1. Freestyle is still not my friend
2. Breaststroke is
3. Don’t go to the supermarket after swimming or the gym. You’ll end up doing crazy things. Like buying breakfast cereal and intending to eat it
4. Vegemite and chippie sandwiches are surprisingly tasty
5. I really need a haircut
6. I’m rather enjoying my wear-a-dress-as-often-as-possible self-challenge
7. Don’t take the long route to the gym with a sore foot
8. Jeans are just awesome

So, this last weekend I moved out of the my centre city apartment (complete with flashing neon lights/street lights/sirens/bars/drunk people/burnouts) for a room in a flat in the area of Wellington I’ve been wanting to live in since I was last here as a student. I spent many happy hours wandering said suburb when I really didn’t want to be at my hall or studying. I resolved then, that this would be the place, and, the aberration that was Te Aro aside, I’ve finally made it here. I mean, I can mooch on the couch and watch the ships and the harbour. Short of living at the water, this is some kind of heaven. (Also, it’s so much quieter.)

6am, looking out at the harbour

The move itself didn’t take too long. I was generously loaned a car for the day (the cleaning fairy had fun with that. Serious, serious fun), and my cohort in Camino plotting helped me shift boxes (this is after I’d had him and my cousin out singing karaoke for 3 hours and only sending them to their respective beds at about two. Yes, I am the devil on your shoulder. I like it there). It was a stunning day. So, after questing (and failing) to find beanbag fill (and we were in the area), gelato was called for. And photos were taken in Eastbourne,

Playing in the water at Eastbourne

Stunning weather in Days Bay

Sunday dawned a beautiful morning, tea was had in the sunny lounge, before traipsing off (earlier this time) to the Farmer’s Market. Against Doctor’s orders, I walked, and it was beautiful. Thorndon Quay was silent and sleepy but for the cyclists riding up and down. The sun was warm, but there was the threat of the change in wind even at 8:30 in the morning, so I was intent on making the most of my day.

Farmer's Market

It was lovely, until the appointed time for High Tea at the Museum Hotel (my thank you to James for his chauffeuring and heavy lifting duties), when all hell, deluges, howling southerlies, and Antarctic fronts decided to converge on the city centre, and we had to walk run (laughing hysterically) through the downpour to end up drowned rats in the foyer of this very swish place. And what a lovely High Tea it was too. I could quite easily do that again.

High Tea

And then came the Monday of anniversary weekend. My planned sleep-in thwarted by my alarm clock, so I was resigned to tea in bed with some knitting and a book, with this very tragic view. However will I cope?

Morning tea to the sound of Tuis outside my window

It was a fantastic Monday. I mastered mattress stitch on some booties, cast on another, ate cherries and oreos for dinner, and watched the pilot and first two eps of BSG. Now, I’ve never seen BSG, and nothing I have seen so far makes me want to watch all four seasons. For something 10-ish years old, it’s looking great, but really. It plods. I zoned out 10 minutes into ep 2, and that’s enough pain for me. Besides, I have other things to plot and plan.

Like revisiting all the cool new stuff in Koha. I have three (well, two, really) days left of not being a librarian. And they’re going to be the three longest days of my life. I have missed working in libraries so much that it’s painful. And soon, the pain will be a distant memory, and I’ll be up to my eyeballs in circulation rules, reference searches, and cataloguing metadata all over again. I don’t care what people say, special libraries are a version of heaven, and I’m so lucky to get to play in one again. But more on that next week. I still have 7 long days to go.

It’s the Dresden Dolls this weekend. And the Wellington 7′s the weekend after. (My flatmate got his costume today. I believe I may be in for a very interesting weekend there…) And I’m waiting patiently for a very special yarn order to arrive at my postbox so I can get onto some very special lace knitting. Hopefully soon. I’ve a 4 day weekend/refresher time ahead, I want to make the most of it.

So I’m still alive. There are plots for adventures afoot, FO’s to show off, and plots to plan.

Until next time, Xin Nian Kuai Le!

There’s a new job on the horizon. I’m so very excited. Actually. Excited doesn’t even begin to cover it. I’ll let you know more when pen has been put to paper. It’s all still verbal and electronic. But I have a start date, and that’s got to mean something.

