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Thursday, December 9th, 2004
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6:01 pm
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Those of the flist interested in civil rights and gay rights will be interested to know that the New Zealand parliament passed the New Zealand Civil Unions Bill today by a vote of 65 to 55.
Which means gay marriage, more or less, is now legal in New Zealand.
Huzzah!
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| Thursday, November 25th, 2004
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10:50 pm - Imperfect Words
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New Words: 283
Total Words: 283
Reason for stopping: It's almost 11 and I need to go and collect my textbooks so I can take them back tomorrow.
Notes: Not that many words today, partly because I spent a lot of the day getting things sorted out post-exams, and partly out of nerves about actually getting started. But I'm feeling more confident about these words now that I've realised that I can, at least, put words on paper screen. Hopefully there will be more tomorrow once I've done clearance.
current music: Tori Amos - Crucify
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| Sunday, November 21st, 2004
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6:06 pm - triptych
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Gah. I worked 15 hours at the restaurant this week and I am knackered. But it has the advantage of a nice big paycheck (well, compared to what I normally get. It still wouldn't buy diddlysquat for most people).
***
Browsing the Wikipedia article on Wellington while trying to find the longitude and latitude reminded me of a detail that might be of interest to the flist: Wellington sits pretty much on top two huge fault-lines that like to give a kick every now and then just to remind us that they're there. In 1848, Wellington's main shopping street, Lambton Quay, was on the waterfront (thus the Quay).
Then one of the fault-lines gave a kick that registered 8.6 on the Richter scale, a bit north of here, which brought up a large piece of swampy land directly in front of that street. It has since been reclaimed, and is now an important part of the CBD, but Lambton Quay is still Lambton Quay, even though the waterfront is now a good 400 metres away. There are now plaques set into the pavement along Lambton Quay, marking where the waterfront used to be.
***
And now a meme, gacked from ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) pegkerr. Answer as many or as few of these questions as you'd like, or none at all, if you'd like.
1. When did you first "friend" me?
2. Why did you first "friend" me?
3. What posts of mine do you like to read the best?
4. What would you like me to write about that I don't?
5. Do you think we would be friends in real life?
6. How often do you read my journal?
7. What do we have in common?
8. Will you post this in your journal so I can answer?
9. Is there anything you want to ask me that you think you should know about me to avoid the impersonality of the internet that I have not already covered in some TMI post or other?
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| Thursday, November 18th, 2004
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9:31 pm
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You know which question I've never seen answered logically?
Why is it an affront to God for a man to lie with another man as he would with a woman?
current mood:  exasperated
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| Saturday, November 13th, 2004
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11:07 am
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Meh. I didn't even know there were door-to-door evangelists in New Zealand, but apparently there are because they just knocked on my door. I rather suspect they knew that I had no clue who they were and used it to their advantage. I didn't figure it out until I already had two pamphlets in hand, and then I felt bad about handing them back, so instead I just took them. They said they'd be coming back to see what I thought of them .
I think I'll just pretend I've gone out.
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(comment on this)
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| Monday, November 8th, 2004
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5:31 pm - does saying something make it true?
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Ack. The chemistry exam is in two days. Now is not the time to get a cold, or test whether my allergy to fish can be activated by things cooked in the same oil as fish. But now I've done both. Ooh, my head feels fuzzy. I'm not yet retching, however, so things may be looking up on the fish-allergy front.
Must get better before the exam. I must, I must.
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(comment on this)
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| Saturday, November 6th, 2004
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2:05 pm
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| Friday, November 5th, 2004
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5:40 pm
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Merry Guy Fawkes' Night, on the off chance any of you will have a clue what that is.
current mood:  hoping the cats don't go nuts
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(comment on this)
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| Wednesday, November 3rd, 2004
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10:12 am
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I have to ask: what happens now, Mr. Kerry, if it turns out that Ohio goes to you? You're going to look a right twat. Not a good way to start your presidency. There are things that are clever to do, and things that aren't. Who's going to complain if you wait out the count before conceeding, given what happened in 2000?
On the brighter side, at least if Bush wins, he can't run again next time. I know, that's four years away and I shudder to think what could happen in that time. And it will affect everyone. I think Americans tend to forget that when they elect the President, they are basically electing the man or woman who gets to rule the world for the next four years.
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(comment on this)
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| Sunday, October 31st, 2004
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9:38 pm
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A writing update, because it's been a while. I think I have forgotten to mention that I decided the project I was working on before needs some more work and that I'm working on a different one that's much more developed than the other, plot and world-wise. I can feel the world for this one: geography, customs, social structure and all. Hurrah, etc.
Would somebody please inform the Republicans that being a Democrat does not mean that you are unpatriotic or don't support the troops in Iraq? This is a war, these are the soldiers. Not the same thing, okay?
