Christmas loot list

Quick update to say that I'm very happy with my Christmas loot for this year!

I got Narnia: Prince Caspian on DVD and a cool dragon statue from mum and dad.
Got some Rebel Sport vouchers from my sister and her partner.
Got a DVD and some yummy chocolate stuff from Duncan's parents.
And got some glow poi from Duncan!

I have been playing with the poi all morning. I'm getting pretty good, but I'm glad I'm not a guy. Seriously, you'd have to wear a box to practice poi if you were a guy! When those things hit each other, they go in all sorts of directions. I've managed to smack myself in the eye with one, and the head, and the shins, and even once really hard on the elbow. But it's all a part of learning! So much fun. I've even taken out the Devil Sticks (sometimes called spin sticks or magic sticks?) from my car and been playing around with those, too.

So, now it's lunchtime. Hmmm potato salad.

Warm fuzzies

I met with my team after school today at a café down the road from work. It was nice to sit and relax and chat with each other. Elizabeth gave us some gifts, which was awesome. I’m leaving at the end of the year so I got a card and a leaving gift. The card nearly made me cry, it was filled with well wishes from the teachers and teacher aides in our rooms. In the gift I got a book called The Photo Book and a necklace with a koru (because it means new beginnings). I’m wearing the necklace, it’s so beautiful, and the book is awesome. We also all got a large candle each, to help us sit back and relax. They’re very nicely patterned hand made candles from Nest. We had a really awesome conversation (for over two and a half hours!) and it was just a great way to unwind at the end of the day. I had intended going back to school afterwards and carrying on with the art bay (which is what I was doing after school, but before our trip to the café) but when I got back there and saw my car loaded full, I thought – no. That’s enough for today. Tomorrow is another day.

I’ve nearly made it to the end of the year! Hoorah! Trying desperately to think of something I can do next year that will keep me engaged and enthused. There are quite a few possibilities, but the trouble is getting my foot in there, or my hands on something, or whatever metaphor you wish to use.

I think I need chocolate, although I have started to wonder about cutting back on my chocolate intake. I do go on fruit binges, but I always find that I just crave chocolate in the end.

I digress. Have also resorted to one handed typing so must be time to go and lie down. The buzz of the café talk has left me and now I’m wilting. Have lots to say in some other entry about exciting camping plans… later.

Why stop at one meme?

Your result for Howard Gardner's Eight Types of Intelligence Test...

Linguistic

33% Logical, 27% Spatial, 41% Linguistic, 24% Intrapersonal, 18% Interpersonal, 25% Musical, 16% Bodily-Kinesthetic and 41% Naturalistic!


"Verbal-linguistic intelligence has to do with words, spoken or written. People with verbal-linguistic intelligence display a facility with words and languages. They are typically good at reading, writing, telling stories and memorizing words and dates. They tend to learn best by reading, taking notes, listening to lectures, and via discussion and debate. They are also frequently skilled at explaining, teaching and oration or persuasive speaking. Those with verbal-linguistic intelligence learn foreign languages very easily as they have high verbal memory and recall, and an ability to understand and manipulate syntax and structure.


Careers which suit those with this intelligence include writers, lawyers, philosophers, journalists, politicians and teachers." (Wikipedia)

Take Howard Gardner's Eight Types of Intelligence Test at HelloQuizzy

Art meme thing

Your result for What Your Taste in Art Says About You Test...

Non-conformist, Visionary, and Independent

13 Abstract, -12 Islamic, -9 Ukiyo-e, 3 Cubist, -15 Impressionist and -17 Renaissance!

Abstract art uses a visual language of form, color and line to create a composition which exists independently of what may appear to others as visual realities. Western had been underpinned by the logic of perspective and an attempt to reproduce an illusion of visible reality. It allowed the progressive thinking artists to show a different side to the world around them. By the end of the 19th century many artists felt a need to create a 'new kind of art' which would encompass the fundamental changes taking place in technology, science and philosophy. Abstract artists created art that was diverse and reflected the social and intellectual turmoil in all areas of Western culture.

