I think I'm melting.

I live in Auckland now. Auckland totally blows goats. It's hot, it's humid, it's noisy, cars everywhere, no one follows the road code, people everywhere, they don't walk on the left side of the sidewalk, did I mention it's stinking hot? /cry

We drove up on Saturday instead of the originally planned Sunday due to some unexpected circumstances. Overnighted in Taupo. I must say, Taupo is a very nice place. And the drive from Wellington to Taupo is very pleasant. Lots of pretty views, not so much traffic, it was fun.

Taupo to Auckland was a little less friendly. Although Taihape was great. We've discovered that the coffee from BP Ultimate is actually really decent. Wild Bean Cafe - it's the one with the ads where the guy doesn't want to come in for a coffee. Still lolling at that one.

Arrived to Auckland at about 2pm on Sunday. Piggy made it ok, I think he even enjoyed the ride, pigging out on the millet the entire trip. I got a sore back from checking up on him every five minutes. I wouldn't make a good mother.

A bit of drama with mother, a few adjusting strangenesses, a few growing pains. Not so pleasant. Visited some people a few times, caught up with a few friends. Those things were really nice. The internet was up on Tuesday, by the end of Tuesday night, I had it all set up and going - went to bed at 2am Wednesday hehe.

On Wednesday I attempted to catch a bus to my new place of employment, HortResearch. Hopefully I will be on time to start work on Monday morning. Got my monthly bus pass today, 108 dollars, sheeesh. Bloody Auckland. It's still hot. Need to get a fan or something, there is like no airflow in this city, just heat and cars. Ugh. Left window open overnight, now I'm covered in mosquito bites. I lived in Wellington for three years, never got one. Ugh.

It's been a pretty good day today though - went to Mission Bay, got some Movenpick ice cream, watched the world go by. The hard stuff will start tomorrow - I'll be alone...

Destroyer of hard-shelled seeds

Went to see The Nutcracker on Saturday night. What an amazing performance. So emotionally charged and so beautiful. Those ballet dancers must train several times a day to keep in shape. The females were a bit scary even - no chest, no stomach, protruding ribcage. The story was cool. I remember when I was little and my grandma would take me to the ballet and I'd always be saying: "What's happening now? Who is that?". But now it's all easy to understand. Funny to hear kids in the audience asking the questions I used to ask.

Went to Zibibbo beforehand, they have a very cheap (compared to their other meals) pre-theatre menu. Three course dinner for $29.50. That's cheaper than some of their mains! Was pretty cool. The portions were a bit small though, so had to fill up on the water. That didn't go all too well with the theatre lockout until intermission, heheh. Also, the A Reserve next to us was empty so we got a free upgrade, yay. We started some sort of mass migration though as cheaper seats moved to ours, and some even cheaper ones moved to theirs, was pretty lol.

Have had two exams so far: Pharmacology and Organic Chemistry. One more to go this Saturday - Physiology. Then on Sunday, I'm leaving for Auckland. Curry and optometrist tomorrow, friend's birthday on Friday, not sure when I'll get to study or pack. I'm the biggest procrastinator in the world. I think I've got a cold too. Ugh.

Had chicken cordon bleu for dinner tonight, was alright. Sleep now. Zzzzzzzzzzz

Need a revolver

I'm a Resolver

Aggravation and loop holes.

Argh so annoyed - replied to a text and it tells me i don't have enough funds.. ring *333, it says I've only sent 40 texts since I topped up. Ring customer services they say that i've used up my 10 dollars on texts to 021 and only the first ten texts to 027 activate the 500 texts deal.

Look up the Telecom site, nowhere there does it discriminate between 021 and 027 for the text deal. Annoyed. Again.

Ring back customer services. Again.

Now things are making sense - I topped up and then made a phone call and browsed the WAP. So I had ten dollars, sent 40 txts at 20c each and ran out of credit. So because I hadn't sent the 50 texts yet, the 500 txt deal hadn't activated.. so if I top up with 2 dollars, I can send the extra 10 messages and activate it for the rest of the month... of course the clever catch is I can't top up with just two dollars because minimum is $10. But the $8 will carry over for the next month. *sigh*

Lesson of the day: Don't make calls or browse WAP after topping up. And someone should fire the first customer rep.

Don't sway, don't ever go away.

Has the week been and gone already? Time is sure flying. The last week of Uni now. I blew today off because it was cold and rainy outside and I couldn't be really bothered going outside (naughty). Stayed at home and worked on my pharmacology assignment, so at least something got done.

Another great weekend went past. Friday night saw a lot of drinking: Hoegaarden at Leuwen, Hoeegarden at Monkey Bar, Long Island Ice Tea at Vespa, Appletini at Jet Bar, shots at Shack. Yummy yummy alcohol. The Friday night movie was '40 year old virgin', it was so hysterically funny I think I still have a sore stomach from all the laughing.

Saturday afternoon was spent in the forest with dogs.. Oh my, how I love animals. It was just such a great day, I can't stop thinking about it. All the trees, and grass, and doggies. Mmm.

Then I got to attend a birthday party at which I knew pretty much no one, but I managed to get friendly with a couple of people or three, so in the end it was an awesome evening. The food and wine were fantastic too. The daylight savings time didn't help though - get home at 2am, next thing it's 4am. Oops!

For Sunday, I organised a birthday dinner for one of the guys. Back to Ichiban Teppanyaki we went. This time it was even more fun - the chefs pulled out all the stops with throwing and twirling and fire lighting. The food was great, and sake even better.

CSI and NCIS to finish it up and once again a great weekend.

I just can't seem to get enough of it all. <3.

So you want to be a rockstar?

Been an awesome weekend. Of course, all awesomeness comes with a price - the last two weeks of uni, assessment upon assessment and I did a total of zero studying. Test tomorrow, but instead I'm typing this.

But back to the coolness of the weekend.
One of my coworkers asked to swap shifts, and so instead of the usual 7am start on Saturday, I had the day free with the later 3pm start.

Friday night was a bit of a meh. Went to see the Dukes of Hazzard which had the propensity to be highly amusing, but I dropped my ice cream on the floor at the very start of the movie and so spent the first half of it in a bad mood. Then I realised that I didn't really understand most of the hillbilly jokes, so it went a bit over my head. Or under my chin, come to think of it. Towards the end the movie was great fun, cool car chases, good guys win, etc. "Why is divorce so expensive? Because it's worth it".

Then there was a bit of a shindig at the Monkey Bar which was utterly boring and three guys got rather smashed, and that was that. I took off for a while to Nandos to recollect the tender taste of chicken breast. Gave me a chance to restore glucose levels I was desperately craving since the ice cream fiasco and cool off a bit.

I went back and after everyone decided to go home, we popped into Molly Mollone's to the Piano Man. He was pretty good, tinkling away on the baby grand. Unfortunately he played a bunch of songs I didn't really know, so it was not all that entertaining. I gave him some cash, he said thank you, it was grand. Pun intended.

We headed up the Courtanay Place to grab a taxi and during this adventure, we came upon the new greatest invention created by Chow - The Cabaret. We absolutely had to go and see what's inside. Well I did, my accomplice followed! While the act that night was kinda beatniky, the atmosphere there is absolutely amazing - red stage curtains, bright rugs, nice couches, and, of course, the tastiest Chow finger-food and cocktails. I must go back at some stage when there's a better act on.

Eventually we got around to getting a taxi home, and that was all good. Love taxi rides - so smooth and full of lullaby.

Then came the bed, and sleep. Sleep is good. Morning came and no time would be wasted, for ahead of us we had a trip to the Zoo! And everyone knows how much I love the Zoo!

So off we went, like Dorothy and Tin Man and whoever else was in that story. My analogy fails here.

Zoo was AWESOME! Animals and animals and trees and animals, and the food at Eva Dixon's was ok and the coffee was fantastic, and did I mention there was lots of animals? yes well, I got a bit giddy. There was lots of happiness in this little girl. Ok, maybe not so little.

Then we went home, and I had work at 3pm.

The next day, the usual Sunday brunch was cancelled due to lack of participants - most of the O-Bot crew took off to the ski slopes (although I doubt there was much skiing), and the rest of people left here couldn't be bothered.

So once again, it was the case of "and then there were two". We went to Plum for lunch. The plumster and VLAT disappointed quite a bit, but them's the breaks. The crossword wasn't much better.

So then we went for a ride. Mmmm car ride. Did I mention I made a mix CD? I'm such a dork. Surprisingly all the songs that came on were approved by the driver, so I will live to see yet another day! We went to Wainuiomata Beach. It's the longest most amazing drive ever, with lots of views and sheep and cows and crazy Minis driving three times the speed limit in the opposite direction and skidding all over the road. The beach was cool too - you can see the vastness of the ocean and the colours change from blue to aqua to almost green where they meet the sky and change back to different shades of blue. There were lots of interesting rocks and we even found a stick that looks like it could be sold as an expensive P.I.M.P. cane! There were three kids on the beach that played with the waves crashing on the rocks and for a moment there the ocean made us join in. Overall it was absolutely fantastic.

