Let's Have Fun: Winter Edition

According to the television channels responsible for broadcasting next year's Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver (and surrounding environs), Canada, it's already time to get excited about the event, which begins two days after my birthday.

It's still 68 days away, but meh. Let's get excited anyway, shall we?

The first time I remember watching a Winter Olympics was in 2002, in Salt Lake City. I've long been obsessed with SLC and the state of Utah, owing largely to my own religious beliefs (I identify with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints) and also because I remember reading, as a six-year-old, that a two-year-old named Michelle Funk held the world record for longest submersion in water. She fell into a creek in 1988 and remained underwater for 66 minutes. A revolutionary technique was used in hospital to warm her blood and she survived - she is now a BYU graduate. Last I heard, she was completing her service to the Church.

Haven't heard of me talking about religion before? This is going to sound very self-contradictory, but I'm not religious - I don't believe in God, that Jesus was anything more than a guy who liked to help out people and build stuff before his death, that he was resurrected, that Adam and Eve were from Jackson County, Missouri, or in any sort of afterlife. At all. I had a phase in life where I was a fairly strict Mormon, in part inspired by my uncle who is a missionary and an English professor at BYU. But now we're getting off-topic.

It seems odd to me that I didn't watch a Winter Games until I was sixteen, given my longstanding obsession with the Olympics (I watched my first at age two, in 1988), especially as I had quite a wintry childhood - what with living in Russia, the UK, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. I ice-skated, and was terrible at it. I've never skied, or boarded, or taken part in any sort of snowsports. It was not for lack of wanting, however. The opportunity just never seemed to arise.

In SLC, I loved the long track speed skating, the downhill ski racing, the freestyle moguls and aerials, and the figure skating. Growing up, Midori Ito had been a favourite. I took little interest in the Nordic skiing events, though in the years that followed I seriously considered taking it up as a second sport, because I desperately wanted to become one of the few who competed in both Summer and Winter Olympics.

I followed Torino's Games in 2006 with much more interest. I distinctly remember Sasha Cohen failing to win her much-anticipated gold for figures, and then performing to "Don't Rain On My Parade" in the gala. The rather canny television commentator remarked that it was a bit late for that. I had brief but all-encompassing obsessions with Hannah Teter and Shaun White. I became an expert on aerial skiing, as well as following the alpine events with much candour. Bode Miller was my favourite, despite his failure to live up to expectations.

And now it's Vancouver's turn. The Games open on February 12th, and it seems as if most of the action will take place in beautiful Whistler.

I'm not a fan of Olympic mascots, but here they are anyway. In Sydney they had the weird Syd, Ollie and Millie and Athens presented Athina and Phevos, which bore more resemblance to penises than anything else. The Athens Paralympics' Proteas was cute but still irrelevant, and last year in Beijing there were FIVE mascots, Beibei, Huanhuan, Jingjing, Nini and Yingying. The Paralympic Games definitely drew the short straw there, with an odd, multi-coloured cow named Lele.

Sumi, Quatchi and Miga

Yeah, they're pretty weird. I'm not going to lie though, I do like the medals. I've long been a fan of the Winter Olympic medals over their Summer cousins. Here's the 2010 medals.

Winter Olympic Medals

Their Paralympic cousins are more than a step-up from last years' 1960s-inspired loot from Beijing. Urgh.

wtf.

Moving on.

The sports to be contested at the Winter Olympics are:

Alpine Skiing, Biathlon, Bobsleigh, Cross-Country, Curling, Figure Skating, Freestyle Skiing, Ice Hockey, Luge, Nordic Combined, Short Track, Skeleton (bound to become my personal fave), Ski Jumping, Snowboard and Speed Skating.

New Zealand has 22 "hopeful" athletes, with final selection to take place in January. Random fact: there are no Skeleton tracks in our country, but we have three Skeleton athletes gunning for selection.

Now that's something everyone can enjoy...

Kosuke!

Yes, Kosuke lives.

He's currently in Federal Way, Wash., (at a pool I've competed at!!!) at the US Short Course Nationals. I hate short course. ESPECIALLY American short course. Here in New Zealand, we have one short course meet of importance each year. In the US, the collegiate system is built around short course, YARDS racing. Yuk. Sure, it means that men's breaststroke races (like the one I just embedded, where Kosuke placed second) are over in 52 seconds, but it's still lame. In my Maryland days (2005), I trained at the Cecil County YMCA pool, which was yards. It was cool to be swimming like, 25 second 50m freestyle splits, but just not that realistic.

Anyway, I'm just excited that my second (or third? I can't remember) favourite Japanese guy is still in the water. Here's a weird photo from Beijing.

I just don't really know what to say about it. It supposedly came from heat seven of the 200m breaststroke at the Olympics, but there is a very strictly adhered-to rule in breaststroke that states you must remain on your front (or breast, if you will) at all times during the race. Why the guy on the left looks like he's about to swim some very technically incorrect freestyle, and Kosuke is not only at 45 degrees from his breast, but his ankles are almost crossed (another disqualification point) is just like, blowing my mind.

Moving on.

It's unfathomable, but in just twelve days (it's 1:30am Sunday, not 9:30pm Saturday as my time stamp will have you believe) I'll be home again, having completed my Summer programme. I can't wait! Never mind that before that, I have two exams, one worth 40% and one worth 20%. That's another story altogether.

