Back once more, and I'm here to stay!

Finally I return, after a blur of buses and shuttles and planes and showers and luggage and very little sleep and even less food (for the plane part at least) and I'm now in England! Here I am to stay, I'm afraid you shan't get rid of me :P

I won't keep you too long today, because I'm still a little 'lagged and stuff but I just wanted to say that I arrived safely, and although I'm absolutely freezing permanently I'm fine, and pretty jazzed about everything xD

Stay tuned kids, more shall follow and I shall try get back into the once-a-day routine ASAP.
For now, I'm off to bury myself in blankets :P

Tsunami, and the reason for the non-posting backlog

You've probably heard about the earthquake in Japan, and maybe the subsequent tsunami warnings in New Zealand.
So I was up all night worrying about it, checking the live news feed for updates and crying about whether to wake up my family, etc.
So as a result of that and a party the next night I'm absolutely exhausted, hence not posting for the past two nights. So sorry about that, and I really do need sleep, so between that and all the packing for the move in about FOUR DAYS, my posting MAY become a little erratic, so bear with me :D

I shall appreciate your patience (not that anyone really reads this thing anyway :P)
I'll post again in a minute to make up for what I missed but it'll just be a link or something, I'm really too tired to do anything else.

Also I want to say that my thoughts are with everyone who's been affected, and I wish everyone the best possible throughout everything that's happened. 

Sacha, this is for you.

Well if my luck holds you'll be checking out my blog like I told you to, so I hope the first thing you see is this:

Sacha, you're amazing.
I love you, so much.

When I see you, I can't help but smile because I feel so lucky to have the chance to spend time with you. When you smile at me I just want to hug you and tell you how amazing you are.
Talking to you makes my day, makes me feel so special to have such an amazing friend.
I still don't understand how I could be friends with such an amazing, wonderful, fun, kind, beautiful person - how I could have been so lucky to meet you those years ago?

I love you , even if you're mean to me sometimes, and call me a *unrepeatable* :P
Even when you look so beautiful you make me jealous, and when you look better in that dress than I ever did :P

I always have such a good time with you, you make me laugh, and I love how we can totally muck around and have fun then sit down and talk for hours about everything - remember when we stayed up nearly all night, just talking in the dark?

You're one of the best people I've ever met, and I treasure every single memory we've shared. I'll never, ever let us lose contact, and you'd better come stay with me for your OE! I'll throw you a party if you do!

Just remember, if you're ever sad or want to talk, I'm only a phone, email, or Skype away (you'd better have your webcam working!) I promise to stay in contact with you, and I'll never let us drift apart, I know when we meet again it'll just be like it always was, and it'll be amazing.

I love you Sacha xoxox <3

Finally, the photos!

It's come to my attention that I never posted the black and white photos I promised you all, so here they are!
I can't really put up the ones of my family, so I'll just show you a couple of me :)
Make sure to check out the boots :P

Hope you enjoyed, delicious friends (if you listened to me and checked out Echo Bazaar you'd get that :P).

In Memoriam

In Memoriam to the 166 confirmed dead in the Christchurch earthquakes, and my sincerest hopes that the many, many presumed dead are found and rescued.

There are too many dead for me to list here, but take the time to think and just remember the people of all ages who died, from the old couple who were on the bus, him dying instantly and she later in hospital, according to a friend "of a broken heart", to the two six-month old babies who were crushed by their televison, their mother being hit by the ceiling falling in as she reached out in an attempt to save them.

In Memoriam.

What DOES the red pedal do, anyway?

Nothing compares to the thrill of a massive spin-out as you speed round a corner, without bothering with the fairly useless red pedal that someone attempted explaining the use of before you started racing.

The thrill of the many ample curves of the track, tempting you to beat your previous score for fastest, most reckless turns somehow block out the warnings being read out to you...

"Caution: It's VERY important when racing to make sure you utilise the-"

Oooh, I bet I could skid riiiiight out there to prevent anyone overtaking me...

"And there's really no danger of injury as long as you properly-"

Better make sure I keep an eye on the competition, wouldn't want them to get a head start, maybe I should start off a tiiiny bit before we're told...

"Alright, as long as you remember those I'm sure you'll have a great time! Three, two, o-"

YES! Out ahead, first corner coming up, hit the accelerator, perfect skid.

Waaay out in front!

If I scrunch my eyes up and squint, I can just about see the competition in the dust behind me xD

Doesn't seem to be a way to slow down, but who needs that!

...Hmm, so I wonder what that  red pedal actually does...?

