"There was a star danced, and under that was I born.” - William Shakespeare (Much Ado About Nothing)

34 pages, 155 references, and a few buckets of tears later...

THE LITERATURE REVIEW WAS DEFEATED.

Oh, happy day! 

Kit celebrated by catching a cold. Blurgh.

Kit is rather pathetic when she's sick. She goes from confident, intelligent, independent woman to sobbing ball of self-pity with the first snivel, and everyone has to deal with it. Especially poor old Face. He's been kept busy with her constant, ungracious and flu-induced demand for hot beverages. Which is kinda pointless anyway, since Kit can't actually taste the delicious hot chocolate she guilts Face into making. 

But the delightful sensation of warmth does make her feel better!

Apart from the death-cold, Kit has spent the past few days wandering aimlessly around the house wondering what to do now that the literature review has been completed. Luckily, she met with her supervisors today, who informed her that, actually, she has a lot to do, and should therefore stop the aimless wandering.

So now Kit is planning her project and Getting Things Started! 

As the past three months have been spent primarily on stress-related research (gawd, that gif is distracting), Kit needs to refresh her memory as to what her actual project is all about, and start considering what questions she's asking, what data she'll need to answer those questions, and how to go about getting that data.

All this responsibility and considerations are new and scary. Not to mention confusing. Good thing she has super supervisors to guide her. 

As for Master Face, it's same-old, same-old. The jobs, they just don't seem to be here! He's applying for anything he can find, because there just aren't any science-related positions around. Oh well. He seems pretty happy being a domestic boyfriend. Added bonus: he does the dishes everyday, which relieves Kit from the duty. Hurrah! Doing the dishes is the worst of jobs.

So all is good in the house of Kitcat and Face!

Kit has also been finishing off various crochet projects (whoooo! Geometric pillow! Whooooooooo!), but still needs to do some final alterations before showing them off. Which may take a while, because she doesn't know how to finish them off and may have to wait until her mummy comes visiting in June (YAY!).

That's about it, bloggers! 

Much love. xx

P.S. Random story. Once upon a time, Kit and Face were walking home from a night out with friends, when they were startled by a possum hanging out at the side of the road. Face said "Oh, a squirrel!" and Kit lol'd at him forever more. 

Silly Face! Do you even biology? 

You think the dead we loved ever truly leave us? You think that we don’t recall them more clearly than ever in times of great trouble? - J. K. Rowling (Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Alkaban)

I think this might just be the funniest thing I have ever seen.

I also think that this literature review and the associated stress is messing with my brain. Only 13 days until it's due!

Love love. xx

“Man," I cried, "how ignorant art thou in thy pride of wisdom!” - Mary Shelley (Frankenstein)

Three times in the past two weeks Kit has managed to set off the smoke alarm while cooking.

Our neighbours must love us.

We're not sure why cooking is suddenly causing so much smoke. Kit hasn't actually burnt anything (except that one time she burnt the nachos. Burnt nachos are nasty.), but the house fills with smoke none the less. Maybe it's not smoke, and she's just evaporating the heck out of something. 

Kitchen drama.

Oh. Also, lit review drama. It's due in 29 days, so Kit a giant ball of wah. She's not particularly stressed about it, but she's definitely sulky. She spent today sorting through the 1 billion journal articles that have accumulated in the study to find one sentence on terminal sampling that she knew she'd read somewhere. It's still missing. This blog entry is a much needed break from a whole lot of CTRL F "terminal sample"-ing. But Kit will find it! And when she does she's going to hold it up in the air triumphantly and sing and song of victory.

But before that, she's going to update the blog-world on the adventures of Kitcat and Face!

Aeroplane! Neeeyuuuuuum.

Our trip home for graduation is complete! Much catch-up, many graduates, and a sudden and unexpected bout of homesickness in the meantime. How do you get homesick while you're home? It was weird. Despite that, it was brilliant to see everybody! And they should now do the right thing and head over to Hobart to visit us. It's only polite. 

Pictures, pictures, pictures.

Daisy kinda didn't care that Kit was home. She was happy that there was another person there to throw the ball for her, but no special huzzah reaction from dog-face. She was actually more excited to see Face, cause he can throw further. BUT THAT'S OK 'CAUSE WHEN GINGERNUT SAW KIT SHE WAS THE MOST EXCITED AND GLEEFUL BIRD EVER. It's nice to be loved.

Byeeeeeeee Melbourne lights!

