The World Of Jadeey: March 2008



April Fools Day

Monday, March 31, 2008
Tomorrow is April Fools Day. I'm really hoping no-one plays any jokes on me. (You all got that? I don't want any pranks pulled on me!)

I remember when I was a kid I always tried to trick my parents on April Fools Day and never succeeded. It was very disappointing. My dad got me and my mum real good one year though. He made me go out and mow the lawns, mum was doing the gardening, after I'd been out there for about an hour (remember - HUGE lawn) he came out with glasses of water for us both. I took a big drink only to discover that he'd added a huge amount of salt to it. Unforunately for mum, I discovered this seconds too late to save her from the same fate. She too took a big drink and ended up with salt water in her mouth. It was gross but also very funny. Those are the jokes I really love, the ones that don't harm or humiliate anyone.

Ingrid and I discussed the idea of gladwraping the toilet to trick our other flatmate. We realised that this wouldn't be a good idea for a number of reasons. It'd probably be one of us that needed to go to the toilet first and, in the middle of the night, would forget what we'd done; we'd be the ones having to clean up the mess; our flatmate can't see very well so actually really wouldn't notice the gladwrap. We decided that would end up disgusting rather than funny so we now have no plans. (Or do we? I could be lying!)

Aside from April Fools Day, it is also Stephen Fleming's birthday tomorrow. Yay for him! :)

Sunday nights

Sunday, March 30, 2008
I hate Sunday nights. I enjoy my course, a lot, but I enjoy weekends more. Anyone who doesn't love their days off more than their job is crazy. Or bloody lucky. (Or, on second thoughts, incredibly unlucky because it could mean that they hate their days off and even a job they dislike is better than that.)

Sunday at about 4pm I always start thinking about class the next day. The rest of the evening is more a countdown until the next day than an enjoyable evening. Then Sunday nights are always my worst night of sleep. So, all in all, I hate Sundays from about 4pm.

Argh. First up tomorrow is grammar lessons. As you can all tell from reading my blog, my grammar has not improved. Well, maybe it has a little bit. It's turned me into a pain in the arse that's for sure. I keep correcting my friends (mainly flatmates) grammar. They hate it, but I do it unconsiously so I can't stop! Depressing.

My Saturday

Saturday, March 29, 2008
I've had a really good day. I went to a BBQ at a friends house. I haven't seen him since before I left for Auckland a year and a bit ago. Very slack of me considering he's a good friend.

This evening I went to a different friends house and hung out. We played the Friends Scene It Trivia Game. I did not win. It was sad. I was fully expecting to win by far but I lost, twice. Gutted.

We also did the shopping, which took about an hour and a half. I hate when grocery shopping takes that long. We do have a lot of nice food in our flat now so that's good though.

So sleepy

Friday, March 28, 2008
It's 7am... I'm blogging because I don't expect to be home before midnight tonight.

I'm such a geek these days. Every morning when I get up I like to watch Breakfast (the tv1 morning news programme) while I eat my breakfast. I used to laugh at my dad when I was a kid and he did the same thing. I always thought that once I began voluntarily watching the news every day, that would mean I was a grown-up. Well, for quite a few years now I've enjoyed watching the news whenever I remember it's on. These days though, I always remember the 6pm news and, as long as I'm home, I watch it every night. Combine that with my Breakfast news obsession and I think I'm officially a grown-up. I guess it's about time, I am 26 afterall... :)

Okay, time to go check that Ingrid is up and getting ready. See! I'm totally a grown-up!!

Roadworks

Thursday, March 27, 2008
From my house there are three different ways into the centre of Wellington. I have to take one of these routes everyday since I have to go to class everyday. Unfortunately, the Hutt City Council, in their infinite wisdom, have decided to do roadworks. On every single one of the routes into town. You actually cannot travel from the Hutt Valley into town without hitting major roadworks. It's ridiculous. Surely they could wait for some of the roadworks until the others are done? But that would be too easy wouldn't it...

Dumb council.

In other news, Ingrid and I have been watching Full House over the last couple of months. One thing we have learned is that we hate Michelle. She's such a little pain in the bum. She's a complete spoiled brat. It's obvious they have written her character that way for laughs, but it's more annoying than funny. Ingrid, in particular, gets really annoyed by her. Her reaction to Michelle is actually a lot more funny than Michelle's actions are! :)

Movies

Wednesday, March 26, 2008
There are a few films I want to see at the moment that are, unfortunately and annoyingly, not out in New Zealand. This seems to be a common occurance for me because I spend quite a bit of time online watching movie trailers or upcoming releases in America. If only upcoming releases in America also meant upcoming releases in New Zealand instead of 'might be out in New Zealand sometime in the next 12 months.'

