a day in the life of allie

I've had one of those interesting up-and-down days. The details are as follows:

1) Last night I got home very late from Navs, sinking thankfully into bed, when fifteen minutes later, I heard a mouse run across my floor, squeaking. Now, I should probably explain that lately I have started verging on obsessive-compulsive behaviour about making sure my door is always shut, etc etc, so that no mice can get in - because if there is a mouse in our house, it is certain to end up in my room (see previous posts here and here on this topic) - and it's become more of a thing than it really should be. I had to go sleep in the spare room and obviously couldn't get to sleep for a long time, while I woke up extremely early this morning. As soon as Dad got up, I rushed out to tell him and ended up sitting down on the couch, bursting into tears, and crying for about twenty minutes because I hate mice so much and I was so tired. Agh.

2) In Canta, the university student magazine, this morning, this was one of the letters:
"Mike, I love you and I'll do anything for you." - Kathryn Salm, 2200 hrs, Thursday, 24th of May, 2007.
Mike.

Haha! I love that he felt the need to document that.

3) I spent the entire morning trying to think up ways to make my minimal knowledge on the anti-Aristotelian techniques of Brecht take up even more words in a 3000-word essay due Friday. Actually, most of the time was spent groaning and trying to motivate myself. I hate the end of semester.

4) I went to see my history lecturer about possible Honours projects for next year, and I could do my Honours thesis on the Soviet gulag!!!! I could be even more knowledgeable about tyrannical dictatorships! Or, even cooler, I could look at Shostaskovich and Prokofiev and other cool composers and their relationships with the Soviet authorities.

5) I met up for coffee this afternoon with my very good friend Katie, who arrived back yesterday after studying at the University of British Columbia for five months. YAY! It's so good to see her again!

6) After meeting Katie, I went to a computer lab again, looked in my bag for my memory stick, only to find it... gone. *SCREAM* My entire morning's work was on there, plus my history presentation for tomorrow, plus all my creative writing and past essays. I spent about ten hysterical minutes hunting through my entire bag before finally checking my email in the almost exhausted hope that someone had found it - and thank God that there are nice people in the world, who took the time to check my memory stick for ownership details, and sent me an email. I'm so relieved.

So I feel now like my emotions are all over the place. I need to go buy myself a nice caramel slice and another coffee, I think. But I won't. Because I am saving. Sigghhh...

M

Stacy has kindly given me the letter 'M' to make a list of ten things I like! I just love these sorts of tags.

1. Mount Cook/Aoraki. I've only been here twice, unfortunately, but it is probably my favourite place in New Zealand. It's our biggest mountain, in fact the biggest in the southern hemisphere, and has a whole national park named after it. It has this startling blue lake in front of it and when you stand on one side looking across to the mountain it looks exactly like one of those fairy tale scenes where you paddle across an enchanted lake to heaven - in my opinion. And then you drive around the lake to the mountains, and everything's just so big and still and noise just gets swallowed up, and the air is so fresh, and you actually feel like going on a very long walk!

2. Music. I know this is really very broad, but I think if there was one thing I would not be willing to lose, it would be music, almost all types of it, and my ability to play it. And that's all I have to say, because I just can't describe music.

3. Milly-Molly-Mandy. Did anyone else love these books whilst growing up? Because I adored them! The little adventures she had were so simple, but made such great stories, and the illustrations were perfect. I used to copy everything Milly-Molly-Mandy did. In one story, she grew her own cress, so I grew cress too. In another, she had baked potatos with stuffing, so I did too. In another, she let a little basket down from her second storey window, and people left gifts in it, so I did that too - many, many times. In another, she made one of those miniature gardens in a bowl, which became a favourite pastime of mine. And so on and so forth.

4. Masochism is Always Funny, Stacy's wonderful novel! Although I have not read the final version, I feel I can safely recommend it as a must-have and future classic of English literature. (Does this score me Brownie points, Stacy?)

5. Madeira, M'Dear. This is my favourite song by Flanders and Swann, two British comedians/songwriters from a few decades ago. It's about a dodgy old man who tries to get a girl drunk on Madeira so he can... you-know-what. It's the funniest and cleverest song ever, in my opinion. If you haven't heard it, you are missing out.

