"New" Computer

A friend of mine got a new, fancy laptop, and suddenly, I thought maybe it's time for me to upgrade mine as well. Around here, for about NZ$1000 you can get new, spiffy ones, I discovered. (Extremely spiffy, if you consider mine is a 2003 Compaq with 30 gig hard drive and a memory just a little longer than myself.)

After a bit of to-ing and fro-ing between electronic shops, I remembered we have to pay for the holiday we had earlier this month, plus our health and life insurances are payable this month. All on our credit card. Yay! (That was a sarcastic "yay", folks.)

Still, I'm crashing and rebooting every time I edit three photos in a row, and/or when I open what I consider to be just a few web sites simultaneously.

So Ben's got a 160 gig hard drive and double of whatever memory I've got now, and that should keep me very happy for a few years. Especially considering I'm particularly happy with the screen on this one. He gets my 30 gigs to back up some of his recent photos. And we save a few quid.

When I was young, I thought I'd like to marry a dentist, because our family, except my sister, had to support many a dentists' lifestyles for as long as we can remember. More so than doctors, and in Japan, we don't need lawyers unless you get into serious trouble.

Boy, I'm bloody glad I married an IT guy. I can't imagine paying someone to advise me and then carry out this kind of stuff. Even if this one tries to gas me.

Today I'm a Walrus

Before the days of Polaroid lenses, I used to wear glasses with tinted lenses. One was a rather dark gray one, and around the same time my mom knitted me this beautiful ivory-colored cardigan jacket with boucle (loopy) yarns. I loved it so much I wore it all the time. My family dubbed me the giant panda. And I wasn't even very fat then.

This week, I've been working hard on the loom and I don't feel like I have any energy left for anything else. This morning the word "walrus" popped in my head won't leave me alone. And I'm not wearing a white bikini...

You have a more mobile day, ok?

Christmas Shopping Madness

I'm a visual person, and I don't listen well. I pick up visual clues, but I think I miss a lot of audio clues.

So I'm not sure why I throughly enjoy Per Stromsjo's Stockholm by Wave sound clip site. It usually takes me listening to a couple of clips to stop unconsciously looking for the accompanying visuals and to concentrate on the sound, but once I "settle down", I start to pick up interesting and less obvious bits.

Today's favorite is the mad Christmas shopping in Stockholm. Do you think my life is too quiet, if I told you I went back to listen to it half a dozen times?

How about a child asking Mom for a can of coke? Z commented whiny kids sound the same the world over; how true.

I was taken aback at the almost threatening tone of these toy commercials; I doubt I would have noticed it if I watched a video of these.

And to end this post on a happy note, child, mom and dad having probably a rather routine conversation on how to dress a toy appropriately.

I've been wanting to do something similar, but we have no sound-recording device just now, nor a digital video cam. My camera can do short clips, but the sound quality is less than satisfactory. I wonder if Ben's camera would help. (Though it'd never been as good as Stockholm, because Per is/was a sound professional.)

Photograph posted with permission from Peter Fristedt and Stockholm by Pixels.

Blokes!!!

My workshop is next to the garage. Sometimes, on weekends, Ben works on his car while I work in the workshop, with the door between us open so we can shout and have a conversation, or he can listen to my radio/CD.

We were just doing that, and it's kind of pleasant, you know, knowing each other is just a few feet away, but both quietly doing our own things.

Until Ben turned the engine on. The fume comes right into the workshop, and doesn't easily move on else where. So I have to rush and turn on the bathroom vent.

If the door between the workshop and the stairway is opened, our living room/kitchen area also becomes smelly.

I've asked him umpty million times to please shut that door when the he turns the engine on, but what you say, he's a bloke. He just did it, and I asked him to turn his little fan to help get the fume out of the garage door, to which he complied very begrudgingly, and I asked him to acknowledge what my request once again, to which he grunted extremely annoyed. (He's also thinking, "what are you on about working, when you spent the whole morning trying to name the 50 states!!!"

I tell you, sometimes I feel like keying his candy car. My heart is palpitating and I can't tell if it's from the fume or if I'm so mad at him.

*&^%$#@()_+=->":?,./';!!!!!

Not very idyllic today, is it, Bill?

