Lara Croft: Angel of Darkness

Hey! An audience!

2006-05-31T20:19:00.000+12:00

Writing a blog expecting noone to read it is kind of like the sound of one hand clapping, or the tree falling in the forest with noone to hear it (does it make a noise, etc. etc....) - although it is possibly more therapeutic than either of the above, I still immensely prefer communicating to real people... so, basically, I would like to thank anyone who has come here and showed some interest in my rambles about my life and times - well, a small selection of them - it is so nice to know that someone cares enough to have a read and it is also nice to hear your comments back :)

Anyway. I have now been happy on three consecutive days (actually, more like five), so I've decided it's here to last, and that the second half of 2006 is going to be a vast improvement on the first. Had Joy staying with Lisa and I in the weekend, that was really wonderful and we all had a lot of fun, I still managed to run both Sat and Sun since I have the Chch half marathon this Sunday!!! Hmmmmmm I'm doing it with Mindy, which will be fun, even though it will be quite different this time round than the Auck one in Oct last year - change in climate, not running with Karthik, later in the day, variation in training (a lot more running alone this time), I'm a little under the weather with a vicious cough which makes it hard to breathe sometimes, and the terrain will be flat instead of hilly, and it is a 'there and back' course too, and one I'm unfamiliar with. Although I could fix that one. So here's hoping it goes well and that the race is better than my training!!! I see that Esther is doing it too, and Megan, so I'll hopefully see them (probably passing me!!) at some stage. iN fact I'm only going down Sat afternoon 5pm, and back Monday night 8pm so it will be quite a short visit, and in that time I want to spend time with Mum and Jenna, visit all my grandparents, hang out with Helen and Doos and play my violin and the piano. And cook with Jenna. So, good luck to me!!!!! Oh and did I mention I have a half-marathon with Mindy taking up one morning???

Have been on training this week - well I did go to work today for 1.5 hours to do some testing for Jai (I was worried that since I was holding up two of her projects by being absent she'd be running out of work, but turns out I didn't need to be concerned...) so that has been brilliant, especially since it starts at 9am!! I wasn't too keen on going since it means taking 4 days off my important projects and the most important one is already behind deadline and I really like the client so I feel terrible... but oh well, in the end I can only do what I can do, and four days away isn't the end of the world. I probably needed to be away from work to regain some perspective, and it has been interesting. I may go to work after training tomorrow to do some stuff though, I'll see.. otherwise might be in for a long and hopefully very productive Friday! But hopefully no more mad hours like last week (Lisa busted me doing a 5am start once when she got up at 4.50am to go to the bathroom and I wasn't here - I should have closed my bedroom door!! - but I didn't tell her that I had been starting at 5.30-6.30 all week, I didn't think it would have gone down too well.....)

And we have had some nice weather lately which is always good! Plus I have been doing different things - like going to a talk by the author of 'The Time Traveller's Wife', that was on Monday night, it was very interesting - one of the things I thought was interesting was her comment that people would be so much happier if they made more of the things they liked rather than buying them. And she inspired me to write. I periodically get inspired to write, and this time I hope the inspiration will last. I also love the mayfly advert on tv at the moment. Fill your days with the things you love. Like for me this is talking to people, eating and cooking and baking nice food, making music, listening to songs, reading books, looking at paintings, looking around at the wonderful world we live in, learning languages, writing letters, learning about stuff, and lately I have been rediscovering the joy of shopping when you don't need anything and in fact are unlikely to buy anything ;) I have been wandering into shops instead of just wandering past, and it's been fun.

I also am really enjoying work lately. So that's a good thing, since I've had to be there so much! Went to a free concert tonight in the Town Hall, a sampler by the Auck Phil, it was great - Bruch's Scottish Fantasy, Mendelssohn's Hebride's Overture, and some movement of a symphony by Ross Harris, composer in residence, I enjoyed it a lot and thought it was much better than last year's offering.

Just discovered your site Abi, it's really cool! If anyone else wants to visit, go to www.jabbytalk.com

Ok, hope you are all having a wonderful week and appreciating the BLUE SKIES.

No, I'm not dead

2006-05-03T21:58:00.000+12:00

Hello everyone!

You would be forgiven for thinking I had died or something since I haven't been posting for years, but I thought I'd just say hi! So, life has been really busy lately - but I have been in Auckland a bit more so that's been good. I have been working a lot, and really enjoying work - lots of challenges and fun stuff, and I guess I like being busy and ticking off things on my to do list (even though it grows steadily longer every day...) - also it's a bit sad cos David has his last day on Friday and Stephen is leaving for Texas in three weeks! It will definitely be quieter without them around, and I will definitely miss being able to talk to Stephen about anything whenever I want. And who is going to help me when I get stuck?? :( Well, I guess Stephen is not the only person who helps me, but he is really good at it. And Brendon has been so busy lately - by yesterday evening he had worked an impossible 61 hours for the week already. He was here both Sat and Sun, and very early on Sun. Poor Brendon. I hope he is going to change this soon and spend more time with Minan! See I may be working long hours, but not in the weekend.

In my weekend I played paintball (I raised the flag, and then got cut down by enemy fire, but we won that game! ) - and it was a lot better than Chch paintball. And I went out for tea with Lisa and Céci and Bas Fri night to Nishiki on Wellington St, it was really fun and yummy food, Japanese bbq so something quite different. Then we went to the supermarket to buy food for the post-paintball bbq, and I got up early on Sat morning to attend to the salads. After paintball, I watched 'The Importance of Being Ernest'. I don't often watch movies by myself but did on this occasion and it was hilarious! I was laughing out loud. Sure it was a bit farcical at time and I could have been very sceptical about the girls' claims of love, but it was great. So witty. Then I fell asleep on the couch, but woke up for dinner.

Sunday I did the 10km run2heal in the domain- but like most people got lost (no marshall present at the first corner for the first people) - so I think I ran about 10km, judging by my time (58 min) and by an examination of the route and comparing that to where I ran - the bit I missed was probably equivalent to the bit I did extra. It was such a beautiful day on Sunday so that was nice. I also went out for lunch on Sun with a couple of girls from choir and then we went to Black Grace - a contemporary dance production in the Town Hall. It was really superb, the first piece was great and the music so beautiful - Schubert's D minor quartet and 'Death of a Maiden' - I am going to the library to get it out :) The second piece was more thought-provoking and interesting, if less beautiful. After the interval I drifted a bit in the third piece (getting tired) but it was still cool. And so nice to do something different. Fell asleep 6pm on the couch again Sunday night, reading my book. (By Iain Pears, something about Scipio and a Dream - he wrote Instance of the Fingerpost or something too, read it ages ago and really liked it).

Monday I had a wonderful evening swimming at the police apartments in Newmarket with Lisa, my aunt, uncle and cousin Jessie - my other cousin Josie had tickets to Korn so they'd come down for the night. Had Chinese for tea. Learned (again) how to do forward rolls, but cracked my head on the bottom of the (1.2m deep) pool on one of my attempts to do a backwards one... still sore now if I scrunch up my face/ laugh/ stuff. Tuesday I had singing and tea at Tanya and Sascha's and fixed a couple of their computer issues. Well, they mysteriously vanished when I was there, so kind of "fixed" them...

I have also got two really lovely letters this week - one from Ben and one from Little Nana. And a postcard from Charlotte - sent before her first postcard from Vietnam. Well, I'm amazed they make it actually. So that's always lovely.

Went for a run tonight, 50min and it was really fun and not boring and not very hard. Good run day. And baked a banana cake, vacuumed the flat, cooked tea, did the dishes, talked to Mindy... nice to muck round the flat :) Actually, anyone who knows me will be astounded - yes I vacuumed. Well, the floor needed it. And it looks so nice now. And Lisa came home and didn't even notice :( Oh well, it might dawn on her tomorrow...

Tomorrow is Cécile's birthday!!!! Happy birthday Cécile... hope you're excited...

Sir Edmund Barton: Australia's first prime minister

2006-01-17T23:23:00.000+13:00

I just thought I'd increase everyone's general knowledge with my blog title. and also I visited the Australian parliament house in Canberra when I was driving round NSW and ACT on my recent holiday and increased my knowledge of Australian government (admittedly, it was on a zero to start with, although I had heard of Pauline Hanson, her one nation party, Paul Keating, and John Howard - but that was the sum of my knowledge).

So - I have to get up at 6am tomorrow (again) - work is very very heavy going at the moment, tons on, and I want to get stuff done but it's not happening... oh well - hopefully by the end of this week the pressure will have eased off as Jaishika returns! I am so excited and can't wait to handover pedflo back to her. Like, I enjoy the concept, and it could be fun, but it's not very nice having to start halfway through under a lot of time pressure with minimum training and with lots of existing errors to fix and a tool that is 5 years old and has SO MANY ANNOYING FLAWS.

Plus I have to find a flat in the next fortnight, I got robbed last week and lost my camera and laptop, and I'm really busy studying and doing Jenna's 21st present in my spare time. And something like 7 out of the next 11 weekends I am going to be passing through Auckland airport, what with choir * 2, Sarah's wedding, Jenna's 21st, Chch visit etc. Where's my summer going???? and choir and Sarah's wedding are using up my 2 summer 3-day weekends. And I stil lhaven't seen Joy even though she's in the same island - Gisborne is too far away.

Life seems a toil at the moment. I am going to relax this weekend, in between entertaining Mindy who is visiting with Darren after the BDO, and maybe seeing Steph, up here for the same thing, and finding a flat, and doing some study.....

Must go to bed :)

Truffles

2005-12-22T23:22:00.000+13:00

Especially For Stephen!!

Truffle recipe:

250g icing sugar
3 Tbsp cocoa
125g softened butter
1/2 tsp vanilla essence

Combine icing sugar and cocoa in food processor, add butter and vanilla essence. Process until smooth. Alternatively, if you're me, you could melt the butter, mis everything together, and freeze it, stirring occasionally, to make a crunchy mixture.

Divide into thirds. Roll one third in ground nuts, mix 2Tbsp candied peel in with another third and roll in cocoa, and wrap the other third around red glace cherries, and put on tin foil - drizzle melted white chocolate around/over them - you'll need about 3/4 cup white chocolate for about 12 truffles.

