It's that time of year again. Where the heck did 2011 go? Seriously. I swear it was just February.
( Read On... )
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| 2011-12-09 11:20 |
| Flathunting |
| Public |
 lazy |
| wellington |
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Flathunting is hard.
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| 2011-06-06 20:53 |
| (no subject) |
| Public |
 calm |
| Craig Cardiff: Stabilize |
| lyrics |
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This song just came onto my iTunes - I still love it. It's simultaneously so cynical and so full of redemption. Reminds me so strongly of older days, and keeps on having relevance too. Craig on a stool in an underground university campus bar. I was nursing a Bailey's among tables set with tealights, mesmerized at how music and poetry could arise out of a man on a makeshift stage just because he strummed his fingers, opened his mouth.
"Stabilize"
Craig Cardiff
protest singers and protest songs
muckrake earthquake sing alongs
all anyone really wants
is a song to call their own
monkey catch monkey throws
hot knife soft kiss overdose
you say beauty fades and i say
beauty grows all around
it's ok, it's all right everything is starting to stabilize, stabilize
we deserve more than this i believe
all the things i've learned not to miss come back in time, back in time
mean words you didn't mean
start scratch film movie screen
cherry bomb the bad parts
cause the bad parts are long gone
change makes and breaks apart
moves ahead and back apart
wake up one day to find
you've become everything you've hated
it's ok, it's all right everything is starting to stabilize, stabilize
we deserve more than this i believe
all the things i've learned not to miss come back in time, back in time
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| 2011-02-19 16:57 |
| *points dramatically* |
| Public |
| supremely self-confident |
| fanfic, random, school |
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I wasn't imagining things! A thick coil breached the surface of the lake just as I passed, and then there was a big underwater commotion about 5 metres in diamater. There's a serpent in the lake. I knew there was something in there.
Also, I am awesome and did great work on my assignment. Halfway done at least, including brilliant analysis. (I am a nerd and enjoy being in the zone when doing big essays that interest me.)
Also, walks + iPod = happiness.
Also, now I get to reread more Underwater Light *manic obsessed grin*
"I think," Draco said with great deliberation, "that you should crisis her."
"Crisis is not a verb," Harry told him blankly.
Draco waved a sugar packet dismissively. "You know what I mean."
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| 2011-02-13 13:10 |
| Just Because |
| Public |
 hungry |
| random |
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So here we are, at the end of my first week of school. It's my first weekend as a mature student (which I'll be spending as my freelancer self, but that's beside the point) - tadaa. *plants flag*
I really had no need to fret. I have different expectations for the road-time, of course, and that'll come soon enough, but the classroom sessions are unbelievably simple-minded. If I didn't have an 80% attendance requirement, I probably wouldn't be going to some of these lectures. Compared to the curriculum I was trained up in at Queen's, the level of learning here is very basic. The tutors hand-hold like you wouldn't believe. A couple of examples from last week's lecture of fluid balance and eloctrolytes.
1) TUTOR: "I don't want you to have to write too much."
2) STUDENT: "You mean we have to come up with our OWN topic for the assignment this year? Can't you just give it to us like last year?"
Best as I can tell, I'm either the oldest or the second-oldest student in the class. The Swedish guy might be over thirty. But most of my classmates are twenty at best, wee school-leavers, who have very little experience with either tertiary education or being on the ambulance. So I'm miles ahead of the game. The other new guy and me have teamed up, since we have very similar backgrounds as volunteers. Everyone else's inexperience is sort of frustrating. The course isn't exactly designed to challenge them. I'm concentrating on learning my new skills and then practising them rigorously so that I'll perform well on the road.
Speaking of new skills, I'm now more awesome than I was before. By the second day, we were already practising our IVs. And on Thursday I passed my sign-off assessment! So I'm trained in sticking needles into people now. Exciting, eh? *manic grin* I keep catching myself studying people's veins. Possibly that's a bit weird...?
Our first clinical block starts in a week, and that runs for 4 weeks. In that time, I have 8 days worth of ambulance placement time, and the rest is mine to do with as I please (work and do assignments). Basically, from Mar 7-21, I'll have no class or anything. I'm already going back to Nelson on the 9-13 anyway for what was meant to be a short visit. But now there's a chance I'll be able to do my police and ED placements in Nelson, so depending on how rostering works out I may stay longer. We'll see. I'm waiting on news about that. As long as I get to do the ambulance shifts here, for big-city experience, I don't mind where I do my other placements. So keep your fingers crossed.