The noise of the ocean and all the wind gave me a hell of a headache by the time I got back to the car though, but nothing some caffeine overdose couldn't fix.

Then we headed out to Lower Hutt where there is a Japanese restaurant - Ichiban Teppanyaki. You sit around a hot plate and the chef comes out and cooks the food for you. It's a pretty awesome place and everyone is very friendly. Strikes as the kind of place you'd want to bring out all your friends to celebrate someone's birthday or as a going away party. There was heaps of food and it was all very filling, all for the set menu price of $18. Not bad at all!

Actually we were a bit early in Lower Hutt for dinner, so we went and got a coffee first and then went to Riverbank carpark (which was empty!) and I made attempts at driving. As usual that affair ended in tears, so let's not talk about that. I am just not good at doing things I suck at, ie. I don't cope well with failing. And I don't think "practice makes perfect" will apply in my case. Perhaps I am just doomed to never be a driver. Or a pianist for that matter, but that's an entirely different story with much similar ending.

So the food was great, and before we knew it Saturday and Sunday passed us by. Of course CSI and NCIS to finish it all off, and that's the recipe for a perfect weekend.

P.S. I'm getting to be really good at procrastination. I wonder if they award degrees in that.

Logan Brown FTW.

Went to dinner at Logan Brown last night. Fairly certain I experienced what diabetics world wide feel every day. Hyperglycaemia - it's a bittersweet friend, pain and suffering yet utter happiness.

The food was awesome, the service wasn't exceptional but above par, the company was fantastic.

Overall a great night.

Pro tip: Do not have the sticky dessert wine with the bittersweet chocolate torte unless you want to consume your entire life's glucose quota in one sitting.

/spludge

Two days

Another pamphlet drop last night. Three hour beat, I'm very sore today.

On the upside, whatever happens or doesn't happen, I won't have to be part of any electioneering activities for three years to come. Phew. The ocean is nice to look at, but as soon as you head out for a swim, you realise how dangerous it is and how easy it is to drown.

Annoyed

Annoyance: Foraging in the fridge for the three month old container of ice cream you left there before going on a stupid fad diet and finding it 97% empty.

Rampant Hypocrisy

Vegetarian for three years - start eating meat.
Swear off all men - go on a date.
Proclaim WoW is the best game ever - cancel my account.

*sigh* what's the world coming to?

Only four weeks of Uni left. Then exams. Then what? Hopefully I'll get a summer studentship somewhere, I've applied for a job at HortResearch, ESR, and two at Uni.

I've finished reading The Religion War by Scott Adams. Despite a fairly slow start, it turned out to be a very good book. Also finished the Jeremy Clarkson book - a lol a minute.

Got a hold of season three of Gilmore Girls, now my witticism education may continue!

Fresh New World

End of holidays. Back to Uni tomorrow. It's amazing how long two weeks can feel. I couldn't even remember my timetable for tomorrow or anything. It appears that two weeks in education industry are somewhat longer than two weeks for anyone else in the world. Bizarre. Or perhaps I'm going mad.

Then only six weeks from now I will have finished two years of university. This is huge. I have never done anything for two years in a row before. Should be interesting. I sure hope I don't cave in at the last week and actually give up the game (as I normally tend to do).

You'll be all pleased to hear that the dreadful EQ2 issue has been resolved. Thanks to a couple of faithful listeners that brought me RAM. Turns out my motherboard doesn't like all its three RAM slots filled. And CPU doesn't like having two slots of RAM filled with different amounts of RAM. The only solution was to sourced two sticks of 512. Works like a charm. I threw many a tantrum and I'm glad that the people that were there to witness them are still my friends. Go team!

Of course just as the vast horizons of questing and MMOing have opened up, I feel myself drawn back to WoW - I am suddenly finding that giving it to farming is fun, and have discovered a somewhat interesting new social aspect to the game. But I guess I can chalk that down to my crazy brain also. Never mind, the account expires on the 9th, no chance to obsess over non-existant things then.

I have bought the latest Jeremy Clarkson book - not the type where he rambles on about cars all the time, but I think it's the collection of his columns from Sunday Times. It's mighty hilarious. People on the bus were giving me square looks as I was giggling over his view on the world. Or more importantly his wording of his view.

I watched Top Gear on Prime tonight, it was comedy gold - he got these soldiers to chase in him in a tank while he tried to get away in the Range Rover Sport. It was fantastic. The man can get even non-car people giggling. Maybe it's the accent. Mmm.

Well, for the first time in 14 days, I will not be able to ignore my alarm in seven hours, so I'd better head to bed.

Good night!

Nerd

Pure Nerd 52 % Nerd, 30% Geek, 30% Dork

For The Record: A Nerd is someone who is passionate about learning/being smart/academia. A Geek is someone who is passionate about some particular area or subject, often an obscure or difficult one. A Dork is someone who has difficulty with common social expectations/interactions. You scored better than half in all Nerd, earning you the title of: Pure Nerd. The times, they are a-changing. It used to be that being exceptionally smart led to being unpopular, which would ultimately lead to picking up all of the traits and tendences associated with the "dork." No-longer. Being smart isn't as socially crippling as it once was, and even more so as you get older: eventually being a Pure Nerd will likely be replaced with the following label: Purely Successful. Congratulations!

My test tracked 3 variables How you compared to other people your age and gender: You scored higher than 42% on nerdiness You scored higher than 33% on geekosity You scored higher than 52% on dork points

Link: The Nerd? Geek? or Dork? Test written by donathos on OkCupid Free Online Dating

Dirty Commies

Seeing how it's election year, and someone sent me a link to their blog, I tested myself on the political compass. Turns out I'm almost dead centre, and slightly leftie. Hmm, perhaps I'm voting for the wrong party? We agree on one thing though - government should stay out of people's business.

In the end of it all: Politics schmolitics I say.

Oh woe is me.

So EQ2 is a major hog. It blue screens on my 5200, it blue screens on 4600 I borrowed. It crashes on older release drivers, it crashes on beta drivers. DAMN YOU COMPUTER INDUSTRY. I just can't keep up. The card that could solve all my problems costs about 300 bucks. Great.

I picked up extra hours next week so I could cover all my loan and bills, now I'll have to spend it on a video card. Waaaat.

Anyways, I'm bored of being poor. If each person donates me 10 bucks, I'd probably have enough money to buy a whole new PC. According to Statcounter anyway.

Of course I could quit Uni and get a full time job except I already have a job that I work 40 hours a week and it'd be a waste of 12 thousand dollars.. Hmmm. The quitter syndrome might strike again!

Damn you computers. You buy a game to keep you from spending money in real world, and then you end up needing to spend money to run the game.

argh.

Paypal button on the left. Because I'm pathetic.

Affinity Constant

I admire those people that have the dedication to post insightful blogs on almost daily basis. It's either their dedication or just plain ability to word boring happenings into interesting write ups. Whichever it is, /cheer.

I am on Uni holidays now. Turns out I'm broke, so trying to work as many hours as I can grab during these two weeks.

Have switched over to EQ2 from WoW. For about three weeks now, whenever I'd log on to WoW, all I did was chat and faction grind and browse the AH. It just wasn't really fun anymore. I think the server moves are in part to blame - lots of horde left, so not much in the way of AV anymore. Our guild is fairly small as far as 60s go, and some people have been stopping playing too, some moved servers, some got girlfriends, some just got plain bored. Whatever it is, EQ2 is holding my interest a bit more at the moment. Even though I don't have a guild and only know two people on the server, but all the stuff is new, the world is huge and levelling takes longer - so more chances to enjoy the game before it goes stale. Plus there is an expansion coming out already. Either way, nothing lost with WoW - they don't delete your characters when you stop paying: Want to log on? Just give us 15 bucks. That easy. My PC hates EQ2 though, it's a giant hog of a game. Hopefully it'll keep going the way it is with minimum settings, I can't really afford shelling out for a video card and a CPU just this minute. The atmosphere in the game is awesome - all NPCs actually have voice overs, there are even Heather Graham and Christopher Lee. The crafting is really immersive. The ambience sounds like bird chirping and dogs barking really get Piggy going so it's pretty amusing.

I have two assignments to complete by the end of holidays (otherwise I'll be really rushing), both of pharmacokinetics. I don't even know why they put the pharmaco bit in there, because it's all just maths, and not the fun kind. I've been getting so frustrated with them over the past two days, I'm sure I'll give myself an ulcer.

Jenny Craig has finally started working - doing well. Hopefully soon I'll be on half own food and will be able to save myself some money. Still, it's probably cheaper than shopping at the supermarket while eating the same amount.

Mum finally reregistered the car, so now I can have my license plate back. Not sure whether to put it on the scooter or keep it for later. Not sure whether to take a learn to ride course and start riding the scooter or sell it and just put the plate in my room. The course isn't cheap, I almost was going to do it this Saturday, but they said someone had uncancelled their booking and my spot got filled. Now I'm not so sure.

