I have misgivings about this mission but deep down I know we're doing the right thing

#2 Make alphabet cubes
Finished! Finally. I've taken a long time to get to this point with the alphabet cubes. It seemed both too easy and too hard. The weather didn't help - it's been so cold that I've been wrapped up in blankets and haven't been able to do any crafty things. However, after a concentrated effort last weekend they were mostly finished. Then on Saturday night I finished stitching the last one up. It was very exciting. Pictures to come.

#29 Learn basic Spanish
In honour of this year TDF winner, Carlos Sastre, I have purchased a Basic Spanish audio kit ready to start learning. I've also bought a book for Latin American Spanish speakers becasue it has some good advice - listen as much as you can before trying to speal. Spanish DVDs, here I come.

#76 Attend films I want to see - by myself if necessary
Ongoing task. I went to see 9 Film Festival movies, taking a couple of days off. All very interesting although the one I think I enjoyed the least was the one I was really looking foward to. Dead parents seemed to be the theme of the day. Not by choice. V. strange.
Barefoot Cinema - NZ Documentary. Alun Bollinger and his wife Helen (Albol + Helbol) talk about their lives and his career. Fascinating insight into someone who is able to live the way he wants and work the way he wants. Well, the way they want really. (The kind of people that I wish I could be if only there wasn't so much work and so little luxury involved.)
Encounters at the End of the World - Discovery Channel documentary with German director/narrator. V. funny documentary about workers in Antarctica. nice study of just how strange the environment (and people) are.
Garbage Warrior - Discovery Channel documentary. About an eco-architect and his crew. All the best and the worst of the eco-sustainable movement and the best and the worst of modern society and governance. Happily it looks as though eco-architect and clients are legally able to build their houses now.

Jinx Sister - NZ drama. Languid, powerful, amazing acting. Excellent script, good characters - can hardly tell it was made on a shoestring budget. (About two sisters who have coped with the death of their father (then mother) in different ways. One has been in LA and has now come back to NZ.)

O'Horten - um, Norwegian (?) drama/comedy. Random events that individually are hilarious and poignant but together add up to a very Odd film. Mother is dying.

The Savages - USA drama. Excellent performances by the two leads. About a brother and sister dealing with their father's slide into senility and his eventual death. (Their lives seem to start after he is dead and they no longer have to deal with their feelings about him.)

A Song for Good - NZ drama. A couple of unnecessary scenes which make the story about characters other than the main. Strange ending but appropriate to the movie. (Main character's mum is dead.)
Trouble is My Business - NZ documentary. Assistant Principal with responsibility for student wellbeing at Aorere College in South Auckland deals with truancy, fighting, racism, self-esteem etc. Powerful documentary which shows the struggle that schools have to keep students at school let alone teach them something. Very emotionally intelligent teacher. (Unfortunately will never be on TV; it deserves a wide NZ audience. )
Welcome to the Sticks - French comedy. Cute little film but I don't understand this thing about v. attractive women with averagely attractive men. v. funny in parts that weren't focused on the language difference. (no dead parents!)

Alas poor Bill, I knew him not at all

#2 Make alphabet cubes
Letters stuck onto the fabric. Stitching around the edges with black thread to keep them on. I suspect they may fray. Never mind.

#20 Learn 10 poems by heart
Does Hairy MacLary count as a poem? It does now baby! "Out of the gate and off for a walk went Hairy MacLary and his mates."

#35 Cook through the Edmonds cookbook
I'm enjoying the baking side of this. Not so much the cooking. Mostly a matter of scale but also baking is easy - measure right, mix it well (ot not) shove it in the oven, pull it out, add icing (or not) slice and eat. Cooking = chop chop chop measure add add add add add add add sizzle watch baste watch stir watch eat.

Bees on a plane

#66 Attend some festival events - arts, literature, movies etc
Lunch with Michael Pollan on Thursday and then a Greens Party hosted Michael Pollan talk. (I was quite ticked off about this - no mention of the Greens on the promotional material and the signs all said "Greens Conference this way" NOT "Michael Pollan this way". Pity cause I had to get over that to hear what they had to say.) Quite different atmospheres (and fashion) at each event. The Lunch was very much pretty people...well, I was lucky enough to get on a front table with looked across at the slebs table. Nicely dressed people in fashionable clothes. Oh and delicious food. (In the goodie bag was a copy of the restaurant's recipe book. yum yum!) The focus was very much on food and the importance of good food and how chefs are really leading the appreciation for good food. The evening session was more about the environmental implications of the way we produce our food. Different information came out of each one so I'm glad I got to see both. Unfortunately that's all I could afford to go to out of the Auckland Readers and Writers Festival. Maybe next year?

#3 Volunteer for Project K
Putting this off. After discussion with jojomojo I decided it woldn't be fair on anyone if I did the training and then went off to Australia in the middle of my year. It was a hard decision to make. I'm really keen but I do also have to be reaslistic about it. jjmj says that I'd probably get quite keen and then be disappointed if I had to pull out. probably for the best...

