Pointless Entry

This has gone on too long - lots has happened but I haven't blogged in around 3 years!

Right now I'm still in the process of sorting my mind out enough to start my next post, so this one is just here to say the next one it on it's way!

:p

fair sentencing?

Last Saturday, Jan 19th, my Aunt Jude and her partner Randall were riding their motorcycles over to the west coast for the weekend. About 3/4 of the way there they were hit by a spanish tourist who was driving on the wrong side of the road.

They (especially Jude) shouldn't be alive apparently, but they are. Randy escaped with a broken arm, collarbone and a lot of gravel burn. Jude broke both legs, one arm and the other arm is badly bruised and sprained. Neither of them have any internal or head injuries. Phew.

Jude has had several surgeries so far, basically reattaching one foot, closing the torn-open leg and installing one of those external frame thingies to hold her leg together while it heals. She has more surgeries remaining yet, so they're keeping her in an induced coma until its all over.

There have been a couple of small articles in the newspaper and one on the tv3 website about it, though no-one has mentioned the extent of Jude's injuries, and the latest one I saw had details of the sentencing of the tourist.

http://www.tv3.co.nz/News/Touristfinedfordrivingonwrongsideandhittingmotorcyclists/tabid/209/articleID/44044/cat/41/Default.aspx

Okay, so here's where I get mad. If you look at the bottom of the page, there are comments from a couple of readers, the bottom one asking a question I had in my mind already, so I decided to find out.

I emailed the Spanish Embassy in Wellington and asked whether the driving disqualification would be upheld by Spanish authorities when the tourist returned home and recieved this reply:

"The disqualification will not apply in Spain as there is not an agreement between the Spanish Goverment and the New Zealand Goverment in Traffic Law matters."

So why the hell did the judge even bother with disqualifying him? Keeping up appearances?? What other reason could there be?

I'm so furious about it thaat I'm on the edge of calling the TV station myself and making sure that detail is made public. Tonight I'm going to talk to the family and find out why details of Jude's condition have not been mentioned so I know whether or not to bring it up myself.

So angry i want to explode.

:(

A whole new year. Full of hope? full of promise? Nah... full of exactly the same as last year but I've had a good break and can enjoy it more.

Of course, that's nothing to complain about really - being full of the same as last year - last year was pretty great. Meeting Dale was the best part of course. Yes we're still very much together and happy, and I finally have pics!

For Christmas, Dale got me the best stuff. I was expecting no more than a good book or a dvd - something that showed he listened to me and thought about what to get. But no. He proved those points far better than I ever thought he would....

I love to cook, but gave away most of my kitchen stuff when I moved here.
He got me a great spice rack.
And a breadmaker.

I like pc games that don't rely on running around killing everything - and they're hard to find
He got me Oblivion GOTY edition

I had goldfishies before I moved but gave them away to avoid killing them in the move.
He got me a full tropical tank set-up

Yep, he listens! So do I appparently though, because I got him some equally good gifts in their own way. The best part really was having time after our respective christmas work rushes to soend some quiet relaxing time together.

So we've both been thoroughly enjoying the fish tank. Researching what fishies eat which others, how big they grow, how many we can fit in the tank, filling and cycling the aquarium... and finally we put the first fishies in there: 10 neon tetras, a bristlenose pleco to keep the bottom clean, and a flying fox to clean the leaves and sides.

The tetras are named the Skool of Rock, Flying Fox is Foxy Love (Hey Hey Hey) and the Pleco is Spot - because we are always playing "spot the fishy" with him (plus he's spotty)

Then 3 days ago I got 2 lyretail mollies. A plain yellow one called Lemon, and a yellow one with black splotches and a black tail, named Pepper (mmmmm lemon pepper)

2 days ago Dale got a rainbow shark, named Feargal. If you don't understand the name, ask someone who remembers the 80s ;)

So the pleco and the shark were to be our indicators of when to get a bigger tank. the best laid plans however often go astray, and last night that was proven when Lemon (the molly) gave birth to 20+ babies! They were so cute when they were newborn - a pair of eyes with a little bit of membrane sticking out the back. Next morning they looked like proper fishies, and by the end of the day they were each almost 1cm long!

