The World Of Jadeey

No time to blog today. Have to get on a plane to Wellington in a couple of hours. That's right - for the first time since January I am taking a trip to Wellington.

Good stuff.

Woah, that was close indeed. It's 11.05pm and I was just thinking about going to bed when I suddenly realised I hadn't blogged today. Phew!

I would have felt justified in forgetting. There is some stuff going on right now that I think would exempt me from punishment had I forgotten. Some things are just far more important than blogging. However, in the words of Joey Tribbiani, it's a moo point anyway since I did remember on time.

I met Jason Behr today! He's FUCKING HOT!!!! Oh my god - what I wouldn't give to tap that!! He signed a Tattooist poster for me so I'm going to get it blockmounted. Yay! It actually should be illegal for anyone to be as hot as he is, I don't know how anyone gets any work done with him around.

That was my big excitement for the day. Other than it was a pretty full-on but boring day. Conference starts on Monday so there's a hell of a lot to do to prepare. I've got the weekend off but, unless I make an emergency trip to Wellington which is looking likely, I'll spend the whole weekend at work. Yuck. (Although, given the event that will be requiring my presence in Wellington, I'd far prefer to have to work all weekend than be required in Wellington.)

I hate it when people confuse me. I really, really don't like it when I don't understand something and this includes when I don't understand a person's actions.

There are two people in my life right now who are completely confusing me. I have no idea what their actions mean, or even whether they mean anything relevant to me at all. It bugs the crap out of me the amount of time I spend thinking about their actions and trying to work out what it means. Unfortunately, for various reasons, asking them is not an option so I am instead left to over-analyse everything. Heh I'm also probably constantly getting my conclusions wrong. Who knows.

People are annoying. I wish we were all as simple as cats.

People never fail to amaze me with their stupidity. Yesterday I received a phone call from the aunt of a girl at my work. The aunt was complaining that her niece hadn't been paid for the first 3 weeks she had worked for us. Pretty shocking, yes for sure but with around 130 staff to pay it's hardly surprising that some people slip through the cracks. I explained to the aunt that the person who usually completes payroll was away but that it was definitely just an oversight which we were already in the process of fixing. In fact, I'd talked to the girl herself on Saturday and given her a form to fill in which would tell us when she'd worked but hadn't been paid. I could then put the pay through this week.

The aunt apparently didn't find this acceptable and said that 'she was glad I was at least willing to fix up someone else's mess since that person didn't have a problem with taking advantage of the young people who work for us.' I should have just agreed and left it at that but I couldn't because the accusation was so unjustified and was against one of my friends. So I argued that it was an accident and that no-one was trying to take advantage of anyone. The argument continued and I am ashamed to say got quite heated. The aunt thinks that some of the people who work for us are too young to come and talk to management so they get taken advantage of. I pointed out that anyone who is old enough to have a job is old enough to talk to us if there is something wrong. She said that not paying someone for 3 weeks of work was illegal and that she was going to get the union involved. I pointed out that with so many staff it was impossible to catch every mistake and that we relied on the staff to point out inaccuracies in their pay to us which was why we provided them with payslips and that we would definitely expect someone who hadn't been paid in 3 weeks to speak up pretty quickly.

The argument went on for around 15 minutes and ended with the aunt hanging up on me. It's pretty stupid. I shouldn't have got riled up about it but the aunt didn't help matters. Of course I will still get the pay problem sorted out and I won't be doing anything to treat the girl differently but I imagine the girl will be pretty embarrassed about the situation. There are also times when I spend quite a bit of my own time sorting out rostering problems for staff when they need to swap a shift or need some time off (for a non-urgent reason). I will hardly be inclined to do that for this girl after being treated this way. It never pays to alienate those who are willing to go the extra mile for you and that is something some people just don't seem to understand.

In other news I have spent today doing a LOT of thinking. I'm pretty sure I've made a decision. I'm going to keep thinking on it for a couple more weeks but I had a bit of an epiphany, if you will, today and I'm pretty sure I finally know what is right for me. It's going to be hard and I know that but, unfortunately, often what's right and what's easy aren't the same thing.

Things I learnt or remembered today:

1. I HATE the roster with the fire of a thousand suns. It took me 13 and a half hours today.

2. Jason Behr is hot

3. Jason Behr is not a great actor

4. Scary movies are not a good idea when you have the house to yourself

5. My bed is one of my favourite places in the world. I wish I was there right now but first I have to email the roster to everyone and tidy up a few loose ends work-wise

6. New Zealand movies almost always make me feel a wee bit embarrassed

I went to watch The Warriors play Manly today. It was awesome, not least because we kicked some Aussie ass! I also didn't get a lot of sleep due to a late night at work last night and then dropping Kat off at her field trip meeting point and then work again very early this morning. But all is okay because I will have an early night tonight.

My boss pointed out to me that this week might just be the worst week of my year so far. Not only because the majority of my friends are away but because I have to complete 2 rosters, payroll and stocktake this week. I usually think it's bad when I just have to do one roster and stocktake!! So yeah, expect some grumpy posts in here about it all.

I'm getting more and more interested in the idea of journalism. It really would be the perfect way to combine my desire to write with my desire to also earn money. I fancy I'd be rather like Lois Lane! (Hmmmm does that make the boy Superman? Interesting imagery that conjures up for me but I don't think he's got quite the build for Superman. I think he might lack the superpowers too.)

Okay so I would be nothing like Lois Lane but a girl can dream can't she?!?

It's funny that I'm getting into the journalism idea purely because both of my parents have, at separate stages of my life, tried to push me in that direction and I've baulked. Now that I feel like I've come up with the idea for myself somehow it works for me. This bugs me a little since if it works out I could have gotten there sooner if I'd just listened to my parents. Always listen to your parents!! (I'm going to choose to think that I was not ready for journalism back then but now I am. That makes me feel much better. Yes it does.)

(Before I get seriously into journalism I really must learn to stop using so many brackets. I must also learn how to finish blog posts well because I still don't know.)

This post is going to be very disappointing for Kat I'm afraid. Kat, you may as well stop reading now. It's about sport.

Thing Holly Wonders About While She Should Be Working Number 1. Yes that's right folks. Here is the number one thing I wonder about when I should be working.

