What title hasn't been chosen yet?

Internet Life is always last.

2010-06-21T15:31:00.000+12:00

Well here again but then not really here either.

I've struggled to find the right headspace and time to write blogs here for quite some time now and I can't see it getting easier. Not sure if I want to put more effort into my internet life either...

One thing I have discovered recently is that even Soccer can appeal under the right conditions.

I know I digressed sharply then but I've been watching a bit of the Fifa World Cup and it's been interesting. Not to mention that New Zealand qualified again, last chance was 28 years ago.

But I really don't like soccer. I watched the first kiwi vs.slovaks game and was very bored.

Went to bed after half an hour even, and while the result was fantastic, I'm not sorry I missed it. For a game that has 22 men running about for around 90 minutes non-stop, very little really happens. There have been so many 0-0 or 1-1 draws so far in this tournament, I think I have finally discovered why soccer fans are considered the most annoying and aggressive of all sporting fans. They're too bloody frustrated after sitting through all that action and finding themselves with a 0-0 draw!

Anyway, so not a big fan but then came last night and the kiwis vs. italians and I'm beginning to come around now.

7 minutes into the game and New Zealand scores a goal. This is against the reigning world champions and apparently we're ranked 78th so not at all expected then.

The Italians counter by running around the field in a frenzied attack of the worst acting soccer has ever seen but luckily for them, the referee seems to have been paid off handsomely before-hand. The amount of ludicrous hollywood dives these i-tais pulled and the amount of penalties that were rewarded was just ridiculous.

A wee shirt pull apparently had an italian boy diving for the grass clutching his head and claiming foul. The silly ref gave him the penalty and they scored their only goal which left the game 1-1 and that's where it stayed.

I guess if the only way that the reigning champs can beat the 78th ranked team is to cheat and cry wolf then we can hold our heads up very high. The Slovakians played a much better game and I hope they beat Italy and knock 'em out of the cup.

One thing's for sure, the world is now on the look-out for the faked injury dives that the italians love so much and hopefully they won't bedazzle the next referee and get their fair come-uppance.

I'll have my fingers crossed for that.

But, also quite proud that the most exciting match of the cup so far was a kiwi game.

As for those whining french... don't get me started there.

Plate 'o Brown

2010-05-27T08:08:00.000+12:00

We have a joke in my family that when my husband cooks for him and the girls, it usually ends up in a plate of brown. On my book club nights he gets stuck into the kitchen making them homemade chips and either fried chicken or steak perhaps with a side of buttered mushrooms but normally only for him.

I don't mind, it doesn't happen very often and their plates are more colourful when I'm around, bu I had to laugh just now because Little Miss 11 has walked out of the kitchen holding her breakfast plate 'o brown - her daddy would be so proud of her.

She is like me in the way that we both find breakfast food so utterly uninspiring and dull and so this morning she is munching down crackers, pickled onions and roast chicken leftovers.

A well-balanced breakfast for a growing monkey I think.

Recession Losers and Winners.

2010-05-23T10:46:00.000+12:00

I was surfing today, not something I normally do as a rule, but I stumbled across a link to a few interesting articles written by Rick Newman about what things Americans can't live without.

It makes fascinating reading but I'll give you his top ten list below of what they can't part from:

Portable Computers
High Speed InternetAccess
Smart Phones
Education
Movies
TV
Music Downloads
Pets
Booze
Coffee

Personally, I would amend the list slightly. Perhaps it's the fact that I'm not american or maybe I am just odd but a few of those things I can easily live without. Here is my list:

- Reading: books or magazines (where would we be without the ability to unleash our imaginations with novels. I adore everything about books, the imagination and the education involved and it would be a very empty world without reading in my opinion. I also know people who don't read books but they devour newspapers and magazines so the power of the word is still obviously strong even there.)

- $2-$5 per week spending money (there is nothing better when you're feeling low then to be able to buy an ice-cream or a chocolate bar or a slice of cake or whatever your treat of choice is; we can't restrict all guilty pleasures)

- Education (I agree with this one for kids, if they are willing and able to learn then we should encourage this and send them where they need to go to get where they want to be in life)

- Computer (I didn't really want to put this one in there but it is a fact of modern life now that most things are done by computer, not sure a portable one is essential though)

- High Speed Internet Access (again, didn't want to put this one in here but life is just too damn short to muck about with Dial-Up speed. If computers are a necessity of today then this one goes hand in hand.)

- Creative Outlet (we all have one, it just depends on the person as to the nature of the creativity but to deny it or contain it is to ignore who we are and what makes us tick. This one will include things like writing, musical instruments, gardening, painting, sewing, doodling, carving, singing, cooking, solving puzzles, building, caring for pets, sports, designing software.. the list goes on.)

- Entertainment (again, we all have differing opinions on what we like but this will include movies, TV, games, and music. Whatever we prefer to relax with and/or to get animated by.)

- Home-cooked food (is there really anything better than putting the effort in, even just once a week, and cooking or eating, hopefully both, a delicious home-cooked meal?)

- Loved Ones (this one means those people (or pets) that you would do anything for. The ones that you often revolve your life around and couldn't imagine living without. The ones who make you smile just by looking at them.)

- Mobile Phones (I thoroughly disagree with this one on so many levels but I also know that I am the only person I know that has a stationary mobile phone: it never leaves the house. I abhor the fact that this device means people can contact you at anytime they want and refuse to buy into the hype that it is. However, I do understand the need for it in a work sense and more importantly, I see the usefulness of equipping your children with one when they go to walk the dog, or stay the night at a friends house, or go to the mall by themselves. The worry that it saves is worth it.)

And the losers from the first list:
Smart Phones, perhaps essential for people in jobs who revolve around email communication and travel a lot (like my husband, and yes, he couldn't live without his) but other than that, not an essential I think.

Movies/TV/Music Downloads, sort of all come under entertainment in my list. I don't think it's necessary to single them out as individual items, I barely ever go to the movies anymore and I've never downloaded a tune in my life, and all three could be easily lived without, especially if a good alternative can be found, like reading.

Pets come under creative outlet. I know people who spend hours a day on breeding cats, birds, dogs and they get so much enjoyment from it. Definitely important but classed differently.

Booze/Coffee, really not essential. I recently gave up alcohol for 12 weeks and it was so easy. I didn't really miss it and now that I'm back on it I find I barely drink anymore. Just not an important part of life. Coffee is one of my guilty pleasures but I think I could probably give that up easily as well. I have already cut it back and I no longer buy coffee when I'm out. I have two cups at home in the mornings and that is it for the day and it is definitely not considered an essential part of living.

Right then, what would you change on that list?

Strange things are afoot at the Circle K...

2010-05-22T15:37:00.001+12:00

Yep, odd indeed.

To be exact, last weekend a mini storm hit, complete with bizarre tornado like winds, sheet rain and lightening. We live at the top of a hill. A house over the road and down the hill had a very dodgy and probably illegal pergola attached to the front of their property. The winds obviously didn't approve.

They ripped it off the front of that house, threw it up into the air, over their roof, and then up the hill towards our house. During mid-flight the damn thing wrapped itself around the power lines and dragged the wires out of their holdings, across the street and lying against our fence. The pergola than landed all across our front lawn, shattering into a million small sharp pieces.

Power was immediately gone and this great live power cable was lying across the street looking pretty damn menacing. It took Vector 5 hours to come out and a further 1 hour to rehook the cable back up. Thankfully, it only took the fire department a few minutes to come out and remove the cable from the road so at least the area was a bit safer.

Here is a drawing that my dog did of the exciting day:

Yadeda.

2010-05-14T16:43:00.001+12:00

Again, I am feeling at a loss as to what to say which is weird as the racket going on in my head is trying damn hard to prove that sentence wrong.

I think a lot, about a whole lot, and it loves to whirr about in there, driving me mad. I always used to think I was pretty relaxed and chilled but I've started to think that on the contrast, I get wound up about all the little things and get anxious and worried about absolute tripe.

I have got to learn to relax once more.

Other than that I turned another year older recently and my daughters made me the best gifts ever. I'm even tempted to figure out how to upload photos on this machine just to show them off - they are that good. Little Miss 13 made me a clock, carved out of wood, shaped like a sea turtle, and finshed off with a perfect paint job. It is awesome.

Little Miss 11 painted me four canvases with an orchid on each, painted in a different colour and framed by words that those colours evoke. It was all very cool. Also made up for the fact that they really dropped the ball on mothers day, got reminded at the last minute, made me a gorgeous pair of earrings each and then helped me do some housework.

I love them though, strange wee beasties.

I find myself staring at them recently, quite amazed by how big they are getting and that I was one of the culprits behind them. They are full of gangles at the moment, gangly limbs sticking out everywhere I mean, and they love to mouth off and prove their intellect and arguing ability. It does make for some interesting conversation.

The other thing I'm realising about them is there are actually facts out there that they know and I don't. I hope that doesn't sound arrogant but I come from a very clever family and all of us seem to still enjoy the intellectual stimulation of books, current affairs and quizzes that we partake in often, so I am not used to not knowing things that my children know. I now find myself in the situation, after buying myself the Trivial Pursuits game for XBox 360 recently, at a loss for an answer to some random fact and my daughters chiming in with the correct choice.

My babies are growing up.

I gave birth to an 8 pound trash magpie!

2010-04-28T09:16:00.000+12:00

Yes, you heard me. A trash magpie.

Let me explain. I spent about 9 hours in Little Miss 13's bedroom yesterday giving it the biggest spring clean it has ever seen and the things I threw away, woah nelly! Four bags of rubbish so far and I still haven't finished the job, and two bags of things for the Op-Shop donation bin and there will be more going there as well.

And what have I learnt about my teenager in the process other than that she is a master collector of shit? Well, it appears she is trying to do an Icarus and escape the household chores because the place was covered in bundles of feathers from enormous peacock ones to tiny budgie ones. Actually, note to self - go and check the budgies as there were way too many feathers from them and I'm thinking naked birds won't do well with winter coming along.

She also has a rock/crystal collection which is great, I've bought her many pieces myself and even a beautiful basket to keep them all in but were they there? Of course not. A third of them I found in her bed, under her pillow (along with half the sand from the beach), as apparently someone told her it was good karma to sleep with them under your pillow. Thanks guy!

She also is the biggest slob around. She moans that her bedroom is at the furthest end of the house to the laundry and this is her broken record excuse as to why her floor is always covered with dirty clothes. I actually countered this last year and bought her a laundry bag that hangs on her door. Is it used? Nope, she has just hung more bags/wet towels/school projects over it and continued to use the floor.

What I have relished doing through all this is throwing away things I didn't like or found incredibly annoying. That giant magenta feather duster that hangs on her wall? Just picked up by my weekly garbage man. The fairy mobile she made five years ago? In a bag destined for the local op-shop. Hee hee, that bit has been quite fun and 100% guilt-free.

I did warn both daughters that if it got to the stage where I would have to go in there and sort their bedrooms out for them, then I would be getting rid of whatever I wanted, no questions. Little Miss 11 doesn't mind at all, although amazingly, her bedroom isn't looking half-bad, but Miss 13, well now she should know not to doubt mummy when I say something.

So, I will finish the job today and she has been warned that if that room returns to a state of disrepair anytime in the next 5 years, then she will be getting a major hell breaking loose episode played out especially for her. I even scrubbed the windows, sills, shelves and walls for crying out loud. She owes me big-time.

I will tackle Little Miss 11's on friday I think. Tomorrow is my day off everything and I am looking forward to it immensely. I took this week off to chill-out and I have ended up spring cleaning the children's bedrooms. Gawd, that's parenthood for ya.

NZ Rally WRC, here I come.

2010-04-24T14:36:00.000+12:00

I'm helping out at the special leg of the NZ Rally for the WRC championship this year and I am so super-excited. I love cars, am one of the biggest Formula 1 fans around (I stay up to 3am to watch the races without fail), and ever since Kimi Raikonnen jumped ship from F1 to WRC, I've been following these races as well.

I don't know, there is just something about watching sport at the highest professional level that I really enjoy and when it comes to car racing, the strategy and the design, the driver skills and the educational calls needed on the fly to get the most from the race day conditions to me are completely fascinating.

Personally I am a MacLaren Mercedes fan, especially backing Lewis Hamilton, but there are so many drivers in the F1 league that I also like. Kimi was one of my top 5 so naturally I'm finding his change to rally racing an intriguing prospect for a new sport to follow and then the chance to work at the rally just fell into my lap.

I think it is fate. I am obviously going to really enjoy this season.

Funny then that my sister has just posted about how much she doesn't like cars. We have a lot in common but motoring is not one of them.

Not sure..

2010-04-23T15:35:00.001+12:00

..what to say but on my way to work this morning I ended up walking a block side by side with this young man here:

He was chatting away to a couple of friends and sounded really happy and friendly. I only glanced at him initially because he was the only other person waiting at the crossing who was also wearing a red poppy for Anzac Day. Now for those fans out there, I can report that although he is shorter than he seems in the movies, he is amazingly handsome in real-life, much more so than these photos show. That was all, will hopefully find something real to say soon. (ps.it's Martin Henderson.)

Recluse, might be.

2010-04-18T10:54:00.000+12:00

Where do you buy a crash test dummy from? Just one of the random things I was asked at work yesterday.

I must say that I quite like working again. Okay, so it's not exactly recent, I've been there about 9 months now, but for a shy person like me there is a definite settling in period and things have just seemed very settled recently.

It also helps when you work with a great group of people, although that is a given for any part of life I imagine. People can make so much difference to a situation.

I seem to think about personal interactions quite a bit recently, I find it fascinating how much or how little we let on to others in the course of normal conversation. Of course, I try not to study myself too much here as I don't consider myself normal in this field, but others I find completely fascinating.

When I do turn the spotlight on myself I don't often like what I see which doesn't invite me to try again anytime soon. I used to be quite sociable when I was younger, I loved going out and could talk to strangers with ease.

Well, I still can talk to strangers with ease but I'm not one to leave the safe confines of my home too often, and dealing with people I know only a little is quite an exercise in relaxation. Perhaps it's not actually the people that I find hard to relate to, it's the actual situations themselves.

Case in point, last week when we had no children the husband and I went out for pool and dinner. Now I had a lovely time but at dinner all I could think of was how much I wanted to be home. I felt out of place in the restaurant and very uncomfortable. I simply couldn't relax.

We tried to figure this out over dinner, the husband and me. He couldn't quite wrap his head around it until I pointed out that he eats out at least 4 times a week, goes to pubs, clubs and more at least 3 times a week, and through the nature of his job and his jet-setting around the world, pretty much lives in a socialble world of outings.

For me, the move to Auckland and my first pregnancy ended my party lifestyle with a sudden bang, the new city with no acquaintances threw me repeatedly into the corner to huddle, and the parent I've become with few opportunities at outings easily explains my nervousness and awkwardness when away from home.

It's quite odd that me and the husband are very close yet we seem to live completely different social lives. Mostly I encourage him to go out with his mates because pubs don't interest me and it makes the house quieter so I can curl up with a good book.

Is this the beginnings of hermitism?

Is that even a word?

Just made me stop and think is all.

Veganism is growing on me..

2010-04-15T15:07:00.000+12:00

Well, I got my kids back Tuesday as you know and the first thing they did was offer me some mini doughnuts they had saved and my first thought was yum, yes please. Huh?

I've successfully not thought about bad food for a week and the minute I get an offer to eat delectable doughnuts I forget to check what I'm eating? All of my dairy-free goodness that I've achieved so far was temporarily forgotten, it's all so odd. Must be the excitement of getting the kids back I guess.

Thankfully I checked myself in time, checked the ingredients and confirmed that yes, that do include dairy so yes, they're out.

I'm now in my second week of dairy-free which has actually been vegan because I already don't eat meat or fish and I haven't eaten eggs in weeks, and it is still so easy. In fact, I'll go further and say that I am eating better, healthier, and tastier food than I've eaten in a long while and I'm feeling great for it. Also dropped about 2 kilos in these two weeks so even better. Veganism is definitely easier than I thought.

Strange to think that i used to think it was a really freaky way of life. Either I am now officially a freak, or I always have been a freak, or my assumptions were falsely based on some bizarre fear of veganism. I vote for the latter.

Better go and rescue the dog, Little Miss 11 is trying to entice him with a cloth, bull-fighter style, and I have never seen an animal more bored. He is utterly not amused.

A mother again..

2010-04-13T07:38:00.000+12:00

My kids come back today, I have been childfree since last monday and gawd I needed the break, I can tell because I haven't really missed them too much which I know must sound terrible but in my defence I was quite strung out and stressed at the end of term one.

But, I am looking forward to getting them today, I have to wander around to Sky City in my break from work and pick them up from the intercity coach stop which is very grown-up - really cheap travel too by the way. And then the girls will come back to my work for an hour while I finish my shift and then we're off.

Breaks are great. You all return to each other with a better respect and greater understanding of each other and the family unit. Plus, my girls have had an absolute ball on the farm and have had the best holiday so it's been a win-win all round.

And quickly, I started to paint the outside of the house on the weekend. We have chosen an awesome colour and I spent about five hours painting two coats on the bottom half of the top level so my husband can now build the second deck off that part of the house.

What I find mildly amusing in a 'you've got to be frickin' kidding' kind of way is how he tells people how 'we' started to paint the house on the weekend. We?

..and breathe..

The New Improved Me

2010-04-11T16:44:00.000+12:00

So, it's school holidays here, life has been busy, and my health has been all over the place. The girls are currently away at the farm and I actually got to go out a couple of times last week and pretend to be a grown-up.

I'll mention that first. Wednesday we took off to shoot pool at the Ponsonby Snooker Club, a long time favourite. It started so well, we were having a blast until a couple of local mums arrived with their over-excitable children and placed them at the table next to us.

Now I have nothing against children playing pool but these kids were left unsupervised and were so loud and disruptive that it really did ruin the whole 'lets go out while the kids are away' theme of the evening for us.

The women sat and chatted while these three 8 year old boys played their own version of the game, complete with arguing over 'the rules' and whacking the ball in a variety of dodgey ways. I even showed one kid how to hold the cue at first but he was adamant that his underhand style was the winning combination.

The fourth child, a little girl, just sat with the women, occasionally annoyed the boys, and ingested copious amounts of lollies and fizzy drink which then had her doing some very smelly farts all over the place and the women rushed her off to the bathroom at one point.

Now, I've taken my girls to pool halls but I never leave them unsupervised, I don't feed them up on sweets, I teach them the correct way to play the game and play with them, and I definitely do not allow them to scream their excitement at the outing at the top of their lungs for an hour.

These women didn't care how noisy they were, a couple of other couples left, obviously couldn't cope with the racket, and while we stayed longer than the kids, we left a lot earlier than planned because it hadn't been as enjoyable. Shame on you two ladies where-ever you are. Show respect to fellow punters, you didn't even try to control these kids.

..and breathe....

We finished that evening with a great thai-laotian meal so the night wasn't a total loss.

The next night however was very cool. Dinner at Tanuki's Cave, a japanese yakitori bar and always great food and then we tried out the comedy at the Classic for the first time ever and it was very cool. The first act was down-right strange. She kept advocating abortion and her jokes included her talking cat and extinct animal impressions - it was just very odd. But the other guys were very good.

Paul Ego was the host and damn that guy is funny. Pretty good host too. We also saw a brit called Mathew Calahan (I think, or was it martin..), he had the whole Frank Spencer look going for him but he didn't go there at all which was surprising. He was pretty funny though. Also saw Steve Wrigley who was probably my favourite of the night, I was in fits of laughter while trying to also appear nonchalent so he wouldn't pick on me for his next joke.. and lastly was Jeremy Corbett and Paul Ego doing this radio gag thing. It was mostly quite amusing but not laugh-out hilarious like the other guys. But, for my first time at the Classic it was a damn good evening and it has got me hooked to catch some of the shows coming up for the comedy festival soon.

Right then, lastly the new look me. Not so much a new look on the outside as it is on the inside. Let me explain.

I'm now in my 11th week of no alcohol and apparently after 8 weeks off you have a brand new liver. Woohoo! Didn't cost me a cent either. Pretty stoked about that one.

Now I'm trialling a dairy-free diet as I've been reading up and figured it has many benefits and my recent health has made me think I should look seriously at my lifestyle. What has amazed me is how easy it is to not eat any dairy in meals. I was completely addicted to cheese, still think about it quite a bit, but I have made this commitment to my body and it is a cinch to just say no.

Fantastic. I also feel healthier for it and I'm only in week 2! I'll give this a wee while to settle in and then I will look at cutting out gluten as well although most baked items are out already due to the whole no dairy thing. I just finally got to the point where I didn't like where I was going with my health and I finally found my missing gumption and gave myself the hard word.

Feelin' good, actually went out at night which is a rarity, and planning more good food choices and more outings. April is a good month so far.

Updates

2010-03-28T12:27:00.000+13:00

Life is so busy but I'm trying to keep mine under control, here's what's been going down in brief:

Had my hair cut at the beginning of March, wasn't totally happy so cut it myself 2 days later and then last week decided I still wasn't happy so went back for a third cut. Result, quite short now but I like it so no more fun with scissors for a while.

Have been really enjoying New Zealands Hottest Home Baker tv show. I'm a closet baker myself and made an awesome batch of chocolate chip hot cross buns last week, my first ever hot cross buns. The amazing lady who insisted on baking every recipe gluten and dairy free won which I was very happy with and incredibly impressed. Have decided to venture into a bit of gluten/dairy free baking myself and we'll see how I go.