Two of the films I want to see, Across the Universe and Dan in Real Life, are already available on DVD in America. I'm probably going to buy them of Amazon.com. I'm also dying to see Leatherheads (for obvious reasons) and it would not surprise me if that is released on DVD in America before it's released in cinemas here too.

TV is even worse. Half the shows I love to watch aren't even on New Zealand television. Or, at least, aren't advertised well enough for me to know that they are on New Zealand television. Shows like Chuck would do so well, yet I'm pretty sure it isn't here. Dumb, dumb, dumb.

Then there's books. There are so many authors I have heard of and want to read but can't easily get hold of their books in the bookstores here. We have such a limited range of authors and titles in our bookstores. It's a huge pain in my ass. Whitcoulls have started up a website which does go a little way to rectifying the problem, and Borders have had a website for a while. Unfortunately a lot of the prices on these sites just don't compete with Amazon's pricing. When you take into account shipping they probably do, but for me shipping doesn't really count since I buy so many DVDs (that I really can't buy in NZ) off there already that throwing in a couple of books hardly makes a difference.

I want to support New Zealand companies. I really do. But they make it so damn hard for me when Amazon make it so damn easy.

Not about Stephen Fleming

Tuesday, March 25, 2008
I had planned to use today's post to write about Stephen Fleming. I know that's something I've done many times, but this is his final test match and that deserves a post. But I didn't realise I would feel as emotional about it as I do. I'm not ashamed to admit that there were tears rolling down my cheeks when he got out today. So, I'll save that post until I am feeling a bit less upset.

Hmmm I think I might go find my cat and get a bit of a cuddle from him. I feel very in need of a cuddle right now.

Postsecret.com

Monday, March 24, 2008
For those of you who have never been there, you should visit the postsecret website. I get such a mix of emotions when I read the new secrets posted there each week. Usually I feel a mixture of sadness and a feeling of being damn lucky that I don't share those same secrets. Sometimes there are secrets there that hit a little close to home, but there's something good about knowing, for sure, that others out there share the same problems I do. Once or twice I've read a secret that's shocked me because I've realised I do, in fact, share that same secret and just hadn't really realised it.

It's amazing to me the number of people who suffer silently through unhappy relationships, only revealing their unhappiness in an anonymous secret. It's awful really. Yet, I can understand it. Being alone is scary. Leaving your comfort zone is even scarier. When breaking up your relationship means leaving your comfort zone and resigning yourself to being alone, I can see how it's damn near impossible to make that move. It's easier to fool yourself into believing that it's not that bad, than actually looking too deeply at things. It's not healthy, but it is easier. I imagine that posting their secret probably helps a lot of people. By writing it down they are fully acknowledging their unhappiness, and will hopefully begin to deal with it.

The other thing, the thing that I don't like, about reading the website is that it makes me think about my own secrets. The ones that my close friends know but don't really KNOW. I'm lucky in that I can't think of any secrets my close friends have absolutely no inkling about, but there are always things that I downplay when I shouldn't. It also makes me think about the things my friends might be hiding from me. The hurts they feel, but that they cannot share for one reason or another. It's tough to know your friends are probably hurting about things that they can't find the words to talk about, just like at times everyone hurt over things they can't bring themselves to talk about.

It always helps me to know that, if I chose to do so, I have people who would be willing to listen as I struggled to find the words to talk. I hope my friends know I would do the same for them in a heartbeat, that I would support them even if they couldn't find the words to tell me why they needed the support.

That's what friends do.

Worky-work

Sunday, March 23, 2008
I was supposed to wash my car today. Instead I have spent the day watching cricket. I think that's understandable though since it's Stephen Fleming's last match.

Yesterday was an incredibly long day at work. It was freezing for most of the time, and boring. I ended up at my own train station, the one that is a 5 minute walk from my house. Unfortunately, that train station lacks any find of facilities whatsoever. No toilets, no vending machines. Nothing. We were out there for 5 and a half hours. When it really comes down to it, I could complain. It's illegal to leave us somewhere for that long with no toilet and no break. But, even though it's a crappy job, it suits me perfectly this year so it doesn't really bother me. If I'd been desperate I could have run home. If my partner was desperate he could have run to the gas station.