Right now we're looking for another tank. A big one. We'll run both, probably using the current one as a nursery.

So more research, and more room for other fishies in the new tank

It's all so exciting! (and no, i'm not kidding - its really cool lol)

Happy new year!

the return of the thing

wow, so long since my last entry! Now I have to decide whats important enough to bother writing about in a 3 month catch-up entry... eek!

Been some tough times lately. My whole family seems to be in a phase of financial difficulty, my own not helping at all, in fact I think mine is bad enough that it is dragging everyone else down a little further. Business hasn't been exactly slow.... I think it's just at that stage where its almost settled into place and ready to build up but still treading water. Kinda drowning a little before it figures out how to swim. So of course that leaves me coughing water and working my ass off for seemingly nothing, but I can still see "the light" and am kicking out behind me as hard as I can, moving slowly towards where I need to be.

So enough of the bad swimming analogies! I also got older (turned 37 Jan 20th, ouch) and fell in love. For those of you waiting on the impending release of my book about internet dating horror stories, I offer my humble apologies... not happening, at least not for now! I was gathering quite a collection of tales too.... but alas for my authorship, I found someone really wonderful amongst the dregs of society. Pretty amazing for me, the seasoned cynic, the eternal skeptic, the disbeliever, holding the staunch belief that nothing like this would ever happen to me. And now I'm looking in, but from the inside for the first time, and I like it.

Dale is.... well Dale is a lot of things, most of which will be boring as hell to anyone reading this, but interesting to me. He treats me better than I knew people treated each other, he makes me feel beautiful and interesting and happy. He has other things apart from me which are important to him (anyone who knows me will know how much that means to me!) and values the fact that I too have things I do which don't involve him. Things which in most relationships would normally piss me off, I am finding strangely endearing, or at least not as annoying as I would expect. He has a business which is very different to mine, but he finds the mechanics of my little business as interesting as I do the workings of his bigger one. He also loves me... always a bonus :)

Mum has been overseas again, this time to the US, florida to be more exact. She spent a lot of time waiting in queues at disney world, negotiated driving on the other side of the road, in the other side of a car, around DamYank highways and cities - truly heroic in my opinion! She also had lunch with an astronaut... unlike most people who say they went to "lunch with an astronaut" at Kennedy Space Centre, she was actually seated at his table! Long story, many many thanks to Ryan for saving her a fortune on international shipping and getting the tickets safely and rapidly to where they needed to be :) *hugs*

Really, I must sleep now though. As much as I am thrilled to finally achieve an update and have probably forgotten important things, it is 2am, i've already worked the better part of 13 hours today (on a public holiday) and have more to achieve in the morning to make deadline. I'll add more tomorrow if I think of it.

Nice to be blogging again though... I've missed it

'07

So its the beginning of a new year, bursting with promise

Last year I decided too late that I wanted to enter the WOW wearable arts awards... this year it isn't too late, and I already have an idea. I think its a pretty cool idea but am still fine tuning it.

So I ask - beg even - any of you 3 (maybe 4) people who ever read this - if you wanna hear about this design and maybe throw a couple of comments and suggestions into it... I'd love the help! Who knows, after a short chat about it I might decide its stupid and change tactic entirely - or I may get a better image of what I'm already heading towards and know what direction to go. All help is appreciated ;)

This year has potential I think. This year I am already out of Palmerston North (yay!!), already have my business running-ish, already have much of what I really need. Time to focus on me a little, give a crap about myself instead of putting myself aside for everyone else and for work. Not entirely sure how to do that yet, but working on it. I think I'll start with doing things I enoy more often. Read more, go on more photographic expeditions, paint, walk, explore. Ah look - a place to start - my life is better already!

I've decided it is time to try not being single for a while. This for me is weird - I've been alone a long time and i'm really good at being single. No idea why, just seems to have worked out that way. Thought I'd try getting slightly more practised at not being single for a change... see how long that idea lasts!

