2008

So my academic year is over, and I am no longer an inhabitant of the Honours Room. Honestly, I feel like I should be declared Citizen, or at least Resident, of it because I've spent so much time there this year. It's almost sad to go, especially when I think that hardly any of the people who have made this year so much fun will be continuing next year.

In honour of them and in honour of the big room full of desks that became like a second home, I present ... [drum roll] ... HONOURS ROOM QUOTES of 2008. These were recorded faithfully over the year on four big pieces of paper we had stuck on the wall. Some were quotes from history books we happened to be reading which we found particularly amusing, others were quotes from us which were particularly funny, especially out of context. I'm not including all, because some could be interpreted as ... inappropriate. But almost everything we said this year that we thought worthy of immortality is on this post.

The characters have been listed before, in the Honours Room Murder Mystery. But one term you may need to know is:
480 - this was the university coding for our Research Paper/dissertation/thesis - whatever you would like to call it.

Wisdom of historians

"Only in terms of alcohol consumption was the East outstripping the West."
Mazower on Eastern Europe under Communism.

"When I was first a research student, my supervisor said to me, quite seriously, at the end of the first term: 'Now don't work every day of the vacations; do take Christmas Day off.' I fear that I took Boxing Day off as well."
Elton.

"Shakespeare predicts Trotsky betraying the Soviet Union for Fascism."
Lion Feuchtwanger.

Walter Duranty on the 1932-33 Russian famine: "There is no actual starvation or deaths from starvation but there is widespread mortality from diseases due to malnutrition."

"The cock-up theory is much better than an intentionalist theory."
Miles Fairburn.

And wisdom of the Honours students

Several of the same theme, which just had to be recorded for the utter irony...
27 April: "I think my 480's going to be quite straightforward."
Amendment #1, 1 July 2008: "Oh f***."
Eric.

3 June: "As soon as I hand in this essay, the rest of the year's going to be really really easy."
Bella.

31 July: "Screw everyone, I'm doing what I want now."
Allison.

Allie and Bella, a friendship of discovery:
Q: Why do dictators have moustaches? (Allie)
A: Because they're stupid. (Bella)

Q: Why do Marxists write in the future tense? (Allie)
A: Because they're stupid. (Bella)

Q: Anything.
A: Ask Michael [our supervisor].

Also related to our brilliant supervisor:
"Michael doesn't read books. He absorbs through osmosis."
Josh.

Out of context creepiness:
"I wish I was Stalin. You can be Trotsky, 'cos you've got glasses."
Allie. I promise you, this made perfect sense in context.

"Murder is always very relaxing."
Allie. Ditto.

"It's not mass murder, it's purifying the human race."
Nathan. Again, out of context.

"It takes a pretty honest man to send hundreds of thousands of men to their deaths."
Nathan. Seriously out of context.

Blame alcohol:
"The frog was saying, 'Eric, you're my man'."
Eric.

"There is an inherent flaw in the fact that there is beer in the fridge."
Eric.

General:
"I need to be hit with the motivation stick."
Liz.

"Kill, maim, eviscerate."
Eric.

"Mugabe doesn't count as a standard guy."
Bella.

"I'm going to go slap von Ranke around for a little while, show him who's boss."
Eric. This needs explanation: Leopold von Ranke, the father of modern academic history, was the subject of one of Eric's essays.

"Now Allie, the Engineers Registration Act of 1924 is always relevant."
Bella.

"Roosevelt and Hitler: Brothers in Arms."
Eric. Who thought this would be a bad/awesome title for a thesis.

Coining of new words:
"Mortopsy" (Bella)
"Reconstored" (Eric)
"Chroniclology" (Eric)
"Noviet" (Allie - Nazi + Soviet)
Literary historians are "literaristorians"? "literistorians"? "literians"? "literararians"? (Allie, Bella)

And finally:
"We're here to learn?!"
Bella.

politics schmolitics

John McCain? Barack Obama? Meh.

Helen Clark, on the other hand. John Key. New Zealand is gearing up for an almost certainly heated election on November 8.

