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Browsing category: Uncategorized

  • August 14, 2010

    Link love (Powered by a rare glimpse of blue skies)

    LIFE

    At Yes and Yes, one girl shares her story of going through the foster care system.

    Just a Titch defends Eat Pray Love (a book I haven’t read yet and a movie I probably won’t see) against its recent backlash.

    Hate jeans shopping? Apparently Levi’s has a new fitting system that makes the whole thing a little less painful.

    Surely you’ve heard about Jenny, who supposedly stuck it to her boss by quitting via a series of photos and a dry erase board. Lacey asks if we can still draw inspiration from her, hoax or not.

    And As hard as it was not to pick, say, all of her posts this week, I managed to narrow it down to this one, where NTKOG gets friendly with her neighbours.

    Since taking friendships offline is all the rage, Ashley as Aurora offers 10 tips for meeting up with a bloggy friend.

    Fired and Fabulous muses on southern guys and just how gentlemanly they are (or aren’t).

    Madame X wonders when the time is right to move in with a significant other.

    And finally, Me in Millions struggles to find the balance between materialism and minimalism.

    FOOD / TRAVEL

    French food. In pictures. Via Fabulously Broke.

    Why it’s not worth cooking with expensive olive oil (I thought even cheap EVOO was pricey, but nearly choked on the apparent cost of the “quality” stuff)

    The best damn looking corn fritters I’ve ever seen, courtesy of Closet Cooking.

    Kelly blogs about the things they don’t tell you about travel.

    WORK / CAREER

    Are you young, qualified and looking for a ‘professional’ job? You might be part of the Unserviced Workforce.

    Ninja – who’s currently off honeymooning and whatnot – has a guest post on why gift cards suck.

    One of Stratejoy’s new bloggers, Doniree, shares what life as a media buyer was like.

    Mrs Micah may be gone, but her site lives on. Here’s how your online identity may be costing you (and no, it’s not about posting drunk/naked photos or slagging off the boss on Facebook.)

    Lastly, Amanda Lee explains how to balance having two jobs and no life.

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  • August 12, 2010

    Unexpected charges

    I was absolutely stoked to drop by the library to pick up a couple of books I’d put a hold on recently. Why? Because no longer do you have to wait in line and deal with, er, an actual librarian. No, they simply put your requested books out in the open on a ‘hold’ shelf, tagged with your name, in alphabetical order. Do it yourself – and presumably, get away with never being nagged to pay your late fees either!

    For some reason, I also assumed this meant we would no longer be charged a dollar everytime we request a specific book. I’m not sure what gave me that notion, because it’s horribly, wildly wrong. I logged into my library account online and was horrified to see my balance at over $10 (granted half of that is late fees from last year…which I will get around to paying sometime).

    I still have more than 14 books left on my reading list. For those of you who actually purchase books, maybe $14 doesn’t sound like a lot (and as an avid reader and book lover maybe it shouldn’t be. But I’m not a buyer – I devour them and move on – there’s just no way I can afford a minimum o$30 a pop for a shiny new novel).

    I’ve always thought charging us extra for something that really is just part of the job was ridiculous. I’m still going to forge ahead with whittling down my reading list, but this kind of sucks. All of the books I want to borrow  (progress has been slow so far, mainly because I didn’t want to pay to get any of them out) are housed at random branches that aren’t convenient for me to get to.

    Speaking of unexpected charges…now that I’m 22, I have to start paying for my twice yearly-appointments at Family Planning. Six months sounds like a long time, but it sure feels like I run out of pills much sooner than that. (It probably didn’t help that I had to make extra appointments for my smears recently.) I’m no longer a poor student and don’t qualify for a community services card, so I’ll be charged $22.50 a pop. As far as I know, though, my prescriptions will still be subsidised to $3…or so I’m hoping.

    [Photo]

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  • August 11, 2010

    50 questions that will free your mind (Part 2)

    Part One is here.

    6. If happiness was the national currency, what kind of work would make you rich?
    I would spend very little of my time working. I’d buy, cook and eat good food. I’d travel to Europe, America, and parts of Asia. Around New Zealand. Spend days reading in the sun, lounging on the beach. I would escape winter every year. I’d write when I felt like it. I might even spend some time volunteering. I wouldn’t be in any kind of 9-5 though, I tell you.