6. Murder mysteries. Whether they are by Agatha Christie, Arthur Conan Doyle, G. K. Chesterton, or anyone else for that matter. I can't seem to get enough of these. I love figuring out who the villain is and trying to anticipate the twist.

7. The 'momentany' quote in A Midsummer Night's Dream. I wrote an essay in my first year of uni on this passage, and I love this part of it (I, i, 140-149):
Hermia: O hell!-to choose love by another's eyes.
Lysander: Or if there were a sympathy in choice,
War, death or sickness did lay siege to it,
Making it momentany as a sound,
Swift as a shadow, short as any dream,
Brief as the lightning in the collied night,
That, in a spleen, unfolds both heaven and earth,
And, ere a man hath power to say 'Behold!',
The jaws of darkness do devour it up.
So quick bright things come to confusion.

8. Messiah. This has two parts to it. Obviously, I really quite like the Messiah, as in Jesus Christ. He died for me, which demands some attention. I also like Handel's Messiah, the oratorio. I go to hear it every year!

9. Malaysian food. My brother and family live in Penang, Malaysia, and my parents and I went to visit them when I was fifteen. Malaysians are very, very lucky, because they have very cheap, amazing food, and a selection of about three or four nationalities represented there to choose from. Malaysian: laksa... Indian: masala dosa... roti canai... mango lassi... tandoori chicken... Chinese: steamboat... The list goes on. And then there's the fruit there - mangoes, lychees, and so on. Deep-fried bananas. The dessert served on the beach of fruit covered in shaved ice and condensed milk. The only downside - if you go, you may be forced to try durian, which is about the most horrible culinary (and sensory) experience I have ever had.

10. Marshmallows. Especially melted between chocolate biscuits, or dipped into chocolate fondue. Right. I'm going to have to go buy some now.

why four wheel drives are an unintelligent choice of car

[Disclaimer: Obviously, this title does not apply to you if you are a reader of this blog but have a four wheel drive.]

Not long ago, I was driving to work when I stopped for a red light - as you do - and as most children know from about the age of six months. But perhaps the owner of the ugly brown four wheel drive behind me had not yet tumbled upon this basic fact of driving? He (and of course it was a he) drove into the back of me, giving me a huge bump, and scaring the &*%# out of me.

Rule number one with Allie (and, I might add, with the police): if you are going to crash into her car and scare the &*%# out of her, it is only polite to pull over and apologise, give her insurance/contact details, and generally be a decent human being.

But no. I pulled over when the lights turned green, and CZQ243 sped away, not even condescending to look in my direction. Bastard. It seemed then that he had only hit the towbar. Now it turns out there's a dent. But even if it had done nothing, does anyone else second me in adding this man to my mental list of jerks?

(By the way, if I could, I would have made his license number, and the word 'police' flash, like those annoying pop-ups that tell you that you are the millionth visitor to a site and have won a billion dollars. If anyone knows the HTML for that, please let me know.)

life is pretty good

I was going to write 'good', but then realised there are downsides, so here are the pros and cons:

Life is good
- because I had two essays due next Friday (as well as one on Tuesday) that were not going to write themselves, and they have both been extended a week! Without any bribes to lecturers.
- because I have successfully learnt to cynically manipulate the English essay (oh the cleverness of me). I handed in an essay on Henrik Ibsen that I didn't agree with at all and that I thought was banal, but wrote what I knew would get an okay mark, and I actually got a very good mark!
- because the history essay that I thought was going to take me days and days to write is actually speeding ahead at about two hours a paragraph! Of course, it's terrible, but that's what editing's for.
- because the weather is nice.