An hour and a half after arriving at the station we finally made our first sale. 5 and a half hours later I was bored out of my brain, me and my partner had exhausted all conversation topics and we were more than ready to jump on the train and head home. We had an hour-long break then it was up to the stadium concourse to prepare for people leaving the stadium. Now, for anyone that's been to the Caketin, you know how damn cold it is up there. Again, the bosses had stuffed up with the timing and we were up there way earlier than we needed to be. It was 3 hours before people started drifting out of the stadium. Again, all conversation topics were completely exhausted and we were more than ready to finish by the end of the shift.

Heh I did learn that one of the people I work with is into being dominated though! I did not expect that. It's always the quiet ones! :P

Busy malls

Saturday, March 22, 2008
I just drove down to the local mall. For some reason I was operating under the mistaken belief that it would be fairly quiet. I cannot fathom why I thouht that. In hindsight it's obvious that it would have been extremely busy. Afterall, the mall was closed yesterday and are going to be closed again tomorrow... So, what should have been a ten minute trip turned into a half hour trip. Bugger.

I'm off to work in a few minutes. Every day that I've done this job so far it's been lovely weather. Today looks like it's going to rain. I have a feeling it'll be a pretty unpleasant job in the rain.

Okay. I'm going to have something to eat then head off....

Good Friday

Friday, March 21, 2008
Well, I spent my Good Friday catching up on a lot of stuff I wanted to get done. I cleaned up in the kitchen, cleaned the toilet, did a few loads of washing, read a book, started another book and did some homework. Quite a productive day if I do say so myself!

This evening me and Ingrid went to dinner and watched Hairspray with my parents. It was really fun. I don't go and visit my parents anywhere enough. Now I'm home, watching Desperate Housewives, blogging and preparing to play my new favourite video game for a little bit before bed.

Tomorrow I'm working a 12 hour shift. I'm very much not looking forward to that. I'll be very happy about it on payday though! :)

Smashing Pumpkins!!!!

Thursday, March 20, 2008
I just saw the Smashing Pumpkins!!! They were awesome! It was a nice long concert too. Queens of the Stone Age (I only know a few of their songs) opened and played for an hour. Smashing Pumpkins then played for two hours. They were fantastic. The TSB Arena's got nothing on Vector, but apart from that the concert was perfect.

This is being written on paper as I sit in my car after the concert since it's 11.45pm and I'll struggle to get home in time to blog on the computer. Thank god my rules are different to Kat's and I'm allowed to blog on paper or I'd be watching all 3 LOTR films this weekend. Phew!

New Zealand's poor education system

Wednesday, March 19, 2008
Studies have shown that we, as a country, have one of the worst education systems in the developed world. What's more, it's only getting worse.

People, in New Zealand, don't learn grammar at school beyond the absolute basic. And by absolute basic I mean, a noun is a naming word and a verb is a doing word. That's about all you get; sentence structure is virtually ignored; the only punctuation kids learn is to put a full-stop at the end of a sentence and a capital letter at the beginning (although most of them don't know where the end of the sentence should actually be since that is missed out of the curriculum).

The lack of grammar isn't the worst thing about our education system though. Somewhere along the line someone important decided that having people grow up obsessed with facts was a bad idea. I can see where they were coming from. We have enough trouble keeping our kids in school without overwhelming them with useless information that they find boring yet are expected to learn by rote. Unfortunately it has been taken to the extreme and even useful facts are being left out. One study surveyed a group of students at Auckland University and found that just over half knew which direction the sun sets in and a quarter thought that the Vietnam War preceeded the Korean War. While these are not vital facts, they certainly should be considered well-known ones.

The absolute worst statistic of the study was one that looked at the entrance test to a diploma of teaching. The test was compared to a high school entrance test in the US and found to be about the same level. Scary, scary stuff. I mean, sure the test was for those wanting to teach at primary school level, but you would still expect it to be a proper tertiary level test. 19% of people sitting the test could not even measure the length of a pencil correctly! And these people are going to be teaching a new generation of our children? (Admittedly, I don't know how many people were taking the test. That 19% could actually have only been 1 or 2 people. But it's still scary.)

It makes the idea of homeschooling your kids seem a lot more tempting, that's for sure!!

Handy women

Tuesday, March 18, 2008
The light in our lounge has been dying for a few weeks. It's been getting dimmer and dimmer, to the point where it's pretty much impossible to read once it gets dark outside. My flatmate (the male one) has been promising to do something about it for ages but never actually got around to it, so today Ingrid and I decided to deal with it ourselves.

We went out and bought a step-ladder because the light is too high to reach (one of the reasons it hasn't been changed), we then took the old bulb out to find out what type it used, went and bought a new bulb and changed it. We now have nice, bright light in our lounge! We also bought CRC because our door-lock is really sticky.

