Leaving the family burrow!

So I’ve done it.

I made the big move out of the family home. Leaving the comfort and loving arms of my mummy and daddy, the warmth, free food, power, tv and internet (and so much more!) and leaving the person who did almost everything for me. So I guess that’s why I haven’t done any washing for a week!

So now I have to deal with cooking, cleaning, paying rent and basically surviving with no one here to look after me!

But so far, all is going well! I’ve moved in with two others and we haven’t had our first flat fight – I’m wondering if/when we ever will and what it will be about! I’ve known H since our college years and she has provided the flat with most of the artwork on our walls. She’s a vegetarian, which I haven’t had a problem with yet! And I don’t think I will. In fact, its been really interesting! We are definitely cooking rather gourmet at the moment, but I guess as funds begin to dwindle we’ll crack out the two minute noodles!

Our other flattie is D, who we bought off trademe! I was a bit worried about the whole living with a stranger thing but he has actually been brilliant! He has fitted in really well with both H and I. He has just returned to Wellington after four years of living in Spain, so we are expecting some yummy Spanish food.

The flat itself is pretty awesome, kind of girlie! My favourite part of the flat is definitely our liquor cabinet! It’s a 100 year old house so is pretty creaky but has its own special character. Like a zip that boils hot water at the kitchen sink instead of a hot water tap and we have to climb up onto the roof to hang washing up on the line!

The colour scheme is somewhat mixed, with floral curtains in most rooms. The kitchen is mainly white but with some surfaces around windows and cupboard doors are a mixture of sea-blue/green and pink! The bathroom walls are a bright aqua blue but the toilet is purple! We’ve managed to cover most of the not so nice things in the flat with posters and art!

My room is huge! I am (currently) going with a purple and lime green theme! I’m trying to decorate at the moment because I think it is looking rather boring. I have just bought some new curtains to block out the (all-day!) sun and some of the noise I get from the street.

One thing I haven’t quite got used to is the noise. Living in town is very, very different from the very quiet suburbs. There is constantly police, ambulance and fire engine sirens ringing around this part of town. I guess its something I am just going to have to get used to!

I think I can handle it – seeing as I am a 2 minute walk from the middle of town! It’s so much better than having to catch a twenty minute bus to get to and from school. I guess it’s a case of watch this space to see how long I can hack it. Mum and Dad didn’t think I would last a week, but here I am three weeks later, and I have loved every minute! So wait and see.

Here’s a few pictures of the flat so far! I’ll pop up some of my room, when its funky enough!

A-B-C’s of Me

A – Age: Twenty One

B – Band listening to right now: I’m a fan of MGMT

C – Career future:  Hmmm.. Hoping Journalist! But see where the wind blows me I guess.

D – Dad’s name: Michael

E – Easiest person to talk to: Probably my Brother, Oliver 

F – Favorite type of shoe: The type I wear all the time.. Flat ones!

G – Grapes or Grapefruit: Grapefruit!

H – Hometown: Wellington

I – Instrumental talent: Not at all. Kinda wish I had though!

J – Juice of choice: Citrus Tang from Fluid! Yum!

K – Koala Bear or Panda Bear: Koala Bears!

L – Longest car ride ever: Ones when you have had a fight with the person your with and its dead silence and you just remembered you had something to tell them, but you are to stubborn to break the silence!

M – Middle name: Anne.

N – Number of jobs you’ve had:  4

O- OCD traits: Having to hang washing out on the line in equal rows and having to use all the lines! Also having to use the same coloured pegs on each garment.

P – Phobia[s]: I hate trains. Irrational fear – but imagine if one derailed!

Q – Quote:  I dont really have one.

R – Reason to smile: The sun, the people in my life, everything. No reason not to smile.

S – Song you sang last: As terrible as this is sounds, it was the High School Musical Medley from High School Musical Three. Would you really expect anything else from me?

T – Time you wake up: Between Weekdays between 6:30 and 7, usually. Different ball game on the Weekend though!

U – Unknown fact about me:  My surname means something totally different in Samoan.  

V – Vegetable you hate: Onions. 

W – Worst habit: Procrastination. 

X – X-rays you’ve had: Teeth, Little Finger, Knee, Little Toe and Ankle.

Y – Yummiest food my belly likes:  Sushi, Kebab or home made Pizza.

Z – Zodiac sign: Scorpio

Christmas Survey

Thought of this as a way to spread some festive cheer and for all my readers out there (yes – all eight of you) to find out some more about me!

Egg nog or hot chocolate? Hot Chocolate. Do we even have Egg Nog here?

Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree? Mrs Claus wraps them I’m sure!

Colored lights on tree/house or white? Both!

Do you hang mistletoe? Pass!

