debxena

Kinda random updatiness. You have been warned.

Work
I gave my first solo presentation/party last weekend! It went really well, both in feedback and in sales. I guess I can do sales after all, provided it's product that I am interested in and genuinely think will make a difference to people.

The average sales for each party is about $1k, assuming 10-20 people. I only had 8 people there, no eftpos, and still made $1k - and gave lots of advice and answered lots of questions. Go me ;)  Got all my admin paperwork to balance the next day, as well!

I was on my feet for a lot longer than I'd anticipated, though. There's the presentation, of course - but for the next two hours of questions and sales I was also on my feet. Wiped me out for all of the next day - although I treated myself to a bath, and that helped. Sunday is very definitely a stay-home-and-recover-and-spend-time-with-Ben day, these days.

Al
He's still missing Lloyd, which is entirely to be expected. For the most part he is 'okay'. The hospice arranged for him to have a blessing/tapu lifting done on his bed, and that's helped somewhat - he's more comfortable being in his sleepout, and can actually sleep in the bed again. The sheets were washed twice and put in a clothing bin, though. Fair enough, I guess.

Unfortunately, one of Lloyd's siblings (out of four) has been causing trouble: she was texting Al last weekend and being very nasty and unpleasant indeed (of the 'so, have you killed anyone this week?' variety). He's taken it as an opportunity to change cellphone numbers and networks - if you're a friend of his and you didn't get the text with the new number, drop me an email and I'll ask him to get in touch with you.

Lloyd's mother and one of his brothers is still getting on well with Al, though - the latter visited Al yesterday afternoon, and he talked to his mum on the phone a few times a week. So it's the shame that the sister in question is being so hateful and blaming. I can understand wanting to blame someone - but it's a real shitter that it's Al she's putting it on.

Anime
The anime film festival is on! Ben is going to quite a few, but we're going together to the double-feature on his birthday (Blood: The Last Vampire and My Neighbour Totoro). Funnilt enough, we've either seen or own everything they're showing - but most things we haven't had the pleasure of seeing on the big screen (Appleseed and Howl's Moving Castle I have seen at the movies, and they're both worth it).

Incidentally, did anyone else know there was a second Appleseed movie out (Appleseed: Ex Machina)? Deb wants!

Voting
Well, Al and Ben and I all went and did our voting duty. I am unimpressed at the outcome ... but it's only three years. Yay Greens for getting a larger proportion of the vote!

Family
Dad would have been 61 last Saturday. Which seems really strange to me, as he never had his 50's (he died at 47). His mother's birthday is the day before, and my mother's father's the day before that. They're both dead too. Why do I remember the birthdays of people who are dead?

While Ben and Al and I have all been invited to Wellington for a BIG shindig celebrating my aunt and uncle's combined 60th birthdays, we won't be going down. It's a bitch trying to plan ahead anyhow, and it sounds like it's going to be way too rambunctious and noisy for any of us. Hopefully we'll make it down for a visit early next year instead.

It occurs to me that people are going to start asking us about Giftmas plans shortly. Eep.

Looks like I'm getting back in the swing of regular, albeit weekly, posting. This is a good thing!

This past week has been full of nice stuff - all weeks should be this pleasant, I think.

When I went with Alex to the hospice social day (Opening Doors) on Tuesday, I received a lovely facial and hand-massage - the trainees from International College of Camille were present, doing make-overs and massages and pedicures and the like. I feel a bit guilty sometimes receiving these relaxing things (when a patient could be in my place), but I have to remind myself that a) they're there for a few hours, and everyone who wants attention gets it, and b) as a caregiver I deserve pampering too! A very good pampering it was, and I glowed all day.

I also attended a very successful job interview mid-week (reminding myself all the way there that 'I am made of awesome' obviously did the trick), and I now have additional part-time work, a few evenings a week, to supplement my income. I have some more from-home admin-type work as well. This is all very, very good, and will make the household finances a lot happier :) Working part-time in a few different roles really suits me, as it keeps the hours flexible, and my interest high. Some of it is extroverted people stuff, and some is time-alone focus stuff, and the balance will work well for me.

Saturday we helped ekmahal and Tobermorey to move house. This involved bed-assembly, duct-tape, filthy jokes, sally lunn, and (eep) me accidentally backing into their new letterbox. No major damage, however! Their new place is HUGE, and *nods* definitely going to move Waifs and Strays to there this year (at their suggestion).

Saturday evening Ben and I joined the Wolverines having dinner at neongraal's place. It was a real pleasure to not have to cook, and the food - dinner and dessert - was delicious! We were completely bushed by the time we got home, though.

Thursday and Sunday were complete relaxation days, where I spent a lot of time in bed, some time on the computer, painted, watched more Buffy S2, and stayed in my nightie all day. Luxury!

TV
~ Ben and I watched the third ep of Fringe. It continues to be creepy, cool, and compelling - Ben and I are both enjoying it, although for completely different reasons. Interestingly, neither of us is that enamoured of the main character (but we both like Astrid a lot)! Took me a while to click that Broyles is also Abbadon from Lost, though.

You know you can see Walter's lab notes every week, right? His banana cake recipe after Ep 1 was hilarious.

~ Heroes eps 1 and 2 of S3 (were they played together?). Interesting twists, specifically ( cut for spoilers )

~ Wipe-out. I blame bigtaz for making me watching this, and it happened to be the 'Wipies' episode, so we got to see the worst of it all. Granted, I laughed (a lot), but I felt like a worse human being afterwards. I miss The Krypton Factor and L&P Top Town.

