wanderings and wonderings

3 days, 1 class

2007-03-07T22:17:00.000-07:00

In three beautiful days, Luuk and I will be married. And tomorrow at 10 am i have my last t col class before 9 weeks holiday. Then I'm picking up almost-in-laws from airport and later in the afternoon having some hair ripped from my legs (and other areas).

Slight lowlight... but the rest is all good. Large dinner party tomorrow night with entire Paulussen clan on the continent and a couple of ring-ins.

ooh, tonights dinner guests have arrived. not as many. it's like a rehearsal :D

15sleeps

2007-02-23T15:27:00.000-07:00

in 2 weeks, dear blog-deprived reader, i will be having me feet and hands pampered, my back massaged, and probably a coffee and pastry at the village bakehouse, with my mum, mother-in-law to be, sister-in-law to be, sister, maid of honour, etc. i imagine my mind will be reeling with disbelief and joy.
2 weeks tomorrow i am marrying luuk. a year ago i was tentatively hoping he'd be at bbqs i went to (yeah, the weather was much better last summer eh...), checking his blog fairly frequently (back when he posted frequently - though he did post last night... about his operating system boot process), and getting on with life and job hunting, not a vague clue that in a year i'd be marrying him.

hence the mind reeling disbelief and joy.
ah, i love him. even as he toys with the operating system on my laptop and i type away on his (now working smooth as sweet and condensed milk).

now he knows i'm writing about him so here's an end.

end.

ho finito

2006-11-05T19:35:00.000-07:00

i have finished university.
handed in final paper last wednesday
assuming i passed of course...

no, not even considering that. i HAVE finished university. i'm a workin girl :)

who is tired and wants to sleep. but also wants to tidy upstairs so i can paint tomorrow. actually, mostly want luuk as he was away over the weekend, got back thismorning and is still at work so i haven't seen him.

:(

but i will in 2 hours

:D

oh, the stories that could be told interspersed with emoticons.

now that final paper is completed, new projects are;
1. WEDDING PLANNING - firstly, finding a venue, then all the rest of it... not enough room here and i have tidying/sleeping/luuk to do.
2. PAINTING - because i'm poor/saving for married life/like to think i'm an artist, am giving everyone paintings for christmas.
3. MAKING/COMPILING/ENVELOPING WEDDING STATIONARY. see above.
4. WRITING AGAIN - mainly for fun and frivolity, and for bonding with andrea. but who needs a reason!

thats all darlings
(saw breakfast at tiffany's with andrea on saturday and 'darling' has been well used ever since. you understand of course darling.)

adventure of a day

2006-10-13T21:10:00.000-06:00

Friday the 6th of October began early, with a mystery trip to merivale carpark. i later discovered i should have bothered putting on make up given the sheer quantity of photographs that followed. but there i was, at 5.30 in the morning, sitting in a car, beside luuk, in merivale mall carpark. then other cars started arriving. people even got out of their cars - so i of course suspected they were going to rob the place...

i had figured out that we weren't going to breakfast at the mall, and andrea had speculated an potential early morning activity... and i of course was hoping there might be something fabulously romantic (perhaps including a ring...) and then breakfast. i do love breakfast. best meal of the day.

then a bus pulls in, towing a trailer with what looks like a cage on it. i'm looking at it, desperately trying to read the words on the side - its dark and moving and behind us... then i see what it says: 'up up and away'. hot air ballooning! (good speculating andrea)

up up and away we did - after bussing up to darfield, laying out the balloon and standing back to watch some boys help inflate it. took loads of photos but i'm on luuk's laptop and they're on the computer at home, so shall be included in later installments. then suddenly it was up and we were scrambling into the basket. then the pilot was firing the burners more and more, accusing us of lying about our weights because it wasn't taking off. i'd just guessed, but turned out to have overestimated by 2 kilos! (as i discovered at the doctors 3 days later) never overestimated before :)

it rose really fast and suddenly, smoothly, we were way above the ground with an incredible view of the mountains. the sun was pretty much up at this point, and behind me so i was taking photos. grinning, taking photos and tyring not to kiss luuk with too much enthusiasm - given that there were about 15 other people in the basket with us...

we travelled north, took photos, watched in awe - the view... eachother :). yeah, sappy, i know. deal with it.

then we landed. well first we almost landed, but we were going very quickly... toward trees. so we lifted up over the trees first, then we landed in the next field - first we all got in landing positions - which means basically spooning standing up, with your knees bent, and holding wee rope handles on the side of the balloon. the basket didn't quite tip and as soon as the balloon dropped we piled out and had to pack it up. this involved rolling and squishing, like a tea bag. more rolling, kneeling, gripping, squishing, rolling... then picking it up and moving like a snake to pile it in the big bag by the trailor. the boys shoved the basket back on the trailer and i tried to help until i realised i was just getting in the way.

next there was champagne, in beautiful crystal glasses, and the pilot read the ballooners prayer and advertised the photo he'd taken - hanging a camera off a cable off the balloon while we all tried to fit our heads in places we'd be seen and not block others.

back on the bus, driving past dead sheep in gutters, we put our names down for photos, then headed back to merivale. luuk and i went to victoria's in new regent st. for breakfast, and with the champagne in my stomach, and the vast amounts of beautiful smoked salmon on my eggs benedict, i almost made myself sick. that, and the fact that we'd both got up terribly early, prompted us to spend the remainder of the morning napping. which we sort of did.

then we visited the supermarket to get what luuk's kitchen did not supply for a picnic lunch, and drove to the closest end of sumner. we picnicked on the beach, and i tried not to think about work - where i had to be at 3...

but, despite other enticements i managed to get to work and actually do some work - the stuff i'm paid to do, and when that lagged, the stuff i'm meant to be doing right now - the 10 000 words due in 2 weeks :)

luuk went home and cleaned his car out, rather than the nap he intended to have, then drove back to the cafe at the end of the road i work on. he'd had a ten minute nap in the car when i woke him up and barely kept him awake over dinner. again, i ate too much. but castle rock cafe really is fantasterific.

i begrudgingly finished my shift, while luuk slept in the sun, in the car, in the carpark. at 8 i woke him up again (poor man, i just won't leave him be - but we did have to lock the gate).

sleepily luuk started taking the wrong route home but when i tried to suggest otherwise there was a suggestion made that it was i who did not know where we were going. ha! now i was suspicious again... by this point in the day i'd kind of abandoned the idea that there might be proposals to do more than have an early night... how wrong i was.

we started heading up the hills where we, well to put it bluntly, went to the spot where we parked up on our first date ;)
i thought he was going to ask a couple of times before i actually did. he kept saying the beginnings of things that sounded like they might have more to them. and then he'd obviously loose his nerve, and kiss me, and act like there was nothing else to be done.
but there was. and he did. and i said something along the lines of,

"yes. yes. yes. yes. yes. yay! yes. yes, i would love to marry you. yes. yes. yes!"

i won't fill in details here but later there was lots more

"yay, i'm going to marry you. we're engaged, oh my gosh [laughkisslaugh]" etc. you get the picture.

and then we had green tea at luuk's and i didn't go home till much later than our self-prescribed curfew of 10.30... actually that's been blown out the window all week.

sorry it took me a whole week to get this up. there were families to tell, friends, etc. and plenty of study to be done to. grr...

in the next edition: telling the families :)

breath away

2006-10-09T14:30:00.000-06:00

things

2006-09-30T23:03:00.000-06:00

hehe, mum is hooked to sudoku, and has several papers with them - and is cheating because she has the next days one there. i just confiscated it. hehe
classic

this is the moral example i've been brought up with.

so, recently, have been feeling the pressure. well, i go through 2-dayly cycles, or something.
i feel on top of things, mellow and in control, and get a little work done, not enough, but some.
then i feel panicked and overwhelmed, and like luuk is the only thing keeping me going and looking forward to summer, and luuk in summer...

(cough-nicelegs-cough)

things i'm looking forward to:
- next weekend: luuk's up to something. and he's going to be doing less webpage work so i'll have him a bit more :)
- completeing my 10 000 word assignment
- labour weeknd - day off!
- luuk's birthday - day off!
- show weekend - day off! (well, perhaps) - and camping
- painting and sketching loads once i've got no more uni work to do... guess what you're getting for christmas.
- christmas
- trip north around christmas
- new years trip - yet to be organised, but currently under speculation
- january : work and leisure - no study!
- february : starting teacher training and finishing at work (by which time i'll be ready to leave i imagine - it's hardly my calling, but good money in the meantime)

- and all the rest. it's really just the next 3 weeks i'm loathing.
mainly getting up tomorrow right now - daylight savings started early thismorning. so it'll feel like i'm leaving home at 6am. haven't done that since i used to go to biblestudy at crazy hours... what was i thinkin?
probably fancied some guy who might have been going or something. daft girl i was.

am.

too much coffee and chocolate today. was fine until dad said he'd bring me coffee - and he brought coffee beans. so instead of makin another cup of coffee, which i didn't need anyway, i melted a dozen chocolate buttons, mixed in a dozen coffee beans, and chilled it... :)

only ate a third. that was too much. drunk quite a lot of water since then. in fact, toilet break time. then dinner. tata

looking up, getting warm

2006-08-17T01:47:00.000-06:00

am moving at a fairly smart pace these days, barely time to stop (even skipped half of ER -- very strange) but everything seems to be getting better.

studies: finishing with a half-reasonable mark seems possible, and in the not too far distant future either - whew!

summer is getting closer - the weather is warmer in the fine patches (still bollocking cold at night and horribibble when it storms and rains but it could be worse) and its 2 weeks till spring - getting closer to warm then hot, and holidays (or, in my version, 28hours a week of an office job that is busy in bad weather - so, easier in the summer - and 4 full half days a week to tan and read and write and paint and exercise and see people more.)

and work means money, which means i can enjoy my time off more :)
also, highly likelihood of going up to the mighty waikato for christmas - which means more food than you can bark a dog at (love Aunty Jenny dearly) and seeing all the cousins, and Luuk's family (probably meeting my family for the first time - yay!). it shall be wonderful. and they have a pool, which is always sent by angels up there in the summer - can be stinking hot. and we'll probably be whining about it. sheesh.

other things that are getting better...

things are getting normal with luuk, but i'm still blown away, probably 4 or 5 days of 7, at how incredible he is and how incredibly blessed i am. am somewhat in awe today. not because of anything said or done... just because. which feels like a good enough reason.

8 minutes till i've finished work for the day. off to home group. we're reading through luke - nice and refreshing - no questions, just discussing it as we go. and easy to follow, generally, which is always a bonus when you study from 9am-2.30 and work from 3-8. concentration is a big ask thursday nights.

raincloud

2006-07-25T01:33:00.000-06:00

have been on top of the world since last thursday. wednesday was a bit rough:
- 1st misunderstanding with luuk -- don't worry (just incase any of our support crew/fan club are reading this, was all resolved in a beautiful manner late in the evening and only love him more... )
- tiny mistake at work snowballed, had been resolved by the time i got in at 3pm, but had whole barrage of emails coppied to me from ppl trying to sort it out... and it had been my fault.
- family conference about helping out more around the house - which wasn't a problem till dad and i started stirring each other up (and not toward love and good works...)
wednesday night brought a desperate need for resolution with luuk and relaxation in general. talked through the whole bollocking day with luuk who was pretty much perfect (well, as much as anyone can be...) and i'm sure gave me a massage at some point, or at least lots of hugs.
anyway, went home and slept well and the rest of the week went fine and dandy. home group thurs night, got lots of study done friday morning and went to camp in the evening

camp was pretty relaxing which was just what the dr ordered - good sleeps, fabulicious food, and good talks (tho i missed the feature presentation as studying - will see him speak this weekend however so no loss). some good connection with luuk but we weren't off by ourselves and anti social hardly at all. went for a walk (thru the kaiapoi graveyard no less) on saturday avo but that was pretty much it.

sunday afternoon, took palmerston north folk to airport then had coffee at untouched world. home to study, got email off to profs

which i just got a not so great reply to... hence the raincloud. gr... am certain it can be sorted and will be no problem, am also sick of studying and about ready to give it up. only 3 months to go but also a bit of work to do...
have been looking at long term goals (part of a self-management seminar on the sunday at camp) and not sure how my studies really help me toward any of i want to do or be later... sticking with them despite my lack of enthusiasm would probably be more the point now - not a bad thing - but am far from enthusiastic so need much encouragement and not what i've got from prof. today...

so, prayed about it at dinner break, and read 2 chapters of john eldredge's 'journey of desire', and felt a bit better, then told work mate and (for focussing on it) felt a bit worse. wrote email to luuk, felt a bit better and now doing this am feeling much better - bigger picture or something. so much is going wonderfully, can't expect everything to be perfect. and my studies are not my highest priority so rather them go a bit bumpy than certain other things.

anyway, was up to sunday night,
monday, work from early (which was strangely light and cheery for a monday - won't say it's cuz the boss is in another continent) till 4.30. then went to the mall to buy present for luuk - but what i wanted was sold out so just got him a card instead. sometimes it's hard to express my gratefullness to him
so i got the one of the little girl with her finger up her nose and thanked him for loving me tho i'm sometimes difficult and messy...
he liked it.

would put the picture on here but can't find it online, and fair enough, cause i had to pay for it, why should anyone get it for free?
see now... scary emails from prof.s don't bring out the best in me.
shall spare you all my meanness and stop writing.

bliss

2006-07-11T15:39:00.000-06:00

the week so far (thought it's been much longer than that since i posted) has been about perfect.

Sunday was the perfect day - drove out of town, after breakfast, toward Wainui. Went over the hills for the view and walked a wee way at the sign of the bellbird. then drove around to little river, got coffee and looked at gallery, then drove up to hilltop to drink coffee, and appreciate yet another spectacular view

onto wainui, where we set up our picnic blanket, on a tarpaulen, and had lunch, then coffee, and talked and just sat in silence, read our books, bibles, i even wrote in my journal. finished reading epic - by john eldredge - reccomend to anyone interested in the heart of things (christian perspective, but totally refreshing).

green tea and more appreciating the view

then it started cooling down and the sun was getting closer to the hills so we packed up and visited the cheese factory at barry's bay. bought ourselves a selection of cheeses, some wine, a few other treaties. then went around to devauchelles for an icecream and more photos. really is a remarkable country...

drove home - well back to luuk's, and sampled the wine, hung out with mike for a bit, got some fishnchips for dinner, then watched serenity, as we'd finished the tv series firefly the day before, and the movie wraps it all up. movie finished at 20 to 9, which we realised at 10 to 9, then bullied mike and merodie into leaving, went to my place and speed changed, to be only 20 mins late to matty's jazz review at sammy's jazz review. great party, despite being on a sunday night, and starting after 9 pm, so quite a late one since the next morning was really early. had work at 7.30, but others, more crazy or dedicated or something, were at the casino at 6am for the worldcup final, and breakfast.

i saw a snippet of it while getting a coffee at work, but by my next break italy had done their beautiful thing and everyone was back to talking about the all black who went on the field. teehee.

monday wouldn't have been part of the perfect week, except for the evening - booked flights for trip up north. going to meet luuk's whanau, visit some of mine in the area, then to see hillary in auckland, and probably my grandparents, before flying home. gonna be a fabulous four days. never booked tickets for 2 people before, very exciting.

then tuesday, had lunch with karla, after my lecture, then to work. lovely email from luuk to keep me going and give me something to look forward to... he picked me up at 8, and drove us round to taylor's mistake, where there was a picnic on the beach, wine, cheese and crackers (the wainui selection of seven cheeses - though we had the strong ones first so the milder ones weren't so impressive) and chocolate and green tea for later, sat on the beach under the high cloud (moonlight and stars would have been more romantic but clear nights mean cold nights and it was nice and mild, and i barely shiverred at all!)

all together a pretty fantastic three days. doing navs study with him tonight, which is always great - gets us talking about important stuff and being honest with eachother - good foundational stuff. but i don't see how the week can improve a whole lot on the last 3 days. if i can maintain this state of bliss, that'll be enough.

a different angle on a snow day

2006-06-12T15:35:00.000-06:00

yesterday morning, left home at 7 to make it to work on time. didn't take much longer than usual, considering it was snowing fairly heavily - would have said blizzarding if i had never been to wyoming.

work started pretty busy but under control, all hands on deck, and everyone seemed on top of things. but as the weather moved up the country, and auckland's power outage had it effects, our little bit of crazy went beserk.

finally took lunch, having forgotten morning break entirely, which i got a wee lecture for (which is a good sign really) but never finished it all (there's still a cup of soup in the fridge... ah well, dinner tonight.)

had 40-something messages waiting for me on the answermachine much of the day, and i was constantly clearing them, calling people back or whatever they needed.