Will Stephen Fleming play cricket for New Zealand this year? Obviously he wasn't selected for the Twenty20 Championships. It was pretty much to be expected. He's stepped down as ODI captain, therefore also relinquishing any technical right to lead the Twenty20 team. Given that he's never been one of the group of players considered our strongest Twenty20 players he was probably never one of the first pencilled into the team anyway. But, despite knowing that he probably wouldn't be selected it's still had to hurt. (It also hurt me. I hate any team that doesn't feature Mr Fleming.)

Since not being selected for the championship he has been very silent. No-one (in the public) really knows what is going through his mind and whether he will continue playing or decide to retire completely from the game right now. Post World Cup 2007 he made his feeling very clear, he was stepping down as captain of the ODI team but still wanted to play and still wanted to lead the Test team. NZ Cricket, however, are notoriously stupid and it won't surprise me if they deny him the right to continue leading the test team. They might even be stupid enough to deny him the right to continue playing in the ODI team.

If NZ Cricket treat him badly they will almost definitely lose one supporter. That supporter is, of course, me. Cricket is my one great love, the thing I am most passionate about in the world but I could not bring myself to support a regime that treated my favourite ever player badly. A regime that made the best captain we have ever had, that possibly the world has ever had, and one of the best batsmen we have ever had, retire on their terms rather than his own. I would be fine with dropping him if he was no longer playing well but right now he is over there in England playing for his county and smashing the ball all over the park. I wouldn't say he's in the best form of his life but he is certainly in bloody good form.

I know this little tantrum seems a bit premature given that nothing has been said yet. I just know how NZ cricket work and am preparing myself for the worst. Thankfully they current selection panel are (aside from that fucker Bracewell) made up of ex-players I respect very much. I hope they will come through for me.

If I have to give up New Zealand cricket that doesn't mean I will be giving up cricket entirely. I just won't be supporting NZ in the same way I have. In the past I have travelled all over the country to watch games, I have even travelled to Australia to watch us play! I'll still watch it on tv and might even go to the occasional game in Wellington but won't be making an effort to give them my money. I will also be very keenly watching the Indian Cricket League. Stephen has been offered half a million dollars to play for them and, if he is not selected for NZ, I imagine he'll take them up on the offer. I'll be enthusiastically following that!

There you have it. The number one thing I wonder about is the fate of my favourite New Zealand cricket player. Somehow I'm sure no-one is all that surprised!

I am awesome! That's right. I really am. For one specific reason as well as just the fact that overall I'm pretty awesome. My reason? Because I got 6 Justin Timberlake tickets even though 2 concerts sold out in 7 minutes. That's right, my friends don't have to miss out because somehow, amazingly, I managed to secure 6 tickets when others couldn't even get 1.

A couple of hours after it sold out I checked out TradeMe and sure enough there are plenty of people who have already figured out that 'oops I bought tickets but it turns out I can't go because I already have something on that night. Oh well I'll sell them to you for five times the price instead!' I actually do have one ticket more than I need but I am taking a stand and am selling it for exactly as much as I paid for it. I refuse to make a profit out of someone else's desperation.

Right, now that I have told you all about my awesomeness I will move onto the actual topic of today's blog. Continuing the theme of yesterday I will discuss thing number 1986 that Holly wonders about when she should be working. That thing is how many people have had a 'summer love'.

Summer romance. It's the theme of two songs that I can think of right at this moment and I'm sure hundreds of others. It's the theme of one of my favourite childhood movies (which just happens to feature one of the two songs I can think of!) and again, probably a whole lot of other movies that I can't think of right now as well.

It is easy to see how it would happen. You go on a holiday, you meet someone and you fall for them. In the relaxed state most people spend their holidays in it's not at all surprising and I imagine it's extremely common. I know I've had a summer romance. Well, it wasn't actually over summer but it was a romance and it was in a city that wasn't my hometown so I think it counts. Actually, now that I think about it, romance might be a little too strong a word for it. Maybe it was a fling. Oh I don't know. But I've had one. Yes I have.

I wonder how many summer romances turn into more, like good ol' Sandy and Danny. I'm not sure but what I do know is that wondering that is Thing Holly Wonder's About While She Should be Working number 1987 so it will have to be discussed another day.

Sorry.

Sometimes I get a little bit stressed when I sit down in front of the keyboard to write my daily blog and can't think of anything to say. I don't get stressed because I am worried I will write rubbish (I always write rubbish in my opinion.) I get stressed because when I can't think of anything to say I'm not in the mood to blog, I'm in the mood to do something else. BUT because I have nothing to say blogging takes longer and I spend the whole time wishing I was doing something else. Nevertheless I enjoy this daily blogging thing and will continue. The days I feel stressed about it are pretty few and far between.

I was wondering today what other people spend their spare time doing. When we were kids we would play. You could never get enough playing. But what do adults do with their spare time? I know what I do with my spare time. I know what my current flatmate and my old flatmate do with theirs, I know what my best friend does with hers and I know what the boy does with his. That's about all I know though. What does everyone else do?

See, I can never get enough spare time, there are so many things I love to do. Does everyone feel this way? Surely they do. It'd be a pretty boring existence if everyone didn't have things they love to do. I just wonder what these things are because a lot of people I know don't enjoy many (or any) of the things I enjoy. It seems a bit rude to ask what they do instead but that doesn't stop me wondering.

In case anyone out there is wondering what I do with my spare time I will tell you. I like to read, play video games, write, watch dvds, ride my bike (can't do that up here since I didn't bring it. Sad), go for walks (haven't done that one much here since I moved into my flat which is also sad.) Those are just thing the things I like to do by myself. It doesn't even begin to cover going to movies, going out with friends, having friends over etc.

So yeah, that is number 1003 on the list of things Holly spends her day wondering about when she should be doing stocktake/roster/running shift etc! Heh you know, I really could make a list of things I wonder about and write about a new one everyday. I'd never run out of topics!!

I have a decision to make and it has been weighing very heavily on my mind recently. In reality, this past week I have been having trouble thinking about anything else and my dreams are plagued with the consequences of whichever decision I ultimately make. It is the fact that this decision is plaguing me even in my dreams that makes me aware I need to make a decision, and soon. Well that and that it is nearing the end of the year.