Books
I plowed through a lot of books this week, nearly all of them re-reads, and for good reason.

~ Lady Slings the Booze, by Spider Robinson. Can't go wrong with punsters, sexual openness, crime and time travel now, can you?

~ The Curse of Chalion, and Paladin of Souls, by Lois McMaster Bujold. I really like this fantasy series, as much for the world it's set it and for the characters within it. Definitely has the Bujold touch though, making characters memorable and the protagonists loveable despite their faults.

~ Richard Adams' Favourite Animal Stories. Many familiar, many not. Most interesting discovery is that I can't read the Br'er Rabbit stories in the original argot Joel Chandler Harris wrote them in. What happened to the children's book with great coloured illustrations where I could actually understand what was going on?

Movies
Whilst eating Deb's delicious dessert on Saturday evening, we poured animation into our brains, via The Animation Show Volume 1. (Mixing Don Hertzfeld and Mike Judge is creeeeeeepy.) There were some amazing animation styles and stories, and most of them held us spellbound. According to the wonderful interwebs, there are more volumes, which I think we may have to track down ...

These are what Ben and I decided later were out favourites from the disc (with youtube links):
~ Aria by Pjotr Sapegin
~ Das Rad by Heidi Wittlinger
~ Brother, Cousin, and Uncle by Adam Elliot
~ Bathtime in Clerkenwell by Alex Budovsky (below, and my personal favourite, for the music as much as the animation)
~ and, of course, Billy's Balloon by Don Hertzfeldt



And tonight! Tonight I'm off to see the new documentary about Tim Minchin, Rock n' Roll Nerd (I won tickets, and am delighted)! I'll let you know how it turns out.

And if you haven't heard of Tim Minchin? Oh dear ... go and watch this - the first thing of his I ever saw :)

And there really is! Split into sections for easy reading/skimming purposes. Assuming there's anyone left who's interesting in reading/skimming...

Work
Some of you know that I've been job-hunting since the end of last year, looking to find part-time work I can do from home. The reasons being a) migraine and b) spending time with my brother while I still can.

The hunting was profoundly unsuccessful. There was a lot of looking at potential jobs on the jobsites and finding yet-another-make-thousands-per-week-automated-bullshit scan, a lot of checking the local papers, and a few applications and interviews. Bugger.

Eventually, come the end of May, I had a big talk with Ben, ex-co-worker Muirie, and friend moonspirit43. The upshot of which was the decision to take the plunge. The next day I handed in my month's notice, with no work to go to. The vague plan was to be at home, and to pick up the occasional 1-day job or short-term temp position or inveigle friends to hire me for business-y stuff I can do at home.

Cut to this week, with 4 days left to go. My boss has (finally) figured out that me leaving leaves a big hole with no-one else able to do the work. We negotiate, and instead of being resigned, I'm going to stay on working 10 hrs a week - 5 in the office (on one day), and 5 at home (spread out how I like). I also negotiated myself a pay-rise, which makes me happy.

The advantage of this is some regular guaranteed income will still be coming in, and I still have plenty of time at home to either faff, work, or pick up small jobs outside of work. And it all changes next week!

Brother
Alex aka bigtaz is still deteriorating, albeit slowly. He appeared on Close Up a few months back, having attended a big hospice-organised day at the Pukekohe Raceway - it was very cool! (that link takes you to the segment in question - just click on the link for 'Close Up: Racing Hospice', under the 'Related Video' heading.)

Since then people have been just amazing in helping him achieve the goals on his bucket list. A few weeks later he went up in a helicopter and flew over Auckland for 2 hours, which I gather he thoroughly enjoyed. Then a few weeks after that, he and I attended the matinee session of 'La Boheme', at the Aotea Centre. It's his favourite opera, but he'd never had the pleasure of seeing it live - he was working backstage when it last was put on here in Auckland. We were driven there in a Cadillac as well, which was a huge treat!

Right now he and his best friend are in Queenstown, for five days. Qantas paid for the flights there and back (and gave them access to the Qantas lounge), while Destination Queenstown have been just amazing - organising primo accomodation, lots of activites (shotover jet, gondola, cruise, 4WD to Macetown, onsen hot pools etc), and most of the meals as well. Initially I was going to go with him, but we had a big talk, and he really wanted his friend to go - they've been mates for about six years. I was okay with that, especially having had the holiday to the Gold Coast with him last year. So they're down there, over the winter festival (even better!), and having a blast.

But he is getting sicker. There's still no time-frame for how long it's going to take him to die, and we just live with that. He goes into the hospice for respite every 2-3 months for about a week, and he also attends their social day, Opening Doors, most Tuesdays. I've been once (and will be going more, now), and it's great - a bunch of sick folk and their carers, lots of nice food, massages, haircuts, chatter, and the occasional guest speaker. It's fantastic, and he often comes home with little gifts, and with his nails repainted :)

Migraine
Still got it. Still mostly able to live with it. Still taking a lot of different pills to help minimise it.

Been over three years now. Go away, pesky chronic migraine!

Love
Ben and I are still doing really well - I do have an amazing husband, and I'm delighted that he puts up with me. Given that he's the primary support for me, Alex, and two mad cats, he does remarkably well. I tell him I love him often, and show my love with good cooking and lots of cups of tea. Among other things.

My poly loves are still doing well - along with Ben, I also have my lover and four 'friends-with-benefits' (all of whom read this *waves to them*). As such, I now refer to my dance-card as 'full' ... and to my google calendar a lot!

I love my life. I love having lovers who are friends with each other (and me). And I love being able to be open about it.

