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Browsing category: Uncategorized

  • July 14, 2010

    And…we have a winner!

    When I first posted about my giveaway, I never imagined I’d get such an overwhelming response! No joke: I initially posted it up with an end date of July 9 (my brother’s birthday), then freaked out, worrying that nobody would enter, and moved the date forward. (Which in hindsight was a good thing, as it tied in nicely with a writing deadline I had, and the 9th ended up being an incredibly busy day).

    Anyway, Random.org has chosen lucky number 18 Debbie as the winner! Debbie, I’ve sent you an email. Enjoy 🙂

  • July 13, 2010

    Sharing the love

    Borrowing from Jane’s identically named post, I invite you to share: What delights have you brought into your significant other’s life, and vice versa? (For the unattached, perhaps substitute best friend for SO, or…I’ll leave it up to you)

    BF has introduced me to Avatar the cartoon; basketball; old films like The Lost Boys and The Mighty; Sunday roast; Buffy and Angel.

    I’ve taught him to appreciate yum cha, pub quizzes, True Blood, and Southeast Asian food.

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  • July 12, 2010

    Life list

    In my quest to live more intentionally, I started a 101 in 1001 list over at the Day Zero project last month or thereabouts.

    Some of them, like going on a cruise, were relegated to the “someday list”. Surprisingly, though, I’ve already ticked off a few things on the 1001 challenge!

    I have 28 items so far:

    Read everything on my book list
    Relearn Fade to Black and Astronomy on guitar (not that my original standard of play was very high….)
    Visit a Pacific Island
    Snorkel to the other side of the channel at Goat Island
    Save $10,000
    Go to a concert
    Participate in NaBloPoMo
    Renew my passport
    Start a herb garden
    Make a Kiva loan
    Celebrate anniversary in style
    Cook for my parents
    Get a facial/and a back massage for T
    Blog meetup
    Start a regular blog feature (kinda? Do link roundups count?)
    Start tracking net worth
    Learn to check car fluids
    Learn to park
    Be able to drive manual on my own
    Go skiing
    Donate blood
    Attend a film festival
    Go to a farmer’s market
    Bake a carrot cake
    Go on the Waipa Delta steam boat for a meal
    Go rock climbing
    Buy an Entertainment Book

    And this month, I was given tickets to the Film Festival for my birthday! We went to Wah Do Dem, an indie tale about a broken-hearted boy who goes cruising alone, disembarks in Jamaica, gets literally everything but the shorts on his ass stolen, and proceeds to try to make his way home again. Highlights: Zoolander style photos snapped in his white suit, dancing to MGMT, grinding in a Jamaican club, and an attempted mugging.

    I’m also set to go to two concerts in October (I believe in the same week!) – Paramore and Metallica. I can’t wait!

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  • July 11, 2010

    You know you’re a grownup when…you have a planner/organiser

    I’ve been called reliable, practical and organised by people over the years. It’s funny, because I don’t really agree with any of those descriptions. I’m a dreamer. I operate on routine, but haphadardly. I am reliable, but I’m a perfectionist, and like Katie, I often struggle to deliver a flawless, finished product – and that frustrates me to no end. BF may think that just because I track/categorise our spending and attempt to plan our meals, I’m organiser extraordinaire. But I wasn’t always this way. To be honest, I often feel like a tower of Uno blocks – struggling to stay upright, teetering on the edge. These tips and tricks help to keep me on top of things:

    Gmail. Tags are my holy grail. I tag things religiously, and try to reply to emails immediately. So much of my freelance work is conducted by email, and it’s vital to keep things straight in this regard. I also direct all my blog emails into my main account, so I don’t have to check it separately.

    Calendars. I have a phone calendar and a Google calendar. Sometimes they don’t match up. This is where a smartphone would come in handy. Not only does it save my ass personally (think birthdays, errands, appointments) but professionally (events to diary, people to contact, etc).

    To do lists. I make lists at work and cross things off. A lot of my duties are basically the same day to day; I probably should just make a master list and be done with it, come to think of it. I also keep a running chart of tasks for my bimonthly freelance gig so I know what I’ve been supplied with and which materials are still outstanding.

    Eliminating paperwork. My two most regular bills – power and phone/internet – now come to me electronically. I think Sky TV may be on the brink of introducing online billing, too. Insurance isn’t too much of a hassle, as the bills don’t come very frequently. Oh yeah, and I’m paying bills when I get them, too.

