January 31, 2004Yesterday, my last dayYesterday, my last day at work started with a gentleman sheltering me from the rain. The day ended with a gentleman making sure I got home safely. He also refused to let me pay for any of my drinks. And took me to a nice bar [upstairs from Flesh]. And talked to me all night. Which really was a valient effort because, by crikey, I talked some tripe. Thanks Jonathan. Mera came too, she talked too but hardly any of it was tripe. (we ended up eating at my "usual" - sitting by the bus stop outside Kebabs on Queen eating a miniLamb with homus, garlic yogurt (yes, that is what the creamy stain on the front of my skirt is) and sweet chilli sauce) Thanks, everyone, for a really great night. I have really groovy friends and workmates, even if they always bring out the same Michelle Stories over and over again. [Mitch's favourite "butt plug" story and Marshall's "don't get used to it" coffee story] Thanks too for putting up with my uncohesive [incohesive?] speech - I'll sort that out later. Thanks to the bar staff at the Provedor for supplying food and letting us win the bar tabs even though - you know - we weren't even in the draw *shh* thanks Anna. [who considers me a regular to her bar and I'm really chuffed about that although I didn't think I went *that* often] Martini [two olives], Cosmopoliton [one cherry and a slice of lemon], Some Grapey Smurf Juice Thing [a slice of pineapple, a cherry, two straws and a pink umbrella] [flashback: The Purple Provedor] , Sex on the Wharf [some fruit, umbrellas, couple of straws, orange umbrella] Champagne [flute], Beer [bottle, thank god]. Oh my kingdom for a glass of water. And, speaking of umbrellas: I left my *new* one in the bar! *doh*
Posted by Michelle at 1:07 PM
January 30, 2004UmbrellasMy umbrella is never where it needs to be. It's either at home, or at the office when I am either at the office, or at home. This morning I woke to the sound of rain on the trees outside my bedroom window. With the realisation that I would be walking to my bus and ferry and work in the rain, also came the knowledge that my umbrella was leaning up against the wall by my desk at work. I can't get my Umbrella Feng Shui right. I spend most of my week carrying it to and from work with the idea it might rain. To finally leaving it at work rather than carry it one more rainless evening home, to wake up the following morning to precipitation. This is a cycle that repeats itself with regularity throughout my year. It wasn't raining more than a dusty drizzle by the time I left the house. A little bit of rain never hurt anybody, so I had no problem standing on the exposed jetty waiting for the ferry. Trouble is, with rain, is that while sometimes it can stop; sometimes, it can fall harder and more often too. I was slowly but surely getting wet. I accepted this as my fate for being out of whack with my feng shui and turn to watch all the smart umbrella'd people walking onto the jetty, smug in their dryness. And then there he was. He stepped very close to me, his large golf umbrella sheltering me from the rain "We can't have you melting away, now, can we?" he said. We stood there in comfortable, dry silence until it was time to board the ferry. I thanked him, and he assured me it had been his pleasure. By the time we got into Auckland, the rain was pouring down. My only hope was to buy another umbrella, which I did, and made it to work in relative dryness. I now have 2 umbrella's - what's the bet that *both* of them are somewhere I am not next time it rains.
Posted by Michelle at 10:19 AM
January 29, 2004Lunch with MishLunch with Mish at your Peril
Posted by Michelle at 3:04 PM
January 28, 2004Father TedFather Ted "So there he is. Risen from the dead. Like that feller.... E.T." Father Dougal "It's like a great big tide of jam. But jam made out of... old women. "
Posted by Michelle at 11:06 PM
January 27, 2004Pop QuizPop Quiz, asshole. You get home. You're tired. There's hardly any food in the house. If you don't eat as quickly as possible you're body will consume it's own muscle mass and then it's all downhill from there. What do you do? What_do_you_do? Throw a big pot of water on the stove to boil. In the time it takes your spaghetti to cook (ie: 10 minutes) you can cook up onions and peppers in olive oil to make the most scrumptious "oh-my-god-I'm-starving-if-I-don't-eat-soon-I'll-starve-to-death" dinner. That's it really.. cook the onions and peppers in lots of olive oil til the caramalise, then pour over the cooked and drained pasta and throw plenty of black pepper and parmesan cheese at it. or you could shoot the hostage - but seeing as Jeff Daniels could never make up his mind which leg had the bullet in it, I think we'll just stick with the pasta.
