Welcome Post

This is my personal blog.  For stories of my first two years of teaching (of which I am almost half way at time of writing) go to my PRT blog.

blah blah blah

yes that is all. i have fatigue from being on holiday.  i need a holiday.

Kitty, Daisy and Lewis

Having missed out on the Wednesday night gig I was lucky to score a ticket to the Tuesday night gig via Facebook Update.  Really…what would we do without it now?

The gig was at the Montechristo Room.  It has been ‘done up’ since I was last there and is starting to look like a good venue.  There is now a completely separate bar area with a live feed from the venue projected onto a white wall.  Very nice.  The giant mirror up behind the bar means that you can watch a reflection of the band playing while you wait a couple of years to get a drink.  Painfully slow service aside, the staff are all very polite and friendly.

The venue itself has changed slightly – what with the door being somewhere different and the bar being gone – and they have taken out all the booths as well.  A pity, I thought, as it was one of the things I particularly liked about it.  I know booths cut down on patron space but they add so much.  The place needs a decent ventilation system STAT.  The place was boiling.  It was pretty unnecessary really when you consider that there was probably only 300 people there.

The crowd.  The crowd.  What a strange crowd.  I’m not sure what radio station the gig was advertised on, but these people listen to it.  I began talking to one woman while standing outside who had brought her mother for her 69th birthday.  It was a mixture of young ultra-cool hipster douche bags, insurance salesmen, desperate housewives and men who could afford to ride Harley Davidsons without having to sell drugs to pay for them.

The support act was The Drab-Do Riffs (sic?) who injected a sharp toned energy into the middle-aged crowd.  Not many people were here to see them, with some exceptions, and mostly the crowd seemed to be humouring them while they waited for the main course.

After an eternity of waiting in the Singaporean heat, Kitty and Daisy took the stage to give the audience a taste of their acapella harmonising.  At first sight they are breathtakingly beautiful and sound like blood-related angels.  In much the same way that the Sami Sisters do.  They have a working-class charm that makes you want to go round for Sunday dinner and ask to stay and join the band.

Unfortunately for the majority of the audience, they are all rather petite [short].  Despite that fact that I am a tall lass, I could barely make out any of the band.  With a low ceiling there is obviously a maximum for the stage height, but seriously, I was only about 10 people back and I couldnt see.  Even a couple more inches would have been better.  The sound was also oft-fucked up and the band were obviously becoming more and more annoyed at the lack of fold-back in the stage monitors, the feedback, the quiet microphones…

And yet the crowd were enthralled.  They played all their ‘hits’ – Ooo Wee, Baby Hold Me Tight, Mean Son of a Gun and more…I hope they get their sound sorted out before their second show tonight.  And maybe smash a couple of windows through the outer wall.

Writing with invisible ink

I am writing quite a lot at the moment but I want to package it all up into a zine for my birthday gift.  I am taking the hobbit tradition of giving a gift on my birthday to those that are awesome around me.

It has been quite a year, this one.  Back to the first point – I want it to be a surprise for those who are getting it, who managed to cross-section with the group who read this blog, and therefore I am not posting much.

I am writing a bunch of short stories that are loosely based on, or inspired by, some of my favourite songs.  The zine will be accompanied by a CD with these songs and more.

Lucky I do not have a job in marketing or public relations.  That was a pretty shit press release

lemon detox

i’m thinking about trying this detox – the one with lemon and maple and cayenne.  anyone done it?  i will do a daily record of it here…but interested in getting some feedback.

the reason?  i feel all bleugh and bleugh.  i have put on about 12 kilos this year…and i have eaten like a fat child let loose in a mcdonalds.  so i want to get the crap out of my system and ’start over’.  not bothering to quit the smoking until i get back from my holiday as i will be doing a lot of drinking AND everyone i will be seeing in the south island are smokers.  it would be excrutiating and i would most likely fail if i ‘give up’ now.  i can go days without it at the moment so i know im not addicted – its just a habit.  that i enjoy.

Carrot and Macadamia Cake

1 c vegetable oil
1 1/3 c firmly packed brown sugar
3 free range largish eggs
1 c chopped macadamias (the bigger they are the more crunch they have in the cake – i did some rough and some fine plus i added some ground almonds too…)
three large carrots, grated (about 3 cups firmly packed)
2 1/2 c high grade flour
5 t b powder (you can use self-raising but i prefer doing it this way)
1/2 t baking soda
2 t mixed spice (up to 4 but only for people who like spicy – can be a bit much)

beat the oil, sugar and eggs together until really thick. this stops the cake being all gluggy. some recipes i have looked at do not have the oil in this step.

in a larger bowl, put the nuts and the carrots. pour the egg mixture over and stir in gently.

sift the dry ingredients on top and mix gently.

pour into a deep 20-22cm tin, greased and lined.

bake at about 150-160 for about an hour and a quarter. leave in the pan to cool slightly but tip out while still warm.

ice with cream cheese icing. mmmmmmmmm. yum.

