Thursday Newsbites

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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