Here's a favourite photo from the Beijing Olympics. I love the almost non-existent moment between turning to look at the clock and seeing your time.

Good.

I am so not going to get to 27 posts this month. I just have nothing to share.

Bliss!

Thanks, Threadless!

T J Zhang's masterpiece, "Blooming" has been reprinted! AND GUESS WHO GOT IN FAST ENOUGH TO BUY ONE!?

Yep. I did.

It's December, and I had the goal of posting 28 blogs this month so my year's total would get up to 300. Well, that now seems unlikely as so far, December has been highly uneventful (with the exception of the "Blooming" reprint, obviously). Unless I just talk crap every day for the rest of the month... Oh wait, that's what I do every other month.

Today it's Thom's birthday (which you may have gathered if a) you are Thom, b) you follow me on Twitter, c) you're a Facebook friend of mine or d) you read it on my blog yesterday. Or whenever I last mentioned it) and he is 22. HAPPY BIRTHDAY!! (I've lost count of how many times I've said it now)

In light of the furore surrounding Tiger Woods and his alleged mistresses, Kirsty has jumped on the bandwagon, citing a Waikato Times newspaper front page headline from 2002 "Kirsty Wows Tiger". Of course, it actually made reference to Kirsty's superior golfing skills at the time (she held a 2 handicap in our younger days) but that hasn't stopped her posting it on Facebook and telling "you other bitches to eat your heart out!". Good.

Staying in the Waikato, in an unusual stroke of luck and good fortune, I've been named as a finalist for the Waikato Sportswoman Of The Year award. My competition is: Casey Williams (Silver Ferns captain), Clarissa Eshuis (Black Sticks team member, and the sister of Casey's lovely fiance, Wessel) and Sarah Jarvis (World Cup-level skier). You could say I don't like my chances, but that's an understatement. Where is World Championships semi-finalist Monique Williams? Or Silver Fern Laura Langman? I've perplexed as to how my one race stacks up against a Silver Ferns captaincy. But anyway, since I'm not going to be around for the awards evening itself, I've had to write an acceptance speech, on the odd chance that I do win. I say the odds are about 3.9 million to one.

Casey

My latest blog feature idea: The twelve days of a Miriam Christmas. In which I will add something each day to a list of gifts I would like from my true love (or other benefactors. I'm not expecting anything, bar maybe an abusive text message, from Donny this year). Roll on, December 12.

That's all for now, but expect plenty of blather in the next few weeks. I'm determined to hit 300.

Tokyo Time

You may be fooled into thinking that I post my blogs at the time it says I do.
And why wouldn't you...


But anyway, turns out I don't because for some reason (possibly because I'm me, and I'm a complete spaz) I have my blog running on Tokyo time. ANYWAY. In real time, it's 11:27pm on November 30, which means I have 33 minutes to get a post in before I turn into a pumpkin.


It's December tomorrow. What was I crapping on about this time last year? (Yes, there's going to be a lot of that in the next few days, until I get over the novelty of having had a blog for more than a year.)


Well, pretty much the same stuff, to be honest. What kind of mascara should I buy? What kind of bike should I buy? Funnily enough, I have bought both of the mascaras mentioned - MAC's Dazzle Lash AND Smashbox Bionic Mascara, and neither of them are my fave. I'm afraid that honour now belongs to Lancome's Cils Design Pro. Where would I be without my jetsetting mother?


I have no need for bikes anymore - instead I spend my spare time trawling the internet for guitars. Not forgetting, of course, that I can't actually play yet, but it's okay. My dad is restringing the acoustic guitar he made for me years ago so I can play it lefty, and then once I'm awesome (so, in about three weeks - HA!) I'm going to buy a Firebird.

Me? Obsessed with firebirds in general? Never.


I was distraught to discover my flatmate does not know the story of the Firebird. My mum tells me it's because he's not "from Russia" - which is the first time I've heard her refer to our family as that. We are, for the record, not Russian - or from there. My parents are fiercely proud of their British heritage, so it must hurt them some to have a daughter that raves about the good old days in Turkmenistan.


Anyway, point is, I'm pretty sure you don't need to be Russian to know of the Firebird.


Example: The New York ballet, featuring Maria Tallchief, performed it in 1949. Tallchief, the prima ballerina of the era (America's first, and also "Native America"'s first) danced the role of the Firebird. She was married to choreographer George Ballanchine, but had the marriage annulled in 1952.

On an unrelated note, Maria's daughter (not from the Ballanchine marriage), Elise Paschen teaches writing at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago - the school is rated the third best Fine Arts programme in America. Yes, I am now a fan on Facebook.


I'm not sure how any of that relates to my next rant, which is about TVNZ's "controversial" breakfast time host, Paul Henry. He's a strange little man with definite rodent features who often makes offhand comments that get blown out of proportion here on our island (I should say islands, because I now live on Te Wai Pounamu, not Hi Ika a Maui, which is where Paul is based). His latest? Calling Susan Boyle "retarded".


Oh, dear. Turns out, Ms Boyle was starved of oxygen at birth and as such has an intellectual disability. Mr Henry made the comment that because of this, she is retarded. Which, in 1950, would have been acceptable.