When You're Wrong, You're Wrong

Y'all know I lived in Minneapolis/St Paul for an awfully long time; you could say I was educated there because I went to high school (Washburn) and college (Hamline) there, but clearly not enough!!! I also lived in Tucson, and spent the academic year JFK was shot, while Dad was a researcher at the U of A, but I was five, OK???

I knew that somewhere "near" Tucson, maybe around Phoenix, there was this great and wonderful place where four states met, and I may even have been taken there once or twice.

Well, I discovered this morning how poor my American geography is, because my knowledge of that neighborhood hadn't improved over the years. More specifically, I thought that the state of Colorado was somewhere up further north, where Wyoming now sits. I may also have thought that Montana and Wyoming somehow sat between Wasahington State/Oregon and California, because Idaho was the only one around there without the sea.

Did you have a big shuffle when I wasn't looking?

Bill's pic in Delta Daily Photo started it all; I knew this was north of Grand Canyon, and didn't think it was is in Colorado, so I'm not a complete dodo... Just almost.

Tim Wraight's Latest

Latest public piece by Tim Wraight. As far as Tim's works go, it's not overly complicated, but as always clean and immaculately carved. It's not a big piece, and as fans, we would have liked to see it somewhere where the piece stands more prominently, but hey, if Tim's ok with it, so are we.

It's not a bad position, but you know what I'm saying...

Are We Sure?

Word of the day today is: nolens volens \NO-lenz-VO-lenz\, meaning, whether unwilling or willing.

Has anyone heard this before? Is this some obscure saying used in a tiny village with a population of 35 somewhere? I hear, "weather permitting" a bit around here.

Now I see Micky Dolenz's big head all over the place. Get away from me!! Out!!

Bill & Brokeback Mountain, Australian Actors and Film vs Book

This is Bill, folks, in 1963 in Salmon, Idaho. When he sent me this pic, I wrote to him he "looked Brokeback pretty" and he laughed.

Which made me think of that film vs the book; in the original novel the two men, particularly Ennis Del Mar, was supposed to be an ugly. There ain't nothing ugly about those two, but, oh, what a tragedy about Heath Ledger. I had this vague impression he was an easy going Aussie, but I have nothing to base it on. I thought of River Phoenix, who was also very promising.

Oh, and with regards to our friend Bill, a few years later, he... ummmm... transformed himself into a sailor with a strange facial ... do. Submarines must do strange things to your mind...

Word of the Day

I started subscribing to Dictionary.com's Word of the Day emails three days ago. The first word was "callow", and though I don't use it, my interpretation was not too far off. Yesterday's was "permeate", and this I knew.

Today's word is "effusive", which I had totally wrong, and I mean, I thought it mean quite the opposite... So there. This is a word I can use often, I think, as I do tend to get a bit gushing from time to time.

Effusive: excessively demonstrative; giving or involving extravagant or excessive emotional expression; gushing.

Sir Ed

You know Sir Ed Hillary passed away recently. Tuesday was the state funeral and I watched it on the telly and listened to National Radio for over four hours. Though it was sad, he was 88 and had been unwell for a few years, so it was not unexpected, and the occasion, in parts, was more about the celebrating his life and achievements.

It's Thursday now, and I can't get over his passing yet, but the world seems to have moved on nicely, thank you very much; the news is full of the economy, (our minuscule retirement saving plunged to nothingness while I was immersed in Sir Ed's docos and interviews), and Heath Ledger's death.

Sir Ed was cremated. I come from a culture where everybody is cremated, but it's still strange to think Sir Ed's body is no longer, and he remains in our memories, our hearts, and on film and in writings but he, in one sense, is really gone.

Through his docos and from friends and family reminiscing, I learned that he was quite good with words as well, so I'll go get his autobiography. Strange, because I have absolutely no interest in mountaineering whatsoever. My mom was interested all her life, and did some mild-mannered, lady-like climbing until she was in her late 50's, and have heard about Hillary the Climber all my lift. My parents even visited some kind of a base-campy place in Nepal right after Dad retired, a place which might have had some kind of a Hillary connection.

His funeral can be viewed here, but I warn you, it's 4h08M long. The highlight was his grandson Sam Mulgrew's recollection of Sir Ed in recent years. In him, and no doubt in his other grandkids and friends, he lives on.