My flatmate and I are starting to feel more comfortable with each other too. We've had some evenings bonding on the couch with teh cider. She seems pretty confident of my ability to rock the degree, and hopefully I'll live up to her confidence in me on the job as well. She's known as a quick judge of character, so I'm pleased she's trusting me already. And the cat is a sweet little nutsoid who spends all day sleeping on my bed and all evening bringing us moths and cicadas.
So that's that. Now who wants to volunteer their arms? (Willow does.)
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| 2011-02-02 19:37 |
| Peptalk from my iPod |
| Public |
| mellow |
| quotes |
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"You'll wake up tomorrow and wrestle the sorrow that holds you down today." - Melissa Etheridge, I'm The Only One
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Hey folks!
Updated photos of my neighbourhood here.
I wasn't able to get the ones I wanted of the cafe, 'cause it was closed by the time I got there, but the rest of the walk was beautiful, as you can see. I love these shady winding walks.
I've taken a liking to the street signs around here. "The Companionway." "Discovery Dr." "The Sounding" - that's my favourite. It reminds me of whales or dolphins or bats using sonar to find their way in unknown waters... which feels appropriate enough. Of course they're actually all named after vessels from James Cook's fleet, but I shall adopt them for my own use all the same.
And here's two pics of my room, now upgraded to "furnished" status.
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Yesterday started with the now-familiar feeling of not wanting to get out of bed, but I can cheerfully say that it got better as soon as I got up. I made the decision to put my walking shoes on and go exploring the neighbourhood. Boy am I glad I did. The little village shopping centre is at the end of a 15-minute walk that passes through hilly parks and suburban houses, all beautifully landscaped, and takes you around a pretty lake before arriving at the hamlet. There are ducks on the lawn and in the reeds, with free stale bread offered by the bakery. There's a small library and a coffee shop, where I ended up spending the next few hours. I got myself a guava juice and spent a while on the couch working on my novel. The complimentary library of books beside me included Dragonbone Chair and Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, and LotR. I could easily spend my time there just flicking through old friends. And then they tempted me with a fresh cinnamon bun slathered in brown sugar icing, so I picked one up to go on my way out. Yum.
Then out of the blue Theresa texted me saying she and her bf were in Wellington for the weekend! She's due to fly out to Australia on Monday, so they decided to make a good time of it. We met up and spent a few hours catching up and exchanging ambo stories before they took the train back downtown. So I wasn't lonely yesterday after all.
In the evening, I curled up on the couch with my laptop and season 4 of ER playing on the dvd player, while I chatted and played games. It was blissful.
Today I slept in till late, and was planning to take the same walk back to the village with my camera. Alas, that didn't happen. Instead I did some work, and then ended up going shopping again for the rest of my furniture and room needs. I'm up to date with bed linen and school supplies now. At the moment I'm looking out the window at a gorgeous sunset over the hills...
and I might watch some more ER tonight. Tomorrow, my tip-shop stuff gets delivered, so that'll be exciting. I can really finish making my room nice!
My housemate disapproves of Harry Potter and all YA/children's books, however. So that may have to be a point of debate in the coming months!
A week till school starts now. Hopefully I'll feel less in limbo when that comes around. Honestly, it's probably just that I have time on my hands all of a sudden. I just had what one could legitimately call a 'weekend' - as in two days in a row where leisure activities are prioritised and commitments are social and/or pleasurable in origin. I wonder if I'll get used to this?
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I didn't get a chance to do the neighbourhood circuit with my camera, but for now, here's what the place looks like. I really did luck into a great deal.
Venus Place
ETA: Obviously, my room still has some ways to go. The tip-shop table and dresser arrive tomorrow, and today I spruced things up with a duvet/sheet set. More pictures of my room to follow.
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This evening my room already looks a lot different than it did this morning. This morning I woke up on an air mattress, hooked an arm around my laptop, and spent the next 3 hours checking sites, doing work, and finding reasons not to get out of bed. (Hey, it can be intimidating starting fresh - and my new housemate sleeps in on nightshift nights, so I had plenty of reason to stay quiet.) But yeah, it was almost 11 before I coaxed myself out to the shower and dressing stage. After that, though, things picked up. For starters, I got a parcel! In the mail. On my very first day of being here. Thank you so much ![[info]](http://www.insanejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) angelsasha for a delightfully well-timed surprise.
And then me and mah car left to take on the list of stores and supplies I'd made out. Thanks to Trash Palace (recycled furniture 'n' stuff depot at the local tip) and the amusingly jolly man who haggled with me over all of my purchases, I have a table, a dresser and an office chair. And they're nice. Not IKEA, but plenty bohemian enough for my new student lifestyle. Then I snatched up a great deal on a new sofa bed and somehow managed to get it home in the car. It involved bungee cords, rope, and 20cm of bed hanging out of the back of my car on the motorway.