There’s also a new place to live. It’s quiet, and airy. And I’m looking forward to it. There’s also a flatmate – it’s going to be interesting, but there is method to my madness. You see, that grand adventure I’ve been teasing? Well, it’s going to be this. I even have a partner in crime for said adventure, which is both unexpected and really awesome. If we can rap the Fresh Prince of Bel Air theme song down Cuba street, we can sing the Samurai Pizza Cats theme song down the walkways of Northern Spain. ‘Nuff said.

Even before that, there’s an opera I need to see. In July. So really, flatting is the sensible option.

I’ve also been looking at the logistics of a few planned projects with a certain deadline looming. And seriously, once my glorious Wolle’s Cotton turns up, I’ve got some serious knitting to get done. (Also have some glorious Malabrigo to knit for commissions… so I can’t wait to bring my wool winder out).

In reading news, I sat down and re-read Fahrenheit 451 again yesterday. First time not as a student analysing it. Such a good piece of work. I’ve got Hume’s On Suicide and Forster’s Where Angels Fear to Tread up next.

Also have seen The Debt (excellent), Sherlock Holmes 2 (meh), and Melancholia (brilliant – I must watch it again to see what I missed) so far this year. My to-see list is growing, I’m looking at quality this year…

That’s all for now. I’m moving this weekend, and prepping things for handover at work, and knitting some almost-secret squirrel stuff, and test knitting a rather awesome looking pattern (once I’ve stopped fighting the cast on, but that’s just me – not the pattern).

So I’m still alive, and plotting. Time to see how easy it is to sleep with headphones on…

à bientôt

So why am I starting my first post for the new year talking about food (apart from it being lunch time)? Because I’m marvelling at what I consider to be happy foods. Cherries (I haven’t bought any, yet), mangoes, lychees, avocado, meringues, marshmallow mice with licorice tails (it’s a South African thing), mashed potato, a good margarita pizza, basil, salsa, good feta, Kalamata olives, and vine ripened tomatoes. In fact, what I’m currently eating for lunch is a happy dish: fresh tomatoes, feta, olives and basil drizzled with olive oil and cracked pepper. It can be summed up in a single word: summer.

Happiness in a salad

I’m halfway through my summer holidays, and this is the first time I’ve turned on my computer in ages (let’s hear it for smartphones). I have, surprisingly, been having a break. Up until Thursday, we had the most stunning weather. And there was some entertaining cricket on the box, and a knitting commission (with yarn delivered at the eleventh hour) to complete (all is done, with a bind off and blocking to go). It was fantastic to be in the Bay for longer than a weekend, and with a glut of fruit mince pies to get through.

Highlights from during my summer break (2011 version)

It was the first time I’d been in the new Aquatic Centre at home, and I was determined to get some swimming done. I have a 10-trip, and I will use it when I’m up there. I’m used to a 20m pool now, so those extra 5 metres in the indoor pool really make a difference. But I learnt very quickly that my shoulder still has a long, long way to go. It really didn’t appreciate any sort of freestyle and told me so. Repeatedly. Thus, I had to stick to breaststroke. You know what? It’s not too bad. (And my shoulder doesn’t complain, so that’s a bonus). I swam until my arm wouldn’t move. My number of laps are improving, but a stiff and achy shoulder can be a bit of a bastard. I just need to be more diligent with the swimming and the shoulder this year. It took a serious knock in the last boxing class holding the pads, and it’s just not quite settled. I get the distinct impression that there’s a bit of a reality check as to what I can and can’t do this year with it, I’m trying to avoid that little discussion with myself for now.

And here we are. This year. 2012. A year legends are made of. My resolutions are relatively simple this year.
(in no particular order)

1. breathe
2. don’t sweat the small stuff
3. travel
4. read
5. cross a couple of things off that bucket list
6. swim
7. box
8. do more library stuff
9. spend more time with friends
10. more music concerts
11. work on being more spontaneous (there is method to that contradictory madness)

It’s more like a set of guidelines than anything else. There will be knitting (I have some commissions to do, and some WIPs for finish), but I am now on a yarn diet (the exception being commissions, if I do not have the yarn in my stash), and reading is to take precedence this year. I’m looking forward to buying a bookcase and filling it this year: both with my books currently in the Bay, and from my guilt-free trips to the various bookshops around the place that I have been avoiding for fear of buying tomes with nowhere to put them.

