On the way back from the wedding this weekend, I got to go on a car ferry for the first time. Now usually, when you are driving around everyone is very isolated in their cars. The only real interaction is usually in anger (oh road rage. I wish people were more patient than they are) or occasionally when someone might give way.

But on the CAR ferry – things are quite different! Everyone gets out of their car and suddenly you realise (or was the case that morning) that you KNOW people on the car ferry! Everyone groups together, grateful for the break, to be standing in the breeze admiring the view (which is generally better than the road).

There is talking and people discuss the weather, the road conditions, how beautiful the wedding was. We laughed and chatted, and things were pretty grand.

When the car ferry came to the end of its journey we all piled back in our cars feeling better about ourselves, and the drive. Feeling MUCH less isolated, and more like we were driving in a convoy of friends.

Car Ferries are GRAND. I encourage anyone who is going on a trip to plan their journey to include a car ferry ride. :)

So, while the Breakers lost against Melbourne, it was an epic game. The Breakers did awesome to get as far as they did in the semi-finals, and for their two home games they filled the arena (which was a FANASTIC turn out for NZ Basketball!)

Again, we were lucky to get tickets via The Boy’s dad. What we weren’t expecting was to be told that our seats were worth $100+!! We had a great view, and it was pretty awesome to be sitting where we were!

Hopefully next season the NZ side will do just as well. Woo! Go the Breakers!

I’m fairly good with money, in that I don’t live pay check to pay check, my savings account is usually looking pretty healthy (I say usually because I splurged on The Out Of Town Bride’s wedding present this month), I pay all my bills on time and apart from my student loan (which I am diligently paying off) I’m not in any debt.

At the same time, I didn’t realise how much money I was spending on JUNK! On the shout out of Miss Desiree Fawn I signed up to pearbudget.com.

For a start, it’s WELL DESIGNED! It’s simple, gorgeous and all it’s usability and navigation are instinctive, which naturally means it’s easy to use. It isn’t overloaded with extra’s, so you don’t have to work out what your doing or figure out what goes where. It’s ONLINE, so is accessible from anywhere (which is SO handy) and it isn’t linked to any of your bank accounts, so there’s no major security issues and no uploading of random files or connecting to super tricky to connect to space. It’s CHEAP! It has a 30 day free trial, and thereafter is a mere US$3 a month. Nothing is set in stone, you can edit all your forecasts and receipts. And the best bit, there are only THREE STEPS to get you going!

It’s brilliantly simple, it’s gorgeous and all it’s usability and navigation are instinctive. It is AWESOME!!

What is less awesome, though, is I worked out that I pay something ridiculous (like, over $400 a month ridiculous) on fast food. Mostly Wendy’s, occasionally McDonalds or Chinese. Or Burger Fuel, or Noodlehouse or Fatimas. Much less awesome, looking at all the crap I eat.

Still, cheers to PearBudget for making it easy to work out where my money was going. Hopefully in the next few months I will spend less on Junk, and more on decent fun things!!

How much am I in love with Byroglyphics (aka Russ Mills)? The answer is a ridiculous amount! I love his style – his work is always super expressive, super texturized and just freakin brilliant!

His last lot of prints (which, by the way, are AMAZING) went within 24 hours. When I emailed him to ask about his mailing list I got semi-personal reply back (which I thought was pretty cool), and he mentioned that his prints will probably appear on ebay (with probably exoberant prices – he himself sells them for £25.00 a print, which is fairly cool and it allows his art to be accesbile to anyone quick enough to battle the rush).

If you are out London-town way Russ is doing a Solo Show at the Signal Gallery in a couple months, and hopefully there will be another show at the Red Propeller Gallery later in the year.

Please go, if your out that way, and take lots of photo for me! If I lived out that way I totally would. Alas!

Five things that have been good about this week:

• 
  

  * I’m enjoying the early evening walks with Quinn at the moment. Walking in the late summer sun after work, up and over mountains that really take some effort and gets your blood pumping all good like. Watching Quinn run on ahead in the long grass cracks me up, he looks like a little funny bunny! He’s also discovered some of the rabbit holes, so for a half a minute or so he’ll disappear down one before reappearing!