I need to decide whether to go back to Wellington at the end of the year or stay up here for a bit longer. I don't want to go back in the middle of a year because I want to go and do some more study and both courses I'm looking at, journalism and publishing, are only offered as full-time courses starting at the beginning of the year. Now, I might not get accepted into either but I won't find out until mid January whether I'm accepted or not which means making the decision about moving back without knowing if I'm actually accepted on a course. (And there's a good chance I won't be, both accept less than 20 people a year.)

The upshot of all this is that I need to make a decision and I need to make it soon. I have to give a months notice at work but I would prefer to give 6 weeks or even 2 months and if I'm going back I may as well make sure I'm back for Christmas since there is no guarantee I'll be able to get leave at that time.

So, I am going to make a list of pros and cons.

Pros
Get to live with Ingrid and Derek
Get to see all my Wellington friends
Get to be with family
Can finally leave Hoyts
Can take two months off to focus on my writing
Can do a publishing/journalism course
Get to see Felix again
Can look into starting a business


Cons
Have to stop living with Kat
Have to leave behind Auckland friends
Am letting Kat down
Am letting work people down


Hmmm looking at this it should be a pretty easy decision. The letting people down aspects shouldn't really count since I have to make this decision for myself not anyone else. (Even as I write that I know myself well enough that letting people down does count in my decision, I couldn't have it not count.) So why then is it still so hard for me to actually decide?

Kat will probably be leaving at the middle of next year so I guess one of us is going to have to let the other down. It's inevitable if I don't want to leave in the middle of the year and she does. I guess that voids the con about letting her down as one of us has to be the first one to leave. It's naive to believe we'll both want to leave at the same time.

Letting work down is a bit silly as I'll always be letting work people down when I leave. There are certain work people I care about letting down more than others but again, if I don't leave first that means they will and that is no more pleasant a thought than me letting them down by leaving first.

Arghh putting it down on paper really hasn't helped. I don't know what to do. I'm really hoping the answer will just come to me sometime soon. I hate decisions. Especially big, life-changing decisions.

I learnt a new word today. That word is Ephebophilia. No, before you ask (if you already know what the word means) I didn't learn it because it relates to me in the slightest. I learnt it because I read it and wanted to know what it meant so I looked it up.

Basically, it means a person who is sexually attracted to teenagers, anywhere from ages 13-16 I think. Anyway, I had always (wrongly) assumed that being attracted to anyone under the age of 16 (if you are over the age of 18 or 19 anyway) was paedophilia. I now realise this was a stupid assumption and one I only made because I never thought on it too deeply. If you'd asked me the definition of paedophilia I would have replied that it was being attracted to children and I would have been referring to people under the age of 12 or 13 probably. Therefore, it makes sense that there is another word for being attracted to people older than that but who it is still inappropriate (in my mind anyway) to be attracted to.

I read a very interesting article on Ephebophilia (which the spell checker wants to change to haemophilia so obviously the word isn't a well-known one.) The article also talked about different country's ages of consent. In New Zealand it is age 16 but I think there are extra laws if the older of the two is over a certain age. In a lot of American states it is 18 but this article informed me that in some states it is as low as 14. In the Netherlands the age of consent is 12! (But again, there are laws regarding the age of the partner so as to protect young people from predatory teachers and other Ephebophilia-suffering adults).

It's funny really. It's not like teenagers really consider the legality of sex before doing it. Well, I never did anyway, maybe some do. Yet, it would seem very inappropriate if the government ever tried to revoke our laws on it and have no age of consent. I guess most of my friends lost their virginities between ages 16-19 so maybe the law actually does work, at least a little bit? Or maybe my group of friends were an oddity?

I really hate ending blogs. I always have an insane desire to wrap up what I have talked about in an essay-like conclusion that is thoroughly inappropriate for a blog. Usually (as you'd have noticed) I end my blogs like I end my emails, with an excuse as to why I am stopping. Other times I just stop writing and press 'publish post'. However, doing it this way necessitates me studiously not thinking about the lack of properly rounding off what I was talking about and annoys me no end if I go back and re-read it later.

To that end I will now make my excuses. I am hungry and I have run out of things to say so this is the end for today.

I hate Monday's. Today was worse than usual because I had to start early. You see, no matter what time I start it seems that I cannot finish before 8pm. Today I had to start at 8am to let someone in and that meant a 12 hour day. Actually, a little longer than a 12 hour day because today I didn't get out of there until about 8.45pm. It was depressing.

I look forward to the days when I have a job that doesn't require me to be there for more than 8 or 9 hours at a time. That will be very nice. OR if I do have to be there longer than 8 or 9 hours then I hope to God that I am working for myself or, at least, in a job that I adore.

Thankfully I got home and Kat, ever the fantastic flatmate, had prepared dinner so it only took me a minute to put it on a plate. I don't know what I'm going to do if I ever move into a flat with someone else who abhors cooking as much as I do. Probably either get very, very skinny from never eating or very, very fat from eating too many takeaways. Either way it won't be good.

I have very cold hands so I am going to stop typing now. I should really make my bed because I had to sleep in my sleeping bag last night and I really don't want to do that again. (I washed my sheets yesterday but then hadn't put them back on my bed by the time I went to bed and I was too sleepy to bother.)

My Amazon order will be shipping in 2 days. I'm excited. I want it now. It's House Season 3 and that's very cool since I barely saw any of it when it was on TV. The Office (American edition) comes out in a couple of weeks and I'm going to have to buy that too since I LOVED the first 2 seasons.

Work sucks a bit at the moment. We are having major projector problems in one of our cinemas and I'm (and the other duty managers) constantly having to apologise to very angry customers. I'm looking forward to leaving the customer service industry, that's for sure. I'd like to work in a place where people don't constantly bitch and moan at me.

A friend of mine and I are thinking about starting a business next year. Nothing is decided for sure yet but we're both pretty keen and have a couple of ideas for what we want to do. It'd be totally awesome if it worked out since I've always wanted to run my own business, it'd be fun and would give me an income while I follow my other dream. Ie. to write.

Well, this sure has been a random post. I don't really have a lot else to say. I'm trying to concentrate on the DVD I'm watching so I guess I'll stop here. Yeah, I'm pretty much done for tonight. Tomorrow's roster day. I'm sure I'll have plenty of angry things to say about that tomorrow.

