Watch out kids this is going to be one of my stream of consciousness entries...
So...it's a wet and windy Tuesday afternoon in Wellington. It was quite nice when I left the house this morning, MP3 player blasting my little ladylike eardrums with loud rawk music to vent my fury at the D.O.C. for failing to offer me an interview for the job I really wanted (gits), stomping down the road on my way to get my haircut, and then it started to drizzle slightly. No fear, I could handle this. And then it started to chuck it down, and with that kind of rain that goes in all directions at once, so by the time I got to the hairdressers they could have happily forgone the shampooing stage of production. But now my hair is sleek & shiny, as only a professionally trained hairdresser can get it, and I wafted off to meet a friend for coffee. Now I am up at Ann & Len's whilst Jo dyes Ann's hair for her, then we shall wend our way home and stare, goggle-eyed, at our giant tv (which shows up every flaw on tv/film stars' skin - great!).
The last week has mainly been occupied by PE, both participating and viewing. Thanks to the cycle challenge thingy, I have been starting some 'training' mainly cycling round the bays of Wellington, which are gorgeous. I am not really training so much as pootling around admiring the view, but it is 25km at a time so I suppose it kind of counts (I know this cos I bought a cycle computer gadget for my handlebars, what a goober). And I do seem to be getting a bit fitter, in fact I managed to get up one of my more troublesome hills without my bum muscles seizing up yesterday, which was nice. By November 26th I'll be whizzing around Lake Taupo like Lance Armstrong. Maybe. Or maybe not. The veiwing consisted of checking out the World Mountain Running Championships on Sunday afternoon, Jo & I sat on the grassy knoll at the top of Mount Vic (mid-Wellington) and watched some ridiculously fit people pound up and down at high speed...well apart from the Ukrainian bloke who they made stop 'cos he was so knackered. I helpfully offered advice as to which runners I thought were too skinny and needed to eat more pies, but I am not sure they are likely to heed my advice. More fool them.
Aside from that it has been more sorting out the house. I am trying to strip the nasty purple paint off the stairs without gassing myself with noxious fumes and/or setting off the smoke alarm (which I use as a tea-break signal) and with luck will finally paint the hallway this weekend. Gosh, how exciting. Also, it looks as if I might be gainfully employed as of next week by the Ministry of Women's Affairs - back to the world of bureaucracy for me - and Jo starts work tomorrow as a Business Process Analyst for one of the big telecom firms (free cable & internet - hurrah!), so we will have some money coming in, which will be nice seeing as we've spent all ours on things like big tvs.
Sorry I haven't replied to any emails. I promise I will get better once we have our own connection set up at home, but until then -
Catherine - yes we/I would love it if you came over next May & we might be able to do some a-travelling with you.
Julie - yes, you do look pissed in that photo...ha ha ha!! But once we are broadbanded I will post some equally dodgy photos of me for your amusement.
Alphena - just ask yourself "what would Sarah do?"
Dad - yes I have tried PD and its not quite as bad as they say.
Mum - ta!
lots of love to everyone
S
Tuesday, September 27, 2005
Tuesday, September 20, 2005
Just a quick update/gloat....
We have just been out and bought a frickin' huge 42in plasma flatscreen tv (because it was cheaper than buying a 33in screen and better for watching ludricrous action movies) and it's being delivered tomorrow!!! Ha ha HAAAAA!!! I'll never have to leave the house again...
On the downside, last night it was extraordinarily windy, and I mean gale force, and we discovered that when hit side on by such southerlies our house sways slightly. Got me thinking it might not be such a good place to be when the big earthquake hits.
And thanks mum for sending me a copy of the new Guardian - I'd like to set a regular Saturday order if that's not too much bother? Or perhaps I should just read it online?
love
S
xxxxx
On the downside, last night it was extraordinarily windy, and I mean gale force, and we discovered that when hit side on by such southerlies our house sways slightly. Got me thinking it might not be such a good place to be when the big earthquake hits.
And thanks mum for sending me a copy of the new Guardian - I'd like to set a regular Saturday order if that's not too much bother? Or perhaps I should just read it online?
love
S
xxxxx
Monday, September 19, 2005
All moved in!
Yes indeedy, we are now resident in Green Street! We spent the last 10 days furiously cleaning, sanding, paint stripping and painting in readiness for Jo & her dad to fetch our worldly goods from Waikanae, and managed heroically. The lounge/diner/kitchen are all painted except for the ceiling, and the bedrooms are both done - for those of you wanting a colour guide the lounge etc are biege/brown, the main bedroom dusky pink and the second bedroom is the same as the lounge. The hallway will be pale green, but we thought we'd wait until everything was moved in rather than risk trashing our new paintwork. The last 3 days have been mainly spent trying to fight our way through mountains of boxes, finding things we'd forgotten we owned and things that no longer work (like the TV), and lugging them around the house to their new homes.