Have decided doctors often take the easy diagnosis and it pisses me off. Have been doing some reading of my own and have begun to try to combat my recent systems the healthy way as the medication way was a giant failure and I wasn't ever convinced it was the right issue to treat anyway. Who knows, I could concoct a Lorenzo's Oil of my own..

Am loving time with my girls even though they also tire me out endlessly. They are growing up so quickly and it is quite a pleasure to watch them blossom. Amazing to think that I once cleaned their bottoms and washed their 0000 size clothing.

Just went to a Tae Kwon Do display that my Little Miss 13 was involved with and she was breaking wooden boards with her high kicks and everything. Very very cool.

The husband returns on easter friday after a month away. It will be nice to have him home, I miss him a lot, but my reign and method of running the house will be over. I like my way of running things. It's always funny the power struggles couples have after one of them returns home after an absence. I know we're not unique, I've spoken to other couples who go through the same thing, I just find it mildly amusing. At least we've been doing this for so many years now that our house running clashes are quite mild now, we've figured out life is too short to sweat the small stuff.

I've been taking piano lessons this term and loving it. Finally I am learning what all the funny symbols mean on the sheet music and this is one of the first things I've ever done solely for me. A very selfish way to spend money but I don't care. I'm pretty sure I deserve it. I'm mostly learning a mixture of classical pieces and Muse songs. You gotta stick with what you love after all.

Easter is upon us..

2010-03-21T15:41:00.000+13:00

Yep, chocolate is everywhere, the easter ads are on TV once more (love the one where the eggs talk about easter egg hunts and the scruffy old cream egg takes the place of some war veteran saying "I was out there for 9 years man.." - perhaps you have to see it to get it..)

Anyway, my daughters duped me. We were choosing easter eggs and I said they could go and grab a bag of mini cream eggs each. I'm standing at the counter looking at the price of these bags of minis thinking they're pretty damn expensive and it turns out the monkeys had switched them for the big ones. Still wondering whether I should get in there and have one or two myself. They are quite delicious afterall.

Tricksy little preciouses.

Visiting my happy place

2010-03-18T16:09:00.001+13:00

You know every now and then you do something that just takes you back to when you were a kid and you get as excited about it as if you were still that young? Well that's what happened to me on Sunday.

We went to the zoo.

And by we I mean myself, the two daughters, and Chia and her daughter. It was awesome.

I guess I appreciate the simple things in life and we had engineered our arrival to coincide with a giraffe encounter. I didn't actually know what this meant but I figured it would be interesting and seeing we're travelling in especially for this trip, we should make the effort to see things like this.

It turned out to be a mass organised giraffe feeding, how cool is that? We all got given our pieces of celery and waited in line to hold our offerings to the resident male giraffe and his absolutely obscenely huge tongue.

It was quick, simple, no touching was allowed but what a thrill. I was hooked.

I knew that there was an elephant encounter soon and we shimmied our way over, finding a great position at the front of the seating. I was hoping for another feeding and yes, a bucket of fruit was coming around for the people.

Elephants are amazing. I'm not sure quite what I love about them but I have been an elephant fanatic since I was a little girl and I just can't shake the habit.

We waited patiently for the fruit lady and when she got to us I didn't get any fruit even though I had my hand out. Crushed! I asked about it and she informed me that the fruit was getting low and she was focusing on making sure all the kids got a piece first.

Oh, ..I suppose, but I'm pretty sure there was no one as excited about this prospect as I was and it was a rather depressing awakening to the fact that I had to accept it as the adult I was. Damn it. [I may have cursed other peoples kids silenty under my breath or I may not have..]

Anyway, lovely lady that she was, she remembered me and came back after she'd seen to all the kids. I wanted to hug her.

So we all waited and the elephant walked slowly down the ranks, raising her trunk every few inches for another juicy morsel. I loved the way she sniffed out the pieces, I loved feeding her the fruit but I especially loved giving her ears, back and side a scratch as she plodded onwards.

It didn't matter if all the other animals were hiding for the rest of the day, I think I would have been well satisfied after that but we ended up having one of the most amazing days for animal encounters I can remember.

The glorious male sumatran tiger walked straight up to us, stood about 1 foot away (through a glass barrier), and stretched. I was in love, what a magnificent beast.

The red panda, the siamangs, seals, meerkats, cheetahs and orangutans all got very close as well and the hippos were feeding so we saw their gloriously chubby sumo fat roles around their legs before they entered the water and gracefully swam about.

Animals are cool and have the power to take you to a very happy place. Especially since my body gave out later that night and I had a fever for the next few days, so that happy place lingered on.

But I fed and touched the elephant!

Ouch.

2010-03-16T09:45:00.000+13:00

Life never really does things in halves does it. Warning, this post will probably include a bit of girly stuff.

In my case, and certainly in the last year, I've had some of the oddest things happen to me medically and I'm getting a bit sick of it all.

What's the latest? Well a lump on my breast would be the short answer there. And the chills, and a fever to accompany it which has been just a blast this weekend.

I've kinda ignored it for the most part, but I got to a point on Sunday night where I was burning up, my nose was running, my eyes were running, I was sneezing my head off and then I'd get the chills and have to wrap up in all my winter gear. And repeat and rinse...

Sounds like the flu or a headcold doesn't it? That's what I thought except for this bloody painful lump on my breast that is just not going away. Initially I just thought it was hormones which is why it took me a little while to wonder about it.

I'm one of those women whose hormones go crazy for one week every month and my breasts normally swell up an extra size and are as hard and tender as if I was breastfeeding. Bloody annoying let me tell you. So okay, the timing was right and I didn't think much more on it. And yep, I've been freezing the last few days but I also didn't think much on that, it has chilled down slightly, only 23'c now during the day.

It was when the painful breast thing wasn't easing off that I had a closer look and found this lump. (Shattering the myth there that women play with their breasts - sorry guys.) Now to me, the lump is on the outside and it's not one of the internal ones that you feel, I thought it was probably easily explained but I didn't want to be too lax so I got myself to the doctor.

She gave me a thorough breast exam, found no other lumps and decided it was more likely external inflammation, eczema actually, and has put me on antibiotics and steroids. The fever and chills are part of the infection and I was the third women she's seen with the same symptoms apparently, albeit the only one not breastfeeding.

Okay. So, you can get inflamed eczema, even if you don't really suffer from eczema. Great. The plan now is to take the medicine and wait for the lump to go away and if it doesn't then I need to have a further checkup.

The fact that I am running a fever as well is actually kind of comforting as it backs up the infection diagnosis. These damn pills I have to take every four hours is annoying though. I'm waking up twice through the night to take my medicine and then this morning I wake completely disoriented and covered in sweat. Apparently I should be a lot better today but this fever thing quite likes me.

I'm sure my work must think I'm a handful to say the least. I don't ring in for the flu or a cold. No, I take days off for chest pains or breast lumps. None of these wishy-washy problems for me.

My kingdom for a headcold anyone?

That's Life.

2010-03-12T16:30:00.000+13:00

Is anything more satisfying than having a day off work and actually spending it relaxing?

Today I have done exactly this, not rostered for work, not needed to drive my daughters to any one of a million different destinations that they might possibly need me to get them to, and not required to top up any food items, make a trip to pay bills, no general household tasks at all.

Of course, the house is looking very chaotic because I have purposely ignored it all day, but that is a small price to pay to completely chill out. Just quietly though, the mess is taunting my sub-conscious and I know I will spring into action fairly soon and deal with it, but I still had my relax time which I am really pleased about.

I've been pondering this need for timeout recently as I only work part-time and you would think that my life is quite chilled already. What I've figured out is kinda interesting though. The hours I spend at work every day are mentally and physically the most relaxed of my day. The work is often repetitive, the same questions are always asked of us and the only point of difference on any given day is to try to outbeat your best customer service with assistance even better than the day before.

It's what I do after work that runs me ragged and leaves me with headaches, short temper and just plain tired.

But I'm not complaining, just very grateful for the day off today.

I love that my kids both learn Taekwondo and that one also learns piano and that I have started taking piano lessons myself, and that both kids have just tried out for the first ever school Quidditch team. I enjoy walking the dog and seeing his happy face when I sneak him down for a swim in the sea despite the local archaic no dogs on beach hours. I like picking my husband up from the ferry and catching a quiet 10 minutes with him before the daughters swallow up his time every evening, I like spending time preparing a good dinner for the three of them, especially when I see their faces and hear their enjoyment. In between that on any given day there will be washing, folding, dishes, vacuuming, bills, emails, general tidying, usually driving kids to play at other kids houses then picking them up again, at least an hour each day of homework help, and often baking. I get up about 7am and usually finish the day with reading myself to sleep. I do fill the hours.

The headaches are directly related to my back and neck and after a period of positive reactions to my chiropractic sessions, I'm finding that it's not helping anymore. His suggestions now are try some yoga and go for more walks. Well if that's all I need to do to get rid of the back pain, why do I continue to keep my appointments at his clinic? I am starting to wonder and wish that my first chiropractor had never moved to Brisbane as she was really good and got results.

The headaches usually begin during the day and will still be there when I wake the next morning. Painkillers slightly dull the pain, muscle painkillers aren't much better. I really do need to try more options here but I'm not sure what.

Short temper I think is a mixture of the headaches and backpain and the busyness of the afternoons and the never-ending work roster which admittedly I put myself on. I took no time off over December or January and have only taken 4 days off in February to visit Christchurch and celebrate my 13th wedding anniversary. I get the odd days off at the moment to fit in with my changing roster this month but I'm still working the same amount of hours overall each week. I'm wondering if agreeing to work saturdays was so very clever afterall.

The other stress is my other indulgence which I am slowly being kept out of. I play piano and enjoy a book club meeting once a month but this latter one is becoming harder to keep. They are usually at night, on a school night and I had no sitter for the last one and have no sitter for the next one either. I really don't want to give them up and I'm beginning to think that my best option would be to pay a local high school kid to watch my daughters.

I lie. I have a third indulgence which I have purposefully kept myself away from for a few months as I know I don't have the time or presence of mind at the moment to concentrate on producing a piece of art I would be happy with. This also has become a nagging itch on my sub-conscious and I know from past times that this is a good sign which precedes a period of huge creativity for me. I'm looking forward to that.

I also worry about my husband a lot.

He is good at what he does and successful at what he does but is also overworked, not fairly compensated (in my opinion) for the hours he puts in, and seriously stressed out. I spoke to him on the phone last night (he is overseas again) and I've never heard him quite that wound up before, possibly ever.

He chastises me for bottling my emotions up but he does the exact same thing when it comes down to the pressures of his job. I am really quite concerned and can do fuck all from this side of the world which is hugely frustrating.

Honey, I love you.

Galileo

2010-03-02T17:58:00.002+13:00

Fascinating man this. I'm reading a book about him at the moment and apart from the fact that I'm getting all inspired with planet/star/moon gazing again, I'm just in awe of how clever and so far ahead of his time he was.

Going to bed the other night I spied what was clearly a planet, and I was guessing Mars as it was incredibly orange in colour but grabbing my telescope and scoping the beast I see it's a 3/4 Venus and I just got all excited about it.

With my telescope I have seen Venus in it's many phases (like the moon because it travels between Earth and the Sun), I have seen the moon in such detail it blows you away, I've seen Mars and its two moons, Saturn and the faint glow of the rings (but not the rings themselves) and Jupiter with its stripes and spot and the four innermost Galilean moons. It is very humbling.

But anyway, I read yesterday that Galileo was investigated by the Inquisition for heresy as he believed in a heliocentric view which placed the sun at the centre of the universe as opposed to the church belief of the geocentric view where everything revolves around the earth as 'backed up' by quotes from the bible itself like this beauty: "the LORD set the earth on its foundations; it can never be moved."

Blinkers obviously sold very well in the Vatican City back then...

So, first time round they gave him a warning and he promised to never enter into the heresy again although it would seem he was a man of very strong opinions and to shut him up was possibly akin to taming a raging bull dressed all in red.

20 years later he wrote a very famous book reasserting his beliefs in the heliocentric view and so was tried again and found "vehemently suspect of heresy," forced to recant, and spent the rest of his life under house arrest. [thankyou wikipedia]

What really got me though was this wee nugget: he was only officially cleared by the Vatican in 1992 of the supposed heresy, with Pope John Paul II admitting errors were made in the handling of the Galileo trial. Better late than never I guess, but here's what Cardinal Ratzinger (now Pope) said in a speech in 1990:

[I am going to copy and paste this passage as I think you need to read it all.]

'Ratzinger cited some current views on the Galileo affair as forming what he called "a symptomatic case that permits us to see how deep the self-doubt of the modern age, of science and technology goes today." Some of the views he cited were those of the philosopher Paul Feyerabend, whom he quoted as saying “The Church at the time of Galileo kept much more closely to reason than did Galileo himself, and she took into consideration the ethical and social consequences of Galileo's teaching too. Her verdict against Galileo was rational and just and the revision of this verdict can be justified only on the grounds of what is politically opportune.” The Cardinal did not clearly indicate whether he agreed or disagreed with Feyerabend's assertions. He did, however, say "It would be foolish to construct an impulsive apologetic on the basis of such views."

And this man is now the pope.

Galileo was a genius, father of Science. Just thought I'd share what I learned in class today.

Hmm..

2010-02-28T13:37:00.000+13:00

..now I'm not one for conspiracy theories or anything and I'm really not sure how deeply I believe in greater powers out there and all that but the idea that Mother Nature is sending us warning signals is starting to fester in my mind I have to admit.

It's not every day you wake up and find a tsunami alert for your area but that was what we had this morning. The massive earthquake in Chile has created a wave that pretty much crossed the Pacific Ocean this morning and while it was only one metre high by the time it reached the northern most part of New Zealand, and non-existent by the time it reached our coastline, it has to make you stop and think.

The earth is damn powerful and where we live there were plenty of people out on the beach waiting to witness this power. How stupid can you get?

We live on the top of a ridge overlooking the sea, north of Auckland on the east coast of the north island of New Zealand, so we were safe as houses but I was slightly gobsmacked when I was scanning the point and saw a person walking around the rocks.

It just seems such an enormous disrespect for the force of nature and also for the thousands of people who have lost their lives in other tsunamis. It isn't a fun day out people, you shouldn't be jumping in your boats and cramming the beaches with your flippers - have some bloody respect.

That was all really.

Stuff and Things.

2010-02-23T19:55:00.000+13:00

So, February is the month of crazy busy around here but a good crazy busy as good as crazy busy can be I suppose.

I don't really have the brainpower for proper writing so here are a few bullet points to recap the last few weeks:

- Reading heaps which I'm loving. Choosing it over TV more and more often in the evening which I am also loving - see other blog for proof.

- Working really hard but is all good. My job is good, I enjoy the work, the place, the people etc which definitely helps and they have made me permanent staff (I was a temporary up to now) so even better.

- Enjoying the Winter Olympics which I watch when I'm not reading in the evenings, and my new favourites sports are curling and the ski cross country race where you also have to shoot targets along the way. Very cool. Really sad about the Georgian skeleton racer though. Thought Canada could have done a bit more on their part, even a memorial service or a place dedicated to tributes would have been nice. Not so cool.

- Have been solo parenting again for most of February and also it will roll over for most of March as well. I do miss the husband of course but it is nice to run the house my way during these times.

- 95-100% humidity absolutely sucks. That describes the previous two weeks that we've had here and this summer has been glorious really so I'm not complaining, but it just really is hard to achieve things when the smallest action of walking from your gate to your front door has you streaming with hot sticky sweaty rivers pouring off your skin.

- School has been back since the beginning of February and I love it. It keeps the girls occupied thanks to school and then the homework that follows, but it also keeps them strangely happy as they are occupied and back with their friends and learning new stuff which they really enjoy. Have I mentioned they're quite occupied at the moment?

- I got a new desk in my art studio on the weekend and so everything got more organised and tidy and now I can focus and enjoy the space and create art again. Quite an exciting prospect really and a major lesson in there for rme - "I will not allow my space to become a storage room ever again" is the mantra of the day.

Enough I think. The family is hungry and the chicken probably about cooked I'd imagine. Life certainly doesn't slow down after work, in fact, I am finding my work hours the relaxing part of my day and the afternoon/evenings are the bits that do me in. Sleep is calling me.

Odd

2010-02-12T11:59:00.001+13:00

Okay, I know I've been really busy this week and computers have been scarce around here, but when I do manage to find the time to get online I find all my blogs are offline. It's happening with frequent regularity. I wonder, is blogger cracking up?

Other than working my buns off and tackling the daily grind that is Auckland morning traffic, I have been getting the girls back into the swing of things school-wise, which was surprisingly easy given they've been on holiday for about 8 weeks, and having the odd tussle with my youngest who does a great impersonation of a firecracker about to blow its top when she's grumpy.

Case in point. This morning was a major as mufti day loomed and she had nothing to wear except for the same pair of shorts she has worn everyday for the last two weeks and which desperately needed a wash. It doesn't matter that her room is full of gorgeous clothes that cost a fortune, there was apparently nothing else to wear.

I lost my top. If they were clean I could understand it but they had mud and grass stains on them and it really bugs me that every year she begs me to buy her the latest fashionable offerings for her birthday and then she never wears them. Suffice to say, I may have raised my voice, possibly mentioned something about ridiculous situation, many choices and all that, and left her to it.

End result, Little Miss 11 is now at school and the aforementioned shorts are now in my washing machine but man did she leave in the almightiest of huffs. Little Miss 13 never did this.

Ahh, hormones, the fun we all have when they arrive.

Tickets, wallet, children, multi-tool...

2010-02-03T14:55:00.000+13:00

Okay, so I flew home late last night from a great 5 days holiday in Christchurch, taking the sun with us to share with the chilly southerners (they had been very good), catching up on new nephews and old ones, some nieces as well and a few siblings and parents for good measure. It was also my 13th wedding anniversary so a very nice dinner was had on monday night.

But, what gobsmacked me was the fact that I was pulled over at airport security because I carry a multi-tool in my purse [see above]. It's a very handy thing to have for those moments when you really need a screwdriver or a pair of pliers and there are none at hand. I have fixed things in other peoples homes with this device, even fixed something at my old work so it didn't occur to me that it could potentially be a lethal and illegal weapon to take aboard an aircraft. But really, it kinda is.

So, why was it not spotted at Auckland airport when I was going through security for the first part of my journey? It's like the craft scissors episode all over again (yes, we have a family history of taking cutting implements onto planes).

In future I'll probably leave it at home but naughty naughty auckland airport. It had a blade on it and everything. Just think of how many airplane lollies we could've demanded with my scary looking pliers, nail file and penlight torch.

Apparently..

2010-01-26T15:41:00.000+13:00

.. I have a very unusual phone voice.

So says a lovely lady I was talking to at work today and she instantly recognised my voice as someone she has dealt with in the past.

I'm thinking I'll take this as a compliment but I'd love to know what's so unusual about my voice. Unfortunately I can't call me up to chat to me to find out and the voice recordings that you sometimes do for your own homephone are never an accurate representation as you are so worried about what to say that it comes out very unnatural.

Oh well, compliment taken, I think.

Hot!

2010-01-25T17:43:00.000+13:00

Gawd it's friggin hot here today.

Humidity, sunburny factor times ten, you want it - we have it.

Don't you just hate it when you get into a hot car and it's too hot so it takes a while for the air-con to wind up and make you nice and cold so in the interim you open the windows so you can at least get a breeze of something in your face and the air is so warm you feel like someone is attached to the outside of your car and playing a cruel joke on you with a fan-heater?

Yeah, I hate it too.

Not complaining mind you, it's been a great summer so far, just really hot today and I had to work half of it and then drive home in a car sauna. That's all.

Strange things afoot on my way to work this morning..

2010-01-20T15:28:00.000+13:00

Was just picking up my morning coffee and was about to enter the work building when a car drove past with a couple of girls in the front seats. Not so odd I know but the passenger chick was naked, at least on the top half which is all I could see.

You have got to wonder if there is some really interesting radio promotion going around at the moment or perhaps it's just been too damn hot for the poor girl.

Or maybe she is so poverty stricken that clothes are a struggle to afford.

Poor thing, I spied a few others who I'm sure looked willing to help her out if she needs. Although we might need another group to help these ones out with their drooling issues...

Things thats bug me - Tail Gaters!

2010-01-10T12:32:00.000+13:00

Okay, just thought I'd take a moment to vent and really stick it to those people out there who follow too damn closely to be even remotely safe.

Back off Douch-is! (Douch-i is the plural of douche-bag for those not in the know.)

Not much more to say except perhaps to the lady driving a red holden the other day and sitting about 2 metres off the back of my Lexus as we drove 100 km down the motorway - you are damn lucky I wasn't in my other car! The lure to just hit the brakes suddenly and then to see how well you coped with your tailgating activities was very great but I resisted as I wouldn't want to see my nice car damaged just to teach your silly-ass a lesson.

I'm sure if it ever rains again she'll get that lesson taught to her by her own stupidity, I'm just sad I won't be there to see it.

I am a huge believer in Karma and I absolutely believe that if you tailgate, then your ass will surely be taught the lesson it deserves sooner or later. Karma - go get the holden gal.