Spookers last night was AWESOME! I'd recommend going there to anyone who enjoys getting scared. It wasn't real, actual scaredness but the type of scared you get when you are watching a horror movie. Amused sort of scared. Frights that make you jump but that don't make you want it to stop.

We started with the haunted house and the people in front of us were HILARIOUS. One of the girls was actually, completely terrified. The rule there is that if you get too scared and want it to stop you put your hand up in front of your face and yell stop. I had no desire to do this at any point because it was all very funny and enjoyable. The girl in front of us though did it heaps of times. She was absolutely petrified. I honestly don't know how you could get that scared. At one point her boyfriend got in front of her so she grabbed the nearest person to hide behind (and pull around the room while trying to get away from the 'monster' chasing her. Unfortunately that person was me. Given that I didn't know this girl it made me a little bit uncomfortable.

There was a very scary moment that Kat likes to tease me about when she had walked out of a room. I followed her only to see a monster just outside the door. Stupidly I darted back into the room. (Clearly I would be no good in a horror movie. I'd be like those idiot girls who always go UP the stairs and trap themselves instead of going somewhere that you could actually get away.) So then me and the third member of our group, Mark, were stuck in the room with the monster chasing us in a circle.

The other scariest moment for me came when a woman with a doll came up to me and was telling me to say hello to the baby. I kept saying hello but she wouldn't leave me alone! She then asked me if I wanted to hear her song which went along the lines of "I kill you, you kill me." Corrina was no help as she laughed at me and went around us!

Next up was the 3D Vortex. There was a very scary moment in a room with strobe lights when we had to weave around these bars that created walls. There was a clown in the room climbing the bars and you could only see him occasionally because of the strobe lighting. Kat was pretty freaked out by that one.

Finally we did the freaky forest where we pretty much got chased by everything and ran almost the entire way through. Chainsaw wielding maniacs, werewolves and even a Chucky doll! Chucky was actually the scariest bit. Kat had gone into a room and Chucky came out straight after her, blocking the entrance. Mark and I were too scared to go past him and into the room. In the end he stood aside and let us through. I think we got off lucky though since he apparently grabbed at Rowan's ankles a little bit later on. I tell you what that would have given me a hell of a fright if he'd done it to me!

I think I got off lightly in the forest. We'd had to go through in groups of 3 so I was with Kat and Mark. We pretty much stuck together for most of it. Kat made sure to protect me at all times. :) Georgia got left behind by her group members, Reuben and Rowan at one point though. So did Corrina, both Liam and Brandon ditched her alone in the forest. So yeah, at least my group didn't abandon me!

Ha it was so much fun. Over far too quickly unfortunately. As we were leaving there was a board where everyone who wets their pants gets written up. Liam wrote up Rowan's name (even though it wasn't true) and took a photo which he put up on bebo. I have a feeling poor Rowan is going to have a reputation for being a pants-wetter for a little while!

It is Spookers day! Spookers day!!!

How obvious is it that I can't think of anything to write? Pretty obvious I'm sure, particularly as I just admitted to it. I am still unsure of how much writing constitutes a blog so I have to ramble for a paragraph or two to make sure I'm not cheating.

Before I can go to SPOOKERS I have to go to work. This makes me very sad but at least I will be able to cheer myself up throughout the day with thoughts of the fun I will be having later!

In other news, apparently David Beckham might be playing a soccer match in Wellington. He's playing a match in Sydney with his LA team and NZ Soccer are trying to get him over here as well. If he plays it'll be in Wellington. Hell, I'd pay a lot to see that. It'd be fucking awesome. I'm sure tickets will sell out within minutes, seconds even,

Oh, I must remember to go and buy my nephew a birthday present. It is his birthday on the 21st August and I must maintain my position of favourite aunt by buying his love with something cool from Toyworld.

Okay I'm sure this post can no longer be considered cheating. Tune in tomorrow to find out whether anyone wet their pants at Spookers! :P

I cannot think of a single thing to say. But I have to blog. It's the law. Okay, it's not the law but it is a rule and so here I am blogging. And checking my email. Hey! Now there's an idea. I will blog about my email.

Let's see.

First up I have an email from my dad. Aww that's nice isn't it. He is telling me about a personality profiling test I can take. That's pretty cool. I'm very interested in personality profiling. (Yes, I'm a psyc geek at heart.)

Next there is an email I get everyday. It is from a website that sells stuff cheap. Apparently the cheap stuff today is snowboarding gear. I'm more tempted by that than I should be but I will be sensible and resist the temptation to buy it.

Third is an email from 'The Write-stuff'. I get this email every couple of days and I never read it. It is from the New Zealand Writers Guild and is telling me all about the events they have this week. Unfortunately I am no longer a member of the NZ Writers Guild so would have to pay quite a lot of money to attend any of the events. Hence why I no longer read the emails.

Following this I have an email from the boy. This is my most prized email of today and I am not going to tell you what is in it because, well, it's private.

Ooooh next is a good one. It is an email telling me how to enlarge my penis. Very useful since I have always felt my penis is a little on the small side. Oh, wait, that's right, I don't have a penis. Ah well, the bin it is for this email then.

Then we have an email from bebo telling me someone has left me that my friend Jannie has left me a message on bebo. That is a bit of a boring email since I've actually already been to bebo today and read the message from Jannie. Oh well.

I also have a message from facebook telling me someone has poked me. Yes, I am a networking website loser.

Finally I have an email from a company called filmstew. I don't generally read these emails either because they're usually pretty boring.


So, that's it. Not the most exciting lot of emails but I'm pretty happy with them. More interesting than my email normally is anyway.

I recently read that New Zealand is considered, by overseas students, an unfriendly country to study in. However, it is also considered a safe country to live in so people come here anyway and then stick to groups of other overseas students rather than being friends with 'the locals'.

The article kind of annoyed me. I don't know whether it's true or not but I really don't see us as being less friendly than Australians, Americans or British. Yet, according to the article we are far less friendly. I was friends with a few international students at uni and I never saw any of them having any trouble with Kiwi students.