The world needs people to see this.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Tell-Her-Shes-Beautiful/180853151959451

Basically it's a website to tell girls that they're beautiful, because so many of them seem to forget it...
Please, check it out and remind them :)

Good Samaritan :D

Well I'm feeling like a good Samaritan, all full of the slightly smug happiness that comes only from rescuing a small dog from becoming a...slightly smaller piece of dog on the roads.

Though perhaps not picture-perfect as I knelt with my head under a parked car and *cough* other parts of my anatomy askew in a slightly ungainly, *slightly* not very ladylike position, I'll confess to feeling rather heroic as I offered a small piece of sausage to the snarling Pomeranian in front of me.

The endeavor eventually succeeded rather well, with the miraculously calmed dog (Apparently I became much less of a threat with a few fingers missing) on a makeshift lead fashioned from a key-chain, and soon safely returned to its owners (Cue: Awwww).

So, there we go! I'm not completely heartless, after all.

Just had to share

This video.
Short and sweet, but this song says a lot for me.

What is the appearance of vacuoles?

Seriously, my auto-fill came up with this??? Seriously?

So, you may have realized I'm not actually going to talk to you about the appearance of vacuoles, but instead beg your forgiveness for the constant streams of pictures and comic strips instead of rants and stuff.

As I may have mentioned, we're leaving for England in about 13 days and so I'm sorta preoccupied with sorting and packing and everything, but I've put aside a little time tonight to talk, as I'm actually feeling in a kinda serious mood tonight.

Nothing bad I guess, just slightly somber, a little weary, the sort of heavy soul-sighing mood where one feels lazy and unmotivated and the only way to deal with it is to ramble on, and on, or perhaps write a poem, or amuse oneself with Shakespearian wordplay, forsooth!

So, I can't bring myself to put pen to paper right this instant, but I feel I've rambled sufficiently to find in myself the energy to find and post a haiku of mine, adapted from one written when I was a young boy, my father, took me into the city, to see a marching band... er child of fourteen, the only time I remember struggling to confine my art to such a constrained format.

But here you go:

Beaten and scarred, alone

She gazes, weeping, Westward.

Her home is no more.

Cyanide and Happiness

To distract myself from nightmares of giant spiders D:
(Click to enlarge)

Bit of Drama

Bit of drama tonight, in the form of a Whitetail Spider, pictured here:

Found it wandering the ceiling of one of the bedrooms in our house, in which two of the room's inhabitants had been bitten by an unfound Whitetail a week previously, resulting in a late-night trip to A&E. 

More information about them can be found here.

Apparently they like hanging out in people's beds D: This is just another reason as to why I'm excited to go to England...We shall no longer be subject to these Australian-born terrors stalking our beds! 

(Not that I have anything against Australia (nor New Zealand) but the spiders there are rather terrifying...

And if those aren't bad enough, remember...They breed.

Enjoy your evening.

Julian Beever

Ok, this guy is actually AMAZING.

He's a street artist who does awesome pavement sketches in 3D. Seriously, check him out.
Here are a few of my favourites...

Enjoy.

We're off on an adventure, Charlie!

WANT WANT WANT

Well, it made me laugh :P

Those jokes are always *puts on sunglasses*
Handy ;)

Also, science jokes ftw xD

Think you like MCR...?

Think again.

I don't think I've ever seen as big a fan of band My Chemical Romance than this guy, Brandi.
If you've heard of them, like them, love them, can't-live-without-them, then check out his tumblr: http://imnotokaypromise.tumblr.com/

His devotion to the band he says saved his life is incredible, and I honestly believe he's one of, if not their biggest fan. And if I ever am so lucky to meet any of the guys from MCR, I'm telling them that.

MCR <3

I leave you with one of my favourites: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kDWgsQhbaqU

Gotta love 'em :D

Don't be mad, 'kay?

So, um *cough*

I've come crawling back after leaving you, with no word or warning, for two days :'(
Y'see, I was at my aunt's, and didn't get on the internet much, etc, etc.

Don't be mad, 'kay?

There xD
Can't be mad at the eyes - and the promise that two posts shall follow this one - two! Two I say!

Progression to Hendrix

Yes, I've done it, I've mastered the guitar! I'm the undisputed Hendrix-esque-skilled-player.

...That is, of course, presuming you consider mastering the guitar to be being able to crank out three full songs on request, pausing before playing to warn your listeners of the badly-tuned strings, odd chord-sequences you're not used to and slight gaps in your singing while you try to remember how many beats are in a bar, again?

