Powderfinger

by Neil Young

Roxette

by Dr. Feelgood

Right Said Fred

by Bernard Cribbins

Late last year, I bought a pair of jeans without trying them on first. Got home and I couldn’t do them up. Two months ago, I started eating less in the way of snacks (mostly as an attempt to save money). Now those jeans fit. I did have the problem of wanting to snack more, which I solved by drinking lots of water (I now drink about 2 litres a day, which is supposedly the recommended amount)

So now I’m going to take it to the next level (and other motivational speak). In keeping with Nike philosophy, I’m about to start the Hacker’s Diet (more specifically, the exercise plan section). I also have an exercise bike which I’ll use as well.

Many years ago, I bought a book about the Canadian Air Force’s 5BX exercise program at a jumble sale. I never really got into it though. Anyway, the Hacker’s Diet program combines 5BX and XBX (the version for women) and simplifies them.

As for weight loss goals… I don’t really have a target weight in mind (though when I was at my fitness peak I weighed 85 kilograms). I’ve got some t-shirts I’d like to be able to wear though.

The Black Eyed Peas – Hey Mama

The first thing I found was the cover for the Black Eyed Peas album Elephunk. Then I found the CD. Here is Track 4: Hey Mama

Killing Heidi – Mascara

Then there was Killing Heidi’s album Reflector. Track 1, also the second single.

One Piece opening credits (Japanese)

The next CD was the One Piece soundtrack. Bought at either ShinTokyo or AVCon.

There were a whole lot more CDs, all anime soundtracks and what Triple J was playing 5-10 years ago.

I was just reminded that six months ago, Candice and I each opened a First Home Savings Account (FHSA). The FHSA is a special bank account that can only be used to buy your first home. It has other restrictions and benefits (more on that later).

My mum had shown us a newspaper article saying that one year after these accounts had become available, only 20,000 of them had been opened nationwide. This was the first I (or anyone I know) had heard about the scheme. Even the home loans officer at my credit union hadn’t heard about it! Anyway, I did some research and discovered the following:

• Money held in a FHSA can only be used to purchase your first home.
• To get the money, you have to have put at least $1,000 a year into the account for at least 4 years. (Every time we saw this, it also said “that’s only $20 a week”. I think part of the idea is to get people into good savings habits.)
• The government matches 17% of what you put in, up to a limit of $5,500 per year (that is, they will pay 17% of $5,500).
• When the first FHSA account holders can access their money, the first home owner’s grant scheme will end.
• If you don’t buy a home by the time you hit retirement age, your FHSA savings go into your superannuation account.
• You can’t have a FHSA in joint names (because of the superannuation rule).
• There is a maximum balance of $80,000 (though interest earned on top of this will still be paid – you just can’t put any more money in.

(disclaimer: some or all of this may be out of date by now)

Despite discovering all that, we couldn’t find a list of FHSA providers! Though we did discover that Commonwealth Bank, Westpac, ANZ and AMP all provide them. So we went to our local Commonwealth branch (because it’s nearest) and opened one account each. Looking forward to buying a home in 3 and a half years!

(More posts on this later – but for (a little) more info, check out the official FHSA website)

WS64 – Ain’t Misbehaving on the uekelele

It’s Fats Waller meets Tiny Tim.

Greg Patillo – Super Mario Brothers on flute and beatbox.

This guy beatboxes and plays the flute at the same time. The link was passed around Twitter and Facebook a few months ago but there’s always someone who hasn’t seen it.

Alice Cooper and the Bee Gees – Because

Yes that really is the Bee Gees on backing vocals.

Tuesday Morning by the Pogues

Live version from 2009.  Slightly dodgy sound and picture quality *and* shaky camera but the only studio versions on youtube have home made videos with photo slideshows. Somehow I find that worse than the dodgiest video of the actual band. Who doesn’t love a good accordian?

Tuesday Afternoon by the Moody Blues

A classic.

Tuesday (Is Raid Night) by Stephen “Boogie” Francis

A WoW themed parody of Friday by Rebecca Black. The video is reminiscent of the Numa Numa dance (in that it features a fat guy rocking out in front of a webcam).

