Third day in bed - another stupid (or the same stupid) cold has laid me low. Lying here today I'm feeling better than the previous two days, and am at the stage where I'm coughing like a bull seal in Springtime - so I reckon it's on its way out. A number of times over the last few days I've given myself a shake and told myself to "buck up" and "soldier on!" as they say in cold medicine advertisements. Standing up to do my soldering has ended up with having more of the light-headed, weak-legged, head-aching reality that bed has been the best place for me afterall.

Tomorrow I shall ingest more than the recommended dose of cold capsules and soldier into my Monday. In the meantime, let's have a Sunday update.

Great Walker Entry

Thanks for the encouraging comments on my Air New Zealand / Department of Conservation Great Walker Entry. If you don't know, the competition offers four people the opportunity to walk New Zealand's nine great hiking tracks in nine weeks next year. It's an international competition, and entries were either by making a 60 second video or pinning 15 images to a Pinterest board. I choose the video option and had fun (with David helping out) making it last weekend.

Now, if we take a step back just a little, some of you might be questioning the idea that I would want to walk for nine weeks straight (sum total of all tracks is something like 550 kilometres). But I actually think this was such an incredible opportunity, it's the first competition I've entered in living memory. The real hook too was that they want people who win the competition to blog and tweet about it. To record their journey through words and images and video and I think that would be my perfect, perfect adventure.

The videos are being judged on their merits rather than view counts, and entrants will be sorted into a final group of 20 for Skype interviews to find the right four people for the adventure. So it's a long shot, as with any competition, but at least I'm in there.

On a sidenote - I've actually always wanted to walk one of these tracks. It's been an unformed, unactioned thought in my head. If nothing else, this competition has made me decide that I will do one of the tracks next year regardless. The track has yet to be determined - I need to speak with my family first to see who (if any) might like to come with me.

Skype Dinner

Last night I watched five of my friends in Melbourne cook and eat dinner. Now, this never sounds quite as fantastic as it actually is, but I urge you to try it sometime if you live far away from people you care about. I was beamed over an iPad and propped up on the dining room table to listen, and join in to, the conversation as my friends shared their meal.

It was lovely. They are lovely.

I got some personal one on one conversation with most of the people, and listened to their conversations, and took the edge off me missing them like crazy a tiny bit.

Off the Shelf

People are signing up for the newsletter I mentioned in the last post. This is great - thank you - not just for signing up but for making me get off my butt and making this idea a real thing. That's pretty much why I posted the idea because without the impetus of people expecting the newsletter, I would continue procrastinating until someone else did the exact same thing and I'd miss the boat. As it is, there are tons of boats in this harbour so I appreciate those who get on board.

If you fancy flirting with your creative self, with a view to a long-term relationship, you can sign up with your email address with the form over there in the right hand menu.

Afternoon Tea at the Moneray Cinema - seeing Looper last Tuesday