Pretty Pebbles

I collect all sorts of weird junk (just wait until I start posting some of my Video game figurines).
One of the things I like to collect are rocks. Not just average-looking chunks of gravel, mind you, but rocks that are pretty.

Like these:

I found the three blue stones at the Sunday market a few weeks ago, for about $3 each. I thought the smaller stones with the gold flecks were Lapis Lazuli but it turns out they are merely Sodalite, which is slightly different. However, the plain blue stone could in fact be Lapis Lazuli - it's hard to tell when you don't have a lot of experience with minerals!
The small purple stone is most likely Amethyst - it looks different in this photo because I haven't got the hang of setting up lighting yet, but it is the typical purple colour.

I have some other stones to show off, and I'll post pictures when I have them.

Being Thirty (Part Two)

So, here's what happened when I actually turned thirty.

Well, the story continues from the Sunday before... when I overslept and nearly missed opening the shop on time. I managed to get there about five minutes before we were open for trade, and I quickly raced around getting everything sorted out in time! It brought back horrible memories of when I used to open up the shop in Traralgon every weekend... ooer. ugh.

I worked for about six hours, then I headed to the Sunday Market (first time I'd been in months!) and picked up a few CDs and Sega games. The guy who sold me the games recognised me from the last time I'd been there, and tried to get me to buy a few more games... but I haven't even tried out the last few games I've bought from him! Well, I've got the Sega stashed away somewhere...

When I came home, I was getting really sleepy, so I went to bed for a nap - and woke up at about 11.30 pm, almost in time for my age to click over!
After the clock ticked over to Midnight, my sister gave me her gifts, which were a kilogram of Jelly Belly beans (ooh, just typing that hurts my stomach) and a bunch of pretty coloured markers. Heh, maybe someday I'll actually get around to using those!

I stayed up most of the night, because I'd been asleep for so long already, so I spent most of that time just browsing on the Internet and working on my games. Then the others woke up and went about their business, and when they came back they asked me if I wanted to do anything special for the occasion.
I thought about it for a while... and while I was thinking, my eyelids started getting really really heavy...

So, I went back to bed.
Yep! THAT'S HOW I HONOURED MY 30th BIRTHDAY. TAKING A NAP.

...except that wasn't the end of it.
I kept getting interrupted by phonecalls and wellwishers, so eventually I just got up and joined civilisation again. Besides, Ma had dumped a handful of confetti all over my bed so it wasn't exactly the most comfortable place any more. :)

We had another cake at Ma's place. This time it was a cream-filled sponge, with multi-coloured sprinkles, and that went a lot quicker than the cheesecake from Saturday. I even managed to recycle the candle from the first cake!

Aaand... The birthday fun continues! Later this week I'll be having my friends over for a non-formal gathering at our place, which ought to be fun! I haven't had a get-together for a while, so I have a lot to catch up on!

Also...

In other news...

Today I went to the Sunday Market, for the first time in a few weeks. And this time, I actually managed to get there before they started closing up for the day, for a change!
I found a few appealing items (well, they were to me, anyway). A few vintage Mega Drive games (Zoom!, Chaos Engine, Cool Spot, and something called "Greendog the Beached Surfer Dude", whatever that turns out to be), a couple of CDs (Fleetwood Mac and Oasis), and some junk food.
I also ran into Will and Rox, who were there with Will's mum and brother, running a new stall at the market. I'm going to visit them some time next week.

I picked up the latest issue of Retro Gamer today (in a manner of speaking, since we get it about two months behind over here). Not a bad read, in fact it's about the only magazine I bother picking up these days. I only wish Andrew would finish with the ones I loaned him about a year and a half ago... [end obvious hint]

I called in to work on the way out to the market, only to discover that EFTPOS was down - BIG SURPRISE! It always goes offline on a long weekend! God knows why it keeps doing this, but back on Friday I knew it was going to happen.
(Damn you Crusty, you jinxed me again!)

Speaking of, I really ought to go to bed now, since I'm opening in the morning. See you soon!