Bits & Pieces

Location Location Location

2010-09-27T16:30:00.003+13:00

Hey misfits!

I have a new online home: http://lissaorelse.wordpress.com

♥ ♥ ♥

Being Optimistic

2010-09-26T21:37:00.016+13:00

Via Ffffound

My new criteria for choosing non fiction books is that reading it will make me feel good.

Right now I am reading: 'Leap! Ditch Your Job, Start Your Business and Set Yourself Free' by Ian Sanders and 'All Time Essentials for Entrepreneurs' by Jonathan Yates.

Both inspiring and awesome.

Thursday, after being fortified this morning with McDonalds of Doom for breakfast and a surreal detour in to Warhammer HQ with Cam, I finalised the Pennyroyal logo and bought a bunch of beautiful paper sheets from Gordon Harris to play with.

There is so much to do and so many exciting things going on. Having to take it easy because of my health is frustrating sometimes, but I'm trying (and mostly suceeding!) to keep it positive.

♠ I made twelve rings this week

♠ Since leaving Tech, being able to chill when my body needs it, I have needed to put my feet up less often

♠ Pennyroyal has a logo! Yuss!

♠ I am mulling over a bunch of ideas for packaging and labelling, and excitedly sourcing wares for another batch of goodies

♠ I have a bunch of amazing, supportive people in my life ♥

In the past I would have been really bummed out and mopey about having to leave work early due to being sore on Saturday, and not being able to go out to the No Love Lost vs. RockRavenNinja show that night for the same reason. Feeling sad&sorry for myself about not being able to graduate from Tech.

Not anymore though!

Let me tell you, it is so much easier on your sense of self, aiming to be accepting of whatever is going on in the present, and just doing what can with what you have got right now in order to move forward and upwards, onwards. Beyond.

Optimism is woefully underrated. That, and making lists.

♥,

Business Time

2010-09-23T20:12:00.004+12:00

Andrew Gonzalez' Unio Mystica

I've been able to complete a bunch of missions today - yuss! It has been an amazing week full of beautiful things.

♠ Working on branding for Pennyroyal

♠ Wearing a couple of PR rings out and about and joyously thwacking them against random hard surfaces to test durability

♠ I feel really positive about the decision I made to leave Tech - my body is thanking me in small ways already

♠ The specialist appointment I had on Wednesday was a total success; I am booked in for investigative keyhole surgery in mid-October. Having my own private room with an ensuite will be wonderful, though I am still thankful that it will only be an overnight stay!

♠ Baking more cupcakes! Ever since the SPCA fundraiser I have become obsessed

♠ Communal Outrageous Fortune viewing on Tuesday night, complete with mind-blowing (seriously, so delicious) fruit cheese and a whole lot of dark chocolate

Pennyroyal is kicking in to gear; I have sold my first piece already! I am starting this business with calm focus, positive intent and a whole lotta love.

♥,

Thursday Newsbites

2010-09-23T20:02:00.002+12:00

Via Ffffound

Sun, sea and grit - 'Israeli and West Bank women risk jail for day at the beach' Awesome, brave women.

Naomi Klein: How we can build a movement so radical, so militant, so powerful that it becomes irresistible

Pope faces huge protests

Thai red-shirts stage defiant protest

Baby snow leopard filmed in mountains of Bhutan - Cats rule!

To The Stars

2010-09-22T16:25:00.007+12:00

Every now and then I wander around the HubbleSite gallery and reinvigorate myself via the beauty and strength of this crazy vast space we occupy.

Truly awesome.

♥,

October 15 Book Launch / Musings on Media

2010-09-20T13:05:00.014+12:00

Book launch to commemorate State Terror Raids - "All supporters, friends, fellow travellers and freedom fighters are welcome!" according to Valerie Morse, who edited the collection.

The launch will be on the 15th of October at 6pm, at Thistle Hall on Cuba Street.

"On Monday, October 15th 2007, more than 300 police carried out dawn raids on dozens of houses all over Aotearoa / New Zealand. Police claim the raids were in response to 'concrete terrorist threats' from indigenous activists. 20 people are facing charges under the Arms Act, in a trial that could take several years. On this site you can find out how to get involved in local support groups, dates and locations of solidarity events are happening and how to make a donation." - October 15th Solidarity

Reading first-hand accounts of what happened during the raids is important. They will go some way towards debunking the tediously predictable, fearmongering perspectives that get thrown around by big media.

The lies and inaccuracies that powerful people, through the media, would have us believe about ourselves, about our world, about each other, are truly ridiculous. Media literacy is so goddamn essential. Now more than ever. Recognition of the agenda at play is key to living a sweet life, I think.

Being media-aware has helped my happiness so much. It's waaay more difficult for those motherfuckers to dent my self-esteem these days and the key is recognition. Once I began to recognize propaganda it was like an avalanche of awareness: I started noticing the subtle framing of things, the small omissions, the cynical ploys.

The all-encompassing Western media-corporate-political web does not want you to be happy. It does not want you to believe that change is possible. It does not want you realise the knowledge your bones feel, the age-old quantum science that everything is interconnected.

For time immemorial, it has been this way: Powerful people trying to accumulate more power at the expense of everyone and everything else. This is the game being played.

I am refusing to play the game anymore by bolding loving and having immense faith in myself and the universe.

♥,

Making Things is Awesome

2010-09-17T19:18:00.008+12:00

Os Gémeos and Blu do beautiful things in Lisbon. Via Ffffound

It has been an amazing week. The most gorgeous selection of cameos and vintage cabochons are one their way to Pennyroyal HQ. I can really sink my teeth into producing the range when they arrive. Exciting beyond belief!

Hell yes...

♠ Seasonal vegetable curry from Khana Kharzana (sp?). Vegan; cheap; delicious

♠ Being accepting of change

♠ Craving chocolate, then remembering about an uneaten Aero. Victory!

♠ The Wire. If you haven't seen it yet, obtain a copy somehow...

♠ Milo. Back with a vengence

♠ Going out for Japanese food with Cam, Paul and Maia; Hede is rad when it's not super-busy. Inari, teriyaki fish, inappropriate Rosé. Good times ♥

♠ Being able to walk to the library on a sunny, warm, glittering Sunday

♠ Having a bunch of new books to read: The Tao of Now (Josh Baran), God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater (Kurt Vonnegut), Sixteen Shades of Crazy (Rachel Trezise) and The Unit (Ninni Holmqvist). Awesome! I'm also reading, after having had it sitting on my bookshelf for years, Hell's Angels by Hunter S. Excellent

♠ Making a double batch of cupcakes (orange and blueberry; blue orange-flavoured icing and sprinkles ♥) and eating until I had them coming out of my ears

Shoe design by Kobi Levi! Via Ffffound

See also:

Postcard Set Kitties by Gemmabear. Via Ffffound

Through which I found the truly genius:

Pugs not Drugs tee by Gemmabear. Via Ffffound

Every single item in her shop brings a smile to my face :-D

♥,

Friday Newsbites

2010-09-17T15:01:00.005+12:00

Via Ffffound

Yusss:

Child mortality falls by third - Awesome!

MP David Garrett resigns

Khmer Rouge leaders indicted

Lawsuit challenges sexism at Goldman Sachs

No more state of emergency in Christchurch

Nooo:

Gordon Campbell on the draconian Christchurch earthquake legislation - If Phil Goff wasn't such a Nothing, Labour could have torn National to shreds with this. Though mostly I am just appalled at the Greens for supporting it.

The airport is determined to have its Wellywood sign - This is obviously a terrible idea.

