Rock And Roll Dreams Come Through

Listening to: Kitsch-The Burning Ground, oh and Slim-Drive Thru

It's my birthday on Saturday the 25th. Since we haven't had an official "Welcome Lauren to the Southern hemisphere" function yet and she has been here for a month, we thought some sort of combined event would be appropriate. Maybe even a barbecue.

This year I am shamelessly going to ape Fishie's idea and declare an open house at my place on the day and night. From about 3 or 4pm ish, feel free to drop by for a no pressure visit and mooch. you heard it here first, emails will be sent at some point. If you don't know my address and would like to attend, find someone who does, although anyone I don't recognise personally, or be vouched for by someone I do, will assuredly be denied entry.

I feel the need to state publicly that Jim Steinman's 1981 release of "Rock and Roll dreams come through" totally knackers MeatLoaf's early 90's remake. I was somewhat dismayed when Meatloaf felt he had to cover it, as it would inevitably cause the original to fade into the shadows. It is more restrained and expressive, while still epic and overblown (the guy writes songs for Meatloaf after all). I mean hell, look at the album cover:


It has one of my favourite lyrics ever:


"You can't run away forever, but there's nothing wrong with getting a good head start".


And the false ending with the returning string section and wailing chorus, while unnecessary and silly, only adds to the aural glory.





So there.





I was going to bring you a picture of Womby the flying wombat (Vombatus ursinus volaticus), proving that he is in fact capable of aviation, but sadly the picture I was thinking of I don't appear to have in digital form. So instead you will have to settle for this shot of Womby in his current nesting place:

Both of the women in this picture are asleep. Aren't they cute?

That is all.

Underwhelmed

Listening to: Straightjacket Fits-Best of

I once had a fairly passionate debate about 'best of' collections with a workmate. He didn't believe in them, saying that the tracks selected were seldom an artists best (which I actually agreed with), and they thus devalued the rest of the body of work, as well as the loyal fans who had been buying the source albums as they were released.
My counterpoint was that if by chance, misfortune, apathy or incompetence you hadn't been in a position to buy the originals, or weren't into the artist at a time when they were released, 'a best of' provides an excellent way to introduce yourself to their work without forking over a massive wad of dough to buy the entire back catalogue. Which you shouldn't do anyway without having at least some idea of what was on those original albums.
Besides, 'best of's' can be really good compilation albums in their own right. This is why I have a few complete back catalogues and relevant 'best of's' in my collection.


The above is entirely an aside to the original point of the post, which was the underwhelming quiz at Murphy's Law (Petone) last night.

Or as I am thinking of it, the night a good quiz went bad.

It wasn't the needless technical issues (the picture is fine, just stop fiddling with it already!), or the inability of the announcer to pronounce words like 'Arabic' and 'Acronym'. Painful, but no-ones perfect, and I have seen far worse.

It was the 'challenge for points' rounds in between the question rounds that had us going
"W T F is this then?"

One representative per team fronts up. To do things like eat a plate of vinegar soaked weetbix and fries, or a plate of ice cubes followed by a mixed shot, or chop a half pint of beer with a raw egg in the glass. Do this faster than anyone else and you get 10 or 20 points (seriously) for your team.

Eh? I thought this was a quiz? We realised right then after witnessing the first challenge that no matter how many questions we answered right, we didn't have a shit-show of winning.

In truth I can see why perhaps this has come about. Us and two or three other teams have been dominating. And now we aren't. If it keeps up we won't be back. Sad, but if I wanted to see someone vomit half eaten vinegary weetbix onto the floor (as one contestant did last night) I'd go to a student flatwarming in Palmy or Aro Valley.

As the Don memorably summed up, "It's a quiz, not a f**king keg party." I admit, I may be having a total-sense-of-humour-failure about this, but I go to quizzes to test my wits, not my stomach (and teeth in the case of the ice).

Kudos and big ups to Lauren (weetbix) and Fishy (ice) for participating in the madness though, due to the apathy and sheer cowardice of the other team members.

The Simpsons Movie was fairly underwhelming as well, as very eloquently noted here.

Clean sheet

Listening to: HDU-Higher ++

My indoor soccer team (I still have not yet been able to refer to it consistently as football...) won 4-0 tonight.

As the goalkeeper this makes me very happy. Our defence was solid, and the opposition attack sporadic, but always threatening, and I made a few good saves.

This is the first time in nearly a couple of years worth of indoor keeping that I have kept the goal score free, so it is worth mentioning. The last minutes of the game were quite tense, knowing that achievement was beckoning...

***

After two days the new job is going well. While I can be a good trainer, I had forgotten that I am an impatient trainee. I hate not knowing what is going on around me and shadowing people, and standing around watching others work. I hate feeling useless. I enjoy being competent. While fully expected and somewhat welcome, I am finding the transition from being super competent (old job) to not yet competent due to inexperience (new job) a little difficult. Still, this is what I wanted and expected, having trained many folk in my time, so I just have to put up with it. The rewards will be worth it. The first few weeks of a new job are never easy.

And the atmosphere and people are really nice too, which helps.

***

I will blog about something profound and illuminating and not just about me soon, promise.

***

Matt and Tarn, "ON YA!" for the Bay beating the Lions on the weekend. Well done.

quiz, winter, mountain

Quiz

In one of our more epic quiz victories, last night we took out the UHC Dragon boating fundraiser. Not bad for a team of only four, that was a team of only two (Fi and me) for the first few rounds, facing several dozen other competitors. Sometime we are going to get our arses handed to us at one of these things, but not this time.



Winter

One of the things I will miss about not driving to Upper Hutt every morning is the river in winter. Often on cold mornings there is a mist over the river basin, and sometimes the sun catches it just so:



Frost and ice on the bank behind our house.

Mountain

Some shots from last weekend. It was FUN! I have never been there before, so everything was new and interesting. And the sliding down the slopes on a giant plastic sheet was primo. Apart from the rock I hit. The rock was not primo.