The other mixture I used - the righ one - was 1/4 cup butter, 3 Tbsp sugar, 9oz dark choc and 1 cup heavy cream. Heat cream, butter and sugar to gentle boil, remove, add choc, stand 30 sec, whisk. Place in bowl of ice water. Beat mixture until thick and holds its shape. Pipe 1 inch mounds, and freeze for 15min. Roll gently into balls, with hands dusted in icing sugar. You're then supposed to refrigerate for 10min before rolling in toppings, but I didn't. And it recommends you store these ones in the fridge :)

I have had such a busy evening! Got home 7.30, since then have made cards and stuff, seen a friend, cooked and eaten tea, cleaned the kitchen, made shortbread, vacuumed the house...and I still have to clean the toilet, go for a walk down Franklin Rd and somehow cram all my stuff into my bags so I can leave for Chch tomorrow. Might be rather hard.

Merry Christmas Everyone!!!

Lara

Quick update

2005-11-07T17:37:00.000+13:00

For those of you who thought I'd given up on my blog.....

a) At the moment I have rediscovered reading. I love the library. I am addicted to books. I went in there today to get 1 book and returned with 3 - Ernest Hemingway short stories, Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie, and a book on French renaissance art - and that one will take ages cos it has small print. I already have 3 books out, plus 3 books borrowed from other people that I am at various stages at. Hmmmmm plus so many on my bookcase that I own that I haven't read that I want to....

b) Had my 1-year anniversary with Karthik the other day and we went out for dinner at the French Cafe and it was really really nice. Such a cool restaurant. We had the dessert tasting platter - 6 mini desserts for us to sample!!!! Heavenly.

c) Ran the half marathon in 2 hours 5 min 54 sec, far exceeding expectations. Yah for me. That's 10km an hour! But the 6 weeks training might put me off doing another although the race itself was fine. Thanks a lot to Karthik for running with me.

d) Made Upma for tea last night - a semolina based Indian dish. A few errors but it was still nice, so I am going to try tamarind rice on Friday - shall be even more interesting! Karthik and I visited an Indian spice store you see so I thought I'd buy the more interesting ingredients and see what I could make. (I rang his mum for the recipes)

e) Dad has moved into a pallative care hospital so he's not at home anymore. I'm going down to chch for the weekend I think it is the 19th of Nov? Mum should be up here in Auck this weekend - we're supposedly going to Pavarotti as a birthday present from me to her. So I can't wait to see her. And it will be nice to be in chch too. Yes, this time I am really looking forward to it!!!

f) Mindy is back from the UK! But I feel like I haven't heard much from her cos she has stopped her blog updating habit. I should probably send her an email!!! And Lisa is off very shortly to meet up with Joy in Europe. And Megan is off to Europe. And I'm off to Australia after Christmas for 9 days, which isn't in the same league, but with my limited time off that's all I've got so I'm looking forward to it, it should be really fun! First trip to Sydney, and we're going to do some driving round too - Hunter Vally, Blue Mountains, Canberra even. (I'm going with Karthik). And Jenna won a scholarship to Germany so she's off there Jan-Feb lucky thing!! But that means she's quit youth choir.. unfortunately for me!!! I'm still hanging in there, but I must say I am not relishing learning the Maori piece I received today in the mail off by heart... good luck me!!!!

Hope all reading this are well.

Platyzosteria novae-zelandiae

2005-10-13T22:56:00.000+13:00

Tonight I had a hair-raising encounter with a species from another time. I was lifting paper off my printer, and I saw something scuttle under the surface of my desk. I have a transparent (pink) desk, so I looked through it and on the underside of my desk was..... a cockroach. Un cafard.

I hate cockroaches. I met my first one in Dad's coffee cup in Fiji, and had several encounters with them in Tahiti, usually ending up with me screaming on my bed while it scuttled across the floor. Tahiti has a few nasties actually - I saw a centipede once too.

So since Karthik is conveniently present, I demand in an irrational and high-pitched voice that he dispose of it.

Karthik, it turns out, doesn't like cockroaches either. This one was about an inch long, plus waving antenna, black, shiny and narrow. So Karthik asks what I expect him to do. I send him downstairs for a cup, and grab a piece of paper. Then I leave Karthik to do the manly thing and remove the cockroach. 20 minutes later he is still watching it and reluctantly edging closer from time to time. So I use the paper to poke the cockroach until it runs onto the piece of paper and onto my chair. I must add here that I am usually the insect removal person - I have been removing spiders from Jenna's room since I was little, and remove all sorts of interesting things from this flat for Ellen. Including huge green things. Anyway........ eventually I get the cockroach on the middle of the chair and Karthik gently lowers the cup. I slide the paper between the cup and the chair, and we've caught the cockroach! You would think we're doing well here.

Now Karthik makes me pick it up. So I carry the cup, wrapped in paper, to my open second storey window. And now I start to panic. What do I do? I imagine the cockroach escaping and running up my arm... So I gingerly start to unwrap the paper, envisaging shaking it out the window. Then I see a hole between the paper and the cup. The cockroach runs for it. I scream. And drop the cup, paper, and cockroach out the window.

Lara's post-encounter state - pounding heart and trembling. But still alive :)

It's Official!

2005-09-22T21:15:00.000+12:00

Yeah, no, don't worry, I am not getting married, or pregnant, or anything like that. But something else equally unexpected has happened - I have started training! I am running, on a regular basis. I went Saturday - 40min, Sunday - 40min, Tuesday - 30min and Wednesday 46min. Isn't this exciting! Well, the novelty hasn't worn off yet, and I make sure I go long blocks rather than shorter repetitions. The hills are tough though. Very. I think the half-marathon end goal (30 October) is going to be very helpful.

Life is somewhat interesting at the moment. Work was frustrating this afternoon - but it's been really good the rest of the week so I'm not too concerned, you get the bad with the good and that's life! Dad rang tonight and that was sad, he told me this story about how he'd been asleep all afternoon and Nana and Pop were knocking on the door and people were ringing and he slept right through, then 5 minutes later he started telling me again! Anyway it was nice that he rang, I was thinking about ringing them when he called.

Tonight has been really good - I had my singing lesson, came home and hung out with Ellen - Mike is in Hamilton for work and Tree has gone down for a long weekend in Chch. So Ellen and I talked, I did dishes, cooked tea, read my book a little, talked to Dad, Ellen and I baked muffins, and I tidied the living room. Satisfying :) I was going to do the bathroom sink and toilet (I did the shower two nights ago) but maybe I'll save those pleasures for the weekend. Ellen is so cool.

It's funny, there's other stuff I want to say here, but despite how it appears I'm not always completely honest - even though people won't read this and it would probably make me feel better to talk about it, I still don't want to just in case... so yeah from that you can take I'm a bit perturbed at the moment, but feeling better today, just thinking through some things. I wrote you a letter Lisa! Which you will probably get before you read this, but just in case, you know it's coming.

Oh and thanks Mindy for your present! It is so cool. I am writing you a letter and will hopefully finish it this weekend, but no promises ;)

Tomorrow is Friday! Byron's on morning tea, how exciting! (For those of you who don't know - Byron is the new guy at work - except he's no longer the newest guy. Out of my section of 21 people, 9 pepole have joined *after* me. And only one person has left. Anyway. Byron is from South Africa, he's lived in London, and in Kerikeri where he worked on a farm to get away from city life for a while, he loves surfing, has just built a house with his parents in SA (the walls are a nice shade of ochrey-yellow - his Mum chose them - I've seen the photos) and he lives in a flat in Mt Eden with some other randoms, who he insists on calling housemates, although I've told him that is a very British term. He's tall, sporty-looking, and quiet until you get to know him. And he reads!!)

I hope everyone in chch appreciates these little profiles of workmates. Mindy, I think you should do profiles on your site as well so I know who *you* work with!

Ok I am going to go look after my muffins. I hope everyone is well and happy :)

Today has been a great day

2005-09-06T18:49:00.000+12:00

And it's not even over!
I'm not quite sure why today has been great, but I think it helped that we had sunshine, that I've just had a nice week at choir, I have lots of exciting things to look forward to, and work is great at the moment. Really great. I am getting to research new stuff and do prototyping and make design decisions and talk to the clients and elicit requirements..... I looked at working with word docs from a C# program today, and also web services, and other sorts of exciting stuff.

Went out for dinner with Karthik last night which was nice. Had a nice birthday, got some really nice presents - clothes from mum and dad, coffee and nice earrings from Kate, a belt change purse and chocolates from Jenna, millions of texts and a phone call from Pete, a book and chocolate from Megan, and a recipe book for sweet food from Mike and Ellen, and two cool hair-ties with little tiny rag-dolls on the end from a guy at work - another made me a cake :) with pink icing!

I have so many cool things happening! I am going to Charlie and Choc Factory with work next Monday, I have a weekend to look forward to, am seeing the Wholly Grain on Friday night at the Herald Theatre - I think everyone in Auckland should go see it, Steph highly recommends it. And theatre is important, and it's only $25. And it's grad training on thurs and fri so that's dinner out and a nice visit to glenbrook steel and a couple of sleep-ins so I'm looking forward to it. Matt arrives Wed night. When I also have Hindi. And it looks like Dad might make it to oz after all! Fingers crossed... he's in Hamner tonight with Mum, they're going to Mt Cook later for a little trip too.

And I paid my credit card bill. And installed StrongDC v. 10 on my big computer.

Hope you guys are all having as an exciting September.

Off to Rotorua

2005-08-29T19:33:00.000+12:00

Hi everyone,

Thought I'd leave a quick note as tomorrow the youth choir is taking me to Rotorua. Friday we sing a concert, we get recorded on Thursday for Praise Be, Sat is off to Tauranga for a concert there, and then we're back on Sunday. I have already been singing for three days, and had a concert (and two long evening rehearsals) last week with my other choir. So I'm kind of looking forward to being on the road tomorrow, but also not 100%. Plus Jenna isn't here so that makes it much less exciting.

And I'm supposed to be packing right now - I have already booked a rental car for labour weekend, investigated insurance (AMI won't insure me without a deadlock on my door.. dumb!!!! so I"m now trying AA..) and done the dishes and cooked chicken fried rice for everyone for tea.

Now I'm booking tickets for a theatre night - Friday 9th September.. actually I should check my diary first...no looks free :) I have grad training that day and the day before but that's ok, no clash. So I guess Karthik will be the lucky one to accompany me! It's a play that my friend Steph is involved in, I'm not sure if she's the director or producer or what but anyway. Steph and I went to school together, she's a very talented individual and currently resides in Wellington. So I'll get to see her too when I'm back from Tauranga!