We stayed over in the house on Saturday night (after I'd almost fallen asleep on Amy's living room floor and decided the furthest I can walk was into our house 10 feet away) and I woke up in the middle of the night and suffered the most shocking attack of missing my friends/family. It wasn't so much that I was homesick, because I think I am a little in love with our new house & neighbourhood, more that having a new home made me realise that none of you would be popping by for a cuppa or a raucous BBQ on a regular basis. So I went back to bed and had a bit of a cry whilst Jo assured me it would all be okay. God, imagine the mess I'll be when anyone comes to visit and I have to say goodbye...oh it'll be embarrassing. I'll email out our new address & phone number ASAP, and once we are settled we'll get broadband installed so I can email more regularly.
Speaking of embarrassing, on Friday night we joined Jules & Harriet at the extravaganza that was 'Ms Gay Downunder'. Actually, it was really Ms Gay Wellington, but they were getting ideas above their station. After a week of painting/moving, Jo & I were both shattered, and I had just been for my massage so was totally zoned out with bags under my eyes big enough to carry home shopping, but we managed to get a second wind and danced the night away fuelled by beer & tequila. I felt about 98 the next day. I won't go into too much detail about the entrants or winner, suffice to say it takes a certain type/mentality to enter. Harriet managed to convince me to join a team to do the Lake Taupo Cycle Challenge (160km around Lake Taupo) in November by using that clever ploy of waiting until I had a couple of drinks in me, but I'm actually quite pleased as it'll give me an excuse to get off my fat arse and do something. As a relay team we only have to do 40km each and I think even in my current state of sloth I should be able to get fit enought to do that in two months.
On the job front Jo has been to a couple of interviews and is being called back for a second interview at one of the telecoms firms over here (which would be a great job as it would give us free phone & internet), and I have been asked to go for psychometric testing by the Ministry of Women's Affairs (right after I finish writing this for it is Monday lunchtime), which I assume means they are thinking of offering me a job. I've also just put in an application for a job working with the NZ World Heritage Team, which I would love but I'm guessing there will be alot of competition so I'm not going to hold my breath. My main priority this week is to try and get rid of the bags under my eyes and get our new home sorted out. Wish us luck. At least our new bed is being delivered today, so I might give that a test run when I get home.
Off for lunch now before I have to go and have my head tested by a computer programme. Great.
love to all
S
xxxxxx
We stayed over in the house on Saturday night (after I'd almost fallen asleep on Amy's living room floor and decided the furthest I can walk was into our house 10 feet away) and I woke up in the middle of the night and suffered the most shocking attack of missing my friends/family. It wasn't so much that I was homesick, because I think I am a little in love with our new house & neighbourhood, more that having a new home made me realise that none of you would be popping by for a cuppa or a raucous BBQ on a regular basis. So I went back to bed and had a bit of a cry whilst Jo assured me it would all be okay. God, imagine the mess I'll be when anyone comes to visit and I have to say goodbye...oh it'll be embarrassing. I'll email out our new address & phone number ASAP, and once we are settled we'll get broadband installed so I can email more regularly.
Speaking of embarrassing, on Friday night we joined Jules & Harriet at the extravaganza that was 'Ms Gay Downunder'. Actually, it was really Ms Gay Wellington, but they were getting ideas above their station. After a week of painting/moving, Jo & I were both shattered, and I had just been for my massage so was totally zoned out with bags under my eyes big enough to carry home shopping, but we managed to get a second wind and danced the night away fuelled by beer & tequila. I felt about 98 the next day. I won't go into too much detail about the entrants or winner, suffice to say it takes a certain type/mentality to enter. Harriet managed to convince me to join a team to do the Lake Taupo Cycle Challenge (160km around Lake Taupo) in November by using that clever ploy of waiting until I had a couple of drinks in me, but I'm actually quite pleased as it'll give me an excuse to get off my fat arse and do something. As a relay team we only have to do 40km each and I think even in my current state of sloth I should be able to get fit enought to do that in two months.
