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Browsing category: Uncategorized

  • December 19, 2011

    The year in review

    <via>

    And somehow, December rolled around.

    There were times, I admit, that time seemed to be dragging its heels. But mostly, I feel like 2011 shot by like a cheetah on P.

    This year I got engaged. I moved house. I left my first grownup job. I took my first overseas trip in close to 10 years – my first without my parents and my first with T – and for the first time took a dip in the ocean on my birthday.

    Looking back, I’m fairly happy with the way things turned out. Last year was about hunkering down, getting recognised at work, saving, getting a solid start. Having laid some of that foundation, this year I said yes to concerts, events, trips. I’ve said yes to things that scare me, read books that challenge me, and done a fair amount of introspection. I covered major events including Steve Jobs’ death and a rare fatal explosion in Onehunga, but watched from home as news of bin Laden’s death, the second Christchurch earthquake, and the general election unfolded online in front of me.

    In 2012, I want my word to be consistency. Commitment to my work, my savings, my fitness, my hobbies and life balance.

    But first, looking back on the year that was.

    I wanted to:

    • Save 40 per cent of income. I hit this maybe half of the time. We definitely had some biggish expenses this year in car fixes, travel and moving house.
    • Keep eating out to $160 a month. We hit this probably less than half the time. I’m okay with spending with intention here – it’s the little transactions here and there that add up that bug me.
    • Donate to charity every month. Achieved most months, but not all – maybe 70%.
    • Text one friend a week. I suppose I always knew this would be difficult to track, but I reckon I scraped a pass (by definition 50 percent is a pass mark), although many of these weren’t actually initiated by me. I freaking hate texting these days; I spend the vast majority of my time at a computer, so I’d much rather email, tweet or Facebook if possible). Or, heaven forbid, make a phone call.
    • Learn to confidently use full manual settings on my dSLR. Bahaha. Well, I’m a little more confident than I was at the beginning of the year, but like guitar, this kind of fell by the wayside – particularly after June when I changed jobs – there are way fewer demands on your days off when you have Monday and Tuesday off – and went gangbusters on my reading after a lull. Finding visual inspiration is a big struggle, but events like this were brimming with it.
    • Read 100 books. Finished 81, which isn’t too bad an effort. 100 is definitely doable, but combined with reading more literary stuff these days + having a life is difficult at times. I could easily spend all my time reading, but alas, I have a living to earn.
    • Continue running at least once a week, and run a 10k. Hit that 10k, although kind of slacked off on running after that, if we’re being honest. Am contemplating a half – or even a full marathon – next year. I would love to say I did one…but do I want to do it badly enough? Not sure. I’m not a distance runner.

    ONE OFFS

    • Score a travel writing assignment. No longer applicable at my new job, sadly! That ship has sailed. No junkets for me
    • Take a trip somewhere warm on my birthday (thinking Vanuatu, Niue or similar). Raro was blissful, no other word for it.
    • Take a big trip later in the year. By this I really meant overseas, or at least a South Island road trip. New job and starting from scratch with leave put paid to that, but we are doing  a short sojourn to the Coromandel, which is sweet by me.

    I also wanted to fall in love with music again – both as a maker and listener. I was, I suppose, making slow progress on guitar – until taking a new job. Having real weekends again were spent with T, travelling, reading like a fiend when I fell behind, and then dealing with the move and a string of social events. I did go to my first gig a year ago, and since then I’ve been to two more, plus two music festivals and am going to another for New Year’s. Incubus is also another possibility – but I’m not sure I’m enough of a fan to shell out $90. I had a lot of fun compiling my wedding playlist, but haven’t really put any effort into discovering new music. So that’s probably a fail.

    I’m a huge lover of food, but I’m much better at consuming it than cooking it. It doesn’t come naturally to me. But I am getting better at pairing dishes and coming up with random meals combining whatever ingredients we have on hand. Possibly most exciting of all, I’ve discovered the joy of couscous. My life has never been the same. My laissez-faire methodology does not translate so well to baking, and thus my favourite go-tos are buckeyes and oreo truffles (even though they still never look that pretty). Again, slow progress, but all in all, a definite win.

    And while I’m not a social creature by any stretch of the imagination, I think I can definitely give myself a gold star for effort this year. I said yes more often than no (and only when I had a real excuse), including yes to one of the biggest events of the year come NYE, with a bunch of people I don’t know that well – apart from T. Plus I’m forced to get out and about more just due to the nature of my new job.