Ok I really should stop procrastinating. Have a nice week everyone!

Atilla the Hun: Born 406, died 453

2005-08-15T17:36:00.000+12:00

The subject line today is in reference to a man feared by many, (in fact no historian has many positive things to say about him), because sometimes I think it is fine to be grumpy. Sure, I'm not going to try and take over the last remnants of any empires, and kill or pillage, but I just thought 'hmm what interesting fact should I share with you today' and Atilla the Hun suited my mood. I have just been to *the dentist*.

Now, normally I like the dentist. Strange you might think but true. Cos they're nice to you, in chch you pay like $50 and they do your xrays, and brush your teeth with the yummy stuff, and poke and prod you and send you away till next year.

However, now I'm in Auckland. I went to one nearby because a) I could walk there and b) I had a voucher for my first visit free. And the dentist was nice. But she didn't brush my teeth at all! Instead she told me I should come back, and spend an hour with a dental hygenist for $130!!!! That's quite a lot, considering today's appointment would normally have been $70. Anyway she also took an xray of me using some big machine, then charged me $54 and I didn't even ask for it or want it! AND THEN she said I had brilliant teeth but needed two tiny wee fillings! Can I trust her? What if she just wants me to spend money? It will cost me $400 to get these done. Yes, $400. And it will require 40 minutes of a Wed evening, and (sadly) injections.

So I might ring some other places and get some quotes to compare it too. I mean - even if I had to taxi there and back surely it'd be less than this!!!! Lisa had her wisdom tooth out for like $150. And next month I have to pay 3 fortnightly rents so I'll be poor anyway.

Also today I tried to donate blood. Persuaded Stephen to come along too. And that turned out to be the only bit of community service I performed since they put the needle in me, started pumping out blood, I felt really hot suddenly, and yucky, and then suddenly fine - by this point I'd apparently fainted, convulsed, and they'd removed the needle and put a fan on me and a cold flannel on my forehead. Dumb. And I ate breakfast, morning tea and lunch.

Work was good though. And now I have a free evening!! So that's very exciting. So I will try to cheer up.

Oh, and I am a prize idiot for cutting up my piano warrantee, thinking I didn't need it anymore, and the full version would not fit in my scrapbook.

And I booked my holiday to Oz after Xmas and was hoping to see Dad's cousin while over there, but he'll be in Thailand. :(

The Roman Emperor Caligula had his favourite horse wined and dined at banquets, and was planning to make him a Roman consul, but was assassinated.

2005-08-02T22:30:00.000+12:00

The Emperor was assassinated, not the horse. Although it probably wouldn't have lived a great deal longer.

So everyone I thought I'd write a brief post since it has been a wee while and I wouldn't want to get out of the habit.. and Karthik hasn't been here all evening so I don't have to worry about entertaining him :) I really should be in bed already, I was so tired last week I was like a zombie, and over the weekend I didn't really catch up and was still tired, and didn't exactly go to bed early last night either but today and yesterday have been functioning fine, a couple of yawns in the section meeting today but it was in Pitt St so we had a nice view to entertain us. I yawned a bit in choir tonight too but was mainly hungry. But some nice girl in choir gave me a lift home and Karthik drove me there so by 8.15 I was home ;) Noone cooked tonight so I had toast and some Greek spread on it and olives, and apple pie. I thought about spaghetti, but toast seemed more immediate. Oh and choir was fun for the second week in a row! Yah!

Also tonight I finished the jigsaw! 2000 pieces, I'd never done it before, I did it all myself starting last Saturday, and the most recent weekend I couldn't do it cos I wasn't here, so that's pretty quick! It looks really cool. Unfortunately there were 2 pieces missing, but it doesn't really matter in the grand scheme of things.

I have been quite practical lately too. The shoe man said he couldn't fix either of my pairs of broken shoes so I bought super glue, glued one heel back on and glued the button on the other one, and it seems to be all good so far - I've had 2 days at work with the glued-on heel shoe and it hasn't come off ;) I hope my luck holds up. I guess when it finally breaks I'll have to go shoe-shopping again :(

And I also sewed the strap back together on the top that Jenna borrowed from me for 6 months that I've never worn. After doing this I noticed two white stains on the front that I can't get off. Hopefully some Friend and some intimate time with the washing machine will help this, but I don't know.... Yes I know you'll be amazed that I know how to use a needle, I won't see I'm terrific but I'm functional for simple tasks. My mum and Little Nana and Big Nana did teach me that much.

I also wrote 2 cards tonight to various people, and read a letter from my local MP, and browsed the next semester of continuing education courses at Auck uni. There are some fascinating ones, and some are only 1 or 2 sessions so I might have to get involved again.

Isn't life fascinating. Ok i'm going to read my library book on the Musée d'Orsay now in bed - this will be fun. I hope everyone reading this has a wonderful day tomorrow.

another post! yes! Be amazed

2005-07-17T21:30:00.000+12:00

Hi everyone,
This is going to be short and sweet, but I figured short was better than nil. Although you might be having an overload of Lara Min since i commented on your post and sent you an email too, and a blog post!

So it's quite late on a Sunday night. And I am about to do one (or more) of three things:
*Read Lonely Planet Oz and make notes on holiday destinations (half the fun of a holiday is planning it)
*Write in my diary (I'm a week behind)
*Design something to do with my secretive present for Jenna and her 21st in March next year. I'm starting early so I hopefully won't be late. No promises though...

But I don't have much time, because I want to be in bed early. Well, at least not late, so I have an hour.

I am also listening to Tosca for the first time (an opera by Puccini). So that's going to be exciting -a t work tomorrow not only do I get to fix and write javascript and asp, I get to listen to Tosca! And I have a free evening tomorrow. Which is nice, since i have choir starting again not this week but the week after (for as short a period as possible though) and singing lessons moved till Thurs, and learning Hindi at the center for continuing education on Wed evenings. I'm excited about Hindi but sad at the disappearance of my free evenings. Seems I really have changed from last year's lifestyle.

Today in history: 1804 - the US Vice-President, Aaron Burr, shoots a political rival, Alexander Hamilton, in a duel

2005-07-11T20:02:00.000+12:00

(Postscript to title - Burr challenged Hamilton to the duel, or 'affair of honour' as it was also known, over supposed character assassination. No, he was not even prosecuted for the murder, despite the nation's outrage.)

So hello everybody! If there is anybody left. I am ashamed to admit that in the month of June I didn't manage to leave a post once. Not even once. I know, I'm slack. And I apologise profusely. Especially to you Mindy since you are such a profuse commenter and obviously await each post with high expectation. Re your email suggestion - it is company policy to restrict external emails, no matter if they are sent in our lunch hour or after work. All external emails are monitored by oh what is it, something.. MailMarshall. Plus I don't know how the email functionality works, so I stick to the old-fashioned internet method.

Anyway - what have I been up to. I do have an excuse that for 8 days of June I was in Greymouth and then Chch in a jam-packed choir schedule, so that did restrict me somewhat, and I was exhausted on my return and spent last week half asleep at all times. in fact I was quite dozy today - I didn't feel like sleeping, but I felt in a semi-coma. Making lots of silly typos and being generally blonde at work. I'm lucky that SQLServer doesn't let you write sprocs about columns that don't in fact exist. (I kept typing Unit instead of Item all day). So if I say something silly in this post I hope you will forgive me.

Other exciting things that have happened: Tree cooked curry tonight. It was really yummy, and then I was chewing a mouthful and bit into something hard. I stopped chewing, didn't swallow, and gingerly extracted the hard substance from my mouth to discover I had bit into a piece of glass! And now had 3 small shivers of glass. I have no idea if there was any more that anyone ate.. or where it came from - we used two tins in cooking, Nestle's condensed milk and someone's Rogan Josh, so they are both possibilities - or else maybe it was already in the frypan? Hiding in the middle of a courgette or onion? Well, I finished my meal - everyone else already had, I think they are paranoid now and worrying they aren't going to wake up tomorrow because of extensive glass swallowing.

Hmm let's see what else. Well I've been thinking a lot about trips lately - Mum and Dad are off with friends of Dad's (Tom and Joyce) for a week in Port Douglas on Tuesday - their plane actually leaves early Wed morning but they are staying at the Russley, nice and close to the airport, on Tuesday night. Dad's feeling quite well at the moment, he's on Warfarin for a blood clot in his ankle! Yes, funny! (ok, for those of you who don't kjnow, maybe 'ironic' would be a better word as Warfarin was the subject of my honour's thesis last year). Also since it's almost Labour Weekend - well, the months are passing swiftly by and October is nearly here... I'm thinking about going and visiting my auntie in Kaitaia. And I want to go to Australia after Christmas so I've been reading the Lonely Planet guide and am looking at either Hobart, or Sydney followed by Canberra or Adelaide. Suggestions welcome - the only place I've been in living memory is the Gold Coast and the Sunshine Coast, and Karthik's lived a year in Perth, and according to the LP guide in January the north coast and queensland are wet and filled with box jellyfish, or something.

So in the weekend that's just been Karthik went back to Chch. I went out for dessert with Kate on Friday night, which was really lovely, and on Saturday went shopping with Ellen, cleaned the flat and then ended up going with my very drunk flatmates to the Barmy Army HQ. Which was actually fun - great atmosphere, even I was moved when the National Anthem was sung. Didn't stay too long though - yearning for the peace and quiet of the flat to myself for the first time in a *very* long time. Yes, I know - who would thought - Lara longing for peace and quiet! Well, I just wanted to eat nice food and have icecream and work away on stuff and listen to my music etc.

I've been losing chess all the time to Karthik lately. I think he's even getting sick of winning. So I need a new strategy. Maybe I should actually research an opening and try it out. Except I have no memory for that sort of thing... mmmm

Karthik's birthday Tuesday next week! I already gave him a duvet cover set and inner earlier cos he was getting cold, but I've got him something else exciting :) Went shopping with Brendon on Sunday on my way to meet K at the airport.