Excessive Haircutting

2010-01-07T16:02:00.000+13:00

Reading my sister's blog today and how her friend drunkenly cut my other sister's hair the other day, I was suddenly reminded that this was exactly what I did to a member of my family on boxing day only last year.

Have I mentioned I drank many buckets of alcohol over the holiday period yet?

So, we started at midday with a vodka punch bucket and between three of us we did two buckets that afternoon. I then moved onto G and T before finishing the evening with some vino, as you do.

Now it was probably about the vino time that this lovely lady was complaining about her hair, that her work was starting to ask her to pull it up, and she also remembered that I cut my daughters and husbands hair, so the inevitable, 'will you cut my hair?' question was asked.

Well of course I said yes. I enjoy it, I was up for it and rather too happy to say the word 'no'.

So, off we go and then halfway through she asks me the funniest question, 'so, where did you learn to cut hair?'. My deadplan reply of 'I didn't' literally made her face drop and our male halfs were quite amused in the background, amidst the astonishment that she actually let me do it in the first place.

Then I went on to explain that cutting hair is like a 3D sculpture and 'she'd be right mate'. To her credit she just topped up her wine glass and we went on with the job. To my credit, the cut turned out pretty damn nicely. And to the male persons in the room and their credit, they were very impressed with my drunken shearing skills.

Now what else did I forget about in my drunken christmas/new years fog? I've already mentioned the dances with giant highland cattle thing...

2010 - Dances with Bulls

2010-01-06T16:12:00.001+13:00

A new year, christ! the last one went so bloody quickly and we're in for another round already - I must be getting old.

So I don't really do the resolution thing but I'm wondering if I should try a different tack this year and see if it works.

My old rehashed standards are always eat better, exercise more and lose weight but doesn't everyone say this at the start of a new year? And especially after a week of excessive drinking?

I will still give it a bloody good go but it's not going to be the one I'll regret if I don't get there. What I really want to do this year is to make a list, stick it to the fridge and then slowly, throughout the year, tick off the list and really feel like I've accomplished something.

My name is Earl, well no but I like his list thing.

Okay then, things like a family kayaking trip on the Puhoi River will be on there. It's something I've wanted to do for 3 years, since moving to this area in fact, and it's always the last thing thought of which is real sad and something I want to correct this year.

Another one that I know my girls want to do is course 9 at Tree Adventures. Have you seen this place? It's like a school playground on steroids and suspended 20 metres up in the trees! But it is also amazing fun and really well priced.

Confession time, I am actually terrified of heights. I didn't used to be but old age has altered some weird extreme part of my brain and certain things freak me out now. I can't even climb 2 metres up a ladder without shaking but I jumped out of a plane at 10,000 feet when I was 20 with no qualms. Go figure.

Anyway, last year we went and I conquered some of my fears and did courses 1,3,4,5 and 6. I did climb up and looked at course 7 but shook so badly that I was helped down and duly kissed the ground at the bottom. So for me, course 7 (maybe 8) will be my goal and my two crazy monkeys can go and climb as high as they want in the playground in the sky.

I won't go through the whole list but you get the idea, fun family things because we've become a real boring group who never do anything together and it is beginning to bug me. Sometimes I feel that life revolves around work and house stuff and as much as it is all done for the greater good, damn it would be nice to have a change occasionally.

So, that is it. An activity list for 2010, get a bit healthier, and lastly, write more. This last one is harder than you might think as I don't actually have a computer and haven't had one for about 18 months now. I borrow the machines that the rest of my family own and use them when I've got time but it is normally limited to emails and posts and any more in-depth writing is very hard to come by.

Still, I can dream can't I. Oh, and dances with bulls? Literally. On New Years Day we were drunk and running down a hill through a paddock with a giant Highland Cattle bull in it and my husband (also a bit squiffey) was calling out to Jimmy to attack. It seemed a really good idea at the time and I couldn't work out why people thought we were crazy running through that particular field. What do you think?

Quick Rundown

2009-12-29T14:56:00.000+13:00

- I love buckets of alcohol, ..still.
- I don't really like Lily Allen music despite thinking she's a pretty funny person. Girly pop music is definitely not my genre of choice (will explain later why I am even listening to it).
- It is still really warm up here and I'm still enjoying it.
- Life is very quiet when you forget to bring your children back with you from holiday.
- The husband ripped some cladding off the front of the house and it's one of those things that you wish you could undo. Hello molehill, meet giant fuck-off mountain is roughly where we stand on this one.
- I probably should swear less.
- I am missing playing piano, it's always the last thing on my list of things to do and I am shit at finishing lists.
- I love driving fast which is funny considering my line of work which I probably shouldn't mention.
- I am clumsy.
- The strawberries we've grown these last couple of months have been the juiciest and sweetest strawberries I think I've ever tasted, ever.
- Johnny Cash rocks.

Buckets'o fun.

2009-12-28T18:01:00.000+13:00

Back to work already but another long weekend coming up thankfully.

And yes thankyou, I had a great and very relaxing christmas weekend, and how good was the weather (sorry northern hemisphere people). Not a cloud in the sky, not a breath of wind, and a perfectly sunny warm summers day all day.

I know white christmases are supposedly traditional and all that (possibly because most christmas literature was written by folks up that way), but until you've experienced a warm sunny summer christmas with cold drinks a plenty and barbeque food then you really haven't experienced how relaxing a day it can be.

And having said that I do want to experience a white christmas of my own one day, but probably only one day as it looks too damn cold to repeat too often. I admit it, I do love the warmer climes even if I bitch and moan about sunburn..

Then Boxing day and a couple of buckets of alcohol later we were all feeling pretty merry. Did I say buckets, sorry, didn't mean to exaggerate. Try an 8 litre pot and then times it by 2. So, we had our buckets, some finger food, plenty of sunshine, a great dollop of sweet kiwi music and the game of Scrabble to amuse all sorts. It was loads of fun.

And it doesn't seem to matter that I'm working this week and the next one because I'm just keeping my eye on the prize and focusing on more buckets to see the new year in.

But nope, I don't drink usually...

'Tis the season to double guess yourself...

2009-12-24T07:08:00.000+13:00

Yep, my stressful week of buying for family is at an end and I'm now in the process of double-guessing everything I've bought and wondering if it was the right choice. Does anyone else do that?

The girls were pretty easy actually (thankgod for lists stuck to the fridge!), but adults always prove a challenge and it usually drives me quietly mad about now. Still it is done, for better or worse I guess we find out tomorrow, but now I just have to get through a day of work and travel before I can finally put my feet up with a glass of something alcoholic.

Speaking of which, I'd better go and pack a bag or I'll look a bit naked and funny come Christmas Day. Merry Christmas everyone!

Jolly Season? Not Yet!

2009-12-16T17:02:00.000+13:00

Christmas shopping is the bane of my existence at this time of year. Thank god for nieces and nephews because at least they are mostly easy and living nowhere near any of them I have to get organised and buy their stuff early which at least gives me some small smattering of accomplishment in the present shopping department, even if it is utterly premature and based on false hopes.

Having said that, I have one more parcel to send which I shall do tomorrow and then can finally tick that box closed.

Now, Secret bloody Santa's on the other hand are never easy and always cause me more grief then they're worth. I really should have gone with my initial thought of 4 family blocks of cadbury chocolate, especially as my receivee is as skinny as a pencil on a diet. But no, I wanted to really 'think' (stupidly over-rated) about the gift, hoping against hope that the same process would be applied to me, and so I've been stressing about my choice all week and working my shoulder muscles into great big knots.

I am happy to report that I have just returned, finally triumphant, and almost happy with my choice. Now let's wait and see what my secret santa brings me.. if it's chocolate I will not be amused.

And so we finally get to close family and of course, besides stocking fillers for the kids, I have bought zip, zero, nada! The kids even have lists on the fridge to give me guidance (which is a godsend), I've just been trying to get all the other ones out of the way first. I really hope it's not too late to get what they want. Knowing my luck, their top 5 is already sold out..

I always seem to pull something together at the last minute for the kids and as we have an enormously large family, they are always very happy kids on christmas day so I'm not really too worried there. And I have my lists of course.

The husband is a different matter entirely and I have a sneaky suspicion he thinks the same way about me.

We both have things we'd like to have, they are usually very expensive and therefore not easily attainable and/or justifiable, especially when most of our spare cash is going back into renovating the house at the minute. So, what do you buy? I know I'd be happy with a couple of books and a CD or two but for some reason I feel that kind of thing is not quite good enough for the man.

It's that damn 'thinking' business again, I really must stop doing that. I have this vision of trying to find the perfect present for him only I don't know what it is and I am struggling to find even something slightly less than perfect. Ideas? If I could afford it I suspect one of the most perfect presents would be a years supply of Heineken. Nice thought but a case wrapped up under the tree is just not the same is it?

Well I will bravely continue to delve into deep thinking teritory on this one and it will be fascinating to see what I come up with - I have no idea. I hope you all are doing better than me with nine days to go.

Ho Ho Ho!

The To-Be-Read List.

2009-12-14T10:57:00.001+13:00

I read a post the other day about posting the titles in the pile of books next to your bed and then writing about them when you finally finish reading each one.

Well, I'm doing the book review thing anyway so I thought I'd just post the list of books that currently live next to my bed and torment me, especially in times of sleepiness.

Does anyone else out there feel really out of sorts if they don't get enough reading time in each week?

I do. In fact, I'd liken it to the off feeling you have when you don't have time for your regular cup of coffee in the morning and you have to get through the day on no fuel. I guess books are another form of fuel for me.

Anyway, my list:

Currently reading 'The Angel's Cut' by Elizabeth Knox. This is the sequel to her brilliant and best novel 'The Vintner's Luck' and so far it is engaging but I need to read more.

* The Road by Cormac McCarthy which is one of my Book Club books that I want to get read before christmas.
* What I Loved by Siri Hustvedt, another Book Club suggestion.
* Silent on the Moor by Deanna Raybourn, the third book in a Victorian mystery series which combines my love for old England with my love for some good action.
* Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel, winner of the 2009 Man Booker prize and supposedly brilliant.
* The Children's Book by A.S. Byatt, runner up to the above and also supposedly awesome.
* The Other Queen by Philippa Gregory, a novel based on real royals, in this case Mary Queen of Scots, and another style I really enjoy which mixes my love of action and history together neatly.
* The 10pm Question - Kate de Goldi, a kiwi book written for teens but which won some local award this year and is apparently just as soul searching for adults as well.

Lastly, I am still working my way through the scientific essays in 'The Thermodynamics of Pizza' by Harold J. Morowitz which is a fascintaing look at everyday isues and things through a scientific lense, and I also have next to my bed 'The Children of Odin' which is a book covering Northern Europe myths and legands and I was reading it for a bit of research into a project I started a while back.

Okay, that is all, only a little pile you see (actually two piles on top of my bedside table if we are being completely honest), and it means quite a bit of reading over the holidays if I get the time. Knowing me though, I will continue to add to that pile as I find more books I want to read that will carry a greater urgency with me then the ones by the bed.

Owww

2009-12-11T10:56:00.000+13:00

Anybody who knows me will attest to the fact that I can be occasionally compared to the 'ole bull in a china shop saying. I do tend to walk about, not realising where my edges are or looking too hard at where I'm going. A bit of a klutz you could say.

It is a surprise I haven't actually done some major damage to my feet up to now the way I throw them about and into things. There was a day last year when I walked a little toe straight into a thick iron beam and I suspect I fractured it. It was bloody painful for a week, had me hobbling about like a cripple, and then slightly painful for about 5 weeks whenever I put pressure on it. Sounds like a prime candidate for a broken toe but we'll never know for sure as I am such a cheapass when it comes to healthcare that I tend to refuse to go to the doctor for something as silly as a broken toe.

Funny thing about that one was that in the same month another member of my family also had a suspected broken toe, also didn't really get it looked at properly and just carried on as normal, and then a third member of the family had broken a little toe the month before, went to the doctor, got x-rays, crutches and a gigantic bandaged foot. That's what happens when you actually go to the doctor I guess.. Seems a bit silly though.

Anyway, so I'm making lunch yesterday as I am starving and I go outside to sit on our new deck in the sun as it was so stinking hot and gorgeous here yesterday (kinda like today really), and I swear a piece of dogbone that the naughty puppy carelessly left lying on the deck, flew into my heel and then lodged itself in nice and securely before falling out and pretending to be all innocent.

It really bloody hurt!

You know that throbbing feeling when you get a nasty cut and the blood starts to pump really hard? Well that was part of it plus the overall 'ouch!' factor as it was particularly sharp piece of bone and it effectively stabbed me rather hard.

My lovely husband rushed out, called me a klutz, and then berated me for bleeding all over his nice new deck (he built it), and immediately made me lie down and pressed (really hard, the masochistic wee sod) a handee towel over the cut to stop the blood.

My dog rushed over and sat at my head licking my face as he does when he is worried about you which was very sweet, and my 13 year old took over the pressing of the handee towel from her father along with strict instructions to press really hard because mummy is stupid. They are lovely really...

So I'm lying there all hurt and the husband comes back and tells me off for having no Dettol in the house to clean the wound with. I politely remind him that I used the last of it last month when he jumped over a fence and landed his big toe on a rusty nail but I am still slack at replacing it apparently and in his defence he had put quite a few beers in his belly up to that point.

But, he patches me up like a nice husband, calls me silly and clumsy a few more times for good measure, and then leaves me to return to my lunch. Funny thing is that about half an hour later, Little Miss 13 walks into a stick on the driveway and begins bleeding from her foot...

There is a distinct pattern going on here I think. In fact, the only one who hasn't recently done a stupid thing to their feet is Little Miss 11 who never wears shoes at all and so has the toughness in her feet of a hobbit.

Moral of the story? Don't walk. Or maybe buy some steel cap boots.. actually, I've got a pair of those but they don't help if you never wear them... Maybe learn to wear shoes, although god-damn shoes are so uncomfortable..

I dunno. Maybe there is no moral and I've just got to live with my clumsyness.

Stupid is as Stupid does.

2009-12-03T16:19:00.001+13:00

Then why not take advantage of one of the great products from Stupid.com and purchase a grow your own 6-pack kit. Perfect for that special someone, annoying workmate, or eternal optimist.

Or perhaps you're the jealous type and want to protect your man? Then buy the Instant Gay Accent spray and keep the hotties away, female ones at least.

I'm guessing this is one popular website, especially at this time of year with office secret santa's in full bloom.

Glowing..

2009-12-02T22:24:00.000+13:00

Can anything beat a good glass (or bottle) of New Zealand South Otago Pinot Noir I wonder?

Pretty sure it's hard to beat.

We produce some damn good wines in this wee coutnry of ours and it makes me happy and boozy all at once.

And to digress, it is so bloody muggy here. My feet and hands are swollen up like sea sponges.

Bah!

Save Me Jebus!

2009-11-30T22:18:00.000+13:00

Oh my friggin lord. See that button up the top of the screen called 'Next Blog'? Click on it, and then keep clicking on it and see how long you last.

I think I got to 10 or 11 before I ran away screaming from the computer. Is the blogosphere the place where all good people go when they begin breeding? Because I kid you not, I did not pull up one non-child/pregnancy/baby blog in my mini surf session and I'm feeling a bit down about it.

People, there is life after kids! You don't have to forget who you are because you change into a parent zombie creature of the night! Rebel and blog about useless facts, fuuny things you do when no-one is watching, and just general shite. It's OK. It's actually quite entertaining.

On another completely unrelated note, my 13 year old daughter ate dinner tonight with a basket on her head and then my 11 year old daughter watched some TV later with a toothpick wrapped around her nose.

Perhaps this is what happens when you don't post every baby photo ever taken. I am such a bad parent...

Pearl Jam!

2009-11-30T21:42:00.000+13:00

So I revisited my youth for the first time in a very long time and took my husband to the Auckland Pearl Jam concert on friday night. Cool cool night out even with the drunky dancy boy who stood right in front of my head for half the show - I just moved so I stood really close to his side so I could see and drew some funny looks from his rather stunning wee maori girlfriend but what the hey, I like to see my concerts as well as hear them.

They did move to a less obtrusive spot for the first encore so I guess they finally realised that concert ettiquette does not include you blocking someone's view when there are miles of other non-blocky empty spots just a step in any direction, but I digress...

Pearl Jam. Beautiful old rockers that they are. Eddie Vedder always steals my heart with his gravelly voice but it was stolen earlier this time as he arrived on the stage swigging from not one but two bottles of red wine. What a guy. I think we would have a very great deal in common what with the good taste in drinks and music for starters. I'm sure there must be more, he has kids I think.. there's something else.

But the music, oooh they are pretty damn good live. I like very much. Better Man was possibly the highlight of the Pearl Jam songs, it was just so bloody brilliantly performed but the stirring rendition of Chris Knox's Not Given Lightly, as seen above sung by Finn father and son and Mr Vedder, was a damn fine piece of performing artistry as well.

They certainly do know the true meaning of the word Rock. My one gripe, and I feel bloody awful for actually having a gripe, but it was the omission of Jeremy and Alive. I really really wanted to hear Jeremy. It was the song I had imagined them singing in the lead up to the concert and the one I waited for the whole night. And I applaud their decision to do a different set list every concert, not many bands could pull that off and still have enough material to play for 2 1/2 hours, but still.

It is possible that these songs were intended towards the end but I guess we'll never know as the Mt Smart Stadium floodlights came on after 2 hours and although they played for another 3 songs in the blinding light and odd atmosphere (fluorescent white light at a concert does not work), they ended the session and the roadies came on instantly to pack up. It was actually kind of odd to not hear the clapping and chanting and anticipation you normally hear at the end of really good concert, as the crowd calls for more.

Mt Smart, I hope you are ashamed of yourself, although I guess it is more of a noise control thing but still. It's been 11 years since they were last here man..

So, Pearl Jam, worth the moolahs. Great night out, consistently good music (with not a lip-sync in sight Miss Britney), loved the school master moments when he warned the douche-bags at the front that he would get the big fellas on stage to fuck them over if they didn't stop pushing the people around them - they got told off at least twice and probably had a lot of lines to write afterwards..

What else to say? Frickin' awesome!

That is all.

Back to It!

2009-11-27T10:54:00.000+13:00

Backs are a royal pain in the ..well, back really.

I am back at my third chiropractor in 3 years for more back treatment after I got fed up with the constant niggles, the occasional sharp pains and the underlying dull ache and restricted movement that is a day in the life of my back.

Chiropractic care is not for everyone and if you're nice like me and hate saying no to people then you can get sucked in to having monthly sessions with a carer that does your back no good whatsoever but you can't find the words to tell them you want to quit because they are such a lovely person.

In the end it was her teenage receptionist who dropped the ball and forgot to book me a follow-up appointment leaving me free to be as wishy-washy as I want to be, in my own time.

Yay for cheap labour.

So, I saw a new guy yesterday who I am told is the chiropractor for quite a few All Blacks and considered one of the top chiropractors in New Zealand. Sounds impressive when you put it like that.

All I know is that he cracked many troubles spots in my neck and back, worked on some of the very tough knots in my shoulders and despite feeling miles worse last night, I woke up today feeling quite a bit better.

It's a good start.

I'll have another few sessions in the next week to really get me started properly but I have a good feeling about this one and high hopes of a better back life in the near future. The other good thing about this clinic is they don't seem to try to lock you into a long-term maintenance plan which just chews away your hard-earnt cash and is a waste of time because they never fixed the issue in the first place.

It just feels good to be moving on.

Wish I wasn't such a wimp though. I have got to learn to tell it like it is and stop being nice. I believe it runs in the family quite a bit so perhaps there is some gene that controls feebleness.

Right, crap post I know but I am back.

(Oh, my brother would cringe at that awful pun..)

A new venture..

2009-10-06T15:27:00.000+13:00

I so needed a break so very badly.

Blogging is not all it's cracked up to be I tell ya.

A lot has changed in my life since I last wrote but then again, some things probably never will.

One new thing for me is this wee ditty:

"What's the Story morning Glory?"

A thinly disguised excuse for me to read more.

Please feel free to have a look and don't be shy about commenting, especially if I've just gone and bagged one of your favourite books.

Literary debates are one of my many weaknesses...

wtf?

2009-03-10T10:57:00.003+13:00

The Grays Beaked Whale baby beached itself last week and was shot to put it out of its misery. A lot of people are angry because it stayed at our bay for a month swimming and trying to play/interact with people. There were a lot of chances to help it when it was still healthy and strong but the conservation department did nothing.

Two days ago I was walking on another local beach and came upon the dead body of another Grays Beaked whale, 3 metres long so about the same size as the juvenile who swam at Stanmore Bay for 4 weeks, another baby in other words.

We were walking around the rocks and the tide was going out and it had obviously just been washed up with the receding high tide. Blood was still pouring from its mouth and it hadn't been dead long at all as there was no smell. It was covered in scrapes from the rocks and was one of the saddest things I've ever seen.

The curious thing is that this article from Napier, also on New Zealands North Island's East Coast, reports another strange Beaked whale tale. The one in Napier looks almost twice as big as the ones we've had here but is still curious that they are turning up on our beaches when they are known to be a deep sea creature.

One incident is sad, but three is too coincidental for there to be no explanation. Is something driving the whales out of the deep, scaring them and separating the groups? One US researcher believes it is a human cause and raises interesting questions about sonar on naval boats.

Whatever the cause it surely demands more investigation because 3 beachings of rare deep sea whales is not normal.

