Challenge redux results 1 : Lauren's List

Right, the results are in from the photo challenge. I'm going to post each list separately, otherwise it just gets crazy.

To be eligible, a target had to be visible from a moving car on State Highway One. Several submissions failed to adhere to this dictum and were ignored.


1. "Kiwi Bird Highway sign"

There aren't any on SH1 between Wellington and Auckland


2. "A Sign with a cheesy Bull related pun in Bulls"

Try the Rat Hole pub in Bulls. Its remark-a-bull.

3. "The Giant Carrot at Ohakune"

Not on SH1

4. "The monument for the 1953 Tangiwai Rail disaster"

Not on SH1

5. "A Fish and Chips Shop, possibly in Paraparaumu"

"Snappers" Fish and Chip shop in Paraparumu. Used to be a hot bread shop a loooooong time ago.

6. "A wild horse sign on the highway"

Near Turangi. Note how much nicer the weather is than the last time we went looking for these Lauren!

7. "A Beautiful Sunset"

Missed the first two out of the three sunsets on offer, but I caught this at Paekakariki on the way home

8. "A winding road sign for a distance of over 2okm"

There aren't any on the stretch of SH1 I travelled. There might be some north of Auckland though

9. "Mt Ruapehu"

Was closed in by cloud when I passed by, so here is a shot I took when passing by in February this year. Looks different with no snow on it eh?

10. "Somebody wearing a beret or fedora or some other equally entertaining piece of headware.

I'm not sure how I was supposed to get that from a passing car, but in the event I didn't see any anyway. However at the airshow I did see this interesting man with ribbons in his hair, so made an exception to the competition rules. You had to see this.

Game on

Right I'm off to Auckland for the weekend then.

And I have a list.......
Let the challenge commence.

Still not too late to submit en route by txt!

48 hours to comply

Listening to: the radio Actually, no I'm not, since the radio got boring, so now I am listening to Nobody Town - Heavy Jones Trio

Photo Challenge Redux
Two years ago I drove up to Auckland on my lonesome to attend an Airshow. Having no-one to talk to, and pondering ways to stay alert, I hit upon a blog driven photo challenge to keep me occupied on the drive. I elicited targets from my readers, and it was wildly successful, in the way that only a man taking random pictures of things at the side of the road can be.

The initial challenge call is here
The results are here

So two years on after a planned family trip to the AK was scaled back, and scaled back again, I find myself facing 18 odd hours of solo tedium, which singing out loud badly can only go so far to relieve (although the airshow in the middle should help a bit, and hopefully my choice of campsite).

So who's up for a rematch?

The rules are simple. Via the magic of comments, or txt if you have my number, or email if you have that, tell which things between Wellington and Auckland that are notionally visible from State Highway 1 you want a happy snap of.

I'll only apply two caveats:
1. Nothing from the previous list is allowed. Too easy. I posted the links so you could do your homework.
2. Anything requiring an interior shot that isn't a tunnel will not be eligible. Especially not the interior of public toilets, which I got a frankly alarming number of requests for last time.

Whoever gets the most targets photographed gets a prize.

Since this trip is being done on an exact and tight budget, I'm also willing to run a side sweepstake on how far I'll get on a single tank of petrol by employing hypermiling (ah, where would we be without Wikipedia? Probably a little bit smarter I think) techniques. On my last trip up I got to the far side of Hamilton (about 530 km) before needing a refill. Since at a stretch I can get that sort of milage around town, I'm thinking a big improvement can be gained on the open road. Guess the best milage out of a tank I get and you get a prize.

I'm setting off at around 0700 on Friday morning, so you have until then to get your requests in.

***
Other Stuff

Homegrown was a lot of fun. I spent most of it revisiting old and good times, embracing the fact that in recent years I have diversified into listening to several genres, at heart I am a rocker.

Fur Patrol never really went away, although they are nothing like as visible now as they were in the late nineties and early oughts. Still a much better band live than they ever were recorded.
I had never seen Dimmer live before, so had no idea what to expect, but I do have one of their albums, so my expectation of effects laden fuzz rock turned out to be right on. I thought to be fair I should have gotten a picture that includes the band as well as Shane Carter, but since for all intents and purposes he is Dimmer, he can suffice (I mean, can anyone name any other members off the top of their heads?). If you don't know ho he is, google the name and follow the links around for a while.