Ok, so perhaps I'm not going to be making records and subsequent millions in the near future - but it's damn fun imagining xD

Anyway, on the subject of guitar, and because I feel I've not publicly shamed myself enough on the internet, I shall give you a guitar song of upmost hilarity, performed by England's very own Bill Bailey!
 *Drum roll*
*Bestows link*
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=js4GepPNQro

*Cough* And do try not to compare the two of us *too* much, my dears :P

Had to share :')

Just had to share this with you guys, it's absolutely hilarious :')
Check his other stuff out as well, he's awesome :D

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mi5zd60ites

Also, it's not what you think, don't be weirded out by the name :P

Enjoy ;)

Christchurch

So, in case you haven't heard, Christchurch was hit with a huge earthquake today. I think it was something like 6.2 on the Richter Scale, and only 5ks below the surface.
The aftershocks are also pretty violent, last time I heard they were coming in about every hour.
It's all over the news, pretty horrifying footage, something like 65 recorded deaths and twice as many estimated dead.
They're calling out for blood donors and any old clothes/blankets/bedding, so if you live in NZ and for some reason haven't heard this just think about it yeah?

All thoughts to them right now, can't even imagine what they're going through. Donating blood tomorrow,I just hope it can at least help someone, somehow.
Just take a moment to think, kay?

Be amused, or your money back XD

 Seems legit.

 AWESOME

 You know it's the cutest thing you've ever seen :')

Beach Party

You may have noticed I didn't manage to post yesterday D:

This was due to not arriving home until half one, by which stage I was exhausted and went straight to bed.

So, two posts again today to make up for it :D

Firstly, the beach party!

Had an awesome time meeting up with all our friends for the afternoon, as we're leaving for England in 26 days, give or take a few hours :') 'Twas a very enjoyable time, with delightful company, a long evening and warm water...Jealous yet? You should be ;)

So just want to shout out to you all, love you guys and I shall miss you heaps, let's not lose contact yeah?

xoxoxoxox

I'm getting about the interwebs, you'd better start hiding...

Well, it's official. I've been cajoled into creating a tumblr, so check me out and follow, follow, follow!
I'll admit it's taking me a while to get the hang of it, so ignore my fumbling first steps, I'm learning fast ;)

http://poppieshideopium.tumblr.com/
Yes. Yes, you want to.

And we shall venture forth...

In approximately one-and-a-half hours, we shall venture forth to receive the black-and-white photos I mentioned a few days ago. I'll not deny I'm rather excited :P

I shall sort through them and see if I can find any worth publication so you people can share in the joy too :')

On another note, my upcoming posts are likely to be fairly short as I'm rather busy cleaning, sorting and packing.
For what, you ask?

Well, in exactly 28 days we're undertaking the rather monumental task of moving from New Zealand back to England xD Whilst being sad to leave friends and the like here, I'm absolutely ecstatic at seeing my family and old friends, as well as several new people I can't wait to meet! One of these good people I shall shout out to, being (as far as I know) the most loyal follower of my blog and just generally awesome person :')

So here's a shout-out for you, Seth!  *Shouts out*

And now my dears, the bedroom calls, and not in the fun way >.<

On the lighter side...

Came across this today and found it rather amusing...enjoy ;P

Mike was going to be married to Karen so his Father sat him down for a little chat.

He said, ‘Mike, let me tell you something… On my wedding night in our honeymoon suite, I took off my pants, handed them to your Mother, and said, ‘Here – try these on’.’

She did and said, ‘These are too big. I can’t wear them.’

I replied, ‘Exactly. I wear the pants in this family and I always will.’ Ever since that night, we have never had any problems.

‘Hmmm,’ said Mike. He thought that might be a good thing to try.

On his honeymoon, Mike took off his pants and said to Karen, ‘Here – try these on.’

She tried them on and said, ‘These are too large. They don’t fit me.’

Mike said, ‘Exactly. I wear the pants in this family and I always will. I don’t want you to ever forget that.’

Then Karen took off her panties and handed them to Mike. She said, ‘Here- you try on mine.’

He did and said, ‘I can’t get into your panties.’

Karen said, ‘Exactly. And if you don’t change your smart-ass attitude, you never will.’

Notice anything?

Yes, Hot off the Blog's going through a revamp! (No pun intended)

So, the main difference (in case you haven't noticed already) is the background, which has been replaced with a piece by my favourite Gothic artist, Victoria Frances.
I'll post you the full picture, as well as a few of my other favourites, which are likely to be making an appearance on the background at some point.