30 g butter soft
100 g cream cheese (i use ‘lite’ cos it makes a lighter icing)
vanilla essence
real lime essence or lime zest and some juice
1 1/2 – 2 cups icing sugar

i topped with strawberries dipped in white chocolate and fresh toasted almonds. good for xmas!! happy baking…

I Never Said I Was Deep

Jarvis Cocker was a really good concert.  I enjoyed hanging out with Lawrence and Vanessa at the front of the stage.  There were a few annoying people…but there always are.  Vanessa had a cool idea for a meta-blog about Auckland Cafe’s and Restaurants.  Have wanted to do something like that for a while so it’s good to see someone else have the idea and it might actually happen.

I just watched The Lives of Others about life in the GDR before the wall came down.  It is a good watch.  Poignant.  Interesting.  Humbling.

Glad I live here.

…the children are the future

Having been a teenage mother myself, the issue of educating young mothers is a personal one.

Let’s put this out there from the start – I was a total FUCK-KNUCKLE when I was younger.  I was incredibly selfish, driven by hormonal desires that I had no control over, and to be frank…a bit of a dick.

At eighteen I had been discarded by the love of my life father of my unborn child and had an very bad opinion of myself which never really manifested itself in positive change, but rather was buried beneath a series of unfortunate events.  I wish someone had been there to slap me about the face.

Here I am now.  Pretty awesome [sometimes I believe it] and doing well.  It has been a hard road – a bumpy one – and a long one.  I almost ruined myself in search of Shangri-La and the fucking thing does not even exist.

And so – my point – oh yes there is one…

I have remembered that there was an underlying motive to becoming a teacher… helping out young people … particularly those of the brown persuasion.  There is a teenage mother unit attached to the school I work for and I would definately be interested in working there.  Recently I read that there was a ‘movement afoot’ to get the teenage mother education extended to the fathers as well.

So I will have a looksee and ascertain whether there is anything I can do to help the situation.  Would be cool.

500 days of Zooey

I love the Zooey.  Loved 500 Days of Summer…and then tonight I stumbled across this gem…

she&him

so incredibly cheesey. but right now…i want a double dose of cheese. no garlic. no pineapple. just cheese.

Dear _________________

I have met the man of my dreams.  He is perfect for me.  We are getting married.

He is really tall.  As you know I am very tall so this was always a pre-requisite.  He is a bit on the skinny side.  I don’t mind it if they are not skinny beanpoles but this is a particular weakness of mine   He is quite pale and apparently burns to a nice lobster colour in 0-5 minutes of summer sun.  As I am not a sun bunny I do not mind restricting the beach visits until the moon is full.

He is so kind.  He has never said a cruel word to me.  Despite this, his wit is biting and ferocious.  He can be the biggest bitch I have ever met – but never to me.  We sit at cafe’s and critique the world as it hurries past.  While he holds my hand and places a protective foot over mine.

When he smiles at me, kittens fall from heaven and splatter golden dust for miles.  His eyes – deep blue pools – reflect only my own adoring gaze.  The breath is forced from my lungs with such violence that I sometimes struggle to breathe for hours after we part.  And oh, the sweet sorrow.

He listens to my silly plans and confused musings on the state of the world.  He never rains on my parade – he is out in front – leading the band and sweeping kitten dust from my path.  I feel free to say the stupidest things to him without worrying that he will judge me.

He understands that sometimes I plunge headlong into the deepest darkest depression.  While he does not bear such a burdon himself, he is understanding and gives me space to be little miss black cloud.  He does not take the things I say to heart and is always there to hug me when I am feeling like I might break in half from the boredom or the pain.

He is perfect.  And covered in gold dust.

New Moon

Thought I would hate it.   Didn’t.

Thought it would suck fleas out of carpet.  It didn’t.

So I saw it in Gold Class.  That was fancy.   Albany Gold Class no less.  Supero-unero on the fancy.

I was chortling all the way through it.  The cultural references were all over it like nappy rash on a baby’s bottom.  But still it was not too painful.  The gazing was excrutiatingly drawn out.  WHY CAN’T THIS VAMPIRE LOOK BELLA IN THE EYE WHEN HE IS TALKING TO HER?

Bella is reading Romeo and Juliet in one scene.  Should be good for convincing Year 11 next year that I want to teach it to them as their extended text.  ‘But Bella Swan is reading it!’.

I like wolves now.