No More Fashion Tech / Kristen Ferrell

2010-09-15T16:40:00.015+12:00

Coco Rocha by Solve Sundsbo, via Ffffound

On Friday afternoon I downloaded Joan Jett & the Blackhearts, TLC, Divinyls, Lady Gaga, The Runaways, Veruca Salt, Roxette, Salt 'n Pepa. It was a ladyfest at work on Saturday!

Cool things that happened last week...

♠ One of the girls at Tech asked if she could do a tarot reading for me; I'd never had one done before, it was a really rewarding experience. I felt super-positive afterwards ♥

♠ Penny-the-kitten being fitted with a suave leopard print collar and becoming hilariously unhappy about it

♠ Assessment day at Tech went so well; Friday was also speech day (!), mine was about goth fashion, muahaha. I walked out of the building after class with a light heart and lucid head. So sweet

♠ A bunch of confirmation emails waiting in my inbox relating to various purchases of ring findings for my range. Exiting times!

Onwards...

For the last five weeks or so, I've been having post-surgery troubles. I've had to take a bunch of days off of class; too many days, as it turns out. Boo! The class schedule is too tight, from now until the end of course, for me to make up what I've missed so far (let alone the odd day that I'd likely have to miss during the next little while).

On one hand it is disappointing and frustrating as all hell. I busted my ass sooo hard to get into Pattern Design and now the same problem that held me back in Garment Tech has ruined my hope of graduating from this course. Yesterday I came home from Tech and had a big cry and moped around a little.

On the other hand, after having thought about things and gained perspective, ever since Cam came back from Sydney, asking if I want to move over there with him next year, my path moved away from Fashion Tech and towards SIT.

Unlike Tech, SIT's Applied Fashion Diploma starts patternmaking from scratch, so everything I have learned and would have learned is bonus knowledge (which I was stoked about, but it isn't essential).

It is tempting to keep going to class despite not being able to graduate. I am not going to.

Three things:

♠ Charm my way into full time work (+ Saturdays at Cosmic, keepin' it real) in order to start save save saving $$$ for relocating to Sydney
♠ Release my range of rings successfully
♠ Obtain patternmaking tools and do what I can with what I've learned so far

By full time work I actually mean '30 hours, 4 days a week'. That'd be IDEAL.

Hah, good luck lady.

After scouring a few websites I've rounded up a whole bunch of jobs to apply for and tomorrow aim to prepare an irresistable CV to wave in front of prospective employers. I'd love to get another job that inspires and delights me as much as working at Cosmic Corner does, but am not holding my breath. Cosmic's right up there when it comes to sweet places to work.

Dentures Cupcake by Kristen Ferrell

I have one of Kristen's t-shirts, a severed-finger print, it is morbidly wonderful. She is one cool cat, and one of the people whose work and kick-ass attitude inspired me to grab hold of my dreams. Buy her cupcakes!

"Every day the choice is presented to us, to live up to the spirit that is in us, or deny it."
Henry Miller

The plan is to take it as easy as I have to until my abdomen is back up and running, hopefully only a week or two, then land a job that will help me fast-track to Sydney.

Everything happens for a reason!

♥,

Cupcake Day

2010-08-30T16:03:00.006+12:00

Lee Friedlander self-portrait; Westport, Connecticut 1968. Via Ffffound

Cosmic on Cuba St had a cupcake fundraiser for the SPCA this past weekend. Technically, Cupcake Day is supposed to be today, but Ish decided to do it during a busier time so we could entice more people with sweet treats!

Ish and I held down the fort during the day on Saturday, it was lots of fun. We made an awesome, irresistable display. There were SO MANY CUPCAKES, the smell of sugary-sweet baked goods was making us salivate allll day.

I was late for work due to running a last minute icing-and-sprinkles gauntlet :-p As far as lateness for work goes, though, icing cakes for the animals must be up there in the top 5 best excuses. Photos to come!

Fundraising-baking has given me a little cupcake fever. Yesterday afternoon I made a double batch of chocolate (with chocolate icing squiggles, chocolate sprinkles and a peppermint Poppit on top) and orange (with orange icing and candy sprinkles, half with blueberries as well); we've been reaping the delicious rewards ever since. There are three left, soon to be two... YUM ♥

Up, up...

♠ Using the time I have to spend away from class due to post-surgery pain productively and steadily working on the range of rings

♠ Knowing that everything will work out in the end

♠ Eating lots of cupcakes

♠ Leggings; pants-free ftw

♠ The weather getting warmer; Wellington is such a tease sometimes

♠ Discovering that the company Tech gets it's patternmaking equipment from has an online store - best find in ages!

♠ Ordering a whole bunch of ring shanks - exciting times ♥

Facebook Should Stop Censoring Marijuana Legalization Campaign Ads - They sure should. | "Twenty years ago today, the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990 became law. " 28/08/10 at No Right Turn. | Don’t pine for our clean green brand, stop GE! - This "brand NZ" crap is nonsense, the Greens should stay right away from it. But I love them for having an anti-GE stance. History is slowly proving the hippies right, after all.| From Adding Noughts in Vain: How Hard Would Dramatic Greenhouse Gas Emissions Reductions Really Be? "...the sooner big business stops paying lobbyists to derail change and starts paying engineers to work out how to solve the problem, the better."

♥,

Misuse of Drugs Act Amendment Bill

2010-08-28T19:31:00.007+12:00

Via somethingmyrthe on DeviantArt

There is some tediously ignorant, draconian stuff in the Misuse of Drugs Act Amendment Bill.

From NORML via Scoop: Cannabis Pipes Must Not Be Outlawed.

"A proposed Bill that would see smoking devices like pipes, bongs, and vapourisers outlawed will increase the harm to the community from drugs, as banning such items would only encourage young Kiwis to use cannabis in more damaging ways."

This is absolutely true. Why must the opinions of politicians always lag 40 years behind everyone else?

Heaps of New Zealanders smoke weed, people from all walks of life and all ages. This is a good thing. It could be a really positive part of our culture, and in fact for the most part already is. The negative aspects are caused by it's criminalisation and will be heavily reduced upon bringing the industry above ground. This has been proven. Repeatedly. Prosecuting the cannabis community is a complete waste of governmental resources and causes far, far more harm than good. This has been proven. Repeatedly.

AHHHHHH.

Do we really have to wait until California & Co. have convinced the US to decriminalise* weed before the NZ government finally feels comfortable doing what's logical? Probably. Goddamn them.

Politicians... they're just a bit dim...

Us proles can add our futile $0.02 by making an online submission to the Select Committee here. The closing date for submissions is 29th September 2010.

♥,

* California is going one step better - in November they'll be voting on legalisation!

Back to Bed

2010-08-27T13:14:00.069+12:00

via Ffffound

It's been a while! The last X amount of time has been wonderful; lots of ideas and action. Zero motivation to blog, however. I have jotted down a couple of things along the way:

"The weekend was awesome. Work; long lunch with Cam and Shell; Matty P's birthday gig at his place, dancing to new No Love Lost songs and Kyuss covers, talking smack and smiling a lot; Sunday in bed with Big Bang Theory, kittens and amazing company."

"An incredible time of late!"

The prospect of moving to Sydney next year has required a COMPLETE overhaul of near-future plans, which rather than being frightening has left me feeling exhilerated and so psyched about the possibilities! All of a sudden I could be doing the rest of my fashion upskilling and business start-up somewhere BIG. One step at a time and before you know it...

via Ffffound
Happinesses:

♠ Planning for my range of rings! I'm so excited about this project :-D

♠ Stayin' positive despite the soreness

♠ Moving to Sydney next year with Cam ♥

♠ Getting more work done on my sleeve (yay home studio)

♠ Sexy new lingerie from Bendon. The changing rooms in the Lambton Quay store make it even more of a pleasure to be in there

♠ Having super-blonde hair again; just need to lift a little more of the yellow-tone near the roots!