---

I've undoubtedly left a lot of stuff out, here. Which will give me an excuse to post again, soon!

Thank you everyone for your comments on the previous post. They were all really appreciated :)

Al's doing much better - I visited him in hospital yesterday and he was practically perky! His temperature was down and the redness in his legs had gone, but they were still pumping IV antibiotics into him. He had to stay another night, but will probably be home today. I took him in some Wendy's - he's spent enough time in hospital to know how much he hates the food there. While he'll pick at it he won't get much into it. So fast-food it was.

He and I are both a little surprised that the doctors aren't concerned about how easily the cellulitis hits him. Generally for the infection to take hold there needs to be a scratch or cut or bite for it to slip in under the skin. For him it's an almost instantaneous thing - all it takes is for him to stretch a little far, and it hits like a cramp (which is how he initially described it). I have a theory that the perpetual swelling of his legs, plus the lesions, means when he stretches tiny cracks appear between the lesions and the rest of his skin. It's a possibility, anyhow.

Funnily enough, while I didn't go with him to hospital on Wednesday for him to be admitted, I was there 12 hours later - someone very close to me found out the other day that her pregnancy was not progressing, and that while the fetus had stopped growing a few weeks earlier, it hadn't miscarried. While I was at their place for dinner, she started to cramp very badly and was in massive amounts of pain (also: bleeding). She has a bicorneal uterus, and both her gynae and GP had recommended going to the hospital if she started to bleed heavily and pass clots. So I drove her and her husband into the A&E department a little after 9pm. They sent me home about 12:30, and I found out the next morning that they'd also been sent home about 3am. But they're off to the Early Pregnancy Centre at Greenlane this morning. Hopefully they'll be more of a help, and will get it sorted.

Between Al, my friend, and an uncle of mine who had heart surgery, I've now visited every floor of Auckland hospital now, bar one (there are 9 floors, for those who don't know). *shakes head* It is a little scary how well I know my way around there. I told Ben the same, and he tells me that I've been around more of it than he has, and he used to work for the ADHB!

The downside for me of all of this is that Wednesday really wiped me out. So while there's stuff at work that needs to be done, I just don't have the energy to be there. Aside from visiting Al yesterday I stayed home. Today I need to hit the supermarket, and tomorrow is a wedding for a friend of Ben's. Can't exactly flake out on the wedding!

ETA: Al's just arrived home. Spoke to his primary Infectious Diseases specialist (who was surprised to see him there - looks like he hadn't been told). He agrees with my theory about the infection getting in. Al has two weeks of pill-form antibiotics, then they're going to keep him taking them three days a week as a preventative measure. Additionally, I now need to moisturise his legs every second day to try and reduce the dryness. Fingers crossed that it all helps!

Al's back in hospital with bad cellulitis in his left leg, and a high temperature. Hopefully he'll only be in a few days. Infectious Diseases ward will be taking care of him.

He woke up this morning with bad cramps in his left leg, and a rising temp. I took him in to see the doctor, and they decided his temp was so high (over 40 deg C) and his infection so bad (really red and swollen left leg, beginnings on it in the right thigh) that he needed to go back into hosp. for IV antibiotics.

So I waited with him as they called an ambulance - fanning him a lot - and then they took him into Auckland hosp.

He had cellulitis a few weeks ago as well, when he was in the hospice, and they treated it there.

On a slightly cheerier note, yesterday he went to the regular hospice social day (every Tuesday) and they went on a boat out in the harbour. He also had his nails painted teal - they look very nice! He tells me that next week they're going to be painted olive green for St Paddy's Day.


I'm bloody stressed. No surprise there...

Hork
I have the strangest cold right now! It began last Thursday morning when I woke up with a gluggy chest (having been absolutely fine when I fell asleep the night before). As I had to go to the pharmacy anyway, I picked up some expectorant (cherry vanilla, ick) and took it throughout the day. By midday though, I'd begun to lose my voice, as it moved from my chest up into my throat. By Friday I had no voice at all, and stayed home cough and taking lozenges. Then, by Saturday, my voice was back, but it had moved further up into my nose. Cue the phlegm bunnies.

All in all it's very weird - I'm used to colds moving in the opposite direction, beginning in my nose and ending in my chest. Ah well. At least it's moving quickly.

Do Not Pass Go
Al's been back in the hospice for a week, having respite. They also figured out that his latest leg pains were cellulitis, so he ended up with a cannula and a dose of antibiotics. Ouch.

When I visited him one evening last week we played Monopoly - and that was a bad move. It had been years since Al or I had played it, and I ended up wiping the board with him! Not intentionally - if anything, I would have rather he'd one. But one wrong move and he had to mortgage, and it was downhill from there - I'd land on his properties but not have to pay rent (being mortgaged) while he kept landing on mine and paying more and mortgaging more. Spiral of sucking financial doom ensued.

So we ignored Monopoly after that, and focused on Trivial Pursuit (Young Players Edition from the mid '80's, kindly lent to me by Sparky and Firecracker) instead, with me and Ben and Al playing it together over the weekend. Most questions were either a) ridiculously easy, or b) completely obscure - do you remember the names of British deejays from the 80s? As such, it was a hoot to play. Although Ben won every single time, it was more by good luck than by good management.

Romy and Michelle
I finally caved and joined the social network I've been resisting ... yes, I'm now on Facebook. Too many people I wanted to get back in touch with that were only around on there, such as old school friends. I've been happily chatting to a few old friends since then, and it's been good. I notice that just about everyone I know currently is also on there, which explains where they'd disappeared to... I wondered why I'd been seeing them less on chat, LJ/IJ and the like.

