Entries Tagged 'What I've been doing' ↓

I’m hoarse! Had a night jumping and screaming in my ear muffs, swooning at the drummer in Golden Axes making their debut performance at Rocktober last night! Wow – not my kind of thing but a great night. The Mister is SO talented – so amazing to see him in action behind the drums – hard to believe he hasn’t played for 15 years!!

Rocktober started out with me digging out some 80’s rocker photos from my university days to get into the spirit of it.

Then I wore Dean’s original Iron Maiden t-shirt to work all day, trying to pull off an 80’s my-boyfriend’s-in-the-band kind of look – I remember when Dean wore this shirt all the time!

Then it was time – The Mister was up on stage

and people were screaming and waving at the band!

God it was awfully loud, but I was somewhat protected in Father’s lawn-mowing ear muffs and it was great seeing the crowd really get into it – there were loads of people from work there including some that had left their kids at home and brought their partners out. I was really proud

Was rather excited on the way home today to see Rocktober posters pasted up on the poster poles in Cuba Mall – not long now until 1 October!

Here’s a photo from the latest band practice – now happening in a proper recording studio and not in a meeting room at one of the guys’ offices – very orange – might have to get down there for a look!

Before posting about my 4th stint on jury service this week I looked back at my last week of service – it’s all pretty much the same! I had to spend 2 mornings there this week – Monday and Thursday, both days was balloted into the jury room and on Thursday was called up to be juror no. 12. The closest seat, the shortest possible walk-time for the lawyers to scrabble through their lists to find my name then check me out. As I approached the jury box the lawyers were giving me the once-over as they normally do so I returned in kind: I made full, stony-faced eye-contact first with the defense lawyer, then with the crown lawyer before approaching the box and using an almost imperceptible shake of my head declined the bible being offered with as much disdain as was socially acceptable and then taking a step up to my seat. “Challenge defense!” Oh! Guess my stare-down worked. For whatever reason I reckon that put them off – probably thought I was some kind of staunch, no-nonsense ‘modern’ bitch of a woman who would have no mercy and no likelihood of wavering on a guilty verdict. Either that or they saw my Xero t-shirt and decided that I was a goody-goody brown-nosing my employer, eager to please and given the larger number of women on the jury already would be easily swayed to their way of thinking and would side with a guilty verdict no matter if I had my own doubts.

There was a massive wait on Thursday, over an hour, while a previous trial finished and the 40 of us waiting for the jury box ballot just had to sit in the waiting room and not leave the premises. Hmmm, right over morning tea time. Out came the milk arrowroots (plain cookies). I really wanted a coffee. So I tweeted thinking one of my followers might work nearby and could deliver a coffee. The Mister tweeted back that he’d do it! Couldn’t believe it and texted him not to as I was beginning to get nervous that we’d be called into the jury room while I was ‘illegally’ outside getting the coffee. However, next minute I got a text that he was outside! So I formed what I’d say in my head if the court attendant asked me where I was going when I got to the lift (cigarette break (those people were allowed outside!)) and also what I’d say if someone asked me if I went all the way around to Fuel to get it (was outside for a cigarette break when a friend walked by, we got chatting, I was lamenting the lack of good coffee so they offered me theirs, oh how nice!) braced myself, and set off downstairs. No-one stopped me, it was great to see The Mister unexpectedly, no-one asked me where I’d been when I got back and the coffee was goooooood. So I didn’t have to lie in court!

There was the same collection of people as previous visits, people who I’ve come to think of as those in our city who don’t have anywhere else to be or aren’t so important that they can’t give up a couple of mornings a week to sit around waiting. I know that’s a dreadful generalisation but that’s what it feels like. It’s totally different than any of the other ‘public’ activities and meetings/conferences I’ve been to lately – no tapping away on laptops (I think there was 1 in the group of 130-ish people) and a handful of iPhones. It struck me as rather ironic (if that’s the right way to use this word Castle (!)) that the jury attendance induction DVD had a whole section specifically on the importance of attending jury service, what you learn by taking part with testimonials from people who’ve done it and said it was interesting and an important part of keeping our democratic society going … they should put that online or send out the DVD to people with the summons! If we showed up to do jury service we probably already realise all that so the message is wasted on us! They need to get some fresh blood in there!

A couple of people of note – the 3 ladies that brought along knitting the second day and formed some kind of knitting club (am SO doing that next time) and the woman that sat near me very loudly sucking her way through an entire packet of Mentos lollies, bashing them against her teeth and slurping. I cannot believe she didn’t realise the sound was audible outside of her own head!

So, this is what band practice is all about – Rocktober on 1 October. There’s an invite-only launch party at 7.30pm, then the main event at 10.30pm. Launch party features The Mister’s band, main event features DJ’s. All loud banging crashing rock music!

Check out the Rocktober websiste for ticket details. If you want to go:

• Get a ticket
• Get your name on the invite-only guest list either by emailing the organiser dave@rocktober.co.nz (tell him I sent you) or adding your name to their guest list in Facebook.
• Get a black t-shirt and some ear plugs.

