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Browsing category: Uncategorized

  • June 28, 2009

    It’s all about the eyes

    I have worn glasses since the age of about 10. My first pair was a huge, round, brown pair that took up half my face and literally made me look like an owl. I also had really thick, heavy glass lenses; I wore them for about two or three years and by the time I changed frames, my head had grown so much the legs stuck out at an angle like this: Untitled

    Then I progressed onto a much less frumpy oval purple pair, followed by a gunmetal grey pair and the funky patterned pair I wear today (Pictured below). I started wearing contacts at the beginning of 2007, just before starting uni at the ripe old age of 18. Contacts were one of those things my parents never entertained the thought of, like dating and driving. I would have been really gutted if contacts hadn’t worked out, to be honest, but luckily I took to them pretty well – better than I ever could have imagined.

    39871628_col_100_angle

    I wore contacts pretty much exclusively that year and the next, but in late 08 I started having problems. I’m pretty sure it was dry eye and possibly a minor infection. Gritty, dry, sore eyes, a lens that wouldn’t move with my eye ball, always my left eye, and usually began around 2pm (like clockwork). That’s when i bit the bullet, got my eyes tested and finally upgraded my glasses. By the end of the summer I was regularly wearing contacts again, but now instead of wearing my glasses once or twice a month it’s more like half the time.

    Krystal at GMBMFB wrote a post about how LASIK completely changed her life. I’ve never thought Lasik was for me; from what I’ve heard it’s really only suitable for those with mildly bad eyes, in which case, NOT worth it for me (I’m at -6 or thereabouts, so pretty freakin’ blind). Although maybe in the future it’s something I should find out more about…when I have money to play with. (But honestly, if I had money to burn, there are so many more things I’d do with it first, namely travel!)

    But it would be nice to wake up and be able to see. I can’t actually imagine what that would be like. I have to admit, I’m used to being shortsighted; I can’t remember any other way of living. I’m used to moving around the house in a blur in the mornings (and late at nights) before washing my face and generally humanising myself before work. And…bear with me…the frequent swapping up between glasses and contacts is frustrating, hair-wise. I have a side fringe…sometimes. Sometimes it hides itself away. When I wear contacts, I really need a fringe to cover up my huge forehead and soften up my face. With glasses, I DON’T want my fringe because it gets in the way. (And my forehead is less noticeable because my strong frames dominate my face). It’s hard to find a flattering style that works both ways.

    I know, it’s a small thing…but I’m somewhat obsessive-compulsive over little annoyances like that!

  • June 27, 2009

    Tracking purchases

    When I first got my credit card in my first semester of uni, I used it for online purchases, or really large purchases. So honestly, I hardly ever used it, and tracking purchases wasn’t even an issue.

    Then I started to realise that A) I could be making rewards points by using it for things like groceries, gas, etc every week – easily a couple of hundred dollars and B) I could be cutting down on my bank statements. Seriously, they were running to about 5 pages a month, once you factored in all our payments, purchases, and flatmates depositing rent and bill money. Instead, I ended up wih longer Visa statements (the print is tiny, though) and it means when I graduate and no longer have unlimited free transactions, I won’t be stung with nasty EFTPOS fees.

    I used to meticulously make notes in my phone every time I purchased anything on my Visa. You know, $20 for gas, $10 for lunch, $120 for food, whatever. Then I’d get home and transfer over the full amount (usually, before the purchases even showed up on my transaction history).

    But I’ve been SLACKING lately. No more keeping track of purchases. Nope, I have been lazy and caught up in the craziness that’s been 2009. I’ve just been waiting for everything to show up as a transaction, then transferring over money to the Visa. I don’t like it. It’s sloppy and it would be far too easy to overlook one or two purchases.

    Can’t moan about it to BF though – he just goes “Oh, so you’re finally using it like normal people use their?”

    ARGH!

    I…will….breed….this train of thinking out of him.

  • June 26, 2009

    These little moments

    Sometimes you just have to stand back for a moment in time and marvel at how much has gone by and how much has changed.

    Four years ago I was heartbroken from my first real relationship coming to an end.

    I had just moved out on my own and at times I felt like nobody else had ever felt so alone.

    I had another year left of high school and I wished I had been able to go to uni a year early (thankfully, I made the most of seventh form and don’t regret a moment. It was a fantastic year).

    I had about $10 wiggle room in my budget and I lived on about $30-40 a week for food. I made toothpaste, shampoo, conditioner, skincare and toilet paper last as long as it possibly could.

    So much has changed since then.

    Today I look back and think, it’s amazing how much can happen in just a few years. I have a job related to my field of study, I’m about to graduate, I finally learned to drive, I know how to clean an oven and how to slice an onion. I met BF, someone who had gone to school pretty much alongside me but who I barely ever spoke to. He’s been in the army, worked a few jobs and is about to go back for more schooling. His nieces are 7 and 8, and they now have a baby sister and another on the way. They have a cousin, a baby boy. BF’s brothers have left school and started working, and are nearly old enough to start high school, respectively.