(If you know me in RL, and want to friend me on there, go for it! Here's my profile.)

Geektastic
Currently Ben and I are downloading and watching Torchwood and Lost (and working a little more slowly through Sarah Connor Chronicles (seen the first ep) and Pushing Daisies (seen the first two)). If you want to natter about them with me, gossip away! I think both Torchwood and Lost are progressing very interestingly this season, and would love to know other peoples thoughts on the matter.

Well, no bikini - maybe a postini? My co-worker keeps Coast FM playing and I hear all sorts of old music - some crap, some great (Tequila!). And the song that inspired the post-title was a few minutes ago.

$: You know what I think of when I hear that song? I remember my parents working the election one year, when we'd just moved to Auckland - I would have been 8-10 years old. Their election booth was set up in an unoccupied shop on Henderson Valley Road (near the Forest Hill Road intersection and the pony club) and my brother and I were there all day with them, staying out of the way by playing in the kitchenette area. We listened to the radio, coloured in, read books, and I can't remember what else. We were there for about 12 hours. And that song played more than once. Enough that I learned the words. Haven't heard it for years now.

#: Our house is currently at maximum capacity, with me and Ben and Al - the usual - Al's friend Andy, and now doc_spatial guesting with us for a few weeks. And Andy's cat along with our two... Mind you, the fold-out couch isn't being used yet! Just the couch and bed in the sleep-out, and the two beds in the house. Muirie was kind enough to supply Al with a new mattress, and we've utilised Freecycle to get rid of his old one, which was paining his back from lying on it too much. We like Freecycle.

}: My paid account with LJ expired, along with userpics. I'm still posting on LJ, and reading journals, but everything is cross-posted to Insane Journal, where I'm 'Permanently Insane'. I like it here a lot better.

%: I managed over three weeks of going to work without missing a day. Broke that yesterday, dammit. So now to try and beat it!

^: I've been going to the dentist to get my mercury amalgam fillings replaced (and a few new ones). So far have had two appointments, three new fillings, and one replacement. I have one more appointment for three replacements, then I'm done. Amex love me right now... (the hope is that getting rid of the amalgam will help get rid of my migraine as well. Can't hurt, at least.)

@: Meringue AKA Merry the Caldina is a lovely car. growler_south did a fantastic post with squeeing photos from the day she became mine. Amuse yourself here.

*: If you wanted to get a new tube for a wheelchair tyre (the large ones, not the teeny ones), would you go to a bicycle shop?

Said week of recovery being filled with social calls, visits to Auckland beaches, work (sigh), sleep, and catching up on RSS feeds. Catching up on IJ has not gone quite as successfully - so please, comment with links to interesting stuff that has happened to you. Or to the monkey overlords. Curious Deborah's want to know :)

The flight back to Auckland was uneventful, sticky, and long. The queue at Passport Control was out of control, appallingly long, and boring. Also sticky. If I'd had a stick, I would have poked people with it to make them move faster. Of course, that would have gotten us to the baggage carousel faster, which wouldn't have helped. The carousel listed as having our plane's luggage did not, in fact, have it. Eventually rumours filtered around that it was on another carousel, and (for once) rumours proved to be correct. With luggage, there was customs, and then finally, we escaped into the arrivals section to get hugs from Ben and Aria and be pleased to be on home turf again.

Oh, the sooper-sekrit mission we had on our last Friday in Surfer's? Al and I went and got matching tattoos. They look fantastic.

I've been working on photos from the trip, and about half of them are up now - pics of views from our room, Dream World, Dracula's Cabaret, and Sea World. Click here to see all of them, or keep reading after the cut to see some good ones.

( Gold Coast photos )
I'll put up more photos, including ones of our tattoos, once they're edited.

It was Melbourne Cup Day today - undoubtedly there were a bunch of people down in the bar watching it on the screens there, but we completely forgot about it until we came down to dinner - and it was quiet by then. No idea who won, but don't really care :)

Sunday evening we caught up with our cousin Pete, who lives here in Surfer's. We were supposed to catch up for lunch, but he texted mid-afternoon to let us know that he'd just woken up in Brisbane - he'd gone to a friend's 30th there the night before, and partied hard (a litte too hard, possibly, as he rolled down a bank and showed us some scratches). It was a 'Something Beginning with M' party, and he'd gone as Moses. One of his commandments was that 'all girls must kiss Moses' - and apparently most of them did!

Anyhow, for dinner we went to Fiddler's Green, an Irish Pub that Al and I had spotted one street over. Some very drunk folks there, who I think had probably been there all day. Quite enthusiastic and hearty, they were, especially when the live band came on. We retreated to a table at the far end, so we could still converse (just). Apparently Sunday drinking is quite a big thing in Aussie. The food was okay - not amazing, not terrible. But was great to see a familiar face, and to catch up in general. We last saw Pete at Giftmas time, but other than that neither of us had seen him since his 21st - and he's 25 now (he's the youngest of our cousins on Mum's side).

We followed dinner up with an amble to Global Burgers, across from our hotel, and milkshakes. And an offer from Pete to catch up again one evening before we go home! Hopefully we'll manage that tomorrow ...

Monday was supposed to be stormy and horrible, but when we woke up it was still clear, although more overcast. Trusting our luck, we headed for Movie World late morning, covered in sunblock and prepared for anything.

