Im pissing off for a few days

Well Im off to Canberra till tuesday. I'm going to the NSW Histology Conference. One of the perks of my job is of course all the international travel. Tauranga, Taupo and now Canberra! Very exciting stuff, there is going to be a few interesting talks (mmmm immunohistochemistry on decalcified bone marrows) and a few not so interesting talks (i.e trade presentations thinly disguised as scientific talks)

Anyway try not to miss me too much while I'm gone.

In other news the corner store makes a nice mojito. And Zed sings a nice song. Dont forget to check out his myspace page dear readers, all the latest songs are there ("Shine this time" is my favourite) . The link is to the right and down a bit. Look for Bemuzed. Anyway Nothing better than sitting in bar with a couple of friends and your husband secretly dedicating songs to you in the corner (and some not so secretly) while drinking a mojito.

Something Random: Why the rooster crows

According to Greek Mythology the rooster is actually Alectryon, so transformed to punish him for falling asleep on the job.

You see Ares, asked Alectryon to guard the door while he engaged in some naughty private time with his sister in law Aphrodite. Alectryon being but a youth (so irresponsible the young people) he fell asleep and Helios (the Sun, yes really the Sun personified) was able to walk in on the couple and catch them in the act!

So now Alectryon is a rooster, forever heralding the arrival of the sun.

Nina, this posts for you!

Some people have jobs with lots of downtime. Like real downtime where there is honestly nothing to do, lucky for Nina she is allowed to use the internet at work for such times.

Here is a list of boredom busting websites, most of which have new content everyday!

Delicious/popular
Here is a social bookmarking website, the popular links change everyday and are always on a diverse range of topics, humour, politics, nerd stuff, self help and design! Luckily delicious is not often blocked by your work either.

Reddicius
Reddit often gets blocked but this little reddit/delicious hybrid is often available. Similar to delcious. Just be careful of NSFW links (Not Safe For Work, i.e could be pornographic!)

Of course there is reddit and digg if you are lucky enough to be able to access them.

Boing Boing
Internet blog about things on the internet, quite an eclectic taste here too. where else could you fins links to the manolo shoe blog and old people playing Wii.

Violent Acres
A very well written blog. Probably one of the best blogs on the internet in my opinion. Its just a journal type blog but quite fascinating.

NZ Herald
okay not actually the funnest thing on the internet, but if you want to keep current with local affairs its the place to be. Aw heck Stuff is probably better.

Threadless
Still bored? Go to threadless and rate the designs in the competition. Good for about 5 minutes worth of fun.

uthink
While mostly full of white trash spouting ignorant opinions, this site can be entertaining.Also if you have an opinion of your own, you could win $50!

I can has Cheezburger?
Cats our favourite cats!

Cute overload
Cute blog of cute things

Post Secret
Secrets on postcards, strangely compelling.

Wikipedia
Oh the internet encyclopedia, very boring you might say. Well this link takes you to a random page each time. Neat huh. Learn something new everyday.

Contests Galore
A forum with links to competitions you can enter in New Zealand online

Hopefully this will keep you occupied during some quiet moments.

Oh Saturday!

Saturdays are the prime day of the week. I got up early and went to Kings Plant Barn and bought 5 bags of compost/mulch and have been weeding and planting tomatoes (acid free!) and capsicums in the sunniest spots I could find. Its only 11:30 and its already too hot to be out there anymore. Later I'll get back out and plant some greens and what not.

Actually spring is definitely here. Last night I had to take a blanket off the bed and sleep with a window open. Its not longer burning my toes cold when i get up in the morning either. The perspiration gained this morning while digging certainly is an indicator of warmer times.

Now I all I need is a six pack of Montieths Raddler to enjoy this fine sunny afternoon. Especially after all my labors this morning. I wonder if I can convince husband to run to the store for me.

5am I Love it

On Fridays I start at 6:30 am so I try get up at 5am. I used to dread Fridays but since it started to get warmer If dont mind so much anymore. Actually I quite like being up this early. The hardest thing about being an early riser is coping with the cold winter morning. When its temperate I can leap out of bed in the happiest of moods. However when its the middle of Winter I cant drag myself out of bed for love or chocolate.