I wouldn't take so much offense to this if I hadn't had the lovely opportunity to converse with LMC about the merits of being retarded. According to her, it does not just refer to someone with a "mental disability" (not the correct terminology, for those of you who care) but in fact, anyone with any type of disability. It also puts you in a lower social class. In the last nine years, I've spent more time than necessary trying to explain to those in higher social classes (ie, those without any type of disability. I should consider myself thankful they even talk to me, really) the difference between the Special Olympics and the Paralympics. No, I'm not saying that Special Olympians are retards. In fact, "retard" is not an acceptable term to describe any type of disability, least of all one that is imposed intellectually. The fact that I frequently call myself a retard has nothing to do with the fact that I had a stroke (which, for the record, had absolutely no impact whatsoever on my intellect), but surely the repercussions of calling myself a retard are far less resounding than having a person with an intellectual impairment (through no fault of their own, obviously) being referred to as one by not only a person who is sound of mind, but one in the public eye (and one who, for whatever reason, has quite a fanbase). The fact that Mr Henry claimed afterwards that he had done nothing wrong and it was okay to use the word with reference to people with intellectual disabilities, makes it just a little bit worse. Is he serious?


I'm not going to lie. I am not a fan of the Special Olympics, mainly for the effect it has on the achievements of Paralympians. Sophie Pascoe, for example (not the same Sophie I frequently refer to in my posts) is a Paralympic champion who at last year's four-yearly Paralympic Games in Beijing, China (you will note that the Paralympics occur two weeks after each Olympic Games, in the same host city, and is organised by the same committee as its more well-known cousin, the Olympics) won a total of four medals for New Zealand - three gold - including a world record-breaking 100m backstroke gold, and a silver in the 100m butterfly. Her achievements were well-reported in the media, which is unusual, but it should be noted that they are far greater achievements than any performance at the Special Olympics. For that reason, Sophie, along with Cameron Leslie - who won a gold in the 150m IM race in world record-breaking time - was inducted into the New Zealand Order of Merit. I can assure you that the Paralympics are held in much greater esteem than the Special Olympics.


Still, my life is often consumed with explaining the differences. Here's a chart.

PARALYMPICS	SPECIAL OLYMPICS
Held four-yearly, in conjunction with the Olympic Games	Held every year
Athletes represent a country (eg. Great Britain, Australia, Kenya)	Entrants represent themselves. No national representation is earned by competing
Qualifying standards, along with a competitive entry system	Open entry
Gold, silver and bronze medals for first, second and third place. Olympic diplomas for top-eight finishes	Gold medals for all competitors
Competitors are the elite in their field. Some are full-time athletes, receiving the same support from their country’s national sporting body as their Olympic counterparts	Any person with an intellectual impairment is welcomed.
Focus on sport, winning, achieving world record performances	Focus on fun, participation and camaraderie

For these reasons, you can imagine the uproar when it was recently announced that athletes with intellectual disabilities are to be re-introduced to the Paralympics (they were ousted after Sydney when the Spanish ID basketball team were found to be ineligible - yeah, you read that right. It was The Ringer, in real life). The fact that this sort of thing can even happen is testament to the fact that the Paralympics should remain only for people with physical disabilities. You can fake a learning disability, but not an amputation or spinal injury.

Anyway, I guess the years I've spent fiercely defending the Paralympics have been for nothing. From here on in, things are bound to get ridiculous.

Over and out, and hello December.

"Or Have An IQ Above 50"

From overheardinNewYork.com

Girl: Wow, you are really tall!
Guy: Yeah, I know...
Girl: No, seriously, you're like as tall as that Ying Yang guy!
Guy: What? Who? Oh, you mean Yao Ming?
Girl, laughing: Oh yeah, whatever, I don't watch baseball.

Nine Dollars

Did I cave and buy a shirt from Threadless, in light of their $9 tshirt sale?

Yes.

But it's a goodie!!

It's Liberty, by Anton Chigurh. The gold bit glows in the dark! I don't know, it kind of reminds me of The Firebird, which is a story I LOVE from my childhood. Anyway, since I now own eight Threadless shirts, I'm only going to need to do laundry once a week next year! Awesome.

PS: Noticed I've started italicising everything? Yeah, me too. I'm sure I'll get over it soon enough. I mean, I got over Donny, right?

Ha ha ha.

HMUFC09

On December 8th last year, I wrote a post called "Hook Me Up For Christmas". It's weird that it was almost a year ago, because without sounding like every other person in the world that whinges about how time flies, it really seems like only weeks ago that I had Christmas morning breakfast with Superhuman Sam at our Bayswater flat. What's gone down since then?

Well, first things first: I lost the job I then had at Esquires at Auckland's ferry terminal.
Sam moved out, and was replaced with that horrible, horrible kid who we later drove away. I still shudder at the thought of him.
Nayuha moved back to Japan (read all about it here, and here) in February.
Sophie's 21st!! SO good.
I "graduated" from the Samala Robinson Academy for Fashion Makeup in April.
48 Hours Furious Filmmaking - I met some of my favourite people ever, and was nominated for the "Best Makeup" award.
In June, I was selected for ITU World Championships, and won them on September 12th.
Since September, it's been a rough ride, with Ben passing away, and his funeral.
This, and a few other accompanying events led me to my decision to head back to the University of Otago in January...

and here we are (well, almost. But you can see how I got from there to here, right?)

And now it's nearly goddamn Christmas all over again.

So, without further ado...

Hook Me Up For Christmas: 2009 Edition

RACING?
No, thank you. I'm done with that game now. A silicone swimming cap wouldn't go amiss, though. I still enjoy the odd, five-times-a-week frollick in the pool, and you just know my latex cap is going to rip my already incredibly damaged hair right out.

