Love, love, love, love Wellington

I've been in Wellington less than 12 hours and already I am happier than I have been in months.

I've seen both my best friends, I've walked down my favourite streets and I've had a wonderful dinner at Sweet Mother's Kitchen.

It only took walking from my hotel on Cuba Street, down the road to Manners Mall to put a giant smile on my face. I can't help it - this city is my favourite place in the world. Even though the weather is awful, I still love it.

I met up with Holly and we went to the cafe that was formally known as Espressoholic. I'm very sad to say that it is no longer as good. It's the same staff, the same building, the same coffee, a similar decor and menu but it's not the same. It's kind of like coming back to visit your best friend to discover in your absence they've taken up hard drugs and turned into a crack whore. They're still your friend, but they're not the person you love. We also went to Te Papa to see the Colossal Squid which was not as colossal as I expected (but would still scare the crap out of me if I ran into it while out swimming!)

Holly headed home at about 6 and I met up with Dane and Shera. We went to Sweet Mother's Kitchen, starting out with a drink and curly fries, which turned into dinner and dessert as well. All in all a great meal, and it was really awesome to catch up with them again.

We came back and hung out in my hotel for a few hours. I really love having the freedom of this hotel - it really is a shame I've only got it for the one night.

Now I'm thinking about bed. I've got a fairly light day tomorrow. In total I'm working 4 hours + a little time in advance to set up a training session tomorrow and right now, I'm feeling life is pretty darn sweet.

Lists

My life feels like one giant 'to do' list.

I have a 'to do' list of goals, the only way I keep any sembelence of sanity is with 'to do' lists at work, my RSS acts as a 'to watch' or 'to read' list for my media consumption and in my head I'm contantly making lists of the order in which I need to do things in order to be everywhere I need to be, with everything I need.

Clearly, I'm rather organised with all my lists (it's a blessing and a curse, but I couldn't imagine me being any other way), but it makes me wonder - do other people work on this 'list' style of life? I can only assume most don't, but it is interesting - how our brains organise data for us to get on with our lives and daily tasks.

Cleaning

I'm kinda odd in that I actually enjoy cleaning. I can only do it when I'm home alone, but while I don't look forward to it as a favourite activity, I do think there are plenty of worse ways to spend my time.

All I expect is a 'thank you' from my flatmates - honestly, I'm happy as long as they notice (not hard, I use a stupid amount of chemicals so the house always smells clean) and they say thanks (it's also nice if they don't complain about the fact I don't do stuff I don't enjoy - like taking out the rubbish or emptying the dehumidifier - but that's a bonus), I'm happy.

In my last flat I rarely got the opportunity to clean because I was rarely alone in the house. I also rarely got a 'thank you' - in fact more often than not I actually got 'spoken to' about it - but that's another matter entirely.

This flat... well it's been pretty disgusting. Worse than I'd originally thought. Only cleaning it really revealed how gross it actually was.

Luckily, the bits that have been really annoying me are now clean, and the other bits will get attacked in the near future - to be honest, here it'd be a bonus if I got thanked - I'm more grateful for the house to myself.

Absolutely nothing of any interest or relevance

All day, time's been slipping away from me.

It started at 6am when my alarm went off and I turned it off thinking it was the weekend and I could sleep in - luckily at 7.30 my internal clock got an "it's Monday!" jolt (seriously, those were my first two words today) and I got up on time to get to work.

Then, I worked happily away all day until 6.30 when I realised I was the only one there and it was well past hometime.

Now it's 9pm and I've got time to watch an episode of something before bedtime. It's just like the whole day has gone *poof*.

3 sleeps 'til Wellington and 1 week until graduation!

Supporting the economy

Last night it struck me that I graduate in a week and I need to get a hair cut and a new outfit, so today I headed down the road for pampering and retail therapy.

I don't think I've ever loved a haircut as much as I love the one I got. The hairdresser did miracles. I've still got the length but I've got some extreme layers which stop it looking 'boofy' and make it look sleek and awesome. I'm totally in love with it.

I also got a great new dress. It's vey Jackie O with a backwards collar and this cool little back feature. Unfortunately I need to wear knickers that would make Bridget Jones proud when I wear it, but as long as I've got the nation-sized knickers on the dress looks fantastic.

I may have spent more than I had planned today, but at least I know that I got things I need, and that I love - and I didn't buy a single thing at full price, which makes me feel slightly less guilty.