Stargate SG1 is getting better, but still very slow on development. They should have done it like previous seasons - individual stories for half a season, then one big bad guy story. Here they've got bad guys from episode two. Hmm.

Well back to work.

Follow the leader

Sometimes I wish I had a PDA so I can blog on the fly as stuff happens, much like Rodney Hide - because it seems I often think about writing something in a blog, but by the time I get home and around it, it's already been hanging in my head for so long, it's all moulded (intentional spelling rearrangement) into something new and not so exciting. Or I just get bored with writing the stuff I've already written out in my head.

Uni has been tickey boo as per usual. The chemistry lab course seems to be swings and roundabouts - I have the labs three times a week and look forward to them, and I enjoy it when I get the product I expect. But sometimes, like today for example, I get the scientific equivalent of SFA work done and all my product is washed out and I get 0.002% yield and, well, it's very frustrating and makes me want to give up. I am not one of the most patient people (understatemnt!)

Have been getting lots more into WoW lately - working on an alt, as well as getting faction up on the main. It's enjoyable to know that I enjoy it. Not sure how to explain that one. Kinda like this: When I go to a party and no one talks to me and I feel all alone and wallflower-ish Vs When I choose not to go to a party and am actually physically alone but I don't feel like I'm missing out. Making a conscious choice to do something I enjoy however antisocial it may be seems more painless than trying to do stuff I'm not good at and miserably failing.

Jenny Craig diet isn't going anywhere - apparently I don't drink enough water to move stuff around in my system. I'm not gaining weight, I am not losing weight, atomic clocks could be calibrated by my weight actually. I promised the lady I'd drink more water this week, but I keep forgetting. When I drink water, I feel like it just fills me up all the way to the throat and sits there. Yuck. But I've been trying, will see what's changed on Friday.

A few weeks ago I volunteered to help ACT with their election campaign, so yesterday they've delivered two boxes of pamphlets that I can distribute around my suburb. Will get me walking at least!

I have another test on Monday - not looking forward to this one. Four weeks of physiology lectures are even daunting to think about. But I stressed about the last one and it was over in the end, so should be ok I guess - still don't know the mark yet!

Had a strange conversation with someone the other day - them wondering why the hell I don't have a partner or not looking for one. And I suppose it's kind of odd - me, the epitome of relationship girl, always on the lookout for one, always searching, and then, suddenly, completely opposed to the concept all together. Go figure. I guess I reached my saturation threshold. Enough is enough. Ha!

Just every time I think about a boyfriend I think of someone who will tell me what to wear, what to eat, when to go out, who to go out with, what to say, to exercise, to not choose certain hair colour, to wear skirts. Someone I'll have to spend time with and try to impress - it's not like you can just slide into marriage part of the relationship, you have to flirt and date first. Between uni and work, I have four evenings and one day free. Two of those evenings are good TV nights! And then there's WoW. Ha ha! I don't know, maybe just getting close to someone seems like a waste of time since they'll most likely dump me after eight months anyway - it seems to be the trend, even with friends and jobs.

Anyways, been writing too much - PDA would have increased post count, reduced amount of bologne, but them's the breaks.

Ciao

Days of our lives

Not much on the news front - same old, same old.

So very much not studying for my test on Friday either, ah well.

Went out to Lindale for ice cream on Sunday afternoon - was a fun drive, love the trip to Lindale, the ice cream was good too.

The strangest thing happened tonight - I was watching Gilmore Girls (as you do) and the scene had a clock in it, and it read 9:12pm. At this point, I glanced over to my laptop and saw that the time was 9:12pm. Eerie, no?

I remember another strange TV related thing - one of the Cold Case episodes has my exact date of birth as one of its case dates at the intro scene.

And on Sunday, in NCIS, the character's last name was only two letters longer than mine and otherwise the same. My surname at that.

Well, so much for spooky, back to WoW.

Repetition and Patience

I'm finding it somewhat amusing that I don't even remember what I write in my blog - I go to tell someone an original piece of news, only to be greeted with "I already know, I read your blog". This blogging business really eliminates any need for interpersonal relations.

I went to see The Island last night. A bit of a mind fuck of a movie, not too dissimilar from The Matrix. Nice overall, exciting action scenes, good actors, about 40 minutes too long for my attention span. As I do, I spent about 3 hours afterwards thinking about the message in the movie. It didn't feel too good. Just another organ plantation, my body. Maybe that's why I'm not a donor on my driving license. My body is for me, thanks very much. Maybe that's why I don't have life insurance - eliminates the possibility of someone killing me for money. Ooh paranoia, how I love you so.

But yeah, the movie was good. I especially liked the scenes where they showed how product lived day to day. I think I would enjoy such an existance - meals planned, clothes ready, nothing to worry about, everything provided. It's great and ignorance is still bliss.

Only three weeks till the next set of holidays. I have a test next Friday and an assignment due the day before that. I suppose I should make some sort of attempt at getting ready for those two events. Mmmm laziness.

Here's a dilemma: if you had two people whom you'd considered friends, and one told you something in confidence, and then the other one told you the direct opposite (also, in confidence), obviously you couldn't call either of them on it. Thus, how would you find out which one lied and therefore wasn't your friend?

P.S. I've decided there's more to life than belonging to someone. Uh oh, if I keep saying things like that, I might be the one sent to the Island! Danger, danger, Will Robinson!

It's not funny if I have to explain it.

It's been a bit of a stressful weekend - lots of things happening, lots of thoughts flying through, lots of fights and realisation.

A couple of books I bought off amazon.com have arrived in the mail today - just as well too - The Greatest Gift is almost impossible to read. It must have taken me 3 months now and I'm only half way through. Amanda said she'd be finished with the new Harry Potter by Tuesday, so then I can dig into that. Exciting! Although I already know all the spoilers off the internet - blast.

I became a class rep for my chemistry lab paper today. Apparently it looks good on the tertiary transcript. I guess it would anyways, if we ever received them - the Uni Staff Union have decided to withhold our results - we still know what we got, we just don't have any official proof of what it is. Also, they're striking on Wednesday which just happens to be the day for my four hour lab. So I guess I'll be nice and behind. On the upside, I don't work on Wednesday nights, so I'll have plenty of time during the day/evening to do the things I might enjoy.

I am still in the overdraft this week - seem to always come up with something new to spend money on. Thinking it might be a good idea to get someone else to pay next time! Will try and not go out much.

Watched Taking Lives the other night - Ethan Hawke and Angelina Jolie. It was a director's cut, very gory, very graphic, not a very clear plot line, but Angelina does get naked and puffed up with Ethan.

I've ripped all my CDs now - even the Russian ones. Now what do I do with them? Seems like a waste having them just lie there. Might sell or give them away I guess. Just sold the Dilbert DVDs today. CSI and Angel still to go.

Funny - the day I sell Dilbert DVDs, the Dilbert books arrive in the mail! "It's not funny if I have to explain it" and "The Religion War".

Time for bed.

P.S. He looks so adorable sleeping.

Entertainment Tonight

Went out to Syn with the usual crowd last night for someone's birthday. Being that it was the usual crowd, a few alcoholic drinks later, most were kissing and some were bearing their skin. Don't know how it always comes down to it. I guess geeks are horny this time of year. It seems to involve more and more people each time. Friday night is promising to be good - someone's apparently hot girlfriend is coming down, and the night will undoubtedly end at Santa Fe. Amusing++

I somehow spent all my money this week, not looking good for entertainment for Lana. I don't like being in the negatives.

Today is a bit of a write off - can't sleep in because work is busy, and time to get up soon to go to Uni, then come back and work some more. Good for the bank balance I suppose. I really want to have a long hot shower, but no time to have it. Will see if I can squeeze it in between coming home from lecture and starting work again.

Also going to see Ghost in the Shell 2 at the Embassy on Friday night, hopefully it's not too boring. A co-worker asked to swap Saturdays this week (so I'll be working 3-11pm), so at least I'll get to sleep in and go to brunch if there is one.

Got Wildheart Vest in a raid last night - four pieces of set armour now. Woot. Was worth staying up for! Even though I was drunk, hungry, followed by hungover and sleepy - it took a few hours you see...

P.S. People have soft hands.

Diels Alder - chasing the arrow

I have thirty minutes before I finish work, and some people are clammering for an update (got knows why, it's not like I'm a literary genius!), so I thought I'd oblige.

This is the second week of Uni now. The chemistry labs are quite fun - fully autonomic, do what you want, follow the lab notebook, just ask for help if you need to. Feel like I've been chucked into a giant pool and I haven't learned my backstroke!

So, now I'm having yet another ICQ argument (or fun-filled discussion if you may), I seem to have them fairly often now, so the next few paragraphs are probably just me venting.

Recently I've been learning a lot of new interesting definitions: new meaning of what friends are, and new meaning of fun is, and new meaning of what kissing actually entails. It's all very amusing. Feels like I've been living under a rock while they've updated the dictionary. Turns out you don't tell your friend everything, turns out you can kiss people you don't want to go out with just for fun, and turns out if a guy doesn't speak to you for a day he might just be shy or busy and not uninterested.