Whale watching.

2009-02-21T12:53:00.003+13:00

So I think I mentioned that there was a baby whale swimming around my local beach a couple of weeks ago and I didn't get a chance to see it. Now I hear it's been back all week and I still haven't seen it despite being there twice in the last couple of days.

I have such bad luck with whale and dolphin spotting, unless I pay for a sightseeing boat trip which proved very fruitful in the tune of about 100 dolphins last year.

But I digress.

So, the plan is to launch our mate's wee boat tomorrow, or borrow another friends' kayak, and go intensively searching for the wee fella. In the meantime, here is what I'll be looking for tomorrow:

It's quite young apparently and they think it has been separated from its mother and should still be suckling. I hope I see it.

And if you look really closely you can just make out my house on the hill in the background.

Getting the skinny on..

2009-02-18T12:00:00.003+13:00

I was surfing blogdom last week and came across a site that really rocked me sideways and I've realised that it's been on my mind ever since.

It was a teenage girl and her blog was dedicated to her quest to lose 20 pounds and her methods to achieve this goal. 20 pounds doesn't sound like a whole lot to me (we use the unarchaic metric system here so that makes it, .. wait a sec, online conversion site loading.... about 9 kilos), especially given the drastic measures she was using to achieve her goal.

Basically, it was a pro-anorexia site and while she wasn't advocating that everybody out there go out and consume 35 calories or less a day as she was managing (I kid you not); she was simply writing a diary of her good days and bad days (who knew vodka had that many calories? - she has sworn off alcohol now too as well as food).

I must say that she had a plan of only starving herself until she reached her goal, it wasn't on the cards for the rest of her life but still..

And there was a part of me that hugely admired her incredible willpower. She resisted home baking one day (mammoth effort there) and stuck to her water and chewing gum and weak broth like a trooper.

But the bigger part of me wanted so badly to grab her by the shoulders and tell her about the risks of what she is doing, the effects on the body, and mostly the fact that she has put her body into starvation mode and as soon as she starts eating normally again her body is going to hoard any spare calorie it can just in case there is a repeat no-eating episode and therefore undo all this risky weightloss and negate all her hard work.

I really don't get why people don't understand that simple fact. There are so many failed dieters out there that can attest to the truth of the matter.

Anyway, the most disturbing thing of all was a couple of the commentors. It would seem there is a whole network of them on blogger and they support each other to do weekend fasts or 4 day fasts when they feel they really need a good boost to their non-foodie ways. And the comments are so normal (if you ignore the subject matter that is):

"Hey, ... , I'm planning a fast this weekend and it will be only water. Come and join me and we can slim together!" [smiley face, smiley face]

I have two daughters and I am always trying to teach them about good nutrition, eating in moderation and basically staying healthy. They eat very well and neither one is overweight or even close to it. These attitudes scare me and I hope I've set a good enough basis in my kids to know what is healthy and unhealthy.

I say this because the girl mentioned that she is always careful to be seen holding food or nibbling on food when certain nosey relatives are about. Quite clever really, for a skeleton.

Jebus, or Horus, whichever you prefer, what's going on?

5 hour Oven Usage!

2009-02-12T12:07:00.002+13:00

Yep, I had my oven running for 5 hours straight yesterday. Couldn't quite believe it myself when I turned it off at 9pm and realised it had cooked and baked solidly since 4pm.

I blame this lady and her Cinnamon Chocolate Swirl Quick Bread recipe.

Well, I actually didn't have chocolate syrup or butter milk but my version, re-titled Maple Cinnamon Quick Bread came out beautifully and I am a true convert to her indulgent site.

After that I made chicken cauliflower cheese bake for the girls, chilli tofu and feta vege bake for me, pastry bites for the girls and an apple and peach crumble lattice-top pastry pie for dessert.

Tonight it is a wholemeal and cracked wheat loaf of bread and probably some anzac cookies if all of the Maple bread is gone before tomorrow.

That was all.

I did not know this.

2009-02-11T13:45:00.002+13:00

Me and the hubby were talking the other day and the topic of the UN and the USA came up in the same sentence and the husband commented how the US accuses the UN of being ineffectual but in reality is the main reason for this state of play because they refuse to pay their UN fees and have done so for years effectively blocking UN productivity.

I was surprised and shocked. And then I was surprised at my first reaction. I mean d'uh!

The US has a known history of pulling this kind of stuff, whether it be to under-developed nations or big multi-national corporations, and the UN is just another pesky organisation that doesn't serve the american interest on the world-wide stage.

[btw, when I say the american interest I mean mostly the people in government who make these decisions and not your normal american who I think would be also kinda disgusted with these affairs.]

I did some googling and it all makes interesting reading but probably the most clear and concise article I found is this one, written last April. Have a read and then you too can be shocked and surprised, just like me.

The UN does work and can work very well if given half the chance, perhaps this is one more screaming wrong that Obama can try to right. That man must have an awfully big list.

A few Ramblings.

2009-02-09T16:15:00.003+13:00

Normal has once more been achieved here at Casa Leo and the two Little Misses are safely back to school for the whole week this time unike last week where the Kiwi way is to ease our kids back to school slowly with just a couple of days at a time.

I love school.

More specifically, I love it when my children go to school and stay there for the whole day. Bliss.

I love my daughters too of course but please remember that I have just had them at home for the past 7 weeks in a row and school is definitely more loved today.

And man, it is expensive to get them back to school these days. I only have two and I felt the pinch this year, god knows how you guys out there are coping who were brave enough to procreate more than me.

$85 for stationary! And that was after we recycled everything still in good working order from last year. Two pairs of new summer shoes. One new bag, one new lunchbox, two new drink bottles. One new school t-shirt and one new pair of school shorts. Bugger that school donation and those school fees, we are now tapped out until the next payday - the school will have to wait.

---

The husband was moaning the other day about how he gets so much grief from the New Zealand Customs officers every time he returns to the country after another business trip. He has been to Australia twice in the last fortnight with another trip due this week, and apparently he gets the third degree every time. 'Why are you having so many one day trips to Australia?' is the most common question but then they flip through his passport and peruse his other visas and it would seem that the flying trips to Asian cities are of a bit of concern also.

I can understand a bit of paranoia from Customs on this issue but surely when you travel business class and wear suits and can hand out business cards for a legitimate company and carry no luggage except a laptop, then maybe, just maybe he really is a well travelled businessman.

---

We just had a long weekend here due to Waitangi Day on friday which is where New Zealanders all hit the beach in an unconscious celebration of our country. Politicians and other VIP's mostly converge on Waitangi which is a tiny place up north where the Treaty of Waitangi was signed in 1840 between the local Maori Chiefs and the English representatives thus officialy making us part of the Commonwealth.

I say unconsciously celebrate because it really has been a non-event for so long now (unless you are up at Waitangi), and this always saddens me because we need to make more of an effort to celebrate such a cool place. It's getting better though, I was almost tempted to drive down to Auckland for a free homegrown music concert in the park but ending up painting the fence and then staying up to 5am drinking bourbon and playing X-Box instead, so I have some homework for next year to celebrate properly.

But the weekend was glorious weather-wise, we unofficially hit 35-40'c up here and basically melted the weekend away. And apparently there was a rare Beaked whale frolicking at our local beach all weekend and we only found out last night so missed it. I went looking today but to no avail although our friends were lucky enough to be out on the water in their boat yesterday and got to within one metre of it. I am so jealous.

---

I am shite at removing stains from clothes, especially dried tomato sauce ones. It took me all weekend to clean the new school t-shirt after Little Miss 10 spilt tomato sauce all over the front of it last week. I also found stains on Little Miss 12's school shirt which I still haven't removed so I'm arguing they've been there a while and are well practised at being stubborn.

I am however rather good at attacking whites with a bottle of bleach. Thank god I'm not a complete failure or the husband would complain more than he already does about my slack housework abilities.

---

I am also shite at giving up wine for the month which I had thought I would do. Not sure if I will now. Silly idea anyway.

12 years, golden oldies, Drifters or fakes? and Sha Na Na.

2009-02-02T13:46:00.005+13:00

Yesterday was our 12th wedding anniversary. 12 years! Quite an effort really.

As one nice lady said to us at the pub last night: 'You two don't look old enough to be having a 12 year anniversary!' I guess we are still youngish looking, we married young and I don't regret it at all - hey, I'll still be in my forties when my kids start having my grandchildren and that's kinda cool.

So, we went to the pub as a bit of a treat, shot some pool, in which I am absolutely smokin' at the moment and my poor husband is left in my wake.., and we listened to an oldies band that just happened to be playing there last night, you might have heard of them - The Drifters.

It was a really cool night out, not planned at all and I think the spontaniety made it more fun. The backing band was amazing and they played before and after the main act and they even dedicated a song to us when they found out what day it was.

I surprised myself at knowing most of the words to most of the songs, that comes from an upbringing surrounded by music of the 50's, 60's and 70's courtesy of Dad, and it was just a very cool way to end our anniversary after an afternoon of the hubby building our new deck and me painting some new art pieces.

Actually, that deserves a special mention. We now have a whopping great 6m x 6m deck off our lounge, consisting of approximately 1800 nails. I know this because it is my job to hand punch every single one of them! It butts up against a beautiful new retained raised garden wall, which in turn leads to a stunning new fence all built by the husband with various helpers, me included. It is super cool. Next weekend he will be building some new stairs and two new raised planter boxes to complete the front of the deck. If I get our main computer working again I might even post a photo.

Speaking of photos, I have a few more pieces to add to 'artwork mondays' and am working hard at increasing that number. I pushed myself to join the local gallery and have entered two pieces in a members exhibition/competition happening next month. I am so nervous and can't settle on my chosen second piece but it has really kick-started my painting habits again, which I badly needed to happen, and I now spend hours of every day dedicated to my art. I also plan to enter some works in the Royal Easter Art Show next month so I'm thinking February will be a very busy arty month for me.

Okay, but back to The Drifters. I googled them this morning and came across some very interesting information regarding the original band and the band we saw last night. The Drifters have had over the years many members, stemming mostly from the fact that the rights to the band was initially owned by two members, one sold out to the other one after a few years and this resulted in one man making a fortune off the band whereas the actual band members got paid minimal fees, if anything. As you can imagine, the financial situation meant that band members came and went as regular as the tide.

A lot of those 50-odd members have passed on now but a few of them are still out there, playing with a few newer recruits as various reincarnations of The Drifters. This is what we were told about last nights line-up; that Billy Washington was an original member, Wayne Foster was a later member and Patrick Jackson was an ex-Coasters singer.

Wikipedia and all official websites on The Drifters and The Coasters beg to differ though and I could not find one mention of them on any major band website. [Of course, if this is wrong and an oversight, please let me know.]

I don't feel cheated because we had a damn fine night last night and the music was really good, but I do feel bad for the only surviving original Drifters member, Charlie Thomas, who never really made any money out of his years with the band but he has to hear about these newer fraudulent versions raking in money from singing his songs. Take a look at the clip below:

And how cool is it that Bowzer has taken up the cause? Sha Na Na was one of my favourite shows from my childhood and I've just amused myself by looking at a few clips on YouTube from their show and this one below is how they used to end the programme each night (and how could my husband have never heard of the show - I thought it was an institution!):

ps. check out the tight gold suits, I had completely forgotten about them, dashing stuff.

Recent Reads.

2009-01-29T10:56:00.002+13:00

I read a lot. I've done it ever since I was a kid, in my family you were weird if you didn't become a bookworm, and I became addicted very early on to the escapism that you can achieve amidst the pages of a really good book.

So, on that note I thought I would give a quick review on the books I've read so far this year.

The Biographer's Moustache - Kingsley Amis

Starts well, a bit quirky which is what grabbed my interest in the first place but unfortunately it slides steadily downhill from there.

The central character, the biographer, is in short a loser and being such, you feel no empathy towards his struggles at all. The biography subject isn't much better, being an outrageous snob who marries money to keep him in the upper-class company that he so cherishes. In fact, one could say that Amis takes an enormous risk here, writing about two such unlikeable characters.

The shining lights for me were the girlfriend who goes on to marry money and class, and the wife who dallies in an affair with the biographer but eventually takes her money and class back to her social climbing husband. However, these two women can't save a decidedly average book written in a style 50 years out of date and the symbolism of the moustache as an expression of who we are is just a bit lame.

Mistress of the Elgin Marbles - Susan Nagel

Now this was one fascinating read. Mary Nisbet was quite the lady of her time, rubbing shoulders with some of the most powerful men in her day such as Napolean Bonaparte, Admiral Nelson and Sultan Selim III. She also was instrumental in bringing the smallpox vaccine to the Middle East and amidst a scandalous divorce, fought hard for women's rights specifically pertaining to property, inheritance and children in the aftermath of her divorce, almost 100 years before the suffragette movement in England.

And the Elgin Marbles? They are slabs of ancient marble friezes taken from the Parthenon (and other buildings) in Athens and shipped to England, an authority for the action given to the Elgins from the ruling Ottoman Empire as a gift between friends. Controversy on their removal still rages today as the ancient sculptures weren't gifted by Greece itself but by their invaders, the Turks.

Mary Nisbet believed, as her husband did, that the ancient sites were in danger of neglect to the point of ruin, and using her charm she alone managed to organise the removal and shipment to England of the giant and numerous slabs.

Interspersed with many excerpts of the hundreds of letters Mary wrote to family and friends in her day, this book is clear, concise, informative and competely fascinating. I loved learning of this woman who in many ways was so far ahead of her time.

Sophie's World - Jostein Gaarder

I actually started this book about 2 months ago but it was quite hard going at first and I kept distracting myself however, a quiet weekend away with only this book for company and I was finally captivated right to the end.

Essentially it is a crash course in philosophy, written in a way that a teenager would understand and seen through the eyes of two 14 year old girls. The philosophy teacher is at first distant and mysterious but slowly becomes more and more a central character in the book as we learn of a parallel story and the ties that bind the two girls. To be honest, the whole book within a book parallel felt a bit silly and unneccessary to me, taking away from the main crux of the story, but I suspect it was written in a way to question what is reality, just like the early philosophers did in their time.

Despite having a few occasional gruelling passages to read, this book covers a brief history in philosophy very well and you don't read this book without having a good look at the world around you, the person inside you and the big questions surrounding us.

You will gain a better understanding of world history and the thinkers covered in its pages, and it definitely will leave you thinking in a more critical way. You may even finish the book and feel like you could write your own book as I did - I felt I could achieve anything with the right thinking but alas that has now passed. And at the very least you will learn that Aristotle believed woman was simply an unfinished man and this is where it is believed inequality between the sexes stems from. A great thinker and a total muppet.

The Dive from Clausen's Pier - Ann Packer

This book is well written and flows steadily from start to finish but unfortunately it centres around a character that I had great trouble feeling any empathy with.

A young woman, disillusioned with the mundane state her life and engagement have become, begins to question what she really wants when her fiancee has a freak accident and breaks his neck. She slowly withdraws from her life and friends, is unwilling to face a quadriplegic fiancee and runs away. In her new life she finds a new love, a new purpose for life and a new career and finds happiness of a sort until another tragedy sends her back home where she tries to face all the things she ran away from in the first place.

It is a book of discovery I guess but the main character is so wishy-washy and weak that it takes away from the journey. I struggled to like her and was annoyed at the lives she ruined in her quest to find out what she really wants from life and while it is a good book, the lead interest lets it down quite significantly. I was left angry with her when I had finished and I doubt that was the intended result for the reader.

Max Payne, Slumdog Millionaire, Bangkok Dangerous and Taken.

2009-01-27T10:17:00.006+13:00

A few more movie reviews seeing as it's all we feel like doing in the evenings at the moment.

Max Payne

Right, so this one is based on a shoot 'em up game and if you trawl through the reviews online, most seem to be very disapproving and written by fans of the original game. I guess I can see their point. If you adapt a movie based on an idea, the core of that idea should be a strong base for the core of the movie - makes sense, not least because you keep the majority of your target audience satisfied. But from what I can tell, the only similarity from the game to the movie is the title and the guns.

However, I've never played the game and while I think the plotline of the movie could have used some clarifying tweaks here and there, the film itself does stand alone as a solid piece of entertainment. We're not talking Golden Globe material but if you're like me and you enjoy action movies then this one will entertain you in a light 'too tired to think much' way. One thing I will say is that the crux of the story which centres around a hallucinogen is a bit far-fetched but still more believable than the super computer in Eagle Eye.

5 out of 10.

Slumdog Millionaire

A Mumbai teenager goes on India's version of 'Who Wants to be a Millionaire' and thanks to the magic of flashbacks, we learn of his childhood and specifically his past experiences that tie in with certain questions from the game show. The film is based on a novel by Vikas Swarup and is simply one of the best fims I have seen in a very long time.

Without giving too much away, it is a bittersweet love story set against the harsh reality of the lives of street orphans in India's cities. The filming locations are both raw and sumptious and add to the film's wonder and the acting is incredible. I really can't find any fault with this film although I know it created controversy in India for enabling western stereotypes of their country. But I disagree. It is definitely a naked depiction of life in poverty on Indian streets but this doesn't neccessarily enforce any stereotype, for me at least. In fact, I always find this honesty in film making akin to a breath of fresh air from all of the fantastical silly plotlines we normally get served up. This movie is a modern masterpiece.

10 out of 10.

Bangkok Dangerous

Nicolas Cage is Joe the hitman who is becoming increasingly disillusioned with a life of killing and is contemplating leaving the business. After Bangkok of course. He has four final jobs to do and the movie revolves around his time there and his obvious new interest in having a real life, complete with a friend and a love interest. Obvious is the key word here because from the minute he arrives in Bangkok you can pretty much successfully predict the entire movie and that equates to slow, average and certainly not dangerous.

Cage could have filmed this one sleep walking for all of the skill he needed to portray his rather two-dimensional character. The story is just so typical, no surprises and the only thing that shone a bit brighter was the actor who played Kong, Cage's errand boy and student: Shahkrit Yamnarm. I watched it, I was entertained to a point but I also fidgeted the whole way through and wished it could have been better. So very average.

4 out of 10.

Taken

Liam Neeson is a retired spy whose daughter is kidnapped while on a holiday to Europe. He vows to go and find her, using his skills and contacts to assist him, and what follows is a rather violent trail of destruction as he slowly closes in on the taken daughter and her bad guy captors. The premise actually sounds quite terrible but the film wasn't that bad although it definitely suffered from what I can only explain as 'american action syndrome' - a state where the movie is inflicted with excessive unneccessary action scenes just because they can.

So, lots of action and Neeson makes a good pissed off father but I did have one major bugbear with this film. I couldn't see past the fact that when a distraught father finds out his daughter has been kidnapped and drugged into slavery, he doesn't stop to help all the other unfortunate girls he comes across in his path (save one) or even goes back later to help them. It is a small thing but it really pissed me off. This film highlights an underground crime that really exists but simply lets the majority of victims suffer their fate and I didn't like it. Aside from that, it is okay. A little formulaic but okay and the violence is quite entertaining if you like that kind of thing.

5 out of 10.

Eagle Eye, Gran Torino and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.

2009-01-21T18:09:00.006+13:00

Eagle Eye

Imdb has this to say on the plot of this US thriller: "Jerry and Rachel are two strangers thrown together by a mysterious phone call from a woman they have never met. Threatening their lives and family, she pushes Jerry and Rachel into a series of increasingly dangerous situations, using the technology of everyday life to track and control their every move."

Yep, okay, fairly accurate although it misses the bit about how this is american paranoia at its worst and the whole premise of a super computer with a program to eliminate top officials and to manipulate any citizen to perform these acts is really rather ridiculous. If it is mind-numbing entertainment you want then by all means take a stab with this one, but if you value your common sense factor then you may find this film just a bit silly.

2 out of 10.

Gran Torino

Clint Eastwood directed, produced and starred in this unusual film about a grumpy Korean War veteran who is not happy with the Asians who have moved into his once nice all-american neighbourhood. Although racist wouldn't usually be a role coveted by actors, Eastwood excels in his portrayal of this complex character who feels betrayed and forgotten by all those he sacrificed most of his life for. Through a series of coincidences and the persistance of his young vietamese neighbour, Kowalski is introduced to a new world where he finds a kind of peace in his old age and where he is finally given the respect he deserves.

This film is the story of the most unlikely of friendships between one old disgruntled lonely racist and his neighbours, two young Hmong siblings who accept him for who he is, no strings attached. It is a very good film that will leave you feeling a mixture of emotions on a subject that isn't at all topical just forgotten - rather like the lead character, but still very real. And it is that reality that you will appreciate about this movie most.

8 out of 10.

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

At almost 3 hours long it seems awfully ironic that this movie was adapted from a short story and what a curious movie it is. Benjamin is born quite hideous and not expected to live past a week with no obvious answer to his ailment. He was abandoned by his birth father and taken in by a nurse at a rest home. His first years are governed by being confined to a wheelchair and being generally treated as one of the residents. A slow start one could say. But after that you begin to see where the story is heading and we see Benjamin progress from the wheelchair to crutches and then on to a cane. His back straightens, he gets taller and physically younger. The plot is well and truly established but I think this is also where the movie falls down, it is simply too long for too little to happen. We are not talking about a fast-paced action movie here, this is a drama and it requires thought and understanding and that is asking an awful lot of any audience for almost 3 hours.

