Vicarious Thoughts

Hi everyone

I’ve been avoiding posting anything recently as I wanted to make today special since it’s the first day of the calendar year and a wonderful time to start afresh.
Over the past few weeks I’ve been slowly mapping out my goals for 2009 and I decided to restart my 101 in 1001 as well. There’s only a little overlap between my goals for the year and my 101 in 1001 list which I think is good. In my mind, the purpose of a 101 in 1001 list is to attempt things that you probably wouldn’t think to put on a goal listand not a replacement for one. I’ve been looking for inspiration to fill the gaps I’ve made on my previous list due to either completing the task or reevaluating how much I’m actually interested in doing the task. I surprised myself and actually completed 8 tasks despite not really concentrating on the list for most of the year. I completed: Buying a photo printer, Spending time by myself in a cafe, Getting digital photos printed and framed, Collect and grow my own seeds, Donate my time to a worthy cause, Eat a deep-fried moro bar, Go to a street fair or parade and Frame favourite photos.
I’ve decided against reviewing 2008 publicly and I’m shying away from doing it privately as well. The overall feeling I get is one of all-over-the-place-ness and that I lost a lot of time due to minor ailments. It would appear that I’m slow to recover from illnesses despite working hard on boosting my immune system and having normal (or even exemplary) test results.

So some of my goals for 2009:

Sadly, due to a sudden viral attack which involved a trip to an emergency doctor and the ensuing fatigue and sleep, I’m out of the running having missed both Saturday’s and Sunday’s posts.
Nevertheless, I’m going to press on and keep posting – later.

Sooo … exciting stuff here. It’s Friday night and I’m watching an episode of Bones while chipping away at an overflowing Intray.

Got up early this morning and had a productive few hours. The weekend is looking rather busy to someone with limited energy at the moment, and I know I’m unlikely to get some of the things I was looking forward to do this past week done. I’ve been clearing my schedule to work on some personal stuff and my darling husband has been busy filling it up again.

You’ll have to excuse my being brief, the cold/’flu thing that I’m over – it’s unleashed a new phase involving my throat and that makes me grumpy.

Okay I’m going back to transcribing a huge stack of my enthralling notes for the past two months.

Quite grumpy at the diary-ness these blogposts are getting. I’m aiming for a content filled Saturday post – so chastise me if I lapse back into a diary one please ;)

Edit: Bones has finished and my intray is empty – I wish the same could be said of my desk!

Been out all afternoon/evening in Palmy doing errands and had a big sleep in beforehand so don’t have much to say really. The out of the blue heavy bursts of rain continue to occur – I think most people are thoroughly sick of the rain, wind and cold weather (snow in November!) and can we have some Spring/Summer weather please! Missing Hamilton – we had the pool ready to roll in October so definitely able to swim in November, not so here. Plans for the garden are falling behind simply because it’s too cold for the seeds to germinate.
Spent the evening tidying up in my office as things have gotten a tad overwhelming. Everything’s ready for the morning though – It’ll be a new day :)

Just realised I forgot to publish yesterday’s blogpost – I was that tired!

The internet is abuzz with chatter over the US Election and Obama winning. I thoroughly enjoyed both presidential candidates post-election speeches, and think supporters of both parties should be proud of their respective candidates. Many people said they were in tears over Obama winning or over his speech, but for me the tear-jerking moment was the talk of how people congregated in the streets to celebrate, and the joyous feel that surrounded that happening. It’ll be interesting to see what Obama does in his new role – and ditto for his wife.
I guess I need to learn a bit about the way elections are run in the United States as it took me a while to get how Obama had won by a landslide when the popular vote looked so close.
I clearly didn’t find a decent TV feed to watch as they all seemed rather dry and boring, so I followed the election via Twitter and a couple of sites that had interactive maps. I listened/watched the Bryan Park video feed and I don’t know whether it was the feed itself but the quality and stop/start of the video (despite sound being find) rather frustrating. I also couldn’t work out what the hell weird dress Michelle Obama was wearing – due to the quality, the dress really chopped her body in half – and rather strangely at that. Anyhow – I got to hear everything which is the main bit and I liked what I heard (well, wasn’t overly keen on all the what I guess were campaign associated songs?
Best of Luck to the US – hope the new guy does a better job. :)

Definitely need to start these blogposts earlier in the day!

