My Saturday Night

I was explaining to someone what my plans were for last night.... and I had to warn them that I was having a geek night.

1) We played RISK
2) It was special edition Star Wars (TM) RISK
3) It was in the Hutt
4) I was drinking ginger beer and lemonade

But I don't care - it was ubergeekfun!

Game One

I was positioned very well in this game. I secured my continent early on and won lots of troops. Me and Sam seemed to form an unofficial peace-zone on our part of the board, so I was free to expand and build up forces. I was the early favourite to win.

I patiently waited until my force was mammoth enough to try to achieve my goal (not wanting to attempt it too early and give it away).... so I went for it in one turn. And I came THIS close. I only had three of Richard's soldiers to defeat and I would have won the game..... But the pesky little beggers just wouldn't die. And I ran out of enforcements.

I left it until next turn.... But then Sam's Black Plague swept across the board and took advantage of my thinned out army to win the game.

Richard was again, a b******.

Game Two

I was exhausted from my mammoth and heart-breaking effort in Game One, so didn't really put my heart into this one. Plus my troops were placed stupidly. Sam decimated one half of my army on about the second turn and then Richard swooped at me from both sides (it was his mission to kill me).

I had more fun playing with my spare army-men and making little prisons with them for the pieces I managed to eject from the board. They were my POWs.

So again, that b******* Richard thwarted my efforts. One day I will get him. He will rue the day he stopped me from winning. I will read up on my army tactics and next time I'll be more prepared. I'll have my troops in tip-top shape. I'm gonna practise my dice-rolling maneuvers for hours a day. And I'm going to audition my plastic-men to see who's most likely to have me roll sixes for them, and they will be part of my Special Lucky Forces, and they will have the honour of being on the Front Line when I attack Richard bin Laden. I will condition them to hate him via Clockwork Orange tactics (taping their eyelids open and doing mean stuff involving pictures of Richard).

Richard, you have been warned.

I am Martha Stewart

I sewed. All by myself. Apart from Lynne telling me how to sew and Fish showing me how to use the machine (except how to put the foot down).

I sewed in straightish lines and made cushions. I like them.

I noticed one of my flatmates made a stack of three of them to lean up against while watching TV. They are useful.

Hmm.... what shall my next craft project be............ I might just keep making cushions. That's what I did at sewing classes at Intermediate. I made lots of tiny (useless) cushions. My brother enjoyed throwing them up and trying to get them to go between the rafter and the ceiling in our lounge.

Mr Green Toyota Corolla - you suck!

I have never tooted my horn at anyone (except one time someone cut in front of me at the supermarket and Cassie was in the passenger seat and reached across and did it for me.... I was mortified and said, 'Cass - I don't toot!'). But I understood the mentally of getting road rage after a tiny incident on my beloved State Highway 1.

* * *
I had purposely waited until Monday afternoon to drive home, thinking the weekend traffic might have thinned out with people returning to the first day back at work. It hadn't really.

The whole way my little Silver Mazda Familia was part of a long snake of traffic, moving at a frustrating 90ks with no real sign of break-away chances in sight. I didn't bother trying to overtake anyone until I got past Paraparaumu. There was a camper-van in front of me most of the early part of the journey, but to its credit it wasn't holding anything up.

This is when I got angry whilst driving home from LVN. I had just been through both sets of lights in Waikanae and was at the point where the two lanes merge back into one. I was letting a second camper-van from the other lane go in front of me (as you do - one from each lane, having turns), and was leaving a little room for it, but obviously not enough for two cars to jump in front of me.... (on a day of slow traffic why would I want to do that?).

I was already resenting all the traffic that had gone in the right-hand-lane - it looked like all the impatient drivers and they were just trying to sneak a few places in front of me.

When the car behind the camper-van accelerated and decided to push in.... at which point I accelerated too, thinking 'Oh no you don't, cheeky bugger!'... at which point he accelerated more. I had to let him go in front or crash into him.

I said many expletives very loudly and gave the back of his car the evils for a long time. It went something like this, 'Merge like a zip, you stupid f*****!' Even one of my struggling sixth form students in English had understood the concept (and had the nouse to point out it is a simile).

I caught up with him at the Paraparaumu lights (fat lot of good his pushy driving had done for him!). I peered across to see who this inconsiderate b******* was. It was a normal looking man in his 40s, with what looked like two young daughters in the car.

It irks me that a normal looking person made me angry while driving. He ruined the mood of my Paul Simon Anthology CD. I see driving on the highway in times of thick traffic as a kind of team sport - like that road racing they do on bicycles. If you are the lead car you should do your job of keeping a good pace, and then drop off if someone else could do it better or you're holding up the team..... I like the comradery of it. We should all be resigned to being in it together. It's not any one car's fault that we're not doing 100ks. So passing any one car isn't going to achieve much. It strikes me as arrogance. It turns the group activity into a competitive one where every car is out for themself.

Mr Green Car ruined my team spirit.

Niblingsx3

From Friday to Sunday I have been helping with the niblings (great word, F+S). There's Hannah (8), Finn (7) and Ruby (15 months).

My observations of Children
- It takes a long time to actually leave the house when there are kids involved. They don't think to put shoes on or go to the toilet (and we had an incident where as soon as we walked to a playground, we had to go straight back home for a toilet emergency - kids!).
- No matter how many shiny-noisy-sparkling toys you put in front of a baby, she will still be more interested in playing with the buckles and straps on her stroller for half an hour.
- The sound 'da-da' can mean many different things, from 'dad' to 'did it!'.
- Rough games inevitably end in tears.
- Kids assume you want to hold anything they can't be bothered with (excess sweaters, shoes, rubbish, balls).
- The Disney Channel has some quality programming! I like Hannah Montana (which, incidentally, has Billy Ray Cyrus and his real life daughter in the main roles) Something Something Raven (with the annoying little girl from the Cosby Show - Denise's step-daughter).

Things I am Enjoying at the Moment
- I have, in my slothful state, discovered the radio. I very much enjoy enacting my early afternoon rituals to the Midday Matinee on National Radio. They had a whole hour of songs about Elvis (not by him, note). Interesting!
- The fact that netball's starting back up. I need to exercise.... I played non-stop cricket with Hannah and found it hard to run around the wicket and back.....

Things I am Not Enjoying
- Wellington seems to be hogging the news headlines with horrific stories. I don't like the thought that someone was going around our neighbourhoods randomly shooting people. I don't like the thought that someone got raped in a car-park in Newtown around the corner from where I used to live. Those are the kind of things that ought to be happening in other countries.

Animal Infestation

My flat is slowly being taken over by animals of various kinds.... It's like a bad horror movie. Tonight was the night of The Maggoty Mouse Hunt

1) The Ants.
They have been coming for a few months now. I've spotted them in my food cupboard and they sent scouts upstairs to my room and seem to enjoy my leg-waxing kit (it is sweet and sticky). They are easily assailable - small and slow. I kill them one by one.

2) The Spider.
English-guy#1 woke up with an itchy spider bite on his neck one night. He thinks it jumped in through his open window.

3) The Maggots.
I was putting the rubbish out tonight and since I'd been away on rubbish day the last few weeks, we had some rather old bags nobody else had thought to put out. I peered into one and saw a festering pile of maggots. I was bemused by this. It's happened once before in our flat, months ago. Maggots are fairly harmless to me. Gross but harmless.

4) The Mouse.
We have known for about a month that there is (hopefully only one!) a mouse living in our kitchen. It seems to enjoy one of the lower shelves and our cupboard-of-rubbish-under-the-stairs. I had a face off with it once. It got away (I let it - to be honest). Tonight, whilst I was looking bemusedly at the maggots, the little blighter jumped out of the bag and damned near landed on me. It continued to skitter about all the walls of the kitchen whilst I nimbly tried to jump out of its way. I had jandals on - this made me even more nervous about vermin being around my feet. If you know my lack of grace and coordination, the image of me 'nimbly' jumping out of the way of a mouse might be comedic. Very rarely do I move quickly. We had it cornered behind the fridge briefly, then it made a dash for freedom.

Comedy ensued. The mouse raced into the lounge. My yells of surprise had alerted the English-guys to the mouse's presence. It disappeared somewhere under the couch. There was a moment of calm. I went and got my mouse-catching-container from the kitchen, someone took out the rubbish. After my first face off with the mouse, where I had been sorely lacking for catching-apparatus, I had scouted out an ideal container, just for this type of ocassion. At this point English-guy#1 noticed the maggots had leaked onto the kitchen floor and nearly fainted. That concerned him more than the mouse.

We got a pincer movement going in the lounge - all with containers and cushions in hand - and vowed to make the mouse go out the front door. At that point it lept out somewhere between my feet, making me jump and scream, and disappeared again. English-guy#2 became the mouse scout and swore it was under the far section of the couch. We pulled the other sections away to give it less exit routes. English-guy#1 lifted the couch right up.... but there was no sign of the mouse. I accused the mouse-scout of having failed at his job..... but then we heard a scratching sound. The mouse had somehow lept up into the couch (much like how people cling to the bottom of cars or roofs in houses in chase scenes of Hollywood movies - this mouse has style).... and jumped out of it. Luckily it ran right out the door for safety.