Still, the acting is superb, in fact I have never seen a bad film from either Brad Pitt or Cate Blanchett who plays his oppositely aging love interest, and this one is definitely not an exception to the rule. The reoccurring sequence about the man who gets hit with lightening and the explanation sequence of Daisy's accident are quite brilliant although a great pity that these are the only two sequences of this type in the entire 166 minutes. Basically, it just didn't leave me as satisfied as I thought I would be at the end of it, however most likely worth a look for most.

6 out of 10.

2009

2009-01-21T12:49:00.002+13:00

Oh it's been a while.

I've actually had loads of great ideas of things to blog about but I never got the right time to sit down and write it up and then December hit like a whirlwind. A blink and you'll miss it kind of month and now a whole brand spanking new year to boot.

Hasn't been the best start to the new year either I'm sad to say, the first 3 days were awesome, then day 4 blew up like a blowy uppy thing and it hasn't been quite the same since. Stupid blowy uppy things.

I got back home yesterday after what I'm pretty sure is my last trip away these holidays (we've had a few) and the kids will start school again in 2 weeks so some semblance of normality will hit come February once more.

Actually the girls have been really good these holidays. Very little fighting and despite a few grumbles (mostly from Miss 10), they are always ready to help me out with certain jobs when I ask. Little Miss 12 especially is scaring me at how quickly she's growing up at the moment. Not just the tall ganglyness of her whole person but in maturity as well.

Case in point, the three of us had quite an interesting discussion in the car on the drive home yesterday about the reality of absolute truths in the world and the logical reasoning behind the idea. Miss 12 was really getting into the whole premise and working hard to disprove the theory that there are no absolute truths in the natural world. As for me, I'm just happy I've found in my kids intelligent people to discuss the bigger stuff with - may it long continue.

And so back to the blog. I thought I might use it as a forum to review a few movies and books, maybe even some music for a while. I devour these forms and so with this always a constant state in my life, I should never have nothing to blog about. Makes sense, especially for the months coming up where I suspect life will be chaotic amidst the madness that is a building site - that is of course if the bank loans us some money. Won't get far without the moola.

Right then, 2009 - the year of the Review.

12 and it's all good.

2008-11-21T17:17:00.007+13:00

Man oh man, what a week! What a number of weeks actually. In short, it is all go around here.

The big news is that due to our growing-up daughters and our penchant for collecting a whole lot of stuff, the need has arisen for a bigger house. But, due to the very depressed housing market selling and buying really isn't an option and will likely lose us money.

Our solution? We are adding on, renovating, making loads bigger what we've got and the result will be a house twice as big as we currently own with an additional two car garage, two bathrooms, and ginormous rooms for everybody. It is very exciting but kinda scary and very grown-up.

So, we have been driving our architect round the bend with all the last minute changes we've made and I've been stalking a lady down at the local council to try to get us hooked up to town supply water. The husband has chopped more trees down and even the builder (father-in-law) has been decided upon.

With a bit of luck we'll start around January/February next year and then probably comes the hard part - trying to live in the place while the renovations occur. Hmmm.. fun fun.

The other big recent news is that as of this week I am now the mother of a 12 year old!!

12!

Still reeling from that one actually, wow, my eldest is 12. She had a fantastic birthday and besides pressies, takeaways on the day, and a big home cooked curry feast tomorrow with friends, my main gift to her was tickets to The Phantom of the Opera stage show.

Wow! Me, Madam 12 and Little Miss 10 went last weekend and we walked out afterwards immediately wondering what we could do without this week to book tickets and go and see it again.

I wanted to install a love of the theatre into the kids but I may have created a very expensive monster here. Really can't complain that they have great taste, just expensive tastes.

So new house, older children. Life is good.

Been Out.

2008-11-14T11:05:00.003+13:00

Went to the annual New Zealand Wine awards the other night and had a very lovely evening taste testing the gold medal wines for the year. I quite like receiving the VIP treatment in situations such as this although it didn't stop the husband from tittering away at an amusing text message he received during the Wine Judge's speech about the winning Pinot Noirs.

"Fuck! Where's the mute button?", sent our babysitter when faced with noise levels not normally experienced in their house from just the one child.

Later we ended up at the Ponsonby Pool Hall for a nice evening of beer and pool and although we haven't been there in two and a half years, the manager straight away looked at us and said, "Hi guys, shall we set up a tab as usual?"

Perhaps we have memorable faces, ... actually we're probably just really funny looking.

I think we do play a bit of pool though as at the local pool bar up here the daytime manager (we like to skip away when the children are at school), on our last visit gave us some drinks on the house and discounts off our tab.

I like to look at these developments as a good thing. We're hardly likely to stop playing pool now are we.

So, actually got to behave like a grown-up this week which was rather lovely. Normal childlike routines will now resume.

The One about Liberation and too many Flies.

2008-11-11T12:25:00.004+13:00

I have been liberated!

Not the 'rescue me from a hostile dictator' style liberation but I'm sure my form is way up there at the top of the list.

I have been liberated from receipts!

Yes I know it sounds odd but 'tis true. They have had me over a barrel these past 12 years at least and have been one of the biggest banes in my life.

And to come to the aid of this rather sad and confused damsel in distress was none other than the husband, fresh off a plane and intent on tidying up all my little piles of 'things' to sort out at a later date.

[in truth, that later date is as real as a phoenix rising because our house is so small and our collection of 'stuff' so large that there is nowhere to sort piles of 'things' to]

So, he got stuck into the enormous pile of unopened mail from the last 3 - 10 months (I forget, I'm not one for bills), and not to feel left out or guilty at not having done it sooner, I joined him. To my horror he was throwing away much of my stuff and things that I had so carefully hoarded this year and which I was so certain were important enough to justify those piles of crap in every corner of our lovely abode.

In my panic I started shoving papers under his nose and demanding, what about this? Surely we need to keep this? Turns out that we don't, and my years of keeping petrol receipts and restaurant bills, taxi chits and plane tickets, appear to be the actions of a madwoman. We need it not. Gone are plumbing bills from two years ago and car registration forms, the whole lot just tossed. I feel so free.

After day one I set about yesterday to have some more fun and sorted out more piles of stuff and threw away more useless pieces of paper but the highlight of my day? A shoebox labelled 'Receipts'. Oh that was so much fun. We're talking scraps of paper from 5 years ago, probably a good 900 receipts and I think I kept 2 from the top.

Today I have pinpointed two more piles of 'things' that suspiciously look like receipts and they will be unceremoniously discarded on the morrow and I am looking forward to it.

Now, flies.

I know I'm not alone in hating them with a passion but I know that you lucky people in the northern hemisphere are beginning your winter and so aren't currently experiencing this dilemma.

This week has seen the weather warm up and the flies appear and I'm already over them. I have about 5 more months of this to go!! I need a magic solution as the one from last year (those stick on your window things) were useless.

Ideas are welcome but nothing that would result in a giant Jeff Goldblum like fly wandering about please.

Nasty wee pesties.

The eyes have it.

2008-11-10T14:54:00.003+13:00

Things have been a bit too serious around here recently so to lighten things up a bit I thought I'd share with you who one of my favourite actors is, Mr Gerard Butler.

I do think he is a brilliant actor but there is a small possibility that I like him because of those incredible eyes. . . anyhoo

I first saw him in '300' which I really enjoyed but I had no idea who he was back then, I'm just a crazy history buff and enjoyed the movie from an educational point of view. Can we all spell g-e-e-k?

Then earlier this year I rented 'The Phantom of the Opera' and was mesmerized. By the film, the singing, the story, and yes, the actors. Did you know he could sing? Wow.

Finally, last week I rented 'Atilla the Hun', yep - another history movie and again I had no idea he was in it but his eyes literally stole the film. Good movie by the way, you'll learn a bit about history and all that, but Gerard Butler's blue eyes were so amazing to watch. In truth, bugger the rest of the film, the eyes do have it.

We won!

2008-11-10T10:39:00.002+13:00

Congratulations to John Key who won our election by an enormous margin and will shortly become our new Prime Minister. Thank christ for that!

So, 3 out of 3 in the end - a very good week. Lewis Hamilton won F1; Barack Obama won the US elections (thankyou so very very much jebus); and John Key won the New Zealand election. Damn, this has been a good week. The world feels right again.

And if you read my last post and in particular the section on the many many government departments that appear to do nothing more but to prop up Wellington's public transport service, then you will be very pleased to hear that one of the first things John Key is planning on doing is having a full report on all government departments and what they do, what they spend money on and what they are paid to do this.

Yes, the world is definitely coming right once more.

Time for a change?

2008-11-04T17:08:00.015+13:00

Okay, I am a bit tired of being lumped into the 'you're just one of those greedy people' group because I choose to vote for National in the upcoming New Zealand election.

In this country apparently the one and only reason that anybody would vote for National is because they want tax cuts and bugger the rest of the issues because we apparently couldn't give two stuffs about our country.

Enough already!

I actually really like my country and am insanely proud of it and definitely want only what is best for it and unlike certain other supporters (Labour, Greens..) who think that National is a one policy kind of party, I know that National can actually deliver some well needed changes given half the chance and god knows we could use some change around here.

Closed minds are never a good thing and uninformed opinions really bug me. If you've read all the policies, done your homework and you still don't like them then cool and well done you. But this is my blog and I'll have my own say about why New Zealand needs a new government.

Which leads me back to taxes as it really is a huge part of this years election. Labour has resisted the idea of tax cuts over the past 9 years and only now, when there is a real threat that they are going to lose the election, are they saying that they might bring in cuts but only tiny ones as that is all the country can afford at this time.

Taxes in New Zealand are used to pay for government departments, state-owned enterprises, councils and quangos (Quasi-Autonomous Non-Governmental Organisation - yes, I had to look it up). Apparently a total of 407 groups!!!

When you take into account the fact that the average New Zealander (I'm not even talking about the people in the highest tax bracket here), pays roughly just more than 40% of their income if you include GST (goods and services tax which applies to pretty much every consumerable thing you can buy in a store), and the others like petrol tax; then that figure starts to look kinda scary.

Now take that figure and try to factor it into the current economic recession. If this current downward trend spirals into a depression then us, the country's muppets who are paying so much in tax, are suddenly going to really struggle to keep this country running. Have you seen what has happened in the housing market recently? Don't you think we should all be a little bit nervous here?

I found this interesting list of areas in where the Government could downsize or completely abolish that could save us all a shitload of dosh in the long run (technical term). I will warn you though that it has been drawn up by the Libertarianz but it still makes interesting reading.

What could possibly be a scarier list though is the one that follows. Do we really need this many civil servants for a country of 4 million people and are our tax dollars simply going towards the 'Keep-Wellington-Employed' cause?

THE Labour Party GOVERNMENT MACHINE
The out-of-control construction of positions in the public sector:

Ministry of Education
2000: 906 in Wellington - 1224 nationwide
2002: 1460 in Wellington - 3675 nationwide
2004: 1899 in Wellington - 5553 nationwide
2006: 1998 in Wellington - 5756 nationwide
2007: 2202 in Wellington - 5907 nationwide

Ministry of Health
2000: 834 in Wellington - 911 nationwide
2002: 1202 in Wellington - 1673 nationwide
2004: 1641 in Wellington - 2204 nationwide
2006: 1958 in Wellington - 3545 nationwide
2007: 2265 in Wellington - 2595 nationwide

Department of Building and Housing*
2000: 123 in Wellington - 253 nationwide
2002: 136 in Wellington - 268 nationwide
2004: 178 in Wellington - 312 nationwide
2006: 469 in Wellington - 627 nationwide
2007: 518 in Wellington - 680 nationwide

Department of Corrections
2000: 1425 in Wellington - 7698 nationwide
2002: 1822 in Wellington - 8595 nationwide
2004: 2208 in Wellington - 9435 nationwide
2006: 2600 in Wellington - 11,294 nationwide
2007: 2723 in Wellington - 12,877 nationwide

Ministry of Justice
2000: 345 in Wellington - 345 nationwide
2002: 373 in Wellington - 380 nationwide
2004: 1817 in Wellington - 4819 nationwide
2006: 2199 in Wellington - 5606 nationwide
2007: 3468 in Wellington - 5833 nationwide

BUT!!!:

Ministry of Economic Development
2000: 946 in Wellington - 1391 nationwide
2002: 1035 in Wellington - 1466 nationwide
2004: 1024 in Wellington - 1411 nationwide
2006: 1076 in Wellington - 1446 nationwide
2007: 994 in Wellington - 1390 nationwide

*Formed in 2004. Absorbed functions from the Building Industry Authority between 2000 and 2004.

Now if even Labour supporters look at that list with no emotion then I say right now, there is something wrong with you. To me that list is just plain scary and nicely illustrates one of my major concerns with our current government - there is far too much in house spending going on and that list only covers 6 departments. 25,282 people working in six government departments!! C'mon, they are surely taking the piss, .. aren't they?

So, tax cuts, too many useless government departments and/or too many people sitting in said departments twiddling their thumbs, what else? Well the sheer dishonesty of our current PM springs to mind. A woman who will say as many white lies as it takes to negotiate her way out of tricky situations. Newsflash Ms. Clark, you are not 4 years old and trying to avoid a timeout for that chocolate milk stain on the carpet!

And yet, she gets away with it. I still don't understand how. Let's see.. there was the infamous paintergate saga where she was asked to paint a picture for a high profile charity auction and it turns out she had a flunky paint the piece and she just added her scribble to the bottom - the buyers were not amused.

There was speedgate where her government motorcade was caught speeding through a rural town at least 50km over the speed limit and she denied knowledge that they were actually speeding. Where were they off to in such a rush? Why, an All Blacks rugby game of course.

Doonegate which I didn't know all the details of so did some research and found this very good and well-rounded article summarising the main points from the main commentators at the time. A very interesting read and adds more clout to my belief of her absolute arrogance.

Pledgegate which concerns election spending (which is regulated in this country) and which was not produced under electoral spending but by the taxpayer, all $800,000 of it. Essentially it was a small card with election pledges on it, what Labour would do for you if they won the election. How is that not electoral spending? Muppets.

And there is more. The Peters/Glenn debacle, the Australian trip charade, even this shocker from a visit to an Auckland primary school. No sirree, I do not like her at all.

I've been reading that a lot of National supporters would possibly vote Labour if Helen Clark wasn't the leader and I can well believe it. She has the personality of a chihuahua who has just had its dinner ruined by the neighbour's cat, and she has a bad habit of playing dirty which I really don't like.

One American commentator, Washington foreign policy magazine author David Kenner, ranks New Zealand alongside other ugly elections in Nigeria, Russia, Australia and Taiwan. When people from the other side of the world are calling this a dirty campaign then surely there is some basis of truth in the rumour.

I just think she and the Labour party have made a lot of personal attacks during the last few months and perhaps if they had concentrated more on the issues then flinging dirt, John Key wouldn't be leading in the polls right about now.

So yeah, I think I have a few valid reasons there for wanting change but perhaps the biggest reason of all is that I think their policies are cleverly worded statements of nothing but hot air. For example, look here to compare the various parties and their policies for the economy. In a time of economic crisis are they really offering anything of substance? In fact, while you're there, explore the site and compare other issues and policies, Labour's are consistently the most lacklustre, stale and unhelpful.

We have had enough of empty promises and hot air, it is time for a change and National is the only other option out there so they'll get my vote. It's a no-brainer really.

A week of three firsts, hopefully.

2008-11-03T10:23:00.005+13:00

I've been up for 5 hours now (it is 10.30am) and am still feeling all warm and fuzzy from the fact that Lewis Hamilton won the Formula 1 2008 championship today in Brazil. And what an amazing race it was, with the championship being decided just seconds from the line.

Most of the world, and definitely Felipe Massa's brazilian home crowd, were supporting the Ferrari driver who put in a first class drive and won the race comfortably. But the championship was not Massa's to win but Hamilton's to lose and thankfully, this was not the case.

A lot of people don't like Hamilton, they think he is too arrogant and that he played a major role in Fernando Alonso leaving McLaren on bad terms last year. This was something I didn't really know too much about being a newer convert to the sport and so I decided to dig a little deeper.

I also am sick of the stupid, racist, hateful and generally ill-informed comments directed towards Hamilton, often by Ferrari supporters I've noticed, and so I thought I'd read about that as well.

It would seem the poor boy has simply had a lot of bad press, particularly in mainland Europe which is a Ferrari stronghold, in Spain which is Alonso's home country, and even from other groups who dislike his origins and his skin colour.

There were major tensions in the McLaren camp last year but little of it started with Hamilton and it actually appears that a lot of it started when Alonso's ego wasn't placated enough.

Let me explain. F1 teams run two drivers, one normally considered the number one driver and the other there to do their best obviously, but also to get the experience and practice from the F1 curcuit and also to support the number one driver should he need support during a race. This is one aspect of the race I don't entirely agree with. Talent should be explored not stifled. Anyway..

Last year Alonso felt he wasn't getting the support from Hamilton on the track that he was entitled to and also from the team itself - there was also a spy scandal here which caused him to fall out with McLaren. Hamilton had turned out to be an incredibly quick driver, competing with Alonso on championship points, and he felt he had a right to make his own play for the championship. McLaren backed him (they were backing both of them) and Alonso didn't like it.

Just past halfway through the season in Hungary, Alonso decided to deliberately block his team-mate Hamilton's car in a bid to secure a better position for himself and was rightly penalised for the action. This was probably the last straw for everybody and although the two McLaren drivers finished tied at third overall, just one point behind the season's winner, Alonso's anger at Hamilton and McLaren was beyond any repair. He left the team and rejoined with Renault for this year.

I can understand that Alonso felt unsupported as the history of the race has seen the number two drivers often give up position to help their team-mate to victory. But there is a definite shift in the attitude of that practice and a lot of people simply want to see the best driver win on the day.

Case in point, two weeks ago at the China grand prix reigning world champion Kimi Raikkonen gave up second place to team-mate Massa with three laps to go, to ensure that he had enough points to have a chance at the drivers championship this weekend. Raikkonen was the better Ferrari driver on the day but he did what was best for the team as he was out of contention for the championship himself. Would he have still done that if he was in contention for the points though?

That is my issue I guess. If you're out of contention then you're helping out your team and it makes sense but last year both Alonso and Hamilton were in contention to win. How do you expect someone to stand down from such a rare chance?

Anyway, I am very happy that Hamilton won this morning and can't wait for next year, my husband might even take me to a race if I'm good - yeah right! If you want to read more about the race and season try here or here.

So this is my first successful win this week of which I am hoping will be one of three. My second is the much desired wish that Barack Obama will win the US election and become the next president of the United States. My third is that our National party will win our election and give us a long needed change in government.

I will wait with antici.....pation.

Books.

2008-10-30T10:25:00.003+13:00

I'm finding not as much time to keep this site going as I would like but I have just been updating my reading list, which I quite enjoy keeping track of, and have noticed that yet again I am behind in my goal of reading one book a week for the whole year.

We are now in the 43rd week but I have only read 37 books. Shocking effort really. I didn't quite get there last year and I thought I would do better this year but to no avail.. yet. 9 weeks to go and only 15 books to read until then. Yeah, I can do that.

It's interesting looking back through my list because I can see the periods when I was really stressed out and could only handle a very light read - I usually raid the kids bookshelves during those times, and then there are other periods where I have a run on a particular author or genre. Recently it has been historical novels - I particularly recommend The Book of Air and Shadows. A Shakespeare thriller about a lost play by the man himself and very gripping it is.

I could not imagine my life without my books, what a sad place it would be for me if that ever happened. Happy reading.

A moan about the French.

2008-08-04T12:20:00.003+12:00

Before going to Paris recently I read a book called 'My French Connection' by Sheryle Bagwell.

Now last year in Paris I was blown away by the beauty of the city and I was quite in awe of the language barrier and my husband who spoke french well enough to get by. I loved the atmosphere and I vowed to take my daughters there as soon as possible.

This time, I was less of the wide-eyed girl in a candy store and more of the cynical know-it-all watching a magic show. I think I was slightly wiser to the country, not so easily impressed by the beauty and ready and willing to see beyond the magnificent structures to dig at the real Paris underneath.

Thanks to Ms. Bagwell's book and a few stories from my husband about his independent run-ins with France or the french, I wasn't happy to accept the glossy veneer of Paris this time round and it made for quite a different trip.

We chose to just do the 2 night weekend thing again, the difference being that we stayed in a different part of Paris (St Germain) and we had the kids with us. In fact, I don't know how anyone can afford to stay in Paris for more than 2 nights given how expensive the accomodation is there.

We saw some amazing things as you simply do in Paris, it is a city of wonders to be sure, but the city itself had definitely lost something magical about it from my first visit to this second one and it's not a place I would think of going back to again.

To try to put a finger on what had changed for me this time round is actually quite hard; the arrogant and rude customer service people are definitely a major part. The con-men who prey on tourists are rather off-putting and the idiot who works at the Eiffel Tower and tried to scam us out of 20 Euros was an absolute turn-off.

I think we were simply a bit over the myth of Paris but having said that there are still some wonders to discover there, wonders that aren't governed by arrogant locals more to the point. And the main new wonder for me was the gorgeous hilltop suburb of Montmarte and its beautiful cobbled streets that wind down, finishing off at the Moulin Rouge and the old red light district.