On the job front Jo has been to a couple of interviews and is being called back for a second interview at one of the telecoms firms over here (which would be a great job as it would give us free phone & internet), and I have been asked to go for psychometric testing by the Ministry of Women's Affairs (right after I finish writing this for it is Monday lunchtime), which I assume means they are thinking of offering me a job. I've also just put in an application for a job working with the NZ World Heritage Team, which I would love but I'm guessing there will be alot of competition so I'm not going to hold my breath. My main priority this week is to try and get rid of the bags under my eyes and get our new home sorted out. Wish us luck. At least our new bed is being delivered today, so I might give that a test run when I get home.
Off for lunch now before I have to go and have my head tested by a computer programme. Great.
love to all
S
xxxxxx
Monday, September 05, 2005
Phew....
Sorry this is a little late
I did mean to write yesterday, but kind of got distracted by life. Apologies if any of you were waiting desperately for the next exciting instalment of our adventures in NZ…not that I think it likely that any of you were…
So last week was a whirl of recruitment agencies and job interviews. Well, calling it a ‘whirl’ might be a little extravagant, but when you’ve been used to doing nowt all day long even thinking about dressing respectably and having to act all grown up is a strain. There I was on Monday ambling down Cuba Street, mooching in and out of shops when my mobile rang/vibrated furiously in my pocket and I had an invitation to ‘meet’ with a recruitment consultant the next day. How exciting! Not half an hour later the same thing happened – oh to be a woman in demand – but they wanted to see me that afternoon…I explained that I was dressed rather skankily, but they weren’t to be put off. Off I trolled to meet Lynley Stanford, big honcho of Stanfords Recruitment, who was very jolly & managed to gain a disturbing level of insight into my work ethics within minutes, but isn’t quite sure what to do with me as far as the job market is concerned. Apparently she’s going to start making some calls this week and will let me know…
The next day’s recruitment consultant, who wore one of the scariest polyester suits I have seen in years (I was slightly concerned that I might be electrocuted by merely shaking her hand), immediately decided to put me forward for a ‘project coordinator’ role (up to $55k!!!!), but it wasn’t to be and I haven’t heard a word since. Bum. Then another consultant phoned and asked if I fancied being a ‘project facilitator’ for the Agricultural ITO, who are the people in charge of all the training in the agricultural industry over here. Turns out this was actually organising and updating their training programmes, which I know sod all about, so that went out the window too. Thoroughly bored with the whole thing I decided I would forget about it all until the weekend, and a damn fine job I was doing too until at 10am on Thursday (yes, I was still in bed) I got a call from the Ministry of Women’s Affairs (remember them?) asking if I would come in for an interview the next day. So I spent a day rummaging through their website for any information I might find that would make me look as if I had at least some idea what the job was about and skipped a meal out with Jo to do some reading, which I was quite fed up about ‘cos she went to some groovy little Maori food place.
The next day I decided I would walk to the Ministry, which took about 45 minutes but by that time the Wellington wind whipped my hair (freshly coiffed that morning into a shining gleaming miracle) into a frenzied Patsy-esque bouffant. Luckily the ministry was on the 3rd floor of the building, giving me a chance to tame the wild beast and make myself presentable whilst hanging out in the lobby. The interview was good, I think, of course I yabbered on for ages and there were some questions that I completely cocked up (what the hell do they expect me to know about establishing women’s networks in Wellington?), but at least it was an interview. They won’t be able to let me know what is going on until next week, and I’d be surprised if I got the first job I went for, but you never know. They seemed very lovely though.
After that I strode purposefully across town to my massage appointment with the very tall and very smiley Leslie, who proceeded to pummel my shoulders into submission to the accompaniment of soft ambient music. Next week she’s decided she is going to sort out my right shoulder once and for all! Yikes…Unfortunately I had missed lunch, thanks to my interview being at 1pm, and my stomach was doing the most incredible rumbling I’ve heard since I was last in an exam hall. I managed to act cool and not snigger by thinking that surely masseurs hear worse than rumbling guts, but this unfortunately put me in mind of what they might hear emanating from their clients and a great deal of willpower was required to remain calm.
Friday night was spent watching tv and making crank calls to the English Heritage blue plaques team.