♠ Zazzy sour candy stripes; 60 cents, let the good times roll

♠ Moving out of our flat and into somewhere awesome (if we can find someone to take over the lease - fingers crossed!)

♠ The Wire. Cam and I are total converts; we're 2/3 way through season four right now and it is just so good

♠ Having an industrial sewing machine at home. Yuss!!! I'm still getting used to its idiosyncracies, but with a little more practice time I'll be able to sew up a storm at home. As soon as I am physically able to operate the machine again :-p

♠ Cheese pizza. KEEN AS

♠ Cupcake Day tomorrow (Saturday 28th) at Cosmic Corner! We are raising money for the SPCA - come buy some treats!

♠ Tramadol. Currently preventing me from being completely useless

Afghan elections: Record number of women stand for parliament - "Despite everyday prejudice and Taliban death threats a record number of female candidates are standing in September polls." - Amazing, brave women. Good luck to them in their struggle. | Columbia and Venezuela make peace | WikiLeaks preparing to release more Afghan files - "He gave no specific timeframe for their release, but he said that his organisation was about halfway through 15,000 or so secret files previously held back from publication. " Wikileaks is doing excellent work, long may it continue!| Sow crates could be in our past if Green Bill gets support

Lots of good things happen and are happening, but you wouldn't think so by reading almost any given news source. It's not all bad out there! People and communities are doing amazing, life-giving things every day.

via Ffffound

♥,

Surgery Postscript / Fuck You Roald Dahl

2010-08-27T12:02:00.016+12:00

Jason Thielke - Escape into Life; via Fffound

I've updated the Projects & Contact page to reflect evolving plans :-)

My right ovary has started giving me shit again. Damn you, ovary! I wish my ladyparts could just be happy, it's so frustrating not being able to sew, and having to miss class because I can't stand up for extended periods (it is an unfortunate truth that you can't sit down while drafting patterns). Thankfully, a trip to my doctor* procured a box full of strong painkillers and, after some minor bungling and ineptitude, an appointment for free pelvic and abdominal scans two days later.

via Ffffound

Off I went to my scans, to once again be prodded uncomfortably for what seems like an unnecessary amount of time (ah, vag-cam ... I did not miss thee), and emerged so sore that I had to take the bus home rather than going back to course. Lame! At least the woman who did the scan was lovely. Though she did tell me a thoroughly unpleasant fact when she saw my foot tattoos - Roald Dahl beat his wife.

Goddamnit.

It's always really disappointing when you've appreciated a person's work for a long time only to find out that they've been an abusive piece of shit. I have much less respect for Roald Dahl now. Cam is going to cover up my Willie Wonka (whom he has started referring to as "Willie Wifebeater") tatt with a black rose and "some swirly bits". Sweet.

I'm keeping Matilda because I chose to get a tattoo of her due to my history with and long love for the story. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is an amazing story, but in my girlhood I didn't grab hold of Charlie in quite the same way as I did Matilda. Getting the Willie tattoo was more about my appreciation of the author. Shoulda researched that one first, eh?

Oh well, win some lose some. I'm just glad Cam can change it!

Anyway, the doctor should be able to tell me about the scan early next week. Fingers crossed it's a "we can do something about this" situation rather than the "it'll go away eventually, have this inadequate supply of painkillers in the meantime" situation I fear.

via Ffffound

♥,

* who will not be my doctor for very much longer as he reminds me too much of Ricky Gervais

Damn You, MoreFM

2010-07-21T23:30:00.023+12:00

Batgirl Will Save Us by Gaetan Henrioux. Via Ffffound

Yusss:

♠ Having my face licked right off by the friendliest of kittens

♠ My amazing mum ran a half-marathon last Sunday. Isn't that just so damn cool? I am extremely proud of her

♠ A kete full of mandarins, apples, oranges and kiwifruit; winter cold begone!

♠ Goverment confirms mining backdown. YES!!!

♠ Henry Rollins and William Shatner

♠ Happy, productive days despite extreme tiredness

♠ Making a draft, block and pattern for a skirt this week ♥

♠ Feeling centred and more focussed than ever

♠ Kitchen-time. When I'm in the mood for it, making food is one of my favourite things (and when I'm not in the mood for it, you just watch me laze on down the road to get fish n chips three nights a week). Tonight involved vege stir fried rice and bluberry-orange muffins. YUM. So satisfying

Gutted that I'm not at all keen on 85% of M.I.A's new album! Arular and Kala are solidly awesome A thru Z, so I had high hopes. The only two tracks on Maya that grab hold for me are 'Born Free' and 'Meds and Feds' (which is amazing).

Trawling mp3boo is definitely worthwhile. Along with a whole bunch of sweet albums, there is many a bonus laugh to be had. This amuses me on many levels: A Bullet for Pretty Boy; as does this: Leaves' Eyes; and this: Blood on the Dance Floor (!).

Unable to sleep due to excitement about a certain someone arriving home to~~morrow~~day! Instead, I am combining the following elements: Hot chocolate + muffin + kitten + hot water bottle.

Via Ffffound

♥,

Little Victories

2010-07-18T21:39:00.034+12:00

Illustration by Bohumil Stepan for The Green Mare by Marcel Aymé (1966). Via A Journey Round My Skull

Yum:

♠ Patternmaking being AMAZING. Our first project is making a quilt; it is going to be my nana-blanket :-D

♠ A productive Sunday afternoon filtering and photoshopping my way to a few logo designs for the soon-to-be Etsy store - I love how they've come together!

♠ Beginning to make a list of rad things to do next time I'm in Melbourne

♠ 7 Days (TV3, Friday night. Do it!). Taking the piss out of politicians, the media, celebrities, each other and everyone else. ♥ Dai Henwood

♠ Outrageous Fortune being back! Mulled wine, bread&cheese, sweet company and one of the best shows ever makes for an awesome Tuesday night

♠ Lauryn Hill (Fugees - Some Seek Stardom). Lady, I love you

♠ Making film-festival-going plans

♠ Making heaps of pasta for dinner; leftovers for lunch tomorrow, yussss

♠ Night-time candy missions

♠ Cam coming home this Thursday :-D So excited!!!

♠ The cup of tea I'm gonna make after I hit "Publish"

Yoga! I almost flaked, by way of "if, when I check my phone, it's 4.56pm, I'll go." I checked my phone. Upon looking at the screen, the time flicked over from 4.55 to 4.56.

So off I went.

It was brutal, but worthy. Bikram has been an incredible lesson in being in the moment. It's time to find somewhere else to yoga, though. That was my lesson on Wednesday. I want to take the focus I've learned and pour it into a practice that is more energy-focussed. 4.55 to 4.56. I'm looking at checking out Myoga or Yoga Sangha next week. Yoga Sangha has koha entry, which is awesome.

Sweet poster, ay? Finally saw the Outsiders! They rule. Lungs were rad as well. I hung out with the illustrious Kelvin, drank snakebite and Tui, and danced around a whole lot. It was lots of fun and being out&about made me think that I need to have more weekend gig adventures. Happy next Saturday - that's the plan!

White Hot Truth: The Manifesto of Encouragement. This is awesome - go read! ♥ | Greenpeace's 10 Simple Ways to Use Less Oil | Show Studio's Object Fetish hones in on a jaw-dropping pair of Alexander McQueen shoes (via Haute Macabre, one of my favourite blogs in the world) | Buried archeological treasure found at ground zero - "It's probably one of the last things excavators were planning on unearthing at Ground Zero: an 18th century ship." | Sex Pistols, 'posh boys' Cameron and Clegg, and those butter ads - "Ahead of PiL's UK tour, frontman John Lydon scratches his nuts and surveys the pop-cultural landscape..."

