Use once and destroy

Sometimes I think the universe hates me... and then I realise all the incredible things I have in my life and I give myself a stern talking to for having a pity party when millions would give their right leg for half of what I have. Maybe their left leg, or an arm. Who knows. Anyway....

Suffice to say I am a pretty shitty situation right now. Part of it is my own doing, part of it is his doing, and part is the responsibility of that evil bitch Circumstance.
The real kicker is that there is no way out of this situation that doesn't suck significantly, for at least one of the parties involved. Another thing is that I just want to get on with my life and my summer and all the things I have to do so I wish I could get the whole thing out of my head.
So I'm sitting here preparing myself for the worst and hoping praying wishing for the best, and when I say best I mean the outcome that sucks the least for me.
I thought it was my turn. Maybe I was wrong, but I hope like I have never hoped for anything in my life that I wasn't.

Also, I think my iPod knows what is going on. I'm walking home from the bank, trying to get this whole mess out of my head, so Chris Knox's "Not Given Lightly" comes on. Really? Oh come on!!
Yay for the ability to skip to the next track: Powderfinger, "My Kind of Scene"...Placebo, "Your Taste in Men"... Nick Cave "Let Love In"...Elastica, "Connection".... The Datsuns "In Love"..... seriously? Is my iPod taking the piss? Finally one that makes sense, after skipping through all these "lets rub Claire's nose in the giant 12 car pile up that is her lovelife" songs I find one that seems mildly appropriate.... L7, "Shitlist".

In less navel-gazing related news..... Rocky is pretty damn good fun. Go and say hello.

Thou shalt not wish your girlfriend was a freak like me

If I really cared enough, I would update my links. There are blogs there I no longer read, there are some that aren't even active any more, and there are many and wonderous things I could link to, and that I could make you all read. Because I have that kind of power.

I know its only May, but to me it kind of feels like the time for some retrospection. Yeah, I'm fairly sure its an actual word.
Perhaps because its the end of the semester, and I'm kind of feeling like I'm evaluating things, which is what one does at the end of something. And by "one" I of course mean "me". Or "I". Whatever.

It's been a thing, it really has, these past few months, and if I had to choose one word to describe it, that word would be "isolation". I was isolated from my family while they buried one of our own, and to rub salt in the wound, the one person I thought I could count on for comfort proved that I was nowhere on his list of priorities.
In hindsight however, I should have seen that coming a good month or so before I actually did. The shoes were a dead giveaway, yet again proving me right that you can tell a lot about a person by their shoes. Take it from me: if the shoes are dorky, the relationship doesn't stand a chance.

And now I find myself isolated again, but this time for much happier reasons.
Right now I have no more to say on that here, lest I hex it or say too much or speak out of turn. Soon though, I hope.

Here is an interesting question: what words do your friends use to describe you?
By way of experimentation I got a few interesting ones out of Cardinal. Its a fun game.

Like a motherfucker from hell

Currently, my life consists of the following:

Wake up about midday, play on my computer for a while, drink some tea, chat online.
Watch a dvd or some telly at TV Links (warning: clicking that link may be hazardous to your productivity), pottering about the house being domestic, chatting online some more.
Going for a bike ride, rediscovering some of my cds that I never listen to because I am an iTunes junkie, taking a nap, sending an email, making some dinner, drinking beer and watching more telly.
Staying up until 2-3am, formulating some good intentions about all the things I will achieve tomorrow, going to bed.

Rinse, repeat.

What's the situation?
Two blokes and a fuckload of cutlery!!

Given the excessive amount of wine I imbibed last night (its practically compulsary to get stonkered on one's birthday) today was a little slow, to say the least. Yay to my peeps who came and brought me drinks!!!
My day involved some fried eggs, a lot of sleeping, some appreciation of the wonders of Skype, one episode of The Dresden Files, some more sleeping, a lot of cheese, a Ruby Tuesday's burger and a 10pm screening of Hot Fuzz. Its pretty damn funny, a little slow in parts but worth it. I've had that Supergrass song in my head ever since I convinced R-bizzle to come with me.
Tomorrow I am going to see if I can get my head around this whole driving on the right hand side of the road thing. After nearly 2 years, I think its overdue.
This post brought to you by the sustaining power of tea.
Goodnight preciouses.

Feeling old....

Today I am 31.

Oh well.

Its been a fairly good day so far, all things considered. Having stayed up most of the night, I slept until about midday, then did some dishes, ate some cheese, watched last night's CSI (HOLY CLIFFHANGER BATMAN!!! Is it September yet?) and now I think I will have a nap before I go out and drink wine with my peeps.

Its hard work keeping up with all the excitement of my life.

Life after Semester's End

Reasons why is it good to be finished with school work, at least for a little while: It is 11.57am. I've just watched some shit telly. I am going for a nap now. After that, I may well take a leisurely stroll to the post office, and then maybe email some of my friends.
Who knows. Its a mystery!

