Blackcaps to tour Zimbabwe?

I don't know...

If the proceeds generated by a tour will benefit the average Joe in Zimbabwe and isn't just going straight to the national coffers where it'll be used to oppress then tour on.  

first semester draws nearer

I will miss guilt free sleep when I'm back at varsity.  

The end of the academic year, for me, means sleep without feeling bad for not doing an extra reading (or doing any reading at all).  

Student life

University starts back in a couple weeks.  Good-bye sleeping without feeling guilty for not reading more of that ridiculously large course reader or reviewing the notes I took that day.  

This year I plan on being a social recluse, none of this spending more afternoons in the student pub than not.  I'll be focused and single-minded.  

I doubt this will last long.  Already I have plans to skip two days of lectures two weeks into the first semester.  It's for a good reason.

Weather

I hate this weather.  Humid like nothing else.  I'm tired.  Having trouble focusing on the screen.  I'm about ready for bed.  

Keeping a food diary...wondering if that would be a tell-tale sign of having an eating disorder or if it's a valid way to keep track of what you're eating - that you're actually eating, and well.  Stay tuned.  

Indian Restaurant in Oneroa

Went there before heading to a wine festival after-party and experienced customer service you'd expect a child porn collector to receive.  

I only went there because it was BYO and I had a red I wanted to share with my mate.  

Ordered a vegetarian dish with some naan and my mate got sea creatures and a few glasses of vodka and coke so we spent around $60.  

The barman and waitress grunted whenever I thanked them and they took turns staring at me during our meal silently but being none too subtle about wanting us to leave.  

I'll probably go back because the garlic naan was out of this world and the chana masala was tasty but I wont smile when I say "thank-you".

Seafood...

I've been clued up re: eating seafood.  

A scientist said there needs to be a complete blanket moratorium (is "complete" and "blanket"  redundant because a moratorium implies completeness and that in turn implies blanket-ness?) on eating seafood because we're not allowing stocks to replenish.  

I thought giving up seafood would be hard but once you take meat out of your diet ruling out eating sea creatures as well is easy stuff.  

Bottom trawling: it's lazy and arrogant...they know they're destroying coral that has taken decades to form and that they're indiscriminately netting and they don't seem to care.   

Whaling: unnecessary...the Japanese are not starving and it's not poor fishermen who are out hunting whales.

I'm not eating seafood anymore, I'll be a proper vegetarian.

Drinks...

I was sat with a friend in a square in the middle of town and I was getting my food fix (vege pledge made finding a meal difficult)

So we're sat there and I'm "enjoying" a falafel and salad without the pita wrap in this square.  It's maybe half eleven at night and we're having a natter then these two gangster looking people walk past and one slows and walks towards us.  I'm scared. 

So this gangster walks right up to where we're sitting and stops and we look up and it's just a guy we know from uni...

That's it, story over - elements of a horror huh?

Dora the intrepid explorer...

a punishment and an insult to children all over the world.

Ha ha, someone with too much time on their hands has provided the world with the most in depth article on a children's show including character bios - sad.

Having too much time myself, I checked the article out =]

While I'm on the subject of languages and children I'm reminded of an article published in my local paper a few years ago about a small group of South Africans pushing for recognition of and state funding for Afrikaans language nests in east coast public schools...purely by virtue of the fact that there is a large South African population in that area (NB only a small faction were pushing for this, the majority understood that this initiative had to be funded by their own community). 

I can understand their desire for their children to speak their native tongue but they way they went about attempting to secure that was extremely arrogant.  

iPod therefore iAm

iPod shuffle

iPod nano

iPod classic

iPod video

iPod touch

iPhone

iHave

DoThey?

just a random thought...geared towards exposing the shallowness of amassing personal (material) wealth while people are struggling to survive.  

The quality of my posts...

Writing is an art form.

Art, as is beauty, is subjective. 

It follows, then, that the quality of a piece of writing is relative.  

I subjectively reckon that my relatively art-full writing is beautiful. 

Hey girl, hey boy...

Superstar DJ's

Cut

I hate getting cut.  

Ever notice that in news broadcasts the reporter will relay the events of a vehicle accident as if the vehicle is a thinking and acting being:  "...the driver turned a corner and the vehicle left the road" - as if the vehicle had other plans and took it into its head that it would just leave the road...vehicles don't just leave the road because they have something better to do.

NB:  I've recently enabled my trackpad for use as the trackpad button...bit confusing...have also increased the speed of my delete button...keep over-shooting what I meant to delete...distressing.

Had dinner at Kura...it was either the slow service or the full malt Japanese beer that made me sleepy...either way, I think it's the company you're in that makes the evening AND THE RESTAURANT.  

Dieting...

only works if you do the grocery shopping...otherwise, you're pretty much at the mercy of that person.  

Vegetarianism...

I've given up red meat and chicken.  

I do eat fish but I justify my decision to eat fish by maintaining that I only ever eat ugly fish and I don't eat whales...I might do some research into whether the fish I eat is coming from depleted stock.  But I'm fairly sure the tuna that comes in cans is from tuna farms.

I sort of knew (thanks to a friend for confirming this) that eating fish meant you were not a vegetarian...so I guess my vege pledge is more of a nod to vegetarianism than vegetarianism proper.  

I may get there yet. 

spare change and other stuff you'd find in your pocket but the mind's equivalent

Had this moment of clarity last night while I was opening my bedroom window because it was so hot.  

Barkeeps are just like Genie...after a certain amount of drinks they're just going to stop serving you and there's really no negotiating unless you're performing favours for someone.  

Getting into a bed with fresh linen has to be one of life's most unlauded joys.

Global warming is happening...island nations are sinking so there's no escaping it (for them and the rest).  The sooner all those silly scientists stop wasting time generating research to the contrary and those stupid politicians stop touting it and join those clued up people devoting their time and knowledge to coming up with strategies for dealing with this global issue the awesomer.  

I take my laundry to the washer people in a bag all messed and stuff.  I get it back neatly folded and smelling like a field of flowers in spring.  That is magic. 

On Peace...

Peace is good.  

We should have heaps more of it.  

On War and Intelligence

We're, most of us, capable of speech and able to reason, so why is war still seen as a viable foreign relations policy?

Are we really "intelligent beings" ?