new favourite song of all time alert.

i need music to cheer me up though. something like this....


but when i'm being less dramatic, i realise i haven't got a lot to grump about really. so what if i think i'm going to miss helen clark's dulcet tones and winston's oration. there is a reason to make like fleetwood mac and keep (thinking about tomorrow). mostly it is hottie-alert obama. i feel like i personally contributed to his victory. through will power alone. i used the power of positive thinking. i bet oprah did too. WE ARE SUCH SOUL MATES I CANNOT BELIEVE I'VE NEVER MET OPRAH.

i'm making up for it by watching lots of her 20 years of oprah dvd. number of times i've cried: three.

i've watched movies too. eg choke . i went on thursday night. 7.5/10. i've never read the book but i think it is on the 1001 list - so i REALLY must. anyway, movies about sex addicts, mental institutions and parents with dementia all add up to a good time. the very best bits were in the trailer but since i only saw that once, it didn't ruin it one iota. also i finally got to see a complete history of my sexual failures. kind of continued my sex themed movie buzz. this was a bit more uncomfortable but i'm still not sure if it is a mock or doc - umentary. and the internet is no help either. i figure the guardian reviewer had the same thoughts as me calling it an 'alleged' documentary - only he found the documentary less endearing - you can read it here. i give that a 7/10.

when i'm not losing myself in the arts, i'm indulging in fashions. i mentioned i had a new dress for the ball last week. well, i went to the ball and guess who was the belle of the ball. BINGO. it was me. god bless the l'estrange corbet dynasty. they know how to do red chiffon. but also they know how to milk the election. they had a 12.5% off day on saturday and i spent well more than i saved in preparation for looking H.O.T in new york.

oh and i'm in the koru club right now getting ready to board a plane to vancouver. RANDOM. anyway, i'm away for two weeks. first vancouver and regina (hehehe) for work then new york, boston and miami for fun and cocktails.

don't. stop. thinkin' about tomorrow. don't. stop. it'll soon be heeeeere.....

i have spent a chunk of the weekend watching twenty years of oprah. i have a lot to be grateful for. the thing about oprah is we are very similar. like me, she was deeply moved by princess diana's life and her passing. and she mentions it at every opportunity. and she asks the hard questions that everyone wants to know the answers to. like how she asked lisa marie if she ever had sex with michael jackson. the answer was a surprising yes.

i've done other stuff besides watch oprah. but i can't really remember it. i'll stick to the highlights:

• chris brown and rihanna at the tsb area. chris brown is cute. rihanna is beautiful. and they both know how to put on a show. i suspect a lot of training and rehersal on their parts. highlight of the night was the encore performance of umbrella, where they dueted. however, this didn't stop me wondering when either chris brown or rihanna were going to kill it like ice cube. it never happened. note to self: buy shares in supre and fake tan. this is what all the girls - and there were thousands - were wearing.
• brideshead revisited. too much of the girl characters, not enough of the boy characters - but still quite a lovely relationship between sebastian and charles. 7/10
• young @ heart - i cried at one point, but basically this documentary about a group of 70+ singers who reinterpret more modern songs had all the character in the world, but as a documentary it wasn't great. worth seeing just for the performances at the end. and for louie. 7/10
• rain of the children - i avoided seeing this until now. the life of puhi, an 80 year old woman from tuhoe, is retraced. and it plays like a love letter from vincent ward to her, twenty eight years after her death. the movie is proof that history repeats. 9/10.
• my nephews are in town. ice cream outside the zoo is my new favourite activity.
• i am going to a ball on tuesday, so had to buy a new dress. think red chiffon. needless to say, i keep pulling it out of my wardrobe just to admire and pet it. i hope i am as much of a hit in real life as i am in my imagination.
  

too tired to be original, i'll begin by repeating my facebook status update... "[i] can't remember being warm". i am being quite literal.

i am in bed because i once watched a movie at school on the evils of tramping and the voiceover said that if you were getting hypothermic you should get in your sleeping bag. i figure getting in to bed with your electric blanket on full would be the same thing. but actually as i type i am wondering if i will get frostbite on my fingers. plus even with the trusty leckie blankie, and thermals, i wouldn't say that i was warm exactly.

you know who else has been cold? ernest henry shackleton.

hello, i'm sir ernest henry shackleton. trying to cross the antarctic on foot was COLD.

i know this because i've seen an episode of shackleton the tv show. he and i have another thing in common too - we are both explorers. for shackleton, it was polar exploration. for me, it is the following....

• board games. this week i played settlers with the ships and something or other extender pack. not all explorations are successful, but like shackleton it is how i recover that sets me apart from my peers. in other words, i lost big time. but i'll bounce back.
• parties. i went to the matariki ball at te papa on friday night. if you went to law school with me you were probably there. everyone else was. it was a bit lame though. so the big discovery was it isn't only in highschool where balls fail to deliver.
• baked potatoes at midnight espresso. friggen delicious, even if at the time i was disappointed because i wanted them to reopen the kitchen to make me a ham, cheese and onion toasted sandwich.
  