As for the 2011 introspections, like the ever-inspiring DrK, I would like to leave last year alone. I did much and learnt more, and I may put together something sort of knitting tally for it, but it’s just a thought at this stage. This is a year of more mindful knitting, more productive reading, and more considered writing.

Let’s see how long it lasts…

In my first year out of academia (almost to the day now), I have learnt a significant amount of what life is like outside of the ivory tower. And despite academia being my security blanket, I have made a promise to not go back and start something new. And to be honest: holidays, weekends, a stable and above the poverty line salary… wow. It’s amazing. I’ve also started to tick things off my bucket list and set out to do things I couldn’t do as a student. But more on that when I hit my end-of-year review post.

This is more of a summary post of what’s happened and some early thoughts on 2012.

So, since my last post, I have been busy. In the week before my escape to Auckland, I went to Fly My Pretties IV, which was a complete and utter waste of time and money. A friend who suffered through it with me summed it up beautifully, but it’s not a quote to repeat in polite company, nonetheless I still chuckle over it. Slightly more redeeming for NZ Music was my first Flip Grater concert (and the first time I’ve been to Mighty Mighty – good cheese toasties), and then Lisa Crawley, supported by my most favourite duo, Rosy Tin Teacaddy, who didn’t play nearly long enough, at the San Francisco Bath House (first time I’ve been there too). Lisa Crawley has a lovely voice in studio, but her live performances (and her wooden band) need a little more practice in front of people – it was quite painful in places. But music aside (next year I will see more RTT, and hopefully Hera decides to stop avoiding Wellington, and Tiny Ruins comes back. But more on those plans later).

Still, I managed to get a respectable amount of music in before winging it north and giving Auckland some time to try win me over. It hasn’t yet, but I don’t loathe it any more. I’m open to persuasion, as long as the argument is good. And the argument here wasn’t too bad.

In all honesty, Auckland was great. It was a weekend away I needed, and there was a good deal of exploring done. Saturday saw a trip to the La Cigale French Market in Parnell for my weekly shopping (yes, I bought my groceries in Auckland and flew them to Wellington. Your point?) and the Night Market in Pakuranga with good food and millions of people. It also held a trip to the top of One Tree Hill (where I nearly blew away), and Mishi Yarns (where I didn’t buy anything).

The Obelisk on the top of One Tree Hill

Symonds Street Cemetery

Auckland Museum and War Memorial

Hall of Rememberance

Knitty-Graffiti at the Devonport ferry terminal

Munitions Bunker, North head

Torpedo Bay, Mechanics Bay, and the CBD

What has followed in the three weeks following has been a flurry of Christmas knitting, time at the gym, time in the pool, and plotting a return to the library fold for 2012. Things are in motion, and I can only hope that it all falls into place.

On the note of falling into place, I’ve decided to set some rough goals for next year, not ironclad plans. I have a delightful pile of fascinating books which I need to read/revisit and haven’t done nearly enough indulging of the ink and paper kind this year, and the knitting may take a bit of a back seat to the books next year too. Yes, I know, it’s inconceivable, but I don’t do audiobooks, and you can’t concentrate on reading and knitting at the same time. Yes, I’ll have a play with the Southern Summer of Socks (again), but I need to finish some of the bigger projects I have started and knit smarter next year. The yarn diet will help this. There will also be more music, more theatre, and hopefully some travel involved. As soon as I renew my passport. There are several bits and bobs I want to complete on my bucket list next year and I have every intention of crossing off at least 5. That’s my mission.

For now though, I have an apartment to continue to pack into boxes in anticipation of quieter pastures next year, seeing as I’ll have little time to really deal with it in January. There’s a few more days of the flurry of chaos before I escape to the Bay, with it’s sun, my puppy, and relative silence. I can’t wait.

Until next time…

Where to begin?