♥,

Roses and Teacups

2010-07-18T21:27:00.004+12:00

Rose Hoop earrings and an Old Country Roses sterling silver bracelet from Roses and Teacups who, among other things, make beautiful jewellery out of broken china. The earrings are especially rad; I would remove the dangly little Swarovski crystals and replace them with some charms of my own!

They're also selling a range of Mad Hatters top hats, which look amazing:

See the rest here (scroll right down).

♥,

Exercise!

2010-07-10T00:36:00.054+12:00

An amazing photo from Ivan Monge. Look at that hair! And everything!

This rain right now is lovely.

I am looking forward to getting back in to yoga next week. My muscles and bones are yearning for it. After considering all other options, I have decided to take the plunge and go right back to Bikram, taking it super-easy at first while my body readjusts to the heat and the postures, some of which are likely to be beyond me for a while yet! Bikram is really challenging but it makes me feel so fucking amazing that I don't even want to try anything else.

It will be an intense week, for sure! Patternmaking starts Monday, which is so damn exciting. Yoga will definitely help keep my energy levels up. You know what would also help? Halting my current takeaways-and-junk-food obsession. I'm going to try be smart, but goddamn I love candy. And curry. Brooklyn is dangerous. I'm budgeting for a week's worth of healthy low-key bought lunches to take the pressure off of sorting my shit out in the kitchen.

Next nine on the playlist:
♠ Overwhelmed, Beneath Me - Black Tape for a Blue Girl
♠ Blood Section - Swans
♠ Dress - PJ Harvey
♠ Hey Pretty - Poe
♠ Love Theme from Twin Peaks - Angelo Badalamenti
♠ The Turn - M.I.A
♠ For Tammy Rae - Bikini Kill
♠ Dirty Business - Dresden Dolls
♠ Cowboys - Portishead

Via Sarah Wilson: Lily Allen searches for meaning... and the doubters hate on her -

"A lot of my life is very vacuous. It doesn’t have a lot of substance and I guess I feel it’s a bit pointless. And, yes, coming here makes me feel I can put my fame to good use. I’m not pretending to know everything and I don’t understand this as well as I should, but I’m here to get my head around it."

Lily is just awesome. I would love to take her for coffee.

Work today was rad; a new epic playlist which made the world seem fresh, casual happy conversations with Cuba St locals, smooth energy, super-hot vege Roti Chanai from Satay Palace for lunch ($6.80 ♥), laughing with Ish, wearing my old clothes refashioned into cool new things, being grateful.

People have been smiling all over the place today!

Right now I am going to snuggle into bed and fall asleep thinking about Cam cuddling me and missing him and wishing him happy adventures.

It has been a good day. Motivation is a can of worms.

♥,

Accept, Let Go

2010-07-09T15:43:00.122+12:00

Kittie spectacles!!!

Mmm:

♠ Sleepy early-early-morning coffee with Cam before he flew off to Sydney yesterday morning; kisses & iloveyous ♥ ♥ ♥

♠ Beginning book six of the Wheel of Time. I don't usually read fiction and almost never read fantasy so wasn't expecting to get sucked in! Robert Jordan is a wonderful writer

♠ Lush all over

♠ Jean Paul Gaultier Classique Eau de Parfum. Delicious. Mmm.

♠ Making giant to-do lists and beginning to cross things off

♠ The new season of Outrageous Fortune beginning next Tuesday night. Everyone has been waiting for sooo long. Mulled wine and uber-cheeses at ours once again :-D

♠ A warm little kitten sleeping on my lap as I type; Penny is so cool

♠ DRESSES. Specifically, Louise Black's 'marionette-inspired' black silk party dress that she has listed on Etsy. Jaw-droppingly gorgeous; eye-wateringly $995

♠ Opening the emotionbody to what the mindheart knows, maaan

♠ Vivienne Westwood: An Unfashionable Life

♠ Last month's copy of Juxtapoz for free. Sweeet.

via Yeryi's flikr

Joyously stumbled upon John Waters' 10 Best Pieces of Advice for Functional Freaks. Excellent!

"I’m a fascist about my work habits and I expect you to be, too. Never have a spontaneous moment in your life again. If you’re going to have a hangover, it should be scheduled on your calendar months in advance. Rigid enjoyment of planning can get you high. Militant time-management will enable you to ignore how maladjusted you would be if you had the time to notice it in the first place. Discipline is not anal compulsion; it’s a lifestyle that breeds power."

There is truth in there amongst all the irreverence!

One of the many good things to come out of my experiences so far in 2010 has been the realisation that organisation is key. In order to get the most out of your time, you need to plan plan plan the fuck out of it! Apparently this can actually be fun if you go about it in the right way and the vaguely obsessive-compulsive nerd in me suspects such to be true. Stay tuned to find out, haha.

At the beginning of the year, if you had shown me the above quote from Mr. Waters, I'd have thought it unhelpful and a bit silly.

So much has changed and grown since January! Many new things I feel deeply, the utmost perhaps being that you've got to just trust life and embrace it in your own way; and stay focused, which can be tricky, but is never impossible given conscious choice.

The last six months of working so incredibly hard to land a place in Pattern Design, and all of the heavy-duty planning, developing, laying of foundations for and changing/rearranging of goals lifewise that accompanied alongside, required a ton of emotional, mental and physical labour. It was exhausting&frustrating&awful at times but I got through it, stronger than ever.

Just like always, right?

Yes! But at times, against all previous evidence, I forgot that I would get through! Learning not to shift into a negative perspective when challenging periods arise is one of the keys to being a healthy and happy person but it is a difficult trick to master.

Andre Breton, c. 1930
Everything, in fact, happens for a reason. No coincidences. Some would say this line of thinking is a cop-out, is wishy-washy, isn't dealing with any real issue - not so! The lessons reveal themselves.

Is it not a fact that out of many of your dark moments have come threads of light weaving themselves in unexpected, necessary ways? Is it not also a fact that those threads have moved your life forward in a wonderful, useful way? Not immediately, of course, sometimes days or weeks or months or years or decades later, but it has happened. "If x thing didn't happen, then all of these amazing yz things big and small wouldn't have." You know it!

"There are no coincidences" is not a crazed new-age statement at all; it is advice requiring action. While we have little control over the actions that affect us, we absolutely always have control over our reactions. Focusing on goals, dreaming big and trusting the cosmos. Conscious, positive practice. Everyday. One step forward and things start falling in to place.

Coming right back around to John Waters again, I also really like this quote on fashion:

“You don’t need fashion designers when you are young. Have faith in your own bad taste. Buy the cheapest thing in your local thrift shop — the clothes that are freshly out of style with even the hippest people a few years older than you. Get on the fashion nerves of your peers, not your parents — that is the key to fashion leadership. Ill-fitting is always stylish. But be more creative — wear your clothes inside out, backward, upside down. Throw bleach in a load of colored laundry. Follow the exact opposite of the dry cleaning instructions inside the clothes that cost the most in your thrift shop. Don’t wear jewelry — stick Band-Aids on your wrists or make a necklace out of them. Wear Scotch tape on the side of your face like a bad face-life attempt. Mismatch your shoes. Best yet, do as Mink Stole used to do: go to the thrift store the day after Halloween, when the children’s trick-or-treat costumes are on sale, buy one, and wear it as your uniform of defiance."

YUSS!

John Waters, people. An eloquent, interesting man.
The only movie of his I've ever seen is Serial Mom, heh!