BEAUTY
Ah-ha! Well, I'll work in order of application...
Lush Snow Fairy Shower Gel. This is a big fave, but one that gets forgotten after every New Year because once it disappears from the shelves, something else exciting replaces it and I forget allll about it until the following silly season.
philosophy Amazing Grace. The shower gel, the perfumed hot salt scrub, the eau de parfum, the candle. I want the lot. And I want a never-ending supply, hear me?! Never-ending!!
Kerastase Forcintense. Obsessed! My hairdresser fairly demanded that I buy this due to the unnatural shade of blonde hair I currently sport. Trouble is, at $60 for a three-treatment pack... yeah, I need someone else to buy it for me.
Kate Somerville ExfoliKate. And whatever else she makes.
Dior SkinFlash Primer: already been talked about. Want want want!
DiorSkin Sculpt Makeup. OR Make Up For Ever HD Foundation. Shaniya raves about it, and if there's anyone I listen to about makeup, it's her.
Chanel Luminous Matte Powder Makeup. Thanks to Gracie I still have a steady supply of samples of this.
Make Up For Ever Eyeshadow in Turquoise Matte 72, Neon Pink 75, Iridescent Pearl Grey 170, and Iridescent Acid Green 171. Lipstick in Hollywood Red 206 and Pearly Fluorescent Red 416.

BOOKS
Tonto And The Lone Ranger Fistfight In Heaven - Sherman Alexie. It was on my list last year, and here it is again. Maybe I should just go buy it.
The Corrections - Jonathon Franzen, China Men - Maxine Hong Kingston, Less Than Zero - Bret Easton Ellis, Ragtime - EL Doctorow, Play It As It Lays - Joan Didion... okay so basically the reading list for my January Summer paper.
The Asia Book - A Lonely Planet publication. I already have The Africa Book, but I feel the Asian edition is a little more in line with my plans for the next few years.

OTHER STUFF
A holiday job at Sephora / American Apparel / Threadless for NEXT year. If I can secure one of those, I'm happy to pay my airfare over there.
An airfare to Japan, for when I finish my degree.
This dress, and these heels (below), which I absolutely cannot walk in. Yet.

Oh, and if anyone can sort me out with some mistletoe, under which I can pash Donny, let me know.

Haha.

Peace and love.

Peroxide Nightmares

Nah, who am I kidding? I love peroxide.

Right now, my hair is covered in it. Yes, I got my hair bleached a few weeks ago, but it just wasn't white enough for my liking, so I bought some L'Oreal Perfect Blonde Maximum in the Farmers sale yesterday (and some Napoleon makeup - more on that shortly) and now I'm about halfway through the process that will hopefully result in my hair being the same colour as... I don't know, Lady Gaga's?

Speaking of whom, she is coming to Aotearoa in March to play one show!!! I'm rather excited about the fact. I'll admit her music is not my fave (unless you consider Paparazzi, which with 840 plays, is my #1 most played song on iTunes), but I'm not going to lie about the fact that I wish I was her, and I would go to her show solely so I could see her in the flesh. Probably won't end up happening, as it's about two weeks into the first semester of uni next year, but you know.

Napoleon makeup? I've long been searching for the perfect pale bronze/taupe/tan colour to adorn my eyelids with. Everyone seems to have this colour except me, and I found it last night in a Napoleon Prismatic Eyeshadow Quad (#13, in case you were wondering). I'm a bit obsessed with these quads - if I had more money, I would have gotten shades #1, #6 and #10 as well. Napoleon might just be one of the world's most underrated makeup brands. I'm a fan.

Other things I'm a fan of? Make Up For Ever's out of control range of eyeshadow (112 shades!), their false lashes, and Dior's SkinFlash primer. I do love primer.

Anyway, my scalp is about to burn right off, so I'm going to go rinse.

Peace, love, and white blonde hair.

I Miss Him More Every Day

Oh! The Places You Will Go

You may or may not know that I am a huge Threadless fiend.

So far, my Threadless wardrobe includes:
Star-Cross'd Lovers
True Love Will Find You In The End
I Came To Dance
Playground Joust
Rainforest
Juliet
Alice's Sewing Basket

and yesterday I ordered
Storm
Polar Gardening

So, without further ado, may I suggest you visit the sites of the cool artists who draw the stuff that goes on my tshirts...

Lim Heng Swee - www.ilovedoodle.com
Yeoh Guan Hong - www.hyperthesis.com
Jillian Nickell - jillustration.blogspot.com
Robert Gould - www.coroflot.com/robertgould
T. J. Zhang - www.threadless.com/profile/687585
Jean-Sebastien Deheeger www.neskoncept.com/
Si Scott - www.siscottstudio.com

I'm also a big Camilla Engman fan - you can and should visit her here.

Props to Threadless for being the easiest company ever to deal with, too - they gave me a $3 coupon which I tried, unsuccessfully, to use while placing my order yesterday. Within hours they'd refunded my credit card. I heart Threadless.

I just wish I wasn't so crap at designing my own stuff so I could submit... sigh. One day I'll get into art school...

I Heart StudyLink

New Zealand students from all over the country have a love/hate relationship with the government provider of student loans and allowances, known to us as "StudyLink". We love them because they fund our studies, but we hate them because we are forced to pay them back with stupid amounts of interest. They also frequently fuck us around with regards to course-related costs, living payments, and eligibility requirements.