So some moons ago, 377 or thereabouts, give or take a quarter… after days of waiting, I graced the world with my presence. My punctuality has improved somewhat during the last few decades, but that is besides the point. I am a Scorpio and proud of it.

I may not as been as lucky as some other Scorpios who went on a lovely adventure and had a fantastic time (and many others since), but that doesn’t mean I didn’t have a great birthday myself (and my version of Festival of the Scorpio celebrations with another of the starsign is due in a few days), so all is good in the world. I was given books(!) – we all know that Books doth a happy Shelley make – and free coffee, some gelato, and promise of more book(s). All in all, it was a great day – and it rained for me. I’m very pleased about that. Also went and saw One Day, which was another sweet, sad chick flick where you spend so much time being irked by Anne Hathaway’s ever-changing accent that you miss the really plodding parts of the movie. No, I enjoyed it – and it was great to hang out and eat Malteasers and laugh at painfully awkward moments on-screen.

A little amusing (and some light) reading

Another stern word from my Doctor later that week about burnout saw me able to escape home for the weekend after my birthday. Puppy licks really are the best medicine! Acushla was very happy to see me, and I was very happy to see her. And the Bay’s excellent weather. Oh, and my parents, as always.

An unsuspecting dog and a borrowed SLR means I can finally take a photo of her.

And with the excellent weather came some extra activity from our resident erupting volcano, who put on the biggest show in about a decade.

White Island even put on a show for me!

And I got to spend some time on the beach at Mount Maunganui. You can see the Rena in the distance from the road – but look at this! This was taken just before 8am on a Saturday morning at high tide.

View from Mount Maunganui on a Saturday Morning

And this was taken at low tide on a Sunday evening…

Mount Maunganui beach at low tide on a Sunday evening.

Haven’t the volunteers, the salvors, and everybody involved done an amazing job with *touch wood* minimising the horror that it really could have been?

So a mandated trip home and the threat of serious burnout has seen me shift projects within the company I’m currently contracted to. This new project is really interesting. The PM is using the Lean Six Sigma approach and I’m stoked to be finally getting to see how it works. Now that I’ve had 4 days to get used to the pace (or significant reduction of it), I’m hoping to really get stuck into things and apply myself. I really miss the people I was working with, but the fact that I can sleep and I’m not as exhausted as I have been is clear evidence that I was pushing myself too hard.

I’m getting there. But it’s made me realise that I’ve fallen prey to what many Postgrads do, even though I was attempting not to: trying to catch up. You spend so long at uni that you get “left behind” as it were, and even though you’ve had your own experiences and life lessons, you’ve not been in the “real world” for the same amount of time as your friends, and you feel that (and in many cases you have) missed out. So you try very hard to catch up. I’ve watched this mentality ruin people. And I need to consciously stop and not let me get me. I also need to stop wanting to go back to academia. It’s not a good idea. Not for me, at least.

So what have I been doing instead? Aiming for champs in late-2012, I’ve had to start going to the gym to get strength back in my shoulder, and balance my shoulders out. It’s been a good nearly five months now, and I am going to need to step things up a gear again fairly soon. I’m really enjoying it. Adrenaline is a wonderful drug. I’m also halfway through a swim clinic. I’m with a couple of swimmers who want to get their technique correct to compete in the upcoming summer of triathlons and I’m keeping up nicely. It’s pretty cool, and if it means it’ll help to eventually let me do an ocean swim – well I’ll take all the tips I can get. Honestly though, it’s so good to be back in the water. I really should have done this years ago. But no more excuses. I will get to my 100 laps and my eventual swimming in the waves.

In the wonderful world of knitting, I’ve got my paws on Blendy’s new book, and some amazing Happy Go Knitty cotton in colours that remind me of Starry Night. See?

Blendy Knits Again and pretty cotton

There’s a cowl with my name on it in that book. Once I’ve got the Christmas Knitting and the wedding shawls I’m doing for Erin as soon as she gets me the yarn, finished, of course. Whew. And I really do aim to do a pair of socks/month next year. I have a considerable amount of not-stash I need to use up. I’m thinking yarn diet. Yes, I know. I said the d-word. But I think it’s for the best. Almost everything in stash has a project attached to it (only the silk doesn’t and that’s because I’m at a loss for what to make with such loveliness). So let’s see how long that diet will last. This is looking to be a new year’s resolution. Until I panic. Still. I have 6 weeks to (not) talk myself out of it.