Life is pretty ho-hum
- because I still actually have to write and edit the history essay.
- because I still actually have to write the two English essays that are now due June 1.
- because one of my best friends is in Vegas and is going to Cirque du Soleil tonight, has just been to Seattle, the Grand Canyon and elsewhere, and is off to California soon. Yes, if I were a nice person that would be in the 'life is good' column, but I'm not a nice person. I'm selfish and jealous.
- because I'm selfish and jealous. (Because that deserves a whole bullet point.)
- because I just had a lecture in which the lecturer asked questions like, 'so why don't we all just shoot ourselves?' and 'what is there to live for?'

more meme

Three cheers for Sarakastic, who has created another DIY meme! This one has the added distinction of having, apparently, the most abrupt ending ever. It's also exciting because it's like a chain letter where a question gets added on every time. I don't know about everyone else, but I used to religiously post off chain letters to eight people every time I got one, and waited in vain for the replies/gifts they were meant to send back. Anyway! Here is Sara's meme, unedited and uncensored (I think things always sound more rebellious when you say that):

1. If you could travel back in time & kick anyone, who would it be & why?
President Woodrow Wilson. This may seem quite a random choice, but given my immersion over the last year or so in the history of the world wars, it's actually kind of relevant for me. If Wilson hadn't gone all hippy in 1918 with his Fourteen Points about how everyone should hold hands in peace and be compassionate and be fair to nationalities and not embittered, a whole lot of expectations would not have been raised (which, incidentally, he never meant or could have been able to fulfil), the Treaty of Versailles may not have been such a shock to Germany, and Hitler may not have come to power - although, of course, that's all speculation, hindsight is 20/20, etc etc. He also should have persuaded the US Senate to actually support the Treaty they had been a major part of making and weakening, as then it could actually have been workable. In my opinion. Can I kick them as well? [For more info on the basics see the Wikipedia page]

Of course, it may make more sense to travel back in time and kick Hitler. I just doubt that would make much difference to an egotistical evil sadistic maniac who would probably just have me shot/hung/tortured/gassed anyway. But it would have been immensely satisfying.

2. When people mistake your name for another name, what is it?
I'm Alison, usually Allie, in reality - but there's a woman at my church who persists in calling me Alice, even though I've told her a million times that it's not my name. One time I did get a popstar to sign my diary, and when he spelt my name, he wrote 'Illie'. Which is a bit weird.

3. If you could add any question to this Meme what would it be?
What would you never sue someone for? (Just because I can't think of anything poignant or amusing to ask, and I'm actually interested.)

In other news, my friend Sarah and I have finally met up with our old school friend Hayley whom I mentioned a few blog posts ago for coffee tonight. We were so nervous, but from the moment we met her again it was just like old times - except we're all five years older - and there was no awkwardness whatsoever. It was really, really nice. Hooray!

aaaand - a second book meme!

Because I am wearing blue jeans, I get to do this meme - hooray! - the second Stacy has included on her blog.

· Use blue font for everything you’ve read
· Use red font for everything you’ve started but never finished
· Use purple font for everything you’ve read but wish you hadn’t
· Use yellow font for everything you’d never read, even you and that book were the only things to survive the apocalypse
· Use white font for things you’ve never read
· Use green front for things you want to read
· Use orange font if you’ve read the author but not that particular work
And I'm going to add one of my own:
· Use pink font if you have never heard of the book before and consequently feel very stupid!

