Ethical awareness

This page takes an annoyingly long time to load – even at work.  I wasted 15 minutes updating my blog this morning just before work and lost it all – got a little message to the effect ‘Bear in mind – you must enter text’ – “What?!” I was thinking and sure enough the whole lot was gone – just a blank page.  I was not impressed so figured I’d have a little moan about that and it disappeared as well.  Obviously wasn’t meant to update this morning. Total waste of time.

I was writing about my ‘awareness’ after reading that ethical book.  I haven’t changed anything in my life as a result of it (naughty me) but find myself doing things like protesting if someone throws a plastic bottle in the rubbish at work, or throws away the paper instead of recycling it.  Even my daughter had thrown away a small bottle of old cream – just biffed the whole thing in the rubbish bin.  Oi! I exclaimed and proceeded to empty the bottle, clean it and put it away for recycling.

Even when watching TV I find myself thinking ‘what a waste’ when someone throws away recyclable material.  Last night for example, watching “Extras” (which is a great programme), the female character was cleaning up her apartment and throwing magazines into a rubbish bag along with other stuff and I was thinking – ‘don’t!’.  Crazy.

More often I observe with some disgust the number of large cars, vans, SUVs, utes, etc on NZ roads.  Very few cars are small.  NZers need to get over this desire for big cars.  A small car, to them, is a second car or a car for the wife – something to tootle around town in in the weekend or pick up the kids from school.  It’s not viewed as a main car at all.  When I went to Germany I was astounded at the number of small cars – I’d never seen so many on the road.  Sensible Europeans.  There really needs to be a tax on large cars and SUVs here.  People are still driving the horrendous things, despite the cost of petrol.  I find myself feeling rather negative towards anyone who owns one.  But they don’t think of the consequences of such a machine – they just want a vehicle that supposedly looks cool (I think they’re ugly) and can fit all kids and gear.  Bollocks, I think.  Get a life.  Who uses one of those things offroad anyway?  Very very few, I imagine.  I mean where are you going to drive them?  The vast majority of land is farmland which you can’t go on, so where are you going to go?  Drive through a river?  Annoy families at the beach and riverside?  Yes.  Ruin others’ enjoyment because you’re too lazy to get out of your ugly beast of a machine and actually enjoy the outdoors instead of pretending, by owning one, that you’re an outdoors person.  It’s all farcical.

Sorry for ranting.  But everyday I see all these big cars and SUVs driving along with one person in it – one.  It’s disgusting.  I saw one pillock of a businessmen – all suited up – driving this huge monster of a thing – he looked a total idiot!

Oh, the selfishness….

 

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LOTR exhibition

I had a day in Wellington. After a hard week, I decided to go to the Lord of the Rings exhibition before it closed tomorrow.  I know, it was a few years ago now, and I’d seen the last exhibition 4 years ago?  But there was supposed to be extra stuff from the last movie, so I thought I had to check it out, and visit my daughter and ex-niece’s new daughter as well.

The exhibition was a tad disappointing.  There was much more to see at the first one.  They simply had some of the same exhibits as last time (not even all of them) and added a model of Minas Tirith and some artwork.  Not that they weren’t worth seeing.  The model of Minas Tirith was just amazing in its detail.  But the whole exhibition is like that – you marvel at the artwork – every prop, every costume is a work of art.  It was wonderful to see the silicon replica of Boromir in the canoe too – it looked so realistic.  Quite amazing.  There’s certainly no shortage of talent at the Weta workshop or the Three Foot Six art department.  I do hate Richard Taylor’s accent though – or rather the slow ponderous way he speaks.

Visited daughter and we both went along to see the ‘new’ baby (now 6 weeks old).  Very different in looks to the older girl. The older one, now a toddler is very cute and very funny to watch, as she dances and sings to herself.  She’s the spitting image of her mother at around the same age.

Drove home and felt like watching a movie, but there’s nothing worth watching on TV.

Missed chatting to S this morning too.  Oh well.  Such is life.

And the weather in Wellington was typical – cold, wet and windy.

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Telemarketers (again)

Listening to: Pink Floyd

I hate telemarketers – I think, essentially, that it’s rude to ring up people’s homes, interrupting their privacy, for some random questions to improve business (greed). 

Last night, just as daughter was about to cook a lovely meal, the phone rang.  If I’d answered it, it would have been a short phone call.  My daughter answered it and at first I wondered who had called as her tone of voice was guarded.  You guessed it – it was a telemarketer, and instead of saying no, daughter was nice enough to agree to take part.  Well, I was sitting watching a DVD and several minutes had gone by and she was still on the phone and saying numbers occasionally.  After a few more minutes of silence, I got up and asked how long the survey was going to take and she replied she didn’t know.  I asked what are you waiting for? She said the telemarketer had asked her to wait.  Asked her to wait????  What the ????  How rude is that?  Even daughter thought that rude and she decided to hang up and get on with cooking.  The survey had taken at least 15 minutes and was obviously not finished yet.

