LP

i love this bio of astroboy on the thorn tree:

I am a dynamic figure, often seen scaling walls and crushing ice. I have been known to remodel train stations on my lunch breaks, making them more efficient in the area of heat retention. I translate ethnic slurs for Cuban refugees, I write award-winning operas, I manage time efficiently. Occasionally, I tread water for three days in a row. I woo women with my sensuous and godlike trombone playing, I can pilot bicycles up severe inclines with unflagging speed, and I cook Thirty-Minute Brownies in twenty minutes. I am an expert in stucco, a veteran in love, and an outlaw in Peru. Using only a hoe and a large glass of water, I once single-handedly defended a small village in the Amazon Basin from a horde of ferocious army ants. I play bluegrass cello, I was scouted by the Mets, I am the subject of numerous documentaries. When I'm bored, I build large suspension bridges in my yard. I enjoy urban hang gliding. On Wednesdays, after school, I repair electrical appliances free of charge. I am an abstract artist, a concrete analyst, and a ruthless bookie. Critics worldwide swoon over my original line of corduroy evening wear. I don't perspire. I am a private citizen, yet I receive fan mail. I have been caller number nine and have won the weekend passes. Last summer I toured New Jersey with a traveling centrifugal-force demonstration. I bat .400. My deft floral arrangements have earned me fame in international botany circles. Children trust me. I can hurl tennis rackets at small moving objects with deadly accuracy. I once read Paradise Lost, Moby Dick, and David Copperfield in one day and still had time to refurbish an entire dining room that evening. I know the exact location of every food item in the supermarket. I have performed several covert operations for the CIA. I sleep once a week; when I do sleep, I sleep in a chair. While on vacation in Canada, I successfully negotiated with a group of terrorists who had seized a small bakery. The laws of physics do not apply to me. I balance, I weave, I dodge, I frolic, and my bills are all paid. On weekends, to let off steam, I participate in full-contact origami. Years ago I discovered the meaning of life but forgot to write it down. I have made extraordinary four course meals using only a mouli and a toaster oven. I breed prizewinning clams. I have won bullfights in San Juan, cliff-diving competitions in Sri Lanka, and spelling bees at the Kremlin. I have played Hamlet, I have performed open-heart surgery, and I have spoken with Elvis.

Owning a pair of vaginas doubles your fun!

She’s one in a million. Well, technically, I guess she’s sort of two in a million. That is, she has two vaginas, two uteruses and two cervixes.

On the other hand, J’s uterus didelphys – the technical name for her matching lady bits – is, according to one of the many gynecologists who’ve poked around down there over the years, literally one in a million. In and around there, anyway.

"It’s really, really rare," J proudly explains. "There are more cases of women having just two wombs or just two vaginas or two cervixes, but I’ve got the whole kit times two."
Well, except the clitoris.

"Are you kidding?" laughs J. "If I had two clits, I’d never leave the house!"

here's Anousheh Ansari's space blog!

ping pong

clown phobia

Organisers of a British rock festival have been forced to change its circus theme after a ticketholders told them they had a phobia of clowns.
The Bestival event on the Isle of Wight, off England's south coast, in early September was to have encouraged festival-goers to dress up in curly red wigs and oversized shoes.
Last year's Cowboys or Indians theme broke a world record for the biggest fancy dress party when 10,000 people turned up in disguise.
But organisers feared thousands of clowns in one place could spark mass panic in the psychedelic atmosphere of the festival, which is popular with so-called "nouveaux hippies", The Times reported today.
"We have had so many people with clown phobias contact us I am worried everyone might end up hiding in the woods," Rob da Bank, a BBC Radio One disc jockey who will "curate" the show, was quoted as saying.
Fear of clowns - or coulrophobia - has symptoms including shortness of breath, rapid breathing, irregular heartbeat, nausea, sweating and a sense of foreboding, The Times pointed out.
Heavy make-up and bulbous noses, plus negative childhood memories of the supposed funnymen and women, are thought to be the root cause.

fun at the zoo with mirko and bondy

intern dinner photos by demand

finishing up

i've checked my email twice, done a ward round on my single patient and written up a full summary, ordered investigations, checked my bank account and it's only half past eight in the morning. sounds great, but it's not. it's de-skilling and it's depressing!

caves and coast

1 - classic latrobe valley: cows grazing under a sea of power-lines. 2 - inside a chamber of the buchan caves. 3 - a beautiful old shed near buchan. 4 - a dry salt lake near golden beach.

a day at the beach, an afternoon in the mountains

1,2+3: haystacks in the fields around traralgon. 4 - woodside beach. 5 - last sunset of 2005

bizarre

this, from today's age:

Woman weds dolphin

Tel Aviv, IsraelDecember 30, 2005 - 6:34AM

British tourist Sharon Tendler has finally made her dream match - by "marrying" a dolphin she has been visiting for 15 years in the Israeli resort of Eilat, the mass-circulation Yediot Ahronot daily reported today.
Ms Tendler, 41, has been visiting the city on the Gulf of Aqaba two or three times a year to spend time with her 35-year-old underwater sweetheart.
"The peace and tranquility under water, and his love, would calm me down," the Israeli daily quoted her as saying.
Last week, Ms Tendler finally plucked up the courage to ask the dolphin's trainer for the mammal's fin in marriage.
The wedding took place on Wednesday, with the bride - wearing a white dress and watched by amazed spectators - walking down the dock to where the groom was waiting in the water.
She kissed him, to the cheers of the spectators and then, after the ceremony was sealed with some mackerels, was tossed into the water so she could swim away with her new husband.
"I'm the happiest girl on earth," the bride was quoted as saying.
"I made a dream come true. And I am not a pervert."

when i first read this article, i thought it sounded bizarre. and then i thought about it and realised how beautiful it was, and how lucky the pair are. i wish them well.

Ondrej @ ABC

trying to get a picture for my profile but it needs a URL, so putting it up here is the only way i can think of getting one...(if anyone knows any different, please comment)

red vision

I'm haunted by this painting by Leonor Fini - 'Red Vision'

japanese kitty

here's a scan of a postcard iva sent to us at christmas. how cute!

iva's blog

check out vov's blog:

http://ivainjapan.blogspot.com/

you can also just click on the link in the side-bar

Pong and Ang's visit to the Latrobe Valley

here are some pics from 15/12/05. much fun was had by all :)

getting with the times

just one entry to get kicking :)