2.30 rolled by and the snow that was meant to ease at midday hadn't. 2 of the customer service girls (my job too) live an ickle way out of town so left at 3 and just after. another had come in earlier but disappeared from her desk for most of the afternoon and only came back at four ish, feeling terrible, burning up, and going home. so it was just me, fifty messages and a week of middling experience to answer them. then the 2 in admin started helping. four thirty rolled by and i thought about leaving. then i thought about the other 40 messages.

should have gone when i was meant to cause the emergency phone started going. i answer ' you've reached the emergency phone, have you got a gas leak or explosion?' and get 'no, but you've got crap service' and i'll stop quoting the bastard there. just got better after that and thank god kay sent me packing at five.

drove home with snow slowly freezing itself to the sides of my windows, so drove carefully. realised that idiots are still idiots in icy conditions. but made it home alive. and luuk made it over, alive, after he finished work. he lifted me up significantly actually, cause, though he hasn't put it on his page yet, he got another new job! he's only been at his new one a week and now he's been poached for his brilliance to a bit of a dream team by the sounds of it. spent evening reading 'once were warriors' while he finished 'hamlet' and then, with our powers combined, made berry-apple crumble for everyone and recieved various declarations of love from the whanau. watched 'grey's anatomy', which i am rather fond of, and luuk went home to call his folks (such a good boy, sometimes... ;) )

slept like a baby, was so exhausted from go-go-go brain day. perhaps 'once were warriors' was the wrong choice for last night - from my list of young adults fiction to read by the end of the month. maurice gee might have been a bit easier going. i get ridiculously involved in stories and even luuk noticed i was looking sad when i was reading it. so he cheered me up. i think i'll keep him on...

back to the books. and going to untouched world, so... bon apetite! and just plain benissimo! for the coffee, frankly.

soul refresher

2006-06-10T20:46:00.000-06:00

a lovely end to the week. spent saturday with friends of many different descriptions.

morning plan was to take some time out, alone, in the middle of no where, to think through life in general. went out back of the airport and read bible for a wee while, sang along with an old cassette and looked at planes, hills and stunning southern alps.

then got call from mum, needed car very soon. i'd just started to enjoy my ickle retreat, my head and heart were just getting quiet. was quite disappointed but probably needed the emotional release anyway, and had a wee cry, looked up to see southern alps again and it turns out, all is well after all.

did some more time out at home, as everyone else went out. read an old journal which was interesting, revealing and in places, made me cringe at myself.

then bussed to northlands (friendly bus driver charged me a child fare as i only had $2 and the adult fare is now $2.50) and had coffee with tash. then had lunch with andrea. long catch up and chat and quick look around shops, but mostly just talking. good friends are truly wonderful.

luuk picked me up after a while and we went out to styx mill (yea, where that woman got stabbed last month... hm...) and wandered around, and more good talking. also played with camera. now have looked through the fruits of our labours and discovered one that I could put on here...

rugby in the evening, which we won, of course, and then watched the wedding singer. still funny the millionth time but luuk'd never seen it before.

a necessary addition

2006-06-09T15:17:00.000-06:00

not sure why i never put this picture on here before. it's been weeks since our navs cell group retreat and i might have even mentioned it on here. however, flicking through my file on here (my whanau's computer, so not mine) i discovered some incriminating evidence, or something...

enjoy!

conundrum

2006-06-08T14:36:00.000-06:00

most women (minus the ones who resent the prices of bought flowers and would rather have something that lasted) would agree that roses are wonderful gifts. basically, having now recieved one bouquet of roses, i have joined the club, and there's nothing quite like it. i'm pretty sure guys don't understand but they go along with it because we must demonstrate the wooshy feeling they incite...

the conundrum: what is the equivalent of roses, for guys? ... that you can give them if you're not married to them, i mean... ;)

i guess its different for each man. us girls tend to generalise, whether we really believe what we say or not, that all men are basically the same, want the same things, etc. like we know what those things are... perhaps we should give them more credit.

i have been expertly swept off my feet, and though apparently i don't particularly need to, i'd like to return the favour. suggestions are most welcome ;)

chuffed, and bruised

2006-06-05T14:26:00.000-06:00

i've been very covert, casually mentioning his name in here for a while now, and in the case that i wasn't as covert as i thought i was, you've kept your suspicions to yourself.

the sad fact of the matter is, i lell in fuv. only, it's not really sad. a rather dangerous passtime, yes, little eating or sleeping going on, some study, but probably not enough, even got exercise yesterday.

hence the bruised. now that i've explained the chuffed, i'll explain the bruised. fortunately, this time, being chuffed is not the direct precursor to getting my heart bruised. only my butt. mountain biking excursion yesterday: first track, i almost came off, managed to stop, and so did my bike, when the seat rammed me. i'm sure it's a colourful bruise - but at such an angle that i haven't actually seen it.

unfortunatey also got asthma while biking, so lovely luuk gave up careening crazily into the trees and rode back on the road with me. then took me to QEII to warm up in the spa... mmm. he eventually regained feeling in his feet, so we left for some lunch.

watched chocolat and read Maurice Gee's The Fat Man all afternoon, then had fantastic roast pork and multitude of veges, care of Mike, the inhouse chef at Luuk's flat. Everyone love's mike. And for damn good reason. there was even crackling!

anyway, the bruise won't last, but it looks like being chuffed might stick around. which is fine by me :)
he's pretty much wonderful, kind and generous and i have my suspicions that this whole ordeal is a dream, the kind you don't want to wake up from. totally impractical of course but somethings are more important...

officially assertive

2006-05-30T15:37:00.000-06:00

rather proud of myself. had offered (partly out of niceness, partly greasing, partly just spineless) to do some training this week (m/w/f) for job i start next week. however, have to meet with prof.s tomorrow and need more time to prep, so called new boss thismorning and said i'd see her friday (although i was politer). very assertive, and now i have all this glorious time. well, 3 1/2 hours. want to walk to Untouched World for coffee (and for walk) so that will take an hour or so. but waiting for cleaning lady to arrive.

sigh, used to be me. life is good.

sheesh, it's freaking cold. high of 9 or something ridiculous today. brrr, i used to live in a place where that was a mean low.

anyway, on with the studies, so conscientous - strangely disconcerting feeling.

;)

another diversion from study

2006-05-29T00:17:00.000-06:00

yes, i should be working on my studies for meeting with prof.s on thursday, but i figure, if i do all the things that could possibly distract, there'll be nothing left to distract me ;)

so, pretty much awesome weekend (and did get some study done, oddly enough)

thursday, despite car accident and medical for new job, was well ressurrected by an about perfect evening out. saw 'rosencrantz and guildenstern are dead' at the court theatre, then to dinner at the dux. all was mmmmm, including luuk's stories of worse car accidents that cheered me up, along with the woman in the wheelchair at the medical: i really don't have it all that bad.

friday, ordinary in many ways: prep for navs study next week, morning at untouched world, books, coffee, books, coffee with evans, then to work. work was alright, except i let it run overtime which i never do. i'm a little behind my game this week. not eating well or sleeping at reasonable hour may account for some of this... hm. evening was a combination of origami, frozen yoghurt and... shall we call it 'deconstructed movies' - lots of wee bits of movies, never a whole one. and several pisstakes.

saturday started about as well as they do: big breakfast (despite not finishing all my rasberries, a strange twist) at untouched world and excellent (on par) coffee care of my lovely sister. then went to '8 below' - a film about antarctica and huskies - which was better than expected but not really worth writing home about (altho, it made it to my blog...). afternoon was easily filled with brighton, photos, lunch, sumner, photos, and then trying to recover photos from questionable memory card. my hero ;)
went to see 'spoonface steilburg' at the court theatre (at least it think that was the title) with hannah the actress. dropped her home and had awesome conversation. considering moving into the spare room in their flat. decided i'll be a better friend. more supportive, less... cynical. in fact, in general, less cynical might be a good idea.
then to lindsey and rich's for the last foggy minutes of the rugby, where the worst team won on the day. but at least we didn't have to watch it. could be a conspiracy in fact: the canes won and the one-eyed cantabs knew it was coming, ordered fog (from the manufacturers at wellington airport) to hide it.

if i have any cantabrian subscribers then i'm getting loads of replies.. watch this space

went dancing afterward, which was loads of fun. Got less creeped out than usual by dodgy guys and enjoyed watching a possibly dodgy guy get 'violated' by a probably-pissed girl. sucked at pool as much as usual, possibly more so as somewhat... distracted.

sunday morning walked to church, which is something i really enjoy, then after church had scrummy lunch at lindsey and rich's. ian bought their playstation 2 (which i think my parents are already beginning to resent) and borrowed games (which may well be returned sooner than planned). then spent afternoon studying and doing next navs study, nice and cozy and warm ;)

luuk came for dinner (which i ate all of - only four days! wondered how long that would last...) then we went to visit his mate in hospital and got a fantastic description of how to insert a catheter - i love medical stuff - tho the boys may have enjoyed it less... also watched a wee bit of pirates of the carribean, teased mark as much as was naturally required, and luuk took 27 minutes to do a sudoku. got a wee bit more study done at home before i burned out.

today was blah: training for new job for the morning then attempted to lift my spirits with a wander through borders - got cookbook of soups, very exciting, and second 'lion boy' book! so excited. will be my reward for preparing for thursday. had lunch with andrea which was great - and planned to do something on the weekend. don't see enough of her but sounds a bit like her job is sabotaging her existence... anyone want to offer one of the most brilliant people i know a full time, well paid job? she'll make anything worth reading.

afternoon at work was uneventful. last day at bamford school, then picked up mum and am about to eat dinner and study... until the double gray's anatomy episode is on. there are limits to my conscientiousness.

surprise surprise

2 weeks of silence

2006-05-23T05:12:00.000-06:00

but for good reasons for a change. no burglaries, nothing like that...

so, left my job - well, one of them at first. plan was to just keep doing after school program and actually have time to do studies - you know, the reason i'm working this year, so i can study part time. good move as profs are losing faith in me.

after telling them i was leaving (2 weeks notice) i got a random call from a job agency i applied with at the beginning of the year - the one that tested me, told me i was wonderful, could type and think at remarkable speeds, but couldn't get me a job. sigh. they had an interview for me tho! so didn't think i'd take it, even if i was offered it, but went to interview anyway.

much better pay, 28 hours a week, so a step up from after school clubs (Tho perhaps not as fun). and it sounds fun, tho challenging, and a bit crazy. so perfect! and more time than i'm used to for study, so heaps! (by comparison)

start there in a couple of weeks, so just finishing up one job, looking forward to another... life plods on. only it's been less blah lately. people make all the difference i have discovered. i think i isolate myself somehow but i need people. i sat down for some time out a couple of weeks ago and wrote down what i wanted and needed - what i'd like to see happen in my spiritual life, and in a couple of important friendships. feel much more focussed, though little has really changed there. but eversince, i've been growing closer to people - one of the two i focussed on during my time out - and a couple of others.

work and study and all that jazz are important but they're not the point. i probably couldn't keep doing any of that jazz without people around me to love and be loved by. fluffy, i know, very hallmark but there you go. so if you're one of those people,

thank you

i need you.

it's late, tho that's probably obvious in how uninhibited this is. i'm watching gray's anatomy after navs so i'm past it in pretty much every way. and now i'm going to bed. confession over.

freedom

there goes the rainforest

2006-05-06T20:54:00.000-06:00

and it's not even recycled paper. but, it will be, in a few months, when i'm done researching it. just printed obscene amount off line for curriculum research. feel rather conscientious for steps toward doing research, enough to forget that i haven't actually read any of it yet. and have to get that jamie bellich history too. better search for that.

anyhoo, that was dull. weekend has been... productive but not particularly lazy as i had hoped. another whole five days till i get another one too. i used to be so happy-go-lucky and excited, even for a monday. only friday, saturday and sunday really do it for me at the mo. whine whine whine, i know.

so, sunday afternoon now, as the weekend goes downhill toward another busy week. going to drown my sorrows with a cup of tea and a movie at andrea's. then home for ten minutes or so and out to dinner with a friend i haven't seen in eons. joy! and she's off to usa in a week or two, to continue our trend... we take turns, you see.

so many things to do this week and next - hope i get to Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead (on at Court Theatre alternate nights this week, see previous begging for gentleman to accompany...) and then there's the human rights film festival which i'll miss a lot of as our small group will be in hamner saturday and sunday. got the flyer today - some sound so good and challenging. i can still do wed, thurs and friday i guess. not a real good excuse to miss work though... gr.

back to work then. for a few mins, then to andrea's!

icky poo, how'd you do?

2006-05-04T16:02:00.000-06:00

i like to rhyme. its so fulfilling.
work and study, however, is not, particularly. i'm bored. and sick and tired and overbusy, methinks. and need to go bathroom so this should be short.

got myself a 21st present: huge photographic book of africa and her animals. maked down to $20 cuz the cover slip was a bit roughed up.

joy of joys.

bloody theives

2006-04-28T18:56:00.000-06:00

i finally have a good excuse for never updating... my laptop was stolen. and the screen of our family computer - so not internet access, though a perfectly good cpu and modem sit on the desk where i'd love to be doing this. instead i am in the cold amst honours office on a saturday, with a sore throat and an empty stomach. but good news - the university has recognised the work i did in the US and i'll have an honours degree as well as extra debt at the end of the year - which is better than just the debt on its own.

since being burgled ten days ago, i've had a digustingly productive time of it. no computer or frivolous fiction writing, to distract, i've either worked or studied. am well on my way to my professor's mini-deadline of next thursday and a few baby steps toward financial (freedom is the wrong word) guiltlessness.

unfortunately still fighting a frightfully resiliant cold that pops back every weekend. standing in the rain at the dawn parade on tuesday probably didn't help, nor did going out dancing in the cold, dark and wet on thursday night, fun as it was. you can't be wise all the time. plus, illness is an excellent excuse to drink lemon and honey (add lime too if needing consolation) drinks and watch the latest harry potter my brother bought while in te awamutu last week. yay for him.

ick, sore throat. and hungry tummy. want soup. will check bank balance and maybe go to untouched world. naughty amy.

hehe, that's me!

no study, all work and play

2006-04-02T23:42:00.000-06:00

makes amy a happy girl.

spent my weekend doing absolutely no study whatsoever. it's terrible really because i get very little done during the week (working basically 9-5 each day), but i find it hard to care too much. due dates are far too far away except for that wee history essay next week, or is it the one after?

friday night was spent with hannah and cam: burger king, north beach and the three musketeers in bed with hannah to finish off with.

saturday was all hard work and carsenigenics (sp?). i cleaned for five hours at a friends truly filthy flat. the things i'll do for cold, hard cash eh? well, havn't got the cash yet but am babysitting tonight so might get it then... and can finally buy hannah her birthday present (a month after her birthday).

saturday night went to will's 21st for about half an hour then picked up chocolate and bridget jones 2, drove to tash's and consumed both with much enthusiasm.

sunday was great. walked to ilam baptist, was on time (rare and wonderful), after church a troup of rebels raided countdown for supplies and continued on our travels to consume our takings and play a ruthless game of psychiatrist (which i totally didn't get for the whole while, then figured out before my co-psychiatrist! definitely worthy of gloating). short walk in the rain and hot cup of coffee before watching casablanca with Luuk and Eoin (weird name-spelling club). enjoyed it much more than the last time i watched it. Wasn't so disappointed with the ending but Luuk's frequently voiced frustration with Elsa may have swayed my sympathies away from her, and certainly made it more entertaining.

dinner had gone on without me at home so with hunger threatening i offered to cook for food. only i didn't really have time to eat it as Evans picked me up for the nasda review dress rehearsal. not bad at all and really enjoy those show tunes, i do. then back to Luuk's for desert. icecream. and a conversation about sci fi. ah, over-tiredness, my old friend. you bring out the slightly-odd in all of us.

not too late a night in the end and getting up wasn't too much of a beast thismorning. crazy morning at homehelp job - sick kid and exhausted mum. followed by easy afternoon at girls club - mostly colouring in. basically therapy.

had enough energy to even make tea at home - chicken drumsticks in stacks of tomato, garlic and oregano. mmm, so hungry. better go check it.

once in a lifetime opportunity

2006-03-30T22:37:00.000-07:00

alright gentlemen, step up to the plate. the charm of being invited to the theatre by the cast has worn off and i am truly tired of going to plays and musicals on me own. promise i'll be a great date. i won't wear too much make up, i'll put my hair down and wear a skirt and heels, the whole enchilada, i'll let you drive, open doors, pull out chairs, whatever you fancy. Beauty and the Beast will be sold out in no time and i can't miss it, but i also can't bring myself to buy one ticket, once again. the lucky gentleman might even get to meet the feather duster, a broom and a couple of villagers after the show.

please don't let chivalry be completely dead. i'll be so disappointed.

ps. excellent opportunity for those with thoroughly bruised hearts as i'm not likely to turn you down (unless you're a total stranger, in which case, please don't ask, you'll creep me out)

zonked

2006-03-29T03:10:00.000-07:00

zonk is a game the kids love at kidscamps but i'm zonked in the considerably less energetic sense. sheesh. started home-helping early today. finished early (but by a smaller margin than i started, go figure) and used spare time to shop. now have amazing fluffy slippers that i love dearly and a much more figure hugging, quality, expensive wool v-neck. rather lovely if i do say so myself. though the cute shoes (last month's visit to no1 shoe warehouse...) get many more comments. even from random lady beside me at theatre thisevening. went to see 'happy coupling' at court theatre. i thought it was brilliant, very funny, and not all stupidly crude. just crudely funny. but too funny to really notice. or maybe i'm just that sick and don't notice any more... anyhoo, have decided ross and co. at the court are in fact geniuses. completely nuts, of course. but bloody brilliant.

drowing in a pool of overcomitment

2006-03-23T04:50:00.000-07:00

i think i may be overcomitted. 29 hours a week between 2 jobs plus (supposedly) 20 h0urs a week of uni work is something i just can't see as maintainable. perhaps i have what it takes (or might be able to stretch to it with a whole bundle of prayer and support and all the rest) and simply underestimate myself/god/friends/family. or perhaps i really am just that foolish.

a lot of transport between jobs and significant petrol price increases don't add sunshine and daisies to the whole experience.

in the meantime life goes on. painting and writing have vanished into obscurity (or, in other words, the upstairs room i intended for such use but now is storage/spare bedroom) and reading for leisure has been squeezed into toilet breaks and the time between when i arrive at schools for te ropu and when the school bell rings.

the church hunt has slowed as navs camp last weekend. awesome time with bunch of nuts. cave stream, always fun, and plenty of boardgames, a little painting and loads of food. all good things. ilam are all at church camp this weekend so might venture to st christophers or avonhead (never been to their morning service). or sleep in and day of study. no! that's what saturday is for. and david's 'surprise-sort of' birthday party. teehee.

navs is going very well and group seems to be jelling fast despite remarkable variety of ppl. glad leadership isn't very timeconsuming because i want to stay involved but really couldn't commit more than i am now.

should really go to bed but realised this gets neglected when my computer is internet-detached. and ian hooked it up to update my virus protection (cough-downloadmp3sforhisipod-cough) so i thought i'd take the chance.

just got home from flat warming. spent most of evening with same person. but as was tired when arrived, laziness and comfort met on the road and it was just easier to talk to soemone i'm comfortable with. perhaps i shoudnt analyze my motives here for all to reed... speelling is deterioratign. should really stp.

months and months

2006-03-04T20:48:00.000-07:00

i could bore the world with a catch up of months and months - well, about 6 weeks - since i last did this but it would suffice to say that it has been rather uneventful and that's the end of it.

i remain unemployed, only now i am also usually one of the following, disheartened, annoyed, apathetic, etc.

i am studying again (though not this very moment, obviously) and bollocking beurocracy is biting me in my unmentionables. when that's dealt with all will be well though - mainly because i have an office! and that is the highlight of february.