YEAH - AND DON'T COME BACK, VERMIN! I yelled after him.

All this while Canadian-flatmate had been on a phone conversation to a friend back home. The person he was calling was very amused by the commentary of maggots and mice and the yelling coming from the rest of us. I think it may have sounded like his friend was living in a hell-hole .....

Note: I was incredibly brave the whole time! I did not scream in a girly way (only in a surprised way, which is very natural) and I played a key role in the plan to force the mouse out. I did not shie away from the action. And I was the one who then cleaned up the maggots. And I can change lightbulbs. I am SUPER GIRL!

Small but Hard Steps

Nicky-with-curly-hair told me years ago, back at Teachers' College, that to have a successful modern relationship you need to have a cell-phone and email. As a person without a cell-phone I thought she was ridiculous.... but now I know better! All that romance I could have been missing out on back in the early 2000's......

Here are some extracts from a long-term social project Cassie, Ange and I have called 'A Wellington Girl's Guide to Life'.
Chapter 17: The Break-up

There are two small steps you might be working towards which are tiny actions requiring less than a flick of the wrist, but milestones in your 'getting over him' phases.

1. The Cell Phone

If a relationship ends and it is obvious that you have no context to still be friends with the guy and you come to realise he may not have treated you as well as you deserved it is often somehow still hard to delete his number from your phone. There's still that 0.01% of your otherwise logical brain that thinks there may still be an 'I miss you! I made a terrible mistake!' text coming. You want to be able to say, 'Too bad! You missed out!' and feel better.

We come up with excuses like 'But I just want it there so that if he texts me I'll know who it is....' in order to justify not deleting his number.

In very unfortunate situations we send The Drunken Text asking oh-so-casually what he's up to late on a Saturday night. We try very hard to not have typos in this so as not to make him think we have become a pathetic shell of a lush post-breakup. We regret it the next day.

Even if he replies in an oh-so-casual manner, we realise it does not fit in with our dignified approach to The Break Up. Though, we may achieve a small amount of satisfaction if he was the last to text after this encounter.

Following The Drunken Text, we may realise it really is necessary to delete him from our phone. There are two veteran tricks to cheating at this. Firstly, you can leave something from him in your inbox which you will recognise from its contents, and thus even though he is not programmed..... if you need to you can still send The Drunken Text. Secondly, you can delete him fully from your phone, but write his number down somewhere handy.... just in case.....

The most healthy phase to reach is the where you delete his number without resorting to these two cheats. If you can do this you know you're at a 'good place'. It's much like when you burn your textbooks at the end of a course, or throw a perfectly good box of chocolates into the rubbish (after getting your friends to lick them - just in case that's not enough of a deterrant) when you're really starting a diet. Small acts - but symbolic signs of strength. Finality. The end of an era. Shows of strength. I DON'T NEED YOU ANY MORE, CHOCOLATE!

Just that one press of your button when the word 'Delete?' comes up on the screen is very meaningful. You can do it so that your friends around you just think you're texting flippantly.... it need not be a dramatic or public thing. But it's very final. It also helps to avoid 'the accidental text' which lets him know he's still on your phone...... Some people I know have even sent The Fake Accidental Text, just to see if he replies....... [for the record, he did - success.]

Another milestone is deleting all texts from them that you have saved in your inbox. I have a text from my 3rd date with my latest Ex that is still sitting undeleted in my inbox. It has lasted eight months. One day I'll delete it.

2. MSN

Ange warned me about this one after her break-up last year. If you have developed an MSN rapport with your Ex during the relationship, then it becomes very awkward to still have them pop up online once you have broken up.

It reminds you that they are still going about their everyday business.... but without you knowing anything about it. I somehow quite comfortably forget that they are people too. And them popping up on my screen gives me a visual of exactly where they're sitting, in their flat at the computer desk.... and I don't like this tangible reminder. It does not fit my egocentric view of the world. In my mind they are sitting humped over a glamour-photo of me, pining or getting fat and hideous so nobody else will ever want them....
Also, every time you see that they're online and they don't message you (though you rationally don't expect them to) it's a tiny rejection. Even if you don't like them anymore it would still be a tiny vindication if they wanted to see what you were up to...... And it's so easy to sound oh-so-casual via internet messaging. 'Sup?' 'Not much - u?' 'Same'
There is at the same time, of course, a voyeuristic pleasure in being able to tell what they are doing at any given time without having to resort to a spy-camera and binoculars. And the satisfaction of knowing they haven't deleted you yet either. Any time you don't see them for a few days you start to wonder if they have.... and then they pop up again. Phew. You still have the chance to get in first.

You hope that while they're online they're not sneakily reading your blog.....

I imagine (though I've not yet actually taken this step) that when you delete them from your MSN list it is yet another satisfying milestone.

Note: For now I've not done any of these things - though I guess it has been over three weeks now. Time flies.... I expect one day I will delete him. I don't expect in the meantime to have texted or MSNed him, so I'm not quite sure why it's rational to put it off. But it is.

See Chapter 18 for 'The Functional Breakup' after which you manage to remain friends - I have many examples to prove it is not a myth.

* * *

More Randomly

1. Why do boys like sitting in the lounge in the dark? Girls like having lights on as soon as it is dusk - unless we have set up candles or it is 'mood lighting' for a movie. Boys pull the blinds in the middle of the day. I am the only girl in my flat now. It's very dark.

2. Did anyone else see the amazing moon last night? I was driving home with Julie last night and we had a series of surreal events, one of which was looking up and noticing that the moon was the lowest we had ever seen it. It was one of those moons that you could reach out and touch. And it was huge! And yellow! Like in a Smashing Pumpkins video. Wish I'd had my camera with me.

3. I have managed to thus-far maintain the magic weight-loss I had on new year's day (after my night of drunken lushness). Long may that last! If it does not magically last I may have to resort to physical exercise. Bugger that. I even put on my 3rd loosest pair of jeans (the pair that has for months been too tight to wear without feeling like a masocist)... and they fit! Hoorah!

4. I have started to find common ground with the new flatmates. Enlgish-man#2 played the guitar in a band, likes Jeff Buckley and has been to Madison Square Garden (ditto all of those things for me, except not in a band). We both have well formed views on the demise of Michael Jackson and think the printing industry seems stressful and like something we would not like to be involved in. We both want it to be summer soon.

5. Today looks a bit like summer. I will tentatively leave my room and go outside for a while. Wish me luck....

Defining You and R*I*S*K

Meeting New People

It seems very unfair in life that certain key features about us become 'defining'. They become the things that people ask us about in the beginning of a 'getting to know you' conversation. And most of these things are thrust upon us - rather than being things we choose to have as part of our identities. I met a bunch of 'new people' on New Year's Eve and was reminded of the first few stages of getting to know each other.

1. Before the conversation even begins you become identified by your physical features. You might be tall (like me) and that makes you 'Tall Kate'. People assume you are intelligent and capable and wise - most of which might be true, but it's still an assumption. You may be red-headed, in which case people will assume (perhaps correctly) that you are dramatic and exaggerate things. You may be extremely thin. You may have a fish-face. When people are talking about you, that may well become how they identify you - 'You know, Nicky with the curly hair'. It is inescapable. Unless you purposefully go out and create an even more noticeable feature. Like a mohawk or those extreme facial piercings. Or you could stoop a lot, if you don't like being tall. If you are lucky you are 'the hot guy', though we tend to attach 'arrogant player' to that..... Often rightly so.

2. Your place of origin is very important. It allows people to pigeon hole you very quickly. If, for example, you are from Levin, that says a lot about you. It says you are a very good sort and will get on with everybody famously. You don't hold pretentions and have an earthy quality about you. But you grew up close enough to Wellington to be open to liberal-thinking and able to adapt to fashion-trends. Being from The Hutt says something very different about you...... No matter how much travelling you do as a grown-up, you will always have to admit to where you hail from. Or learn to lie well. I figure you might as well be proud of it or it shows a lack of loyalty and indicates some kind of deep self-hatred..... I LOVE LEVIN!

3. Your job is another important thing. It's like in About a Boy when Will has to admit that he doesn't do anything - it road-blocks the coversation. Our jobs are natural segueways into other conversations - they indicate our level of education, our interests, the networks we have an 'in' with, who we might know by association..... And people have a natural curiosity about careers. The first time me and Nicky talked to a graphic design person we were fascinated by the fact that they could design a font based on their handwriting. And what the heck would one talk to Svend about if he didn't work for Weta? :) Sam has it hard on that front.... What with the secrecy codes and all. I just imagine him wearing white overalls and working in a bright sterile environment with lots of buttons and microscopes. I have no idea what he really does.

