Select 'tree planting' *

#66 Attend some festival events - arts, literature, movies etc
This has been a really rewarding thing to do. Even if it's taken me two years and 5 or 6 festivals to complete it. The last set of shows were all part of the Auckland Festival 2009. A bit of dance, some theatre, some music and a couple of circus acts all combined for a very life affirming and joyful couple of weeks. Thanks AK09. If I'd have had more money (or more space on Mr Mastercard) I would have tried to stuff more shows in.

#4 Go to a concert
One of the things I went to was Besser and Bravura a Twilight Music concert. I didn't have a clue what I was going to , only that it would fill in the time between work and a late night show nicely. Little did I know that it would be very affecting. A group of musicians (minus one who was off with his wife while she had their baby) including the composer playing various compositions. I loved the Tangiers one (world premier!) and Turn (?). One hour was over very quickly.

#36 Spend a night on Tiritiri Matangi Island
I haven't managed to spend a night on Tiritiri Matangi Island but I did finally get there. Tyla and I spent a nice sunny sunday wandering around the island. (saw two ex-workmates there - who'da thunk it??) I think the spaces are usually used for researchers so maybe sometime during the holidays? (Do researchers get holidays?)

* From the ARC website

he says okey dokey *

# 29 Learn basic Spanish
I've enrolled in a community education course to learn basic spanish. We reached the limit of my spanish in one evening. eek! still can't spell the words properly.

#34 Attend a music at the zoo concert
Have booked my ticket. couldn't find anyone to go with so am going by myself. Planning menu soon.

#39 '26 things' Flickr challenge
Completed this. It's no longer based off Flickr although that's where the majority of people save their photos. I found out about it late then put it off so most of the photos are taken on the very last day of January 2009. Most of the time I like my idea but not the execution so much. Favs - in the distance, twin, different, everything.

#66 Attend some festival events - arts, literature, movies etc
The Auckland Festival is coming up and I have booked/will be booking for 5 shows. go me! I have dance, circus, theatre, circus and theatre in my list. no opera. (not my bag baby.)

* Supernatural

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.

Read me and release me

#47 Walk the isthmus
This is so worth doing. It took LoM and I 5.5 hours but would have taken less if we hadn't have stopped for jet planes and coffee and scones and to read memorials and take pics plus other detours along the way. Landmarks are surprisingly close together - for example, 20 mins (a few mins to take a pic of the Maidment theatre and a few more to pointedly not look at a couple film sets by the university (modern cars AND horses? WTF)) from the Domain to the Viaduct.

We started at lunchtime (had to see the Rugby World Cup final first) after a complicated "park your car and we'll pick you up then The Farrier will drop us off" maneuver. It goes from Beachcroft Ave park in Onehunga up through Jellicoe Park, Royal Oak, One Tree Hill Domain (Maungakiekie), down through Cornwall park along Pohutukawa Drive then Puriri Drive, through Melville Park, past the Auckland College of Education, up Mt Eden (Maungawhau) along past Auckland Grammer, across the motorway, through Outhwaite park, up and down through Auckland Domain, past the university then Albert park, through some little back streets, along Customs Street, past Britomart and the Ferry building to finally officially end by a souvenir shop at the Viaduct but unoffically end at O'Hagens pub for wedges and beer. Or it goes the other way, it depends on what you want to do. I decided that South to North and Suburb to City was the way to go. I think it was the right choice. (Onehunga was a bit grim in the cloudy half light when we started and would have been worse in the drizzle at the end. And there wasn't a pub, only a scungy old toilet block.)

#66 Attend some festival events - arts, literature, movies etc.

Second dance show for Tempo dance festival was Touch Compass 10 year anniversary show. Absolutely brilliant. I'd forgotten how innovative they can be. Fantastic use of wires to fly people over and around each other. A couple of funny films too. Plus the dancers actually look as if they are enjoying each other and the work. Favourite piece - Hephaestus and Ares - the disabled god of the forge interacts with his brother the god of war. Magical.

Where school children and tarantulas live

Doing this

#47 Walk the isthmus

tomorrow before the second dance show for

#66 Attend some festival events - arts, literature, movies etc.