Beca Ball next weekend. I tried so hard to get more people from my section at work to go, but with little success, so that's a bit sad. At least David's going, and there'll be Vaughan and Thomas (second in charge, and my section head) and hopefully lots of grads that I know, Matt is coming up too which is cool. Karthik better sort out something to wear sometime this week... oh well should be a fun night! Went to the theatre last week, saw 'The Bach' with work and really enjoyed it. Karthik babysat for Richard and Shelley so they could come out with me so that was cool. (He's really not into theatre). It was funny, but also thought-provoking, and stuff I could really identify with.

Ok if I write any more you'll all be bored, if indeed you've managed to read this much. I am going to try and post at least once more this month. You never know your luck.

Feb 1587 Mary Queen of Scots was finally executed by Elizabeth I

2005-05-30T21:07:00.000+12:00

Well my computer says it's 9pm but I suspect it's wrong since my tv told me it was 9pm when I was still downstairs, and that seems like ages ago. And blogger says 9.07. So who knows. In this modern age the idea of a watch has been replaced by multiple clocks on every other possible device.

I'm sitting here in bed listening to Mighty Little Man, a song introduced to me by the wonderful the only Miss Mindy. And I wonder if she still listens to it. It's by Steve Burns or someone. I am in bed so early cos it's miserable weather out there. Oh btw I don't have my contacts in so please excuse all typos.

So hmm I have had a nice weekend, even though I didn't do terribly much. i wanted to go to the zoo but the weather didn't play ball. And I thought the museum would be a nice wet-weather alternative but that never eventuated either. I blame this on my own lack of commitment and also on Shahzad who was supposed to be free but then wasn't until 5pm by which time the museum was shut. But on the positive side things I did do in the weekend:

*Baked carrot cake.
*Cleaned the fridge. It is now white. This is amazing. I have wanted to do this for a while.
*Mopped the kitchen floor, did the dishes, cleaned the bench.
*Did a 750 piece where's wally - the castle siege - jigsaw. And found Wally.
*Talked to Lisa and Charlotte - at the same time - on the phone for 2 hours Sunday night. This was so awesome, I have been missing my friends up here but forget I can talk to them.
*Walked round Killarney Park - has a lake, is on North Shore, and had an iced chocolate at the cafe there. It was very windy and wild, the windsurfers were zipping along. There are also ducks, guess and black swans here. And scuba divers. And the last time I came it was so hot people were jumping off the jetty and swimming
*Read the Nomes series by Terry Pratchett, again.
*Watched the rugby, kind of - more listened to it as I jigsawed.
*Had tea at Mai Thai Friday night - again. It is so yum!
*Went out with David, my supervisor at work, and Karthik, for drinks on Friday after work.
*Watched Minority Report. One of the main characters is called Lara! It was quite cool. Worth seeing. Better than the last Tom Cruise movie. The one with the taxi driver that was predictable and often boring.
*Dropped in to see Tanya and Sarah who is staying while Sascha is overseas to help with Luka. They weren't home, but we're going there for tea this Thursday.
*Played Halo. Mindy I'm getting better! I still fell off the bridge over that ravine on that outside level a couple of times though...but Karthik did once too ;)
*Made pancakes
*Went shopping with Ellen and Karthik and stopped in at the Chocolate Boutique again. I love that store. Their mexican denso is just so delicious. It's like drinking melted chocolate. In fact, that's pretty much what you are doing.

I think that's all. Went out for lunch with Clem today. Had two Indian curries - I thought I was ordering only one, but apparently I got two. Very filling. Very very very filling. And watched some tv tonight - learned about eating habits in France and about a possible pygmie race existing 18,000 years ago in Indonesia. Queen's Birthday coming up! Ooh how exciting. And I'm off to see a hindi movie tomorrow with K, and out for dinner with David and Lilli (who I haven't met) and K on Wednesday.

In Jan 2004, around about 460,000 people suffered from leprosy.

2005-05-12T22:00:00.000+12:00

By the way, dogs and horses suffer sunburn to their noses and mouthes, so I would like to say that perhaps pigs and humans are the only ones to suffer it to their entire body? But I'm not sure. However today's random fact comes from the World Health Organisation so I am more sure of its verity.

I am interested in leprosy today because it once was terribly afflicting to mankind, and also I have just had the dubious pleasure of watching Kingdom of Heaven.

Interesting things about the movie: The meditteranean sea is very rough, people have been fighting in Israel for at least 1000 years and STILL HAVEN'T STOPPED, and there are some very old buildings there. And camels are cool.
Plus it prompted me to investigate leprosy, and having done so, I thought I'd share the information with the lucky few of you who read this blog, because I'm sure you're just as interested as me!

Leprosy is caused by bacteria. Yes, contrary to my own belief, it is contagious. The bacteria at fault is mycobacterium leprae, which is rod-shaped and acid-fast.

What is 'acid-fast' bacteria I hear you ask? Well, apparently, there are three types of bacterial cell wall - gram negative, gram positive, and acid-fast. I do remember vaguely hearing about the first two at uni. The name acid-fast comes about because when bacteria are dyed with an acid alcohol mixture, only acid-fast bacteria retain the dye and stay red. In fact, an acid-fast cell wall is one composed of a thin, inner layer of peptidoglycan and large amount of glycolipids such as mycolic acid, arabinogalactan-lipid comlex, and lipoarabinomannan.

This just leads to more questions. What is peptidoglycan? It gives the cell wall structure and shape, it is a lattice of two amino sugars. It prevents osmotic lysis in the acid-fast cell wall- which is the cell bursting because it has water with a high concentration of electrolytes inside, and osmosis leads the concentrations on both sides of a membrane to equalise, and to do this, all this water pours into the cell, and it bursts. So peptidoglycan protects the cell from this happening.

What is a glycolipid? It is a sugar attached to a lipid (I think a lipid is a fat). Their role is to provide energy and also serve as markers for cellular recognition.

Ok I think we know enough about acid-fast bacteria. (By the way, there is a school of thought which thinks a particular type of acid-fast bacteria is responsible for cancers)

Anyway back to leprosy: So it's caused by this bacteria. In fact its bacteria, discovered in the 1873, was the first bacteria to be discovered as causing disease in mankind. You would have thought it being bacteria that we would have developed antibiotics for it, some type of penicillin, and we did - in the 1940s, with the development of dapsone, but resistance to this gradually appeared and spread. So to combat this there are three drugs which must be used at the same time, one is taken once a month, and the other two more frequently, usually daily. Without using all of these, the patient's bacteria will most likely become resistant to the one type of treatment offered.

And how can we tell if they have leprosy? Look for lesions to the skin (often red, or copper, may or may not be raised), loss of sensory ability, thickened nerves, muscular weakness. They can also in some cases do skin smears and identify the bacteria that way.

Enough of that topic now. I think we should all feel more educated about the plight of some people both historically and in the present day. And I think even when you can't do anything about it, one should still care that it is happening.

So the movie: I wouldn't recommend it to be honest. There was holes in the storyline, I didn't feel I ever got to know the main character, there was heaps of random jumping from one bit to another, lots of people killing each other, massive improbabilities, bits never explained, and the girl was honestly pathetic. "Oh dear my kingdom is going to be attacked soon, I'll let my ex-lover rouse the people to its defence, and go mope in my room for a bit." By the way, most of the story was based on accounts of the time, but the main character's life was invented quite a bit. I was hoping that Ridley Scott didn't get the dramatic escape from drowning from his own imagination but was compelled by folk tales or legends to include it, but this doesn't seem to have been the case.

Anyway Joy leaves for Europe tomorrow. Well, via Alaska and a cruise which will be awesome! I'm so envious. I so want to travel! I want to go somewhere! Hmmm maybe i'll convince K that a short trip to.. Kerikeri? might be good this weekend. Taupo even? Somewhere exciting. We are going out for dinner with Brendon and Minan Sunday night, and I theoretically have a 21st to attend on Friday, and I thought I might go to the art gallery with anna at some point, but we can still travel somewhere! It might calm my travel bug for now.

The sun is 330,330 times larger than the earth.

2005-05-01T23:00:00.000+12:00

Oh I am supposed to be going to bed but I just can't help it, I have to blog.

Even if the first (non-exciting) thing I would like to say is that it is 11pm, I have work tomorrow, and I still have to make my bed, wrap Mindy's presents, (oh it is so hot up here in Auckland!), and brush my teeth, take out my contacts and I want to read my book! It is so so so so good! When I have read more than 26 pages I will blog about it. Actually, I might be up to page 40. Yes this does mean I have deviated from my French book for a very brief period of time.

I have been so busy lately. Last week highlights were a night witnessing the first stand-up comedy of my life with work (and K) - which was fun. Shahzad has a .. interesting... laugh - I would like to say that it might even be worse than mine. That could just be its novelty value though, I am somewhat more used to mine..

Also organised a french speakers community lunch. Made a cake. Word to the wise: blue icing does not remain blue once cocoa is added. Also, using raspberry essence to flavour something and colour it red only results in it looking pink, because you can't add enough to make it red without overdosing on flavour and killing everyone. But lunch was really good. 11 people came! Which exceeded expectations. The night before I went to bed at 12.40 (making cake) and got up at 6.45 (to ice cake) and so I was pretty tired. I also dreamed of the lunch, except in my dream my family was attending.

The A&D team at work even went out for lunch on Friday, at Dean's instigation. I was very impressed with his organisational ability and motivational skills. (Dean is one of our lead programmers, he is known for introducing the delights of the Bananaphone song and Ich bin Schappi to our group, has a beard that I actually like - wonders will never cease - but it is well trimmed, and not full facial so that does help - is engaged, likes trips to the zoo, and is great at helping me whenever necessary. And he has good ball skills.)

Weekend was very exciting and busy, went shopping for various bits and pieces, went out with flatmates and K fri night, had brunch with Ellen Sat, went out with K for tea tonight, had choir practice, attended Shihad live in Aotea sq at 4pm - free concert for Aucklanders, lovely except at 4pm it started raining for 20min, and I saw Paula there! Up from Ohope. Awesome. Watched 'A beautiful mind' - quite enjoyed it. Sad but still nice. And visited Sarah and Pat - who were up visiting Tanya and family - briefly on Sat night before returning to try out Mike's 3-cheese risotto. Which was delicious.

Pigs and humans are the only animals to get sunburn

2005-04-19T18:21:00.000+12:00

Actually, that's not so random, I think everyone knows that.