So for April, the thing I own is my new haircut - you'll have to wait to the graduation post to see the dress (and I'm not planning to show anyone the granny panties).

Incedentally, this is also the first blog that shows my new room - there are still boxes behind me but I finally have the postsecrets, posters and art up.

One week from now...

One week from now I will be in Wellington.

I get to go on my first business trip and I'm quite excited about it - apart from work, which I will have to do - it looks like I'll get to go to Parliament, I'll get to see TWO good friends who have recently become engaged and I'll get to see Holly!

If you're down there and I haven't contacted you, feel free to contact me. I'm not entirely sure of my workload yet so I haven't contacted too many people but I'm down from mid-Thursday to early Sunday.

Yay!

Indigo sunsets are horribly fascinating, but also awfully common in Afghanistan, Nerdfighteria and Egypt because off-shore winds cause the clouds to

Something I didn't know - there is a character limit on the length of titles.

The full title for this post is "Indigo sunsets are horribly fascinating, but also awfully common in Afghanistan, Nerdfighteria and Egypt because off-shore winds cause the clouds to dissapate"... incase you didn't guess, I lost the email subject line again today.

It may be a bit of a cheat, but I found it difficult to imagine an indigo sunset so I decided to Google-Image search 'indigo sunset' and I got some interesting results.

Firstly, this one isn't actually indigo, but it came up. It's hosted by a website for a company called 'Indigo Computers'. Funny that. This one I'm sure did not get taken in Afgahnistan, Nerdfighteria or Egypt.

I'm not convinced this one is indigo either, but it certainly is pretty. I've decided that this one was taken in Egypt (note, it's highly unlikely this is actually true, but I have to make this post fit the ridiculous title somehow)

This one is definitely closer to being indigo, but I think it's more the colour of the sky in the reflection. This one, I've decided, was taken in Afghanistan.

An indigo sunset for sure. Who'd have thunk it? Clearly, because this one is from Nerdfighteria because it is the most awesome, and we all know Nerdfighteria is the home of awesome.

Not only that but there is a band called Indigo Sunset in Atlanta.

...Yeah, I know this was a strange blog, I'll try to remember the words on Monday!

Toothache

I have a toothache and it's driving me batty.

Unfortunately I wasn't smart enough to get my toothache supplies before I came home (bucket of neurofen, panadol and some teething gel) so I'm stuck not being able to sleep, drinking a lot of water and brushing my teeth every hour.

While the best solution would be to go to the dentist, I also know I get them a few weeks after I stop smoking so having one isn't entirely surprising given I've been off cigarettes for 3 weeks, so I know it'll go away in a couple of days.

Unfortunately, until that happens, I'm in pain.

Noisy clock

I have a clock and it's really noisy.

I bought it for the flat I used to share with Holly. It was so loud that I could hear it through the wall in my room and guests reguarly take out the batteries when sleeping in the lounge.

Now I have to decide what to do with the clock. I'm not putting it in my room, but I'm not sure my flatmates would appreciate it's incessant ticking either...

So for now, it's going to live in the cupboard I guess.

Unpacking slowly

I am very slowly getting through my unpacking. Normally I'm really quick at it, but this time I'm considering what I want, and what I don't. Currently I have 2 boxes of stuff to go back to Whangarei with Mum and more than a suitcase of stuff to sell on TradeMe or give away on Freecycle.

Unpacking tends to get hampered by work and life, but is generally going well, I'll definitely be there by the end of the week.

My friends have started visiting me. Less than a week after I moved out, my friends have started showing an interest in coming around. It may be that they're curious about the new place, but I'm really tempted to believe it's got more to do with the change in house mates.

Moving was a great decision and I am so glad I did it early this time rather than waiting for the situation to get really bad. Thank God for learning from past mistakes huh?

Future

Avid readers... OK Holly, would have noticed that I've become ridiculously slack in blogging of late.

If you come back in 2 weeks the whole blog will look like I've never missed a day, but day-to-day I miss loads and then just come back and fill them in.

Part of it is my life and my job are getting in the way - I spend so much time online at work it really is the last thing I want to do when I get home - and part of it is the simple fact that I have nothing to say.

I did make a promise - to blog every day for five years - and I've yet to reach two (although it's close). Perhaps a return to the punishment clause is in order?

Thoughts?

Easy does it

Rather than torturing myself and my stiff arms with unpacking today I decided to do something I've been looking forward to for days and go see Fast and the Furious 4.