On the chairlift. This guy carved "Marry me Beck!" in the snow beside the chairlift, then highlighted it with gold glitter. Legend. Also apparently successful. Well done that man!
Tahurangi from Turoa
The stream below Waitonga falls

Beech forest, Waitonga falls

Sunset at Ohakune, heralding the rain the next day. The grey sky and bare trees evoke winter to me.
Mount Ruapehu at dusk from Ohakune
Halo around the full moon caused by ice crystals suspended high in the sky.
Sunrise at Ohakune

More pics for the interested here and here

Cheers

To my now ex-workmates (sadly not all in this photo), who made the place worth working at.

Hash broooons

Back from a glorious road trip. Still disseminating and contemplating, including a definitive assessment of the correct pronounciation of "Hash Browns" and its usefulness as a dialectical tool for determining a speakers origin.

While I do that, in the meantime to entertain you, WellingtonGrey ponders a global pirates vs ninjas battle for world domination

Or if that link fails, try 'Laughing 2' on my links list.

'Laughing 1' is also well worth investigating.

Cartharsis

Listening to: One of my comps. Right now it is 'Watching the wheels' by John Lennon

Last day at work tomorrow.

I don't mean to keep harping on about it but I have been there most of my working life, all of my professional life, and nearly a quarter of my actual life; 7 years is not an insignificant period. I'll miss my co-workers, a really good bunch of people.

My in-tray and locker have been cleared, my exit interview arranged, and farewell afternoon tea lined up.

Then after the day is done, pack the car and head up to Ohakune for the weekend, pausing immediately prior to departure for a birthday dinner at my folks (Happy Birthdays Nora and Molly!).

Leave a job, then leave town.

Hard to think of a better way to make a clean break.

Abandoned

Listening to: Back to Basics-Billy Bragg

Yup more of my photo's.

Abandoned places and things fascinate me. They all have stories to tell. Once they were someones pride and joy, once they were new, once they were alive.

Now they are just artifacts.
Just east of Palmy.

A photo of a photo. West of Palmy, I have been watching this place slowly collapse for years now.
Somewhere south of Te Kuiti.
Somewhere between Dunedin and Gore.
South of Napier.
This cut down Triumph has been parked in a field south of Napier for about a decade. It has been home-converted into a ute; they never came out of the factory looking like that. Someone had a lot of fun with it I suspect.

No more lonely nights

I have worked my last twilight shift at SP.

WOO HOO!

Feel somewhat liberated.

Appropriately for my final shift fling, I finished at about 2am this morning. Wouldn't be shift if I didn't stay 'til some mind bending hour of the morning.

I think my workplace has sensed my imminent departure and isn't happy about it. Here is my left thumb after Thursday nights adventures:

I bashed it in three different places on three different things. What are the odds?

Matt if you're reading this and you really think it's worth your while I'll write up the incident forms on Monday. They are the result of clumsiness rather than DO issues!

Reflective imagery

Listening to: the radio

I attended the funeral of the father of one of my older friends yesterday. Saw a bunch of people I hadn't seen for a while. Noted how much had changed, not only in the people, but in the church we spent so much time in, and the immediate neighbourhood.

It brought to mind the lyrics of an old Bruce Springsteen song, 'Thunder Road'.

Don't run back inside
Darling you know what I'm here for
So you're scared and you're thinking
That maybe we ain't that young anymore

Imagery

I'm now going to indulge in my regular penchant for posting photos I have taken. Appropriately after such pensiveness, most of them feature reflection.

The fountain on Marine Parade, Napier, November 2006

Yachts moored at lake Te Anau, March 2007
Yacht at Whakatane, January 2006
The lake Manapouri power station tunnel, March 2007
The Australian bushfires last summer made for some dramatic sunsets. The picture doesn't really convey the redness of the sky caused by all the smoke. Petone Beach, November 2006
No reflections but nice anyway. Symbolic waka paddle sculpture, Petone Beach, November 2006.

A Snickers bar and a bottle of Powerade

Breakfast of champions.

After last nights revelries I really ought to be more hungover than I am, which isn't very.

Not complaining though.

Someday I'll tell you all about it

Listening to: Mer de Noms: A Perfect Circle

But not today.

I reserve the right to be completely cryptic at times.

Feeling somewhat temporally dislocated at the moment. My body clock is convinced it is Thursday. Which leads us neatly to KiwiLauren, who arrives in a couple of days, since from her perspective, I am in the future anyway.

I thought I would steal a good idea that Morgue had and ask for suggestions from You, yes you, on interesting and illuminating things to see and do during the four months our canadian is here.

I have a few ideas, but I want to know what I haven't thought of.

***

Pearl Jam album by album

A random question from Jono on Saturday Night prompted some thought.

"What is your favourite Pearl Jam song?"
Note/disclaimer. A lot of people don't like Pearl Jam, and thats fine. I do however, so deal with it, and don't leave trollish comments about how much you think they suck.

The answer that immediately came to mind was 'Sleight of Hand' from 2000's 'Binaural'. I like the sparse echoy sound of the verse compared to the full noise chorus, and I can relate to the lyrics, about how your life can pass you by if you're not watching, and few of us end up where we plan to be.

I began thinking about a top five, and quickly realised that most of my favourites were not album tracks (eg 'State of Love and Trust', 'Wash', 'I got Id', 'Alone', 'Footsteps'), or even singles.

So instead of being obscure, I thought I'd relate my favourite tracks from each album.

Ten
'Porch'. I just like the intensity of the track. It has all the energy of a young band with things to say. I prefer early U2 for the same reason. There is an energy there that gets refocused as bands mature.

Vs
'Rearview mirror'. This album is totally summer of '93 for me, the first summer I was able to drive, so it got lots of play in my Mum's mini. Long warm summer evenings. 'RVM' is just a cool song about the benefit of hindsight. Hard to pick a single track off such a good album.

Vitalogy
'Corduroy', although closely vying with 'Not for you'.

