I had a good weekend. Saturday morning started with a run, and I did my ordinary route coming back on Mulgrave and found I could have run longer. The route took about 15 minutes, which is pretty quick for me, so I must be getting fitter and running more than walking!
Then Lee and I had brunch at Arizona (Mmmm flapjacks) and he bought me some very nice and very expensive running shoes. I tried them out briefly in the afternoon, jogging to the supermarket and back to pick up some stuff we'd forgotten earlier.
We had an impromptu dinner party with Seraph, Zephfi and Jase and that was very nice indeed. Ate roast beef, brownie cheesecake and icecream and played Shadows Over Camelot. We won! Yays yays! I played Sir Percival, the knight with the pansy heart shape on his chest plate. I got the grail and then spent most of the rest of the game in Camelot healing and kicking siege engines.
Sunday was a blustery rainy mess of a day, so no run for me. Instead I finished the task I was supposed to hand in weeks ago for school, messed about on line and did some patchwork.
In the afternoon we visited Lee's sister and family and admired their new 42inch LCD TV. Lee's sister is unsure of the size and thinks it is too big. It is very big, but I'm used to the projector so... *shrug*. Swearing niece was in good spirits and demanded Lee read a Thomas the Tank Engine book to her three times.
After that Giffy came over to work on her wedding invites, and I sat and quilted swearing niece's quilt. I'm getting it done quite quickly because of watching all this Quite Interesting. Man, I love QI. It's just so entertaining and educational. Did you know, for instance that the largest living thing on earth is not the Blue Whale? It's a honey mushroom in some big National park in America. The mushroom's root system spans like, the whole park or something.
Today dawned bright and sunny so I got up and went for the long run I had intended yesterday. It was the same one I did the day before my birthday, up Hobson, along Tinakori and back along Hawkestone and Molesworth. I did it in about 25 minutes, so I'm feeling well pleased with myself. After about the halfway mark my right ankle started giving me gyp, complaining about all this bending I was making it do.
My right shin started getting shooting pains too, I think I can officially call it shin splints, since it continued to hurt a while after I finished and running my finger up and down the muscle gives me pain. Just writing about seems to have caused it to flare a little again...I don't know what that's about. Anyway, I let myself walk the last bit and that seemed to ease it a little and then I did some squats on the balance ball and that definitely worked the right area, although that hurt some too.
I am wearing pink/pink superstripes, grey and white striped long sleeve t with black Kapcon t over top, pink hoodie over all that and denim pleated skirt. My shoes are my black nosweats and I feel cute, although suspect I will get cold as the day gets more and more Southerly-tastic.
Le sigh.
PoF: cute!
CO: running? Socks! School work
Last night was the Revival of one of my most favourite roleplaying games ever: Slayers East. It was wicked cool. Giffy and I were late due to miscommunication (quarter to six, not quarter past six!) but once we got our character sheets sorted, Morgue spieled for a while and we started up.
In the interests of reintroducing the characters it was mostly framed around the return of Giffy's character CC to Exeter. Thrown into this equation was the spell over the Slayer household which meant none of us could remember anything about the supernatural. Too cool.
I got some quotes down, but I don't suppose they'll mean much to anyone who wasn't there. I got to have an awesome moment when I regained my memory and went all hard-core kick-ass slayer, and Morgue even simulated a cheesy crash zoom into my face for the reaction.
I am getting excited about the next Jenni's Angels project, which hopefully we'll get started filming in a couple of weeks. I'm a bit anxious to start sooner, but there's no real need to.
PoF: didn't want to get up
CO: itchy nose and hot chips for lunch
on the home stretch towards my 100th entry! How exciting is that?
Today I am....
..pleased that the general consensus of the audience was to skip the horribly sad Horse Dies in Sadness Swamps scene in Neverending Story last night.
..looking super cute in checked skirt, black frilled socks from Giffy from Japan, red boots, Jenni's Angels tshirt, multi-stripe arm warmers and pigtails.