But the ironing calls, dear readers. And dinner. And preparation for a new week. And mindfulness that this is not a race. Time to stop and smell the lilies and irises.. Or walk along the water to work. That’ll do as well.

Until next time…

So while my review of H. S. Thompson seems to be growing into an essay (sometimes you can’t take the student out of the literature), I can at least reflect on the Brahms and the couple of movies I’ve seen recently.

I’ll start with where I left off. Brahms. Overall, it was 75% awesome, 25% not so much. There was a messy piano concerto no.1 (and the piano was off), and a very disappointing interpretation of the 4th Symphony – it missed the point completely. However, the Academic Overture was perfect, and the very difficult (and rarely played live) Double Concerto was performed with very few errors. The musicians performed impeccably. And hey, it was a really comprehensive selection of Brahms. It was priceless. And with the NZSO’s 2012 season now announced… I’m going to be a very happy person next year.

There is also an Italian Film Festival on at the moment, and I dragged Jess off to see Habemus Papam before catching the last 20 minutes of the Wales-France game. It was a frank, and bittersweet story. Really worth watching for the glimpses of comedy gold, as well as the examination of the desolate loneliness that comes with power and responsibility. And today I went and saw Incendies. I saw a review for this a few months ago, and have had it on my to-do list since. It was… devastating. It did ramble at times, but man oh man, what a denouement! Well worth watching. This is a joint French/Québécois film – and as with all the French dramas I’ve seen and enjoyed, it was gritty and tragic.

There are 2 or 3 mainstream movies I’m looking forward to seeing in the next few months, but other than that… yeah, international films are just so much better. On that note, Cave of Forgotten Dreams has finally made it here, and it’s one I’m going to try get to before it finishes. Anybody seen it yet?

As for the rugby. From a sleep-deprived point of view – thank heavens it’s over. As a supporter: we did it! Whew.

And now, I can sleep. Here’s hoping for nights of uninterrupted sleep. It’s been too long.

Until my essay on Thompson…

A good song tells a story to a melody. It should be ballad-like, and take the listener on a journey through words and accompaniment, and linger with you after the story is finished.

Good music is lyrical. It doesn’t need words to tell its tale, it uses sound: pitch, tone, chords, codas, phrases – I could go on – to capture emotion and hold the listener’s attention (I will include opera in here as the voice is as much an instrument as anything in the orchestra). That’s why the great pieces are so well known: Beethoven’s 5th and 9th, Vivald’s Four Seasons, Dvorak’s Cello Concerto in Bm, Grieg’s Morning and In the Hall of the Mountain King both from Peer Gynt, Mendelssohn’s Hebrides Overture – even the recognisable pieces by John Williams (Close Encounters and Jaws come to mind), or Howard Shore (Far Green Country, The Ring goes South and Lighting of the Beacons)… they evoke an emotional response.

I had years of writing various theses and research papers to really cultivate my preferences in classical music. You need emotive music that will not distract you from your work. I listened to hours and hours of the stuff, and yes, SBS and ABC spoilt me on a Sunday with concerts and operas and the like. I’ve found that I love the Cello and the Double Bass. Anything (including folk music) that uses them makes me very happy. The Cello has such range, and can be joyful and mournful at the same time. Then, the lute and classical guitar (played properly, they’re an entire strings and percussion sections in a single instrument), and then percussion, the viola and violin, the brass then the woodwind (although the bagpipes played well is also fantastic – but that’s the Scots in me talking). I am an unashamed fan of the strings.

Which is possibly why I have such a high proportion of cello pieces, and some lute (I had a fair a bit of classical guitar but that died with my old HDD. Back to square one, I guess), and some good violin pieces.