People that chose abstract art as their preferred artform tend to be visionsaries. They see things in the world around them and in people that others may miss because they look beyond what is visual only with the eye. They rely on their inner thoughts and feelings in dealing with the world around them instead of on what they are told they should think and feel. They feel freed from the tendancy to be bound by traditional thought and experiences. They look more toward their own ideas and experiences than what they are told by their religious upbringing or from scientific evidence. They tend to like to prove theories themselves instead of relying on the insight or ideas of others. They are not bound by common and mundane, but like to travel and have new experiences. They value intelligence, but they also enjoy a challenge. They can be rather argumentative when they are being forced or feel as if they are being forced to conform.

Take What Your Taste in Art Says About You Test at HelloQuizzy

Don't panic, I'm fine!

Thought I'd better let people know that my neck is fine. Thanks for the concerned replies. I went to the doctor after taking my car in for its WOF. Sat for an hour and a half before being seen, but hey. Nothing damaged, just something akin to whiplash, wore a soft neck brace for half a day before I got pissed off with it and took it off. Went to work again on Tuesday, feeling absolutely honky dory again now. I AM following doctor's orders though and NOT going snowboarding this weekend. Waiting until next weekend. Which means I'm a little at a loose end. *sigh*

Maybe that means I'll get more of my NaNo novel done, since I haven't really written that much more on it since last weekend.

I hate school. It eats the rest of my life. That and procrastination. I'm just not in a writing mood, I guess, more of a reading mood. I'd rather curl up with a good book than sit writing for ages. Meh. I'll MAKE myself. I'm writing now... if I just channel THIS energy into my novel I should be fine.

NaNo, wintersports, work and Halloween

Yep, past time for another update. It's November, so I'm participating in the madness that is NaNoWriMo again. I'm up to 5,000 words, which is way worse than last year (I was up to 12,000 words by this time last year - mainly because I had Damelza over and we were racing each other). But still do-able. I'm writing the sequel to last year's NaNo novel.

I've taken up with snowboarding, but I still have my skis and like skiing. Especially after I've injured myself snowboarding and need to do something I'm better at and don't fall over doing. Like right now... I was doing some of the jumps at Snow Planet on my board, got a bit cocky and one jump ended up going very wrong. I won't go into details, except that I landed very hard on my ass / back. I thought I was fine, but I woke up with a splitting headache at 4am today and when I tried getting out of bed I couldn't move my neck. So I've called in sick (or injured, as the case may be) and will be taking it easy today. Still can't move my neck, swallow or yawn without lots of pain. Found out in the shower that tilting my head back is absolutely out of the question. Heading out soon to get some anti-inflammatory tablets and possibly some painkillers, too. Maybe some Voltaren cream to rub in.

Work sucks. I wish the year would just end so I can leave and never look back. I'm looking at doing something completely different. Don't know what yet, but it may involve photography or proofreading, and may even involve working in retail. I don't give a fig so long as it isn't teaching. I don't mind doing relief teaching, and will probably keep that on the cards as it earns pretty well, but it'll be a long time (if ever) that I go back into a classroom full time. I've found out that I'm just not cut out for it. *shrug*

Duncan and I have our Halloween AGM / dance night tonight, and we've found all our Halloween decorations (we didn't put them up this year as we have learned that we NEVER get trick-or-treaters down where we live) and I'll be taking them with me tonight to set up our theme. I didn't get to dress up on Friday as our Halloween Disco at school was cancelled. I had lined up with a friend to go out on the town, but by the time I got home from work I was so shattered I couldn't face going clubbing. So tonight is my Halloween dress up night. I'm going as a black cat.

And I think that's all for now, folks!

About bloody time for an update, eh?

Man, I soooo need an icon of me snowboarding or something...