Today I did two blonde things.
a) I tried to open a milk carton for about 5 minutes, then read the 'open here' prominently displayed on the other end
b) I left my handbag at le petit bouchon where Cécile and I went for lunch. (For the benefit of Chch readers, since you haven't met Cécile, pointed out so eloquently by Mindy, she is a lovely, cheerful girl who is Vietnamese, speaks French as she has lived in New Caledonia most of her life, works in Application support, doing testing and training in the applications we write for our company, and a few miscellaneous other duties, and is learning kung fu and massage and sign language, and lives with Bastiaan who is Dutch and does something technological for his job too (hope I spelt that right) in Mangere Bridge, South Auckland, in a nice big house. With 2 ferrets. And she doesn't like cooking much, and she is an ISFP according to the Myers Briggs tests we did today. And she likes blue cheese, has long straight hair that she always wears out, and looked really cool when she borrowed David's sunglasses.)

Anyway I realised I had left my handbag behind when I was about halfway between there and work. So we turned around and went back and the waitress was hurrying down K Road with it! I have no idea how she knew which way I went since the cafe wasn't on K Road but in a little mall, and when I realised I was on Pitt St and not K Road either.. but very nice of her anyway!

Le Petit Bouchon is such a delicious cafe. I had the galette Normande and it was so nice, savoury crepe with apple, cinnamon and bacon. mm mmmm. I will be returning.

Raindrops aren't actually tear-drop shaped. They are rounded at the top and flat on the bottom.

2005-04-17T20:16:00.000+12:00

Just been in chch.

Had an awesome time at the grad ball seeing so many people I haven't seen for ages - I was excited about seeing Mindy and Carl and Matt and Charlotte there - but there was also heaps of people from school and friends from unihall, people from my classes at uni, random friends of friends, people I ski with, Nick Thorne (he has a category all to himself), just heaps of people! So that was so so so totally exciting.

I now have a nice bruise on my arm from a close encounter with a chair.

Also in the weekend: visited big n&p with Jenna as per planned, had a yum lunch as always, they're off in their campervan for a little holiday soon so that will be nice for them. Had hot chocolate and cake and discussed life with Joy in Sumner, saw parents and played piano, Jenna felt real ill so we didn't go to the 21st but instead I had dessert with Miels and Doug! Yah. and then stayed at Lisa's till this morning.

Got a wonderful massage from Cécile (works with me) this afternoon, she has a lovely house, it's really nice. And I am really pretty tired today. Mike cooked us a roast with brussel sprouts and they were delicious! I am amazed.

Should be a nice week at work this week - have thurs and fri at grad training and Matt will be up for it! cool.

Canada is an Indian word meaning 'Big Village'

2005-04-14T18:52:00.000+12:00

I had a great day at work today. I was looking forward to it this morning cos I like the ASP.net project I am working on now, and I knew what I was going to do etc. etc. and then I got there and remembered three of the guys at work were going to a Microsoft Connect course (plus one on annual leave, and one on bereavement leave) so it would be quieter. Although with David there it's never completely quiet. Anyway today I had a caramel cafe macchiato from esquires and it was yum. So yum that I was really excited about work all afternoon and stayed till 5.45, and only went home then cos I didn't really want to walk home in the cold and dark, and besides I was cooking tea. So I cooked vegetarian lasagne and it was yum! Then I came up here to pack, paint my nails, read my book etc. Oh and Brendon rang so that was nice too. Even though I'm not normally a phone person. Did I mention I started work at 8am this morning.
Oh and the heel snapped off my shoe at lunch-time today! This was a tragic occurrence.

I had two weird dreams last night.
1) Dean and I were studying a map and we both agreed 'yeah that's where the titanic sunk' and then got a digger to dig up a bit of sea bed there and then found this coin and it was gold and silver, and we sold it for $100,000 and got to keep $50,000 each. Of course the digger was free.

2)Lisa was telling me I had to break up with Karthik because she'd stopped liking him and now hated him, cos she'd spent all afternoon with him and he kept saying that he didn't mind to any of our decisions like 'where should we eat' and 'what shop should we go to next'.

So both of those were just so truly bizarre! I was glad after the second one that I woke up and it wasn't true, but the first one.. well $50,000 would have been nice :)

Grad ball tomorrow in chch! Exciting but I hope my plane isn't delayed, that I don't miss it, etc. etc. - I arrive in chch at 7.20 and have to get all ready and to ball by 8 ish... Will be interesting. But when I'm there I am sure I will have a great time seeing Charlotte, Matt, Carl, his girl, Mindy and Darren etc..

And Saturday I am having lunch with the gps in Irwell, and seeing Joy, then going to a 21st, after which I'm staying at Lisa's, flying back to Auckland Sunday lunchtime, then having a massage by Cecile :) Which I am sure I'll need by then. Ooh how exciting. I might even meet Bastiaan! maybe.

Wow... look.. another post...

2005-04-09T17:46:00.000+12:00

Well since Jenna arrived yesterday I spent today getting ready for the grad ball next weekend. oh we bought and watched The Return of the Kind last night on dvd - 4hour mammoth effort, we made some nice thai soup and rolls for tea too. So today we went shopping, looked at shoes and foundation and hair accessories with no success, but Karthik did organise his suit hire so that was good, and we had a coffee somewhere too. Then came back and sp[ent literally an hour choosing an italian restaurant in Auckland at which to dine - yes we are that fussy. I wasnted it to be outside the CBD so that Jenna could see a bit more of Auckland, she wanted it to be nice so we had to check cuisine and other internet reviews... plus I was streaming music at the same time so the internet was slow... and the streaming was bitsy cos I don't have broadband! Yet. Anyway I'm kind of disappointed on the shoe front, means we'll have to venture to Newmarket or somewhere tomorrow and I did want to do something fun and toursity with Jenna since she's come all this way, not shop the whole time! Oh well if it's nice weather we'll go to Waiheke, otherwise the art gallery, or maybe museum? and we have to see Tanya tomorrow so must remember to ring her and go visit. plus we can go out for brunch, and go to a couple of shops in newmarket/parnell in a last-ditch effort to find something nice black and with straps and not a 10-inch stiletto heel!!! that fits. You wouldn't think it was that hard.
So off to Cafe latte tonight in Pt Chevalier, hope it's good :) Actually any good recommendations for nice places to dine on future occasions welcome...

More people are killed annually by donkeys than die in air crashes.

2005-04-07T18:56:00.000+12:00

Today was a really good day. Had my pdi (performance development interview) which was interesting - an hour where I get to talk about work and me and what I think, like an interview except you've already got the job. Also played touch (we lost, again) which was fun, and when I left work early to go to the doctor's I wasn't even that excited because I was still enjoying myself at work. Also passed my work instructions on working outside, on construction sites and near moving machinery. Funny. Ellen and I cooked tea tonight, a creamy chicken dish on rice. Yum. Ellen did a super job of cleaning the kitchen today and it looks awesome. Jenna comes up tomorrow! That will be exciting. I actually don't have much planned for the weekend, except buy some shoes, see if I still fit my dress, and find Karthik a suit or something to hire for the ball. And maybe Jenna and I can go somewhere exciting. If the weather is nice Waiheke island might be a goer, but if not then maybe the art gallery, or shopping, or some nice cosy cafe...

Ok don't have a lot to say today but thought I should get back in the habit of regular posts for the one or two people who actually read them! Although to be fair, if I wrote more then people might be more encouraged to visit and read...

A cow gives nearly 200,000 glasses of milk in her lifetime.

2005-04-01T22:55:00.000+12:00

But how big is a glass? Still, quite generous of the cow I thought.

Sometimes I feel really stupid. In fact, at my job, I feel really stupid quite often. I was looking at an installed version of a C# project today and wondering where the source files are. Um Lara... still on the website under the 'source files download' link...oh well. In doing computer science I have probably picked the thing I am the worst at. Well, apart from say being a swimming or golf instructor, or an acrobat, or a builder, clothes maker, hmm yeah that's about it. But then, I don't feel particularly talented at anything these days. I can't think of anything I'm *really* good at. Yes, all you people who know me will think this is weird because of my good grades ra-deee-rah etc. No, I'm not depressed or unhappy, or whatever - I'm serious. I don't feel naturally talented at anything, except I think quickly in a lot of situations, and learn things well, and do well in exams. Basically when it comes down to it, that's what I'm good at - exams. And you can't be a professional exam-sitter as a career. I don't think I'd like the stress aspect anyway. That all said, I really like my job. I feel satisfied when a customer is happy when I write a program for them. I wrote a C# application (the gui was not my best work ever, but I was learning the language, and had a tight deadline - it looks and works just fine but the code is not even close to elegant) and I've written many documents, and quite a few asp pages, and am just learning about ASP.Net at the moment for my latest project. Maybe I chose it because it is hard for me and I enjoy the challenge. Maybe the challenge aspect is what is motivating me to start learning lots of languages. I keep hoping to find the time to read my Russian and Chinese textbooks again to learn it again so they stay in my head, and I bought a $10 learn spanish cd, am slowly learning Norwegian from a book that I bought (the recent arrival of my flatmate's Norwegian gf may help that a bit) and today succumbed and bought a book on learning Hindi for beginners. Oh and my workmate has taught me some punjabi. I can say 'Sat Sri Akal' (hello), 'dhanwaad' (thanks) 'kol goi nahi' (you're welcome) and 'bhraji, chun gei ho' (spelling?) - which is 'hey bro, how's things?' - not that I can understand the response, unless the body language is nice and clear.

Ok I'm going to go to bed now.. my last night in my little room with it's balcony and harbour view... I swap with Mike (with afore-mentioned norwegian gf) tomorrow so he has more space and I have to pay less money - save $40 a week so that is exciting! I might start buying more books. Am reading 'A suitable boy' and am up to page 1003 of 1369 or something so am getting there - quite involved in the lives of the characters now and really want to know who Lata will marry! It is a good book and very eye-opening for me reading about indian culture, especially Muslim culture which i previously knew very little about. But at the start I was very confused between all the characters' names, and there is quite a lot of politics in it too.

Went out for tea tonight at 'Delicious', an italian pasta restaurant on Karthik's road. Very nice - I wasn't very hungry so we shared wedges and then I had soup and some semi-freddo for dessert (wine-flavoured and very yummy). When I say 'I wasn't very hungry' I mean 'I was completely and utterly full' because our secretary, Margo, screwed up our morning tea roster and assigned two people to today so we had a huge morning tea at work and it kept me going all day (I kept snacking all day on it) plus I had an icecream late in the afternoon (I ended up outside Mr Whippy and they had passionfruit icecream... what could I do...)