I was hanging out to see Hutt rockers Weta, since I wasn't yet a fan the last time I saw them play (Supporting Soundgarden at The Wellington Town Hall in 1996). I didn't really get into them until they had ceased to function, albeit after revealing a very 'grows on you' album in 2000. Reforming just for this event, they stated that this was to be their last gig, so I am glad I was there. And it was a good set, they were tight for a band that hasn't toured in ten years, and played all of my favourites. It got a bit weird at the end when they had one too many hangers on on stage, but it was so worth it.

But what me and a whole lot of other people were also hanging out for was seeing the almighty Head Like A Hole (later shortened to HLAH) reformed. And they owned it like they had never been away, the best gig from anyone I have seen in a while. They have always been one of my favourite live acts. The music was loud and tight, and the banter truly kiwi rock and roll (including a hilarious send up of fellow festival performers Evermore). HLAH reminded everybody of just why they are local legends of the game.

Fur Patrol, Weta and HLAH were all prominent bands in the Wellington scene in the 1990's. Now the Wellington scene (for lack of a better word) seems to be a bit dub heavy (more about that later), but back then it was all rock baby. At the time I felt a certain pride and ownership that these bands (and others) were making good music in my city, and they were from my city, it was exciting. Revisiting it was a whole lot of fun, and more than a little wistful. Plus it was evident that while I always thought of them as 'ours' in the sense of being Wellington bands, a whole lot of people came to see them on Saturday because they thought of them as 'ours' in the sense of being New Zealand bands, which was cool.

I was a bit moany about the scheduling on Saturday, and still am a little bit (I missed Concord Dawn entirely, caught the end of Supergroove's set, and didn't realise Shapeshifter were still playing until after I had left), but overall it was nice not to travel anywhere to go to a decent one day music event, and I really enjoyed it.

Too much choice Bro!

Heading off to Homegrown in a couple of hours, and some difficult decisions about which stage and set to catch. The classic festival dilemma. I understand that scheduling is a fine art, but sometimes it feels like you are only allowed to be into one genre at these things.

The first decision is where to park the car. Fortunately there isn't anyone on stage I want to see until 4 or so, so I have plenty if time to resolve that issue.

First on my list according to the published schedule is Fur Patrol at 1625. All good, no clashes yet, at least until Tiki starts at 1640. I figure I will half and half on those sets.

Nothing much happening between then and 6 or 7. I might use the time to explore, or see The Black Seeds at 6, but I am not that into them at all, so might try and find some food, or check out the merch.

At 7 I have a choice of Dimmer or OpShop. Hmmmm, Dimmer methinks.

Then the real hard choices start to come thick and fast. I've been hanging out to see State of Mind perform for a while, and the start of their set at 8 is free, but then both Weta and Blindspott get started on different stages at 2025. Do I abandon two, or try and see bits of all three?

It only gets worse from here on in. Concord Dawn take over from State of Mind at 2130, another act I have wanted to see for a while, but also at the same time as Shapeshifter who I also want to see. To make things even more complicated, Supergroove and Head Like A Hole start at 2145.

At a Big Day Out once I blew off The Red Hot Cilli Peppers to go see HLAH, and never regretted it. That said, at another BDO I dropped Joe Strummer for Scribe, which I rue very much.

Wish me luck.....

20 years ago

Listening to: A mix comp still on the hard drive. Currently playing 'Progress' by Midnight Oil.

I'm also listening to Charlotte coughing and spluttering as she deals with her first cold. Given that her lungs put together equate to less than half of one of mine, this is no easy thing. She only has little lungs.

I realised a little while ago that it is now twenty years since I started secondary school (high school for you foreign readers). The eighties seem a long long way away now.

The summer of 1988-89 is one I remember as lots of sunny days, which sounds silly but I don't remember the rainy ones. For Christmas I had received my first proper point and shoot autofocus camera (which I still have, and is still functional), in preparation for my first overseas trip at the end of 1989. I would see in the new decade at a house party in Sunderland in the northeast of England. A lot of time was spent at the beach or at the river, or just messing around as you do when you are in your teens. It was the last summer we had the use of the bach at Raumati South which we had frequented for the last five years. I hated to leave it behind, since the place and location were awesome. We would go up there for a week at a time during the holidays and basically do nothing but swim and play boardgames, occasionally going up to Coastlands or Waikanae. The last day I was there there was a high overcast with no wind and no swell. It was grey and still and matched my mood perfectly.

I had a paper run delivering the Evening Post six nights a week, which earned me about $30 per month in pocket money, which was reasonable money for a tween at the time.

