Nico's Journal

Do you feel engaged with your community?
I do actually, for the first time ever. I've always lived in cities as an adult and rarely saw people I knew or felt connected to the area, but here in Oamaru we run into people we know all the time - in cafes, pubs, supermarkets, in the street - and almost always have a chat. It's a friendly town, and I know several people who moved here because they came on holiday and loved the lifestyle. Plus most of the friendly people we know are also eccentrics who dress from other eras or in steampunk (some even ride penny-farthings around town) and do interesting things like making trugs, art, robots from scrap, and nano-brewed Belgian-style beer (our Victorian-living neighbour).

How important do you think it is to feel that you belong in your community?
That's hard to say in general, but personally I've discovered I like it. Greg used to be more introverted than me when we lived in Auckland and now he enjoys getting involved.

26 – Australia Day - Have you ever been to Australia?
Twice. Which is fairly low for here, actually.
How much do you know about Australia? How much were you taught about Australia in school?
A fair bit seeing it's our neighbour. In primary school we learned some of their history, but like ours, it bored me. I loved ancient history but anything after that just never grabbed me. The dark ages felt dark, and Australian and our history did too, probably because all the paintings of that era were dull and glowering. Was the weather always miserable? Were there few colours available back then? Did the paint oxidise?

27 – Fun at Work Day - Do you think work should be fun?
Yes, but let's face it, it's very unlikely.
How much fun do you expect to have at work?
None. Work used to be huge fun for me: my first programming job out of uni and the ones I had in London and Frankfurt were with friendly, witty people, and two of the jobs I had here were even more fun with lots of jokes and laughter. But then the accountants took over at the second one, they moved an ex-army manager in, and it was NO FUN ALLOWED! Nowhere I've worked since has been remotely fun. (I even wrote two office bullies and a bastard manager into fanfics.) It's just the way the world is now, it seems to me.

Do you like peanut butter?
I do. When I was a kid I took peanut butter sandwiches to school for maybe two years. My mother thought I'd get tired of it but she was wrong.
I should add, somewhat off topic, that:

1. We didn't and still don't get school lunches here. Many schools have tuckshops kids can buy snacks at, but students are expected to bring their own lunches.
2. No one had nut allergies back then, possibly because peanut butter was such a staple for kids. I did know a kid with a dangerous shellfish allergy though.

What is your favourite way to eat peanut butter?
In salad sandwiches as a spread, or as satay sauce which is good in stir fries and also gado-gado (Indonesian salad). Now I really fancy some gado-gado.

Huh, does this mean northerners get a day off school? ;-)

Does it snow where you live?
Just a flurry or two since I've been here, but there was actual snow on the ground this spring - for a few hours. Our Canadian friends here laughed at how excited everyone was, including adults.

If not, have you ever seen snow?
Of course! As a child I lived on the lower slopes of Mt Taranaki. It didn't snow in town, but snow was only a short drive away. I've also lived in England and Germany and there was plenty of snow, especially in Frankfurt. And I loved it!

If yes, what do you think of snow?
See above! My German friends regarded it as a nuisance but I never got tired of it. SO. MUCH. FUN.

The icon is because it's the only snowy one I have, and Vila, being space English, wasn't impressed..

Do you like marzipan?

I LOVE IT! It's right up there with ginger. In December I buy a few seasonal goodies from an importer, mostly marzipan (especially bags of marzipan kartoffeln | potatoes). I've never had an advent calendar but this time my marzipan search turned up one by Niederegger and of course I had to have it. I only got three days out of it in December, so I started again at 1 in January and will have one a day till the 21st. There are six different flavours. Today's was pistachio. YUM!

What does coming of age mean to you? What, if any, coming of age ceremonies or rituals are practiced where you live?

I'm only doing the ones that appeal (and don't assume I live on the northern half of the planet) but even so, this is a day late.

We can drive at 16 and vote at 18 (though I think that's going down to 16 soon) and the current age of majority is 20, google tells me, but we don't celebrate any of those. Instead 21st birthdays are a big thing. People have big boozy parties with their friends and it's traditional to be given a golden key, a stupidly huge decorative one, or a small pendant, though I have no idea what it's supposed to open. I didn't have a 21st since I was at uni and, introvert that I am, I was happy about that.

OK, I googled it. Until 1970 in Aotearoa NZ, 21 was the age of majority, when a person became legally independent of all parental control. The key thing is because at 21 you were considered old enough to be a key-holder to your family's home. Weird that it's still celebrated.

Well, that was fascinating. /sarcasm

Do you like whipped cream? Have you ever made whipped cream from scratch?

I prefer it in small quantities, and of course - how hard is it to beat some cream with or without a little sugar and vanilla? That stuff from a spray can though? So not proper whipped cream.

I usually say no to cream with cake or dessert if I'm offered a choice, but there are times it's the right thing, e.g. on plum pudding or Viennese coffee.
 
And why on earth is there a whipped cream day anyway? I suspect I'll be asking that a lot for these special-day-based questions.