Read another one of these

#70 Read the books I own but haven't read.


Bought the following things for this


#46 Assemble Civil Defence kit
4 litres of water (total 9 litres)
1 large can spaghetti
1 large can baked beans
1 can mince
1 pack uncle toby's rice pre-cooked
1 large can peaches
1 small can cat food

Hoping that the timing will work for a bus tour that will incorporate this

#81 Do a local wine tour

and this

#77 Walk around an outdoor sculpture park.

The weather is better, so, after a bike service, I'm hoping to do this

#85 Cycle to Bees Online from my place

although I guess I should do this

#98 Change a cycle flat in under 10 mins

first.

Can we be like the biscuits of today?

#66 Attend some festival events - arts, literature, movies etc.

Two more films today. One in the Academy Theatre which has comfy seats but an aisle down the middle meaning noone gets to sit centre screen.

"The Planet" - about global change (not just climate change) and how humans have affected the earth. A bit like a music video at times (pulsating bass with environmental sounds and conversation snippets) but also inspiring and depressing all at the same time. Some very interesting talking heads. The experts did come out at the end and say what they thought we could do - it's all about getting to a tipping point of positive public opinion and action before we get to the tipping point of global decline.

"How to cook your life" - About a zen chef (tenzo?) who teaches cooking at the same time as dispensing wisdom. Sounds a bit pretentious but was quite enlightening. Actually resonated with me quite a bit as I'm learning a lot during my quest to cook through the Edmonds. It's not about the cooking or the baking, it's about other things.

#74 Cook risotto from scratch

Last night I cooked Jamie Oliver's pumpkin risotto. It took ages but was worth the effort in the end. Next time I think I will pick the thyme leaves off before I start cooking AND leave out either one of the three dairy ingredients that get added in at the end. The recipe didn't say to leave any of them out but all three made it very cheesy and rich. Tasty but. We ended up with heaps so it was lucky that LoM was over for dinner. (#40 Share a meal with friends or family every two months.) Oh, and I knocked 3 more recipes off the #35 Cook through the Edmonds cookbook as well.

Shut up just shut up shut up *

#57 Have a cheap-as-chips movie day - all movies, all day
(also counts for #66 Attend some festival events - arts, literature, movies etc. and #76 Attend films I want to see - by myself if necessary)

Done and done. Four movies in one day. I thought they started at 11am and that I'd missed the start because of the traffic. Then it turns out they started at 11:30am so all was good.


First two films were at Sky City village theatre. Nice, comfy seats and places to put your drink. Next one was at the Civic. Luckily it was a short one becaus those seats weren't very comfortable. Plus I got an itch and fidgeted all the way through the film. The last one was at the SkyCity Theater. Comfy seats but nowhere to put a drink except on the floor. And they had the sound too loud. I kept wanting to put my hands over my ears!

"A world of shorts" - Short films from around the world. Top one - "Family Reunion"About a girl from Iceland who has moved to New York. She has a girlfriend there who her family doesn't know about. Then she goes back to Iceland for a family party where she thinks her secret has been discovered. Excellent twist at the end. Some other thought provoking films in the lot too.
"The great happiness space" - Japanese host clubs where men encourage women to come and party (i.e. get drunk and shout a lot. Oh, and moon over their host.) Very interesting. I thought the host men were a bit like geisha in that they provide support and emotional comfort to the woman who go there. It was quite sad in that host clubs were quite expensive, so to support their 'habit' the women they interviewed had moved into sex trades to get the money. Therefore it was a bit of a revolving circle of sorrow and money and sex and desperate attempts to feel something and manipulation and lies and deceit.
"Manufactured landscapes" - This wasn't what I was expecting so I didn't really get into it until after the film. It was about a photographer who interprets man-made landscapes. During the course of his career he has come across many interesting created landscapes which show the influence that manufacturing has had on the environment and on people's lives. Some of his phtotos were amazing - great, enormous caverns that were quarries, making huge dumptrucks look tiny. Large factories in China where there are over 50 rows of workers (a shot of the factory opened the film. I didn't count but it must have gone on for several minutes, just dolly-ing down the side.) He had a few pictures that showed the end-life of some things we use - ships that are taken apart by hand and computer components that were melted down and all useable metal salvaged. He didn't really come out and say "You idiots! Look what your desire for stuff has done to these people and this country and it will be only a matter of time before this impacts on your lives!" but you could tell that he had thought about the consequences of his actions and what he does etc. I think it would be a good companion piece to "An Inconvenient truth" (which I have not seen) and "The Planet" (which I will see next week.)
"Helvetica" - about the font. Wonderfully done. The font is treated like a person with its history delved into and opinions on it from a number of graphic artists. They are all interesting people if slightly manic. I love the way they describe how the font makes them feel, what it reminds them of and why (or why not) they use it. The most surprising thing to me was how many people were NOT graphic artists (all the articles I've read seem surprised by the opposite.) The director was there and told a great story - apparently he is now tired of Helvetica and sees it everywhere. On Sunday he went out to Piha and climbed Lion Rock. What should he see but Helvetica on the sign. Priceless :) However, his doco was not priceless. All financed by Mr Visa so if you get a chance go see it, buy the DVD and download the music. (All available later this year.)



