today is Tiffini's 20th birthday

"o hai!"

She woke up at 8-something on her birthday... to send her siblings to school.
She braved the heat to have lunch with us, and became very full.
She had to pick up her siblings after school, and probably go home to peel potatoes for dinner or something.
She is superTiff! She is blinking in every photo we took (on purpose)! She has a giant dog!
And we all wish her a very lovely, very happy, very un-boring 365 days between now and her next birthday :)

As a little side note, if I didn't post a birthday blog for you on YOUR birthday, it is because I do not love you.
Ok, no, not really. (Don't shoot me, Es)
It just means that I happened to not blog on that day (which is about 50 out of 51 days), so do not take it personally. If you have any qualms/complaints, feel free to let me know, and I will make sure I post something JUST FOR YOU. No guarantees on niceness, though.


In other news, I found my little red iPod about five minutes ago. Bet you didn't even know I lost it. Neither did I.
The silly thing is so small that it has been buried under a couple of sheets of paper next to my laptop for nobody-knows-how-long, and I never realised it was there.
And if you didn't know that I had an iPod at all, don't worry. Sometimes I forget too.


SO, as a parting word...

System Restore: it's beautiful.

NOTHING is necessary.

the things that happen

Funny things happen when exams come around...

suddenly, after weeks and weeks of staying up till past midnight every day, you believe it will be a good idea to go to bed at a quarter past eight. as a result, you get almost double the amount of sleep you regularly get. that's 12 hours spent sleeping, 3 of which could probably have been good study time.

facebook becomes a helluva lot more interesting.
think: hey, I wonder how *randomdude* is doing. maybe I should facebook him.
nevermind the fact that you haven't seen him for six years and you barely talked to each other back then anyway.

you read more FML in one sitting than you have in your entire life put together.

you rewatch sitcoms you've already seen. even the ones you didn't really like the first time round. and you try to justify it by saying "I just need the background noise" :(

the weeds growing outside your window intrigue you.

you have a nagging desire to learn every single word to I Got A Feelin' by The Black Eyed Peas. No joke.

the highlight of your day is deciding which packet of biscuits to eat next.

you actually sit down and BLOG.

...and all this in the space of 24 hours (12 of which you spent sleeping, remember?)

*-face

sadface
sleepyface
angryface
stupidface
grumpyface

...

sadderface.

baby reel

Mum pulled out a couple of old photo albums last night, and we stayed up a little late looking through them before bed.

MAN, was I cute as a baby.

...I looked like a boy, but you know, that's irrelevant.
Not very chinese looking either (my eyes took up half my face), which was a bit weird.
NEVERTHELESS, I was cute.


Fact of life #2298

Every child - with no exception - whose parents owned, and were capable of operating, some form of camera at the time of said child's birth,
will have a potty photo.

Definition: potty photo
YOU KNOW WHAT THIS IS. DON'T LIE.

Fact of life #2299

No matter how cute your misshapen head was, how happy you looked, how adorable you were in those striped pyjamas, no child will ever want The Potty Photo to (dis)grace the eyes of anybody outside the family. Heck, never take it out if you can help it. Do not acknowledge its existence (even though everyone already knows). In fact, when mummy's not looking, burn it.

No kidding.
I, personally, do not have a Potty Photo. No such picture exists in my album. That's right, I am Potty-Free! Potty Photo? What is this Potty of which you speak? Pfft. What? Who said that. I just told you, I don't have one! STOP LOOKING AT ME LIKE THAT!


Final Remark:
The same rules apply to The Bath Photo.

Knowing, Nicolas Cage

SPOILER ALERT: It's only a one line spoiler, but it's pretty major, so if you're planning on seeing this film, either be spoiled, or stop reading now.


So I watched this on DVD with my family last night. Not a bad film; good premise, quite interesting, lame ending, but not draggy.

Here's the spoiler: Nic Cage doesn't save the day. He can't. He fails @ being the hero. The world ends. *deng deng dengggggg*
We all found him rather lame.

And after the movie, all mum can say is this:

"Bruce (Willis) could've done it"

I wonder if she'll ever stop making me laugh.

POC

sometimes everything just seems to work against you, all at the same time.

not one piece of technology cooperates with you, every person around you annoys you, your nose won't stop running, and you just can't seem to get anything done no matter how hard you try.

and you know your life still falls under the "good" side of things, as far as life goes.

but moments like these, you just wish it was different.

tracy jordan

I have been watching 30 Rock for the last week or so, and I have discovered something remarkable.

His name is Tracy Jordan.

Tracy Jordan is a character on 30 Rock, played by Tracy Morgan. He loves to drink, party, engage in various acts of questionable legality, and is obsessed with maintaining his reputation as a crazy celebrity (yes, he WANTS you to believe he is crazy).

Tracy Jordan also has a wife and two (very opinionated) children, and for all his wild partying and strip-clubbing, he loves them very much. I mean, it's not an excuse to behave that way, but there was one particular scene in season 3 that really got me...

Tracy is talking to Jack, his boss.
Tracy: You don't get it. I don't want to spend so much. I have to. I'm afraid Angie will divorce me if I ever have enough money for her to live off a half. So before she can get it, I have to spend it all on useless things...

Jack convinces Tracy to get a pre-nup/post-nup to protect his assets in the event of a divorce.
Angie: So let me get this straight. If I sign this and then Tracy decides to run off with that chunky chick from Hairspray, then I get $8500?
*Angie gives Tracy A Look, then makes a disgusted sound*
Angie: What do I care. I'll sign your stupid contract. I'm never gonna leave this man anyway.

And then Tracy doesn't let her sign the pre-nup, because he's so happy his wife will never leave him.

Ok, so it's actually quite stupid (the show is a comedy), but I thought it was so sweet how he was so afraid his wife would leave him, because he knows he doesn't deserve her. It's like Homer Simpson... for all his terrible habits and general grossness, somewhere in between all the cobwebs in his head, he knows his family comes first.

So at least they've got it right :)

the sad truth

cash flow statements

i think you use them to summarize transactions involving cash.

i think you gotta classify them according to operating, investing and financial activities.

i think you need to know how to categorize transactions according to those three categories.

i think you have to be able to work it out by looking at other financial statements.

i think they're quite difficult.

i think i hate them.