♥,

Leakey's Bookshop

2010-06-29T18:51:00.003+12:00

Leakey's Bookshop, Church Street, Inverness (Scotland).

"Scotland's largest secondhand bookshop. Antiquarian and First editions kept up where the organ pipes of the old St Mary's Gaelic Church used to be. Old maps and prints, cafe/art gallery on the mezzanine, beautiful furnace fueled only by logs"

via the Guardians Flikr stream of readers' favourite bookshops.

Bonus points for the furnace!

♥,

Lovecats

2010-06-24T21:04:00.012+12:00

Frankie the big-cat is becoming fast friends with Penny the lil-cat. It is truly gorgeous. These two make me smile so often.

♥

Next five tracks on my playlist:

♠ Do You Believe In Life After Thugs? - Astronautalis & DJ Fishr Pryce (this track is 3:25 of jaw-dropping, booty-shaking goodness)

♠ My People - Erykah Badu

♠ Sheena's In a Goth Gang - The Cramps

♠ I Don't Mind - Buzzcocks

♠ Sredni Vashtar - Faith & the Muse (this track will forever be associated with Cabaret Nocturne - a goth club in Melbourne - for me, and the NIN after party a handful of years ago. It was the track playing as Lorna, Mark and I walked in and I remember being so goddamn excited to be there; it was an amazing night and part of an epic adventure!)

♥,

Kittentank, NZFF

2010-06-23T10:29:00.017+12:00

Kittentank, Terror of the Deep, Gucci Coo @ Happy.
Thursday July 1st, $5 on the door.

This gig is the day of graduation ♥.

I aim to motivate myself to haul ass to this and make it a graduation-celebration.

Then, whenever I see the name 'Kittentank' on a poster around town, not only will I grin and think "AWESOME BAND NAME!" (in caps, just like that) but will also know what the fuck they actually sound like, heh. I've heard good things through the grapevine.

Plus, it will be good for me to go to a random gig!

Also...

The Banksy film Exit Thru the Gift Shop is being screened in Wellington as part of the NZ Film Festival! Yuss! The trailor piqued my interest, I imagine the film will be weird, amusing and irreverent as hell.

I hope I manage to grab a ticket before they disappear. Tickets are on sale via Ticketek and only cost $15 ($12 if you're a student).

The July 17th screening is even at the Penthouse, awesome awesome awesome.

Thanks to Wgtn Wall Street for the heads up!

Up Up Away

2010-06-22T09:08:00.020+12:00

The Welcome Parade by Girltripped

Even though the last little while has been rough, there are still lots of good things happening.

♠ Being spoiled rotten by a certain amazing boy on my birthday, who even secretly assembled a candy-choc-whizz icecream cake complete with twenty-six candles!

♠ Even though my party didn't go to plan, I think it was still good to have a Thing for my birthday. Can't win 'em all

♠ We have a new kitten! Her name is Penny, she rules. Frankie the cat is starting to like her, it is the cutest ever

♠ As long as I keep breathing deep and staying focussed, I should still be able to pass my course. Graduation is next week!

♠ The universe sorting things out; positive focus

♠ Eating lots of yummy, warm food

♠ Being in bed reading while rain is pouring down outside

♠ The sun shining so crisp and bright this morning

♠ Arranging more beautiful, interesting pictures on my wall

Forgotten Fairytales by Zhang Jingna

My shoulder bag now contains the bare essentials:
Moleskine notebooks x 2 (one for plotting business, the other for lifestuff)
Wallet
YSL makeup bag (strawberry chapstick, concealer, mascara, Lush's 'helping hands' cream, pencil & pencil sharpener, mini-ruler, comb, lipstick, eyeshadow)
Technological bits & bobs (cellphone, lil' flash drive, mp3 player & spare battery)
Passport
Keys
Glue stick and scissors
Cosmic Corner crew laminate
Little purse with 'My Rosary' in gold letters on the front (from the Catholic shop in central Melbourne, which is fucking awesome; containing trinkets from trips to New Plymouth & Kaikoura (♥) - goldstone, amethyst, beach pebbles and a little twig)
Coin purse (pounamu pendant, change for the bus)
Rubber spiders x 2

Israel bows to pressure and agrees to ease Gaza blockade | Controversial atheism campaign to hit billboards - "The ads - which read "There's probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life" - created a storm when they ran on buses in the United Kingdom last year." It'll be awesome to see these around town! | Invisibility cloaks and how to use them | Immortal avatars: Back up your brain and neverdie - "My first step on the road to immortality is to use Lifenaut's website to create a basic visual interface with which others, hopefully including my descendants, can interact." | Scientists to map Ozzy Osbourne's genetic code to find out why he is still alive | What is it with Iceland? - "The WikiLeaks advised proposal to build an international “new media haven” in Iceland, with the world’s strongest press and whistleblower protection laws, and a “Nobel” prize for Freedom of Expression, has unaminously passed the Icelandic Parliament."

The Sun is also a Star by Rad-ix

Right now I am going to make hot chocolate and listen to some sweet tunes.

"Every day the choice is presented to us, to live up to the spirit that is in us, or deny it." - Henry Miller

♥,

Sunday

2010-06-06T13:19:00.074+12:00

Psychedelic Eye by Countess Grotesque

Yussss:

♠ Planning my first birthday party in thirteen years! Exciting!

♠ After loving 'The Score' for years, finally hearing the Fugees' 1994 release 'Blunted on Reality'. It is pretty much A to Z amazing

♠ Arriving home to find that my boyfriend has done my laundry (!!!)

♠ Candles every night

♠ Working in a place that is capable of lifting my spirits when I arrive there straight after an intense, frustrating day at Tech. How many people arrive at work and get uplifted? My job is really great

♠ Dans Le Sac vs Scroobius Pip's album 'The Logic of Chance', which makes me want to jump around like a happy mad thing!

♠ Today being a wonderful lazy, rainy Sunday

♠ Reading about Dr. Fred Alan Wolf's yoga-physics

♠ Bright purple wigs

♠ EPs presented vivid-scrawled and wrapped in brown paper, hastily sealed with 'don't crush' warning stickers. Thanks, Tiger's Eye. I'm super-lazy about seeking out new music these days, so it's awesome when it gets plonked on the counter at work

♠ Cadbury hot chocolate

♠ Delicious, soft merino layered over lacy slips (winter is so sexy)

Greens see red over Key - Great to read fighting-words coming from the Greens that are being well-publicised. (See also: Goverment mining plans wound back - Greens) | Obama Wants to Roll Back Oil Tax Breaks and Invest in Clean Energy - "In a speech earlier today at Carnegie Mellon University, US President Barack Obama urged Congress to roll back “billions of dollars in tax breaks” for oil companies and begin to look at ways to significantly increase investment in clean energy alternatives." Woah. | Botticelli's love drug - "A new discovery suggests that Botticelli's masterpiece Venus and Mars shows the effects of a hallucinogenic plant – but is the real drug the painting itself?" | UN talks back conference on nuclear-free Middle East | Heart of the Tuhoe Nation - The final sentence pretty much sums it all up: "I just can't believe they think they can look after the place better than we can." The accompanying photo, of the Whakatane river winding its' way through Te Urewera, is amazing; what a beautiful place. | Sweet success for Kit Kat campaign - "The new policy commits Nestlé to identify and exclude companies from its supply chain that own or manage 'high risk plantations or farms linked to deforestation'."

Despite a few course-related stresses, which I'm working on being down with, everything is great. Today I begun investigating alternate yoga classes - the heat and intense stretching of Bikram will be a little beyond me for a month or two yet, methinks! - since I'm beginning to get some of my flexibility back, it's time to get back into the swing of yoga. Yoga is soul food, I miss it!