Right now I'm at National Park and I just had my first day of snowboarding, as the mountain was closed yesterday. Luckily, my friend Damelza lives down here so she has been keeping me company in between work and other commitments. Yay for Damelza! {{{big hugs}}}

Anyway, I went up the mountain today. I was so chuffed to hear at 7am that the lower mountain would be open... immediately packed up my gear and headed off. I had to park in carpark 10 as you needed snow chains or 4WD to go higher than that, but that's ok because I caught a shuttle. In fact, easier than walking from the higher carparks, because you don't really have to walk at all! Hmmmm will keep that in mind. It also means, though, that any spare clothes or stuff is way down the mountain in the car and you can't just pop back and get it.

I boarded in Happy Valley from about 8.30 to lunchtime, then headed up the mountain with Damelza to get my lesson at 12. I was the only adult, so instead of getting a group lesson for two hours, I got a private lesson for one hour. It was great. I got the same guy who I had last time I got a snowboarding lesson here. I have to admit, I was pretty tired already by that point. I'm not used to snowboarding and so any attempts at it are ultimately exhausting. Still, I did my best. I was having trouble getting up at this point, let alone doing what Steve, the coach, was asking me to do. He was very patient, and gave me a good scolding if I needed it. I have trouble with my toe edge to heel edge turns. Grr.

Eventually we moved to go down the Rock Garden. This is a slope I'm quite comfortable doing on skis, but I was absolutely terrified of trying it on a board! It didn't start well. Those bloody turns from toe to heel got me every time for the first part of the track, and probably about 50 to 100 metres from the start I'd bailed at least 6 times, each time while attempting that turn. The other turn was fine! So by this stage I was shattered from having bailed so often so soon, and each time having to get myself up out of the snow and keep going. I admit to crying in frustration. I told Steve I needed just a moment, turned my back to him, dried my tears, then took a deep breath and kept going. Lovely man didn't comment.

After that I was determined to not fall so often, but it was hard. My legs were so fatigued that they were actually quivvering. But... with the patient (and sometimes scolding) help of Steve, I eventually managed that turn. Then I even got the hang of doing several in a row... working up to weaving down the mountain. Yes, I still fell, but I was so much more in control. By the time I got to the bottom of the Rock Garden I was able to do about 7 or 8 turns before either having to stop (voluntarily) or falling. I'm so chuffed!

Steve gave me one last pep talk then left me to return to Happy Valley. I managed another few runs (I think three?) before the pain in my legs got too unbearable. We went home at 2pm.

Tomorrow... my aim is to start at Happy Valley, get those turns under control, then go up the Rock Garden again. I made it once without killing myself - this looks promising for future endeavours, right?

I wonder...

If it had something to do with the fact that there was a character it couldn’t insert in the email, in the form of a smiley face?

Post by email suddenly not working?

Weird. Suddenly the post by email feature doesn't appear to be working. If it does suddenly kick in, you might see two more copies of this post that I'm pasting in here manually:

----------------------------

Order: a bullet, please, and make it snappy

Sorry about the title, but I’ve just taken some pills for a headache. Ouch. Damelza came and visited this weekend and it was great. She helped me out in the classroom SO much, and even sat with me in the bedroom while I cleaned it. It’s so nice just to have company when you’re doing those sorts of things.

I just turned my head to think about what to write next and my gaze rested on my skis. I’m going skiing again in two weeks, weather permitting. I’m so excited. I love skiing. And I get to see Damelza again. Double woot.

Right, so what else have I been up to lately? Hmmm. I was pretty ill last week, some sort of tummy bug which had me feeling nauseated from Tuesday onwards. I never actually threw up, for which I am very grateful to my body, but I certainly didn’t eat much during that time and I’ve lost weight. I’m eating a bit better again now, but Duncan commented that I hadn’t eaten much last night and tonight, even though I’m feeling better. Meh.