See, we don't need a handyman because we are handywomen! :-)

Cricket

Monday, March 17, 2008
We lost the cricket today. I'm gutted.....

I was in class as we lost so didn't know to afterwards. Not like it really matters. I'm actually more gutted for Stephen Fleming than I am about the actual loss. It was his final game at the Basin Reserve, his home ground for the past 5ish years. I'm sure he would have wanted it to have been a winning game for New Zealand, and for himself to have done a whole lot better.

Stupid cricket. Why do I continue to love it when it hurts me so?? :(

Assignments

Sunday, March 16, 2008
Today I spent from 10am-6pm pretty much constantly doing assignments. For me that is a very big deal since I usually leave everything to the last minute. I'm pretty proud of myself for the amount of work I put in today, especially since the first assignment isn't due until Thursday.

I also spent the day keeping an eye on the cricket. Despite the fact that I said I wouldn't miss going to Stephen Fleming's last game in Wellington for the world, I did. A combination of my cold, the amount of assignments I had to do, the cold weather and that New Zealand were playing appallingly, kept me away. The cricket is not even worth talking about so I will talk no further on it.

The babyshower I went to on Saturday was really fun. We played heaps of games, one of which was called 'guess what's in the nappy'. There were 5 nappies with differnt types of melted chocolate in them. We had to guess which type of chocolate was in each nappy by smelling and tasting it. Even knowing that it was chocolate, it was gross.

I learnt something at the babyshower too. If you are having a baby then invite as many people as you can possibly think of to the shower. Everyone that turns up feels obligated to buy a present. Add into that the fact that not many girls can resist the urge to buy lots of cute little baby things when presented with the opportunity, and you get a hell of a lot of useful presents!! :)

Almost too late again

Saturday, March 15, 2008
Wow. This is getting dangerous. ingrid wants to foster a child. her sisters say that it would make us lesbien parents.ha! no! (sorry, that was written by Ingrid's sister :P )

Anyway, this is getting dangerous because it's 11.20pm and I only just remembered to blog again. So that's two days this week that I've been very close to forgetting.

Okay, so Ingrid and I aren't lesbians... Just in case anyone was getting their hopes up there.

I watched Stardust tonight. It was awesome! I love the main guy in it. He will be my new husband. Now I am going to go watch Elephant.

Bye... This was lame.

Britney Spears

Friday, March 14, 2008
I've remembered a topic I've been meaning to write about for a long time. Britney Spears...

Last year Kat wrote about how she'd had enough of the media crapping all over Britney. (At least, I think she wrote about it. It may have just been something we talked about in our flat. If I was a less lazy person I'd go check her blog.) Anyway, I was fully on-board with what Kat was saying because I've felt that way for a long time. I'll admit that I very much enjoy reading about what is going on in the lives of celebrities. What I have always hated is reading about their bad moments.

I don't understand how anyone can get pleasure out of reading that Britney's lost custody of her kids; that Prince William is having relationship problems; that Michelle Williams isn't coping with Heath Ledger's death; that Lindsey Lohan is drunk; that Nicole Richie is anorexic; and so on it goes. I think those that do get pleasure out of reading stories like that are the ones who have forgotten that celebrities are people too, they hurt just like regular people do. And they make mistakes just like regular people do, they are just in the unfortunate position of making those mistakes on a very public stage.

People always go on about the fact that celebrities have chosen that lifestyle. That they know going in what the industry is like and they need to just accept it. I don't get that though. Why should they accept it? It's one of the terrible things about the industry. Celebrities, for the most part, are celebrities purely because their chosen vocation happens to be one that makes them famous and makes people love to love them and love to hate them all in the same moment. Teaching (and its not alone in this) is a vocation that comes with ridiculously low pay. People who want to be teachers tend to know that going in. Does that mean they should accept low pay? Or should they strike when their union does and try to actually get paid what they are worth? Personally I think they should fight to make their job a better one, and increasing their pay is what would do that. Why shouldn't actors and singers be able to do the same, to try and fight to get rid of the bad aspects of their job?

Britney Spears is one of the unluckiest celebrities out there. She was thrust into the limelight at a very young age. Bloody hell, she was seventeen, what do people expect? Of course she's made some mistakes! Yes, she probably can't take care of her children right now, but instead of laughing at her for that fact someone should actually get out there and teach her how to take care of them! Not every woman is a perfect mother straight off the bat. Learning to be a mother takes work and I'm guessing no-one ever explained that to Britney. Instead the world just watched on, laughed and critisised as she failed. It's awful when you really think about it.