And also is why nothing was going to stop me from going to the season of Brahms the NZSO was putting on this year. By Saturday afternoon, I will have seen the NZSO in concert 6 times this year. Once with Sting on his Symphonicities tour (and they were amazing), once a few weeks ago doing Beethoven’s 9th Symphony with the combined choirs (the interpretation of which I found interesting and somewhat underwhelming), and these 4 Brahms concerts. Inkinen’s use of mezzo-piano in some places rather than the popular forte during the finale of the Ode to Joy had me baffled, and somewhat apprehensive of what he would do the Brahms. But if tonight was anything to go by – in the words of my favourite Cherek, Barak, Earl of Trellheim – “Belar, did you feel that?!” – I can rest easy knowing that the next three days are going to be blissful. And that I’ll be able to scratch the Brahms off my bucket list. The NZSO are fantastic. There’s no two ways about it.

The Symphony No.1 in Cm was played at perfect pace, and the balance between the sections was spot on. It was also the first time I’ve heard the Piano Concerto No.2 in Bb played by a woman, and Dierdre Irons nailed it. It’s a tough and demanding piece on the soloist, and she played with all the strength, and more of the emotion, than many could bring to the recital. It made the hair on one’s neck stand on end, and you paid attention – time passed without you realising it. All signs of great pieces of music, and an excellent concert. I really can’t wait to see what they do tomorrow.

So that’s what I’m concentrating on, gentle reader. Not the looming games of rugby that will come to pass over the weekend. (Living on the edge of the fanzone may also be tempering my enthusiasm somewhat). And certainly not the abysmal and horrific marine disaster unfolding at home in my beautiful and beloved Bay. I’m struggling to find the words (as are many) but to know that it will take years before Mount Maunganui beach looks like this again is both gut-wrenching and devastating.

Mt Maunganui, 1st July 2011

This has been the background on my phone since I took the photo. I wonder when that little piece of paradise will return to its former glory, or if it’s going to be forever marred by the negligence and stupidity of a few.

In other news, I finished (with some regret), Hunter S. Thompson’s autobiography (will write more on that later), and have re-started Bill Bryson’s The Mother Tongue, but Dad’s got me wanting to re-visit Homer and Virgil after watching Horrible Histories (Helen of Troy and Alexander are just brilliant). I could even do Troilus and Criseyde again… and I’ve also started my Christmas knitting (later than I should have), but I’m making progress. I’ll be cutting it fine, I think, but I’ll get there. Can’t say much more than that for now, but will swoon over the yarn I’m using (Vintage Purls for two current Christmas WIPs, Needlefood sock for another, and Malabrigo worsted for yet another), and I won’t get my sweater done in time for the RWC final. I can live with this.

So time to attempt to sleep (with a death metal/punk gig going on next door, I’m not going to hold my breath). Ah blogland, I’ve missed you. We should do this more often.

Until next we meet.

So. I’m at home. And actually being a good girl. Not being able to breathe will do that to a person. Tired lungs are not happy lungs. Coupled a few construction sites in earshot and an international competition of the odd shaped ball (as well as the shenanigans that go with it outside my window), and you can bet your bottom dollar that I’m counting the hours until my weekend in the warm and sunny Bay, with nothing but birdsong and my puppy to bug me. It is also probably the best week for me to be stuck doing nothing work-wise, though this is proving quite a difficult exercise in attempting to switch the brain off. Especially when it appears to be stuck in overdrive. Go figure.

So I’ve watched some Futurama. And the RSC Hamlet (DT just remains the Best. Hamlet. Ever. Branagh and Gibson need to take notes on how it should be done). And the BDM. And I’ve read. And a little knitting. And I’m watching the festival of the odd-shaped ball. Although, I may actually start getting excited about it come the knock-out stages. There’s just been so much rugby this year, it’s almost been too much. Bring on the President’s Cup and the cricket!

So yes, knitting. Not really much to see.

Lacy Ribs, Old Port and Kells

That’s my re-beginning of the Old Port sleeve after having to frog back 11″ of cabling due to mismatched needles. The Just under half the cable chart for my second Kells sock, and the lacy ribs sock I’m knitting up in Knitsch Yarns for ma maman – the colours of that of Dutch Irises, and very her. Today is going to be more adventures in sleeveland. I want at least the Kells and Old Port finished by the 23rd October. That’s the aim anyway.