Two and a half days of school to go. Hiho, hiho. And then exams. Whoops, burst my own bubble.
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| Friday, October 29th, 2004
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6:17 pm - from now to earlier
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An update in reverse: from now to earlier.
Now to go and write more practice essays for exams. Honestly. Who ever came up with this whole two-part-question idea? Because it SUCKS.
Today was the last day of the last full school week of the year. And the last Friday of the school year. Wheee! Two more spells of maths. YES!
I got completely distracted this morning by the sign informing me that it's a $20,000 fine for crossing the Rail Corridor. I spent the rest of the walk to school expanding the metaphor: the city is a Rail House, each suburb is a rail Room, stations are Rail Doors, and so on. Now my head is fulled with ideas about a house that thinks it's a city.
I picked up Ex Libris by Anne Fadiman from the library yesterday at eilsor's recommendation and I've already read it most of the way through. Damned good. I have a sneaking suspicion now that I'm cut out to be a proofreader, too. I mean, really? Open 24 hour's? (And on a tangential note: the OED says that straightforward and coordinate a perfectly legitimate, but am I the only one who flinches on reading: Manipulate straightforward coordinate geometry equations?)
Work was quiet for once. It was almost boring, but I'm not going to complain at all. Any night I'm not rushed off my aching feet is a good night.
That is all.
ETA: I lied. That is not all. For a person who comes from a country where interfering with other people's voting (even having 'Vote X!' posters up on polling day or handing out party-specific How to Vote cards) will get your party disqualified or yourself a hefty fine, all this reportage of people being denied their rights to vote in the U.S. election is quite disconcerting.
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(comment on this)
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| Saturday, October 23rd, 2004
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6:10 pm
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There was a riot downtown today.
Or very nearly a riot. The footage they showed on the news ten minutes ago certainly looked like a riot, although I haven't heard of anybody being severely injured, or major damage done.
The National Front -- White Supremesists with the standard delusions of popularity -- marched on Parliament today, protesting against... well. They want New Zealand's British heritage to be protected. Not surprisingly, there was a counter-protest. 50 National Front members against about 400 multi-culturalists and about 100 'Scary Fairies' (er... more multi-culturalists, I think). The police tried to keep them separate, but a few National Front members got mobbed.
Now, New Zealand is pretty damned multicultural. We accept a lot of refugees, as well as people who just move here and the like. It's written into New Zealand law that various taonga (treasures of the Maori people) have to be protected. But the National Front would like to throw that all into the bin. Their leader has been under investigation for the beating of a Somali man, and there's been all sort of trouble over photos of NF members doing Nazi salutes or standing in front of Nazi banners. And then there's the matter of the smashing of a large number of Jewish headstones at Wellington cemetaries and the completely unrelated culling of 'undesirables' (read: people who'd get us in trouble if they were caught) from the Wellington branch of the NF.
What's scarier is that my parents and sister were in town earlier today. But they're all safe. Still bloody scary.
current mood: depressed
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| Friday, October 22nd, 2004
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3:57 pm
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Whee! I made it all the way through my classes today with barely a twinge. I think I'm safe from the inexplicable migraine-flu-thing. AND! It's a long weekend, because of Labour Day. Yes, Labour Day. We have it in October here. Please don't ask. I don't know, either.
AND! I got good grades on my English and Maths internal assessments. Merits both, which is a sorta kinda A-? And those were my last internal assessments, which means that I have 49 credits so far. I need 60 to pass the year, and I have another 105 credits up for grabs in the exams. Who's failing this year? Not me! (Not even if I fall into a coma, because I've taken my mock exams and those will be used to figure out my grades if said coma occurs. Don't you love the way educators' minds work?)
Now I shall go and make a list of things that want Studying before the exams. And then I shall study them.
(You may have noticed by now that I don't pay any attention to the no-conjunctions-to-start-a-sentence rule. Or the a-sentence-needs-a-verb rule. Vive la revolution!)
ETA: How much do I love this site? Let me count the ways. They are two: 1) it's non-partisan, 2) it says Kerry is winning. Also, it has interesting information, like the fact that Bush and Kerry are ninth cousins twice removed, and that Bush currently has 0.7% more of the Texan vote than he did in 2000.
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(comment on this)
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| Thursday, October 21st, 2004
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5:14 pm - stop shouting
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I did actually manage to get through all of two classes today before giving up and coming home.
Actually, Michael told me to go home because I spent the entire time squinting and telling him to stop shouting. I'd swear I wasn't this sensitive to light and noise yesterday, and I can stand up today without feeling dizzy. Robert asked me if my neck was stiff. I've no idea. I don't normally pay that much attention to my neck, funnily enough.