I always thought a friend was someone you could tell anything, someone who would come to your rescue at a drop of a hat, someone who would confide in you any time any place. And everyone else is just mates. But hey newsflash, turns out you don't have to tell friends everything. *Shrug* I'd rather not have any friends if I have to put restrictions on my friendship output. Seems safer that way.

Safer and cuddly and warm and soft at home, fire, or blanky, a nice hug, warm hands to hold, wouldn't that be nice. Danger, Will Robinson, Danger, thought derailment! Damn, can't even be depressed properly. Was all cheery this morning, skipping down the road to the bus stop with my iPod. What can really be happier than iPod Walking? It's a gadget of divinity! Like strawberries and cream, like salmon from Zibbibo, like mashed potato on a stormy night; is it wrong that most nice things I can think of are food? Damn you, Jenny Craig!

I think I've watched far too many romantic movies in my time. I need to see Closer until my eyes bleed and I get this stupid notion of Prince Charming out of my head. Gah, I just want flowers and cuddles. Damn you, Hollywood!

Woot, home time! (oh wait... I am home). Still.

P.S. Tiny acts of romance from people you're actually interested in are much more fun than receiving three bouquets on Valentine's Day and none of them from the people you want.

Rollercoaster vs Train

I am sitting in the Number 18 bus at 8.30 on a Tuesday morning. Chemistry lecture isn't too far away now.

As we come to the roundabout where the fate is decided between Number 18 and Number 12 routes, our driver takes the wrong turn. Instead of going through the roundabout again, he carries on the Number 12 route until he comes to a blind corner on the main road. It's at this opportune moment that he decides to make a U-turn in the peak hour traffic. He turns, he backs, we stop.

Rush hour traffic. Main road. Bus blocks the entire passage way by virtue of being stuck half way into a hill. The battery is dead. The bus is firmly embedded in the foliage. People start laughing. It's at this moment that we decide that this is the most amusing thing that has happened in weeks, and are quite stimulated by its happening. The bus driver can't be feeling too good about now. Half of the bus's population departs.

Luckily for us, a truck pulls over with some ropes, and they manage to get the bus out of its comfy picnic area. Poor bus, it really liked the frolicking in the bush.

Surprisingly I still get to the lecture on time. Fun. Aromaticity and Diels Alder cannot be missed.

Five of my friends have recently entered into relationships. I passed all my first trimester papers. I got the work hours I wanted. I've been really enjoying Gilmore Girls. Been at Uni only two days and already it feels like three weeks. Amanda claims to not hate me afterall. I've got a beautiful bunch of tulips in the lounge. The flu seems to be getting better.

So, overall, I guess, everything is on the up and up. It's a rollercoaster. Trains are so much more peaceful.

P.S. girls are soft.

Enough bullshit for one day?

0730: Alarm goes off, I turn it off.
0830: Wake up realising I just missed the bus to my nine o'clock lecture.
0920: Go in with Amanda to 10am lecture.
1100: Have 2 hours break before my lab. Realise I should have skipped the 10am class.
1215: Order a toasted bagel with cream cheese and salmon from a local cafe.
1245: Inquire as to what happened to the above mentioned bagel. The order was lost.
1500: Realise that I am pouring the wrong chemical into my sample, ruin the lab results for me and my partner.
1540: The lab instructor visibly cringes as I approach him to ask a question.
1615: Finish early, catch a bus to Karori.
1646: At the Karori bus stop. The bus up the hill should be here at 1648.
1651: Ok, the next bus up the hill should be here at 1728, I'll go buy some food.
1720: Pretty cold, raining, getting dark.
1730: Ok, next bus up the hill should be at 1741.
1748: Flatmate arrives on one of the buses from town and goes shopping for food.
1802: Flatmate returns.
1810: The bus up the hill arrives.
1815: The bus gets eggs thrown at it. The driver won't shut up.
1835: Spend 20 minutes in the shower, trying to boil off my skin in disgust at the day.

Bought the new chilli tim tams today. They're shit.

Whether weather withers.

Saturday evening I saw a massive rainbow. It was mesmerising, going all the way from ground to ground, stretching across the sky, in some places doubling with pieces of another rainbow. I ran upstairs to show Amanda, then stared at it some more. I made a wish. I think for the first time in my life I made a wish that had nothing to do with love or money.

I ran downstairs to get the camera but rainbows are a fleeting phenomenon I guess because the pictures didn't come out all that great.



At three in the morning I woke up from the house acting the role of a battlefield. The hail hit the worst in Christchurch and Karori, it said on the news.

It's been raining all day. Around dinner time I was a whimpering mess because of all the lightning and thunder. Amanda was no comfort - she says she loves thunder and electric storms.

I've been like the weather all weekend. On second thought, I should not have strayed from my wish making traditions.

New Look

Who needs smarts anyways

I keep getting nose bleeds. Especially after interesting things happen. First raid in WoW - nose bleed, seeing a band live at the Carter Observatory - nose bleed, a friend comes to visit and brings flowers - nose bleed.

In the last week and a bit I've been doing all sorts of retarded things. Not necessarily the things others would notice, but I notice and it's annoying. Things you realise you're screwing up only a few seconds after the fact.

Normally if I screw up something or don't know how to do something, I know that.
Somehow now I've lost that knowing capacity - my brain and body have gone through a merger and made me a silent partner in this venture. No one tells me anything anymore!

I almost missed my bus stop the other day because I was floating off somewhere into an aerie faerie world. I spelled the word 'from' with an 'e' at the end and was absolutely certain that it was the correct spelling for about a minute. I was presented with a list of two items and I knew I wanted to do the things in the order they were presented, yet, somehow, I replied "Let's do that in reverse order". When asked to confirm, I was like "No! We do the first one first and the latter one last, don't you understand?!" I was pouring water from a larger bottle into a smaller one and then spent a couple minutes afterwards trying to cap the bigger bottle with the smaller lid.

Brain damage, it's a gift that keeps on giving. Order yours today!

Pointless advice

I was listening to my iPod on Shuffle mode as Aaliyah's song came on.

If at first you don’t succeed
You can dust it off and try again
Dust yourself off and try again, try again
Cause if at first you don’t succeed
You can dust it off and try again
You can dust it off and try again, try
again (and again)

And I was all like "Yeah, I can get my bike fixed and I'll be on the road again, and yeah, I'll meet some cute spunk that won't be dumb and boring and I'll be really happy, fuck yeah!"

And then I realised that I was listening to a song written by a woman who died in her 20s. Yeah.

here's a cute kitten.

Sticks and Stones

Second hand 18 year old scooter on Trademe: $650
Brand new HJC helmet from Wellington Motorcycles: $150
Paving the road with your skin as you go for a ride first time in your life: Priceless

Yes, I bought a scooter. Yes, I crashed it the first time I took it outside.
Fantastic really.

I was fine for the 10 or so minutes along all the dodgy roads coming up to the main road, indicating, turning, accelerating, braking. All the things one does when on the road. At the final intersection (after which I had planned to park and get a coffee), for some reason, the scooter didn't turn when I turned, and it didn't slow down even though I wasn't throttling. It sped up. I freaked. I put my foot down and bailed. Just as well though, because I am told that hitting a parked car head on would have been much worse than scraping my face along the road at 30 km/h.

Plus, I don't have insurance yet, so I would be even more out of pocket. ACC only cost me 23 dollars. And all the doctors and nurses were lovely. The scooter didn't seem to get damaged, but I think it was fucked to start with. Now looking at it, the front wheel points in a different direction from the handle bars. Would have paid to notice that sooner.

I got sent home after about an hour of cleaning up at Karori Medical Centre. A good friend came over to pick me up and stayed with me all day and most of the evening, until my flatmate came home from work and took over. Apparently, with head injuries, the first 24 hours are kinda dodgy. So the flatmate had to come in through the night to wake me up and make sure I'm not in a coma. But nope, still alive.

The giant bump on my forehead has come down in the last two days. Yesterday I woke up aching all over as if I'd been working out at the gym. Today I woke up with a black eye. The internet sneaks into my room at night and bashes me up.

I could get cast into a Once Were Warriors movie. "She comes with her own make up!".

I had quite a nose bleed at the time of the accident. I'm like "All this blood, damn". Just when I thought I was feeling better today, I got two more nose bleeds. Blood pouring everywhere. The sink will never feel the same. Luckily, a friend was over to mop up my pathetic. (I hereby dub the word pathetic a noun)

I went out to the movies tonight. I couldn't take the scooter because I have to avoid head injury for at least 3 weeks. I took the bus and then walked a bit. It's funny seeing people glance up and then quickly look away. "Move along people, hideous beast coming through!".

Uni starts on Monday. That should be interesting. Not just because of Battered Wife symptoms I'll be exhibiting but because thinking is an effort. The nurse said "Don't think too hard". I can't concentrate on stuff, and playing WoW I have to take a rest every few minutes. Just as well I sit on my bed. Good luck for the tests, dear Lana. Just as well you dropped that paper that has the test on Monday.