Helen has been our Prime Minister for nine years now. Head of the Labour Government, she stands for slightly left of centre values. I like her. She is one of the few politicians out there who, I am sure, does not have dirty baggage. She actually looks like she's telling the truth. She promises money for students. Her Deputy used to be a historian. However... I'm not so sure I like a few of her policies. And I'm not sure Labour always lives up to the centre left thing. And she's almost certain to go into coalition with a smug greasy old politician called Winston Peters of whom I'd really like to see the last.

John Key is the newbie, the Head of the Opposition, the leader of National. An ex-businessman who made himself a cool multimillion dollars before giving it up for politics. He promises tax cuts for high income earners (something that always makes alarm bells ring in my head and I'm not sure why), he wants to privatise the health system, and I don't trust him. His name rhymes with Donkey. However... is he any worse than Labour? And, maybe, given the recession and all, having someone in power who knows a thing or two about finance wouldn't be so bad a thing. And, if National becomes the leading party, one of my friends has a pretty good chance of getting a job as a policy analyst with one of their leading MPs.

I don't know. Last election, I ended up making my decision based on the rude reception of Helen Clark by the Young Nationals at my university. As soon as she arrived, they started shouting her down. Result: no one who had come to actually HEAR what she had to say had any luck, and Helen had to leave.

And on Saturday night, friends of mine started talking about politics. It's not quite as extreme here as it is in the States with people telling you "if you are Christian you will vote X" but all the same, they tried it out on me. There is nothing that annoys me more. A few years ago, Labour passed into law a civil union bill and a prostitution reform bill, and suddenly a lot of Christians decided Labour was evil. Now these National supporters have the effrontery to tell me that I'm a single-issue voter, because Labour supports students, and that I don't take a moral stance, and that I should vote National. a) Their objections to Labour are based on, er, SINGLE issues, and b) I take a very moral stance. No way am I eager to vote for people that want to give rich people more money and take easy access healthcare from the poor. I don't see how that is any less Christian than their own stance.

If that paragraph didn't make any sense, ignore it.

Anyway, the point being: it seems like every time I vote, I really make an effort to make a cool, calculated, sensible decision. However, I end up deciding who to vote for based on what I don't like about the supporters of other parties. Is this just me?

By the way: thanks very much for the messages of support and the prayers for my nephew. He is doing well and has just gone home from hospital. More details on my other blog if you're interested.

walking in a winter wonderland

Late on Friday night I was asked if I wanted to go to Hanmer Springs the next day with a couple of my good friends. I love spur of the moment things! Hanmer Springs is the obligatory winter day-trip/weekend thing to do if you live in Christchurch - I must have talked about going there many times before on this blog. But this time was a little different, because storms were expected and it was expected to snow in Hanmer... and it's been a while since I've been in Hanmer when it snowed.

So we set out on Saturday morning... It started off looking like this:

but by the time we got close to Hanmer it looked like this:

It was coooold! But the weather was fine and the snow was beautiful, powdery and dry, and we decided to start by climbing Conical Hill:
It was rather nice walking up through the forest:
and taking silly pictures:
At the top, we had a snowfight! Hooray! :

Afterwards (of course), we went to the hot springs the town is named for, and soaked in semi-natural thermal pools while it started to snow around us. If you ignore the part where you dash between pools, barefoot, and dressed only in wet lycra, this could be heaven. Unfortunately, as it started to snow more thickly, we decided we should leave, just in case we got snowed in.