Since Otago University does not offer a November Summer programme, I opted to come to Canterbury. As such, in order to receive my living payment ($160.24 weekly - and yes, this is added to my final loan total) StudyLink needed confirmation from both schools. Which would be fine, if Otago was willing to confirm my enrolment before January 5th, which is when I start Summer Session there. They are not.

The upshot of this situation is that come January 5th, I stand to receive a nice back payment of $961.44.

The problem is, I need to pay rent, pay a bond for my next year's flat and buy food until then. Which is proving to be a slight issue.

I asked StudyLink if I could apply solely for my Canterbury living costs, to which the answer was no, since the Session only spans six weeks (less than the required twelve). I asked Otago if they could verify my study details ahead of time, so I can survive until I get there. They also said no.

This is not my first living payment battle with StudyLink. Last year, when I began my training at the Samala Robinson Academy, StudyLink informed me that because I wasn't studying full-time (which I was), I wasn't eligible. After a few strong words from the Academy director to StudyLink, I soon started receiving my weekly survival money. Admittedly, with rent at $150 a week, $160.24 did not go far. But you can imagine how well my life would have worked out, had I not received the payments.

I managed to complete my Bachelor's degree on a Prime Minister's Scholarship for swimming, but sadly this will not be the case for my hugely more expensive postgraduate work. Am I then, tempted to get back in the pool in a vain attempt to cover tuition? Yes. Only that in the five years since Athens, swimming speed at the Olympics has increased exponentially to the extent where I'll either need a miracle or some designer steroids to be considered "back in the game". Aaand I'm not sure how well that's going to fit in with my academic schedule.

Meh, well. I suppose this is what we get for wanting an education.

Guitar Hero

I can't remember if I've carried on about how obsessed I am with Orianthi Panagaris yet.

She's my new hero. Now I'm going to buy a guitar, learn how to play it via YouTube, then go play Donny a song. Or something.

Anyway...

I was watching one of her YouTube posts where she says "in life, I think you should do what you get." Which is sound advice, and some I've been ignoring for the most part of my own life.

I am far better at writing than I am at science, but I forced myself through a science degree, and I'm about to force myself through a Master's, because I like it, even though I could have comparatively breezed through a degree in English. To be fair, I think anyone would breeze through an English degree though. Case in point: Post-Modernist Fiction. You don't have to be a genius, by any stretch of the imagination, to know that the themes in every PM book are the same. The writing is notable only for its inherent grimness, and sense of desolation. And more than anything, you inevitably want to kill yourself by the end of each book.

A similar thing happened the day I jumped out of the pool halfway through a set, two days after failing to qualify for the Melbourne 2006 Commonwealth Games. I left the pool with not so much as a word to my coach, Richard, and by the end of the day in question I was at Porritt Stadium, wearing spikes and repeating windsprints, trying to convince myself that a track career was going to be as easy as my swimming career was.

Three months later, when it wasn't, and I was mostly laid up with constant stress fractures, I started to rue the day I walked out of the Hamilton Municipal Pools. I quickly found out, however, that unlike Dara Torres, I was not going to make any sort of comeback. I'm lucky triathlon involves swimming. I would be screwed in any other situation...

So you see, I've spent my life going against what I get. It's been good. Depending on how you look at it. And this, kids, is precisely why I'm going to buy a guitar and play Donny songs.

Oh, and another thing: can you believe they're already advertising the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics on TV? I mean, sure I'm excited, but I'm also fairly sure they don't start until my birthday. It should be good, though. I'm a big Canada fan (just ask Curtis).

Over and out, yo.

Kicking And Screaming

It's my birthday today!

Well, kind of.

It's been one year since I started my blog! So my blog is one year old today. Yuss!!!

Maybe I'll do a new layout to celebrate. I'm boring like that.

Forward, Ho.

I'm pretty sure that American Dad is one of my favourite shows ever. I know, I know. I watch far too much television. But after spending my entire swimming career unable to watch any, I'm making up for it now.

Roger is my favourite, by far. Tonight was that episode where he sends photos of himself to the CIA, and then poses as the photographer who takes them. In one of his best random outbursts (others include "did someone order a sexy Persian wingman?" and "ba-blam! ba-blam!" when he's blasting his quads) he destroys the puzzle he's been working on and cries

"I hate puppies! Get out of that teacup! That cup is for tea."

So good.

And I thought the picture would make a nice departure from my last post.

Time Is Running Out

I complain a lot. A lot. And I'll be the first to admit it. Most evenings, just to annoy my flatmate, I'll sit on the couch and repeat, in a monotone "I'm bored. I'm bored. I'm bored. I'm bored." Within two days of moving in, I accused his old flatmate of having fleas, because I discovered a hideous rash on one of my ankles (ew, I know). If there's something to complain about, I will, and if there's not, then I'll find something.

Which leads me to my next point: I complain, more than anything, about my current state of existence.
I wish I was in Japan.
I wish I was in Texas.
I wish I was hiking with Aubrey on the Appalachian Trail.
I wish I was in Bayswater.
I wish I was at Lake George.
I wish I attended Stanford. Or NYU. Or UCLA.

You get the picture. I'd rather be anywhere but here. I'm a very discontented girl.