I do wonder why this always happens to me though. First, Chris and the Germany fiasco, then lack of finances and the brink of bankruptcy, then ploughing the road with my face. I live to serve others as a warning. A friend said the other day "You know I just realised that if I buy this new engine for my car, I'll probably kill myself with it". Well, I'm glad you realised that, dear friend, now let me get back to moping.

Still, I got flowers and lots of Lucosade, jelly beans and chocolate, so can't complain too much. Plus, it appears that I won't be needing collagen or botox injections for a while now.

blogger hates me

yep sure does.

Strange dreams

So, two guys walk into a bar.

The first one says: "Hey do you want to have sex with me?"
and the second replies: "Yeah man! That would really teach her!"

G1: "Do you want to be the giver or the receiver?"
G2: "Let's book that motel room across the road!"

And the next day they were both wearing pink flanelette t-shirts that said "Haha we fucked!"

...

I've got nuthin.

It's like ten thousand spoons when all you need is a knife

Funny that this post comes straight after the big rant about how depression is all in your head. Well, it still is. The big hole that is starting to suck in small objects in my immediate vicinity is all in my head. Snap snap snap out of it, you stupid ho.

Oh holy night...

*gah*, I wrote a whole new entry and the old one came back.. The world is laughing at me.
and I dont' know why the fonts all go funny when I use block quotes, so I'm sorry if you got 7 copies of all the articles now. No more blogging today! bzzzz head buzzing out from frustration.

Love, Hate and the Balance between the two

Woah, Woman, oh woman, don't treat me so mean
You're the meanest old woman that I've ever seen
I guess if you said so
I'd have to pack my things and go (That's right)

(Hit the road, Jack and don't you come back no more, no more, no more, no more)
(Hit the road, Jack and don't you come back no more)
What you say?
(Hit the road, Jack and don't you come back no more, no more, no more, no more)
(Hit the road, Jack and don't you come back no more)

Don't know why that song creeped up into my head today for some reason. Probably due to the latest email from Ticketek offering a discount on The Brother Ray The Concert.

But it's a good song, is it not. So catchy, yet so topical.

You know I spent all night agonizing about this blog I was going to write. I wake up I think of what I'll write, I brush my teeth I think what I'll write, I watch Dr Phil I think what I'll write.

Isn't Dr Phil the most dreadful show in existence?! I can see how someone can slip into a permanent vegatative state just from watching this one day time programme. I can totally see how one would get depression from this TV gem.

Depression is so bullshit though. I was going to write this big blog about how I'm depressed and nobody loves me and the people I hit on don't like me and the people I don't like hit on me and how it's all so cruel and full of unhappy vibes. *big breath* And how I was looking forward to Friday because it's my day off and I was going to dress up all pretty and go out to town and have some drinks and enjoy the company of good friends but now that I think of it my good friends are not all that great and I kinda had a fight with all of them and I might as well stay in bed and drink Tequila all day. *big breath* (note the deliberate absence of commas).
But then I thought: "Geez, woman, harden up!"

You know what I love? My iPod. I haven't listened to it (ie any music) for about four days and I slipped into this caustic, trouble causing, self deprecating, trouble maker. And the minute that Ray Charles song popped into my head and I googled for it, the .wav made me all chirpy again. Psychiatrists shouldn't prescribe Prozac or Aropac, they should prescribe a dose of Get the fuck out of the house and a dash of Listen to some happy tunes. There, aren't you all better now.

You know what I hate? That boys and girls can't really be friends. It is my expert opinion that unless one of the friends to be is in a relationship or gay, no simple fun friendship can come of it. Why? well I think it's because if you enjoy spending time with someone and have conversations with them, then the first thing you're going to think about is that you're attracted to them. Or they will think it towards you. Now there are two options - both of you think that, resulting in a bf/gf situation. Or only one of you thinks that and the other is the rejector (I can just see Thor saying Replicators here for some reason) then instantly the friendship isn't simple nor fun. If you were the rejectee, and the other person still wants to "hang", then you always think about how one day they might change their mind. If you were the reject0r, then you're always thinking "are they hanging out with me because they're hoping I will change my mind one day". Strain! Torsional Strain! Angular Strain! 1,3-Diaxial Interactions! (that's me missing my chemistry, don't mind me)

I don't really know where I was going with that. I'd like to have a friend with whom I can talk for hours, drink coffee during the week, get pissed on Fridays, rollerblade on Saturdays, and eat eggs on Sundays. I want a friend that will give me hugs and won't freak out if I give him presents. The amount of output I want from a friend is equivalent to that of a boyfriend. But I don't want a boyfriend. I want to be able to do what I like to do and not be told the things I need to change all the time. And I don't want the emotional commitment and drama that the gf/bf relationships seem to entail. Maybe I need a gay friend. Holy crap, maybe I've caught the Gay myself!

Right, anyhu, I keep thinking I should get out and meet new people but I think fuck, what an effort.
That reminds me of something else. The word effort, someone wrote about it in their blog today and I remembered. I must have missed some English lesson because my definition of the word effort seems to be different to everyone else. There was a German class I was at, and in that class no words were allowed to be translated into English. Every new word had to be explained in German. So we come across this word for effort. And the teacher starts explaining it with "it's a good thing that you do when you want to achieve something". And I'm like "Woman, are you on crack? Effort is something you want to avoid. If something requires effort, then it's not worth doing". There we have it then, the definition of the word effort with Lana filter placed on it.

If you enjoy doing it, it can't possibly be effort. Even if it's hard, it's not effort. One of my mottos is "If the effort exceeds the reward, then it's not worth doing". And it's nothing to do with being lazy, I don't think. Take school for example, I fucking love doing the assignments and various tasks they set for us. I get nothing for it but the mark they give me afterwards. But in that instance the reward exceeds effort. Effort = bad. If it's fun, it's not effort. Remember that kids next time you moan about how something was effortless. Challenging is not the same as effort.

Why am I still going on about this? I don't even know.
Oh wait, I remember, my point was I want new friends but it's too much effort to go out and find them. Someone said you've gotta kiss a lot of frogs before you find the prince, and I said "But what if prince doesn't spawn in this area?" and I like my pond, I'm not moving from it yet. Think I'll just chuck all the frogs outside and enjoy the calm waters all by myself for a while.

Bums0red

Cured!

You know how when you have a cold, and one day you wake up and you can breathe through your nose again? Damn, it feels good to be a criminal. All it required was some caustic soda and I'm back on track of sanity. I'm free!

Oh, mother dear, we sadly fear our mittens we have lost. What! Lost your mittens, You naughty kittens! Then you shall have no pie.

Ah euphemisms and metaphors, my dear friends, how you confuse all around me.

The weather suits my mood today, it's nice and cosy in my bed. The only problem with typing a blog from the bed is that you actually have to sit up otherwise you keep writing things like "banana" instead of "apple". Well, not really, but you know what I mean.

I got another package from Germany last night. More clothes I'll never wear, some CDs I forgot I had, my drawing books, and even a soft cuddly toy I got given. I was surprised at the latter, but come to think of it, he probably forgot the sentimental value it had and just threw it in with the rest of junk while cleaning out the apartment.

Now I'm just waiting on stuff from Amazon.com and some stuff I bought on TV. Waiting is so OCD. I should really get some more bricks.

I had a really nice curry at Daawat last night. Not one I've had before. Something sabzi. It was very disgustingly green. Vegetables (capsicum, broccoli, tomato) in a spinach creamy sauce. It was very delicious. I felt like a rightful piggie. Oink oink.

Did I mention how pretty Norah Jones was? She was quite funny too, telling us stories of her Sesame St performance, but I can't really repeat it - you had to be there.

Think I'm gonna go back to bed now and watch the rain fall.

Norah Jones concert was good.

Oh my, is she ever so pretty. And so humble. She speaks softly, sings strongly, and I am smitten. Gotta say, live concerts are full of awesome experiences.

Come away with me in the night
Come away with me
And I will write you a song

Come away with me on a bus
Come away with me where they can't tempt us
With their lies

I want to walk with you
On a cloudy day
In fields where the yellow grass grows
knee kigh
So won't you try to come

Come away with me and we'll kiss
On a mountain top
Come away with me
And I'll never stop loving you

And I want to wake up with the rain
Falling on a tin roof
While I'm safe there in your arms
So all I ask is for you
To come away with me in the night
Come away with me

Insane in the brain

My name is Lana, I am 25, I enjoy reading, and I suffer from chronic crush syndrome.

That is, I get little crushes on just everyone I meet. "Oh he looked at me with a smile, I must get him to fall in love with me", "Oh my, she really looks hot in that top, I wonder if I could kiss her", "oh dear, that man offered me a lift, I must seduce him".
And it's not like I would follow through with it or anything, most of the time I show no outward symptoms even, just it dominates my thinking space for about two days and then I'm over it.