Back to Christchurch, where it was ghastly weather and even colder, with the added factor of wind chill. Earplugs at night couldn't dim the howling wind and rain/sleet/hail pounding on the roof... but that's not so bad when you're cuddled up in bed with several layers of bedding and an electric blanket!

weekends are goooood

Well, I have had a full-on, busy and huge weekend but somehow I feel so refreshed! This is what happened:

On Friday night was my friend K.'s 21st birthday party which was a COSTUME PARTY!!! Such a relief after so many formal/cocktail dress 21sts which, though fun, require an endless supply of pretty clothes. At first I wanted to go as a hippie but then I couldn't find a sufficiently ugly dress at the op shop. So I went and hired me a nun costume! I've wanted to dress up as a nun ever since I got obsessed with The Sound of Music, and I have to say, it's so much fun. I went around all Friday singing "how do you solve a problem like Maria". Below is a picture of me and K. There were also cowboys, Snow White, zombies, fairies, singers from K.I.S.S., Austin Powers, hobbits... and so on.
Then on Saturday morning I got up very early, and a friend (P.) and I drove down to Dunedin for another friend's wedding. I also have two sisters and some friends there, and P. has some friends studying there. It was so much fun travelling with a friend for the five hour trip, and it was a rather beautiful trip too. Soon after leaving Christchurch we had the most beautiful view of the mountains, snow-capped quite early in the year and stretched right out along the horizon.
We also stopped at the Moeraki boulders, which are about two thirds of the way to Dunedin, and spent about half an hour there. Moeraki boulders are weird concretions which you will see below. It was a sunny day but a rather frigid wind was blowing and it made me feel so happy to be back in the New Zealand countryside, feeling fresh, rather than swatting away flies and sweltering in thick windless air in Western Australia. P. has a moral problem with wearing shoes on the beach so she happily froze her toes off.

Dunedin itself was exhibiting absolutely horrible weather when we arrived. I had to go buy myself some tights at a supermarket because I had chosen wedding clothes with Christchurch weather in mind - silly me. The wedding itself was lovely although very very quick; the bride arrived a few minutes early and the vows were all over in maybe ten minutes! Then I spent a lovely evening with my sister V. and her husband and kids, and we stayed at their house.

The next morning I dropped P. off to see friends, and I went out to one of the beaches to visit my brother-in-law and my two nephews (unfortunately my sister was at a conference all weekend so I couldn't see her). They're renting at this beach until they move into their house and it was a beautiful sunny day so we went for a long walk along Brighton beach and climbing around the rocky cliffs (which I am paying for now - I don't think I've used some of those muscles since I broke my heel!). It was great to see them again and it is such a lovely beach. I love Dunedin beaches. They're very pretty but also wild, and it's not uncommon to come across seals, sea lions or penguins enjoying the day. My sister has seen whales off the beach on numerous occasions.

Some crazy man surfing - full wetsuit, but still... it must have been pretty frigid.
After I left their house, I went into Dunedin city for a couple of hours to visit the Otago Museum. Unfortunately the friend I wanted to see had to cancel, so I went instead to the tropical butterfly forest in the museum which I've heard a lot about. This is kept heated at about 34 degrees celsius, so obviously the Dunedin people, who are used to maybe twenty degrees on a really good day, love it. It was very cool, full of tropical plantings and butterflies flying around everywhere. One landed on my camera and some people were walking around with butterflies sitting on them. I took lots of photos but here are a couple of the best.
Then I picked up P. at about 4pm, and we returned to Christchurch! Another beautiful trip until the sun set, and a nice warm electric blanketed bed to hop into at the end.

weddings weddings everywhere

We-ell -the last few days have been big busy days but none bigger and busier than yesterday, Jane Doe's wedding. Jane and I spent a lot of time together this week, going to collect flowers, petticoats, etc, which was great. Here is Saturday, though:

Jane Doe herself - this photo makes her look nervous but she was actually scarily calm until about half an hour before the wedding!
Moi. When looking at this photo please consider that I had not had time at that point to utilise my Hollywood Fashion Tape, bought expressly for the occasion.
I didn't really get any photos of me in my full length dress so I've included this one to show the dress on Cat, the maid of honour. It was SUCH a pretty dress and we all felt great. Got so many compliments! :)

Being a bridesmaid prevented me from getting any photos of the service and following events up until the reception, but the basics are:
They got married.
It was a lovely service. I'm not just saying that. One of the nicest I've been to.
Great speeches, great afternoon tea.
Fun photos but it was... er... an experience hobbling around the Botanic Gardens in high heels.

