Lys, from We Keep Saying tagged me in one those meme’s that are going around. I don’t think I’ve ever done one before (how novel!) and usually I skip over meme entries but Oh! When I actually read Lys’s version there were gems in her answers (like, did you know that OshKosh (as in OshKosh B’Gosh) is actually a place? Me neither!) I can’t help but think of all the things I’ve missed by skipping these posts.

So I’m going to do this one (don’t worry, I won’t mind if you skip over it, but you might be missing something interesting . . . Ha! Prolly not :P) Anyway, I have to list 7 things about myself, and then share the love with seven other blog friends!

One (Extra Curricular Activities):
I am the captain for my indoor netball team, and I have been for years and years and years. I enjoy the game, it’s a faster version of netball and we play mixed so it’s a little more rough too. I used to be a pretty anal captain about people showing up on time and telling me if they couldn’t play but I’m much much more relaxed now. I think the key is only inviting the reliable trustworthy folk so you don’t have to worry. Also, being captain was great for developing the ‘Fuck It’ Zen Attitude . . .

Two (On Getting Through It with Positive Thinking):
The ‘Fuck It’ Zen Attitude is something I’m a great fan of. Earlier this year I had to organise a hens party for the wonderful Liz, and I wanted it to be grand. Super grand. And this wasn’t a rational thing, I was so anxious about it I was pretty much throwing my monthly pay check at it in the hope that money would make me feel better. Which is why we ended up with penis-shaped straws, and ridiculous costumes and party favours and a pole dancing class AND a topless waiter AND a spa day AND many games AND a projector + ps3 + singstar + Rockband. And many more things.

Anyway, we get to the day and small things start going wrong. Like we were late to the pole dancing class. And the spa people missed out a few orders. At this point, where things could fall apart, and you can’t stop it, that’s the point where I go ‘Fuck It’. And with that line, it doesn’t matter anymore. You become indifferent, you accept that you can’t change it and you just move on with what you can do.

Good for indoor netball, if a player isn’t there when the buzzer sounds, fuck it. You can’t change it, grab someone else and play on. :)

Three (Eating Habits):
I don’t eat red meat, or pork. I eat chicken and fish, but it’s getting to the stage where I’m ignoring my inner animal rights activist, and all the horrible things I’ve ever heard about caged chickens (I once made the mistake of googling it, and out of a (ever so slightly selfish) fear that I would never be able to eat meat again I stopped reading after the first few paragraphs of the first website). At this point I prefer vegetarian options, and most of the meals I eat are veggie ones. :)

Four (♥):
I know I don’t talk about The Boy much (other than the odd random reference) but we’ve been together a few years now, and it’s pretty brilliant. One of the quirks of right now is that we both have ridiculously long ‘To-Do’ lists and we’ve both managed to sneak ‘Love More!’ (or equivalent) on the others list, we both only just noticed today, and hurrah! There was much loving :).

Five (Avoiding the Drama):
In general there is a bunch of things that I won’t blog about, and the details around whats happening with The Boy and I is just one of many. I made the mistake once of posting something I was overly emotional about and it caused some drama, so now I’m pretty careful about what I say.

The post in question is here, and I have to say I made some pretty bad assumptions about who reads my blog. In short that post hurt her, and caused some minor drama. It did open a dialog, so we could get things sorted (which, in case your wondering, we decided on acquaintances. I have to say that writing that email about what I wanted was a pretty fucking hard one to get out. I didn’t really want to write it, and it actually took me the better part of two days).

So yeah, generally I write what Liz calls “little doses of cuteness”. That’s good enough for me. :) Are there things that you guys don’t post about?

Six (Venting, But in Private):
In saying that, if I need to vent or bitch or say something that isn’t acceptable for the public arena, I have a livejournal I do that in. I haven’t posted there for a while, but I still read and comment on all the lj’s that I was friends with when I was more active on lj. Still, there is about six years worth of angst stored there that I’ll probably never read again, but it’s comforting to still have somewhere.

Seven: (The Not Quite There Point):
Seven random things are really difficult to come up with in one sitting. I’m going to with I’m dyslexic, and six is good enough. :P

Spreading The Blog Love:

Okay, Blog ♥ to:

Kyla from kylaroma.com
Desiree from sofawned.com
Mo from MeMoAndMyself
Stephanie From Casadekaloi
JJ from Just Kidding
Heidi from Stress Sponge

If I’ve tagged you, please don’t feel obliged to participate if you don’t want to. (I gather) This is meant to be a fun thing, so no pressure! :) Also, if your looking for new blogs to read, these girls are really wonderful, and some of my favourite reads! :)

When they were here, Stevie and I went to go see Dralion. And, as usual, it was pretty amazing. But I don’t think I’ve attended a circus that hasn’t been. It’s a bit hard not to be amazed when you’re led into an enormous high-top tent, when your laughing with the clowns and being impressed by the acts. Dralion, as far as I could tell was about the elements (Air, Water, Earth + Fire) finding a balance with themselves, and with the spirits of people. There was alot of clever dancing, but oh, the acts!