...excited about the revival of Slayer's East tonight. Should have brought my camera, but so excited anyway.
..supporting my friends by buying my own copy of Shadows Over Camelot from Conan. That's what it is, supporting my friends. Nothing to do with having no willpower at all.
..done reading a graphic novel called Killer Princesses about a sorority of uhm, princesses who are deadly assassins, but totally clueless. It's by Simone Gail and is terribly funny.
..dissatisfied with how Logan is in the new season of Veronica Mars. I like him fiestier.
..pleased that I am nearly finished my current course work and can start on the next lot.
..craving chocolate with nuts inside it. Might pop up to the garage for afternoon tea.
..looking forward to seeing my Slayers East friends as well as actually playing the game. Haven't seen Muggle since she got back from Thailand!
PoF: super cute!
CO: Slayers East!
The Pelorus Trust Sky Show will be held on Saturday 4 November at 9.00pm in the Wellington Harbour. The 15 minute spectacular will be fired from three barges using the best international selection of special effects, pyrotechnics and the latest display technology. The display is musically choreographed and will be broadcast on 91ZM. A must see!
PoF: I am ever my teddy
CO: sunshine!
Bits from my weekend:
Friday night played Shadows over Camelot again, and I loved it even though we lost to the forces of darkness. Stupid Morgan card taking away our life just as I was about to beat the Black Night. Grumble.
Pleasant Saturday afternoon with patchwork and movie writing, something about sitting around with friends and creating something together in a low-key way is very very nice.
Saturday night party, crazy Waikato supporter screamy lady was a bad thing. Catching up with old friends is an awesome thing. Especially awesome is constructing a whole story set in a similar universe and populated with friends over the course of an evening. My Life as a Superhero (or alternate title) is totally going to get written.
Sunday was nice and relaxing, got some school work done and let myself do some patchwork as well. Met up with my parents-in-law and saw An Inconvenient Truth. They came out changed. My Father in law, who is quite the down-to-earth skeptic was saying that the movie should be free to view and shown in schools. I pointed out this would probably happen when it comes out on DVD but you do get the sense that people need to change their lives now.
Dinner at Kazu was very good, although they don't make okonomiyaki anymore and that makes me a very sad panda. Didn't get any takoyaki either...*runs off to cry*
Monday I started with a run. I was doing that sleeping in thing where you doze a little and then wake up over and over and I didn't want to feel dopey for the rest of the day. It was a nice morning for it actually, if a little cold. My legs were pretty happy to be running but the cold hurt my chest a bit. I managed quite a lot of running and came in at only 20 minutes for my slightly extended up and round Tinakori and back along Mulgrave route. I'll have to start going further if I want to be running longer.
Lunch with my family was nice followed by more school work. I got a lot done so that's very good of me.
Lee and I have been watching this TV show from the BBC called QI which stands for Quite Interesting. It's a panel show hosted by Stephen Fry where the panel (which changes apart from Alan Davies, who is Jonathan Creek) has to answer very obscure questions but they get more points for being interesting. I learned heaps from watching it, and it's really funny because a lot of the people they have on are comedians. Bill Bailey has been in two that we've watched so far.
PoF: black and white and warm
CO: hotdog for lunch maybe?
Edited actual good news! Lowest road toll for thirty years for Labour Weekend.
I could have been a teenage model.
When I was about eleven I was in a tearoom (cafes weren't quite around yet for my family) on Lambton Quay and I noticed this woman staring at me. She met my eyes and gave me this huge smile and eventually approached my mum and introduced herself. Her name was Trudy and she ran a 'grooming school' for girls. She thought I was pretty enough to get modelling work and gave us the number of an agent in town.
Mum did the necessary legwork and I got some jobs posing for cover images for knitting patterns. We'd go to this weird old studio in a warehouse or something over Newtown way after school and I'd have to put on skirts (which I hated. I *never* wore skirts at this age) and some handknitted jersey and pose on a background. The make-up woman was really grumpy, I remember her getting really annoyed that I didn't understand how to look up properly for eyeliner application and I didn't like her coming at my eyes anyway.
