The wonders of encouragement and reward...

Jess is having a great week. Consequently my week is so much nicer as well. When I eventually got home on Tuesday (because of the great train debarcle, which is another story entirely, but don't think that you've gotten out of hearing all about that one, because it is not out of my system yet! I need counselling, which is obvious, and why I am, but again, another story entirely) there were two certificates on my keyboard propped up so I couldn't fail to see them. Exhibit A.

I was so happy for her, because this is the first year that she has ever received a certificate at school - and this is now her third one (the bottom one is from her swimming instructor). I gave her a big hug and told her how proud I was, and then said that as a treat she could have an icecream after dinner. She then said that she wouldn't have one because she'd had a banana split that day already. Righto, I said, well how about you have a star on your chart then? Yay, she replies and rushes off to put said star onto chart.

No big deal.

But it IS! Like 99% of 12 year olds, Jess has a marked penchant for (a) treats, and (b) moulding the truth to suit. Option B has increasingly become an issue for us of late and there have been lengthy dinner-time conversations about the benefits of telling it like it is, and the consequences of truth-telling vs being a lying little rodent (or 12-year old age appropriate words to that effect). So what I omitted to reveal is that two seconds after turning down the ice cream and taking the delayed gratification star chart option, Jess threw herself again into my arms and demanded that I notice how she had "done honesty" even though now that she thought about it, she really would like another ice cream. A moment of grammar correction passed, and we were able to get on with the business of admiring the 12 year old, complete with lots of repeating of positive encouragement, and "I'm so proud(s)" and "you're so fabulous(es)" and "you made such a good decision(s)"...

And so has followed our week. Lots of willing homeworking has ensued, bed time reading, chicken feedings and swimming lessons. Much star charting, hugs, sofa cuddles and admiring comments follow. While I have been in disguise for much of the past month, I believe I am wearing my superhero care-Mum undies this week (and I have several more clean pairs in my drawer).

It's not okay...

I have a problem.

The news these past few days has me seething that not only does Paula Bennet abuse her power to extract information, but our media then support her in publishing the details of two woman that in my view should never be made public without their permission.

The Nats have sent a giant signal to anyone who has the courage to comment against them - we will do what we can to put you back in your place you irrelevant little plaything - and this has been supported by all in the party who fail to acknowledge how serious an abuse this is. It is also endorsed by a media hungry for sales that they allow this sort of abuse, and a public so subordinate that we mumble into our coffee and roll over and show our bellies.

This is debating 101 - attack the argument not the person - though I think many in the Nats missed that lecture. For Bennet to have gained herself from this allowance in the past is perhaps why she LACKS the ability to successfully argue the positives of the Government scrapping it.

What the argument is about feels irrelevant, the tactics are disgusting and she seems altogether too petty to hold a ministerial position. So my question is this - what the hell do I do about it?

I wanna know exactly who thinks we will leave on time?!!

Te Wiki o te Reo Māori

Test your Te Reo Māori knowledge

http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/2677193/Maori-Language-Week

mathieu bastard-roar

Key accepted the apology and said it was time to move on. So a large portion of the nation did yet I still can’t seem to shake it off. Bitter and angry at the whole fiasco I choose to vent my frustrations through acknowledging and posting about a case which is picturesque of the systemic and institutionilised racism that continues to go unchallenged and unrecognised.

Media representation of lies told by Bastareaud were simple. He was brutally attacked by 5 Maori or Pacific Island men. Bastareaud (after being found out, not by 'choice') admitted this incident never took place and apologized to the New Zealand federation, to the city of Wellington, to the French players, the coaching staff, his team, his friends and all those involved for his lies.

I’m assuming Maori and Pacific men fall under the last part of the apology ‘all those involved’ yeah, maybe. It seems appropriate to me that when an apology is offered it should be just as accurate and precise as the accusations made i.e. I am sorry to the Maori and Pacific men of New Zealand, The New Zealand federation, the city of Wellington etc- simple

Steve Tew CEO of New Zealand rugby union spoke of how this issue has tarnished the reputation of Wellington and New Zealand-puh. It’s merely reflective of the normative reproduction of avoidable and unfair blame placed upon Maori and Pacific Peoples of Aotearoa.
The involvement of the French Prime Minister and his apology for the ‘unacceptable behavior’ of Bastareaud signaled a push of blame rather than any ownership or responsibility for the actions of the french rugby team.

Maori and Pacific men are at the butt end of the stick when it comes to the tarnishing of New Zealands reputation and as for Bastareaud who apparently acted all on his own accords, is he not also the victim of being a black man in the white mans game.