At the moment, classes at Gaura Yoga on Vivian Street are looking great (only $14 for a casual class which is followed by a yummy vegan dinner, and all equipment is provided!), though Yoga in Daily Life looks like a beautiful space and has $10 casual classes, and Myoga sounds like it would be an invigorating, spiritual practice. Perhaps I'll check out all three!

Rest of the day:
♠ Wheel of Time, #5
♠ Late lunch of vegan lentil stew and cheesy mashed potatoes, yummm
♠ Make time for sewing
♠ Rumi
♠ Another foot tattoo! This time I'm getting an illustration of Willie Wonka by Quentin Blake on my left foot, to be friends with the Matilda I have on my right
♠ Brownies
♠ Conscious awareness <333

Winter memorie by Eszter Vály

Treehouse Restaurant

2010-05-28T20:54:00.004+12:00

Treehouse project turns heads overseas

Treehouse restaurant! Gorgeous!!

I hope they reopen this, what a fun place to go to fill your belly.

Braaaains

2010-05-28T20:01:00.044+12:00

Submissions flock in on mining scheme - "More than 33,000 submissions have been received..." Awesome that so much activism is happening around this issue. HEAPS of people are pissed off at the government right now, eh? | Saudi woman beats up virtue cop - Awesome! | McQueen's right-hand woman inherits his empire | Australia launches court action over whaling - "Australia will initiate action in the International Court of Justice, seeking to prevent Japanese whaling in the Southern Ocean..."

By Iv Solyaev, via Coilhouse

Track of the week: Alien Sex Fiend - Boneshaker Baby. Hell yes!!! Ms Fiend is totally one of my secret girlfriends. I'd almost forgotten about this track. Goth bands try to be as mind-boggling and cool as these two and fail at first synth.

Nik Fiend and Mrs Fiend (aka Alien Sex Fiend). FTW.

90s one hit wonders recently downloaded and being loved to lil bits: Citizen Kane - Better Days, Harvey Danger - Flagpole Sitta, The Lemonheads - Mrs. Robinson, Blind Melon - No Rain, Butthole Surfers - Pepper, Marcy Playground - Sex and Candy, Wheatus - Teenage Dirt Bag, 4 Non Blondes - What's Up?, New Radicals - You Get What You Give

I shall spare you the '90s Dance Hits' track list... ;-)

I'm on a mad nostalgia buzz with music lately.

Course is going well, going well. I'm trying to pour all of my energy and focus in to the work I'm doing at any given moment. It seems to be paying off, the tutors tell me that I'm on track to get through all the work I need to before the course ends. There is only four weeks to go so it's going to be pretty full on, but I'm super-motivated and thinking positive-actions. Yay! Patternmaking will be so amazing, I can't wait!

Enjoying: Researching Rosemary Kennedy, the T2 Blog, the Surf Canyon Firefox add-on (so good), Lost Not Lonely Hundreds and Thousands wedges (!!!), rediscovering Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds, candlelight every morning, kitten bestowing cuddles upon thee, homecooking (DIY is so satisfying!), Snow Showers body wash from Lush (it smells like orange sherbert, yummm).

Small Steps

2010-05-19T14:30:00.034+12:00

Via Myry2009

Just when I thought I was back up running, my body yells slow down. Two steps forward, a half step back. Considering three weeks ago I was struggling to get out of bed by myself, that's not too bad, really!

Monday-Tuesday. Work experience.

Work experience has been intense, frustrating, eye-opening and great so far. Diving in after having over a month lost in the illness-surgery-recovery triangle, I can do far less than I thought I would be able to. Both physically, because I am still healing, and skill-wise, because I have missed so much practice while away. It has been a challenge to accept that my sewing skills aren't up to scratch, and fully focus forward on the things that I can do well and really help out Janet with.

This week we began photographing/editing some of her collection, which was awesome - most of my day involved putting outfits on a dressform, positioning lights and taking photos at various angles - and I also did some handsewing, and brainstorming around different fun ways to add fur accents to a couple of coats. The entire workspace is a treasure trove of fabric and recycled goodies. Working in such a creative, unique environment with someone who is so completely dedicated to her work and her vision and her ethics is incredible. Hard as I have found it so far, it is also goddamn exciting!

Wednesday. Phew.

Today I am supposed to be at Tech, however the aforementioned telling off I am receiving from my body is keeping me home. Even though it is frustrating being physically incapable of working on what I need to, and time is running out for me to squeeze in everything required to pass my course, and be accepted for the July intake of Tech's patternmaking course, I am trying to be patient, stay positive and give my body the downtime it asks for.

Everything happens for a reason and I have found a hundred silver linings to this cloud already. I REFUSE to let anything wear me down low. I'm up! Even in bed with a hot water bottle over my belly.

A handful of low-physical, productive projects for the day:
+ Mend Paul's jeans (handsewing ftw)
+ Continue industry research (am currently reading Form, Fit & Fashion which has been awesomely useful so far)
+ Continue business plotting
+ Find a coupla yummy-sounding recipes to trial this week, possibly including apple crumble (yummmmm)

Airlines use plastic cutlery up to 10 times - Well done, Air NZ and Qantas, that's some sensible shit right there. If a product can be cleaned thoroughly and safely reused again, airlines (and every other entity, including ourselves) should be applauded for doing so, right? It seems absolutely crazy to me that anyone would have a problem with this.

Mysterious ball lightening may be a hallucination | Maiden voyage for first true space sail - "If all goes to plan, it will be the first spacecraft fully propelled by sunlight." Awesome!

Sunday

2010-05-07T21:12:00.058+12:00

Via Haute Macabre. Apparently these are from a 2009 Italian Vogue spread. Amazing, beautiful images!

Tomorrow I am back at course. I've been out of action since work experience began, so it's all very exciting. Monday and Tuesday I'll be helping out Janet Dunn in her workroom, and Wednesday through Friday in class starting to get back up to speed with everything.

Japan's Brainwave Initiative: Mind-Reading Robots by 2020 - "While the U.S. Army actively pursues “thought helmets” that might someday lead to secure mind-to-mind communication between soldiers, the Japanese are going after the consumer market. The aim is to produce BMI technology to change TV channels or to use mobile phones to send text messages composed by thought alone."

Medicina Rossa by Alberto Seveso, via Sweet Station. Click through to Sweet Station for larger pics! This is so captivating, I love it.

Mother's Day today. I took the train out to the Hutt to hang out with mum and dad and my brother for the afternoon. Wellington harbour makes me smile every time, it's a sweet ride for someone who isn't a regular commuter! It was a fun visit, we drank tea, ate lots of caramel slice and sifted through a bunch of old clothes while the boys watched sport on TV. Courtesy of my amazing mother, I now have an overlocker on loan! And a press! And a bunch of clothes to rip up and throw back together! Exclamation marks! It's going to be so great to have a little workspace at home with everything I need.

Enjoying: Wellington Wall Street, lacey things, hot chocolate with lots of milk, binging on episodes of American Dad, being almost-100% after three weeks of recovery from surgery (:-D!!!), sleeves-over-knuckles, world maps, waking up in time to see the sunrise

GothNet 2000

2010-05-05T15:46:00.023+12:00

Sites stumbled upon in the course of googling for this post:
The Cabinet
County Asylums

Also, I notice that Divaluxe.com is currently, rather than being home to a purveyor of uber dreadfalls, host to Murder City Nights, a sweet-ass rock n roll podcast!

Indeed, onwards...

I am so disappointed to discover that Darklinks doesn't exist as a database anymore. Lame! That was an amazing resource! There is now an associated awesome blog, however: Dark Side of the Net.

