Kylie
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Posts posted by Kylie
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I have received a few books in the mail this week—all hand delivered to my door by my posties. Aw, I'm a lucky gal.
Jennifer Byrne A Book to Love (guests from ABC's First Tuesday Book Club discuss their favourite books)
Carolyn Cassady Off the Road: Twenty Years with Cassady, Kerouac and Ginsberg
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle Tales of Unease
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How can you function without the most important meal of the day?
Most people I know don't eat a proper breakfast (including myself). It's quite common.
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Yes, we've had a few athletes in tears, and our overly hyped Magnussen wandered off after his (non)-interview and let his teammates try to explain what went wrong in the 400m relay. That's what I was referring to when I spoke of our cocky athletes, but maybe I'm being a bit too hard on them. I suppose they should be given more time to get over the disappointment a little and compose themselves for the interview. It's a shame that there are so few medal winners when so many people spend their lives working hard to get to the Olympics.
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I had an inkling of how much you wanted it.
Australia's Olympics have been a bit disappointing (for the athletes) so far. We used to get many more medals, especially in swimming. But much like cricket, our great era of swimming (Thorpie and co) has passed. Still, some of our swimmers have come undone because they've been a bit too cocky, which I'm almost glad about.
I haven't watched much equestrian in the past, but I really enjoyed the past few days. I didn't realise it was such a nerve-wracking sport. Every time a horse jumped, my heart jumped with it because I was terrified the horse would get hurt.
I thought the equestrian course was just lovely, with jumps over the moon and a daybed and other cute things. -
Hi Lou.
Yes the size is daunting and it is quite slow to start, but if you decide to stick with it, you'll be rewarded because it picks up a lot and gets quite exciting, in my opinion. -
Congrats to the UK on their first gold medal and congrats to Australia for coming back to get silver at the last moment!
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I kicked off my August book activity by receiving a book in the mail: A Book to Love. It was published by the ABC, the network that presents the First Tuesday Book Club on TV. It's a collection of essays by various authors about their favourite books.
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I honestly can't remember when I've been this excited about my life.
Aww.
You so deserve it. 
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I finished a book for the first time in weeks yesterday: The Great Typo Hunt. I'm continuing with We and Rumo & His Miraculous Adventures now.
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Cool.
Thanks for the info. I find it interesting that the village has a bike shop, especially as 2/3 of the residents are over 50! Is it a popular destination for bike riders on weekends, or for tourists in general? -
I'm glad you had a great time, June. Box Hill is really a beautiful place. It's exactly my type of place, with lots of tree-lined streets where the branches meet over the road (if you know what I mean). It's great for the spectators that they rode around and around Box Hill so you could see them multiple times, unlike the Tour de France, where they pass once and if you blink, you'll miss them! It was pretty bad luck for the Colombian that he looked over the wrong shoulder heading down the final straight.
I must confess, though, I didn't know where Box Hill was in relation to London. Given that you've always described it as a quiet village, I assumed (you know what they say about assuming!) that it was a long, long way from London. Imagine my surprise when I suddenly saw the riders heading down the road towards Buckingham Palace! I felt quite silly. (Our coverage of the cycling was interrupted numerous times by other sporting events.) So you must live quite close to the London CBD then?
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Watching the cycling in Box Hill. I'm looking for June but it's like trying to spot a needle in a moving haystack.
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I understand where you're going with this.
It's funny you should bring it up because I've been thinking about it (or something similar) myself in the past few days. In the lead up to the Olympics, there have been minor controversies here with athletes whinging about one thing or another.I'm always disappointed when I find that authors whose work I love were not very nice people. This especially involves classic authors, who were sexist, racist etc, although I try to cut them a little slack given they were a product of their times. Hunter S Thompson is a more recent example; I love his work but don't think I like him much as a person.
Then there's Charlton Heston, one of my favourite actors, who was the president of the NRA for years, and I don't advocate people having guns unless absolutely necessary.
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Not to mention the choreography of the workers 'at work' during the industrial revolution - great stuff.
I dozed off just before the end, but luckily I recorded it (and it's already airing for a second time here while we wait for you all to wake up so we can watch some sport
) so I was able to go back and watch the lighting of the cauldron (brilliantly done) and my hero, Paul McCartney, performing a couple of songs. I love that he sang The End, which I think has some of the most beautiful lyrics they wrote: 'and in the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make'. I'm not sure about Hey Jude as a song choice, but I guess it was chosen because it's a great 'sing along' song. But another song about love might have been nice (Love is All You Need). Oh, or it would have been brilliant if Macca had sung Imagine, which would have been perfect for the spirit of the games as well as giving a nod to John Lennon. Anyway, I'm just happy I got to see him sing at all. -
What was the FU to the government? I've quite enjoyed it, although I missed a bit of the beginning because I had to dash out and buy some snacks. I arrived in time to see the industrial bit and the rings coming together. I thought that was brilliant - very nicely done.
What did you think of the NHS bit? As a non-Pom, I was a little puzzled, but I thought it was cute. Good health services should be celebrated, I guess. I suppose I thought it was a bit strange because I've never exactly heard glowing reports of the NHS and because, as our commentator said, we couldn't imagine celebrating Medicare (our NHS equivalent) over here.
You can't help but smile when you watch the ceremony. I love to watch all the little countries coming out and looking so happy.
I love to see all the world gathering together for a good and happy event. -
I'm so glad Australia comes early in the alphabet.
I can tune out for a bit now and get some work done. -
The opening ceremony, of course.
Aww, they had a girl reading under the sheets. -
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I know just how you feel, Andrea. I feel as though I'll never have enough time to read all the books I want.
I received An Arsène Lupin Omnibus by Maurice Leblanc in the mail yesterday. I wasn't sure what stories would be in it, but I was pretty sure it would include Arsène Lupin, Gentleman Thief, which I already own. I figured doubling up on one story wouldn't be too bad, but happily, things went my way for once, and there are four different books in the omnibus.
I started reading the first one yesterday (Arsène Lupin vs Holmlock Shears ) and was getting absorbed by the second page, but I had to put it down because I already have a few books on the go. -
I agree with Bree. I think your edition of the book has been split into two volumes. In one volume, it's pretty darn thick.
So I vote that you read the second volume of Gone with the Wind.
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A trailer has been released for Cloud Atlas. I would never have thought it could translate to the screen, but it looks quite interesting, so I think I'll check it out.
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I've merged threads. I can't believe the previous thread hadn't been updated in so long! Maybe there's another thread that I missed...
I've really started to enjoy Wilfred recently. It's hilarious.
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Summer Olympics
in General Chat
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I just learned that Jenna Fox, who won silver, is from my home town! Woohoo! My town gets quite a bad rap usually, so it's good to see someone making good. I guess I shouldn't be surprised that she's from around here given that the white water stadium used in Sydney's Olympics is about 2 mins away from where I live.
Poppyshake, I had to do a training course for the SES at the white water rafting stadium here (similar in scariness to London's course), but instead of going through the course in a nice comfy canoe I had to jump straight into the water (more than once) and then try and swim (rescue myself) out of it. I hadn't done a jot of swimming in about 15 years.