Fluoro was definitely king, with pastel a close queen. David Lange was still Prime Minister. Walkmans were still a relative novelty, as were pushbutton phones. Cellphones were the preserve of the wealthy only. Def Leppard had released 'Hysteria' a year earlier, GnR's 'Sweet Child of Mine' was similarly only a year old, and together they were the summer soundtrack. The last dance at the intermediate Form Two disco was the number one cover of 'Sweet Lovers' by local band The Holidaymakers. On the night after the last day of intermediate there was a Blue Light Disco (dances for underage kids organised and promoted by the police) at the town hall, which I remember taking a break from to watch a bushfire on the hills near where I lived. Bushfires on the eastern hills used to be a regular occurrence, and this one in particular was comparatively large. You can still see where the burn was today. The Blue Light is a fun memory now, lots of early teen boys and girls thrown together with not real idea of what to do with each other. I was looking forward to seeing the first decade change I would remember, and being able to say I was in the last class of the 80's at my new school.

Its probably got a lot to do with changing schools, but 1989 doesn't feel like part of the 1980's at all.

I was in the top part of the school academically at my intermediate, to the point where myself and a few others can been considered worthy enough to try out for a scholarship exam at college. I remember the exam, but not exactly when it was, but late 1988 sometime.

After attending St Bernards intermediate, my preference was to move on to the college located across the playing field, most of my friends were going there, and I liked being a ten minute walk from school. Having been reserved a place at St Patricks Silverstream at the age of four however, remaining local was never an option.

I think the first day was late January of 1989. My parents have a picture of me at the front gate setting off for the train station, on a sunny summer morning. Being all of 12, and not turning 13 until the latter part of the year, I was the youngest of the 600 odd roll by a long way. I don't remember the first day. Catching the train would have been no big deal, since I had been doing that to get to primary school anyway, and was a seasoned train traveller. I remember hot summer afternoons in a new (and surprisingly comfortable) uniform, being indoctrinated into the lore and ways of a new school (like learning the haka and school song), and the vastness of the playing fields in the sunlight.

I soon found a like minded niche, collectively known as the 'Nerd Herd', and got settled, as much as you ever get settled at high school. Mixing with boarders from other parts of the country was a novel experience. Third form camp was fun, marred only by one guy breaking his pelvis falling from a positively dangerous variation on a flying fox mechanism. I encountered for-real exams at the end of the year, accompanied by my first experience of stress induced indigestion. I played soccer in the winter, and enjoyed that too, despite being forced to play for my school instead of the club I had previously played for. I met friends who I still make time for today.

I also tried to get my head around the fact that I would spend the next five years of my life at this institution. Back then it seemed like forever.

Finally!

I noticed this a couple of weeks ago:
Someone (not me, although I threatened to do it many times) has corrected the Ian Curtis mural on Wallace Street in the central Wellington suburb of Mount Cook. If it had been me I suspect I would have done a better job and not used pale pink to cover white.
This went up about three years ago around the time of the 25th anniversary of Curtis' death.

And has bugged me ever since, especially since I drive past it every time I go to netball or Frisbee. Over three years thats a lot of vision.

I mean if you care enough about the man, and are motivated to risk a wilful damage charge to express that feeling, surely you would get the dates right? Curtis' lifespan as painted was 1960-1981. Which isn't right. He was alive from 1956-1980, as our intrepid editors have rightly corrected. Well, attempted to correct at least.

Maybe Budgie knows more about all this. After all, Budgie RULZ:
PS, if you are wondering who Ian Curtis is, google "Love Will Tear Us Apart", and follow the links around for a while.

Build a bridge

We three braved the elements on Saturday to explore the first part of the Dowse to Petone interchange to actually get finished. I'd been wanting to take some pictures of the project for a while for various reasons (one being seeing it every day in various states while commuting to the hospital to visit Charlotte back in September), so sod the rain, we were in.

Letting people explore a major works project before it opens to traffic is a neat idea. The gold coin donation went to Te Omanga, and it lets people connect with what could otherwise be an impenetrable piece of architecture.

Plus wandering around on foot in a place where it will shortly be very dangerous to do so has a certain cheap thrill frisson to it:
I like watching things come together and seeing them in a half finished state, especially when you can follow progress over a period of months.

Some finishing touches were still being applied around us

And it will be cool to tell someone years from now that they were here when it was brand new.

