Until today, my spiritual and philosophical ponderings had led me to think that everything in the universe is connected and we are all part of the same thing.

Today it's: Same shit, different bucket.




I think I have now clocked back to being an athiest. Philosophical? Yes. Spiritual? No.

Remember when summers were about blistering hot sun and the holidays seemed to last forever.


The beaches were full of screaming kids and fat women who showed too much skin and when they dried themselves off with their towel they made big jubbly ripples of fat and sent sand flying everywhere...



...but you didn't care because you were down at the beach to look cool in your new sunglasses from a chicks clothing store and drink beer from a chiily bin 'coz you'd found the only beach in driving distance that didn't have a drinking ban til 6 o'clock and you were wishing you didn't wear your jeans to the beach...



...but that was the least of your worries while you discussed the irony of No-Ad ™ sunblock which was an ad in itself with your intellectual mates and played with kids sand toys and sifted out some cool shells that were the same colour as your neighbour's roof...



...But what you really wished was that you didn't wear such a silly hat, which you found at a party somewhere and thought it might give you a cool indie look but all it was doing was turning your head into a sauna and itching because it was made from synthetic fabric but at least you were the only one of your mates smart enough to wear shorts.

You were there and so was Auntie Peach, keepin' it real since ages ago.

These things are common as muck, made from questionable labour, and I don't even like basketball, but FUCK do I ever love the shape of this shoe.

*drools*

This is a list of things I want to achieve in the next few years. If you would like to start your own start here. These are to be completed by 22 August 2009.
( My listCollapse )

1. Take french classes for 4 terms
2. Excercise 3x per week for 1 year (started 26/11/06) (lost a little motivation after new years, must restart)
3. Cease eating hamburgers by Dec 06 (going well :D )
   
4. Cease eating french fries by Dec 06 (going well :D )
   
5. Move out of home
6. Drive 2x per week for 10 weeks (started but needs more work)
   
7. Sit Restricted license
8. Get Full license
9. Gain full time job
10. Gain full time design job at a publishers
11. Save $150 per week for 2 years
12. Campervan holiday around New Zealand
13. Host a dinner party
14. Visit Wellington
15. Create a magazine (manila guerilla)
    
16. Read 12 books (1/12 complete)
17. Find 6 new bands to love
18. Purchase a car
19. Take cooking classes for 2 terms
20. Meet 1 LJ friend in real life
21. Learn and perform 1 song
22. Maintain hair every 2 months (started)
23. Perform "girly maintenance" 2x per week (nails, waxing, eyebrows etc)
24. Take pilates for 2 terms
25. Make 4 artworks (started)
    
26. Grow herb garden
27. Grow vege garden
28. Buy Chuck Taylor shoes (complete!)
29. Buy new computer
30. Buy new computer desk
31. Design a kids book
32. Run for 1min
33. Run for 2mins
34. Run for 3mins
35. Run for 4mins
36. Run for 5mins
37. Run for 6mins
38. Run for 7mins
39. Run for 8mins
40. Run for 9mins
41. Run for 10mins
42. Holiday around Asia
43. Holiday around USA and Canada
44. Holiday around Europe
45. Move to Melbourne
46. Update photo album every 2 months
47. Only have 5 smokes per week (going well :D )
    
48. Only have 2 smokes per week
49. Have nil smokes per week
50. Buy swiss ball (complete)
51. See the sun rise and set in the same day
52. See dentist
53. Whiten teeth
54. Got to the theatre
55. Back up files on PC
56. Back up MP3s
57. Make 1 item of clothing
58. Learn to make websites
59. Buy hair straightener
60. Make thai meal from scratch
61. Go camping
62. Visit Cape Reihanga
63. Visit Queenstown
64. Buy property
65. Weigh less than 55kgs (-2.5kgs in 4 weeks)
    
66. Improve grammar
67. Cook a roast meal
68. Keep a piggy bank
69. Reduce # of meals with meat in to 7 per week. (hmmm, i have been having fish at lunch most days, it's hard to make meat alternatives for lunch)
    
