a ridiculously large series. I don't care if the series never gets published. I wrote it for me, and I love it. That's all that matters to me. My character Louise is an excellent guitarist (way more excellent than me) modelled after actual brilliant female guitarists I've listened to in my time. I once had a debate with an idiot guy about whether chicks could play guitar as well as guys (he was adamant they could not). I think I had that in the back of my mind when I conjured Louise.

Anyway...music is all around me. Even when I'm not listening with my ears (right now I'm listening to Stone Temple Pilots' "Where the River Goes"), I'm listening in my head. This morning I had the lyrics, "Give me tiiiime..." stuck in my head, and kept singing the song. Thankfully I've moved on since then. Don't get me wrong, I love the song. But I didn't enjoy having it looping in my head. ;) At least it was better than that time I had the Fat Cat theme song stuck in my head for three days.

And that's it for M.

A-Z blogging challenge "L" - Love songs

Today for the A-Z, letter L, I am going to talk about Love songs, which each and every one of us can have a very different take on. I have a playlist called "Love songs" at Last.fm, and at present it features the following songs:

1 Type O Negative – Pyretta Blaze 2 Billy Corgan – Mina Loy (M.O.H.) 3 Foo Fighters – February Stars 4 The Smashing Pumpkins – Stand Inside Your Love 5 Unwritten Law – How You Feel 6 Radiohead – True Love Waits (live) 7 Local H – Eddie Vedder 8 HIM – Sleepwalking Past Hope 9 Magic Dirt – Grab Your Hair 10 AC/DC – Whole Lotta Rosie (live) 11 Soundgarden – Loud Love 12 Stone Temple Pilots – Sex Type Thing 13 Red Hot Chili Peppers – Sir Psycho Sexy

14 Type O Negative – Love You to Death 15 Zwan – The Empty Sea (Live) 16 The Smashing Pumpkins – By Starlight 17 darkpop – Fool 18 Liz Phair – Gunshy 19 Heather Nova – Make You Mine 20 Zwan – Heartsong 21 Liz Phair – I Know It's Not Easy 22 Bon Jovi – In These Arms 23 Mylo – In My Arms 24 Queensrÿche – Silent Lucidity 25 Vertical Horizon – Give You Back 26 VAST – Flames

For all I know, some of these songs are not even about love, but they make me feel or think of love. Some of them are obviously about the nasty side of love. Others are about seduction, and/or just plain sex. There are still more that are about misery caused by love and loss. So, as you can see, love songs don't have to be just mushy and romantic. They can be about any aspect of love.

One year for Valentine's Day, a year when I was the only one doing anything for me, I made a big production out of the day, including making myself a romantic CD which featured some of the songs above. A lot of people may question the merit of including Type O Negative on a Valentine's Day CD. And what about Liz Phair's miserable tune about waiting for something that's just never going to happen? Well, sure, they're not precisely chirpy tunes, but they're still about love, damn it!

But now I leave it to you to tell me...

What are your favourite love (or "love") songs?

A-Z blogging challenge "K" - Koalas

Today I decided to "talk about" (i.e. show cute pictures of) koalas, because I'm ever so slightly middle-of-the-week zombified and all I could think of was chocolate. And before you freak out and assume I smother koalas in chocolate and eat them for dessert each night, you'll know what I really mean when you get to the end of this post. ;)

How cute is that?!

This guy is cresssssssy!

Aaand this one's acrobatic!

Now, onto the chocolate part. These aren't so much cute as yummy:


And I am done now.