I wonder if this is a long post compared to those I used to write last year. I must just be in the mood. I am so sleepy though! Had planned to do all sorts of things but talked to my flatmates and then replied to an email and then read Ollie's and Karthik's blogs and got inspired....

Hey I bought a printer the other day! Very cheap - under $60 - got it through Karthief and it arrived today. So I might open that tomorrow. Very exciting. And I got my passport the other day. And I got an invite to a 21st from this girl in youth choir!

Ok I really am going to bed now before I collapse and die.

In Christchurch (just found this post...sorry)

2005-03-06T00:14:00.000+13:00

And should be in bed.. but just got home from Mindy's flatwarming, noticed Jenna's computer on and she's not home yet so thought I'd download the fix that was supposed to enable her version of paint to view jpg and gif files... but it doesn't seem to have worked at all so I give up. Stupid paint. In fact, Jenna has been complaining her computer has been freezing all the time but it has been fine for me today, just a little slow but nothing really wrong. So I'm not sure what the problem she was having was.

Had a nice lunch in Tai Tapu today with grandparents, family and Suzie. At the Raspberry Cafe. Beautiful weather and surroundings and food (I'm going to live in a hosue with grounds like that one day) and reminded me how much I love the countryside in Canterbury. Auckland is nice, I like it, but it's not going to be a permanent home for me.

Lovely to see Mindy tonight.

OK I must go get some beauty sleep.

long time no hear...

2005-02-02T23:03:00.000+13:00

Ok so I return to my blog for the first time in the new year and on an auspicious date - the 2nd of February. I am seated in my bed newly arrived from Chch to join me in my nice little townhouse with a balcony and a harbour view (the real estate agent in me is obviously dying to come out)and just thought that dropping a line here on my blog might be a worthwhile thing to do. The Queen Elizabeth II is, I guess, just leaving Prince's Wharf where it has been tied up outside Lisa's balcony, since I heard two very loud hoots that can only come from a sizable ship. And I guess it would only make such a noise at 11pm when working people are likely to be asleep if it was doing something important, such as leaving.

I had to do work today. Yes, I went to work, and did work. Their webmarshal seemed to have caught up with gmail at about 3pm so there wasn't even any real email distractions. Plus I had to make some decisions - well, solve some problems - and got so far as outlining all options, talking to people, extensive research and outlining pros and cons for all options, but no actual decision was made. I think I must have been tired because at 4.30 my head was hurting from thinking too much or something and I wanted to go home. At 5pm this wish was semi-granted cos I was off to see Lisa to view the afore-mentioned ship from the Hilton apartment that she is living in over summer. However, communication got a little haywire cos when she said 'let's meet outside my building at 5.15' I assumed she meant her apartment building, but she meant her work building. So we both waited for a wee while at each place with no joy. I bought a vodafone card and an icecream and waited patiently, then decided she must have been held up at work and started to write this text. I was about to press send when I heard a 'beep' and turned around, and there was Lisa disappearing inside! so that was lucky.

Further excitements of tonight other than just hanging out with Lisa for an hour before walking home: something secret, plus grocery shopping and philosophical debates with Michael on love and in loveness and relationships and stuff. Mike is in Hamilton till Fri.

Which is the day that Karthik comes back!!

well, technically he arrives back in the country very early Sat morning....

3 months. Relationship time. Or not.

Other highlights - listening to some divine Soprano singing stuff as given to me by my new singing teacher. and to random piano concertos on my laptop (tchaikovsky so far).

Ok that's all for now. Must be bed time.

summer sun... and sunburn....

2004-11-22T22:33:00.000+13:00

Hey yes it is indeed another blog! Although - it is summer. I have handed in my honours project. I doubt I will write many blogs at all over the next few months, although things may change when I move to Auckland. Anyway. I went to Akaroa today - Karthik and I drove Ollie over for some computer vision conference. So I walked around and even swam a little and it was all very nice. I thought about the sun after getting burned in Irwell last week, and bought some expensive suncream, and then applied it badly and now have a few stripes and other interesting very very red spots all over my body.

Woe is me.

However. Ummm went tramping with Lisa and Matt last week, Mt Somers, it was great...had my picnic in Irwell last Tues, shopped on Sat and went into town, Sunday had choir - have a concert this Friday night so it was choir tonight, and again on Wed... having lunch with Mum tomorrow and then spending the arvo with Miels.

Oh built my new computer too last week! It's cool. It's blue and has see-through bits on the case and the coolest little tiny mouse - it needed an extension cord but is now great :)

Bamboo can grow three feet in twenty-four hours

2004-11-04T20:07:00.000+13:00

Well I was going to blog and comment especially on how wonderful the weather has been lately but the wind is picking up now and I hate wind... but still the sunshine and general warmth has been just super!

I am so happy at the moment. Despite having to do my honours project still, and having a Russian exam tomorrow. Hey, I know units 1 and 2 really well, the only problem is that there are 6.5 units. I started studying properly today, and got through one unit. so that means I'm taking a wee while to get places. However. I'm remaining optomistic (as always). Oh and there's the rest of that marking too..

Other than this - further flat alterations are going on, the electric paint sander thingie was not the best thing to wake up to yesterday morning when it was going less than 1m from my head. To be fair, it was after 10am.. but I was really tired! and today the painters were there.

Went home in the weekend, nice to see the family even if not for a lot of time. Also made some exciting purchases - hair elastics in honour of the last soccer game, some lip gloss (I was in the pharmacy already) and a present. Presents are so exciting!

umm what else. Had lunch with Jess Ritchie today, and Richard Wards Tuesday, both people I haven't seen for ages (esp. Richard) - it's been cool catching up with people a little more lately.

I need some beauty sleep though. Maybe Friday night??? after my possible trip to see Fireworks...

A car traveling 100 mph would take more than 29 million years to reach the nearest star

2004-10-30T21:37:00.000+13:00

Yes, she's back blogging. After exhausting every other avenue of procrastination (including a very satisfying game of Monopoly, two movies, planning her computer buying, good old text-twist, and even 'spin the bottle - truth or dare' over the last few days) the blogspot has called itself to her attention.

She is also wondering why she externalises her life so much and prefers the third person narrative, especially in times of emotional turmoil. This is one for the psych students out there (Nathan? Doug, kind of?)

Yesterday she did absolutely zero work on her honours project. yes, this project that she really really wants to write as soon as possible. Today in fact she hasn't been much better. It seems to be a struggle to emerge from the covers before midday. Today she felt as if her head was exploding. Yesterday too. Possibly partially caffeine induced, emotional stress, and the workload mixed in with the complete absence of desire to work on her honours project. However - she did have a pretty good day today, she went to Riccarton Mall card-shopping with a friend, she went to the Ilam twilight fair and bought rhubarb chutney with Lis, Joy, Jeff and Kate, (I presume it's a j Jeff but it might be a g ge-off), and she even did maybe a maximum of two hours work. Maybe. Plus she sang with Jenna, cheered Jenna up (J is not looking forward to Monday's contract exam) and talked to the family friend around for dinner, and rang Mindy for a boy analysis talk. And had a delicious meal. Now if she could just wake up, and if her head could stop hurting, well, it'll be 10pm soon and that sounds like a great time to start writing stuff for her report. yeah! It would be great.

Biggest conundrum of the year - why is it that the boys she likes never like her back ? and then other boys jump out of the woodwork who *are* interested, so she tries to like them back but just can't?? Does she perhaps portray a different image of herself to who she really is? does she pick the wrong boys for herself? is she scared of relationship commitment so only goes after the unattainable? does she only relax enough to like someone after she's already decided they're unattainable? why does she change her mind so often too? The worst case - those boys who think they like her, she then thinks she might be able to like them back, then they change their mind - they're totally entitled to and it is understandable, but it still sucks. But then - does she really know what or who she wants anyway? Maybe she doesn't really like them after all, she just wants to since they like her.

Maybe she's just a little overtired and caffeine hyped adn emotionally messy at the moment. Everything will turn out just fine and the way it's meant to anyway! smile Lara!!!!

The hundred billionth crayon made by Crayola was Periwinkle Blue.

2004-10-18T22:53:00.000+13:00

I'm joining Amelia in the 'let's see what short ways of procrastination there are on the internet' game. and found this! it's cool! you just enter your name and voila!!!

How to make a Lara Croft

Ingredients:

1 part intelligence

1 part crazyiness

1 part empathy

Method:
Layer ingredientes in a shot glass. Top it off with a sprinkle of curiosity and enjoy!

Personality cocktail
From Go-Quiz.com

There is a 1 in 685,000 chance that you will accidentally drown in your own bath.

2004-10-12T21:28:00.000+13:00

And on that cheery note...

I had a dream not last night but the night before! Not just one dream but three dreams! This is a very rare occurrence. And I have heard people say that that hearing about dreams is about as interesting as watching grass grow but still...

You can hear about one of the dreams.

Lara gets on a train for an 8-hr long train trip and has her bag confiscated. On asking why she cannot have her book back she is told that there are plenty of things in the games room for children to do. She is then herded into a room full of kids up to age... 16 maybe.. - the unaccompanied minors - and protests "You do realise I'm 20!" Interesting that my subconscious thinks I'm still 20. Well, you know what they say about being young at heart....

biggest procrastination tool:
http://games.yahoo.com/games/downloads/tx.html

Random thought for the week: Do guys tease girls because they know girls like the attention? Or do girls learn to like being teased by guys cos they know it is a guy's way of showing affection? Kind of a chicken and egg situation....

GUESS WHAT! NO MORE COSC EXAMS EVER!!!! I AM DOING NO WORK TONIGHT TO CELEBRATE!!!!!!!

yippidy doo dah

yippidy day

Giraffes are unable to cough

2004-10-10T13:27:00.000+13:00

I have a theory that there is an inverse relationship of some sort between the size of my posts and the number of comments they receive. I'm not sure why.

My Flat

2004-10-07T23:11:00.000+13:00

floorplan
Originally uploaded by lararennie.

The landlord also visited today when I was at home with a builder and discussed shifting my bedroom door to the outside of the house such that people could enter our flat without walking through my bedroom. Which is a cool idea and I'm all in favour. So fingers crossed that it happens.
Here's a diagram of my flat for you. The red things are doors. the blue thing is the curtain from the lounge to my bedroom. It is very not to scale, becsue my room is about half the size of the other two bedrooms. The green thing is my wardrobe (temporary wall) and the yellow square my bed. Cool huh.