1. The Da Vinci Code (Dan Brown)
2. Pride and Prejudice (Jane Austen)
3. To Kill A Mockingbird (Harper Lee)
4. Gone With The Wind (Margaret Mitchell)
5. The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King (Tolkien)
6. The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring (Tolkien)
7. The Lord of the Rings: Two Towers (Tolkien)
8. Anne of Green Gables (L.M. Montgomery)
9. Outlander (Diana Gabaldon)
10. A Fine Balance (Rohinton Mistry)
11. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Rowling)
12. Angels and Demons (Dan Brown)
13. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Rowling)
14. A Prayer for Owen Meany (John Irving)
15. Memoirs of a Geisha (Arthur Golden)
16. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (Rowling)
17. Fall on Your Knees (Ann-Marie MacDonald)
18. The Stand (Stephen King)
19. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (Rowling)
20. Jane Eyre (Charlotte Bronte)
21. The Hobbit (Tolkien)
22. The Catcher in the Rye (J.D. Salinger)
23. Little Women (Louisa May Alcott)
24. The Lovely Bones (Alice Sebold)
25. Life of Pi (Yann Martel)
26. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (Douglas Adams)
27. Wuthering Heights (Emily Bronte)
28. The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe (C. S. Lewis)
29. East of Eden (John Steinbeck)
30. Tuesdays with Morrie (Mitch Albom)
31. Dune (Frank Herbert)
32. The Notebook (Nicholas Sparks)
33. Atlas Shrugged (Ayn Rand)
34. 1984 (Orwell)
35. The Mists of Avalon (Marion Zimmer Bradley)
36. The Pillars of the Earth (Ken Follett)
37. The Power of One (Bryce Courtenay)
38. I Know This Much is True (Wally Lamb)
39. The Red Tent (Anita Diamant)
40. The Alchemist (Paulo Coelho)
41. The Clan of the Cave Bear (Jean M. Auel)
42. The Kite Runner (Khaled Hosseini)
43. Confessions of a Shopaholic (Sophie Kinsella)
44. The Five People You Meet In Heaven (Mitch Albom)
45. Bible
46. Anna Karenina (Tolstoy)
47. The Count of Monte Cristo (Alexandre Dumas)
48. Angela's Ashes (Frank McCourt)
49. The Grapes of Wrath (John Steinbeck)
50. She's Come Undone (Wally Lamb)
51. The Poisonwood Bible (Barbara Kingsolver)
52. A Tale of Two Cities (Dickens)
53. Ender's Game (Orson Scott Card
54. Great Expectations (Dickens)
55. The Great Gatsby (Fitzgerald)
56. The Stone Angel (Margaret Laurence)
57. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Rowling)
58. The Thorn Birds (Colleen McCullough)
59. The Handmaid's Tale (Margaret Atwood)
60. The Time Traveller's Wife (Audrey Niffenegger)
61. Crime and Punishment (Fyodor Dostoyevsky)
62. The Fountainhead (Ayn Rand)
63. War and Peace (Tolstoy)
64. Interview With The Vampire (Anne Rice)
65. Fifth Business (Robertson Davis)
66. One Hundred Years Of Solitude (Gabriel Garcia Marquez)
67. The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants (Ann Brashares)
68. Catch-22 (Joseph Heller)
69. Les Miserables (Hugo)
70. The Little Prince (Antoine de Saint-Exupery)
71. Bridget Jones' Diary (Fielding)
72. Love in the Time of Cholera (Marquez)
73. Shogun (James Clavell)
74. The English Patient (Michael Ondaatje)
75. The Secret Garden (Frances Hodgson Burnett)
76. The Summer Tree (Guy Gavriel Kay)
77. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (Betty Smith)
78. The World According To Garp (John Irving)
79. The Diviners (Margaret Laurence)
80. Charlotte's Web (E.B. White)
81. Not Wanted On The Voyage (Timothy Findley)
82. Of Mice And Men (Steinbeck)
83. Rebecca (Daphne DuMaurier)
84. Wizard's First Rule (Terry Goodkind)
85. Emma (Jane Austen)
86. Watership Down (Richard Adams)
87. Brave New World (Aldous Huxley)
88. The Stone Diaries (Carol Shields)
89. Blindness (Jose Saramago)
90. Kane and Abel (Jeffrey Archer)
91. In The Skin Of A Lion (Ondaatje)
92. Lord of the Flies (Golding)
93. The Good Earth (Pearl S. Buck)
94. The Secret Life of Bees (Sue Monk Kidd)
95. The Bourne Identity (Robert Ludlum)
96. The Outsiders (S.E. Hinton)
97. White Oleander (Janet Fitch)
98. A Woman of Substance (Barbara Taylor Bradford)
99. The Celestine Prophecy (James Redfield)
100. Ulysses (James Joyce)

It's most embarrassing to see the amount of pink.

stacy's very own meme

Stacy, ashamed of her score on another meme, has created her very own meme, and I'm allowed to do it too because I like flying kites!