seeing hannah, krista and kinlock in professional oliver! musical was awesome. as was the personal guests and cast-only extra show after the show one night - the nasdas did a pisstake version of oliver! then proceeded to smoke and drink their way through the rest of the evening - well, not all of them. mainly hannah. i was a total theatre tag along but 'happy coupling' (on currently at court theatre) will be even more entertaining when i finally get to it.

the pisstake of oliver!

krista and hannah afterwards.

navs has been another highlight. made it to 4 prayer meetings one week, which was fun, and navs retreat (possibly the last time i posted) was great. got me all revved up for the year. small groups start next tuesday and lynton, ash and i are leading one. have to plan our first fun night so that they'll all be uber glad they got put in our group.

coffee break at navs retreat

michelle and luuk and pretty scenery

flying mark. those poor camp mattresses. what did they ever do to deserve this. someone somewhere has a pic of me like this, with my hair flying higher than the rest of me...

on the way back to christchurch, amateur panel beating...

also a minor camp to plan in near future. should check the minutes from retreat and see who else put their name down... since it's two weeks away. also - hannah's birthday that weekend. so, mother of all parties, probably.

started planning my 21st. not a fun job. i should not be a party planner - especially for parties for me. but now that hannah g has pulled out of beauty and the beast that's one more of my few close friends that can actually come to my birthday dinner. then gonna have a bbq the friday beforehand for anyone and everyone. or so says the current plan. dunno what i'm getting. my suggestions were a flying lesson or a hot air balloon ride. either would be awesome.

good news of the weekend is that i have 3 interviews in the next 2 days. and tutoring should be up soon. cashflow must be nice. meanwhile i've managed to use up all my paint (only can't afford to buy more, but must have been vaguely productive. if only ppl actually wanted to buy the results) and written plenty. kept on top of reading for history paper - better than expected really.
my paintings:infinite possibilities, i named this, no bids... grr, so trademe is not the most wonderful place on earth afterall

and the creative name for this one, tho no bids, is 'hong kong series'. i'll be an artist yet!

photos of january

2006-01-30T19:45:00.000-07:00

new years day - afternoon at sumner with hannah g and parents... and goody goody gum drops icecream... (nz only)

hannah and krista in their backyard - lotsa hanging with hannah and flatties in first couple of weeks back - and went to see them all in Oliver!

went up to auckland - grandparents 80th birthday, then family holiday

mum and dad at mission bay - rangitoto in the background...

the whanau on the ferry over to devonport

the view of auckland city from devonport

matapouri... the real holiday - nice beach up north from whangarei, no cell phone reception and only shop is a versatile dairy/fishnchip shop... go the kiwi bach holiday

matapouri dusk

matapouri during the day: my view - sunblock, books and more books. few swims between sunsoaking sessions

ian and i making shadows on the road... enroute to get icecreams at the dairy

the boys and the barbie

the skytower from the base of the crown plaza at 5.30 am - during the fire alarm... sigh. good times.

hannah's morning green tea...

and... parachute!

the boys soaking up the rays

the mainstage (is that dust or smoke?)

hannah and me during sunday evening concerts at mainstage:

fuel pre: delirious? sunday night. mmm. (from left: hannah, rachel, luuk, eoin, calvin)

delirious?

monday before morning meating. luuk went back to sleep...

me and hannah

the nav-ites

the crowd
the end

january in review

2006-01-23T16:34:00.000-07:00

have been gloriously slack at this. but i have a good excuse for a change - i haven't been able to get internet on my computer for a couple of weeks. Using grandma and grandpa's computer and the whole screen looks different. all the words i type are in caps and all the normal buttons are not loaded properly and just have picture space-holders and words. kind of weird but it would probably take forever for them to load considering i'm using dial up of the most ancient variety and i'm typing letters ahead of what i see and keep deleting too much when i make mistakes. ah, broadband, my dear friend.

anyhoo, been up in auckland for 10 days or so now. had grandparent's 80th birthday party last weekend and a very relaxed few days of the week - mainly read and shopped... then headed up north to matapouri beach and lived the life i was born to live for 4 days. beach, burn, books, good food, old family friends, walking, coffee, a few bug bites and stripes of sore skin. ah, the joys of sumer. as long as my scalp doesn't peel then all is well in the world. my little world. very selfinvolved. consider yourself warned - enter at your own risk.

i hope this doesn't show in caps. it's awful.

looks like i'm yelling everything.

returned from the beach brown and sleepy from a very long game of trivial pusuit... spent a couple of nights at flash hotel as hadn't booked early anyplace and started looking at 7pm ish that night. well done. woke up first morning at 5.30 with fire alarm. whole hotel piled out onto the street in various states of undress... very amusing. whole family found sudden need to use bathroom. excellent timing, but wouldn't be talked into walking down to waterfront esquires coffee place open24/7. got back up to room an hour later, watched a league of extraordinary gentelemen and went to breakfast in overpriced hotel restuarant. then church at ABC - our old church - as we did the previous sunday. wonderful catch-up sessions. last week had lunch with the prewitts, this week, at circus circus in mt eden with the griggs. hannah and i were flower girls at their wedding - they babysat us before they got married and even took us to the first movie we ever saw at the cinema - aladin! they now have two gourgous kids. so fun!

afternoon with grandparents but fell asleep in spare room. everyone was tired so returned to hotel for nap - i'd used up all my sleeping-hormone so went to gym and sauna... sigh... then hannah and ian and i walked up to nandoes for dinner and mum and dad went to some fancy restuarant for their wedding anniversary. 23! good on 'em.

yesterday mum, dad and ian flew home to chch and hannah and i relocated to the phyns - old neighbours who were at the beach too - and have been reading and watching old vicar of dibley ever since. except for interlude to see king kong last night and today's excursion to st lukes for lunch with the grandparents.

bussing down to te awamutu tomorrow to stay with nana a couple of nights before parachute. then parachute! finally.

its raining as it must in auckland so probably movies tonight as well. loving the holidays and must milk it while it lasts as bank is insisting i get gainful employment as soon as i get home. couple of interviews pencilled in. one in a law firm. just like ally mcbeal. well... i'll definately add a little crazy to the potion and the gloss might last a couple of weeks.

shall go be agreeable and social as don't see grandparents much. signing off

cheyenne under fluff

2005-12-17T11:27:00.000-07:00

cheyenne is covered in fluffy white snow. staying with lovely family of texan origin. they even have texan christmas ornaments. and cook books. and computer background of the texas football team with a big 12 cup... apparently.

went to see narnia (Again) last night. the theatre here is much nicer than laramie. and drank pink lemonade and stole amanda's folks' popcorn. mmm

slept lots and long and good last night. then got up rather late and chit chatted with amanda's dad over breakfast. started on humidity, progressed to geography, then to pacific islands, ww2, and predictably politics. slightly different perspective but good conversation and didn't get heated or anything so lots of fun. whew...

me and amanda are about to go out for lunch, then to see pride and prejudice, can't believe i haven't seen it yet, goes against my very character i think. but rather excited. then christmas shopping at the mall and might talk her into a photo with santa. for the scrapbook.

it's official. i'm 12 on the inside. ah well, could be worse.

off for fun. later!

a week of goodbyes

2005-12-15T17:16:00.000-07:00

the africa group: me, ismail, caolon and jillian. had dinner at altitude on wed night.
me and krystal - farewell drinks on monday night. she's off to hawaii. you and me baby, on the beach at opposite ends of the south pacific.
lindsey and kelly in the KKr sorority house, after dinner.
lindsey, me and kelly, in front of the chiristmas tree in KKr.

navs farewell/christmas party:
so, navs ppl and the boys in the front belong to todd and gerri-anne

silas shows us his skills
running man, care of paul (zim), lindsey and terri. heheheh. i laughed.
pretty decorations at todd and gerri anne's.
tina and terri. there was a sensible photo but i think this is better.
silly games for silly people. and the guy who runs navs runs through the middle of the photo. good work toddles.
same game - basically charades meets chinese whispers - have to act out christmas carol name and pass it down the line. names...? dunno the first one, then derek, gerri anne, shaun, levi, jill.
snow. and 40 below F. icky fozenness. i was sitting in the semiwarm library in cooper mansion, getting distracted by the pretty view and trying to do those essays. which are both done now and seem much less frightening and ominous.

final stretch

2005-12-14T09:16:00.000-07:00

last day of school. essay due in 4 hours and then (hopefully a bit before...) i am going to write christmas cards and distribute, take back 1, maybe 2, sets of overdue library books, and put some pictures on here!

[about bloody time? i know... what can i say? essays have priority... it does happen. occasionally]

had american studies dept christmas break up last night - everyone piled into frieda's house with lots of food and met john and eric's wives, shenan's husband, talked about england and scotland with shanan and husband who are headed there for 10 days over break, and about nz and africa with eric's wife. and i'm bearing gifts for them, back to nz. their requests: nz wine, coffee sugar... strange americans.

back to work. will finish essay and then be useful again.

final weekend

2005-12-11T21:07:00.000-07:00

final weekend before finals
final weekend in laramie
final weekend with homework to do
final weekend in dorms. possibly ever...

yay!
no complaints, whatsoever. looking forward to living in a house again. and getting excited about christmas now that the end is in sight. 3 days in sight! doesn't seem so painfully long now.

on 6 of 7 pages (single spacing - so will be the required 15 or so when done) for essay due tomorrow by 5pm, and will get (terrible) draft back tomorrow for working on and finishing by wednesday at 2. then home free! or at least free! home is a couple more weeks away.

but current plans for time left in US
monday - meeting with eric, picking up draft, handing in essay1, working on essay2, going to dinner at KKr sorority house with lindsey and kelly, krystal's party

tuesday - essay2 bollocks, hopefully the gym, very noble eh... then at night i think it's frieda's house for potluck and goodbyes

wednesday - finish essay 2, joy oh joy! maybe the gym again (wonderfully noble) celebrations, some packing perhaps, reading novels due at library a while back now - but really dont' need wonderful record at albany co. library. i should survive unless they employ hitmen. bit unreasonable for library books perhaps. write christmas cards and distribute. then in evening dinner with ismail, caolon and wife, jillian and fiance at altitude or something. laundry at some point might be wise.

thursday - finish library books, more packing up, buying presents that are UW related, posting hillary's christmas present, returning library books, celebrations (and probably bursting into song without warning... just occasionally) lunch at 12 with friend from church, and maybe dinner with someone else to say goodbye. laundry if not done on wed.

friday - final pack up and leave for cheyenne with amanda. relax! read, write, watch movies and eat. perhaps a walk around the shops for exercise, gotta see pride and prejudice and king kong (johnny worked on the set! that's right. i know all the important ppl) and bit of chirstmas shoppin, exploring cheyenne - until the 20th

20th - to denver - party with lindsey and see the sights - and above movies if not yet.

some time go to eitmillers for christmas. plan gets blurry and proof of my terrible organizational skills becomes evident. screaming in fact. oh dear.
time for supper. need food obviously, or can't think.

postnobrainer

2005-12-10T18:56:00.000-07:00

if i only had a brain
a song which would have been song of the week if it weren't only one line from a song that is kinda all over the show. seriously, what were they smoking when they made that film?

so, in othernews, saw narnia just thisavo! bloody brilliant! whole battle scene - filmed right outside the city i live in - or am going back to anyway - in like 3 weeks.

but in the prenarnia hype didn't check my ticket for christmas carol tonight... turns out it wasn't tonight at all but rather at 2pm thisavo and this nobrainer missed it completely. was really looking forward to that. but headache (probably caused by excessive quantities of sugar and no real meal since 11am) and tiredness made me wonderfully nonchalant, decided should eat something other than sourworms, as good as they are, and relocated to my beloved kingstreet market - where i am now waiting on a smoothie and meatballs, not in the same dish, and working on a decaf coffee with the knowledge it is gloriously bottomless! joy!

five days and counting. (bloody essays)
grr
back to work.

early or REALLY late

2005-12-09T23:02:00.000-07:00

so turned up to the union at 11pm for the 11.30 movie... oops. but as blogger won't work on my computer in my room this comes in handy and i might actually update - and what do you know? I AM! had my doubts about it happening again.

you have my little bro (tho bigger than me) to thank (or torture) as he pointed me to his blog today and inspired me to get my A into G. what kind of role model am i?

so today has been... bit stressful in places but generally not too bad.
early up and breakfast with kate, by accident, then when she left, had my coffee with brett and silas, also by accident. went to cooper mansion to interview eric and ended up doing so from 9 (as planned) till 11 (cause he had to be somewhere... and i had to write draft by 11 for frieda to mark by monday).

so worked frantically on draft, snubbing msners, desperately trying to put ideas together. feel i may have made this slightly more stressful than necessary but there have been so many things going at once. and it will all be over in a week.

handed in draft and then took off to king street market, bit sick of small library in cooper mansion, though the sun makes it less cold than usual. yay for the sun. 2 days straight and still below freezing consistantly.

odd.

apparently not so here.

got some meatballs and mozzerella, a cinnamon roll and the necessary legal addictive stimulant that they let me have bottomless amounts of. sat there and did a bit of work, chatted to aforementioned brother, watched end of old version of the importance of being earnest (oscar wilde) on nz's tv 1 - yay for internet, and answered a few emails.

returned to room for book and note pad, then to cooper mansion. left book for shenandoa and took a few notes from material culture display relevant to other essay (not aforementioned draft), eventually got lazy and photocoppied. on that note, as only had two dimes, owe amst about 20cents.

returned to room and decided to be noble. aka. go to the gym. and actually went. first time all week. have been waking up achy and runny nose/sore throat/ickiness has deterred me from noble behaviour. had fun tho asthma was a pain. stupid cold.

very pretty tho.

then met amanda and others by accident for dinner.

then packed. oh, long story and others have arrived for film so shall go.
more tomorrow -- possibly. promise neither same time, tho same place is likely.

After my first last class!

2005-12-05T22:23:00.000-07:00

oh joy of joys. it is done. class was great, minus a few rather dull presentations, but ours went brilliantly, i got over 90 on my exam and we gave prof. ntiasare a christmas card and copperbelt bangle. he said to keep in touch! that's right. there's a king who wants to keep in touch with me! hehe. i'm chuffed.

and i'm goin home in just over 3 weeks! to auckland, in four weeks i'll be back in chch!

just 30 pages of good interesting and succinct writing to do in the next ten days. then i'm sweet. free to be frivolous for a week - undoubtedly involving a spot of shopping, an awful lot of movies and reading, perhaps even some writing, inspired by my sudden freedom. hope so anyway. sounds good. would bode for a very productive new year. and with all that wonderful, juicy free time in january...

ooh yay
[bouncing in chair, unfortunately in cafe, uninentionally drawing attention to self from pool players and waiter sweeping floor...]

so better get on with those papers. icky poo. but watching nz tv1 news online. yay for technology i say. (and for ismail)
that cricketer jumped real high.
okay, getting distracted. and watching lenno on the cafe tv too so abundance of distraction.

don't blame me

2005-12-05T17:16:00.000-07:00

blame the lame connection in my room. havent updated in ages. so... another catch up session. might just pull the photos from file as that's so much easier and maybe come back to this caf after class, with time and joy from successful presentation, and blog with actual words... things to anticipate. i'm breathless too. could be the yummy strawberry smoothie, the straw between my lips leads to... mmm.

pretty gingerbread house i made at our final navs girls study group. tastes good too!

what to do over thanksgiving weekend:

eat

sleep

movies

shopping

go to deadwood, south dakota, so brittany's dad can hop casino's with his brother in law while we eat crab legs and dress up like old fashioned hookers... good times.

seeing the road is such a luxury - riding back from thanksgiving

little bit chilly. nice icicles hanging from the rafters...

boys at the party...
girls at the party...
i'm not the only weirdo taking photos.

early next morning on road to nebraska - visiting krystal's family in scotsbluff for the day.

DC photos

2005-11-16T14:12:00.000-07:00

i wrote the saga of my visit to DC ages ago but here are the pictures. enjoy!

french food on friday with friends. mmm, mussels. they are my friends. though i think maybe they don't feel the same way as i tend to eat them. with passion and gusto. but i doubt they appreciate it muchly.
saturday:
the backside of that building - you know the one
oh, i forget what its called.
i am free, the whitehouse however, seems to be behind bars.
creative name... smithsonian castle
welcome to the smithsonian museam of air and space.

alright, how did they get that in the door?

no shortage of planes here. one of the many HUGE displays
oh, cool plane. i want one.
things to do before meals. not after
red goes faster... good choice amelia
the wright brothers. the guys with the plane. yeah, you know...
me, lake, capitol...
nice view from the capitol steps down the mall to the washington monument.
me and lisa outside capitol building
library of congress (above) and supreme court (below)
seriously, how did they pick which one got to be called 'the white house'???
on the steps of the supreme court
nice ceiling.
hiding behind the pillars. ooh, shneaky

big grandios entrance hall to supreme court, looking toward entranceway.
the actual supreme court. huh! weird

foyer of rennaissance hotel, dc, rather fancy really. evil starbucks in teh background. weird autumn/halloween display in the foreground. conference was held in basement levels 1 and 2 - so it felt like a covert underground rebellion. especially when someone put up a HUGE american flag with the white lines in camouflage. hehe. i laughed out loud.

Back End of DC

2005-11-16T13:54:00.000-07:00

Back Alleys of Captiol Hill tour... oh, i have dozens of pictures but they'll only be interesting to people who like architecture and i intend to turn some of them into paintings. Very interesting tour though - all about life in DC ages ago - rich ppl on the road, poor in the alleys, etc. Included seeing a few famous ppls' houses, including frederick douglas. Ended at east city market. Met a fellow kiwi. Was invited to allblacks private party. Had to say no. Will never totally recover. But got a free necklace from the kiwi girl.

up close and personal with the washington monument.
the world war two memorial. they really like fountains in DC
Me and the lincoln memorial in the background, beside the lake that jenny runs through to meet forrest in forrest gump. Ah... sigh
Reflecting pool, see above for narrative, and washington monument in background.
Oh dear Lord. What has come of the world? I guess free speech gives people the right to parade their ignorance in whatever form they so prefer. Rats.
Lincoln memorial. I had all these great ideas of shaking his hand or sitting in his lap. but no can do. Nice scaffolding though.
View from lincoln memorial - reflecting pool, washington monument and way in the distance, beyond monument is the capital building. White house is in the bushes on the left, slightly further than the monument.