    Ah, my job. I truly am blessed. I get to write awesome stories, meet awesome people, and generally absorb passion and inspiration. Free swag doesn’t hurt, nor do invites to events (depending on what they are. I felt pretty out of my depth lunching with high-flying national and international business peeps last month, and was rendered mute at another when asked if I was considered a thought leader at my company). I had my first photo published in print (thank goodness for good lighting) – which in no way compares to the online equivalent. Basically, as a staffer there are heaps of opportunities, as I work for free compared to paying a freelancer. I’ve managed a handful of interns and been asked to write my first reference for someone.

    Bonus: an improved relationship with T, in almost all aspects (we don’t spend all our weekends together, but it’s lovely to be able to…). However, blogging fell a bit by the wayside, particularly the Yakezie challenge – I’ve plummeted back down toward the million-mark on Alexa. As I suspected, spending my days writing detracts a bit from my desire to write for the sake of it away from the office.

    I’m curious to know. How did you perceive your 2011?

  • December 18, 2011

    Eat of the week: Dizengoff

    It’s rare that I go out for breakfast and come away feeling fully satisfied.

    The Dizengoff  portions hit the spot.

    I can highly recommend the feta salad; I even ate most of the beans – and I despise beans as a rule.

    Best of all, as you can see, they’re not stingy with the cheese.

    You may have to jostle a bit to get through and end up elbow to elbow with fellow diners, but it’s all part of the atmosphere.

    Frugal factor: middling. Regular cafe meal prices.

    Dizengoff, 256 Ponsonby Rd.

  • December 17, 2011

    Link love (Powered by interns and hunger pangs)

    Yep. That was my week last week. Two interns, at very different stages of experience. While #1’s work needs very little going over, #2’s stuff requires heavy editing. But I was an intern once – it’s a rite of passage several times over in this field – so patience it is. #2 also gets bonus points for being a keen bean this early on in her education.

    I also did what I’ve been meaning to do for about a year – do a few days of clean eating. I’m not sold on the idea of crazy detox diets, but I did like the idea of eating as close to natural for as long as I could hack it. I was guessing around four days. I ran out of fruit after three (and then had three days of an Indian wedding, and certainly wasn’t about to deprive myself).

    Here’s how it went. Breakfast: fruit salad of melon, berries and kiwifruit. Bananas for snacks. Silverbeet and onion stirfry with rice, and lentil fritters for lunch. Dinners were corn fritters with a melon, carrot, apple and spring onion salad; eggplant and tomato with a bit of fish; and roasted veggie salad.

    The idea was to cut out wheat, meat, dairy and sugar. I love my carbs and I have a sweet tooth like no other, but it was the grains I missed for the fullness.

    How did I feel? Pretty darn good, apart from the hunger – I just couldn’t stay full up to lunch, and felt briefly nauseous in the mornings – I’m used to cereal, oats or toast, or occasionally pancakes or bacon and eggs – so fruit for breakfast was really the only shock. (Eat more of it, you say? I actually don’t like fruit all that much, so I’m not sure I would have been able to put any more into me – even my favourite fruits, which I specifically picked out. See nausea reference.) On the other hand, I never felt bloated or heavy, either.

    Anyway, I’m glad to be back to delicious noodles, couscous, bread, ice cream, chorizo and baking. Also, corn chips.

    A quick public service message

    Hands down the best thing I’ve read was this Megan McArdle oped – What do low income communities need? (and her followup post here).

    If poor people did the stuff that middle class people do, it’s possible–maybe probable–that they wouldn’t be poor.  But this is much harder than it sounds.  As John Scalzi once memorably put it, “Being poor is having to live with choices you didn’t know you made when you were 14 years old.”  Which often means, he might have added, spending your whole life doing the sort of jobs that middle class people sometimes do when they’re 14.  It isn’t that people can’t get out of this: they do it quite frequently.  But in order to do so, you need the will and the skill–and the luck–to execute perfectly.  There is no margin for error in the lives of the working poor.

    Basically everything I tried to say here, but far more eloquently.

    Special mention also goes to this disturbing piece on the slim differences between lad mag readers and rapists. Yes, it’s typically hyped up in Jezebel fashion, but it’s still a story that stands alone.

    Oh, and RedHead Writing’s explanation of how to deal with the Facebook message purgatory of ‘other’.

    To the rest!

    WORK

    Want to change careers? Here’s how to get started, via Ms Career Girl.