Posted by Michelle at 10:47 PM
"The traffic, they say, flows both ways." He looked up at her. As usual, he didn't have any idea what she was talking about. He wasn't sure if it was a case of her saying things while his attention tuned in and out; or, if she spent most of her time talking nonsense. Whichever was the case, he was at least smart enough to keep his trap shut.
Posted by Michelle at 5:28 PM
January 26, 2004MoviesI was in the mind for Japan last night and thought Lost in Translation at the Rialto would be a good idea. Like all good plans of Mish and Men when their clutch-plates are playing up, I ended up at the closer theatre and The Last Samurai. For those who don't realise, chunks of The Last Samurai were filmed in and around Taranaki, New Zealand. It was kind of strange to see Nathan Algren (Tom Cruise) train the new Japanese recruits on the cricket pitch at Pukekura Park. Katsumoto's son's village looked very much like North Taranaki (Urenui, Ureti) and some of the final battle scenes, I believe, were shot here too. Sorry I got carried away with linkages and forgot about the movie. Tom Cruise has a *lot* of hair in this movie. It's on his face and never growing. Streaming out from his head in slow-motion, long brown feathery locks - its in his eyes all_the_time. Funny that with all the hair on his head and face, he has none on his chest. The Samurai Armour was wonderful to behold. Beautiful and intricate, I'd like to learn more about it. I viewed a similar suit on display in Te Papa [note: this link goes to a page that was never finished - greeked text instead of information but the pictures might be interesting enough for the meantime. Weirdness.] a few weeks ago. The movie boiled down to David and myself having a discussion about whether the Samurai's bow skills matched or surpassed those of Legolas. Seems Legolas wins because of the whole sliding-down-the-stairs-on-an-inverted-shield-while-shooting-orcs whereas the Samurai's were as accurate and graceful and fast, but where on hands-free horse-back - no contest, really: according to David. I loved the fight choreography. The Armoury and the Weaponry. I liked a lot of the cinematography. The Japanese characters were great. Yes, I am listing my likes because I can't put my finger on why I could have easily left the theatre half way through the movie. I guess it came down to, I didn't really care what was going to happen in the movie - I figured it was called "The Last Samurai" because the Samurai weren't going to win. I figured Tom Cruise'd survive - because he always does. If there was a girl, he'd probably get her too. I dunno, it just didn't do much for me - I mostly wished I made the effort to drive into Newmarket to see Lost in Translation.
Posted by Michelle at 2:21 PM
January 25, 2004Sunday MorningWhy This Morning is a Good Sunday Morning 1. Waking up this morning - turning squinting eyes to the clock to see 7:31am and for a fleeting flash groaned because I'd slept in and would have to rush for the ferry. Then smiled and smooshed my face into my warm feather pillows realising it's Sunday and I don't have to budge at *all*. 2. I managed to set up Internet sharing between my computers - which says a lot about the simplicity of the operation than the cleverness of me. 3. CuteFTP comes Mac flavoured now. 4. It's a beautiful day. 5. I have marmite toast and a cup of tea. 6. I found out where my phone is. Seems I didn't lose it so much as someone picked it up by mistake. I should get it back this afternoon. 7. Although I've known about running schedules for downloading online content for viewing offline, I've never used it. Last night I set schedules for my favourite webpages, set my computer to automatically start in the morning and download them to my laptop so I can read them on my iBook when I'm not connected to the internet. 8. I love my Macintosh computers. I have a large list of things I need to do today - not the least of which is tidying my bedroom. It looks like someone's ransacked the room and not taken anything. It's clothes. I dislike anything to do with clothes except making them. I especially hate the laundering part of the whole clothes process. Although I *love* my washing machine, I hate the pegging-clothes-out, remembering-to-bring-them-in and the folding-and-putting-them-away parts of the process. If I was a Maths-whiz I'd express my problems with laundry by saying "I dislike 60% of the laundering process." Jo - click here for a picture of Delany in Cuba Mall.