A couple of times I posed with the 'Chocolate Wheaten' boy. You remember that ad, with the mother and the son arguing over which was the best bit? "It's the Chocolate!" "It's the wheaten!". Yeah, him. He was shorter than me, and he could smile all big and fake whenever they asked. I would get tired and stop smiling after a while, because it was boring and uncomfortable work. This actually led to my personal favourite image which is me in a red checked dress and cream knit cardigan with a floppy black hat on, my hair brushed out. I am standing in front of a fake wooden fence with the chocolate wheaten boy and I'm pouting moodily and he's got this huge fake grin. I have one leg up, with my foot against the wood and my hands may be behind my back. It's cool.
This must have gone on for most of my second form year. I also appeared in an ad, one of those referendum ads with the camera interrogating people about the referendum as they tried to go about their lives. It was the one with the woman arriving home, and eventually slamming the door in the cameras face. Me and another girl were in school uniforms in the street behind her, propping up a bike and pretending to read a consumer magazine. I had fun with that girl, pretending that the consumer was something very exciting for us. We filmed that out in Churton Park somewhere.
Just before the start of third form I went to a casting call for a pharmacy ad. This is that one with a little blonde kid as the mascot. "Monday's child is brave of face. Tuesday's child has fallen from grace, etc" We (me and my Mum) spent the whole day out at some studio somewhere with all the other kids. I made another girlfriend there who I never met again. She told me a joke about a poo sandwich.
Eventually we all went down to the fake pharmacy set and the whole group of kids was arranged in a mob. We had to pretend there was something wrong with us and pull pained expressions. I held my belly and made out I had a tummy ache, apparently I did well, because they asked me to come back for actual filming but it coincided with the first day of third form and orientation for my high school so I said no.
In retrospect, I probably should have done it. That ad campaign lasted years man, and the rollover pay that I got even for showing up that first day was pretty sweet. On the flip side, they may have decided that I was "Thursday's child has period pain" and I could never had lived *that* down at Wellington Girls.
I was offered some TV work later on, if I turned in a proper portfolio, but I'd become stubborn and a Moody Teenager(tm) by then, so I refused. I so should have continued on. I could have made so much money!
PoF: warm enough for Jenni's Angels
CO: weekend
I have been a good Jenni today (so far). I forced myself to go for a run this morning because I felt miserable and my eye was twitching and I woke up early. The run was not so easy, shouldn't leave a whole four days in between runs, so I went my old route of up Hobson back down Thorndon Qy. I did some extra laps of the Katherine Mansfield Memorial Park, which is actually what the lawn by the blind gardens is called.
Then I caught the train to work. Good Jenni.
I am reading 1602 by Neil Gaiman which was a birthday gift from Seraph and V. It's really very good, although there's a shapeshifting kid called Virginia Dare and I'm not sure who she's meant to be. I like the character of Daredevil a lot, and I think it's an artist who worked for Sandman: Endless Nights whom I really like doing the art. Lovely.
The Flight of the Conchords special last night was pretty cool, although a but cringe-tastic with the awful gigs they had to do.
In patchwork news I have a cunning plan for the backing for Giffy and Beau's wedding quilt. I want to blog about it, but I'm not sure if Giffy wants for it to be a surprise or not.
Oh! and I finished The End by Lemony Snicket and it's super awesome. I need more people to have read it so that I can talk about it.
PoF: Kauri cone flower
CO: more Shadows over Camelot tonight!
I thought about going for a run this morning, but I didn't. I should have, because now I'm feeling sleepy and cold and if I'd run this morning I wouldn't been feeling sleepy. I might still be cold though. But I had an attack of the lazies and did not run, which means I haven't run since Monday, because I am slack.
I watched my new Batman Forever DVD on Tuesday and Wednesday (in two parts) and yeah, I still like that movie. I hadn't remembered how camp Jim Carrey plays the Riddler though, and those are actually mostly-opaque tights he's wearing all through the movie, you can tell because the green is paler where it's tighter over his thighs. Brrrrr.