It's probably not meningitis, anyway. I feel fine, as long as I can sit here in this nice, dark, quiet room and write my history essay (on Origins of World War I, because I'm just not in the mood for Samoa).
Aurevoir. Adiós. Whatever.
current mood:  blech
current music: blissful silence.
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| Wednesday, October 20th, 2004
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9:10 pm - no te puedo convencer que no te vendas.
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It is Wednesday night, and I'm not up to my arms in dishwater. It's weird, but nice. Of course, I'm not at work because I spent the whole day home sick with a wonky stomach and an inability to stand up without feeling dizzy.
Discovery du jour: Maths is really, really hard to do lying down with a head ache. Spanish vocabulary, however, is just dandy.
I had a Moment earlier this evening. I stood up and glanced out the window and thought, Ooh, pretty. I like the view out of my window. It's three stories up, and our house is a little way up a mountain, so I can look out over the suburb, and the harbour, and all the way across to the mountains that are pretty much the only thing between me and the South Pole. In spring, the light catches those mountains just the right way at dusk and makes them dark red against a washed-out blue sky. It's brilliant.
And now I think I'll slip back into my stupor and try some French.
On second thoughts, maybe I shouldn't. I'll get my French and Spanish all mixed up. History of Western Samoa, then.
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| Monday, October 18th, 2004
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7:38 pm - ack.
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Oy. I need to study big time. Especially English, History and Maths. 12 days until I go on exam leave. Am going to fail fail fail.
Well. Maybe not, because my cramming skills know no bounds, and I don't really need to study that much for Chemistry, and not at all for French and Spanish. Except that my Spanish teacher is dying for somebody to get five Excellences (that being the highest grade), and I'm her tied-best chance for that.
Right. Time for an amazing big study schedule. But first, a book meme, ganked from... somebody.
( memage )
And now I'm left wondering if there's such a thing as the President's English. Because if there is, you're all doing it wrong. NYOO-KYOO-LAR.
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(1 comment | comment on this)
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| Tuesday, October 5th, 2004
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9:29 pm - Something interesting.
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Your political compass:
Economic Left/Right: -5.38
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -5.28
The Political Compass.
Which puts me right next to Nelson Mandela, the Dalai Lama, Ghandi and the Greens. And directly opposite Ariel Sharon. Huh.
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(comment on this)
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| Friday, October 1st, 2004
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8:57 pm - ngh.
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I just looked at last year's Chemistry papers online. I am trying very hard not to freak out, but there is not a chance that I am going to pass chemistry this year if the papers are as hard as those were. It took me five minutes to even come up with an answer for the first question.
Hell, hell, hell. Five weeks until the exam. And there'll be no time for revision in class, because we haven't even started one of the major topics for the year yet.
In other news, I have 22 windows open (including Firefox tabs). I need to work on this whole saving the document & closing the window concept. No wonder my poor little Presario's run off its feet.
Eeep.
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(comment on this)
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| Wednesday, September 29th, 2004
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3:03 pm - Plot? Where?
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I've just recently watched both Lost in Translation and Whale Rider. Both of the movies have something of a big reputation. Neither of them were exactly what I expected.
Lost in Translation captures perfectly what I call l'esprit du terminal: the adrenaline-fuelled surreal feeling that whatever happens in this place doesn't count when it comes to the Big Audit. But it. Has. No. Plot! Bill Murray cheats on his wife... nothing happens. Bill Murray & Scarlett Johansen kiss... nothing happens. Scarlett Johansen threatens to develop some depth when she starts talking about visiting some Buddhist temples and then... nothing happens. It almost had me tearing my hair out by the end. It was interesting, yes, but it was flat. No conflict, no build up, no climax. Urggle.
Whale Rider, however, was fantastic. I have a tendency to dislike New Zealand cinema on principal, mainly because New Zealanders tend to approach film-making in a jack-of-all-trades manner, when it's so much better if one specialises. But this, I liked. The Maori that it used wasn't the normal cultural-sensitive name-dropping. The story was excellent (which I should have known, given that Witi Ihimaera is a wonderful writer). I suspect that living in New Zealand means that I spotted the stereotypes in the characters better than international watchers, but the stereotypes were still done well. And look, Ma! Conflict, build up, climax, resolution! I really did like this movie.
Voilà. Movie reviews. But I'd better not make this a regular thing, otherwise I'll end up ranting about the blatant product placements in Garfield.
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| Tuesday, September 28th, 2004
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7:39 pm
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At some point I decided that today would be dedicated to world-building. So I loaded up Patricia Wrede's nice big list of world-building questions and a new Word document, and started typing. So far, I have 500 words of notes on the weather. Ho yus. And I have a headache the size of a tyrannosaurus rex from staring at my map and trying to figure out what the weather will be like in various places. Physics, geography and I do not mix.
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