Upsy Daisy and all that

 Well, we're back in partial lockdown again. L3 for Auckland, which is like most of the rest of the world is in, and L2 for the rest of us which is basically a restriction of gathering sizes and trying to maintain social distance. 

It's really worrying. It turns out that a case caught by a worker in an airport facility has transmitted through the community up there, not hugely, but then two of those people who turned out to be positive had done shifts in their respective jobs at Kmart and KFC. So suddenly the likelihood of a huge outbreak just appeared out of the blue, as they do. Their workplaces tell me everything we need to know about why they did this.

These people live in South Auckland, which is high in low income families, many of whom are paying almost their entire income to greedy landlords. Not turning up for work is inconceivable. Years of being treated like a number and paid minimum wage will have resulted in any messages from management, even if they are giving them out, being seen as suspicious. Who cares about the greater good when you can't see the end of the week yourself.

This is where we've got to. Last week I drove out to my sister's and took a less direct route, driving past where my aunt and her family lived in a state house enclave that held maybe 200 two storey family homes. The buildings were well past their use-by date by this century but I had forgotten that the cleared land had been sold off and turned into private residences. Multiply this many times and it's no wonder that three ex hotels in Wellington are now emergency housing, a situation so spectacularly unsuitable I just can't EVEN.

And it gets worse and worse. House prices are sky rocketing here, because they can. So, rents are following suit. Does it matter if the landlord bought the place ten years ago for half the price? Apparently not. Apparently it's not illegal to charge a rent based on today's value thus benefitting from the housing market, then also selling at today's value, which is technically double dipping.

I'm so disgusted by where neo-liberalism has gotten us. I know that the search is on to find out where the virus originated but I'm pretty sure the PROBLEM of the virus originated and is perpetuated by the ever increasing gap between the haves and have nots. 

And this is why two people who went to work instead of staying home is not a story of selfishness on their part, but a story of them being at the whim of a huge chain of selfishness of global proportions. 

Baby you're a STAR ...interview

I had two agency interviews today, different agencies, different roles in different organisations, both with a link to keeping Covid out of our country. 

I have been warned in both cases that the work is stressful and ambiguous, with shifting priorities, which will be a surprise to nobody. But also, the teams working in these spaces are really thriving. I imagine this is because the work has a real purpose to it. For once.

I bought the shop and quit my very well paid job because it all just seemed like a terrible waste of time and money to me. I couldn't see the point of the work we were doing and it was very hard on my brain and heart.

The reason for the title is that STAR interviews are a thing. STAR is an initialism for Situation, Task, Action, Result. Being one of life's ramblers I am not so great at this but one of my interviews today was practice for the actual event tomorrow and we did roleplay. It was GREAT!!! Really helped me to focus on what I did do and achieve on those prior roles. The agent for that role is a STAR in his own right as far as I am concerned.

Cross fingers for me!

Editor in Chief

 Did I mention that I hosted a poetry book preview recently? It was great fun. 

And this week I got to proof-read the first layout from the printers.

What a ride! I marked up a hard copy print out - I do a bit of proof-reading and poetry is a whole new world. For example, the noise-bleed section or the nose-bleed section of a rugby game? I mean it's NOSE obviously but the idea of the roaring crowd already mentioned made noise-bleed an interesting option too.

So many punctuation conventions are a case of deciding which way to go and being consistent the whole way through. Like Oxford commas, "..." or '...' for speech, using - instead of ; . 

Most of us are consistent without realising it but when a body of work created over years is brought together, it can soon become clear that styles and choices can evolve too. 

So from now on I am going to do a quick read, make a list of principle-based questions for the author and then proof using their chosen conventions.

Anybody needing a proof reader, hit me up. I can't type for peanuts but I'm good at reading and spotting mistakes!

Crochet-meless!

 Or should it be Cro-shameless*? It's all in how it sounds I guess. Today in our shop window we had the delight of an art installation complete with Drag king in costume. Yes, that's an actual human being!

A rainbow of crochet! With Foxxy in the middle!

A different angle to avoid the window glare.

Ten shops along our street had something going on in their window. Lots of fun. Cuba St in Wellington is the centre of the "interesting" part of Wellington - somewhat gentrified since my first foryas into it 40 years ago, but still full of independent shops and interesting bars.

It's meant to be summer but it hasn't been all that hot -today I was relieved for our models, wearing a heavy crocheted bolero!

People are kind!

What a surreal start to the day.

I got a text from Kayla at Talent, one of my agencies, to say that someone called Bella had found my ID out on the street and posted a photo of it (above) on a popular local Facebook group, and Kayla recognised me right away. I tracked the post down, sent Bella a message request and it's now back with me and I've met a young new neighbour.

Amusingly, other people had commented that they knew me too. Popular! ;-)

Somebody raided our letterbox - Bella lives across the road and down from my place - about as far as a rapidly moving thief who is opening the envelope to get the credit card out, would have got before realising it was only a poxy licence!

But talk about lucky! And to know such kind people as Kayla and Bella who don't know each other but teamed up to make sure I got it back. 

 

Feeling blessed and chuffed with the people of my lovely city. 

Bucket List Moment - Done

Totally incapable of taking a sensible photo...