Also I'm in a new city now, I need more friends. I need places to go and people to talk to. I need to stop shutting myself away at work and get the hell out there! I used to have people around me all the time - self employment can be a social life killer but it doesn't have to be so I'm not going to let it any more. I *really* miss having people to talk to. I must get in touch with a few old online friends as well - I miss chatting for hours or minutes, whenever our timezones and schedules allowed. I made some excellent friends online, met a few of them as well and would hate to lose touch altogether.

Anyway, yes, I plan to make this year a good one. It is off to a decent start already and I mean to make it continue that way.

So to share my greatest words of wisdom, a motto a friend and I created (over several alcoholic drinks most likely) and I have tried to live by every day since.....


Don't fuck it up.

try it - it works ;)

so close...

Well I am almost at a point where I can return to sanity - or as close to it as I ever was, which isn't probably very close.... but that's the way I like it ;)

the season's traditional visions of sugarplums have carefully avoided dancing in my head, and have been replaced by visions of relaxing evenings, time to read and especially time to spend on "certain things" I am involved in which are important to me (and I have felt increasing guilty for not participating as much as I would like lately). Simple dreams which feel so unreachable, but in only a few *not so short* days will be fulfilled.

My business' christmas rush is almost over. I have been working between 14 and 18 hours a day for the past 5 weeks, without a single day off, and it is seriously taking its toll. I feel old and haggard, unattractive and unappreciated.... but soon, very soon, the rush will be over, I'll enjoy some time off followed by a lighter workload, and the money will start pouring in for the work I've done, though of course having just set up the business in a new city, most if not all of said money will simply pay my set-up costs.

Right now though, oney is the last thing on my mind - gotta make the deadlines before the money comes in - so a few more days in my little sweat-shop and I'll start to realise those dreams

Then the sugar-plums will be free to dance, more than likely assisted by a large bottle of something extremely tasty and alcoholic!

should that be in my coffee?!?

Um no, it shouldn't

The "it" in question is none other than a small blade, generally used in cafes to cut open plastic milk refills. However yesterday afternoon it wasn't in its regular place, sitting on the top of a Starbucks espresso machine or feebly attached to the side of a milk steaming jug, but at the bottom of my venti white chocolate mocha.

Needless to say, since I swirled the cup one last time to blend the dregs of syrup into my coffee and heard an odd "thunk" sound in my cup, only to discover my unsolicited little friend half floating in the perfect bacteria-growing temperature liquid, I have become more than a little preoccupied with ideas of where that little blade has been.

Now this blade is actually a sharp thing, reasonably well protected in it's little plastic casing but still a threat to the unwary consumer. Preying more on my mind right now though is the fact that it is undoubtedly, in some way, dirty.

The child/manager I spoke to swore to me that they have strict hand-washing policies at Starbucks. I accept and appreciate that they have very strict rules. As I pointed out to same child/manager, we have very strict rules at my house also, but I am the only person I can guarantee actually washes their hands at all, so realistically their policies mean nothing to me. Especially considering this is an inner city Starbucks, exceptionally busy at times and people are always in a hurry. So are staff when they use the bathroom. Add to that the fact that this is a cutting blade we are talking about. It usually has no direct contact with food, only plastic.... so if it gets dropped on the floor and kicked around a little, pick it up and use it again! Why not?

Well they may be about to find out why not. When I spoke with the child/manager about it, she attempted to take the "evidence" out the back to be disposed of. She heard my voice raise a little at that point, when I insisted rather firmly that she couldn't have it. Whether I decided to take any action or not, it was in fact, potential evidence. So when I left, it went with me.

I live in New Zealand. We can't sue here.... at least I don't think so (am finding out and sure as hell will if I can). The Health Department on the other hand was very interested when I spoke to them this morning. They are planning on taking it rather seriously. Will update on progress if and when I get it.

In the end, My little sharp friend will join the exclusive ranks of other interesting and intimidating looking obejcts, in a small plastic container, on a shelf in the offices of the health department.

As for me? I assume after a while the feeling I have in my stomach and the thoughts which haunt my dreams will fade and disappear. Hopefully the sweaty little hands which have touched the blade were completely disease-free and my coffee was the same. And I at least have an interesting new story to tell ;)