No Code
'Present Tense'. Bit of an epic, but I like how it starts and builds, and the end instrumental is pretty nice too.

Yield
'Low light'. Another hot summer night aimlessly driving around song.

Live on two Legs
'F*ckin up'. I think its a Neil Young cover, but it rocks, so is eligible for inclusion.

Binaural
The previously mentioned 'Sleight of Hand'.

Riot Act
'You Are'. I like its fuzzed out chuggy messiness.

Pearl Jam
'Unemployable'. Again hard to choose off a good album.

***

Three days off from the world due to the new shift system at work. I spent most of today asleep in some form or another.

Bit nippy up our way this morning.
Our bird bath was turned into a little avian ice rink.
And especially for D3vo, here is the link for the clip we were talking about. If you pause at about 1:00 you can see people ducking and scrambling out of the way.

Who'll stop the rain?

I know it is winter but this is getting silly.

I have lawns to mow and washing to dry dammit!

Grounded

Listening to: Husker Du-Candy Apple Grey

So this week all four of my sports teams have made finals (admittedly one was a 'thanks for turning up' minor final, but a final nonetheless), three indoor netball and one indoor football ("I pity the fool", "SPAHZ", "Suspect" and "O for awesome" respectively).

Too bad I can only play in two of them. Those who saw my sudden exit from Monday night's netball may recall there were indications of a shoulder injury. I iced it at the time, and the beer, while probably not a good idea, certainly had a relaxant effect.

Tuesday morning found the shoulder still sore, but managable even if I had to heavily favour it, but getting in and out of my work coveralls soon moved beyond merely uncomfortable to downright painful. Sensing something was probably more wrong than the bruising I suspected, I improvised a sling from some tube bandaging and suspended my left arm for the rest of the day, feeling somewhat over-reactive and drama-queeny. Still it was more comfortable than not slinging it, and seemed beneficial in not aggravating anything. I spent the day telling people it looked worse than it was, and coming up with increasingly fanciful stories about how I sustained my injury before admitting the truth ("I was pulling a baby from a burning car". "I robbed a bank but one of the guards winged me" etc etc); I accidentally denied landing space to an opposition player by watching the ball and not him, and wound up wearing the player as a result.

I noted that if you wander around work the day after you have publicly announced your resignation with your arm in a sling, you will get a lot of attention.

Feeling much improved today, but wanting a professional opinion, I checked in with the work physiotherapist. After examination, my shoulder was defined as having been slightly sprained when the opposition centre landed on it (damaging either or both the coro-acromial and coro-humeral ligaments). Moreover, the sling was deemed to be not over-cautious, but in fact a jolly good idea, likely contributing to the feeling much better today than yesterday.

Thats a new one. So far in my sporting career I have sprained ankles, fingers, thumbs and hands (I'm counting falling off a trampoline at a party as 'sport' for this).

I missed last nights football final as a caution, and the physio grounded me for until Monday so I miss tomorrows netball final as well (both for work teams).

Well actually she said I could play if I wanted to, but it wouldn't be a good idea, her official recommendation was "No", and casually dropped into the conversation that while mild sprains can clear up in 7-10 days, a ligament or muscle tear can take weeks or months to heal, and indoor netball is a high energy unpredictable sport etc etc, as physios are wont to do. Then she noticed the old-school Transformers T-shirt I was wearing so we talked about transformers for a while.

I'll have to strap it for a week or so when I do play. More shaving.

Incidentally, my work netball team now has three key players out with injury, all centre/attacks, all incurred within 24 hours of each other. One sprained ankle playing indoor netball last night, another ankle sprained playing indoor soccer while I watched, and me.

Should be an interesting game to watch.

On the band wagon

Listening to: Gramsci-Permanence

Jumping on the bandwagon to rave about how the Transformers movie actually isn't terrible, and is actually good in a big dumb fun escapist way.

But first:

How to tell if you are watching a Michael Bay movie

1. There are only three times of day: Noon, sunset, and night. Twilight does not exist.
2. Actors will utter cheesy terrible dialogue with great seriousness and profundity.
3. If possible, there are helicopters. Often black, with no identifying insignia.
4. There will be at least one or more shots where the screen is dominated by the colour orange (also a feature of Jerry Bruckheimer productions). The sunset comes in handy for this.
5. Any kind of road convoy will be accompanied by very low flying helicopters.
6. Anything that is high-tech (or is perceived to be high-tech) will be made to appear sexy.
7. There will be a freeway chase.
8. There will be a downtown action scene.
9. Any aerial craft will be flying far lower than needed to perform its mission, or performing spectacular but unnecessary manouvres.
10. Irony and subtlety will be missing in action. Along with meaningful character development.
11. There will be a slow motion hero shot.
12. The plot will at times make no sense, but is spectacular nonetheless.
13. Explosions will be large, but enable nearby protagonists to shrug off a light coating of debris and continue.

With these misgivings in mind, I was pleasantly surprised by 'Transformers'. Maybe it is the Dreamworks influence, but I enjoyed it. There was a definite sense of not taking itself too seriously. The script was not too bad, with a lot of humour (at times almost unexpectedly subversive) that really added to it, lowering the cheese ratio; this is a kids movie for grown-ups. And the on screen transformations are really cool. My favourite was the Optimus Prime freeway showdown.

And who doesn't want a car that can look out for you and change into a giant robot? Although I'm not sure you'd want to take it on a date. It would be kinda wierd if you and your date wound up in the backseat of your sentient guardian.

I was a little confused by the helicopter Decepticon. In its original 80's incarnation it was an Autobot.

Also notable from the plane oriented perspective was the big screen debut of a bunch of interesting hardware (in an actually filmed and not CG'd way), most notably the V-22 Osprey (the odd tilt rotor things at the start), and the F-22 Raptor (Starscream, and the friendly lookalikes, currently the hottest jet around anywhere). Likely the last time we will see an F-117 Nighthawk (the original 'Stealth fighter') in a movie as it is on the verge of being retired after 25 odd years in service (making my point about perceived high-tech; it was designed in the seventies).
AirForce One is apparently a Transfomer as well. In the air it is a Boeing 747. On the ground it becomes a 707......right, thats enough geekery.