Stacy’s Book Meme (to include plays, short stories, and poems as well as novels)

Directions:

Use blue font for everything you’ve read
Use red font for everything you’ve started but never finished
Use purple font for everything you’ve read but wish you hadn’t
Use yellow font for everything you’d never read, even you and that book were the only things to survive the apocalypse
Use black font for things you’ve never read (I'm using white because it shows up better on my blog)
Use green front for things you want to read
Use orange font if you’ve read the author but not that particular work

The Bible
Medea, Euripides
Oedipus Rex, Sophocles
Odyssey, Homer
The Canterbury Tales, Geoffrey Chaucer
The Inferno, Dante Alighieri
A Midsummer Night’s Dream, William Shakespeare
Tartuffe, Moliere
Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen
The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, Samuel Taylor Coleridge
The Eve of St. Agnes, John Keats
Frankenstein, Mary Shelley
Wuthering Heights, Emily Bronte
The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne
Moby Dick, Herman Melville
Great Expectations, Charles Dickens
Little Women, Louise May Alcott
War and Peace, Leo Tolstoy
Madame Bovary, Gustave Flaubert
The Count of Monte Cristo, Alexandre Dumas
The Awakening, Kate Chopin
The Turn of the Screw, Henry James
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, Lewis Carroll
Ulysses, James Joyce
Anne of Green Gables, L.M. Montgomery
The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald
The Sun Also Rises, Ernest Hemingway
The Grapes of Wrath, John Steinbeck
Brave New World, Aldous Huxley
The Sound and the Fury, William Faulkner
The Fellowship of the Ring, J.R.R. Tolkien
To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee
Lord of the Flies, William Golding
The Catcher in the Rye, J.D. Salinger
Lolita, Vladimir Nabokov
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Tennessee Williams
The Bell Jar, Sylvia Plath
A Good Man is Hard to Find, Flannery O’Connor
Their Eyes Were Watching God, Zora Neale Hurston
Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been? Joyce Carol Oates
Love in the Time of Cholera, Gabriel Garcia Marquez
White Noise, Don DeLillo
The Bluest Eye, Toni Morrison
The Satanic Verses, Salman Rushdie
White Teeth, Zadie Smith
Middlesex, Jeffrey Eugenides
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, Michael Chabon
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, JK Rowling
Everything is Illuminated, Jonathan Safran Foer
Gilead, Marilynne Robinson

Optional:
Untitled Memoir, Trish Ryan
Masochism is Always Funny: a Novel, Stacy Brazalovich

irrational prejudices

Is it just me, or does anyone else form irrational prejudices for or against certain celebrities? I don't judge a large amount of actors/musicians on their superior/inferior skill, but by random, arbitrary criteria which makes me feel very cynical about the state of the world and the way in which clever marketing can make anything seem talented. All the same, my prejudices are not exactly shaped by marketing but my personal idiosyncracies.

1) Charlotte Church. My parents bought her CD ‘Voice of an Angel’ which was recorded when she was, say, ten-ish. If you haven’t heard of her, she’s the sort of child-prodigy who sings songs like Danny Boy and Pie Jesu and then grows up to become a trashy singer of bad pop songs. I don’t really have an opinion about the songs on ‘Voice of an Angel’, but I do know this: she always reminded me of Laura S*****, the nasty girl at my primary school who stole my best friend. Laura’s dad was a policeman, which she never ceased to milk – “If you don’t do X, my dad will put you in prison” – and she made up a mean racist song about a later best friend of mine, who was Chinese. Charlotte Church looks exactly like Laura, as I remember her, and therefore, cannot be trusted.

2) Tom Hanks. This is the only celebrity featured here for whom irrational reasons actually improved my opinion of him. Simple reason: he has always reminded me of my brother. Especially before my brother gave into the receding hairline and shaved it all off (which looks much better, I think). Russell's a bit thinner than Tom Hanks, and he has slightly different features, but everything else looks similar. He even has a similar voice, in my opinion. Therefore, I was shocked and slightly offended this week when one of my lecturers mentioned how much they hate Tom Hanks' acting style. It has just never occurred to me to seriously critique him, because he looks like Russell.


3) Bic Runga. She is a singer from New Zealand who is actually pretty good. I even have one of her CDs and I really can't justify having anything against her, especially as a fellow Kiwi. All the same, one thing weighs against Bic from the start (here it comes): she went to high school with two of my sisters, and she beat one of them in a singing competition. What was she thinking?! How dare she challenge one of my sisters? (Is that a really pathetic reason to be biased against someone?)