4. Your name is of course very important. First names mainly. I can go a long time without knowing someone's last name. Your name defines whether people will take you seriously off the bat. Some names make talking to someone much more fun - like Donald. People have past associations with names. Everyone I went to school with named 'Simon' was very geeky and into remote controlled cars. Svend is a cool name. I am mostly friends with Svend just because I like saying his name. Svend. It's pleasing. And almost every Sam I've ever known has been a good sort. It's a name I would consider giving to a son.

5. Your relationship status. There are a small core of us who are 'single'. I think it projects us differently to those who are 'married' or 'engaged'. I like to think it gives us a devil-may-care, rougeish appearance. I may be wrong..... In the 19th Century I would officially be the 'spinster Aunt' by now. Whereas now I'm the 'cool fun independant Aunt' (umm..... that's how I like to put it anyhow!). I think we 'singles' also have a predatory image to us. We try to move in packs. Relationship status is hard to bring up immediately without seeming nosy or a little too interested. It must be done discretely or by being very observant. Being 'newly single' is a slightly different category too.

6. Age is important. We look down on younger people because we've been there, done that. We can look at them partying and having their fun and say 'Ahhh, I remember what that was like - don't wanna go back though' (sometimes). I am very surprised if someone in their early 20s has the cynicism to kick it with my group of friends.


There's other stuff. But I've finished my rant. Those are the ones that came to mind first. I feel like one of those kids who ends an essay suddenly, without a conclusion.... Not sure where I was going with that.

* * *

I played Star Wars Risk today with the Kelson Crew. Intense. I can see how real war strategising would be quite fun. I liked sacrificing my men on the front line in brave battles when they were outnumbered, as long as they managed to take a couple of the enemy troops out with them.

The game moved in many waves of power.

1.
I looked good in the first round, and was fairly screwed after that (thanks mostly to that b******* Richard who kept thwarting my attempts to gain power with lucky rolling and managed to maintain just the tiniest of toe-holds in my planet). Due to being last at picking countries I'd made the rookie mistake of trying to hold the biggest planet. The Black Army was powerful - but had too many borders and pesky enemies to manage it.
2.
I turned briefly to just trying to kill Sam's Red Plague of troops for the hell of it and bugger winning. But then he became moderately powerful so I had to back off into obscurity. So I teamed up with Richard's Yellow Brigade and tried to contain the mighty blue wave that was Kirsten-and-Fish.
3.
I figured if I couldn't win... then nobody should, damnit! The game should go on foreeeever! And it did. Until we all decided to declare peace and go and have a spa instead. Ahem. I may have controlled the most territories at that point (mostly with just one man on them.... and easily assailable.... but for the record, it WAS the MOST).

It was amusing how Sam managed to earnestly blame his lack of skill at rolling sixes for his early demise...... I'm sure he'll go home and practise and come back as an expert roller next time :)

In addition....

I have just had the post-mortem with Ange. Apparently I was not alone in thinking I was very drunk last night. Most times I'm very drunk I think I manage to maintain a certain level of decorum, and even if other people say I was mildly obnoxious, I manage to steadfastly refuse to listen to them. I have solid (potentially bordering on delusional) self-belief in my a ability to hold my liquor.

But this time..... I may have been embarrassingly drunk for almost the first time ever! Ange was telling me things I said/did and I was saying, 'No! I wouldn't do that.... You're making it up!' But she swears it's true - and I have snippets of memories that back that up.

The worst thing was that at one stage I was rating everyone in the group out of ten. To their faces. Harshly! I told one guy he was 'A six - wait, maybe a four'. I'm sure there was a context, or I was kidding .... or something. I was a bit mortified on hearing that! Oopsy.

And Ange had secretly mustered a bunch of guys to 'look after' me all night, because I was the burdensome drunk girl in the group. Oopsy. All night I just thought I was really popular and charming because people kept hanging out with me..... I didn't realise that's why it was happening....

All I can say is those must've been some damned powerful Red Bull and vodkas I started on! Ange says I was a 'weird kind of drunk' - I wasn't making sense at all.

In an attempt to make me stop cringing Ange found one bright spot. I didn't send any embarrassing texts. I didn't even think of it, to tell you the truth. That is most excellent. And potential-rebound-guy texted me happy new years, and all I said in return was 'You too'. I think that's all I could manage to spell at that point. Good thing.

* * *

Oh, and I didn't vomit or fall over! So how bad could it really have been??? And I didn't get alcohol poisoning on New Years.... Only a real amateur would do that [ahem, Cassie].

* * *

Another post-script - I texted my random texter 'Suhail' back and asked if he/she was the daughter of Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes. They didn't get it. Mustn't be someone I know. People I know 'get it'. Or perhaps it seemed funnier in my drunken head ........

Advice on How to Safely Remove Burnt Toast without Electrocuting Yourself.

1.

I have not had a hangover in a long time. Not like this one. And I had no Vogels in the house! Vogels and peanut butter is my best hangover cure. I made do with kumara croquettes (which I burnt in the oven quite spectacularly whilst distracted by the ballroom dancing on TV). All I could manage for the first two hours of the day were incohent mumblings (to myself - containing the words 'still drunk' and 'feel sick') while I lay in bed trying not to move and texting people telling them how bad I felt. People I barely know.

My vague memories of last night:

- I remember consciously thinking several times that it was like I was in a movie, and feeling very detached from what was going on. I also had this very certain feeling that I could do anything and that it didn't matter because it wasn't real. And I was only drinking alcohol... I think.

- I met a guy called Donald. I kept telling people Donald was my new friend. I liked Donald's name so I said it a lot.

- I think I was dancing. I remember standing in the middle of other people who were dancing, so I must have been too. I can't dance though. I wonder what I was doing.

- I saw Michelle from our indoor team. We danced. She danced, and I was standing next to her anyway. I must have danced too.

- I may have agreed to play in an indoor soccer team with Donald's short friend. I remember using my hands dramatically to emphasise how terrible I was at foot-coordination sports. I said, 'This is averagely bad. And this is me [motioning much lower down].' I wonder if he still wants me to play. I do believe he has my cell phone number. I was proud of remembering that whilst drunk.

- I remember someone else commenting on The Gollums as I used them to express something else. I may have been pointing leeringly in their face. Ange was quick to share their nickname.

- I don't believe I purchased a beverage the whole time I was out. Somebody must have been plying me with liquor though. I'm not sure who it was.

- On the bus home (Donald helpfully knew the after-dark time-table) I remember some young hooligans yelling out, 'Hi Miss J---!' from the back of the bus. I remember saying, 'I don't teach boys!' and wondering who they were and how they knew my teacher-name.

2.

Cassie has bravely asked me to be her bridesmaid again. For those of you unaware of 'The Curse', I shall explain why this is brave.

I have twice before been asked to be a bridesmaid.

Neither of the weddings eventuated. It was tragic. They'd picked out the colour of my dress and everything.

I think I may be bad wedding-luck as a bridesmaid. Asking me to be one shows how confident Cassie is of her union with Anthony. It's a good sign! She will beat the curse! I'm rooting for her. I want to wear a poofy pink satin dress.

3.

My 'v' key is a bit sticky at the moment. It's surprising how often I use that key.

4.

I just got a happy new years text from Suhail. Do I know a Suhail? I don't think I do.....

5.

Simon (ex-flatmate Simon - the one who rocks a lot, physically not metaphorically or musically) - has apparently found his mojo again. He said it was always inside him.

* * *

I may still be drunk. But spelling v[damnedstickykey]ery accurately. It's because I teach the English.

It's official.

I am a shoe-moron.

Luckily I took a comfy spare pair of shoes in the car in case of need.

Need arose.

New shoes so tight I lost feeling in toes.

I shall persevere with them at a later date.

I maintain my feet must have been slightly swollen tonight......

1. YAY FOR CASSIE AND ANT!

My second lot of friends this week announced engagements. Must be a romantic time of year! I think we all saw this one coming for a while :) Nice to see happy people.

2. A Plum Idea

I helped my dad build a plum-catching net. Time will tell what its tragic flaws are.... Judges are not good at building things. We are good at eating. And doing Sudoku. And entertaining babies. But building, not so much. We cleverly used existing structures (the house and swing-set) to mount our netting, using hooks and lycra-string. Eat your heart out, MacGyver!

Lynne just walked past and said it had caught TWO PLUMS. Success! There will be much jam-making this year.

3. Wanna see my engagement ring?

I partook in the traditional female reaction of saying, 'Ooooh, let me see the ring!' to my friend Lulu. I'd already seen the ring hung on a necklace around her neck waiting to be resized by the jeweler. I'm not sure why I felt the need to exclaim and examine it on her finger. I don't really like rings. It must be a genetically inbuilt response.

I looked for a few seconds and then said, 'Oh - lovely!'

By the way, if any of you are thinking 'I'd like to propose to Kate, but can't afford to buy a ring good enough for her!' stop your worrying. My Grandma has a family one and she assures me it's mine as soon as I need it or when she dies (whichever comes first). I said, 'Thanks, Grandma! That's a selling point for me!'