Humble Mountain Man

Chuckles

Have a chuckly start to the new week, people.

New Zealand, the Land of... Eccentrics?

Within New Zealand, Nelson is known as an "alternative" place, but this here is Auckland, our biggest city!!

Help!

I was looking at the Stats Counter information regarding my weaving blog, www.MegWeaves.blogspot.com, and I found something very strange.

If you Google "megweaves" and "blogspot", the one that appears on the top is a URL "http://www.megweaves-blogspot.co.cc/", and if you click on it, it's a free homepage hosting thing - most probably a scam. "cc" is at a place called Cocos, (Keeling) Islands, and the administrative address is in Sydney, Australia.

I've never seen anything like this... I hate to think my brand name is associated with a scam - though this one probably attached itself to lot of other domain names.

Anyway, have you seen anything like this before???

Australian Flicks

There is a special genre of Australian movies that's absolutely wonderful and worth your time if you haven't discovered it. I think it can be described as understated stories of ordinary Aussie bloke/s or family/ies ("Aussie battler") overcoming small and not-so-small obstacles through hard work and sometimes astonishing luck, and they go back to their ordinary lives.

I'd like an Aussie's opinion, but over here, The Castle (1997) is considered the pinnacle of this genru. No matter how many times we watch it, we can't help but feel this warm feeling in the pit of your stomach; this one probably defines the genre.

The Man Who Sued God (2001) might have tried to do similar, but it didn't work because it brought in an non-Aussie, Billy Connelly, meaning they aimed for the international market, and was way over-acted. (Is that a word/phrase?)

Though there is an event of astronomical proportion in The Dish (2000), namely the moon landing, this film is also a favorite, with Kiwi Sam Neill in the lead.

Come to think of it, The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert (1994) belongs to this genre, though visually it's less ordinary. I didn't know one of the drag queens was Hugo Weaving until after I became so enamored by him as Elrond, and he makes not a very pretty queen, I say.

Kenny (2006) was described as the next "Castle" over here but I was disappointed. There are some very unlikable characters (Kenny's dad and ex - I don't even thing the ex appears once) and his redemption is not as rewarding as it should have been; I got this feeling this bloke's gone back to his same old mildly horrible life. And the lead spoke so quickly that we needed about 20 minutes to get used to his diction, and we do pretty OK with normal Aussie accents.

Another way to describe these films, perhaps, is this: think Brassed Off (1996) or The Full Monty (1997), but the main characters have miraculous victories, justice is served, and they go back to their humble lives whence they came.

OK, I know there are a few of you who are film buffs; help me clarify what I'm thinking if you know these films.

Chick Flicks

I love chick flicks, and to get maximum enjoyment, I go alone during the day rather than to drag Beloved along and disappoint him with no pyrotechnics.

I really liked Steel Magnolias (1987) when it came out, but when I saw it a couple of years ago it felt dated to me; there was too much going on and not enough contemplation that it came off my list. Fabulous actresses; the one that sticks in my mind is Olivia Dukakis. Having grown up on a steady diet of Sally Fields and Burt Reynolds, this is tagged "Sally-Field-does-grown-up" in my mind.

I've only seen Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood (2002? It can't be - hasn't been around for years?), but loved it and had flashbacks of some of the more fanciful moment. I mean to rent it and see it again because I remember Ellen Burstyn wearing a fabulous scarf and walking around, and I made a mental note of studying that piece later. I've always loved Ellen Burstyn, but I particularly liked this role.

I'm not sure if Fried Green Tomatoes (1991) would qualify as a chick flick, because it does deal with "real/serious" issues, but I liked the women-supporting-women aspect of it, though it was too scary I only saw it once. For some reason, I find domestic violence scarier than, say, CSI-type violence. I like Kathy Bates, too. Until I started reading some of your blogs, I thought fried green tomatoes were the writer's invention. Honest!

How to Make and American Quilt (1995) was a gentler chick flick, from memory, once again with Ellen Burstyn, but also Ann Bancroft, and Wiki says Maya Angelou.

Calendar Girls (2003) was a barrel of laughs, but I thought they should have stopped the film before they went to Hollywood; it's not a doco, so I thought the last bit was unnecessary.

