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tcpipFirstly, can I give lots of thanks to people who commented in my LJ and emailed me about completing my PhD.
The lightning fast tour of the South Island of New Zealand with severina_242 was great.
First port of call was Christchurch, arriving at about midnight New Zealand time. Thumbs down for the Occidental who, contrary to the information posted on their website and with ample time to inform me otherwise decided that they couldn't take people after at this ungodly hour. Just as well I checked my email at the airport. Fortunately we were saved by the good people at Stonehurst who were just down the road.
The following morning consisted on travelling via Atomic Shuttles (highly recommended and inexpensive) to Queenstown. The journey included Lake Tekapo, a lakeside village with alpine backdrop, Wannaka, a lakeside village with alpine backdrop) and finally Queenstown itself, a lakeside town with alpine backdrop - one detects a theme here. But seriously, the South Island of New Zealand is breathtakingly beautiful. Booking ourselves into the Deco proved to be a good choice simply on account of the views.
The following day consisted of visiting the Queenstown Kiwi and Birdlife Park (which includes a tutuara, the last genuine dinosaur on the planet), which was actually really impressive and with an amusing "live conservation" show, taking the gondolo up to the top of the "hill" overlooking Queenstown and Lake Wakatipu for some extraordinary views and 'photo opportunities. Regrettably the bungy jump for said location was open until 4pm, by which time we were taking the bus to Invercargill.
To be honest, I really didn't know what to expect from Invercargill, my birth town. My poor ol' birth-mother, under the commands of her mothers regrettably typical mode of Catholic deception, objected to the fact that she had become pregnant (a) outside of wedlock and (b) as a teenager. She was thus sent packing to the furthest possible corner of the earth (i.e., Invercargill) with the command of 'never let us speak of this child again'. About a year or so ago Grandma died without the knowledge that I had made contact with the rest of my family. Yet another example of a damaged mind from those who give up the universal morals of secularism in favour of absolute morals of theology.
The image that I did have was a bit of a combination of a northern Scottish fishing village along with a famous line in an old Lonely Planet guide of "checked shirts and bad haircuts". Actually neither was true. The Scottish fishing village aspect is probably Bluff, which I didn't visit and the checked shirts and bad haircuts was replaced my tartens and Presbyterians. It mostly caters for the local farming communities and is quite small and as such there isn't that much to see except for the absolutely superb Queens Park/Southland Museum and surrounds. A brilliant area, and complete with a great aviary and some local and not-so-local animals (e.g., llamas). We spent a great deal of time in said park in the dead of night swigging the potent Polish vodka we'd picked up on duty free. It was about 0 degrees, but that was much more preferable to hanging out at the Southern Comfort - despite good reports and a pleasant enough building, the place was like a morgue and with a very creepy housekeeper.
From Invercargill the next leg of the journey was Dunedin, staying at the old-world Leviathan Hotel. Ahh, Dunedin - like it's Scottish namesake (nota bene: 'Dunedin' is the Celtic for Edinburgh) it's hilly, old, religious, English and Scottish, left-wing, and with a damn fine university (University of Otago). Set up by liberal Presbyterians who were a little over the Calvinism of the home county this place was absolutely beautiful. The evening was also witness to a graduation ceremony so the town witnessed numerous individuals with academic robes wandering about. It provided a great sight. The following morning we took a pleasant city-sight tour which showed the green belt, a beer factory and a chocolate factory (which seem to keeping the town afloat), several churches, the town green-belt, some historical houses, the world's steepest street (at a gradient of 1 to 1.266), the botanical gardens, and past the University.
I must confess I am now torn between a preferred place to eventually live in New Zealand - it's between Wellington and Dunedin.
In the afternoon it was off to Christchurch, visiting Oamaru and Timaru on the way, with the grumpy Intercity bus company. Not recommended. Poor service and expensive. On reaching Christchurch we returned to the good folk at Stonehurst and amazingly had over 24 hours to take in the city, er, large town. The arts centre was quite beautiful in terms of the buildings, but generally thoroughly commercialized, the Art Gallery itself had some pretty tepid productions from the 'big words painting' and installation art variety, but some surprisingly impressive historical collection. The local museum had likewise comprehensive and had an impressive collection of stuffed birds, local history and antartic conditions. The museum is housed in the fair botanical gardens which is cut by the local Avon River.
The following morning - 4.30 am no less - we departed NZ to return to Melbourne. An excellent visitation, and certainly one worthy of a future closer inspection.
In other news, I am now officially a small business person, or to be precise - a freelance IT consultant. In these days of short-term intensive contracts, wage-labour is reaching its historically inevitably conclusion of piecemeal employment and as part of the process I have acquired an ABN. Meanwhile my work at Borderlands has spun off to include more employment with Student Partnerships Worldwide and New Community Quarterly. To add a bit of irony to the proceedings I have had an article accepted for Bad Subjects, a US university politics journal on the Australian welfare-income system in their special issue on Wage Slavery.