I’ve been enjoying watching the Olympics so much. Yay for New Zealand – three golds, a silver and five bronzes. Not bad for a little country! Too bad Beatrice threw a hissy fit just because she couldn’t perform very well. Pah, grow up. Yay for Mahe Drysdale, who deserves much kudos for his performance to get a bronze medal when he was still ill. That was a grammatically dodgy sentence, but hey. And the rest of the NZ team, those who won medals and those who went and just did their best – hoorah to you! I even got to cheer a few times for the German team, when there was a lack of NZers to cheer for, but being NZ television, we didn’t always get to see the other countries winning, especially if there was a Kiwi competing in a different sport at the same time. Oooh, I quite enjoyed watching the table tennis and was happy that Ma Lin (or Lin Ma? Do they put their last names first?) won, as he just seemed like a much nicer player than Wang Hao who seemed very aggressive and angry. I was also very impressed with China’s performance in the rhythmic gymnastics and glad they got a silver. I thought they were better than the Russian team, but that’s just my uneducated opinion. Not that China needed any more golds! J

I think I might go lie down until my head stops pounding. Gotta be awake for the closing ceremony tonight, which starts at midnight our time, I think.

Order: a bullet, please, and make it snappy

Sorry about the title, but I’ve just taken some pills for a headache. Ouch. Damelza came and visited this weekend and it was great. She helped me out in the classroom SO much, and even sat with me in the bedroom while I cleaned it. It’s so nice just to have company when you’re doing those sorts of things.

I just turned my head to think about what to write next and my gaze rested on my skis. I’m going skiing again in two weeks, weather permitting. I’m so excited. I love skiing. And I get to see Damelza again. Double woot.

Right, so what else have I been up to lately? Hmmm. I was pretty ill last week, some sort of tummy bug which had me feeling nauseated from Tuesday onwards. I never actually threw up, for which I am very grateful to my body, but I certainly didn’t eat much during that time and I’ve lost weight. I’m eating a bit better again now, but Duncan commented that I hadn’t eaten much last night and tonight, even though I’m feeling better. Meh.

I’ve been enjoying watching the Olympics so much. Yay for New Zealand – three golds, a silver and five bronzes. Not bad for a little country! Too bad Beatrice threw a hissy fit just because she couldn’t perform very well. Pah, grow up. Yay for Mahe Drysdale, who deserves much kudos for his performance to get a bronze medal when he was still ill. That was a grammatically dodgy sentence, but hey. And the rest of the NZ team, those who won medals and those who went and just did their best – hoorah to you! I even got to cheer a few times for the German team, when there was a lack of NZers to cheer for, but being NZ television, we didn’t always get to see the other countries winning, especially if there was a Kiwi competing in a different sport at the same time. Oooh, I quite enjoyed watching the table tennis and was happy that Ma Lin (or Lin Ma? Do they put their last names first?) won, as he just seemed like a much nicer player than Wang Hao who seemed very aggressive and angry. I was also very impressed with China’s performance in the rhythmic gymnastics and glad they got a silver. I thought they were better than the Russian team, but that’s just my uneducated opinion. Not that China needed any more golds! J

I think I might go lie down until my head stops pounding. Gotta be awake for the closing ceremony tonight, which starts at midnight our time, I think.

Order: a bullet, please, and make it snappy

Sorry about the title, but I’ve just taken some pills for a headache. Ouch. Damelza came and visited this weekend and it was great. She helped me out in the classroom SO much, and even sat with me in the bedroom while I cleaned it. It’s so nice just to have company when you’re doing those sorts of things.

I just turned my head to think about what to write next and my gaze rested on my skis. I’m going skiing again in two weeks, weather permitting. I’m so excited. I love skiing. And I get to see Damelza again. Double woot.

Right, so what else have I been up to lately? Hmmm. I was pretty ill last week, some sort of tummy bug which had me feeling nauseated from Tuesday onwards. I never actually threw up, for which I am very grateful to my body, but I certainly didn’t eat much during that time and I’ve lost weight. I’m eating a bit better again now, but Duncan commented that I hadn’t eaten much last night and tonight, even though I’m feeling better. Meh.