• dancing to interpol. so, yeah, i've done this before. but at 24 hour party people on saturday night i may have even beaten my own record of awesomeness in interpol dancing. also i co-discovered the new best male dancer at 24hrpp... yellow pants. that's our nickname for him anyway. as john travolta to disco, so yellow pants to brit pop. basically.
• pineapple fritters and red bean jelly at dragons yum char. both were too sweet. but both were new and exciting. dragons yum char was just so efficiently run too. apart from no mango jelly it was the near perfect 24hrpp recovery breakfast.
• bagladeshi cinema. i went to see bricklane tonight. so sure, it was from the UK, but you get what i mean. i needed to go to the bathroom from half way through. which may have reduced my enjoyment somewhat. pretty good. maybe 6/10. if slow moving pieces that make comment on the crazy times post 9-11 this could be your cup of tea so you'd probably rate it higher. what stopped me rating it higher was the weird flashbacks and arty shots and not enough screen time for the younger male lead REOW.
  

see, shackleton and me, not too dissimilar. and actually, after starting with my facebook status, i now might have to end by changing my facebook status line. because i'm starting to defrost and i no longer fear frost bite. i knew the leckie blanket wouldn't let me down. i'm sorry i ever doubted it.

so i bet you have been hitting refresh on my page for the past two days in the hopes that i would update you on my friday night as princess (her royal highness) diana and the belle of the ball. if that is the case then, my friend, TODAY IS YOUR LUCKY DAY.
so firstly i made an appearance as diana, princess of wales and queen of hearts. i wore wig, here pictured, and tiara and bow around my neck. the bow was because i looked at photos of diana circa 1984 and they always involved a bow of some kind. i am pictured here with an anonymous friend who came as a lady of the evening. her hair makes mine look more feasible some how. anyway, highlight of the diana period of the night was giving out heart stickers as a form of branding. you had to be special to get one. and it filled my heart with glee when there were speeches and most of the key players were wearing my brand. i now know the pride the coca cola executives must feel when coca cola sponsored sports teams take the field.

but unlike the coca cola executives, who can probably wear whatever they like, i had trouble with the tiara. every time i moved it fell. so i gave up. and gave it to a man as a present. and i stole his hat. and as you can see i freakin' rocked it.

but the nylon texture of my hair meant the hat kept slipping off. so the 'bank robber' or whatever period was short lived.

then i entered my final dress up phase of the evening.... paris hilton. i got into character by drinking pink drinks, putting on lots of lip gloss and thinking i could have a singing career. if there had been a car near by i probably would have driven badly (but not on a public road or anywhere near people, cos hello, there was vodka in them pink drinks).

i also kept hugging people in this phase. and trying to get scandal out of friends and colleagues. with very little luck by the way. although there were drinking games and as a bystander i learnt lots of boring but scandalous for civil servants confessions. i pretended to be shocked. i have seen the simple life and i'm sure that is what paris would do. also like paris i chatted to the barman about his job. see how the other half live and what not. but this picture suggests none of that, except perhaps that there was vodka in the drinks...


anyway i wanted to go dancing. so i rallied the troops but basically hunger outweighed dancing and so i got a burger and what do you know? burgers make you tired. so wellington has yet to see paris pole dancing at the mirror bar. but, you know, maybe next week.

oh my god i wasn't going to post it but now i'm so excited about it i have to tell you about how i'm going to a party tomorrow night and about how i will quite likely be the BELLE OF THE BALL.

the details are as follows...

why will you be the b.o.t.b?

in part because of my great social skills but mostly because of my AWESOME COSTUME

a costume party, what is the theme?

the theme has somehow become irrelevant. it was meant to be that you went as something starting with the letters P, H or D. my costume covers ALL letters, but like i said... themes are so irrelevant when your costume is this awesome.

could you be over selling the costume?

no.

how much did the costume cost you?

well, in terms of costs incured this week the honest answer is NOTHING. it is like i have been building up to this event my entire life and little bits and pieces i have collected over the years all seem to fit together so nicely. that said i may need some blue eyeliner to finish off the costume.

blue eyeliner?

yes, but according to some cost cutting article i read all the eye liner in the world is made by two or three companies. so you may as well buy the cheapest brands. with that in mind i will probably spend $2 on eyeliner. the bonus being i will own blue eyeliner. which will mean that my work wardrobe will get a little pizzazz.

pizzazz? are you going as a misfit?

god, that is a great idea. but no. actually, damn, that really is a good idea. i wish i hadn't already committed to this costume.

don't worry, the costume will be great....

that's true. and plus i don't think i could pull of zebra stripes and fluoro hair. however, i can pull off a blonde wig. BIG TIME.

you're going as a blonde?

exactamondo.

can you reveal your identity?

ew... maybe.... i mean, it is not like many of you will be there.

so, who will you be friday night, homeperm?

tonight matthew, i will be PRINCESS HER royal HIGHNESS DIANA. queen of hearts.