After photos, we had a space of about an hour until the reception, so we went round to the newlyweds' new flat. This is Mr and Mrs Jane Doe on the threshold of their new home.
Mr and Mrs Jane Doe at the reception dinner - which was very, very nice. It was only family and the bridal party, so most of the speeches were made at the afternoon tea which came after the service.

Congratulations, Mr and Mrs Jane Doe!

Oh - and by the way - this is my 400th U2 vs Jane Austen blog post. Wow.

on being a girl

I've always felt glad that I'm a girl and not a boy (and no, I'm not sure at which point I'll be able to start calling myself a "woman"). But sometimes, girliness makes me feel a bit vulnerable. Here are several reasons why this week I felt glad I'm girly:

1) Four days this week I looked after two nephews aged 9 and 7 who are in the middle of school holidays. Besides making me respect even more the fortitude of full-time parents, this made me super happy I'm a girl. When my nephews got bored, we couldn't go running around kicking a ball etc because I'm still unable to walk, and so we had to think of other things to do. Lots and lots of board games, DVDs, books about technology, and Lego. Which is all very well, but I can't help feeling happy that when I was a kid I was able to do girly things like making pretty crafts or playing with paper dolls, things that are totally boring to my nephews, but SO MUCH FUN!

2) Probably the thing I am most looking forward to about walking again is shopping. And if that's not girly I don't know what is.

3) You may remember my post about a month ago on being a bridesmaid. Well, today I met up with Jane Doe the bride, and two other bridesmaids, and Jane's friend who will be doing our makeup and hair. We ate hot cross buns and chips, and had our makeup done and our hair styled, and it was so fun! I feel PRETTY! My eyelashes are so stiff and long I feel like they could inflict a puncture wound on someone. Our hair is half tied back and the rest is a cascade of curls, while Jane Doe's blond hair is tied back in a very elegant low bun. I love doing girly stuff! Three weeks to the wedding... yay!

being a bridesmaid

When one of my best friends told me earlier in the year that she was engaged and she wanted me to be a bridesmaid, I was a) stunned as I hadn't even met her boyfriend; b) honoured and SO happy for her; and c) just a little bit panicky. Last time I was a bridesmaid it was for a very considerate sister who spent a lot of time making sure each of her bridesmaids felt comfortable in the dresses we wore. But when we were at high school, my friend (let's call her Jane Doe) would often tell us exactly what her wedding dress would be like and how her bridesmaids would wear baby pink, baby doll dresses with a white sash. I can think of few dresses less likely to compliment my figure and colouring than that, and so I (probably unjustly) panicked, assuming my friend would be one of those brides who dresses her bridesmaids in clothes that would suit HER and not them.

I panicked even more when she asked me to try on a dress in a store called Portman's that sells clothes in both Australia and New Zealand. I tried it on - a beautiful shiny red - but it wouldn't quite do up, and it came almost two thirds up my thighs. *scream* I think Portman's makes clothes exclusively for ballerinas. My friend gave up on that idea very graciously and looked elsewhere, finally buying dresses at a shop called Ezibuy, and buying two different sizes for me just in case one didn't fit right. My panic has been toned down over the last few months, mainly because I didn't think about it, but today Jane Doe brought the dresses to my house to try on.

Well, I did. The smaller size fits me perfectly and it is BEAUTIFUL. I am so relieved. Over the last year or so I've found it impossible to find a single dress that doesn't make me look like an elephant, and somehow my friend finds one without me even having to try it on first. Here is the link if you want to see what the dress looks like - it is the red one on the right - http://www.ezibuy.co.nz/Search/4103/Burnout_Voile_Dress/36132.htm

THANK YOU JANE DOE! Bring on the wedding (Feb 9).

cleaning can be fun

So, my bedroom has always been a bit of a pigsty, but even if it appears slightly tidy on the surface, underneath it is a surging muckheap of bad writing. Because in less than three weeks I am moving to Australia for five months, and because while I am gone it is quite likely my father will accomodate family (siblings, nephews, nieces) in my room, and because my family can be quite nosy - I am expunging my room of all potentially embarrassing elements.

