happy new years

attention everyone still in 2009: happy new years, but do not enter 2010. giant robots with nerve gas have taken over the earth. we sent a man back into the past and hope he can head off the robot attack before you reach the next decade.

p.s. the robots are repulsed by bananas. stock up while there's still time. (and if the time traveling hero succeeds, at least bananas are good for your health).

UPDATE: As of Jan 2nd, everything is back to normal. The time traveler succeeded!

reverse diabetes

during the last four days i have had one small square of chocolate. nothing sweet has appealed to me.

i'm worried i have reverse diabetes and will have to extract insulin from my body after every meal.

strawberry jam

the veggie markets on christmas weekend were empty... only a few vendors and only a few shoppers... that low demand meant lots of rotting strawberries... i got 2 boxes of strawberries for 0.75c, which had enough good berries to produce a cup of homemade jam. it's a little runny, but i added a kick of cinnamon.

merry christmas

the socks have been hung by the radiator with care....

Kiva ad advertisement contest what is kiva video

Tasha and I teamed up to make this ad describing what Kiva does... Believe it or not, instead of hiring a child, I was able to imitate a child's drawing... and that dazzling radio voice is yours truly. As for the banjo, that's tasha.....'s choice...

If the video doesn't load above, go to:
http://tongal.com/app/submissionDetail.action?id=618;EL1466

Whether you're impressed by my artwork, or think Kiva's a good cause: tell a friend today.

best chocolate of my life

this weekend i had one of the best chocolates of my life. it was a chocolate terrine at martin bosley's.

my other top two chocolates are roy yamaguchi's chocolate souffle and truffles from the vosges chocolate shop in manhattan.

lovely bones premiere

the guy leaning in a grey suit is murray hewit from flight of the concords.


she has tape on her back. is this a new trend?

the premiere of lovely bones in NZ had all the celebrities out.

pohutukawa

i love the new zealand "christmas tree"... it's one of my favorite flowers over here...

what escalotor

the glasses store OPSM is just "up the escalator"...

but there is no escalator....

is it magic? or do i need glasses?

windows

i live many floors above ground level.

feet suddenly just crashed against my window.

i certainly hope it's window washers!

limo public poo

even limos need to stop to use public restrooms

nuptials

since i'm getting married this summer, it's time to upgrade from the single bed...

speed trap

today i watched a 5 officer speed trap on a busy downtown segment... they were pulling over cars almost as fast as officers could write tickets... it was hard core; they even pulled over a bus. i guess it's nice to see other countries still have this* problem.


*speed traps

Madea goes to...

the only thing about "madea" movies is putting "madea" into other movie's titles...

• crouching tiger, hidden madea
  
• madea, with a chance of meatballs
  
• the wind in madea (a.k.a. the sound of madea)
  
• sleepless in madea
  
• the little mermadea
  

new and improved men's health

the new and expanded men's health, featuring 50% more variety:
now you can lose your gut AND get six-pack abs

happy thanksgiving

happy thanksgiving!

we ate stuffing, garlic mashed potatoes, roasted pumpkin seeds, gravy and pumpkin pie*

*with hokey pokey ice-cream

lotto!

today i found a dollar on the ground. think i'll buy a lotto ticket. imagine if i could turn a free dollar into $10,000.... that would be over a million percent profit!

market day

this week i went crazy and bought 3 veg i had never bought before: bok choy, radishes and celery. (and i had never tried a radish before).

maybe next week i'll find the courage to try a plum...

new instrument

this was a crazy "chinese steel drum" instrument with an eerie, hippie feel. i have no idea what it was.

slow news day

today i made a lasso with one of my long hairs and then tried to rope a hangnail. it was a rare treat since i don't usually have many hang nails.... ah... hand lotion...

size matters?

so is this a really small person or a really big skateboard?

loo blog

a blog themed toilet.... yup... that seems about right...

cardboard or life?

which is cardboard? which is real?

tasha's bro wins a trip to LA

liberachi

i feel my 16 years of lessons have been leading up to this piano...

avant gaurd or vandalism

i have the darndest time telling avant guard furniture stores from vandalism

first kiwi helicopter

needless to say, the first kiwi helicopter was not as successful as everyone had hoped...

how many sheets?

how many sheets are on your toilet paper roll?