Movie World was fantastic! We started out with a spot of shopping in the Batman shop, then headed for the Metropolis Rapid Transit ride - I unfortunately had to sit it out, after waiting in line, as my belly meats were not quite squishy enough for the tightening of safety belts, even though I had been able to do it up (pooh). I bet Superman wouldn't have cared! But Al loved it, and I got to watch him on the ride. We followed that up with a spot of shopping in one of the general WB stores (a spot? This is the point shopping fever came upon us and didn't let up for the rest of the day). Then it was the Shrek 4D Adventure, which was damned cool. I had bought myself a Shrek Dragon plush - I called her Ruby - and she got to watch the show with us.

After Shrek was lunch, followed by an avoidance of the street parade by ducking into shops ... I found Ben's birthday present in one, so that was a smart move. Then we ambled over to the kids area to find the Tasmanian Devil cars, as Al wanted a photo in front of his (nick)namesake. A little backtracking later, we found our way to the Wild Wild West ride ... which was temporarily closed! We were hopeful that it would open again (flume rides are so much fun, and we wanted to compare it to the ones at Dream World and Sea World), so we (all together now) did a spot of shopping in the Wild West store. Heh. Then we stood in line for a bit and crossed our fingers and tried not to throttle the very annoying boy in front of us.

And it opened! The Wild West ride was definitely the best of the flume rides, and we got drenched! Al cools off very quickly, so we bought him a towel to dry off with. By then, unfortunately, it was too late to do the Batman Adventure, so we instead ambled out way back to the entrance, via and ice-cream parlour and (ahem) more shops.

Then back to the hotel, and exhaustion.

Today has been a rest day, which we both needed (oh, and it cooled off and rained). Al has slept off and on for most of it, while I have read (reading the Farseer Trilogy by Robin Hobb) and taken it easy. Tomorrow was going to be Wet & Wild, but we have decided to flag that, and go to the cool place called Infinity instead, which is only two blocks away. Then Thursday is Currumbin Wildlife Park, Friday is some stuff nearby plus packing, and Saturday we come home again.

I'm posting the last of the postcards tomorrow. So keep an eye out, those of you who requested them!

I've got a wash on in the guest laundry, so I've shot down to the cafe to update you all on what's been happening. Because the last two days have been incredible!

Friday night we went to Dracula's Cabaret, as recommended by so many people. And it was fantastic! The food and service were, well, satisfactory (no vege entree listed, but they provided one for me), but the show itself was spectacular, and loads of fun. Thankfully, my head had come right and wasn't bothering me, which is good, as it was LOUD! The show was called 'Fangs and Fetish', and was well named, and loads of fun. Also rude :)

There was a ghost train to start, which was a bit bumpy and resulting in me spilling my drink on my dress - but the Choctini stains seem to have mostly come out, after judicious soaking. Of course, that's what happens when you're in cream fabric and you go on a ghost train! Al and I had a seat up in the balcony, one from the front - so we had a good, fairly central view, but weren't picked on or anything like that. The dessert was the highlight of the meal - a chocolate coffin with thick mousse-y stuff in it. Yum :)

Al was overheated and grumpy by the end of the show, so we headed straight home, but people were able to stay and check out all the rooms and dance on the stage and stuff if they wanted. If I ever get the chance to go again, I'll definitely be up for that!

(Ben, I sent you a postcard from Dracula's - hope you get it!)

Saturday I woke early and read for a few hours, while Al slept on - and on, and on. He woke up a little before midday, and we decided to head to Sea World, which was the original plan (I had thought we might not, being so tired and all). It was definitely the right choice - Sea World was just amazing, and we had a lovely time.

We initially parked in the wrong place - at the resort rather than the theme park - but it turned out to be a good mistake, as we were able to take the monorail over to the entrance. Was a great introduction to the park, as we could see all the rides and many of the areas as we tootled past above them. Helped us to decide many of the things we wanted to do.

The animals were incredible - we got to see Dugongs, and Pelicans, and a Polar Bear - and the Dolphin Show. I was very emotional, and got teary over the dolphins. We'd also seen some playing about earlier, and one came within about 3 metres of us - as close as it could get with it in the water and us on the walkway. And it came out of the water and hello'd us! Just fantastic. We'd never seen real dolphins before (or dugongs or pelicans, for that matter), and it meant a lot to finally get to see them in the flesh.

We also went on a few rides - the Viking's Revenge Flume Ride (SPLASH!) and the Corkscrew rollercoaster - twice. That was a hoot!

Eventually, knackered all over again, we came back to the hotel, changed, and went for the swim in the pool. That was strange. I dived in first, and was bobbing in the deep section in the middle. Then Al jumped in ... and discovered that he couldn't stay afloat! (Al's been swimming since he was about six years old, same as me.) He was quite shocked, and couldn't get his legs up to swim to the side. Eventually he dog-paddled over, and we moved to the steps. He was in shock - this was unexpected - and so got out and tried to warm up. We worked out later that the loss of body fat meant he wasn't able to float, and the fluid in his legs meant he couldn't get them up to kick.

Poor Al :( Still, good we figured this out in the pool and not in the ocean!

After a rest and a shower, we went to the post office to send some postcards (to Israel, Italy, the UK, USA, and New Zealand), then to Global Burger, where we had a nice filling meal. Good way to end the day.

Still got six days to go ... and lots more to experience!

Thought I'd use the internet cafe in our hotel, and let everyone reading know how my holiday with Al is going. Yes, we're here on the Gold Coast, and having a wonderful time!