I used to own this movie on video and I watched it over and over and over as a teenager. A heap of the dialogue has stayed with me too..although Chris O'Donnell in the batmobile calling out "come for a little ride in my love machine baby!" is still cringe-tastic. I love the character, but that line...gah.
I have too much study to do and as it turns out, I'm not motivated to do it instead of watching the new Veronica Mars. I really want to do some more patchwork and pick up my scrapbooking again, so I'm gonna go hardcore on it all this weekend and get stuff done, I'll schedule it in with my mooching.
I went into Whitcoulls late yesterday afternoon and that was an awesome time to go in and spend my leftover birthday vouchers. It was the last hour of their special coupon sale and I got Piratica half price, one Meg Cabot Mediator book %30 off and another %25 off. I also picked up a hardcover copy of Across the Nightingale Floor for $3 and a children's sci fi for $3. If anyone else is keen on the $3 Nightingale, they have quite the stack at Whitcoulls Lambton Quay and it is an awesome book. So, five books for less than $40 = great shopping time!
PoF: cold, not enough layers
CO: sleepand not spending all my money at evin shire games on Shadows over Camelot and Chez Geek expansions....
Played Shadows over Camelot last night with my Tuesday night roleplaying group and it was freaking awesome.
It's a collaborative game with a roleplaying element...you aren't allowed to talk about the number values on your cards, but you can say things like "I require someone to deliver the killing blow for me." I got to be King Arthur, and since it is set after Guineviere has run off with Lancelot, I played bitchy, emo Arthur.
What you have to do is stop Camelot being overwhelmed, and you're being attacked on all sides and there are quests you have to complete as well. In one version of the game on of the characters is a traitor, but we played all good guys while we got a hang of it. The turn sequence requires you to advance evil and then do a heroic deed so I can see how you could succeed as a traitor quite easily.
Anyway, I enjoyed it a lot and highly reccommend it.
In other news, there's a Craftwerk fair on this Monday at the Southern Cross details can be found here. Check this out for an idea of the kinds of things that will be available.
PoF: interview
CO: see above
"Who will love me now?" is my new favourite song, it's by PJ Harvey and if anyone has a copy of it I would much appreciate to borrow it. As it is I have to keep going on youtube and watching the emo Logan from Veronica Mars video. Which isn't really that big of a trial, I'm just thinking an MP3 would be nice too.
Friday afternoon I went for a special long run, since I had the time and inclination. I went up Hobson St like normal, did a circuit of the blind gardens lawn and then up to Tinakori Rd. I ran along there, well, walked and ran and got angry at having to wait for the traffic lights so often and then came back on the Mulgrave St bridge, crossed at the Molesworth St lights and back home. It was a pretty hard run, but that was kind of the point. I wanted to push myself and get to where I'm jogging for about a half hour. I'm not that sure how long it took but it was longer than my usual run for sure.
My breathing was pretty good, it was my legs seizing up that held me back. That thing where your legs say 'nah, we're done running now. Thanks anyway.'
Shopping in town after a nice shower was fun, I bought pink sparkly earrings, a pink sparkly magic pendant, pink lipstick, a fun box of eyeshadow colours (the colour range is named "cheerleader" the brand name is "Chi chi") two books: Lemony Snicket The End and the new novel in the Otori series The Cry of the Heron. Then I went to Flying Burrito Brothers for dinner with Lee's parents and brothers and got a bit silly on one Corona (apparently running after lunch and not eating after that makes a 6pm Corona more potent). Then we had strawberry margaritas and they were so good. Mmmmm. I ate a Chicken mole enchilada and it was very good, although the sauce got a bit rich after a while. Churros to finish and it was all very delicious.
My birthday was very humid, the cloud was very low and the wind high. Lee gave me the complete Jonathan Creek on DVD which makes me a very happy panda. Then we missioned out to Petone to get Lighthouse vouchers for my brother and sister-in-law and over to my sister's place for family birthday fun. I gave my neice the Rainbow Fairy I made two years ago and she really liked it! It's always nice when your creations are appreciated.