Darklinks loomed so large during my goth internet years (also the heady days of camwhoring and AOL instant messenger, but I digress). Good times, they were. Good times.

Countless hours were also spent building "spooky" Angelfire pages with cheesy animated gifs and an abundance of htmlgear add-ons.

Seriously.

Ten years ago. Wow. I was also likely be found reading the alt.goth archives; giggling at the expense of people, who were probably no more tragic than I was, on Goth Goose; dreaming of the ultimate goff wardrobe via Batgear Beyond; obsessing over Batty, Sinnocence and Goddess of Freak; tracking down everything Sexbat ever published on the net and pouring over image galleries of elaborate outfits and gravity-defying hairstyles.

Wouldn't have had it any other way!

Wednesday

2010-05-05T15:06:00.010+12:00

John Stewart's punching bag, Fox News - I adore John Stewart! | Why robots? - "Wouldn’t a machine possessing Consciousness be more interested in collapsing the wave-function with its thoughts? Wouldn’t the machine be more interested in… magic?" This made me smile. | 'Holy grail' of cancer vaccines one step closer | Trent Reznor starts new band with wife - Called 'How to Destroy Angels', apparently. I'm intrigued to see where he goes with this!

Stencil by C215

Today's playlist includes Bikini Kill, Dead Kennedys, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, the White Stripes, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Le Tigre, Zombina and the Skeletones, Kyuss, Siouxsie and the Banshees, M.I.A, the Doors, Diverse, Gorillaz, Dilated Peoples, Marilyn Manson, Ol' Dirty Bastard, the Fugees, Astronautalis, the Horrors, RJD2, Yak Ballz, Blue Sky Black Death & Jean Grae, Tool, Nirvana and Babes in Toyland.

If you haven't heard Zombina and the Skeletones, I recommend that you remedy the situation immediately.

Levin For Beginners/Black Boned Angel

2010-05-02T19:25:00.000+12:00

"Levin isnt a small town 84km north of Wellington, with a population of 19,550 and a prominent sock factory - its a place inside of every New Zealander."

Levin, for beginners. As an ex-Levinian (Levinite?), I can't wait to see this show! It's part of the Comedy Festival and runs from the 5th - 8th May at Katipo Cafe on Willis.

Black Boned Angel.

This is such an amazing project. Hypnotic, heavy, deep, dark. Campbell Kneale is talented as hell. I hardly listen to metal anymore, but if I had to pick a favourite subgenre within, drone would be it. One of my Favourite Gigs Ever was Sunn O))) (with Attila from Mayhem on vocals!) in Melbourne in 2007. Bass so low it rattled your atoms. Amazing.

Local on Etsy

2010-05-01T21:45:00.037+12:00

I can't wait 'til I'm able to start up my own Etsy store!

Here are some Wellington folks who are doing cool things:

Jet black Tea Pot and Tea Cup pendant

By Super Very, who makes laser cut jewellery. Teacups, trees, keys, unicorns, birds, bunnies. I love the Chat Noir cat pendants, too. Cute!

You Rule greeting card

By Katydid Paper Goods, who make... paper goods :-D There are a whole bunch of cool things on the website, too: www.katydid.co.nz

Cobalt flower bobbi pins
From Hope and Anchor, who are also the beautiful minds behind Devol clothing.

Sruli Recht

2010-05-01T20:12:00.004+12:00

Sruli Recht Umbuster umbrella.

Yuss!!!

Saturday

2010-05-01T16:02:00.057+12:00

Happy J-Day!

Two weeks home from hospital and I'm still not back at course or work yet, but am trying not to take it all too seriously and start moping. Can't force my body to heal, I've just got to chill out and be patient. Having said that, goddamn! I can't wait to be able to move freely again.

I have been reading, watching, resting, plotting. A little cooking. Chocolate cupcakes, and banana cake with lemon icing. Sharing baked goods with friends is one of my favourite things. Mmm, baked goods.

One of these days, I'm going to buy a second-hand record player and have a sweet-treats & vinyl dress-up party. I shall add that to the List.

Music yesterday, pottering: M.I.A, Eels, Amy Winehouse, Dilated Peoples, Dead Kennedys.

Do you have any idea how goddamn fucking amazing Eels are?

Music today, lazing: Raindrops, distant traffic.

Been planning big, it's all very exciting!

Huge protest says no to mining on conservation land - "An estimated 50,000 marchers joined one of the biggest protests in Auckland for decades today, to give the Government a firm message to stay away from mining on conservation land." Rad, that's even bigger than the anti-GE protests were.

101 Quick Meals - Vegan, so healthy for humans and kind on other creatures! This is awesome. I like cooking, but am also lazy.

Around the Internet

2010-04-27T16:52:00.043+12:00

From Dmitry Maximov's 'Invaded by Little Aliens' project, via Sweet Station.

From David Lyle's current show 'At the End of the Day', via Wooster Collective.

The Ricky Gervais podcasts. I just can't help myself.

Straight Line Design Inc - Melting drawers? Fiesty wardrobe? So, so cool! | Where the people lead, the leaders will follow - "It seems that Murray McCully has listened. His comments this afternoon indicate that he is now committed to ending whaling in the Southern Ocean..." | Dude, what just happened? - Russell Brown re: Operation Lime. You'd think that the police force have enough actual crime to worry about. | Private members bill drafted to stop mining - "Concern about changes to schedule 4 conservation land that open up protected land to mining has led Labour MP Jacinda Ardern to lodge her first Private Members Bill." It'll be interesting to see if anything comes from this. Metiria Turei's Bill just got drawn; if it goes through it'll make Ardern's one irrelevant. The ultimate Earth Day present - "The Crown Minerals (Protection of Public Conservation Land Listed in the Fourth Schedule) Amendment Bill will retain the existing provisions of Schedule 4 protection in the Crown Minerals Act, but would require an Act of Parliament to remove something from Schedule 4, once it has been gazetted." I wonder if our politicians are in the mood to do something good for once. Fingers crossed!

Enjoying Alyz

2010-04-25T21:35:00.013+12:00

Nationwide protests against surveillance bill | Borneo finds new species - "including a lungless frog, the world's longest insect and a slug that fires "love darts" at its mate" Ace!

Ava I by Alyz

Red Alert by Alyz

Her website is Visualyz. Go there!

Enjoying: Plums, cola mentos, dressing up to go to the dairy, being able to walk properly again (!), mum's caramel slice, hot water bottles, bloomers, cookie-presents, violets, staring out the window at an overcast sky from the snuggly-warmth of my bed.

Matilda Tattoo - Quick photo

2010-04-24T14:19:00.005+12:00

Matilda has been one of my favourite stories ever since I was teeny tiny.

Last night we queued a couple of episodes of the Big Bang Theory (so obsessed with this show) and put her on my foot! Yay! Behold:

Blurry and at a bad angle, but you get the idea. I wasn't supposed to take photos until it's finished healing - there will be some good snaps in a week or two! I just love it so much that I had to share.

Considering something from the Witches for the other foot, or possibly one of Ralph Steadman's illustrations for Fear and Loathing.

Goodtimes Party Metal Tonight at Medusa

2010-04-24T13:29:00.003+12:00

NLL gigs are always fun times with rad people!

I'll be the one sitting down, experiencing the madness from a safe distance :-p

Dancing with my arms since I can't move my lower body much, haha.