• 
  

  * I’ve been watching House with Sibling, and we’ve watched season one to three. And the fourth season which I ordered last week finally came – hurrah! I watch alot of tv (my favourite four of the moment are easily Dollhouse, Fringe, Greys and Private Practice and I usually spend Saturday mornings devouring the new episodes by myself), but watching a show WITH someone is really great. Particularly when you only vaguely remember the episodes and your watching buddy hasn’t seen any of them.

• 
  

  * I know I say it alot, but I really do love my job right now. I have three different projects on the go, and have received praise about all three. I love that every day has something new going on, and things are visibly moving forward. And I finally feel like I’m doing what I’m meant to be doing, something meaningful and I’m doing it WELL! Hurrah! :)

• 
  

  * I got to go to a Sikh wedding! It was a brilliant cultural experience, and I really really respect those couples that organise such intricate ceremonies. I loved the colourful saris (everyone was so pretty and out there colourful! Particularly the bride and groom!) and I was amazed by the detail of the brides outfit! From the gorgeous henna on her hands, and the bracelets and all the gorgeous jewellery, and the AMAZING sari she wore! I didn’t cry this time, but I was so proud to be there and be part of such a fantastic day. I loved watching the ceremonies, and listening to a language that I hadn’t heard before (I wished at the time that I knew what was going on and felt a bit awkward, but once I started listening to the words that were spoken I delighted in the sounds and nuances instead). It was truly an amazing day, and I was STOKED to be a part of it!

• 
  

  * Speaking of weddings, The Out-of-Town Bride’s wedding is this Saturday. Dresses are all made and are being picked up tonight. Shoes are half broken in, photographer is confirmed, everything is coming together nicely :) I started writing my maid of honour speech yesterday, and I cried as I wrote it. And then I tried to practice and I started crying. It appears that my best friend is getting married when there appears to be a problem with my tear ducts, and in the interest of making it through my speech without tears I’ve rewritten it. Twice. I haven’t made it to the end without my voice breaking, but I’m hoping that if I practice it’ll loose it’s crazy sentimental-ness and I’ll get through it without being overly emotional. Fingers crossed, right? :)

Yesterday, as I was walking back home with Quinn we walked through the playground area. As we wandered by, I saw a quite old asian lady climb onto the flying fox seat with much encouragement from what I assume was her young grandchild.

She saw me watching, and gave me a big grin as I walked past and when I was further on I heard her laugh excitedly as she flew down the runway. It was a mixture of embarrassment at doing something meant for children, and pure delight at doing something FUN!

When I looked back the child was running down the slope with a look of pure glee on his face, chattering in an asian language I didn’t recognise. He helped her off the seat and pushed at her to have another go. And she did, all breathless and laughing, and HAPPY.

I was really proud for her, doing something not many adults (let alone grandparents) would do for their grandchild, no matter how ridiculous she felt. It made me grin, and I was happy for them.

And it was one of those moments which reminded me to do the fun things which make me feel delightful and happy, despite my pride and fear of what anyone else may think.

So today, despite swearing to myself that I would stop such a silly practice, I am wearing different coloured shoes. Because it makes me happy to do so. :)

So I keep hearing about all the lurkers I have from mutual friends, and it surprises me that these mutual friends know more about my lurkers than I do!

I know I have readers. I’m averaging around about 800 hits a day from all over. In the last week my stats say you come from the following countries: New Zealand, Canada, Australia, Germany, Taiwan, Italy, the Czech Republic, Poland, Vietnam, Spain, the UK, Seychelles, France, Finland, Brazil, Belgium, Mexico, South Korea, the US, Dominican Republic, Hong Kong, Colombia, Netherlands, Japan, Singapore, Greece, Norway and India.

That doesn’t include the people which apparently come from .com, .edu, .gov, and .net. That’s ALOT of places – I was actually pretty impressed that all y’all come to read here!

So hola to the all you lurkers! Why don’t you comment? Are my posts not interesting enough (admittedly, while I love the comments I write more for myself than I do for y’all. So if that subject matter isn’t to your taste, that’s cool).

In the interest of turning the tables on you lurkers – HELLO MISS HEIDI ASPELL!! :P The Fourth Quarter mentioned that you’d been reading rarg! Leave a comment and let me know that you are, and what you think, and what you’ve been up to! It’s been a while since I saw you last!!

Also, who is the random person that is searching for me by name three or four times a week?! Is rarg.co.nz really too hard a domain name to remember? I should like to know who all you people are – so hit me back with a comment and let me know you exist! If you have a blog of your own, leave the url and I’ll check you out too :)