There were trapeze artists (which made me gasp a little, I’m not a fan of falling and these girls were being swung and dropped and caught at crazy crazy heights) and amazing aerial dances with the ribbons of cloth (which actually was big on the innuendo, which was a little off putting) and trampoline acrobats that scaled walls and flipped and did their piece with SUCH precision (if one of them had mistimed their jumps there could have been some horrible accidents).

There were girls who stood on ballet points on lightbulbs, and balanced on top of on another, and oh! There was this one girl, who held herself up on one arm and contorted herself into amazing forms (though, she did somethings that people should not be able to do. There is no situation that would require you to fold your legs up behind your back so you can rest your feet underneath your chin – watching her do that made me ever so slightly uncomfortable). There were jugglers, and the clowns which spoke italian, I think (I could be horribly wrong) which were hilarious!

My favourite acts though, were the acrobats under the fire lords reign. Their acts were always fast paced, with alot of energy and oh! For the second act they brought out these fantastic and HUGE drums, which were AMAZING! They jumped through copper hoops, jumping through together and on top of each other and over and under and oh! The pace was so quick it really was amazing. Another act that I really enjoyed was with the acrobats that had what must have been 5 metre high poles! They did some fancy acrobatic things on the ground, flips and rolls and whatnot and their poles always stayed upright, and contributed to the beat. It was a really amazing act, and their precision and synchronization was really brilliant!

I had a really really great night, and if Dralion is coming to a town near you, you should definitely take the opportunity to go and see it. The tickets were a little expensive, but SO worth it! It really was amazing, and I don’t know about other places, but Circus’s don’t visit Auckland that often. And it really was brilliant. :)

So I know I’m a little late on the bandwagon, but last night The Boy, Sibling, My Dad and I went to go see the Half Blood Prince. I had low expectations, my twitter feed had exploded with negative opinions, and out of habit I had avoided most of the reviews, but the ones that did slip by weren’t encouraging.

Yes, I know. I have no shame.

Before I get into it, perhaps there are some things people don’t know about Movie Theater Etiquette. You may be surprised, but there are SOME things that you shouldn’t do. I’m not talking about the rules that everyone complains about (no talking on cellphones, kicking chairs, or overly enthusiastic making out in the front row). I’m talking about the rules the rest of us take for granted. One: NO COMMENTING EVERY FIVE SECONDS. This includes yawns and mocking. I want to see the damn movie, not listen to your racket. Two: For goodness sake, popcorn is to be eaten, not to use as missiles to see how far down the cinema you can get them, or to see if you can aim for granny’s hair. And finally: NO FARTING. The girl who sat next to The Boy had the most horrible gas. No, they weren’t silent, and yes, we could ALL SMELL IT. Disgusting. If you can’t hold it in, then you need to leave the cinema and deal with it. Away from the rest of us.

Okay, rant over.

This is the fair warning that says if you don’t want to read a rambling review, skip to the last paragraph.

The Half Blood Prince. To be honest, I kind of liked it. Yes there was cheese. Yes it was melodramatic. But we’ve all come to expect that of Harry Potter movies.

I liked the scenes with the trio, I liked Weasley’s Wizard Wheezes, and the stairwell of The Burrow. I liked that they added new scenes that didn’t happen in the book to illustrate certain plot points. I liked Luna and her lion hat, and tinsel dress and wrackspurt glasses. I liked McLaggens stupid arrogance, and Hermiones birds, and that poor Draco DOES cry in the bathroom, and that he did look really dreadful in the last scene. I liked Bellatrix’s bouncy evil attitude, and her kicking the utensils down the great hall. And I REALLY liked Horcrux Cave with the flames and the Inferi – so much like the book cover!

I didn’t like the movie Ginny (where was the feisty Ginny we all know and love? And doing up his shoelace? *pulls face*). I didn’t like the cheese and fake seriousness of all the adult scenes in the intro. I was a bit gutted they left out Levicorpus, and some of the other memories (I was particularly looking forward to the purple velvet suit). Got a bit annoyed with Lavender. I didn’t like how the memories were portrayed (I was expecting them to be much more elegant. But oh well, each to their own). And I didn’t like that if you didn’t read the books, you really weren’t getting much from the movie (and I know this, because neither Sibling nor My Dad have read the book and I spent a few frustrating minutes trying to explain. I gave it up as a lost cause).