I will admit that I often saw, and still see, clusters of Asian students spending time together. It never occurred to me that they were spending time together due to the unfriendliness of Kiwis. I thought they were spending time together because they were friends, because they could speak their own language together, because they had a lot in common. I know that if I was in a country that didn't speak English I would naturally gravitate towards other students that did speak English. When I was in Japan it was always a happy relief to get to school and find some other Kiwis. Not because I had any problems with my Japanese friends but because it was a relief to not have to constantly concentrate really hard on the conversations I was having. I have always assumed when seeing clusters of Asian students that it is the same for them.

Since living in Auckland I have noticed more of an intolerance of Asian students. When I was in Wellington I would see the intolerance when an Asian student in class couldn't speak English very well so struggled to keep up with lectures and constantly asked questions but I rarely saw that intolerance spread to outside the lecture theatres. Here in Auckland I don't go to uni but I still see it. Not really surprising given the huge number of Asians that reside here in Auckland. I'm not sure though, I still get the feeling a lot of the intolerance and unfriendliness is due to difficulties understanding what is being said rather than based on the race itself.

I understand that it is ridiculously hard to learn a new language and that coming here is the best way to learn our language. Yet, even understanding this, I still get frustrated when I am trying to communicate with a customer, or with staff at any shop I am visiting, and their English is poor. It surprises me that the students interviewed for the article I read about us being unfriendly felt that other countries were more friendly. I would have thought frustration at not being able to understand someone was universal. That then lead me to wondering if part of the perceived unfriendliness is actually just cos Kiwi's talking quite quickly. It might seem like we are being unfriendly and not making an effort to communicate with non-English speaking people when really we are just speaking normally but because we speak quickly we are harder to understand.

I refuse to believe that Australians are more friendly than us. My refusal is partly because it hurts me whenever Australia are better than us at anything and partly because on ever foray to Australia I have ever made I have been struck by the racism towards Asians. Surely we are not just as bad without me noticing? I hope not since that will mean I am part of the problem. Boy do I hate being part of the problem!

Deseo que él ahora estaba con mí y casi me está matando que él no es. No puedo creer que él todavía tiene la energía de hacerme grito. Deseo conseguir sobre él pero es suceso justo. Mis pensamientos todavía son consumidos por él. Es clase de divertido, yo se pregunta si noto cuando paro el pensar de él cada momento. Probablemente no. Soy confidente yo conseguiré sobre él. El tiempo cura todas las heridas después de todos. Apenas deseo que podría apresurarme el proceso adelante un poco. Porque, usted ve, si no consigo sobre él que voy tuve que cogiendo bien lo caso.


So. Yeah. That's all I have to say tonight. Hope you enjoyed it.

I'm going to a place called Spookers on Friday night. Have I already mentioned this? I feel like I have. I don't care, I'm going to talk about it again because I am EXCITED!!

So, this place is a haunted house, 3D maze and haunted forest here in Auckland. It is all created on an old graveyard and old psychiatric hospital which really just adds to the scariness. Apparently the staff that work there are paid extra if you wet your pants. This interests me somewhat as it is R16 to go there so it must be pretty scary to make adults wet their pants! I plan to go to the toilet before we go there and to not drink anything while I am there! I have absolutely no desire to wet my pants.

One of the few good things about Auckland is the amount of interesting things to do here. What with Snowplanet, ice-skating, Rainbows End and Spookers you get a pretty broad range of activities. The most exciting thing in Wellington is probably Te Papa, and I've got to say that isn't all that interesting.

I'm very excited about Spookers, maybe not as excited as I was about snowboarding but pretty close. I love getting scared and let myself get there very easily. I should qualify that by saying that I only love getting scared when it is harmless scared like watching a scary movie or going to a place like Spookers. I do not like getting scared when it is real scared like a guy breaking into your house while you are sleeping. When I'm watching a scary movie I like to let myself get scared by it because I find it enjoyable. It's just a pity there isn't an abundance of really good, really scary movies.

When I was a kid I had nightmares for weeks after watching the movie IT. I could never look at my bathroom sink the same way again! And even now I get a little bit nervous when I wake up and need to go to the bathroom. For some reason I can't stand to turn the light on so have to use the bathroom in the dark. It's only when I wake up though, never if I am just going to bed really late. It's funny too because it isn't the bathroom I am scared of but the mirror. I am always scared I will see something other than my own reflection in the mirror. This all stems from when I was in primary school and a whole lot of kids used to claim that if you go into the bathroom, turn off the lights and say 'bloody Mary' 3 times while looking into the mirror an image of Jesus' mother Mary will appear looking bloody and dying. I never did it but it's scared me ever since! Actually, you'd think turning the light on would make me feel better at night given this yet it doesn't. Strange.

Anyway I am going to read ghost stories now that I can use to scare the others in the car on the way to Spookers. Lets hope I don't end up scaring myself!

Unfortunately despite the best of intentions on my part I do not have any idea why it is called Black Snake Moan.

Hmmm I just came very close to forgetting to blog today. That would have been, in a word, disastrous.

I went to work tonight to watch Black Snake Moan. I don't know whether it is a good movie or not though because the projector broke down about ten minutes in and couldn't be fixed. In a brand-new, state of the art cinema you would think they could have at least put in brand-new, state of the art projectors. But no, instead we have 30 year old projectors that breakdown if you look at them funny. Very frustrating.

Today was my day off but it was kind of shortened by the fact that I slept late. I find that annoying because I always want to make the most of my days off. Yet, sleeping is actually the best use of my day off I could possibly have so I actually shouldn't be annoyed at all. But I still am.

While we were at work waiting for our movie to start Kat and I watched people coming up the escalator to work and discussed our observations about them. Ie whether they were a happy couple, having a fight, on a first date, that sort of thing. It made me idly wonder what people think when they see me walking. I don't know what I would be thinking if I was watching myself come up the escalator. (Actually if I was watching myself come up the escalator I'm pretty sure I'd be thinking "WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON??? That's me!!!! But I'm here!!!! And yes, the need for all of those question marks and exclamation marks would be there.)

Okay it is time for me to go stick some secrets on the wall. If you don't understand what I mean by that then you really need to come around to my flat for a visit.

I have the worst shift ever today. It's 2.30pm - 11pm. Considering it is now 12pm and I've just woken up I pretty much have to get ready and go to work. By the time I get home it will be bedtime. You can't say I give myself good shifts just because I do the roster because clearly I don't!

