So, I got an email telling me that the application I sent off on Monday has been received. Which is, I suppose a good thing since the closing date was Friday. But still pretty fast for interstate mail. And now to wait to see what people think.

Anyway, today was the second part of trawling the city checking out costume shops. This one actually started in the morning for once (since I apparently completely failed at getting any sleep last night, and I figured if I was awake I might as well), and started out in the city.

Again, it wasn't hugely productive in finding just what it was I needed (I shall have to be getting crafty, tomorrow), but I did manage to find me a whole lot of really freaking interesting stuff around the CBD.

Such as: Random alleyways full of interesting cafes that I knew existed in theory but had never been to. And their not unattractive waiters who complimented my jacket in an attempt to get me to have lunch there (I think the fact it's a jacket I got from Savers years ago made it even more amusing). Or this one building with amazing little crafty shops, a kimono wearhouse, an elevator which had it's own attendent (who had decorated his elevator with flowers). And mysterious ~doors to nowhere~.

It was actually an incredibly fun day, despite the exhaustedness. Or possibly even because of it, since it added a mildly surreal note to things. Oh I so needed that coffee at 3pm.

And then I checked out some of Lygon Street and ended up taking another long walk through Brunswick again. as one does.

Also, thank you to the random stranger man on the train who gave me some change so that I could buy a ticket when the inspectors got on. You are a very nice person, and I would totally pay back that $1.50 if I knew who you were.

Some random links to add to the whatever:
- Fullmetal Alchemist is going to hit 50 million manga volumes sold when the final one comes out next month. Go go FMA! That really is a lot of sales.
- The world's largest gummy worm for sale. Just... admire the wrongness of that.
- A time-traveler in a Charlie Chaplin film? Strange and mysterious. Who else sees a Doctor Who episode in that?
- All bomb scares should end this way. Aww, kitty!

So, I went to Armageddon today. It was, as expected REALLY FREAKING COLD out, which a bit of last minute clothes shuffling. (Sorry miniskirts, I don't think I could deal with that today even with colourful tights.)

Ended up with an ankle-length black skirt, black top with billowy lace sleeves and my gothic lolita hat. And white boots, because what the hell? End result with jewellery and sparkly make-up ended up looking kind of goth, actually. And vaguely Victorian - enough that a couple of guys running a stall decided that I must be a steampunk fan and tried to point me in the direction of the books they were selling with much flattery of my taste.

Or they were just trying to hit on me. Not entirely sure.

I ended up going to the panel with Sylvester McCoy, Paul McGann and Sophie Aldred, which was actually quite funny. I think the technical difficulties added a distinct note of fun to the proceedings. I also watched the cosplay contest, and actually watched the entire first two episodes of the FMA:B English Dub for the first time. Which was... interesting, having watched the whole thing in subs.

Got an autograph from Vic Mignogna (who also complimented my outfit, and when asked said he'd dubbed up to episode 58), and I wanted to get John DiMaggio's but kind of that failed miserably.

I mean, I showed up too late for the morning session, which was fine - line was long, he had other stuff to do - I said I'd come back after lunch. And then when I showed up, the lady there was refusing to let anyone else line up before he'd even started doing autographs. And then said to come back in an hour. Which I did, and was still told to come back later. So I did, and was told there were no more autographs allowed, despite the fact there was nothing else on.

I think this would have all been less frustrating if she hadn't decided that no-one else could join the line just as I tried to join the end of it. Seriously.

I also had a near-miss with lizbee - I hadn't realised she was actually there until late in the day, and when I did, I sent a message asking where she was. I was in a queue at the time, so I couldn't rush off, but when I finally did head in her direction - I got a message saying she had just left. Literally, two minutes ago.

That one was more disappointing than aggravating, though.

Otherwise, there were a lot of nifty cosplayers around, but I was too lazy to take pictures. Lots of Doctor Who types, including a Jack with a hand in a jar to my amusement. Slightly less heavy on the anime-types (or at least animes I knew), though I sort of pitied the Yoko I saw in the (lack-of) heat. I saw some Insurance Girls from Trigun, which was nice - I normally I only see Vash and Wolfwood cosplayers around. And so on and so forth. Had a few people take pictures of me, and I shall once more wonder if any of them will ever actually find there way online.

Didn't actually buy much - an FMA stopwatch (sadly, it was first anime, so the year on the "Don't Forget" was off, but I'll live), some interestingly flavoured licorice, and a wooden sword because why not buy a wooden sword. It wasn't hugely expensive.

