Having achieved one goal in my life – moving from South Dunedin I am now embarking on fulfilling another – having my own library! Being a nerd child (who me?) I used to play libraries with a springy coat-hanger acting as the stamp. I think I played it by myself… (Someone at work used to play it way more professionally though with tickets and actual lending. Maybe I’m not that geeky after all).
So, here I am procrastinating in a tiny space on the floor in the room that has been designated “The Library”. I unpacked all of the books about two weeks ago and shoved them willy-nilly onto the shelves. I soon discovered that I had outgrown the three bookcases that we had. Today we bought a new bookcase which will house all of the childrens book that I have hoarded since my childhood and others that I have aquired along the way. They will go into another room for when children come to stay. (They never have yet but it sounds good doesn’t it?)
I placed my “Complete Works” books onto the top shelf of one book case, then my boxed set of Lord of The Rings books with my Aragon and Bilbo figurines (I already said I was a nerd). Then I paused. There is a big gap in the middle but what should go there? I also have the complete set of the Harry Potter Books, The Twilight Series and the Adrian Mole books but all of then don’t fit and my Adrian Mole books are unfortunately all different shapes and sizes. Plus, if I dared to put Twilight in a hallowed top shelf spot next to Lord of the Rings I know some people (who haven’t even read it) would be very scathing in their criticism.
So here I sit, wasting time to avoid the rest of my job. I still have to decide how to arrange the rest, Fiction and Non-Fiction obviously but then we must worry about height, hard back or paper back, biography, manual…
October 25, 2009
The Pigalina’s Progress
August 12, 2009
South D’s Ice-Cream Man
Go to the beach in South Dunedin (sorry, St Kilda) on a hot day – do you see the Ice-Cream man?
Sitting in your garden on a hot day do you hear the Ice-Cream man?
No.
Sitting by the fire at 7.30pm on a cold rainy day in winter do you hear the Ice-Cream man?
Yes, he just went past.
How the Ice-Cream man expects to make any money is beyond me. I am yet to see him and only ever hear him on days or at times in the evening when Ice-Cream is the last thing on my mind. No children rush for monkey blood on a hot summer’s day in my ‘hood. They don’t get a chance.
August 12, 2009
Was Pak n Save trying to tell me something?
(I have a feeling this will be long. I haven’t blogged in a while, the urge to write is strong in this one).
Last week, at least one month overdue, I decided it was time for new boots, I could wait no longer. I had been walking around on shiny plastic nubs of heels that were dangerously slippery surrounded in ragged pleather as the real heels had worn down long ago. Also, all the rain we have been having lately had started to seep in through the ripped soles (I get good wear out of things you have to agree).
Usually I will buy all of my shoes from Number 1 Shoe Warehouse for $40 or less. However as I seem to get through pairs quickly I asked the ladies at work how much “real” boots cost. They all said over $100 with one having spent around $300! Good gracious, I certainly wouldn’t be spending that much.
Off I trotted to town and as I passed EB Games the siren call of cheap Xbox goodness lured me in. I left with Lego Indiana Jones. That’s fine, I told myself – Mr Pigalina will play it too and it was second-hand.
Off to the shoe shop – boots on sale – hurrah! I bought a pair that made my size 10-11 feet look tiny and they had $220 off. Great bargain hunting said I. Heading back to the carpark I passed a shop and a necklace caught my eye. I carried on only to turn back and buy not only that one but another too (total was $27.50 – pretty good price eh?)
Anyway, back at home despite getting some bargains, I felt a little bad for my spree and told Mr Pigalina I would not buy my lunch for a week to make up for some of my impulse buys. Mr Pigalina was handed my cards to take care of so that I wouldn’t sneakily buy any. I lasted 2 days on soup and could take it no more.
Today I went to Pak n Save hallowed supermarket of South D to buy my lunch. I also had a few other bits for home so I had a trolley. I had less than 12 items so I headed for the self checkout however the EFTPOS was down on them so it was cash only. I felt too cheeky standing in the express lane with a trolley as I usually complain about the old ladies who do just that and I would have been blocking the main thoroughfare. Every checkout had at least two trolleys queing up. I joined one que and the lady operating the till was slow and gossipy and there were three people ahead of me. I went right down to the other end of the shop and found a better que. The lady in front of me went to pay and was told “Oh sorry, EFTPOS isn’t working” Nooooooo, I thought, I have just spent 10 minutes in ques. Luckily we were all able to put our items through, suspend the sale and then go to the Customer Services booth to join another que and then pay. 20 minutes after getting all of my purchases together I left to walk in the pouring rain back to work to eat my sandwich.