70. Go to 5 restaurants I haven't tried
71. Perform 10 random acts of kindness (1/10)
    
72. Drink at least 1.5 litres of water a day indefinately (going well :D ) (need to get back onto this)
    
73. Get make-up lessons from a reputable source
74. Practice snowboarding at indoor slope
75. Practice snowboarding in real snow!
76. Eliminate retail debt ( hire purchase, store cards etc)
77. Change a tyre
78. Take a polaroid of 20 people who are important to me
79. See 3 films in a film festival
80. Get moles checked
81. Perform at home strength exercises 2x per week
82. Buy new hooded jacket
83. Switch to fair trade coffee (or nz grown?)
84. Read "Catcher in the Rye"
85. Read  "Satori in Paris"
86. Design an album/CD for a band
87. Make 5 mix CDs for friends
88. Host a pool party
89. Volunteer or do pro bono for 2 charities
90. Read "A Short History of Nearly Everything"
91. Learn to make an omelete
92. Wear a dress for fun, not formality (complete!)
93. Buy an item from a NZ fashion designer
94. Decorate a house from scratch
95. Spend the night on a yacht
96. Read Animal house
    
97. Have an art exhibition (started planning)
    
98. *Reader's suggestion*
99. *Reader's suggestion*
100. *Reader's suggestion*
101. *Reader's suggestion*

I've decided to leave the last ones up to my reader's to decide. Suggest some to me and I will pick 6 :D

To be finished soon... Nearly there...

4 / 101 (4.0%)

I'm off to Melbourne on Saturday! We have to get up at about 4am and check in at the airport at 5.30am. Ross and I are flying at nearly the same time but on separate airlines because we bought discount tickets on sale online. Ah well! It's cheaper to fly to melbourne than it is to fly to another city in New Zealand!

On Tuesday we will see PEARL JAM!!!!!!! OMG! *dies* This will probably be the biggest concert I have been to (aside from festivals) and my sister just informed me last night that John Butler Trio will be playing a FREE concert next Friday! AAAAHHHHHH!!!!!!!! Don't know who they are? Check out their myspace and if ya want I can send you a copy of their album. (PS Dani, can you comment with a link to your entry about the CDs you want me to burn?)

Other cool activities in Melbourne will include: lazing on the beach, checking out cool cafes and bars, seeing live bands in smaller venues (there's live music every night of the week!), shopping for weird and wonderful things, visiting friends and partying, eating awesome food and taking in the culture :D If anyone can think of something they'd like me to get them from melbourne leave a commentski!

This is my view of Gadget everynight at feeding time.



( Kitty love...Collapse )

So this week I will be living it up in the beachside suburb of Glen Dowie while I house-sit for my Dad. They have left me with Sky (cable) TV, broadband, a well stocked pantry and a cat to feed. Ahhhh... this will be a nice break from my mum :P

I will be walking along the beach, watching animal planet and discovery channel, downloading music and relaxing! I think I will even be having a dinner party with just the girls while I am here :)

FUN FUN FUN!

Yesterday and today I made some fantastic sushi! This is actually my first go at it and it was a huge success! Me, my mum and stepdad all pigged out on chicken teriyake, raw fish, tuna and salmon morsels! It was great fun and put me back in the good-books with my parents, but man, it took a lot of preparation and shopping! I went to 5 different stores on 5 separate trips to get it all, and the DISHES! What a mess :P Mum is supposed to be on a diet so I said I'd help out and make food for me and my stepdad this week but she keeps getting jealous of what we are eating and  goes and breaks her diet!

I have contemplated making sushi forever! but I don't usually like to dive into things un-prepared (I have a fear of failure!) so a big THANK YOU to everyone at bentolunch for all their advice and inspiration.


Here's my gorgeous ( :-P) food-styling photography:

My evening last night owns everyone elses:

Aims + Ross + Mino's Spag Bol + Top Gun DVD + ;) = ♥