I am giving serious consideration of reviving Mimesis Inc, originally established as a roleplaying/simulation association in the mid-nineties, as a publishing association. I have some pretty good distribution contacts through a cooperative effort by small publishers and an independent, author-run association with shared costs may be the way to go in preference to self-publication or for that matter, a commercial publisher. One would get the high returns associated with independent publishing, yet also receive the administrative and distribution advantages of a commercial organization (not to mention associative credibility). Two matters that I would be hard-nosed about: non-fiction only, and graduates only. I'd want this to be of a very high standard. So who's interested? Or what advice do you have?
From begedel, I now have more reasons to move/visit/retire in Wellington. They have an astrological stonehenge . Question is, why haven't my NZ lj friends mentioned it, eh?
From Rilian: "Republicans won't rest until abortion is completely outlawed, Social Security is abolished, the welfare state is completely rolled back, the book of Genesis is taught in science classes, and the federal income tax is abolished." Sound like a lefty conspiracy theory? Think again.
Also from Rilian
That's very err, white of you, Mr. President (search the text for 'white').
Ketauh pours it all out in a single post; religion, the environment, capitalism, freedom, and the end of the world.
A brief and insightful History of Trotskyism, which led me to research the tragic tale of Juan Posadas, the serious Trotskyist leader who proposed the benefits of nuclear war, socialist aliens and dolphin communication.
The lightning fast tour of the South Island of New Zealand with severina_242 was great.
First port of call was Christchurch, arriving at about midnight New Zealand time. Thumbs down for the Occidental who, contrary to the information posted on their website and with ample time to inform me otherwise decided that they couldn't take people after at this ungodly hour. Just as well I checked my email at the airport. Fortunately we were saved by the good people at Stonehurst who were just down the road.
The following morning consisted on travelling via Atomic Shuttles (highly recommended and inexpensive) to Queenstown. The journey included Lake Tekapo, a lakeside village with alpine backdrop, Wannaka, a lakeside village with alpine backdrop) and finally Queenstown itself, a lakeside town with alpine backdrop - one detects a theme here. But seriously, the South Island of New Zealand is breathtakingly beautiful. Booking ourselves into the Deco proved to be a good choice simply on account of the views.
The following day consisted of visiting the Queenstown Kiwi and Birdlife Park (which includes a tutuara, the last genuine dinosaur on the planet), which was actually really impressive and with an amusing "live conservation" show, taking the gondolo up to the top of the "hill" overlooking Queenstown and Lake Wakatipu for some extraordinary views and 'photo opportunities. Regrettably the bungy jump for said location was open until 4pm, by which time we were taking the bus to Invercargill.
To be honest, I really didn't know what to expect from Invercargill, my birth town. My poor ol' birth-mother, under the commands of her mothers regrettably typical mode of Catholic deception, objected to the fact that she had become pregnant (a) outside of wedlock and (b) as a teenager. She was thus sent packing to the furthest possible corner of the earth (i.e., Invercargill) with the command of 'never let us speak of this child again'. About a year or so ago Grandma died without the knowledge that I had made contact with the rest of my family. Yet another example of a damaged mind from those who give up the universal morals of secularism in favour of absolute morals of theology.
The image that I did have was a bit of a combination of a northern Scottish fishing village along with a famous line in an old Lonely Planet guide of "checked shirts and bad haircuts". Actually neither was true. The Scottish fishing village aspect is probably Bluff, which I didn't visit and the checked shirts and bad haircuts was replaced my tartens and Presbyterians. It mostly caters for the local farming communities and is quite small and as such there isn't that much to see except for the absolutely superb Queens Park/Southland Museum and surrounds. A brilliant area, and complete with a great aviary and some local and not-so-local animals (e.g., llamas). We spent a great deal of time in said park in the dead of night swigging the potent Polish vodka we'd picked up on duty free. It was about 0 degrees, but that was much more preferable to hanging out at the Southern Comfort - despite good reports and a pleasant enough building, the place was like a morgue and with a very creepy housekeeper.
From Invercargill the next leg of the journey was Dunedin, staying at the old-world Leviathan Hotel. Ahh, Dunedin - like it's Scottish namesake (nota bene: 'Dunedin' is the Celtic for Edinburgh) it's hilly, old, religious, English and Scottish, left-wing, and with a damn fine university (University of Otago). Set up by liberal Presbyterians who were a little over the Calvinism of the home county this place was absolutely beautiful. The evening was also witness to a graduation ceremony so the town witnessed numerous individuals with academic robes wandering about. It provided a great sight. The following morning we took a pleasant city-sight tour which showed the green belt, a beer factory and a chocolate factory (which seem to keeping the town afloat), several churches, the town green-belt, some historical houses, the world's steepest street (at a gradient of 1 to 1.266), the botanical gardens, and past the University.