In short, yes, if this was facebook I’d call my self a fan and tick the ‘thumbs up’ button. I don’t have a favourite HP movie, and I prolly won’t watch any of them again but this one was okay. I enjoyed it alot more than I thought I would.

I know, you were probably expecting a cohesive, well thought out review. Or a rant. Or something more than a jumbled list of what I liked and didn’t. I thought about it, I did. But other people have said what I didn’t. If you want a sarcastic Fan Girl review, go read Edgars Harry Potter Review (though he’s actually a fan boy. Minor technicality). Teaser:

“Rowling has written a story about men who are in possession of a great power, be it a potions book (Harry) or a former potions master (Dumbledore), and asks the questions, does the hero understand the power that he is wrestling with? Is that source rooted in evil? Is that source worthy of respect? What kind of man (Draco) do you become if you use such power?

Only problem is, Rowling’s story of power shaping a hero or a villain is almost lost completely because her adventure and mcgruffins are … well, I’ll say it… kinda stupid.”

There you go. The movie has done the same thing, is essentially what his review is saying. But his review is a bit less succinct than that, and has more sarcasm. And some humor. And I’ll cease the rambling now.

Okay, done. All you non-review reading readers can read now.

In other news, another thing I did enjoy was the previews. I’ve said it once but I’m going to say it again. How AWESOME does Where The Wild Things Are look? I LOVED the trailer:

It is going to be AWESOME! :)

I’m at bit of a sop for a sad story, and am always digging coins out of my purse to put in the donation buckets or for the homeless. I support a little World Vision kid in Niger, and it’s always a bit of a wrench to say no to supporting anymore kids. I’m always a willing supporter, and happy to part with my money if it makes someone elses life a little easier.

Then the other day Heidi (from Stress Sponge) wrote a post about money she’d loaned to a lady through Kiva. And she said that she was a fan of the proverb “Give a man a and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.”

And I agree. Sometimes just putting a few gold coins in a bucket isn’t going to solve the problem, it’s not going to make the problem go away.

So I had a quick look through Kiva, and the number of people whose lives could be made a little more self-sufficient, a little brighter by not a donation, but a LOAN was phenomenal.

I love that I can help people out, give them a hand up and supporting their ability to be self-sufficent. To make their farm bigger so it’s more profitable. To grow a better quality of potatos so they can get a better price in the markets. To improve a store, by providing better quality resources.

But it is JUST a loan. As willingly as I’d part with my cash anyway, it’s kinda nice to know that they aren’t just being reliant on hand outs, that they are working hard to pay back what they were given. No interest is charged on their loans, so they aren’t getting kicked in the behind, which is kind of nice. The money you lend is returned to you, and you can either donate to Kiva, help someone else, or withdraw it.

So meet Maria Espinoza. She lives in El Alto, in Bolivia. Along with 10 other people, I loaned her US$25. So she can improve her magazine stall, and buy a larger range of books and magazines.

If you’re interested in helping out someone yourself, please check out Kiva. I’ve added some additional information on how Kiva works, just in case you were curious. :)

About Kiva

Kiva’s mission is to connect people through lending for the sake of alleviating poverty. Kiva is the world’s first person-to-person micro-lending website, empowering individuals to lend directly to unique entrepreneurs around the globe.

1) Lenders like you browse profiles of entrepreneurs in need, and choose someone to lend to. When they lend, using PayPal or their credit cards, Kiva collects the funds and then passes them along to one of our microfinance partners worldwide.

2) Kiva’s microfinance partners distribute the loan funds to the selected entrepreneur. Often, our partners also provide training and other assistance to maximize the entrepreneur’s chances of success.

3) Over time, the entrepreneur repays their loan. Repayment and other updates are posted on Kiva and emailed to lenders who wish to receive them.

4) When lenders get their money back, they can re-lend to someone else in need, donate their funds to Kiva (to cover operational expenses), or withdraw their funds.

I really wanted to post about how great the snow trip that was had last weekend was. I wanted to boast about the blue bird skies, and the great snow and how 16 people had a great time on a trip that I organised, and how fantastic the place we stayed was. I wanted to show you guys photos like these ones, and all you people talking about the summer might be a little nostalgic for wonderful winter days:

The place we stayed WAS awesome (it was big enough to fit everyone, was warm and had all the comforts one desires), and with 16 of us there was ALOT of shenanigans that went on, alot of fun to be had, alot of laughing too. But the snow part of the snow trip was not awesome.