Posted by Michelle at 12:06 PM
January 24, 2004Phone, phone homeSo, I'm at work now and my phone's not here either. It's flat, so it won't ring when I dial my number. I wonder where the heck it is. I have a blueberry muffin and a cup of coffee from the Seattle Cafe. It's misty rain and the ferry ride was cool, and blew plenty of the night-time cobwebs from my brain. Last night Magnummac delivered my iBook and my Macromedia software. The laptop is more beautiful than I could imagine. It's not white, but a very soft, warm grey - a buffed grey maybe, hmm. I chose one of the multicoloured Apple wallpapers for the background [important information] and I just had to sigh with the complete beauty of the clean harddrive, spase desktop, dock on the lefthandside [because that's my preference]. I'll continue to utilise my clam-shell iBook - it's still really snappy and beautiful to use - it's just so heavy to carry everywhere. So, now, I have all my software updated and computers up to specification. For those of you that don't know yet I've resigned from my full-time job. From the 2nd of February, I will be a freelance Multimedia Designer, working from home and hanging out in dodgey cafes complaing about small clients and slow bill payers and the price of coffee. It wasn't a really difficult or time consuming decision in the end - although I'd been actively looking for alternative employment for a good 6 months - life has a way of showing you which way you need to be going by shutting a few doors in other directions.
Posted by Michelle at 9:23 AM
January 23, 2004January 22, 2004January 21, 2004RainingIt's persisting down here. It's raining. I'm at work early - not because I am dedicated but because I cadged a ride into town that happened to be really early but really free with a breakfast of poached eggs on the side. Work has a madness to it right now, an underlying insanity that whispers around the edges for anyone with the ears to hear it. Maybe that's not such a bad thing - they say you need to be a bit crazy in business to succeed and maybe if we could actually grasp the enormity of the change we are creating at the moment, we would be so paralysed with fear we wouldn't move at all. In our ingnorant confidence we are moving, one gulp of air at a time, towards either a glorious, magnificent success; or a beautiful, catastrophic implosion. And now I have to say something about Lord of the Rings too. Return of the King. Peter Jackson told the story, and it's is beautiful, and showcases our country like nothing ever has before.. but it's not exceptional in it's scriptwriting or acting. It's well done. It's true [enough] to the original books to keep most fans relatively happy, and the story is told well enough for the rest of us to be engaged. (Except for Mike, who always falls asleep during them and wakes to ask "Who's that guy?" and you have to say "Arragorn." and he'll say "Oh." then look at the screen for a while before asking the next question "Who's Arragorn?" - interestingly enough, the inability to follow the story and the characters is a common thread through some of the people I've met and heard interviewed). Hells teeth, I couldn't even read the books.. I ended up throwing Fellowship of the Ring across the room in disgust that Gandalf didn't stay dead. I never picked it up again. I was a sci fi/fantasy fan at the time - I just had the feeling that the books had had their day, and people had done a better job since - as they should. I thought the Return of the King was a fitting ending to the trilogy and kept in tone of the movies that had gone before. They could have been renamed as: "Frodo's Starts", "Arragorn Carrys On", and "Gandalf's Turn". I don't think there is any really great acting in there - they did a decent job and worked well as an ensamble cast. The script is well - not great =>"a diversion" (he is blonde, after all) <= The special effects are very good, superior even to the first two movies and the costuming and the scale of the production is "exceptionally bold" but in the end, its a job well done. So maybe another Oscar to Richard Taylor and the crew for Special Effects, and wow, why not an Oscar to Peter Jackson - I don't know what the criteria is for a Direction award - maybe it does include making 3 movies simultaniously - he is a storyteller and he managed that well. Maybe he should be getting a Life Time achievement Award but he's probably too young for that though he's earned it already. Maybe the award he should get is an Oscar for Bravery in the Face of Ingnorant Confidence . I hear people loving the soundtrack but I can't even remember it - is that a sign of a good soundtrack? Maybe. At least Celine Dion didn't sing anything. Do they have Oscars for Ensemble Casts? Oh, maybe an Oscar for Cinematography though if I never see a close-up of a muddy hand opening to reveal a gold ring, it will be too soon. No one will be screaming louder at the television screening of the Oscars than I will - 1 Award or 5 Awards. I'll tell you one thing that Mr Jackson did that he'll never get an award for - he managed to pull this country together to fell like a team. From the very first day he was including all of us - asking for people to send in their ideas for locations, hiring thousands of people as extras, introducing our country to the world in the best possible light and media form, and letting us make people feel welcome as if we were his personal designated hosts. You won't find any New Zealander who wasn't either in the film, or knows someone who was in the film. You'll hear stories about families running into camera crews filming in passes and walkways and mountaintops. People here felt so connected to the project that thousands lined the streets of Wellington for the Premiere, even more watched the events via webcams and television coverage. I'm emensely proud that Peter Jackson is a New Zealander and that he did a good job with this project - on time, on budget, happy customers.