I must confess I am now torn between a preferred place to eventually live in New Zealand - it's between Wellington and Dunedin.
In the afternoon it was off to Christchurch, visiting Oamaru and Timaru on the way, with the grumpy Intercity bus company. Not recommended. Poor service and expensive. On reaching Christchurch we returned to the good folk at Stonehurst and amazingly had over 24 hours to take in the city, er, large town. The arts centre was quite beautiful in terms of the buildings, but generally thoroughly commercialized, the Art Gallery itself had some pretty tepid productions from the 'big words painting' and installation art variety, but some surprisingly impressive historical collection. The local museum had likewise comprehensive and had an impressive collection of stuffed birds, local history and antartic conditions. The museum is housed in the fair botanical gardens which is cut by the local Avon River.
The following morning - 4.30 am no less - we departed NZ to return to Melbourne. An excellent visitation, and certainly one worthy of a future closer inspection.
In other news, I am now officially a small business person, or to be precise - a freelance IT consultant. In these days of short-term intensive contracts, wage-labour is reaching its historically inevitably conclusion of piecemeal employment and as part of the process I have acquired an ABN. Meanwhile my work at Borderlands has spun off to include more employment with Student Partnerships Worldwide and New Community Quarterly. To add a bit of irony to the proceedings I have had an article accepted for Bad Subjects, a US university politics journal on the Australian welfare-income system in their special issue on Wage Slavery.
I am giving serious consideration of reviving Mimesis Inc, originally established as a roleplaying/simulation association in the mid-nineties, as a publishing association. I have some pretty good distribution contacts through a cooperative effort by small publishers and an independent, author-run association with shared costs may be the way to go in preference to self-publication or for that matter, a commercial publisher. One would get the high returns associated with independent publishing, yet also receive the administrative and distribution advantages of a commercial organization (not to mention associative credibility). Two matters that I would be hard-nosed about: non-fiction only, and graduates only. I'd want this to be of a very high standard. So who's interested? Or what advice do you have?
From begedel, I now have more reasons to move/visit/retire in Wellington. They have an astrological stonehenge . Question is, why haven't my NZ lj friends mentioned it, eh?
From Rilian: "Republicans won't rest until abortion is completely outlawed, Social Security is abolished, the welfare state is completely rolled back, the book of Genesis is taught in science classes, and the federal income tax is abolished." Sound like a lefty conspiracy theory? Think again.
Also from Rilian
That's very err, white of you, Mr. President (search the text for 'white').
Ketauh pours it all out in a single post; religion, the environment, capitalism, freedom, and the end of the world.
A brief and insightful History of Trotskyism, which led me to research the tragic tale of Juan Posadas, the serious Trotskyist leader who proposed the benefits of nuclear war, socialist aliens and dolphin communication.
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no subject
Date: 2004-05-18 06:22 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-05-18 08:55 pm (UTC)No, I don't have a brain-breaking award for this week... Been too busy to pick out the extraordinarily strange links...
no subject
Date: 2004-05-18 09:13 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-05-18 06:23 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-05-18 09:01 pm (UTC)Thanks. It'll be published in Issue 65, and later today I'll have it htmlised on my website.
I've just noticed that they're putting out an anthology this month as well called 'Collective Action' to be published through Pluto Press.
no subject
Date: 2004-05-18 06:55 pm (UTC)What is with this world *too much steam to think clearly on any one thing*
And go the publishing - restricted to prose only? I disagree that only graduates can produce work of high standard, and only inviting graduates doesn't guarantee a high standard. Better to be selective at time of printing than during submission process. I respect your need for definitive boundaries and criteria however. Many people started formal qualifications and became bored or sidetracked - not completing the degree doesn't reduce their abilities to express themselves at a high standard - and the reverse is also true - sticking it out through 3-5 years of tortured debate and stringent structure can burn a hole in creativity. I am not questioning your desire for high standard of publishing work - just your means of finding it!
no subject
Date: 2004-05-18 09:08 pm (UTC)The suggested restriction to non-fiction only is simply because I'm adverse to the further proliferation of fiction. I know that's going to annoy many fiction writers who read this journal, but frankly, I don't know the market that well... Mind you, books on simulation and reviews of mythology and fiction writers may be fit into the category...
The idea of graduates fits into the idea of non-fiction only. No, it doesn't ensure that the work is going to be of a high standard in terms of readibility but it at least ensures a minimum standard in terms of content.