It's very much like a case of common cold, thrush, or mondayitis. It's there, it's annoying, then it's gone, and you don't even remember having had it.

Ridicilous, I know. I urgently require a frontal lobotomy. I hear an ice pick above the eye ball can do the job.

I finally have forced myself to finish off the lab report that is due on April Fools. One more responsibility removed from the shadow hanging over my holidays. Now I can lie in bed and do nothing all day and not feel guilty.

My god! Do you know how painful it is to do nothing all day? I have no idea how people manage it day in, day out. But then again, it's half past three in the afternoon and I still haven't got out of bed. So I guess I am not doing too badly.

I am going to the Norah Jones concert tonight. Geoff gave me a ticket for my birthday, remember?

I have only been to one other music performance before and it was Faithless in Auckland.

Of course, I've been to plenty of ballets and philarmonic orchestra concerts in my time (thanks Grandma!), but that's not exactly the same. A live singing performance has the possibility to disappoint. I hope it's good though.

Still trying to buy a scooter on trademe, and to sell my angel dvds. No luck so far, but who knows, the universe undulates in strange patterns. Time will tell. Unless I do get this frontal lobotomy, in which case time will stop being a significant concept.

Mmmmm Braaaaainnnnsssss...

This post had no title (How naughty!)

Stereomatic

It took me four hours to fix id3 tags on my meagre mp3 collection. This was compounded by the facts that my laptop had been taken away and I had to do this on my PC which only has the slow USB port, not to mention I couldn't figure out how to transfer the mp3s to the iPod for the first hour or so, and finally, I realised I had set the wrong id3 tags on half of them and I had to start it all again.

That is one very long sentense, and trust me, I have no desire to go back and fix the grammar!
To cut the long sentence short, I got all my mp3s onto the iPod and am listening to them as I blog.

Have you ever noticed that when you listen to sounds with the headphones, it feels like the voice is coming from inside your head?? Gives the phrase "hearing voices" a whole new meaning.
I like the Kill Bill soundtracks. The mix of Japanese songs, classical composers and oldies but goodies is astounishing.

Finally finished watching Stargate SG-1 season 8. Pretty awesome show really - Space McGyver gets funnier and funnier with every episode.

The four final episodes of the season were my postprandial entertainment after I made a semi-large effort to cook the Sunday Brunch. Scrambled eggs, avocado, port cheddar, spinach, salmon spread on bread, a cup of coffee, Sunday Star Times. It's become a sort of tradition with me - Sunday is the day of rest. And I don't need any dogma to tell me that. Just the other day on Breakfast, they had some guest speakers proclaiming that our world has been speeding up too much, that people ought to slow down and take in the life. Sundays are just for that. Later on tonight I plan to cook pasta with a flavour of sauce I haven't tried before, and sip on white wine.

In Maori, when people want to say "How's the weather today?", they say "How does the earth feel today?". The word beautiful has many more meanings that at first perceived. In the Vampire the Masquerade rules, there are Toreador. It's a clan of vampires (bear with me here) that "get off" on all things aesthetic. They love things that look good, taste good, feel good. To the point that they can enter a torpor if filled with too much beauty.
"Toreador are alternately elegant and flamboyant, brilliant and ludicrous, visionary and dissipated. Perhaps the only truism that can be applied to the clan is its members' aesthetic zeal. Whatever a Toreador does, she does with passion. Whatever a Toreador is, she is with passion."

By the way, that Maori tidbit I learned from Emilie Le Strange article in Salient. She's a brilliant writer - funny, articulate, eloquent. Pity I can't link to any of her latest work because Salient haven't updated their web publications this year.

Air is a good background soundtrack to writing.
That stat counter I installed on my blog was a bad idea - the attention whore within me was devastated: only four people read my blog.

On the upside, I can rant on about whatever the hell I want and not have to suffer the repercussions of QuadLaser. I like writing. I like it for two reasons and two reasons only - firstly, I like the movement of my fingers on the keyboard - the constant fluid motion that translates into something legible; secondly, I enjoy words - words that are big, words that are descriptive, words that can paint a picture, a thought. Spot my Dictionary Word of the Day in this blog and win a minute of satisfaction.

On the other hand, the attention that a blog may bring is nice too, although, obviously in my case is non-existant.

I am trying to learn how to play Fur Elise on the piano. So far I can play the right hand part fairly ok, but cannot quite combine it with the left hand part. I figure if I can type 60 words a minute, I should be able to manage the piano. Just gotta practice. The problem here is that when you practice the piano, the whole surrounding area of Timbaktu can hear your failures.

Something else to work on.

Delicious apples

In all my infinite wisdom, I went and bought an iPod today. Really, it's all our lecturer's fault - he didn't show up, leaving me with a three hour break till my lab. The only reasonable resolution was to go shopping!

Amanda and I went down to town, oggled over the cheap iPods at Dick Smiths, made the shop assistant run around a little, and decided to leave. Then we went to Glassons and I bought this jacket/top that would just absolutely look awesome with white headphone wires, so.... I went back and got the iPod! Then I went and bought another warm top at Portmans, so overall not a bad day.

The spectrometry lab was extra fun - with IR spectra to analyze, I feel like a real lab technician now, I could even work at CSI NY. (That's the plan anyhu: A job at New York, mini cooper, and a summer villa on the beach of Naples). I shoot for the stars, so if I miss, I can still land on the Moon.

Mum's birthday is next Tuesday, and then Amanda's birthday dinner is on Wednesday (her birthday is actually on Easter Monday but she's going back to Taupo for that). So I have to think of a couple of presents! Thought of a couple of things for Amanda, but whenever I point anything out, she either doesn't like it or doesn't like the price, tough lady, I'll have to think harder.

The 209 test is on Wednesday, I'd better study! And the assignment for the same paper is the day after that! Ouch. All this work. But then I get two weeks break over easter and into April, so that's pretty sweet. Thinking of heading to Christchurch since Qantas are having a sale on - 49 dollars one way, pretty cheap if you ask me.

Didn't go to the movies tonight - first time I get to be home on a Friday this year. I am looking forward to just chilling out, cooking a nice dinner, and taking some time to relax. Work again tomorrow, so I don't get much of a weekend anyways.

Can't wait to unpack my iPod and give it a whirl :D

Selling ice to eskimos

In an effort to get some extra cash, I signed up for the Avon Reseller programme. This is a process where I show you booklets of wonderful make-up and jewellery and gifts and various other womanly niceties, and you, my dear customer, say: "Ooh ooh, yes please, I'd like 2 of these and some of those!". Then I get enough customers to warrant 75 dollars worth of goods and send off the order to Avon, they send the stuff, I collect the money, pay Avon, keep the margin. Rinse and repeat. Sounds easy. They sent me all sorts of great brochures and samples and ideas, and I'm very keen, but the concept breaks down when one realises the following things:

1. 95% of the people I am acquainted with are male.
2. 98% of those men wouldn't even use a deodorant when asked nicely.
3. The 5% that are women are either full time studends and poor or don't use such products.

Yes, my business will be taking off in no time! NOT.

So yes, if you know anyone who would be interested in some Avon stuff, send them my way, STAT.

In other news, I won $100 at www.18tracker.com
I was pretty stoked, now just to wait for the cheque in the mail!

Still on the topic of money and selling things, I am trying to offload my collection of Angel, so that I can, barring a free gift from a mysterious stranger, acquire my very own iPod. The Angel DVDs are up on TradeMe.

I have a Proteins and Enzymes test on Wednesday. I am somewhat nervous because it appears I don't know much on the topic. In fact, I should be studying this very momeny, but, as is customary with such things, I am procrastinating.

I read a fair few blogs around the place and I find that not everyone can take the most meaningless boring day and still turn it into an interesting to read blog. I often wonder how that can be accomplished, but unfortunately successfull writers are usually too busy to answer my innane questions. I suppose all I can do is keep writing, or stop writing. I've installed a counter on my blog, so at least I can keep track of my virtual stalkers. Should be interesting to see what pans out - for all I know I am talking into an empty ether, in which case I might be able to write about things more personal, mwuahaha!

Meh, there's nothing to write about really now - I had all these bright ideas, but because I've already thought about them, I can't be bothered writing them out again. I have a phobia of repetition.

Obsession

The weather is beautiful today in the capital of New Zealand. So beautiful even that I cannot bring myself to doing anything. I opened a beer (Monteiths Pilsner if you must know) and sat on the deck, taking in the smells and sounds of breeze, sunshine, and twenty odd degrees.

Butterflies hanging around flowers, a flock of birds camping our TV aerial, the air so clear that I can see to the other side of the harbour. Ahhh if only I had something to do that involved outside. Playing WoW on such a day seems a herecy. So instead I'll blog.

I made a really delicious breakfast this morning. I mashed up a can of salmon, avocado, hard boiled eggs, mayonnaise, and some salt and lemmon pepper. Stuffed that concoction into pita pockets and added some fancy lettuce (the stuff that comes loose in bags). It was delicious with a cup of coffee and some music videos on TV.