    Filing important papers. Of course, you can’t completely cut paper out of your life. But instead of simply chucking important documents in my top drawer (Honestly, that’s how I used to deal with them) I have separate folders for various kinds of papers. It’s still a bit random, but at least I know where to find, say, my credit card statements.

    When all else fails, emailing myself. Part of my side job involves compiling a newsletter. When I stumble across cool stuff on the web, I make a note of it and email the link to myself to use later. Aaaand…we’re back to where we started, with the magic of Gmail tags.

    Hey, I’m no expert. I still have a lot to learn, and I don’t even lead that busy of a life. I work at least 40 hours a week, plus another 5 or so for the other gig; blog here; write two articles/reviews for an online mag; and every other month, whip up a few short print pieces for my side job. And I sleep 8-10 hours a night. But I don’t have regular commitments, where I know other people have every night of the week scheduled!

    So, chime in – I would love to hear your tips on staying organised…

    [Photo]

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  • July 10, 2010

    Link love (Powered by the inevitable march of time)

    Pear manages to get a discount AFTER making her purchase. Find out how!

    Fabulously Broke discovers the magic of Bundle and posts a fascinating breakdown of the aggregated data – spending by demographic. Speaking of Bundle..I loved this post asking how often you check your account balance.

    “But even though I have a rough idea of how much money is in my account at all times, I absolutely dread actually checking the real thing. I have to force myself to sign in, and I’m bracing myself for impact as soon as it loads; it’s basically a form of torture. I think the fear is that somehow I’ll have miscalculated, or forgotten about some check I wrote a million years ago, and that I’ll be in the red. Even when I use the ATM, I turn away when it shows me how much money is left in my account, and I throw away my receipts without looking at them!” (Oh, how I laughed, because I am the same way. Anyone else?)

    Amber bemoans the cost of groceries (I agree wholeheartedly) and Jules at Stone Soup shows us how to eat for $2 a day. I hate broccoli, but the omelette looks deeeeelish.

    Greer asks how much you pay for haircuts? I don’t think I’ve ever paid more than about $30. That being said, I’ve never coloured my hair. What about you?

    FruGal has some great tips for eating frugally while seeing Europe. I hope to be able to use her advice one day…

    Ninja asks what skills you have that save you some coin (Up until our last move, we’d never paid for a truck or moving company, either. But it was worth it!)  Sadly, I have very few practical skills. BF is awesome in the kitchen and reasonably handy mechanically (great when you have an old car).  I guess I’m naturally frugal and willing to spend the time researching to get the best deal?

    Speaking of car troubles, that’s exactly what derailed Katie this week. As always, she puts things in perspective –  “Talk about first world problems.”

    Miss Minimalist weighs up the pros and cons of city vs country life (No contest, it’s city life – although preferably suburban life, to be precise – for me. The longest I’ve ever spent away from the city was a week in Whakatane last year, but aside from that, I’ve only managed a few days at a time for brief holidays, be they beach or snow getaways. Watching Gilmore Girls made me long to live somewhere like Stars Hollow and maybe one day that might be nice, but I’m a born and bred urban dweller)

    Revanche encounters a kindly taxi driver. In a similar vein, I introduced BF to Kohu Road ice cream this week – the BEST  ice cream/sorbet you will ever have, super pure and  made from premium ingredients. Recommended: the golden syrup and the coconut rum. And for something different, the dark chocolate sorbet. After letting us sample at least half of the flavours, we were given one of our cones free simply because of a slightly messy scoop.

    Meanwhile, Lacey has been kicking it in Europe, and most recently Prague. Check out her amazing photos (they even visited an ossuary!)

    Nicole Antoinette muses on having the freedom to change and learning to like sushi. (I, too,  recall vowing never to eat either seaweed or raw fish…many years ago. Guess I have to eat those words.)

    Stephany blogged about all the reasons she’s proud to be American – lump in the throat stuff. (And I’m not even from the US).

    Working Girl has some tips on how she’s starting to make friends post-college. Hint: Just get out there! Say yes to invites, or you’ll never meet anyone.

    Finally, LiLu reviews Avatar and finds it lacking. But she has a picture of Apa, my favourite bison. Also, you should vote for her in the MTVTJ search for MTV’s first Twitter Jockey.