Clearly the movie had massive US military cooperation, almost like they were looking for some good PR.....

So really Transformers is a quite good movie. However I still want the five hours of my life back that I lost watching Pearl Harbour and The Island.

Speaking of good PR, in an awkwardly segueing way that doesn't quite work, I urge you to check out this youtube link posted by the undulating ungulate.

Outstanding stuff.

Take it and run

Listening to: Mashups on Radio Active

I've decided to take the new job. I'm going to work out my 4 weeks notice, take a week off, and then start my new position in early August.

This feels right. I'm apprehensive about how competent I am going to be, and how we'll cope with less money coming in, but it still feels like the right thing to do.

One way to tell how much your work appreciates you is to tell your manager you are leaving. All the team leaders I have informed have been really cool about it and have told me stuff like I'll leave a big and not easily replaced gap in the team, which is nice to hear, but can't change my mind.

For a lot of reasons, it is time to move on.

Wow that was fast

Yesterday I interviewed for a job I was interested in. The interview went well, and was not at all stressful or intimidating. I was told I would be notified by the end of the week if I was successful.

After freaking me out this afternoon by actually ringing the workmates I had nominated as referees, this evening I was offered the position.

I did not expect to be in this scenario so soon.

Pro's are better hours, less stress and less pressure, and more interest and more things to learn. The only con is somewhat less money.

If I don't take this opportunity, there may be some eternal 'what-if' style regret and or rueing the day.

Change feels good. Intimidating but good. Cool.

Also cool is this. Woo hoo!

How do you like this weather beeaatch?!

Clearly, I tempted fate when discussing the glorious non-suckage of Saturday's weather

Forecast for the Wellington area from the Metservice website:

Monday
Max: 8°C
Min: 3°C
Showers, possible sleet. Strong very cold southerlies.

Tuesday
Max: 9°C
Min: 6°C
Occasional showers. Strong very cold southerlies.

Observed Wind-Chill
Feels like -2 °C
4 layers of clothing are recommended to remain comfortable in these conditions

I am known for stoically accepting weather, but when it stops me from doing things I like and starts to affect my mood I have to draw the line. Still, we have had the shortest day of the year already. Summer here we come.

Imagery

Weather confusion
The weather today was supposed to suck. As can be seen below, in Kelson at least, the weather clearly did not suck. There was a fairly cold wind in operation though.

However, looking south implied that some of the suckage operating down there at the moment was on its way. It didn't eventuate; tonight it is cold and clear. We in Wellington seem to be excempted from the usual pattern of cold fronts that come up the country at the moment. We have had one or two, but a few have been predicted to come storming up and then hit everywhere but Wellington.
How come big snowfalls in the South Island are such major news? The networks send people out to do live reports ("Whats it like out there?" "Its cold"), they find some cars sliding around to film, and some schoolkids who have a day off because the schools are closed. But guess what? They could recycle the reports from last year, and the year before that, and the year before that and no-one would notice, because this happens every year. In winter oddly enough.
I expect our Canadian to scoff at what passes for winter here when she arrives in a few weeks.

***
Sometimes the airshow comes to me

If NotKate insists on referring to me as a plane geek, then I have an expectation to live up to.

My normal morning on evening shift slumber on Tuesday was rudely interrupted by the echoing drone of an aircraft. A Wanganui Aero Work Ltd Cresco was topdressing (air dropping fertiliser) the farmland on the ridge across from us that forms part of Belmont Regional Park.
Naturally I got out of bed to watch. Topdressing is some of the most entertaining flying you are likely to see outside of an airshow. The requirements of the job mean that topdressers have to fly low, down valleys and over ridges, with tight turns to keep away from dangers and get back to the airstrip quickly to reload. The environment at low altitude is filled with hazards, like power lines and wires. In the picture below the Cresco is passing well behind the power pylon, but you get the idea.
Its not dangerous per se, but there is an elevated element of managed risk compared to other kinds of flying (there is a reason low flying is generally discouraged or avoided if not actually illegal in most places), and is highly unforgiving of mistakes. Its not like the aircraft is operating from a fully set up runway either. This one was heading back to a grass strip in the hills behind to reload after every pass.
In Rotorua we lived across the road from a farm, and one of my most vivid memories is of watching one of these (hows that for a fugly aeroplane! Also starred in "Mad Max 3 Beyond Thunderdome" if you've seen it) fly over my house so low after a topdressing run I thought it was going to take the roof off.

Being a nice sunny morning, I went into the park a little way for a closer look:

And returned to my car to find it covered in a very thin and even coat of super-phosphate fertiliser.

Topdressers are a routine sight in rural New Zealand, but aren't so common near the big cities.It was kinda fun to be able to watch one working on my doorstep.

By the way D3vo, the plane you jumped out of at Taupo is a descendant of the Cresco, hence the similar appearance if you noticed.

Being unusually out and about on a nice winters morning, I got a nice photo of mist filling the Hutt Valley below.
And a misty Wellington Harbour from the Maungaraki water tank.

Back in a jiffy

Off-black will be off-air temporarily for a few days while we get some running repairs made to our computer thingy.

Weird pizza

Listening to: Together in concert:live-Tim Finn, Bic Runga, Dave Dobbyn.
Waitangi Day 2000, a group of cohorts and myself gathered into the mighty Triumph and headed up to Palmy to see this concert, supported ably by Betchadupa, Fur Patrol and Stellar. And lo, it was way cool, sitting in the sun on a hot summers day, and continuing on into the night enjoying good music.