A friend of mine got into a fight yesterday after work. She didn't do it on purpose, she'd told some people off in the cinema and they decided to come after her and her boyfriend in the parking lot later. So, when I say she got in a fight it was more like she got beaten up since I think she only got a kick or two in. It's weird because I didn't think when you got to my age you really got into fights anymore, well not unless you are drunk anyway. I guess that shows you what sort of area I live in. It's a little bit scary!

I'm pretty much lacking in things to say today because I'm still tired, I've gotta go to work soon and I've done nothing except work since yesterday's post. I think this is all you're gonna get from me today. Ah well, hopefully tomorrow I'll have something really exciting to write about.

I find it interesting (and a little amusing) how people can view the same event totally differently. For instance the birth of a first child can be for one person (the mother of the baby) the most magical thing in the history of the world while for someone else it tears their world apart (the wife of the new baby's father if he was having an affair which produced said baby).

Also interesting to me is how people view an event in their own history so differently to a similar event in someone else's history. The thing that got me thinking about this was talking with my flatmate last night. We both did something similar once and she has a very different take on my reasons for doing it than her own reasons for doing it, whereas I see the actions as extremely similar. She wants the actions to be different because the reason she attributes to me doing it she doesn't want to attribute to herself. I think they are the same because I don't want the reasons she attributes to me to be the reasons I did it and because I have more information about my own actions than she does.

This event is was in the middle of a very turbulent 18 months for me. Very few people even know of the event and those that do deserve fully to make fun of me for it. I did something I shouldn't have and then spent the next 12 months watching it slowly blow up in my face. There is one person who never teases and never brings it up but that is because that person feels I have been punished enough. I personally don't think I can ever be punished enough and I totally deserve everything I get.

It astounds me to know how different I was then. How differently, how horribly things could have turned out without the help and support of certain people. It makes me determined to never ignore my friends calls for help and to be the best friend I can be. You see, as many times as I've denied this to everyone who wasn't there at the time and to myself, the truth is that I came the closest I've ever come to suicide during those 18 months. I was determined that I didn't want to live anymore and the only thing that stopped me was one person figuring out my plan and stopping me before I got the chance to carry it out. Fuck that scares me.

I've only ever told one person the full details of what was going on with me then and I'm not going to suddenly tell it all here. A lot of people know bits and pieces, the bits and pieces it doesn't hurt me to discuss. I doubt I will ever speak of everything to anyone again. Even though it was so long ago now it is still too raw and too painful. It is buried deep within myself in a place where a couple of other events, events that should have driven me to suicide more than the event that did, also live. Where I don't have to examine them ever because to do so would hurt far too much.

I look at other people sometimes and wonder what secrets they hide behind smiling mouths and stupid jokes. I wonder if their own secrets are as painful to them as mine are to me, if they spend as long every day pushing thoughts of those secrets away as I do.

I don't know why I just aired all of this on here. I didn't start out planning to. I certainly didn't start out planning to some of the stuff I've just admitted to. I won't delete it though. I learnt a long time ago that to write it down and delete it acts as the opposite of a catharsis and I my mind will be in turmoil. I'm sorry to those of you who have just read this and are now worried or curious about things that I just can't share. Maybe one day I will feel differently but for now this is as much information as I can give without damaging myself.

In a lame attempt to change the subject, I saw Sicko last night. America scares me! I've never been so glad to be a Kiwi as I was watching that movie!!

Tactics. That is what today's post is about. You see, it is very important to come up with a tactical plan and then stick with it. Don't let feelings and emotions get in the way and make you stray from the decided path. If you do that you will fail and failing is bad. I know because I strayed from my own plan and am now back to square one. I now have to begin all over again, weeks of hard work down the drain.

It is also important to make sure your plan is flexible. If it seems you are not getting any closer to the desired result then you need to be able to change plans. Don't stick to a failing plan just because you are too stubborn to change, that is not the way to achieve your goals. Always have a backup plan.

Don't paint yourself into a corner. Think every aspect of your plan out and make sure you are not making things harder for yourself further down the track. Lying is the easiest way to paint yourself into a corner with the only way out to tell the truth. This will often put you in a far worse place than you started. Never base your plan on lies.

You can never put too much thought into your plan. Even the most well thought out plan can suddenly collapse under the weight of an un-thought of occurrence. Life is predictable in its unpredictability and you need to be prepared for this. Always have a way out.

That is my advice. Here it is again in short format:

1/ Do not let your emotions make you stray from the plan
2/ Always have a back-up plan if it seems like your plan is not succeeding
3/ Do not base your plan on a foundation of lies
4/ Always have a way out

I hope you have all learned something from this.

To make me dream of you

I had a super-duper exciting dream last night. I dreamt I went to the supermarket and did the shopping. I kid you not. In my dream world where anything is possible, where I can go anywhere, see anything, be with anyone, I instead just went to the supermarket. Could my subconscious have let me down anymore than it did last night? I think not.

I used to be quite good at lucid dreaming. For anyone who doesn't know what that is, it is essentially taking control of your dreams and leading them where you want them to go. I stopped doing it a few years ago and now can't seem to do it even when I want to. I still have enough control over my dreams that when I am having a nightmare I can make it go away (I have nightmares quite a lot. It's weird) but I can't take absolute control the way I used to be able to.

It's a bloody cool ability though, to be able to control your dreams. For a few years there I really did go everywhere and do everything in my dreams. From what I can gather after reading up on lucid dreaming some people can do it every night and for every dream. With me it wasn't like that. I had plenty of dreams that I didn't take control of and only actually managed it a couple of times a week. I might start practicing, I'd like to be able to get good at it again.

On another note, I saw the Bratz movie last night. Do not see it! It is awful! Awful doesn't even begin to describe the pain that was that movie actually. So dumb it was painful and I felt ripped off even though I wasn't paying to see it. You have been warned, if you see it now I take no responsibility for the horror you will feel at yourself for subjecting yourself to that drivel.

One thing I have noticed about Auckland compared to Wellington is the amount of people who continue living at home with their parents after high school. I lived at home with my parents until just before I turned 19 and this was actually considered kind of late. Perhaps it was just the group of people I spent time with but most of my friends were flatting right out of high school.