Saturday saw me heading into town to buy a new bike, one that I had sensibly ordered earlier in the week. After about an hour standing about in the shop waiting to talk to the bloke who had ordered the bike for me and trying to avoid being run down by small girls rampaging about on Barbie tricycles, off he trundled to fetch it from their store only to return with a very large cardboard box. It seems they had forgotten to put the bike together. So I went for a coffee and came back 40 minutes later to find it sparkling and new waiting for me. Huzzah! The only task then was to get it home. For those of you who don’t know, Jo’s parents place is on top of a whopping great hill. And I haven’t ridden a bike for about 5 months. I made it ¾ of the way up – in the lowest gear possible and still suffering – before I decided it was time to walk (although I did get a very cheery ‘well done!’ from some van driver. I think he was taking the piss.). Then I just about had time to stuff a cheese sandwich in my face before we headed off to ‘Real Hot Bitches!’. Jo & her mum returned from their windsock making session (in readiness for the Wearable Art parade at the end of the month) brandishing brightly coloured windsocks – Jo’s is an evening glove & Ann’s is a hat – and we headed to the drama school for a vigorous 2 hours of ‘hip hop’ dance moves to Missy Elliott’s ‘Get Your Freak On’. Again my legwarmers were a triumph.
After a quick warm-down in the local pub, we scooted home, got changed and went out for a night on the tiles with an old mate of Jo’s, Jules, and her girlfriend Harriet. The bar we had selected seemed full of suspiciously young folk and it turned out we had accidentally crashed a 21st birthday party…clearly no one thought I was too old, for just the day before I had been asked how old I was when buying a bottle of wine (though they might just do that to cheer up pissed off looking people). We stayed anyway and sampled some of NZ’s finest sauvignon blanc & pizza, before staggering up Cuba St to some mysterious subterranean bar where Harriet made us drink sparkling feijoa wine. All I can tell you about it is that it gets you really smashed. And I forgot my vow to never mix sparkling wine with any other booze on the grounds that it causes memory lapses. Apparently after that we went to Matterhorn for another drink and then onto Wellington’s premier (and only) gay club, Pound. I vaguely remember Pound being crap and Jo dancing like a fiend before we headed home in Jules’ rather fine boy racer-mobile, complete with blue furry seat covers and uv lighting in the boot, and stumbled into bed. Luckily it would seem that Harriet & Jules had fun and are still talking to us, and that Harriet’s hangover was as bad as mine. Excellent. So we have some new friends.
Today was composed of vicious shopping and we now are the proud owners of a new bed, 2 new sofas and $800 worth of paint vouchers. The tenants are moving out of Green Street next Friday and we will be spending a week decorating and making the place ours before our new gear is delivered. Lovely though it has been to take full advantage of Len & Ann’s hospitality, it will be fabulous to finally get into a place of our own after 3 months of living out of a backpack. I am hugely excited. Hopefully we’ll be able to scam some of our new acquaintances into helping with my promise of payment in beer and pizza (plus it’ll be election weekend over here, so there will be sod all on telly…).
Love to everyone!
S & J
xxxxxx
I did mean to write yesterday, but kind of got distracted by life. Apologies if any of you were waiting desperately for the next exciting instalment of our adventures in NZ…not that I think it likely that any of you were…
So last week was a whirl of recruitment agencies and job interviews. Well, calling it a ‘whirl’ might be a little extravagant, but when you’ve been used to doing nowt all day long even thinking about dressing respectably and having to act all grown up is a strain. There I was on Monday ambling down Cuba Street, mooching in and out of shops when my mobile rang/vibrated furiously in my pocket and I had an invitation to ‘meet’ with a recruitment consultant the next day. How exciting! Not half an hour later the same thing happened – oh to be a woman in demand – but they wanted to see me that afternoon…I explained that I was dressed rather skankily, but they weren’t to be put off. Off I trolled to meet Lynley Stanford, big honcho of Stanfords Recruitment, who was very jolly & managed to gain a disturbing level of insight into my work ethics within minutes, but isn’t quite sure what to do with me as far as the job market is concerned. Apparently she’s going to start making some calls this week and will let me know…
The next day’s recruitment consultant, who wore one of the scariest polyester suits I have seen in years (I was slightly concerned that I might be electrocuted by merely shaking her hand), immediately decided to put me forward for a ‘project coordinator’ role (up to $55k!!!!), but it wasn’t to be and I haven’t heard a word since. Bum. Then another consultant phoned and asked if I fancied being a ‘project facilitator’ for the Agricultural ITO, who are the people in charge of all the training in the agricultural industry over here. Turns out this was actually organising and updating their training programmes, which I know sod all about, so that went out the window too. Thoroughly bored with the whole thing I decided I would forget about it all until the weekend, and a damn fine job I was doing too until at 10am on Thursday (yes, I was still in bed) I got a call from the Ministry of Women’s Affairs (remember them?) asking if I would come in for an interview the next day. So I spent a day rummaging through their website for any information I might find that would make me look as if I had at least some idea what the job was about and skipped a meal out with Jo to do some reading, which I was quite fed up about ‘cos she went to some groovy little Maori food place.