    Susannah Forbes’ tips for getting on the telly.

    At Make A Living Writing, one writer’s story of landing his first paid blogging gig (in the three digits).

    And Sean Blanda’s excellent tips for startups pitching the media. Heck, it probably even helped me understand my job better.

    LIFE

    Dancing Through NC’s list of love myths she’s glad weren’t true.

    Questions to ask yourself before quitting, at Yes and Yes.

    Fabulous post from StacFace on the things she needs to own about herself.

    Only stupid people never change their minds, says Matt at Life Without Pants.

    Ah, technology. Andrea lists 35 things her son will never experience.

    Cordelia Calls It Quits on the 10 signs you’re on the right track.

    MONEY

    One simple way to improve your living conditions on the cheap. Via You Have More Than You Think.

    A couple of goodies at Get Rich Slowly: protecting yourself against sexually-transmitted debt and why financial literacy fails.

    FOOD

    Cate Linden’s rustic potato leek soup.

    Asparagus tart. Deeelish. (At Wandering Food Lover.)

    Smitten Kitchen’s caesar salad devilled eggs sound quite divine.

    10 quick and easy side dishes, courtesy of Dinner: A Love Story.

    Lemon meringue pie in 15 minutes? Jules of Stonesoup says yes.

    These Christmas chocolate cookies by Iowa Girl Eats look super easy.

    Mmm. Coffee blondies with cream cheese icing, via Hungry and Frozen.

    And salted caramel apple bars thanks up to Dishing Up Delight.

  • December 15, 2011

    Foo Fighters. Freaking A.

    Stale beer. Sweat. Smoke. The occasional whiff of dope.

    Ahhh, concerts.

    The Foo Fighters already stopped into New Zealand earlier this year. They played a small soldout fundraiser at the Town Hall – something I vaguely remember, somewhere in my post-Christchurch-quake-work-induced-haze, vowing to make the most of by standing outside to listen to the whole thing. The day passed, of course, and I didn’t even realise.

    On the other hand, not many bands could fill out Western Springs. I’ve never seen so many people in one place before, and it seemed about half of my workmates snuck out early for that very reason.

    And the Foo Fighters did not disappoint. As I expected, it really was the Dave Grohl show, and for good reason – here’s a man who’s been rocking for nearly as long as I’ve been alive, and is better than he was when he started out. Outlandishly talented and larger than life, in my eyes he’s still the best allround musician in the mainstream today.

    I’m not a diehard Foo fan and I don’t feel any particular emotional connection to any of their songs on a deep level, but I find something almost spiritual about any good gig. There was plenty of cheering and singing along to their newer hits, but it was the classics that really got the crowd going. All the obvious songs made the playlist – starting with All My Life and, later on, the likes of Best Of You, Monkey Wrench, Learn to Fly and Everlong. Yeah, it was a 2.5 hour set, but it was a tight one. Grohl’s voice is still going strong and his hoarse scream still piercing (even if he can’t hold it as long these days). Did I mention the beautiful guitars that got some air time?

    The rain, the mud, the pyramid of crushed plastic cups that mounted by my feet – none of that mattered. T, me and 50,000 other people were enthralled and thoroughly entertained. The crowd went wild when they announced they’d be shooting live footage for new song These Days (Grohl’s favourite, apparently – the lyrics feel a little forced, but they work, I suppose). Oh, and did I mention that we all made the ground shake – volcanically?

    If I needed any proof that these guys know how to put on a show, it was their sudden departure from the stage with a quick “thank you”, followed by a “backstage” video that flickered across the screens in which the band grinned and mimed as we yelled and cheered for more, bargaining for an encore.

    Best of all? Tenacious D (the main opener) reappeared during the encore, Jack and Kyle prancing around in their underwear, bellies wobbling all over the place. (Another earlier highlight? Everybody mouthing along to Tribute – an anthem of my high school days.)

    If ever there was a musician I’d like to have a drink with, it would probably be Dave Grohl and Jack Black. I’m a big fan of the Chilis (in their Frusciante days), Kirk Hammett and Slash, but they just don’t strike me as the kind of characters these guys are.

    Grohl, you’re a class act. Keep on keeping on.

  • December 14, 2011

    What we spent: November 2011

    ** Click here for more info on my monthly spending roundups.**

    A few notes…

    Entertainment: A couple of trips to the driving range and one ridiculous $20 parking charge. Plus another $35 or so on food and booze for a low-key housewarming BBQ the weekend after we moved

    Home expenses: New (secondhand) fridge, moving truck rental, random bits and pieces like brooms and spoons.