Do you consider yourself an introvert, an extrovert, or something in between?

Definitely an introvert. In fact I was going to celebrate the day by staying home and reading, but the sun is out (not that common in the last few months) and we decided to go for gelati at Del Mar which calls itself an Eatery and Beach Bar. We ate ours while looking out at the sea, then went for a drive down the coast to Kakanui and back. That was still pretty introvert though as the only other person we spoke to was the gelato server.

I am so far behind on these. I'm just picking and choosing questions anyway, so it could be worse.

What inanimate object do you wish you could eliminate from existence?
If the apostrophe in English counts as physical (and it is when in print), then that. I like to use it correctly but far too many people whack it into random or even all plurals, and I think their English, and that in too many cafes, would be so much easier to read without it.

What is your favourite way to waste time?
Reading, but I wouldn't say any time spent happily is wasted.

Do you have any pets? What are their names? Now, what are the names you actually use for them?

• Jasmin, chocolate Burmese, full name Jasmin "Walnuts" Zampetta. Why? Because she got a notch out of her ear in a fight and we said she looked like a tough Mafia cat. Greg called her "Notchy" which made me laugh as it sounded like noci which is Italian for walnuts and we were watching The Sopranos back then. Zampetta is "little paw" which completes her Mafia name. Also known as Jazzy Walnuts, Jazz, Jazzy, the thug. She left us last November after getting a fast-acting cancer, but she deserves to be here.
• Ashley, silver tabby, full name Ashley Riverstone because Greg thought she looked like a stone from the Ashley River. Also known as Ash, Ashy, Ashels, Squeaker, and The Flag-tailed Yogurt Cat - I think she likes yogurt more than tuna.
• Sebastian, black domestic shorthair (according to the vet), full name Sebastian von Klemperer because the rising noise he makes when he's hungry sounds like Commandant Klink. Also known as Seb, Sebby, black hole.

How much of your body would you cybernetically enhance, if you could?
All of it from the neck down.

How quickly do you adapt to new technology?
Pretty quickly. I'm a geek who enjoys change.

It's definitely autumn after a summer that never really happened, but I like autumn: nice settled weather and those European trees up the valley showing their glorious colours later in the season.

Omicron is raging through the country, massive numbers each day. The town looks empty and small towns or villages around the area are deserted with most shops or cafes closed. I've been volunteering one afternoon a week to deliver food and supplies to Pasifika families isolating at home out in the countryside (because I have an electric car I get the further away addresses) and the roads are strangely clear. Despite all this, or more because there's little one can do about Omicron, we're opening up to tourists this month, Aussies first. I'm still being super-cautious though. They're showing the first two Godfather films at the local cinema, and Greg, who hasn't seen them, wants to go but I'm nervous about the danger, even though they require vaccine passes.

Do you prefer fiction or nonfiction books? Why?
Fiction - I like to be entertained, especially when the book is set somewhere or when that's exotic to me. [clings to escapism]

What is the most useful app on your phone?
Probably the Tesla app which gives me keyless access and lets me do things remotely like turning on and off heating or aircon (we still don't have a garage, but there are walls now). After that, Anagram Solver, because I do cryptic crosswords. It's the best anagram app I've found.

While walking/running/biking/other cardio: music or podcasts or silence?
Definitely silence. I like to be able to think or make up stories, and I can't do that with song lyrics or a podcast.

Do you have a Pavlovian response to anything?
Nothing I can think of makes me salivate. Sallymn said "pavlova" which is a clever and funny response.

Is some degree of censorship necessary?
Yes, porn for example.

As an adult, is there anything you don't even pretend to bother with anymore?
Talking about politics and depressing news, not that I did either as a kid. I really don't get why people want to talk about awful things when there's nothing they can do about them, and many do it with an almost creepy glee. If someone starts up with "Oh, did you hear about that dreadful [insert horrific event]" I've been known to either change the subject or just walk away. There's so much about people I don't understand.

Greg had mild cold symptoms last week so he had to get tested, and we both had to self-isolate until he got his results (which were negative). It's the first time I've ever used click-and-collect for a supermarket shop, picked up by a neighbour. I hope it wasn't a dry run for actual covid, which is indeed in town and "rife" in Dunedin, the city closest to us.

Have a small selection of the remaining February questions.

What makes you roll your eyes every time you hear or see it?
Off the cuff:

• Anti-vaxxers and anarchist protesters shouting about their "freedom" and shitting on the majority of us who just want to get on with our lives as well as we can. An aside: some of the protesters at parliament have got covid and blame the government for beaming it at them - and are wearing tinfoil hats. Seriously. I thought it was a joke, but they're even more moronic than I thought.
• "With all due respect" = "with no respect whatsoever".
• "To be honest" - so you haven't been so far?

When was the last time you told someone, "I told you so!"?
About three weeks ago on Waitangi Day when Greg thought we could drive to Hampden and have their excellent fish and chips on the beach. I said it's 1) Monday and most eating places close on Mondays, and 2) it was a public holiday, so even more so. "They're open seven days." he said. Nope. Oh well, the beach was still there.