A real old slice of Paris, complete with a frenchman dressed in the obligatory striped shirt, red neck tie, and beret, smoking outside a corner cafe scowling at all the tourists in his authentic neighbourhood with an accordion playing gypsy woman wandering about in the background. He looked like a very serious type but we had to smile in spite of ourselves at such a living cliche.

The other thing I loved about Montmarte was the arty stalls and galleries everywhere and the sheer volume of authentic Dali, Chagall and Picasso lithographs for sale. In fact the art galleries are great and full of beautiful pieces that most people usually only read about in a book. I felt quite spoilt to see them in the flesh so to speak.

But, Monsieur Stupid at the Eiffel Tower needs a special mention to bring us back down to earth because you really do find all types in Paris.

We were in the queue and had been there a while because it was a stunning sunny day and everyone wanted to go up the Eiffel Tower. I didn't mind, it's the kind of thing you only do once and I think the wait was only about 50 minutes to the ticket booth which wasn't that bad really.

So, we get there and ask for a family pass and the guy quotes the price ($25 euro) and then as my husband is handing over a $20 euro note he suddenly looks at Miss 11 and asks to see proof of her age (you had to be under 12 for the family pass). A bit odd but I had all of our passports in my bag so no problem, we just showed it to him and then he repeated $25 euro so we gave him an extra $5 euro note. And this is where it all got silly.

He basically said that we never gave him the first $20 euro and that we still owed that much if we wanted to get our ticket. We politely told him that we had given all the money and he needed to give us our ticket now. He didn't believe us, we pointed out that the top $20 euro note had the same fold as all the other notes in my husbands wallet and none of the other notes in his cash draw were folded like that but he disagreed with this theory.

We were at somewhat of an impasse. We weren't giving him any more money and he wouldn't give us our ticket. Finally he said that the only way we could resolve it was for him to close his counter down and count his entire cash box which he claimed would take an hour. He said this quite confident that we would back down but we said go for it. When he pointed out that we would be making a lot of people wait, we pointed out that it was him making them wait and he should start counting.

Wally.

So, he counted, we waited, the people behind us were not too happy as there was only one other counter serving a queue of about 600 people but as we told them, he was trying to con us out of $20 euro and we weren't about to let him do it.

After about 25 minutes he finished his count which apparently was completely out by a lot more than $20 euro, and went off to talk with other money experts no doubt. Finally he came back, gave us the thumbs up, gave us the tickets and said 'next'.

What a complete pompous twit! No friggin' apology, no admittance of being wrong, no recognition whatsoever of what he had just made us go through, just thumbs and next.

It put a damper on our Eiffel Tower visit that's to be sure but it also made us wonder how many other people he has conned out of money. A good scam. Distract the customer while you're taking the money off them and then make them doubt they had even given you cash to begin with. A mighty con indeed. Just don't mess with kiwis, we're not that bloody stupid.

Right, moving on. Dog poo. This one unfortunately is not a myth, the french are disgusting and leave their dog crap all over their beautiful city, completely disregarding basic hygiene. It makes me wonder if they have any pride in their city at all to treat it like that.

There is a line in Sheryle Bagwell's book when she is asking a Paris local where they would like to travel to and the answer is something along the lines of, "Why travel when we live in the most beautiful place in the world".

Hmm.. I've got news for you guys. You don't. Yes Paris is beautiful but it will never be the best in the world until the locals tow the line and treat it with the respect it deserves. Plus, the basic fact that beauty is subjective and your argument falls flat guys. Get out and travel, see the world and experience other cultures then perhaps you won't be so bloody rude when visitors come to your country.

One last thing, waiters. Oh god how pushy can you get? I realise they work under commission but you almost feel bullied to eat at their premises by simply walking past the place on the street. It's like eating in the US where they all expect tips even though you may have just experienced the worst service ever. I think it must be a bug bear with me, I don't do pushy waiters or bad service and I certainly am not happy paying for the pleasure of either.

We are quite spoilt here in New Zealand on this score I think. Firstly, restaurant staff are paid a decent wage that they can live off, and secondly, tipping is the exception and not the rule, you have to earn it and you end up getting amazing service about 95% of the time because the staff try hard for the tips instead of just expecting it.

But I digress.. back to Paris..

There are always people who are pleasantly different and our hotel staff were some of them. A really nice bunch of people that obviously learnt their customer service skills outside of France. French passports officials are generally really nice as well, probably all that contact with foreigners and nice manners maybe. (Oooh, I'm being harsh but I don't really care).

So, to sum up. Paris has great art galleries, terrible customer service, locals with an over-inflated sense of their own importance, and dog poo on every street corner. The Seine is one of the dirtiest rivers in Europe but they do have some cool wandering accordion players scattered about. A city of lows and highs but then most cities are. I think the difference here is that Paris pretends otherwise.

I will return to France but it won't be to Paris. And it won't be soon either, there are too many other places to see before we head back there. I suspect a little time might be good for my image of France.

Paris/France - recommended only in small doses.

Absent minded writer returns.

2008-07-23T10:58:00.004+12:00

Oh god, has it really been this long. So sorry dear blog.

Well, 3 days ago myself and the two daughters arrived back home after 26 days abroad. Mostly in London but also 2 days in Paris, 3 days in Hong Kong and one day spent with relatives in Cambridge.

The main plan was to catch up with the Awol husband and try to remember what he looked like once more. Secondary motives were art galleries and fun and adventure although the adventure was hard to get when travelling with 2 young madams. Still, fantastic holiday and am feeling quite recharged after it and ready for 2008 part deux.

Pity that New Zealand is so damn wet at the moment, it is not helping with the 'ole get into it feeling I had when I was flying home. And I'm very happy for all the farmers who needed rain and very happy for our reservoirs which desperately needed rain but a couple of days of fine a week is surely not too much to ask? Huh, huh?

Anyway, despite the soggy country, it is good to be home and when the fine periods do sneak on through, I have been thoroughly enjoying getting reaquainted with my beautiful sea vista and my little beach town. There is no place like home.

And I even continued to be a good girl on holiday and watched what I ate and came back slightly lighter for the effort so the project of turning me into a healthy machine is ticking along nicely as well.

There are of course a few things that are crying out to be blogged about and these will be dealt with in due course. Parisiens for example, oh there is a lot to be said about them, especially the few who tried to swindle money out of us. The locals in Hong Kong and their very bad habit of queue jumping at every opportunity and photographing every single thing that has a pair of eyes or moves. How many photos of the many tanks of jellyfish do you really need for your family albums?

The Marks and Spencer food supermarkets in London. Okay, I now know these are not meant to be real supermarkets but when there is nowhere else to go for your weekly shopping needs in the district, you would think they would stock toilet paper and soap for chrissakes! And the english summer. Hmm. To be fair it was lovely and hot when we arrived but a few days later the rain came in and then after that the sky just seemed too scared to be truly fine or nicely hot again.

Okay, but it was a great holiday and my most exciting thing is all the major artworks we saw. I think I can safely say that out of the top 20 most famous paintings in the world, we have probably seen about 2/3 of them now. That is very cool. And even the girls appreciate the fact that they have viewed some very famous stuff.

Right then, there's a taster of the long awaited holiday but I will be back to write more. I've got lots to write about now so it would be rude not to.

Qwertyuiop

2008-06-03T09:11:00.003+12:00

Hoorah! Looks like its Obama afterall, thank you jebus, now he's just gotta beat that other guy...

Anyway, wanted a different post here so this is my favourite piece of prose from when I was a kid written by that allstar of literature: Anonymous.

Upon a hill I saw a horse,
I looked again - it was gone;
It must have moved.

Obama please.

2008-05-19T16:42:00.004+12:00

This is a dicey subject for anyone not from the United States but I'm going to throw my opinion out there anyway.

The big question on many peoples lips at the moment is Obama or Clinton? And for us foreigners it isn't particularly that US politics interests us, it really is a genuine concern to see Bush gone and someone, anyone better please (read democrat), get elected in.

In fact I think that the US people owe this much to themselves, not to mention the rest of the world, after enduring Bush and his bumbling foreign policy for 8 years. And given how rarely the US media reports fairly and without bias on world affairs, perhaps it is us in the rest of the world that have had more to suffer.

A harsh observation? Maybe, but I honestly believe there is more than an element of truth in there as well. I mean, have you guys actually watched Fox or NBC news recently? Scary stuff.

A friend of mine regularly hosts clients from all across America in their home here in Whangaparaoa and we were discussing world opinions recently when the topic of their houseguests came up.

The most recent guests were shocked at our lack of reports on the Iraq 'war' and couldn't believe that no-one was mentioning it. They were quoted as saying "Don't you people know there's a war going on?" Actually, no there isn't but that's more a matter of semantics.

There is an American offensive in Iraq going on which has followed on from an American invasion but nowhere there is the definition of a war which is essentially a 'contest carried on by a force of arms'. I think when one side has all the arms, and the other side is made up of extremists with secondhand weapons and a broken defeated populace, it is hardly a fair contest in anyone's book.

But I digress, and apologise if anyone disagrees with my simplified view of things. Back to the race at hand.

I back Obama. Very simple and I hope he wins this thing and becomes president because he offers such a breath of fresh air that America hasn't seen since possibly Lincoln.

It's a shame that the first genuine opportunity for a woman president happens to be running against him and being a woman, I am sad at this lost chance for another female world leader but that's just the way it is.

He is the better candidate, better person, advocates fairer policies and let's face it, he is very charismatic and captures the public in a way that Clinton simply fails to do.

She has all the charisma of a bulldog tied to the fence with a big juicy steak just out of reach. Chomping at the bit to get closer, and snarling at anyone who comes too near. Personal candidate attacks have been very one-sided in her favour and her policies are quite old school and outdated.

This is all of course my personal assessment of the democrat race but the possibility of having an American president like Barack Obama really excites me and must do something similar for the American people surely.

To raise US standing in world opinion once more has to be desirable and Obama is just the man for the job. He has the personality to banish the currently popular pasttime of America bashing and in general, he has the goods to restore approval for USA once more.

I like americans quite a bit and the only ones I cringe at are usually on reality TV and not really a fair indication of the country as a whole. Politicians tend to be in a group all by themselves (true of every country) so they don't count but US citizens are pretty cool people and deserve a pretty cool president.

I'll keep my fingers crossed and how good would it be to appeal to everyone and run an Obama/Clinton ticket with Obama for president and Clinton for vice? Oh, I hope so.

Now I should read up on local policies as we also have an election this year and I am hoping for a long needed change here as well. Australia and Britain have changed leaders recently, perhaps it is a new world trend. Fingers crossed.

Now that was a while and a half..

2008-05-16T17:35:00.003+12:00

..wasn't it?

I wasn't intending to not blog for that long but I reorganised my priorities recently and top of the list is now yours truly and this health kick I'm doing. Not much time left after that. Not many stories either as the life of a healthnut is as dull as a sloth on sleeping pills.

Oh well, moving on. I've lost 10 kilos now (or 22 pounds for those not in the know) and have toned up considerably thanks to a newfound motivation to go to a gym.

This exercise thing is quite weird, not really me but I've gotta say that I'm enjoying it at the moment so we won't rock the boat at this stage by saying anything we'll regret. It took me 2 months to get to this point of going to the gym by myself so a long road travelled already.

My nutrition surprises me daily as I still remember what crap I was eating only 3 months ago and can't quite believe that I've taken to these new food ideas so easily or so diligently. That has been a huge part of the 10 kilo loss as the exercise is relatively new to the scene.

But enough of that boring stuff.

I'm also involved with the school's Stage Challenge show again this year and I am making a Dalek outfit and the 9 planets as dresses, and a couple of other smaller things. Again, I've taken on a big job and have started to panic slightly but that is just the way we do things in my family. The old 'she'll be right' attitude and the 'leave it to the last minute' mentality.

Gawd. Help me Jebus.

I also have a fully functioning art studio and I might even get the rest of the furniture moved into it this weekend so it will really look finished.

The hubby did a fantastic job on converting the garage and this room is quite beautiful - I would post pictures but I'm getting my computer fixed at the moment so you'll have to wait and just imagine the awesomeness of my new room.

Speaking of the hubby, I am hubbyless once more as he left our sunny shores for Asia about 2 weeks ago. He's got another week and a half there and then will be heading on to London for a week before he jumps the Atlantic to the US (and a quick jaunt to Canada for the Grand Prix as you do) and back to London again.

The good part is that end of June we will be joining him in London for our very long awaited Europe holiday and we are getting very excited. 5 1/2 weeks to go!

I still have these two daughters of mine floating around the place although they are growing up and are very forgetful and self involved. Normal tween stuff I expect. That's all right, I'm just being forgetful and self involved right back at them.

When in Rome...

Righto then, the cooking hour is here and I'd better feed the creatures before they shrivel up.

Have a lovely weekend all.

Chainsaw Massacre anyone?

2008-04-17T14:31:00.002+12:00

I am painting one of these up to resemble a robot for a school production but first I had to bring it home.

Little Miss 9 sat in the front seat and wore it all the way, twisting her head in funny ways whenever we passed people - it was freaking hilarious!

The looks we got were priceless.

If you're ever feeling down just put one of these masks on a small child and drive about town with them. Never fails.

Still here.

2008-04-02T14:37:00.002+13:00

Yep, I am indeed, although 6.25 kilos less of me than when I last wrote.

Overall, we've just been enjoying having the husband and daddy back, enjoying the still glorious weather that is persisting in holding Autumn at bay, and enjoying the beach life that this part of the world offers.

And yes, I'm still keeping to my revised and healthier diet and it is doing wonders for everything, my hair, my skin, my sanity and well-being. I even like going out places a bit now.

Not so much painting unfortunately but the lovely husband has almost got my new art studio to the painting walls stage so watch this space.

I even went to a Pump class at the gym on monday although my muscles still haven't recovered and hurt so bad. Little Miss 9 and the husband are taking an evil delight in poking my legs in the sorest spots.

I think I had more to write but I have to go and relieve my car from the jungle growing within otherwise I will never fit any children in the thing to take them home from school today.

Plant shop trip this morning.

Hope you are all well.

Milestones.

2008-03-06T09:27:00.002+13:00

With daughters so much older than everyone else's and so independent, it had completely slipped my mind that we still have a few milestones to achieve before I relinquish all parenting duties and send them on their merry way into the big bad world.

Yesterday I bought my eldest daughter training bras.

The younger one giggled a bit then told me what kind she wants when its her turn.

My babies are growing up.

I have tried a couple of times to convince my daughter that the time is right but she just blew me off. Thank god for best friends though because her one has just started wearing bras and suddenly it didn't seem so silly anymore.

Quite momentous this really.

See ya later Bread.

2008-02-21T16:01:00.002+13:00

Well what I thought would be a herculean task has turned out to be far easier than anticipated.

I speak of the farewelling of bread in my diet. Obviously, if you read my last post you would know that changes are afoot here in the land of me and I am trying to embark on a wholly healthier way to live.

When I wrote that last post I was floundering for direction but now I've found it and I think I might just stick to it this time.

Giving up bread (and pasta and rice and pizza and potatoes) was such a scary thing to do but in reality I can't believe how simple it actually was. Of course not all bread is lost, Burgen and Vogels are allowed but so far I haven't wanted them and I am amazed at this new willpower which has magically appeared within.

I also have a very good goal that I'm targeting and come hell or high water I 'will' look fabulous by then.

This would be our family trip to europe that we have until September to take and I don't think I can describe how much I am looking forward to it. Everytime we see images of London on TV the girls and I get all excited just knowing that we'll have the chance to go there this year.

It is a very good motivational tool because I want to enjoy myself as much as possible and that means getting myself to the best and happiest place I can be and all of that means losing some weight, getting fit and eating healthily.

So, goodbye bread, hello jeans I grew out of years back but have saved because I must be an eternal optimist or something.

Except just give me a couple of months ok?

Tired

2008-02-11T12:34:00.000+13:00

So I've decided to go ahead and set some goals for this year afterall.

I am sick and tired of being tired all the time. I need more energy and I need to get healthy so life changes are the new black.

I am attacking my nutrition primarily as I am a starchy food addict (pasta, bread, rice, potatoes, chips) and this is not doing my waistline any favours.

Also, I am on medication for another health problem which has a nasty side effect of upping my appetite to insane. I did consider stopping the pills but then my other condition will rear its ugly head again so it's very much like a rock and a hard place.

The plan is to begin a new healthier eating plan and stop the meds in two months when (fingers crossed) I have made a good start and lost some kilos as well.

Losing some weight and perhaps moving into some less crazy hot and humid weather should also give me more energy for more exercise and the theory is that everything will trickle on into the next issue and end up solving itself.

Kinda like a snowball racing down a mountain, my momentum will just keep picking up more energy and determination as I achieve little goals one by one.

Now comes the hard part but I will do this - I've had enough of no energy, no self-esteem, no confidence or love in myself. I want out. Out of this corner I've backed myself into.

Sound fun?

'Course not but I'm sure it will be worth it.

Goodbye again..

2008-02-08T11:18:00.000+13:00

..to my husband that is.

Yes, he flew out last night to the UK once more and so a new year of travel begins.

This was a bit of a surprise trip as we only found out on Wednesday that he was needed over there and the tickets were booked Thursday morning for the Thursday evening flight.

No waiting around in this company.

So, it's just the girls once more for most likely the rest of February. But it's got to be done and I'm getting rather good at packing his bags now. An old pro you could say.

Poor guy. Having to pack winter woolies in the middle of the best and hottest summer we've experienced in the last decade is not something to look forward to.

At least he'll arrive in London as one of the brownest sun-kissed people there.

Got to make the locals jealous somehow.

To give or not to give?

2008-02-01T14:39:00.000+13:00

Last night on Queen Street I happened to walk past a man asking for spare change.

Now I don't usually carry cash at all; eftpos and credit cards are just so handy these days, so it got me wondering if he managed to get any spare change at all and I thought that most people were like me and took the plastic money route.

It also made me speculate on why he needed money and what he would spend it on if he got the money and this made me feel practical and shitty all at once.

I hate making assumptions about people but we have a very good welfare setup in this country and there is always a way in the system to be looked after by the government.

Some would claim the system is too good and when you consider that people like my husband pay 39 cents out of every dollar earnt to the government in taxes, but still works an 80 hour week because the workplace (and our mortgage) demands it, then yes, government schemes are like a slap in the face.

But I digress.

So, I have reluctantly assumed that this guy was receiving some form of weekly benefit, so why the need to ask for spare cash?

I think that if I had cash on me, or the 'ole plastic would've sufficed, I would've much preferred to buy him a meal at the Kebab store next door to where he had set up camp on the street.

Does this make me a bad person? Probably a cynical one but is it wrong to want to know where your money goes when it comes down to any form of donation?

I've heard many stories occurring of thousands of dollars of donation money sent to help out the victims of the Boxing Day Tsunami a few years back being spent on other issues. I read about people who personally went to the devastated areas to ensure their money was going to the causes they had pledged it for.

It's a sad time when you have to follow up your donation money to confirm proper charitable spending has happened.

I've always wanted to become involved in one of those schemes where you sponsor a child from a third world country and assist them into a better future. One day we'll do it I'm sure and you get reports on how the child and their village is doing thanks to your contributions.

This seems like an honest and tangible way to get the most security for your charity dollar. It makes sense to me. You know the money is doing good and you get reports and photos to prove it.

Another digression, so the point of this wee ramble? ...actually not sure.

Perhaps the guy on the street needs to offer photos and reports on how and what the spare change will be spent on.

Or maybe he just needs to carry a portable eftpos/credit card machine.

Or he could sing and dance and by becoming a street performer thus legitimately bypass any obligation to questions on the spare cash spending.

Life isn't as simple as it once was is it?

A new winner.

2008-01-25T10:49:00.000+13:00

The husband wasn't too pleased that I wrote of his tiny lapse of judgement on the world wide web but did get news yesterday that made him feel a wee bit better.

He has no longer done the stupidest thing in 2008, that title has been passed to his mate for outstanding forgetfulness and lack of thinking in the face of tiredness.

He blew up his gas barbeque.

And charred a small piece of the side of his girlfriends house.

He wins.

Actually, they were very lucky that was the only damage that occurred. That and the fact that he isn't allowed another barbeque, or so I hear.

2008 certainly has been interesting so far.

Another year down.

2008-01-21T11:49:00.000+13:00

So, here we are, 2008.

I have no resolutions or goals to speak of. If last year taught me anything it is that all the best laid plans and dreams can get turned upside down by the unexpected.

Although that doesn't mean that we haven't got plans, far from it. Many things are afoot here at home: changes, building, demolishing, renovating; we just simply deal with one issue at a time now.

But 2008 has certainly been a different way to start the year, not one I would recommend but one full of surprises.

We spent New Years in Christchurch with family, ending a week of family celebrations which was a great catch-up for all. Afterwards we took off in our car and saw some of the most beautiful parts of the South Island for a week which was really quite spectacular.

We finally got back home on the 13th January and after almost 4 weeks away from home, the homecoming is usually one of satisfaction and peace to be home again.

Not us.

My very clever husband had decided when we left back in December that the quickest way to turn all the appliances off was to flick the mains switch. I wasn't there when this intelligent piece of thinking occurred but happen it did and we were duly welcomed home by the smell of 4 weeks of rotten meat in the freezer.

Shudder is a good word here. Dry retch is another couple.

Not nice is very apt also.