Posted by Michelle at 8:21 AM
LOTRTROTKLord of the Rings - The Return of the King Hiring the DVD of the Two Towers so you can catch up with the so-called story - three pounds and seventy-five pence. Pay-and-display car parking ticket, valid for three hours only, purchased on the understanding that you'd have to be pretty unlucky to get snagged in that 20 minutes you're not going to be covered before you leave - three pounds. A pair of tickets in the slightly more expensive part of the cinema to avoid contracting DVT from sitting in the cheapseats for over three hours - fourteen pounds. Confectionary and fizzy beverages, with a recommended retail value of around a pound, stupidly bought from the cinema instead of being smuggled in from the supermarket next door - six pounds and ninety-eight pence. Parking ticket, issued in that 20 minutes between the pay-and-display ticket running out and leaving - twenty pounds. Total: forty-seven pounds and seventy-three pence - that's about NZ$ 130. If I went around taking money off people like that I'd be locked away for robbery, but Peter Jackson does it and they'll probably give him an Oscar. I'm afraid those films have ended up doing nothing for me - other than making me want to go to New Zealand even more than I did before. I suppose, for their genre, they're probably exceptional, and they did look very pretty, but it would seem that that genre is not for me, and eleven hours of pretty is more than I can handle.
Posted by J J at 4:04 AM
January 19, 2004I'm half way thereI'm half way there - I purchased Panther yesterday and installed it last night. Adobe's Creative Suite went on board too, and everything looks absolutely delicious. I noticed, though, that I'd purchased the wrong Macromedia MX 2004 version - needed the one with Flash Professional on it, so as soon as I make the swap all that software'll go on and I'll be good to go. It's warm here in Auckland - it's just started raining; or straining to raining more like it. In the last week I have been described as: - guarded I dunno.. I'd love to see me from someone elses eyes it's amazing how one's perception of oneself can be so misaligned with what other people see. See, what I know I am is: - will talk endlessly about myself on less than a glass of beer I was reading about scientists trying to find out why the Maya civilisation suddenly disappeared, and about an expedition to discover Atlantis. That, along with the Beagling and Rovering of Mars makes me think people are looking for somewhere else to live. It's not so difficult to leave home, it's not so easy to move towns, changing your country-of-origin pulls at lots of heart strings - how the heck is anyone going to be able to leave their Planet behind in favour of another? Human Anthropological Separation Councellors might be the next *big* thing.