    And yet I still think his nieces are about 4 and 5, and his youngest brother about 8. I still think of my brother as about 12, for goodness sake, and he’s almost 15. I guess it’ll always take me a few years to catch up – I’ll always be lagging behind. Isn’t that the beauty of being older? You’re expected to not know these things; to ask “what year are you in now?” and to squeal “but you were only THIS tall last time I saw you!”

    This is life, and today I’m going to take a snapshot of it for posterity.

  • June 26, 2009

    When is cheaping out okay?

    Dog and Kristy posted about the things they refuse to cheap out on. I always like to read these kinds of posts; everyone has different priorities and no two people are ever going to have the exact same list.

    I definitely agree with Dog on going for the better neighbourhood. After living here, I’m determined to only go up the suburban ladder, not down. This story about a family who’ve been burgled seven times (why haven’t they moved by now??) elicited floods of responses, with people wanting to share their stories of being robbed. Anecdotally, Auckland’s burglary rate seems ridiculously high. If you haven’t been affected, no doubt you know somehow who has. The common theme was just how powerless and helpless you feel after being hit by thieves, and how little (if anything) police can do. Even with proof. There’s only so many times you can claim insurance before your premiums hike, and if you’re a homeowner, moving may not be as easy a solution as it sounds.

    And kitchenware for sure, if you can afford it. Especially knives. Nothing worse than hacking away at a cut of meat with a blunt knife, or trying to slice through a stubborn tomato (and probably nicking yourself while you’re at it!).

    We also try to make better food choices when we eat out. Less greasy, fast food crap; we try to pay a little more for maybe Thai or something, instead of nasty food court sweet and sour pork or Maccas.

    Work clothes are also something you need to invest more in, methinks. That’s really going to hit me once I graduate; I’m going to need to build a proper work wardrobe, and seeing as I don’t have truckloads of cash at my disposal, I’m going to have to go with fewer, but better quality pieces.

    For me, I also need good skincare and foundation. I have difficult skin – super touchy, super sensitive, yet super oily. I think I also have mild rosacea, so I need gentle products that aren’t extra moisturising because they’ll turn me into a grease slick. So many products are designed with sensitive, DRY skin in mind (which granted is more common than my kind), so it’s a struggle sometimes.

    And sheets! I can’t stand cheap sheets. They get scratchy and lumpy in no time at all, and I twitch in revulsion at the though of having to lie on them (even with a layer of pyjamas in between). Nope, gotta be good sheets that last awhile.

    Batteries and electronics. I mean this in the sense that I’d always go for a name brand – generic batteries tend to have very little power in them, and when I’m buying a phone/tv/computer, I want to know that I can trust the manufacturer.

    Then there are the things I’d prefer not to cheap out on (bras, shoes, appliances) but usually do. Thoughts?

  • June 25, 2009

    Scars and stretchmarks

    I really need to get my hands on some rosehip oil.

    It’s the dead of winter, and it’s bloody freezing. (According to WHO, the minimum temperature indoors is 18 degrees. Pretty sure it’s colder in here – I can see my breath in front of me from time to time.) So although it’s not like I’m showing off skin on a daily basis, I’m not exactly taking care of my skin either. But I have a ton of scars from old eczema and insect bites – mainly on my legs and around the hips and torso – which I really need to do something about.

    I have really thin, delicate skin which bruises and scars easily; all the spots where I get eczema have thinned out my skin and are still extremely prone to itching (NOT good, as you can imagine!) Having thinner skin there also means I flush more easily when I’m drinking – quite scary to get home half cut, try to undress yourself and fall into bed, only to catch sight of scary red blotches scattered over your torso.

    But it beats my high school days for sure. I had bad acne for a couple of years, and it was AWFUL. My forehead was dotted with purplish scars (one brilliant guy made the insightful comment to me, “Your forehead is speckled!”) and I tried to cover it all up with makeup – not very well. I remember being out shopping and browsing through the makeup department in Farmers, and my friend gently pointing out that my current foundation “wasn’t very good”. I still haven’t found my holy grail foundation; with oily, sensitive skin, it’s really hard to find a balance. Thankfully the facial scars have since faded, and with gentle skincare and makeup, my face isn’t totally ravaged by the elements anymore.

  • June 25, 2009

    Things I like about winter

    I know most of the blogosphere seems to be coming into summer, and looking forward to sunglasses, shorts and sandals.

    But for the rest of us, who only have sleet, rain and snow to to contend with, here’ s what we can appreciate about winter!

    That, and the shortest day of the year is now over – it’s all uphill from here!

    Hearty stews
    Chili
    Beer battered fries
    Open fires
    Hoodies
    Hot chocolate
    Boots
    Stockings
    Coats

  • June 24, 2009

    Irregular expenditures

    I finally got my A into G and calculated what we need to be putting away weekly for our main irregular expenses.

  • Insurance (car) – $10 approx
  • Insurance (contents) – $5
  • Water – $15
  • Car reg – $5
  • Car fund (for Warrants, oil, repairs and maintenance) approx $10-15                             = TOTAL $50

    • And I currently put aside $35 weekly for power and phone bills, which needs to go up to $45. I’d also like to consolidate all these in one Irregulars account, instead of lumping them in with my main savings account. I might also have a separate one for the car stuff (which we have been shunting into BF’s BNZ checking account) …and one day I’d like to have a Holiday account as well!