What else have I been up to? I’ve been very cultural. After the fantastic WOW show, I went and saw the NZ Opera’s double bill Cavalleria Rusticana and Pagliacci which was fantastic. Saw some old familiar faces in the chorus from my time in Dunedin as well as some more familiar faces of friends. The leads were wonderful and the seat really was front and centre so I will definitely be doing that again. And next week there’s more fun with tickets acquired for the NZSO’s performance of Beethoven’s 9th, and the process of snaffling tickets to Brahmissimo has begun (so very excited). I always maintained that I would take every opportunity to see the shows and the orchestra and as much music as possible while in the Capital, and I’m not letting myself down there.

As for the mystery plans for a birthday ending in zero… I’m thinking of scratching a few things of my bucket list in one fell swoop. There are some places I want to go and things I want to achieve, the question is… which option? I need to start saving some pennies. That much is for certain. Turkey has been mentioned. As has Jordan and Morocco. Or Kilimanjaro or the Camino de Santiago. Many choices. Stay tuned as the plan develops. Of course, Aida at the Sydney Opera House is almost a given. It should be considered obligatory. (I’ve always had a soft spot of Aida. I think it’s possibly Verdi’s best opera, but that’s just me).

So I will leave you with my remarkably small collection of stash I have here in the Capital. Not quite enough for me to consider rolling in (that’s still the hoard in the cupboard in the Bay), but a lovely balanced palette of mostly sock yarn (which isn’t stash). Of course, we’re not going to thinking about the value of it all, are we? (That’s enough to make me break into a cold sweat).

A balanced colour palette of snob yarn...

Right. Time for more tea and tackling that sleeve…

Ciao all!

*But knowing me, don’t expect me to take my own advice either.

The Shelleys, rocking the party.

So, after 6 months of waiting, the weekend finally arrived. Shelley and her mum flew down, and we went to the WOW Awards. It was a spectacular Spectacular. An amazingly slick and entertaining production. And when we got the NZ ballet performing to the NZ Opera, I thought I’d died and gone to heaven. It all really was quite wonderful.

With the equine thespians

So Shelley came, we shopped, we talked, we walked… It was fantastic.

The Shelleys, after shopping at Frank Kitts Park

And I was generously loaned an SLR for the weekend. A people watcher with a decent camera can be a bad thing.

What happens when given an excuse to be a tourist in my own city.

And of course, my most favourite photo of the weekend: This young man had a Very Serious Ride up Taranaki Wharf and along Jervois Quay. He was just so determined. Such a personality.

Serious Business.

I see things in still frames, storyboards and scripts. So for me, it was also great fun to actually have a viewfinder and that satisfying click of capturing a moment in time. I really do need to get myself a decent camera. The one I borrowed was a Nikon. It was nice. But I’m thinking Canon. One day. When my ship comes in.

Speaking of ships and therefore the future, Shelley and I have a birthday ending in zero coming up. (Not yet, but soon), and some grand and ambitious plans were floated. I am very taken with the one (stay tuned), but I really need to start saving, and get my fitness up if I want to pull it off. Even if she chickens out, I’m certainly running with this idea. (Yes I know, I’m being secretive. I will continue to do so until I have made further queries and investigations). So there.

Speaking of getting fit, I’ve now joined the gym, got myself a personal trainer, and am really working on a good routine. Add swimming into the mix, and I’m looking forward to being fighting fit in no time. I have goals I’ve needed to postpone for a year. Well, I’d originally set them for next year anyway – so I’m going to go into prepping for a certain comp next year in the best shape I could possibly be. I’m rather enjoying it all at the moment. The trick is to sustain the level of intensity and really be diligent with my eating habits (you have that in writing – you know who you are). It’s such a relief not to feel helpless and unable to do anything challenging. Granted, I’m having to be very careful with my shoulder, but this is all to get some strength back into it.

But other than work and the gym, I’ve been terribly slack since my last post, dear reader. I’ve been too tired to pick up a book – even though they sit longingly and beseech me to steal a few pages every here and there. I will, soon, but I must remain guiltily unread for a little while longer. Stage productions call.

