On a more serious note I came across this article, President Bush Plans a War of Aggression. It feels as though the whole world is waiting on the whim of one man who doesn't seem to have a very good handle on the world outside of Corporate America. Anyway the author coined a brilliant phrase that seems to fit quite a lot of their foreign policies… "The issue that motivates this planned aggression, is not weapons-of-mass-destruction: it is resources-of-mass-attraction." Perfectly put.

You don't have to dig very deep to see the guy doesn't have a great track record, and if they didn't like the father in the Oval Office why on earth did they think the son would be any better at the job?

Sorry if anyone finds this offensive, but spending 11th September 2001 stuck in Baltimore would be an eye-opener for anyone. I don't even have an urge to go back, and this is from the girl who loves going to new places.

Anyway to lighten things up a little listen to: The Evil Plans of George W Bush III, just make sure you turn it up loud.

If you prefer your humour in the gutter then check out: An Apology To Our US Readers, and if you decide to follow up with their archives beware. The humour is vicious in places, in others downright offensive.

Umm... sun. Don't you just love it. It's been blissfully warm sunshine, blue skies and token fluffy clouds all week.

I'm doing the Brit thing and talking about the weather again. But when you're accustomed to unpredictable summers, which have a habit of feeling suspiciously like late autumn, four beautiful sunny days in a row is a big deal.

If I can be out sunbathing in early spring (think March in the UK) then I can't wait for summer. OK it'll probably be unbearably hot, there'll be the constant application of sun block, but it'll be warm. We'll be able to plan our beach trips, for surfing and partying, weeks in advance with no worries about it pissing it down on that one day.

Umm… bliss.

It shows that we really are a bunch of sad puppies here when the first thing we all dive for and fight over, after the days' papers and post get delivered, is not the world news, not the cheesy gossip section of the local rag, but the weekly 'Warehouse' catalogue. It's the equivalent of going nuts over an Argos catalogue with all it's bargins, or being overwhelmed by the goodies in 'Rajani's' (Eastville Trading Estate). I think it's an expat thing - Helen has an eastern European friend who displays the same obsession. Most of their house is kitted out from the Warehouse so I think it also displays a little of the Ikea syndrom that most of us in the UK all know and love.

Kiwi Guide
Kibbled = coarsely ground, as in kibbled wheat.
Noticed this 'kibbled thing' on the back of bread packets. Strange the things you read when waiting for your toast to cook!

I like this - Don't Link to Us! - the public ridicule of companies who try to impose absurd rules about who can link to their sites and how. Guess they just don't get it eh. What makes me giggle is the money they probably spend on advertizing, and here they are quibbling about promotion that's free. Perhaps it because they're not always complimentary, like this site, but marketing agencies are always telling us that "any publicity is good publicity..."

It's been a busy week - sold my first piece of jewellery in a shop in Pukekohe, wrote an article for KnowledgeBoard, and Tmet Media got their first client.

Managed to spend an afternoon/evening in Auckland City [online photos] with Helen. It's a beautiful city, in a modern way and comparable to Bristol in that the actual centre is very small. Dominating everything is the Skytower. From a distance it resembles a huge whale-sized hypodermic needle, and from underneath it reminds me of the spaceship towers in the closing scenes of Men in Black. For a bit of sillyness check out 101 uses for the Skytower.

Last night we all trapsed round to Cathy's for a girly aromatherapy party. Turns out we all knew more than the lady trying to sell us stuff!

Kiwi Guide
Tight speedo swimming trucks = dick stickers
The men who wear them = undiemen

Don't ask how this snippet of Kiwi colloquialism cropped up in conversation. Get 7 or so girls in a room and eventually one or two of them get around to lowering the conversation...

Iain Banks is one of my favourite authors - his books make escapism sheer bliss. Anyway I found this thought-provoking article this evening while wandering around the net this evening, looking for articles on knowledge mangement, online communities and blogging. I always have been easily distracted!

Have a peek at 'Entrenched Technology, from The Culture. The reason I've mentioned it here was not so much for the article, though I found it interesting, more for the comments made by 'riptalon', e.g. "The greatest evils in society are caused by too many people unquestioningly following orders, rather than too many people who don't." There's a lot there to go away and think about!

I've got my first commission in today for a bracelet!

www.jesus.com: his quest for a special woman to love. Here you can bathe with Jesus, get a credit card with his image, and find out that he loves to frequently and willfully experiment in the kitchen!

You see the site. You know it's a piss-take. You notice that it's American, and then you begin to wonder. It might, just might be serious...?