I think Pak n Save was trying to tell me that I should have stuck to my self-imposed food-from-home diet. I only had two days left.
June 27, 2009
Sha(no)more
I remember where I was when I heard Princess Diana died, I remember my 9/11 moment – hell I even have a Freddie Mercury moment (I cried when the radio played “The Show Must Go On” – I was 9!).
Now there’s a Michael Jackson moment to add to the list ![]()
I went into the staff room for morning tea yesterday which was doubling as a farewell for a guy leaving work. A soon as I opened the door someone announced that M.J was dead and this continued as each new person entered the room. The leaving celebrations were swiftly over-shadowed (not to mention Farrah).
My manager was straight online to check if it was true, another lady rang her husband who, she reported, sounded quite distraught. Another’s husband could not be reached. I rang Mr Pigalina who didn’t seem to care and already knew! I asked him why he had not been on the phone straight away to deliver the news – he said that he hadn’t wanted to deliver the bad news over the phone.
It appears that his whole office didn’t give two hoots while half of my office was in a frenzy. There is even a tribute party being planned for next Friday (dress code – one glove).
OK so MJ had a lot of controversy in the last few years but there is no denying that his music is fantastic. Mr Pigalina’s Dad apparently sounded rather upset on the phone when Mr Pigalina called him about an unrelated matter. He said “These people, you don’t know them, but they are always a part of your life.” It’s so true. I had a Moonwalker sweatshirt which I wish I still had – I would have made a cushion cover out of it. It is imortalised on Mum’s wall in a photo where I am wearing it complete with triangular pants, a bum bag a bob hairdo. I had the Thriller album on tape and Vincent Price’s voiceover would creep me out, I used to have to fast-forward through his cackle. When I was about 6 I went to a friend’s house and we put on her Dad’s Thriller video and then swiftly hid behind the sofa in terror. I remember watching in awe as the faces morphed into each other in the “Black or White” video. Let’s not forget the fabulous Jackson 5 which is my good mood music if I ever need a boost. My sister and I have had many a sing-along. A guy at high school could Moonwalk and I remember him once Moonwalking across a rown of desks at lunchtime. And who hasn’t spent time trying to perfect the Moonwalk themselves? (Don’t lie).
We all have our Michael Jackson memories and while his descent into scandal and ridicule over-shadowed his past achievements I am going to remember the fun that he has brought me over the years. Now, back to the video hits marathon on C4.
June 21, 2009
Terminator Salvation
All I can say is thank goodness it wasn’t a repeat of Terminator 3.*
Terminator Salvation is set in the future – Judgement Day has not been stopped and those who are left are trying to survive either by just hiding out or fighting back in the resistance. John Connor (Christian Bale *yay*) is now an adult and though he is not the leader he is highly respected by those that believe he is their saviour. Also in this film is the teenage Kyle Reece (who is also Chekov from the new Star Trek movie) – John’s father. He is joined by Star a mute child, and a man named Marcus who I will not say much more about though if you are like me you probably ruined his secret for yourself months before the movie came out.
Skynet has gone crazy and now has, among other things, eel-like terminators in the water, planes and huge robots who collect humans. At the point of time in the movie they are working on mass producing the Arnold-era T800s.
The action and effects were great and they really tried to keep the fans happy – look out for an “I’ll be back”, an Arnold (CGI) cameo and the 80s Sarah Connor photo that Kyle Reece clings to in The Terminator. The whole movie just felt like a proper Terminator, the kind we were all hoping for after T2. It was well acted, the storyline was fab and the sets and action kicked arse.
My only complaint was the very end – why did John agree to Marcus’ proposal so quickly? My fingers are crossed that he will return in the mooted next episode seeing as he managed to have his heart restarted in this one – (sorry if I spoiled).
All in all one great movie and I hope that this is the shape of Terminator’s to come.
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*The lady Terminator can grow bigger boobs, has to analyze blood by licking it to determine she has killed the correct person – what’s wrong with facial recognition? There are too many jokey bits, John Connor is suddenly sandy blonde. That was only the first 20 minutes of straight to video style that I could bear watching again, I will try to give it another go when I have perhaps forgotten the awesomeness that was Salvation.
June 13, 2009
Flickchart is Rocking My World and Wasting My Time
Oh my goodness, thanks Robert for giving me the best place ever to waste my time!
On Flickchart you are shown two movies and you vote which for the one that you think is best. It then complies a list of you favourite movies – the more you rate the more acurate it becomes. Sooo much fun (for nerds). I have had a few tough choices though such as having to choose between The Terminator and Fight Club.
The view my awesome taste in movies click here.
To start your own list click here (you may regret it, but what’s 10 hours of your life?)