From this mornings Dom Post, a flyer for new Domino's pizza flavours: Is it just me, or is Meat Pie (mince, gravy, onions, peas (!), tomato, topped with pastry and tomato sauce in case you were wondering), a really freaking weird pizza topping? Ewww. Not at all appetising. An Irish co-worker of mine commented that as a nation, NZ appears to be obsessed with the meat pie. I'm not sure what this implies.
Also, isn't "Fetta" supposed to be spelt "Feta"?
Still, the spicy chicken looks nice, even if it was generally agreed by my colleagues that Domino's is the least preferred pizza option available. 'Hell' appears most requested, with the late 'Eagle Boys' (formerly 'Stallones', bought out and replaced by Pizza Hut) coming a close second. The spicy chicken has black olives, which you generally can't go wrong with.
Wondering if comment like this is unwittingly part of Domino's marketing strategy.....

***

Went to our regular Wednesday night quiz fix at Murphy's Law tonight. It's a tough competition when you can score 92 out of 110 and still only come third. Still, there were only three of us in the team, so that makes us smarter on a per member average.

***

Seem to be having trouble controlling and editing font size. Reminds me of post defrost Austin Powers: I'm having trouble controlling the volume of my voice.

Corrupting Macy Gray

Listening to: Weezer-Weezer (the blue album)

In 1999 Macy Gray released "I Try", and it became a hit. You may know it.

The chorus goes something like this:

I try to say goodbye and I choke,
Try to walk away and I stumble,
Though I try to hide it, it's clear,
My world crumbles when you are not here.

However, if you are in Fish and Sam's presence, it tends to go something like this:

I try to say goodbye and I choke,
Try to walk away I blow bubbles,
Though I try to hide it, it's clear,
I blow bubbles when you are not here.

For full effect, sing it in a gravelly Yoda does karaoke after half a bottle of Jim Beam and a pack of cigarettes voice.

Happy Anniversary

It's a dark and stormy night at Castle Kelson.

Well it is. It's night, and therefore dark, and there is a fair old northwesterly gale blowing about. Still, being a northerly, it is a warm wind, so it is not as cold as it should be.

I have the feeling winter is going to break any day now however.

Today is 6th of June. It is the 63rd anniversary of "Debarkation Day", more commonly referred to as "D-Day", or in more specific circles, "Operation Overlord". The largest seaborne invasion in history commenced as the Allies landed on French beaches to begin the liberation of Occupied Europe from Nazi rule.

As significant an event as that is, personally it pales in importance next to something that happened on the same day 26 years later.

In a church in Wellington, a wedding occured. Today is my parents 37th wedding anniversary. Having only been married myself 2 and a half years, that figure is both inspirational and almost unfathomable.

I don't even know if they read this blog but I would like to use this opportunity to say:
Cheers Mum and Dad! On ya!

Great Artist, Crap Song!

Listening to: Buffalo Tom-A-sides (the best of). Continuing my indy-ish alternative-ish lounging.

Just watched the top 10 of the above U-choose top 40, and once again find myself disagreeing with the picks, as is my wont.

That said, I can't really disagree with the Black Eyed Peas 'My Humps' being at number one, although for me you could put any Blacked Eyed Peas song at number one and I wouldn't care. I don't heart the Black Eyed Peas at all. Over-rated and over-hyped. Can't argue with 'St Anger' by Metallica placing highly either (number 3).

But Queen's 'Fat-Bottomed Girls' at number 2? Thats a frickin' great song! There are many way worse Queen songs than that (Like, I dunno, 'We are the Champions', 'Friends will be Friends', 'One Vision', actually pretty much half of the 'A kind of magic' album).

And 'Lemon' by U2 at number 9. I like 'Lemon'. Not the best U2 single ever ('The Fly' is a strong contender for that nomination), but not crap by any means. I would have nominated 'The Sweetest Thing'. Yerghh.

The Red Hot Chili Peppers creaked in to number 4 with 'Snow', which again isn't a terrible song, given that their last decent single was 'Can't Stop' (or what ever it is called). 'Aeroplane' or 'Rollercoaster' are better (worse) substitutes.

The Eminem song about arses featuring Triumph the Dog at number 5 was just plain weird.

As you do when watching this kind of thing, I started compiling my own least favourite songs by my favourite artists. I didn't get very far though. While my CD collection is large, I am choosy, so I tend to like almost everything I listen to. I also forget songs I don't like until I am listening to them, whereupon I immediately remember why I don't like them and skip to the next track.

However:
'Daughter' by Pearl Jam. Average single off a great album, mediocrity enhanced by saturation radio play by conservative mainstream radio stations who wouldn't play any other Pearl Jam song ever (at a time when they could still be considered 'alternative'. Whatever that meant).

Tried to think of a bad Shihad song. Couldn't, even when including 'Pacifier'. A mediocre Shihad album is still a Shihad album.

Tried the Afghan Whigs. No luck there either.

'Take it Back' by Pink Floyd. Thats hardly sporting though, picking a crap song off 'The Division Bell' is like shooting fish in a barrel.

This could go on all night. But it won't. I may revisit it later.

Model silliness

Listening to: Better Than Ezra: Greatest Hits. Felt like listening to some alternative-ish indie-ish 90's rock tonight.

Making models of planes as I have done for umpteen years is a good way to learn almost completely irrelevant things about them. Below, left to right, is an A-4 Skyhawk, a MiG-25 Foxbat, and an Avro Vulcan, all in 1:72 scale.
One of the things noticed is that the Skyhawk is tiny for a combat plane, and the MiG is fairly huge. In fact, the planform of the Skyhawk will fit entirely inside that of the MiG. The Foxbat on the other hand, fits entirely within the Vulcan.
Ever wanted to see a Skyhawk stacked on a Foxbat stacked on a Vulcan? Now you have......
Sometimes I have too much time on my hands....

I quite like the Foxbat. It has an old school design brutality about it. Developed in the 60's by the Soviets to counter a high speed bomber the US tested but never put into service, it is a pure interceptor rather than a multirole fighter.