Here is a clip of young maori men just being cheeky little hoories


and one of Hato Paora Junior Boys College using the poi


Cause we deserve better and fairer representation.
Mean Maori Mean

Wedding dance

Check it out. Doesn't it just make you want to get married. Or maybe just dance:)
I hope I'm doing this right but if the link doesnt come up, check out the you tube video of the wedding party dancing down the aisle.

Bing Bong the Brainy Bean

Bing Bong woke up bright and early in the morning with a question burning in her head. What sort of bean am I?

She needed to know so she decided to go and ask some questions of her own.

First she went to see Monkey Mung. She knocked on his door and could hear him swinging on the rafters finishing his morning exercises. After a thump and tumble, the door opened and Monkey Mung stood beaming in front of her. "Morning Monkey Mung!" she began, "How would I know if I'm the same sort of bean as you?"

Monkey Mung pondered for a few minutes. And then a few minutes more. "Hmmmm. Let's go and look in the mirror together. I am small and green. Some of my relatives hang out in the water and sprout in the Summer. Hippies tell me I'm also pretty tasty in a curry. Are you the same as me?"

Bing Bong quickly realised that she is not a Mung Bean. They didn't look at all alike and they didn't like to do the same things. Where would she go next on her adventure?

The Age of Stupid

I can't believe it. I'm very excited. The Age of Stupid is coming to NZ and will be filming as a Green fundraiser at the Paramount on 20 August. This looks like it will be really interesting - as in I will be attending because I WANT to, not because I feel obliged to. AND, I would make the effort to go and see it regardless of if it was a Green fundraiser.

So do you want to come with me? Give me the nod because I will order us some tickets. $20.

And if you want to know more about it, just follow this link and check out the trailer

A new discovery

This woman is hot!

the danger of living inside my head...

Apart from the obvious lack of oxygen, and of space (I may have a pin head but there's a lot packed in there), there are other a few other health risks when I spend too much time inside my head.

* I am able to convince myself of a reality that in my saner moments I am fairly sure doesn't exist. Like a little boy picking at a scab I worry at things, wear them down, wear them out. And does this serve to do anything other than make me feel like I need to sit in the corner and rock? No, not really.

* Proportion has no relevance, all of a sudden someone splashing me in a puddle morphs into someone throwing me in the sea.

* "Up there for thinking, down there for..." I don't dance so much in my head.

* The more I live in my head the harder it is to live in the world.

* My head is selfish. Sometimes it hogs all the blood in my body like a greedy little monkey and throws my body into inaction and I just want to lie in bed and think.

* It's all so jolly cerebral. Where's the vitality, the verve in lying still with dribble coming out your mouth and a faraway look in your eyes?

* Translation can go so horribly wrong. What makes sense inside my noggin does not always relate to what makes sense in the world so beware - ask me what I'm thinking at your own peril.

* When I crack a joke nobody laughs but me.


My head is a good place to holiday, it's great to spend time looking around in there. But if I appear like I might've taken off for an extended visit, please give me a little shake and tell me my taxi's waiting.

Things I am going to do today:

• Take my laptop to vodafone so they can get my vodem to work on it (it works on every other PC and laptop in the WORLD except mine). I made the mistake previously of ONLY taking in the vodem - which was supposed to have sorted the problem. How am I going to promote the virtues of technology and its blissful ability when it continues to taunt me in this way?!
• Meet Liz and Princess for lunch. And probably Euan too. Do you know Euan? I swear he is a long lost brother of Kevin Rudd. Same gestures, EXACTLY the same mouth, same beautiful skin...
• Meet my sister for coffee so we can discuss the latest of my family dramas. A cousin pregnant (OMIGOD, I thought they split up once his home detention was over?!), a mother who cannot seem to get off the grog (or men who are bad for her, for that matter), an interfering aunty (what's new there), a niece/daughter who has taken her first steps and seems destined to be the most amazingly gifted child ever...
• Eat some organic avocados... YUM!
• Make a facebook page for Rocket Science. Will you be my friend and ask your friends to be fans? Actually I'll probably do this tomorrow, but same same :-).
• Attend the Provincial Greens meeting tonight.
• Listen to cool music all day. On my playlist I have: David Bowie, Alison Moyet, Alanis Morrisette, Annie Lenox, Brazilian Girls, Fur Patrol, Joss Stone, Chicks on Speed and heaps more... I am so cool.

60 Minutes SUX!

I am so disgusted at the 60 Minutes interview of Kirstin Dunne-Powell that I can hardly form a coherent sentence…

We should be ashamed that, as a country, we have pushed this survivor of violence to defend herself on national TV.

A deliberately stony-faced Paula Penfold started the interview by asking “Why are you speaking out now when that might only serve to aggravate the situation further.”

Excuse me!! WTF??

Right from the outset, Dunne-Powell is being accused of “aggravating the situation further”.