Why am I writing about this? Because Britney Spears' song Piece of Me is on my playlist and everytime I hear it I feel bad for her. That song is the absolute proof (not that we really needed it) that Britney is aware of how she is viewed by the public. It is the proof that she is a person too and is hurt by all the things the media says about her.

Can't we just leave her in peace so she can put her life back together? Is the human race really that awful that we enjoy watching the destruction of a person? Sadly I think the answer is, yes we are. There will always be people out there who will buy those magazines; people who get pleasure out of others' suffering.

That really sucks.

It's dark

It's extremely dark in our lounge right now. The bulb in our light is dying, but it's dying very slowly. It's actually got to the stage where i'm getting headaches cos it's too dark in here and I'm straining my eyes. Unfortunately, the light doesn't take standard bulbs and the flatmate who said he would take care of it hasn't done so yet. Very annoying!

I'm going to a babyshower tomorrow. I'm pretty excited, I have only ever been to one other babyshower so it's a nice new experience for me. Me and Ingrid went shopping yesterday to buy presents and it was heaps of fun! All the little baby stuff was so cute. Even though I am NOWHERE near ready for a baby of my own, it was fun fantasising about buying all the cute little clothes and stuff.

Other updates:

- I'm still sick, but I'm hoping to be pretty much better by Monday.
- I saw Run Fatboy Run yesterday. It's pretty funny. Go and watch it.
- I have recently been addicted to the tv show Chuck. Unfortunately I have now watched all the episodes made so far. There will be no more until around October. Bugger. Go watch it! It's awesome.
- We are losing the cricket. Piss.
- Stephen Fleming did not make a century and did not raise his average to 40. Double piss.

Blogging can be so annoying!

Thursday, March 13, 2008
I am sick, I am tired. I would like to be able to get away with not blogging for the day but, sadly, I cannot.

It's Writers and Readers week in Wellington this week. I've been going to some very interesting lectures. It's been fun. I could talk more about that but, right now, I don't want to.

The 2nd cricket test against England started today. It's Stephen Fleming's 2nd to last test ever. I could talk more about that but, again, I don't want to right now.

Instead I will stop writing now and go to sleep. Or, I will try and sleep but my stuffed up nose will probably prevent that. Bugger.

I'm sick :-(

Wednesday, March 12, 2008
I have a cold which I caught off my flatmate. It makes me sad.

I'm not a male, therefore, I don't have man flu, I just have a regular cold.

Colds do, however, make me incredibly sulky. While I don't suffer the male belief that I'm dying from my cold, I do suffer from wanting to be alone with my misery. In a flat as small as this one, unfortunately, that just isn't really a possiblity. I want to just huddle somewhere, undisturbed, while I nurse my headache, runny nose and scratchy throat, and the impossibilty of that makes me incredibly sulky.

Thank God colds only last 3 or 4 days!

The Seven Deadly Sins

Tuesday, March 11, 2008
The Seven Deadly Sins have become the Fourteen Deadly Sins. I'm not sure I agree with any of them being 'deadly' sins (except the pedophilia one) but then again, I was never really sure I agreed with all of the previous seven being 'deadly' ones either. (Mainly because I tend to commit a lot of them, yet I do consider myself a good person.)

It is now also a deadly sin to:

Have an abortion
Commit pedophilia (this one I'm 100% on-board with)
Taking drugs
Having obscene wealth
Pollute
Genetic engineer anything
Cause social injustice


Gee... I'm looking forward to seeing the movie Fourteen....

The worst NZ cricketers

Monday, March 10, 2008
I read an article the other day that was entitled "NZ's worst of the worst cricketers in the last 20 years" The choices were taken straight from their stats. I found it quite interesting and it inspired me to make my own list.

So, today in class (we were doing grammar, it was sending me to sleep) I made my list. Now, I was in class so obviously this is NOT based on statistics in the slightest. I've also probably missed some players out because I was just going off memory. My list also only encompases the last 10-15 years since before that I was a bit young to really remember bad players. Also, my list is bad cricketers at international level, the article was just bad at test level. (So some of the choices there were actually fantastic ODI cricketers)

First I'll list the article's choices. Then I'll put in mine and the reasons I chose them. I'll then go and look up their stats to see if I got it anywhere near right statistically, or if I chose some brilliant players to put in my worst XI. (This I might not do tonight). Sometime in the near future I'll make a better, more statistically accurate, version of my list. I don't particularly agree with the article's list since some of the players were only selected for 1 or 2 games and the stats make them out to be far worse than they actually were.