NZ has 190.

it feels like i'm ALWAYS changing the roll.

sickness

two things i have learned from suffering a cold this week:

1. watching a die hard each day of a cold is an excellent way to pass time (and dream about things blowing up)

2. chips sound crunchier when you're filled with sn*t.

disappearing car door

i wonder how long before my bus gets a disappearing door?

antipodes wedding

today i made my list of people i want to fly to the opposite side of the globe so they don't cause problems at the wedding.

the good news for new zealand trouble-makers: they go to spain.

americans, however, will be sent to the indian ocean.

black barbie

cnn says: "The new black Barbies released by Mattel have fuller lips, curlier hair and other features that the company says more accurately represent African-Americans."

... because the one thing Barbie is known for is "accurately representing" Americans

outliers

i've been reading the outliers and learned that there are no rags-to-riches geniuses who magically rocket to a successful life through some super-human intelligence or ability.

they all (bill gates, the beatles, etc) put in 10,000 hours of "practice" before their lucky break launched them into a phenomenal career.

i've got quite a few more hours to log before i hit my 10,000.

(although i do have 80,000 hours of sleep under my belt!)

so what have you been up to?

so what you been up to lately?

oh, not much. just grocery shopping with bret. that's right, i even got to see his baby.

(not jemaine. his offspring.)

so math isnt a job requirement??

shopping for thermals, half were labeled "50% off" and the other half were labeled "3 for 1"

i asked the clerk which sale price was correct: "they're normally 3 for 1, but we're currently running a sale so they're only 50% off!!! better get some before they go back to their normal price!!"

?????

important lessons about nature

important lessons about nature: how to serve a banana shaped like a penguin

urban fishing

wellington streets.

fly fishing.

literally.

tragedy: lost chocolate

i dropped the chocolate banana bread on the floor last night and nearly cried.

tasha thought the look on my face was worth losing the bread... but nothing is worth losing chocolate.

while cleaning up, tasha noticed giant smears of chocolate on my face. we're still not sure if it was flung up there during the fall or while i was shoveling any bit that looked salvageable into my mouth.

fried butter

last time i went to welly, i didn't think i would find any food fattier than fried cheesecake.

today i did: fried butter balls.

seriously, what has the world come to?

earthquake: 4.8

yesterday i felt my second "big-to-me" earthquake in wellington. i was doing dishes (as good fiances do) and the whole room started shaking. the mirror on the wall hanging laundry shook, but nothing tipped over.

on the colorful earthquake depth map: i don't know what it means, but i think deeper earthquakes tend to be more severe?? this earthquake was just deep enough to put on the map.

sadly, the earthquake was not severe enough to get me out of doing the dishes.

colossal squid

today at the national new zealand museum, we saw the world's largest squid.

tomorrow we go to the world's largest calamari feast.

wellington library

i can't ride the long escalators up the wellington library without wondering how far i could throw a paper air plane. i reckon 6 stacks away.

the new pad

note the homemade curtain to hide clothes.


note the jack-a-lantern-flour-bag and home-made cushion


note the wine cozy shaped like a kimono

love letters

it's not the most romantic thing i've ever written, but we finished our 100 page fiance visa application today.

here's a breakdown of what love is... legally speaking...

wow. in deed.

wellington hosts the international wearable arts award show every year.

it is an event that always restores my faith in humanity. i love that one person's dream of being creative with fabric has caught on to a huge 10 day festival.

the show is fun, amazing, inspired... and there was a mini completely covered in mirror bits that dangled from the ceiling like a disco ball.

sweet as.


a stunningly beautiful butterfly.


a kid won the children's division by making this. how much help did he get from mom?


sonic is all grown up.


what do you mean i can't use the drive thru?


this is wood. (hope she doesn't smoke).