I was given a book of Regency paper dolls, which are almost too nice to cut out and lots of scrapbooking stuff which makes me want to clear off my desk and actually do some scrapbooking. I'm on too much of a patchwork kick right now though. (I cut out the first block for Giffy and Beau's wedding quilt this morning!) Plus chocolate, a rose mug, a 'princess' necklace, and some other little things.
I had a nap in the afternoon, aaaaah luxurious birthday napping.
Lee and I arrived nice and early at Blend (I was all princessed up in my wedding dress and much pink make-up) and had some sitting around time since we really didn't need to get there that early. Blend was an awesome venue, the staff were so friendly and took wonderful care of me (I got free drinks and a big slice of chocolate birthday cake) and they gave us a 20% discount on food and drinks all night. I must write a nice email to the manager and let him know how much a I appreciated it. Also a special thank you to the Dread Pirate Roberts for being (overly) honourable all night.
Lots of people showed up, which was lovely. Thanks to everyone who came! Also thanks for all the presents! I went home and rolled around in them like Matt suggested. Yesterday I wore new socks, new necklace and new earrings out to the movies. I was looking through photos from the party this morning and unfortunately the low light setting on my camera is also the Mondo Red Eye on Everyone setting. If anyone else has photos I'd love to see them, I'll have to have some fun editing my pics before I can do anything with them.
Yesterday we went to see Little Miss Sunshine and that is very good. Kind of tragic-comedy-drama about the ridiculousness of modern life and the importance of family. I really loved it actually and the climax made me laugh so hard I cried. Bought some DVDs with birthday vouchers: Batman Forever, Batman and Robin and My Neighbour Totoro. Still have a few vouchers left because once you can buy anything, there's nothing you want.
This morning I went for another run, longer than my standard but not too long. Managed a lot of running which made me feel good. It was a nice morning for it, really. Warm in the sun but cool with the wind. Hopefully the promised Southerly change doesn't eventuate.
PoF: Be Afraid
CO: too many things to do
I read the newest Phyllis Reynolds Naylor "Alice" book in just over a day. I just adore them, as you'll no doubt remember. Alice has become my friend. C understands, she read the book this week as well. It was called Alice in the know and ended rather sadly I thought.
I shouldn't have read it so fast, but I have so much other stuff to read I couldn't help myself. I am half way through Monster Blood Tattoo which is a kind of Alaizabel Cray/Phillip Pullman -ish thing. I am quite enjoying it.
I also started Mirror, Mirror which is a Gregory Maguire book retelling Snow White but all mixed up with the Borgia family. I know nothing about the Borgias so it is quite interesting and I'm not far enough through yet that I'm hooked. I remember Wicked was quite hard to get into, it was really after the first part ended that I enjoyed it.
Re-watched the Little Mermaid last night, I still remember the words to every single song, which is not a surprise to me. It was my sister and my favourite album for about three years and we'd sing along on car trips to Taupo so....I was surprised to realise that Ariel does the fruit-cup girl thing to get the Prince to take her home off the beach right when she's first human. She's all "I'm so helpless and need a big strong man to take care of me!" just, without speaking, and he's all "I have to take care of you because you have no one else and you're so thin I worry you'll evaporate." (She really is very thin).
New Lost and new Veronica Mars were great like woah. I heartily approve of all this psychological theory showing up in TV. I don't want to give away spoilers so I'm just saying it's neat is all.
PoF: I remember why I don't wear this hoodie, it has a lingering pee-like smell WOVEN INTO THE FABRIC!
CO: wheeeeee My Birthday! I am getting excited!
Got a link through a livejournal buddy about how blogs are evil. My personal favourite part is when it says:
Because this article is EXTREMELY IMPORTANT, some may need to read it twice and use it as a stepping stone to further study on this subject.