#67 Figure out carbon footprint and reduce where I can
Found a good website to do this. Am going to plan out steps that I can take to do this. Will probably include...
Carless days
Growing salad in containers
Using less water - shorter showers, shorter wash cycles
Reducing use of electricity - turning things off at the wall so they're not on standby
Reducing packaging - buying things that aren't prepackaged or reusing bags
Reuseable shopping bags
Bokashi (Sometimes you've got to spend money to reduce.)

Off the grid

I'm off to #66 Attend some festival events - arts, literature, movies etc . Lunch with Michael Pollan (and lots of other peoples) and then another event tomorrow.

Only a theatre event to go for completion of this task.

Less talky, more...smashy

#7 Visit all Auckland Regional parks

I went to the opening of the latest ARC park yesterday - Atiu Creek. We are so fortunate to have it AND it was gifted. The ARC team have worked hard to develop it into a park as the previous owners handed it over only three years ago. That might sound like a long time but I imagine there is a lot of work that goes into organising the walks, creating paths, laying roads, changing the land from a farm into a park etc. We were lucky yesterday in that we could drive much further into the park than would normally be allowed. That meant the starting points for the walks were different to the sheet of paper. Unfortunately I was on the other side of the park having lunch during the opening ceremony...I'd been walking for about an hour and I was hungry! It was great to just laze about on the grass and read my book. The park is huge! I'm really really looking forward to going back and having another look.

Pic - Entrance to the park, 69.5km from the Orewa BP.

#60 Take part in an event for charity

Did this today. A lovely walk along the beach along with a number of other people - 100+ I'd say. A few dogs and a few pushchairs. Kudos to those mums, I found it hard enough to get myself going! (Well, not really.) It was hot work but I think I was clippin' along at a good pace.

Pix - at the start; along the beach; "Did you really walk 4km?"

what we have here is a failure to masticate *

#37 See a film at the Matakana theatre
I went to see "Once" in Matakana last night. Bit of a trek to get up there (80mins return) but the theatre was lovely and the film was great. I had a chocolate ice-cream waffle cone and a flat white. I could have had a glass of wine but it was dark and scary out there on the roads so coffee seemed like the best option. I was in the Roxy theatre - styled in blue fabrics woven across the ceiling with flocked wallpaper on the walls. Very comfy seats and a good sized side table. There are lazy boys at the front of the theatre but I think you'd have to crane your neck up to see the screen. Guess that's why the seats recline!

COMPLETE/ONGOING
I've adjusted a few of the completed/in progress tasks to "COMPLETE/ONGOING" to better describe their nature. After all, #9 Meditate should be an ongoing process and having listed as complete does not really say what I'm aiming for.
Here's a list...
#9 Meditate
#25 Live eco-smart - recycling etc
#68 Replace lightblubs with eco-friendly ones
#76 Attend films I want to see - by myself if necessary

* David Hewlett on the messy eating habits of his son

large following among the tech demographic

#49 Read Montana fiction winners of the last 10 years
1999 The vintner's luck / Elizabeth Knox.
1998 Live bodies / Maurice Gee.

And thus concludes my romp through the Montana Fiction winners of the last 10 years.

Checking these two against my previously list of Montana characteristics...

• authors surnames usually start with J or G (close:check)
• they like multiple narratives and multiple narrators (close:close)
• recurring themes are drugs (nope:nope); sex (check:check - but not the good kind); murder (check:nope); homosexuality (check check - with an angel no less!:nope); illness (check:check - bonus points for mental illness); detachment from regular society (close-ish (for a bit of the story): mmm, not so much)

there is nothing to bicker about

#60 Take part in an event for charity
I think my participation in this is dead in the water. After finding a team and training seriously for it, two team members pulled out or rather, defected to another team. Then the other person (LoM who has been frustratingly silent about the whole thing) pulled out too. I foolishly said that I'd refund their money which means I'm stuck with the $500 registration fee unless OXFAM take pity on me and refund it. It's so close now though that I'm not sure they will.

The closeness to the event is the main reason I think it won't be a goer. I haven't managed to find either 3 people to join me or a team to join so although I was staying positive about it 3 days ago now I'm all "Fuck it. I'll watch TV instead."

so there is something good to come out of the whole ugly debacle.

buck up carson *

#9 Meditate
Doing before I go to sleep each night. Mostly it's a white light/aura expansion thing but every so often I throw in a little chakra imaging as well. I'm not sure if I'm doing it correctly, or rather most effectively. It's fun though and really interesting to see/feel how long it takes to get centered each night.

* Col. Sheppard to Dr Beckett in Stargate Atlantis

Riding, riding

#20 Learn 10 poems by heart
Recited "The Highwayman" in the dark by the campfire. Not perfect but I think it counts.