    Groceries: Pretty A-OK with that (also included one week from last month)

    Savings: On top of regular savings, mostly due to our bond refund from our old place. Excluding the withdrawal of four weeks’ bond, one week’s rent in advance and a week’s letting fee, actual savings would have been about 50% due to the cashflow of moving and time between rent payments – but in reality that cancelled out all savings this month.

    Motorbike: Pretty spot on for fuel.

    Vehicle (petrol): A little higher than I’d like. It rained a lot last month.

  • December 12, 2011

    We’re all going on a detox….

    or at the very least, I am. I’ve had enough of my delicate stomach and indigestion. Now, I know myself, so I’m not going for anything crazy. I’m not going to start drinking smoothies and eating lettuce leaves for lunch. A friend recommended Gwyneth Paltrow’s GOOP diet and although it does include meats, that’s still too much for me.

    What I’m going for is much simpler: cutting out wheats, meats and processed food, a’la this much more realistic plan.

    “Rather than following an extreme plan that limits just about every food except fruit and veg while at the same time getting you to down a nasty ‘detox’ drink every day, this plan is safer and more sensible and shouldn’t leave you short on nutrients if you follow it for just one week.” Amen!!

    How long will this last? Well, as long as I can keep it up. I’m guessing a couple of days, to be honest. I love my starches and sugars and although I’m picky about my meats, I do like good steak and good chicken. But even if I manage to maintain a reduced consumption of the baddies for, say, a week, I’m gonna count that as a WIN.

    I know that planning is key; if I don’t have a plan for what meals I’m going to eat, I’ll fail. Ideas so far include chili, curry, lentil patties, roast vegetable salads, green salads with tuna (need the protein; I don’t know how people stay full otherwise), my trusty fried cabbage (perhaps not the healthiest?), and stuffed squash or eggplant.

    I’m not going to make BF do this along with me, so I’ll have to craft dinner plans carefully.

    There is a problem. I eat one of two things for breakfast namely, cereal, or toast. Nothing else. Both of which are no-nos.

    As much as I aspire to eating fruit salad with yoghurt for breakfast, there’s a high possibility that won’t last long at all. In which case, which is the lesser evil?

    Also, you may recall my desire to make my own cereal. I did that for less than a week recently. And yeah, sorry, it’s not going to happen. I like coconut. I like fresh berries and apples. I like nuts. But I do not like oats. And somehow, muesli with cornflakes substituted for oats just isn’t the same…

  • December 11, 2011

    Eat of the week: Jaan Turkish Cafe

    When we were growing up, my mother didn’t bake. We didn’t have an oven. We didn’t eat delicious trifles, rich chocolate cakes, brownies … so now that I’m master of my own kitchen, I’m making up for lost time.

    But you know what is now special and exotic in my world?

    Baklava.

    Sinfully soft, flaky, sweet and rich – without being excessively cloying – the baklava at Jaan were so good, they never had a chance to be snapped. Paired with rich vanilla ice cream, fresh grapes and a slice of orange, it was the perfect accompaniment to our Mediterranean lunch.

    Every single dish on the menu sounded amazing, from the veggie moussaka to the shish kebabs. We ended up going with an open lamb sandwich and mixed mezza platter; both were packed with the freshest of vegetables and supersoft naan bread bursting with garlicky goodness. Flavourful falafel, hummus and sauces rounded off the plates, with a couple of odd little skinny spring rolls.

    The single Chinese-looking, Middle Eastern-accented waitress was efficient and attentive, while the venue itself is all rich wood panelling with plenty of sunlight (I was a little blinded facing out of the massive wall-length windows).

    And, most importantly, the prices are reasonable, in the $10-20 range for lunch.

    Jaan Turkish Cafe, 505 New North Rd, Kingsland.

  • December 7, 2011

    Mmm, melons

    I’m not real big on fruit, but one of the things I love most about summer is the abundance of fresh melons. Granted, even in season they’re still expensive – $5-6 at least for a big ball that’s mostly water – but damn, they’re delicious.

    I was recently introduced to the concept of melon salad and it’s official: I’m smitten.

    Here are a few I want to try…

    Cucumber melon salad – Not Eating Out in New York

    Refreshing melon salad – Quick Easy Cheap Healthy

    Asparagus and melon salad, via Giada

    Melon, feta and pine nut salad – Epicurious

    In other foodie news, last weekend I went to my first all-you-can-eat buffet for the first time in as long as I can remember. Fortuna was a disappointment indeed. Good desserts, though.