What follows are shots of Dunne-Powell’s property, of Veitch excusing himself (“we had a major disagreement… we argued for a very long time etc) and large words scrolling over the screen e.g. “I apologise”, “confidentiality agreement”, “$150000” etc.

She then asks Dunne-Powell, “This was already a broken man – why try to break him more?”

It doesn’t get any better after that, either.

Penfold confronts Dunne-Powell about the situation which “played out for 9 months before he [Veitch] got his day in court.”

To me that sounds a whole heap like blame.

Penfold then says, about the Police investigation, that it was partly to “question Kristin’s motives”.

And in relation to the payout, “Wasn’t it having your cake and eating it too – you had your money.”

I think there’s a difference between playing devil’s advocate and being a deliberately hurtful bully – this interview definitely crossed that line.

Who the hell are these apologists for violence? 60 Minutes and Paula Penfold have denied Dunne-Powell a voice, and they have used her pain to cast Veitch in a sympathetic light – again.

Weeds - Season 5 Trailer - I am sourcing it for us! I

I am sourcing it for us...might have to give Baz a hand job but that's all good!

Auckland

Auckland Trip - we have an apartment and two shared facilities room here for the Saturday night and an ensuite and three shared facilities rooms for Tuesday night. It will be about $50 per person per night .

Back from old age!

Yes, here I am. Out of bed. No longer in my PJs. Sitting at the computer. Brain finally working, moderately. Eyeballs no longer burning so much that wearing contacts is out of the question. And the question on everyone's lips has been "was it swine flu'?!". And my answer to you of course is "how the hell should I know? Seemed kinda like any other flu', EXCEPT the whole world agreed with my spending as much time in bed recovering as possible. That is, time AWAY from them, NOT infecting them.

Which has made me think about being sick in general, and media motivation for whipping up this influenza frenzy.

I think that there is a conspiracy amongst journalists. Much like "road rage" is a media construct, I believe "swine flu'" is a construct designed to give us all a break. Journos in the northern hemisphere have just gotten to their Summer months, and I betcha they're feeling like they could do with a damn good holiday. But who wants to use up annual leave?! Why not give EVERYONE an excuse to take extended time off work SUPPORTED by paranoid bosses and workmates? The media all over the world has to be ecstatic about this - you've got to do something while lolling about in bed, and reading about your flu' excuse in the newspapers is as good as activity as any. Excellent. Good job well done.

Of course, I didn't have a holiday. I was really sick.

Eartha Kitt - I want to be evil

What's on top?

I'm not joking when I say I've gone on to the blog page about 10 times thinking that I'm gonna add to the blog...each time I leave it though not knowing what to write. Today I'm determined...

What a week it's been.

I know I've always thought that friends are my family and after this week that this feeling is even stronger than ever. In being disconnected from from biological family I've always felt that my relationships with friends have given me that sense of family. It's so true. In every way I felt that our friends have been there for us this way. In ways that we didn't even realise we needed. You girls thought of everything. We have felt so loved. So cared for. So sustained by you all and it must be acknowledged. You girls are our family. Thank you, thank you, thank you.


Next thing....

How proud I am of deb. She did so well this last week. She stands in her values and she demonstrates her values by her actions. I'm lucky.

Next thing...

How much I like smoking. I even had one before work yesterday. It's a slippery slope.

Another thing..

Yay for the holidays. I'm on holidays. Oh so lucky.


There it is. My first blog. God it makes me nervous. Too mushy?! I know it kind of is...but need to post it before I delete it.

Tai Aroha

Here's a waiata called Tai Aroha. It was composed by Te Wananga o Aotearoa in Rotorua and can be sung at any hui. Pretty choice if we all knew it and could tautoko our freinds or whanau with this song. It's about love being like the tide of the ocean, arohamai i can't find actual translation.

For anyone thats keen to belt out a tune, here the lyrics and Teri Maree Kopa with Tai Aroha

Ko te aroha ano he wai
E pupu ake ana
He awa e mapuna mai ana
I roto I te whatumanawa (Ano te katoa/Repeat)
Ko tona matapuna he hohonu
A ina ia ka rere ano
Ko tona matapuna he hohonu
A ina ia ka rere ano
He tai timu
He tai pari
He tai ope
He tai ora
He tai nui (x3)



Churrrrrrrr

Refuge Appeal

Women’s Refuge Annual Appeal 2009
Wellington Women’s Refuge & Te Whare Rokiroki Maori Women’s Refuge
Need Collectors
24-25 July

In just one hour you can play a huge part in helping ensure Wellington has support and accommodation for women and children at risk of domestic violence.
There are lots of locations all over Wellington.

Contact me if you wanna help. or can strong arm anyone else into helping.