We're planning on heading back fairly soon for Face's 25th and brother-of-Face's 21st, which are both conveniently situated in July. Hopefully, anyway. Kit is meant to be heading out to Maria Island in July for fieldwork (WHOOOOOOOO!!!), so if clashes occur it might just be Face travelling back to the mainland for birthday fun. Which would probably result in Kit pulling this face:

Banana and all.

Returning to topic, graduation photos are on the way! Mother-of-Kit took at least 20 thousand photos, so it's understandably taking a little while to sort through them all. In the meantime, have a photo of Face with straightened hair.

Less than impressed. 

Other news: Kit has been making stuff! Ooh. Lookit that colourful-geometric-y mass of wool. 

It just requires a sewing machine for completion (more triangles have been added since this photo, so all the gaps are now filled). Which will be acquired this weekend! Kit did try to buy one last week, but the sewing centre was shut, so she went across the road and bought a ukulele instead. Lol-oops. It sure is hard saving money when you buy on impulse. But ukuleles are awesome and Face is teaching Kit how to play Yellow Submarine on it, so life is good! 

That's all bloggers. Much love. xx

Lol, jokes, one more picture. This perfectly sums up Kit's current attitude towards her lit review.

Positive sucking. Oh, Adventure Time, Y U so wise?  

Kit will get there, and she will hopefully get there with some A+ material! 

"Animals are such agreeable friends - they ask no questions, they pass no criticisms." - George Eliot ('Mr. Gilfil's Love Story,' Scenes of Clerical Life, 1857)

This is Jellybean. A.k.a., JB. 

Kit's had her since she was 7, which means JB is now 17. 

She's still oh-so-sassy.

Kit had a bit of a sad day yesterday, caused by a combination of over-tiredness and those general feelings of blah that you sometimes get.

She spent the whole day trying to get over the sad, but nothing seemed to work.

So she packed it in early and went to bed early with a JB to cuddle! That worked.

Sometimes all you need is a kitty with cat-food breath, whiskers tickling your face and loud, happy purrs in order to win at life. 

Lovely, lovely creatures.

That said, feral cats have a hella an impact on Australian native fauna. Feral cats kill an estimated 75 million native animals daily. Add the domestic cats to that (because even your beloved Fluffy, who is so kind and soft and gentle and perfect, will be out there murderin' the natives) and the estimate sky-rockets. 

Keep the natives safe, people! Responsible pet ownership for the win. 

(P.S. This article is pretty interesting if anyone is interested in reading about kitty impacts.)

"Lasciate ogne speranza, voi ch’intrate." - Dante Alighieri (Divine Comedy)

Kit has abandoned all hope of having a house that stays clean.

This afternoon has been spent within a cloud of bubbles with furious scrubbing, polishing and washing.

Where does house mess come from?

Kit can understand when the kitchen gets a bit grubby, since that's where all the delicious food stuffs are created, and creation is a necessarily messy business. And she's willing to admit that the little bits of wool and cotton all over the lounge and study are her bad. That's just the result of crocheting. Those kinds of messes make sense. They're logical messes. 

But what Kit doesn't get is why her stairs are so filthy. It's like they attract dust and dirt. Surely the stairs don't get used often enough to warrant the piles of dust in the corners? The amount of filth to use just doesn't compute. 

Stupid stairs.

But they're clean for now, so Kit is willing to tackle that mystery another day. 

In other news, stuff!

Stuff has been done this weekend. Not a whole lot of stuff. Just a little bit of stuff. For example, Kit spent most of Saturday at the Salamanca Markets with one Mr J.

Any day at Salamanca is a good day. But it's super extra good if you have excellent company with you. Excellent company who is so hilariously hung over they require coffee and fudge for survival is even better, especially when they buy extra shares for you!


Kit and Face have also been visiting zoos and cooing over all the animals. It's one of their (meaning Kit's - Face is just dragged along) favourite things to do. So today saw them visiting Bonorong Wildlife Sanctuary. Which has got to be home to some of the chillest kangaroos ever. People swarming all over them? Not phased. Kids pulling their ears? Whatever. They wouldn't even move to get food. You have to take the foods to them if you want the feeding a 'roo experience. 

     Face was inspired by their attitude. He's planning to implement a system at home where he just lies around all day and Kit constantly brings him delicious stuff. 

What a completely, totally and utterly flawless plan. Besides all the Kit-related factors that mean it won't work, it's genius.  

Time for animal photos! Hurrah!