    Phew! What a bumper roundup. Hope you made it to the end!

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  • July 9, 2010

    Our house, in the middle of our street

    (Again…points if you can pick the song lyric!)

    Sometimes the lack of space at home really gets on my nerves. This is especially true in the kitchen. The sound factor also bugs me; we live below a family, and the floors fail to block out most of their noises.

    But you know what? It beats living with flatmates by a sextillion miles. (That is a real number. Look it up.)

    I’ve had flatmates who have loud sex, leave food rotting below the sink, throw out your dishes, leave pots festering on the stove, use your body wash, puke over the balcony, don’t pay bills, let their pets run amok, don’t clean the bathroom, and break your stuff.

    No thanks; I’m over and done with all that bullshit. Peace and privacy is priceless.

    [Photo]

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  • July 8, 2010

    Twenty-two.

    I can’t remember the last birthday I had when it didn’t rain. That alone set this year apart. One of my dreams is to celebrate a birthday in the northern hemisphere, baking on the beach and sipping cocktails (Never done that in my life, but it sounds nice).

    In brief: We drove to town, where we visited a few stores and picked me out a new camera. I’d already been researching for a couple of weeks, so had a pretty good idea of what I’d be getting.

    On to Kermadec for lunch, where he had the fish and chips (cod) and I had the yellowtail kingfish with navy beans, bacon and “tiny vegetables” (I kid you not, I’m quoting the menu).

    His dish was pretty hearty; I was initially a little disappointed at my serving, but I finished off T’s meal once I was done and didn’t quite manage to clean the plate. Oh, and they gave us tiny little shot-sized cups of complimentary cauliflower soup!! It was AMAZE – creamy and full of body.

    Then we went to visit his sister and her family, and most importantly, the baby niece! She is SO adorable and I could keep myself amused watching and playing with her for hours. When I have children, they will only ever be dressed in animal playsuits. All. The. Time.

    A quick stop at Kohu Road where we proceeded to taste almost all their ice creams and sorbets – it was his first time and he agreed ice cream from the supermarket would never be the same again.

    Once we got back, it was still beautiful out. So we went for a quick jog and shot some hoops up at the local school (the park was overrun with people).

    Finally, we headed over to the Cock and Bull in Newmarket for the evening. Eating, drinking and pub quizzing ensued. We definitely aren’t going back though – and it wasn’t due to the understaffed kitchen and slow service, but the fact that they charged $20 per quiz team. $20!!! I’ve never encountered that anywhere else. And the quiz (to say nothing of the quizmaster) was crap; they wrote their own, unlike every other place which uses the awesome Livewire quizzes. On the upside, almost every table walked away with a prize – a bottle they got to fill with tap beer of their choice.

    And that is how July 6, 2010, went down.

  • July 7, 2010

    Belatedly, a June roundup

    Dining and bars: Surprisingly low. Consider that almost half of that was a nice dinner out at Piko, the AUT restaurant (review coming up), plus a few evenings at the pub (at least half of which only involved BF; I wasn’t even there), I’m pretty happy.

    Clothes and grooming: Haircuts for the both of us, and a new shaver for him.

    Insurance: A  year’s worth of car insurance. With 30 per cent no claims bonus (first year! Woop woop).

    Medical: Eye exam and related guff. I got $60 of that refunded, though, after the contact lens fiasco.

    Vehicle: Paid for another three months of car registration (I swear this comes around more like every other month…) plus around $100 for my bus fares.

    Entertainment: is massive, and virtually all of that was my purchase of two more Metallica tickets. Yes, I already bought passes, but those weren’t very good seats. And when I heard on Twitter that more were being released – and found some general admission ones still available – I made the decision to click through. Two of our friends are keen to buy my other tickets, so fingers crossed they all get mailed out promptly come September and there’s no drama there.

    As always, savings noted here is on top of regular savings, so I put away close to $1000 in various accounts.

    Overall, I feel like we’re chugging along steadily. Percentages all look vaguely in line, despite the whole one-income thing, and I’m on track to meet my goal of saving $10,000 (touch wood). Paying off the Visa on T’s behalf set me back, but not fatally.

    (Before I forget…I netted $785 in additional income. That went towards a birthday gift, long term savings, and a little each to the bills account and general spending. I know. Tsk)

  • July 5, 2010

    Make it last forever, friendship never ends…

    {Photo}

    (Points if you can identify what song that line comes from!)