That is how I'm going start all my blog entries from now on. Ans yeah, I'm going to keep blogging because I don't think that sharing information is evil and I think that reading other people's blogs opens people's minds and also pathways to understanding.
But what do I know?
I went for a jog today. I woke up early and tried and tried to go back to sleep but I couldn't. So I got up and Lee said from the bed "you are so good for getting up and going for a run" and then he went back to sleep for like, an hour. I ran my usual route, jogging quite a lot and battling with unstretchy hamstrings for a while. Stretching really helped and once I consciously tried to lift each leg and extend my stride it felt better too. I managed quite a bit of jogging, came home and did some excercises on the swiss ball. I'm not stiff at all today and my knees only made a minor complaint while running.
I should really do a longer route on the weekend. Probably Sunday, because something rankles about exercise on your birthday. I have tomorrow afternoon off work because I worked Saturday morning, I am going to buy myself some pink jewellery and the last Lemony Snicket book, I could maybe go for an afternoon run? Walk into town run home? Eh. I'll see how I feel tomorrow.
PoF: pink/black super stripes
CO: my birthday is soon
Morgue has been saying some pretty cool stuff about ways to change the world. Small group action discussion starts here.
Today he linked me to a really interesting place called Pledgebank where you go and say "I'll do (thing) if other people say they will too." I signed myself up for the 'donate clothes I don't wear to charity' one, since I do that anyway and she only needs a couple more people to meet quota. It seemed like a nice easy way to get started.
The nice thing about it is that they advertise their successes so you can see it works. All most people need is a little nudge and they can start doing things that make a difference, however small it may be.
Pof: getting warmer, fleece may come off
CO: bookcrossing
The End the final Lemony Snicket book comes out on Friday 13th of October. In just four days!
In the lead up the elusive Mr Snicket has published The Beatrice Letters which is an exquisite work of book art and reveals the answers to a couple of the mysteries.
There have also been a series of "Vile Videos" published online, the first is all 12 previous books in one minute, the middle is a strange video montage that I'm not sure I understood and the last one? Awesome, it's Mr Snicket himself. It's a great song and funny to watch and, aw just watch it. It's short like a minute long and the song is so catchy!
Tomorrow is going to be a rush. Work in the morning then home. Collected by lovely ride giving boy at 1 and then quick quick through Costume Cave and find something I can wear to my birthday (Rachel has planted the idea that I could be Michelle Pfeiffer Catwoman, so that's my new back-up plan if they don't have the bizarre purple confection I desire.)
Then it's up the coast for Roleplaying Madness and possible Corona drunkeness if I can borrow money off my husband for beer. Crazy Kapcon peeps! Fairy roleplaying! Spa pool! Yeah! I may even run my P&P game again. I'm going to take it with me anyway.
Aaaaand at some point on Sunday I come home.
In health-related news. Cutting back on wheat/gluten is hard, but it seems to improve my belly issues. I am still taking metamucil, drinking yoghurt everyday and aloe vera juice too. I am feeling better than I have in months.
I haven't run all week because the gail force Southerlies scare me. I shall do my balance ball DVD again either tonight or in the morning before work. I did do a teeny amount of running for the train on Wednesday: I was wearing my biker boots with the heel and no arch support and the train arrived just as I approached so I ran up the wee path, a strange bent over panicked run that really messed up my knees. My knees are still feeling weird today and I really wanted to wear my comfy sneakers but the rain meant it had to be boots so I went with the arch-supporty docs.
Brick has started at the movies. Go see! Go see! It's just so clever and funny and wow. And more and more people are seeing An Inconvenient Truth and that makes me a happy Al Gore-vangelist. That website again is: Climate Crisis (uhm, it plays music.)