When do you put your decorations up?No definite rule. But I am definitely not a fan of those who put them up on the first of December! That’s waayyy to early! And I hate how shops start to put up decorations during October. You know that people will come buy stuff at some point. Whats with all the pressure so early?! Grr..

Favorite holiday memory as a child? Getting to open presents on Christmas Eve at my Nana’s place. In fact, it still is my favourite part of Christmas!

When and how did you learn the truth about Santa? I was one of the last ones to know out of all my friends. Poor little innocent Kristina! Pretty sure one of my friends told me. I was probably around 12 or 13! I’m still trying to figure out if my little brother knows or if he’s playing us all just so we can all still get gifts!

How do you decorate your Christmas tree? We are an all silver kind of family so that we can match the theme in our lounge. Its pretty impressive. See photo below!

Snow! Love it or dread it?I love the idea of snow, but I have never seen it or touch it! Bring on my first real white Christmas. Or maybe just the ski fields next winter?!

Do you remember your favorite gift?No, not really. We got a trampoline one year. That was pretty impressive. I’m still trying to figure out how they got it down the side of our house! It makes me laugh how my brothers and I didn’t notice it until the parents had to point it out!

What’s the most important thing about the holidays for you?It means summer! And a bit of a break. YAY! And of course spending time with family (well some members of my family) and friends!

What is your favorite holiday dessert? Fruit Mince Pies!

What is your favorite holiday tradition? Waiting for everyone to wake up so we can all open presents together!

What tops your tree? A silver star!

Which do you prefer, giving or receiving? Both. I’m being honest! But I am a terrible gift giver.  I never know what to get people – even those who I am close to.

What is your favorite Christmas song?Last Christmas by WHAM! lol or that Mariah Carey one!

Candy canes? Yup but only the mint ones!

Favorite Christmas movie? That’s easy.. Love Actually!

Christmas Greetings!

Its beginning to look a lot like Christmas in my house!

This year I am doing the whole big family thing on Christmas Day! Shall be fun, but hoping that maybe next year Ill be having my first white Christmas? Watch this space!

Doesn’t really feel like Christmas yet, guess having shorthand everyday for two hours doesn’t really get you into the festive groove.

Nine sleeps to go and I haven’t bought one gift. Hopefully I stop being  Grinch-like before the 25th!

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!

K

P.S Keep an eye out for my mine and my colleagues Christmas Specials soon!

Social Network Stalking

So I have started stalking.

Not sitting in a bush, wearing camouflaged clothes and sunglasses, outside someones house kind of stalking, but sitting at my computer following the lives of all kinds of different people on their blogs, twitter, bebo and facebook.

I’m not just limiting myself to my friends but I am stalking just about everyone under the sun since I have been stuck at home sick for the last week or so.

You name the site and I’ve stalked you or the person sitting behind you on the bus, or someone on your blog roll, or someone your following on twitter. I’m sure you see where I’m going with this.

Someone out there has to reassure me that I’m normal doing this.

When I say stalk, I’m not doing anything illegal. I just like to see what people are up to and catch up on a little bit of gossip. Maybe its my inner Perez Hilton coming out in me? But I’m sure he has people that do all the stalking for him. I can only sit and dream that one day, like him, I’ll have people to do that for me, but hey whats the fun in that!

It first started with bebo stalking. The classic line from me at parties last year was “Oh, yeah did you hear that Sharon and Bill broke up – I saw it on bebo”, or “did you see what Susan wore on Wednesday – she had photos on bebo”. I was kind of getting out of control and was soon dubbed by friends the bebo queen.

That all changed when I made the big jump to the wonderful world of facebook. Facebook is so much better, maybe its because I’m getting older, now that I’m the big twenty one! I only keep my bebo profile because I know that if i delete it I wont be able to contact a couple of people who only have bebo. And also because everyone knows its so much easier to stalk people on bebo.

But now I find myself jumping from twitter site to twitter site and from blogs to blogs, all in the hope of keeping myself entertained. It really is incredible what people put out there for the world to see. Like how much is too much for one to write about themselves and their lives. When I’m reading things sometimes I have to take a step back and realise that this is an actual person and not just an online book that I’m reading.

But the real reason for this post is to find out if I am weird and the only person out there who does it? Or if I am normal?

Where do you draw the line at how much you put out there for the world to see?

How do people find blogs to add to their roll? And let me know how you all make friends with fellow bloggers?!

I know there is a couple of people who blogs I read that I would like to become friends with!

Remember: If I stalk, then it must be okay. Right?

K

Election results are in: Im the new PM!

And if you don’t like it, then tough luck.

Its me for the next three years!

Hmmm…. I wish!

But seriously its 6 days till New Zealanders vote in the general elections and I am totally over arguing with people about politics.

I detest people who have big rants about what party they think I should vote for.

They just think they are right and you are wrong.