Here we go:

And some of my other favourites, enjoy:

Anyway, once you've cleared your head of the awesomeness of those pictures, tell me what you think of the new layout :)

Apologies, my dears, and Maverick!

Well I've already missed a day of blogging D: And for that I shall apologize to my thousands of loyal readers  and post twice today, instead :)

Well, Valentine's is over, thankfully, for another year, so I shall say no more on the matter until the infernal day comes round again.

Anyway, today I'd like to inform everyone about Kickass Rock band Maverick! These guys are awesome, and you really should check them out *here* and give 'em some likes.
They're pretty new still, so show your support :D
They also just had their first gig on the the 11th, which I sadly missed, due to being in New Zealand, but which I hear was verily awesome and gave forth a multitude of new photos, some of which are reasonably hilarious. *CoughWill'sdrumfaceCough* :P

So seriously guys, check them out, listen to their music -which they very kindly allow free access to - and SPREAD THE WORD!

February 14th...Do I need to say more?

Well yes, because I'm not content until I've had my say on the matter.
The matter I refer to, as I'm guessing most of you know, is Valentines Day.
Valentines Day, V-Day, The Day of Saint Valentine, whatever you choose to call it.

If you're one of those sugar-sweet couples reading this and expecting an ode to the beauty of such a sacrament day...Stop reading.

Actually, don't. Your relationship status should have nothing to do with the readings of my opinions :P

Valentines Day, to me, has become less of a way to celebrate your love as another way to rub it in the faces of the single masses. And of course, you simply MUST buy your beloved a beautiful card, expensive presents and dinner in the mushiest restaurant available (The more crepe-paper hearts falling from the ceiling into your food, the better). If you don't do these things, you obviously don't love them.

Take a look through the mountains of pink plastic hearts and teddy bears, and you may just have an epiphany. You may just realise that it's not about showing your love - not at all! It's about proving you have the money to take your love and keep her (or him) in luxury. Is that really why you want them to stick around? Because buying into the whole tacky commercialism is marking you out merely as a wallet on legs!

Is that really what a celebration of two hearts being together, thanking every deity that that friend happened to introduce them, has become?

And singles are just as bad. Y'know the "Singles Day" celebrations? Supposedly a way of celebrating the fact you're lucky to not be buying into the whole Valentines crap?
Yeah right.
Singles Day is REALLY a way of trying to cover up the fact they're miserable they're single by pretending it's their choice. Because as much as they may rip up photos of the ex that dumped them a week ago, you blatantly know the sellotape's waiting at home for a long night sticking the pieces back together, no doubt accompanied by bottles of some questionable substance and "Twenty Greatest Tear-Jerkers Of All Time".

We know it, they know it.

So to conclude, Valentines Day is ACTUALLY Desperate Singles vs The Largest Wallets.

Enjoy it.

Prepare yourselves...

So, assuming you don't live in a hole or haven't just suddenly woken up from a hundred-year sleeping spell, you're going to know that tomorrow's Valentine's Day, a day which has almost become more a battle of singles vs couples than anything else.
I warn you now to prepare yourselves, because tomorrow shall dawn with a blistering rant on my personal feelings of the matter. You know you'll come and read it, because you're missing my rants so much ;)

Now, on another front, as well as my personal blogging, my aim is to be able to promote other people and their various endeavours as much as possible, which I can't do unless I gain more followers/viewers.
So I appeal to you, my dears, to aid me! You know what to do ;)
Also, if you wish your blog to be promoted, send me a link - perhaps we can swap blog links and promote each other!

So I leave you with that my friends, and make sure you check in tomorrow for V-Day. It's gonna be good.

Until tomorrow! 

Black Veil Brides!

Well, it has been my fortune to discover Goth band Black Veil Brides!
More accurately, that I've discovered a song by then that I'm rather in love with :')
I shall give you a link, and you shall go and listen!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CEb3GQqdHD4

And then they did listen :')

Photos!

Today, my dears, I was awakened at the crack of 8.00 to go have black and white photos taken, an occurrence most odd as I usually spend as much time trying to be BEHIND the camera (Not taking the photos, you understand, but literally just standing behind it, out of harms photos way)

Still, it did prove rather enjoyable, and gave me ample opportunity to show off my awesome, Robert Smith-esque(ish) shirt, which can only ever be a good thing right? 
Also, my AWESOME DOC MARTENS (link here) struck such a chord with the photographer
that she asked to keep me back and do a small shoot with lots of bootage! :') 

You know it was good.

Anyway, so depending on how they come out, I may decide to favour you with a couple of 
shots (They should be ready by next week-ish), but first!