Super[wo]man

2005-11-16T13:34:00.000-07:00

Halloween.

And that's all i have to say about that.

photos from navs retreat:

2005-11-15T14:13:00.000-07:00

Navs retreat was a few weeks back now but i'm so behind on this thing - the internet connection in my room is a tad bogus - so here they are now! Enjoy our silliness. we did.

me, chelsea, amanda, joanna

see above for names - those two are dangerous. its not just a farce

tina, chelsea, amanda and joanna (on the ground)

driving through the rockies in the dark - kinda fun.

eastes park ymca - main hall

pretty rocky mountains

where everyone came from and went back to...

shopping in estes park - the township

hat shopping

really? in a hat shop? weird americans. but good chance to survive seeing a buffalo up close and personal

while waiting for the evening's entertaiment - minor massage sessions are totally called for

no such thing as too much enthusiasm for a hot drink... go matt

on the back of the truck. tina's about to lose it.

yummy pizza place, satisfied bellies, weird things to do with bbq sauce (john, joanna and derek)

stupid is as stupid does - me and terri

PIZZA! - todd and sean and some guy and paul

back home

2005-11-07T15:13:00.000-07:00

well, wyoming. got back yesterday evening, wrapped snug in my new favourite item of clothing (a deep morone coloured woolen shawl that doubles as a - oh, wadda u call it? blanket with hole in the middle for your head... you know what i mean), and struggled across from fraternity row with all my luggage.

poncho! that's the word.

anyway, so since my last entry i have finished my washington dc trip with loads more sightseeing, seen phantom of the opera in denver and tiki-toured back to laramie with rachel - via really good italiano!

so, saturday in DC -
Back Alleys of Capitol Hill tour, armed only with coffee and croisant. Fantastic tour. So fun to do the non-touristy DC - up behind the capitol, around the back alleys, houses of famous/semi-famous people, ended at east city market. Spot of shopping, pretty white paua ring, big woolen shawl/poncho described above, massage oil, punnet of strawberries, and (bonus of all) free little pink butterfly necklace from a newzealander!!! selling jewelery and bags and shawls at the market. she's a fashion designer. is throwing a party for the visiting allblacks next weekend. she invited me!!! and i had to turn it down. oh, i still don't believe it. could have been at a little private party, chilling with the allblacks, in washinton DC. damn it!

but very cool necklace. matched my phantom of the opera outfit perfectly!

then walked down toward the capitol to the folgers shakespeare library and the cool gift shop there. had a ball. spent a few dollars or more. got annoyed that i couldn't afford to go see much ado about nothing that night - favourite shakespeare ever!

wandering down past library of congress and capitol to art museam, decided i couldn't afford lunch in their restuarant and needed to eat badly so went back out to the mall and got me a hotdog and chips, huge soda and and sat down on a park bench about half way between capitol building and washington monument. flicked through the museam maps for the art gallery and american history museam, circling exhibits i wanted to see. some amazing stuff, oh my gosh. and all original copies of real famous stuff. i'll put the photos on here as soon as i can get the photo-upload option to work properly. it worked!!!
see...

next, went to the art gallery shop and bought little somethings for hannah b and andrea... oh, you guys are gonna love these. then to the american history museam. not much to capture my fancy but the jazz exhibits with duke ellington and ella fitzgerald, and the brown vs. the board of education exhibit - all about desegregation of schools in america. very cool and interesting could spend weeks going through the smithsonian museams but only 2 of the 3 i went to were even smithsonian and i didn't see all of what was in any of them. next time. i'll just have to go back.

then went for a long walk. up to the washington monument, touched it, took photos and then all the way to the lincoln memorial, via war memorials and the reflecting pool (famous from forrest gump as far as i'm concerned). very long walk in total - then all the way back up to 9th and K streets to the youth hostel. legs so dead. still trying to recover to tell the truth. slightly afraid might have shin splits. but not sure as never have and you only learn so much from faithfully watching ER. lots, but not everything.

sunday got up 6am east coast time, so 4 am mountain time (Laramie), to get to airport on time - sharing a cab with another girl from the hostel who had a flight around the same time to buffalo, ny. so got to denver, flying direct, four hours later. about half past 10 mountain time. flight was good - watched fantastic four and slept a bit, bought a snack box and nibbled away between cups of coffee and the ice lemon tea schnapple i bought at Dulles (washington airport i departed from).

got gear and bus details back at denver and had some lunch, while working on nanowrimo novel (www.nanowrimo.org), for an hour until i went to the bus. but took me all the way into denver - the market street station. and i waited on the cnr of market and 16th for about 10 mins till rachel showed up. got my luggage in the back and we wandered up to the theatre for phantom of the opera.

bloody brilliant! oh my gosh. i'd been waiting to see that for about 10 years i think and it was so good. will be reading that book again when i get home - good holiday reading - bit of old french horror. i'm normal. but it's soooooo good. and scary, to be true. anyway, very good cast - so impressed with raoul and christine and the phantom was wonderfully grotesque and pittiable. just as he should be. sill ppl who think you're meant to like him. no. he's evil and obcessed, pittiable but so very evil. movie makes him kinda nice and even the musical you could get away with liking him but in the book he is most definately the bad guy. just a very good and complex bad guy who is hard not to admire - and pity. music was fantastic. i was transfixed, leaning forward in my seat. we were right up the back of the balcony, on the side, cheap seats but could see everything so not bad at all.

afterward was grinning like a fool then went to italian restuarant - an hours wait. flag that. so rachel and i took off and went to loveland for dinner. had great time. chit chat all the way in the car, through dinner, mmm, and all the way back to laramie. so tired when i got back tho.

unpacking looking forward to bed, when i realised, it's dad's birthday today in nz. 50! and they're calling tonight - sometime between 11 and 12. i can't make it that long. it was 9.30 ish and i was shattered. and they weren't online for me to ask to call earlier. emailed them at home and work and they called half and hour later.

so good talk with mum and dad. lots of teasing about dad's secret retirement plan of buying a house on a beach with no road access so he has to get a boat aswell. then we'll have mussels on the deck and fish forever. or he will. and i'll visit frequently. and bring supplies.

hehe. bought him cool stuff at air and space museam so feel less guilty about missing whole birthday week celebrations. and we're gonna go out for mussels when i get back to make up for it. yay!

Washington D.C.

2005-11-03T19:19:00.000-07:00

Watching 'The West Wing' out of the corner of my eye, paying by the minute for internet access in a youth hostel, 1009 11th Street, in Washington DC baby!

That's right. So unbelievable! (yeah, singing in my head, but quite a few others watching tv, and one other just sat down at a computer, so we'll save ourselves the humiliation just this once...)

Crazy unvelievable day. turns out America is not just a myth. it's millions of layers of myth and symbol and dude, the white house actually exists! I mean, i knew that, but now i know that! and the capitol, the library of congress, supreme court...
So very cool

went to air and space museam. dad would be SO very jealous. But it solved the great quandry that was his birthday present. But i won't say what it is cause he'll read this and i wanna surprise him over a pot of mussels when i get home.

So arrived here last night. Left Laramie at 6am yesterday, mountain time, with todd and lisa. Arrived Denver airport around 9.30 and flight boarded at 10.50 so walked todd to his gate and went window shopping. was very self controlled but found mum's favourite photographer so invested in some cards (she would have spent a lot more but i have some more shopping to do). Glanced at a few model planes but didn't pull out my wallet. Got an ice tea and headed to gate B25. United airlines don't feed you anything except for 'snack bites' some of which are very hard to identify but i ate them nonetheless and drinks. but the coffee wasn't so bad. Pulled out my laptop and started new novel for nation novel writing month (www.nanowrimo.org). Beautiful computer is gonna be a nice accessory to airtravel... forever! Joy

Flew into Ohare at 3ish, central time (one hour ahead of mtn), and assumed i had 50 minutes to get to gate B9, turns out i had 30 mins as departure was 3.50. bought myself some lunch. tried to get in touch with angela hoping to share transport once we arrived in D.C.. Failed. Fortunately decided to start lunch by B9 and noticed line of ppl under sign saying 'Washington D.C.' so put food in back pack and headed to join queue.

Flew out of Ohare next to friendly businessman. Stunned once again by beauty of chicago and autumn trees. Spotted the navy pier which i couldn't see on our descent.

Then we headed toward D.C.. Watched a bit of will and grace and read my next text for Amst, Topics, due tuesday evening. Again, no food, accept for the sandwich i smuggled in from Ohare. Yummy focacia, ham, swiss, tomato and lettuce but kinda soggy. Apple juice great tho.

Arrived D.C. and tried Angela again. Got thru as i got on the shuttle to the terminal. She stayed with a friend nearer the airport so nocando. Found info desk to ask if i'd be safe on my own, on public transport, at 7.30 pm (2 hours after sunset), in a city i'd never been to before. "Sure" he handed me a timetable for the bus i'd just heard announced 'leaving now'. walked leisurely to gate (would've been leisurely without heavy luggage but more just slow and painful) and got to bus before it left but didn't have a ticket. so went to hunt for ticket desk. 20 mins later was directed back to door 4 where i started, and found desk by door. bought ticket. grrr. and bus arrived.

once again hit with realisation that 'i'm in washington D.C.', huh, weird thought. unreal really.

looked out bus window, knowing perfectly well that i wasn't anywhere near anything i've ever seen on tv, but watched intently anyway. Got off bus at metro and bought ticket, went thru gates (learnt how to use them the hard way in hong kong) and let imagination run through a few worst case scenarios standing on platform, waiting for train.

got on train just fine and several calls from elisabeth later (cut off by being underground, or moving or something but it worked half the time) decided to go to dupont circle and meet her and her friend for dinner. changed trains at metro central and two stops later took longest esculator ride of my life. waited ten minutes until lisa (elisabeth, same girl) and her friend arrived. lugged bag and tired self to restuarant up the road. cutest little buzzing french place. that serves mussels. made my menu selection rather easy.

very full and tired, decided on taking taxi to hostel. on $8 including tip - so worth it. would've spent another couple on the metro anyway. and my shoulders really appreciated the $6 i spent on their well-being.

registered at hostel and had a wonderful shower. won't forget that in a short time. then added a few words to my nanowrimo count before bed.

met lisa at convention hotel (bought starbucks, against all my moral values, but desperate times) at 8am. registered for conference. decided we'd both go to 4pm sessions and sightsee until then. already listed all the cool stuff we saw. but will go into more detail wheni get the numerous photos on here.

only a few minutes left on line so better run. spending most of tomorrow in conference sessions and saturday will be a bit of half-n-half. head back sunday morning. probalby have to taxi much of way to airport as bus doesn't go till 8.15, and flight leaves at 8.45. gonna hurt my pocket, that is. but will be in denver in time to see phantom of the opera in the afternoon. yay! wonderful week!

aright, adios

yay! blogger is working

2005-10-26T18:06:00.000-06:00

wow - a whole blog free week. and while it hasn't been THE most exciting week of my life, it would have been nice to keep up to date - considering i now have my own computer! yay for my new laptop. it's a winbook-somethingorother.

so - catch up on my week...

FRIDAY
i spent the day here:

and on my bed, working on my essay, on my new computer (hallelujah for new toys, shame about using them for homework)

so when it got dark and i got sick of staring at this beautiful screen, i got me fancied up and went out with smore and her boys... warning: drunk boys.

So the party was fun. The boys were generaly drunk, but totally entertaining without being gross.

SATURDAY
Went raking leaves with people from Emmaus, after having my breakfast of poptart, snickers and frappucino. healthy eh? and leaf raking was followed by wendys. not a particularly healthy day, but leaf raking was good exercise. and it was so much fun with the kids - i miss kids. i think i must collect them at home but i haven't collected any here yet. it was really cool, i dunno wat it is, but kids are so fun to talk to and play around with, even when you're raking leaves. And there were quite a few leaves... okay, so no that many on the ground in this picture, but millions around the corner - minus the gardens we had raked - which looked spick and span.

I'm not 100% sure what i did on saturday night, but i'm sure it was dull. and i'm pretty sure it involved my essay. and a movie or two.

SUNDAY

Breakfast with Brittany at Applebys, then Insiders bible study. Church, lunch at washakie with Chad and others then back to Amandas room to tease Chad and Amanda while doing homework and watching movies. Then i left and he finally asked her out.

So yay for me and my teasing. I'm like Emma. So as long as I get a Mr Knightly at some point we're all good. Any suggestions.

MONDAY

Should have been a panic session to finish paper but i just plodded away, didn't go the the gym as i felt kinda bad on sunday night - all achy and co.

Didn't get outside till class in the evening. Africa since 1800 was entertaining. People asked dumb questions. Ismail and I wrote notes and were entertained. Then our group planned out paper for a bit. Late night shopping spree with Amanda. i got phone card and box of tissues. woohoo.

TUESDAY

Actually made it to the gym. But worked on essay. Then went to see George Bush Snr chit chat with an ex-senator of wyoming, something Simpson. It was rather lame - but i saw Bush snr in person. They talked fluff basically. Country is divided and Bush jnr aint so popular so maybe his dad though he'd try to rally support by joking about old times with old friends in public. Only really good bits were the bits he probably shouldn't of said - like when he was laughing at himself. I kept thinking - this guy must have some shocking stuff on his conscience, wonder if he keeps in touch with saddam hussein, etc.

Then did a bit more of my essay (not finished... should have been panicking, but i'm unfathomably calm even when i shouldn't be) before i went and helped amanda cook for chad's birthday dinner. Got back at 6.30, essay due at 7, when i was supposed to have been in class, with my book finished being read, and preferably dinner in my stomach as class goes till atleast 9.30...

So ran down to computer lab with essay on my memory stick, edited it one last time, printed at 2 min to 7, bought ham and swiss croissant from king street market, ran to class.

and blessed classmate ordered us pizza! god bless him. handed in my essay and discovered i can edit it for a better mark if i want... whew. and barely discussed book at all. which was fortunate as was almost finished chapter 2... though, i am an excellent bluffer.

After class, watched Beauty and the Beast with Chad and Amanda (who are too cute, i'm so proud) then went to my room and stayed up too much longer...

WEDNESDAY

got to the gym again. yay for me. then breakfast, shower, and 2 hour nap. i'm an old lady. it's official. woke up and worked on a few things for meeting thisafternoon. meeting was good - ended up talking about home for about an hour. but our presentation is ready for tomorrow... hopefully. and my questionaire is done - atleast a draft. feel ahead of things. but i have to stay on top of it cuz 5 days in DC after a weekend with the Navigators and I'll be horribly behind. Again.

Hehe, watching 'for richer, for poorer'. So gloriously cheesy.

Anyway meeting, then hangin with amanda, dinner, and i'm here, bout to go to Navs. Doop de do. Photos of Bush Snr up soon. I'm looking forward to some nice political comments. Go on, you know you want to.

genuinely [expletive]y day

2005-10-18T16:08:00.000-06:00

it started well. i didn't feel like going to the gym, but i went. and i used the other type of bike so i didn't hurt my lower back (good advice krystal!). Then i had breakfast and i've had better but not damage done. Very disciplined, as i can be occasionally, i started on the next chapter of my text book as soon as i was showered and dressed. Had a nap, as i tend to in the mornings now. I'm officially an old lady. But i love naps too much to deny it or give them up. Woke up at half10 and read some more Roediger. About midday decided to make lunch in my room. So i defrosted some wheat rolls and got out my avocado (oh, faithful friend), cheese, turkey, sunflower seeds. All ready to go, or so i thought, until, in a dramatic attempt to de-stone my avocado, i stabbed myself in the hand. it was pretty deep and bled a bit but 3 hours later looks like a paper cut so i think i'll live. finger and forearm aches randomly so my nerves are probably doing flip flops or something. anyway, i was kind enough to clean the swiss army knife rather than throw it out the window in frustration. used a few choice words to vent my anger, lost my apetite and read for another 1/4 hr before my meeting with my professor.

meeting was about going to American Studies Association conference in D.C. It's gonna cost be a bit but it's a once in a lifetime thing so i figure i gotta go. And i'll get to visit D.C. while i'm at it. Oh the photos will be on here, don't you worry. It's very soon. Two weeks tomorrow it starts! But with a little to-do list I was already to leave his office and get to work organising flights, ASA membership, rides, etc when he asks me casually, 'did you hear about ken?' and i'm like, 'the film guy?'
Turns out, my beloved film professor back in NZ died on friday. I barely know him. I mean I talked to him a bit more than most lecturers, sometimes, but I'm totally knocked for six by this news. I'm not really sure why. I keep thinking silly things like, he's gonna be so gutted to miss all the films that come out before christmas, and that i won't get to take his course next year - which i was really looking forward to.

This is the little eulogy on the American Studies home page at UC:
Ken Harris
We were all saddened to learn on Friday of the death of our good friend and colleague Ken Harris.

Harris, Ken. On October 14, 2005, in Christchurch. A highly popular lecturer on film history and theory and a deeply respected colleague, scholar and curriculum developer. Your work here, and the standards you set, will be hard to beat.Your friends, students and colleagues in the School of Culture, Literature and Society at the University of Canterbury will always remember your creative input into developing the 21st Century university.

According to the email my UW professor read me, he found out he had pancreatic cancer 10 days ago and kept taking his classes until the last day of term - which was friday. And he got to be with his partner and loved ones when he died. So that's kinda cool, under the circumstances. I guess the funeral was today or earlier this week.

Anyway, I managed, by some miracle, to finish Roediger thisafternoon, despite my heightened distraction - and considering my usual level of distraction this is remarkable. Needed a change of scenery before i get on with my midterm paper (due 1 week today. HELP!) so i came down to check the mail. And, God is Good, i get a card from Ray and Dot. But not only that, it's got notes from like a dozen ppl, including some of my closest friends in the world! Talk about a boost. Just what i needed. If any of the note-writers read this, THANK YOU! You saved my rotten day.

Hand aching. Should go work on paper as note writing usually involves my right hand only. Meanwhile, i have mini-stigmata on my left. That's what it looks like, i'm afraid to say. That's probably highly insesitive, i know very little about stigmata but that's what it looks like. I'll put a photo up. Better do it soon tho - it's amazing how fast the body heals.

Two other wonderful things about today -
- My hair is pretty. God bless good hair days.
- And it's smoothie night so i can go and have a healthy (and yummy!) supper after my evening class. Yay for me. And for highlights of low days.