    Whether we can put this into action? Doubtful. But we’ll see how things go next semester with BF starting his course and with any luck picking up some regular part time work. For now, there is literally nothing left after paying rent, bills and buying groceries. Irregulars are coming out of savings and not really being replenished, apart from the odd extra income in months when I do mystery shopping. But now I have a better picture of where we need to be at.

  • June 24, 2009

    I feel pretty lucky..

    I’m thankful that I have a job I like, with nice coworkers and an awesome boss. I guess I also get a fair bit of leeway, being a rare part-timer amongst full-timers, and being a student. If I need to change up my hours or take study leave, it’s never a problem. I get to pace my workload, and in return I’m always happy to pick up more hours as needed or stay a little later.

    One of my friends just got a job at Savemart, which is pretty neat. It’ll give her some solid work experience, it’s close to her house and the hours are regular – a damn sight better than at her old telemarketing job. Back in school, I wanted to break into retail SO MUCH. I was sick of working with food and just wanted to work in a shop. But I never got anywhere near, and then I landed an ever better job – in an office – and haven’t looked back. Now I think about it, hospo tends to pay better than retail, and I would have been a useless salesperson anyway.

    Being an entry-level sort of job though, has its downsides. She can’t smoke inside, obviously, but was told to not even bring her packet of cigarettes indoors! There’s the usual no texting, no slacking off talking, and a bit of a grilling about future plans. Like, what do you want to get out of this? How long do you think you’ll stay here? Why? You think you’ll be here for the next two years?

    I guess in times like these employers can push the limits and be as picky as they want, and people will put up with it to ensure they have a job – at least until something better comes along.

  • June 23, 2009

    The conundrum of choice

    Not surprisingly, BF’s having a lot of second thoughts about what he wants to do, you know, with the rest of his life.

    He is still keen on teaching. But what? teaching

    He says he would be happy to do early childhood – pretty much a guaranteed job, and free tuition. But it’s not what he really wants to do in the long run. And though he has lots of experience dealing with young ‘uns, I think he’s the kind of person who needs more stimulating, adult interaction. (And realistically, let’s face it, no matter how much they speak of shortages, and say more men are needed in primary and early childhood education, people are WARY of men who want to work among young children.) His original plan was to teach primary and intermediate aged kids, but now he’s quite keen to teach high school.

    That’s going to require a fair bit of study…and money!

    We’re talking a BA – in whatever, media studies, classics, history, or a mix – and then a postgrad diploma in teaching. Three years for the bachelor’s and one year for the post grad. Maybe $15k for undergrad and a similar amount for post?

    I’m not expecting him to have made up his mind at this point – that would be ridiculous. Just sounding off possibilities, because planning is important when it comes to education.

    Either way, I’m sure while doing his course next semester he’ll be introduced to so many new and interesting things, he could yet change his mind still.

  • June 23, 2009

    Open letter to Work and Income

    I’ve had it up to here.

    I simply don’t understand WHY it is you continue to make life so damn complicated for us. Yet, you seem perfectly content to keep doling out money to people (including members of BF’s family) who, frankly, do nothing productive with their lives, apart from occasionally pop out another child.

    From the beginning to now, dealing with you has been nothing but a headache. First you refused to even see BF. You fobbed him off with excuses, like how backlogged you were and how long it would be before there were any free appointments.

    There was a whole brouhaha about the fact that I study and work, and should therefore be able to support the both of us singlehandedly.

    Then came the letter stating that we had failed to comply with their request for further information and his claim was denied. Only, you had never even SENT a request for any information. That was just a lie, an attempt to deny him any help he might have been entitled to. And of course, it took another couple of weeks to straighten that one out too, because you can’t just call up to make an appoitment to sort out misunderstandings. It always takes about a week before you can get in to see a case worker.

    Then it finally all seemed to come together. You gave a little, we gave a little, you were impressed with his ethic, and wanted to help him as much as possible because he wasn’t like the other lazy bludgers on your books.

    And then came a letter saying that BF had failed to attend an appointment for LSV (whatever that might be) on Monday the 22nd, and a letter had been sent to inform him about this appointment on Monday the 8th.

    Again, lies. No such letter was ever received. Nothing of the kind was even mentioned to him at his appointment on Thursday the 11th of June, when he went in to discuss his enrolment in the New Start programme at Auckland Uni.

    Now you say a “work test” has been issued for him and his entitlement will be compromised if he does not contact his case manager with a “fair and sufficient” reason for not attending.

    A reason, like…. No such appointment was ever relayed to me?

    And anyone who’s ever dealt with WINZ knows they shunt you around case managers; he’s never seen the same person more than once. Who knows who his supposed case manager is at this point.

    I can only assume they will now take it upon themselves to suspend his payments, and add to my stress.

    Work and Income, it’s time to start playing fair.

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