4) John Rhys-Davies, who played the dwarf Gimli in Lord of the Rings. Two things are stacked against Mr Rhys-Davies. Firstly, in an interview I saw on TV, he was asked how Kiwi girls compare to girls in other countries. He sort of grimaced and presumed to intimate that Kiwi girls aren't actually very pretty but hastened to add that men don't necessarily need supermodels to keep them warm at night. Note the fact that I did not include a picture of him, mainly because he himself is so unattractive that my webpage would lose pretty-points. In terms of the second issue, I should apologise for turning myself into the moral police here, but really I don't feel at all apologetic. Mr Rhys-Davies' wife has Alzheimer's Disease (at least, I think she has died now), and so she stays holed up in Wales while he travels the world with a young, blonde 'companion'. Admirable behaviour! I hope his new wife treats him the same when he succumbs to old age.

5) Brad Pitt. This is a really, really stupid reason, but he just isn't a good enough actor for me to make more of an effort to dispel it. I happened to hate his character in the movie Troy, which is one of the worst movies I've ever seen. It consisted basically of Brad Pitt doing Zoolander poses. I could have recovered from that, had I not heard a rumour soon after that he was going to play Mr Darcy in the Pride and Prejudice that came out last year. The vision of Brad Pitt trying to take on the subtleties of Mr Darcy, trying to outdo Colin Firth, soon after murdering the character of Achilles... let's just say it made me feel slightly nauseous, and although there was never any truth in that rumour, it has put me off him ever since. Which is very unfair on poor Brad Pitt. Although I don't feel that bad, because he is actually not at all poor and it's not like he needs more fans.

6) Orlando Bloom. I'm sure this is a little unfair because he could hardly help it - but the long blonde hair as Legolas has absolutely destroyed his image for me. I could never understand why people saw him as a posterboy for Lord of the Rings. The hair just did not work. And although that is doubtless a very silly reason, I would like to point out that it did work on other elves in the movie, so it is something to do with him in particular. It probably didn't help that the problem was compounded by really bad lines; ie, "A diversion!" (you remember?) or "the sky is red; blood has been spilt" or something else equally terrible. Unfair, perhaps - but inescapable.

Does anyone else have any irrational prejudices?

bureaucracy is oppressive

I would like to add some more rules to my imminent tyrannical dictatorship.

1) Anyone who has at any time devised policy for Studylink, that oppressor of the hard-working student-proletariat, is off to the gulag. As soon as I am in power, a task force will immediately investigate the farce that is my student allowance woes of the last week. Those who forgot to tell me that I needed to prove my income, those who gave me a day to make my boss write me a letter, those who then ignored the letter and didn't pay me my money - they're all off to the gulag, for obviously trying to subvert the course of the revolution.

2) Small children who don't pay attention to their tutors will spend an hour every day copying out the words, "I must treat my tutor as I would treat the supreme leader of this great and glorious nation."

Thank you.

a series of little things

Firstly, today I met someone I used to go to school with who made me immediately want to make a list of some of the weird people I've met. Hopefully not in a mean way. Simply people who did slightly odd things.

Of course, he will come first. He somehow managed to be one of the cool guys at school, because he was always doing things like lighting the sink in one of the science labs on fire, or running around trying to wave dissected rats in the faces of squeamish girls (or boys), or making fart noises with his armpits. The incident I will always remember, however, was when he came to school one day with a broken arm in a sling. When we asked him how he did it, it turned out he was sleeping on the driveway and his mum drove over his arm.

Seriously.

Why?!?!?

Another weird thing that happened a few months ago - my friend Sarah and I were sitting in the sun at uni when a young Japanese male came up to Sarah, ignoring me completely, and sat down, telling her he loved her and wanted to be her friend. Sarah is very small and blonde and blue-eyed, while I am darker and tend to clump around - so I could have been offended but actually it was more funny than friendship-destroying. He ripped a few daisies out of the ground, and gave them to her as if he'd bought a $50 bouquet of red roses, saying, simply, "For you! A token of my love." Then he proceeded to ask her why she couldn't go to a party with him that evening, or see him the next day, or the next, to tell her he wanted to find the love of his life, to ask how to meet Kiwi girls, etc etc etc. He wouldn't give up! It was very weird! Soon we found out that he was returning to Japan in three days, so I'm not exactly sure what he wanted out of the 'love of his life'. Maybe he'd heard Kiwi girls are easy or something, as long as you profess eternal love for them. Finally she repulsed him, and recommended he look for Kiwi girls in front of the library where a lot of people sit, and we watched him making his way over to the next poor victim who sat reading in the sun.