At Worlds in Australia, I met the wife of an athlete who was on her first overseas adventure. Ever. She'd not been out of the Waikato previously. Not been on a plane (subsequently, when they experienced turbulence on the flight, she assumed the horror of motion-sickness was normal). I felt slightly guilty then, for all my complaining - given that I grew up not just in the Waikato but in far-flung villages in Russia, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and of course, England. I've competed in the US, Canada, Greece, Argentina, Australia, and England.

None of this, however, makes me any less happy with where I am now - which is, for the record, attending the Summer Session at the University of Canterbury in Christchurch. I still have many, many things to do, and every day, I feel like I'm running out of time. I'm writing about it today because it drove me to such distraction that I spent an hour gazing listlessly (while my mind worked on overdrive) out of the eleventh-floor window at the James Hight Library on campus. I had three books with me (Ragtime, The English Patient, and The Crying Of Lot 49) that I had the intention of reading, but after flipping through a few pages of Ragtime and feeling completely unenlightened, unable to absorb anything, I gave up and got to pondering.

Normally, I'd call this sort of behaviour procrastinating, because normally it would be intentional. In previous years of study, I've been known to investigate loosely related subtopics (which inevitably lead to even less related topics, before downward spiraling into unrelated oblivion) which, while I would claim gave me a better understanding of the subject at hand, was a blatant attempt to avoid the necessary. Everyone does it.

But this semester, things are different. I'm determined to have all nine required texts for that fiction class done and dusted before it starts a few days after the New Year. So it pissed me off today when I couldn't concentrate. It's still pisssing me off now, and it's making my writing blathery and almost incoherent.

I don't know what my problem is.

I chose this destiny for myself. After Worlds in September, I sold my bike.
"No more triathlon, or competitive sport for me!" I said. I thought about my Master's degree. I thought and thought. And then my dear friend Ben died, and it was within days of that awful news, in a moment of melancholy clarity, when I decided that I would commit at least the next eighteen months of my life to furthering my education. I enrolled not only at the University of Otago, but also for the Summer programme here at Canterbury. There was to be no more fucking around, dabbling in pointless and dead-end pursuits. It was a matter of getting my degree, and getting out of here.

I'm pleased to say that halfway through the Summer Session, I'm still dedicated to the cause, which is something of a milestone in that usually my dreams and grand plans are not unlike the waves at Manu, which is where Ben's ashes were scattered. The waves there, the best of the west, come in at sometimes more than six feet high, awe-inspiring and full of grandeur. Then within moments they crash into the rocks, never to be seen again. Often forgotten.

So why the restlessness? I'm curious. I have a plan that I'm actually following through. Once this is done, I have more exciting plans - Japan, Texas, Iceland. The Appalachian Trail with Aubrey. Even NYU or Stanford. I wish I would shut the hell up.

I spent this afternoon in a remarkable funk, following the library episode. There was a fly in my room. My bed is uncomfortable. Our internet kept cutting out. I was behind in my reading. I don't feel much better now, which is why this very post is getting longer and more grim. I feel bad about it. I need to spend some more time with Luke.

It's now five minutes past midnight. It's a new day.

Time to get on with it.

It's My Dad's Birthday Today

And I only know that because the date appeared at the top of my last post. Oops.

Hmm, happy birthday Dad. I wonder if anyone else in my family remembered... Probably not.

You have to excuse my uninvolved writing style - I have been reading far too much Post-Modernist fiction. Seriously, in the last two weeks I've read the following books.

- Less Than Zero (Bret Easton Ellis)
- Play It As It Lays (Joan Didion)
- The Corrections (Jonathon Franzen)
- White Noise (Don DeLillo) I've read this twice before already, and have to read it twice next year too

and yesterday I started Ragtime by E L Doctorow. Reading list for AMST322 much? *yawn*


After deciding that NYU is where I want to write an MFA, I last night read that NYU is ranked #5 on the Princeton Review's Unhappiest Students list. Good? This is, for the record, the same ranking system which has Stanford placed at #4 in Happiest Students. Missing something? I don't know. I kind of want to be happy when I'm at grad school.

I'm really bored. There is no drama in Christchurch to throw myself into, which is probably a good thing, but you know. I miss it all the same.

That said, it's not like there's much to go back to Hamilton for - Sophie and Thom both have Auckland jobs now. *sigh*

thomspot.com

Thom started a blog last week that is already way better than mine.

wipethatsmileoffyourface.blogspot.com

Photo Of The... Day/Week/Month/Year...

My old man crush, Greg Graffin (DoctorGraffin on Twitter) posted two photos today. This is my favourite. His piano is beautiful. Is he the greatest man alive? Perhaps.

For the record, he's not that old... he's only like, 45 (having had his birthday on November 6th). And he rules.

Today, I've developed a new obsession with New York University. Lady Gaga attended the Tisch School of the Arts, which is... not where I want to go, but NYU seems exciting to me. I drove past its Greenwich Village campuses last time I was in the city.

Sure, only about 20 out of 800 graduate applicants are granted admission, but I'm willing to give it a whirl.

Peace and love, yo.

Back To Broke

There was a Borders sale this weekend.
Uh oh, I know.

It was Borders' 10th anniversary, so I took advantage of the "30% off non-fiction" on Friday and bought a Japanese phrasebook (includes such gems as "you're just using me for sex", "I should never have let you near me!" (intended for the hairdresser?!) and "is it safe for gay people?". The fact that we still, in 2009, live in a world where some places aren't safe for gay people makes me feel physically ill.
Still, there's much fun to be had with this phrasebook. Hopefully it will supplement my Japanese classes at Otago next year. And, if all else fails, once I get to Japan, I'll just get an iPhone with as many Japanese apps as possible so I can get around the place. I am, however, pinning my hopes on being a fluent speaker by the end of next year.