I've been taking the train to work an average of three days a week since I've been back from the film festival. I don't like waiting for the train after I finish late on a Monday so I take the car then and then inevitably I have a meeting or something on one other day so I'll use the car that day too. This is a direct result from seeing Inconvenient Truth. Yesterday my brother-in-law made fun of me for using the car, when I'm so vehement about reducing my carbon emmissions, but I just found this quote on the cimate crisis website: "Avoiding just 10 miles of driving every week would eliminate about 500 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions a year"
and if the movie teaches us anything it's that every little bit counts, even if you can't see a result from your actions straight away.
PoF: warm
CO: busy weekend
well, all blogs are really about cats aren't they? In honour of Animal Week and Debbie, I will relate some stuff about the cats I have known.
I grew up with two cats: Thomasina (called Tommy) and Balinor Beau Brummel (Bowie).
Tommy was a Tortoiseshell and White shorthair that we had since I can't remember so I must have been very young. She was generally considered to be my sister's cat, they had a real bond. Even if Tommy was comfortable on your lap, snoring away and with all the stroking she could desire, if my sister sat down in the same room? Tommy would move to her lap. It was a whole thing.
Bowie was a pedigree chinchilla persian, which means he was a long hair, but not with the squashed in I've-been-hit-in-the-face-with-a-brick look that some have. He was white with grey and red tips to the fur on his back and tail. His eyes were an astonishing blue-green.
As you can probably tell from the extended description, he was more "my cat" and man, did he suffer for that. He was never a lap cat though, I think Tommy had a fight with him early on and taught him that laps were her territory. He would sit next to you though, and he didn't mind cuddles. We got him when I was about four years old. I remember going to pick him up and there being teeny wee white fluffball kittens all over the place. We got a deal on him, he was expensive but not as expensive as a proper pedigree because his markings weren't perfect, so we got him a bit cheap on the condition that we never put him into a fancy cat show.
Bowie and Tommy didn't really get on, she was generally the boss cat and bullied him a bit. He was tougher around the neighbourhood, beating up all the local cats and keeping their shared territory clear, but she could always intimidate him inside. She'd steal his food and everything.
Tommy was a neurotic cat, very skittish and weird. She didn't trust people and was easily provoked. My mum used to have this 'game' of bugging Tommy, poking at her while she was sleeping until Tommy got fed up and scratched her. Mum would then complain about beings scratched and get no sympathy at all. In about 1994 Tommy was diagnosed with a hyper thyroid condition which meant we had to give her two sedative-type pills a day or she'd tear around the house at warp speeds and try to climb the walls. If she hadn't had her pill she could go from sleeping to down the hall and out the catflap in about two seconds. Impressive.
Two pills a day doesn't sound like much unless you have ever tried to give a cat a pill. Tommy got smart to tricks real fast. Mum tried to put the pill into the jellimeat and Tommy would carefully eat around it, leaving a sticky pill. Mum would put a ball of mince with a pill centre out next to the jellimeat, and after the first time when she ate it, pill and all, Tommy would eat around the pill. Mum tried to trick her by using three balls of mince in a row and only one had the pill in it. Tommy knew which one had the pill, and left it and then Bowie ate it. He slept for days.
Eventually it was grab the cat, pry the mouth open, shove the pill in, squirt water to enforce swallowing. Not fun for us or the cat.
Bowie was stupid. I mean this in a loving way, you understand but he really was inbred and it manifested in stupidity. First of all, he liked to be outside, in the mud, crawling through the compost and playing in the rain. He'd come in (a white cat, remember? A white, long haired cat) bedraggled, muddy and more often that not with a bug or spider hanging off him. He liked to be towelled dry so in really rainy weather, he'd come in wet, get towelled off and then go out and get wet again and then come back in for more towelling. We'd lose patience and just leave a kitchen towel draped over him. He'd walk around all afternoon with a towel on his back like a little camel sometimes.
Bowie also had a habit of forgetting he'd eaten. He'd demand more food and when no more was offered, he'd go out and get his own food. He was a great little hunter but he also liked to eat dead things that he found. Imagine if you will: white, long haired cat with diarhea? Dad would have to give him a bath to clean off the dags, and man Bowie hated that. There'd be yowling and crying and swearing (from my Dad) and then Bowie would be produced in the lounge, a sad white rat with a big head and a folorn expression, waiting to be towelled dry again.