People, we live in a democratic society.

I am going to vote for whoever I am want to vote for and you can vote for whoever you want.

May the best man or woman or he/she win!

Remember: If you vote for me, It will become compulsory to paint your house PINK!

K

The Dogg is in town

So last week, Snoop Dogg was in Welly-Vegas for a concert with Ice-Cube and Bone Thugs!

Exciting stuff, if that’s what your in to.

But certainly not my cup of tea.

I have to admit I do watch his reality tv show with his family, but that’s just because I am a reality tv addict.

I will admit: I love watching other people living their lives. The more drama the better!

But I’ll save that for another time!

Back to the big D - O – double G..

I was watching TV One News the night “the God Father of Hip Hop” arrived into town.

Snoops first mistake was to say he was glad to be back in Australia, straight after getting off the plane in Wellington Airport.

Snoop has had some trouble in the past getting his visa to Australia because of his past. Lucky he has a friend called Russell Crowe who put in the good word for him!

Towards the end of the clip, the reporter asked Snoop to put his ’spin’ on some Maori words like Ka Pai which he made into Ka Pai-izzle and Ki Ora Izzle Dizzle for Ki Ora.

Snoop had clearly rubbed off on the TV One news reporter because she signed off as Heather Du Plizzle-Allen.

Puh-lease!

I laughed for so long. It truly made my night. Maybe even my whole week.

You could see it coming from a mile off.

It was a really good clip and interview until she made a laughing stock out of herself, in my opinion anyway!

Remember: Some things are better left out.

K

Birthday Wishing..

Who wouldn’t want to spend their birthday like this:

Looks like good food, good wine and good shoes!

Sign me up for some of that action on Thursday, thanks!

K

Do you know a secret?

Secret: Something that should remain hidden from others especially information that is not to be passed on.

Do you have a secret?

I’m sure there is something in your life that you haven’t told anyone in the world.

I found this blog this week called Post Secret.

Its one of those blogs that you have to read/see to completely understand the genius/madness of it.

The site describes itself as “an ongoing community art project where people
mail in their secrets anonymously on one side of a postcard.”

And essentially thats all it is! Here are some examples that I liked:

 

 

 

 

 So do you have a secret that you need to tell but don’t know who to trust or who to tell?

Could you imagine yourself sending a postcard to Post Secret?

Let me know if you think you are brave enough to do it!

Remember: A problem shared is a problem halved.

K

If you are blonde and from New Zealand..

So a couple of days ago, while trawling my local celebrity gossip sites, I was pleasantly surprised. My idol, Perez Hilton was talking about two lovely ladies from New Zealand who’s songs feature on my iPod.

Perez talks about music almost everyday and quite often posts music clips under his ‘Listen To This’ Category.

Sometime last week, Mr Hilton started talking about Ladyhawke (pictured: below (right)). All though her songs aren’t as well known as New Zealand artists like Scribe, I think that she is definitely one of the watch this space kind of artists.

Mr Hilton thinks that Ladyhawke is like ‘She’s like Lady Gaga with a bit more of a rock edge – but just as fab’!

WOW! I know that most people don’t read Perez’s Blog as often as I do, but this is a HUGE thing in my opinion for an artist trying to break through in the music industry, not only in New Zealand but also internationally!

He even says her song ‘Paris is Burning’ is the perfect song to jam out to in the weekend.

What made me laugh was a couple days later it was reported in the New Zealand media that Ladyhawke had to postpone her American tour because of visa problems. With Perez’s four million hits a day, imagine how many people would of been interested in going to the concert because of what he was blogging about!

A couple days later, another post caught my attention (as many of his posts do!)

‘If you’re blonde and from New Zealand, then we are LOVING you this week! A few days ago, we introduced you to to the brazilliance of Ladyhawke. Today, we’d like you to meet Gin.’

Oh Perez you just made my life! After no shout outs or references to New Zealand (even though he had a whole skin dedicated to Australians!), Perez mentions Aotearoa twice in one week! Oh be still my beating heart!

Although I will admit I really wasn’t a fan of Macy Gray, Gin does have the same kind of husky voice. Her song ‘Under my skin’ is quite catchy!

Thinking I was already utterly amazed that Perez even knew that New Zealand existed, I had a quick look at the comments for the two posts. And contrary to popular belief, I am not the only person in New Zealand that reads Perez Hilton’s blog!

Who knows maybe the four million hits that perezhilton.com gets a day could all come from New Zealanders!

Remember: Even though we are a small country, we still make a huge impression on the world, and famous people know that we exist!

K

The Blogging Virus

So, I have jumped on the blogging band wagon.

Some might say that it’s been a long time coming because I always have so much to say, so in a way this blog might be a more constructive way of articulating my arguments and ideas.