Secondly, has anyone seen the secret on PostSecret this week where someone admits that they are afraid Jesus will return before they get to read the last Harry Potter book? I thoroughly identify with that person. That's my kind of secret.

Thirdly, on JenKneeBee's prompting, I went and played MASH on this site. What fun! My friends went through a craze of making up really dire possibilities for this game in high school. No, we never really grew up. These are my results which I thought quite amusing:

You will live in a Shack.

You will drive a Red Toyota Starlet.

You will marry Voldemort and have 20 kids.

You will be a Street sweeper in Chechnya.

And lastly, I have a new sponsored child. His name is Okwenye and he is thirteen and from Uganda.

phew

Well, now I feel like I overreacted somewhat last night. It was one of those days where all these little/medium bad things happened, one after another, and it seemed like that was just going to be the crowning incident. Thank you to those who did pray, and I am still praying for him - but what has happened is that Isaac's family have moved out of the district for better job opportunities, without leaving contact address etc. So it is really a very good thing that they felt secure enough to do this, and I'm happy that the sponsorship helped them get to this point, although I'm quite sad I won't get to send and receive letters from Isaac anymore.

Isn't this a pretty little bird?

request

Just very quickly: I have a small sponsored child of six years of age, whose name is Isaac. He lives in northern Uganda, which has been going through a period of a lot of violence and unrest. I got home this evening to find a message from my dad that CCF have been trying to get in touch with me - something to do with him.

This could be because:

Best-case scenario - his family has had a change in fortune and he doesn't need sponsorship anymore.

Not-so-great scenario - he's sick and needs money for medicine.

Worst-case - he's dead.

Obviously, whatever it is, it's already happened, and I don't know if there can be such a thing as retroactive prayer - but I would really appreciate it if anyone willing could throw up a prayer sometime soon for Isaac. He's a really sweet little boy and I don't want anything to happen to him.

charlie chaplin, grades, and deadlines

I have been so lacking in anything to write about lately that I'm going to write a post about what is happening at university and in my unthrilling life. That really shows I'm desperate.

1) Today we watched the Charlie Chaplin movie 'The Great Dictator' in my drama class. We've been reading Brecht plays, which were also thinly veiled critiques of Nazism, although set in different eras and countries. This was such a cool movie. Half the time I was cracking up, the other feeling sombre. A weird combination really, but it worked. Has anyone else seen it? I love the plays too. Has anyone seen a Brecht play? I will be very jealous of you if so.

2) I felt a bit depressed today because I got an A- on my last history essay and my history teacher said he was disappointed because he had come to expect essays of the highest standard from me. :( Although that was almost a compliment, it made me feel annoyed with myself, especially as all his comments about how it could have been better really made sense!

But then my friend texted me; she handed in a close reading exercise for her English class, and got a C-, because, apparently, her grammar is 'unreadable'! I read it yesterday, and it was definitely not unreadable. Anyway, you don't fail people because they make a few grammar mistakes. It so happens that this particular lecturer gave out feedback sheets at the start of the year, my friend said she didn't like the structure of the lectures, and the lecturer got very offended, despite the fact that she asked for honest feedback. So it looks very much as if the lecturer has decided she has a bone to pick with my friend. I didn't think that happened except at ... I don't know, other universities, in other countries!

So I am feeling a lot more grateful that I have a lecturer who gives me fair grades.

3) I handed in two essays yesterday that I spent my whole mid-semester break working on. Now I've realised my next history essay is due in three weeks so I have to start straightaway, especially as now I have to ace it to make up for my slightly disappointing mark! It's two months until I finish... I will just have to put my nose to the grindstone and work, even though I just don't feel like it.

4) My friend Sarah and I had a really, really good friend at school who moved to another city when I was fifteen and I haven't seen her since then, since we basically dropped off each other's radar. Well, she has moved down to Christchurch again, and we are all going to meet up for coffee sometime in the next few weeks! Very exciting but also scary. She was always absolutely gorgeous and now she'll probably be all cool and model-like, compared to how we were at high school - wavering on the fringe of nerdy.

If you have read all this, I will be very impressed.