So we have to fit band practice into our weekly schedules for a while! The Mister has been cajoled into joining a band of other hopeful wanna-be-rockstars, to play at an event called ‘Rocktober’ in October – an evening of 80’s rock from this band and a rock DJ to raise money for The Cancer Society.

Lucky for me it’s a borrowed kit. For now …

OK – I’m absolutely convinced selection for Jury Service is NOT random. Just got my 4th summons today – it is 3 years since I was last summoned but in the 3 years prior to that I was summoned 3 times, so that’s 4 times in 5 years which really is ridiculous.

So I’m off to do it again in September. As you’ll see from previous ramblings on Jury Service on my blog, I don’t know why I feel it’s not right to get excused for the sake of it and why I feel reasonably ambivalent about going.

Wonder if they have wi-fi by now? Ha!

Well, this is belated … got so caught up in the real 4th of July that I forgot to acknowledge another year of blogging – 6 years since my first tentative (smaller) posts in July 2006. Last year I’d done 1230 posts, this year it’s up to 1514 so as I say every year, can’t believe how much I ramble on! Mind you 4 months of this year I’ve had plenty to ramble about – my ‘travel’ category is full of New York!

Many of you will have seen me wearing, or my photos of my range of Tweet4yourtee shirts – a company started in Wellington recently by friends-of-Xero who are building their business using social media alone, mostly Twitter (twitter.com/Tweet4yourtee / www.tweet4yourtee.com). Hence ‘tweet 4 your tee’ – you visit their site to see what your Twitter name would look like on a range of tweet-themed shirts and then order online. I have 3 (one of them super super special and a 1-off because it has orange on it):

Hi, my name is @orangegirlnz

I heart @TeamXero

I tweet @Xero

Recently the company made a promo video and asked Tweet4yourtee wearers to join them in Wellington to take part – of course I couldn’t be there and was so disappointed, but have always sent them photos of me wearing my t-shirts (from both sides of the globe it turns out!) and if I could’ve joined them I would’ve!

However, I got a really nice surprise today when the promo video promo was released as a teaser …

Then the real video was released a few hours later

Famous me! Am getting a spot up the front when they do it in a year – I wonder how many tweeting t-shirts will be around by then?

Have spent the last 4 months commuting downtown on the subway – the sights and sounds and stops have become second nature. Thought I’d immortalise our view of the stops in a photo series.

We get on at 33rd Street

Then stop at 28th Street

23rd Street

14th Street – Union Square

Astor Place

Bleecker Street

Spring Street

And get off at Canal Street

Ommigod I’m a killer – a huge MASSIVE cockroach came in the window last night about midnight when I was home alone and I had to deal with it! It was late, I was trying to bore myself to sleep with work (actually I think I was emailing my boss at the time) when something flicked in my hair and bounced away – I looked around to see the massive roach sitting waving it’s feelers at me from the headboard.  I grabbed my phone and jumped off the bed, it jumped onto the light and made little tapping sounds as it walked around the metal lampshade.

I stood there in, paralysed, not quite sure what I thought I’d do with my phone, in my nightee with no shoes on so I couldn’t stamp on it – except I didn’t want to stamp on it because of the crunch and the egg thing. Then it got onto the floor and began darting here and there, man it was fast, and I had to do something – there was no way I was going to sleep with it on the loose. WAAAAAA. I grabbed The Mister’s magazine from beside the bed, but still had the squashing dilemma and it was onto me every time I moved and disappeared under the bed.

I made the decision to leave it alone while I went to the cupboard under the sink to see if there was some fly spray deciding that I could spray the bedroom, shut the door, block the gap under it and sleep on the couch. But no, it was back on the light by the time I returned with a can of spray  (so old that it was made of metal and had an actual lid). I put on rubber gloves and gummies and I was good for attack. Except that every time I stepped my boots did a silent little pfffft and a puff of air shot up the back of my leg giving me a hell of a fright thinking the roach had gone up the back of my leg!!

So on with the spray, well there was no spray, it was a stream and after a couple of false starts I managed to get a good jetting mini fire hose going and in a crouching slo-mo interpretive dance type move I guided the stream with one hand, magazine held at the ready in the other hand as I guided the squirting stream around the bedroom, out into the hall and into the spare bathroom where it finally started to show signs of weakness behind the door. Suffice to say I finally got my chance with magazine and boot, and yes there was a crunch – don’t want to think about it.

With the escaped eggs playing on my mind I mopped up the whole kill area with paper towel and disinfectant then had to set about washing the floor in the bedroom, hall and bathroom to get rid of the fly spray – then everything went down the rubbish chute to the basement 30 floors below where any rebirth could be someone else’s problem.

By this time I was roasting: adrenalin and still 30 degrees out and muggy and had to try and sleep without worrying about another one flying in the window to take revenge! Next day I went out and got a new tin of spray, one that actually sprays and is for use around window frames to stop them coming in in the first place. Fingers crossed.