who said that students eat badly?

Flatting is fun. Why?

Because at birthday times, we get to do silly things like make a hundred-odd cupcakes and decorate them garishly.


And then to eat them all!

who the heck?

Every time I've looked up my Statcounter page for this website recently, under "Keyword Analysis" I see that rather a lot of people have come to my blog looking for Rockell Welch.

Who the heck is Rockell Welch?

And what sort of name is that?

And when did I ever mention him/her/it?

world travel without leaving your home

The highlight of having a new MacBook should be its operating system or its tiny lightweight design or its freedom from virus attack... but for me, it's the COMPLETELY FUN Photo Booth application!! And it got me thinking - all the agonising I've been doing about which European destination I should visit in September, and yet I don't really need to go at all! The world is at my fingertips here in Christchurch, and given that tourism these days seems to consist of getting photos of yourself in cool destinations, why leave home? Here I am in:

Athens. What an amazing place. Just so... amazing.

Here I am in Vienna. Notice my change in outfit for the colder clime. Try to refrain from noticing the not-so-perfect computer graphics.

And in Venice. My gosh, what a stunning spot; it was like my camera was permanently attached to my face.

After Venice I went a little further down the Italian coast to Amalfi. Where I sat on a roof for this photo. Highly recommended.

And here I am in Switzerland, marvelling at the Jungfrau. I did try braiding my hair for this location but it made me look like an eight-year-old so instead you can see how utterly blown away I am by this spectacular place.

Prague. I can't even try to explain what it's like to be in Prague. When you've been there, you'll understand. 

And here I am in Ephesus, Turkey. I'm not sure if the Apostle Paul ever imagined me standing here doing the V sign that all tourists seem to do...

In Red Square, Moscow. It was pretty cold, so it was lucky I brought my woolly hat, right?

Then on the way home, I popped back over to England, and happened to run into Jane Austen! What a coincidence. It doesn't exactly look like it in this photo, but she and I are good chums.

I feel extravagant

This is my new best friend:

and I love her/him!!!

Any suggestions for a name?

My Traumatic Near-Death Experience

So, about two weeks ago I started noticing that my hands were slightly blue at times, especially night-time. I remembered having problems with bad circulation and numbness in my hands causing the same problem back when I was 14 and had RSI in my arms, and assumed I must be coming close to getting RSI again. I showed my sister and brother-in-law, who are doctors, but they had no idea what was going on.

Imagine my horror when I got into the shower one night and noticed... MY THIGHS WERE BLUE!!! Great Scott, this can't be RSI! What dread disease have I?

Freaking out a little, I told my flatmates, who were just as mystified as me. I wasn't sure what to do but decided to leave it for a little while and if it continued, to visit a doctor and find out what life-threatening malady I suffered from.

Then, I noticed something about the white towel I had used that night - it had blue marks on it. Okay, so that can't be my skin turning blue or my blood turning blue or something if it rubs off, right?

And then I had my brainwave - NEW JEANS! Jeans, furthermore, which hadn't been washed yet at the time. Relief! The denim of my new jeans had left blue marks on me, and being bootlegged, had only affected my thighs. Silly me! Hahaha!

But still, my hands were bothering me. It was obviously a completely different issue. Besides, the blue on my hands didn't really wash off, or if it disappeared after washing, it was only because the hot water had heated my hands up.

Until I realised about a week later, when I gave my blue hands a really good scrubbing with cold water and the blue did come off, how much I pull my hands in and out of the pockets of my jeans... oh, oops. How embarrassing. Now my flatmates think I'm a hypochondriac and my sister and brother-in-law have another embarrassing story to bring up at family gatherings.

By the way - this happens to be my 500th post. :) That's quite a lot of them, really. Please ignore the first couple of hundred.

reasons to be happy

Norwester sunsets.

Christchurch's norwest winds can be horrible in summer, but when they produce an atmosphere like they did last night, when I was walking home from the mall gazing at a sunset that looked like something out of a Renaissance painting or like how you imagine Jesus' return... I love 'em!

Brisk walking.My two gorgeous nieces who have just moved back to Christchurch. SO much fun to spend time with them (they are aged two, and eleven months respectively).

Dreaming up places to go in Europe.

My Masters topic. I LOVE it!! Finally, I am fully motivated.

Chicken katsu, which I had last night at the mall before walking home as the sun set.

The Scissor Sisters' song "I Don't Feel Like Dancing". This song makes me HAPPY! I listened to it last night as I walked along the road watching the sun set. :) Do you sense a pattern here?

Autumn! Especially on campus, which is full of ugly buildings but lots and lots of trees. You don't even notice all the concrete in autumn because the trees are so glorious.

Book shopping. Especially at Christchurch's old Smith's Bookshop on Colombo Street. That place is exactly how secondhand bookshops should be!

Related to autumn : crunchy leaves to step on. Deep satisfaction!

[NB: None of these photos are mine except the nieces one.]