The article's XI (in batting order)
Darrin Murray
Blair Hartland
Phil Horne
Richard Jones
Chris Harris
Justin Vaughan
Lee Germon
Mark Haslam
Robert Kennedy
Chris Pringle
Geoff Allot

My choices

Matthew Bell
Chris Nevan
Tama Canning
Matthew Hart
Jeff Wilson
The slightly tubby Cantabury captain who's name escapes me
Richard Petri
Mark Haslam
Heath Davis
Mark Orchard
Kerry Walmsly
Shayne O'Connor (12th Man)

Okay and now my justifications:

Matt Bell - A GREAT Wellington batsman. Back in about 1998 or 1999 he had the highest first class batting stats in the Shell Cup and Shell Trophy. I couldn't wait for him to get selected. I don't think he even ever made it into double figures once he was selected for the Black Caps though, not that first time around. He's been slightly better this time around but nowhere near international standard. I think they broke him when they didn't give him enough support during his first foray into international cricket..

Chris Nevan - Similar to Matty Bell actually. He was a great batsman for Wellington and a terrific keeper. Those skills just never translated when he was selected to play at international level. Once again, I was very disappointed as I had been gunning for his selection.

Tama Canning - Vaunted as this amazing player who was going places. The only place he seemed to be going when he put on the New Zealand uniform was nowhere.

Matthew Hart - I don't think he ever got selected again after the drug scandal he was involved in (along with Stephen Fleming and Dion Nash). But, even before that, he wasn't that great anyway. Certainly nothing to write home about.

Jeff Wilson - Not bad before he chose rugby (and you can't begrudge him that choice) but once he came back it seemed like he'd lost the magic he once had. He could never quite recapture it.

The slightly tubby Cantabury captain who's name escapes me - If anyone could help me out with this guy's name I'd appreciate it. Anyway, his skill at state level just couldn't be replicated at international level

Richard Petri - Another brilliant Wellingtonian. He wasn't selected until he was quite old, but I was excited when he was. He had this amazing ability for Wellington to turn a game around with the bat or the ball. His captaincy was brilliant too. Sadly he did not have the ability to do anything except get out when he batted for NZ and give away runs when he bowled for them.

Mark Haslam - Mark who? Enough said.

Heath Davis - ANOTHER Wellingtonian. (anyone sensing a theme?) A great bowler when he actually sent down legitimate deliveries. Very fast, looked for a while there like he was going to be the next big thing in fast bowling circles. Unfortunately he had a big problem with overstepping. He pretty much bowled at least 1 no-ball an over. Not what you want in your team.

Mark Orchard - This one hurts since, like a few of the others, I hugely anticipated his arrival into the international team. Unfortunately he didn't set any stages alive. I thought he looked really good, but he just couldn't seem to get the wickets.

Kerry Walmsly - His selection didn't even cause a ripple on the international scene. He just wasn't good.

Shayne O'Connor - I really liked him and he did actually play for New Zealand for quite a while. Unfortunately, I think that was more to do with the awful quality of bowlers around at the time rather than to do with his skill. I don't think he ever had any batsman really quacking in their boots. He was, however, one of the nicest guys I have ever met and I feel awful even including him in this list.

Cricket

Sunday, March 09, 2008
Oh, and we won the cricket!!!!!!


Wooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

MSN

Annoyingly there are a huge number of IM programs out there to chose from. This is annoying because it means, in order to talk to all of my friends, I use Gtalk, MSN, AIM and Yahoo.... It gets very frustrating. In an effort to end the frustration (and insanity) I figured out how to run them all through the one programme, Gtalk...

Unfortunately, combining my lists proved to have an unexpected (and annoying) consequence. It unblocked all of my blocked contacts. You see, on MSN I had 58 contacts and about 30 of them were blocked. Not a single one of the blocked people were my friends in real life, they were all just random online people I used to chat with.

All day long today I have had random guys suddenly talking to me. I have had to lie my way through the question "I haven't seen you online for ages. Where have you been?" a huge number of times today. I know, I know, I could just be honest and tell them I'd blocked them because I didn't want to talk to them, but that seems so harsh. So, instead, I pulled out the "I've been busy" line. Heh and then I talked to them for a few minutes and reblocked them.

It did fill me with a little bit of fear though. The fear that there are people on my list who I hardly ever see online and who always pull out the "i'm busy" line. Are there people trying to get rid of me the way I'm trying to get rid of these idiots? Do those who want to get rid of me just not know exactly how to use the block function? Am I being as annoying as these random guys are?

Oh the fear! I'm going to go with, everyone in the whole world wants to talk to me, why on earth wouldn't they. Because, well, it's better to think that than the alternative. :P

Cricket

Saturday, March 08, 2008
I'm watching the cricket. We're not doing well... It sucks. It looked like we were going to win, or at least draw. Now it looks like we're going to lose. I'm not happy.

