Something you can't live without.

Totally stole this from David's kiwiblog site.

I saw this in Melbourne. Watch it - It's will make you feel better afterward.

Boxes

I don't like to think people can put me in a box; that they can look at the sum of me, and decide - OK - that's who Mark is.
In a way, although many people have tried to do this, I've always sought to have some type of balance in everything I do, a good example of this being my eclectic taste in music.
Last week it slowly dawned on me that I might be slipping into a demographic, without even recognising it; all this because about 8 months ago I joined a local dating website.

I joined match.com basically as a way of meeting new people. I have a lot of friends here in Auckland now and I love them all to death, but it's fair to say that the group I have been mixing in is now quite settled, and meeting new people is difficult. One of our group,Jen summed it up best when she said that she would like to meet someone when she was most happily being herself. Her idea was; when someone saw you being happy in your life/work/self, they would be more likely to like you for the same reasons you liked yourself. For that reason she always believed that she was more likely to find someone through a less immediate social contact than Internet dating. I have to say - I agree wholeheartedly; but after some needling from others I gave it a go anyway. I hate it.

Still, I have met some nice people online. Recently, however, I have backed off the whole Internet dating scene - simply because I've had a lot of other things on. The other day however, I received an interesting email from a girl from Wellington, who worked in the Financial sector.

I emailed her back, but I was a bit suspicious. I actually emailed her profile to another friend to see what she thought. The next day another email popped into my mailbox, telling me about herself, and that she was a child psychologist. I pretty much knew something was up - I mean how many child psychologists work in the financial sector? I wrote back, and giving her the benefit of the doubt, asking her if she was actually in Wellington. Nope - you guessed it - she was from one of the Baltic States.

In some ways I was conflicted about how to proceed with this. Perhaps this was a genuine person, who is attractive, and bright, with a University degree, just trying to make a better life for herself?
My cynical self though it more likely the emailer was a 56-ish year old man with a bevy of photographs of young women, waiting for his next Western Union transfer from some poor idiot somewhere else in the world that just wants to get laid.
Regardless - I'm not even interested in dating someone in another city - let alone another country, so I guess I'll pull the plug either way. Who would have though someone would have profiled me for this sort of bullshit?

It's weird, but a part of me hopes she isn't "real" - so because of this I guess you can put me in the "Sap box" then :)

I get bothered about stuff.

Moustache's - what the hell ya hiding fella?
As if women find the moustache sexy. So you grow this slug of facial hair above your lip, and let it catch anything and everything that comes near your mouth or nose. It's fair to say that I simply don't trust moustache wearers, and frankly I hope the trend doesn't catch on - lest I become ever more un-hip. The thought of someone with a "mo" getting more than me is very depressing - mainly because this is actually happening.

Sidewalk Dining - So you wanna eat where people walk?
Not to be confused with Courtyard dining - I believe the coup de grace was suckering the public into eating on the sidewalk. I can just picture it - a restaurateur worried about how he's going to fit all his diners in. He discusses this with his head waiter, and he joking suggests they can sit them outside the restaurant on the sidewalk. Like that's going to work - how did we fall for it?

Inconsiderate drivers
Merging into a long lane of waiting traffic at the last minute because they rate themselves higher than those who wait in line. The merging creates that line mister. Why do normally nice people get into cars and become complete arseholes? Be nice - and unless your wife is about to have a damn baby in the back seat - just get into the damn line!
Do you drive your mother to church in that car?

Sorry - When you've got writers block, a rant is good for the soul. :)

Fidelity

I would like to point out that I've had this album for over a year now, and am in not in any way posting this song because of any damn Xtra/Yahoo promotion on the TV!!! :)

Be

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking, so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine as children do. It's not just in some of us; it is in everyone. And as we let our own lights shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.

Marianne Williamson

Wise Up - Aimee Mann

Got a few hours?

Looking for a challenging little film that will blow you out of the water - if you could only handle the subject matter?

Look no further than Magnolia - a film reputedly based partly on the song writing of Aimee Mann. It's a total mind-frak, and coincidentally, the best acting I've ever seen Tom Cruise do.

Be brave. And don't blame me if you don't like it !

For some reason i cant embed the video - click here to listen to the track.

Is you is or is you aint?

How can the TV news have any serious credibility when their bulletins is full of grammatical errors?
When is and are are swapped around at someones maniacal whim, we is all lost I'm afraid.
I have no formal training on what the rules of Grammar is, but when I hear it done bad, I can't help but not wonder that as a society; is we on the slippery slope to Anarchy? So - Is we people???? IS WE?
Please don't lose sleep wondering if you've got the grammar bug or not - just remember either ya got it or you don't.