Oh, and here's a wee dark one: The Witches of Eastwick (1987). I wasn't too crazy about the darkness of the film, but if I rented it now, I think I'll have a great old laugh. I do remember the three women discussing... sizes. I didn't know until just now that it's an Updike novel.

Wiki's definition of chick flick seem a few generations removed from me; I don't think chick flicks have to be shallow. Oh, and I never liked Terms of Endearment (1983).

And lastly but not the least, Hannah and her Sisters (1986) was a whole lot more chick flick than Annie Hall (1977).

Ugh, I just had a flash back of so many of my friends dressing like Annie Hall in college.

Recommend me other chick flicks in this vein!

All Kinds of Friends

Ever had a premonition when you meet someone for the first time here's a person who was born to be your very best friend and you keep anticipating you're really get to know the person well real soon, and everybody else thinks you're so tight every time they see you, they ask about the other person? Except the other person never has time for you or doesn't like you that much and even tells you so, and so the great bonding never takes place, and years, or decades, later, you decide it's silly wasting all the emotions on that friendship, so you finally let go, which is as hard as breaking up, but then your other friends admonish you because they think you're being silly, careless and callous?

After years of sitting by the phone figuratively, I'm letting go of one, regardless of what our other friends think of say. If I'm asked about this person, I'll just have to say, "I don't know," and if they ask why, it would be because I haven't really spoken to this person for years. Which is what I've been saying for the last five years.

Damn, I really liked her.

Bad Holiday

As I said to Liz, it was a good holiday in a refreshing way.

Usually, before a holiday, I read about the place, study photos of places of historical/cultural significance, read up on artwork/s, and/or books where the place has literary significance, study maps, and have a mental itinerary/route/menu before I leave. The enthusiasm gets almost intolerable until I have to get in a long queue/line at Auckland airport if we're going overseas, or for about 30 kilometers if we're driving. Then this dreadful waning sets in. So I talk Ben's ear off to keep my spirits high, when he's naturally trying to relax.

By the time I get to the place, I almost can't wait to get out of there and come home so I can reminisce. I'm mostly confirming what I read was true or false, and I keep trying to educate Ben on what I researched. When Ben's trying to relax on his holiday.

This trip, however, I had no time for prepping, so just in the couple of days before we left, I looked through one very crude guide to Northland once or twice, and dog-eared the activities/places we might be interested in. When we arrived at Whangarei, I grabbed flyers from only those places/activities. I had a map, also, but hadn't studied them.

I was mindful I, too, had an exceptionally busy year, and both Ben and I needed a holiday as much as we were happy to "host" my sister's family. So with each activity, I tried my darnedest to enjoy myself instead of worrying if everything was working for everybody else. That included taking pictures of them if I felt like it, but if I didn't, I actually cycled/kayaked/walked away, initially with great guilt, and let myself enjoy the moment. And you know, the world didn't fall apart.

The result is, I didn't get to talk to my sister as much as I had hoped, and I think she felt the same. This also had to do with her two boys now understanding grown-up talks more, and we needed to physically get away, which didn't happen as I had planned. But I, too, had a jolly good holiday, and when we came back, I didn't feel like I needed another holiday to recover from their holiday, which is how it works most times. And I don't have the lingering sadness about the holiday that's just gone by, like I do most times.

What I do have, though, is flashbacks and glimpses of the fantastic scenery and generous people we met in Northland, the colors and the (humid!) sea air. The recollection is mostly non-verbal and unprocessed, and I like it like that. It feels like a real holiday, and I'm not going to analyze them with words. And it's a mighty good post-holiday feel, I tell you, so refreshing.

So, no "Bad Holiday" Pics, but Bad "Holiday Pics". I should study my destination less carefully in future.

PS. This relaxing feeling also had to do a great deal with my sister's boys growing up. We don't really have to go look for children's activities, but they can do many of the activities that we enjoy; conversation and food, likewise. And most of all, my sister has matured as a mom, and she's more relaxed and unafraid for her kids. And lastly but most significantly, she was looking for a bit of fun, so she never prefaced a plan by saying something might be too dangerous, though afterwards she told me she was seriously afraid of the horseback riding, both for herself and for the boys.

It only means future holidays with my sister's family is going to get better and better.