 This is us -Leo (right), Clever Hansel (centre) and me, in the dressing room before our performance at The Menagerie on Saturday night. 

Nearly 1100 people watched us perform The Catering Song with new harmonies and a fugue! Very silly stuff indeed. But we had to get it done and dusted in under 6 minutes, and the changes concentrated the ridiculousness successfully.

Nothing is as much fun as seeing and hearing three layers of audience sing along to your performance, laugh out loud and give you a huge round of applause at the end!

I'm still tickled that I played the guitar on the Opera House Stage, where I saw Donovan play it in 1981, like a real musician. LOLZ.

What a week I had today!

 

Sister Maryanne of Caffeination!

 My day started well. Or startled well? While in bed taking a call about something not fab, I got distracted and put my coffee mug and cereal bowl down on the duvet. The mug immediately flipped over and shed its dregs onto the white part of the duvet cover. I hang up, go to find something to absorb the coffee, realise I am desperate to go to the loo, so many unpacked boxes so no tissues or cloths where they normally are. So I'm jiggling around holding on while staunching the coffee with toilet paper, finally get to relieve myself, put the duvet cover in the washer and start to dye my hair red again.

When the washer beeps I take the duvet out, can't get the drier door open as the handle broke off recently, finally get it open, the catch falls off, it now won't close, and I got red hair dye on it.

And last but not least, the light in our bathroom is MUCH better than in the rental's en-suite and I saw the true horror of my feral eyebrows today!

Yesterday's contribution was that my driver's license expired in Jan last year and I never noticed until I used it as ID, so getting a new one was on the to-do list. 

After all that, I used my "sitting while the dye does its thing" time to practise on the guitar I've lent, book an eyebrow shaping and then I was rinsed and off.

Result! My greys are now hot pink. I decided to wait until we returned to our own place to do this and it feels so good!

 

I:

-took my passport in to get the ID part done so we can have the new comfy bed,

-sorted a new driver's license,

-bought groceries for our empty fridge and cupboards,

-did the final key drop etc for the rental and I now cannot get back in. Spooky!

-bought cartridges for our printer (I'm quite fond of having one!)

-bought paper bags and lollies for the shop (lollies are for staff morale)

-missed my eyebrow appointment so bought wax

When I got home I waxed badly (thank goodness for eyebrow pencil), and am now looking at what I need to pack to take to the Opera House tomorrow...

 

...and ordering new parts for the dryer!

Talk about a contrast from the sublime to the ridiculous!

 

 

The Week of Red and Gold

 After the rather expensive anti climax of moving out for no real purpose, I really wanted something to look forward to when we returned. So, we decided to re-wallpaper the feature wall. Actually we wanted to do the bedroom too, and I got paper for both from an emporium for $10 a roll! It's posh Canadian stuff, excellent quality, clearly bought as a joblot for next to nothing. I do love a bargain!

My dear friend Ross offered to hang it on a skill swap basis,and he got it all done in a couple of days. Such  hero.

HERE IT IS!!:

Red and gold! How surprising!!!

the completed job. Yes, our floor length curtains are also paisley. So are the dining room chairs, a different one again. Fight me!

With the dresser in pride of place again. With bonus detritus of moving!

We're all in. Well, all but a carload, or two. Yesterday I unpacked wine!

All sorted into wineries. I found things I had forgotten about!

Also, CDs and DVDs, clothes, glassware, all put away on moving day no less. Feeling pretty content, and sore.

Today I was cleaning at the rental. My lovely friend Nicole came to help, in denim short and 5 inch espadrilles, she brought glamour to the work! We're half way there, and hopefully all will be done and dusted tomorrow.

BECAUSE:

On Saturday 13 Feb, I will be on stage at the Wellington Opera House, performing to 900 plus people!! ARGH!!! It's the biggest indoor audience I've ever performed in front of, and at the end of this week, it's going to take a lot of coffee and pep talks.

The stage. The boxes will be full of the Mayor and his family, drag queens, glamorous burlesque performers etc. I've been in one of the lower boxes for all the shows so far, in full Seen from Space glory. To be in it is exciting and terrifying!

This is looking more or less the other way. EEP! This week they opened the Gallery, aka the Gods and it's filling up fast. The theatre has a 1200 capacity, and we are not anticipating a full house, but close to.

Oh, clerly it's the week of Red and Gold.

Gah to Moving!

BUT!!! We walked into our own apartment on Monday evening and it was the most exciting experience!!! I've drawn a floorplan of my studio and worked out where the much reduced stuff and furniture is going.*

Packing is progressing. My entire stash, what is left of it, is folded onto cards. I cannot take a photo as I can't get at the cupboards to take a pic. My tools and trims and other random supplies are sorted and re-stored, as is Constance's makeup, wigs, etc etc etc.

It's a long weekend here in NZ so an extra day to pack.

I just wish I didn't ache.

But! We have moved and unpacked 5 boxes of kitchen stuff back to home base.

In other news, my phone is beginning to ring. Work possibilities are coming up, thank goodness. 

*We decided that all the stuff in boxes in the shop storage room can just stay there. We've survived a year without it and it means we can more more quickly and cheaply!