Anyway, I don't want to talk about us losing. That just depresses me. Instead I'm going to talk about something that is probably boring to everyone who reads my blog. Oh well, it's interestesting to me.

Commentators. A lot of people don't like the New Zealand commentators, say that they're boring and biased. I disagree. They are most definitely on the side of the Black Caps, of course they are being that they're all ex-players. However, they are also very good at being honest about the standard of cricket being played. If the Kiwi's are playing badly the commentators will talk about it; if the opposition are playing beautifully the commentators will talk about and praise it. You can tell that they want the Kiwi's to win, but you can also tell that the love of the game is the driving force for them.

The best thing about the New Zealand commentary team for me though, is that they are so knowledgable and well-rounded when it comes to talking about the game. Obviously this is something you'd expect being all ex-players, but in the past the commentary team have been guilty of not sharing their knowledge. Or, at least, not sharing it in a helpful, easy to understand way. This current commentary team is great though. We have Ian Smith, the best wicketkeeper New Zealand's ever had, arguably one of the best the world's ever had. (Not the best, one of the best.) Then there's Martin Crowe, the best batsman New Zealand's ever had. Simon Doull, a great fast bowler and Mark Richardson, an extremely reliable opening bat, round out the team. I'm thinking that Stephen Fleming will become a regular part of the commentary team once he is fully retired from cricket. I hope he will be anyway since he has amazing insight into the captaincy going on out in the middle. The only thing really missing is a spin bowler.

The well-rounded in knowledge commentary team means that no matter what happens in the game, there is someone on the commentary team who can give you a real expert opinion about it. I've learnt an awful lot from these commentators. It makes sitting and watching cricket all day very worthwhile. (Heh I'm always looking for excuses)

That was close

Friday, March 07, 2008
Wow, I almost forgot to blog! It's only 11pm so i've still got plenty of time, but it was close to me completely forgetting.

I have SO much study to do this weekend. It's very lucky right now that I don't have a proper job or i'd be a bit screwed!!

I'm a bit at a loss as to what to write today. I think that is pretty obvious!

Today driving home we saw a truck that had been blown over in the wind! I think it must have taken a corner way too fast and been caught by the wind at the same time. No-one got hurt thank goodness. It gave me and Ingrid a big fright when we saw it.

Okay, that was a lame post I know. I'm sorry but I'm just completely at a loss today. Hopefully I'll have something better for you all tomorrow.

Online Boys

Thursday, March 06, 2008
A few of my friends, not many, go in for the whole internet dating thing. From these people I've learnt a few things, the main one being that most people on there are after sex rather than an actual relationship.

While internet dating has never been my thing, talking to random people on the internet has always been something I've found fun. I have a NZ dating account but the number of times I'd visit the site in a year could be counted on one hand. I occassionally reply to a message and chat to a person online but try to make it clear that I'm not up for anything more than online chatting.

Anyway, the place I'm going with this rambling is actually back in time to when I was a kid. I was ADDICTED to chatrooms. Seriously addicted. I would spend hours each night in various chatrooms talking to people. (Between the ages of 14 and 17) In this time I did meet a handful of the guys I talked to but didn't meet the majority. For lack of anything else to talk about I'm going to tell you a few anicdotes about those boys.

The first guy I meet was named Matt. He was lovely and we got on well online, I was 14 and he was 13. When we met up in person I think he must have just come back from fishing or something because he smelt like fish. He was very sweet though, he carried my bag (which was really heavy) all around Queensgate for me. Unfortunately when he rang me the next day and asked me out again I couldn't bring myself to say yes, the fish smell had put me off too much, so I said no. Looking back I probably should have said yes because other than that I really liked him, and I'm sure he would have showered by the next time I saw him. Ah well.

At age 14 I also met up with a guy named Chris. There was nothing particularly exciting about our meeting. We didn't like each other and we went our separate ways. The remarkable thing about Chris was that I ended up meeting up with him a further 3 times over the next few years, and never once realised before we met that it was the same Chris I'd already met (he didn't realise it was me either). Hell, if my life was a movie then I would have ended up with him for sure. Thankfully, it is not and I did not. (He's now a member of the National party.... I think I dodged a bullet for sure.)

When I was 15 there were two guys I met up with. One was named (again) named Matt. Matt was funny because he had the same last name as me, just with a slightly different spelling. When we met up (to go to a movie) he kept talking about how when we got married all I'd have to do was change the spelling of my name. Needless to say I didn't meet up with him again. (He also had an obsession that night about us going down to the riverbank so I could 'sit on his lap'. Dream on Matty.)