Today was "3 for 2 fiction" day, so I bought three texts that I'm required to read for my January summer paper (Post-Modern Fiction... which seems to be my most over-studied area outside chemistry). Luckily for me, I've read four of the required texts in previous classes, so I should be an expert. But remind me of that when I fail the class.

For all my spending at Borders, I was rewarded with $20 in vouchers, valid next January and February - when I'm in Otago, of course, where there is no Borders. I love my life.

I forgot to mention... other awesome phrases in the phrasebook include "will you marry me?" and "will you meet my parents?". Um, I don't know, but it seems rather unlikely that if you're in Japan on vacay, you're going to a) propose to some unsuspecting member of the population and b) have your parents on hand for said member of the population to meet. But, whatever.

Take Me Back...

 In 2007, I went on a sailing trip to Lake George in upstate New York. Have you been to Lake George? I'm pretty sure it's my favourite summer location to date. To that end, I've come to *something* of a decision that my next Grand Plan will be hatched in the city of Albany, less than an hour's drive from the lake.

Solely for my nostalgic purposes, here are some photos from my excursion to Lake George.

Good. I cannot wait to go back.

Sapphire In The Snow

Yuss, OPI have new holiday colours!

I do not like Christmas. This year, I get to be by myself at Christmas and that means no tree and no lame family meal. I do, however, enjoy holiday-themed nail colour. Last year, I bought "Brand New Skates", "Baby, It's Coal Outside" and "Ruby For Rudolph".

Today I discovered the new "collection", which, for the most part are the same as last year, with one exception.

Sapphire In The Snow? Yes please. It's a deep violet colour, and something of a first - I don't already own a colour that looks like it! Yay. Weirdly, it's not featured on the website, but I'll tell you what is and that's Fashion Interfaced. Yep, Dell now feature OPI colours on their Inspiron laptops. I'm kinda lucky they didn't have this a year ago, because I totally would have bought "Cajun Shrimp". I'm flaky like that.

Also, today I overheard a girl who looked about ten years old say "that was so awkward."

I don't know. It just seemed kind of weird.

sic.

Wow, check it out, proof-reading geeks. I just made my first irreversible spelling mistake on my blog since its inception.

If you look at the URL for my last post, "Strawberry Fare" you will see that I originally spelt it "Starwberry Fare". Making spelling mistakes is almost unheard of for me - unless we're talking about Facebook chat, where I frequently become so excited while talking to Sophie that I constantly stumble over words. "teh" and "talkign" are two of my faves.

The thing is, you can change the title of a post after publishing, but not the URL, so this time my mistake is going down in internet history. Gooood.

Anyway, in recent months, I've spent more time on Wikipedia than usual, trying to read every article I can find related to Japan (the likelihood of this actually being achieved is incredibly slim). So I've come across the onsen, or hot spring.

Coming from Aotearoa, this is hardly a new concept. Well, I didn't think so at first. Turns out, in an onsen, you bathe... nekkid. In front of other people. Keen? Not so much. I started reading about them through a long and boring process that went something like Japan - JET - Prefectures - Wakayama Prefecture - Nachikatsuura - Onsen. I don't know, I find nudity slightly offensive. Obviously, these monkeys don't.

This photo was taken in Jigokudani Monkey Park in Nagano. Yes, you read that right. They have monkey parks in Japan. Keeeen. I can't wait to go.

Something else of interest I noted in regard to the onsen, is that you can't use them if you have tattoos. What!? In a country which has a Wikipedia page dedicated to its indigenous tattoo practices (irezumi), you can't go bathing if you have tattoos? Whoa.

Aaaanyway, I think that's more than enough banter out of me for the day. Over and out, kids.

Strawberry Fare

I had to get up at 5:50am today. It's been a while.

My increasingly strange flatmate has gone to Wellington for the weekend, and since I want to drive his car, I had to drive him to the airport for his 6:45am flight.

Seriously, the last time I got up before 8am was two months ago, when I got up at like, 4:30am on race day at Worlds. Since then, I've been enjoying the life of a slacker, some days not moving from under my duvet until 1pm. This morning then, was a shock to the system.

It's a good thing I did, though, because this weekend is shaping up to be the closest thing to a classifiable storm. The disturbing sounds I woke up to (at 10am, after going back to bed) didn't sound unlike what I imagine a house being ripped off the ground would. You can imagine my alarm, then. It then began to rain mercilessly and I decided that today would be best spent reading research papers at the University library. Forgetting of course, that it's a public holiday in Christchurch today, and the library is closed. Ho, hum. Why I didn't work this one out prior to getting to the library doors and finding them locked, especially when this rather conspicuous note can be found on the library's websites (see below), I don't know. But I didn't, and instead I retreated to Westfield Riccarton, and mused over books I would like to buy at Borders. Bring on course-related costs (which, obviously, would be better off in my Japan savings account).

I'm getting to the point, which is... since my flatmate's away, I am going to survive solely on strawberries this weekend. My flatmate is clinically addicted to KFC, and despite my attempts to cook him dinner, he still goes out and buys it afterwards. I myself prefer strawberries, and since they're 2 for $5 at Countdown Church Corner, well... nom nom nom.