Yes, I'm aware that it's sad, but I've got a soft spot for Fast and the Furious movies and I've been looking forward to this one for a while. I enjoyed it. There were definitely things that irked me about it, but you don't go to see one of these movies for the plot, you go for the action, the escapism, the hot bodies and the hot cars.

After Fast and the Furious I picked up some stuff I needed for the flat and meandered up to the Rialto. A movie description struck me as funny, and I discovered the movie was due to start in 10 minutes so I figured, why not? Thus, I ended up seeing Empties too (which was OK, but I liked Fast and the Furious better).

Basically it's been a nice, laid back, average day - which has made a nice change to be sure.

Fuck me that hurts!

I was up last night until 1.30am cleaning and Rug Doctoring. By the time I finished I was sweaty and stinky, but the flat was sparkling. Eru had roped his mum into doing his share and Sarah had cleaned the shower and the oven, but much of it was left for me.

Once I'd finished it was past 1, and given I'd just have to be back first thing to return the Rug Doctor anyway, I decided I'd just spend the night on the couch (which my brother picked up today). Luckily I'd considered this as an option and had left my sleeping bag and a pillow. Unfortunately I hadn't considered a change of clothes - or the fact that, ironically, cleaning a house makes you dirty.

I decided I'd have a shower. I still had a number of clean rags that I could use as a makeshift towel, I'd found shampoo in the bathroom and we left our bubble bath for the next tennant as none of us had a bath in our new places so that became my makeshift soap. It wasn't perfect but it was good enough. I did have pyjamas so I slipped into them, handwashed my underware and socks with the laundry powder that had stayed in our cupboard and hung them out to dry then fell asleep on the couch.

This is as close as I ever get to camping. Makeshift urban living.

This morning, when I woke up I was stiff to say the least. My elbows are inflamed, as are my knees. My legs are covered in mysterious bruises and my upper arms hurt when I lift them too high. But, I rolled my way out of bed, returned the Rug Doctor, got a cab back to the new place with the random, left behind stuff and began unpacking before having to go back this afternoon to meet my brother, who was picking up some furniture, and the landlord for the final inspection.

So that's my Mount Eden flat officially dissolved and thank God for that. The flat itself was still good. I didn't actually mind the place - my problem was most definitely a personality clash with one of my flatmates - but that's over now and I can finally start looking forward again... after I get some sleep of course!

The Big Day

All my stuff is now at the new house. It took a little over an hour to load the truck, drive it over and unload it. I haven't done much unpacking but I'm pretty sure the only things that broke were a couple of shelves.

I don't think my shelves are going to make it another move. They're only cheap Warehouse ones so I'm not too worried about it, but 2 of them are defnitely shot and another one is wobbly - I think 2 might make another move, but there's not that much life left in them.

Sarah Jane picked me up from the old flat and we got some dinner at Wendy's, picked up the Rug Doctor and then she took my desk. The new place is partially furnished so coordinating the removal of all my furniture has been a bit of a mission - my couches and fridge still need to be picked up tomorrow by my brother and the bed is staying for the new tennant.

Anyway, Rug Doctoring to do - the downstairs neighbours have kept us up late for months with various antics so I'm taking my revenge by Rug Doctoring overnight....

Moving commotion

Tommorrow is the big day - the day when I finally make the move to the new house - it's all very exciting.

I'm all packed and ready to go. Tomorrow is a half-day so I'm going in earlier than usual in order to actually get my work out of the way.

I'm already tired and I haven't even begun the hard yards yet!

I hate titles, I don't know what number I'm up to

Another 12 hour day at work - these are becoming increasingly (and worryingly) frequent.

Now I'm at home and trying to fit dinner, relaxing and sleep into a very short space of time before I roll out of bed tomorrow and start all over again. Joy.

I've recently discovered the joys of Freecycle. At the moment it looks like my bed is going to go to a refugee family, which I think is really, really neat. I think everyone should subscribe to their local digest - it might help you get something you need, or you might be able to help someone less fortunate.

Ready, steady, cook!

Over the last few days in our flat, cooking has become somewhat of an interesting experience.

My remaining flatmate and I have called fair game on everything in the kitchen and we're both attempting to get by without buying groceries (milk and bread excluded). We're also trying to use as much of the food in our cupboards as possible.