Kate, 29, tall, dark hair, professional. Has own engagement ring.

4. Now this is summer as it should be....

I watched some cricket. Go that young Ross boy! He did good against the chucker. I don't like cricket.

Oh no. I love it.

5. The Family Media Empire Extends

I forced my dad into making a blog site. Ok - so I made it for him and did the first (and likely only) entry. It has selected shots of our family christmases. He said, 'So when do I start getting quoted by The Listener for my political views?' and I said, 'Patience - just start getting a fan-base and it'll happen......'

6. Sitting, Waiting, Wishing (except only for 20 minutes at a time, because her back hurts too much after that and she has to move around some)

Bugger living with chronic pain. Poor Lynne. And when they get you an 'urgent' appointment with the orthopaedic surgeon and it ends up being for March 14th..... that sucks! I understand that chronic pain isn't life-threatening but it's torturous. It filters your life in an awful kind of way.

7. Two Bodies - One Brain

It was amusing to discover that while in Levin Ange and I had both gone to Farmers. We had both gone there because we'd run out of clean underwear. We both figured it was easier to buy some than do washing. We both picked exactly the same two-pack of undies, out of an entire section full of them. Even the same colour. And we did this totally independently of each other.

Males I have explained this to do not understand. Females do. Buy new undies, and you can throw some of the old ones out..... And contrary to popular male myth, you don't have to wait until they literally are falling apart until you stop wearing them.....

[Note: undies in photo are unworn, as evidenced by tags!]

No More Bad News, Thank You.

My week of bad news is over. It has now been exactly a week since it started with the first in the chain of break-up texts [not MY idea - the texting bit, anyhow].

Since then I have had a chain of unexpected bad news. It has, at times, reached comical heights. The fellow I had lined up as a very convenient rebound-guy suddenly had a family crisis and had to leave town, with an unambiguous 'See ya'. When even your rebound guy falls through you know it's not going your way.

And then, when trying to retrieve $350 from a flatmate who's moved out I get a text that begins 'Get f***ed...'. That seemed to fit the tone of the week.

All I could say was, 'Oh well - it's nothing too bad. Nobody's died or anything......'

UNTIL....

10.15pm last night, the phone rings at Dad's house (where I'm staying). It's my mum's mum ringing in a rather desperate sounding voice to say her husband's been rushed to hospital. She rang back at 7am today to say he'd passed away suddenly.

I didn't particularly like the guy, bit of a grumpy old bugger. But he had taken me to his family farm and sat me up on the top of a race-horse as a wee lass. And he sent us pictures of his truck, which we thought looked like Optimus Prime.

And my grandma will be beside herself. She was fairly lonely and terminally grief striken over various things even before this. So we'll be sending a family posse down to bowels of Westport for the funeral, and possibly to help her sort out what she wants to do now. I think a move to the North Island where the sparse remnants of her living family are scattered might be a good first step.

* * *

So, the week is now over. There will be no more bad news. Anything of that nature can wait til January.

* * *

I had a nice family christmas in Levin with my Dad's wife's clan. 16 of us there. Little bubbies! Pavlova, ham, bubbly. Songs on the guitar around the new brazier.

I had proudly driven from Wellington to Levin for the first time, again all by myself. I even passed some cars on the motorway for the first time ever. I said to my dad when I walked in, 'I managed to not kill myself!' and he said, 'Jolly good - you seem to be doing that a lot lately.'

There's certainly something calming about sitting with a big chubby baby in your lap who's playing with your fingers and kicking their little feet. Good old Ruby-Roo and Pree-pree. I love how they have their favourite stuffed toys too - Ruby has Leppy (see bottom corner of bottom photo) and Kapree has the Pink Lady (Ma-whero Wahine).

It pours.

Yesterday we found out the people printing the school magazine have (in my opinion) f***ed up and it won't be ready in time.

That sucks.

People keep coming up to me being sympathetic, saying "Oooh, you must be so disappointed - all that work you put in to meet the deadline!".... To which I non-challantly reply, "You know what - I don't really care." Which is true.

I think it puts people off when they come up to you ready to give sympathy, but you don't act sad.

It's only the fourth worst thing that's happened to me this week. And it's the one that affects me the least directly (I've seen every page of the damned thing a million times and I'm a bit over it).

I'm in a suprisingly good mood though.

I think it's because I've been wearing my lovely new shoes and new tshirts. The shoes leave dents in my feet where they dig in, but no actual blisters.

Shoes.

Why must I keep buying shoes that are too small for my feet....

I am, in all other aspects of my life, an intelligent person.

Why can I not get it into my head that if the shoe hurts your feet after walking around the shop for two minutes, it's going to hurt even more after a whole day....

But they're so pretty and shiny.... And they make my feet look small!

Goodbye Party

Sarah (who I've never met) failed to turn up to her own goodbye-party (which I was crashing with F&S on Saturday night). We listened to a lot of Beatles songs at the dodgey old Ox and Something bar in town. There were scantily clad young ladies all around. It was a one-star establishment, but the beers were only $3.50! Happy hour is aptly named.

So we ditched the non-event and went to play pool. I was oddly off form (VERY unlike me for sure).

Here are some beautiful photos.
Note: Sam's one-eye-aiming-look.
Note: Me and Fish in the flattering-angle shot (ala H.P.'s style). That's my 'seductive look'. Hence, I rarely seduce.
Note: As Fish pointed out, I look like an Elf in one of the photos, what with my odd side-burn look and all.

Bowling for East-um-bine

Work have a quarter-annual interdepartmental challenge at work. This year it's been volleyball, quiz, pool and now bowling.

English took out the quiz and pool. We are dominating. All very capable and a good unit. That's what reading books and stuff does for you.

So we bowled up at The Lanes and got our special shoes (which were actually not too bad by bowling shoes standards - you could get away with wearing them in a public street). And to cut a long story short..... I WON! My department came second, but I had the best score out of the 27 staff taking part (men included). 130. I am a bowling prodigy. Dead-eye Kate, they call me now (or they will, once I make them) 'cause I just bowled it straight down the middle. Nothing fancy. No speed to speak of. Just accuracy and consistency. And my spare followed by two strikes didn't hurt.... I leapt ahead at that point.

***

Met Matt's Mum today. Odd seeing people's parents and picking out the similarities in thought patterns and mannerisms. I found it odd that I saw aspects in her facial planes that I really like in Matt.

On the way to meet him I almost ran right into Sam and Fish, as they were coming out of Iko Iko and I was going in. It was fortuitous and they'd used 'meeting Kate for lunch' as an alibi with one of their mums.... and as it happens, they DID have lunch with me.

But first I had the joy of witnessing Fishy get her tattoo on. She gritted and bared it very admiarbly, keeping up a conversation between the grimaces. No tears though! Very brave!

I'm sure you'll all see the pictures on their respective blogs. Very cool! Leon's design looks great on Sam and Fishy's new little fishy is all cute and perky looking above her butt, jumping out from her butt-crack in a splash of waves.

We had a beer outside JJ's in the sun. It was nice. Sam commented on the niceness of it several times. We people watched and drank Belgian beer and talked to a weird kid who showed us his new dracula teeth. As Sammy said, it had an 80's feel to it. Though nobody was wearing stubbies.

***

Remember the double-header for netball - 6.45 Sunday and 6.20 Monday.

***

The City was Strangley Empty.....

I think a very large proportion of 20-somethings and early-30-somethings have vacated Wellington this weekend. Me and Ange both have our flats all to ourselves.

1.
My birthday was a very middling 'average'. It wasn't bad - just nothing particularly memorable about it (except the Dashboard Diva, of course!). It was topped off by my dad and stepmum ringing in the morning saying they were couriering my gift up.... and it not arriving til the next day. I got a pang of disappointment every time I went past my desk or the office and it wasn't there...... I had visions of some sneaky kid nicking off with it.

One amusing thing was my little Marlene told everybody who'd listen that 'It's my form teacher's birthday today! She's very young - only 29!' (and she wasn't being sarcastic). Even before school started for the day she'd camped out at the gate and told about 4 teachers who came up to the staffroom and mysteriously knew it was my birthday when I'd been trying to keep it on the down-low from colleagues (I hate that kind of attention at work). She's a cutie... she made me two birthday cards and got the class to sing happy birthday for me.

Perhaps worst of all was that I started sneezing in the mid-afternoon and didn't stop all night. It turned into a miserable cold the next day (temperature, swollen glands, more sneezing) and I actually went home at lunchtime. VERY unlike me, I'm a trooper. But it was a teachers only day, so no big loss...... Just missed a bunch of debates on the new curriculum, which is as interesting as it sounds.

Having said that, I know people who've actually had TERRIBLE birthdays (Ange had one this year). Being in the middle of break-ups and what-nots (Nicky had a bad one where Ken dumped her and she was in the middle of a stressful first-section at t-coll).