I miss being a city girl. Don't get me wrong, I love the wide-open spaces of the country, the feeling of freedom and fresh air, but I miss having my world on my doorstep. The cinema, the shops, the pubs, all within walking distance; café and bar culture; lazy Sunday afternoons in the company of friends; not making it home from work till late because you and your colleagues got distracted by beer and conversation; changing the route you take on your way out somewhere just to say hello to someone you miss; and people. I miss people watching, it's such a fascinating past-time which can be either enlightening or horrifying depending on what you observe.

I guess what I'm learning, living out here with the cows and the magpies, is that I'm a social bunny at heart. Yes I enjoy my own space and solitude, but I enjoy it more when I'm surrounded by people - sitting in a café drinking coffee, reading the Economist, and quietly watching the world go by.

I'm not a geek. I'm not, honestly. But I'm all excited that I've found a way for you to post comments on my blog. This assumes of course that you actually want to leave any, but there's no harm in me being hopeful ;)

Talking of feisty birds. Penguins are 'feathering' their nests by turning to prostitution, but instead of doing it for money, Antarctic dolly-birds are turning tricks to get rocks off their menfolk. It's true - the BBC says so.

I'm looking out the window and see daffodils, snowdrops, baby animals and flirty birds, and I know spring has arrived. Again? Somehow that doesn't seem right - I've just left one behind. I'm consoling myself by the fact that the weather is still better than the UK, and summer is almost here. Then I can smile because while I'm over here frolicking in the sun, it's cold and wintry up north. (Hehe!)

Opps, guess I've just conformed to the English obsession with talking about the weather! Hold a moment while I think of something else to talk about…

Chelfyn's quietly turning into a bit of a bird watcher, think he's emulating Keith Flint (bloke with scary hair in the Prodigy) who's also an avid twitcher He came out with a classic today when explaining birdsong. You're walking down the street or waking up in the morning, listening to the little feathered things merrily singing away outside and it all sounds so lovely. Apparently though it all translates to:
"Look at me! Look at me! Wanna shag? I wanna shag! Look at me! Fuck off! She's mine! Fuck off! Wanna shag? Look at me! Look at me!"

Charming!

Finally someone has stood up and said 'No. This is unacceptable" to the US demanding immunity from the ICC - Norway rejects US call to give its citizens immunity from war crimes and Norway and US clash over court.

Another weekend almost gone and it's been an odd one. Friday saw another trip down to MonkeyFeather (this is getting to be a habit!) and much fun was had by all. I really must try and get to Auckland for a night out - have a feeling that it'll be much better than Hamiliton.

Saturday... well it wasn't a good day. Woke up and it just hit me, I was feeling homesick. It wasn't places so much as people and friends, and there was me cockily thinking that I'd got away with it. My cure involved being thoroughly unsociable, devouring a 600-page book in a day [Fool's Errand by Robin Hobb - not a bad read] along with some nice red wine. By the time I crawled into bed I was feeling a lot more mellow and, after talking to one of my favourite people and leaving a silly message for another at 3 in the morning, I had managed to kick myself back into touch.

Today I've been making necklaces to take into the shop at Pukekohe on a 'sale or return' basis, and just generally pottering about.

They have some great adverts here - the funniest I've seen so far was a billboard ad for a vacuum cleaner - the 3 ft catch phrase being "More suck for your buck"! I mean that's positively indecent... and right on my level; made me giggle.

Anyway had a bit of a road trip today which got me out of the house. My newly aquired bother Tim is off to the States and is selling up all his worldly possessions to be footloose and fancy free. He had a buyer for his van in Tauranga, but needed to hitch down to Wellington afterwards - bit of a trek from the east coast. An excuse to drive LWSC was materializing... follow Tim in convoy and check out the scenery on the way, sell the van (scarper sharpish!) and then down to Hamilton to desposit Tim on State Highway 1, strategically placed to hitch down south. It was all ticketyboo!

We passed through some pretty hardcore dairy country en route. By the side of some of the driveways where these cage/hut structures which I've noticed before but not understood what they were for. Today I found out. It was a sad to see little calves, sometimes quite crowed, huddled together in these cages with no food or water. Guess that's how they get them to wait for the cattle lorries... sniff.

Went to MonkeyFeather again last night. As it was the first Friday in the month Chelfyn does something a little extra special with the club, like extra lighting, production, and me with a little UV stall. I sold some jewellery - it was a quiet night which makes it even more impressive - but I got a real buzz out of watching people dancing around wearing stuff that I had made. I've found a shop on Ponsonby Road in Auckland (think Park Street in Bristol) who are also interested in what I've been making so I'm taking in some samples in next week.