#87 A-Z reading challenge - titles
"On a hoof and a prayer : around Argentina at a gallop" by Polly Evans.
About a woman who rides around Argentina on a horse.

What did I think?
It was interesting to compare this book with the Llama book. Both women travelling alone. Polly has also written a great book about cycling through Spain. Their attitude was certainly different - Polly being a bit more concerned about appearances and comfort and eating well. This one was okay. Read the book that's "Not about the Tapas" rather than this one for a better travel story. Bussing somewhere and then jumping on a horse was interesting but not as gritty as the cycle story.

*song title/chorus

My tornado hell

#87 A-Z reading challenge - titles
"New Spring" by Robert Jordan
A prequel to his Wheel of Time series which is up to book 11 and still counting. It is the story of Moiraine, how she became Aes Sedai and how she bonded Lan to her.

What did I think?
This is pretty good. I used to read the Wheel of Time series but sort of lost interest when the books a) became big enough to use as door stops, b) contained no movement or story advancement and c) took ages to be published. After reading this I think I'll go back to it. The characters are a bit annoying (does she have to be so snooty? does he have to be so aloof?) so don't start reading unless you love fantasy books and think you might like to start a loooong, epic series.
Fun fact #1 - I always cry a couple of tears in the same place in the first book every time I read it. Every time.
Fun fact #2 - I once walked into a book store and was up at the counter paying for a book in this series before I'd even realised that it was on display. Magic.

This title also counts in #70 Read the books I own but haven't read. Surprinsingly there weren't that many of them. Well, not that many if I don't count the ones I have read and then bought but not read after buying. So far I've read "New Spring" and...
"Wizard of the pigeons" by Megan Lindholm.
About wizards in Seattle - or are they just ordinary people with mental issues?
What did I think?
Loved it. The characters, the situations, the mix of magic and realism. I think there are some fuzzy edges around the plot but I was too busy enjoying myself to care. This author also writes as Robin Hobb who I highly recommend. (Except for her latest which I just couldn't get into.)

I am finally starting to get better. There is still a tiny cough plaguing me but it will hopefully be gone by Monday because I am #66 Attend some festival events - arts, literature, movies etc. I have 4 movies to see as part of the film festival. Since they are cheaper than ordinary movies (because I got in on the earlybird rate) they will count as #57 Have a cheap-as-chips movie day - all movies, all day. I'm really looking forward to them. I used to belong to the film festival when I was just a young thing but somehow I lost sight of how much I enjoyed it. The four films I am seeing on Monday are "A world of shorts" (short films from around the world), "The great happiness space" (Japanese club for women run by men - if you get my drift...), "Manufactured landscapes" (building and progress in China) and "Helvetica" (about the font). There are three others booked on other days too. I'm just ticked I can't afford more films and more time off to see them.