Last night I managed to use pastry sheets, steak, onion, garlic, flour, vegetable stock, potato, frozen vegetables and various herbs and spices to create a pretty decent pie.

Tonight I get to eat leftover pie, and tomorrow I'm going to attempt something else.

We're both quite aware that we seem to stick to the same dozen recipes. Forcing ourselves to actually use the crap in the cupboards is meaning I'm reaching into the back of my brain and remembering cooking techniques I've not used since chef school 9 years ago.

It's certainly an interesting experience.

Must. Get. To. Melbourne.

There is a Nerdfighter event with John Green in Melbourne at the end of May.

I must be there.

It's too close to Auckland, too easy to get there. I cannot let this opportunity go by.

At this stage I don't know HOW I'm going to get there (well, by plane is a pretty safe assumption, but I have no idea where I'm going to get the tickets from or how I'm going to pay for them) and I don't know where I'm going to stay, I just know I've absolutely got to go.

I've been thinking about a trip to Melbourne for a while actually, so this falling out of the sky onto my lap makes it pretty much a goer.

One way or another, at the end of next month, I WILL be in Australia!

Babies

My cousin became a dad yesterday.

The whole family is (rightfully) going gaga over the little dude. It's pretty funny actually.

Still, he's a cutie. Welcome to the world, Liam Isaac Zame.

Movin' On...

The first of my flatmates to move out moved today.

It was... kind of interesting. She had these two movers who were basically Van and Munter from Outrageous Fortune.

They had mullets, and wore cut-off jeans. They also turned up with a can of Woodstock each and both seemed partial to a bit of puff. It took me about 20 minutes to realise who they reminded me of and then for the rest of the move it just made me smirk. Not the most professional movers, but they boast to being the cheapest in town (which I don't doubt) and they weren't my movers, so I just enjoyed the entertainment.

The countdown is now on. 6 sleeps until I move out and onward.

Been packin'

My room is now pretty much entirely packed. I've also almost managed to finish the entire series of Lost (up until the point it now is).

I stayed up until 3am last night packing and watching Lost. I now have boxes piled taller than I am and will be 'getting by' with very few items until Friday.

The good news is that at least I won't be in a blind panic on Thursday about moving. By the end of the weekend I'll be right down to 'basics only' and so the final pack should be able to be done in the couple of hours between finishing work and the mover arriving. I've already copped flak from both my flatmates for packing so soon, but I don't care, I just want to move.

Packing

I'm spending my weekend packing. Hopefully by the end of it my house will be in reasonable condition and 85% of my stuff will be packed and waiting for the mover, who's coming next Friday afternoon.

To say I'm eager to leave my current digs is a bit of an understatement.

I've been at work since 8.30am this morning, it's now almost 8.30pm and I'm still here. Not because I'm rushed off my feet but because, as long as I don't want to be home, I may as well be here instead.

Bring on next Friday!

Driving

I know it's weird for me to be one of a very small minority of people my age who don't drive.

I know it's weird that I am physically able to drive, but I choose not to.

I know it's weird for me to not only choose not to drive, but to not know how to at all (I can count the number of times I've been behind the wheel of a car on two hands).

But don't you think it says a lot more about our society that I am considered the weird one?

100 years ago only the rich and privileged drove. It was an oddity to drive, not the norm.

I choose not to drive for many reasons - firstly, because, while it is a bit of an inconvenience, I've managed to get by this far without it. Secondly, because I'm terrified by what driving will do to me physically - I'm not a small girl and I walk nearly everywhere. What happens when I have a 'lazy option'? Thirdly, because I love this planet and by not driving I am taking one car off the road - I save hundreds of litres of petrol annually because I don't drive. I am a carpooler, a public transport patron, and I walk. Finally, I do it out of spite. I hate that I'm considered abnormal because I choose not to drive. I hate that I am judged because of it. I don't constantly bludge rides, I am perfectly capable of getting myself from A to B - it just usually takes longer and requires a little more organisation. While others are stuck in traffic, I'm peacefully reading my book, or exercising.

Yes, I miss out on a lot of things because I don't drive (people say Auckland is great for it's beaches, but that only applies if you have a car or like Mission Bay, which I don't, the best beaches are the Western Beaches and to get there, you need a car), yes, at least once a week I wish I had a car and a license, but in the end I'm perfectly happy walking, or taking a bus and reading my book.

One day, I will learn how to drive, but until then I just wish people would respect my decision and stop looking at me like I'm an alien from outer space just because I choose not to drive.