    7. Are you doing what you believe in, or are you settling for what you are doing?

    I don’t know what I believe in anymore. I do know that unlike many journalists, I don’t have lofty ambitions…think war correspondent, political reporter, exposing corrupt business. I just want to be happy and fulfilled in what I do. First I wanted to write. Then I wanted to design, and edit. Now, I’m foundering. I am REASONABLY happy with my current role. It is about as close to what I could ask for in a perfect job at this stage. I certainly am not settling.

    8. If the average human life span was 40 years, how would you live your life differently?
    I’d be a lot less financially responsible. I wouldn’t be saving for retirement, I probably wouldn’t want to buy a house. I’d spend my time and money travelling, going to concerts, eating good food, er, refer back to question 6.

    9. To what degree have you actually controlled the course your life has taken?
    I have had plenty of outside influences on my life. Without the help or nudging of others, I might never have left home until I finished school. I would have been miserable and quite possibly had some kind of breakdown. I would never have got the internship that led to a part time job and, eventually a full time job. My life would have been very different.

    That being said, I am the one who excels at my work, whose work ethic got me a second job, who did the hard yards that enabled me to graduate. I am the one who gave T a second chance when we were young and silly, the one who decided not to give up when things got rougher than I could ever have imagined.

    We don’t have control over every single aspect of our lives, but we can maximise every opportunity that comes our way. We can sit back and let life take us where it may, or step up and chart our courses to the best of our ability. For me, I’d say it’s about 70/30 to me.

    10. Are you more worried about doing things right, or doing the right things?
    I’ve turned this question over and over in my head, and still haven’t reached a satisfactory conclusion. I’m still not quite sure how to frame it. Of course I want to do the right thing (even when it’s for the wrong reason) and I want to do those things right. Okay, so let’s say a friend is cheating on his girlfriend. Do I tell her – even though my loyalty is to my friend – making it the right thing? Or do I preserve our friendship, thus doing things right? Fuck it, next question please.

  • August 9, 2010

    On choices, mortality and nearly losing it all

    It was well past midnight. I’d stayed up late putting together a newsletter for work. I’d read a few chapters in my latest book. I checked my bank account – I’d been paid and it was looking flush. I turned off the lights, and sleep came easily to me.

    I sleep fitfully when I’m alone. Hours later (one? two? three or more?) the door slid open, the security light switched on, a footstep. He said something to me. I grunted in response, a drowsy hello.

    “I’ve got something to tell you,” he says.

    “Tell me in the morning,” I say, or least I think I do, in my semi-conscious state.

    “No, I need to tell you now.

    “Okay, fine. I’m listening.” I roll over.

    “No, you need to sit up.” Agitation.

    He needs a hug before starting to explain. I’m still not awake. Nonetheless, a bolt of terror strikes through my stomach. I anticipate the worst. I feel just how fragile my carefully constructed world is. No matter how much I save, I never feel far from the edge. Job losses. Car accidents. Housing dramas. Too many of those. Too much bad news that still makes me a little nervous everytime a call or text message comes through.

    He was in a car accident. It’s really no surprise, considering this particular group of friends. Barely friends. Mostly acquaintances. Especially this person, a person who wasn’t meant to be giving him a ride in the first place. Friends don’t drive at 160k/h through the suburbs, spinning out, smashing into kerbs and power poles and fences and nearly killing each other. Friends don’t total other friends’ cars for no reason at all. It was the scariest thing that had ever happened to him. He sat for hours, shaking, before making himself get into our car and drive home. It’s a miracle they walked away from the twisted wreckage.

    I hear what he’s saying. I understand it, in some distant corner of my dulled mind. I tell him: “I’m going to give you a hug. Then I need to go back to sleep.”

    “Was anyone hurt?” I think to ask, before trying to settle back into slumber.

    No one was injured.

    I can’t get back to sleep. My nose won’t stop running. I barely sleep the rest of the night. It’s hot. It’s cold. I must have dozed off, because I dreamt. I should just have stayed up and talked.

