Short Cuts

No one can predict the future. And events that have happened in the past, tragic events, couldn’t have been predicted either, but we can learn. We can learn from things that have happened, develop new methods of thinking and produce ideas for dealing with the unexpected more efficiently.

Christchurch; torn apart by multitudes of earthquakes and the consequent damage that they caused. It will cost billions to reconstruct the city and essentially this will add to the poor economic state of New Zealand. But aside from that, aside from the damage, the homes and buildings lost and the ones that are still there but no longer usable, the mass amount of destruction that still has to take place in the form of demolition.  Aside from all of that, there is a larger problem, brewing silently but ever-present. This tragic natural disaster has not ended yet. Day in, day out earthquakes shake the city. People are living in fear, children missing out on a vital education, parents wanting only the best for  their children – it’s still happening. What I want to know is this. If there was a massive earthquake somewhere and then a few months later an even bigger one that killed many people and then many, many more ongoing ones, why would anyone deem this a safe place for people  to reside?  I’m not completely naive. I know  that Christchurch, for many people, is home. It’s where you might own a house and have a mortgage, or own a business, or have an important job, kids, family, elderly parents, commitments, its the place you love. I understand that. I have lived in this region since I was born and while it has its bad days, it’s home for me and the place I love dearly. I have so much here, memories, family, friends and so on. I understand that it is home. But home above all else is meant to be somewhere that is safe. A place for you to reside in with your family that protects you from the rain, the cold and keeps your belongings safe. The state that Christchurch is in now takes away from all of that. I am not claiming to be an expert on Earthquakes – far from it. I am looking at from the most simplest point of view. Is it normal for a city to experience four – five earthquakes on a daily basis, for months on end – some of these as big as 6.3? Are we just ignoring the entirely possible outcome of another large earthquake? If you ignore for a moment, peoples lives, peoples safety and look at another angle – rebuilding. Is it even remotely sensible to consider rebuilding a city that is so vulnerable? I’m sure that our country isn’t run  by a complete group of morons and that someone has taken this into consideration but it would make me a lot happier if I could read in the news “Experts determine earthquakes will diminish by August” or something similar as apposed to “Christchurch rocked by another 6.3 earthquake” and so on. I would just like to know that this aspect has and is being considered. That people, that our leaders, will not make the same mistakes. We have experienced tragedy with Christchurch’s biggest earthquake – let’s not be ignorant enough to experience it again.

Muse is so god-damn freaking amazing. I am being hoisted up by a hefty rope, up, up into the bubble that is Muse and once inside the bubble I break into thousands, no, millions of pieces and dissolve into the sound. Complete.

That is how this makes me feel.

So I’m just watching Futurama, which is my new favourite animated TV show. I like that it has a layer of depth, that other animated shows are missing.

I am very close to finishing Chapter A, the first chapter in my first book. I am very pleased that I have gotten this far – almost 15 pages! I’m not usually good at sticking to things but I feel like I have gotten far enough that I’m guna be able to keep going, which sends little shivers down my spine. Everyday my dream is becoming a tiny bite sized piece closer to reality.

It’s getting colder – it’s come to that time of winter where there is an actual bite to the air, it goes right to your bones.

I have a growing wishlists of treats that I want (and am slowly acquiring). The list includes Aromaflex Oils (aromatherapy essential oils from the absolutely beautiful Aromaflex store http://www.aromaflex.co.nz/home.aspx), black and white film to play around with in my Holga film camera, paints and canvas, some scrummy winter knit dresses and journals and letter writing stationary. I found this delicious website that sells gorgeous hand made stationary – my shopping cart already has $83 worth of stuff in it (eek!) Presse Papiers http://www.presse.co.nz/

Thats all for today.

Beneath us all, there is something deeper than ourselves. It is what links us to each other and to the earth. It is a presence unspoken of and unnamed, yet ever present. And we all feel its existence from time to time. I like  to think of the beauty that we see in the rolling countryside and the ocean as somehow related to us. The ocean essentially a reflection of mankind. And though much of this is lost – crime and overpopulation taking over – occasionally there is still a glimmer of that beauty, hidden amongst the foamy, curling waves.

Shoes gather by the door,

Discarded,

A limp red leaf,

Pokes out from underneath a leather boot,

And rain drops gather in bunches,

On sneakers,

Soggy from the rain,

Outside the sky bulges,

With fat dark clouds,

And a breeze makes,

The long blades of grass,

Quiver.

So, earlier this week my partner and I went away for a night to the north of the West Coast, Karamea. We went to meet my partner’s father from the end of the Heaphy track but found numerous other reasons for going, along the way.

There are many things that I like about the West Coast. It could be described as barren, sparsely populated and lacking energy but to me it could never be any of those things. It’s beautful in an incredibly sporatic and untouched way and its full of mystery. There are so many secrets tucked around every bend. Like the Denniston historic site – an old coal mining site on the top of hill in Waimangaroa. About 150o people used to live in this wind-swept, make-shift town and there are remnants of houses and old mining paraphernalia. There is something about Denniston that sends shivers down my spine..

And the ocean. The West Coast ocean is just mesmerizing. Its full of life and crashes about wildly onto the long sparse beach.

Sorry – Can’t figure this photo thing out and so don’t know why it’s small.

We are tied to the ocean. And when we go back to the sea, whether it is to sail or to watch – we are going back from whence we came.