And tomorrow...... its my birthday, and I get to open these presents from home that have been sitting on my desk now for 2 days, taunting me.

This is for the friend, not the hater.

Pavlov's dogs got nuffin on me

So, 13 years later, David Bain wins his appeal, and gets a retrial.
This is pretty big news really, especially seeing as how this will be the last NZ case to be heard at the Privy Council.
I'm reminded of that Mark Twain quote (I am so my father's daughter*) about how the justice system is marred by the inability to find twelve men who can't read and who don't know anything. This is why I am unsure how I feel about removing the Privy Council from our legal system; in a small country, everybody knows everybody else's business, and a degree of distance may serve to add a degree of impartiality.
I was never totally convinced of Bain's guilt, nor am I totally convinced of his innocence, but being a firm believer that actions speak louder than words, I certainly admire the man's intestinal fortitude in taking his appeals this far. I think I probably need to read Karam's book now.

In other news, I have developed a Pavlovian response to sitting at my computer. Because I spend so much of my life sitting here, and because I am usually deathly tired, no matter what state I am in while in the kitchen, at school, doing the washing etc., the minute I sit at my computer I am overcome with an overwhelming desire to nap. Mmmmm, sleepy time......

First, however, I must finish my last 2 papers. Please send Timtams.

*My dear old Dad is legendary amongst friends, family and the Rotary Club for being able to recall a Mark Twain quote for any occasion.

Sunday 9.27pm

Ok I'm a little drunky. BBQ at my new landlord's house, apparently their Cinco de Mayo party is a regular occurrence: there was not just a keg, but a freaking BEER TRAILER and huge big things of margarita and tacos and it was awesome and now its freaking early Sunday night and I'm kind of off my chops and have already had to correct loads of my spelling already and its weird that I can type better when I'm not looking at my fingers....... anyway the moral of the story is...umm.... margaritas are good, as are Mexican holidays that allow one to drink on a Sunday for no other reason than its near the 5th of May.
Also, my cold? Still completely out of control.
That will be all for now, aside from this: sneezing, while awesome, does get tiresome after about one's bajillionth sneeze.

Nicholas Craig this is in lieu of the phonecall I attempted





Yay, just what the intertron is missing, more poorly made videos.

Fuck, who cares it's Damien freaking Rice he could cut off my hair, steal my computer, key my car and join the NRA I'd still love him.

Today I marked 47 final exams and 112 review papers I am on fire baby.

I have a rather disgusting cold and my snot is totally out of control. Its important to me that I share that with you.

TTFN

My Coachella

Friday:
Silversun Pickups
Arctic Monkeys
Peaches
Jarvis Cocker
Sonic Youth
Interpol
Bjork
Gogol Bordello

Saturday:
The New Pornographers
Travis
The Decemberists
The Arcade Fire
Blonde Redhead
LCD Soundsystem
The Good, the Bad and the Queen

Sunday:
Kaiser Chiefs
Willie Nelson
Placebo
Lily Allen
Amos Lee
Crowded House
Damien Rice
Rage Against the Machine

23 bands in 3 days: not too shabby


Highlights included:

- Interpol, but I think I mentioned that already
- hanging with cool people
- not being at school for a few days
- Ron Jeremy introducing Peaches
- Rage playing "Wake Up", aka "Claire's fav Rage song"
- Holland Chase losing a bet....
- Meeting some of my fellow countrymen, who mocked me for my alleged South Island accent.
- the people, did I mention the people?
- The Decemberists' audience participation involving yelling and whales.
- Impromptu party on Saturday night with mad Kiwis, Aussies and Canadians, as well as a few Americans, that resulted in the riot police being called out, complete with shields, dogs and teargas.
- Texting my Dad to tell him I was at a Willie Nelson concert

But now I have some of that pesky school work to finish..... shit.

Say hello to the angels






I'm still a bit in shock from the sensory overload of it all, but here are a few things from my weekend of awesomeness.
- deserts are hot
- Sunshine is Good People
- Heather D is buckets of fun
- Holland Chase and "Joshie" ((c) HKD 2007) give teenaged boys a good name
- Interpol rocks my world, and made me cry
- One can very quickly get sick of having to use Porta-Loos
- Pepsi is nasty, but does help in the bajillion degree heat
- A lot of Rage heads are wankers, but Rage themselves fucking rocked the party
- Its a bit rude when you can't take your own food into a venue, and then they charge you $8 for something that would normally cost $2 or $3
- Willie Nelson fans smoke a lot of weed
- despite the heat and the dust and the prices and the considerable distance from here to California, Coachella was worth every single fucking penny

Deserts are hot

I made it.

Survived my first Coachella, with nary a scratch. I've lost my voice, am tired beyond comprehension and am still reeling from the sensory overload, but fuck me if that wasn't the coolest weekend in about a bajillion years.

Updates and photos to follow, but right now we needs sleep, yes we do precious.