Like ones I’m going to see, and ones I would dearly have love to have seen.

Don't I just have the best Fairy Godmother?

A mysterious parcel turned up in my post box yesterday. A present, it claimed, from an “A Wolski”. A red herring. But, you see dear reader, I was unfazed. I had a sneaking suspicion about the contents, and I was right. The program to the Wyndham’s Theatre production of my most favourite Shakespearean comedy, starring one of England’s great wits, and one of the greatest Shakespearean actors of the century. And my lucky fairy godmother was able to go see it. *sigh* And she managed a class at Knit Nation. So I got another project bag. Very, very cool. In a grand stroke of luck, a parcel I sent her arrived the same day, which means we effectively swapped gifts. Awesome, wot? (Actually, I admit. There may have been a slight squee moment and a little bit of jumping in excitement when I realised the contents of the package, alright? Sue me.)

So I appear to be back to full days and a busy brain. Just the way things should be. But, I have an appointment with a cross-trainer and a swiss ball before work tomorrow, so I think it’s just about past my bed time.

Until next time…

*I can’t seem to get Regina Spektor out of my head at the moment

So I’ve injured my already injured shoulder. Badly. To the point that even knitting isn’t considered to be a good idea (that’s more about the ligaments through to the elbow than anything else though). So it looks as though there may be more reading than FO’s in my future. And I’m relegated to the gym and (on doctor’s orders) swimming laps, which is going to be an amusing story in the not too distant future. I do have an aim of 100 laps in a pool on my bucket list (and that SCUBA cert), so I may as well get to addressing that. When I’m allowed to rotate my shoulder…

But now! Some photos. We’ve had some odd days of weather. Sun, hail, thunder, snow…

A sunny Sunday morning...

This was Sunday the 7th. It was gloriously sunny. So much so, that I was able to spend an hour and a half at the beach, reading Hunter S. Thompson, eating Fritos and drinking Iron Brew. However, 5 minutes after I walked in the door of my apartment after a lovely morning in the sun, it started hailing.

And then, miracle of miracles (or global warming at its most obvious), it started snowing yesterday. In Wellington. Snow. In Wellington CBD. When does that happen?! Every 35 years, or so we’re told. So it’s been a tad chilly today, and looks to be the same over the next few days. Admittedly, it was a novelty to look out the window at work and see big fluffy snowflakes fall past the window. It wasn’t a day to be productive. And almost all of us ducked downstairs to take photos of snow in the city.

The top of the State Tower, hidden by a snow flurry

A snow flurry in the CBD

I love snow and watching it snow, and making snowmen (and dragons), and sledding. But I loathe slushy, icy, melting snow. I will take downpours and driving rain or dry icy cold instead of slushy snow. And while this is a novelty, the fact that it’s the only thing in the news means it’s going to get very old very soon. For the first time, I’m tempted by the thought of the holiday somewhere in the Pacific I’ve been trying to persuade one of my very overworked friends to take. I’m usually not one for lying on the beach in the sun, but it’s sounding mighty appealing. Maybe next winter. Or maybe I’ll take a trip to Brisbane. There’ll be a butter-yellow room in a hobbit-like house with red doors waiting for me by then. I hope. From what DrK‘s been tweeting and blogging, Queensland is looking quite fine at this time of the year.

So what’s next? I have a couple of books to finish while on an enforced break from exercise (So maybe a book review or 2). And I’ve got to write a piece on my favourite of Zipf’s Laws – that of the Principle of Least Effort and it’s role and importance in information management. I’m fairly fond of this theory, so I hope my Editor knows what she got herself in for by daring me to write on this… Stayed tuned – it’ll be out in LIANZA’s LibraryLife. There you go Hana, I can’t back down now.

So really, I’d best get to it. So I hope you enjoy the name change. Some may appreciate it more than others. Stay warm and dry, wherever you are in the chilly cold – and stay comfortable those enjoying summer in the north.

Until next time…

PS: The scones were lovely. I’ll take photos next time.
PPS: My order from photojojo arrived this morning. I’m looking to have some serious fun with these lenses. Very exciting.