Yes, WeightWatchers, I'm looking at you!

Okay, yes, I'm on another 'cutting down'.  I hate to say 'dieting'.  I've now been on my .... okay, diet .... since end of Feb, and detest every second of it.  I dream of chocolate, cake, and oven chips, the things I have had to give up.  When I pass the bakery section at 'Countdown' I have to shade my eyes from the sight and mutter to myself, "no-no-no-no...".    However, I can't give up cheese or bread.  If I was going to be hanged tomorrow and was asked what my last meal would be, I would have to say 'a cheese sandwich please'. 
I don't weigh myself, instead I measure myself every few weeks.  Talking in old style language (because my tape measure is in inches), every inch overall lost (ie, waist hips, thighs in my case)  equals 5lbs lost. 
Anyway, every now and then I buy a WeightWatcher meal and add a salad to it.  Yesterday, I bought a Beef Hotpot.  Oh, my goodness, how sad it was compared to the picture on the box.  Wish I'd taken a photo before I wolfed the meal down (I won't say anything about taste, because when I'm ... dieting ... even cardboard would taste brilliant).  The writing on the box mentions mashed potato.  Mashed?  That's a joke.  It was puree-ed.  Most of the meal looked puree-ed (wish I knew how to spell that word; it doesn't look right).  There were two little strips of meat sticking out of the puree liquid.

WeightWatcher meals are passable, but the picture on the box never matches The Real Thing.  The None of the WeightWatcher meals that I've tried seem to equal the box photo.  I'm wondering if I should go to Fair Trades Act?  Sigh.

holiday injuries, Las Vegas holiday, Hobbit

     Well, as usual I arrived back from my holiday at the end of Feb 2012 with a physical injury.  No, scrub that, with two physical injuries.  1) the ripped cartilage in my (other) knee, and  2) I've torn a cartilage attached to my rib.  For six weeks I've had this sort-of-pain under the rib and finally went to the doctor.  What is it about me and cartilages.  Two knees, one rib, and still counting.
     My next holiday is - wait for it - Las Vegas again.  What is it that an elderly solo spinster finds exciting about Las Vegas?  Well, I love the vibe of the whole place.  I love mixing with tourists, I love the glitzy bubble that is The Strip.  But this time I have to resist buying anything glitzy and sparkly.  I must remember that when I get home I won't be able to wear glitz and sparkle anywhere.  Hard, but I hope to be able to get away without buying that bling that is forced on one everywhere in Vegas.  I will have to recite the mantra "I am too old for glitter-I am too old for glitter".  Darn, I wish I wasn't too old for glitter.

The set of 'The Hobbit' can just be seen over the top of the Stone Street Studio gates.  Here's a pix.  I figured because they'd put plastic across the gate, I could edge in closer for photos.  If I couldn't see them, they couldn't see me, right?   Wrong.  This disembodied voice rang out, "No photographs please."

my summer holiday(s) Jan/Feb 2012

Well, I've had a week at Ohope, 5 nights in Eketahuna, a week in Nelson, a week in Taupo, a week in Mt Maunganui, 5 nights in Raumati, and a week in Queenstown! I am such a traveller...

But, funny thing, I was homesick most of the time. I just wanted to be home to my beach friends, and Hataitai Beach. I wanted to wear all my nice summer clothes, instead of the few chiffony-easy wash stuff I took with me I missed my house, my library, my suburb. Silly, eh?

Having said all that, I truly enjoyed Ohope Beach. Next summer, I'm not going to be so greedy. Just one (or two) destinations, yes?

I was boogie boarding at Mt Maunganui. There was a truly ferocious double wave, I got tossed under water, and my leg went to a weird angle. I thought "oh, no I've broken my leg". But when I surfaced, my leg seemed okay. But within days, my left knee got really bad. Same symptoms exactly as a few years' earlier when I tore a cartilage in my right knee. Yep, doctor at home confirmed it. Darn!

I went over to Kapiti Island for the day, climbed to the very top (see photo, view from the topmost point), very tiring and my body sort of gave up as I was climbing down afterwards. I took double the length of time getting down than I did climbing up. Saw lots of beautiful birds. Here's a photo of a weka that haunted me as I was eating my lunch (we were told that wekas can hear the zip of a backpack at 2kms away). And what is it with Raumati? When swimming, you're in amongst loads of twigs and sticks. Hopeless.

In Queenstown I went down four ziptreks (flying foxes). They were set out in zigzag style with a tree platform between each trek. Quite fun...and scary. In Q'town I also went up the gondola and had a lovely buffet lunch. I swan in the lake at Q'town. Only one in water. All the scaredy-cats sit on the shore, sunbathing.

In total, I saw sun for about 5 hours during the entire 5 weeks holiday. I am positive I am the goddess of thunder clouds. It only rained two days but those damn clouds!