The next day I decided I would walk to the Ministry, which took about 45 minutes but by that time the Wellington wind whipped my hair (freshly coiffed that morning into a shining gleaming miracle) into a frenzied Patsy-esque bouffant. Luckily the ministry was on the 3rd floor of the building, giving me a chance to tame the wild beast and make myself presentable whilst hanging out in the lobby. The interview was good, I think, of course I yabbered on for ages and there were some questions that I completely cocked up (what the hell do they expect me to know about establishing women’s networks in Wellington?), but at least it was an interview. They won’t be able to let me know what is going on until next week, and I’d be surprised if I got the first job I went for, but you never know. They seemed very lovely though.
After that I strode purposefully across town to my massage appointment with the very tall and very smiley Leslie, who proceeded to pummel my shoulders into submission to the accompaniment of soft ambient music. Next week she’s decided she is going to sort out my right shoulder once and for all! Yikes…Unfortunately I had missed lunch, thanks to my interview being at 1pm, and my stomach was doing the most incredible rumbling I’ve heard since I was last in an exam hall. I managed to act cool and not snigger by thinking that surely masseurs hear worse than rumbling guts, but this unfortunately put me in mind of what they might hear emanating from their clients and a great deal of willpower was required to remain calm.
Friday night was spent watching tv and making crank calls to the English Heritage blue plaques team.
Saturday saw me heading into town to buy a new bike, one that I had sensibly ordered earlier in the week. After about an hour standing about in the shop waiting to talk to the bloke who had ordered the bike for me and trying to avoid being run down by small girls rampaging about on Barbie tricycles, off he trundled to fetch it from their store only to return with a very large cardboard box. It seems they had forgotten to put the bike together. So I went for a coffee and came back 40 minutes later to find it sparkling and new waiting for me. Huzzah! The only task then was to get it home. For those of you who don’t know, Jo’s parents place is on top of a whopping great hill. And I haven’t ridden a bike for about 5 months. I made it ¾ of the way up – in the lowest gear possible and still suffering – before I decided it was time to walk (although I did get a very cheery ‘well done!’ from some van driver. I think he was taking the piss.). Then I just about had time to stuff a cheese sandwich in my face before we headed off to ‘Real Hot Bitches!’. Jo & her mum returned from their windsock making session (in readiness for the Wearable Art parade at the end of the month) brandishing brightly coloured windsocks – Jo’s is an evening glove & Ann’s is a hat – and we headed to the drama school for a vigorous 2 hours of ‘hip hop’ dance moves to Missy Elliott’s ‘Get Your Freak On’. Again my legwarmers were a triumph.
After a quick warm-down in the local pub, we scooted home, got changed and went out for a night on the tiles with an old mate of Jo’s, Jules, and her girlfriend Harriet. The bar we had selected seemed full of suspiciously young folk and it turned out we had accidentally crashed a 21st birthday party…clearly no one thought I was too old, for just the day before I had been asked how old I was when buying a bottle of wine (though they might just do that to cheer up pissed off looking people). We stayed anyway and sampled some of NZ’s finest sauvignon blanc & pizza, before staggering up Cuba St to some mysterious subterranean bar where Harriet made us drink sparkling feijoa wine. All I can tell you about it is that it gets you really smashed. And I forgot my vow to never mix sparkling wine with any other booze on the grounds that it causes memory lapses. Apparently after that we went to Matterhorn for another drink and then onto Wellington’s premier (and only) gay club, Pound. I vaguely remember Pound being crap and Jo dancing like a fiend before we headed home in Jules’ rather fine boy racer-mobile, complete with blue furry seat covers and uv lighting in the boot, and stumbled into bed. Luckily it would seem that Harriet & Jules had fun and are still talking to us, and that Harriet’s hangover was as bad as mine. Excellent. So we have some new friends.
Today was composed of vicious shopping and we now are the proud owners of a new bed, 2 new sofas and $800 worth of paint vouchers. The tenants are moving out of Green Street next Friday and we will be spending a week decorating and making the place ours before our new gear is delivered. Lovely though it has been to take full advantage of Len & Ann’s hospitality, it will be fabulous to finally get into a place of our own after 3 months of living out of a backpack. I am hugely excited. Hopefully we’ll be able to scam some of our new acquaintances into helping with my promise of payment in beer and pizza (plus it’ll be election weekend over here, so there will be sod all on telly…).
Love to everyone!
S & J
xxxxxx
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