I liked having dinner with Ange and Sam. That's always a pleasure. And I felt virtuous for calling up my brother and seeing him for the first time in two months. He seemed to enjoy me buying him beer.

And I guess the 'birthday period' has been tainted by some .... 'odd' decisions by Matt, which don't help. Sometimes boys are frustrating.

I'm still a bit under the weather today. Stink!

My Weekend

I have a secret fantasy of wanting to be locked in a toilet cubicle and having to figure out how to escape.

Myths our parents made is believe....
So far me and Ange have come up with....
1) Never put a plastic bag over your head - you will suffocate. We were both petrified for years.....
2) If you swallow chewing gum it will be in your stomache forever.... I remember the first time I ever swallowed some by mistake, I was quite worried.
3) If you swallow a fruit-pip it will grow in your tummy/out your ears.
4) [on State Highway One] If you and your brother don't stop fighting your father will stop the car and you will both have to WALK from here.....

Friday

I had the interesting experience of meeting 'new people'. My flatmates had drinks round at our flat and lots of their friends came along. Almost all primary school teachers - so good folk.

I liked that most of the guys were decked out for Movember and looking porn-starish. Also interesting was the guy who (allegedly) has killed 14 people for the French Foreign Legion. We had a good conversation about people who dress pets up in home-knitted jumpers (somehow stemming from the fact that I'm an English teacher...).

Saturday

I drove to the Hutt for the first time ever! I was fairly slow for the motorway, but to be fair it was drizzly and wet conditions...... and we got a little 'confused' once we entered the labyrinth of the suburbs. But we found Fish and Sam's house eventually.

Ange says my driving has 'improved lots'.

Cassie's move seemed to have gone ok. Our reinforcement muscles were not needed.

1. Corsage (beautiful and rose pink to go with my BA hood)

I am mildly concerned about my corsage progress. It is a school tradition that form captains organise for the class to buy a colour-coordinated corsage to go with their teacher's graduation hood and gown for our prize-giving. My form captain has known about this for a week.... and today, last period she is talking to me in the hallway and mid-sentence gets one of those lightbulb expressions and suddenly says.... 'Wait out here, Miss!' and runs into the classroom (having just remembered about having to organise this for tomorrow night).

I catch the tail-end of her talk to the class as she says, 'And don't tell Miss!'
* Note that the girls at our school call all female teachers 'Miss' - some are at first put off by not being addressed by their full names, but I like it.

I tell her when she comes out that teachers whose classes don't manage to get them corsages look like 'losers'.

I am crossing my fingers.

2. Becs

Hey Cass - Becs is engaged! Since last week. Getting married over in Samoa in January. About time - she has already picked out a dress.

3. Reading Books

Matt rang up on Friday and said, "What're you up to?" I answered, quite earnestly that I was reading a book.

I think he thought I was trying to get sympathy out of him - but really, I was enjoying reading my book. I was enthralled and not at all embarrassed about that being my Friday night plan. I haven't read a good book in ages.

He took pity on me and requested I go pick him up, get pizza and DVDs and hang out for the evening. We watched V for Vendetta which was kinda interesting, though not genius. Wouldn't be a bad lesson to leave for a Media Studies class (with some theoretical questions on 'censorhip' and 'propoganda'). I guess it's nice that the Nazi-like dystopia was happening in England, showing that any society can fall prey to fascist leaders in the right circumstances.

4. No more big kids!

I taught three of my classes for the last time ever today. They are off for exams now. I am happy to wave them off and say, 'Good luck!'.

This is offically the start of 'cruise time' for secondary school teachers. For example, I have one class to teach on Wednesday, no classes at all on Thursday and one class on Friday.

What do I do to fill in the time? Whatever I darned well like! Little projects I'd never find the time to do at other times of the year. I might even start using the school gym equipment for lunch-time workouts (maaaaybe). I will plan in advance for next year's classes..... I will prepare for my roll as 'The Caterpillar' in my form class's pantomime of Alice in Wonderland. I will finally mark my form class's assignments for last term...... (shhhhh).

No Time!

I had to a million little magazine things today. I literally did not have more than two minutes of down-time all day. Any time I was actually not doing anything I was sitting at a screen watching a file-transfer and willing it to transfer faster, or waiting for pages with lots of pictures on them to print faster..... NOW NOW NOW. HURRY HURRY HURRY. Printer coming at 4pm. Gotta get it done.

I only taught two classes. One of them I left happily watching Carrie. The other one expected me to TEACH them. The cheek. Of course, I refused and merely gave them a bunch of handouts and told them to read and highlight. I had too much to do. NO TIME, NO TIME! I sent two girls on a mission to get photos from the special needs unit and find out the names of the school librarians. Another girl went and tracked down a 7th former who had a free period and could type something out for us. It was like a working-bee.

I ate not much and drank some coffee (which my colleague generously got for me while I was glued to my computer screen). It was an adrenalin day. I think I had a wild-eyed look to me. Nobody got in my way. Not that I get cranky when I'm busy - you can just tell by the way I'm moving (with much purpose and tunnel-vision) that I'm in a zone. People pity me for having the magazine burden. I get away with not going to meetings. That's a perk.

The printer-lady came and collected what we'd done thus-far (pretty much everything except the cover and front page). It was all written to CDs, labelled, printed out with explanatory notes and there was a master-checklist. It was an impressive pile. The only things we haven't got yet are things other people haven't done. I only have so much leverage over the principal when it comes to my deadlines.... she is a force unto herself. I think her motto is, 'Deadlines, schmedlines'.

Then I had to get home, have tea, wax legs and be off to basketball by 7pm. Basketball was much fun! I have a sore back so I hobbled around a bit, but got very puffed and scored lots of points. I even did a few 'flash' things like get steals and do cross-over dribbles to beat players down the court. (I love playing against kids!) We lost by two again - damned 40 point handicap.

Am tired now. Have to consider what to teach tomorrow...... Can't wait for next week to be over.....

Me think I'm running on empty...... Need a day at work where I can sit down for half an hour and do the Sudoku in the paper and eat a proper lunch.

Need to buy something pretty to wear to prizegiving which goes with a 'rose pink' hood and gown.

Hope my class buys me a nice corsage (one of the better school traditions - and you're always supposed to act 'surprised' when they present it to on the night and act dumb when they surreptisiouly ask what your favourite colour is beforehand). You look like a loser-teacher if your class forgets to give you one. Hasn't happened to me yet but my form-captain isn't very organised. Might have to organise a backup. Anyone got a good flower-garden at home?

RETURN OF THE NETBALLERS

Player of the Game: Morgan

Very glad to finally have a reason to cut my fingernails. They had gotten ridiculously long and seem to attract dirt. It was game #1 for 'Sparkle Motion' (I get a kick out of choosing such a dainty and feminine name for a mixed-sex team - we will be Nanoo Nanoo next season, Sammy - your name is on the waiting list). We should all eat packs of Sparkles before the game......

Not too bad. I'd say we should've won - they were athletic but very raw. Had a bit of a machine as their male shooter. He had a very quick release once he got the ball and rarely missed, though Morg did a nice job on him and managed to steal some ball away. Seemed like they were having a competition to see who could be most apologetic and nice to each other between plays after they'd 'accidentally' banged into each other. It amused me to watch this guy manhandle Sam Robinson when she tried to block him out..... Poor little Sam!

We had the usual problem in the mid-court of throwing away too much ball. Our shooters were all fairly solid once we got the ball in the circle and we got some 2-pointers (I was one-for-one!). Might just be a matter of refiguring our combinations there. Dare I say it.... but I think we missed Ken in there..... He always makes himself available and isn't afraid of the long pass (a bit of a mixed blessing sometimes). And without James we can't put Morgan in there as much as we'd like. Hmmmmm. Any volunteers to be our coach? You'd have to wear a suit and pace the sidelines with a mini-whiteboard.

I was most impressed by Aaron's tactical decision to draw the male-defender out of the circle. Worked a charm in the third quarter. Morg tells me he's even better with his Dodgeball tactics (I felt the need to capitalise that for some reason....). Having team tactics.... could be the theme of the season. I say we start having deeply secretive huddles between quarters and come up with plays that have code-names like 'Green Angel'.

This was perhaps the most pointless blog ever, since I discussed most of these things v-e-r-b-a-l-l-y at the game with the people who would be interested. Damnit. I should stop having conversations IRL and save the good stuff for my blog. Priorities!

RETURN OF THE NETBALLERS

More netball! Yay!

Very glad to finally have a reason to cut my fingernails. They had gotten ridiculously long and seem to attract dirt. It was game #1 for 'Sparkle Motion' (I get a kick out of choosing such a dainty and feminine name for a mixed-sex team - we will be Nanoo Nanoo next season, Sammy - your name is on the waiting list). We should all eat packs of Sparkles before the game......