The name of the other guy I met up with that year escapes me. I'm surprised I don't remember his name actually because, up until that point, he is probably the guy I liked the best. We arranged to meet up and both decided to bring a friend. He was really great (and really cute!) but, unfortunately, his friend called my friend fat and whats-his-name laughed. I really couldn't abide by that so that was the end of him.

There were others over the next couple of years but the ones I've just discussed were the stand-out performers. The other stories are all pretty boring. We met up, it didn't work out. There are even two 'we met up and it did work out, until we broke up for other reasons.'

Some of my friends have some very interesting meeting people off the internet stories as well and I will take the liberty of sharing those.

One of my friends in high school started talking to this guy who lived overseas. (I can't remember where, America I think but it could have been Canada) He wanted them to have cyber-sex and then pretend that she got pregnant. He was then going to use his scanner to scan pictures of money to her to pay for all the 'baby stuff'. Heh seems like a really lame way to try and talk a girl into cyber-sex doesn't it?

Another of my friends met up with a girl who decided to bring him a present. She bought him a bottle filled with little oragami paper swans inside. Apparently written on each of the swans were things she thought about this guy. He was told that he was not allowed to open the bottle and read them though as that would be violating the trust in their relationship. He actually didn't read them, but the relationship also didn't work out. :P

Okay, I hope I got both those stories right.....

Methinks it's bedtime. If anyone else has any good meeting people online stories then feel free to tell me, or write them in the comments section. :P )

All Black Anthem

Wednesday, March 05, 2008
Okay, since I'm lazy and can't be bothered typing a lot here is another Youtube video that I like. It's the All Black national anthem!!




In other news, tonight Hoyts Lower Hutt is closing down. Me and Ingrid plan to go to a film there and be the last customers to leave. It's really sad that it's closing down. I understand why but it's still sad. It was the best cinema to work at and I have very fond memories of that place. It's going to be so weird not having it in Lower Hutt anymore. :(

Gingerbread Haka!

Tuesday, March 04, 2008
I thought that today I would write something really insightful, something that would blow the minds of my readers. Then I saw this on Youtube and decided I would post it instead. I hearby bring you The Gingerbread Man Haka!!!




Awesome.

People are not smart

Monday, March 03, 2008
In this world there are some incredibly stupid people. People who's idiocy has to be seen to be believed.

I worked with a girl once who honestly didn't know how to plug in a vacuum cleaner. (I wasn't at work the day this happened but was told about it later.) She was fairly new and needed to vacuum a cinema so she got the vacuum cleaner out and prepared to plug it in. Unfortunately she couldn't figure out how. The projectionist in the cinema with her thought she was joking when she held up the plug and asked him where it went so he jokingly replied that she needed to put it up the pipe. This girl proceeded to do exactly that... And then wondered why it didn't work.

I was reading on the 'net tonight about a Rotorua woman who called the police because she couldn't thread a needle. She was urgently trying to get ready for a dinner party and needed to quickly sew something but couldn't get the needle threaded. She called 111 somehow thinking the police could help. They couldn't.

Another man reportedly called 111 because there were two hedgehogs fighting on his lawn.... Again, the police couldn't help.

I don't understand how people like this make it through the day. The girl at my work was actually incredibly intelligent at some things, like music. But clearly lacked a certain something when it came to the real world!

New Laptop!

Sunday, March 02, 2008
I have a new laptop. I didn't want to have a new laptop but had no choice since I buggered my other one by dropping it. Unfortunately this came just days after I sold my mac.... Piss.

The past 2 days I've been blogging on paper and I'll copy those into here today or tomorrow.

I've realised in the last couple of weeks that I have a bit of a crush on Paul Collingwood (captain of the England cricket team), not a huge crush but a little one. I think this means I like guys with power and authority. Actually, I already knew that about myself. I've pretty much always gone for the intelligent, career oriented, highly motivated guys.

Don't worry - the crush is so slight that I still want him to get out the moment he walks out to bat against New Zealand.

The test series starts very soon. It's Stephen Fleming's last test series and that makes me sad. It should be a good series though. I'm looking forward to it.

Bugger

Saturday, March 01, 2008
Yep, I definitely have to buy a new laptop. Mine isn't salvageable. I hate having to spend so much money on something I already owned a perfectly good one of, until I went and bloody dropped it!

Kat and Shera went home today. I'm sad. I've enjoyed having them here and it sucks they've now gone.

Okay. Bed time.