Ice-cream is a food group

#66 Attend some festival events - arts, literature, movies etc

I went to my first festival event! Matariki Breakfast at the Stardome Observatory. Matariki is the celebration of Maori New Year - when the Matariki constellation rises above the horizon before dawn. This constellation is also known as the Pleiades or the Seven Sisters. Apparently every culture in the world has a story about the constellation. It is also visible in the evening during summer - so I might have more success in seeing it in summer then than I did in the morning.

First I was up really early (4am) to drive into town. Of course without any other cars on the road (although I must say I was surprised at the number that were on the road that early on a Saturday morning) it took me half the time that I was expecting it to take so I was super early. Second, when I got to the Stardome I actually pulled into a different parking spot first, blinding two men with the car's high-beams because I thought that they were part of the group but it turns out that they were not, in fact, part of the group but two pissed off citizens of South Auckland doing a deal. (I don't know if that's true but that's what I decided they were as they squinted at me through the windscreen.) Third, the sky had been clear when I checked at 4am but the clouds and wind had got up during my drive in. So after the walk up to the top of One Tree Hill all we could see was cloud and haze along the horizon where Matariki was supposed to be. It was blowing a gale up there! Fourth, our guide did her best - pointing out other stars like the Chief (he stands alone) and Reigel (Puanga) and some other constellations but we didn't have any luck. The clouds covered where Matariki should have been and then when the clouds had gone...the sun was coming up so it was too light. (I was well wrapped up against the cold but I think some others were freezing by the end.)

We did get to go back down to a fantastic, delicious breakfast (not enough coffee for that hour of the morning) plus a zip through what the stars should have looked like in the Stardome theater. Well worth the experience. There's something really elementary about looking at the stars and wanting to know what they are. You can feel a real connection with the ancestors as those were the same stars they were looking at. they bought more coffee out after the shows - but took away the sugar and milk. :)

Most embarassing moment - (LoM would say it was realising that the person walking behind us down the hill could hear every word of our conversation but...) when I went into the stardome the second time and it was dark and I didn't wait to let me eyes adjust so a) I tried to walk up the side of the chairs where there wasn't actually any space and b) eventually walked very quickly into the side of a chair.

#7 Visit all Auckland Regional parks

Also on Saturday LoM and I visited Ambury regional park. It's a cute little farm in the lee of Mangere Mountain. ARC uses it as an educational camping park so there are fun signs on the paddocks with animal picture and names like 'Timmy' (the turkey) and 'Freida' (the pig). We wandered around the animal pens before coming back to see the cows being milked (Amber and Fresia) and pet the calves (not named yet).

It was pretty windy out on the exposed farmland but since I was wearing polypro (whoever invented that stuff deserves a medal, it's brilliant) and a rain jacket I was warm as just popped toast. We ambled round the perimeter track and then took a little side trip toward the bird hide in the Watercare land that is right next to the park. Didn't actually make it to the bird hide as there were some words like 'quiet' and 'move slowly'. There looked to be some really interesting walks out to the stone fields so that might be something for another day.

Funniest moment - watching a brown sheep stalk a pukeko. The pukeko would nibble some grass. The sheep would sneak up behind it without actually looking at it. It would stand there. It would lower its head but not eat any grass. The pukeko would walk away. It would nibble some grass. The sheep would sneak up behind it etc etc. Hai-lari-oos.

Drove over to check out Mangere Mountain but since we'd have to get out of the car to walk to the top (in the wind) flagged it, went home, got changed then went to a couple of cafes. This is something on LoM's list. We managed to get to 2 so that was pretty good.

I got to recite "The Jabberwocky" which of course is poem one for #20 Learn 10 poems by heart. I am onto learning poem number two which is going to be "For the Fallen" by Laurence Binyon. Stanza four is used in military rememberance ceremonies so it is quite an emotional poem because of that.

To top off the day we joined up with some friends and went to see Lobby Hero at Silo. it was excellent. The audience was fairly quiet but warmed up after the interval. It took a little while for the actors to settle into their accents. No problems once they had and we were drawn into the story. Highly recommended. (Great set design too plus good direction.) It doesn't count as #43 See a performance that doesn't include anyone I know since I do know someone in it.

#35 Cook through the Edmonds cookbook

No baking this weekend which I got stick for at work today.