I’ve been enjoying watching the Olympics so much. Yay for New Zealand – three golds, a silver and five bronzes. Not bad for a little country! Too bad Beatrice threw a hissy fit just because she couldn’t perform very well. Pah, grow up. Yay for Mahe Drysdale, who deserves much kudos for his performance to get a bronze medal when he was still ill. That was a grammatically dodgy sentence, but hey. And the rest of the NZ team, those who won medals and those who went and just did their best – hoorah to you! I even got to cheer a few times for the German team, when there was a lack of NZers to cheer for, but being NZ television, we didn’t always get to see the other countries winning, especially if there was a Kiwi competing in a different sport at the same time. Oooh, I quite enjoyed watching the table tennis and was happy that Ma Lin (or Lin Ma? Do they put their last names first?) won, as he just seemed like a much nicer player than Wang Hao who seemed very aggressive and angry. I was also very impressed with China’s performance in the rhythmic gymnastics and glad they got a silver. I thought they were better than the Russian team, but that’s just my uneducated opinion. Not that China needed any more golds! J

I think I might go lie down until my head stops pounding. Gotta be awake for the closing ceremony tonight, which starts at midnight our time, I think.

Six word stories

Hemingway was once challenged to write a story in only six words. His response? “For sale: baby shoes, never worn.” He is believed to have called it his greatest literary work ever. Can you write a story in six words?

It wasn’t easy ending the world. – M. Laidlaw

What’s your six word story?

Found this on Spare Room

http://codebox.no-ip.net/controller?page=misc.QuizCommonWords

Fun little quiz on whether you can guess the 100 most common words in the English language in 5 minutes. I got 46, and that was with Duncan helping. I don’t do well under pressure, I tend to freeze up. So, despite the fact that I’m a primary school teacher and should know these words, I sort of was very little use in this exercise and Duncan was struggling along standing behind me giving me suggestions while I stared blankly. Hahaha. I hate time trials. But it’s fun anyway.

And what I mean by Spare Room is www.spareroom.co.nz

Rather disconnected update

I went up to my parents’ place this past weekend to help out around the farm. Got to climb up and balance on a beam and a ladder on the roof of the polyhouse and nail some bits of wood. Also helped out with other stuffs. I was sick recently, and on Friday had to be driven home at lunch time. I curled up on the couch, was fed by my kind flatmate, then slept for four hours. By the time I woke up the world was a much better place, as I no longer felt the insane need to put a bullet through my brain.

What else…?

Oh, I got to do a presentation today for our cluster (five of the schools in our area make up our ‘cluster’). I was meant to be presenting with Jo, but she came down really ill and couldn’t make it. Fortunately, she managed to send me the presentation that she had prepared, and I used quite a bit of it in my presentation. All in all it was reasonably successful, I think. I’m just so glad it’s over. I had to do the presentation twice for two groups of people. The second group was mainly people from my school, which was nice.

Now I’m feeling brain dead.

There are a million other things that I meant to post about, but I can never seem to remember when it actually comes around to doing this.

Oh, I’m starting another painting. My biggest canvas so far and I’ve just painted it black. I threatened to keep it like that and just call it ‘night’, but I won’t. I haven’t decided what I’m going to do with it yet. I also have seven smaller canvases that I’m working on.

I keep getting hiccups. It’s very annoying.

Inspirational and interesting stuff

Here is a video by Michael Wesch, a social anthropology lecturer. It's just so interesting. He has eight videos on YouTube. There are two others of his I really like, but this is the first one I ever saw and it still remains my favourite.

Embedded Video

Blogged with the Flock Browser

Time for the skiing update

About time I got around to this… my skiing holiday! I’ve been updating Twitter and Twitxr, but neglecting my blogs.

 

So… I got back from Whangarei (visiting my parents) on Tuesday of the second week of the holidays, ran around like a lunatic Tuesday afternoon trying to get ready, because a change of plans had us leaving for Ohakune on Tuesday evening. We got there at just after 11pm. The guy who ran the place we stayed at the first night left the key for us in the letterbox, but when we got to our room we found that someone was already in there. WTF? We called the manager, who came and told her to leave, but found her another room to stay in, and we moved in. Didn’t get much sleep that first night.

