Posts by Lara

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  • Up Front: Life on Mars,

    I hadn't even known I was doing it. I didn't feel it let go when I left – though to be fair I was probably drunk. I'm not all that conscious of it now, two days later. This is just life now. But I felt it kick in. That's the only way I know how much I'm not myself any more.

    I was in Wellington for three days over that weekend. It was almost unreal. I came back to Chch full of joie de vivre, feeling safe. I tried, I really tried, to hold onto that optimism without breaking it. But it slipped away so quickly. That trip (and some other things) have made me realise that I'm focussed so much on coping that I haven't noticed that I'm not. And the starkness of that is scary. It will get better, it will. It's just gets harder to believe it. I'll be going away again soon I think. And it will be a relief.

    I'm so glad to hear that your Tardis got it's WOF Emma! That is good news.

    Christchurch • Since Jul 2009 • 82 posts Report

  • Hard News: Christchurch: Square Two,

    I heard the start of Gerry Brownlee’s interview on Nine till Noon this morning and didn’t last two minutes before I had to go and slam doors. The ‘I know what’s going to happen. It’s blindingly obvious. But I’m not telling you’ line is driving me up the wall (and across the ceiling….) and I don’t even live on the eastern side. If he (and JK) can’t say anything helpful can they pleasefortheloveofpete just shut up. (Sorry to be blunt. I’m feeling pretty rattled today and am all out of tolerance…)

    Christchurch • Since Jul 2009 • 82 posts Report

  • Hard News: Christchurch: Square Two,

    I've found that Vicki Anderson's pieces in The Press have nicely captured how I've been feeling.

    I have discovered (again) that 'cope' buttons only work if there is a decent interval between each use. I wish life would stop happening so that I could catch up.

    I cannot imagine what it is like to be closer to the epicentre. And I'm not sure how I'd deal with it if I could.

    Christchurch • Since Jul 2009 • 82 posts Report

  • Hard News: Three months after,

    All fine here. I’m torn between the ‘I’m SO incredibly sick of this’ and the ‘well, better to be here than in the other island nation across the sea’.

    With each big one, I’ve found that that the little animal part of my brain – the rational ‘I’m ok, and I need to do this, this and this’ – gets less and less time on the airwaves while the Other Bit, which does the ‘Oh Gawd’, is getting harder to tune out. I had a nice long bike ride home from Lincoln uni to help dissipate the adrenaline yesterday, and to try and bring ‘rational brain’ back online. I’m not quite there yet – woke up swearing to the 4.7 this morning. But will get there in time.

    Christchurch • Since Jul 2009 • 82 posts Report

  • Up Front: Respectably-Dressed Sensible…,

    +1 for no Endnote. Far more trouble than its worth. A friend of mine had it corrupt last year and lost all her references (for an essay, not a PhD, but...)

    Christchurch • Since Jul 2009 • 82 posts Report

  • Up Front: Respectably-Dressed Sensible…,

    I'll be traveling up to Welly for this (and also to catch up with some particularly lovely friends). Looking forward to that weekend very very much.

    Christchurch • Since Jul 2009 • 82 posts Report

  • Southerly: One Hundred and Thirty-one…,

    Love the article - will disseminate it! I've commuted the last 4 years to Canty (and before that to school etc). After the first 4-5km I found my fingers defrosted. Breathing all that cold air into a fast-warming body never got better though.
    Now I have classes out at Lincoln uni - a bit more of a stretch! But because of the rail trail, most of my trip is on a path blissfully separate from the road.

    Having more bikes in Chch would be fantastic.

    Christchurch • Since Jul 2009 • 82 posts Report

  • Hard News: The witless on the pitiless,

    I think that this is all a little more complex than it is being portrayed. Personally I'll be reading academic sources to figure out the roles of the various players and the factors behind them in Iraq & Afghanistan.

    Re: OBL's death: Personally I would have liked to have seen a fair trial. Not a parade of the _allegedly_ guilty down streets. And not the extrajudicial killing of someone who was unarmed and ultimately only a suspect in a monstrous crime. If the 'West' purports to have values such as fair trials, justice, and other such human rights, then let us see these values lived. Not just a part of rhetoric.

    +1 on what Ewan Morris said.

    Christchurch • Since Jul 2009 • 82 posts Report

  • Up Front: Home is Where the - Ooo, shiny!,

    Heehee I am the Goddess of Procrastination. Last year I didn't even get around to opening a word doc before I was on te interwebs (Train of thought: 'Oh good, I'm nice and early starting today. I'll just check my emails.... Oh look, it's 4pm, and I haven't done anything! Oh well, there's always tomorrow.). Except of course, when deadlines could see the whites of my eyes. THEN I worked. Overnight.

    My favourite procrastination chart is: http://hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.com/2010/03/procrastinator.html

    But I also do the other extreme - no breakfast, no breaks, eat at my desk. Obsessively note how much time I've wasted on each distraction and make it up.

    Is there no middle way?

    Christchurch • Since Jul 2009 • 82 posts Report

  • Legal Beagle: Adventures in the OIA or:…,

    This is a really interesting post, thank you.

    I have only ever made two OIA requests. One response (from MFAT) didn't tell me anything that wasn't already in the public domain, and arrived exactly six weeks after I made the request. The second request was to the Department of Labour in mid July last year. I was given a series of commitments on when the info would be sent but eventually the person I was dealing with sent me an email in Nov/Dec telling me he was retiring, and if I still wanted the info I would have to talk to his replacement. I was not pleased (at all!) but by that point the project I was doing had been finished (albeit with gaping holes). So I haven't followed it up. In the future I will probably use your site Rowan!

    Christchurch • Since Jul 2009 • 82 posts Report

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