Einstein

2010-04-23T20:09:00.004+12:00

"I swim, swim in a flickering. The relays clatter in my head...dreamy phase! I race through the convolutions of my brain, I look through the vitreous spheres of my eyes...exquisite speech bubbles burst in my brain, bespatter my perception, drip from furniture. In a rabble of words from condensed perceptual mist! The echo of the anthropomorphic shit resounds from every atom, to form calcified vessels. My watch ticks...tic-toc, like a small bird in a steel case, my head is a glass bubble through which one can glimpse a frantic ticking cog wheel mechanism -- and here, here in my pocket I have a little key with which I can set this mechanism in motion whenever I want."
- From the autobiography of Albert Einstein by Gerhard Roth (1972), via A Journey Round My Skull

What a dude.

Hospital & Hamner

2010-04-21T18:05:00.008+12:00

Well! I got rushed off to hospital last Tuesday night. Three nights and four mornings later, back home, with a smiling scar below my belly! Wellington Hospital treated me so goddamn well. People give the health system a lot of shit, but everyone who helped me from arriving in ED thru being discharged was wonderful. (And it was free, too.)

It is very good to be home, however :-)

There is still one week to go before I can expect to be able to do much of anything active, so I've been laying in bed, reading book four of a million-book fantasy series, pumped up to the eyeballs with painkillers. Though today I went for an Adventure Outside, down to the dairy to buy supplies* with Cam, who is keeping a close eye on me and growling whenever I try to do too much <3 xx

Good timing, at least! Lucky I hadn't needed a hospital the previous week, which involved a trip to Hamner Springs via a night in Kaikoura. So much fun! The travelling to and fro was wonderful, too. I find that getting from A to B can be one of the most amazing parts of a trip away, especially if the sky is as clear and landscape as stunning.

Hamner is super-relaxing and just generally beautiful and great. The awesome motel, the homemade fudge place (Creme Brulee & Cookies and Cream!), mini golf (!), the Pickled Pig, becoming a prune in the hot pools, wandering around enjoying somewhere different, lights zig-zagging between huge trees at nighttime. Such an awesome holiday. I had never been to Hamner before; it doesn't have that tacky, plastic, touristy feel that some such places do, I'm looking forward to visiting again!

Pot smokers out for high holiday | Samsung Series 7 3D TV - Such a fan of 3D. Bring on 3D everything, as far as I am concerned. | Cirque du Soleil to create Thriller show

* butternut snaps, Cadbury hot chocolate ... the lady at Chang noticed I was walking funny (read: hobbling) and gifted me an easter egg when I told her about Me vs Ovarian Cyst Torsion... so sweet... Brooklyn is rad. There's everything you need and the people are so friendly here.

Around the Internet

2010-04-01T13:52:00.008+13:00

At home, ill and pumped full of antibiotics.
Better than being at home, ill and not pumped full of antibiotics, I guess!

'Ziggy' by Jessica Josslin. Her work is amazing.

Also amazing: Sewing tattoos (!!!) on Flikr

I've been trying to find some articles that make me smile. It's harder than you'd expect. Everywhere you turn for news&views stuff: a million things negative.

All of this Hadron Collider stuff is rad, though.

"The world's largest experiment into the fundamental forces of nature has begun in silent pursuit of the answers to some of the most esoteric questions of science, hitherto addressed by spirituality and philosophy." - LHC: Will We Find The God Particle, Dark Matter and Supersymmetry?

Al Jazeera: Cern opens up the world of physics
Wall Street Journal: A Second Big Bang In Geneva?

Meanwhile...

Lord Layard's Movement for Happiness seeks a director with vision

Mr 9 to 5 Debut

2010-03-31T12:41:00.005+13:00

Chrissy and I chillin' before the action starts

Coming soon to a dancefloor near you! A couple of mad talented friends have started an indiedarkelectrodance pop band called Mr 9 to 5 and they are going to take over the world, one shaking booty at a time.

Recently I was part of a convoy that took over the irish pub in Levin and saw 'em play for the Very First Time. It was epic fun.

(Photos nicked from Isaac's FB)

Lady

2010-03-31T10:10:00.008+13:00

If you haven't seen the amazing GRITtv interview with Kathleen Hanna yet: Do it!

I fucking love and respect her so much.

Bikini Kill revealed a world to me that my life is so much the better for knowing. Six or seven years ago, nineteen years old, I was confused and depressed and bewildered and pouring half of the attention I was supposed to be giving studying into listening to music and losing myself in thoughts (a familiar story, no doubt!). One day, flicking through discs at one of my favourite stores, I picked up an album by a band I'd heard a little about and been meaning to check out:

My mind was blown the first time I heard Pussywhipped. It was like this incredible, heart-soaring piece of aural evidence that empowering alternatives can and do exist. I was still a confused, depressed, bewildered nineteen year old, but one that had forever had a part of herself strengthened by the knowledge that it is possible for women and girls to live creative, unapologetic lives despite the shit society gives them.

That album, band, the incredible fuckedupfreeflawedfantastic movement they helped start, seemed so much more real and powerful and helpful than sitting in a class and tip-toeing through the Feminist Canon. It still does.

Every turn lately, something reminds me of Riot Grrrl. I've been thinking a lot about how truly grateful I am for that movement. It lit sparks, and is still lighting them, within so many people.

Every girl and boy needs a riot grrl education!

(Pic via First 3 Songs)

Pussywhipped is still one of my favourite albums ever.

Jared Brown

2010-03-30T19:45:00.003+13:00

Embroidery by Jared Brown. Cool as.

Mark Johns

2010-03-30T13:17:00.004+13:00

Love Mark Johns. Cutest ever!

(Thanks, Fancy!, you rule.)

Yayoi Kusama

2010-02-07T14:07:00.000+13:00

(Pic via Word of Mouth)

The City Gallery looks better all covered in dots :-p

(Pic via howdystranger.tumblr.com)

Finally made it to the City Gallery's Yayoi Kusama exhibition. On the final day, naturally, when it was busy as hell, but the queues were worth it. Gutted for the people working there today :-p

My favourite part of the exhibition was the room pictured above, called 'Fireflies on the Water', a small room with a platform leading to the center, filled with hundreds of tiny coloured lights which are reflected in walls lined with mirrors and the water-covered floor. Such an amazing space to be in!

I stumbled upon an interactive panorama of that particular work (yay internets!), curious cats should head over here to check it out: http://www.mediavr.com/infinityroom2.htm.

So, so cool. I love her.

Giger Bar

2010-02-07T13:38:00.001+13:00

Giger Bar; Gruyères, Switzerland.

Via Wired.

This looks so amazing!!!

Pity it's not open past 8.30pm. I guess they're afraid that the heathen public would destroy the place if it was a night spot, hah. They should have gigs there!

The bar is part of the H.R. Giger museum.
Check out the website for more delicious photos.

Galloway Forest Park

2010-01-13T18:31:00.001+13:00

Astronomers name Scottish park one of world's best stargazing sites | Galloway Forest Park | International Dark Sky Association

In praise of real darkness - "It is estimated about 7,000 stars can be spotted from the Galloway park, compared with a paltry few hundred, at most, in Britain's towns and cities.

From the prime location of the park, the Milky Way and the nearest galaxy to our own, Andromeda, can be glimpsed with the naked eye. It also provides ring-side seats for spectacular meteor showers.

This sky there is "as dark as anything you will ever see" says Mr Owens."

Drop It Already

2009-12-23T20:23:00.001+13:00

Man caught trying to smuggle LSD worth up to $2.5m into prison.

"LSD 'tabs', or acid, have a well documented history of being responsible for causing severe and frightening hallucinations, or even contributing to mental illnesses such as schizophrenia." - Detective Senior Sergeant Dave Lynch

Dave is clearly overdue a good, solid transcendental hallucinogenic experience.

Tea-Ara by Anita Dineen

2009-12-13T21:49:00.002+13:00

This is pretty much the coolest thing ever.

Part of Anita Dineen's High Tea collection. Awesome!