Some people in my class have caught the blogging virus, but it’s mainly the boys that are going hard with their boy talk so I thought I would pull up a chair and bring my views to the table. But mainly with a focus on “girlie” stuff.

I will confess, as well as being a bit of a social network addict, I am constantly reading different blogs. So perhaps I am actually more of internet junkie.

I thought I would start off by naming some of my favourite. I think that this might give you a bit of an insight into who I am and what I like.

Currently my favourite blog, which I check numerous times a day is Perez Hilton. I have a bit of weakness for celebrity gossip – actually no all kinds of gossip – but for me its just another form of entertainment, like rugby or watching television is for some people.

Another blog I read regularly is Lea White’s Blog, Growing up with cancer – Bianca’s story. It is one of the featured blogs on the Dom Post website and it follows Bianca, a 5 year old girl with Leukaemia. I guess I am only one in the thousands of people that reads that blog. I couldn’t tell you why I read this blog, but I think that it is a great way to keep friends and families informed about what is happening when someone has an illness. It’s certainly a more convenient way than calling all your relatives, that’s for sure!

I find Twitter a particularly good tool to find blogs.  With Julie Star coming into talk to us at the start of the course about the greatness of Twitter, I soon found myself Twitter stalking, but not so much updating my Twitter status that often. It is a good way to keep yourself in the know about people and events around you. Its a great tool for a journalist, with even the DomPost tweeting all their news as it happens.

I’m quite drawn to the domestic goddess mummy bloggers. I think that Amalah is hilarious. I was following her on Twitter and then looked at her blog one day and from then, I was hooked. I spent one Saturday just reading through years of her postings. I’ve since looked at a couple of blogs on her blogroll – including The Five Blondes and The Blogess.

Blogging definitely has its advantages. You can inform people about things that are important to you. I think that blogging enables people to say things in a way that makes their views or arguments stronger. It is of course a way to vent. But this means that all the crazies can get their thoughts out there for anyone to read and there are a lot more crazies out there than normal people with good, informative things to say.

So I guess this is Hello World. I hope that you will come back and read/listen to what I have to say.

Remember: I’m really new at this so let me know what I’m doing right of wrong!

K

Warning!

This is for all those people who treat their dogs better than they treat other human beings.

I know, I know some people have those days when you really don’t feel like talking to other people and you just want to be left alone. My advice to those people is to: stay at home, be a hermit – I don’t care what you do! But I do care when you treat me worse than a pile of dirt.

I have been in a taxi a couple of times, after a long day and all you feel like doing is just chilling out in the back of a taxi, rather than catching a bus that’s packed full of screaming children. It’s always when you don’t feel like having any form of interaction with anyone, when you pick the cab with the chattiest taxi driver. All they seem to do is talk about politics and how it was the darnedest thing when “my youngest grandchild puked down the front of my boss’s favourite shirt.”

It’s right about then that you wish you were an Upper East sider with the ability to roll the screen up between you and your driver but unfortunately for you, you are not the spawn of a wealthy oil tycoon in New York.

Sure, some of the drivers are cute old men. When one has a thing for cute old men its quite hard to not talk to them. It’s right about now that I want to do a shout out to my favourite taxi driver who I have only had the pleasure of meeting once!

I was on my way to my first ever interview as a journalism student and when I had talked to this lady on the phone she was rather bitchy. Not quite knowing where I’m going, I decide to catch a taxi. And this is where I met Paddy. We set off and he’s quiet and I’m thinking: ‘Yes! I have some quiet time to collect my thoughts before I get eaten alive by this dragon of a woman”, and then Paddy starts talking, as all the good Irish do.

He starts by asking where I’m going. So I tell him that I was going to my very first interview for my very first story as a journalism student and “Paddy, I have to tell you something. I’m so nervous about it.”

“Oh love, to be sure, to be sure” he tells me.

I must of concerned him with my puzzled look, because he got all confused and turned up the wrong street.

When he realised his mistake, looking at me through his rear view mirror, he winked and said “Well love, I can’t be charging you for my mistake now, can I?”‘ And that special moment marked when I got my very first, and only to date, free taxi ride.

When we arrived, Paddy turned around and gave me a warm smile and wished me luck and told me I would be fine. If you’re out there reading this Paddy – I’d like to saythank you. Because without you I’m sure my interview wouldn’t of gone as good as it did.

So when you’re having a crap day because the value of your stocks plummeted or you couldn’t find one of your favourite Christian Loubotin shoes – spare a thought about how you are going to talk to the next person that you need help from. Whether it be a taxi driver, a receptionist, the mail man or the person who makes you coffee.

You never know what is going on in someone’s life. Treat others the way that you want to be treated. Watch the way you talk to people. 

Remember: You can never tell when someone has spat into your morning’s coffee.

K