Everything about the way it looks shouts 'speed above everything else'. The wing is a simple thin slab (with no aerodynamic concessions to manouvreability), built for speed. The engines are huge and powerful, again for speed. Capable of flying at nearly 3 times the speed of sound it was the only thing that could come close to intercepting the near mythical SR-71 Blackbird reconnaisance aircraft. It was the inspiration for the 'Firefox' novel and movie.

I like it from a design point of view because it is completely uncompromised. It is designed to do one thing and one thing only.

Quiet

Listening to: The quiet house. Apart from rats nibbling on things and ripping paper, Moreporks in the distance, and Fi sneezing.

Introducing
I thought a while ago I would describe exactly who is who on my blogroll, but then I realised that most of you know each other anyway, so it would be kinda pointless.

I can however, almost guarantee no-one knows fair Lauren, being that she is Canadian, and currently resides in said Canada. That said, she will no doubt meet most of the local crew when she arrives at chez Kelson (that is, my chez Kelson, not Judge+Jurys chez Kelson, which is actually Stretch's chez Kelson) in mid July for a four month stay as our houseguest.

Also added today is the Alligator, who needs little introduction. I am slowly spreading the word of nails.

The man who formely used to drive me to many places in a Red Trueno whilst barefoot joins us.

As does the lovely Miss M.

Spanblather for some of the 'others do intelligent commentary much better than I can' (hey I can quote myself on my own blog if I want) relevance, and to keep me informed on various things.

Plus a couple of webcomics in the interest links I have been pointed to lately, and an old favourite (Laughs 1, 2, 3).

And sadly, a moment of silence, a raised glass and a bowed head to the creator of the brilliant Rest area 300, who it would appear is no longer among us.

Cheers Dodderyoldfart. I very much enjoyed your work, and thank you for sharing it with us.

Rituals

Listening to Fi watch CSI on TV. Ostensibly Crime Scene Investigation, but more often Crap Science Insulting my intelligence. Still, it does have KC from KC in it.

These things become ritualised.

Check the nails to make sure they are short enough. Find the right socks. Left shoe on first, then the right. Tape over the ear-ring so it can't catch a unwary finger. Find some shorts and a t-shirt that is ready to go into the wash.

Pack the bag. All the usual stuff, plus a water bottle, maybe a sweatband or bandanna if its hot. If its cold, you put on extra layers. Then you hit the road.

The city unfolds before you on the motorway, then just when you seem about to dive into its heart, you skip off to one side. Occasionally you'll nip into the city to pick someone up, but you want to make it quick, like a burglar or panic shopper, get, make the pick up, get out. Wait too long on the side of the road and you'll get antsy, especially if the traffic is still heavy.

Your mind is on whats going to happen in the next hour or so. The drive up Hanson Street, with its speed humps, can seem endless if your're in a hurry. Turn right into Hall Street, then right again to go up the too narrow driveway, with its too tall speed hump at the top that will scrape the underside of your car if you go straight over it. Find a park, near the door or up by Te Whaea if you're lucky and don't want too far to walk later when you are tired and sweaty and maybe injured.

You can hear the sound of whistles and umpires calls, and the beeps as the scoreboards register points. You pass the smokers huddled outside. You don't remember the first time you came here; it is long enough ago not to matter anymore. This place is intimately familiar to you now.

Entering the building, there is the familiar aroma of stale cigarette smoke and fried food as you pass through the door. From the relative peace outside you are assaulted by bright lights, usually a small crowd milling around the registration desk, the noise of games and music.

Once in, you look up to the left to check the chalkboard for the court you have been assigned. In winter you want the upstairs courts with the sprung floorboards, as heat rises and the courts will be warm. In summer they will be shoe melting, eye stingingly hot and humid, and the downstairs courts will be your preference.

You check in with your team, pay your money, get your bibs, and wait. You watch the game ahead of you and check who the umpire is, and try to figure out what sort of mood they're in. If your opponents are milling around, you check them out too. Do they look onto it or clueless? Have you met them before? Have you defeated them before? Are they clean or dirty players?

Warm up if you have the chance. If you sprain a finger with a wedding ring on it, there is a good chance the ring will have to be cut off once the swelling sets in, so it is removed, along with your watch.

The game in front of you ends. You rush onto the court to grab the ball, so you can have some practice with your team in the few minutes before the game starts, and deny your opposition the chance to throw the match ball around.

If your opposition are particularly clueless and disorganised, they won't be ready. Your team is already on the court and ready, they are stuffing around, and if the clock has started, wasting precious gametime. You're all psyched up and no place to go.

Get your eye in with some shots at goal, and warm your hands up. The umpire checks your fingernails and jewelry aren't dangerous, and calls for the ball.

Players take their positions, and two centres meet at halfway for the toss. The clock starts, the whistle blows, and the ball is thrown.

The game begins...

more with the accent thing

This was rather serendipitous after my recent blather about accents.

TV3 news item today about how the Kiwi Accent is evolving.

Ahh Philip Sherry. Now theres a sensible no-nonsense newsreader if ever there was one.

Plus comments from some rather excitable types.

In other news, it was discovered at the weekend that our new 50 and 20 cent pieces are simply crap for use in table rugby. Too small and too light.

Revision

Listening to: World Party-Private Revolution

The hardest part about writing a blog I have found is not convincing others to read it, but convincing myself it is worth reading.

That said, I quite like some of the stuff I have come up with.

Here are my favourite posts from my first year (it occurs to me that this could become an annual tradition) revisited.

The ghost car of state highway 2

Mosh pit etiquette

The Bakery Cult

The Challenge

The Tao of indoor netball

Taking 'Snakes on a plane' altogether too seriously

My uncle Harry

A week of looking at Wellington

The southern Sojourn, 1, 2, 3

The Levin roadtrip

Comet chasing

Love and Hate

Love your accent

Listening to: The Fragile-Nine Inch Nails

Lauren, our Canadian soon to be housemate sent us a list of kiwi slang (linky) for verification. It is surprisingly accurate. I say surprisingly, because most lists I have seen of this kind tend to be completely archaic. That said, I have never heard or used 'Boohai' in a conversation, nor have I encountered 'Tata' lately in any context other than humorous. I have been to Eketahuna though.