Not too bad. I'd say we should've won - they were athletic but very raw. Had a bit of a machine as their male shooter. He had a very quick release once he got the ball and rarely missed, though Morg did a nice job on him and managed to steal some ball away. Seemed like they were having a competition to see who could be most apologetic and nice to each other between plays after they'd 'accidentally' banged into each other. It amused me to watch this guy manhandle Sam Robinson when she tried to block him out..... Poor little Sam!

We had the usual problem in the mid-court of throwing away too much ball. Our shooters were all fairly solid once we got the ball in the circle and we got some 2-pointers (I was one-for-one!). Might just be a matter of refiguring our combinations there. Dare I say it.... but I think we missed Ken in there..... He always makes himself available and isn't afraid of the long pass (a bit of a mixed blessing sometimes). And without James we can't put Morgan in there as much as we'd like. Hmmmmm. Any volunteers to be our coach? You'd have to wear a suit and pace the sidelines with a mini-whiteboard.

I was most impressed by Aaron's tactical decision to draw the male-defender out of the circle. Worked a charm in the third quarter. Morg tells me he's even better with his Dodgeball tactics (I felt the need to capitalise that for some reason....). Having team tactics.... could be the theme of the season. I say we start having deeply secretive huddles between quarters and come up with plays that have code-names like 'Green Angel'.

This was perhaps the most pointless blog ever, since I discussed most of these things v-e-r-b-a-l-l-y at the game with the people who would be interested. Damnit. I should stop having conversations IRL and save the good stuff for my blog. Priorities!

Haven't blogged in what feels like a whlie. I left my laptop at school accidentally and have had a busy-yet-unproductive weekend.

* * *
Men vs Women

Men interpret things weirdly. I was in town on Friday night, around 8pm and gave Matt a ring to see what he was up to. He was just on his way home from work drinks, said he was 15mins away. So, I said (and I quote) "How about I meet you at Fusion then?" Fusion is a clothes shop in Manner's St that is open late on a Friday night.

Anyhow.... I went in there and loitered around looking at clothes for a while, then thought I'd better try something on or else the shop assistants would start to look at me funny. Besides which, if I liked it I could get Matt to give a second opinion.

Half an hour later, he hadn't shown up. And other than my time in the cubicle (which was lengthy, I try things on slowly.... then retry them ....) I had kept an eye out for him. I ended up purchasing a couple of things and thought I'd better leave. I gave him a call and said, "Where are you?" He said he was at home and invited me around. I was perplexed by that - thinking my plan had been entirely clear and foolproof.

Turns out he had interpreted 'at Fusion' as 'outside Fusion' and hadn't gone in. He'd stood outside for a while, gone home (around the corner) and come back and stood outside a while more. Never once thinking to go IN. Now, I had stood outside for a minute while I called him and felt very ill-at-ease due to the congregation of drunken homeless people perched on the benches around there. So I wouldn't have suggested loitering in that locale for very long.

Having surveyed a few of my girl friends, we all see 'at Fusion' as meaning 'IN Fusion'. Why would you NOT go and browse while waiting for someone???

Do boys think differently?

* * *

POOL CHAMP

Hey Sam - I won a pool competition at work. It was inter-departmental and each department had two pairs competing, with the total points added together at the end. Me and my pair ended up winning five out of six games - we rocked! I think it was because while I wasn't the best player, I was very solid and my parnter wasn't crap. Most other pairing had one good player and someone comically terrible. Anyhow, my competitive streak may have surfaced again... English ended up beating Maths in the final, due to us strategically leaving six balls on the table and them missing the black....... Who says English teachers are no good at sports???

* * *

I greatly enjoyed Ken and Holly's BBQ on Saturday. I like that bunch of friends. Very easy to mingle with. I like a party where you can crank up the Beach Boys and sing along too! And who woulda thought, but Ant was right and fresh pineapple goes beautifully with fresh basil leaves....

I think 15 minutes of fireworks is plenty. I was well ready for the finale. Loved those floaty ones that hung in the air for a few seconds and left little tails behind them - like golden rain (not that I could use that term in front of Ryan without having to restrain him).

* * *

Luncheoned with my dad and Lynne on Sunday. Caught up on family gossip. How envious am I of my step-brother who has started a new consultancy firm and rather than rent an office in town, decided it would be wiser to buy a whole floor of offices in Lambton Quay and use a few and rent out the rest to other people...... He's r-i-c-h. They own a 'couple' of apartments in town too.

A cute thing was my one-year-old neice. Apparently she was sitting on Dad's knee, reading one of those books with textures in it you can touch. She came to an amimal one that had a 'furry' patch to touch. She sat there for ages, touching the book and then very carefully touching a tuft of Dad's chest-hair that was sticking out of the top of his chest, with the same finger. He said you could just see her going through a thought process, thinking 'Mummy and Daddy aren't furry - but Merv is... hmmmmmm....... Furry.' How fun to see kids learning and making connections!

I might be going to Elton John with them. Fun!

* * *

Work has been busy. I have been immersed in magazine-stuff. I took two days of relief and buried myself in the workroom all day, not even making time for a proper lunch break. So many little things to do and perfect. Haven't got a cover idea yet.... that's a worry....

Because magazine-stuff in consuming me at work people feel sorry for me and always give me sympathetic looks and say, 'How's the magazine going?' I think it gives me a bit of lee-way on my actual teaching at the moment. I let one class watch 'Friday the 13th' as relief. I actually WAS relevant to our study on the horror genre..... but also a slightly dodgey thing to show them.............. Oh well! I am bullet-proof at the moment because they don't pay me any extra for doing the magazine. They owe ME. Perhaps I have become a little complacent and arrogant................

* * *

Cautiously planning birthday stuff for the 25th of November. Pencil it in if you're keen. I haven't made any bookings yet but should do this week.

* * *

Looking forward to the first game of the netball season! I haven't done anything sporty in ages! I think my legs have become pure sticks of skin and lard stuck together by god knows what. All my muscles have disappeared since I don't walk to work anymore. Cars are a bad thing! Expensive and bad for your health! James is away watching Pearl Jam in Aussie, so I'll accept his apologies. Everyone else should be there.

* * *

Wet and windy Wellington Weekend

1.

Eating out

Friday night
We pleasantly surprised to get a last-minute invite to go out to dinner with a couple of friends from Levin who were down for an optometrists convention. We ended up going to Chameleon (at the Intercontinental - since that's where they were staying). It was in the voucher book too. I got venison. It was one of those fancy restaurants where all the mains are over $30 and then they come without 'sides', so you have to order those as well. But we thought the meals were worth it - you can tell they were superior and so rich that they actually were filling. They gave us individually wrapped Mentos fruit lollies with the bill - we agreed that was superior to plain old mints.

Afterwards I met Matt and his friends at the Southern Cross. It's flashed itself up since I was last there. Very fancy. I remember many a drunken T-coll session we used to have there, back in the Zeebos days. Ange says they have quite exquisite food there now too.

Saturday Brunch
Met Lulu and Clint for brunch. Rendezvoused at Dymocks (where I splashed out on two quirky books) and went to some sandwich place upstairs from The Body Shop on Lambton Quay. Due to my tender mouth (one of my wisdom teeth is coming through some more, and I can now understand how teething babies feel) I had the soup.

Saturday Dinner
Matt took me out to Little India. It was actually fairly average service - felt a bit rushed and they'd hover round eyeing up your plates when you were almost finished... and swoop in as soon as you took the last bite. And they told me they DIDN'T take the Entertainment card, when they DO (and it was the main reason we'd chosen to go there!). But I didn't make a big deal out of it, thinking I'd been mistaken...... Might have to go back and get a refund.

Sunday Brunch
Went to the good old Realm again with Cass and Matt. They do a good cheap hot brunch menu. I had Eggs Florentine. Under $10. I was excited to see a counterfeit $1,000,000 note had been stuck to my windscreen by someone..... until I realised it was church propoganda. Sneaky buggers.

Sunday Afternoon Tea
Cass and I dined at Elements in Kilbirnie. I got a yummy carrot cake slice, slathered with cream-cheeese icing. We enjoyed the free Cafe Culture magazines - but I found several cringe-worthy typos. Why can't people use posessive pronouns???

2.

Dramas

Ange rang me up at 8am on Sunday morning. It was one of those great opening lines where she got to say, 'Sorry to bother you - but I'm in the emergency department at the hospital and I've been on an IV drip for a few hours so they won't let me go home unless someone picks me up'. She's ok - but had another bout of doubling-over stomache pains and vomitting. Scan-time. She has great tales of having to walk/crawl there at 1am on Sunday morning and vomitting as soon as she got to the waiting room and then fainting as she was trying to get into the wheelchair. They gave her morphine. She said it made her weird.

Anyhow, she was very fragile and moved very gingerly. Poor Ange.

3.

Top Ten
a) Things that never seem to go as smoothly as they should (and I expect something to go wrong every time I try them)
b) Things boyfriends enjoy doing (other than the obvious)

My Answers
a) Setting the video to tape something and using the bloody voucher book.
b) Defragmenting their girlfriend's hard-drive and figuring out all the gadgets in their girlfriend's new car.

