who are these people?

Who are these randoms signing my guest book? "arhiderrr"? Ah... Hi Dere? Yes? No?


Anyway, just thought I would update you on what's going on for me at the moment. So I've been in Wellington for 2 months now, and I am still unemployed. I have applied for every job under the sun that I think I could possibly not hate, using a variety of websites, newspapers, word-of-mouth and door-knocking methods. This recession SUCKS. There are zero jobs out there that my engineering degree is going to help me with, and apparently "a year and a bit" of Admin/Receptionist experience just doesn't cut it for an interview these days. And if you don't have your bar license or bar experience, how could you ever learn to work behind a bar?

...

So yesterday I jumped in my brothers '67 Cortina and we drove up to Rotorua with his fiancee, Juliet. The car was a little less than practical, with the following comments coming out of Gareth's mouth throughout the 7 hour drive...

( some of these may be slightly variated on what he actually said... )

- We can't have the front windows down over about 40 kmph because there's nothing holding the other windows in, and the pressure will cause them to fall out.

- That twangy noise is just the brake pedal.

- There's no seat belts in the back, but the fire extinguisher is just by your feet Claire.

- I don't actually know how fast we are going, because the speedo is really wrong. And it's in miles per hour so you have to convert it after that anyway.

- How many revs are we doing? I don't know, the rev meter doesn't work.

- What's that noise?

- Can you keep an eye on this oil gauge here? It can't go below 25. Although it does move a lot so only tell me if it stays there.

- We should probably get gas. I have no idea how much we have, the gauge doesn't work.

- I hope it doesn't start raining because this car leaks a whoooole lot.

- Turn the music down for a second, I need to listen to the weird noise the motor is making.

- I'm just going to pull over and advance the motor (some mechanic speak).

- You should probably learn how to use that fire extinguisher Claire.

- I need to turn the music up really loud because there's only speakers in the back and we can't hear it over the car noises. (this is how I got to enjoy extreme gangsta being blasted into my ears)

- Why is the motor ticking?

Then when it got dark...

- You can't really see much without the lights on full.

- Can you pass me my cellphone? I need to use it to periodically check the oil, fuel and speed because there are no dash lights.

- Did you guys hear that? Did you feel it or just hear it?

- Oh yeah, Claire, that seat is really bouncy. (I responded something about being on a trampoline)

Then when Juliet started driving...

- Jute, you can't use full lock to U-turn. Don't go anywhere near full lock.

- Every now and then, pull the steering wheel towards yourself, especially before you try to turn a corner. You don't have to hold it there, just pull it once.

When we finally made it to Rotorua, I got blinded by an exceptionally bright blue alarm light. Seriously, it illuminates me when I am standing halfway down the driveway.

And that's their wedding car! Hopefully it will be a bit more user friendly by then. All said, I did enjoy the ride up and it is an extremely cool car. I am sensing a bit of overuse of the word extreme at this point. Extreme.

So! I am now in Rotorua, where I will spend my days organising for the wedding and painting my parents rental house, and then the wedding is on Saturday, then I will (somehow) head back to Wellington where I THINK I have a job at The Realm Bar and Restaurant??? Not Sure. I hope so, I did a trial shift the other day and quite enjoyed it. That would be fabulous.

And Yes, I still have mached up toes from Wellington's pavements.

Where Have I Been?

Good Evening!

I am currently abstaining from assignments and watching Batman Begins instead. It is rather entertaining, although watching Katie Holmes play a character I define as Maggie Gyllenhal is not so great. And I have a lot of work to do. Meh, it's only 9pm... Many ad breaks to go.

Today marks the last day of my University holidays, sadly. There are now only 6 weeks of school until I get down to some serious study for exams. I am SO over Uni, it is just a matter of holding on until I graduate. I think I can manage a few C's this semester :D

So I've had a week in Wellington with my brother, Jute, Nikki, Tobin, and Hannah. It was really awesome - we didn't do much, just hung out, did some study, went out for lunch... For once, I really do feel like I have had a break, although I am very stressed about the weeks ahead. I always say that! This semester has been the hardest of my whole 3 years at University though, and it always gets harder in the second half. Apologies for the whinging!

I got a hair cut. It has taken me a good 4 years to find a hair dresser that will do what I ask, and cut my fringe right. And she's in Wellington. Great. She is also Juliet's hairdresser so if any of you know my future sister-in-law, you'll know she often rocks a funky fringe, courtesy of Rosie at Zoar - Go there! This also means that I must return to Wellington to get another trim before I leave for Melbourne - oh, what a shame.

Mum and Dad came over today for Fathers Day and we went to Candyland. It was really disappointing - firstly, we'd missed the 2 shows they have on Sundays, the last being at 1pm. So all we got to see was the shop, which was about quarter full of products they don't even make themselves - Mayceys and RJ's and others. All of their chocolate was compound, yukky fatty stuff. Lastly, the entire building, inside and out, needed a thorough clean and perhaps a repaint. There are some awesome decorations there, but they are old and tired. It kind of made me want to buy the whole joint and do it up. I wish I was rich like Bruce Wayne.

Well, I think that is about all I can squirm up for now. I wish to stay up late and write a few assignments tonight but I am exhausted. Perhaps I will crash after Batman? Yes. I think so. Goodnight guys, perhaps next time I will be a more interesting blogger :D

My First Blog EVER!!

Hi! So, my name is Claire and I live in an awesome place called New Zealand. I like apple pie and I like clean lakes. I like music and I like my family.

So I was thinking I need a place to write down all my stuff seeing as I just kick-started my creative side again. Inspired by my brothers girlfriends sister Nikki, I have moved to blogging!!

So I'm thinking of talking about my knitting projects, my crochet projects when I learn to crochet, anything I want to talk about (this happens a lot), and MAYBE, eventually, some of my poetry and possibly even some songs.

Hmmmm. Fun. Right. So there's this really cool website called Ravelry - http://www.ravelry.com/ which is a knit and crochet community. So at the moment I am knitting a scarf and also a pair of fingerless mittens, both so I can learn how to knit properly. The exciting news of the weekend is that I visited my Nana, and asked her if she had her knitting stuff from when she used to knit. Unfortunately, she had thrown out most of it, but she did still have one small box - only one pair of needles, but quite a few small balls of wool. But the treasure of them all - lots of little squares that she has knitted, which I can now crochet together into a blanket/rug which will serve as excellent lessons to learning to crochet good!!

This weekend was also my mummy's birthday, and so I went to my parents house for Saturday. We had a great roast dinner, and then went out for breakfast on Sunday as well. Then my brother got mugged, and now he has broken bones and we're all ropable about the guys that did it. My brother is cool, why you attack him??!! I will need time to process this :-(