My tips on being an early riser.

1. When its freezing put a heater on a timer in the room you eat breakfast, at least then you'll have a warm refuge to look forward to once you're out of bed.

2. Invest in a morning luxury. Buy yourself some great coffee or an amazingly luxurious shower product. The more things you have to look forward to the easier it will be to get out of bed.

3. Go to bed at a decent time.Its pretty obvious that getting up at 5am regularly is going to be pretty hard if you go to bed at Midnight.

4. Have something more than just work to do in the morning. If you are getting up so early, make it a time for yourself. Read the paper, catch up on emails, take a walk. If its you who is reaping the rewards of getting up early and not just your boss its a whole lot easier.

5. Get organised and lay out your clothes the night before. If you wake up half dead and stumble round in a daze for the first 15 minutes or so then it sure helps to have everything ready to go.


But why would I even want to get up early? Lack of noise pollution is particulary enjoyable. The roads are quiet, the house is quiet, no one is calling on the phone. No one is asking me questions, there are no chores yet hanging over my head. It is a time of uninterrupted thought and clarity.

Also Coffee and tea taste much better first thing.

Im Schizoid? Really?

Schizoid Personality Disorder - individual generally detached from social relationships, and shows a narrow range of emotional expression in various social settings.

According to the personality disorder test anyway, I am 70% schizoid. Hurrah! Find out what personality disorder you have by taking the test! (More tests here).

Oh by the way, its one of those tests where you will end up with a percentage rating for each disorder. You wont get "congrats you are normal!" on this one.

Actually I think thats the last thing anyone wants to find out. That they are indeed averagely normal. How depressing. Don't we all want to be different, special, even in a bad way?

"even in a bad way" thats a weird thing to say, maybe I do have a personality disorder!

I Really Enjoy Reading Science Fiction.

I've recently been meeting people who only read non-fiction. Books about war, books about history, biographies (Ha mostly fiction anyway usually!) and some of them have the attitude that fiction is a waste of time because its not real. They don't understand why anyone would want to read about about space aliens and space ships and people of the future.

Well its pure escapism for me. I love getting so wrapped up in a character that I no longer notice myself. I get so enthralled by the story and the room disappears. I'm in the story, and if its really good, I fall asleep reading it and dream it all night. Maybe its the same for the history buffs, perhaps for them its like being there. I read the odd non-fiction. I have recently read "Stalingrad: The fateful Seige" and "The fall of Berlin" and indeed it was like being there. But it was awful being there. It was too horrible and it stayed with me for days, because it was real. It really happened to people and it was more than atrocious, more than awful. Fiction, I can leave behind. If someone dies, its just a story. If theres a war, well it never really happened. I can get wrapped up in the story without worrying about my emotions.

Either I have too much empathy and find reading such things too hard. Or I don't have enough and I should read these books because it really happened to our fellow man.

Anyway, where was I.

The first ever Science Fiction book I read was called "Dolphin Island" by Arthur C. Clark. I borrowed it from the Riverview Primary School library, a strange room, the carpet curved where the wall meets the floor and went up for about a foot. Plagues of black baby crickets would get caught in the synthetic carpet. But only in that curved bit by the wall. The classrooms were carpeted the same way and every morning, once a year for about a week, we would walk into our classrooms edged with a black ring of dying baby crickets. I could never figure out how they got inside.

The book was set in the future and had a runaway boy, scientists, life threatening situations, communication with dolphins and all sorts of other intrigues. I have a hard time recalling the exact details now. A few years ago I hunted down a copy on trademe yet couldn't bring myself to read it again. I didn't want the memory of that first magical dive into science fiction to be tainted by my adult perspective. My inner cynic would surely poke holes in the plot and rip through the one dimensional characters (though I doubt since Arthur C. Clarke is a pretty good writer....). I want to keep the memory of how it felt to read that book. Even if I cant remember how it ended.

I think we all have a childhood memories we keep safe like that.