Simple curiosity leads me to wonder whether you read this and imagine a girl or a guy writing it?

So, your question, as I haven't given one in a while (and you're all blatantly 

missing it ;)), shall be this:

Me: Girl or Guy?

Moderately artistic

As you may have seen from the title, I'm feeling moderately artistic today and so will deign to show you a sketch/edit I've been working on, you lucky people, you.

Both the sketch and the quote (as far as I know) are mine, so I hope you like!
Any comments are appreciated *coughhintcough* :P

So there you go! Tips are to be placed in this bucket *here*

On another note I know I've not had a rant for a while, but I've been rather caught up with *strum roll* guitar practice xD
Perhaps, if you're extra lucky and send me nice things, I shall upload a video for you when I've stopped sounding like a cat being faxed ;) and started playing something recognizable (Which, for your information, is likely to be the ol' Clocks, by Coldplay.)

So look forward to more inspired musing from the blog which you've blatantly added to your bookmarks...HAVEN'T YOU.

Until tomorrow then, my dears.

Echo Bazaar!

I shan't keep you long today, just for enough time to show you a new game I was shown on the internet, which I have to admit is actually rather amusing :')

'Tis called Echo Bazaar. Set in "Fallen London", the idea is to try make something of yourself. Using "actions", you take Opportunity Cards and, through them, get Storylets, with which you choose the path you take, building up "Shadowy", "Dangerous", "Watchful"  and "Persuasive" points as you complete (or fail) challenges.

You can also interact with Facebook friends :)

Anyway, I recommend you check it out, as I said, it's fairly enjoyable :D.

As I'm so kind, I'll even provide you with a link:  http://www.facebook.com/apps/application.php?id=130338406996028

Have fun!

Pledgalution

Right, 'tis my resolution to myself that I shall update more! Take note:

I, from Hot off the Blog, do now pledge to faithfully post new content on my blog every day, be it opinionated rant, shout-out to someone of note, or merely an amusing picture :')
This shall be binding by the internet, with the only exception being lack of internet connection.

Signed,
Hot off the Blog.

And I'll start off by bringing it to your attention that you can now tweet or share my blog on Facebook, and also follow it using your Facebook account! Enjoy my dears ;)

Horizon's Edge!

Hey my lovely people ;)

Just a quick note today to promote the awesome Edgecore band Horizon's Edge! (http://www.facebook.com/horizonsedgeuk)
They have a really great and unique sound and are trying to go global purely through word-of-mouth, so give 'em a listen and spread the word!
These guys are good, as you'll no doubt agree, being ones of such good taste :P
Anyway, I shan't say more about them, click that link (you know you can feel your mouse moving itself towards it already) and find out!

Plus, I'll love you forever if you do ;)

Guess who's back? ;)

*Blows dust off the "New Blog Post" button*

Well, dudes and dudettes, yes, you're right, it's ME, back from the (un)dead and reporting from Hot off the Blog!

Ooooh, and Happy New Year guys! Albeit about a month late :P

It's been a while, life went on and my dear, neglected blog got slowly forgotten, but a few months of creepily stalking facebook led me to the thing I promised myself I'd never sink to...Formspring. However, this indiscretion eventually led me to a friends blog, and then finally, amidst the "Chariot of Fire" themetune, back to my own (in slow-motion, obviously). Should have seen the joyful reunion, would've made a *insert something heartless* cry :').

Still... wish it hadn't been through Formspring though. Who can predict what boredom'll lead you to do, eh? Not that I'll sink low enough to link all you guys.

*Coughhttp://www.formspring.me/PoppysHideOpiumCough* Ahem, sorry, bit of a cold at the moment.

Sneaky self-promotion aside, my life's been pretty hectic with much music and studying and plenty of writing and pretending-to-study-whilst-going-on-facebook (better hope no one sees that one :P).

Also I've finally ended my procrastination and started learning the real guitar, though I suspect it'll be a while before I'm marked as the next Hendrix (Though obviously even he can't match up to the sheer skill of my air guitar :P). I mean guys, it's pretty sublime. If you don't believe me, just notice how many people disagree *Quickly blocks all people who've seen my air guitar from commenting*.

Anyway, just a short post today to let you all know I'm back in business, and to look out for your *obviously* favourite blogger :P.

More will come soon, so check out my other posts, and if you like what you see ;), be sure to comment and subscribe :D

Aaaaaand now, the moment you've all been looking forward to *drum roll* your question!

Just be warned...there's only one right answer for this :P

Missed me?