We flew in Tuesday evening, and had a ... challenging time finding our way to our hotel. I'd pre-booked a rental car, which we collected from the airport, and found our way from Coolangatta to Surfer's easily enough, but were stymied finding the hotel entrance and carpark! One phone call later, we'd figured it out (the problem with hotels on a street corner, we discovered, is that they have two sides), parked the car, been through reception, and were up in our hotel room.

We're staying at the Islander Resort, and we have a nice wee room on the 11th floor (the top level, except for the penthouse). A balcony, an astonishing view - mountains, river, high-rises, and a little bit of the coast. The room's not very big, but we have two beds (Al claimed the double), a fridge, a TV, a massive air-con unit that's pretty crap, and a lovely shower. The balcony really is the highlight. We had no air-con the first night, as they were working on the hotel system, so we slept with the balcony door open and a fan - quite pleasant, really.

However, whomever said that the Gold Coast has a dry heat was quite mistaken! They had a storm the day before we arrived, and a lightening storm our second night, and it's been appallingly humid. My head gave me grief the first few days, and I have been very pleased to have my painkillers with me.

Our first full day we took it easy, sleeping in, eating in the hotel restaurant (cheap, and very good food), and ambling around the block to check out the shops and find a supermarket. We really are smack in the middle of everything here - within the block there's a Woolworths, Hard Rock Cafe, two malls, a tattooist, and heaps of other stuff. We ate ice-cream and found the Information Centre, then stocked up on fresh fruit and some soft drink at the supermarket, to keep in our wee fridge. Also a knife to cut the fruit and make breakfast in the mornings!

We ate at the Hard Rock Cafe that evening, which was quite the experience and very cool. It was Hallowe'en, and all the staff were dressed up, as well as lots of the kids eating there with their folks! Al and I discovered a very nice drink called a 'Long Beach Iced Tea' - much like the Long Island version, but with Cranberry rather than Coke. Yum.

Yesterday was the first of the theme parks. We were both awake quite early, so we made it to Dream World (after a fun car ride navigating over to the Pacific Highway) a little after opening at 10am. We made the most of it, but were absolutely wiped by 4pm. Let's see. We got temporary tattoos done (Al's is a tribal one, mine says 'Bad Girl'), visited the Big Brother house - a long walk and quite disappointing - and went on the Log Flume. Compared to the Rainbow's End one, it was crap, but the big SPLASH at the end was well worth it! We spent most of the day sweating like mad, and my fan, sweat-mop handkerchief, and bottles of water/electrolytes were absolutely essential.

A break for lunch (and watching the Ibis's act like seagull and jump up on empty tables to scarf the leftovers), then we ambled over to Tiger Island, via a ride in the Nickleodeon area. I couldn't go on that one - my boobs and stomach meant I couldn't do up the harness - but it looked like Al had fun.

Tiger Island was neat. We watched Raj (a white tiger) and Sita (his normal-coloured sister) for a while, listening to the handlers answer questions from the kids. Like who would win if a tiger went up against a crocodile! Then we checked out the Tiger Bazaar and bought a few postcards and other things.

Then it was onto the ride we both really wanted to do - the Tower of Terror. Heading up to the queue was quite fun, as it was made up to look like a post-apocalyptic abandoned building. The Tower itself was cool. It takes off incredibly fast, shoots up the tall structure where the Speed Drops occur, then drops back again. The whole ride took less than a minute, and we got up to 155km an hour. At the top, when it paused, it was zero gravity - Al tells me he actually lifted out of his seat! Very exhilarating, and absolutely terrifying - I was pleased to have kept my eyes open for about half of it.

We were about done after that, so we ambled through a few more shops, bought some Spongebob stuff for Aria (Al's daughter), then headed back to the hotel. A little dinner at the hotel restaurant, then we crashed out early - we were both asleep before 9pm.

Today's been quiet - we both slept in, had some fruit salad, read a bit, had some lunch, and now I'm here posting this. Tonight we're off to Dracula's Cabaret, and tomorrow we're visiting SeaWorld, which is only a few km's up the road.

I've been taking a few photos. We've got the view from our room, some at Dream World - an ibis, a lizard, a few of the tigers (oh, and one of me in stocks!) - and a few others. On the whole, though, we're enjoying rather than recording.

It's wonderful to think we're here for another 8 days, though!

In no particular order...
It's Danny's memorial service this afternoon. At a Catholic church in Newton. For all my funeral-going, I don't end up in a Catholic church very often. I'll be curious to see if it's much different to the Anglican and Presbytarian churches that I grew up attending. Will be good to see friends as well - although I expect bigtaz will know many more people than I will.

I saw my doctor on Monday afternoon, and things are trekking along health-wise. Remembered to get a signed letter from her about my medications for when we travel to Australia. She thinks that seeing the dentist about a soft mouthguard for when I sleep can only be a good thing, for both the migraine and my teeth.

When I went to get my prescription filled at the pharmacy on Tuesday morning there was a fire alarm at the mall. So I got to spend 20 unplanned minutes in the sunshine. And got to work later than planned. At least it wasn't raining!

I saw 5 pukeko on the way to work this morning, all near the South-Western motorway onramp. I don't know what it is about grass that is so damn tasty.

I must be tired this week - I slept until nearly midday on both Monday and Wednesday. Then today I managed to put my knickers on backwards when I got dressed (rectified once noticed). And I ordered a coffee from the lunch bar at morning tea (I have coffee maybe three times a year).

The cocktail party last Friday for cuddleme999 's birthday was fantastic - I got all dressed up for it in hat and heels and makeup :) Great to see people that I hadn't caught up with for a while, as well as to imbibe (not driving is a wonderful thing). Although there were some scary cocktail mixtures.

