getting back to the music

Yay. Live music feeds my soul. Went out with my friend Michael on Friday night for a night of music and beer. Such a good combination. Oh, and one cigarette which I bludged off my busker friend Simon on Cuba St. Started with a a couple of beers down Courtenay Place (nasty nasty street on a Friday night) and then on to Happy where there was live electronica with Delete! - improvised I'm guessing. Very small crowd - well, I guess you couldn't even call it a crowd. Eight people I'd say. Next to Bodega to see The Inkling. They were great - reminded me of Mogwai in a way. I've decided that I've lost touch with the Wellington live music scene and it must be remedied! It just feels so good to hear live music - when it's good music that is. On Saturday I dropped Michael off to the airport - he's off to Rotterdam, Berlin and then Paris, working for the Film Festival, spending days on end watching movies. Oh, what a hard job! Actually, I would say it would be very hard to stay focused and objective, making judgment calls on what audiences back here would like to see in the Film Festival. He's lent me a bunch of CDs while he's gone. He is the biggest buyer of music that I know. Lucky me - twelve new CDs to listen to. Mainly hiphop imports. Yay.

A very big insect

This very big insect was sitting on my path this morning. I'd never seen anything like it before and freaked out and rang the Ministry of Ag and Fisheries, thinking it might be some foreign invasive species that you hear about every now and then in the news. The guy on the phone first said I should look up the protectnz site, and then suggested I put the insect in the freezer overnight and then send it in to MAF for identification. Well, I'm glad I didn't go along with that advice, cos it turns out it's a lovely harmless native dragonfly, or kapokapowai. It's so pretty! And so fucking huge! It normally hangs out in wetlands, so I'm not sure what it was doing hanging out in suburban Wadestown. Maybe the horrendous winds we are having at the moment blew it off course. Check it out - these guys mature in the mud for five to six years in their larval state.

postal service

Postal Service sound quite a lot like the Pet Shop Boys. I like Postal Service. This does not compute.

I couldn't help myself

The lure of the fireplace was just too much. I know it's summer (well, it's fucking meant to be innit) but it really was slightly nippy this morning. And I really really love open fires. The warm glow. The crackel. You know the stuff. And the people that vacated had left some chunks of macrocarpa. Nice and dry. Oh yeah! I kept it burning for a couple of hours just cos I could. It made the early morning start behind the computer seem quite okay.

old houses are nicer than new ones

This old house I'm now living in feels like a comfy old cardigan. There's a funny smell in places that hints at mould. It's only a hint, mind, and I think with some open windows and sun it'll probably disappear. There's some really bad wallpaper. Sitting on the stairs the other night talking to Ang on the phone I could see three different floral wallpapers. I think there was a major attempt at redecorating in the mid-eighties when there were all those matching friezes available. A bit naff, but the house itself was built in 1914 and has the sweetest layout. Loads of room - three living areas that open onto each other through double doors, so you can close the areas off if you wanna. Nice. Oh, and an open fireplace. Marshmallow toasting! Oh yeah. I've been trying to get some paintings up on the walls, but haven't got many up there yet. Still got boxes to unpack yet, so that takes precedence. All I want to do all weekend is unpack and settle in, but no! I have to do stinky work, and that's exactly what I should be doing right now, but instead I'm procrasting by blogging. Think I might go to bed soon and procrastinate some more by sleeping and then try and make it an early start in the morning.

...and life goes on

Hmm, looks like 2005 is going to be a trying year if the first couple of weeks is anything to go by. Firstly, SOD and I are having a break, so have moved out of what my friend aptly called "Camborne 90210", and good riddance (to the house that is, not SOD). I'm not entirely sure that moving there was a good move at all. It was too far from the city and was not at all my style of house. It was like being in a big ritzy holiday home all the time. Might sound nice to some, but it's not conducive to normal living and working. Anyway, now in an old house in town - just me and the kids. Next, found out late last year that I have an almighty amount to pay back to the tax department. Nasty. Then, just before Christmas, my little red Rover crapped out. It's been in for repairs now for almost a month because of the holiday break and they are now telling me that it is going to cost $3,600 to get fixed and my warranty won't cover it! And of course, this house shifting has cost me both in downtime and moving costs. Oh boy, is it going to get any worse? I had this feeling on New Year's Eve that there was a little to celebrate the coming of 2005 - something tells me this is a year to consolidate and work as hard as possible. How incredibly dull.