This guy here was pretty special. This is Fidget, an albino brushtail. He was uber friendly. Kit thinks more brushtails should be albino. It makes them look more snuggle-able. 

Fidget was all about getting his photo taken.

Rainbow lorikeets! Kit spent ages by their cage. She really misses her lorikeet, Gingernut. 

Gingernut is a lovely bird. To Kit. Gingernut loves Kit. She hates everyone else. Kit's ok with this. It makes her feel special. However, Kit did noticed that the two lorikeets in this aviary weren't anywhere near as loud and shrill as Nut. They just sat around making sweet little "peep peep whistle whistle" noises. Whereas Gingernut is more "SQUAWK SQUAWK LOUD NOISES ALL THE TIME". 

Face suggested that this may be due to environmental factors. Meaning it's Kit's fault Gingernut is cray cray and loud. Naaaaaah. Surely not. Maybe not. Actually, that's probably the reason for all the excitable and shrill. Oh well. Kit doesn't really care, cause Gingernut is a top bird.

And Kit will get to see her in... 10 days! Hurrah!

Face and Kit are flying back to Wodonga for Kit's graduation ceremony, then spending a week catching up with peeps and replenishing their stores of Mother-cooked food. They have to fatten up in order to survive the coming Tasmanian winter.       

Much love to all! xx

“There are always some lunatics about. It would be a dull world without them.” - Arthur Conan Doyle (The Red Headed League)

Let's play a little game!

This game is called 'Things Kit wants that she can't afford'.

This game is pretty much an exercise in pointlessness, as Kit is simply going to list a bunch of stuff that she wants, and then she wins. Sweet. 

Can you tell that Kit is sick of working on her literature review?

Let's begin!

1. A Clock.

It's kind of mind blowing how hard it is to find a place that sells nice clocks. Kit could, of course, just buy one online, but then she'd have to wait for it to arrive. She wants one now. Instead, she'll keep visiting the same old shops in Hobart, expecting them to suddenly start stocking clocks similar to this piece of lovely. Solid plan.

2. A Grey, Modular Couch.

  

Just look at that couch. Isn't it just divine? In fact, Kit fancies the entire room. Mmmm. Nordic. Unfortunately, Face is unusually set against modular couches. Apparently they side apart underneath him, and he finds it disturbing. He's somehow couching wrong.

3. Various Scatter Cushions.

Kit's grey modular couch would naturally need to be pillowrised. This selection would be a good start. Then she would get more and more and MOAR until the entire house is smothered by pillows. Pillows = Yes.

4. Bunting Necklace

Yeeesssssss! Bunting! Who doesn't love bunting? Bunting-haters, that's who. Kit isn't one of them. She's wanted a bunting necklace for ages, and has subsequently been giving Face increasingly direct hints. Which, obviously, still haven't been direct enough. So Kit may never get her bunting necklace from him. There's just something so depressing about buying your own jewellery. 

5. A 'No Riff-Raff' Doormat

 

How delightfully silly! Everybody should have a touch of Fawlty Towers at their doorstep.

6. A Gigantic Floor Cushion.

A bean-bag simply won't cut it. It must be a cushion, it must be gigantic, and it must be on Kit's floor. 

7. Adventure Time Paraphernalia 

There is so much Adventure Time merchandise out there that Kit desires. Adventure Time, for those who are silly and don't already know, is the best show in the entire world. Face puts it on to make Kit jolly whenever she is stressed, tired, grumpy, humourless, morose, dejected, peevish, doleful, woeful, melancholy or sick. He also puts it on for her whenever she gives the 'Adventure Time!' command. Which is quite often, since it's her most favourite show forever and ever. 

8. A Pi-Pie Dish

Get it?! GET IT?!?! It's a pi-pie dish! Is that not ingenious? Kit doesn't often bake pies. But she certainly would if she had this pie dish. Mostly to see Face's misery when he cut through the delicious crispy crust to the pun beneath. 

9. This Pretty Unicorn Print

Oh, gawsh, it's just adorable. 

10. Puppy

Like any sane person, Kit desperately wants a puppy. PWUPPIES! Lil' cute button noses and fluff everywhere! Most unfortunately, the current living arrangements of Face and Kit are not ideal (or even remotely suited) for a pwuppy. So Kit will have to wait for this bundle of love and affection. What Kit really wants is a large (we're talking farm-sized here), out-of-town property where Face would finally let her have a puppy. So. Should probably look at getting a job that pays a million moneys an hour, so we can afford a place like that. 

It's going to be years before Kit can get a puppy. Cue despondent sobbing. 

