When life gives you lemons

My sweetie and I have both been given lemons lately. In fact, today we were each given a whole bag, quite out of the blue. (You know I'm speaking metaphorically, right?)

They say that when life gives you lemons, make lemonade. (Once again, who are "they"? They have a lot to say.) And so now we need to make lemonade. Lots of it. It's either that, or we'll end up totally bitter ingesting our lemons. It's not always easy, though, turning negative situations into something positive. Luckily we're here to support each other in the process.

We certainly have enough lemons to make lemonade. But what will our lemonade taste like? How will we make it? How do we get started? And when do we start planning to throw our lemonade party?

It's hard facing down the barrel of so much uncertainty. My work situation has been dodgy for a while, and another prospect closed for me today, but my sweetie's was always considered 'safe'; this has now changed. I usually try to make a conscious effort to put a positive spin on negative situations; it's not easy, but I've certainly improved in recent years. So, here I am trying to find a positive way through our current job situation. I know we'll get there, but it just might take a little time yet before we're ready to throw that lemonade party.

Top Gear Live

Finally, I have downloaded my photos from Top Gear Live. We went to see the show last weekend in Auckland; we were at the Saturday morning show. Here is a review from the first (Thursday night) show. This was my sweetie's Christmas present; it also coincided with Valentine's Day - not to be confused as they are separate events. ;-)

So, where to start? We saw the Top Gear exhibition on Friday afternoon; just as well, as it was really wet on the Saturday, incredibly busy, and we were very pressed for time. The live show featured Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond, and NZ driver Greg Murphy in place of James May. As Clarkson said in his introduction, the show is basically "a tour of all the countries we [Britain] used to own". The banter between Clarkson and Hammond is just like you see on tv; jokes about the world's smallest presenter, and the kiwi accent (did you know The Stug was part of the show?) were an opportunity too good to resist.

And so the fun began. Excellent lighting, sound, and pyrotechnics set the scene. Various stunts abound, and then the first challenge: a take on the world's smallest car episode. The challenge was to actually make a smaller car. Hammond came up with a trike that was run on two belt sanders, Murphy pulled something tiny out of a suitcase, but Clarkson topped the bill with his "car you can wear", complete with jeans, cowboy boots, and a shirt. They had to race three laps around the indoor track; as you can probably imagine, it didn't go entirely smoothly. Here is a tiny video snippet to give you an idea of what went on, taken from our seats near the back:



Some motorcycle stunts followed next and the collander of death was brought in. Unfortunately, my video turned out sideways, and until I can work out how to rotate it, this photo will have to do. Towards the end, there were four stunt riders zooming around inside the orb (which isn't as big as it looks!) all at once.

There was a lot of audience participation, including the cool wall, and then a local session drummer took to the stage on a drumkit made entirely of car parts. Everyone took part in the lap, 'driving' the car and turning it left and right by holding a green and red piece of cardboard up to the cameras, while making loud car noises to make it go faster! We did pretty badly, but weren't quite as slow as the other Auckland shows (so far).

The segment I enjoyed the most was car football, featuring two teams of Suzuki Swifts. This was really funny to see in real life. It was a NZ vs England match, captained by Murphy and Hammond respectively. The game wasn't without casualties; England's car #2 got 'injured' and had to go off to the sidelines to be replaced by #4! New Zealand won (just). Here's a quick video to give you a better idea:



I suppose if you're not a Top Gear fan, this post won't have made much sense to you at all. But if you are, or if you've been to the show, hopefully you'll have a better idea of what I've been on about. We're really keen to now see a show being recorded. The only problem with that is that we're unlikely to get to the UK any time soon. Oh well - something to aim for!

The Pragmatic

The Pragmatic is described as a wry comedy about the routines, or 'ruts', in people's lives. Initially set in a bar, we meet Paul, a smart-ass barman with an indeterminate accent, Steve, a less-than-successful briefcase salesman with a fondness for whiskey and gin, and Sarah, who ends up pulling Steve out of his rut and setting him on his path to global domination.