 

Wednesday – we hit the slopes! Went to the Turoa side, because that’s what we’d planned and it turned out there was more snow there than at the Whakapapa side (yes, that’s the place that’s said the rude way, for those overseas folks). Spent the whole day skiing. Oh my, so much fun! I probably spent half the day on the beginners’ slopes before finally braving Clarry’s Track after lunch. But once I’d done Clarry’s Track once, I just wanted to keep doing it! Yeah, baby!

 

Thursday – we were skiing for half a day. Rachel and Elizabeth joined me on Clarry’s Track, and Elizabeth finally saw what was so great about skiing and why I was having so much damn fun on Wednesday. At some point during the morning she completely took me out from behind while going down the steep slope in Clarry’s Track. I didn’t know what had hit me! We went down in a tangle of limbs and skis, but neither of us got hurt. We were laughing so hard that it took a while to get back up again. The afternoon turned horrid. High winds and rain. This wouldn’t have been so bad, except that I had no way (apart from my rather ineffective goggles) to protect my face, and one trip on the ski lift left the exposed parts completely numb. Not just the numb that you say is numb because it’s really cold. Oh, no, real numb. The sort of numb you usually only feel after the dentist has given you several injections. So, yeah, I only did the one trip on the ski lift, then managed to get back down in time to get a refund on half a day.

 

Friday – weather just as bad, but because we knew Saturday was only going to get worse, we were going skiing no matter what. We all armed ourselves with neck warmers, that we could pull up to cover our faces on the ski lifts, and managed to get in a full day of skiing. After about two or three runs down Clarry’s Track, I stopped in at the store and bought myself a proper pair of double-lens goggles (non fogging, you see). Visibility much better after that. We took some photos and videos of our skiing, but that was quite dangerous. You see, when you’re holding the camera and standing at the side of a track with a drop behind you, and the wind is blasting at you, and you’re standing on two planks of fibre glass, there’s not a lot you can do to stop yourself from blowing off the side of the mountain. But, we managed. A few hairy moments where I had to grab for my ski poles to stop myself sliding away, but I got the videos and photos I needed. Will post at some point. Or not, if I forget. I still haven’t even transferred them off the camera onto my computer yet. Damelza joined us on Friday, too, but left after only a few runs. Still, it was good to see her.

 

Oh, on Thursday night I went to the shop that Damelza works at and bought my own skis, poles and boots. All for a lovely $400. The skis are ex-rental, but the poles and boots are new. Yay. So Friday I was skiing with my own gear. The skis I bought are somewhat faster than the hire ones I had, which was great! I often came to a grinding halt on the last corner on Clarry’s Track, because the skis just didn’t keep my momentum. No problem now with my own skis!

 

Friday night we went out for dinner, which turned out to be a bad move. Jase and Elizabeth ended up with food poisoning and both spent the second half of the night either feeling queasy or throwing up. They were like clockwork. Elizabeth rushed out of our room, then a minute later Jase came rushing out of his room. So, even if the slopes hadn’t been closed on Saturday because of strong winds, we wouldn’t have been skiing anyway. We made our leisurely way home.

 

Oh my, what a wordy update! Well done those people who read all the way to the end. I’ll put today’s activities in another update. Maybe tomorrow. It’s cold in here and I want to get back to the fire in the living room.

 

Picture is Jase in the foreground, looking out over the bottom beginner’s slopes at Turoa, Mt Ruapehu. Taken Wednesday, our first day.

Testing something

Hmm playing around with Flock's blog editor. Which blog does this end up going to?

Visit to parents

I've been keeping my twitter and twitxr updated, but haven't actually done a blog update, I just realised. I arrived at mum and dad's place on Thursday and immediately went out to help mum moving some wood. On Friday we went into town in the morning and I got a T-shirt that says "Warning: I have an attitude and I know how to use it!" Hehe. Then in the afternoon mum and I chopped wood until Steph and Robert arrived. I don't recall what we did on Saturday, except that we were all here (including Nicola, my other sister). On Sunday afternoon I went and visited Janey, and saw Chloe again. Picture attached. She's just so damn cute! Today (Monday), dad took a turn for the worse and mum and I couldn't go out and continue with the wood chopping as someone had to stay with him. But mum went into town and got some more stuff to help dad deal with the side-effects of his medication, and he was much perkier this afternoon. I also caught up with an old school friend who lives just down the road. It's the first time I've seen her in years, it was so cool to catch up. Her name is Tania and I used to go to primary school with her, but she moved away and I think I only saw her once or twice since. I got to meet her husband and her lovely, energetic little boy (who is oh-so-welcoming, such a sweetie!). You know how some kids are shy around strangers - not him! He started chatting away to me immediately and climbed on my lap the moment I sat down, hahaha.
 