Carnivorous animals will not eat another animal that has been hit by a lightning strike

2004-10-07T22:53:00.000+13:00

Yes, re the exciting titles for my blogs nowadays, I have decided to start using my blog to educate the masses.

Today something exciting happened. I went home after orchestra tonight (well, not home, to the flat) and then came to uni and everyone was gone! they'd all disappeared supermarching. Which was sad cos I always go too and I thought they would have waited. But then they came back and they'd bought me chocolate and a nerdilicious bar in memory of me since I wasn't there! How's that for a bunch of boys. I was very impressed.

Um. I got a really nice email today too. Which made me smile. And orchestra was really fun tonight, good to catch up with lisa. My screen saver I would like to say is brilliant cos Lisa came looking for me today and my screensaver said I was at the flat and probably asleep, and she rang my flat and that's precisely where I was and what I was doing! Anyway I now am the proud owner of one stein ticket.

Like to say thanks to Brio too! My headache eventually went and I felt super on the day of my exam.

So yeah. Now I am going to use this STUPID program written by some not-stupid person and do my ITS assignment.

The fingerprints of koala bears are so indistinguishable from humans that they could be confused at a crime scene

2004-10-04T08:51:00.000+13:00

So I had a great weekend! I went skiing on Saturday, at Mt Olympus and it was brilliant! I decided after my seminar last week and big assignments that I needed a break before starting studying for my exams and doing my last assignment this week. On Friday night I mentioned I was going skiing with Matthew and Ron made some envious noises so I invited him along too and he actually came - I wasn't sure if he would or not. Anyway it was kind of a random day cos it was the end of season party and club races and stuff, so there were people in all kinds of retro gear, and suits, and dresses, all skiing round. The snow was beautiful spring stuff on the Back Run and Parson's Dollar, but icy yucky stuff elsewhere - so if you skied in the right places it was great. So sunny and beautiful, good catching up with a few people too.

Saturday night it was Amy's birthday party which I attended rather late by the time we finally managed to get home from skiing (had to go via Alice's home, where we waited for a while cos she'd left her car-keys up the mountain - we were supposed to be dropping her off at her car down the road but that didn't work for obvious reasons. but we got to see her puppies, and some of her 21st video with Matt filmed pulling the moves on Brit - funny!) but it was fun anyway.

Sunday I tried to get up at 9am (stupid daylight saving, cost me an hour! makes it so much harder) but managed to at 10.30. I then went to visit Big Nana and Pop, and had a delicious lunch (as you do at your grandparent's) and then attempted to study for tomorrow's exam, except every time I tried I ended up falling asleep. Had choir last night and that was *terrible* - the sopranos sang one note for one beat too long, and then the altos got out of time too cos they were waiting for us, and the whole thing fell apart, and what do I do? Have a guess. Yes, that's right, keeping true to form, it gets to the most inappropriate moment and Lara starts to laugh. And she can't stop. And then Jenna starts. so any time Lara almost has it under control she hears Jenna and starts again. Lara is almost biting through her bottom lip to cause herself enough pain to stop, but still can't... Finally regains control. then a later piece, the intro is being played in E minor and there's this random E-flat note being played under the whole piece. Even when the intro is stopped the Eflat is still booming on. Then we have to start on an E. and Lara is laughing again....After this piece, Lara and Sarah come in during the introduction for the next piece... you won't be surprised that this sets Lara off again...

After the service Lara apologises to the choir. She is then yelled at by the conductor - "For goodness sake, you're not a school-girl!" - well, no, technically not... but I've always had this laughing problem... So she then bursts into tears (nervous tension?) ... and then gets over it. I mean, it was funny at the time obviously, and it happened anyway, so may as well laugh about it now too ;)

Then Jenna and I went to Lisa's and watched Chicago and ate lemon pie for dessert. Yum. Weird movie. Would have been better if any of the main characters (apart from the husband) were actually nice at all so you cared about the outcome of anything. Like both of the girls were a) bitchy b) murderesses and c) stupid - well- only one of them was really, but still.

Then I went grocery shopping, and then to bed cos I was exhausted. I am still tired, and I have a headache. However, i'll feel great real soon. Cos I have a full-on day today - I have to see my lecturer about my tute and do some study between now and 11.30, and then I'm doing a psych expt, then attending russian for the first time in maybe 3 weeks, and then it's tute time. Which I am super not looking forward to - just can't be bothered today. Then it will be 3pm and I'll do maybe an hour of study, and then I'm visiting Megan, and going to Thai boxing, having tea, and studying all evening. Cool. So I should stop procrastinating now and actually get on and do some study now then!

And the sun came out...

2004-09-23T00:23:00.000+12:00

I think it's weird that even when I'm really *really* upset by something, I let myself experience it and then don't take very long to move on. Like a couple of days ago I got really upset, really disappointed, and now I'm over it already. Maybe it's healthier to do that than to try and stifle it, or get over it too soon, cos then it can kind of rot away at the inside, and take over your life for ages. I always thought if I got to the age of 37 and was single and alone, there would probably come a day where I just wouldn't get out of bed at all. But it would only last a day - maybe one and a half - after which I don't think I could mope anymore and I'd have to get out and make the most of what I did have.
The above is motivated by last night going to the NZSO with my Mum. These concerts have been one of the really great things about this year: Mum and I got a subscription and have been to all of them, plus flew up to Wellington to hear Hilary Hahn too. Last night we heard Tchaikovsky's 6th symphony and an overture by Berlioz (les Cossairs or something) and the 4th piano concerto by Saint Saens - and it was really enjoyable. (in preparation for each concert mum and I listen to all the music we know is going to be there that I can get hold of from the uni library extensively - makes all the difference).
So Mum wasn't very happy anyway - partially cos I said I'd meet her between 7.45-7.50, but only made it there at 7.57 and she HATES lateness - but mainly because she thought Jenna and I were upset. And because she's a mother she says she can't help but feel what we feel. Although this can't be true because when I'm happy - ~80% - this doesn't seem to have any effect on her mood. Maybe she just feels the negative aspects of our mood. Anyway Jenna was a little upset, cos she hit a cat on her way home and despite doing everything she could including ringing the SPCA animal ambulance, it died of head injuries over night. And me? well, Jenna had told her I was upset and why. But I was fine by the time of the concert - I had completely cheered up at about 5.30pm that afternoon. So I told mum I was fine, she didn't need to worry, and she was like 'you don't need to pretend' - I wasn't pretending!!! I honestly was fine! Yes, I can and do just get over stuff - well, if it's stuff I can't do anything about. If I can do something about it, I might take longer, through anguishing over what to do and whether to do it. But if it's a 'nothing you can do' scenario, then you get upset, and you get over it. But Mum doesn't seem to have that ability to the same extent, and therefore can't believe that others do have it. Although to be fair she's also probably down because Dad's sick. (although again here I'm completely different - because it is so much against my natural tendency to be depressed, knowing that Dad's sick doesn't affect me unless I sit there and imagine what my life would be like without him in it, or if he looked sick it would affect me, or if he complained of feeling sick, or something like that. I'd rather say that at least we know so we can make the most of the time we have and be excited every day that he's here! but then, i'm excited (well, ok, that's a little strong) every day by the fact that everyone's still here, and depending on the day, that i got to spend time with person X, Y and Z. But mum and dad's relationship is different than dad and mine of course, and her life without him would be a far more scary place than mine, so I do sympathise.)

Ok now that I've discussed the differences between my mum and my psyche, the other things on a less serious or reflective note that I wish to state are as follows:

Rotherham's has just become my favourite restaurant in chch. I went there yesterday for the first time and it was lovely. Expensive, but not for what you get. Mains $28.50-$30-ish, $4.50 for delicious breads and dips, $14.00 desserts but they are spectacular. The mains are beautiful too. I had the vegetarian trio which had a little chickpea and cumin cappuccino, roast pumpkin with some cheesy topping and these paper thin crunchy slices of parsnip, and mushroom filled filo. Plus I had a pre-dinner drink of passionfruit vodka - lemonade, tonic water, 42-below passionfruit vodka, slices of orange peel that had been marinaded in grenadine, and (this is the best part) passionfruit pulp! (passionfruit is my favourite fruit). Lovely lovely staff. Lovely decor, great music. Individual hand-towels in the bathroom.

I bought two CDs - the Finn Brothers which I quite like, good easy listening, and Muse - which I adore. might have to update my profile.

I have tons of work on at the moment. Haven't watched a movie or played games here for ages. Oh well. I'm sure I'll make it. Just would be tons easier if my throat wasn't so sore. (Have a Cantores concert at St Luke's at .. 2pm? 3pm? this Sunday ($10 tickets) and hope my voice comes back for it!!!!)

Nice day today. Went to the gym and did weights with Lisa for an hour which was exciting - my first gym visit all year! well, the first where i did any exercise. Also had soccer - only lost 5-1 (3-0 halftime) and one of those goals was completely our own fault (moment of poor communication, indecision, and Karthik had just been body-slammed resulting in serious pain). And then it was ski-club meeting at McDs and it was the most fun one ever cos only the coolest people were there - we didn't make quorum, which was unusual, and 5/6 of the people round the table were related to me in some fashion!!

Now I'm trying to tell myself to give the coding a break and start my write-up for my 427 project - that's what we're getting marked on! I thought a blog would help the transition progress. Plus now after Countdown we have spciy capsicum and coriander spread, turkish bread and crackers.... Since I only got up at midday today I should be working for a few more hours yet.

Coffee beans

2004-09-08T13:51:00.000+12:00

For someone who wouldn't drink coke cos she didn't like the effects of caffeine this is a surprising discovery...

It is half the price and just as yummy to eat coffee beans and milk chocolate buttons together (2 - 1 ratio) compared to eating chocolate covered coffee beans!