You may be right about the idea of being selective during the submissions process, but I was hoping of having the advantages of individual publishing with collective expenses. This would mean avoiding a "submissions committee" or such-like.
content
Date: 2004-05-18 09:20 pm (UTC)A submissions committee - there's an interesting concept! A submission fee for unsolicitored or free by invitation? What could I write about ...?
Re: content
Date: 2004-05-18 09:35 pm (UTC)Most publishing companies have a submissions committee or equivalent thereof. However, looking for a tricky marriage between giving authors the freedom of self-publication (i.e., if they want to publish a 2000page epic, go write (pun initially unintended) ahead) with the advantages of collective administration.
I'll disagree about education not being a guarantee of a high standard. Otherwise our vocational system is entirely screwed.
Anyway, I see your point and will ponder further on this.
Re: content
Date: 2004-05-19 01:06 am (UTC)Anyway, just an example that quality is not guaranteed by qualifications but should be based on the outcome and integrity of author :)
no subject
Date: 2004-05-18 07:50 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-05-18 09:09 pm (UTC)Most certainly, I would say...
no subject
Date: 2004-05-18 09:15 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-05-18 09:36 pm (UTC)Will do - no problems.
no subject
Date: 2004-05-18 09:53 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-05-18 07:54 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-05-18 09:11 pm (UTC)Pretty interesting stuff, eh? Mind you, I recall a state branch of the Liberal (i.e., conservative) party in Western Australia wanting to set youth wages at $1/day "until their value could be ascertained".
1985, Western Australia Liberal Party state conference IIRC for the nay-sayers among you...
no subject
Date: 2004-05-18 08:04 pm (UTC)Sounds like you had a great time [can I just be reeeeeeally picky and say 'Wanaka' and 'tuatara']. And you went to the Speights brewery!! Again with the jealous.
I must confess I am now torn between a preferred place to eventually live in New Zealand - it's between Wellington and Dunedin.
Having lived for some time in both places, I'd choose Dunedin IF the weather was slightly better. Wellington may be cold and windy, but Dunedin is really bone-chillingly cold in winter. Also, employment options really are limited to 'something to do with the university' in Dunedin.
no subject
Date: 2004-05-18 09:14 pm (UTC)Sorry for the spelling ;-)
Didn't go on the brewery tour, mainly for time reasons.
Thanks for the advice wrt where to live - I think I'd be quite happy doing something for the University of Otago... Although I must confess I was thrown by the description in Lonely Planet of the nearby provincial town of Ophir... Minimum of -20 and a maximum of 35?!? Is such variation possible?!
no subject
Date: 2004-05-18 08:48 pm (UTC)http://www.villagevoice.com/issues/0420/perlstein.php
no subject
Date: 2004-05-18 09:18 pm (UTC)*bashes head against desk*
OK, you win with spades and hands down. How can I possibly hope to compete with this:
- - -
When Pastor Upton was asked to explain why the group's website describes the Apostolic Congress as "the Christian Voice in the nation's capital," instead of simply a Christian voice in the nation's capital, he responded, "There has been a real lack of leadership in having someone emerge as a Christian voice, someone who doesn't speak for the right, someone who doesn't speak for the left, but someone who speaks for the people, and someone who speaks from a theocratical perspective."
When his words were repeated back to him to make sure he had said a "theocratical" perspective, not a "theological" perspective, he said, "Exactly. Exactly. We want to know what God would have us say or what God would have us do in every issue."
- - -
"...astrological stonehenge ..."
Date: 2004-05-19 04:26 pm (UTC)[Current mood = pedantic :o) ]
Anyway... I first heard of it a couple of weeks ago (Carter Observatory in Wellington run evening classes; the Stonehenge project manager gives those courses). It was originally planned to be completed by the end of this year but then the Royal Society of NZ asked if they complete it by Queen's Birthday, coincidentally the same time as the Transit of Venus.
Incidentally, the site is owned (I think) by the US Navy: they're also building an observatory there.
It should all be pretty specatacular when it is finished: a good reason to go to the Wairarapa indeed.
Re: "...astrological stonehenge ..."
Date: 2004-05-19 06:58 pm (UTC)Yes, of course. Astronomical is quite correct. Sometimes I slip up and call "chemistry" "alchemy" as well. But only when I'm in a very silly mood.
I can't wait for it to be finished.... I'll be in Wellington in a flash..
Re: "...astrological stonehenge ..."
Date: 2004-05-19 07:12 pm (UTC)If you're coming over before it's finished, they need volunteers to help with the construction, apparently.
Re: "...astrological stonehenge ..."
Date: 2004-05-19 08:41 pm (UTC)I've been meaning to... Maybe now I have (ha!) a little more time on my hands..