It is my opinion that spontaneous plans – events that happen purely on a whim – are much better than the pre-planned kind. Alas, not everyone is of the same opinion as I and people keep trying to plan in advance things to do. I’m not talking about Weddings, or Zoom tours, or events with lots of people – things which REQUIRE planning to be good, I’m talking about small things like coffee with a friend, or dinner or a walk or whatever. I find by the time whatever has been planned comes around I’m not overly in the mood to go and do whatever it is, which reflects when I force myself to go and the whole time ends up being a bit bah.

Spontaneous? Much more exciting!

One of my favourite spontaneous friends is The Fourth Quarter. About two thirds of the time a ‘whatchu doin?’ txt will result in us going out and doing something – just cause we felt like it!

This was the case on Monday, where after taking Quinn on a mammoth walk I met up with the Fourth Quarter. We (the dog included) took the ferry out to Devonport for dinner.

Once there, we scouted out a cute little restaurant with outdoor seating and had THE BEST pumpkin ravioli, and THE BEST Margherita pizza I’d ever eaten. It was the kind of meal where you really just wanted to put your face to your plate, and cut out the hand movements in the hope that the food would get to it’s destination faster.

We, of course, refrained from such behaviour and instead enjoyed a nice sav which made me bubbly, and partook in fantastic conversation(which as is usual was filled with much gossip, much laughter and much sassing – one of the many reasons I <3 The Fourth Quarter so) and had a lovely night out.

We took the ferry back when things got dark (I had to carry Quinn in my hoodie, cause the poor little guy was shivering all crazy like in the wind!) and we took fuzzy photos of the city – it really was pretty all lit up harbour side.

Unfortunately with the movement of the ferry and a point and click camera our shots were pretty fuzzy. :) Ah well – I enjoyed myself immensely and it was a fantastic night out. In comparrison to the ‘planned’ socialising events it totally pwned! Spontaneous ftw, I think! :)

This is the only time he makes this noise. :)

Every year there is a sculpture exhibit put on at Waiheke Island called Headlands: Sculpture On The Gulf, and every year they show more amazing sculpture.

My favourite one was ‘Ship of Fools’ by Fletcher Vaughn, a guy who usually rocks cute, but contemporary furniture.

Alas, the exhibition only ran till the 15th of February, but if you get a chance to go next year, you should! It’s a fantastic day out :)

Last week The Boy’s dad very kindly got The Boy and I Breakers tickets. It was a fantastic game, and it was the first time I’d seen the stadium mostly full for a Breakers game (Basketball, alas, isn’t as popular as some other sports in NZ).

And while I don’t pretend to know alot about Basketball (my knowledge is limited to playing in a very very social league back in high school), what was most exciting was the crowd’s enthusiasm!! There was loads of cheering and people throwing their arms into the air or protesting at a ridiculous call. The crowd was VERY animated! It was helped, I think, by the fantastic drum line up they had – it was pretty damn cool! After playing RockBand with The Square I’ve come to appreciate how tricky keeping a decent beat can be, and I was pretty impressed with these guys!

The Breaker boys put on a fantastic show, completely pwning the opposition (The Adelaide 36ers) in a 131-101 win for the playoff game – it was quite exciting! The 36ers, alas, have to come to the end of their season, and the Breakers (hurrah!) have another sudden death game on Friday. I’m quite looking forward to it, actually :)

For Christmas I got The Square passes to Auckland Zoo‘s Lemur Zoom tour, and just like the last tour it was fucking AMAZING!

Getting to be so close to such animals, being able to see their mannerisms and personalities was brilliant!! And oh – their facials!! They were so incredibly expressive, and insistant! If you were holding food in one hand, and you weren’t quite close enough, they had no problems grabbing your hand and pulling it into range! And if you attempted to move away they were quite insistent with their claws that you didn’t, at least not until they had inspected your hands to make sure the food was all gone!

Again, I was glad that part of the ticket price was put towards conservation efforts tht would help creatures such as these in the wild, and after hearing so many horror stories I was glad that someone was doing something. The other great thing about that day was getting to spend it with The Square. We hadn’t seen each other in a while, so it was pretty awesome to spend the day with them.

It’s cause they are all quite mad see. :) Half the reason why I <3 them so! The only downside of the day was that after being so up close with the lemurs, just looking at the animals from miles away is now a little less exciting. The regular viewing has lost its sparkle! Alas, I guess it’s just another reason to take another tour! :P

So, I brought Volcom’s Primo snow jacket in April last year, and it’s a testament to it’s AWESOME that I still love it.

With all it’s technical details that keep the insides dry (in rain or snow) and all the clever extras (hidden pass pockets, and internal music super secret pockets) it’s a pretty awesome jacket off the mountain too, and today I’m thankful for the torrential rain that means I can wear it – woo!

[edit] I should probably also mention that I’m still wearing it at my desk – it appears the aircon today is set at ‘Arctic’. [/edit]

Last week I wrote up a spec for the ideas that came out of that very productive meeting (that is not sarcasm, there were MANY ideas!) and this morning I got praised by the two head guys for my ideas, and the spec.

Actual praise. When I mentioned my surprise to a friend he almost hit me upside the head and told me not to be ridiculous – of course I deserved the praise, if I’d done something well beyond expectation (which I had, I think. One of the main ideas was mine).

The thing is I don’t expect praise. I seem to be in that awkward stage in this new job, where I still expect the shit from the OLD job to be the norm. There was no praise at the old job (admittedly, it wasn’t a job where I was hired for thinking). But often I got the opposite end of the stick – insults, giggles and a ridiculously fake and bitchy team. I’m fairly sure they thought I was stupid, and not at all as perceptive as I am. I can’t believe how painful it was!

If you’re an employer, let it be said that praise and recognition goes a looong way to making happy staff. And, if your anything like my old boss (ho that she was), bitchiness, stupidity, and bullshit makes a fair chunk of your company hate you. For serious. And I know which company I’d be happy to go the extra mile for, and which company I’d be happy to dump in the shit if any possibility presented itself.

Top Gear are part way through a ‘Top Gear Live: World Tour‘, and last weekend they were in New Zealand. Sibling and I had gotten Dad tickets for Christmas, not realising that he was going to be away on a Golf tournament.

So we went, my sister and I. We weren’t exactly the target market, but we’ve both watched the tv show so the tickets weren’t exactly wasted on us. Alas, May (my sisters favourite) wasn’t present. They cracked some jokes about him being lost to Krd, and introduced Greg Murphy (a Bathurst 1000 winner) as his replacement. It was pretty fantastic, filled with fire and fancy cars and a bunch of cool things from the tv show. Incredibly enjoyable, despite the boys obviously having had to do the same show at least a dozen times before us.

A couple of highlights:

Hammond got jumped by a motorcyclist:

Greg Murphy got put into a cage with a motorcyclist:

Cars. Drifts. Flames.

Stig Intro

Car Soccer

It was a great show – and I loved that I was able to sit within 50 metres of Clarkson and Hammond – they actually do have all the same mannerisms that they do on tv! And despite the fancy car segments being lost on us, and jumping out of our chairs in fright at the unexpected pyro effects, we both had a great time. :) If Top Gear Live is coming to a place near you, check it out. It’s a great way to pass an afternoon!