Bowie died in late 1999 of kidney failure. He'd been famished for a few days, eating and then asking for more straight away, complaining around the house and messing up the litter box. Dad took him to vet after he started limping and he was put down straight away. Dad came to pick me up from work, I asked about the cat and that was it. Bowie was gone. He was cremated and put into a nice little kauri box which we kept on the shelf for a while. I think Mum and Dad have put him into their garden up the coast now, under a tree.
Tommy lasted a few more years, reaching a grand old age before slowing down and just kind of stopping. I was more affected by Bowie's death than Tommy's. I think because I was living with Bowie when he died but I'd moved out and Tommy had been alone with my parents in her last years.
My parents have a new cat now: Bilbo, he's pretty neurotic but in a sort of anti-social way from living with just two adults all his life.
PoF: pink layers
CO: aww, reminiscing is fun.
I've had a busy couple of days doing not enough study.
Work's been busy with people away and the school holidays drawing lots of people in away from the icky weather. The wind is so awful today!
I haven't run since Sunday and I'm anxious. I did my balance ball DVD last night and it was fun and my hamstrings are still nowhere near long enough for the dog pose or any of the bending forward with straight legs she wanted me to do. I promised myself I'd run this morning but I had the shite-ist night's sleep ever last night. I couldn't fall asleep and then I just kept waking up all night.
At 6 I woke and heard the wind howling and decided that I wouldn't run, so I turned off my alarm and tried to settle...I hate when I can't sleep.
Yesterday I did this big tour of a bunch of different kinds of libraries; parliamentary, university and the National as well as public. It was really interesting and nice to meet people from other library systems.
I picked up batting to go in the middle of swearing neice's quilt yesterday and washed the fabric I'm planning on using as batting. I also picked up some fabric for Giffy and Beau's wedding quilt. I have planned what it will look like, made decisions about blocks and block sizes and got advice from my Mum, so it's full steam ahead once I recieve the fabrics I ordered off trademe as well.
Study is hard. I find it very hard to concentrate when people have made all sorts of lovely Logan/Veronica fanvids and put them up on youtube. *le sigh*
PoF: warm + boring
CO: fish'n'chips for lunch I think.
Another run this morning. I figure if I aim for three runs a week plus pilates to balance it out I'm doing well. Today Lee came with me, which was nice because I got a shoulder rub while running which is yeah, pretty awesome actually.
He runs faster than me, which is to be expected with a nearly a foot of extra height. Pilates yesterday was very nice and unexpectedly exciting when I did one of the postures and my hamstrings are distinctly longer than last time I did that DVD. I have always had ridiculously short hamstrings and I've never been able to touch my toes, so getting closer to that is quite a big deal to me.
Yesterday was the National finals for Moviefest. Man, there were a lot of movies submitted to the competition! We saw all the regional finalists and then all the National finalists, which was a very long screening when you add it all up. Lots of variation in themes and many different interpretations of "the lesson". Some you watched and just went WTF? Ours stood up very well to the competition I thought.
We got second runner up in the Hobbyist/amateur catagory, which was not much of a surprise. We were beaten out by The Consequence, and a claymation film called the Room. The awards ceremony was kind of painful to sit through, the speakers were interesting but not very encouraging I thought. There was a lot of talk about Peter Jackson and Apple Macs (Apple was a major sponser). I dunno. I kinda thought the whole thing could have been better organised. (The MC forgetting the winner of the school category ten minutes after it was announced was not a good look.)
The Gissy Boys won the overall competition with Horror 101, a very good horror film that uses all the conventions of creepy Japanese horror. I am happy for them, they had a huge family group there and they performed a haka when they won their category and a waiata when they won the competition. It was cool.
Anyway, my legs are getting stiff. I'm going to shift positions, which means I will call my mum instead of typing.
PoF: be afraid, comfy pants
CO: short films, Lee is writing one in the other room.