We spent 4 days cleaning that thing out, over and over again until we had no choice but to give up. Much baking soda, bleach, white vinegar, coffee grounds, and other assorted cleaning products were used in the attempt but to no avail. The plastic interior has absorbed the smell thoroughly and is stubbornly refusing to let it go.

The heartbreak is that it still looks brand new and the stainless steel is still shiny and mirror like.

Okay, so a week living out of chilly bins and bags of ice and takeaways until a friend points out that it should be covered under insurance.

This had never occurred to us. Covered because of the husbands stupidity? Fantastic.

And yes, we are covered, the claim has been approved and a new fridge should be arriving today.

Now to focus on repairing our espresso machine which blew its circuit board when the power was turned back on, and then we might just feel normal again.

Lesson learnt: The dumber you are, the more insurance you should get.

Lists.

2007-12-02T16:24:00.000+13:00

I'm sure consciously or unconsciously we all have a list of things we'd love to do one day.

Mine is not written down but there are many experiences and places out there that are on the list and I am also constantly adding to it as I find out about new things to do.

Yesterday I crossed off an experience that has been on the list since I was about 5 years old and I was suitably giddy with excitement at the prospect I can tell you.

I took a helicopter ride.

Wahoo and yehaa even!

Just a quick scenic flight over the peninsula where we live, took the daughters with me and just grinned like a cheshire cat the whole way.

2007 has been good for my list. Helicopter crossed off, snorkelling the Great Barrier Reef crossed off, visiting Australia Zoo crossed off, experiencing Paris crossed off, experiencing London crossed off.

Not bad for one year.

And again we go...

2007-11-23T09:18:00.000+13:00

I don't want to say I told you so but fuck it, I told you so.

Read this about a man sentenced to 9 months supervision after smacking his kid three times on the bottom for bad behaviour at school. Yes, it sounded like it hurt the kid a lot but what about the fact that the kid was apparently a little shit?

All this teaches him is that he can get away with it in the future, his behaviour doesn't need to change in the slightest, and he can set up good 'ole Dad whenever he feels like revenge.

I thought the magical amendment to the bill included giving the police the right to distinguish between real abuse cases and discipline cases?

I dunno, it does sound like the smacks were hard but there were only three and the Dad admitted his guilt and took his sentence so he is hardly trying to weasel out of anything - not the usual behaviour of a child abuser. What worries me is the damage this has done to the father-son relationship in this case. Neither will fully trust the other from this moment on. Just really sad.

I say we make the kid live in Sue Bradfords house for a week and see how she copes. Give him full license to repeat the bad behaviour so she gets a good dose of reality.

Here's what others thought.

Update

2007-11-22T17:25:00.000+13:00

Life is busy in wee 'ole Whangaparaoa at the moment.

Changes are afoot and battle lines are drawn (between me and housework, weeds, clutter, dead leaves etc..).

Trips are being made and planned and dreamed of and becoming jealous over.

You know, normal stuff.

Oh, and apparently Justin Timberlake was playing golf up the road yesterday. He appears to be a very keen golfer and went to the prettiest course in the area - fair enough. Stinking hot day here yesterday and the sea was all shimmery so I'm sure we showed that grown-up mickey mouse clubber a thing or two about stunning places to live.

Pity then that he is really such a complete and utter munter.

Oh well.

Which nicely leads me to my next piece about some country munters I encountered on Sunday.

Driving home from a perfect weekend on the farm and we stop in Ngatea for hot chips. We stood outside to wait while they were being cooked because have I mentioned how glorious the weather is over here at the moment?

Anyhoo, this woman was struggling to carry three 2 litre milk bottles to her car and dropped one just before she made it. Milk was all over the road and she probably felt pretty bad about the whole thing but it was made worse by a group of young 'uns who were hanging out on the footpath.

Below is a fairly accurate transcript of their observations:

"Haw haw, she dropped the milk! Hey Lady, you dropped your milk! Haw haw hee."

"Did you see that, it just split all open and the milk came out. Hey! You dropped your milk lady!"

[new lady drives up]

"Hey lady, that lady just dropped her milk all over the road. It's all over the road, haw haw haw!"

[first new lady nods and gets out of there, second new lady arrives]

"Hey lady, look at the milk, this lady just dropped the whole bottle, haw hee hee haw. She dropped the milk all over the road!"

[second lady wisely ignores them]

---- Insert here many more observations on the fact that the milk was dropped, all over the road, many haw haws and hee hees and some bottle fun where the hilarity was continued and more milk was spilt. Let this continue for the next 10 minutes and then imagine us receiving our hot chips and backing slowly away so as not to disturb the locals and become sucked into their comedic escapades otherwise known as the saddest place on earth. ----

And folks, I kid ye not.

And not even a mention of the don't cry over spilt milk proverb which might have been apt given the situation.

Perhaps it should be changed to 'One must not haw haw over spilt milk'?

Like I said, munters.

And then there is life in general: packing, painting, driving, housework, sorting, cleaning, driving, sweeping, weeding, pruning, driving, ringing tradespeople for quotes, driving... you get the idea. And barely any time for a drink, a most uneviable position I tell you.

I'm hanging in until next Wednesday and then the driving will become a lot less. The other stuff remains but I will have more time at home to get it done so it's all good.

And don't even get me started on Christmas, we're just forgetting about that holiday up here being stupidly stinking broke at the moment.

Oh, and the husband is back overseas for another month. He is not enjoying it as it is quite a bit colder and I don't hold back when describing our gorgeous climate of late. Plus we all miss each other and that is enough for one year okay.

So there you have it.

Life.

Tricky.

2007-11-14T18:19:00.001+13:00

Here in New Zealand we have enjoyed the slowness of the Police Force in understanding that having one kind of car in their undercover force was very easy to avoid.

Until now you only had to be wary of big V8 Holden Commodores driven usually by drivers in a police uniform and this suited us all fine.

Alas the status quo has changed, in the last year we have seen many new types of undercover cop car: Fords, Nissan, Honda; and even cop vans are becoming more popular but today's viewing beats them all.

Behold, the new undercover cop car:

And yes, I really did see a policeman driving this.

Breaking News - Bush Declared Dead!

2007-10-24T14:08:00.001+13:00

We wish...

For Gail:

2007-09-27T12:35:00.000+12:00

I thought of you with love today, but that is nothing new,
I thought about you yesterday and days before that too.

I think of you in silence, I often speak your name,
All I have are memories and your picture in a frame.

Your memory is my keepsake, with which I'll never part.
God has you in His keeping, I have you in my heart.

Rest in Peace.

Life.

2007-09-18T22:23:00.000+12:00

We were planning on flying out to England and Portugal for 2 1/2 weeks of lovely family fun this friday.

We were.

Now we are all gathering around my mother-in-law's hospital bed where she is in a very bad way. It's serious.

For someone so healthy it is hard to imagine having something so severe happen to her.

It goes to show that you just never know. And that is quite scary.

You don't expect the worst. You don't expect the worst to happen to someone you know. You don't expect the worst to happen to someone in your own family.

You just never know.

Wahoo!

2007-09-18T08:55:00.000+12:00

I was so pleased that Little Miss 9 got singled out as extraordinary at school and her older sister wasn't involved in any way. Living in a very clever older siblings' shadow must be hard and I see Little Miss 9 struggle with it occasionally.

Next year when Little Miss 10 advances to College, Little Miss 9 will finally have her chance to shine outside of her sisters shadow and influence.

But, it doesn't mean I can't be a proud mum twice over and yesterday Little Miss 10 also got the congratulatory letter from the principal about excelling in language and writing and therefore being part of an extension class next term.

Wahoo for my girls.

More of Little Miss 9.

2007-09-17T09:28:00.000+12:00

Following on from Little Miss 9's complete control of time and context, she came home from Friday with a letter from the principal.

I was congratulated for having a child who is excelling in language and creative writing and she is to be put into an extension class for this next term.

I am so proud.

Priceless.

2007-09-13T09:30:00.001+12:00

This is what Little Miss 9 asked me yesterday:

"Mummy, is it next week yet?"

Priceless.

Control Room

2007-08-29T10:13:00.000+12:00

If you haven't yet seen the documentary Control Room then you really need to make it a priority in the near future.

It doesn't matter that this was shot in 2003 at the beginning of the Gulf War; the images, ideas, opinions and subject matter is still relevant, if not even more relevant today.

And to watch such a truly unbiased view of the war is a drawcard in itself.

The film follows the Al Jazeera news network as they cover the war from their base in Qatar to their correspondents at the American 'Centcom' press centre, to their reporters in the field in Iraq itself.

It includes their staff pondering the future of the war and emitting some very witty and insightful one liners along the way - "That wasn't analysis. That was hallucination."

It has the reaction of the American government to the images that Al Jazeera chooses to broadcast - "they are the mouth-piece of Osama bin Laden" which is odd in itself because this war supposedly dealt with Saddam Hussein.

And it shows other players in the Press Office and how they dealt with the War news. It was particularly interesting to watch the CNN reporter being constantly frustrated with the American Officials and their lack of substance to certain claims - the notorious 'Playing Cards' episode being a major one.

After explaining the idea of having the cards as a handy reference to leaders on the ground and flashing the press with a quick look at the top card of the pack and after stating that they would release the cards later for the press to have a closer look, the US soldier in charge then reneged this offer and point blank refused to let the press anywhere near the cards.

It was more than the CNN branch of the american media that was annoyed at that little tease.

(Just out of interest, here is someone's reply to the playing cards in Iraq.)

This isn't a rant against Americans because they are a nation of good people. This isn't really a rant at all, rather praise for such a well-executed documentary and one I truly believe should be mandatory for all, especially high school children.

It raises the very important issues of freedom of the press and highlights areas in where this simply doesn't exist.

Media management is becoming more and more common-place in US news and this film picks up on a few instances that were obviously manipulated to spin a good tale to the American people.

The tanks rolling into Baghdad was the worst example, the toppling of Saddam's statue, the Lynch rescue.

This was sad to watch. We (meaning a proportion of the US and most of the rest of the world) are well aware that many US media agencies spin the truth. Fewer people realise that these spins often come directly from the masters of manipulations themselves, the US commanders.

Rumsfeld for example. He goes on camera saying about Al Jazeera: "'We are dealing with people who are willing to lie to the world to make their case''.

Has he forgotten the mythical weapons of mass destruction so easily? Was that not a lie to try to justify invading a country?

How about the bombing of the Al Jazeera base in Baghdad as well as two other Arab news bases?

Given that the exact co-ordinates were officially sent to the US government months beforehand to avoid just such an outcome, and given that the US repeatedly told us that there would be few civilian casualties because of their accurate missile technology; how then does such a mistake as this happen? And how could the US mistakenly bomb three different media bases in Iraq within a few hours of each other?

And furthermore, these bombs were dropped the day before the American tanks rolled into Baghdad in what has been suggested was a staged act. The streets were empty and the only 'civilians' were a handful of youths who reportedly spoke with a different accent from Iraqi people.

The only media represented were the ones accompanying the troops themselves and one could suggest that if the other media networks were still present in Baghdad they might have reported on the whereabouts of the actual Iraqi people during this US demonstration.

It makes you wonder what other stories were altered to make us feel better about the war.

Whether you believe that the US is capable of such in your face lying and manipulation or not, it doesn't change the fact that this film is still necessary viewing.

It will still open your eyes to other aspects of the war previously not thought of.

Lt. Josh Rushing is a great example here.

He is an American marine press officer dealing with all the news networks at Centcom. He starts out repeating the official line from head office but over the course of the movie, he noticeably becomes weary of the war and more cynical of his own views and the official line.

A turning point for him and the whole documentary was when he was musing over his reaction of horror to some images of Amercian POW's, dead and alive, on Al Jazeera, yet the night before Al Jazeera had shown images of dead Iraqi's and he felt little emotion. It didn't affect him.

His quest to truly try to understand the Arab point of view was a breath of fresh air to watch and he came across as an American to be proud of.

It is interesting to note that when this film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, the Pentagon ordered Lt. Rushing to make no comment. For someone who obviously believes in freedom of speech this was a bitter pill to swallow and he made plans to leave the marines.

He now works for Al Jazeera English and amidst the accolades he also regularly gets hate mail and death threats.

Is that the price of freedom of the press and free speech?

This documentary should be watched because it opens our eyes to issues normally swept out of sight. It offers an insightful look at reporting on a war that the world is largely against and we discover the price paid to go against the American War Machine.

The truth.

Time Will Tell.

2007-08-19T13:07:00.000+12:00

I have been wondering for a while now whether my heart is still in this blog. I leave it for weeks at a time yet I always come back. I'm beginning to think that it would be too sad to let go, it's been a part of me for so long.

However, I am pulling back from it quite a bit. The decision was made for me in a way as I am working part-time now and most of the free time I had is now devoted there.

The job I now do is with one of my husbands software companies and while this is completely out of my comfort zone, I am hanging in there.

I am learning more about the world my husband lives in then if he had just explained it to me and at the same time I am helping the company out in any way I can. I feel closer to him for this knowledge and that is very cool.

Of course it's not all great. To really understand this new world I had to concentrate hard and the housework has suffered greatly as a result - not that I enjoyed doing it anyway. But still, I have little girls to look after.

The other sad side effect is the lack of motivation or time to paint. And just as I was getting back into it as well.

These realistically are both partly my fault as I am a complete failure at time management and am my own worst enemy when I want to achieve things.

Another skill I would be wise to work hard at to understand I think.

When I haven't got my head immersed in the woes of clients, I have had my head immersed in the woes of young Harry Potter instead.

I was getting a bit tired of being the only one not knowing the ins and outs of the young wizard so took it upon myself to read all of his adventures and get it out of the way.

An interesting series.

The first two are written with the younger child in mind and I was quite bored reading them. The third book however, The Prisoner of Azkaban, makes up for the first two and finally I too was gripped with the phenomenom that is Harry Potter fever.

The fourth and fifth books see a departure from the writing style and was clearly intended for readers of a more mature age.

I like to indulge myself in thinking that I'm mature and so I enjoyed the reads (despite the fact that Harry Potter and his teenage angst are nauseating and irritating) but watched with interest as my 9 year old daughter struggled with The Goblet of Fire before finally giving up.

Who were these books really intended for?

I think Joanne Rowling asked herself the same question as the writing resumed an easier style to read for the final two installments, and I felt the story lifted as well after the rather disjointed plotlines of the previous two books.

So now I sit, having just literally finished Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows and for those of you still to read it, it is a well written book and one of the better chapters in the series if not the best.

For those of you with young children struggling through the series like I have, I recommend skipping books 4 and 5 and proceeding directly to The Half-Blood Prince which is exactly what my Little Miss 9 has done. She is enjoying it and whatever she may have missed can be easily answered. At least she now doesn't feel left out of the whole fever phenomenom.

It is not a series I feel richer for having read like I did after Tolkien or Austen, but it is such a huge part of modern culture that I felt obliged to read and thankfully enjoyed along the way.

My last update involves an act of rather spectacular clumsiness.

By walking in haste into a metal frame, I have broken my middle toe.

I think it is fractured as a clean break would be a lot more agonising but it is clearly serious as it still hurts to walk on and this was 8 days ago now. The blackened bruise has gone, as has the swelling but the pain from any kind of pressure doesn't seem to want to go.

There is nothing I can do, it is a middle toe, tiny forgotten things that they are, and besides strapping it to its neighbour there is no remedy. I was told that the best thing for it to heal is to simply keep using it.

And so I am. I was limping a bit at the start of the week but we are used to each other now and have found our stride without the limp.

And that is pretty much my life to this point. My husband is still away but coming back briefly in one week which we are all very excited about.

Even more exciting is that we are then all going to visit him in London in September and then hopefully we will have him back for a long while in November.

School is busy: camps, cross country races, ski lessons, piano lessons. The dog has just been neutered and after a couple of the most glum days in his life, he seems back to his old bouncey puppyish self, and the weather is turning warmer again.

Time will tell if I return to this blog more often than now but I won't leave completely.

It's my life.

Ray.

2007-08-03T10:20:00.001+12:00

I finished this portrait recently of an overseas friend.

It is quite large, about a metre wide, and is my normal medium of acrylic.

I really wanted to portray a sense of struggle within the soul of this painting, also a sense of a spirits' presence as these elements are very important to my muse. But through that I also wanted to see a sense of calm and wisdom shining through.

Whether I have achieved everything I set out to do within this piece is a matter of personal judgement, but I can say that it was a sheer delight to paint. I loved the challenge of trying to paint these feelings into the figure and often, the paint just knew where to go.

I've called it simply 'Ray', although 'The Ghost Within' was a close second.

Where is the justice?

2007-07-31T09:25:00.000+12:00

A wee while ago I wrote in depth about a new law being passed in this country which is essentially anti-smacking legislation.

I wasn't overly happy with the particulars of the law, ie. the wording of the bill, but I did think that the nation's heart was in the right place when bringing this issue to the public eye.

What happened with that bill was it was passed into law, effective immediately, but only after a slight tweak on the wording which mostly appeased all concerned.

All in all I think a step towards a non-smacking community is a good one but I also saw the need for a transition period (there is understanding of this within the nation), because changing a disciplinary system that has been passed down through generations and changing it over night was scaring a lot of people who thought a slip up might end them in jail.

I am pleased to say that so far there have been no reported slip ups and the community vibe I get is that smacking is a thing of the past and it seems easier to change your ways when the whole country is changing with you.

This is fantastic news but not why the law was brought into the public eye in the first place. And unfortunately, my community and its 'vibe' are not duplicated everywhere.

New Zealand is the third worst country in the developed world for infant deaths. We have a horrible recent history of the worst kinds of child abuse you can imagine. Even though I hate to say it because I truly believe that the whole country has to find a solution to this problem, the majority of cases occur in families of lower socio-economic backgrounds and often of Maori descent.

I bring this up because it was these cases that prompted the anti-smacking bill in the first place. The reason was that if the loopholes were taken out of the system, effectively making it easier to prosecute those responsible for the abuse, then people would be less inclined to beat their children.

I doubted the bill would have any effect on those who believe that extreme physical punishment on children is just, and after two horrific cases this week alone, I sadly think I was right.

One child was subjected to 3 months of atrocious incidents, one alledgedly seeing her locked inside a tumble dryer. This child has come out the other end with probable brain damage and although 5 people have been arrested, it doesn't feel like justice to me.

I say it again, we need to get in place some preventative actions to nip this thing in the bud. There is such an enormous feeling of outrage over these cases, the government has a huge pool of concerned people to utilise but they do nothing.

The Prime Minister thinks it is 'a wider issue for the country to deal with' but her government's idea is hardly radical. Promises she made after the high profile deaths of twin babies last year were apparently never implemented.

Yesterday I looked into what it takes to become a foster parent (short, medium and long term) or a respite caregiver for the different associations that deal with those situations. I can understand the police vets, the references, the weeks of training but I couldn't understand the lack of information out there. I really had to look hard.

With a nation upset by the recent cases, it would seem the perfect time to advertise for a new intake of possible alternative caregivers.

I know nothing is as simple or as black and white as the above but at least I'm thinking of a practical starting point to address this problem, not a theoretical one. We have to find a solution here because children living in fear of their family members is not an acceptable situation.

There is no justice in arresting the guilty after the fact.

Imagine this:

2007-07-24T11:44:00.000+12:00

You're sitting in the car outside a fish and chip shop on a Sunday evening, waiting for your order.

An Altezza pulls up alongside you and a woman jumps out and runs inside.

You turn your head to look in the car and in the front passenger seat is a border collie doing his best human being impersonation while the back seat is exploding with many blue and white balloons.

The woman runs back out holding her order, shoves it in the backseat and fires up, letting a Fat Freddys Drop CD blast from the stereo.

They speed off as the dog gives you an incredibly condescending look for daring to laugh your head off at him.

Yeah lady, I would've laughed too.

Bucketloads.

2007-07-22T10:53:00.000+12:00

Have I been neglectful here? Or simply getting back in touch with the real world..

I always ask myself questions like these after a wee hiatus from blogger. It makes me wonder if I am neglectful of the real world at times when I do keep this site updated regularly.

However it is way too early to do justice to such thoughts, my brain won't cope and so I won't go there for the sake of sanity.

What I was doing was having two weeks of school holidays with my girls, entertaining my husband for two weeks as he flew back into the country for a family fix (and some work stuff too I hear), and entertaining my sister for 6 days.

And it was such a strange time. Having the husband back was fantastic but he was very busy and at times it felt like a tease. This often sent my mind whirling with very high highs and extremely low lows and unfortunately my sister got to see the worst two days of that - sorry T.

For the most part I am coping fine with him being away a lot and am even getting used to this solo parent thing. I would even go so far as to suggest that it was odd to have him back and I suspect that didn't help the erratic moods at all.

I wonder if we are starting to take each other for granted - one piece of advice the Canon who married us warned us never to do.

We assume the other will be there but what's more, we assume in what manner they will be there in, so when it doesn't play out exactly as we imagined there follows hurt and worse, resentment.

For my part, I had assumed that he would have more time to spend with us, not necessarily me but more for the girls.

In reality, he was home pretty much exactly as it always was before he went away. In fact he is busier now than ever before but I had this expectation in my head that the two month absence from his daughters might mean more time with him.

To be fair, he had some part in my misinterpretation of his time - he rarely tells me about his job. On the night he left I learnt more about what he does on a day to day basis then ever before and little of it was volunteered.