Birthday

2004-09-06T23:09:00.000+12:00

Yes Sunday was my birthday. And father's day. How lovely. I had a cool day - I was dancing in town with Mindy and her sister at midnight (Rockycola is my new fave place to go - I got Ryan, who djs there and is from my hons class, to play me shoots and ladders (Korn) as a request - it was cool!) and went home at 2am and then got up at 8.30am, came to uni for an hour and then went out for brunch with Megan and Jenna (she got me a pinkn porcelain icecream sundae dish - one of those tall ones - it is so cool) at the George. That was so delicious - filled me up for hours. When I went back to uni I got given a painting by Konstantin - it was really lovely - and a cool CD called ' the pink panther penthouse party' by Karthik - so nice of him. Went to the open research thing at the hospital and saw stomach ulcers preserved in formaldehyde stuff, and bowel cancers, and their new research, and went to an open lecture on specialised drug therapy based on genes and it was all fascinating! Had coffee at le bon bolli and pecan pie with lisa (Fraser you'll be pleased to know we now have a potato masher), and then went back to uni all night. And did my assignment. Except for a half hour game of BZflag where.... I won!!! yes, I Lara Croft, beat the mighty Save.me.Jebus, otherwise known as James, and won! Actually my whole team won! yah for 6 degrees of pain (aka Karthik).

Watched a dvd of videos made by James' brother today, it's really cool and so funny. Very talented boy.

Another sunny day!

2004-09-03T17:45:00.000+12:00

I am so happy! Today I have done lots of cosc work... well, from 9-12 and 1-3 (I had pancakes at Mindy's house for lunch) - and then went to a seminar, and since I came back have done almost an hour of cosc, so that's been exciting cos I feel productive - but the reason why I'm happy? because I went to the library and while there on impulse got out Les Pecheurs de Perles. (The Pearl Fishers). This is an opera by Bizet, and I knew only one aria, so I have spent the last just over an hour listening to it, and reading the accompanying booklet in French - not because it didn't have English, but because it was more fun reading it in French. And I really like it! It's a nice story too, because for once it's an opera in which not everyone dies! So it's very pleasant to be sitting here writing a lexer using ANTLR for haskell internal representation code and listening to it.
Other news: I have discovered this hilarious cartoon. The funniest thing I've ever watched. Called Red v Blue, it follows the story of two teams of... Halo characters... in a box canyon. and why are they there? (they ponder this in episode one) - the red base is there because the blue base is there, and the blue base is there cos the red base is there. And if the red base pulled out, then there would be two blue bases in the box canyon. Whoopdy-doo. It's great watching them encounter such problems as driving vehicles, firing on team-mates, working out who their team-mates are etc. too. Although I have to admit I have only played Halo once so I kind of look at it as if it is Unreal Tournament instead. Anyway, it's just so funny I actually sit here and laugh out loud as I watch it.

I have also been skiing a bit recently. Go to Mt Olympus. The snow is great at the moment, and we all know the atmosphere and surroundings are always wonderful.

Hello World!

2004-08-23T16:32:00.000+12:00

I have been busy of late. Hence the lack of publication on my blog.
But today, because I can, I am going to write just a little on what I've been up to.
Yesterday - Sunday - was a beautiful day. So I slept in, went out for lunch with Laura and did some shopping - which was exciting - before coming to uni at 2pmish. When I got propositioned to play tennis I couldn't resist. I lost 6-1, which wasn't a brilliant result for me.. I obviously need more practice/training/reflexes/skill... something... but it was fun! and eventually we came back to uni and after not very long it was soccer time! Soccer was fun, but the opposition had this brilliant sharp-shooter and we just weren't finding the goal so we lost 12-0...
Then I had Indian for tea and did a little work, a little practice for a competition, and a little playing of UT.. in those stupid vehicles ( I get daredevil points all the time, not on purpose, but because I can't really control the direction I'm going so .. oops.. i just drove straight over that cliff.. rolled a little.. down that vertical incline.... you get the picture)

And now it's Monday and we're still on holiday! well - it's kind of the first day of holidays. So I slept in again, did mundane things like my washing, but also read a book for an hour at home! then I came to uni where I have been sitting here pleasantly in my new shoes and new stockings working on my oo project. So nice looking out my window to the blue sky too.

Exciting things coming up: going to Methven Thurs-Fri with Lisa! going skiing!!! cool. Lunch with Dad on Wednesday. Doing AR at Mindy's house tomorrow. Korfball tomorrow night, and Lisa and I are going to my house to have a putting-chains-on-my-car lesson. Wed night Jenna is coming to my flat for tea and then we're going out to see my cousin's son - he's really cool. So - a super week ahead hmm!! filled with lots of fun excitement and work!!

Ok... I'm puzzled....

2004-08-13T09:19:00.000+12:00

who was that anonymous person who commented on my last post???? I can't even begin to imagine who it might be... lisa maybe?? hmmmm

Anyway. Quick update on my life. Am taking the job. So will be in Auckland next year knowing .. my cousin.... her husband... that's all. Exciting!

Soccer - lost 10-7, but then I couldn't play cos I was at the NZSO listening to LangLang play the first Chopin piano concerto - it was absolutely fantastic. Dinner at Indochine was also really really nice. (With mum - nice little treat for a poor student! ) I'm not sure they'll want me back... maybe for the entertainment factor?

Found something else I suck at - Unreal Tournament! the worst bit is getting in those stupid vehicles and trying to point the mouse so the camera is actually looking where you are going.... and also firing at someone - it's so hard to aim!! So if you hear squeaks of laughter emanating from the cosc room you'll know what I'm doing...

I am actually doing work now and have been for an hour. My computer is being frustrating though - I can't reboot it cos I'm running experiments, but it refuses to let me open any new application windows. So I am left with firefox, xemacs, openoffice and dcgui running. Could be worse... most of the essentials are there.

Extended my baking capabilities to peanut chocolate brownies the other day.

Ok think that's all my news. oh... I bought a ball ticket for this Saturday.. should be fun!

rainy saturdays :)

2004-08-08T12:41:00.000+12:00

Last night had choir and it was really good! Then I went to a gathering at Tim Bell's for the dept with some other guys from hons. This was quite amusing, especially when Karthik and Ron with the help of a few other instrumentalists performed a song they'd written about me...
And after that Ollie, James, Karthik and I played Roborally, this complex boardgame. i managed to lose entirely by committing suicide 3 times in a row - noone else ever attacked me. So obviously this is not really my forte but it was so much fun! stayed up late. slept lots today - Fraser asked if I was unwell :) but no, just resting. Going home to keep mum company tonight, then haircut and singing tomorrow and Paul and Miels and I are going to see King Arthur!! How exciting.

Soccer

2004-08-05T11:50:00.000+12:00

9-3 guys!!! 9-3!!!! We only lost 9-3!!!! this is exciting news.

Plus I'm off to visit Nana and Pop this afternoon :)

And then it's thai boxing and orchestra this evening. What an exciting day.

2004-08-04T16:23:00.000+12:00

Last night we played Trivial Pursuit. James and I destroyed the pathetic attempts of Ron and Karthik. (it was 5 pieces of pie to 1 at one stage!!!!)
I also prepared my seminar. Which I gave today. Fell asleep last night with light on, music going and my contacts in!!! but it's ok, nothing bad happened - eyes still fine today.

Gave seminar. Wasn't brilliant, but you know! good practice and over now. Since then i have done a little bit of work, some Russian hmwk, saw Confidences Trop Intime with Fraser - interesting, but what I mainly liked was listening to people speak French :).
Then I baked 2 chocolate cakes, and came back to uni! where I am now, poised to do work.

The Hons Indoor Soccer team has another game tonight!!!! How very exciting. I will try to laugh less and not be scared of the ball as much as last week. It might help.

BZFlag

2004-08-04T05:41:00.000+12:00

For the uninitiated:

BzFlag is the best linux multiplayer game available. Up to 10 people are supposedly supported, but personally I've only played with 6. You have a tank, you move around a square, and kill other tanks (preferably of the other team - killing your team-mate results in your own death) with the help of superflags such as laser, machine gun, shockwave, thief, high speed, etc. And tanks can jump (but unless you have wings, you can't maneouvre in the air, which is frustrating as you jump and then have to wait to fall down right in front of someone who's about to shoot you).
There are buildings, and little transportation gates, and you can have bad flags too. You have a radar screen and a heads up display.
Basically - masses of fun. Team play is the best - especially if you have the genocide flag - then kill one person and their whole team dies! so exciting.

Definitely the best hons procrastination technique I've found this year. Come on Paul, you know you want to play!!!!

Ok. Must start writing seminar :)

Misty Monday

2004-08-03T04:17:00.000+12:00

Well I had a nice weekend I suppose. Sunday I went out for breakfast with Joy and spent a couple of hours chatting to her about life. After this I went to ...you'll never guess.... university! Had choir which was initially very frustrating, due to a certain other member of the choir and some friction between me and the conductor. However, I resolved the latter (I hate conflict!!) and am pretending the former doesn't exist. Played bzflag. It is the *best* game in the world. I recommend it to one and all.

Today I have 2 hours of lectures, 2 hours of taking a tutorial on finite automata, and how to make epsilon non-deterministic finite automata into deterministic.... yippidy doo dah.... and a singing lesson and I think I will play the piano. I also have to do some honours work. Have to give a wee seminar on Wednesday morning but I am refusing to write it cos I think it will just take as long as I give it and I don't want to spend much of my life on it.

Hope the weather clears up.

It's a sunny day!

2004-08-01T10:02:00.000+12:00

So I'm so excited. Have a concert in the Town Hall tonight - singing as part of the Cantores with the CSO and 4 'emerging artist' soloists. So that should be fun! Then I have a birthday party to go to (fashionably late) and then I'm meeting up with Lisa and Joy etc. and going dancing! Well, that's the plan anyway. SO I should do some honours work in the time before my exciting evening.

what to do... what to do

2004-07-31T10:00:00.000+12:00

Ok. So I got a phone call from Beca today - an Auckland engineering firm - and they're offering me a job. I really like the sound of the job and the company, it's a collaborative work style working on real-world programs as demanded by engineers, high pressure and lots of variety.

But. It's in Auckland.

So I went and read your page Paul on decision making. And I am going to read it again. Because I really don't know what to do. The whole 'bird in the hand' thing springs to mind though....

It does say on your page don't ask too many people for advice... however - any advice on how to make decisions would be welcomed!

Hmm. Lots to think about. Exciting though! someone wants to employ me!!!! and i get to read a *contract* when it arrives in the mail next week.

The First One (where everything began)

2004-07-29T16:44:00.000+12:00

This is my first post.
This is the start of something very new but not entirely different.
I blame Paul.