Read the Sunday Star Times. Raybon Kan hasn't been funny since he got back from Thailand, or maybe it's because of his laser eye surgery - the world just isn't all that funny unless you have astigmatism? The first page of the Focus section told me that everyone has an iPod and how people should stop their own soundtracks to life and tune in to the sounds of the real going-ons.

Well, to me it just seemed like an ironic ad for the iPod. You see, for the past two weeks or so, every waking moment of my day I spent day dreaming about an iPod. It's an obsession. All I want is a little mp3 player with white headphones and a turny wheel and a piece of software that will magically move my mega mp3 collection onto this device. I think of you, my iPod, every day. I dream of you. My unrequited love growing stronger with every hour.

*ahem* Yes, my name is Lana, and I have a crush on a hardware device. If anyone is so rich and famous that they can gift me one, my address is 25 Alanbrooke Pl, Karori, Wellington, New Zealand, Planet Earth. That's right - Earth, where dreams may come true. Insert a Tui ad here.

*sigh* In other news, I have dropped the second major in my degree. One of the required papers for it is Cell and Developmental Biology, and in the first two weeks they taught me about genes named Bad, Wingless, and Sonic Hedgehog. I shit you not. This was followed up by such concepts as Programmed Cell Death, Destined to Differentiate, and Knows where it'll end up. No one told me that this paper had a prerequisite of Philosophy or Theology. Needless to say it didn't compute and I could do with less time at Uni anyhow. So, now you're looking at the proud one of 15 will-be graduates of Molecular Pharmacology and Medicinal Chemistry major.

That reminds me of another snag in my evil plan - in the paper today I noticed a short blurb about P making. The government (or its Medical Ministry of some sort) is about to approve the change from pseudoephedrine cold&flu medicines to the ones that don't contain it. Specifically so that there is a reduction in the methamphetamine manufacturing. There goes my idea of a mobile P lab as a summer job!

I got myself a little bit of a jobby, 32 hours a week, paying 10 dollars an hour. It's not much, but together with the student loan living expenses, I think I might be able to afford to pay my huge Credit card and Personal loan bills and avoid bankruptcy! Hooray for me. Also applied for a job at the Wellington MedLab, it's only on Sundays, but a great foot in the door of the industry I'm heading for. Let's all cross our toes and hope I get it.

I think that's about it as far as recent events go. Oh yes, I went to see Closer. Fantastic movie, albeit lots of people don't like it. In fact, most people I went to see it with said "so what's it really about?" I guess that's the beauty of it - the movie is just a look in the mirror. There is no plot as such, no great big message, no moral. Just a bunch of people that get together. Funnily, one of the scenes in the movie was almost identical to one of the scenes I lived in Germany. It was amusing for its similarity, but sad for its deja vu. Bad relationships are what people do best. At the end you realise that everyone is just like you anyways - human mind tends towards the dramatic.

The best line in the movie: Lying is the most fun a girl can have without taking her clothes off.

Memes

1. Grab the nearest book.
2. Open the book to page 123
3. Find the fifth full sentence.
4. Post the text of the sentence in your journal along with these instructions.
5. Don't search around for the coolest book you can find. Do what's actually nearest to you.

"And the director had nominated an art teacher to help them find a mythical fraternity of Satanists"- Angels and Demons by Dan Brown

University Life

So the University year has begun and, as promised, I bring you a blog update. The problem with irregular blog updates is that you never know what to write. One could write the highlights of the day, the musings of the mind, or just plain old "I did nothing excited the whole week" speel.

It's sort of like when you have a friend or a relative you haven't seen in years, and then you realise you have nothing to talk about anymore; and not because you are no longer interested in the same things, but because you two have no longer similar points of discussions. You don't know their friends, they don't know. Your lives are worlds apart, and, well, literally, they are. That sentence has far too many commas, but I think they're grammatically well placed.

Aaaanyways, perhaps if I just start with whatever comes to mind, I will eventually have something to blog about.

Uni has been pretty hectic. My timetable is full - start at 9am, finish at 6pm, five days a week. There are such annoying things as 4 hour breaks on Monday and Wednesday, and you may notice me blogging at those hours from the Uni computers, when I'm supposed to be doing some homework I bet. I tried bringing my laptop into uni (they've just installed a wireless network), but the hassle of carrying two bags on a full bus, followed by complete lack of information on how to get wireless going or who's responsible for its support proved to be an exercise in futility. And besides, the internet usage on wireless gets charged to the uni computer account anyways, so I'm just as well off using the PCs already provided.

The first day was stressfull because I was there for hours and hours and learned nothing. First day is administrative really - they tell us when the labs/tutorials/exams are and how much we need to apply ourselves to pass. Of course that usually takes only half a lecture and then the professors start on the first topic, so it's a good idea to actually go. Still, half of the class don't, and then the lecturer has to repeat the same stuff on the next day. Good god, how I hate repitition. I don't even watch movies more than once.

The lecturers I have this trimester are really an international cast - we have german, british, australian, canadian; one wonders if this brain drain is for real. But I guess while our teachers are running off for greener overseas pastures, their international counterparts are coming here. So it's not so much of a drain as a swirling of knowledge in the great cup that is Earth.

I managed to get my books for free from my flatmate. He did a similar degree a few years ago and kept the books - so now he's let me borrow them. Although I don't know how much reading I will be doing. Just like last year, the lecture notes are provided and one should only really consult the books if one fails to understand the topic. I do have a lab report due on Tuesday though, I should really do something about that.

Oh that's right - the lab! I got to do IVF on sea urchins. Lovely creatures, I was rather upset that they let them die afterwards, but such is science I suppose. My sea urchin eggs were fertilised by the sperm from the male sea urchins. They progressed well for a couple of days, but unfortunately they all died on Friday. Other people's ones are still swimming around. Luckily I don't get marked on the vitality of my sample. I have to write all about it by Tuesday and draw lots of pictures. I did some work already and I guess I'll finish it off in the four hour gap on Monday. Hopefully I don't start the year off with failing everything. This is the first time I am doing something for longer than a year - usually I bail out at about 8 to 10 months of being in a relationship, on a job, in a flat, etc. Time will tell I guess.

The guys are organising some sort of brunch thing because the WoW servers are down, so I'd better get dressed and get going.

Ciao (I so want to learn Italian)

Feedreader

The other day I was lead to a discovery of Feedreader - the RSS reader of feeds. Instead of vising various websites every day, checking, hoping that they have posted something new, you run this program in your systray and if it spots some update, it lets you know just like an email program.

Of course, at that point I needed various feeds to test out the new fandangly holdy bendy technology stuff, so I trawled the 2005 Bloggies for suitable candidates.

The following is a list of feeds that rose up to the challenge:

Defective Yeti
Dooce
Penny Arcade
Real E Fun
RodneyHide.com
Geese Aplenty
Dictionary.com Word of the Day

there are a few others but they won't be as interesting for someone who doesn't know the authors personally.

So you see, it's pretty easy for me now to keep up with the sites I like to visit but don't have the attention span to visit every day. They now visit me! hooray...

The three people (by my calculations) that read my blog should definitely go and read those others.

#define PICTURES 1000words

I just realised that having got my camera cable back, I can actually use the camera. I have no idea why I didn't consider this in the last three weeks!

As you may or may not know, 14th of February was Valentine's Day. I got flowers! here's proof:










In other news, I blew up my PC monitor. I don't actually know how it happened, I must have looked at it funny and then there was a bit of a buzz, a bit of a smell, and no more picture...

I tried to recycle it with the aid of my cunning disguise:



but the outcome was somewhat disappointing:

I'm So Ronery
I'm so ronery
So ronery
So ronery and sadry arone

There's no one
Just me onry
Sitting on my rittle throne
I work very hard and make up great prans
But nobody ristens, no one understands
Seems that no one takes me serirousry

And so I'm ronery
A little ronery
Poor rittre me

Quartercentarian

so no updates for a long time, huh?
that's because nothing's been happening worthy of my typing prowess.

I did have a birthday and I got old and I had a birthday party and got lots of presents and affection from friends. It was three thumbs up.

I did quit my soul destroying supermarket job. It was fantastic.

I did lose five kilos, and god knows how that happened, but it must be a good thing.

I did realise I need no man to complete me - no one to whinge about my choice of music or TV channel, no one to nag me to go to the gym, no one to tell me what to wear, no one to tell me what to eat. I can watch stargate for 8 hours a day, or play WoW two night in a row, and no one can say anything to me that will make me feel inferior. It's supercalifragilisticexpealidocius.

Of course the minute I say that, I'll get 5 cards for Valentine's Day in the mail just to irritate me. I guess I'll start practicing the art of rejection I never learnt.

There will probably be more updates as Uni starts, but for now it's pretty much just laxing out in the sun and enjoying things. I have Angels and Demons to read as well, it sounds more interesting than Da Vinci Code was.

Here's a funny link for those with no heart.

