Well, I have given in and "rejoined civilisation". You can now reach me anytime, anywhere (unless I've turned it off or something) on 021 756 051. It's nice and shiny and little and blue. It's a Nokia 6100 for those who care about such things. Like me.
What I need now is for someone to find me the Starcon II hyperspace music to use as the ring tone. Go on, you know you want to...
UPDATE: Speaking of new contact details, you all should stop using my ncm20 email account, as I rather suspect that it will cease to exist in the very near future. So, please transfer to my mootpoint account to get in touch with me from now on. Nice.
I'm guessing a few of you have heard about New Zealand Music Month? Well, it's this coming month, and it kicks off with a 24 hour NZ Music Marathon which involves live music being played simultaneously in Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch and Dunedin. It's called National Anthem, and there are many many many bands playing one after the other for 24 hours straight. Cool. Even cooler than that, our very own Pete Fleiming (recently returned to the Vertigo fold) is now the bassest in Slipstream, a Christchurch band playing between 3 and 4 pm on Sunday. So, we should all get down and jump around then at the UCSA Ballroom, where this all takes place. Or at least we should all very seriously consider doing so. Go on, it'll be fun!
Also, the coolest noise at the University is made when you walk down the stairs in the Central Library and all the black, non-slip stuff on the edges goes snap, crackle, pop as it lifts back off the steps to which it has been pressed by your passing.
Foo.
So. The show is now over, and life returns (somewhat) to normal. It's been an interesting experience, and one that I might be convinced to try again, should the chance arise. I'm glad so many of you came to watch. The show received mixed reviews, from what I hear, and although there were a few places that could've been done better, overall I thought it turned out rather alright. Especially given the state of preparation...
Packout was yet another new experience. It took many hours of work by many hungover people to get the set deconstructed (who would've thought so many screws were used to hold the damn thing up? And what's with there only being cordless drills available? Not so handy when all six plus of the batteries have run down...), the theatre cleaned, and the stage repainted. A good time was had by all. Especially by (and because of) the mad Polish guy from West Germany (Adam - the Knave of Hearts, you know, he stole some tarts...) He's straight out of the 80s, and the highlight of the day has to be him directing those sprawled in the theatre seats to wave their hands (in a "should be holding a lit lighter" manner) whilst dancing around on stage with a broom to some random 80s long haired guitar rock. Mad fun.
In other news, tutoring finishes (at last!) in a couple of weeks, bar the essay marking. Now, while this is going to be fantastic news on the "I can't be bothered with this crap anymore" front, it's not so hot on the "I need all the goddamn cash I can get my hands on" front. Worried was I, until Martin decided, completely of his own volition, to expand my position at the NCRE to full time! Woot! This is especially good, as I'm fully enjoying working at the NCRE at the moment, and also as it's a fixed term expansion that ends at almost the exact same time the potential researching position starts up - allowing me to plan and run the NCRE conference in September, which was something I have been looking forward to for a while now.
Ben is moving out of Vertigo today or tomorrow or yesterday or something, as his extended period as our regular squatter has ended with the triumphant return of Pete from his self imposed exile at an undisclosed location in Ilam. Oh ok, at his mother's. I'm guessing we'll lose the PS2 with his departure also, so apologies to all the TIF/Tekken fans out there - you'll have to relocate!
I've not much else to say at moment, except so long to Simon! We'll see you a couple of months... And also a wish of good luck (or whatever it is you guys need) to the current crop of thesis writers struggling to finish - Tim, Claire, Corey and Dave...
The past week or so has been eventful, to say the least. Not all is going as well as I would like, and certain areas of life have definitely taken a turn for the worse.
But amongst the setbacks, there have been some triumphs, the most noteable being me being press-ganged into the position of Stage Manager for the current Dramasoc production, Alice in Wonderland. (Apparently one of the potential problems with turning up to Dramasoc parties is eventually ending up involved in their productions... who knew?) Talk about weird. I walked into the theatre for the first time on Tuesday, and by Thursday evening the curtain was rising on the first of ten shows and I was frantically trying to make sure the lighting, music and projectins were all doing their thing at appropriate times. I don't think my brain's caught up with the fact I'm doing something like this yet, hopefully it won't realise until after the final show...