Having ambled over it on foot, I have since driven over it since it opened yesterday. It has straight bit on the bridge part that is just straight enough to make your indicator self cancel when you need it to not do that, and the slip road back down to the motorway is a little bit short and angled for the required merge. That said the Hutt road entry and exit is really good, with good sightlines for oncoming traffic and clear signposting.

Also it was opened yesterday and has already been tagged. Admittedly it was supporting one of the schools participating in the McEvedy Shield athletics comp presumably held today (since I saw other exhortations in a simliar theme along the rest of the motorway into town), rather than graph art, but that has to be some kind of record time wise.

Carnival 2

More carnival madness, from the night parade this time.

Carnival 1

Listening to: Breathe - Midnight Oil

Some imagery from Wandering around the Petone Fair and Cuba Street Carnival on Saturday:

More to come, here and on Facebook. I was three shots shy of filling the memory card by the time the night parade ended.....

Shiver me timbers

Listening to: Doubt-Jesus Jones

Not quite a sunset, but a very pretty sky at about 7:30 tonight.
While it can look nice, cloud thickening to the west is seldom a good thing in these parts. Tonight it is quite humid, warm and still. That and the sky at dusk hints there is stormy weather on the way.

Intuition and experience aside, also telling me stormy weather is on the way is metservice.

Some battening down of hatches may in order for Friday.

Musings

Listening to: 1965-The Afghan Whigs. As close to a perfect album as I have in my collection, in the way that there isn't a bad track on it.

Firstly I invite you all to behold the glory that is my daughter in her Christening gown (click to biggify):
To be fair, it is the family baptismal gown, having been made for my mother (although she didn't manage to wear it for her christening), and worn for most of my family baptisms ever since, including my cousins and my siblings and I, and the various niblings.

Charlotte was baptised yesterday morning at the church her parents were married in (St James Anglican), and made it to the church her father grew up in (St's Peter and Paul Catholic) for a blessing at the evening service. She's come a long way since the NICU.

And she slept through the whole thing. Sometimes I can only marvel at how cool she is.

***

In other news, I am currently shopping for a replacement zoom lens for my camera. The minolta 75-300mm zoom I inherited from my previous body, has served me well, but may be starting to get a little tired and worn, which isn't surprising given that it is about ten years old, and has endured some pretty rough environments.
While browsing for another 300mm, I hit on the idea of upgrading to something bigger, 400mm or even 500mm. 300mm is only just adequate for the airshow work I like to think I specialise in, and I have been hankering after something better for a long time.
The only problem is that zooms start out expensive, and costs increase exponentially it seems with length. For a new anything 400mm or greater you won't get much change this side of $1200. For 500mm the change comes out of $2000 or more. This isn't for a camera, this is just for a lens.
I'm currently eyeing a compatible 400mm on trademe. The good news is its cheap. The bad news is its cheap at only a couple of hundy, but I am not sure I want to shell that much on what could prove to be merely a learning experience.

***
As noble as it sounds, I am still trying to make riding to work habitual instead of casual. The fact that I live on a 700ft ish hill may have something to do with it. The psychological (and literal) mountain doesn't bother me at the end of the day; it has the most effect at the beginning, when I am lying in bed trying to convince myself to ride.
Still, I rode today, and had the immense satisfaction of passing 50 or so jammed cars on the motorway at the stately pace of 30kph.

***

Due to the christening, I missed out on round the bays. I did it last year, purely as a fitness test. I figure it could become a useful annual ritual in this regard. Not Kate did it this year, although she walked, the pansy. That said, had she run, the story might not have been nearly so entertaining.

***

I watched the new 'Top Town' last night, and was immediately disappointed that the nearest team to my home (and hence the one I was obligated to support) was Masterton. Masterton! One of my least favourite towns (for no particular reason, I just don't like the place. I like the airfield at Masterton, but the town itself has never enamoured me). Still, they got eliminated, so next week I can support whomever my fickle ways decide.
The original series from the 1980's is now a fading memory. It used to be a travelling thing, I remember that, since the new one appears to be exclusively located at a Christchurch water park. The new challenges appear to be all water borne, which also differs from the original. I loved the original, and in the great tradition of lacklustre remakes, I was expecting the new one to be not as rewarding. Luckily I was disappointed, since the new version is not altogether bad if sunday night silliness is you're thing.
That and sprains. While the padding should eliminate lacerations and broken bones, it seems tailor made for hyper extension or contraction of limbs and appendages. Which adds to the visual fun I suppose. Wouldn't be any fun without painful looking and inelegant falls and sprawls.