Is there something that you're interested in that most people aren't?
Lots, probably. I'll pick languages.

What really needs to be modernised?
The search function on streaming services. Laboriously moving right and left to select individual letters in a linear alphabet is a really crap way to enter text.

I am sitting here on a cold grey day with the heater on, sad that we've missed out on yet another summer. Mind you, all the things I wanted to do during it were cancelled.
Good: the garage is slowly being built, and we might have the deck on top of it next month.
Bad: the weather hasn't been good enough to sit out on a deck. It's autumn already and this is meant to be the hottest month.
I really need something to look forward to.

What do you think is the best sitcom (current or past)?
I'd have to go with The Detectorists, like zoefruitcake who introduced me to it. It's funny, eccentric, quirky, never mean*, and so very rewatchable.
* Far too many older ones are sexist. Parks and Recs, which I gave a try recently, wasn't, but utterly repelled with its fat-shaming and bullying of Jerry.

Who would you most like and least like to be stuck in a lift with?
Most like: MacGyver, if I'm allowed fictional characters, because we won't be stuck long. Otherwise, Greg.
Least like: the shitfaced ex-president. It'd be the ultimate locked-room murder with an obvious suspect.

What was the last song you listened to of your choosing? What was the last song you heard that was imposed on you (e.g. background music at a shop, in someone else's car etc.)?
Last I chose: We Don't Talk About Bruno on YouTube because I missed a lot of the lyrics when I saw the film.
Last imposed: some bloody annoying repetitive Irish thing at the local cafe. All their songs seem to be the same phrase, musical or verbal, repeated over and over. I can't read with that going on, but their food is so good.

If you use top sheets, do you sleep with them tucked in?
No, I like to be able to stick my feet out. In summer (which is now) I just sleep under a top sheet, or sometimes nothing at all, like last night which was so hit and humid I also had the fan going all night.

Toilet paper: over or under?
Over.

Do you think your country would change if everyone, regardless of age or any other current restriction, could vote? If yes, in what ways?
Here anyone can vote if they're 18 years or older and are a citizen or permanent resident, so the main restriction is age. If young children could vote, there'd probably be a lot more votes for fringe parties with weird names or eccentric local candidates. It might make electioneering a bit more fun though as politicians vie for the child vote, and if a party popular with kids got enough votes, they'd get a seat in parliament. However I doubt that would change the country much unless a party got enough seats to form a coalition.

[Edit] That question did make me think of our McGillicuddy Serious Party (sadly long gone) which would probably get at least one seat under our proportional representation system if kids could vote (and in fact they wanted to restrict voting to under 18s). I've met people who were members of it. Do read their policies — they'll brighten your day!

Is there a film or TV show you can watch over and over again without tiring of it?
Not really. The radio series Cabin Pressure comes close though.

Well, Omicron's loose in the country, spread by attendees at a wedding in Auckland, and we're going to alert level Red at midnight. We were going to fly up to a wedding in April but I doubt whether it will be on - it was cancelled once already - or if it is, whether I even want to risk it.

They saying to 1) be prepared for having to look after yourself at home if you get it, and isolate if you're a contact, and 2) don't panic buy. Um. Not that there aren't already gaps on the shelves at supermarkets due to supply problems. We were going to do a normal top-up today, but nope; I'm not willing to deal with the panic shoppers.

19. Do you like reality/competition TV shows? Why or why not? If so, which ones?
In general I loathe them.
So-called reality: I have watched a local decorate-a-friend's-house one years ago that was very entertaining, and the UK's Escape to the Country (which is no longer on here anyway).
Game shows: I used to love Mastermind and University Challenge but they're long gone.The only one I watch now is The Chaser when it's a celebrity one, not because it's (mostly completely unknown to us) UK celebs, but because they're doing it for charity. Game shows for personal gain have always rather repelled me.

20. How fast do you read?
I've never timed it. I used to read six books a week, but it's fewer now that I have to rely on finding something at a decent price to read on Kindle, not because I can't afford it, but because I'm not willing to spend over $10 to get something that might be appallingly badly written and unedited. It happens often enough with the cheaper ones.

21. Do you like classical music? If yes, name your favourite composer(s).
I do! I'm no good at favourites, so pass. It's rare I don't like something.

As I was in town, I went to the doctors' to book my booster, and they took me right away. I was nervous about side effects as my second job gave me chills, fever, and nausea for a day or two, but, as with the first one, I just got a sore arm right away and felt a bit tired this afternoon. It's only a matter of time till we get Delta or Omicron down here, with so many people travelling around on summer holidays, so I'm relieved I've had it done.

How often do you binge-watch TV shows?
Sometimes we watch two episodes of a series one after the other; that's about the extent of it. We're having to wait a week for each Boba Fett 'chapter' which feels very retro. If the series was all dropped at once, I suspect we'd watch an episode a night.

Have you ever saved an animal's life?
Not directly, but I've found homes for 7 or 8 stray cats; not sure if that counts.