Got it?


ARRRRGGGGHHHHH

Thanks Brad !

Bugatti Veyron at top speed
Uploaded by Flabber

Oh yes there was a GP too

Coy-lee Minogue

Evidentally this was how John Hamilton from the Herald Sun saw the Melbourne GP.


THE sun shone, the banshees wailed, the blonde's wiggled, the stilt walkers pranced, and two human kangaroos bounded. Everybody tried very hard, but a frozen Finn won a desultory Australian Grand Prix yesterday. Kimi Raikkonen, the Ferrari driver with the charisma bypass, drove his red machine to a passionless victory at Albert Park watched by a strangely subdued crowd. There were plenty of seats to spare in the stands along the straight when the race began, while around the lake an hour before the start you could pick your picnic spot under a shady tree. Raikkonen, himself, set the mood of the day when he was booed by fans soon after he arrived at the course at 10.20am.He was five minutes behind his Ferrari team­mate Felipe Massa. But while the bouncy Brazilian jumped from his car to greet the hundreds of fans gathered outside the gates leading to the pits and signed auto­graphs on everything from caps to shirts to toy cars, the frosty Finn just turned on his heel and strode away from them. Booing replaced the earlier welcome cries of "Kimi! Kimi! Kimi!" With a blonde companion dressed in tight jeans and calf-high boots, Raikkonen walked with a set ace into the Paddock area, where he disappeared quickly into the Ferrari pits. Outside the pits, in an extended hospitality area, elegant Europeans in red uniforms and shirts with stripes in the Italian national colours sipped espresso and watched the passing parade. The strollers ranged from Mr Bling to Miss Poland. Mr Bling, alias Mr Moko, a jewellery designer originally from Senegal, was in leather pants and leather hat with a shirt featuring red, green and yellow hibiscus flowers. He had diamond studs in his ears, 14 gold and silver bracelets on each wrist, and every finger of each hand twinkled with stacked rings. Silver chains swung from his waist as Mr Moko said his Chrome Hearts jewellery was sought by many stars, including Cher. He brightened visibly when told that Kylie Minogue was in the area. At this moment Miss Poland, who, alas, speaks no English, teetered past in a short and glittering bead dress. The wonder was she could walk in a pair of shoes with stiletto heels as thin and high as tomato stakes. After aerating a patch of turf, she sank with a grateful sigh on to a chrome chair and moodily sipped a chocolate milk. Nearby were two figures who are at the GP every year and somehow added to the feeling that the event has become Melbourne's Groundhog Day. There was Nikki Lauda in his red baseball cap and Jackie Stewart in his blue plaid tartan cap and tartan trousers. Both were continuing conversations that may have begun here last year, or the year before that. And over there was Ron Walker, chairman of the Australian Grand Prix Corporation, stewarding VIPs and looking worried. As he does every year. Overhead the army helicopters clattered and an F/A-18 thundered. A Qantas jumbo made a low pass down the straight. As usual. Kylie Minogue was the happy superstar who gave the show some fizz. She upstaged the lot of them and saved the day. There she was in the Honda pits, posing happily for photos with the mechanics in her sheer fawn dress and glitzy gold shoes. There she was just before the start of the race, waving to the crowd. And there she was, even blowing kisses to the media gathered above the starting grid before the howling of the F1's began. I should be so lucky. (Click at your own risk)

Sorry - I gave to Unicef

If I had to name one immediate thing that reduces my faith in mankind, it would be the street beggar. Although I believe that we are responsible in some way for the well being of our fellow man, I'd also like to think that we all have to take some responsibility for our own lives, and seek help from others if we need it. If anyone should fall on hard times, a responsible society should have a safety net to accomplish these goals.

It may be hard to believe, but street begging in New Zealand is not a common thing. We have a supposed welfare system, that "should" stop most of this sort of thing from happening. Sure, some people live on the fringe of society, perhaps suffering from mental, or physical dependencies. Drugs like P or glue, or simpler varieties like alcohol are an easy enough "out" for those who of us who live in the mainstream let alone a fringe dweller.

It's harsh - but when some Melbourne drunk walks up to me and asks me for $5 for something to eat, or a young pregnant woman stops my brother for spare change - in a clean dress and shoes, I get really REALLY angry. Millions of people die each year die because they cant get enough to eat or drink, and these faux beggars are desensitising us to a point where we just can't afford to care anymore.