The phone rang again.  I answered it.  It was the telemarketer again but unfortunate for her, she got me, not my daughter.  I said abruptly “The survey’s too long, sorry” and hung up.

I mean how rude is that?  They take up precious moments of your time, ask you to wait and then ring back if you get fed up!

Unbelievable.  I think you’d have to be pretty desperate for a job to become a telemarketer.  I hate the practice.

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Firefox? und Deutsch!

I’m beginning to wonder if I should blog auf Deutsch (in German)!

I keep getting a little box telling me that it’s quicker if I use Firefox with an inclusive Google Toolbar.  I thought it was just this site, but I’ve noticed the same message in English elsewhere.  Interesting.  How can that be?  I’m baffled.

Anyway, it all makes things ein bisschen interessant, nicht wahr?  Ja, ja, I can’t help it now.  Vielleicht I’ll just mix English and German – Gerglish until they fix alles!  Could be gut for a laugh.

Deutsch lessons anyone?

Well, I’m off to belly dancing class tonight.  I watched a few videos on Youtube.  Some are good but there are a lot that are just ho-hum.  Of course it’s like anything – when you know something about it you tend to criticise the mediocre or point out the mistakes or lack of skill.  To people who know nothing, it all looks impressive.  (Reminds me of a friend who knew something of forensics and poo-pooed the stuff on TV, pointing out all the mistakes and myths – this was before the onslaught of so many forensic-type TV dramas).

Ok.  I’m done.  Auf Wiedersehen!

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So much for the weather forecast

Mood: reluctant
Listening to: pouring rain

They promised a weekend of sunshine – not even a speck of a cloud on their little icons.  Well you couldn’t get much heavier rain than we’re getting today!

Useless.

It’s very very difficult getting up when it’s pouring and windy outside.  It’s not natural, I say.  Why should humans have to go out in it every day?  Well, I’m not today, because it’s Sunday.  I may have to drop off daughter’s friend later but that’s much later and just a short drive.

When I picked up the girls from the bus yesterday I was just in my old clothes with no intention of going anywhere – just pull up in the car, they get in, and we drive home.  But no – they needed stuff from the supermarket and I did too, for that matter.  So I get out, feeling very ugly, with unbrushed hair and no bra – disgusting.  Daughter said don’t worry about it – only a supermarket.  Isn’t a supermarket also a place where one is supposed to be able to find a prospective partner?  Utter bullshit of course – I never see single available men shopping in a supermarket.  Well anyway, I hid behind the trolley and let daughter and friend put things in it and when I had to leave the trolley to get something, crossed my arms so it wasn’t quite so obvious I wasn’t wearing a bra.  Dear oh dear.  It was lucky I’d actually put shoes on and not just drive in my slippers.  I would definitely have refused to get out of the car then!

But to make up for it daughter made a delicious vegetarian pizza and I cracked open a cheap bottle of Italian plonk.

 

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Forecast was for sun

Instead it’s the usual grey…

At least I know somewhere the sun is shining – above those dismal clouds.  I can visualise flying up above them and seeing the sun in its glory.  One thing I love about flying is seeing the clouds from above and the wonderful formations – some like ice caverns and others like majestic cities on horizons beckoning at you…

I digress and haven’t even started.

I went along to Hossam and Serena Ramzy’s concert last night.  It was marvelous as expected.  I’d seen Serena dancing on DVD and found her mesmerising.  Hossam has a wonderful sense of humour.  He’s a master drummer and makes it look so easy.  And Serena’s dancing – adjectives are not enough to describe it.  You sit there mesmerised with a grin on your face (I found I was tensed up too) but then you think  back and try to recall what it is she did exactly  and you can’t remember.  I wish I could move like that.  Her hips seem to have minds of their own while she just smiles away.  Enchanting.

Before Hossam and Serena came on, there were some belly dancers from around the country who performed.  I wasn’t too enamoured of the first three, thinking unkindly that the dancers were simply getting progressively fatter.  One little dancer called Briar though – she was wonderful.  Her shimmies were fabulous.  The last group was called Kiwi Iwi and were more tribal in look and dance technique.  Quite impressive.  Overall though, I was thinking with relief that I wasn’t so bad after all – that was until, of course, Serena came on. 

My teacher was there and we spoke briefly at the end.  She said she felt like quitting as a teacher after Serena’s performance.  There was a NZ woman amongst the Kiwis in the first half who is a teacher and has travelled to Turkey etc, bla bla (her introduction said glowing things).  However I found her tall and gangly – not at all graceful and seductive as my teacher is.  I should tell her that later in class next week.

Had to return home after briefly seeing my older daughter.  Dropped off younger daughter and friend (who had come with me to watch – younger had seen the DVD and was also enamoured).  Got home about 1.30am.

I didn’t have the time to stay in Wellington, having got way too much to do.  I would have loved to have attended the belly dancing workshops but lack of time and money prevented me – damnit!

So now I’ve achieved some of the work I  have to do this weekend.

Now to pick up the girls from the bus!

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