It's coming up to Oscar time

The powers-that-be will be announcing the Oscar nominations this month. I've had a look at the 'maybe' list. All nice, righteous films and folk. I see Judi Dench may get a nod again. I well remember when she won last time for Best Supporting Actor in a Female Role and she was absolutely astounded because, as she said, she was only on screen for a few minutes and only said, like, one line.

Of course, in my mind, Julie Walters, should get this current BSAinaFR. She was positively brilliant in the last Harry Potter Movie (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part II) - but marvellous as Julie is spitting out the famous 'Bitch" line that everyone is waiting for, she can't do it better than Stephen Fry on the audio book! He was totally magnificent.

I wonder if Fry's audio books of Harry Potter were required listening by the entire Potter film cast because it's so weird that many of the film cast share the same speech intonations and rhythms that Fry does in his readings (released before the movies). Especially noted is the bit where Dumbledore and Harry are on the railway platform in 'Deathly Hallows'. Dumbledore's speech patterns are exactly the same as Fry reading the same words.

Christmas Day 2011

Talk about a hot day ... and I mean the weather. I wished all day I could have been at the beach. Instgead I had to go to lunch at the Angus Inn in Lower Hutt with a friend (not J....., my wonderful swimming friend). It cost $100, repeat $100!!!! What a waste, especially when there wasnt really that much food to choose from. As my friend said, the table decorations looked more like they were for a children's party, not Christmas. Not a sign of anything Christmassy. Cardboard hats, streamers weaving in and out of plates and cutlery, hooter horns blown non-stop by the few children there, and crackers. By the time we made it to dessert, they werent replenishing the course and there was virtually no trifle left. My friend couldn't eat his steak medallion because it was so raw (and this after snobbily looking at my steak when I pointed the redness out to him and he said that the steak was meant to look like that).

On the way home, I couldnt stop off at beach because I was so full with food, I thought I would probably sink if I went for a swim. I had to go home for an hour and then hit the berach about 4.30 pm. It was quite crowded.

Again, what a waste of a hundred dollars.

I HEART CHRISTMAS

What is it about Christmas that makes so many people hate it? I love Christmas, plus the days in November and December that lead up to it.

Last week I was trawling around a store lapping the Christmas Fever up, with Beyonce happily Christmas singing in the background. I went into another store and there she was again with the same song. A couple of stores later, Beyonce again. Same song.

I sing along with that kid rabbiting on about all he wants for Christmas is his two front teeth. "Snoopy's Christmas" is my fave Christmas song. Grandma getting run over by a reindeer has me in two minds. I feel real guilty trilling along to it. I mean, the old woman dies, yes? Suffice to say, I watch the skies on Christmas Eve. We senior citizens just arent too nimble when it comes to being around reindeer. The beasts are so much more sharper than us on their feet (hooves?)

I play Christmas CDs in the car, I wear a red and green Merry Christmas t-shirt, jingle bells dangle from my ears. My to-die-for Gucci bangle that rarely ever leaves my wrist is replaced by a $2 Shop snowman bracelet. I'm like some sort of Christmas vampire who just sucks it all up. Funny when you think about it, because I have no loved ones to buy presents for and I don't get any presents. My friends are under strict instructions not to buy me gifts and I have been known to, not once but twice, leave the city over Christmas to get away from well-meaning but misguided neighbours who try to ply me with Christmas survival packs because they figure I'm alone and sad.

When will couples in a relationship realise that single people are not lonely depressed misfits? Sometimes, well quite often really - gasp! - we singles look upon couples as the sad depressed ones. But - ssshhh! - don't let on about this. We let couples happily live with the idea that singles are the ones missing out on life ... instead of it truly being the other way around!

My goodness, have I gone off on a tangent. Sorry about that. So, back to Christmas: MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE AND A HAPPY 2012!!!!!

Our last swim for year

We made it! Well, no, we never actually 'made' anything physically, like doing woodwork or baking a a chocolate cake. But we did complete our last double swim for the year 2011. For readers who've come in late (that third follower of mine, are you out there?), we decided this year to swim at least twice a month at Hataitai Beach. No mean feat if Hataitai Beach had been miraculously transferred to, say, Northland. The winter sea is very (very) cold in a Wellington winter.

At the beach yesterday, my friend's Loved One presented us each with a certificate and I received a gold(ish) cup, too, in definitely deserved recognition of my swimming position as 'Leader'. Oh, J-----, thank you so much for orchestrating the whole thing; noone could ask for a better "co-leader". Because I am such a magnanimous guy toward the lesser person, I will share the cup with you, month and month about. Kudos to both of us. And isnt your Loved One fantastic? He sits there patiently on the changing rooms' deck throughout our every swim , guarding our clothes, timing us in the water and never complaining, even when the day is freezing. I can see he is so proud of you.