4.

Sorbet and Gelato

These are my favourite dessert treats at the moment. You can buy tubs of them at Woolworths and New World. Lemon sorbet and pistachio nut gelato. Mmmmm. I like to fool myself into thinking they're both healthy. That was it's ok to eat the entire tub by myself. Matt tried to share my sorbet, but I kept defeating him in spoon-duels and stealing it back off him.

5.

Bowling

Out for a romantic walk after our dinner, Matt showed me the new bowling alley out the back of Courtney Central. Good gracious - how did the buildup to that being opened up pass me by???? It's a truly grown-up alley with a big bar and sofas and large-screen TVs...... Looks like a place that needs checking out. Drunken bowling = Fun!

Now I have two ideas for my birthday.
a) Murder Mystery Night at my flat
b) Dinner and bowling in town
Not sure which one to go for. Option B would be easier to organise, but I haven't done a murder mystery in years and they're so very fun......

Clothes: Lost and Found

You will all be happy to know that I have rediscovered a cupboard full of my clothes (I had absent mindedly shoved them into a laundry cupboard, probably to give the place a superficial clean when looking for a flatmate when K. moved out - three months ago).

I had all kinds of conspiracy theories about what had happened to my two hoodies, red t-shirt and black jeans......

I like the fact that I never once entertained the thought that I had lost them myself. I never lose clothes. I was one of those kids that didn't lose anything at school - I looked after stuff good. My brother, on the other hand, was hopeless.

Hence, I have a vivid memory of him biking past me on the way home from college one day wearing one of my shirts and me being so livid that I may well have actually shaken a fist at him and yelled down the street. I didn't trust him not to lose my stuff. He knew it too - looked very sheepish and cycled off quickly. Cheeky bugger. I may very well have told on him to Mum.

Erm.

I'm not sure if this contradicts or confirms my stead-fast belief in my ability to never lose anything, but I also found a hat and cardie in the pocket of my laptop case that I had thought were missing (I assumed the mysterious hoodie thief had branched out into knitwear).

I am very happy. It's like I went on a shopping mission for a new wardrobe without having to spend any money! This is further emphasised by the fact that we have a washing machine for the first time in three months and I've done about five loads in a week (still one more to go - the woollens). I just ironed about 25 items. My wardrobe is brimming with opportunities....

* * *

Nicky

I am talking to Nicky on MSN. She did 'something' for the first time last week.

Makes you wonder.

She's going to catch up with Steve Roger again soon. Good old Steve.

Ids and Ods

I have very little to blog about. But in order to keep up with my blog neighbours, I'll make an effort! Even Cass and Ange have blogged semi-regularly lately.....

* * *

I went to a dinner on Friday night for a guy who was leaving. I had that odd situation where I was stuck sitting down the 'quiet' end of the table. It really does affect your night, where you sit. And it's awkward when you arrive either very ealry (in which case you have no control over the arrangement, and just have to pick a spot and see who surrounds you) or very late (when you have very few choices left) And etiquette demands that you do not move once seats are committed to, as this would be highly insulting to your neighbours.

I actually ended up getting to know the two annex-ladies (they do the photocopying and stuff for us teachers). Kinda interesting! We went thirds in a bottle of wine. It was just me and them down the very end of the table. To my other side was the guest of honour. We watched a few people in the restaurant who looked like 'couples' and tried to decipher whether they were on first dates. That's always a fun game!

* * *

Matt was a bit sick in the weekend. I bought him tissues. It sucks not having good tissues when you have a runny nose. As a long-time allery sufferer this is something I am very sympathetic to. In the right circumstances, I would pay a lot of money just for a box of tissues. Toilet paper is just not enough sometimes.

He's been breathing germs all over me for the weekend, so my immune system will have to fight hard. I've been training it up for years - it is superior. His flatmate actually has (W?)hooping-cough. I didn't know that people in the western world still got that. Apparently there's nothing you can do about it. It just lasts for about 90 days, draining you, and then goes away of its own accord.

* * *

Here's one of those stories that you wouldn't believe if it wasn't on an official news website. Some McDonald's worker was made to be humilated and strip-searched by her boss and boss's fiance because a man on the phone claimed to be the police and instructed them to detain her. One of those examples of humans acting despicably when given 'authority' and losing their own judgement.

It's like that famous psychology experiment where they got psych students to administer harsh electric shocks to subjects when they got questions wrong. They kept going and going even though the people were obviously in pain - just 'cause they'd been told to. Also like the true-life case the German film 'The Experiment' is based on, where they set up a prison experiment, where volunteers from the public were randomly assigned as either wardens or inmates - and it quickly got out of hand. Makes you wonder. Wonder what kinda teacher I woulda been in the days of corporal punishment......

* * *

God of War is a much better movie than I thought it would be. Quite nicely shot, and not so macho as most action movies. The films that are included as previews on the DVD are all crap B-grade action flicks starring people like Van Dam and Wesley Snipes. This is a bit misleading. I think the person who matched them up with this film had the same misconceptions that I did.

Nicholas Cage plays his role as a gun-runner pretty straight, as if he is just a good salesman who might just as easily be selling cars or real estate. It also has a non-Hollywood ending which is always a plus.

* * *

I actually got a birthday card for my Grandma. I think her birthday is on the 19th. I must remember to send it now! I am ashamed to admit I haven't sent her a card in years. I am a slack-ass grand-daughter. I went through an awful teenage phase where I didn't like her - for no particular reason. I think I was taking on some of the things my mum used to moan about as asides - and somehow thought it would be loyal to mum to not like Grandma...... It got so bad that my parents threatened to not to me with them on a family trip to America if I wasn't nicer! She only had the one child, my mum, who passed away. So now me and my brother are her only surviving relatives. She's one of those people who's incredibly easy to please and appreciative of anything.

I'm gonna try and be a better grand-daughter! Must ring her up on her birthday....

My nana is kinda the polar opposite. Very unemotional and doesn't like a fuss (really - she's not one of those people who says that). Certainly that's where my dad gets his rationality and calmness from. Nana is a tiny grey haired lady (five-foot-nothing) and she got given the fingers by some big trucker when she did something bad on the road.... In reply, rather than getting flustered and scared, she actually thumbed her nose at him. If it was still the 1950s, that woulda been the height of insults............

* * *

Tuesday. Good day.

I liked today. It was an easy day. I taught two classes and got paid for a full day's work...... Shhh, don't tell the Ministry.

I played basketball. It was good too. Lots of running and shooting and passing and rebounding. I feel virtuous and fit! I was playing against students from my school and I don't think I embarrassed myself too badly. Scored some points. Kept up reasonably well. Didn't injure any small children.

* * *
But the highlight of my day was ..... Sven(with a)d's hospitality! I had a feeling my casual hint about coming over for tea-and-biccies after basketball would result in there actually being a tray of freshly baked cookies being taken out of the oven ten minutes after I arrived and me being given a selection of exotic sounding herbal teas from the T-shop. And I was right!

I asked an innocent question about whether he had forced C. to role-play with him yet (not something you'd openly ask non-RPG folk).... and half and hour later he stopped for air and C. was able to say, 'So... yes, that's actually how we met'. I actually enjoyed the speil he'd given on the intricacies of RPG, though I was disappointed that there wasn't more physical acting out of the scenarios. I stand by believing it's a great creative outlet for grownups (in theory). Certainly more structured than me and Cassie deciding to put on obnoxious faux-British accents and trying to convince people she's 32nd in line to the throne.....

I think I'd quite like to do a murder-mystery party for my birthday this year. Though, that limits the numbers and I do enjoy asking random people (those ones on the fringe of the social group, or the ones I only see socially once a year at my birthday.... like James and Meredith).

I am possibly going to a 'Nurses, Air Hostesses and Dirty Old Perverts' themed party in the weekend. Erm. I think I'm more comfortable dressing up like Helen Clark - but I'll give the slutty costumes a go, I guess. They have these little Star Trek mini-dresses at the Costume Cave.... I could go as a futuristic air hostess from the Starship Enterprise! That would be geeky......

* * *
While I'm uploading photos..... Cassie (or was it Ange?) mentioned this weekend that everybody knows someone who looks like jesus. Here's my brother in a rather unkempt phase. What a mane of hair he sported! He is a man, a hairy man.

Day One. And Counting.

School

Brrrrrrriiiiiing. School's back in. Today, something went wrong in just about every single lesson I had. Actually, the lesson where I was winging it the most actually went the best. But after that I had based my entire lesson around a DVD that ended up having an invisible scratch in it and refused to play, some teacher who I shall not name STOLE the resource I'd spent hours making in the holidays and generously said, 'Hey - you can use it this period, I don't need it til after lunch' (and then he left it in his folder all day) and I forgot to photocopy something crucial.

All up, I had to jog (literally) back to the staffroom during three out of four of my classes to get back-up stuff. Good exercise and nice gossipping time for the kids, I guess.....

