shhh….

And I ordered some Havana coffee beans for Steve. Don’t tell!

Saturday stuff

Today started out pretty slowly - Steve woke up early and cooked us both breakfast (scrambled eggs and bacon on top of English muffins, with yummy curried zucchini chutney and tabasco sauce on top), then headed out to meet Alex T for a bike ride. I took some photos this morning, of my latest yarn, and put it up at my new shop. Yeah, I’ve got a shop! I didn’t want to mention it earlier as I only had a few things posted, but now I feel that I have enough there to actually point people to it. I haven’t sold anything yet, but I’m of the opinion that if your stuff is of reasonable quality (and I do think it’s good) then you shouldn’t have too many difficulties in the long run.

I love the yarns I have posted; I’d keep them all myself, but there is something really fun about going through the steps of selling something you’ve made. Taking photos, figuring out length, wraps per inch, writing an interesting description, then posting it all up on etsy.

Here’s what I put up today:

I also spent a little bit of time on Photoshop, playing around with creating a little logo. I know Photoshop’s really old hat for most people, but I’m really only starting to discover it now. I guess I never had a use for it before (or never thought I did), while now I want to try out things like creating a banner for my shop, and all of a sudden I’m messing around with layers, backgrounds, fonts, etc. etc.

Here’s the logo I finally came up with. (Let me know what you think.)

I think it’s pretty damn cool.

I then spent the rest of the morning carding some of Galadriel’s fleece in my drum carder (that I bought cheap off Trademe). It’s so fine and black - it’s gorgeous. But hard to get out some of the bits of grass and things that have gathered in there too. The carding seems to get out a lot, but because the fleece is so fine, it makes picking stuff out nearly impossible. I did about five or six batts in all (takes quite a few layers passed through the drum carder to make those though, the teeth are quite short) and then got a sore back from leaning over it all.

Anyway, we’re off to Alex’s for dinner now. No doubt we’ll be talking about Vietnam (his brother works for the embassy there and Alex went over earlier in the year)… should be good. I should go get changed though, I’m covered in fluff and fleece… (fluff from the massive cleaning frenzy we both got into later this afternoon.)

Heading up north

Yep, heading up north in an hour and twenty minutes. We’re leaving work an hour early and driving up to Taupo for a nice long weekend - the world mountainbike champs are on in Rotorua (Steve’s got the link on his blog), and we’ve got tickets! Forecast is for rain though, and the Desert Road’s been closed for the past few days due to snow and ice. It’s only just re-opened today, so here’s hoping we can get through without too much trouble.

I’m taking books, some pretty wool and alpaca I’ve just spun recently (just to show off) and some socks that I’ve started knitting from this wool I dyed and then spun myself. It’s really an incredible feeling to make something from scratch, no matter what it is. I love it. Taking polyprops and my raincoat too.

Feeling sleepy. Had a nice kebab from this great place on the Terrace called Daniel’s. I don’t know a lot more about it, aside from the fact that their felafels have mint and other fresh herbs in them, and the food tastes a lot more…real than other places. Poor Steve and Brent got suckered in with an email Simon sent out this morning about how Chow Main Cube was having their first birthday, and were celebrating with $5 lunches. They both queued up and got their cheap lunches…an hour later! I got a kebab instead, and Simon, coming down the road from Unisys, saw the queue and made the quick decision that maybe Chow Main Cube would be better for dinner after all, hehe.

Last night we went back to Flying Burrito Brothers for dinner (and frozen margheritas). We had the pork crackling and salsa verde again (heart attack food! but so good!) and some pretty little tortilla and mole chicken starters. Steve had the enchilladas and I had more Mole Chicken that in the end I couldn’t finish. It was beautiful though.

Oh my god, I forgot to mention this earlier. Colette and David are going to be taking part in this year’s supercar rally. Even though they’re the official photographers, they are still getting a Maserati to drive! Lucky bums!

weekend catchup

The best thing about Ryvita crackers is that they don’t really seem to go stale. At least the ones in my desk drawer haven’t. I’ve been having them with peanut butter on them, on and off, for the better part of a month. They still seem crunchy and don’t have that stale taste to them.

I’ve been up to heaps lately.

The weekend was particularly good. On Saturday, Daphne and I went to Golding’s to do an Art Clay class. We came out of it with a silver ring each, that we’d made, and a necklace in the cast shape of a leaf. Steve picked us up, and we dropped Daphne off at her place. At the same time I picked up this aquarium that she was getting rid of. It’s quite a bit bigger than my one - 40 litres - and quite a bit longer.