Posted by Michelle at 2:46 PM
January 17, 2004The Plan: Today was toThe Plan:Today was to be *such* an awesome day. Today was the day I was going to pick up my software. I'd ordered it through MagnumMac, and although it was ready to pick up on Monday, today was the first time I had the time to get over to their store and get my hands on all my new software boxes and their delicious insides.I'm not sure I like shopping for anything more than I like shopping for computer related stuff. Buying fully licensed, boxed sets of software is something I really enjoy. To celebrate, I had breakfast afterwards up at the Atomic Cafe (at 121 Ponsonby Road, Ponsonby) and read the new New Scientist magazine, and then went to Magazino to look at the design mags I refuse to pay $49.95 for. (managed to find a primo car park right outside too) <voice="ericcartman">sweet!</voice> The Implementation:Upon arriving back home, I put on the Jazz CD I've been listening to lately - a 2-disk compilation of female jazz vocalists - and settled down to install my lovely new software. I took great delight in deleting all the old software. My new stuff was all full versions, not upgrades, (with the exception of the Word for Mac software) so I cleaned out that Harddrive like a crazy woman, dragging folders of Photoshop and Illustrator and Flash into the elasticated dock trash can and then emptied the trash. The great thing about Macintosh computers is that when you delete something, it's really deleted.First up, Windows Office for Mac. That went relatively smoothly being an upgrade of software I had purchased year-before-last. Next I decided to install the Macromedia MX 2004 suite. Putting in the disk, double clicking the "install suite" icon, my computer told me I needed MacOS X 10.2.3 or newer, and I didn't have that on my computer. I checked and sure enough, I only had MacOS X 10.2! <voice="ericcartman">you're breaking mah balls here</voice> I exhaled and thought, "That's okay. I have Panther ordered, and can pick it up at the end of the month when I was planning to pick up the laptop. I can wait, I'm patient." Reaching for the Adobe Creative Suite Premium Edition I decided to be happy enough with installing this delicious set of tools. Opening the lovely new branded Adobe box, and putting the CD into the drive - the same message appeared "You need MacOS X 10.2.3 or newer to run this software" <voice="ericcartman">goddammit!</voice> The ConclusionAll of which would be perfectly okay if I hadn't DELETED the software I already *had* on the computer in a Random Act of Blondeness. And no, I can't find my Photoshop6 CD to reinstall it so stop asking. Now I have a computer, devoid of software I need to work-from-home unless I need to type something like, Oh, I don't know.. my resignation which I've already done so grrr.. I have NOTHING to WORK with!Lesson Learned:Number One Rule of Software Installation: Never attempt software installation while you have your period.There was a prior incident while installing the new office stuff - I thought I'd deleted all my email and email addresses that caused a minor panic attack/self mutilation session but of course, I hadn't done any such thing. It was all a storm-in-a-teacup, but it set the mood for the entire session. I'll get Panther on Monday. Its sitting at Magnummac with my iBook. I'm just half-pie-mad at myself for being a dilbrain and half-way mad at Magnummac. When I bought the stuff I said "I have mac os x, is that compatible?" and they said "YES" and they should've been smart enough to ask, "which version" because they're mac people and all, and it's their *job* and stuff. THIS is the trouble, in my opinion, between marketing using version numbers, and marketing using cute names for software. THIS would also *never* have happened if the Electric Box Company kept more customer-friendly hours-of-work.
Posted by Michelle at 5:16 PM
January 16, 2004"The future enters into"The future enters into us, in order to transform itself in us, long before it happens. " -Rainer Maria Rilke Aries actress Sarah Jessica Parker announced recently that she washes her hair with Mane 'N' Tail shampoo, a product made for horses. I recommend that you consider switching to it, too. It's time to please your inner thoroughbred, whose animal intelligence and wild vitality will be essential to you in the coming weeks. You're finally ready to activate higher levels of ambition; to enter a bigger race for a better prize. Freewill Astrology
Posted by Michelle at 8:31 AM
January 15, 2004I can't believe this isI can't believe this is the first time since, well, work yesterday - practically - that I've been online. Today was spent at the upmarket Stamford Plaza in strategy and process meetings for work - and dog-gone-it, I'm tired! Last night I hurt my foot while diving for my cell phone when it bleeped "txt mssg" at me and I've been hobbling around all day, but it's actually starting to feel better. I think being jammed into a shoe all day really did help. I guess the sitting-and-not-walking-about didn't hurt either. Man alive, I'm tired.
Posted by Michelle at 9:11 PM
January 14, 2004Thank you, J, (using theThank you, J, (using the European spelling of his name from the traditional Irish "JJ") for the review of The Last Samurai. Did yawl realise.. that big chunks of that movie was filmed about 40 minutes away from where I grew up? My formative teenage years, anyway. They renamed "Taranaki" to "Tomanaki" while Tom Cruise was here. Apparently, everytime Cruise's chopper (inside his traditional Japanese garb inside his traditional privately piloted helicopter) flew overhead, the wimin-folk of the district gave Tom the "Tomanaki Wave" which is: to bare their breasts at him. Like a Mexican wave but naffer - or, like a Mexican whore, only cheaper.