Mostly, I have kept exercise books and papers and drawings and folders full of terrible stories I wrote from about ages ten through sixteen. It has been a revealing few days, and I am extremely happy that I did not die at age sixteen, with a lifework left behind me of terrible romances involving characters based on myself and my current favourite rock star/actor, Babysitter's Club fanfiction, and thinly veiled copies of other people's writing.

Today, however, I found something that I thought I would share. They are two very short stories that I and two friends wrote at school when we were bored - you know those stories where you only get to see a line of what the last person wrote? or where you are given one first sentence and have to see where it goes from there? This is the result:

No. 1: written in Classics, 2004, by Allie, Rebecca and Katie - only allowed to see the last line of what the previous person wrote:

Once upon a time when Tommy the Toad was skipping joyfully through the forest, admiring the pretty flowers and the tall trees, he stopped short and froze, dazzled at the sight before him. Through the trees, a goddess-like figure stood, tall, blonde and with an incredible inner radiance that seemed to shine from her very skin. Suddenly, in ethereal, heavenly tones she spoke to him. And as she did so, her heart was thumping and she felt as if every blood cell in her body were having a giant race to her head.
And she blushed. She couldn't help it. His eyes were so warm, so loving... She lowered hers bashfully. He found her irresistible. But then, summoning all of his willpower, he turned away from her. "I'm sorry, but you know as well as I do that this can never be." And ignoring her doleful stare, he continued to walk on through the forest.
She was lost. There was no denying it. The heavy boughs of the trees leaned in on her imposingly and the wind played tricks with the leaves. She continued walking in circles. She began to run in circles, screaming abuses at the sky. "Why? Why?!! WHY?!?!" she shrieked. "How could he do this to me? I feel so alone." And she sank down to her knees, tears plopping onto the forest floor.
The sultry maiden knew, in that moment, why it could never be, and although it nearly destroyed her inside, she accepted it, and remembered her magical goddess powers. With these powers, she would be able to get free of this awful jungle! She closed her eyes, formed two identical circles with her thumbs and forefingers, and felt her body depart from the earth. She was rising; rising above the tree-tops. She could feel the hot sun on her face as she hovered inches above the forest.
And suddenly Colin Firth appeared. "YAY!" she cried. "Now I can marry you!"
"I'm sorry," he said. "I'm in love with Allie." And with that, he got on his horse, and rode off into the sunset.

No. 2: written in English class, 2004, by Allie, Rachel and Katie, with the first phrase, 'The crumpled paper fell to the floor'.

The crumpled paper fell to the floor. "It's terrible," said Joe, without a shadow of compassion. "Boring, average, lethargic, slow-moving... Don't even start again. Leave the paper on the floor, go home, ponder life if you must, but don't write anything else until you know how to write one mildly interesting sentence."
"I thought you'd be nice about it," said Matilda forlornly. "I was inspired to write that!"
"You asked me for my honest opinion, Matilda, and it sucks," said Joe, just as ruthlessly as before.
"Can you not even just show me a glimpse of hope for my future in writing? All you ever do, Joe, is run me down and it creates in me such a feeling of worthlessness," Matilda replied in between sobs.
"I'm sorry, but you have no future in writing."
"I do!" screamed Matilda, picking up the crumpled paper off the floor, and chucking it in his face.
Joe's temper, never good even at the best of times, snapped. In a complete rage, he picked up the closest thing to hand, a phone, and smashed it with alarming force onto Matilda's skull. She dropped like a dead weight, and Joe followed her, dropping to his knees.
"Oh crap. What have I done?" he moaned in anguish.
In that moment of rage Joe had done something he should have never. Anyway he was the teacher, the adult, the older one, and the more mature one he should have been. But no he had destroyed his reputation in that single incident. Matilda is dead. Joe is left unemployed and with a scar on his conscience which will never fade.

There were a few other stories my friend Sarah and I used to write in History in 2002, but they are just so dirty that I'm not particularly eager to share them with the world!

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...

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!

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.

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.