Odd decision...

I'm faced with a decision right now...

To go home, or to stay at work and get a head start on my next project.

It's not urgent (though it would be nice to knock it off quickly), but mostly I just don't want to go home.

In two weeks I move and this sort of decision won't be a problem anymore, it will be back to the 'if I have to work I stay, otherwise I go home' but right now it's home I'm avoiding, so perhaps I will get a head start on the next project.

I miss the days when if I was avoiding home, I could just go to a movie.

Facebook Fail

New Facebook sucks. I'm getting used to it, but it doesn't stop it from sucking.

When it first came out, Holly made fun of me for what I now know as the Facebook Fail.

This is when someone writes on your wall, and instead of writing back on their wall, you write it in your own status box instead.

They're really easy to spot because they look something like this (I've made these updates and the people up, I'm not using real Facebook Fails):

James Johnson Hey man, how's it going? I got so munted last night, I left with some dude at 3am to go for a smoke and then next thing I know the taxi driver is shaking me awake and I'm at home! Wicked night, we totally need to do it again!

Mary Young Can you pick some milk up on the way home?

I hate new Facebook, but I love Facebook Fails.

Frozen food

This post is part of my new monthly feature: recession busters.

I hate cooking every day, and I also hate most frozen food. I tend to find that the frozen, pre-prepared meals in the frozen section of the supermarket just taste horrible. So these days, I make my own.

I think the most important part of my operation is my containers. I have a fairly large pile of butter containers. It's a habit I picked up from my mother - I just think they're way too valuable for food storage to throw out. They're a very handy size and the greenie in me is always looking for ways to reuse, because it's even better than recycling. That's led me to slowly build up 20 or so containers and lids.

I'm pretty sure everyone realises it's cheaper to feed a group than to feed a single person. Unfortunately I'm such a picky eater that it usually works best in flats that I cook for myself. My solution for all these problems to to cook LOTS once every few weeks and to freeze it all in the perfect-sized containers.

Spaghetti bolognaise, macaroni cheese, lasagna, bacon and egg pie, pre-cooked meat patties (to be later matched with a baked potato and steamed veges), stir fry, casserole, soup... the possibilities are pretty much only limited by your imagination, but a quick look around the frozen food section would give you a few ideas, and trust me - it's likely to taste a LOT better, save you oodles of time during the week, will be far healthier and most important - will cost a lot less!

Found a flat!!

I found a flat today!!

It's in Grafton. It's not awesome, but it's a place to live that looks like it will have everything I need for as long as I need it. It's got a dedicated phone line in my room which means I get to keep my wicked Orcon connection, the electricity and water costs are pretty low, the room is big enough and has a wardrobe (actually it's got two) and the house has a garden I can use to grow veges.

It's really close to main transport links, is a 30 minute walk to work and is close enough to the supermarket.

Fingers crossed this will be the last time I have to move in Auckland!

Another week over

Another week is over - it's been pretty epic at work, and I'm also trying to find a flat so things are just busy.

I'm still suffering from my massive bout of the 'nothing to says'. Part of it is that I feel I can't really express some of the things I'm going through in such a public forum - while I might be useless at blogging here at the moment, I'm also going through things at work and at home. Big things.

It's actually pretty frustrating that I can't/don't want to talk about this stuff. One aspect of this blogging project I really like is that it's caused me to think deeper and further about many things I'd never really thought about before - and I think that's got a lot to do with the fact that I am rarely shy about what I put here.

However I definitely find it tacky to bitch about other people online, and other people have definitely been affecting me negatively to a large extent recently. It just happens that right now, the things that are foremost in my mind are things I either can't talk about online, or simply don't want to.

So that's my explanation for the patchy blogging at the moment - I do make up any blogs I miss, but mostly if I'm missing them, it's because my mind is more focused on things I can't - or won't - blog about.

We're related!

According to Facebook, I am Obama's cousin...

(Click the picture to enlarge it)

I really wish this was true, but I'm pretty sure it's not - and if it's an April Fool it's a pretty strange one.

I did get April Fool'd by Facebook today though. It asked me "if I knew this was the last episode of Lost?" - of course that got my attention! Then as it was loading I thought "ah, it's an April Fool".

Sorry

I am so sick of having nothing to say. Day after day I sit down and there's just nothing to say.

Hence all the missed posts and filler blogs lately.

Anyone got any ideas?