The good news is I’m on the mend! :)

Today has flown past for the most part – I suspect this has a lot to do with the ‘flu. I don’t remember being so hungry when I’ve had the ‘flu before! I’ve resolved not to go look this “symptom” up on the web as that leads one down the slippery slope of hypochondriacism and I really don’t need to take that role on as well :P

Looking forward to the US Elections being over – and the NZ ones for that matter. I’ve made my decision and I want to vote and see the results already damnit.
We drove past a polling booth today and I almost pulled in. I’m picking up voting paper bits tomorrow though, so I guess it would have made things a little more complicated without them.

• I haven’t enjoyed the trash-others campaigning, and I have my fingers crossed that those tactics will be shelved next time.
• I would like to see more referendums in the future (preferably near) with the proviso they are straightforward yes or no questions – that doesn’t seem like too much to ask really.
• I personally can see the wisdom in moving to 4 years between elections, and I expect it will be raised in the coming term effective for the next term.
• I’m a little alarmed at the number of people I’ve spoken to who have mentioned they’d like to go back to FPP – what is up with that? You liked the idea of only two parties?
• I wonder what would happen if people stopped trying to analyse how their vote would work and just simply voted for who they want. Oh, and stopped thinking of it as two parties with some little ones – irregardless of how I’m voting, why do we have to have two main parties? I wonder, based on what I’m reading regarding potential outcomes, whether this has anything to do with the way the rules for MMP are written – perhaps with a bias towards having two main parties?
• I get that MMP has flaws and is annoying, but FPP was simply too simple and I dunno, do we all want to vote electorally anymore? I mean, I feel like I’m more part of the global community so I’m happy to vote on a national level – but on an electorate level, it just feels too small. It’s not like the local candidates have been advertising what they’ll do for the electorate anyhow. Maybe this is what happened in the days of FPP – which was incidentally before the internet became mainstream and I think that has had an impact on the way we look at the world, nation and local arenas. On the otherhand, I see reports talking about how a particular town votes one way, and this little town over here votes another so maybe people like myself *steams up fingernails and buffs them on sleeve* are still in a minority (or the reporting is at fault – yay, let’s all blame the media :)
• I also wonder what would happen if we removed the electoral vote component altogether, were given say 20 votes each and could then use those vote for any potential MPs of any party irregardless of where they’re affiliated. You’d be able to put many votes against one potential MP up to your total. There are flaws of course – as with any harebrained scheme.
  • How would you deal with voting papers with more than 20 votes on them?
  • You’d probably have to vote by mail as the paperwork would be too arduous for a polling booth.
  • How would new potential MPs get a leg in the door so to speak?
  • Another flaw with this idea is that it would likely turn into a bit of a popularity competition with individuals – though do we not have that problem already?

I like the idea of a wide range of opinions being in parliament, that have all been specifically voted in by the people, and who aren’t going to resort to the kindergarten antics which make me cringe whenever I get the bizarre urge to watch the House of Representatives at work! Have you noticed the media shy away from using the term that we learned in school, preferring to call it simply Parliament or the House, thereby avoiding inferring those people bickering in there – we voted for them! In fact, comparing the House of Representatives to an Early Childhood Education facility has become cliche – what does that say?