Sunday we went to the pet store and got a new air pump (a flash Eheim one) to go with the undergravel filter and a hood light. Sunday afternoon was spent removing all the plants, then the fish themselves, then siphoning all the water out of the old tank (retaining as much of the old water as possible, in buckets, cooking pots, etc.), and finally transferring the gravel over to the new tank, then the fish, then the plants. It looks great now!

On Sunday evening we went to the premiere of the DVD release for the movie “The Last Hurrah” (the website for the book and the movie is here.) It was really fantastic. The Paramount was packed with bikies, most of whom showed up in their leathers and carrying helmets. They’d all shown up to lend support to two bloody tough buggers, both over 70, who had made the trip from China to Holland in three months. It was really fun.

After that we went to dinner at the Flying Burrito Brothers. We ate spicy pumkin seeds, pork crackling with salsa verde, burritos and enchiladas, and drank some beautifully sour and salty margaritas. Staggered home.

Also recently I got this great book from Amazon, called French for Reading. In addition to this, I also got some great books from Amazon.fr - including french versions of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, The Old Man and the Sea, The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe and The Magician’s Nephew. I’m really set up now. So my French lessons have been really enjoyable so far. I haven’t studied French formally since school, but I am finding it really interesting. I’m doing it for the express purpose of being able to read books in French - just to load up on books written in another language and have a crack at it. Sometimes that approach can be good - a bit like how we approached Old Norse for my uni paper.

I’ve also been really busy lately with all the reviews, etc. I’ve been writing for NZGamer. I think I’ve written eight reviews/columns in the past three weeks. Considering the fact that you have to give the games a decent play before you review them, my spare time in the evenings after work’s been pretty non-existent. I’m enjoying it though. I’ve got another three due this Friday.

Work is still boring me to tears, and I’m wracking my brain trying to think of how I can change my situation. Everything else in life is going swimmingly, and it’s frustrating to feel like how I earn a crust is beyond my control. Sure, it gives me the opportunity to do things like the art clay course, and to go out and buy fishtank stuff, etc. etc. etc., but at the same time I feel like I’m not being true to who I am with this job. Like I’m faking it. And it’s not even enjoyable to pretend to fake it anymore. I read about people who are librarians, teachers, doctors, accountants, journalists, or who serve in the armed forces. They’re such cut and dry sort of jobs, jobs that require a definite decision. I just don’t know how I could do something like that. I’ve thought about teaching, but thinking about it and feeling a passion for teaching are two such completely different things. I know I’m piddling around, wasting time. I need to set myself on some sort of strict regimen of no booze and plenty of writing - but other things seem to creep in and distract me. Perhaps I’m just too easily distracted. Sometimes I think things would be better if I wasn’t working, other times I think the structure is what I need to get out of bed and leave the house every day. I think Harvey Pekar said something similar about his file clerk job. You hate it, but at the same time it helps you out in ways you don’t want to acknowledge. It’s sort of like having to drink cod liver oil, I guess.

freezing night

Steve and I have just signed up for broadband, and we’ve set up a wireless router, so I am quite happily writing this in my room. It’s a freezing night. I’m sitting at my desk, toes burning from the cold. We’ve got two heaters running, I am wearing my nightgown, pyjama bottoms, robe, woolen socks and slippers, and my feet are still freezing. The wind keeps howling past the house and rattling the scaffolding outside. It really is one of the coldest winters New Zealand has had in some time. Down in the South Island, there are people who have been without power for close to two weeks, what with all the heavy, heavy snowfall down there. I don’t know how they are managing. We have power, and it’s still crazily cold.

Friday tomorrow, and I couldn’t be more pleased. I haven’t been well, and the cold is still lingering a bit. Still, I went back to work on Wednesday. Things at work are strange, what with my team shifting from the thirteenth to the first floor of our building, getting a new team leader, and Simon, my closest workmate, leaving the company. It almost feels like a new job - except the work is still pretty boring. I’ve been desperate for something new to do for so long, and really am growing tired of feeling ignored. Whether this is the intent or not, it’s the end effect.

However! Tomorrow is my American Gothic class party. Gothic pizza party. Costume essential… And Saturday, Daph and Graeme are coming round for dinner. Sunday is an afternoon movie at Ben & Tash’s with soup and bread. It’s going to be great.

Oh! And I forgot to mention, I finally got round to getting my hair cut. Six months plus it’s been, since I last had the chop. It’s nice. It feels light and flowey. Flowy. (both look wrong)

Have also completed a couple of articles for NZGamer: a preview for the Legend of Zelda: The Phantom Hourglass, and a review of the very awesome puzzle game, eets. I recommend eets. Go check it out.