Hmmmm time for a new paragraph. Past time, but I'm not going back to figure out where one was meant to start. There have also been a change of plans for our ski trip. Because the weather is meant to be good on Wednesday but pack in on Thursday, we decided to drive down on Tuesday (tomorrow!) evening so we can get a full day of skiing in on Wednesday. That way, if the weather does pack in on Thursday and we can't go skiing, at least we'll have had a day, and we can make snow men and snow angels instead. Hehehe... I wouldn't mind a snow fight! SQUEE! SNOW!
 
Oh, and mum and I went shopping online using FlyBuys, and we purchased an external harddrive and some iPod / computer speakers for me. I can finally back up my laptop! I've been busy transferring data 8GB at a time (because that's the largest memory stick I have - thanks Steph for lending it to me!), and it's such a painfully slow process. With that and bluetooth going full blast, I still haven't backed up half of what I need to the entire time I've been here. And it's not really backing up, just moving it from my personal laptop to my work one until I can sort it all out. But I can stop that now and just wait for my voucher to arrive, so I can get my harddrive from Noel Leeming. W00t!
 
How's that for an update?

Going to visit the parents

I’m just about to head up to Whangarei (once I’ve packed up my computer and finished packing a few last minute things). I’ll be up there for six days with limited Internet access. You’ll hear from me, but not regularly (probably… who knows, maybe I’ll get the modem working on my laptop after all?). I still have to pass by school and pick up loads of stuff.

 

I had fun painting at B’s place yesterday and got lots done (including harassing B into stopping procrastinating!). Yes, B, I know you can read this. Hehe. I had a ball, and I’m taking my paintings up to Whangarei where I might just have some time to carry on with them. I’m also taking a load of marking, my knitting, and screeds of books (of course). We’ll be helping out on the farm, so don’t know how much time I’ll have to do everything. Good to be busy!

 

66% downloaded… might go finish packing while this download for my parents finishes.

Bird pictures

I’ve just gotten out of the aviary this morning and here are the pictures of my new birds. The cockatiels: Doralto (Yellow) and Bismarck (Grey). The brown quails (as yet unnamed) and the silver quails (also unnamed). The brown quail photo is a little blurry because they wouldn’t come out of the dark corner of the aviary. The male was still trying to sleep. In fact, he was still so sleepy he let me pat him before he realised what was happening and made a dash for it. Then he let me pat him again. So cute!! The silvers were a little more active, I couldn’t get within touching distance of them.

Last test

Posting from email again. Seeing what happens with the image now. Is the writing to the right of the picture, or still under it? Isn’t it funny that LJ puts the picture at the END of the post, whereas Blogger puts it at the start?

More testing stuff



Ok, just uploading this because I've set it to always put the picture like this. So hopefully, from now on, it will just put any pictures inserted from emails in the top left corner with the writing to the side. *cross fingers*

What do you think the chances are of this happening?

Testing something

Testing what happens when I attach the picture instead of insert it into the email body. Blogger didn’t upload my picture, just left a broken picture where I inserted it (but the right shape), and LJ moved the picture to the end of the post when I inserted it.

 

So… attached picture. Where will it end up?