In Auckland heaps of people way older than 18 or 19 are still living at home. It's sensible, afterall why pay rent if you don't have to, but I do find it a bit odd that there is such a difference. Or maybe there isn't a difference at all. Maybe the difference has occurred over time and even in Wellington people aren't leaving home until much later.

I didn't particularly want to leave home it was just necessity that forced me out into the big, bad world. I didn't have my drivers licence, there was no public transport where I lived and I'd just got a job that sometimes meant I worked until 2 or 3 in the morning. My pride stopped me from asking my parents to continually pick me up at that time. A friend happened to need a new flatmate at that exact time so I moved out.

The thing that I find amusing about all of these people who live at home is that they still have to play by their parents rules. They are adults in the eyes of the law but they cannot fully act as adults. My parents were always very lenient with me, I never had curfews and my parents trusted me to make the correct decisions. (This is not to say I could get away with anything. If I did wrong, boy did I hear about it! But they trusted me and I was giving a fairly long reign right from a young age.) Despite the freedom I was given when I lived at home I still noticed the difference when I moved out. It is something that is hard to explain but it is an added freedom that I think it is impossible to get at home with your parents. (Unless you are one of those people who doesn't give a fuck what your parents say) No matter how lenient they are and how much they try to treat you as an adult you will always be their child and living under their roof you have to obey their rules.

There are things I definitely miss about living at home with my parents (the first and foremost is my actual parents!) but there is something to be said for going flatting early on. I've learnt how to fend for myself, how to budget and how to save power! :P I would never kick my children out of home (and I can't understand how any parent could do that) but I will definitely encourage them if they show any interest in flatting after the age of 18. (Perhaps when I am actually a parent I will not want to let go of them and won't want them to go though).

Okay dinner time. And also time to turn on a light. I am currently sitting in the dark. (and the bloody cold!)

I like John Key a whole lot more than I did two days ago. Why you ask... Well I'll tell you!

The reason I like John Key suddenly is that he has (not so) secret aspirations to turn from the dark side and lead a real party. For his opening speech to the National Party conference he said: "Under a Labour Government I lead, child abusers will be severely punished." Not only that, but he didn't even notice what he'd said and just continued happily along!

It's true though, John Key really does have some quite left-wing ideas. Under his leadership National does seem to be getting more centre than right. (Not that I think this is a bad thing if National really do get into power at the next election.)

It must be hard to be a politician (or a celebrity) and have everything you say splashed over the media. I know they have to expect that when they decide that being a public figure is something they want to do but that doesn't make it any easier. I say stupid stuff like John Key said all the time but at least I don't get made a fool of in public for it. Luckily I dislike John Key and his whole party so I don't feel too sorry for him.

It is August! I find this amazing, the year is passing so damn quickly. I'm going to Australia soon and I can't wait. Theme parks here I come! Woo!!

My prediction for the next election is that Labour are going to lose. Not only are they going to lose, but they are going to lose over one issue. That issue is house prices.

Now, there is still plenty of time before the election so they have time to fix this but I'm not sure they are going to be able to. As a staunch Labour supporter I find this disappointing but not unexpected. Labour have been in power my entire voting life, that had to change sometime. (I like to think it is not a coincidence my becoming eligible to vote brought and kept Labour in power but I'm guessing that every vote doesn't count quite that much.)

House prices in New Zealand are astronomical and apparently the NZ property market is one of the riskiest in the world because prices are so over-valued right now. Add to that the growing interest rate and you can begin to see where the problem is. The ordinary New Zealander just can't afford to buy a house anymore, they might be able to afford a hovel if they are lucky. Apparently a third of all home owners in New Zealand now commit at least 40% of their after-tax income to their mortgage repayments. That's a hell of a lot of money! Others are paying upwards of 50% and 60% of their take-home pay, not necessarily because they want to but because it's that or lose their home. I doubt paying 60% of your pay towards your mortgage leaves much money in the pocket for anything else and it's not even just a short-term thing, it's for the next 20-30 years!

Housing markets are unlikely to crash but the New Zealand market is getting closer to that point than most. If it does that will spell instant disaster for Labour and I think it'll be a very long while before we see a Labour-led government again. If Labour can start to fix the problem before the next election then maybe they will just be out of power for one term.

John Key (hiss hiss) has been making the most of the housing problem, stating that it is due to Labour's economic mismanagement. You can see where that line will be believed by people up and down the country. Afterall, one of the things making home-owning such a difficult prospect at the moment is the soaring interest rates. Every time I turn around the interest rate has risen. Personally I don't see National as a cure for this problem but I do want to see a change. Those who are not as in hate with National as I am will see National as the cure and that will be the end of Labour.

As for what I think is going to happen with the housing market. I think that investors are going to start leaving the market, its no longer the viable investment market it once was. Prices will level off, or even drop quite significantly. I don't think it will be a crash but I do think there will be a big dip in prices. People just aren't going to be able to afford to keep buying at the prices houses currently are. At the moment for a lot of people renting is by far the cheaper and more sensible solution.

In 2010 the first round of home deposits are going to be able to be drawn from people's Kiwisaver accounts. This will set the market on the rise again. So my plan based on these expectations? Forget Kiwisaver and buy in late 2009. Or don't forget Kiwisaver but buy right at the beginning of 2010. I think the 2009 option is safer though so I'm not just buying for the sake of buying. Looking in 2009 will give me plenty of time to find a place I actually want to own.

So there it is, I can't deny these predictions if they don't come true now that I've put them on paper. They will come true though, you'll see.

A few years ago I received in the mail a letter informing me I had been selected for jury service. I was kind of excited at the time, it was in my university holidays so it wasn't going to interfere and the idea of being on a jury seemed interesting.

I went along on the first day and we sat for AGES before anything happened. Eventually someone arrived and explained that she would be pulling names out of a hat for two different cases. I think about 30 names were pulled out of the hat for each case. Anyway, anyone who wasn't chosen for either case could go home and come back the next day to see if they were selected for the following days cases and so on for the rest of the week. This doesn't seem so bad I thought to myself, I get a week off work and only had to spend mornings at the courthouse. After all, with all the people there the odds of my name getting pulled out of the hat seemed pretty slim - I never win anything!