It was snowing, yes. But in more of a horizontal direction than a vertical one. Visibility was limited to a few hundred meters in front of your face. The wind was harsh and biting, and changed directions after our few, precious runs so the lifts were closed (which I quietly thought was a good call after we almost hit one of the lift poles. Not something you want to consider when you’re suspended over a cliff). And we didn’t even go up the mountain on the Sunday. In short, it wasn’t a bluebird weekend. It looked a bit more like this:

That’s me on one of the the lower mountain runs getting blown over. Because of all the fresh snow the groomed and sheltered runs were nice enough. But after they closed the few of us that managed to get up went and bothered those on the learner slopes, and tramped up to the sledding area to find those on sleds. And doing that in the crap weather was not so great.

It WAS a fun weekend, but it was the company that made it fun. The snow was an epic let down. Still, you get these days sometimes. And I’m determined to ride in decent weather, so we’re planning more snow trips. Fingers crossed that the next one is better than the one just had. :)

I am notorious for forgetting to put on my seat belt. I always do it when I’m driving (I think it’s one of those habits I got into with the checklist, you know, check your mirrors, seat belt on, key in the ignition . . .) but when I’m a passenger I ALWAYS forget.

Often The Boy or The Second Quarter or whoever will check to make sure I’m wearing it, and prod me if I’m not.

Alas, my Dad recently brought a new car, and got rid of his old one. I’m a bit sad about this, because it had this great flashing light thing, on the passenger side of the dash:

And if you weren’t wearing your seatbelt it would flash at you, and eventually start bleating if you ignored it.

I never rode in that car often enough for it to instil a habit, but I was glad it was there when I did ride in that car.

What are you notorious for forgetting?

I’ve been feeding the colony that I feed for just over 6 months now, and the kittens that were just over 5 months (too old to be tamed and fostered) have definitely turned into cats, and I can’t believe that I didn’t notice! They used to be so little, funny little skittish things, who would run at the sight of me and hide behind the rafters to wait for me to go.

Now days they are all sleek lovely cats, who don’t fear me unless I touch them. One of them doesn’t even mind that. He puts his head in the way when I’m dishing out the meat. I used to rub the top of his head to discourage him from doing that but now he just knocks my hand out of the way and continues eating.

I’m glad that they are getting used to human presence, and are mostly okay to be touched (the wild mother still isn’t super friendly, she’s more skittish than her kittens and has made a swipe at me more than once when I’ve tried feeding her kits from a spoon).

Still, it’s kind of heart breaking to think that these cats will live for another decade or so, and will live out their lives under a university prefab devoid of the comforts that domesticated cats are meant to have. They’ve all been neutered, so they can’t reproduce. But if that one person who dumped that first cat had the common sense to be responsible and get the mum neutered, or had given it to the SPCA or an equivilent, there wouldn’t be five wild cats living in a cold, wet horrible place under a yucky prefab building.

If you have a cat, get it neutured. If you don’t want it because you’re moving and can’t take it with you, or it’s not to your liking PLEASE DON’T ABANDON IT! There are many many organisations that will take it for you and place it in a loving home where it IS wanted. I know the wild cats in the colony don’t know it, but they could have had much, much nicer lives than the ones they have now if that one person had shown a little bit of responsibility, a little bit of care.

I know, I’m probably preaching to the choir but honestly? Hunkered down under a building where we hide the food so the part-time inhabitants don’t have to see it and therefore can’t complain about it (No love, Massey University, No love) you get a feel for how miserable things could be. And having pets that are loved and taken care of, I feel for these cats that don’t have that.

So if you have a cat, please get it neutered. If you don’t want your cat, please don’t abandon it.

I wouldn’t call Auckland’s Inner City particularly pretty. It’s not like Melbourne, or Wellington where the art is RIGHT there, and you don’t have to hunt it out or sneak around and jump out at it to see it.

But Auckland’s been trying. They’re doing some construction in Aoetea Square (of which I hope is fixing the carpark hidden underneath) and so it’s all walled off. And some clever person decide to give it to a bunch of art students to use as a canvas. If nothing else, it was amusing for a little while, and hurrah for some form of function too!

So while we were out and about, me and Stevie found some art in the central city:

This piece is by Joy Chang, a recent graduate from UA’s Elam Art School. I forget what the name of it was called, or the gist of it’s mission statement, but I was glad that someone was out there making Auckland pretty. :)

We also wandered up Lorne St, for bit. And I don’t know how I hadn’t noticed it before, but the public seating have words on them, and each way they go from ‘Word’ to ‘Deed’. You know the drill, change one letter at a time and eventually end up at the other? Clever, right?

I was pretty stoked to discover that while the two end benches are the same, they get from word to deed two different ways!

I was also pretty stoked that Stevie was keen to come exploring with me today. If anyone can be counted on to take silly photos with Urban Art, it’s Stevie. Yay for having such friends :)