I got given a chocolate frog in the staff meeting by our DP in recognition of the work we've been doing on the magazine already. That was nice :) I am easily bribed!

* * *

Film Noir

I am teaching this to my media class as a genre. I am learning new terms like 'hard-boiled detective' and 'chiaroscuro lighting'. If anyone has any great theories of why film noir reflects the society it was produced in .... I will give you a chocolate fish for sharing that information with me!

* * *

Driving

I'm still doin' it. Drove to school for the first morning today. I went the easy-way, using the lights. I discovered this is a painfully slow route. I might try the hard-way tomorrow and merge at the tunnel.... eeeeeek. I also made myself drive the hard-way to and from netball today (it was 9.40..... I had the road to myself, baby). I tailed Morgan home down Hanson St in my as-yet-to-be-named car. I tend to call it by its number plate so far - my little DCW. Got a ring to it....

Did I mention I left my lights on at school last week and got a flat battery..... luckily Glenn works down the hill at Nissan and came and gave me a jump-start...... He'll hold that over my head for the next six months any time he wants to 'borrow' my milk/soap/washing-powder/pudding/money etc.

* * *

Netball

I liked tonight's game. I think that rookie ref is getting better, and I quite like the tone he runs the game with. He's firm but has a sense of humour. I liked watching Fish's battle with the fiesty pushy girl. She does good in those battles. I think she is always in the right.

The leapy Aussie guy annoyed me. He talked too much. He pointed out to me that I'd winded him when we collided. Get hard, mate. I wouldn't have mentioned it if it was me. I kinda tripped him over by mistake too. That's what you get for being leapy and annoying. I deal to you!

Aaron has potential, once he gets over the desire to jump and gets in that zen-like state where you wait the three seconds before you shoot. It's hard to get used to not shooting it straight away, as a basketballer. Good passer though - I like playing with people who have nice cross-court vision.

Ken was good. He didn't have any bad phases that I can remember. Praise be.

* * *

New Flatmates

So far so good. They seem nice. Probably a bit more rugga-bugga than me, but they're girls. And Kate watches trashy TV too! I have a partner is slothness! Matt is keeping up his good form in Kiwi Idol. GO THE LEVIN BOY! If he makes the final two, I might even give him a vote. That would be a first for me, voting on a TV show. Possibly not a proud moment..... but all Levin has at the moment is the giant market gardener and Carlos Spencer...... We need more.

* * *

Inconvenient Truth

The principal at the school I teach at liked the film so much that she wants to shout the entire student body to go watch it as a group (not sure where the money would come from in the budget). Nice idea. I don't know if it will get past all the cranky old teachers who balk at losing their seniors for a period. But she is a stubborn old dame once she sets her mind to something. I'm rooting for her! Field Trips are Fun!

Rites of Passage

When you are are younger, these are certain milestones you need to achieve.
1) Taking the training wheels off your bike.
2) Getting your first school bag (like a big kid)
3) Getting to write in pen at school (instead of pencil)
4) Being assigned household chores (because you're now tall enough to reach the kitchen sink safely)
5) Switching from baths to showers (why don't parents do that sooner?)
6) Getting your first watch (probably digital)
7) Having a full-on sleep-over with screaming girls (I can totally see why parents put THIS one off)
8) Getting helpings nearly as big as your dad's at dinner
9) Being given wine (watered down by a lot of H2O)
10) Learning how to tie shoe-laces (though, velcro does rule - BATA BULLETS!)

Rites of Womanhood
1) Learning how to braid and do French plaits (actually - I still can't do them!)
2) Your mum letting your rumage through her depleted make-up collection and 'play'
3) Walking around in high-heels from the dress-up box that are twice as big as your feet
4) Getting your ears pierced (I only got mine done three year ago!)
5) Shaving your legs (the end of Form 2)
6) Getting your first bra (just before Form 3)
7) Getting your eyebrows waxed and realising you should've done it YEARS ago (five years ago, never going back)
8) Going on the pill
9) Dying your hair and getting streaks
10) Discovering hair straighteners

Rites of Adulthood
1) Paying your own rent
2) Having a lease/bill in your name and having to deal with beuracracy and trying to get money out of flatmates and dealing with call centres
3) Moving flats and dealing with furniture and stairs and hills - without the help of your parents!
4) Having mounting APs and DDs in your bank account (insurance, retirement fund, charity....)
5) Grey hairs.
6) Starting to like the food and drink your parents like (fizzy drink is yuck, herbal tea is good)
7) Developing appreciation for good quality house-hold linen
8) Getting driver's licence and car
9) Having enough money to make large impulse purchases (usually on clothes....)
10) Realising that cliched relationship problems really DO exist! It's not just a myth popularised by TV and film (he's too controlling, he puts his friends ahead of me, all he wants is something casual, we're too different, he's too young, there's some kind of love triangle, he cheated!).

Rites of Passage still to come (for me.... )
1) Getting engaged and married/unionised
2) Having kids (though I've been planning the names for years)
3) Buying a house (in Wellington???? fat chance!)
4) Getting life insurance
5) Starting to watch Coronation St by choice.

Perfection

Initially, I was a sloppy driver. I would park horribly in angle parks and say, 'Bah, that'll do!'

I have made a conscious decision to not settle for anything less than perfection. I have now on a handful of ocassions made myself get back in the car and repark because I'm not satisfied.

Today I did a parallel park up the street (but it was a huge and very easy one)... and I made myself back into it, even though I could've driven in frontways. Then I noticed a smaller and more difficult one right outside my flat... and walked back up the hill and made myself repark.

My first attempt was woeful.... but the second one was spot on! I think I was mere millimetres away from hitting the car in front at one stage though....

I have also conquered some small milestones, like figuring out how to drive through the multiple pedestrian crossings in Hataitai and how to pull across three lanes of traffic from the Basin roundabout to Mt Vic (to be fair.... 11am on a week day isn't the most challenging time to attempt this - but it's a start!).

* * *

One of my new flatmates is moving in tomorrow. Her name is also Kate J. Bound to be confusion and hilarity at some point as my grandma starts telling her all about her gall-stones, thinking it's me.

* * *

GO MATT FROM LEVIN IN KIWI IDOL!

* * *

I quite like Outrageous Fortunes. Nice when Kiwi TV doesn't make you cringe! There are a few goodies around now..... or maybe I'm just getting old and 'uncool'....

* * *

I will soon be playing basketball out at Rongatai College every Tuesday night if anyone out that way wants to invite me over for tea and biccies (... ahem.... Svend.....).

* * *

Thanks for the pretty badge, Fishy :) Maybe decorative badges are grown-up versions of friendship bracelets.... Who can I get one for next?

* * *

Argh. (You know what I'm talking about, Ange.)

Out of Context

I was walking down the street today and someone coming towards me stopped and said, 'Hi!'

He looked happy to see me.

I had no idea who he was. He may have even used my name.

Rather than admit defeat, I said 'Hi' back and pretended to be happy to see him too.

He spoke some more. Luckily, he had a British accent (so my first guess of it being my old flatmate Simon and that he had gained about 15 kg and grown a bit of a beard) was wrong.

It was a guy I work with.

I'm a little embarrassed it took me so long to realise who he was. He sits right across the aisle from me.

Sometimes I am terrible at recognising people out of context. I walked straight past a guy I dated for about five weeks a while ago. He had to call out to me and made me stop and chat for a while.

So don't be offended if this happens to you too.

I am definitely of the school of thought that rather than admit you don't remember somebody, pretend you do. It's easy to do as long as you don't use names. This works for one-night-stands too (I hear). You should hear Nicky's story about using the wrong name (due to seeing a passport on the guy's bedside table, but it turning out to be his brother's passport). Hilaaarious. She also had the fleeting thought that 'my goodness - he's much better looking than I thought' after looking at the photo.....

***

Drove to netball today. All I did wrong was drive with the handbrake on for a while and hit someone's mirror. WATCH OUT FOR ME!

Driving

I have done some brave Wellington driving without crashing!

1) I drove all the way to Wellington by myself. Except for a dicey moment on the motorway just outside Paraparam where I accidentally ended up in the middle lane, it went quite smoothly.

2) I have driven to Kilbirnie Pak n Save a couple of times. I like that. It's an easy drive. And I can buy as MUCH as I want. I don't have to carry it far.

3) I have driven to Ange's house twice. It's in Newtown.

4) I dropped Matt home tonight in Ghuznee St. It was dark and rainy. Hard to see the lanes! Other than almost hitting a bus while going around the Basin, it was not too bad.

I'm gettin' the hang of it.

Althoooough.... I have done the following things since arriving in Wellington on Friday....
1) Driven with the hand brake on
2) Driven with no lights on
3) Tried to start driving with the engine not turned on (and wondered why the car went forwards when I had it in reverse.... almost hitting Glenn's car which was parked in front of me)
4) Hit a few kerbs...
5) Parked horribly in a couple of angle parks

Doesn't feel like my holidays have really started yet. I've had hardly any 'alone' time or 'admin' time.