Posted by Michelle at 12:07 AM
January 13, 2004The mob consensus took meThe mob consensus took me to the cinema to see The Last Samurai on Saturday night. I wasn't overly keen to go in the first place, so, inevitably, in the end I quite enjoyed it. Yes, it has Tom Cruise in it; yes, it's a bit longer than it needs to be; yes, it's a bit too Hollywood in places; and yes, the title sort of gives away the ending a bit, but it also does a lot of things well. For every time the film ventures down an avenue that tastes a tad too like a formulaic-Hollywood-action-movie, there are at least ten opportunities to make similar trips that it politely declines. And it has Billy Connolly in it. Japan looks gorgeous, if you can ignore some of the initial "arriving in Japan" CGI, which is dreadful. The fighting is brilliantly coreographed, if you can ignore the pointless attempts to enhance the denoument with a CGI "wide shot" of a battle, which is similarly naff, and utterly unnecessary. The dialogue is clipped and economical and generally pleasing, if you can ignore the occasional tendency to have a small child explain the entirety of Samurai philosophy to Tom Cruise in one sentence of broken English ("You too many mind - mind who watch - mind what you do - mind what he do... no mind."). The ending is neat enough, if you can ignore the fact that it takes too long and is highly unlikely in almost every respect. In short, if you go to this film and you're not expecting much, but you're in a good mood, you'll probably enjoy it. If you go along hoping for something special, but then walk in some dog mess on your way into the cinema, you'll probably sit there and pick holes in it for two and a half hours. And you'll smell. It's like a big mish mash of several other films - Last of the Matrix Dances with Crouching Wolves and Hidden Braveheart Mohicans might have been a decent title for it.
Posted by J J at 6:00 AM
I haven't written in aI haven't written in a while. My Christmas break didn't quite go as planned. Driving down State Highway 1 to Waikanae just after Christmas, I took a sudden detour to Huka Falls. I don't usually stray from the direct path when traveling anywhere. I like to go from Point A to Point B as directly as possible - I rarely even stop - but I suddenly wondered what Huka Falls was like on this hot summer afternoon, just North of Lake Taupo. It's not that the Falls are steep, or high. It's that they are so *big*. So_much_water being channeled through a narrow, deep gorge where the word "churning" was obviously coined. Take a look at this Quicktime video of the Falls. Here is another view from the Huka Falls Bridge. Then take a look at this Photo to get an idea of the scale from the people at the lookout. Apart from the incredible amount of water that is being forced through the narrow gorge: a staggering 330,000 litres per second; I was stunned by the colour of the water. I wouldn't have believed it but this view of Huka Falls is an accurate depiction of the colour of the water as I saw it from the top lookout.
Posted by Michelle at 12:10 AM
January 10, 2004Co-worker No.1: "Could you justCo-worker No.1: "Could you just come here a minute? Walk through there and tell me if you smell gas, would you? Maybe it's just me, but I just think I smell gas. Did you smell gas?" Co-worker No.2: "Nope. Smells fine to me." Co-worker No.1: "Oh good." JJ's e-mail to Co-worker No. 2: "The answer to that question is always 'Yes! It stinks!' You just cost us a half day's holiday. It's as well there ISN'T a gas leak... with a bright spark like you around we'd all be dead by now."
Posted by J J at 1:40 AM
January 6, 2004New Year's Resolution Number 27:New Year's Resolution Number 27: Write something for the jar at least once each week - even if it's only an empty promise about writing more next week. I'll keep this one though. I kept one from last year - which may be a first. A cigarette didn't touch my lips all year. Well, no, that's not entirely true. On July 10th I lit one for a friend as he drove us to the golf club. I held the smoke in my mouth for a lingering second, but, like Bill Clinton, I did not have sexual relations with that woman... or something. On a completely unrelated topic - on the Trivial Pursuit website, you can register to play for cash. However, one of the conditions - 2.1(a) - stipulates that you must "be a natural person, at least 18 years old, who is assigned to the e-mail address submitted on your account registration form" No definition of "natural person" is provided, but I decided not to register in case I proved to be too tense.
Posted by J J at 4:53 AM
January 5, 2004This morning: Boss: *fretting inThis morning: :-| PS: It's still alive. It didn't work.
Posted by Rosie at 12:26 PM
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