Love love! xx

"And, of course men know best about everything, except what women know better.” - George Eliot, (Middlemarch)

Hullo, hullo lovely readers! I'm so glad you could join Kitcat and Face here today. No, really, I am. Glad glad glad glad.

FINALLY, the internets are connected. It took a week longer than it was meant to, as we were expecting the NBN man last Tuesday, but he never turned up! Rude. Face called the internet company and rant rant ranted at them (not really. He was very polite. Kit wanted to rant. She was maaaaaaaad) and the poor guys were all "WE'RE SO SORRY" are cried buckets and buckets of tears (or they would have if Face had let Kit on the phone). Then they went ahead and put in a complaint with the NBN people and scheduled a new connection date. Which was yesterday! Resulting in the internet being accessible today (which coincided perfectly with the arrival of Kit's new computer!), earning a Huzzah from Face. Kit has internet at uni, so she wasn't quite as excited. But almost 3 months without a proper 'net connection has been traumatic for Face.

See? Traumatised (a.k.a., oh so very hungover). Poor old Face.

Face is just so jolly now he has cyberspace. He's all a-gamin' with his friends and watching ridiculous YouTube videos. Kit is, of course, doing much more productive things with her share of the new internet (i.e. buying a new mousepad).

But that's enough boring internet talk. Look 'ere at what Kit has been doing with her time!

Crocheting, crocheting, crocheting.

Spike the cockatiel was made as a birthday present for the marvellous N. Kit feels for N. He's in the same situation as her, both of them having to leave beloved pet birds with their (in Kit's case, long-suffering) parents following a move. Poor N and Kit. Poor Spike and Gingernut! Hopefully crocheted Spike will fill a little bit of the bird-sized hole in N's heart.

Another crocheted birthday present! A teeny tiny polar bear wearing a tie. For those that want to try making their own teeny tiny polar bear, the pattern can be found here. Kit really found this project challenging. It's incredibly hard to manage something this size. She has no idea how these were made. How can they be so small?! Amazing. The person who made those must have teeny tiny faerie fingers. Or the patience of a saint. Kit's money is on the faerie fingers. Anyway! 

Mr Polar Bear was made for H, Kit's very most favourite of all the H's! Side note: It was Face who made the teeny tiny tie. Tie knots are beyond Kit's skill level.    

 

In addition to crocheting, Kit has been making good use of her mouse sander. She decided to tackle the TV unit this week.

Ignore the Face in the corner setting up the TV. Pay equally little attention to the mess of instructions and packing material on the floor. The unit was another Gumtree find. From the same lady who sold Kit and Face their bedside tables, actually. We're taking all her stuff, yo.

Face sighed a bit when Kit announced that she was 'renovating' the unit. Then he passed her the white paint, like the good sport he is. And the sanding and painting commenced! However. Due to a combination of Kit's poor painting skills and her lack of patience, the unit looked all streaky when she was finished. Which was depressing. Who wants a streaky TV unit? Not Kit. It looked stupid. Luckily, Kit had Squirrel to run to! Following her advice, Kit re-sanded and whacked a few more coats of paint on. Resulting in a much less streaky and therefore more awesome TV unit. Huzzah! 

BUT THEN KIT TRIED PUTTING THE SHELVES BACK IN.

Stupid things scratched up my paint job. This lead to Kit propping up the shelves with the gladwrap and doing a dodgy patch-up job.

  

Alas. Let's just call it extra shabby-chic and move on.

THE RESULT:

Gooooooood enough! Face's comment on completion was "Well. I see we won't be able to re-sell that one." Oh so supportive. Baaaahahah. But Kit likes it better than the original, and she never takes any notice of Face's attempts to reduce her self-esteem to less ridiculously inflated levels (she's perfectly aware of how awesome she is), so all is well! 

Now that the compulsive need to blog is out of Kit's system, she's off to work on her powerpoint presentation for the seminar she has to give on Friday. Lol, jokes, she's off to play The Sims. But for realsies, seminar on Friday. To a room full of academics who will be perfectly aware if she has no idea what she's talking about! Waaaaaah. To further complicate this matter, Kit's face has a tendency to burst into flames when she's giving oral presentations. Stupid blush-prone complexion.  

Kit doesn't want to do the scary seminar. 

But she'll survive! 

Love love you lot. xx 

Oh, and one final thing. Here's a picture of Face playing with Buck the alpaca.

 

NAAAAAAAAAWWWWWWWWWWWWW.