Too many parties (three) on this Saturday evening. I may make it to one, but really don't know which yet.

bigtaz now has a regular cleaner, at no cost, as well as a biographer. A woman from the hospice who has done about 30 of them before. He met with her for the first time yesterday, for about two hours.

Made Roast Pumpkin Risotto on Tuesday evening, for the first time. It was delicious.

Danny
We finally have some news about what's happening with Danny. His funeral proper is going to be held in Pahiatua - where is family is, I presume - but there is a memorial service in Auckland next Thursday (details in the Funeral notice below). Al and I will be there. Also, apparently, there will be drinks raised in his memory at Urge Bar this evening, during Furry Friday. I'll be at a cocktail party, but I'll have a drink for him there instead.

Funeral Notices: (so far - we have two going in on Saturday's paper)
From the NZ Herald

BEECH
Daniel Denis (Danny). Of Telford Avenue, Auckland. On 11 September 2007, peacefully at Auckland Hospital, aged 66 years. Loved eldest son of the late Mary and Peter Beech, loved brother and brotherinlaw of Margaret (deceased), Martin and Philipa, Michael and Ann, Conrad and Anne, Tony and Pat, loved uncle of Colette, Simon and Megan, Michelle, Sarah and Patrick, James, Anna-Maree, Ben and John, Eva, Peter and Joe and cherished friend of Beth Titter. Special thanks to Helen Grinder for her special care of Danny over the last six weeks. Friends are invited to the attend a Requiem Mass which will be celebrated for Danny's life in St. Brigid's Catholic Church, Wakeman Street, Pahiatua on Monday 17 September 2007 at 11.00am and will be followed by private cremation. A Vigil will be held at Martin and Philipa's home, 197 Millers Road, Ngaturi, Pahiatua at 7.00pm on Sunday evening. A Memorial Service will be held for Danny at St. Benedict's Catholic Church, Newton Auckland on Thursday 20 September 2007 at 2.00pm. (Danny is in the care of Chester Burt Funeral Home FSCNZ. Ph: (06) 376-8268.)

Daniel Denis. On 11 September, 2007 at Auckland Hospital (peacefully). Thank you Daniel for being a wonderful friend to me for 52 years. Keep your beautiful dreams with you. I will always miss your sense of humour. Your friend forever, Beth.

News article
From GayNZ
Gay leader in deaf community dies
By GayNZ.com News Staff
12th September 2007 - 02:30 pm

Daniel (Danny) Beech, who in the late 1990's was instrumental in setting up New Zealand's first group for gay deaf people, died peacefully yesterday.

Beech was a long-time member of Auckland's gay community, frequenting K' Road's Urge bar regularly some years ago.

Beech was also a very prominent and influential member of the deaf community in Auckland and Palmerston North, and also served the Catholic community as a deaf chaplain.

Funeral arrangements are yet to be confirmed.

GayNZ.com readers are invited to share memories of Danny Beech on our forum, linked below.

Tribute from Credo
Daniel Beech R.I.P.
It is with great sadness that the Religious Education Team acknowledges the death, yesterday evening, September 11th, of Danny Beech, Chaplain for the Deaf.

Earlier in the day, a gathering of Danny’s friends and colleagues was held at his home, to farewell him from Auckland, in preparation for his shift to Paihiatua, where he had hoped to spend his last days. Sadly, he had to return to hospital after the prayers, and a few hours later, he died peacefully, with his brother Martin at his bedside.

Danny’s health had gradually declined over the past eighteen months, during which time, he courageously kept up his ministry to the Deaf, and only recently had to relinquish much of the planning for the Deaf Community’s monthly Mass to other members. We would especially like to thank Mary Johnson for assisting Danny with his ministry over the past few months.

Danny will be remembered for his cheerful and positive disposition, and his courageous life of faith and service to others, whilst living with the challenge of profound deafness. May he rest in peace. Click here for a Tribute to Danny


Fundraising



I haven't mentioned it for a wee while, but we are still fundraising for mine and Al's trip to the Gold Coast. Details: we fly out on the 30th October, about six weeks away. Getting closer! Al is also getting sicker, so the sooner we go the better. It looks like the wheelchair hire option at all the parks etc we're going will be useful ...

Unfortunately, Danny's death means that his pledge to us is void. He had pledged a wonderful, albeit scary, amount - which was our incentive to plan the holiday in the first place (thank you, Danny. Because it's a great idea). Thus, we're still scrabbling to cover our costs. If you were intending to contribute and haven't yet had the opportunity, we would really appreciate it! Everyone's been fantastic, but we're not quite there yet.

Full details on what the fundraising if for and why are doing it are here.

Friday
All I can say is, bring on the weekend (ie: 6pm onwards). It's going to be a looooooong day. But then: cocktails!

Begging
We're nearly at $3000! *falls over in amazement*



The response from friends, family, loves and co-workers has been great. As always, if you want to contribute we'd be very happy, and give our thanks in the form of a postcard from the Gold Coast (you even get a choice of nekkid, scenic, cute, or 'other'). Full details are here.

Butterfly
I was semi-social over the weekend. It all started well, meeting zesprii in BeachHaven for brunch (amazing Gallic cafe with yummy food). Unfortunately I was thwacked with some horrendous nausea, so after heading back home I spent the afternoon sleeping. I was going to go the munch, but kinda missed it. Many people arrived at The Manor and gummidged, but I mostly hid out either in bed or on the computer. And then crashed out about 9pm.