Birds

So, after ice skating this morning, Claire and I went to the Bird Barn in Henderson to get some more cockatiel seed for my birds. We were looking around and I noticed that the quails were going at a good price. So I ended up coming home with a pair of brown quails and a pair of silver quails. They’ll need names. I’ll get some photos tomorrow. Now, time to try out what happens when I insert a photo when posting by email…

 

 

These are the lovely cockatiels that I acquired from a family. Like I said, a little rough-looking, but they’ll look better soon. They’re renamed now. Yellow (guess which one that was) is now called Doralto and Grey is now Bismarck. The colours on this photo aren’t very true to the real thing, as they’re taken at dusk through the wire mesh of the aviary. Doralto is actually a bright canary yellow, and Bismarck is a very dark grey bordering on black. I described them in a previous post. Hopefully I’ll get better pictures of them tomorrow, when I’m in the aviary taking pictures of the quails. (So cute!!)

What a mission!

I’ve just spent the last two hours cleaning my car. And you know what? I’ve only managed the inside of it. But it is clean! I took everything out (and it filled half the carport, what a lot of crap I had in the car), threw away all the rubbish, vacuumed, wiped down the surfaces, and cleaned the inside of the windows. The outside of the car is still filthy, but I’ve got to get some lunch, do some of the other things on my list, and then go ice skating. Hmmmm, maybe as payment, I can get Claire to help me wash my car? Hehehe.

To do list

  • Cash cheque
  • Clean out car
  • Take box to school
  • Sort paper war in classroom
  • Organise marking to go to Whangarei
  • Charge cameras
  • Source ink

I think that’s all…

At school

Posting from school here. Haha. I hope I’ve remembered my posting email addresses correctly. We’ve just had our meeting and I’m feeling a bit more prepared for the term. I’m going to head home, pick up some stuff and do some of the stuff I have to do (get bird food!), then head off to my sister’s place. I might actually dance at dancing tonight. My other dancing is on break right now. Oh, I can’t get to twitter from school, it’s blocked. Came up with a Watchdog notice “We believe you have been accidentally blocked from this site. Please contact your system administrator…”

 

Anywho, time to head on off.

Testing this post by email thing

Hiya folks, I’m procrastinating. Testing my post by email feature, since then I can keep both blogs up to date at the same time and I don’t have to log in anywhere. Woot. Why do I need two blogs? I’m not entirely sure. I’ve got a meeting at 10am today, it’s 8.50am, and I still have a towel wrapped around my head. Oh well. I had intended to be all good and get out of bed early so I could go to the gym before my meeting, but depending on how long the meeting takes I might be good and go to the gym before I go visit my sister, because I can’t arrive at her place before 3pm anyway.

 

Hmmm, things I need to make sure to sort out:

-        get some more of those clear sleeves for ringbinders

-        get my sister a birthday present and card

-        buy more bird food

 

Oh, speaking of bird food… I have acquired two more cockatiels. They’re so cute, I’ll have to put pictures up sometime. Maybe in my next post I’ll try inserting a picture. I believe I can do that via email. But they’re so cute. One’s bright yellow all over, and the other is a colour mutation I’ve not come across before. He’s grey, but a very very dark grey, and his head is bright yellow, with no trace of orange cheek patches, and the white stripe on his wing isn’t white – it’s yellow! I’ll put pictures, and if anyone knows what sort of colour that’s called, let me know! I have to rename them, though. The previous owners had called them Yellow and Grey (rolleyes). They’re getting cocktail names, like my other two (Daiquiri and Pina Colada). They’re also currently not looking their best. Their feathers are a bit ragged and they can’t fly. Hopefully life in my large aviary will agree with them and they’ll soon look glossy and healthy.

Yeah, a new blog

See old (and possibly will still update occasionally) blog at this address. I've got the Formula 1 going on behind me (on TV, not literally), and I've signed up for Twitter and Twitxr and all that jazz. New things to play with. It's late at night. My ramblings are often disjointed, just warning you now.

Things I'm looking forward to: ice skating on Wednesday (twice!), art on Wednesday, visiting my family on Thursday, going skiing next week.

Things I'm not looking forward to: Meeting at school tomorrow at 10am, having to organise my classroom for the new term, catching up on shitloads of paperwork.

Haha, had to come back to edit this post. Had forgotten to insert the link to my old blog. Go figure.

GIVE YOUR GIRL A BEAUTIFUL PRESENT .

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