I hate them for it, and if I could I'd ship all these street beggars to Africa or some other famine zone. At least then all the starving millions would be in the same boat - and our aid and good will could really make a difference.

Too harsh?

Melbourne Musings Part1

All under 19 years old

So how was Australia?

I've asked myself this question many times since my return to New Zealand this afternoon.
I must admit that I'm conflicted; Melbourne was great, but there were definitely some major differences between Australia and New Zealand i hadn't really noticed before.
In fairness to Australia this could have been IG and Tylers doing. On my last visit I certainly drank more. I also know I ate more, the funny thing about that being well fed and slightly "sauced"; I perhaps wasn't as alert as I could have been.
This time I noticed that there are an extraordinary number of attractive woman in Melbourne.
In fairness - IG did mention this last time, but IG says this an awful lot, so after a while the whole sentence just gets diluted. What perhaps seems more interesting is that they all seemed to eat really really bad food. Oh - and they all seemed to smoke cigarette after cigarette as well.

The whole smoking thing was really noticeable in Melbourne because here in NZ we can't smoke in public places; In bars and restaurants, we are blissfully smoke free. (So if you come to New Zealand and see all these woman standing outside buildings smoking - rest assured they aren't hookers; they're just taking smoking breaks).

Standing in a smoke infested bar on St Patrick's Day, all I wanted to do was run to somewhere where the air was fresh and clear. This is what I have become!
After careful analysis I realised the source of my interest - how did these bronzed, attractive woman get away with eating burgers, pottles of hot chips and pizza, yet have very slim physiques? To my horror I realised that the "women" I was looking at were actually a hell of a lot younger than I first realised. It is important to note that would be impossible to determine this fact from their demeanour or looks. After much thinking I realised I had to recalculate by looking at the pimple encrusted geeky, gangly awkward friends walking next to them.
i.e. Their boyfriends...

Although this in itself was perhaps disturbing enough, to suddenly realise the "much" older ladies around me were in fact more my own age, was devastating to the extreme. I think I need therapy.

It's so nice to be home.

Struth

Coooeee maaaaaaatttte!

Struth cobber. I'm off to the Auzzie GP to have a Tooheys or perhaps a Fosters.

I'll get the real oil on the first round of the Formula 1 championship, but the downside will be having to put up with all the sheepshagger jokes between races. Perhaps if I wear a hat strung with corks I'll fit right in?

At least the place will be full of tourists!!!

Catch you on Tuesday :)

The Rain

There are some things I miss during an Indian Summer. I miss the rain.

Rain in West Auckland, when it arrives, is really like the type of rain one experiences on the West Coast of the South Island; when it rains there the water bounces from the road to form a white mist and the noise would raise the dead: God I love it.

On a winters night when I'm tucked up in bed I love to listen to the pounding of the water on my roof, while I remain warm and dry under the covers. I love when the sound wakes me from my sleep.

For me I guess it's like when you're a kid, and you're driving home in the back seat of your parents car late at night. You can drift off to sleep - not a care in the world. Then one day, you suddenly realise you no longer have that total security. The world has changed, and so have you.

From that day forth I guess we all seek to find some form of that previous nirvana. But all we can really offer in the long run, is the same security to our own kids, and pray they don't grow up too quickly.

But in the meantime, rain on my roof at night is a small taste of that past life, and I'm holding on to it as long as I can.

Westport Sunset

Back in the day when I made time to be creative, I brought a camera. Turns out I wasn't half bad at using the damn thing, which was a pleasant discovery after the disappointment of not being able to draw.

In those days I carried my camera everywhere, and now, back "home" in Dunedin, I have a huge box of negatives, poised ready to embarrass my friends in future years to come.

I lost these sunset images years ago - on my many trips home I'd open the same closet and search through the same boxes, hoping in vein that they would reappear again. This Christmas my searching was rewarded, and Mum arranged to get them scanned. They arrived in the post last week.

So; I give you the sun setting over the Tasman Sea, looking toward the somewhat controversial " West Island" of New Zealand (which oddly you can not see today *). Not retouched I hasten to add, as Photoshop was only a twinkle in the minds of its creators when this photo was taken.

Yes - like all things in the 90's the sunsets were also better.

* You can never see Australia from New Zealand, but many many people think you can. :)

My week in 15 seconds

It's been a crap week basically guys.