Sunday was much better, and I went to Orewa to bigtaz to help celebrate his daughter Aria's 9th birthday (she lives up there). It was pretty fun, albeit very pink. She loved her presents from Al (bright pink Barbie-themed suitcase, purple-and-pink duvet set, fluffy pink cushion to go with duvet) and me (pink-and-purple bathset, cat stamps), as well as from all the other aunties and grandparents and whatnot. Not that there are grandparents on our side, but her step-dad's folks and grandfolks were there as well as her mother's. So four generations in the house, along with the obligatory chippies, sausage rolls, cocktail sausages and devilled eggs.

This week is going to be relatively quiet, until the weekend. Yesterday afternoon I visited Sparky and Firecracker and _steelphoenix_ - got hugs, ate chocolate, watched Firecracker check out her new playstation and Phoenix cut up fabric for my new kimono top. Tonight moonspirit43 and radiofishlips are house-guesting with us, and on Thursday hiddendenim is joining us for dinner. Then it's EROTICA EXPO on the weekend. Which I've been really looking forward to! *does a wriggly happy dance*

Buzzing
I joined StumbleUpon - the great timesuck of amusement. Who else is using it?

Anyhow, I've been amusing myself mightily, and even found one item that I read a few years back and then lost.

So, dear readers, instead of doing some work, why don't you follow the links and try not to spit-take on your keyboard?
~ The Horror of Blimps
~ Fourteen Things That It Took Me Over 50 Years To Learn by Dave Barry
~ All I Ever Learned, I Learned from Anime
~ Pimp My Rice Paddy
~ Microsoft receive first ever error report

Fundraising
You ALL are amazing - as of about 20 minutes ago, the BigTaz Internet-athon™ has raised $1014.00 NZ! That's incredible, and puts us well on our way - you can see the figures here, if it so pleases you.





If you haven't donated and want to, all the details are here. Yes, I'm shamless.Y'all know that by now, right?

Incidentally, if anyone in Auckland has a fridge/freezer they're not using or no longer want, Taz's died on the weekend - one month after the six month warrantly expired. *sigh* I'm happy to collect if you have one taking up space ...

Weekend
Saturday day-time consisted of helping mugginsm and fishie move into their new house - their first house! I had the pleasure of packing half their pantry, and then of unpacking half their books. I love books ... but I always want to run away with half of them! I restrained myself, and only borrowed three.

Saturday evening, as fuzzy_ben was out gummidging, I spent introducing alasatyr to the excellent anime series Noir, followed by a re-watch of Twelve Monkeys. That film gets more whacky every time I watch it. Oh, and making home-made pizza.

Sunday was reasonably quiet, and I had a visit in the afternoon from tracyathene - we shot the breeze and talked about relationships and ate delicious raspberry and chocolate chip pancakes. And I introduced her to Black Books. Because everyone needs a little Bernard, Manny and Fran in their life :)

And, mixed in with all of that was a little sleep, a little reading, a little housework. You know, the usual.

Fandom
For the fanfic writers and readers out there: sapphirebreeze has written a most thoughtful and well-written essay about providing feedback, and the reasons for it. Well worth the read, and you can find it here (don't forget to leave feedback!).

*runs away to do some work*

You are all wonderful people - for those who have commented, donated, pledged, pimped the begging post and otherwise given us love and hope: THANK YOU so very much.

I am absolutely overwhelmed by the generosity of folks. In under 24 hours there's been over $450 (NZ$) received, with a fair bit more pledged. (I'd show it on a pretty meter, but I can't find one.) Instead, I just want to let you know that Al is blown away, as am I.

And we both thank you, very, very much.

As most everyone reading this knows, my brother Alex (bigtaz) is terminally ill*. At his request, he and I are going to travel to the Gold Coast, in Australia, for 11 days this November - a holiday he's always wanted to take, taken before he gets too sick to travel. (At this stage they're estimating 6-24 months before he dies, but no one is really sure. The amount of pain medication he's on can't increase a heck of a lot higher.)

Our plans have been made and the holiday booked (flights, insurance, accommodation, car hire, and theme parks), and my Amex is now groaningly full where once is was pristine and sitting at $0000.00. Which is what credit cards are for, I suppose.

At the moment the three of us live on 1+3/4 salaries - Ben works full-time, I work part-time (due to my intractable migraine), and Al is on the Invalid's benefit. So money for this trip has not come easy, despite savings. To that end - we beg.

If anyone would like to contribute the costs of the journey it would be appreciated - anything from $5 to $50 to $500 is helpful. To that end, donations can be made directly to our bank account or through Pago (if you're in New Zealand), or through PayPal (if you're overseas).

( Donation options )

I have created a spreadsheet outlining all expenditure being made, and all donations coming in - anyone can view this and see where the money is going. Donations can be named or anonymous as it suits (and if you like, named to us but anonymous on the spreadsheet). The only distinction that will be made is whether the donation is from a friend or a family member, and what country the payment is from.

Of course, we're unable to give you anything for your donation, other than regular updates on how the planning is going, daily entries while we're on holiday, and a lot of photos so you can see how we are doing over there! Hmm - and a postcard from Surfer's if you want :) Plus, of course, everyone who donates will get a feeling of well-being and a lot of gratitude from li'l ole moi!

ETA: Feel free to link to this post, pimp it, or otherwise spread the world!

*For those who are curious - Taz is HIV positive, and with a form of cancer called Kaposi's Sarcoma. The HIV is controlled, the KS is not - all chemo and radiotherapy has failed, and it is likely this which will kill him. The KS is in his lungs, lymph nodes, and skin. He's moved from morphine to methadone to control the immense pain he is in.