    He asks me to take the day off. Fridays are the worst. But I do it anyway. He needs to go out south to fill out some paperwork for a job. He doesn’t want to drive alone. I’ve never driven a manual on the motorway, and this is not the time to start, groggy and shellshocked. But I can be there with him.

    He tells me how he asked him to slow down. How time slowed as things sped up and they bounced around inside. How, when he got out, the spoiler was wedged in between the front seats. He was covered in glass. There were tiny shards inside his ears. Through it all, he held tightly onto the bottle of Lift Plus he’d been clutching, and, somehow, walked away with it. There was no car. There was no more car left.

    “I don’t think you understand,” he keeps saying. “I nearly didn’t come home last night.”

    I don’t know what to say. I can’t acknowledge how much danger he must have been in as I slept. Because I just can’t understand? Because I partly blame him? Because I can’t just say: “I love you, and I’m glad you’re safe?”

    I put my hand on his leg as he changes lanes, and hope that is enough for now.

     

  • August 8, 2010

    Link love (Powered by a week of epic fails)

    Boy, am I glad this week is over. The one good thing was…making the best chocolate chip cookies ever. And another thing which I won’t mention for fear of jinxing it.

    To this week’s roundup, aka, my pick of the blogosphere:

    LIFE

    Jane asks whether you had pushy or laidback parents, and wonders whether she needed more of a kick up the butt from hers.

    Revanche plays hostess and wonders what good hosting etiquette entails.

    Karen at Living Well on Less on the downsides (real side?) of pregnancy.

    My Pretty Pennies is starting a wedding fund. While that sounds like a great idea – weddings don’t come cheap – I think my travel fund has to come first. The wedding fund will just have to wait…perhaps slotted in before a house fund?

    And on that note, Lacey wonders why people all too often label a wedding “the most important day of her life”. (To which I say, preach it. I’m sure getting married will be a blast, and a huge milestone occasion, but it’s just one day.)

    Stephany gets some perspective and reminds herself how lucky she is to be healthy and able-bodied. For a hater of exercise like me, this really hit home.

    Jenny from Dinner: A Love Story pens a love post to coffee dates.

    Are you part of the smartphone brigade? Carrie Actually has some advice for iPhone users.

    Stone Soup’s Jules presents a minimalist guide to cooking with herbs.

    Katie asks what you would want your ideal autobiography to read like. (Yes, it starts off with a picture of Justin Bieber, but it’s for a reason). How about well-travelled and wildly successful in love, work, and the kitchen? Seriously, that would be great. Unfortunately, it’s not that easy.

    Average Girl has some hilarious advice for surviving high school. Ah, how I don’t miss it. Although, jeez, life was a hell of a lot simpler sometimes. (Although if you read one of the trillion songs I penned back then, it might not seem that way.)

    On that note…Not That Kind of Girl finds love and shares a poem written by her 12-year-old self.

    Oooh, and Ninja shares his and Girl Ninja’s love story. AWWW.

    WORK / CAREER / MONEY (that’s right, all three in one)

    Well Heeled on pinching pennies, yet justifying splurges.  (Guilty)

    Little House on the Prairie has a guest post from fellow blogger Jennifer Lou on quitting her job at Google and finding a new path.

    Rachel (not Rebecca) asks whether you would leave your city for Just Another Job, if it would get you one step closer to your real dream.

    Rainy Day Saver has some tips for freelancing through networking.

    Working Girl asks which Sex and the City character you’re most like.

    Finally Ramit Sethi, founder of I Will Teach You To Be Rich, guest blogs for J Money about why you should ignore traditional advice when starting a business.

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  • August 6, 2010

    July roundup

    Rent: It was clearly a three-fortnight month.

    Home expenses: Our washing machine died. We got a replacement from the Salvation Army – well worth it. Of course, for that price, you can’t expect miracles. Like the fact that it doesn’t seem to fully spin dry. Annoying.

    Insurance: Another quarterly contents cover payment.

    Vehicle: Needed a service. Thankfully, T can change oil and all that jazz. And lots of petrol.