I knew he was a very busy man and his employees and fellow management team demand extroadinary amounts of his time but all the little extra things he needs to do to complete his days blew me away.

He is a machine.

But a vulnerable one.

And that is where I come in.

So many people I meet give me the strangest look when they learn that I don't hold down a job. I get the impression that part-time employment at the local coffee shop while the kids at are school would be a better use of my time.

I get the impression that I am considered by many to be idle and pointless.

Idleness I will give them but not in the manner that they mean. My idleness hits me worst in my own personal endeavours. Pointless would mean I have no goal, yet my goal for years now is to do what I can to support my husband and guide my children. I see a lot of point in that.

I don't even know what I am trying to convey anymore in this piece. I want to admit of expecting more from a man not physically able to give more at this point in time. Of having expectations too high and understanding too low.

It sounds like we had a terrible time but aside from one misunderstanding, it was great to have him back.

He is my closest friend but after this trip, he is now so much more. I feel so much pride in his work for understanding it better, particular pride in his professional achievements which are occurring on a weekly basis and are quite staggering.

Knowing how busy he is, it made me teary to know that he did put time aside with his daughters, he did take them to work, take them to restaurants, take them bowling.

Ever heard of the adage: 'Never assume, you'll make an Ass out of U and Me'?

So true. Perhaps I am a Ass.

He works 16 hours a day for one reason, our future. I work 16 hours a day for the same goal but it seems underwhelming in comparison. I can understand those funny looks.

I am proud of him, will always be there for him, and love him.

Is it enough?

At least I can say with all honesty that I will never take him for granted. I thank the Canon for that. Everytime we have come close to doing this, his words ring in my head and I do as I am doing now and take a huge step back.

Respect is everything and I have that for him in bucketloads.

Fight.

2007-07-06T10:52:00.000+12:00

I sent Little Miss 8 off to the bathroom last night to brush her teeth and she complained that Little Miss 10 hadn't done it yet and she should be going too.

My reply was to point out that every time they use the bathroom together they argue and fight (usually over who stands directly in front of the basin) and so she would be going first tonight.

She reluctantly went but called out from the hall: "We don't fight!"

Little Miss 10 yelled back at her from the lounge: "Yes we do!"

I rest my case.

Did I mention..

2007-07-02T12:55:00.000+12:00

.. that the Husband has been overseas for the last two months and I have been doing the solo thing (bar my wee joint to Europe) for all that time?

The girls especially have missed him and this was why we engineered a flying visit home (2 1/2 weeks) for him as withdrawals were happening on both sides of the globe.

I told them we were off to the airport to pick up their Aunty, she actually arrives next week so I had no trouble selling that wee white lie. They were standing there wondering what she looks like now and then this dodgey dude in a hat walks up to them. They looked at me, they looked back at him with very puzzled looks and then they clicked that their father really was right in front of them. The element of surprise was achieved.

It is lovely having him back, the house feels 'bustling' again if such a feeling within a house exists. Little Mis 10 did say to me just before though that she would prefer if I didn't pull such a big surprise on her again. It was too surprising she said.

A good surprise at least.

The Auld Mug again.

2007-06-30T09:34:00.000+12:00

Sorry, but it is very exciting, we were leading last nights race and only lost it due to a spinnaker tear. Very heart wrenching.

This is a strange topic for me as I'm not a sailor and I get incredibly seasick on the water but I do love watching sportspeople at the top of their game and especially if the contest involves a New Zealand team.

What I wanted to say was that it is really nice to see Russell Coutts get so much air time and finally treated with a bit of respect again. Afterall, many quarters consider him the best sailor in the world.

He was the New Zealand skipper once and won and then successfully defended the Cup for us. He was then lured over to Alinghi to challenge at the next competition and with them he beat New Zealand and hence the cup is currently being defended by Alinghi in Valencia.

Many people saw his (and a handful of other kiwis) defection as traitorous and there has been many uncomfortable moments and snide comments made over the years.

This has always really pissed me off. He made a decision to benefit his own career and his family's future and we get all patriotic on his ass? Sour grapes more like it.

As a New Zealander I agree it would look much better in the history books to see that New Zealand had more than one successful defence of the Cup in a row but as a person, I believe he owes it first and foremost to himself to make the best decisions for his future.

I know there has been talk of re-introducing the nationality claus into the game which would make it a truly international competition once more and not this battle of the rich guys we have now, but I have no idea where I stand on that one.

If it did get reinstated, many kiwi sailors currently actively involved in the Cup would be out of a job as we could only ever afford as a country to have one, perhaps two entries.

Living on small islands at the bottom of the Pacific seems to be great conditions to producing world class sailors and to stifle them in such a way could be a huge mistake.

I just don't know on that one but let's hope that the New Zealand syndicate can forget the past and find a place for Russell Coutts once more in the future. After being prevented from sailing in this competition, I think he's earned the right for a little forgiveness.

America's Cup

2007-06-27T12:09:00.000+12:00

I am so annoyed at not staying up that little bit longer last night to see what has been said was one of the best yachting races in Cup history.

It was 2 hours delayed due to fickle winds and this adjusts to mean a start time of 3am here in New Zealand. I lasted until just after 2.30am and am kicking myself black and blue because of it.

The good news? New Zealand is 2-1 up in the race and this is one of the most captivating America's Cup tournaments in decades.

The bad news? I shall be slightly sleep deprived for the next week or so until the winner is decided.

I think we should just win the thing and bring it back here and race at normal times of the New Zealand day.

That was all.

My contribution to Society.

2007-06-27T09:08:00.000+12:00

Ms. Mac gave me the idea that I might be of some use to y'all by warning you of other filmic celluloid disasters to avoid. Here are a few I can recall off the top of my head that are the finest examples of how not to make a movie:

Elephant - Gus van Sants attempt at making a film about teenage killers at a high school. Topical and risky but done in such a way that the first hour is merely children walking and talking in corridors and as such, bores you silly. This is a film that tries to be arty and brooding and evocative but really achieves none of the above.

Shooter - Tale of a sniper coaxed to join a government group protecting some important dude but then they double cross him and set him up and he runs and tries to prove he's innocent. Sound familiar? There are so many movies made with this kind of storyline so my advice would be to watch one of the other ones.

Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason - Now the first one was hard enough to watch but I did because I am an Austen fan and I wanted to see how much of Fitzwilliam Darcys character they injected into Mark Darcy. This second film however is really bad, constantly annoying and you have to put up with the squinty eyes and pursed lips for way too long.

The New World - Colin Farrell again rasing those dark eyebrows of his skywards in angst as he stupidly walks away from the gorgeous Pocahontas. This film is actually quite beautifully made, the problem, besides Farrell, is that they sacrificed plot-oomph for lyrical cinematography and the end result is a slow and boring tale.

Zodiac - Again, not that bad a film but so very very long (almost 3 hours) and slow. I was tired watching it.

Last Days - Strangely enough, another Gus van Sant attempt at brooding film making, and again executed poorly. This one loosely follows the story of the last days of Kurt Cobain with a fictional rock star and his personal demons. Even worse than Elephant and that is saying a lot.

Kingdom of Heaven - Not even Orlando Bloom could save this one from the brink. Tale of the crusades and some of the many fights ocurring in and around Jerusalem. Just disjointed and pointless really.

That's enough.

Perhaps I should do a post about stuff really worth watching next time..

Terrible.

2007-06-25T14:54:00.001+12:00

I had the great misfortune of watching The da Vinci Code and Alexander in the last two days and was so thoroughly disppointed that I need to write it down.

Never having read the Dan Brown book and being so long after the initial release, I was so unhyped with the first movie that I was sure I would be able to watch it with an unbiased an air as possible. This did happen and so I guess I was even more discouraged to find that under all the hype, the movie was worse than expected.

Where was the secrecy, the intrigue, the da Vinci relics? It all fell flat.

And then last night, why I thought I'd take a gander at the Oliver Stone version of the most famous tyrant in human history I'll never know but I guess curiousity got the better of me. I did study Alexander the Great at school and his tale is a fascinating one so I was indeed curious.

But I wish I wasn't.

They butchered the telling of the story so badly that you weren't sure how he came back into his father's affections and subsequently was made King of Macedon. Colin Farrell did not pull off the curly blonde wig at all and those dark eyebrows permanently pointing skyward in angst were just a continual source of annoyance to me.

The whole story was so sketchingly related that even the Indian war elephants were tripping over the plot-holes. Oh god, how can you murder such a great adventure?

I can only conclude that Oliver Stone is a bit of a muppet and should stick to war movies.

You are all warned.

You Know You...

2007-06-20T15:51:00.000+12:00

You know you have a cool kid when they excitedly bring you a movie in the video store, not knowing anything about it but just elated because it is a Studio Ghibli film.

You know you're going to have a great day when you wake and cannot resist the urge to get out your art gear and paint that image that you've been composing in your head for the last few weeks.

You know you made a good call getting lots of movies from the video store in preparation for the weekend when you discover that Sydney has sent its latest storm over our way.

You know you can't blame the dog when he comes inside a bit wet and muddy and you say, 'On your bed' and he jumps up onto your bed instead. Afterall, you have been letting him sleep there at nights recently..

You know you might have warmed slightly to the Whangaparaoa Foodtown supermarket again after months of receiving the rudest service ever when your checkout operator actually smiles at you and god forbid, even talks to you.

You know your jetsetting husband is having an effect on you when you receive a party invitation in another city on a different island, and you are seriously thinking of taking the whole family.

You know your jetsetting husband won't like the credit card bill if the party plan goes ahead.

You know you really should get out of bed earlier so the kids don't do half of their morning routine in the car on the way to school but damn, it's just way too cold at that hour.

You know you should be finishing the dishes rather than writing this post but that is one of the perks of being a solo mum - you make the rules.

You know you never should have given up red wine and will never give it up again in the future when it was the only thing to decimate the chest infection bug that lived with you for two weeks.

You know you are about to open a new bottle of red wine very soon in order to ward off any future bugs as winter has well and truly arrived - finally.

You just know, you know?

English blisters and big buildings. Part 3.

2007-06-17T16:14:00.000+12:00

The final installment of my holiday memoirs saw me back in London for four days.

The first day was amazing for me because I caught up with an old school friend and bridesmaid, whom I hadn't seen for about five years.

I love the fact that no matter how much time passes, good friends are always able to slip back into the relationship with ease and this was the case with us.

The only really strange thing for me was the short hair. Not since we were 15 had I seen her with such short hair, having been insanely jealous of her long luscious locks for the last 15 years, so that took some getting used to.

But, it's only hair. I'd hate to think what people thought of me when I had my african braided extensions in with the blue and white highlights.

Anyhoo, we went to the Tate Modern which displays art from the entire 20th century and has a most impressive collection. I still can't get over how huge Monet's 'Water Lillies' is, way bigger than the photo in my art books..

We also wandered around parts of the city in the english rain and ended the day with a late lunch, some good wine and Italian for dinner. It was a really great day and one of my highlights of the whole trip - sights just don't beat people for memorability.
The next day the husband and I began in Soho for lunch and then walked about 30 kms that afternoon, travelling between St Pauls Cathedral (above), the Knights Templar church, Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament, Westminster Abbey (below), Regent Street, St James Palace, many squares with statues in them, Buckingham Palace, Pall Mall, the London Eye and Picadilly Circus.
Big Ben, the Houses of Parliament and Westminster Abbey were by far the most stunning - I'm a sucker for that gothic architecture, although I should probably give a special mention to Buckingham Palace which is really quite impressive as well. And it appears that we just missed the Queen doing one of her regular drive-bys although we did witness the horse poo on the ground so almost as good.

By this stage I was absolutely dying to see a bit of green. London is an amazing city but for someone who comes from a small beach town where open spaces and green places are in abundance, the whole concrete overload can be a bit much.
So the next day I walked through Hyde Park and marvelled at it's greenery, and I felt so much more grounded for the trip as well. My ulterior motive was to find the recently added New Zealand war memorial which I knew was in the vicinity and when I found it I was deeply moved. It really is a stunning monument and beautifully designed and situated as well.
Made me very proud to be a kiwi.

Unfortunately I was battling with new shoes at the time and so was rather distracted by the enormous raw patch of skin on my foot. I was actually hobbling slightly and finally went barefoot for the walk back to Paddington amidst the strangest stares, comments and double-takes.

Do people not walk barefoot in England? I was in a park and it was a gorgeous day, I thought I would've had quite a bit of company there but nope, nada, zip. Very strange.

The afternoon was spent wandering through the incredible Camden Markets where I bought the handbag of my dreams. Considering I don't even like handbags and avoid using them at all costs, you can imagine just how much I like my new bag - and I even take it places.

Then that evening I had the best night out of the trip and it involved a drinks and dinner evening with one of the husbands clients. An awesome group of people and an amazing company which I won't mention here - sorry.

The evening began at the Ice Bar which is just that, carved out of Ice and freezing. It is an experience though and I'm pleased I went. After 40 minutes in there you get kicked out and you find yourself in a gorgeously warm room with primo bar staff and amazing drinks. From there we went on to dinner which was full of fantastic conversation and food and wine and then on to reportedly the oldest bar in London, The Lamb and Flag.

It probably doesn't sound much but the people we were with were great fun and that really makes any evening. Very cool.
On my last day in England we went to The Tower of London via the London Bridge (modelled by The Husband above) and the best meal of my trip, spicy tofu noodle soup at Wagamama. I have just discovered that there are three branches in Auckland so I'm a very happy person now.

Anyhoo, the Tower. $16 pounds to get in was a bit steep I thought although they do have an awful lot of restoration work to complete and obviously need the cash. It was quite fascinating, especially the dungeons and the crown jewels but mostly I was pleased to be heading home after that. My feet have never seen so much walking in such a short space before.

And there you have it, my trip completed.
London, despite the lack of green at times, is a place I really enjoyed and I can't wait to go back. The style of living is completely opposite to what I enjoy here and they can't make a decent cup of coffee to save themselves (hence all that tea drinking I guess), but it is well worth visiting and I can't wait to go back.

I think if I was there for a year I still wouldn't be able to see everything I wanted to and that is part of what makes it a fascinating place to be.

I'll wear better walking shoes next time though.

Happenings.

2007-06-14T11:47:00.000+12:00

I've been sick.

I've been home nearly two weeks and I've been fighting a chest infection for the most part of that. No fun at all. Last night I swear tiny bits of my lungs were coughed up.

The toilet cistern has gone on strike and now I have to deal with that most unreliable breed - plumbers. I know that's a generalization but so far today they have done nothing to dispel the myth.

Why can't they ever give you a time? Not even a ballpark time is offered. Instead I sit at home awaiting them when I know they'll probably never show. Muppets.

And to top it all off, the dog went and rolled in some snail flesh again.

If you've ever smelt dead snail then you will understand how truly gross that is.

He catches the snail, he plays with the snail, he squashes the snail dead, and then finally he rolls in the dead snail. Then he comes in wanting a cuddle but he smells like that thing cats do.

It took me ten minutes to catch him and then tie him up and hose him off. He hates this with a vengeance so by association, so do I.

And then there is my back. With intensive chiropractor sessions at the moment, relief is quite common but yesterday was not one of those days. It hurt real bad and then I coughed all night and made it hurt worse.

At least today is gorgeous, sunny, warm, and really quite lovely. Not a rain cloud in sight which almost makes it all worthwhile.

Loads of French Bling. Part 2.

2007-06-12T09:01:00.000+12:00

My first encounter with a frenchman was at customs at the Eurostar train station.

As you may recall, the husband had pulled an all-nighter and was still up and I was rather sleep depraved and jetlagged still. Hence the sunglasses at 9am on a grey London morning - my normal attire after a hard night.

But I forgot I was wearing them and the customs guy gave me a funny look, probably thought I was trying to smuggle myself over the border on a stolen passport.. or something, and the husband had to point out that I needed to remove them so he could study my face.

I am such a naive traveller.

But then he said in his very frenchie accent, "You shouldn't hide such beautiful eyes". Awww... How very french.

The train ride was just that, a train ride but it was interesting to note that french villages have a very french look about them and there is a church in the middle of every one of them. Religion really did stamp its mark hard on Europe didn't it?

Gare du Nord (North Train Station) was a total culture shock for me: bustling, barely any english speakers and just so different. Cue the cab trip to the hotel. In a word, terrifying!

Most traffic lights stand a metre tall, there are few lane markings and none whatsoever at roundabouts. Our hotel was close to the Arc de Triomphe which is the biggest roundabout in Paris and we just drove straight on with no regard for other traffic, manouvered in and out of cars and then shot off across the no-lanes before anything hit us.

Holy crap!

Okay, the touristy stuff.

We wandered toward the Eiffel Tower, passing many beautiful streets, fountains, statues, buildings - just everywhere and everything is beautiful. At one stage there was a group of young 'uns with bongo drums dancing away on some stairs - very cool. Other people of note were the annoying guys selling cheap statues of the tower, and east European girls holding signs about how they escaped slavery and could they please have some money.

I guess we did look like tourists.

So, the tower. Stunning, what else can I say? The queues were insane and as it is an experience you only need do once, we figured we'd come back with the kids. Oddly, it was guarded by armed military men. Okay..

Next we chose to do a sightseeing cruise on the Seine which is probably the worst way to see Paris. The boats sit so low in the water, the river banks have great walls, and then the sights are set back from that. You see more staying on your own two feet although when you are like me and don't own a decent pair of shoes, this can get ouchy.

The next day we walked to the Arc de Triomphe and this was my favourite thing of the trip. The history, the sheer size, the scale of the reliefs - I was literally blown away. It also took me back to Classical Studies when I had to paint a small model of the Arch, the french version is so much better.
Down the Champs Elysee, a giant street with expensive shops and not really my scene but loads of French bling to marvel at, and then the Louvre.

Have I said 'Holy Crap!' yet?

Enormous, huge, gargantuan even. But very very good as well. It took us five hours to not see everything we wanted to but we were slightly museumed out at that point. After the 4,000th masterpiece painting it got a bit much but there were highlights of course.

Mona Lisa - bigger than I was told it would be, Venus de Milo - still can't find her arms, some Michaelangelo statues - very nudey, Napoleans apartments - bling bling bling, The Raft of the Medusa - haunting, giant Persian artefacts - amazing, an Easter Island statue - no eggs or rabbits, and my favourite piece, The Victory of Samothrace - no head but kicks butt.

Seeing as the Louvre is really reasonably priced I would probably go back and in hindsight would have tried to plan it out over a few days but I'm still pleased I went. Another place to tick off the list.

On our last day we planned to see Notre Dame as our brief glimpse from the 'sightseeing' cruise just wasn't enough. We walked the whole way and then duly snuck in the exit because we really don't like those long queues that touristy places seem to attract. Don't worry, it was free to enter.

Inside was amazing, the history, the old tombs, the artwork, the architecture - I loved it. There is something hauntingly beautiful about gothic styled buildings. Unfortunately it was raining very hard when we got out and the queue to go up to the top was inpenetrable so we ambled back to the train station and back to London.

So, Paris is beautiful but then I think we all knew that.

We didn't see anywhere near all the places we would've liked to see but we will be back one day, perhaps when my french includes more than 'Merci, aurevoir'.

Landed and shellshocked. Part 1.

2007-06-06T15:23:00.000+12:00

So the trip.

As many of you know I was given a trip to London to see my absent husband and try to remember 'that guy from the altar'. It was an amazing opportunity, one I am incredibly thankful for, and I'll share the highlights with you on this blog.

On landing I was swept off via train to my home for the next week in Paddington. I freshened up (40 hours with 4 hours sleep isn't a great way to make an impression), and then the husband took me for a walk along Edgeware Road, Oxford Street and ultimately to Selfridges, the store with everything apparently, even scantily clad service staff.

When we got back the Scottish flatmate and an English Kiwi girl were there drinking Verve Cliquot so we joined in - it would've been rude not to - and many hours and 5 more bottles of bubbly later, I finally fell asleep. A good first effort I thought.

When I awoke the next morning I discovered that the other three were still up and going from the night before and the husband was already nursing a hangover. This made the travel to Paris via the Eurostar train not so pleasant for him but he did secure his party boy image so all is well.

So, English first impressions?

Very mulitcultural - in that first walk I heard so many different languages spoken which really gives London a melting-pot feel. This is a good thing and actually made me feel quite comfortable having lived in and close to Auckland for the last 11 years, New Zealand's biggest melting-pot city.

Very busy. There are noises everywhere, just daily normal traffic and people noises but because you live so close to the streets it is amplified in the senses.

So many cabs. After getting around London for a week I have such a new appreciation for public transport, the subway systems there are very good but the cabbies add that personal touch and they outnumber cars on the road about 4-1. Excellent. They don't take you the long way round either.

Corner pubs. There really is a pub on every corner, it is not just an urban myth. Sadly, warm beer is not just an urban myth either but apparently that is improving. I hear that enough New Zealanders and Australians have returned warm beer and demanded cold ones that the publicans have no choice but to refridgerate more thoroughly.

Lastly, grey. I arrived on a grey day and it did nothing to dismiss my perception of London as the grey city. This grey continued, some grey rain arrived, some particularly nasty grey baltic winds joined in and then the sun appeared for my last two days and it was rather hot. After the shock of seeing sun in London, I can now confirm that it does happen and apparently has been particularly hot ever since. Who would've guessed?

Right then, tune in for tales from Paris when I am next this way inclined. 'Til then, cheerio chaps.