News from down under

School Stabbing

NZ’s first ever stabbing of a teacher at school happened yesterday. See NZ Herald article. The teacher was writing on the whiteboard when a 17 year old student stabbed him in the back a couple of times and then took off.

The teacher is going to be OK and the kid was picked up shortly after by cops.

Very strange behaviour…

 

 Victorian Fires

I see in The Melbourne Age that 1 of the last 4 still burning complex fires has finally been brought under control. The other 3 are close to containment too thank goodness.

My friend has only just returned to her place. The Daylesford fire got within 8km’s of her place and it freaked her out so bad, she had to really psych herself into going back. She won’t be unpacking the car for weeks yet I imagine until the threat is completely gone.

Let’s hope for all Victorian’s sakes, there’s nothing too serious left to contend with for the rest of the fire season.

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On a different note entirely…In NZ we’re a couple of weeks into season 5 of Lost right now and I’m through with it. Totally. I hung in there as long as it was humanly possible but I won’t be watching even one more episode. It’s completely done my head in.

It’s over, sad but true.

Jung Typology Test

I have just taken the Jung Typology Test as per Kate's post of yesterday and Tim’s post of the day before.

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PERSONALITY TYPE

ISTJ (Introverted sensing Thinking Judging)

TEMPERAMENT – The Guardian

The one word that best describes ISTJ is super-dependable.

Whether at home or at work, ISTJ are extraordinarily persevering and dutiful, particularly when it comes to keeping an eye on the people and products they are responsible for. In their quiet way, ISTJ see to it that rules are followed, laws are respected, and standards are upheld.

ROMANCE

Guardian women look for traditions to start or maintain. They are generally suckers for flowers, cards, chocolates, and the like. They are among the most likely to notice and appreciate signs of status unless these signs are flaunted, such as entrance into an exclusive club and being welcomed by name at a trendy restaurant. Men often appreciate Guardian women who like to lavishly pamper their partners.

The Issue of Tissue

I was shopping with my mum earlier this evening and I was surprised to see her reach for non-recycled paper toilet tissue. She always used to have an earth friendly brand in the bathroom but she says she’s gone back to buying a luxury brand as she likes how soft it is and that it’s too scratchy when the paper is recycled. I proceeded to rip open a pack of recycled non-bleached tissue like we use in our house to show her that it’s not that bad – it’s not like sand paper like it used to be years ago when they first started selling it.

End result, she’s taken some home to try again.

After our conversation I stood there and scanned the shelf in the supermarket and was surprised to see that nearly a quarter of the brands on offer had only a small (or even worse, zero) percentage of recycled paper used in the manufacture. I was embarrassed. I came home and googled the issue thinking how awful that there’s still obviously a quarter of people in NZ using virgin wood pulp to wipe their arse (please excuse my coarse language). Surely the rest of the world would be horrified when we’re supposed to be all ‘clean and green’ here in NZ. Yeah, right!

Well……this is an article that I found. 98% of toilet tissue sold in the US today is from non-recycled paper.

Don’t worry I’m not going to deliver a lecture but I just thought I’d bring it to your attention. Do what you will with the information :-)

Canadian readers though, might be interested to know where some of the 200 year old trees come from to make this fluffy, multi-ply luxury so favoured in North American bathrooms.

What Utensil Are You?

Thanks to Squirrel Tooth Alice for sharing the quiz that can be found at What Utensil Are You? 

I never seem to get the results I am hoping for with these things and sure enough – wouldn't you know it? I am a knife!

Why couldn't I be something peaceful like a spoon? Or exotic like chopsticks? Or fun like tongs? OK I’m getting carried away here but still – a knife?

How freakin’ romantic!

I am seriously thinking that it’s time to give up hoping I’ll be thought of as a girly girl – I’ll always be opinionated, tough and no nonsense.

There’s just no fighting it…

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You are a Knife

You are precise, determined, and detail oriented. You mean what you say, and you say what you mean. You enjoy taking risks and living on the edge. You are a controversial person. Your opinions tend to be divisive.

My Town

I liked Uamada’s idea of snapping some pictures while out walking to show us what his town’s like.

Being me though, I have opted for the motorised version and after collecting Rory this afternoon, I handed him the camera and instructed to shoot anything that caught his fancy while we drove home. The first couple are shot from the car travelling on the Southern Motorway.

Hover your curser over the picture for a descriptor and you can double click to enlarge as usual…

      

  I hope this gives you an idea of what’s like here in suburban NZ.

I believe it’s much like any other city I’ve been to in other parts of the world though less crowded perhaps and more spread out too – we tend to like our space us kiwi’s.

Papakura is the southern most part of greater Auckland and retains some strongly rural roots – it’s 10 minutes from my place to farm land in almost any direction except north.

Chick Fest

Just in case there’s anybody left in the land of blog who hasn’t already seen the movies I watched this evening, this post will take the form of a public service film review by yours truly.

Since my BFF moved home to Melbourne a couple of years ago, the person that I hang with most is a guy. An old school friend actually. Now he’s great and we have lots of fun but a movie night with him is much more likely to be about war or cars or super heroes or guns (or some combination of the above) than it is about ‘relationships/love/romance/feelings’. Don’t get me wrong I enjoy an action movie as much as the next girl and plus I feel bad forcing him to watch a chick flick as he inevitably falls asleep.

So, anyway, he’s off doing something manly this weekend so it seemed the perfect opportunity to remedy the appalling backlog of girlie movies not yet seen by me. Plus, Rory’s staying at a mates place and the weather is foul so I could fully commit to a triple feature chick flick fest without the guilt associated with blobbing on the coach for about 5 straight hours.

The movies are:

• Sex and the City
• Made of Honour
• Forgetting Sarah Marshall

The order in which to indulge in this rom-com romp gave me pause but I knew pretty much straight off I’d leave Carrie and the girls ‘til last. I’d heard from Jennicki that FSM was great but I’m also a bit of a fan of McDreamy (aka Patrick Dempsey) so that was a toss-up. I decided on FSM then Made of Honour and then SATC.

And so to business…

Forgetting Sarah Marshall

• Good level of male full frontal nudity
• A couple of real laugh out loud moments
• Not afraid to take the p*ss out of itself
• 2.5 stars out of 5

Made of Honour

• Lovely cinematography (New York, Scotland)
• Sabotage theme has strong echoes of My Best Friends Wedding. Substitute the basketball court scene for the karaoke bar and the bridal shower scene for the rehearsal dinner and it could be Julia Roberts and Cameron Diaz
• Formulaic/predictable but with strong(ish) performances by Dempsey and Michelle Monaghan
• The psycho blogger was a nice touch
• 3 stars out of 5

Just in case those of you in the US think I am misspelling the word ‘honour’ in the title, it was released here this way.

Sex and the City

• Fabulous wedding gowns (and shoes)(and bags)
• Nostalgia
• The inevitable montage of late 80’s wardrobe and music
• Dramatic bouquet smashing street scene
• Unexpectedly thoughtful
• 4 stars out of 5

…and that dear readers is my two cents worth.