Witches Abroad

Work last night was kinda amusing. In that stressfull, far too busy, shop full of retards way.

I got there at five pm, and the queue was non stop till 7.30 when I got to go on my break. There were so many people that we had all the check outs open and the queues reached the bread isle.

But of course everyone would come shopping at once. Probably the warmest sunniest day in the last 5 months and everyone goes shopping. Yep, sure makes sense.

Some customers deserve a special note. The rabbit lady was back. She owns 13 rabbits, and lives by herself. She comes into to shop and also gets free leftover leaves from produce. I fear this is going to be my romantic fate in not too many years.

Then there was the gittery man knob that can never make up his mind, talks too much and swears like a sailor. His card wouldn't swipe in the next checkout over. He swore and swore and tried and tried. I gave up paying attention. Then he comes over to my checkout, buys a paper, and the card swipes fine. So I ask him if he wants to get some cash out to pay for the groceries he couldn't pay for at the adjacent checkout. At which point he starts swearing and tells to get a life because he paid with cash. He pulls out a giant wad of 50s. Then he decides he doesn't want to pay for the paper but is going to take it anyway... He finally left after I wrestled the Dominion Post from him.

At about 10 to 10, we started announcing on the PA system that the store is about to close and would everyone please bugger off. But noooo, people wander up and down the isles like a badly nourished herd of sheep. Wasn't until quarter past that we finally shut the doors.

One of these ever so bright customers told me that I look like Willow off Buffy (with my new hair and all). Hooray, I thought to myself, now I just need to become a lesbian and perhaps my witchy powers will surface.

The End.

Flat on my back

I have spent most of today lying in bed. Must say I am enjoying it. You see the wow server didn't crash at 2am last night like it had been for the last month, so I didn't notice how late it was and ended up playing till 3am. By this time my mental capacity had completely detiriorated, I screwed up all my quests, and got my group member killed. Needless to say he pulled an aggro and logged off in a huff. (He did come back on icq to say he's not angry and it's just a silly game and he's tired, but that is moot now). I know I was screwing up. At that point I must have been pretty tired because I ended up doing what a 5 year old would do in this situation and cried myself to sleep.

I think all the day's disappointments stemmed directly from me dying my hair. You see, I somehow expected to get guys queuing after me but when no one even seemed to notice, the day went downhill. Rejection doesn't have to be outward to result in dejection it seems.

It was basically one of those "all dressed up and no where to go" days. I did go to the movies though. We saw Ocean's 12. Great movie, similar to Ocean's 11. George Clooney and Brad Pitt are still hot. Matt Damon is funny to look at after watching Team America. Lots of inside jokes it seems, and heaps more general humour than the first movie. I hate to admit my apparent stupidity but I got lost somewhere in the end of the plot line and still don't quite know what happened in that movie. But still, it gets rating of Worth Seeing from me.

Amanda is still in Taupo. I got a postcard from her today that she sent from Dubai. Very sweet.

Met up with Chris Chapman for a coffee yesterday afternoon. He and I did German at Goethe together. He gave me an early birthday present because he won't be able to make the party. It's the world's smallest cheese grater. It would be too small for Mini-Me. But it's totally adorable! He's going to Europe at the end of the month, so I am looking forward to more postcards :)

Geoff my flatmate is going to a wedding today. Seems like everyone is getting married this year. It's a conspiracy I tells ya. He gave me a maglite so I don't fall down the cliff again coming from work. Fingers crossed I make it home safe.

Watched the latest Cold Case today, it's still a good show. Watched NYPD 24/7 on TV the other night. Also an interesting show. Made more weird by the fact that it's not fictious. Real life stories seem far more brutal than any writers can make up. Odd.

Looking forward to getting my Sunday Star Times in the mail tomorrow. Now that I live in the wop wops, it seems easier to subscribe to it than going out for Sunday brunch in town every week. Hopefully Raybon Kan is back from holidays and will have an article in there somewhere. It's the only reason I read the paper.

Over and out.

Bloggy Bloggy Bloggy, Bork Bork Bork

So this new year resolution that I should blog only about events and not silly feelings is working out in favour of my laziness. As you can see no updates for a while. Lucky for someone the WoW servers are down for an extended period today and so I might as well write an entry before my brain fills up with events and starts purging.

So let's see what's been happening. Last Friday the movie night choice was The Incredibles. Still not as good as Ice Age, but pretty funny. The animation of hair was amazing. And I really liked the mini movie at the start Boundin'. The story of The Icredibles was a bit flatter than I'd expected, but still a few random quirks in between saved it. Thumbs up.

I got my christmas present in the mail from mum - a home baked fruit loaf. That lasted me through to the 7th. Pretty tasty.
Speaking of NZ Post, they successfully managed to lose a present I sent in the mail and now don't want to hear about it. It's all very frustrating. I filled out a compensation form and mailed it but I'm not liking my chances.

Work has been same old, same old. I've resolved to stop trying calling in sick because it just doesn't work. I might as well hang in there until Uni starts. Then I can reduce to just weekends, and after I've been there 6 months I will get a 5% lifetime Discount card and can quit justified.

The other day they got me to clean out the meat cabinet. Apparently it hasn't been done in a very long time because I discovered bits of meat at the bottom that were green in colour. Except as one dead insect. It was exciting. Especially considering that one cannot clean out the cabinet without shoving half of your body into it and twisting in amusing ways. So now body aches in all sorts of places.

Speaking of aches, I fell down the cliff the other night. The bush walk is really slippery and 10 pm there is absolutely no light. So here I was walking merrily along, planning my birthday party, as KAPOW, I'm sliding down the cliff side. It was really odd because I remember thinking - so is this what love is like, comes when you lease expect it, who would want it when they least expect it, how stupid...

Anyhow, I tried to get back out but the dirt was all slippery and I kept sliding back down. At this stage I'm thinking this only happens in the movies, in real life people don't get quick sand effect in the middle of Karori. Just as all hope was lost, this guy shows up. And I mean that is so very random. No one usually walks anywhere near the bush track, let alone on it, as it only leads to like three houses. More random however, is that he's carrying a vacuum cleaner. So this random guy at 10 pm, in a bush track, with a vacuum cleaner, pulled me out from the cliff side. He walked behind me all the way up the track. And then he says: "You're pretty brave to be walking here in this hour". And I think: "Oh crap, please don't kill me, Mr Vacuum Cleaner Man". Needless to say I walked up that track faster than my heart would allow it. When I got home, I discovered that I was covered in a cake of mud. Mmmm mud.

What else, what else. WoW has been pretty good. I somehow inadvertently managed to subvert all the people I know into playing it. So now I have no friends.
I'm going to dye my hair today, it's due for a colour boost. Hopefully it doesn't come out with polka dots.

Somewhere in the midst of all the events above, I've been having some really bizarre dreams - that I had septocemia, AIDS, fungal outbreak, and today it was topped by muppets on stage singing in Italian. You'd think sleep is brain's way of dealing with every day problems, but no obviously my brain signed up to the plan where it just adds to them. Stupid brain.

And that's all folks.

Hum-dee-dum-days

Today's title is brought to you by a musical box filled with biscuits I saw for sale at Woolies. It's a Winnie the Pooh item.

I went to see Blade Trinity on Saturday, excellent movie. Non stop action, plenty of beautiful muscle tone and kick ass moves. Jessica Biel is hot, and I've loved Ryan Reynolds ever since Two Guys, a Girl and a Pizza Place. Dominic Purcell is also charmingly engaging even for a bad disgusting monster dude. He looked so familiar and only just now I've looked up IMDB and turns out he was John Doe from the tragically cancelled series.

Went and played some Xbox games afterwards - Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events is an awesome game. It's so goth and dark, I love it. It starts off by saying that if you are looking to save the world, or cast spells, you should change the games now, if you are waiting for a happy ending, walk away. "There is no happy ending in this game, in fact there is no happy beginning, nor any happy things in between". There are two kids and one baby. The baby can chew through lead piping and doors, the girl is a McGyver, and the boy knows words like tetraphenol sodium hydroxide and acoustic resonance. I haven't seen the movie, but playing the game enticed me. Of course there is no way I can convince anyone I normally go to movies with to come and see an apparently kids entertainment. I might have to wait for Amanda to get back or get the film through nefarious means.

Went and had coffee with Alan yesterday. Good cake at Cafe 162, with a cherry on top.
Finally got the mouse power supply from Geoff, so I can use this fandangly MX700 and feel like a real man. Or something.

We installed Teamspeak, so now, when playing WoW, we can just talk instead of all the typing. Brilliantly social concept actually. I got so wired last night I couldn't sleep.

Of course work rang me this morning. They have rung me every single day I am not rostered since the day I started. I don't want to even work the days I am rostered, let alone the ones I am not. I used to try and make up excuses, saying terribly sorry but I am busy with more important matters, please forgive me. Now I just say no and hang up. Goes well with some of my NY Resolutions I am sure.

So I am a bit sleepy but the day doesn't wait, must get out there and kill some Yetis.

Hooroo.