But now I’d better head off - I have to burn a CD of music for the gothic party. Will post pictures!

in Taupo

Steve and I are in Taupo for the weekend. It’s a nice change from rushing around Wellington. It’s quite sunny and warm, and the sleep in was good. We’re going to head out for lunch with Mum, and Dad’s back from a conference in Nelson tonight.

Had my second interview yesterday, this time with another person who I would be working with. I think it went well, though I won’t find out until Monday if I’ve got the job! Quite scary, really, things could be changing soon…quite considerable changes really. New place of work, different people around you during the day. I hope it’s the right decision. The work will definitely be more interesting, but everything else really is a complete unknown quantity.

Steve says at least this way I can bring Hell Pizza home for dinner, as they’d be just down the road.

Will let you know more as soon as I hear anything.

moist and sort of yuck

Hi, I haven’t been around much lately - I’ve been sick for the past three weeks with a mysterious ailment which could be whooping cough. After two weeks of horrible spasming coughs I finally went in to the doctor on Monday (it’s Friday today) and had some tests done and got some antibiotics. I don’t know that much about antibiotics really, I don’t know how long it’s meant to be before you really feel like you’re making some progress. I think my cough is getting better but I still wake up two or three times in the night, choking, coughing, unable to breathe. It’s pretty scary. I had the last two days off work and didn’t leave the house once. Sat around in my robe reading (at the moment I’m re-reading Kerouac’s “Dharma Bums”, a book that reminds me of my second year at university) and sleeping and computering. Not particularly exciting, but I think I have improved a little.

It’s really winter now: you can hardly see the harbour through the window. Everywhere you look you see grey and rain. The sky is that dirty-grey color, not even a steely gray that makes being inside feel cozy. Or maybe it’s just because I’m sick, everything feels like the inside of a lung. Moist and sort of yuck.

But it’s friday. Jeremy’s coming over for dinner tonight (Aart’s famous meatballs). Might go for a drive over to the Wairarapa with James tomorrow, and there’s this writing workshop on Sunday for Radio New Zealand that I’m going to go to. They’ve got a programme that’s going to be on in September called “Open Season” or something, where they want the general public to write for radio. I really don’t know what to expect but I’m going to go along. They’re looking for poetry, short stories and plays. I’ve been trying to write more but with no real space of my own it is proving to be quite difficult.

My dad wants to go halves on a house with me, so I’ve been looking in the papers at properties and going to the odd open home. It’s all early days at the moment, but I quite like the idea of setting up a place of my own. A four bedroom, rent out one or two of the rooms and turn one into a writing room. I can certainly think of worse things, anyway.

My mom’s finally got her car back after the accident. And my dad sold his Suburban, the one he bought new in 1984 when my grandparents came out to the States and we drove around canada - the six of us plus the dog. That car’s been like an extension of my dad - like a foot or something. It seems strange to think that it’s gone now - a guy from Blenheim bought it, who works for Firestone (so already it has some nice new tires!) with three wee kids. Quite nice, really.

Oh, and my Old Icelandic class is getting together this Saturday as well - going to our lecturer’s for dinner and to watch the first part of Wagner’s Ring Cycle. I have never seen this before, apparently it is “hard core” opera, but it’s all based on similar mythology to what we’re studying at the moment. Cool. It’s in 5 parts - the longest is something like 5 hours long, but the bit we’re watching is only a few hours. Should be a laugh anyway.

rain, DVDs and “the Hump”

Well! This afternoon sure has perked up, with the arrival of both the rain (have I mentioned the flooding that’s been going on in the entire North Island lately?) - again - and two DVDs I ordered online, Cinema Paradiso and Nine Queens. The DVDs I ordered from a company that’s just down the road, and which took about five days to reach me here at work. Go figure. What an annoying expression that is! I have a feeling if I look back through the past (nearly) three years, I’ll probably find it liberally peppered through most of my entries. G.F. Anyway, I guess that’s just the way it goes, especially when you’re sitting in front of a computer all day long. I’ve been buying too many t-shirts from the Belle and Sebastian website as well. In the past few months, that’s the only way I’ve been doing my shopping - online. Not a bad fit for those t-shirts, not bad at all! I do look like a walking billboard for B&S, however I suppose there are worse things in life.

The rain is a bit of a drag, though, even though I did remember to bring my raincoat just in case. I wanted to walk down to the supermarket first, before heading home, but I suspect that all the rain will probably drive me home. Pity, I was in the mood to do some serious cooking tonight. Perhaps I can talk myself into it.

