eard the news this morning that Miketroll died yesterday. He’s been battling pancreatic cancer for many months, and lasted much much longer than anyone expected (back in June he’d been given a prognosis of only a couple of months to live), so it’s not exactly a shock that he’s gone, but it’s still a sad…
In my 2013 in review post, I wrote “…instead of hoping that next year is a better one, I’m going to say that I’m going to make sure that next year I continue to make my life what I want it to be, and that I’ll keep surrounding myself with what gives me joy.” And…
For the first time since I started keeping these reading lists, I dipped below 100 books read this year – my total was only 93. I suspect the main reason for that is that I got out of habit of reading for pleasure in the first half of the year, when I was reading so…
s most of you know, I really don’t do Facebook. But back during the earthquakes I set up an account in my real name for the sole purpose of communicating with students, because it was more reliable than our usual email channels. Once the crisis was over, I went back to ignoring it – until…
oor Parsnips got in a fight last night, and I suspect got the worst of it, because she was looking pretty sorry for herself. Lots of tufts of fur sticking out all over, and definitely a few tender spots she wouldn’t let me touch. She was looking a bit happier when I left for work…
I can’t remember if I mentioned that I’d volunteered to host the Christchurch Bloggers’ Christmas party this year. The usual host, Miriam, has moved to Australia, and at a meetup a while back Tartankiwi mentioned she hadn’t found anyone else willing to host, so I said if she couldn’t find anyone then I’d step up…
his year is seriously racing past. It’s the end of the academic year tomorrow, and already murmurs about Christmas parties are arising from various quarters – where did the year go??? I’m sure it was only a couple of weeks ago that I finished studying myself, but a whole semester has gone past since then!…
ery weird dream last night. I was walking with a group of people (no idea who, but it seemed very important to me that I impress them). They were talking about how wooden spoons are made, and that it’s necessary to heat-temper the wood that’s used to make them (yes, I know that makes no…
t alternately irritates and amuses me that the locks on the toilet stalls at work have the brand name “Axess”. Irritates because wanting a trademarkable word is no excuse for mangling spelling like that, and amuses because it sounds like something used to describe a character in a Victorian melodrama, some sort of deranged…
oday marks 121 years since women were granted the right to vote in New Zealand – the first country to attain universal suffrage. To mark the day, the union hosted a women’s breakfast, and invited Christchurch Mayor Lianne Dalziel to talk to us. It was pretty informal – although she started off with a prepared…