Off to study and endeavour not to think about Ken.

lazy sunday

2005-10-16T19:02:00.000-06:00

well, after the frat party that was, for about half an hour, then wasn't, krystal, my friendly neighbourhood masseuse, and i went to walmart, got pringles and braveheart soundtrack i've been dreaming of, then back to krystal's room. watched just married. ate pringles. chit chat and bedfordshire.

woke up at 8 without nearly enough sleep. managed by some miracle (and no help from high heel shoes) to get to church by 10 to 9 for insiders study. then church. lunch at washakie with amanda, chad and plenty of ppl to tease them. no mnms to throw tho.

"study" party in 3rd floor lobby all avo - aside from my 1hr massage (love u krystal) from 3-4. its amazing how much fun you can have with a box of tiny teddies, a laptop, several cell phones and "doing homework" as a general cover story. good times all the way to the bank. amanda and chad will have strange but cute kids.

dinner. mnms prevailed. the things they do to pepsi are just scary. and they also prove that we have very bad aim as none that flew went in mouths - rather in clothing or on the floor. amanda got tired of being picked on and took off. so we finished up, made the mess just a little more colourful. i love mnms.

got in the elevator, pressed 3 and every button above it. then it stopped at one and the girls that got on were NOT impressed. evil laugh.

got off at three and threatened the uprightness of amanda's door. and am now pretending to do homework, while watching 'the breakfast club' and still laughing at chad and amanda.

homecoming saturday

2005-10-15T21:44:00.000-06:00

so, there's very little new and interesting to say about football. i left at half time, tired, sore eyes and reading to do, so i still don't know the score. but interesting points:

frat boys eh... they had the letters to spell out something creative along the lines of 'go cowboys' on their chests.
me and benedict - from germany. go the international students. although he keeps forgetting i'm not american because i 'speak really good english', at which i scoffed, and told him neither americans nor i speak 'good english'.
dumb song, but kinda cool shirts. not as creative, dirty or funny as 'save a horse, ride a cowboy' but an interesting addition to the scenery.
And, don't forget, the cheer leaders, the band, the american flag in the back ground, cowboyhat in the foreground. gee, where could i be?

alright. that'll do donkey, that'll do

week of naps

2005-10-15T21:40:00.000-06:00

have had many naps this week. but inbetween times it was rather nice. relaxed with a much lower reading load, i blissfully exercised, ate well, signed up for nanowrimo (www.nanowrimo.org), watched a couple of movies, etc.

until, one fateful day, i realised my first major paper was due in two weeks and i didn't even have a topic up my sleeve. Lethargy attacked immediately. the gym lay helpless, abandoned to recovery sleep-ins, my stay-ahead-with-reading plan, a similar fate.

But i have started the blasted paper. It should be fine. But i'll be behind in reading again. ignorance was bliss for about 4 days. and then it was horrific.

Other events of the week:
UW navs equivalent of 'big squeeze' -

i won't even remember to know all names. starting at the front: half of jade's leg, jill (yellow shoes), chelsea, and on the floor her friend (tasty thumb), taking a pic on her phone, amanda, beside her a dear head (not mounted, but still creepy, glass eyes and all), matt on the floor, mardel on the sofa in black hoodie, john and no idea of guy-on-the-end's name but he's a character for sure.

Amanda and the deer. Poor, sad, dead deer. Mm, venison. Oh, and in the corner, the hand that pulled the trigger... Mardel

Pouty amanda, and Kat Smiley. So true to character. Love you amanda.

The evenings entertainment (after a wonderfully violent game of mafia). Some people are way too talented (cough-mardel-cough). Bluegrass is a nice introduction to truely terrifying country music.

the chad

the music did it's job. then we woke us up for charlie and the chocolate factory (yay for free movies at the union! and peanut mnms! twizzlers are a little weird tho.)

not a real post

2005-10-14T11:52:00.000-06:00

its amazing what you find when researching identity and community in america...
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/4335160.stm

hehe

haere mai winter!

2005-10-10T14:18:00.000-06:00

Winter has arrived!

So exciting. I love snow. Everyone here - well not quite everyone, but many - are not such fans. Meanwhile, I'm stoked.
So, took a couple of photos on the way home, but ppl were lookin at the weird (obviously foreign) girl with the camera... and this lab really isnt that far away from my dorm. and as a result... a parking metre and a fire hydrant.

Nice cozy evening in with Noelle, talking about silly things and freaking eachother out by talking about scary stuff. We both have horribly overactive imaginations. Talked too late, to be honesty, but still got up at 7 for the gym... And took my camera:

Autumn - i mean Fall - obviously thought it had a week or two to dispose of these pretty leaves but the snow will finish them off no worries. In the meantime i decided that this is what christmas trees will look like in heaven. Was very glad i didn't invest in renting a bike for the semester as it would have been one of the many that resembled ice-sculptures thismorning and just looking at them make me think of very cold bottoms and hands and snow in horrible places. No thanks.

Evergreens, flags (USA, Wyoming State and University of Wyoming in descending order), the 'green', a pretty statue and A&S building in the distance.

This is the pretty green Well, even prettier now that it's not green anymore. But the evergreens in the background are nice. In the distance is the Arts and Sciences building where Switchfoot concert was held.

The gym! I arrived safely, tho cold, and slightly asthmatic. Will take big jacket and scarf in future. And ventolin.
Snow falling over the carpark outside Washakie (the dining hall, under which is the computer lab i have taken up residency in) The cars are just reflecting my camera flash. Or else they're all walking home. Hehe, suckers.

Cars that are unlikely to recover from pneumonia.

My friend the bear. I'm afraid he may have died. Hopefully just hybernating. Tho looks comfortable as always. Oh, jealousy, thou art cruel.

Pretty trees. If america goes as crazy over christmas as the movies would suggest then these will gain lights and tinsel in a month or two.

red cars go faster... tho perhaps its not a good idea...

The view at breakfast. Chief Washakie must be cold. Ironically, he's facing west. Probably cuz the pilgrims are trying to kill him. Maybe someone should let him know that the sun never sets on the US Military.

sketchi

2005-10-09T22:51:00.000-06:00

lovely day. had insiders study thismorning and it went really well. am starting to feel really at home at church.

after church went and got fantastic chinese restuarant that reminded me of Hill. Hi Hill! Miss you. And all the cool asian stuff at the restuarant made me very Hillary and Hong Kong nostalgic. and the food wasnt half bad.

then spend the afternoon in the lobby, waiting for the rain to turn to snow, and reading... well for a little while. then i got bored and coppied the pics from my book, and some photos. and voila:

coppied from text book - passage de choiseul in paris. cool little arcade i hope to visit one day.

photo i took of little river, from bridge, while in glasgow. thought it looked very... thomas the tank engine.

waverley station, edinburgh, platform 9 and 3/4. And this is the closest station to the Elephant cafe where JK Rowling wrote. Though i couldn't find the cafe. But i found the platform.

And then i wrote a letter to my grandparents.

Hehe, a whole bunch of guys just walked into the computer lab. it's really hot in here cuz of all the computers and no open door/windows. More noticable than usual as its snowing outside! Cool eh! Will put photos up as soon as i get some. Will walk home outside just for you!

these boots are made for walking...

2005-10-08T19:56:00.000-06:00

bordering on country, but not quite. and will double fantastically for a superman outfit at halloween. yay!

shouldn't have used the flash on the camera though - at least i hope my legs aren't really that pale. shouldn't be considering the good hours i spent with them out the window of the van in africa, hoping that the zambezi sun plus the anti-malerials which make you super-susceptible to the sun, would do their magic and make me semi-polynesian princess-like.

so, in general a great week. succeeded in finishing 2 and 1/2 of the 3 books i had to read. cold returned with general stubbourness so gym got replaced by reading and it may have been a good thing.

navs on wednesday night was cool. david and nathan story - with a nice veggie tales clip! fun fun.

and then new tshirts, as previously featured. but there you go. and the backs say something about UW ladies weekend and then list out names. ta da! pretty cool i thought. although everyone thinks they say "i love navy boys" and while i have no particular distaste toward navy boys, that's not what they say.

Then thursday night, after my final class for the week, was girls bible study and then movies! went to see 'just like heaven' which was lovely and cute. total chick flick. but just what the doctor ordered.

Friday... spent most of day doing very little, marvelling at surviving the week and started new book for next week as have decided to stay ahead rather than relax when the work load does a dip. Friday night went to Brittany's concert...

act 1: orchestra
act 2: fantastic jazz singing group - guy in the middle was brilliant! love jazz... mmm...

act 3: Brittany's choir - she's 4th from the right on the back row. They were singing "i will follow him" from sister act! yay for whoopi.

Act 4: Boys choir. too many cowboys songs. enough said.

Act 5: Fabulousness personified in a jazz band with a touch of salsa and plenty of sax solos, not to mention the rather lovely trombone. mmm, love jazz.

Sam, Lena and Brittany after the concert, waiting to go for dinner...

Then out to dinner at Altitude- where the band showed up to play cowboy supporting tunes in preparation for football game following day...

Brittany and Lena and I had a nice expensive dinner (thanks to Brittany's B'day voucher) and then back to the dorms for bailiey's and hot chocolate, everybody loves raymond, my wife and kids, then i popped over to Amanda's room and watched the end of The Interpretter with her and a bunch of others. Brilliant film. I saw it months ago. So it sort of made sense. Worth seeing again though. I can be dense. Plus, i was tired. Anyway, then chatted with Amanda for half an hour and probably didn't get to sleep till 3.

But i was up at 8 thismorning for... Mardel's Birthday Breakfast.

So fun. Picture warning, we all look half awake and un-make-uped... and some of them were wearing pjs still.

After breakfast, put washing on, bought UW cap and tshirt and pompom for football, put washing in dryer and didn't turn it on. Went to football - 3 hours and lots of energy spent for nothing - but i feel sorry for that quarter back. He's gonna get some wicked hassles.

just a bit of healthy violence...

and some cheer leaders. and noise. and the guys who lift the cheerleaders up and throw them around a bit.

ready, steady... kill eachother!

Me and Lena, looking cool and smiley, despite the sad state of affairs. Like my new hat?

Came back, sort of napped as totally exhausted. Went to dinner with Lena and Noelle. Went to get washing from dryer... and decided i should turn it on first. Gr...

Then came to computer lab but honestly, don't know how much longer i can stay awake. so pathetic. It's 7:52pm. Noelle won't go to bet till midnightish though... and still have to do bible study for Insiders group tomorrow. and might do some more sketching. Copying cool picture of an arcade in paris from my text book - it's really similar to this unfinished painting i have at home but i don't want to buy paints here as i have so much to do and won't be able to fit everything to take home as it is. So sketchinng it is.

Ooh, and exciting other thing - just talked to Jess Eitmiller who i havn't seen in 8 years! yay! American girl, about a year younger than me. Her family lived in Auckland and went to church with us untill 1997 when they moved to Hong Kong. Then we did, completely seperately. But so cool to have friends there from home. They stayed in HK after we left, then moved to Taipei, Taiwan. Have recently moved again, to Shanghai, but Jess is in Sophomore year of college about 3 hours away in Boulder, Colorado. So, I might be spending christmas with their family as they might be coming to see her and that'd be just plain incredible. Oooh. yay.

Expressions of excitement are lame on here. So I'll torture no longer.

new tshirts!

2005-10-06T20:15:00.000-06:00

hehe.

50 cent tour of campus

2005-10-05T11:50:00.001-06:00

where i live:on the left is washakie - the dining hall, and underneath, the computer lab/study lounge - where i spend most of my time as it happens
sights to be seen - regardless of whether you want to or not.
cooper mansion behind the red car - where the american studies dept and 2 of my 3 classes are located.
union building for books, shops, concert tickets and navigators... as well as taco johns.
must be in america. the sheer size of cars is remarkable.
my friend the bear - he greets me after i go the the gym - always looks so comfortable.
my room after a day of studying and picnics in bed. everything i need really, coffee machine behind my flag, pens/pencils, books, cups, food, cds, discman, pillow for ergonomically friendly atmosphere. or something.
ho finito

photo phrenzy

2005-10-05T11:50:00.000-06:00

I have spent the last week with my head in a book... so here's the saga...

Views, when i look up:

of noelle's side of the room, and then later in the day when my sanity is significantly more questionable (and playing with a camera is so much more fun...)

fun things to do during study breaks :

uberhealthy amy

2005-10-02T18:40:00.000-06:00

very healthy day:
8.30am - bagel, coffee and la spremuta della'rancia (orange juice)
8.45 - insider bible study
10.30 - church
12.30 - lunch/brunch. it was quite the discussion. i had beef. must've been lunch.
2.00 - shopping at walmart - veges for my fridge, new jacket, boots..., and what i thought was body wash and turned out to be moisturizer. oh, and a bucket.
3.30 - moved all my gear back from brittany's room and began a tidy up that may well not be completed till next weekend.
4.00 - gym (woohoo for me. 2nd time in a week. hate colds. ruin all noble plans for fitness, health and firmness)
5.15 - hit the showers
5.30 - sushi and smoothies with noelle at king street market
6.30 - here i am.

i think its just the bible study, gym and sushi thing that makes me so 'yay for healthiness'. and only 2 cups of coffee which is quite the improvement.

i'll be so impressed if that interested ANYONE in the VERY LEAST. But there you go, a [noble] day in the life of ... blah.

sounds good in an english accent. most things do. even swear words sound classy.

should go read my book. it's not to bad, just a bit long considering its gotta be done by tuesday night. "the souls of black folk" by W. E. B. Du Bois.

GIRLS WEEKEND AWAY!

2005-09-27T09:27:00.000-06:00

Amanda would hate this photo but what she dont know...
so this must be on the way out of Laramie.

2005-09-27T09:26:00.000-06:00

Jill and Tina say 'hey'
slightly further out of laramie

2005-09-27T09:25:00.000-06:00

copping z's in the back seat - until i woke her up with my flash. wish i looked like that when i woke up first thing!

2005-09-27T09:24:00.001-06:00

scrapbooking with real, live sorrority girls

2005-09-27T09:24:00.000-06:00

welcome to the country! do you see what i mean about clark kent's family farm. i can just imagine that there's kryptonite buried under there...

2005-09-27T09:23:00.001-06:00

happy birthday jill!

2005-09-27T09:23:00.000-06:00

movies and studying... oh the life

2005-09-27T09:22:00.000-06:00

morning after muffins!

girs weekend away

2005-09-26T14:35:00.000-06:00

so fun! spent weekend at wheatland, wy, in someones house (we took over), except for my short stint of walking around the farm. until i found a cow carcass. well, i got about 5 m away and it looked like a bear (still had skin - as far as i could see) so i thought, hm, they're meant to be dangerous, and quite fast, so i backed off and walked around the otherside, peered through the gate and lo'&behold. it's a dead cow.

anyway, spend most of weekend, studying while watching movies between meals. had a great bible study time on saturday afternoon and a bonfire and smores on saturday night. took some fun photos as the barn looks like the one from clark's parents house in lois and clark...

which will arrive in the mail in a day or two! yay! season one of lois and clark! its like christmas. if only i had a dvd player - oh wait, i'm getting a lap top (for study purposes primarily but theres nothing wrong with a little multi-tasking).

Will go down to shops and compare computer prices/specs etc. and hopefully get an explanation for my silly phone. i lost over half my credit when i changed my number. but my original number wasn't in my phone so i had to. and i still don't understand why i lost my credit. so there! silly man at radioshack. grr.

will have photos from weekend up soon.

2005-09-20T15:51:00.000-06:00

so the orange juice tap at breakfast was being contrary and hardly put any water in and i'm going to be tasting orange all day. could be worse i guess. or better - like that chocolaty after taste from baileys... mmm

if i were at home id be so proud of myself - fourth consecutive week of consistently going to the gym four or five times a week! i was chuffed at the end of week two. now im starting to get discouraged - you know, not looking very bikini model yet. now, i knew that i wouldnt be lean and mean immediately but i've worked hard man. guys have it so much easier. and they look better with a little chub. i don't actually want to look totally bikini model (god made curves for a reason...) but as that's unlikely i'll just keep going the way im going and might at least be buff by the time i get home. And then i can buy little heels to celebrate and they make my legs look nice. and yay! new heels and nice legs. no ones complaining.

alright, shallow conversation over. icky week for all here in the big US of A, in the little Laramie of Wyoming. Well, the cowboys won but other than that... my poor roommate lost an entire roll of film and her computer lost five pages of essay before she saved it. i gave her LOTS of hot chocolate. well, not much water in there but LOTS of powder. and then made up things that would be fun to write in an essay just to make your teacher laugh, or scowl... of fail you. but fun to speculate about. my week hasn't been quite THAT bad. but heaps to do. spent all monday preparing for Africa Since 1800 class that evening - prepared presentation, did reading, and weren't called on to present so wasted time... but wasn't that well prepared so perhaps a blessing in disguise. rats, i was trying to be negative. okay, so yesterday spent entire day reading frustrating but insightful book - historiography of America called The End of American History and wrote notes so i might retain some of what i read. Then possibly made idiot of self in class speculating about how America has this ideo of 'manifest destiny' - that they're god's chosen ppl blah blah blah - and it's interesting that NZ has nothing like that even though it too was basically colonized by missionaries and is a faily new nation... Turns out i didn't even know when NZ got independence! Embarrassing. And before the treaty of waitangi, it turns out.

Ah well, picked up stacks of book for same class so i can prepare for next week as its my turn to write a paper and lead the discussion. Help! Going away for weekend! When am i supposed to do that exactly? today?

Can't. Have 5 page paper due tomorrow - describing a toy with almost ridiculous detail for Material Culture. Kind of fun, in a weird masochistic kind of way, kind of like learning italian for fun at summer school when you don't even need the points for your degree. Woohoo.

So, in response to pressures of life... i bought sense and sensibility on dvd and its in the mail. and i booked a 1/2 hour massage at the health centre on friday. and i bid on season 1 dvds of lois and clark. mmm... superman is rather nice.

and today i'm going to be uberproductive and write whole paper, concise and brilliant, exposing the proffessor to my simmering genius, then look up this computer i'm looking at buying to check out prices and find out if the radio shack guy was yanking my chain. i wouldn't put it past him. so busy flirting he didn't load my cellphone right and i had to figure it out myself. good thing i am a genius. but he didn't know that. boys eh? maybe i shouldn't buy the computer on principle. but if it really is $400 cheaper then principles schminciples i'm afraid.

so, off to start on the conscientious plan. and make coffee. and pluck eyebrows. and too much information.