Note to self: the next time you spend 2 years working in the Trade department of a huge DIY store, regularly watching people tie stuff onto vehicles, learn how to tie stuff onto vehicles.
So that was an adventure, lol. But I made it home, and fully stocked my side of the pantry, and chatted with Aldi, and then my grandparents and uncle, and unpacked my clothes, and made dinner. And now I'm alone all night, to do as I please. Debating whether to watch a movie or read a book. Stryker will happily keep me company for either.
I'll start taking some photos soon.
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I'm now a resident of the North Island. Weird. *waves* This is where I live.
School starts in 9.5 days, and the first day is apparently an orientation, welcome, and BBQ. In fact, I downloaded my schedule for the next six weeks yesterday, and I think it's going to go very fast. Week 1-2 is courses and labs, and then weeks 3-6 are all blocked as "clinical", which I presume to mean on-road placements.
Today so far is feeling a bit like tissue paper - fragile, easy to rip, and makes a noise at the slightest crinkle. I'm getting used to new sounds and ways of living. Fortunately there's enough familiarity that the transition should feel fairly smooth in the end, after a few days, I guess: living with a housemate (done that before); editing in my free time (continuation from the last 3 years); prep for school (spent Oct-Dec doing that already); ambulance work (more experienced there than some of my new classmates). And Aldi and I have been separated before, so the real loneliness will probably take a bit to kick in. Thank goodness for chat.
Plan for today:
1) Scout out bedroom furniture
2) Buy food!
Okay, time for that first brave step, getting out of bed.
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| 2010-12-21 14:41 |
| still big week of crazy... |
| Public |
 sore |
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... a total of 57 work hours on my plate, and I'm definitely reaching the exhausted stage already, and it's only Tuesday. Fulltime Shift Part 1 (Health Shuttle) is now over at 1400 hours; Fulltime Shift Part 2 (Store) about to start and will be over at 2100 hours. And that'll be today. *stuffs self with sushi and caffeine*
Except it doesn't help that stuffing myself is painful this week! No fair that one badly swallowed pill is giving me a week's worth of stabbing chest pain. I OBJECT. Haven't eaten or drunk a proper amount for 6 days. Too sore to eat TimTams. My world is collapsing *sniff*
On the upside, I have a pretty good lead on a place in Welly for next year - close to school, flatting with a paramedic, would be ideal. And Theresa is back and we're going to catch up soon! Can't wait. And Mockingjay is brilliant so far, and I'm spending the tiny bit of downtime I have today feasting on the pages.
Absolutely POURED with rain all morning while I had to be out in it, protecting oldies from the deluge. And now that I'll be inside the rest of the evening, it's turned sunny. Do not understand this pre-Christmas weather.
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I'd forgotten how much napping is needed to recover from jetlag! The flights home weren't very restful and it's taking me a few days to get past it. But I did enjoy the chance to finally watch Inception. I'm definitely in need of a second watch to make sense of everything, since a loud plane and faulty headphones don't make for the best listening experience for a movie where almost every word counts.
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| 2010-10-14 19:10 |
| Happy Birthday, Amilee! |
| Public |
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Have a wonderful day! Life is your penguin now, you smart girl! *eskimo kiss*
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Client: Don't worry about the editing too much - the 'grammer' is likely to reflect my personal style.
*headdesk*
Spelling mistakes and word confusion and bad sentence structure are not "personal style"!
I have to deal with this allot a lot.
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| 2010-09-15 10:58 |
| Birthday Grab Bag |
| Public |
 jubilant |
| birthday, squee |
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We went to the supermarket this morning to splurge on goodies and drinks and sweets and pizza toppings for this evening (having a few friends round for wine and aforementioned pizza), and something wonderful happened! After absolutely STOCKING the grocery cart, on the way out the door, some giveaway dude added a big bag to it. The New World gave me a birthday present! I'm stoked :D When we got home and pulled out the goods, there's literally $50 worth of stuff in there. Coffees and chocolates and instant sauces and a sleek black Nescafe mug and a porcelain noodle bowl and candy. What a glorious way to start my birthday. And it's sunny and warm to boot.
Thanks to everyone who's already sent me messages and cards and presents. In love with life this morning, which to my mind is a good way to celebrate a birthday.
*hugs and kisses for everyone*
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I have a spare day and I don't know how to spend it. It's too against the grain. What are my options? I don't remember.
PS. I really regret that I wasn't able to make it to the Lady Pochoir screening yesterday. Trust me, when I arrived at work, all the day did was make me wish I'd stayed home!
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contemplative
curious
geeky
creative