Cher was a man

Damn i'm on fire tonight. A fire engine (I wonder if Jason was in it) did go screaming along Upland Road tonight when I was walking home and apparently around 30 house fires in the last three years have been caused from not turning your tv off properly at night, which we undoubtedly do. Although our smoke alarm is activated merely with the iron going underneath it so I think we should be appropriately notified in the event.

The house fire thing came up this evening in a conversation with the four of us that really got me going, I just sat there pissing myself laughing and thinking, "these people are great". And although I know the people I live with are really smart there's no pretentiousness resident in the small talk. Conversely, the conversation was inspired by mundane features in the Wellingtonian: how Sarah knew that Cher was a transexual and had actually had the operation in Egypt in 1977 (she had actually said 'she' referring to a woman who used to be in her Maori class but Lauren and I misheard) or the fact that Mark Blumsky's eyebrows are part of his campaigning (God they are HUGE) or the brilliant idea to have a bonfire in a brassiere in the backyard for Sarah's impending 24th (apparently someone in the group had never heard of a brazier, I won't name names). I don't know if it was the one beer I had after having been on a bit of a wine binge of late, or that those girly day blues have subsided, or how impressed I was with the outcome of the funky dinner I concocted by baking nearly a kilo of fish in foil in the oven with some coconut cream and kaffir lime leaves and some grated lime rind (I know, you'd think it'd curdle but it didn't) and a bit of cajun spice and green capsicum. Maybe not so fusiony but it had this nice Cambodian thing going on and it wasn't too spicy for Lauren which was good because I had cooked it in sort of Last Supper fashion with her jetting off to LA via Hamilton then Auckland tomorrow. Whatever the reason for my good vibrations, EVERYONE seemed mellowed out with the tv off and the silly conversation and I was revelling in it and giggling like, well me I guess, until the conversation switched to PBRF or some postgraduate business that the other three seemed to understand but I didn't and got bored and maybe killed the vibe by declaring it.

Later I redeemed myself by changing the lightbulb in the lounge that had stumped both the Phd student and the man of the house (it was a bit stiff and needed a bit of small-handed cajoling, that's all) and then I took that bitch of a sewing machine instruction manual to town and hemmed my pants and they are CUTE! So yes, feeling very satisfied with myself right now.

Oh and talked to Frank today because of the whole State of Emergency flood thing in Tauranga and they were alright, I kind of knew they would be because they are on a bit of a hill, but in the lower parts of Otumoetai people were getting evacuated and Jacob's school (along with most of the schools in the area) was cancelled today to keep people off the roads and it just sounds nuts. Meanwhile it is incredibly mild here today, where has Winter gone? Although I walked down from Kelburn in a dreamlike cloud this morning (external to myself for a change) with the fog closing the airport AGAIN.

I think the budget came out today. I guess I missed the news while discussing Cher's op...