2005-09-07T17:54:00.000-06:00

try this instead
www.travelpost.com/travel/sunburntdaisy

grr. blurry compoopers.

photos on other page

2005-09-07T17:53:00.000-06:00

not much more to report since last post (sure i'll think of something but important things first) - my photos are on another page as i am technologically incompetent (sp?) so... www.travelpost.com/travel/sunburntdaisy/
should do the trick. if not comment and complain and i'll check the url. i could do it now but i have more important things to do. like deciding who to vote for, finding some lunch...

yay! photos successful! i speck good england. i have degree of england. wat duz dat saye aboot values of BAs?

my work is done [evil laff]

cowboy country

2005-09-04T03:19:00.000-06:00

have been inducted into american society, as terrifying as that thought is. yesterday i went to a football party, drank root beer (ick), ate chips and buffalo wings, and had the rules of american football explained several times between cheers for the wyoming cowboys. that's actually the name of this college's football team.

other american experiences - first visit to walmart, first dr. pepper (not bad - forrest gump has good taste), first box of milk duds, ate buffalo meat, um, thats all i can think of. anyway, have been living in the dorms for a week now and so far loving it. very... american. surprise surprise.

but having a great time, meeting screeds of new people. today was very cool. went to church thismorning with amanda (2 doors down on my floor) and they were talking about the vision of the church and all these opportunities there are to help out with things - definitely a good sign in a church and in my current cynical-about-churches-in-general phase its great that their vision is on the table the first week i'm there. and they're sending a team of ppl down to texas to help with all the displaced people after hurricane katrina. so i'm considering signing up for that - i mean after africa i'm well prepared for long road trips and poverty issues. anyway, not sure yet, but considering it. they don't go for 3 more weeks so plenty of time to decide. after church we had lunch with a whole bunch of other students then went off to play volleyball for the afternoon. so much fun. so thirsty tho. came back and bought ice lemon tea (same price as a pepsi! and so much better!) then showered and got myself decent (as much as ever) for dinner. then finished reading my text book (yay!) and then descended to the basement to do emails etc. and this. and read this old story i wrote. very sweet, vaguely cheesy romance.

and tomorrow is a holiday! yay. labour day. so good chance for sleeping and reading and more computer stuff (might even look at that novel i just downloaded onto my file - haven't touched it in months - probably forgotten main character's name - should be interesting) and plenty of movies and food... oh and the gym.

account of scotland is coming soon. probably. but not now. may ascend to my room and watch a movie with my roommate noelle. lovely, slightly vampirish (tho vegetarian) girl. she's a sweety really, just likes odd music (some of which is very cool, other stuff is just plain terrifying) and darkness - so when i open the shutters they're always shut when i get back. hehe.

anyway, tata

last days

2005-08-15T22:44:00.000-06:00

Hey! Less than a week left in Zambia. Has been an eventful two months. Full of some great adventures. The first three weeks I was traveling all over the country with a team of NZers. Since then I have spent a week at a boarding school teaching English classes during their last week of term. They were really short staffed and so it worked out great for them and for me. I stayed in the 6th form girls dorm room and learnt some Zambian music, dance and games. So much fun. The week ended with sports day and boy can they run fast. Some of these kids should be running for the Olympics. Unfortunately there are no athletic clubs for them to join and finding a job will be hard enough if they stay in Zambia – unlikely to have time to train, etc. It’s been a running pattern during my entire trip – everyone and everything has so much potential but at the same time few people expect anyone or anything to improve much.
After my week at Chengelo (the school) I stayed with Brad and Greer Sutton (NZers, recently immigrated to Zambia) in Kabwe. Greer and I did some unpacking and repacking, played with Zahara (2 ½) and Rozena (7 months), made food, ate food, read lots, visited the kiwis in Sam and Gabby’s house, spot of shopping… it was a great relaxing time – just what the doctor ordered.
Two weeks ago I headed north on a questionable bus, to Ndola. I’ve been staying at lifespring farm and working at Isubilo.
The farm is a lodge as well as a working farm – bananas, chickens, rabbits, donkeys, assorted veges, some maize and (the most exciting and frequent topic of conversation) Jatropha – and oil seed which has been successfully used to make a bio-diesel! They have a tractor that runs on normal diesel or jatropha-fuel. They’re in the process of getting funding from the government for expanding the project.
Isubilo (which is where I’ve been involved) is an orphan community care project – not an orphanage as all the kids live with extended family. But Isubilo provides day programs for the kids twice a week, food for the families, plus basic support for school fees, clothes, uniforms, shoes, hygiene products, etc. A truly amazing organization. You can look it up on google if you’re interested. Or just ask me for info. I’ll point you in the right direction. My job has been to write up the stories of some of the orphan kids to give to the supporting churches (all over the world). So I’ve written six stories with photographs, etc. It was great to get to know some of the kids, see their homes and meet their families. Today was my last day – finished up the stories, painted the fingernails of about a dozen girls, helped sort some of the clothing boxes that have been sent over.
A lot of what I’ve seen has been really discouraging but these past few weeks I’ve been privileged to see how people are being helped and lives are being changed. Isubilo also does support groups for HIV+ and Aids patients – with food (often helps more than the ARVs which are too strong for malnourished patients… so most of them), group meetings and activities. Our work in the storeroom this morning was accompanied by the drama group singing. And can they sing?!
Heading back to Kabwe tomorrow, then to Lusaka on Friday (with the cheese from Maplehurst farm). Fly out to Scotland on Sunday. Back to my roots. Way back.

isubilo this week

2005-08-08T19:32:00.000-06:00

staying at a gorgeous farm outside ndola this week. so nice. spending days at isubilo - a orphan and hiv community care project. i'm writing the stories of some of the children and taking their photographs and visiting their homes. it's eyeopening but so rewarding to see them and talk to them in their own environment. starting to see the kids as real ppl - it's hard to imagine, from my perspective, that ppl live like that all their lives and know no different. remarkable. on saturday some of the older girls are going to braid my hair so when i get to scotland and the US i'll look as african as i'll probably ever look (tan won't have faded hopefully- tho its hard to tell if it's a tan or just a layer of dust.

feel so dirty and thoroughly looking forward to a swim when we return to the farm. have posted photos at other site: www.travelpost.com/travel/sunburntdaisy.

will try and add more recent ones soon as those are all from the first week really.

Chengelo

2005-07-28T03:09:00.000-06:00

I am at Chengelo school in Mkushi province. Have survived 4 days almost. Only done 10 periods of teaching tho so not much. today was really very little but i am surprisingly tired. went to mkushi with delwyn and others thismorning to get our passports stamped. then bought shetenges at the markets and came back to school before lunch time. in the afternoon i supervised 2 classes watching macbeth - unfortunately the playboy version - so the dodgy version of my LEAST favourite shakespeare. gutted. the kids weren't too keen on it either.

went to 'round the world' club after school and hannah and i did new zealand - made anzac biscuits and pois and showed them pictures and even sang some maori songs and the national anthem. they were primary kids which was cool cuz i'v only been doing secondary classes and a bit of variety is always fun.

tomorrow is sports day and i'm give 4th place - not so thrilling - but apparently the athletics here are simply amazing. very fast runners or so the rumours say. so that should be impressive. and i think i have a ride to kabwe tomorrow night. lavinia - one of the 6th formers - lives there and her father picks her up tomorrow evening. will call brad and greer tomorrow and see if i could get picked up from lavinia's house... worth a shot.

last night of term effectively and not a lot happening. might go to bed soon as have to be at breakfast at 6.45am. fun. hopefully more options than toast and porridge as am so sick of white bread.

2005-07-11T10:34:00.000-06:00

in kabwe again. can't remember exactly when i last posted. after kamatipa. before kalalushi... i think. only 5 mins left on computer so must hurry. kalalushi was where we stayed three nights ago now. we went out to the middle of no where - even by african standards - to visit a mill. plan A was to stay the night there. fortunatly we'd already reverted to plan B before we arrived - that was to stay at Oliver and Emely's in Kalalushi. I don't even know the name of the place with the maize mill. but basically it's an economic disaster. and no one's quite sure what to do. plenty of ppl pour money into africa. doesn't seem to help much. probalby cause much of that money ends up in the pockets of ppl who need it like they need a bullet in the head. 25% of world vision money doesn't leave nz apparently. and at least that much again gets spent before it gets to the villages and families. could be rumours.

anyway, 2 minutes, enough rant.

back to oliver and emely's for nshima and feasting. then rather than the bed roll i'd been dreading we got to share beds. someone else was missin their bed but i was releived. have to go.

deep dark africa

2005-07-07T19:27:00.000-06:00

deep - because it is 40 minutes on a road that is impassable much of the year, after an hour of a road that is just plain dangerous and scattered with police check points and pot holes and truly insane drivers

dark - because there is no electricity

africa - because there can be no place quite like this. well, not this (being where i am now, an internet cafe in ndola) but where we were the night b4 last - kamatipa village. and tonight will be much the same - kalalushi village. My slightly odd waterbed at GLO Ndola is wonderful for base camp inbetween semi-sleepless nights on a bedroll on a dirt floor, shared with maize stores and probably rats and snakes, in a grass roof hut.

cannot quite believe ppl live their whole live like this. and many never see the ocean! so glad to have been born in nz. it is stunning. so much water. everything is so much more difficult here. dry and hot in day, cold at night. colder than anyone expects. roads are insane - almost as crazy as the drivers. overloaded trucks everywhere. saw two on side of road on way here thismorning - one had rolled down a bank - they were restacking it while the driver was cared for - sitting on the grass 10m away. other one had broken down. less damage fortunately. the rolled one was a sight.

long line for computers so must leave this short.

ndola

2005-07-04T20:07:00.000-06:00

Yesterday we came to Ndola. From Kabwe. So I haven't got to a computer for a few days and don't have nearly enough time to catch up all.

Saturday - Remainder of team arrived in early afternoon. We all loaded up in van and drove up to Kabwe - arriving after dark. Driving after dark in country is quite different experience - so many people walking down roadsides and you see fires everywhere - burning off scrub to prevent worse fires. There are also little stalls and huts on road sides and just a little way into the bush. Arrived at Maplehurst Farm - near kabwe - in early evening. It was great to see Brad and Greer again.They've moved here with their 2 children (a baby and a toddler). It was great to see familiar faces as most of this team know eachother from Levin - me and Bridget aside.

Sunday - went to Kabwe Gospel Chapel - where the Salisburys go. Everyone moves to the music - not a lot at this church - but kind of like i always do when i'm singing - just moving with the rhythm. It was a different week - in middle of a conference - so next sunday might be very different. After church went to Tuskers for lunch and had fabulous pizza. Then back to the farm and a couple came to tell us their story. they have a bible school in kabwe. they have 12 children - only 2 of their own. Amazing family!

Monday - Morning at farm, practise setting up tents, learnt to change tyre on vans, repacked and said goodbye to Suttons then on the road again. Restocked with snacks and clean water for few days stash then drove on to Kapiri Mposhi for lunch at a take aways - petrol station place. Little kids were begging for food and money as we came out - we'd just been eating and put our change back in our bags. This kid wants to sell us a stone to smooth our feet with - to assist his hunger. Ouch.

We all piled back in the van feeling awful despite our delicious lunch (thank god for ice tea) and drove on to Ndola - to GLO where we relaxed with some Zambians who live and work there. They cooked us a fantastic feast and i took a little of everything but (shocking cultural insesitivity alert) couldn't finish it. I've lost my apetite while i've had this coldy-fluey thing and i thought id be sick if i ate any more. They didn't mind but i won't be able to do that very often.Tried nshima and it's not bad. Couldn't eat much - very starchy. Also had 'rape' and an asortment of pretty western food - potato salad and cabbage, chicken, beef, mince. even cake for desert. so much for fasting.

Thismorning we had breakfast and did a mini bible study together, prayed for eachother, then Rebecca, one of the Zambian's who work at GLO, came and told us her story. Another amazing story. Sure to be one of many i hear in then next little while. We have just come into the town for lunch and then to some places visiting thisafternoon - including Isubilo where i may return to at the end of the tour.

So hungry - more later

goodmorning africa

2005-07-01T12:53:00.000-06:00

hello from africa! it's 20 past 6 and i can't sleep. plus i feel bad because if i do then i'll keep bridget awake with my stupid cold. I had garlic 'peri peri' sauce on my steak last night - hoped hot garlic would frighten away my bugs - to no avail as yet.

meanwhile, i've figured out the timezone thing... just. i'm (GMT+2) 10 hours behind nz (GMT+12) - 6:30am here = 4:30 pm there. So i'm saturday morning and they're saturday night. haha, more weekend left for me!

we're going up to kabwe thisafternoon. In the meantime i want to read and repack - ick, suitcases.

yesterday was amazing. john took bridget and i into lusaka - into the city. driving here is a free-for-all. it's truly insane. packed mini busses, blue taxis, utes with people loaded on the back, bicycles, learner drivers and four wheel drives all driving and honking as fast as they can, nudging up pretty close to other vehicles to suggest which direction they're going - rather than indicating. then everytime you stop (which is a lot - well it was yesterday as this is a holiday weekend - shall explain later) these young guys walk up to your car windows and try and sell you things - all sorts of things - tangerines and cell phone face plates, electronics, jewelery - all sorts - even towels and hand painted cards - john got five for 5000 kwacha - about US$1.

the public holidays on monday and tuesday are unity day and heroes day, respectively. unity day - for african unity, and heroes day for war and revolutionary heroes - i think that was what rodwell said anyway. he's one of the guys that works at the guest house we're staying at.

after john had done his erands in the city we went to the craft markets. at the car park there were these girls with baskets of bananas on their heads - perfectly balanced. and no small basket of bananas either. they're so thing but their necks must be extremely strong. the markets were cool. i got wooden giraffes for mum and a really cool pen holder - both of which i may have to lend to the suttons so i don't have to carry them around for 2 months. all the sellers point to their shops and promise a good price. john told us to half their price and barter - fun! got the giraffes for 50 000 kwacha - about NZ$15! in NZ you'd pay up to $200!

after the markets we went to the Zambian equivalent of CAA for John to get more log books (he's a pilot), but the man with the key was not there. hehe - apparently this is common.

then on to manda hill - a mall. you could forget you were in africa - well, perhaps if 9 of 10 shoppers and staff weren't black. until this point we'd probably seen 2 other white people. but there were quite a few at the mall. we couldn't get money out as the lines were long and the machines kept braking so, running up a bill with john, we went to subway for lunch. that's right. in zambia yesterday we went to subway for lunch. hehe. then to game - like farmers. but no bedrolls. then to shoprite - a supermarket - and got sunblock, mossie repellent, shampoo, conditioner, soap... cost 210 000 kwacha. lunch was 18 000 k. hehe.

john locked his keyes in the car so we then spent an hour and a half trying to break in. in the end one of the security guards broke in - in all of 15 seconds. very sussed. he 'found' a perfect piece of wire in the bushes. unfortunately it was too late for john's egg beater. turns out they don't sell wire coat hangers anymore.

got home exhausted and had steak and chips for dinner - chips with vinegar - new favourite thing! then we watched tom and huck - hehe, Johnathan Taylor Thomas. He was like a pin up boy when i was ten. couldn't keep our eyes open and went to bedfordshire.

kakite aotearoa!

2005-06-28T16:08:00.000-06:00

bye new zealand!
see you next year!

leaving in half an hour to get my bag vacuumpacked and then i'm going to africa baby!
yeah, baby yeah. good missionary speak eh?

hehe, can't believe it. i'm going to zambia today! yay.

better let hannah study.
am off (not past used by date but leaving... teehee, everythings funny at the mo!)

bye!

1 week to go!!!

2005-06-20T18:51:00.000-06:00

Okay, i have to calm down. But i go in one week tomorrow! So effectively one week! Eeek!

Breathe Amy

I'm going to auckland tomorrow - for the day - which i thought was only something business people did and even then only cause their business was paying for it (isn't business a funny word - busi - ness: like busyness, or buzzyness, like buzy little bees in business class flying to auckland for the day!)

anyway, to auckland for the day to get my student visa - that's what i meant to say. very expensive visa but as long as i get it then it's not a total waste cuz i also get to see my grandparents and a few friends. my lovely friend cam is picking me up from the airport AND taking me to the meeting (even in auckland mid-morning traffic) so yay! for cam. then back to grandma and grandpa's as they're taking us to lunch. yay! for grandma and grandpa. then i'll spend the afternoon at my grandparents probably watching the antiques roadshow on sky or something - or doing those magic squares in the newspaper! fun. i have an illness, i know. but I think they're fun. Anyway, Jo Osbourne is taking me out to din dins somewhere or other and Joe (another person entirely - silly name i think) reckons we're catching up after his soccer practise before my flight leaves at 9:20pm. It'd be nice, but we'll see. He has a book that i leant him, that he read, but i don't think he liked it. It's a christian book called "The Sacred Romance" that i'd reccommend to anyone. Talks about lots of things but mainly how God loves our hearts and wants to win them to love him but he won't force us - how he doesn't want us to role play and play a 'religious part' in front of him, but rather to be real and honest because God is not going to get offended or anything.

Joe didn't say much about it - which could be good or bad - it's hard to tell with guys. Or some guys anyway. Cam's a little less cryptic. Thank you cam!

So that's my day trip to auckland-plan of attack. Oh, have to print of rates for work - as you can tell, i'm working hard.