All in all, the day’s not been too bad. I discovered a few new interesting websites that have made up the majority of my day:

Keaggy
Mighty Girl This photo

what else…
Manekineko cats. (Actually I really wanted the ‘lucky pussy’ shirt but alas, the link doesn’t seem to be working. Maybe it’s too popular.)

And just general mucking around. Some work thrown in there too. I had lunch (miso soup, an apple) while reading Murakami and then went and met Daphne and Anne down at the CD store cafe for coffee and a nice chocolate brownie at around 3.

Oh yes, how could I forget? The Martha Stewart Webpage. I won’t put in the link, it’s just too embarrassing. But the reason why I was there is because there are actually some bloody good recipes there. Oh hell, I’ll put in a link. (That one’s for 6 different types of marinade). No doubt what inspired the urge to cook.

Jeremy’s was lovely last night. We ate nachos and Greek salad, and drank champagne. Perfect for a Wednesday night. Perfect “getting over the hump” activity. I wish Wednesdays didn’t constitute “the Hump”, but unfortunately, being a 9-5, Monday to Friday sort of girl, there’s not a lot of negotiation in the matter.

What else is new? Not getting much exercise these days, apart from the half hour walk to work each way. But it doesn’t feel like it counts. It feels too much like transportation to nicely release yourself like a good long run will do.

Anyway, guess what? Tomorrow’s my 3 year anniversary of keeping this diary. I feel as if something momentous is in order, I’m just not sure what.

Wednesday, February 18, 2004

Funny, I wasn’t planning on writing anything more today (not that I wrote a lot earlier), but hey, it’s a hazy grey day outside and it’s quarter past four here in the office.

The office. What a word. So loaded with meaning and connotation. So I sit at a desk, so what? It doesn’t make me any less interesting. Really, it doesn’t! (I’m not trying to convince myself, I’m not - I’m not!)

I’m going over to Jeremy’s after work. He’s making me dinner. Should be fun, though I will be stuck in my work clothes for the remainder of the day, which isn’t as relaxing as slobbing around in corduroys and my Hard Day’s Night T-shirt, listening to music and drinking beer and reading Haruki Murakami. But it will be fun at Jeremy’s. We’ll drink tea (and maybe wine!) and watch something mad he’s taped off the TV, and eventually wind up talking about art or writing. Jeremy’s this amazing artist who works as a Supervisor for conventions at a huge hotel here in Wellington. He likes his job, I’m not saying it’s not the right thing for him, it’s just that he could easily just paint full time, he’s that good.

Jeremy’s a fun guy, he’s good to slouch around with. I remember back before I left to go to Dublin, we once spent a good month or so, trying to get through Tomb Raider 2. Every weekend, we’d sit down with the walkthrough - only to resort to once frustration set in! - and try to get as far as we could. It was Jeremy who also organised trying to watch all the Twin Peaks episodes, that you can find at Aro Video (which is just around the corner from my new place). So, now I’ve qualified the night before I’ve even had it, hopefully it will be a good time.

Work wants to extend my contract. Actually, I think they want me to come on full-time. They’re pretty cool about me taking Italian and Old Norse at uni at the same time, so it’s a good deal. Still, I don’t like to think about a year in a chunk like that, to commit to something so far ahead into the future. The university thing scares me a little, too. I don’t know if I’m trying to find “answers” by doing some course, that really, I should be finding from sitting in my little house and writing all winter. I mean, that’s why I took this teeny tiny place by myself - so I could do all those solo things I’ve been wanting to do for so long. And no longer can I use the excuse “if only I lived on my own, I’d…”

But now I’m afraid that I’ll spend all my time worrying about my classes. I’ve estimated that they’ll take up all of two hours of study a day. Is that a lot? Is that too much when you’re working all day as well? I wish there was some way I could tell. There’s a cut off date - March 26 - where you can drop a paper and still get all your money back. I guess I’ll just have to try them both and see, and hopefully I’ll have a good idea of what the year will feel like by March 26. It’s a rather absurd thought, really, but what else can I do? I’ve already been in email contact with the two women running each of the courses, and I feel like I’ve made some kind of commitment to both of them. It feels mean at this stage not to enrol in either of their courses.

…a bad reason to take any class, I know! Still, I’ve decided I’m not going to make up my mind until mid-March. Should make for an interesting couple of weeks ahead.

Listening to Belle and Sebastian’s “If You’re Feeling Sinister”, which is slowly becoming my favorite of their albums. Well…tied with “Dear Catastrophe Waitress.” Did I mention another B&S t-shirt came in the mail for me today? (No that’s not me in the picture.)