J. F Kennedy

The train sits – beauty and the beast in one. I stroked the glass window, cautious to get in. But soon I am hurried on by the impatient. I somehow join their flow, like a stick thrown into a river. I am thrust into a squishy leather set. A balding man with a grey suit – possibly op-shop purchase – tries to hide behind today’s news. I don’t attempt to make eye contact. I stare at the stream of people filling the train. They carry briefcases or fake Prada hand bags and yell commands into expensive plastic cubes. And they all have the exact same facial expression.

And yet, while I may be just as much a part of the flow as they are. I am drifting along carelessly – not running and stumbling and yelling. I lean back in my seat, wishing it wasn’t leather. It always makes that squidging sound and sticks to you. I imagined just how many people had sat in this exact seat – none of them would have noticed the squidgy sound or the ghastly forest green leather. They would have been glaring at their watches or faking interest in exaggerated headlines.

The train pulls away from the station and I relax into the chug-chug-chug. It is surprisingly soothing and the babble of voices and general brooding atmosphere just fades away. Fields pass by, and buildings. I admire them all. The train has the same glowering mob, though individual faces change, as we arrive at each stop.  Everyone is bursting to get somewhere. Their destination calls, and somehow, they are all terribly late, or so it seems. The destination is so important – maybe their wife is having a baby or the house is burning down. I’m guessing it’s just another day at the office.

Where am I going? I’m going nowhere – or anywhere. Wherever the chug-chug-chug of the engine takes me.

Hello world,

I just finished my final assignment for semester one! Perhaps I should be relieved/ happy/ excited/ sad. But it hasn’t really sunk in yet.

You may be wondering about the title for this post – well I’ll explain. In my final assignment I wrote a 500 word piece on autumn and the changing seasons. Sort of a prosey type thing. I’m quite happy with it.  So now I have like leaves, clouds, rain drops and so forth clogging up my brain.

Here’s a sample;

Through the window pane I watch the swings in the playground stir, lonely. The damp wooden castle creaks and a stream runs down the fiber-glass slide. Rain-drops adorn the sea-saw’s metal seats. The abandoned playground waits for an eager child and a brave parent to set foot into the cold.

So, this semester is almost finished. I’m waiting to get marks for 3 more assignments (including the afformentioned one) then I will let you know how happy I am with this semester.

Yesterday me and my partner went to Rabbit Island to go exploring.

Here is the beach:

It’s pretty stunning right. Great how that is only a 20 minute drive away. Ironically there is a beach at the end of our road. About 2 minutes walk, which is even more stunning. But it doesn’t have a cool forest to get lost in.

In my semester break, I want to buy some black and white film and take some photos with that. ‘Reckon it’d be pretty magic.

I think it is time to start making some soup.

Goodnight.

Slow down and enjoy life. It’s not only the scenery you miss by going too fast – you also miss the sense of where you are going and why.

Eddie Cantor

OK, so I always seem to blog in the middle of the night when I should really be asleep. I think I must be part owl. I just had a big burst of energy – yes it’s 12.30 am – and went through and caught up on lots of exercises for this week and last week.

Tomorrow I plan to finish 3 major assignments which are due this weekend. I’m pretty happy with what I have done so hopefully I will get some good results.

And sheesh – after those are handed in only have two small assignments left, two weeks of work and then whabam! This semester is over. This year, as usual, is screeching by. But I am enjoying it.

Have so many thoughts for what to do next year. More study, writing and working, going somewhere else. Just too many possibilities. I think that I have to make a deal with myself to finish my book before I enroll in any more big courses though. My student loan will turn into a monster and eat me otherwise. And it’s about time I did some hard work.

I did the aromatherapy course in the weekend and it was awesome. So glad I decided to do it. Very, very good value for money. Indepth, informative, inspiring and lots of fun with a cool bunch of people. Now I want to spend hundreds of dollars on luscious oils mmm..

Anyway it is almost 1am! So I am going to get ready for bed. (At long last) Busy day tomorrow, studying and more studying.

Well I haven’t written for a while which is a bit terrible but I have been quite busy.

Will came for a week and we drank wine and reminisced and I ate too much chocolate. Easter – not ideal.

Then of course I have been working on all my assignments. I swear no matter how much I do they never come to an end.

I feel like writing a list.

This Week

– Hopefully we get a washing machine at long last

– Have to go to Aromaflex to enquire about the course

– Hopefully get a massage through the lady who’s leasing a room at Desire Fitness

– I might buy some paints, I feel like being arty

– Do lots of work on assignments

– Oh yeah, and I’m spending the weekend in Mot because Row is going to a rave :/ think me and mum will go to a movie and then going to a party or something equally crappy on Saturday. Joy.

One of my exercises this week  was writing about what we would do if we were in solitary confinement for a year, in other words all alone in a big house. I think I would need a wine cellar, a large bath, a lot of food, a lot of books and the entire series of Friends. And maybe a few cats. I would spend my mornings in the bath drinking wine and reading and spend the evening cooking, eating and drinking wine. I think would become very… culinary. And most probably quite fat.

I really want some potato chips and some orange juice. But it is 8.23 pm and I don’t feel like leaving my blankety nest that I made especially for blog-writing.

And here is a proverb from The Penguin Dictionary of Proverbs

“He who aims at the moon may hit the top of a tree; he who aims at the top of a tree is unlikely to get off the ground”