So here's to a weekend of staying inside with the heat pump on, reading research (starting tomorrow), and eating strawberries.

I Am Dunedin

For the last two nights, I’ve based myself in my former University town of Dunedin. I graduated from Canterbury, but I spent the best part of 2005 busting my ass trying to get into medicine or dentistry in Dunedin. Consequently, when I go back, I have to fight off the feelings of “coming home”.

It’s been a while. The last time I was there was in 2006, for a New Zealand Academy of Sport lecture. Before then, I spent many a memorable night in 2005 walking Dunedin’s streets late at night. When Travis visited me from Queenstown, we mused over how I could one day call a chapter in my memoirs “I Am Dunedin”. This of course, was when I was destined to be an Olympic gold medallist in the 2008 Games. Never happened. Nor did I spend enough time there to fill a chapter. Now that this blog has become my memoirs, of sorts, here it is.

Dunedin, to me, feels so safe it’s almost unsettling. For one thing, on campus, you can leave your laptop anywhere for up to an hour without worrying about it being stolen. Probably longer than that, but I dare not try. One never knows. I only just got my keyboard replaced after the infamous Spray n Wipe incident.

And Dunedin’s streets aren’t menacing like those in Christchurch. When I studied at Otago in first year, I often did my run training at midnight or 1am. Why, I’m not entirely sure, but the fact was I could, and I never for a second worried about my personal safety. Likewise, on Tuesday night when I embarked on the walk from Otago’s Central Library to the Stafford Gables YHA, over two miles away, I didn’t think of being mugged.

I’m looking forward to returning there a few days after New Year to pursue my graduate education. Tuesday’s night at the library was spent not researching, as it probably should have been, but you guessed it – looking at available courses at the University of Iceland. It excites me that should I get back into my night running habits, in the Icelandic summer, it won’t even be dark!

I did spend all of Wednesday reading prescribed texts for uni, however, so I feel like my Dunedin vacay wasn't a complete waste. Unless, of course you count the six idle hours I spent on a bus between there and Christchurch this morning. I drifted in and out of sleep (drooling all the while - I kid you not). It's a long way.

For now, I'm watching There's Something About Mary and wondering why she never wears a bra. Is that what it is about her? Really?

*rolls eyes*

Cold Pressed

The World Artistic Gymnastics Championships took place in mid-October, when my brain was, for the most part, off the radar. Kohei Uchimura won the men's all-around, and I found this great picture of him warming up on parallel bars.

I'm a fan of Kohei. Not in the way that I'm a fan of Hiroyuki Tomita (read: crazed) but I love gymnasts, and I love Japanese folk. So you can assume that I extra-love Japanese gymnasts.

Anyway, that photo has been sitting in my Picasa for nearly three weeks so I thought I'd share.

That is all.

Halloween In Pictures

       

Yeah, so I'm in most of the photos, but it's my blog, so there.

Best. Night. Ever.

Destined For...

I guess this is kind of a sundry post. A few things...

1: My makeup blog has moved! Yay. Visit me now at flickr.com/photos/mimartiste.
2: I'm leaving town tomorrow, in search of success through Summer School. Hamilton has seen the last of me for a while.
3: Halloween was awesome. I looked considerably less like a Geisha than I hoped (Luke has posted a particularly unflattering picture on Facebook), but bar Sophie's 21st, pretty sure it was the best night ever. Faves spotted in town: Thom, Luke, Zebu, Matamata, Becky, Manda, Bert, Libby, Megan Lee (surprise entry! What was she doing here?!). Not so faves: Donny. New fave: Ying-Te. There was a bit of rage when I threw his cigarette on the ground and "destroyed his night" but I have a sneaking suspicion that even though he didn't thank me, his bronchial tubes will.
4: Domino's has become a staple diet item for me. I think my mum has grown sick of cooking food for me that I don't eat, and as such, we're having pizza for the third time since last Monday. Good.


Expect my next post to come courtesy of the wireless internet at the University of Otago library.

Love and light.

Out Of The Shadows

I noticed that I went a bit quiet for September, and for the most part, October.

Most of September was spent revolving around my excursion to ITU Worlds in Australia, then once I got back, I had all that trouble with Little Miss Crazy (shall we call her LMC from now on? Deal). Since her vigil over me actually concerned me to the extent where I didn't want to write anything, I stayed under wraps for a little while.

Then Ben got killed, and I actually couldn't sit at a computer (or anywhere) for longer than five minutes before breaking down into a small wreck. Now, I don't really see myself ever getting over that one of my besties died before we turned 25, and his family never had him home for one more Christmas, but I've started to get to the point now where I don't want to cry 24/7. Strangely, it helped that yesterday I had an afternoon nap with a dream where we all got to say goodbye for real. It was unnerving, because we'd had the funeral and he was with us, helping us paint the house, but I got my last hug from Ben, and one last smile. I woke up in tears, but feeling strangely calm.

Words to express how I feel about Ben's death still escape me, and I don't know if I'll ever find them. But, I think it's okay. He knew I appreciated his friendship, and adored him. He knew we thought he was awesome.


Anyway, it's November tomorrow, and the Summer Session looms. I start on November 9th, so I dare say the month of November will be a quiet one on here. I suppose I have nine days of rampant blogging until then, so... here's to making the most of it!

Over and out.