    Entertainment: A couple of DVDs out, my guitar part, a watch repair and earring for T (didn’t know what else to categorise them as. No joke, he came home one night with a hole in his ear. That’s the kind of shit his friends do, apparently, reopen old piercings). A cheap movie ticket ($4) from grabone plus cheap ($10 each) passes to Waiwera; I’ve never been and can’t wait to go. Oh yeah, and the kicker: 3 Paramore tickets, although 2 of those were really gifts rather than entertainment.

    Dining: Pretty average, and about as low as it goes. I ate three lunches out this month (can’t remember the last time i didn’t bring lunch to work) and somehow kept it under $20. Another $50 or so on two dinners out, and the rest seemingly on random food for T while out gallivanting around during the weeks.

    Events: I counted all birthday related spending as an event. $180 odd of that was on the camera, the rest, food and drink. Money well spent.

    Clothing: A spiffy wool coat for the bf, much needed (his one and only sweatshirt is, i believe, in his brother’s car with no prospects of being returned soon. Thankfully, he’s actually taking care of the jacket. It’s by far the nicest garment he owns)

    As previously noted, I didn’t make my goal of saving 20 per cent this month. Amazingly, though, I was less than $20 off at $640. And even more surprising, despite basically spending blindly, we evened out. Despite all the extra gas and T’s random food purchases/personal spending, it looks like our total lack of an entertainment/eating out budget – barring my birthday – made up for it.

    In terms of extra income, I netted a whopping $18.60 (mystery shopping). That’s because I’m waiting till later this month for a reimbursement. I also received two $10 vouchers earned from doing online surveys; one for Rebel Sport and the other for Hoyts Cinemas.

    So, not too horrendous, considering! Hello, August.

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  • August 5, 2010

    Lessons learned: The things they don’t teach you

    What I’ve learned in the six months plus I’ve been a full time worker boil down to three things:

    Communication
    Find out how your boss likes to be kept in the loop (okay, I stole this one from Basic Black:
    The Essential Guide for Getting Ahead at Work and in Life     – a great read, by the way) and follow it. Learn how to use the ‘reply all’ button; something I honestly had never used in my life until recently. And learn when it’s appropriate to cc in people on emails.

    Visibility
    Don’t always enter by the side door, even if it’s more convenient for you. Come into the office by the main door sometimes; make the effort say hello and goodbye to your boss and workmates. Have the confidence to speak up and contribute in meetings and discussions. But most importantly, let your boss know when you’ve done good work – otherwise it may well go unnoticed (or someone else might pinch credit for it). And while it’s great to be a team player and to fix up mistakes by others as you see them, sometimes it’s necessary to point them out to the person whose responsibility it is; a) they need to learn and b) you deserve credit for your attention to detail.

    Patience
    Sometimes you just need to wait for recognition. Don’t shy away from new tasks or extra responsibility, even if it means more work for nothing (within reason, of course). While some people may be able to talk their way into a promotion, the best way is simply to just do the job and prove your ability. I found that once I got on with it and shone, the rest followed…eventually.

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  • August 4, 2010

    Goal recap: July

    ** This week’s Carnival of Personal Finance is up! Thanks to Ultimate Money Blog for including my post, Purchase in Haste? No way **

    Well, that went by fast. July was an incredibly busy month for me. I read tons of books, did some cleaning and organising around the house, and did more socialising than usual. I didn’t quite make my goal of relearning two songs on guitar; one, yes, and a handful of other cool riffs, but I can’t say I managed two complete songs.
    That being said, I’m finding ridiculous amounts of joy in just playing, and sometimes sitting down and picking out stuff on my own rather than using tabs.

    Save 20 per cent of my income. Fail. Full July financial recap in the works.

    Try one new (to me) dinner recipe each week. Although I probably did cook at least once every week, most of those were along the lines of burgers/spag bol. I did attempt Kevin’s honey lemon chicken, which turned out okay (A little bit thin for some reason, but very flavourful. A bit too intense for the boy) and Iowa Girl’s Brazilian coconut chicken, which was also good (I found it a bit plain, but still tasty. He really liked it. Most amazingly, I made this at midnight on a Friday, without hurting myself in the rush to cook and eat, NOR did I wolf it down like a savage, thereby giving myself indigestion. How grownup of me.)