Cleverly scripted and well acted, The Pragmatic is about making changes, breaking rules, over-inflated egos, and the consequences of combining these things. My favourite quote was "quitting something you hate is almost as good as doing something you like". Very wise words; after all, we have to start somewhere!

Carnival fever

Yesterday was a day of carnivals and festivals in town. The Petone Rotary Fair was in Jackson Street yesterday, just around the corner from us, so we meandered along during the day. A small version of the Martinborough Fair, around 300 stalls packed about 2km of Jackson Street, complete with live music and kids' rides. We came away with our fair fudge (of course) and some raspberry-chocolate liquorice; what else is there?


And then it was the big one: the biennial Cuba St Carnival. Several streets in downtown Wellington were closed to make way for stalls, temporary bars, more than 80 bands, and other entertainment. This is topped off by the mardi gras style parade at 9pm. It's hard to describe the parade; the weirdest and most wonderful floats wander past you and the costumes and effects get better every year. We had friends dancing with a couple of the salsa floats. It's the kind of event that just makes you want to get up and shake something.

Whoever decided to plan both of these events must have missed a visit by the logic fairy. It's unfathomable that two large-scale events like these could take place in the same town at the same time and on the same day. What were they thinking?? Both were well-attended, and my friend's band, Shenanigans, managed to play at both events, but stall holders wouldn't have been so lucky. It will be interesting to see what happens in future years.

Improv - The Secondary School Musical

We have just got back from another hilarious Fringe show. Improv - The Secondary School Musical was our second date with The Improvisors this month. This time, it's a take on Disney's High School Musical (2006). Our 'tour guides' from our walking tour of Jackson Street were back - back in their prime as school students, that is.

The audience were asked for four key components, around which the show would be built. We were asked for a group which exists in schools; librarians was the decision. The 'thing' became risoni, the ambition was to run the cross country, and the theme was world domination. The scene was set and the story, complete with unrequited love, mobile phone humour, and very recent current events, developed.

Accompanied by an improvising musical trio, the cast of seven gave their best impersonations of singing teenagers. A range of characters evolved, including the hapless 'Alessandro', son of an Italian diplomat (while his real students were sitting in the audience behind us). The head librarian, who harboured dreams of being a cross country runner, was ousted from his role by his doppelganger, another boy who became corrupted by his new found power and in turn schemed a sinister plot to dominate the [library] world while regaining the friendship of a certain girl. What a fantastic way to escape the world for an hour or so with laughter. We'll look forward to their next show.

Relaxation massage course

I am a tactile person (not a kinesthetic learner), meaning that I like to touch and my senses are stimulated by touch. As a result, I love massage, both giving and receiving them. Mmmm.

A while ago I changed one of my goals to take a course in relaxation massage. (I find it hard enough to make it to my usual Ceroc classes each week, let alone a structured course in ballroom dancing, hence the change.) Massage something I've always been interesting in learning more about, after having years or remedial and relaxation massages myself. I'm not looking to set up my own business although, quite scarily, I'm now qualified to do so, as massage is an unregulated industry in New Zealand. I already have a willing line of friends along with my sweetie to practise on.

I spent Monday and Tuesday on a two-day 15 hour course in relaxation massage. We learned basic sequences for massaging the whole body, including a range of techniques which could be adapted and used on different parts of the body and for various effects. This includes both effleurage and petrissage strokes. It is incredibly important to be aware of your own posture as you give a massage; your body tells you very quickly when you're using your back/forearms etc to follow through with movements instead of bending your knees and using your whole body for support. I came home from both days physically exhausted and needing more massage myself ...

I was surprised at how much we managed to cover in two days. Each sequence involved watching a demonstration, then giving and receiving ourselves. Some parts were quite challenging; personal space goes entirely out the window, along with any inhibitions you may have!

My sweetie gave me a voucher for a relaxation massage on Valentine's Day. I'm now really looking forward to using it (well, I was looking forward to it anyway) but will no doubt experience this massage in a different way to how I have in the past. I might try and book in an appointment sometime next week. It's another goal for me, as was the course: #62 - Take a course in relaxation massage.