September 5th 2017: "Your love gives me such a thrill, but your love won't pay my bills" .... so sings Barrett Strong in the song better known for the Flying Lizards 1979 cover. Well Barrett, you sound a like a fine prostitute, you'd do well in New Zealand.
Life sure is exciting with all the homelessness, hospital waiting lists and ever-widening gap between the rich and poor isn't it? Oooh whee! We have an election coming up and both Labour and National are offering some rather great sounding pressies, but one wonders how much of it is a short term bribe or simply not feasible now that things are so incredibly out of hand with housing and lack of funding for mental health issues.
Can the last nine punishing years of National leadership be corrected? Is it possible for Jacinda Adern and her long black boots to get us walking in the right direction even with a massive boulder of crap rushing towards us? I really do hope so. As they say in 'The Hunger Games' - a little bit of hope is fine, but too much is dangerous! Please Jacinda - BE DANGEROUS!
My mother is looking for a place to live. The flat she's been living in is going to be sold and she can't find anywhere affordable. This housing crisis is hitting home for many of us and there are a plethora of shows on TV about doing up houses (which my mum LOVES). Isn't that kind of weird? When housing was affordable and renting was reasonable, I don't recall there being any shows about houses. When I visit mum we watch 'The Block' (competitive house decorating show) and enjoy imitating Ling and Zing and those blonde twins. I am really good at being Ling (I don't know what their real names are, probably Liam and Jason). Anyway, as most people get more obsessed with what they can't have, I keep thinking about WHAT IS POSSIBLE. Fortunately I don't have much to tie me down (mind you my cat is pretty demanding) and I can start thinking of alternatives to being sucked into a mainstream money nightmare. How? Well the only clues at this point are focusing on the Minimalism Movement and how much I love freedom and creativity. If I keep freaking out about what isn't, then how can I see what is?
Internet Experiment:
I don't have a TV, but until tomorrow I have the internet on at home. As of tomorrow I'm going to do a 'no internet at home' experiment and see how long I can last! In order to do anything via my computer I'm going to use the library or a cafe for planned internet trips. This is something that The Minimalists have done which I thought 'no way' about for the last year. Now I'm wondering how my life will change if I'm really focused on what I'm doing when I am on the net.
Plan:
1) No internet at home (how long can I do it?)
2) Find out where I can use free wifi
3) Write notes about what I do want to achieve when I am using the net
4) Observe how it feels not to have Netflix or Facebook on tap (I don't use these on my phone)
5) Will I write more, paint more and have a cleaner environment? We will see.
If you have any ideas that you would like to share, please comment here in the blogosphere! I love seeing what you've said on FB, but I'll only be using FB sporadically for a little while. Thanks magic monkey moon beams, may love AND money rain down on you and yours!
be careful what you wish for. the last time labour did dangerous stuff was under lange and douglas. nuclear-free and out of anzus were more than we dared to hope for. weren't we so proud of lange in the oxford union debate. but rogernomics on the other hand dismantled our attempt at an egalitarian welfare state.
ReplyDeletecrave in morningside has free wifi and little nooks to sit and surf. even a library upstairs. good coffee and food, co-op ownership and it employs some disabled people... they ask where you'll sit and write something about you on your order so it's easy for someone who can't speak to deliver it. (not sure why the huge pieta fresco inside or god creating adam on the building across the road?)
let love rain down, yes pleeease :)
Heyyy, thank you so much for the feedback! I didn't understand some of the drawbacks regarding Labour (especially regarding Maori) until recently. I'm learning, yet I guess I have hope that Adern could really make a difference. Thanks for the Crave tip, I've been there once and it was gorgeous! Here's to love, good coffee and hopefully housing for all. x
Deletei was stunned by how good she was in a recent radio nz interview, I mean coherent, smart, quick-witted. Here's to a Labour victory tomorrow and a chance for Jacinda to hopefully reverse some of neo-liberalism. Here's hoping Kiwibuild and 100,000 new houses are on the way. And a tax review to stop speculation in housing.
ReplyDeleteYes I love, even crave, new Crave - maybe even more than old Crave. It's a useful word crave... rave Crave, crave coffee, love Crave, crave love,...