One of the cases being selected that day was a one-day case, the other was a 7 day case. Can you guess where this story is leading and what happened? That's right, my name got pulled out of the hat for the 7 day case. So, the 30 of us that had been selected went into the courtroom and sat down. Names were again pulled from a hat. This time as our name was called we were to stand up and walk to where the jurors sit, take a bible and sit down. If either lawyer didn't like something about you they would call out as you walked that you were declined and you would turn around and walk back. If you made it to sitting down without anyone calling out declined you were a juror. Well, again I thought I was safe and that my name wouldn't be called. For someone who never wins anything the idea of my name being pulled out of a hat twice in a row seemed ridiculous. But, of course, my name was again pulled and I made it to sitting down without being declined. I was now an official juror on a 7 day fraud case. (Man I wish the prize had been cooler.)

The experience of being a juror was pretty fun. The case itself was boring but everytime it was getting too boring to bear and I was close to falling asleep it would be time for a break anyway since we had a break every hour and a half. The guy who was on trial was facing a huge number of charges, I think it was about 27. By the time we had listened to all the evidence there was so much of it that our deliberations took 2 days. This meant that we got to stay overnight in a hotel and were not allowed to talk to anyone but each other for the whole 2 days. I think we found the guy guilty of about half the charges.

Why on earth did I just tell that boring story you ask? Mainly because I was thinking about the differences between the American judicial system and ours. The way I've just described it is the way our system works for picking jurors but in America it seems much more complex. The lawyers learn heaps of facts about all the potential jurors and actually ask them questions to see if they will be selected. All the lawyers had to go on when I was picked was my name, age, occupation and appearance. Not a lot really but maybe in the end that is more fair. With the American system you get a chance to interview the potential jurors and find out if they will be sympathetic to your case or not and you then pick them that way. Obviously, both you and the opposing lawyer are interviewing the same people so someone with a strong opinion either way generally won't get through. But I think the way I did it you probably get a far more random, and therefore balanced, mix.

I'm at the end of my thought process and I'm still not entirely sure why I decided to write it down. I'm sorry for anyone who suffered through it, thank you for your commitment!

How much do I have to write before it constitutes a blog and not cheating the game? I've seen some people only write this much and call it a blog so I guess whatever I type from here on out is okay.

I'm going out tonight and this is my brief stop at home to get changed. Luckily we're just going to the pub so uber-casual is acceptable because I am sadly lacking in clothes. Actually, I'm sadly lacking in clothes even when I chose to be uber-casual in jeans. I think a big shopping trip is in order, my bank account is not going to be happy about that!

The fashion this season seems a tad odd to me. I went shopping for about 5 minutes this afternoon while I was grabbing lunch and so many of the tops are these ultra-long things that practically go down to your knees. I'm not sure how I feel about that. I like the idea of my butt being covered but I somehow feel that, like everything else that's ever in fashion, they probably only look good on skinny people.

Okay I'm heading out. Be good. Stay tuned. And sleep well.

This can be used as the ending to many different sentences. Such as:
I wish I could get...
Don't pee...
There's a party...
Where's my cellphone? ...

It can also make any book or dvd title very, very funny. No, I'm not clever enough to have invented this myself. Kat discovered it on Youtube and kindly shared it with me. Being in too tired and stupid a mood to write about what I was going to write about I decided to instead share her discovery by writing this bullshit post. (Not that I usually write non-bullshit. Oh well.)

That's all you're getting from me tonight. I have to go watch a video on youtube now and then read my book.

Bite me.

Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, Fuck,

There. That is all. I'll post a proper post later when I am not feeling like I need to strangle someone.

I just spent the last hour looking through documents on my laptop for something I could copy and paste into here without having to type a blog. I don't consider that cheating because it wouldn't be something that had already been posted here so it would be new and different for my minuscule number of readers.

Deciding whether or not it would have been cheating is all academic anyway since I couldn't find anything. I found plenty of things I had written but none that would be appropriate to now. I found documented proof of many failed relationships but that is hardly something I want to air on the internet. Then I found plenty of university essays. It was very tempting to just copy and paste one of those. But, again, I decided against it. They are too obviously essays for me to get away with trying to fool anyone into thinking they are my usual ramblings. One thing I did discover is that my writing has improved massively. (At least I think it has) It's not surprising to find that my writing has improved since the diary entries I found from 7th form but it is a little surprising to me how much it seems to have improved since my university days. I guess practice really does work!

So, since I cannot copy and paste something old I guess I had better come up with a topic. Luckily I have one I prepared earlier! (A topic that is, not the actual writing.)

To walk to work I have to walk down a 'highway'. It's not an actual highway like American highways. I think the word highway in the context of this road means there is no median strip (I think that's the right word) so I am walking directly next to cars and there are plenty of cars because it is a main road. Anyway, with little else to do on my walk except think odd thoughts and listen to my music I often muse over why people choose the colour of car that they do. For me I didn't get much of a choice, I went to auction and selected 4 cars that I liked the look of. My car was the one that I won. It just so happens that I think black is the awesomeist of awesome colours for a car. I guess a lot of people who buy second hand cars are in a similar situation, it is the car they buy rather than the colour.

But what about people who buy brand new? They get to choose the colour. Why on earth would someone who gets to choose the colour of their car choose vomit green, sickly looking yellow or baby-poo (or maybe rust) orangey brown? Ewww or that disgusting lilac colour I've begun to see around. I mean honestly! Why?!?

The only conclusion I can come to is that they know a colour like that will attract attention and part of the purpose of buying a brand-new car is the status and attention you get from it. I think getting a disgusting looking colour is attracting the wrong kind of attention though. You'd be better off getting an awesome car in an awesome colour, one that attracts attention because everyone is jealous. I am never jealous of baby-poo coloured cars!

I also have the occasional moment of wondering about the type of car people buy. For the most part any choice is okay with me and I can understand any generic model of car. Then suddenly along comes on of those crazy bubble cars or the cars that look like the belong to Postman Pat or Noddy. I do not understand purchasing yourself a car that looks like that. Maybe it's the whole being looked at thing again. Experts do say that for children any attention is good attention. Maybe that is true for some adults too and any attention on their car is good attention. Who cares if people are only staring because your car is so damn hideous, as long as they actually are staring right?

Okay I have a topic prepared for tomorrow and it's a good 'un! See you all then, same time, same bat-channel.