Laurens comments about accents here got me to thinking. Is it possible to write in an accent? I'm not talking Irvine Welsh/Trainspotting phonetic dialectical style here, but a more subtle thing in terms of phraseology or dialect that imparts a regional characteristic.

As evidenced here I apparently handwrite like a boy. I am curious if there is anything in the way I type or express that marks me as a New Zealander.

Which brings us in a roundabout way to vocal accents. I love accents, I love hearing them and then trying to decipher where exactly they are from. I like my own accent, even though it does tend to mangle softer consonants like 'l's.

It was amusing to read Lauren describing my accent as 'heavy'. I would consider it mid range personally as kiwi accents go, but then I seldom get to hear myself speak, and cringe when I do, so I am not sure I have any basis for comparison. I can have two accents depending on the company. I use my normal accent (which I think of as the lazy one) for general conversation and such, and reserve a slightly more focussed, clear, clipped and 'proper' accent for more formal occasions like talking to a room full of people or job interviews.

Laurens canadian accent is interesting. It is a fairly neutral (to my ears) classic northern american accent, but with clear british and french influences, which perhaps you'd expect in Canada. It is odd to my ears to hear a north american voice use 'mum' instead of 'mom'. The use of 'no' at the end of a question (e.g. you were going out, no?) sounds french, Rich (whose mother is french and is a fluent french speaker himself) and I decided.

The New Zealand (and its sibling, the Australian) accents are apparently a mix of various UK accents. I'm not a linguist, but this seems borne out to me by listening to those UK accents. At times a word will be said in exactly the same way as a New Zealander would. In the same way, at times UK words will be pronounced the same way a north american would.

I'm not sure either New Zealand or Australia have been english speaking long enough to develop strong regional accents. The only readily identifiable NZ english sub accent is from the southern South Island, which was largely settled by Scots, hence resulting in a pronounced rolled R (e.g I went to worrrk on the farrrm). By the same token, you could expect Dannevirke in the norhern Wairarapa to have a scandinavian influenced accent, although I have never met anyone from Dannevirke so don't know if this holds true. I have no idea if there are regional Maori accents. I think there may be some dialects though.

Another aspect of accents that is interesting to me is how some people can hold on to theirs indefinitely, while others lose them. I think my own accent is extremely malleable. After spending six days in Los Angeles as a teenager I noted myself starting to use californian phrases and inflections. My father is from Durham in Northen England, and the accent he grew up with is almost unintelligible on first encountering it, being not only very strong, but littered with the sort of dialect that can vary from town to town in the UK. That said, having lived in New Zealand since 1963, his accent has almost disappeared. Fi disagrees, saying he has a very strong accent, but all I can pick up is some elongation of certain vowels.

Maybe I should have been a linguist. I appear to have a gift for it.

Another aspect of talking to Lauren got me wondering about the etymolgy of certain phrases. The phrase "Getting along like a house on fire" entered my head more than once. Now the intended meaning is obvious, you get on well and enjoy the interaction, but the literal meaning? How does a burning house relate to a conversation?

"They got done like a dogs dinner" also causes confusion, as does 'Pack a sad'. Again, the intended meaning is obvious (if you've grown up with them, sorry Lauren!), but I'm not sure how they got to where they are as common phrases.

This has almost nothing to do with the above, but I'm closing with it as it is a nice piece of demonstrating flexible meanings. Its a quote from an irish soldier in a book I read once referring to a piece of equipment that was not working as intended:

"F*ck! The f*cking f*ckers f*cking f*cked!"

Hmm

The comments label stubbornly refuses to appear for the previous post, no matter what combination of trickery and option resetting I try.

One year on

Listening to: Tears for Fears best of

My blog turns one year old today.

157 posts.

At least 50 odd "Listening to's".

Oodles of comments.

Some nice piccies.

Thoughts, expressions and imaginings.

Thanks to all who have read and said nice things, and all the nice folk I have encountered through doing this. I had no grand scheme for it when I started, and still don't, but I like the way it has turned out.

I was going to highlight a favourite post, but need some time to ponder it. Watch this space. Well actually the space somewhere up the page where it will turn up.

Errata
Just in case anyone didn't get the Ribena reference in the last episode, GlaxoSmithKline, Ribena's parent company were recently heavily fined in New Zealand after a high school science project showed that the vitamin C levels in their product were somewhat less than the advertising gave the impression of.
Snap!

Aww, pretty!

There are two prevailing winds in the Wellington Region. One is a fearsome south/southeasterly, direct from Antarctica (often referred to as a lazy wind, as it tends to travel straight through you rather than bothering to go around).

The other is a north/northwesterly generated by large masses of air attempting to penetrate the gap in New Zealands mountain ranges that is Cook Strait.

On occasion, the northerly will condense as it passes over the northern reach of Cook Strait, leaving the lower North Island covered in cloud. As the cloud cover is incomplete, there is a clear air gap at the horizon, allowing the cloud to be lit from below, at say, sunset.

Looking roughly southwest it can be seen that the cloud stops pretty much where the island does (for those non-familiar with Welly geography, the distant mountains in the bottom right of the picture slope down to the sea on the other side).

I love how sunsets fill your house with warm reflected and refracted light.

In other news

I've been meaning to post about this for a while. As someone who enjoys a good sky, I think this is interesting, and this is a great idea.

Ribena is in damage control mode by the looks.

All together now : BWAAHAHAHAHAHA! One suspects they are still cleaning the bloodstains off the walls of their quality and marketing departments.

Build it and win

Listening to: Kings of Leon-Because of the times

So rather than just attend the Model Expo in Lower Hutt this weekend, as entries were open to the general public I thought I would enter some of my work instead of just admiring others. I know there are great modellers out there who exhibit excellent stuff, and I don't consider myself one of them, so I thought I would make up the numbers

Judge+Jury generously loaned me the Starfury I built him as a birthday present.