Puppetry of the Hand

Pretty sweet you tube video

Man I hate the wind.

That gentle loving breeze of summer has turned vile. Turning my hair into a Medusa probing my eyes nostrils and mouth. I choke on my own hair. The wind is pushing against my skin, rushing through the ever so small holes in my clothes and being inescapable, unavoidable, completely against me. Without refuge and full of hopelessness, the wind brings a depression.
I will never be warm again.

Autozamm Highlight of the Night

The Kings Arms, one of the last bastions of live music was the venue for the Opshop gig supported by Autozamm. But it may as well have been Autozamm headlining. Sure Opshop is tight professional with well written songs, but they ain't my cup of tea. They bore me. Autozamm on the other hand was full of energy, edgy guitars and charisma which you just can't fake. Consider me a fan.
Despite Tim Curry still being alive Nick seems to be capable of channeling him at will with an astounding performance of "sweet transvestite" from the rocky horror picture show. Heres a video of an older live performance for Juice TV, its not as good as what I saw last night but you get the idea.



Frankly Opshop is more of a support band, they just don't have the hooky songs to be the lead act, which I guess is why they are supporting Snow Patrol. I mustn't have the same taste as the rest of New Zealand seeing as "Maybe" has been in the charts for weeks. Oh well. one can only hope with the release of Autozamms next album the same success will come their way.

Death to Facebook

My friends, I love you. I really do. (I'll get into that in another post)
But I really don't need more things for my aquarium, more pokerchips a thousand more buffy trivia questions, a hatching egg, a growing plant, a ninja, a pirate, a vampire, a zombie, a drink of any kind, to list my movies, compare you to all my friends or show you what books I'm reading. I don't want the gluepot back or to join the anti child abuse group on facebook (what is it so far but a list of names anyway) or a free gift which is actually just a crazy picture of an unicorn.

Big Deep breath.

Okay actually I do want all these things. They make me feel popular. Which is why I have deleted them all! I want I really truly deeply want is to know how you people are! How are YOU? What have you really been up to? (Not how many ninja's you have converted or drinks you've got) What did you think about that movie you saw. Do you even really like the Killers? Are you happy? Are you depressed? What inspires you? What disappoints you? What did you see on the way to work? Do you have a hobo problem? Facebook doesn't tell me anything about you. Except whether you prefer ninjas or pirates.


I can't believe that facebook has ended your blogs.

I miss you all.

Blackbirds

Glossy and almost iridescent like an exotic stone, the black birds feathers reflect the light. I know they are delicate but folded tight together they seem like an armor, seamless and flawless. Its the flutter as the bird takes flight that gives away their fragile paper like nature. Hollow marvels of engineering I pick up and inspect every feather I find. Amazed at their production and how stupidly basic our hair seems.

Escaping Childhood Habits

A momentary lapse in judgment caused me to get up and go to the gym at 5:30 am this morning. It seems there are a lot more crazy people living in my suburb than I ever imagined. I can barely manage a brisk stroll at 5:30 so I was astounded to see the cardio machines awash with sweaty morning type people. I'll just stick to the weight room thanks.

I never used to be a morning person, but I have been since I was about 20. Most of my family seem to remember me as a night owl, which was true when I was a teenager. But that is the natural teenage state. Sleep in long, stay up late. A few progressive schools have switched on to this fact and senior classes start later in the day and finish late too.

I was always given a hard time for sleeping in. It didn't really matter that I had been up till 4am reading or doing something on the computer. Even now if my family catch me on a rare sleep in day (been out to a club till 3am the night before or something similar) I might get a comment.

These days I'm likely to get up at 5am and do some writing or reading. Most weekends I'm up at 7am doing a bit of housework, emailing or what not. I usually get back into bed round 9am with a cup of coffee for my husband and a book to read for 1/2 an hour while he wakes up. He is definitely a night owl staying up till 3am most nights. I'm off to bed at 10:30 so he reciprocates and comes to bed and makes me a cup of tea and will watch a TV show while I drift off. Even though our sleeping habits are incompatible we make little compromises to ensure we're not just ships passing in the night. Thats love people.