Lego Millennium Falcon, A Construction Story

I got the Lego Millennium Falcon from Mr Pigalina for my birthday. As yesterday was also Father-in-Law Pigalina’s 60th birthday I had to move my initial birthday celebration plan to today – build it and watch the original trilogy. Bliss. (I was going to wear my Princess Leia robe just to be super nerdy, but it is too warm. And I am also too fat for my X-wing Starfighter t-shirt from 5 years ago…)

You may notice in the above picture a typo – yes, it should read ages 9-33 but we all make mistakes. Now to put on “A New Hope” and begin.

Inside are fifteen bags and two A4 booklets. All bags but one are numbered. There are three bag 1’s. The booklet indicates that I need to locate Darth Vader and the other characters.

Found them! Under Darth’s helmet is a grey burned face and if you rotate Luke’s head he is wearing a little visor so that he can train with his light-saber.

The unmarked bag was actually also a bag 1, off to a confused start…
Maaaaaaaaaaaan Harrison Ford ❤ Must concentrate on Lego and not Han Solo on screen.

1 hour in brought lunchtime and the end of the group of bag 1's!

Back to it and the details of the interior are taking shape. 1st sticker applied on the holo-chess (sorry, uber-nerds, “Dejarik”) table. Don’t make me apply stickers! Not when wine is a part of the build! Next the interior control panel started to take shape.

End of “A New Hope”, time for “The Empire Strikes Back”. The rounded edges are going on, the blue thruster on the back goes into place and I take the first of many moments to stop and marvel at how incredibly clever the design of this thing is.

I also begin to marvel at how Kiwi Boba Fett sounds in the remastered versions of the movie “He’s no good tuh me did”. A quick google revealed they were re-recorded by Temuera Morrison. Sigh.
Onto Book 2 and bag set 4!

Time to flip the model upside down and add some feet, guns and a slidey back and forth bit, the purpose of which I am unsure of.

Now time for “Return of the Jedi”. It’s all taking shape mid bag set 5 – roof going on!

Only bag 6 remains, the cockpit needs to be completed!
Annnnnnnnnnnd we’re done! About five hours after I began it is finished. The level of detail is fantastic, Luke’s training orb, the holo-chess table, tools in a tool holder, the central control panel – everything has been so well thought out. I am amazed how well and easily the whole thing came together and loved how enjoyable the build was. Good work Lego! And good building Me! An afternoon well spent, thanks Mr Pigalina for the Birthday present! x

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December has Arrived

You would be forgiven for thinking, if you live in Dunedin New Zealand, that you had teleported to a town in the Northern hemisphere and were in for a winter Christmas. We have had weeks of rain, wind and hail.
Today was supposed to be the start of summer, instead I packed a scarf for work this morning. However, as it was also the start of December we had the start of the festivities at work to warm our hearts.
Christmas bake-off brought out the creativity (and the laziness of people like me who chose to sample instead).

Dunedin Craft Beer Festival – Take Two

This year Dunedin had two craft beer festivals. Pigalinas like beer. And beer festivals.
We sampled many varieties, ate tasty food and danced to good music. We avoided the beer that, legend has it, was brewed with beard scratchings when the brewer ran out of yeast. There’s experimental and then there’s…

Dunedin Craft Beer Expo

Today we went to Dunedin Railway Station for the Craft Beer Expo. We sampled many delicious and new beers – the coconut milk stout was surprisingly good.
The Taieri Gorge Train was available for people to sit in which proved priceless as the weather turned nasty.
All in all a great inaugural event, roll on 2015.

I Survived a Zombie Holocaust – Movie Premiere

Four years ago I achieved a life goal – be in a movie. I was an extra in “I Survived a Zombie Holocaust” filmed here in Dunedin. I walked barefoot in mud after my shoes broke; stood in drizzle for hours; got cold, sticky, blood splattered all over me; endured hours with irritating contact lenses in; drove an hour for night shoots until about 3am; and took a week off work – all for the love of it. And love it I did.
Today was the Red Carpet World Premiere at Dunedin Town Hall and it was so, so fabulous. It was better than I could have imagined, hilarious and polished to a point you wouldn’t know it was made on a shoestring.
I had been a bit nervous about MiL Pigalina and her friend’s reactions, but they loved it – getting frights and laughing the whole way through.
Mummy Pigalina was also an extra and both of us can be seen on screen if you know where to look. And my friends will be knowing where to look once it is released. I’ll make sure of it!
(Pictured – preparing for the premiere).

Pictionary is a Serious Business

Playing Pictionary with Aunty and Uncle Pigalina is a serious business. They brought their whiteboard on holiday with them.
Here is Mummy Pigalina drawing “body surfing”.

Playing Charlie Murder

Mr Pigalina wields Wolverine claws; Pigalina – baguettes.

Dunedin Midwinter Carnival

To celebrate the shortest day Dunedin held its annual Midwinter Carnival and lantern festival. The lanterns get bigger every year and this time round the stars were the swan and castle lanterns.
Due to the wind the fireworks were cancelled meaning the new years fireworks should be doubly spectacular.

*Fun fact* Pigalina and two friends, aged 15, attended Dunedin’s first Midwinter festival. We were pictured in the newspaper wearing our mid 90s grunge chic and holding candles. We were then chased down Lower Stuart Street by rogue fireworks. They have since learned their lesson and pay attention to the wind.

Natural Glow

Today while at lunch we spotted NZ celeb – star of many infomercials for Natural Glow and Thin Lizzy make-up (no affiliation to the band…); queen of party dance songs of the late 90s (Blue Monkey); TV presenter and pioneer of energy drinks – Ms Suzanne Paul.
Everyone loves Suzanne, she’s been bankrupted and bounced back. Her cheerful, bubbly, personality is a delight. Apparently I squealed when it was pointed out she was in the mall today.
It is true. Suzanne is an NZ treasure.

My post to my sister on Facebook bragging about this pic generated a number of comments between she and her Primary School best friend as they remembered Blue Monkey’s impact on their lives…watch it for yourselves and make some memories. http://youtu.be/NOUE41RjU7o

(Special mention to Shanny for taking the photo and Loi for spotting Suzanne).

Sweet Wedding

Had so much fun at the wedding of Mr Pigalina’s cousin. There was a delicious lolly station with the pictured personalized treats, a great band and lots of laughs.
As we were the last standing there *may* have been some playing of the band’s instruments.
The night ended with us feeling like teenagers, getting a ride home at 2am from an Uncle with Mr Pigalina’s brother stuffed in the hatchback boot.
Just saw the pictures, they start out elegant…