Tata

mixed drinks

2005-06-16T00:57:00.000-06:00

okay, so 2 glasses of wine should not make me dizzy. either i'm really quite intolerant or else white and red (not at the same time, but one after the other) is a bad idea.

anyhoo - just finished my degree!
printed my final assignment while this page was opening. it hasn't hit me yet. but i will have no assessment whatsoever for the next 3 months. wait for it.

no. still hasn't hit me. maybe when these final pages slip through that little hole in the wall on the third floor of the english building tomorrow. sigh.

did my celebration shopping today tho. and without breaking the bank. 2 singlets and a shirt later (oh, crap, forgot the coffee and slice... yep that's all). so pathetic excuse for a shopping spree but appropriate considering saving for africa.

i should be celebrating. but as soon as the room stops spinning (concerning wine - but yay for gifts from work... it was a hard price i paid for it... you know, $16 bucks an hour to write my essays and answer the phone for the past 3 months. it's a hard life) i will staple this assignment together and get myself a yoghurt for desert - and that fruit i took to work for lunch that i didnt' eat - there was a very appealing hot dog sitting in the warmer, despite the fact that it was in the warmer. when i feel ready to try the stairs i'll consider doing some painting. should probably check my diary and make sure i'm not meant to be anywhere.

ooh, stapler is on this desk. yay don't have to get up!

too bad, yoghurt will be nice. will get up after all.

sneazles and weazles

2005-06-14T00:42:00.000-06:00

almost lost my sniffle. it's three weeks old but less lovable and probably less annoying than a three week old baby. in fact i've been sleeping much better than most 3-week-old parents. keep having really vivid dreams. which is weird for me. i never dream. but i do now! and i luf it. it's like watching an art film without being disappointed at the really odd ending

anyway, nice useful day. i did lots of essay without being a hermit like i have for the last 2 weeks. had coffee with Janine and made little slips of paper with my contact details during my travels to give to ppl who want them (and probably bestow on several poor souls who don't need any more paper to recycle). got paid all afternoon and did essay at the same time. considered joining aclu. but am not american and it may be an issue. but yay for civil liberties!

yay going to mr and mrs smith tonight! is it odd that civil liberties and a film get the same yay! if it helps i meant it with much more passion the first time. doesn't help? oh well.

ooh, i love this ep of friends. rachel and joey are great. grr ross. ah, talking about tv characters as if they're your in your aquaintance. and i do it more than i'd like to admit. but i think i just did.

doop de do. should go and let ian use the computer. i have been at one all day after all. yay for half price movie night tonight. yay for rugby players names that start with "lom". hehe. i picked the allblacks team for an air new zealand competition. it'd be riotous if i won considering my process of elimination:

if i've heard of you i read about you. if you sound good i put you in. if i have gaps i go back and fina a [enter empty position here] that looks good and has good bio.

i'm a disappointment to nz rugby fans. but i'm over it
i was going wasn't i?
bye

slack blogger is leaving you

2005-06-04T16:59:00.000-06:00

In 3 weeks and 3 days I will be heading off to Zambia with Bright Hope International (www.brighthope.org). I will be travelling with a team for the first few weeks and then probably returning to one or two of the ministries we visited for a slightly longer stay. Possilby Isubilo Community Centre (http://www.isubilo.org/). Isubilo means Hope in the local Bemba language - how cool is that!

My reason for going is to get a better idea what it would be like if I were to be involved there for a longer period - like, in a few years. Working with children orphaned by aids has been something that has stirred me up for years and this trip will hopefully give me a more specific idea about how I’d like to be involved in the future. Cause i really have no idea what it would be like.

I will be leaving Zambia in late August and making my way to the university of Wyoming (http://www.uwyo.edu/) where I hope to be completing the first semester of my honours year in an exchange through the university of Canterbury. I complete my BA in English and American studies in a couple of weeks and will hopefully finish honours June 2006. (I then intend to do a teaching diploma and teach for a couple of years. If I decide to return to Zambia for a longer term then this is most likely when I look to go. At this point it's all speculation though - a little too far away to know.)

It's all exciting and terrifying but I've been busy with assessments and hardly get a chance to let it sink in. Last time i went overseas was a family holiday to oz and before that was when we moved to Hong Kong when i was 12. This is a whole nother kettle of fish. and that is a very weird saying.

I should go get on with my study now that i've made my vain attempt at keeping this up to date.

Brr, cold day. Hot drink. then study.
Adios

everything is finishing

2005-05-03T00:52:00.000-06:00

i will list the things that will end soon

university
yroc (for me)
both novels i've been working on
working at airways - for the moment anyway
unjustified amount of affection for certain ex.
curly hair style
frivolous use of my money
frivolous use of my time
eight years of no injections (blood tests aside)
longest airplane flight of 11 hours
longest time away from home 2 1/2 months
hotest temperature i've been in as 35 C.

i'm sure i could come up with more but we'll leave it there. for your sake and mine. but i will explain most of those. and leave out the only one that causes burning questions. i finish my degree in 6 weeks. i leave for africa in 2 months and will no longer be running youth group when i return. andrea and i have almost finished our novel and my own needs just one more edit. i won't be able to work at airways while in zambia (would need big travel allowance and i just don't like my job quite that much. my perm is wearing off (and my sister bought me a straightener for my bday). i can't afford to buy real coffee out cuz i'm saving for africa. clothes, shoes, presents, etc. also in that category. don't have time to do much more than uni, yroc and work without completely ignoring my friends and my health. havn't had immunisations since form1 but will have dozens before i leave. only long airplane flight was to hong kong - 11 hrs long. longest i've been away from home was totara springs last summer for 2 1/2 months. will be in africa for 3. hotest temp i've been in was in hong kong and africa might do something crazy - crazy by my definition anyway. i'll survive as long as it's not high humidity. then i'll die

the difference an hour makes

2005-03-19T14:40:00.000-07:00

this end of daylight savings is just fine by me. john would argue it for an hour because he wants light evenings. but he's a lone ranger on this one. an extra hour of sleep is such a beautiful thing. especially when you don't get a start on it till the small hours. so much for wisdom coming with age. the older i get the more stupid and shortsighted i become, methinks. i've been manically tired lately and so what do i do? find plenty of evening activities to keep me from early nights. or i just watch tv. which is rather good on friday nights i must add. almost rolled off the couch a couple of weeks ago watching 8 simple rules.

anyway... major events since the last time i did this. that's quite a long time. well over 2 months. that's a slacker-record, even for me. since january 12:

finished summer school February 10. passed everything and that's what matters. will inevitably forget most of it.

went to auckland for holiday February 10. after final exam in morning. picked up by Jo after small game of cell-phone tag in airport - not as fun when carrying heavy suitcase. she looked after me for a few days. even took me to Totara Springs on Saturday - after minor shopping detour to the Otara Markets - now my favourite market in the world. and i've lived in Hong Kong. The Springs were wonderful. Senior grotto quite empty - good thing i jumped from bridge not cliff. got out pretty quick as boys were rebuilding dam to combat shallow water problem. but boys throwing concrete blocks around isn't so appealing so went back up to camp and debated destiny church for half an hour. served dinner. ate dinner. fled. listened to more barenakedladies (legends that they are) with Jo all the way back to auckland. she knows more of the lyrics than i do. it's a sickness.
Jo's church - what are the chances? - is an offshoot of my old church. so that was delighfully de-ja-vu-ish... familiar faces - well, about five of them.
went to the Phyns that night - we lived next door to them for about 8 years - from when i was 2. lots of fun catching up and watching vids and hanging with louise and her buddies for anti-valentines day celebration. it has to be done. (on that note, don't know why last posting is called what it's called but i can guess)
enjoyed many long sleepy days. caught up with anna and went to borders in town to peruse books and, lets be honest, for coffee. it's the driving force behind my entire existance. no it's not. really. not.

lunch with cam on wednesday. went to 'star sign cafe' where all the staff are deaf. very cool. have to point to what you want on menu. or sign if you can. i can't. couldn't even remember 'thankyou'.
went to hill's that evening. her bible study group was that night so met up with a whole bunch of her mates, half of which i've met before and forgotten names.
thursday went for breakfast at newmarket with ayley's lovely scottish brother. did a quick dash around the museam before giving him very bad directions (sorry jaime) to bus stops and going for lunch with grandparents at st lukes. they go every thursday. at 12noon. exactly.
spent afternoon with them. had long sleep in spare room then back to hill's for dinner and lazy night in. friday i got a full body massage at this sports clinic place on dominion road. [groaning with pleasure]

excuse me.

then i accidentally found myself in a secondhand book shop. and accidentally walked out with half a dozen books. mooched around at hill's for afternoon. watched sense and sensibility. again. and emma thompson's oscar speech is on the dvd extra features. classic. she's a legend she is.

friday night did mission bay with hillary and co. and joe (as in joe martin, recently departed christchurch for his true home) came too (tho got a little lost on the way). did drinks then icecreams then beach-walking. joe scadatteled (is that a word? really?) and the rest of us had chai tea (ponsy as it comes) at one of hill's mate's houses. then home to bedfordshire. or back to hill's to sofa to be precise.

saturday was shopping and then lunch with cousin margaret (all the way in te atatu. it's a really long way). saturday night was symphony under the stars with joe and his flatties - joseph and the ladies... much chocolate and lollies and classical music and back massages (using light sticks in creative ways) and laser light shows and don't forget the fireworks and canons. best i've ever seen to be honest. could hardly hear the 1812 overture for the banging.

sunday went to church with phyns. lutherin is quite different. enjoyed it and had big lunch afterward cause they have a new pastor. must have slept most of the afternoon as don't remember much. read two marion keyes books. involves the same amount of intellect. also watched ghost and strictly ballroom at some point. three men and a baby was my movie for monday but missed the end as had to go to airport.

oh, and finally had wendy's hamburgers on monday afternoon with catherine phyn (who i hadn't seen in eons. that was cool)

flew back to chch, in new clothes of course. i have a compulsion. must wear new clothes as soon as they're paid for.

started lectures the next day (tuesday). was supposed to start monday but it's my last semester... excuses excuses, what a rebel.

have been doing uni and yroc (youth group) and working for kate eversince - well until last week. left job at kate's and now work for Airways. i do 'wellington flow'. i'm the horrible person who delays flights into wellington. but i have good reason. trust me. i know, that's what they all say. don't hate me. i'm nice really. and they pay me really well. it's not like i've sold my soul to the devil. just... sort of

it's better to be delayed on the ground the circling in a hold above wellington (badly designed airport), attempting dodgy landings on a runway inbetween two hills when the cloud is below circling (kind of hard to explain term - but not a good thing)

okay, now i sound defensive. o man.

new topic. navs. yay after two years of going most of the time i finally feel a part of things. not sure what changed. but yay! and cam's 21st was last night. happy birthday cam. (different cam from 'star sign cafe' in auckland) anyway. navs camp was great! did a talk and didn't completely botch it and discussion afterward was pretty cool - lots of ppl bringing up lots of different things.

cleaning up was the only beast. you'd think i'd be immune to camp cleaning but it was hot and i was tired. my attitude was truly sucky. not my finest hour. for me or the mop.

wish i'd stayed in bed for my extra hour of sleep. need to leave soon if i don't want to be late for church. and need coffee before i go. really, need it. wish i didn't. but there are worse things i could be addicted to.

blah. should get lots of sleep this week in preparation for eastercamp. or else i'll die

friends rule, boys drool

2005-01-11T17:28:00.000-07:00

ho hum. sitting at work beside fanatical solitaire player and postphoning doing my italian homework, colour-ordinating my skittles and sipping luke warm coffee hoping it kicks my head ache. might need another cup.

if all else fails at least i have fantastic music. my oldest bestest friend made me up a cd. don't worry, be happy. i get knocked down but i get up again. i'm no superman (the theme from 'scrubs'! fancy that) and at some point, girls just wanna have fun.

ooh, so sleepy. thinking about that second cup of coffee, but 2 in half an hour is not a good habit to get into in the first hour of my shift.

hehe, my fanatical solitaire-playing friend has downloaded a tomandjerry screensaver. yay for silliness! the hellokitty one kinda sucked though. and the words in french at the end went away too fast... actually, considering my french i probalby never would have figured it out.

i gave into the temptation of caffiene. i'm feeling very silly, half a packet of skittles and coffee later... probably won't help much with my italian study, but my solitare-playing friend is entertained.

mommamia let me go! sorry bohemian rhapsody moment.

woohoo, won the solitaire race! this is such a cruisy job. right... back to work. well, italian study. close enough

cosi cosi

2004-12-13T18:57:00.000-07:00

cosi cosi is italian for sort of. like is someone askes you 'come stai?' (how are you?) and you say 'cosi cosi' it's like saying things are okay, not flash, not completely repugnant. summer school is so useful. well, if i were going to italy to teach classical tragedy in english it might be. and i guess, as i will finish a double degree in 2 1/2 years it is useful even with my current plans to stay in nz and postpone teachers college to 2006.

yawn. work is slow. i haven't written in here for absolutely months. partly because so much has been happening. i have discovered that if i believed in luck i would have very bad luck. but i don't so me explanation for things in the whole heart arena absolutely sucking kumara (not my saying but i thought it fit rather well) is that someone upstairs is trying to teach me something important and i have to be completely hopeless in order to learn it.

i always thought romantic heroines had it so good - they're always loved so desperately and even though their stories have some very dark despair-filled moments (or years, sometimes lifetimes) they always get the comfort of having a true love - even if they can't see them, talk to them, effectively love them... blah blah blah. turns out this is very cold comfort. perhaps i'm in the middle of a very novel-like romance - in the unsure bit in the middle when you just can't tell if the endings going to be happy or sad. if i knew it were to be a happy ending it would be much more bearable.

my conclusion is this: unrequited love is only good in literature

a message from a slack blogger

2004-11-08T21:31:00.000-07:00

two months since my last blog!

sheesh. well, much has happened. but SO can't be bothered rehashing, despite dramatic nature of it all.

today, have been lady of leisure. but useful too! worked on long running novel co-written with a friend. also fine wined and dined. or student flatters version of fine wining and dining:

salad - lettuce, avocado, tomato and yummy dressing
pasta and chicken with tomato and red wine sauce
half a glass of merlot
gilmore girls (don't worry, i didn't eat them, just consumed the goodness of it all)

so long-dormant novel is moving again! very good and hopeful and exciting!

meanwhile own lovelife is confusing and exhausting and not worth my time or energy - although the subject of it unfortunately is very lovable so i still think he's worth my time and energy... grr. if love were a choice who would choose such exquisite pain? - smart movie writer of script 'based' on entirely different story.

but novel is back on track. and my other one that i'm writing on my own is still being tapped away at.

can make more christmas cards and read 'mean are clams, women are crowbars' and work on solo novel tonight. first must do housework before mum goes nuts.

will have sore muscles tomorrow

2004-10-14T03:49:00.000-06:00

ooh, already do. ouch. strained back playing touch yesterday night. good game (asthma and being un-fit aside) but unfortunate stretching pain in shoulder and neck eversince.

but i'm tough

so, after BIG FINALE day at uni... including 60% assignment and mean test i was totally unprepared for... worked, got promise of getting paid on time for a change (we'll see). then i came home, made dinner during 'everybody loves raymond' (including me!), worked on novel (as previously cited), ate dinner, did housework, put washing on, went for run, got to end of drive and batteries died in discman, ran home, new batteries (hallelujah!), went for actual run (found am not as unfit as feared - v. good news!), got home and tried to remember pilates from dvd while watching mcleod's daughters (wedding next week!)... it only took me ten minutes but im pretty sure i did all the exercises - even the mean ones. and that funny seal thing - cracks me up everytime (in more ways than one come to think of it). anyway, where was i up to? right, watched the rest of mcleod's then judy came home with real apple cider - had a glass in the bath, exfoliated, washed hair, got the extra bits of nailpolish off from around my nails, did a fancy avocado face mask... mmm... smooth skin everywhere...

then my sister called from work needing a lift.

feel all fresh but very tired. have work from 8 till 5 probably tomorrow and am planning on running on beach after that, but before ball at 8pm. and if i have time i'll have dinner at andrea's house party in between.

i love life. there's so much of it. often not enuf time for all of it. but feel youthful and energetic and productive, and the prospect of earning over $80 a day for a month is particularly good for my mood...

shall write more novel and go to bed. yippee!

(should drink less coffee while i'm on this health blitz perhaps...)

first installment of brilliant novel in progress

2004-10-07T22:03:00.000-06:00

October

It could go either way. That time of day where all is good in the world if you are going home to a warm, busily distracted household. The time of day that is good if you are going home. Even if no one is waiting for you. The time of day that is almost unbearable if everyone is going home, except you, and whatever you are doing, no matter how important is suddenly irrelevant. Only you know it won’t be tomorrow when I’m hunting down this train of thought only to find it never really existed in the first place. And now I’ve lost it again.

Everyone was going home. This last room in the school with its lights on was still busy. But even these tired teachers were looking forward to joining the traffic homeward. They all knew that feeling. Shutting the driver’s side door and suddenly they’d left work, though outside the car, struggling with a satchel of student’s workbooks, they had a long way to go home. But now, inside the car, home was where they got out of the car and whatever happened between now and then was the same insignificant journey as yesterday, regardless of what the radio station played. This period of time, at the mercy of traffic lights, was like foreign currency – it couldn’t be spent anywhere else and so was loosely spent.
Almost there. Ticking off a mental list of things to do before you leave on Friday night. Things you don’t want to do over the weekend. Then mentally rearranging your weekend plans to accommodate the things you don’t want to do tonight.
“You off?” Mark turned his chair to her desk as she stood.
“Yeah. Jane said she’d call and if I’m not there she’ll never let me forget it.” Catherine swung a bulging satchel over one shoulder, picking up a stack of books that wouldn’t fit in it with the other hand.
“And yet you never call her up on the countless times she lets you wait by the phone all night.” It wasn’t a question. “Come on, stick around, it’s Friday, you know, we all pretend to go out for a quiet drink but us poor teachers can’t afford dinner as well, so we get horribly drunk and hope we’ll be able to walk away from our humiliation like intelligent people who get drunk with strangers,”
“Good night Mark,” she’d heard this speech before. She pushed a stray dark wave of her shoulder-length hair behind her ear, waiting for him to finish.
“And then we have to pretend we have normal, respectable relationships with our fellow teachers and be a good example to our impressionable students.”
“When really it’s the students who corrupt us.” She finished his rant for him. “Goodnight.” She yelled back from the hallway.
“Nice try.” Matt swung his chair around, “What do you reckon?” he held out a paper dart.
“What? Some kid throw it at you?”
“No, I’m perfecting the design. Well, I’m trying to improve the curriculum but I decided to work with my talents.”
“Paper darts?”
“Yes. Aeronautics was my favourite subject at college.”
“And you became a teacher?”
“Oh, Mark.” Catherine poked her head back into the lounge; “You should write that speech down, laminate it and just point to it in future. You’d save us all a lot of time.”
“I wouldn’t want to deprive you of the lyrical sound of my voice.” He smiled, spinning his chair to face her but she was gone again.
“So I figured I would teach a subject that included aeronautics. Turns out social studies doesn’t.” Matt was still talking.
This would be more interesting if I were drunk, Mark thought, turning back to the stack of exercise books and a grim red pen. Only 1…2… 3… no, don’t count how many books, this is depressing enough. Why is it easier to mark thirty identical descriptions of the causes of world war two when Catherine sits three desks away laughing at misquotations of Shakespeare? She leaves and all of a sudden I’m questioning my choice of career. Or maybe just why I didn’t find a desk further away from Matt. But that would mean being further away from Catherine. This is ridiculous; he threw his red pen down emphatically.
“I never knew you felt so strongly about joining the science and social studies curriculums.” Matt sat upright.
“Yeah? Well it doesn’t come up in conversation very often.” Mark stood, stacking his books into a neat pile he hoped he could carry to the car before they insisted on becoming a no-longer-neat-pile.
“You getting an early start at Jerry’s?” Matt watched him.
“Ah, no. I think I’ll just take this home and have a quiet night in.” he hoisted the books onto one hip, carefully crouching to pick up his backpack without losing the books.
“Oh. Right. But isn’t it Friday night? You know… Quiet drink. No money. Horribly drunk. Humiliation. Strangers. Relationships. Students. Bad example.”
“Next week.” Mark grabbed his keys off his desk with his little finger, desperate to escape. Maybe Catherine was right about the speech.
“Catherine didn’t get off that easy.” Matt noted.
Oh no. Not this again. Was he really that transparent?
Probably. But if he got defensive and denied his interest then he might as well just carve their initials into a staff toilet door. Matt wasn’t exactly the epitome of intelligence, but he had a knack for picking up any non-platonic vibes in a hundred-mile-radius. All those day-time-soaps he caught in the cafeteria between aeronautics lectures paid off.

very long time no rant. sorry andrea.