    I have to disagree with that sentiment, though. Some friendships endure. Some ebb and flow. Some, unfortunately, just peter out.

    Fresh grad Classy in Philly recently blogged about the disappointment of losing touch with people she thought were real friends. How, post-college, they stopped calling and emailing…and generally failing to live up to the definition of “friend”.

    Unlike her, I didn’t have the traditional uni experience. I moved in with BF right before starting my first semester. I lived out in the suburbs. Hell, I lived out west, and only about three other people on my course could say the same thing. I really took my studies seriously, even though first year comms was far from gruelling. I had rent and bills to pay, so for me, uni wasn’t even less of a bubble than high school, it really was the real world. Sure, I was sheltered by receiving a student allowance, but that didn’t cover all the essentials, and it didn’t cover term breaks, either.

    So I didn’t really have friends at uni. I had a couple of people I went for coffees with, and sometimes sat with in class. It wasn’t till we were all thrown together in our final year as journalism majors that I formed any meaningful relationships. Even then, we didn’t go out on Friday nights together. We stumbled home exhausted – if we weren’t going to work, or toiling on in the newsroom.

    I do, however, know what it’s like to lose a friend. We went to school together for, oh, a solid 10 years. He lived around the corner from me. We got on like a house on fire, traded barbs, and once we got to high school, walked there and back together. We put up with each other’s foul moods (you think I’m temperamental? I had nothing on him) and discussed everything from the true extent of Kurt Cobain’s talent to the meaning of human existence. He introduced me to the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, for chrissake.

    And then after years of that, we got together. The “relationship” lasted six months. It never went anywhere, physically or otherwise. Nothing had changed.

    We broke up. I got another boyfriend. He got jealous, and after a year or so of various dramas and sniping, we stopped talking. He moved over the Harbour Bridge – which might as well be the other side of the world for an Aucklander – and we went our separate ways – me to AUT, him to AU.

    Sometimes I miss those halcyon days. On the very rare occasion I run into him, I catch glimpses of the person who used to know me better than anyone else. And there’s nothing worse than making small talk with someone you could once sit in comfortable, companionable silence with.

    I’ve changed. He’s changed. From time to time, I hear updates through the grapevine – and while in some ways he’s stayed exactly the same, in others, he’s continued the metamorphosis he begun right about the time our friendship began to rot. I don’t know what he thinks of me today, but for both our sakes, I know it’s better that we don’t have contact, even as acquaintances.

  • July 4, 2010

    June goal checkin / July challenge

    I love to rant about poor customer service. See here, here, here and here.

    I have, no joke, been waiting SIX MONTHS to be able to tell you that I am back in business with my guitar. Now, six months and $13 later, my goal for July is to relearn at least two songs. What took so long?

    Well, Musicworks on Hobson St momentously failed me. After being dicked around since Christmas, I realised they were probably not ever going to get this part in, and if they were, they were sure as hell not going to bother to let me know when it arrived.

    Mainline Musicworks in Greenlane (less than 10min drive from home) told me they’d get the part in from their head warehouse and have it done in a couple of days. Now, why on earth would the stores not all be served by the same HQ? Again, they failed on the communication front; I had to call THEM two weeks later to follow up. Oh yeah, that’s all ready for you. Come in whenever, I was told.

    But they got the job done – in weeks, rather than months – and even replaced the missing string for me. I may have bought my setup at Musicworks in town six years ago, but the slightly creepy guys in Greenlane are getting my business from now on.

    Other things on my list this month: Catch up with recently returned friend; visit the pool hall in Newmarket, try made-to-order burgers at Burger Wisconsin, clean curtains and microwave. It’s an exciting life I lead.

    Meanwhile…

    Save 20 per cent of my income. Still on track with this. Woohoo!

    Try one new (to me) dinner recipe each week. BF has been doing virtually all the cooking, but I did try a new recipe last week (an epic fail) and have plans to try another two new ones this week.

    Run once a week. Half a win. Winter is kicking my ass. Plus I was sick one week. And just what the hell does one wear to go running in the winter? I don’t own any long pants, aside from jeans and work pants. I need to get me some trackies or something.

    Make an upwards career move. Done as of May – I should probably note that down on my goals page.

    Donate to charity. I kept putting this off, and by the time I finally got around to it, it was already July. So I’m gonna have to fail myself on this one.

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