Considering we were still building the set half an hour before the audience walked into the theatre on the first night, the show is going very well, and just keeps getting better and better. I urge all to come and see the brothers Allan (Ben and Dan) as the White Rabbit and the Mad Hater, respectively, and the utter nonsense that is this play. It is Alice in Wonderland after all.
Job wise, there may be a great opportunity coming up to work and research in my actual area of expertise (biotech policy) - full time and well paid! I have no idea if it'll work out, but keep your fingers crossed for me.
Troy was seen. And while I don't think it was as bad as two and a hald stars out of five, I think the Press review itself made some points which I totally agree with. Two of my main issues were that I got bored during the movie in a couple of places, and their was quite a lack of characters to empathise with (with the possible exceptions of Hector, though he wasn't there at the end of course, and Odysseus, who wasn't in it enough, and maybe a few of the more minor characters). Also, damn me if they didn't keep using the words "countries" and "nations" throughout. That really pissed me off (although this is probably the political science guy in me talking)... what's wrong with calling them kingdoms? There were no such thing as countries or nations 3200 years ago. I mean, I understand them fighting for their King, or Kingdom, or People, but why use these modern terms when it just wasn't necessary? Grr.
But the fight scene between Hector and Achilles? That was one of the coolest ever. Right up there with the Cave Troll scene in LOTR:FOTR. Spears, shields, swords... swee.
Happy birthday to Claire and Dave, we'll see you at the party tonight after the show...
It seems to me that I haven't blogged for quite some time. Why? For the most part I haven't really had access to a computer connected to that interweb-thingy in the evenings, and I feel slightly dodge about blogging at my desk at work. Also, I haven't really had all that much to say. But it's a bit crap that I haven't written anything since the trip to Wellington and Auckland though. Hmm.
So, now would seem to be the perfect time to take a moment and write. I'm currently sitting in front of my mother's omputer, watching the virus checking programme's update bar crawl slowly across it's little box. I've been doing this for 45 minutes now, and it hasn't reached halfway yet (the software is copyright 2002, so in hindsight it's not too surprising that the update is fecking huge). I've come over to feed the cats here, and decided that I should probably do something to safeguard this shiny new computer, lest the various viruses, worms and other nasties running round the web at the moment play havoc with its pristine systems (being a Good Son and all).
What news otherwise? Not much. I've managed to find my way into the lucrative "Tutoring at the Halls" market, although tracking down the lady who currently holds my contract hostage is proving somewhat more difficult. I recommend it to all those who are tutoring, for it is good and pays well and probably won't require too much more work, although you will have to give up some of your precious evenings. Other work (at the NCRE) is good also. I am, apparently, quite leet when it comes to figuring out where the hell our money actually comes from and sending out annual review books to hundreds of people who don't really care all over the world. And now that I have winamp and Miranda up and running, I feel quite at home.
The post-thesis muh-ness still persists a little. Who'd've thought that finishing the thing would prove such a let down? Maybe Tim's on to a good thing. But then again, maybe not. (Oh, and a note to Claire: It gets better! It really does.)
Ben has pretty much moved into Vertigo with the lovely Fi and myself, while Pete is still lost somewhere in the wilds of Ilam, or at his mother's house, or somewhere. Which is good. And he has money now, which is also good (coke wise).
The one, non-us, piece of news that I reckon is worth relating to all and sundry is that New Zealand has just had its first ever woman fencer qualify for the Olympics! Woot! Her name is Jess Beer, and she was somewhat of a contemporary of Si, Sara and I, back in the day. Makes you wonder sometimes... (Check out the HUGE NZ Olympic fencing team list at the bottom. Huge, truly.)
I've been watching this damned bar for over an hour now, and still it crawls onwards.
Oh, and just because you have a vote, it doesn't mean something's dead. Just FYI and all.