    Run once a week. Thanks to some potent winter bugs, paired with Auckland’s notorious winter weather (a formidable duo), I only made it twice. I really don’t feel like I’m making a lot of progress fitness wise…

    Donate to charity. After a few slack months, I can finally say yes to this!

    Okay, now to August’s challenge. It’s all about baking here. I’m going to have a go at coconut ice, carrot cake and a basic cheesecake. I’m also eyeing up this blueberry crumb bar, but the ingredients (mainly the berries) are looking far too extravagant. Wish me luck!

    (PS: Does anyone have tips on cleaning ovens? I grew up in a house without one and have no idea what I’m doing.)

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  • August 3, 2010

    Sneakery business

    I am seriously in need of some casual sneakers. I have a ratty pair of slip on Skecher type shoes and a pair of skate shoes. Then I have boots, cute flats and other shoes I can wear to work and out and about.

    But what I really just need something more street for *those* days, ya know? And I only want to spend on one pair. So help a girl out.

    Do I go for some cute Ked styles?

    The generic canvas laceups?

    All out on the Chucks?

    (Actually, scratch the Chucks. I love the look of them, but hate the feel.)

    What’s going to be most versatile?

    {Photos – Click on image for source}

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  • August 2, 2010

    50 questions that will free your mind (Part 1)

    Stephany (who is an awesome blogger with great insight and determination) is currently doing a series of posts based on 50 questions that will free your mind. This was way too good to pass over, so I’m nudging in and answering them on my own time.

    Plus, I love writing about myself (obviously).

    1. How old would you be if you didn’t know how old you are?

    Considering I’m prone to snotty, teary tantrums when I’m hungry and can’t open the jar of pasta sauce (weak wrists are the bane of my life), about five. Then again, I love routine, quiet nights in, have almost given up drinking, save for retirement, and can’t wait to buy a house (and eventually do the marriage, kids and carriage bizzo). Overall, I like to think I’m more mature than my real age. Say, 25?

    2. Which is worse, failing or never trying?

    Initially, I thought never trying, hands down. No regrets. You’ll never know if you don’t make the leap. Plus, that’s the cool thing to say, really, isn’t it? Nobody wants to admit to being such a wuss that failure is their biggest fear. Stephany summed it up perfectly with this: “With both instances, you’re left with regrets. You’re left with what if’s.”
    I think, without ever really having experienced real, serious, catastrophic failure (more on that in the future) it’s difficult to say. But ultimately, I always think back to one of my favourite cliches: better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all. If that applies to your personal life, I don’t see why it wouldn’t equally apply to all other areas.

    3. If life is so short, why do we do so many things we don’t like and like so many things we don’t do?

    I believe the majority of reasons for the former come down either to obligations (societal, familial, etc) and money. Oh, and health, haha. I, on the whole, dislike cleaning. I do it because it’s nasty and unhygienic not to, and I don’t want to look like a slob should people come over. I would definitely outsource this and hire a cleaner…but I’m 22 and hardly rolling in cash. See what I mean? Money and social norms. You might work tons of overtime or take on a crappy project, because you need the money, or to impress the boss (which will hopefully pay off later). We go on diets and do crazy exercise routines to get fit and hot (I guess that’s vanity as well as health).

    Why do we like so many things we don’t do? I’m really not sure what this means, so I can’t think up an answer. Anyone care to enlighten me? (The best I can come up with is perhaps enjoying having money to spend, but not wanting to learn to manage money better in order to achieve that. PF nerdgasm…)

    4. When it’s all said and done, will you have said more than you’ve done?

    When all is said and done, I hope to be remembered. And most importantly, I hope to be remembered not for being good at my job but for having been a good person, and, hopefully, touching the lives of the people I know. I probably won’t change the world in any definitive way, but I hope I’ll have travelled to the places I want to visit, had a family, found fulfilment in my non-professional interests and been financially secure enough never to worry for our welfare.

    5. What is the one thing you’d most like to change about the world?

    That’s simple. I want more fairness and equality. By that I mean everyone having the basics of life, the necessities: food, water, warmth, a home. To be safe, not to fear for their lives. And I might add, I want there to be less hate. If everyone could get along, stop fighting ideological and physical wars, well that would be just peachy.

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