2004-10-07T22:02:00.000-06:00

have nothing to see
but i'll come up with something
just got enrolement handbook for next year. which is very exciting even though i already know what i'm taking and there's not a lot of room for me to change my mind within course requirements...

am taking:
amst 215: american images and frames of reference
amst 310: american film genres
engl 309: victorian poetry and prose

exciting!

have been very bad with money and am tempted to list my crimes but doing so would only make me feel guilty and use all the elctrons it takes to type for no particular purpose.

am happy. and excited. not just about summer school (and possibly going to italy after learning italian!) but also about beaches and breakfasts out and buddies and brilliant novel (mine... in progress, i have a healthy ego... i'm the only one who's not convinced) and ahead on reading for summer school AND next semester. am good.

must go make instant coffee but because i've been so shockingly slack i'll post some other writing of mine - installment one of... novel in progress. i realise this may be counterproductive and destroy your good opinion of my opinion of myself... confused? hehe, my evil plan is succeeding. mwa ha ha!

long time no rant...

2004-09-10T14:45:00.000-06:00

mmm, love fridays. no where to be. lots to do but nothing urgent.

sigh.

i have written notes for one minor assessment and watched several episodes of ER. oh, and i did pilates.

next: hang out washing, do housework, clear dishwasher, type up assessment, email lecturer, maybe some writing for leisure...

hehe, listening to veggie tales - larry the cucumber sings about confronting one of his worst fears:
if my lips ever left mouth, packed their bags and headed south... that'd be too bad, i'd be so sad
if my lips said adios! i don't like you, i think you're gross... that'd be too bad, i might get mad
if my lips said toodiloos, left a mess and took my tooth... that'd be too bad, i'd call my dad

laughing aggravates my asthma.

when i was just 2 years old i left my lips out in the cold and they turned blue. what could i do?
on the day i got my tooth i had to kiss my great aunt ruth. she had a beard. and it felt weird.
ten days after i turned eight i got my lip stuck in a gate. my friends all laughed. and i just stood their until the fire department came and broke the lock with the crow bar and i had to spend the next six weeks in lip rehab with a kid named oscar who got stung by a bee right on the lip and we couldn't even talk to eachother until the fifth week cuz both of our lips were so swollen and when he did start speaking he only spoke polish and i only know like three words in polish. except know i know four because oscar taught me the word for lip - oosta!
summary: my lips turned blue what could i do? she had a beard and it felt weird. my friends all laughed... oosta!

this has been silly songs with larry.
tune in next time to hear larry say:

have i ever told you how i feel about my nose?

not bored at work

2004-09-01T17:28:00.000-06:00

seven minutes to go. I've checked both of my email addresses and fanfiction.net for updates... figured I may as well have something other than an empty coffee mug and a full bladder to show for my last seven... six minutes.

finish early today - 4.30. and the sun is shining and it is a beautiful first day of glorious spring. and i haven't wasted all day like i did yesterday. I have only wasted a little bit... reading and writing fanfiction. But on the side I did write my talk for yroc tonight and make up the small group discussion questions and read a chapter or two of Northanger Abbey.

feel very productive. and relieved to have one talke prepared and almost out of the way... ooh, phone.

three minutes to go. but really must go... in other ways.

bored at work

2004-08-31T17:34:00.000-06:00

Okay, so it's a poor excuse for work. Basically I sit in a swivel chair and answer the phone, "Goodmorning/afternoon Airways New Zealand. Amy speaking." Feel like a robot. But they pay me over $12 an hour so call me robot.

And the unlimited coffee is appreciated.

And the internet access.

And the online phone list, touch tone phone, ergonoically designed computer/workspace...

It's a good life. Just boring.

Shall get a hot chocoloate.

~~~

Excellent. All set. So anyway, I spent most of the day looking for job vacancies in Europe and the UK. Just on the offchance Dad does get this job in Amsterdam... I'm thinking I'll never get a job in the Netherlands, you know, speaking no dutch and all, but England is just a trot across the North Sea, by my brilliant geographical knowledge, and probably cheaper to get to than a bus from Rotterdam. Though there is a cool song about Rotterdam or anywhere, liverpool or Rome. I could get a job in liverpool or Rome! I may have emailed liverpool, not sure. Sent heaps of emails about jobs advertised for youth workers in the UK. It's the only substantial work experience I have: three years as a youth leader. Rome on the otherhand... would be idyllic. But my Italian is as refined as my Dutch. Although, while i have no desire to learn Dutch I would love to learn Italian... talk about sexy.

There is a digger outside. Keeps freakin me out. Like some machines-taking-over-the-world disaster movie. AAaaaaaah! Run for your lives! Save yourself! It's coming to get me. After it's finished with the topsoil...

I have an hour to kill... grr. Or maybe I'll walk home, then I can leave early - don't have to wait for Dad to finish so I can get a ride... except I didn't bring a jacket because when i left home thismorning it was a beautiful sunny 'hellow it's spring tomorrow' kind of day. Now, however, grumble, winter is digging it's fingernails in. Bollocks to winter I say. I am over you. Go away. Go north. Haunt the other atmosphere. Scorn us no more. Almost a shakespearean rant at the weather.

27 minutes till I'm free.

And my hot choc is half gone. So is my moro bar. But I do have some werther's originals toffees. Ooh!

the rest of what i wrote in hanmer...

2004-08-30T20:10:00.000-06:00

This place is getting busy. I would go for a walk and find the youth group... except people keep walking in the door behind me and it's cold out there.

Hanmer is another bollocky tourist place aimed at couples. Not singles or invalids like me. But I'm too tired and asthmatic to care. It's remarkable what doesn't bother one when one cannot breathe.

Okay. I can at least do something vaguely useful. My dialogue assignment. Characters... um... two good friends. Flatmates. I think they bet on something and one wants the other to pay up. Ooh! Me and Andrea bet on whether someone proposes in Paris. She gets me a KG of choc of my choice (so dark dark baby, dark) if he does. I get her the same - but her choice - so probably blackforrest - if he doesn't. That's it. But... the bet in fiction is serious for one and not the other. Or... misunderstood terms - one thinks it's if she does/not get engaged. Then he proposes and she turns him down, so wins the bet, then changes her mind when they get back home and they do get engaged... but not in Paris.

maybe.

Blah. Can't. Be. Bothered. Don't want dinner yet. But I'm sick of sitting on my lonesome.

I could bravely got and find them. Bound to be entertaining even if cold. That's something the occupants of this cafe ARE NOT. Very mundane to eavesdrop on. Or watch. Except the middle age couple outside who I think were glaring at me before. They must want an inside table. Fair enough. It's cold out there. But no snow. Toughen up folks. Plus... there's free tables. Maybe they're grumpy cause there food it taking a long time.

Hey, I see Alice and her mate. Maybe they're getting out. Na. I doubt it.

Ew. Grown man in speedos. So wrong.

I will go bathroom. Touch up make up. Blow nose. Then find clowns.

Enough sitting on my ass.

Then Laura came along and they all were getting out so I did get off my ass. But my make up remained icky and I went to the car and ate chips then slept all the way back to good ol Christchurch. Love warm house with warm fire and tonight we have lemon pudding! My favourite! Hallelujah!

2004-08-30T00:24:00.000-06:00

Hanmer, from the road to the ski fields, looking back...

What I Wrote in a Cafe at Hanmer Snow Day

2004-08-28T17:02:00.000-06:00

I can't decide id it's snowing anymore. Perhaps it's 'rain falling as snow' like the forcaster said. Or else it's just boring old sleet. Whatever it is it's cold and wet and I'm glad to be inside and dry. Everyone else is in the pools, roasting nicely with snow falling on their shoulders. But I, armed with bronchitis and MnMs, am sitting in the cafe. I finished my book: "The Secret Garden". Now I'm watching whateverthehellisfallingfromthesky - wait! It is snow! It's white on the waitresses black tshirt. I'm tired. I want to go home and sleep by the fire. Maybe I shouldn't have bothered coming today. I played in the snow for a bit then sat in the car cause I got tired and asthmatic. I need to pace myself but meanwhile I have hardly spoken to any of the youth because there's not enough room in the van so John and I went with Shannon and Lyndelle in their car. Silliness, I tell you.

I just wish my head wasn't quite so heavy, my nose wasn't quite so snuffly, my MnMs running so low, my hair so tangled from that snow fight... though I did kick some ass.

Only 4 Oclock. Atleast an hour to kill. Blah blah blah... panther. cactus. traffic light ice blocks. red lips. 'you don't see that colour much in the afternoon. Except on working girls'. Cancer. Dan. Marie. Sad but beautiful love stories. Don't know what to cut from my script. Too long. Will give script to Stuart Hoar. Don't want to seem to eager. Haven't started dialogue assignment so might have nothing to worry about. Hope I know the next song the cafe plays. Songs seem very random but lots of NZ. Not as annoying as usual in light of olympic successes. Lots of steam coming off pools. John's hands were steaming when he was eating snow in the car. Last MnM.

Good thing there's free tables or else I might feel obliged to buy something more to stay. I often feel more obliged than I should I think.

Yay! I know the song on the radio. It's Persuasion. Probably a Finn brother. Tim. Or Neil. Grandad used to drive them to school. He he. Yay for Te Awamutu College. Yay for country roots. But I still prefer the city.

evil little bacteria

2004-08-27T10:27:00.000-06:00

it's all their fault. though they have given me a fabulous excuse to do nothing all week. which is a fine idea during a holiday. but i would have much preferred to keep my health and do all of the fudging around i did this week as well as a few sessions of pilates (cause my sister got the dvds and i have a feeling watching her do them doesn't benefit me a whole lot) and a little more socializing and a lot less sleeping and griping at my brother. he's been home sick too. i think it's a psychosematic reaction to me getting sick - he has to compete for attention... so when we're both healthy i will conduct an experiment - i'll fake sick and see if he follows suit. i'm so mean. but i'm suspicious. and annoyed at having to babysit him all week and take all the rubbish he throws at you when he asks for help with something and he doesn't like the way you're helping him.

okay, rant is done.
yay for New Zealand winning medals! The somethingorother rowing twins, and the cyclist who advertises macdonalds, and then last night we got gold and silver for the men's triathalon! yay indeed!

to be honest i've hardly watched it at all. i did start watching mcleod's daughters again though. and, shock horror, tess and nick still haven't got together. it's so mundane. but i'm hooked. and i'm easy.

i like weird al yankovich. mainly cause he has no concern for political correctness. politicians could learn a lot from him. in fact everyone could. he's singing about 'white honky's with a real small booty'. so gloriously wrong.

breathing is overrated

2004-08-23T20:37:00.000-06:00

only half an hour till i can finally go to the doctor. haven't been able to breath for about twelve hours and i'm quite disgruntled. it's like a chest infection... except i was fine this time yesterday and it came on really fast last night... grrr

i'm on holiday so at least im not missing anything... EXCEPT MY HOLIDAYS.

ick. feel gross. although, listening to a playlist made up entirely of frank sinatra and guns n roses is quite amusing and laughter is the best medicine. i'm downloading forest gump soundrack songs too... so that'll fit in quite nicely. i'm gonna have the 'feather theme' which i'm sure has a very good and profound name but 'feather theme' does it for me. and weird al yankovic's forest gump somethingorother... we'll see. bound to be amusing.

bollocks. can not breath. much. properly. comfortably. without pain. or airconditioner noises. bollocks i tell you.

shall go watch ER and make myself feel fortunate i have all my limbs and no brain tumour. life really sucks on tv sometimes.

2004-08-22T15:43:00.000-06:00

man with braintumour. see? it could always be worse.

friendly friday, insipid saturday

2004-08-21T23:00:00.000-06:00

yesterday i was a socialite. today i was asleep. i got up at quarter to eleven (i rarely sleep in so this is impressive) and i haven't stopped yawning since. got lunch (aka breakfast) at KBs bakery en route to Moniques to watch ER. Took off to dance rehersal at 2:30... show at 4... total nonevent except for adorable children in cast and some rather talented young samoan guys. no complaints there. oh, and a really good jazz band from my old school. elitist burnside musicians but good music. dropped leah and a cpuple of the youth at Joe's to watch our rowers in the olympics then scooted back to see Hannah, then back to Joes to watch our rowers win gold and deliver fish and chips to the crowd. almost like jesus. even broke up the fish cuz they all said not to get any then ate the little i got... contrary folk. when they did the medals ceremony we all got up and held our fists to our chests and sand the national anthem like true patriots. it was sure to bug his neighbours but i think that was half the fun. then we sat down and watched trampolining.

i did other stuff, just as mundane, but i'm to sleepy to write about it. should do housework before i go to bed but it's so not happening. i'll just read a chapter and sleep. maybe in that order... i'll see how i go.

to quote God

2004-08-19T23:35:00.000-06:00

it is good.

end of term! i survived wipeout! well, it wasn't that bad but i reserve the right to complain. cuz i can.

essay... completed, handed in, signed to say i didn't plagiarize anything without the proper acknowledgements... ta daa!

and test... finis! all done. and it was easy. although i know i shouldn't say that and jinx it but good thing i don't belive in jinxes. hehe. it is good. it is over. for two weeks i can paint and read and write without feeling guilty that i should be in the books. it is very good.

did some painting tonight - not four unreasonable but blissful hours like monday night. about one hour actually but mum and dad's pretty rangitoto is almost done. rangitoto is done anyway, just the contrary lampost to finish... i put the shadow on the wrong side... oops. almost done tho. and about time... six months later. started a knew one too - a jetty at dusk. i like dusk. promises a fun night or sleep - either way is good to me.

ow. stupid finger. i sliced half my pinky fingernail off while pealing kumaras at work today. pinky does not want to type. stupid pinky. hehe, thoughts of pinky and the brain. ow. why are there so many damn A's in the english language. ow... i'm getting pathetic and pouty now.

should drink switzel b4 it gets cold. il see how long im ok 2 type b4 i need to use the letter left of s. hehe. weird but im not ok to use other fingers for the left pinky keys. im very good with my typing. stick to the rules. or just type too much & need to get life outside of fiction writing. doing ok without Q, Z & A. used index finger then. tricky.

boring tangent. ow. i'll just type 'ow' everytime i use an (ow) A (ow). so what was (ow ow) i saying(ow)? oh, switzel... family remedy type drink. honey & apple cider vinegar and hot water. nice and healthy and warm and not milky bedtime drink.

bed. good idea. except i am officially on holiday and have luxury of not feeling guilty when i write till silly times at night. ow... [blubbing... almost] (ow)

hey, i think black books is on tonight. shall go and write tomorrow instead as am on holiday. and finger is sore. sure it will magically be perfect again tomorrow. good thing i'm being a socialiate most of the day. give pinky a break. ooow, it hurts. grrr. im off.

busy bug

2004-08-17T11:10:00.000-06:00

I have started my essay! I am missing a lecture right now. It just started. Same subject as essay is for. Plus it was snowing when I woke up and that's a good enough excuse for me. Then it stopped snowing and just rained. Then it snowed again and now the sky above me is blue, though it's well surrounded by snow coloured grey clouds... so more snow! yay! All i have to do today is right this essay, keep the fire going, eat, run down to the letter box to see if season 2 of ER dvds are back (had to send scratched copy to Hong Kong for a refund... wish i could have gone with it... love Hong Kong... anyway, irrelevant tangent), write more essay, change CD when I get sick of listening to beautiful Rachmaninov for the fifteenth time, maybe do a bit more painting (but only if my essay is going wonderfully and is almost finished)...

I got home from work at six last night, had dinner and went upstairs to work on essay in bed with yummy electric blanket heat and funny Goodmorning Vietnam soundtrack... ended up painting all evening, listening to Rachmaninov and not doing ANY essay WHATSOEVER. oops. Painting looks good though. Did a very fun pohutakawa tree! I will take digital photos of finished paintings and post them on here.

This rachmaninov song is where they stole the melody of 'All by Myself' - that song Celine Dion did really well, and Bridget Jones did really badly... hehe. Ooh, second Bridget Jones is coming... soon, i hope. Cause I'm going south to see it. I will (finally) visit Dunedin and my one friend at Otago University and we will see it together and spend the rest of the weekend doing bad karaoke, watching chick-flicks, and eating junk food! [squealing with joy]

Back to essay...

2004-08-16T16:57:00.000-06:00

i wish it were this snowy again. this noncommital cold is just... cold. It's muddy, not pretty, and certainly not as fun. For starters, you can't throw white stuff. Or make people (that don't look like people at all) out of it. This wonderful snowman was Bob Frank. 'Bob', cause it's fun to say. And 'Frank' cause we were in a Sinatra phase. Okay, not just a phase...