As a kid my mum took me to sit in the public gallery, and whilst the highlight may have been Muldoon having a tanty and stomping out, it was nothing like what you see today. I got to see stuff happen. I remember being in awe of seeing part of a future law being discussed. I’m not sure I’d be as proud as my mum was to take my daughter into the gallery. I may applaud the diversity we’re seeing in the seats below the gallery now, but I certainly don’t applaud the behaviour and I hope this election brings in a bit more decorum amongst the new representatives – though I have to admit I’m not holding my breath. :)
On the other hand, maybe I do need to delve back and compare hansard reports from yipes, 20 years ago now, to today’s and maybe I’ll find things haven’t changed a bit. I don’t know, I classify the creation and refinement of laws as being something that should be taken very seriously. The same seriousness of Citizenship Ceremonies, Marriages and Court Proceedings. Sure a bit of levity doesn’t hurt, but not to the detriment of getting the job done.
Remember these people we’re voting in are supposed to be representing us! What does their behaviour and our acceptance of it, say about us?

I have the ‘flu. Fun! Especially when you spend most of the day not realising you have stuff you can take to ease the symptoms! Double Fun!

Speaking of fun, check this out – Speeding Ticket

Hi all,

Due to the late hour, the up and down day I’ve had, grumpy daughter, charming bout of hayfever (my nose feels like it could explode) and the distinct possibility I’m getting whatever illness my daughter has, welcome to the cliffnotes for today:

• I’ve lost my pen 3 times today – which is really dreadful considering I *always* have one on hand.
• Been playing with the 2009 planner supplies which arrived last week and most of yesterday involved perving at what other’s have done with their planners and looking at what’s been updated/changed in the DIY Planner world. Also checking out all the expensive planners to see what they have (or more accurately, haven’t) added to their repertoire.
• My attempts to find a short-term replacement for my office chair (on which I sit for a substantial portion of my day given a change) have been fun but unsuccessful. Yesterday I pushed, bumped and banged one of the lounge suite seats in front of my desk. It was great in that I could snuggle with my ill daughter all day comfortably, Tigger (the cat) loved the added comfort in inarguably the best room in the house when the fire is off, and I could mouse of the arm of the sofa with a keyboard on my lap (child and/or cat willing of course). The downsides were that I was sitting quite a lot lower than normal and as a result my lovely large desk became something you stored things on rather than a workspace, climbing over the back of the chair to get in and out of it was cumbersome (and as a result found myself going to do something and then thinking “Meh! I’ll do it later”), cumbersome also = charming bruises in my realm, and well, at the risk of getting all Goldilocks on you, it was simply too soft and comfy. I’ve returned to the previous option of the dining table chair for the meantime.
• We went with some friends on a drive today to check out the River Access in the area and the Rangitikei River has changed a lot since last year. The road we normally take has disappeared rather dramatically into the river and really drove home how alive and changeable rivers, like other parts of nature, can be. I also discovered that while I didn’t do too badly, I need to brush up on my weed identification skills. Thankfully, we have a couple of books that will come in handy for that.

See you tomorrow!

Hi there,

November brings in the beginning of the 10th NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) which is an event celebrated by the feverish pounding of keys around the world. From a naming perspective, the opposite of the World Series I guess.
Don’t worry though, whilst doing NaNoWriMo is on my 101in1001 list, I haven’t given in to the insanity yet.
Instead, I’ve set my sights on a goal which is an offshoot of NaNoWriMo – NaBloPoMo (National Blog Post Month) in which people, like myself, attempt to post to their blog everyday for a month. For me this is attempt to jump back on the horse, as it were, since I have failed miserably at doing Blog365 (a blog post daily for a year, as you’ve no doubt surmised) and the similarly minded Project365 (taking a photo daily for a year) this year.

Other events inspired by NaNoWriMo starting this month include:

• NaPlWriMo – National Playwriting Month. Not to be confused with Script Frenzy
• NaPodPoMo – National Podcast Posting Month
• NaKniSweMo – National Knit a Sweater Month, in it’s third year :)
• NaSoAlMo – National Solo Album Month

I know there are many others including a photo related one which I can’t for the life of me locate right now. And of course there are other events like NaNoEdMo (National Novel Editing Month) in which people, you guessed it, edit their novels from November.

