My Harvest Moon farm is now called Highbury.

"This had just taken place and with great cordiality, when John Knightley made his appearance, and "How d'ye do, George?" and "John, how are you?" succeeded in the true English style, burying under a calmness that seemed all but indifference, the real attachment which would have led either of them, if requisite, to do every thing for the good of the other."

"Mr. Knightley seemed to be trying not to smile; and succeeded without difficulty, upon Mrs. Elton's beginning to talk to him."

... Jane Austen, Emma

It has taken me a while to get into Emma - everyone in the book is so annoying, except for Mrs. Weston, and Mr. Knightley, whom I suspect will turn out to be Emma's Darcy. I love Mr. Knightley, and would not wish that fate upon him, but oh well; I still have 150 pages or so more to pull a "if you're happy I'm happy".

Miffy has left her childhood behind and flying back-kicked into the next phase of her life, in which she eats everything. Her especial favourite is stickers, which she amazingly peels off any surface, but she is not adverse clothes, or magazines, or the occasional stray kotex wrapping. I don't really know that she's adverse to anything, but one can only hope.

Miffy, food!

I really have to come up with a new layout.

Harry Potter Deathly Hallows will be two movies! Yayyyy! I wish they'd show them one after the other, like a 6 hour extravaganza with an interval in the middle. Awesome! Sadly, it's going to be a 6 month interval, while I vent my frustration by buying Miffy a whole new bunch of stuff! STUFF! I love stuff. My mum, sadly, is very anti-stuff, and says if I buy Miff any more stuff we'll have to move house.

I'd really like a 'Snape is Good' badge ):

Miffy at food time (and the new command I'm trying to teach her). That's Mugglecast in the background, with the weird rock version of the movie theme. For some reason she always dashes to me if I'm photographing or filming her. Sorry for the quality and for me forgetting which camera angle I started with.


Miffy, Food! from Claire Matthews on Vimeo.

Italian friend: ... I mean, the Romans killed Jesus in such a horrible way.
him: Yeah, well you know, Rome is in Italy.
Italian friend: Oh my god, ITALIANS KILLED JESUS????

I am so hooked to podcasts. Podcasts are my new best friend. Thank you, podcasts, for filling my life with meaning, and ending monotonous bus rides forever. Since most of the podcasts I'm listening to are Melissa, John and Sue (and now Frak, what kind of a name is that, I ask you?) happily obsessing about Harry Potter, I suddenly feel like writing a book.

No, no, not a book about a girl named Sally who discovers she's a witch and goes off to school. I am not yet that desperate, NTU's infinite plagiarism policies have worked, rejoice, NTU! The thing is I really don't know what on earth I'm going to write about, does anyone have a story in need of a writer? I am zero creative thought but I like to write, and my life is just too boring for journaling anymore, I am beginning to be tempted to make things up. April 5th, Mas Selamat kidnapped me when I was walking to endless tuition classes and told me of his next dastardly deed.

Give me some crazy ideas, friends!

Finally I have a bunny! Behold, the obsession.



mmm... foot.


The ultimate best thing ever about having a rabbit has to be seeing Les waving a stuffed leopard at it, shouting "HAKUNA MATATA! HAKUNA MATATA!", while Miffy calmly chews on an alfafa stalk, looking at me like "So what else is there to eat around here?"