And that was my day. I can't say it was really up there with my best convention experiences, but that's the way these things go. And it was entertainment for a day.

Well, yesterday was interesting. I headed into Uni for once, for ye old Second Floor events. In this particular case, "Spocktoberfest" as run by the Star Trek club. (Yes I know, snappy name that).

Of course, I'd been working of the generally accurate assumption that Second Floor things never actually start on time and since this one actually was on time, I missed out on pizza. And the start of the movie.

But hey, after wandering over to Lygon Street I got something to eat, and all ended reasonably well. So long as one can cope with ridiculously large amounts of gratuitous and out of context quotes. Seriously, guys...

Random Note: As I saw on my brief Lygon jaunt, apparently Chopper Read was doing a book signing at Borders. This was strangely amusing.

And then we went up to a pub on Sydney Road for drinks. Been a while since I've done that.

And some random frivolity for today:
- A take-off of the Old Spice Guy commercial as done by... Sesame Street. Yes, really. Yes, really. Grover: The Monster Your Monster Could Smell Like.
- And a chibi Old Spice Guy.

Yes, today's random frivolity is all Old Spice Guy related. Is that so wrong?

Ahahaha, oh man, the Grand Final was a draw! I find this utterly hilarious, for some reason. Apparently there will be a rematch next weekend; I'm not entirely sure how Melbourne is going to cope until then.

I'm far too amused by this for my own good, aren't I?

Other things that are currently amusing me:

- Doctor Who wank. And as I said in the comments, for once it's not about shipping or the companion wars.

- Naked Guy on a Horse showjumping. Nothing particularly graphic; deeply lulzy (I think it's the music that does it)

So, in keeping with their glorious tradition, OK GO released another ridiculously fun music video:



I don't think it's quite as clever as "This Too Shall Pass" and I like that song more, but this is pure unadulterated adorable, with lots of d'awww.

This was apparently the 74th take of the video, too.

Or have a song about Muppets. No, really. It is insanely catchy.

And if you interests are less are a bit less musical, The .doc File of J Alfred Prufrock, which is just plain nifty.

Oh Internets, you bring all sorts of random entertainment into my life.

So, trawling through job sites again, and on the open positions that popped up was a position designing and analysing survey data. For... Metlink.

Yeah, that Metlink.

I vaguely considering applying for it (despite it requiring, you know, experience), since social research is sort of my field. And then I realised that even thinking about working for Metlink made me laugh uncontrollably.

So, so much for that.

In other news, I found a traineeship to apply for that doesn't have an email address. As in, the only way to apply... is by printing all the forms out, and sending them in the post. How ~retro~. It also requires photocopies of my academic transcript. At least it isn't due for a few more weeks.

Isn't job hunting exciting?

So, Ikea decided to let 100 cats go loose in one of their stores FOR SCIENCE...

I don't have any further commentary; this just speaks for itself, really. _{I wanna kitty}

You know, I honestly think writing cover letters is even more boring than updating resumes. It's so... formulaic. Though on the plus side, once you have saved a cover letter for one job, you only need to do a find-replace and you have a suitable one for other similar jobs. Yes, Mother, I have been sending in job applications today.

Apart from that I've haven't been having a real busy time as of late. I went to my sister's birthday dinner party thing on the weekend, met some of her friends (well, the ones I didn't already know, anyway), had food, drinks - egads that punch.

And then we played Jenga and watched Doctor Horrible. As one does at a Birthday Dinner Party.

On the subject of social type thingies: This upcoming weekend is when WorldCon is being held here in Melbourne. Now, I'm not going to the whole thing because dude, mondo expensive. Plus I think I have some social things coming up - A birthday invite on Friday night, and Mum's down in town for the Sister's birthday at some point.

But I wouldn't mind spending, like, one day there, check out some of the panels and so on. And possibly meeting up with some of the interstate/international flistees and such who are in town.

So... anyone going, anyone got any they'd recommend I check out, anyone want to plan a meetup? Or whatever.

So, Old Spice Guy and his ads seem to have given rise to a few rather amusing parody ads. Yep, definitely become a meme now.

There's this one promoting libraries, with some actually pretty good production values for a knock-off YouTube vid.

And then there's Tim Costello for World Vision Australia.

...Yeah, I don't know about that one, either.

Also, LoudTwitter seems to be down and I don't as yet have a suitable replacement. And I still need to finish packing, since so far I just have a big pile of clothes next to my suitcase.

So, today my Mum sent me an email asking if I wanted to do a Duck Boat tour of Philadelphia - with this news article attached.

Truly, a remarkable way to advertise said tour.