    Are buffets by very nature destined to disappoint? Food in bulk is never going to be made with love and care. The Genghis Khan buffets are pretty rad, but you get to choose your raw ingredients and chefs cook them up on a huge hotplate in front of you. OTOH, their desserts are nothing to write home about – ice cream and sauce, if I remember rightly.

  • December 5, 2011

    On balancing work, life, and Penelope Trunk at her best

    I’m ambivalent on Penelope Trunk. But you can’t deny that she calls it as she sees it, and she gets it spot on in this interview.

    There is no magic solution.

    There is no get rick quick online.

    A blog in itself is not a business.

    Want to quit your job and work for yourself? You need goals. You need a strategy. You need a business plan.

    Listen good, online empire wannabes.

    What really stood out to me was the point that she made that business and lifestyle go hand in hand. If you want to spend more time with your kids, you’re not going to be able to put in the kind of hours someone single and single-mindedly devoted to growing a business will. (The fact that starting a business takes hard graft goes unsaid, surely.)

    For me, the lifestyle is the most important part of the equation. I changed jobs this year in pursuit of better balance, trading off a few financial benefits, flexibility (a double-edged sword; it goes both ways) and the prestige of a big name for no shift work, shorter commute, more variety and room to stretch myself. As much as I loved my previous position, and felt I was part of something important, I was increasingly frustrated with the sacrifices that came with the territory. In any choice, there are trade-offs, and those may chop and change at different stages in your life.

    (BUT I have to disagree that you are either a people person or a writer and that the two are mutually exclusive. I work with people every day who disprove this theory. There are plenty of journalists who are rather awkward in person – me included – but there are just as many writers who thrive in social situations.)

    As evidenced here on Stuff Journalists Like, it’s a lifestyle that ends in a crash and burn for many. How many times have I read about people giving up on the pay and odd hours that cut into plans or make it straight up impossible to make plans ahead of time? (Answer: Enough to depress me.)

    I’m not convinced by the assertion that journos don’t have many transferable skills, however. True, we have to sell story ideas to editors, but pitching a feature is probably not on the same level as attempting to close a five or six-figure business deal. And some of us are lucky enough to be largely autonomous and work independently – in which case getting used to answering to others in the corporate world could be a nasty change.

    But we’re articulate, know how to ask the right questions, know how to research, have good contacts and know how to handle people, something that shouldn’t be underrated. Some of us have particular areas of knowledge and expertise, although that’s rare nowadays.

    If I couldn’t be a journalist … well, I’d like to try my hand at doing something in the music industry, in arts, in a university setting, in a nonprofit – what exactly I don’t know, but ideally something incorporating creative and editorial aspects.

    Do you agree with any of these points? Or are you just sitting there shaking your head?

  • December 4, 2011

    Link love (Powered by melon salad and long days)

    Suddenly, everyone and their cousin is going to police college. Guess that recruitment campaign did its job, huh? My two minted friends have both been lucky enough to be placed at Auckland Central, and more and more people keep popping up who are off to Wellington for their training. T actually applied earlier this year and was turned down without being given a reason, which was a disappointment, but also a relief – cop schedules are even more unsociable than journalists’.

    To the links! Special mention goes to this feature outlining what must be the most grisly murder case of the year – it fascinated me when it first broke and continues to do so. Tackling a story like that could not have been easy, so props to Jared (who is also a lovely guy).

    WORK

    At Professionally Social, tips for ballsing up as a noob at events and conferences.

    How to stop being afraid of failure, via the Levo League.

    To earn more, get in touch with your inner bitch, says Carol Tice.

    MONEY

    Budgets Are Sexy introduces the concept of linking income streams to goals.

    When should you share how much you make? Via Alexis Grant.

    Thousandaire asks if the small business path is the path to true wealth.

    LIFE

    I just can’t imagine what it would be like to have a partner diagnosed with cancer. This amazing guest post at APW gives us an idea.

    One for those of us with big dreams – what if you change your mind?

    Yes and Yes on staying optimistic in a flawed world.

    FOOD

    Yes and Yes shares her favourite soup recipes.

    Iowa Girl’s easy-peasy Japanese beef bowls.

    At Closet Cooking, red pepper and feta mashed potatoes...and snickerdoodles.

    How to eat your vegetables without trying, at Dumb Little Man.

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