***

And finally, a shout out to the legendary D3vo, who is parking up his blog for a while. As a constant source of interesting reading, and one of the inspirations for this blog, its been fun. I offer a metaphorical salute, and await its return when the time is right.

Hot summer nights

Listening to: Led Zeppelin III, which I found at the Warehouse for $9.99. Bought mainly because it has 'Gallows Pole' on it. Score!

So when it is a hot humid windless moonlight night in Tauranga, and it feels like you're in Fiji rather than New Zealand, and its too hot and sweaty to sleep, what do you do when you are staying in a place like this?
Go down to the beach and take pictures in the moonlight of course

You're awake anyway, may as well explore new surroundings

Its amazing though what can be acheived when you leave your tripod at home and have to improvise. Trees and washed up tree trunks become your friends

The stillness and silence was absolute, and almost alien to this Wellingtonian. Very cool.

The Art of Nails

Listening to: Further down the spiral-Nine Inch Nails

A brief primer to the sport of Nails

As introduced to this land by a certain WA Reptile

The equipment required is illustrated below:

In this case, the game board is close to ideal size, however any flat circular wooden surface wider than a dozen centimeters can be used if required, provided the surface to be struck is end grain.

Once willing players are found, each can choose a nail for themselves, and marks it by placing a finger upon it. This is important, as it signifies to the player which nail must remain standing in order to win the game, and of course which nail the player should avoid hitting.
Here the nails have been chosen, and the hammer is visible being elevated ready for starting player selection:

The hammer is spun to select the starting player:
Once play commences, three throw options are available to the player:
1. Straight in front. When successfully completed this awards one hit.
2. Under the leg. When successfully completed this awards two hits.
3. Behind the back. While the most difficult, this awards the player three hits.

To successfully complete a throw, the hammer must complete at least one 360 degree evolution in the air, before being caught on the handle only. Catching above the handle or dropping the hammer forfeits the throw, and the player must consume the amount of drinks being competed for. The hammer must be thrown, caught, and wielded in one continuous movement. Pauses for target selection and grip adjustment are not permitted, and will result in a forfeit of the turn, and commensurate consumption of drinks.

If successful, the player can hit the nail(s) of their choice. If the nail is struck, that nails player hit must consume one drink. If the nail is not struck, the wielding player must consume one drink.

If a nail is struck and sparks are generated, all players must consume one drink.

If a nail has been struck so that either; 1. A fingernail cannot be inserted under the complete circumference of the nail head or 2. the nail does not cast a shadow, that nails player is eliminated and takes no further part in the game.

Disagreements regarding eliminations can be referred to the other players for adjudication.

When all but one nails have been eliminated, the owner of the last nail standing is declared the winner.

Here the In Front, and Behind The Back throwing techniques are being demonstrated:

Safety equipment can be employed if available, but is not mandatory. Here two players demonstrate correct use of safety equipment:

The following pictures demonstrate correct hammer holding technique and general gameplay:

For added interest, the game board may be soaked in beer. This has been shown to both aid accuracy and increase spectator participation via the splash effect when a nail is struck:

Although entertaining, repeated rounds of nails combined with beering the board can quickly decrease the amount of beer available:

This concludes the description of the basic Nails game.

Other variants of the basic game suitable for more advanced players have been discussed if not yet evaluated:

Big Bang Nails

Each nail is coated in gunpowder prior to gameplay commencing, crowned by a capgun style explosive cap. Recommended for night-time competitions.

Strip Nails

May be employed when the beer runs out. Single throws only allowed, with items of clothing removed replacing drinks consumed

Run-up nails

Players are allowed to stand at some remove from the board, and approach the board at a run to deliver their strikes. The hammer must remain in motion at all times, preferably in a Pete Townshend arm windmilling action.

John Woo nails

Two hammers are employed, one in each hand. Simultaneous throws double the amount of hits on offer. An extra hit is awarded if strikes are delivered while diving sideways toward the game board. Delivering strikes with the hammer held sideways will result in a turn forfeit.

Industrial Super Heavy Duty Action nails

Employs railroad spikes and 10 pound sledgehammers, and ideally a fir tree stump or larger. Handle restrictions relaxed to include the whole handle, as there is no separate grip for these hammers. All basic throws allowed. For expert players only.

Happy Nailing everyone!