I also put out a couple of Skyhawks (which have previously graced the pages of this blog) and a Lightning (the grey pointy one) which I thought looked good. I was way surprised when the Skyhawks were awarded 2nd and 3rd in their category. Okay, so there were only five models in their category, and three of them were mine, so I was at least guaranteed a third place. But getting two awards is kinda stoking!
As occasionally happens with my surname, I became a Hill for a while, until Fi got it changed. I didn't really care, the unexpected award was nice enough. I got a couple of certificates, some decals, and a model I had been thinking of buying at some point, which was cool. Also in a fine example of geek humour, this was spotted in a line up of tanks.

Ups and downs

Listening another comp. "Must go faster". A comp of very fast and up songs to drive/motivate/cheer up to. Like say "I wanna be a nudist" by Regurgitator and "Ty Cobb" by Soundgarden, and "Dirty Beats" by Roni Size and Reprazent.

Realised a couple of things this week.

1. I am somewhat stressed. The primary cause of that stress is my job.
2. I am merely doing my job properly for the sake of professionalism and perfectionism, not because I am actually interested in it anymore.
3. My head has a big bundle of negative energy (I can actually feel the tension between my eyes. Feels like a sinus headache) in it at the moment, which expresses by popping up terrifying thoughts at random moments.
4. This scared me until I realised it is just my brain trying to unload.
5. However, this has not stopped me from being worried about being stressed, which doesn't really help matters.

I am determined to find a new job, and actually do it this time, not like three or four other times I have said that in the past couple of years. If any of you who know me personally come across anything that strikes you as perfect for me, let me know. Tips, suggestions welcome.
Something that lets me not work nights and weekends preferred.

Had a good game of netball tonight. OK, so the opposition was all inexperienced girls on the court (where were their menfolk?), and they were all shorter than me, so in a sense it was clubbing baby seals, but it was the endorphinic game I needed.

I have been notified that I now form a small part of the ever interesting spanblather. Thank you span, I hope I don't disappoint. That goes for any spannerers that journey here from there.

Welcome.

Season of not quite suck

Listening to: Burned-Electrafixion

Okay so the Tuesday pick me up game didn't work. I am officially in what a sports hack would call a 'form slump'. I'm also chronically not getting enough sleep, and finding my job really unstimulating at the moment, which may be contributory factors.

Still there is hope. While Fi picked up a freebie after our scheduled match, I had a look around and picked up a freebie with none other than Rob Malcolm, who will be known to some readers. It was well fun, and I had a really good instinctual game, and shot some glorious two's over much taller than me defenders.

Perseverance will be rewarded. I will regain my mojo.

Way cool to play with Rob again. He was in the original dynasty team I played in at Cuba Street, 1997-1998 ish. I mentioned to Rob's team mates that we had played together a long time ago, and he said it was "half a lifetime", which isn't far from the truth. Still as tall and reachy as ever (Notkate, imagine a taller rangier version of Booner).
Didn't have time to catch up properly unfortunately. Social sport is like that.
Also Rob's game was umpired my favourite umpire, which was refreshing, as he is the best umpire I can think of, and I thought he had retired. And he knows me from Newtown. It feels good to have an umpire personally welcome you onto the court.

Now I have to go work on the sleep deficit.

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

The season of suck

Listening to: Wammo-Bailterspace. "The rockets have landed, the spacemen are stranded, not where they wanna beeee......"

You need a minder to be out here
The ground floor carpark at Queensgate (Hutt locals never call it Westfield), is apparently rated PG. This has potentially interesting permutations. I wonder if there is an R18 carpark somewhere.

The season of suck continues. Monday is normally my favourite netball night with my favourite netball team, but this season is different. Somehow we've been graded too high, and every week it feels like we are getting our arses handed to us on a plate by 20+ points or more. Losing by 10 or so is okay. At least you were competitive. Once you start getting up into the 15+ range thats the kicking zone. There is nothing wrong with our team, its just that the others in our grade are a lot better (if proof were needed, tonight we played a bunch of players who play for teams I have trialled for but failed to get into. I am not the best player in my team, but you get the point).

Its demoralising. When most of your plays get shut down with little or no apparent effort from the opposition, it starts feeling like you don't have any skill, knowledge, or clues. Irrational I know, but I'm talking subjectives here. My court confidence is taking a hammering. I'm trying not to let it, but meh it is starting to affect my game, so at times I am playing like I have no skill, knowledge or clues. I hate not enjoying my netball. It is one of my tools of happiness (working on a post about that D3vo!), and I don't like it being dysfunctional.

I acknowledge I'm being slightly hypocritical, in that I enjoy thrashing an opposition on occasion. It does get boring if you do it every week though (been there, done that).

My Thursday team is also suffering an absence of fun at times. Brand new team, not all the players have skills, experience or clues, which can make it really hard at times. Fun when it comes together though. They will be really good when the new folks have some nous.

It's times like these when I go running back to the Tuesday night team I occasionally play for. They are in a fairly casual grade, and are excellent rebuilders of mojo.

It's times like these that I remind myself that you have to lose to enjoy winning.

It's times like these you learn to live again. It's times like these you give and give again. It's times like these you learn to love again. It's times like these time and time again.

Thanks Foo Fighters! (said to the cadence of the old Honeypuffs commercial).

I'm not the hardest core Foo Fighters fan in the world, but they have a peculiar habit of writing a new favourite song for me about once an album. 'This is a call' from the debut, 'Everlong' from The colour and the shape, 'Times like these' from One by one, 'Best of You' from In your honour. I saw one of the innumerable clips from Nirvana's MTV unplugged on C4 the other day, and had a hard time reconciling Dave Grohl then with the modern version.

Shout out Yo

Thanks to all peoples who made our gathering yesterday for Fi's birthday. 'Twas cool fun.