Baseball Movies

Night before last, while flicking the channels fully intending to turn off the TV and going to bed, I came upon a short Goya doco, which was very good. When that was finished, I really fully intended to turn it off and go to bed, (Ben left in the middle of Goya), I happened upon a baseball flick, Dennis Quaid's "The Rookie" (2002). I missed the start, but it looked great in a low-keyed, slightly sad way.

What is it about baseball that renders to wonderfully sentimental movies? Less brash than football; ice hocky does well on the big screen, too. Is it because, unlike other sports, it allows oldies to still give it a go? And it's so grassroot you can make a movie about Major League or little league or somewhere in between? I stayed up until 4PM to make sure Dennis (as Jim Morris) had a good go at his big dream.

I also thought I might start my own wee collection of baseball flicks; we already have "A League of Their Own" (1992), but I would really like "The Natural" (1984), and will give serious thought to "Angels in the Outfield" (1994), really not-just-for-kids because it's more about the redemption of Tony Danza, and perhaps "Field of Dreams" (1989), perhaps a little too dreamy but you can't beat the scene where the ballplayers appear out of the mist. "Hardball" (2001), well, it's Keanu, and it was average-cute, though I don't remember much, and maybe an old musical or two. I'll skip the Bears series, because they are... bad news.

I didn't realize Kevin Costner did another one, "For the Love of the Game", 10 years after "Field of Dreams"; New Zealand not being a baseball nation, it probably didn't come to Nelson anyway. And though not a baseball flick, I'll have to go fishing for "Brian's Song" (1971), I'm sure.

Here's a good baseball movies reference.

Bad Holiday Pics

Whangarei Waterfront; I was balancing on an acquacycle (I think that's what they were called) while shooting these.

... and looking out for everybody else, so, no time for composition.

I was still getting out of the car when already Sister, Ben and Younger Nephew (Aged 7) were flying the simpler kite. We liked this style so we later got another one, and the boys took them home. Barge Park, Whangarei, Northland, North Island, New Zealand.

Hubby at the Ruakaka River Mouth, south of Whangarei.

Even more difficult to shoot the kids while I, too, was on a horseback. Yikes.

Older nephew flying the two-handed kite, which the rest of us found difficult, at Ruakaka River Mouth. He's 11. It broke, so we kept it; I'm fixing it and we're going to learn to fly this one.

In the end, it was the simpler stuff they enjoyed. Me, I think I'm adding kite-flying to my list of hobbies.

Resolutions 2008

I hadn't written these down anywhere, so I think I'll record them here. This year I seen to have lots. Outside of work, I resolve (even if I later dissolve) to:

1) Take more pics. Even if they are crap. Consistently taking photos seem to improve the quality (more like chances) of my photos. Viewing other blog pics helps even more, but I'm not spending half a day everyday as I did in 2006.

2) Work in our garden a bit more. Which is easy, because anything is a bit more than nothing.

3) Use stuff I've accumulated rather than buying new stuff. Particularly pertinent to creative projects; not only do I have about three-to-five years' worth of sewing and embroidery projects and paints and paper, I also have over 80 books I've accumulated but haven't read.

4) Exercise and downsize.

5) Go with instincts. In 2007, I did a lot of counter-intuitive things to try to broaden the horizon, and wasted time and worried a lot. I've got to live smarter.

So, how're you doing with your resolutions so far?

Christmas Past

Fallen

Wheelchaired

It's a Dog's Life

Easy, Mate. Watch those bumps, willya?

Cheers, Mate. Much appreciated.

Whatcha looking at? You try sitting in the back of a truck with a caged cat!

Super Traffic

Oh, Bless This Shop

Happy were the days when the local Big Fresh supermarket used to stock these. Then they stopped, and now Big Fresh is no more. So I was overjoyed to find Reese's Peanut Butter Cups and Reese's Pieces in a boutique Chocolate Shop on the North Shore of Auckland. At around NZ$3.70 a pop, I bought two packs of the Cups and one of the Pieces, (plus some expensive French stuff for Ben) but I shall thoroughly enjoy them in the next week.

The inside of the car got so hot the first two Cups looked like Peanut Butter patty cakes, but they were excruciatingly sugary and delicious.

We had a great holiday, but it's also nice to be back in Nelson. I'll post some postcard shots here in the next week or so. Hope you've had a festive festive season.