So there you have it, my first post in a long time, and the completion of Day 1 of NaBloPoMo 2008 for me! May the rest of the day’s posts occur slightly earlier but occuring at all is good :)

So I’m in the midst of catching up with my reading. Since I last reported back, I’ve read:

• Wyrd Sisters – Terry Pratchett
• Pyramids – Terry Pratchett
• Deadly Decisions – Kathy Reichs
• Fatal Voyage – Kathy Reichs
• Grave Secrets – Kathy Reichs
• Bare Bones – Kathy Reichs

Can you tell I rediscovered Kathy Reichs work? Whilst I whizzed through the first three Kathy Reichs in that list, the last one – Bare Bones, was a different story. I put the book down with about a fifth of the story to go purely because I had to do something else and then it just sat there being avoided for the next few weeks. I picked it up again the other day because it’s more than due back at the library and whipped through it wondering why I hadn’t finished off this interesting story. I’m quite keen to read the next book in the series though I know I should be getting through the existing piles of books. I’ve slipped back into my old habits and have read a sizeable amount of romances and have also recently been through a period where I could only keep my eyes open for a few pages before giving up in disgust at my inability to stay awake.
My current book is Guards! Guards! by Terry Pratchett and I hope to have it finished in the next two days.

As far as 101 in 1001 is concerned – I should have read 21 books by now and be almost finished my 22. Instead my total is 8 going on 9. So a bit of catching up to do there and unless I have a lot of time on my hands in the short term this will probably require a concerted effort to catch up within 6 months. Not to worry :)
I have to say I’m quite surprised at how little I’m reading – though I guess that’s not entirely accurate as I’m still reading a lot, just not as many books as ebooks, websites, rss feeds, articles etc. This probably explains why the physical books to read are piling up.

Speaking of books piling up, I snaffled up some more books during the booksale season in Autumn. Not only did I get to go to do the customary Palmerston North Red Cross Book Sale, but the Palmerston North City Library held a sizeable booksale at the Convention Centre and the Rangitikei District Libraries held a book sale at the Bulls Town Hall as part of the centenary of the Bulls Library.
Overall I think, though it was the smallest, the Bulls Booksale was the best of the lot. I walked away with a huge box of Children’s non-fiction including some nice reference works for I think it was $30. It probably helped that we arrived not long after it had opened and the volume of people in the room at all wasn’t huge til we were on our way out the door.
The Red Cross Book sale was better than the previous year, but I made some silly purchases that lessened the delight once we’d got home and opened all the bags. Last year the plan to visit the individually priced section paid off, whereas this year there was a lot of good books in the main area (especially in the children’s non-fiction section – which I couldn’t figure out how that could happen!). Best buys there were uncovering a treasure trove of primary school teachers guides and the like. I spent about $300 *gasp*, but on the upside I scored myself an awesome carpark only a few metres from the door care of my vast past experience of the event which came in handy as this year it rained yet again!
The PNCL Booksale is the hardest to recall. I know I filled two grocery bags and that there were slim pickings in the children’s non-fiction (though with the Red Cross Book Sale a few weeks later that became a non-issue). As I recall, the prices were low but I don’t think I had overly full bags when I left and came in under the budget of $50. Next year I’ll definitely be a bit more conservative with the book sale purchasing. We’ve got a nice range at present and I think the gaps might have to filled with brand-new books, which is a scary thought. As it is, I’ve been banned from obtaining more bookshelves – which isn’t that surprising as there are precious few places we could put any more. Though I must say we could always replace some of the existing ones with taller ones – Oops bad thought! :)

Though I won’t go into much detail, earlier this year I did splurge a bit and made an Amazon purchase of some homeschool-type books which I knew I’d have difficulty finding secondhand and cost simply too much firsthand in New Zealand. I know we need to get a few modern guidebooks based in New Zealand and I’m dreading purchasing them due to the cost – I’m such a skinflint at odd moments.