Only it didn’t work out that way. Probably because most of the books can be summed up in two sentences:

Keep on thinking about what you want.
If you don’t get it it’s because you didn’t want it enough.

You don’t have to actually do anything differently, you just have to think about it. And when doing the same old thing gets you the same old results, it’s because you didn’t want it hard enough.

Not every book from the self help genre falls into this category – I did learn a few useful things (mostly financial). Even so, I have trouble putting those lessons into practice.

Anyway, because I’d mostly been told/taught/whatever to just keep on thinking about what I want without doing anything about it, I sort of let things happen rather than making them happen. So I live in a tiny apartment, work at a menial job I’d rather not be doing, and I’m taking 10 years to complete what was supposed to be a 4 year bachelor degree.

But no more! Last weekend I realised that, yet again, I’d set aside an assignment “because there’s plenty of time” only to have the due date “creep up on me”. When I was younger, I was put under a lot of pressure to do well at school so if I don’t think I can do really well I usually don’t bother. Not this time though – I put in as much time and effort as I could and ended up with something that (I hope) will at least get a passing grade. It won’t be a high distinction, but between that, the second assignment, the tutorials and the exam I hope to get at least a credit.

Which brings me to the Nike connection. Nike is the Greek goddess of victory who was named after a shoe company (or is it the other way around?) One of her/their/somebody’s slogans is “Just Do It”. Having “Just Done It” with the assignment, I’ve started to apply this to other areas. Since last weekend, I have:

• changed my Twitter bio from a Groucho Marx quote to something that actually describes me.
• added $20 to my home deposit savings fund (which is $20 more than went in over the last 3 months)
• organised replacements for some furniture that’s falling apart.
• planned the personal website I’ve been thinking about for years. (I can’t afford hosting just yet, but it’ll be a priority once my current bills have been paid).

Weird Al Yankovic – Perform This Way

It turns out that Lady Gaga didn’t block this from appearing on Weird Al’s next album, her manager made that decision. After she heard the song, she went over his head and allowed it. So this one will be appearing on Weird Al’s next album, and proceeds will go to the Human Rights Campaign. More from the man himself.

Zheng Lab – Bad Project

Bad projects are something you want to avoid if you’re doing last year undergrad or any postgrad study. This sums up nicely what you don’t want. My favourite part is the dress made of biohazard bags. Second favourite: “What, what, what, what’s in this box?”

Venetian Princess – Outer Space

A similar concept to Weird Al’s but in this one, Lady Gaga actually is an alien.

There were more but this three are the cleverest and have decent production values (e.g. I would have posted the Jalepeno version of Alejandro if the vocals were clearer). If imitation truly is the sincerest form of flattery, Lady Gaga really is well respected.

Although the pattern’s designed for children, this one is pretty heavyweight wool on 5.5mm needles so it fits some adults. It’s knitted flat and made up by folding it in half and sewing it together.

Now, I’m working on a couple of UFOs at the moment. Thanks to my habit of buying whatever yarn I find in op shops, I have lots of random yarn that I have no immediate plans for. So I’m going to use it for things to donate.

Here’s a small roundup of charity knitting sites:

• KasCare was featured in the magazine. The site has lots of resources including patterns for beanies and jumpers.
• Wrap With Love take squares to make blankets to distribute to homeless people both in Australia and overseas.
• Guardian Angel hasn’t started yet for this year, but it’s a drive run by Guardian Pharmacies. From May, you can pick up a pattern book from their stores and knit items to be donated to the homeless.
• Snuggles Project collects blankets for animal shelters. The site has some knitting, crochet and sewing patterns.
• Australian Reef Project takes croched sea life to educate people about coral reefs (thanks to Murfomurf for telling me about that one)

If you want to knit for charity but none of the above appeal to you, there are a lot more charities that take knitted items. Hospitals with maternity wards need booties and hats for premmies. Homeless shelters need blankets, hats and sweaters. Animal shelters need blankets. Find out what charities are in your area and give them a call.

(Why a cheese theme for this post? Well, based on last week’s Music Monday, some people were expecting this week’s to be Tuesday-themed. There’s an ad (which I can’t find on Youtube) for Mainland cheese where they announce a “Cheese day” festival, when the banner is unveiled it’s discovered that there was a mishearing and it says “Tuesday”.)