Everything came to a head on Thursday when we all met and told our immediate manager that unless he wanted the team to self destruct, they'd have to put a stop to the extreme workload we've been under.

Last week, one of our guys had a mild heart attack, and although that wasn't really works fault, we all wondered if we hadn't all pushed a bit hard this year. Just yesterday two of us pulled a 25 hour day. Work that one out!

The good news is our manager recognised that something had to happen, and now it looks like things will calm down a lot.

So hopefully now when another of my favourite characters in a TV show dies, it wont be such a big drama, and I wont go postal on ya.

I "borrowed" the following gif from one of the Battlestar Forums, and it pretty much sums up the week that was. The only difference is now I can smile about it.

Take care of yourselves - and enjoy the weekend. I know I will :)

Everything

You know - It's been a day - And I'm still in shock.

There has to be a reason for all this grief - I'm not ready to go into it now, but I think it's about unconditional love. And I'm not talking about a TV show here.

My head space presents: Alanis - singing "Everything".

I can be an asshole of the grandest kind
I can withhold like it’s going out of style
I can be the moodiest baby and you’ve never met anyone
who is as negative as I am sometimes

I am the wisest woman you've ever met.
I am the kindest soul with whom you've connected.
I have the bravest heart that you've ever seen
And you've never met anyone
Who's as positive as I am sometimes.

You see everything, you see every part
You see all my light and you love my dark
You dig everything of which I'm ashamed
There's not anything to which you can’t relate
And you’re still here

I blame everyone else, not my own partaking
My passive-aggressiveness can be devastating
I'm terrified and mistrusting
And you’ve never met anyone as,
As closed down as I am sometimes.

You see everything, you see every part
You see all my light and you love my dark
You dig everything of which I'm ashamed
There's not anything to which you can’t relate
And you’re still here

What I resist, persists, and speaks louder than I know
What I resist, you love, no matter how low or high I go

I'm the funniest woman you've ever known.
I am the dullest woman you've ever known.
I'm the most gorgeous woman you've ever known
And you've never met anyone as, as everything as I am sometimes.

You see everything, you see every part
You see all my light and you love my dark
You dig everything of which I'm ashamed
There's not anything to which you can’t relate
And you’re still here

They killed my girl

Kara Thrace - Missing presumed Dead

I know she's just a frak'd up character in a nerdy TV show. However, I hasten to add; a show that Time Magazine voted the the best show of 2006!

A frak up of major proportions - she hurt everyone she loved - but we all loved her just time same.

The geek in me is mourning - and will be for some time.

Oh- what to buy....

We don't read and write poetry because it's cute.

We read and write poetry because we are members of the human race.
And the human race is filled with passion. And medicine, law, business, engineering, these are noble pursuits and necessary to sustain life.
But poetry, beauty, romance, love, these are what we stay alive for.

To quote from Whitman, "O me! O life!... of the questions of these recurring; of the endless trains of the faithless... of cities filled with the foolish; what good amid these, O me, O life?"

Answer? That you are here - that life exists, and identity; that the powerful play goes on and you may contribute a verse.

What will your verse be ?


These thoughts, my friends, are what haunt me when I can't think of the next toy to buy!

Placebo

"I Love Nirvana - that doesn't mean I want to shoot myself " sang Dave Gibson from Elemenop.

I sometimes feel that I have to point out, even if some or most of my posts seem "down" in nature, I'm not depressed. Granted, some of the choices I make in the way I look at the world can often make me wonder how it's all going to end one day, but life's pretty good - ya know?

All that said: I love Placebo. There is something about this band I identify with; the only problem is - I'm not sure what. Brian Molko is openly bisexual, and Stefan Olsdal (the bass player) is gay. Their musical style is alien, compared to the structured stuff I normally listen to, but still; I love them. Perhaps is the sparseness of their music that appeals.
They do have a unique sound. The drummer has a great style, and although they are a three piece , the use of loops, and ancillary musicians (well hidden in the background), make for an interesting mix.

It's not like I can identify with a lot of the subject matter in the songs either; the list is a myriad of drugs, destructive relationships - and even more drugs - but there's poetry in the hearts of Messrs Molko et al, and its there for all to see in the lyrics.

I'm unclean, a libertine
And every time you vent your spleen,
I seem to lose the power of speech,
You're slipping slowly from my reach.
You grow me like an evergreen,
You never see the lonely me at all

OK - maybe not great poetry, but poetry never the less...

So: Two Clips for you. The first being... Without you I'm nothing



And if you're a sucker for punishment... Follow the Cops back home.