Last week I decided I needed a new pair of gym sneakers and today, after having looked in the usual stores at my local mall, I went to an outlet mall 30 minutes from my house in order to hopefully find a bargain. After looking in the Addidas and New Balance stores with no luck, I finally found myself in the Nike store (did you know their logo has a name? It’s called a Swoosh). I walked past the high-tops that make feet look swollen (what? Those shoes have a lot of puff!) and saw what I was looking for: a great pair of good-looking, nicely priced crosstrainers (Lunarlite Speed model, if you must know). But were they comfortable?

Oh yes, yes they were. And, remarkably, the white silver ones were oh-so-much comfier than the white and blue pair! Who would have thought. It took me all of 5 seconds to make up my mind about purchasing. But wait, is that a slight mark on that beautiful pair of size 9s? Hm, no thank you very much, must change the pair. So, I get another size 9 box, checked the sizing of one shoe, decided all is well and went to the cashier.

The cashier. You either get a good one or a bad one. She was friendly enough, but the poor dear wasn’t able to tell if the shoes actually had a security tag on them or not and had to walk the box through the front doors’ security system in order to check. No beeping, thus I was safe from the embarrassment of setting alarms off as I left. Unfortunately our dear cashier neglected to check the sizing of the shoes, something I am of the opinion should be mandatory as a cashier in a store that sells shoes, even if the customer has assured them that they are indeed the size-x he or she is after.

No matter, I am oblivious. It is horribly WARM in this store. I am beginning to sweat. Maybe even smell a bit. Must leave quickly and go to the part of the mall where the air conditioning appears to working properly. So, shoes are paid for, cashier thanked, assured another employee for the 4th time that, no, I really didn’t want to get another pair of shoes for half price. I left store and trotted off to find some food with my sister, shopping complete and, I thought, successful.

I come home, excited to look at my new purchases, especially my gym shoes which I plan on wearing tomorrow for my workout. I even want to take a photo of them so I can upload it to my Flickr and share them on my blog, and maybe Twitter, Facebook and LiveJournal, too! I finish tying the laces up when it suddenly dawns on me… Are these….are these shoes two left shoes?

Hang on a minute, are they two left shoes and….different sizes? I hastily check the sizing in each shoe and find that, indeed, no only are they two left shoes, they are two completely different sizes. One size is a 9, the other is an 8. Oh shit. Ohshitohshitohshit. There is no way I’m going to be able to go back to the mall today to change them, so no new shoes for my workout tomorrow.

Now I’m sitting here, after having called the store in order to see if they could send the right pair to my local Nike store, but they are unable to. Something about them being an outlet store and my local one not. Fair enough. But now I have to go back there tomorrow, inconveniencing my mum because I can’t legally drive myself.

I could very easily blame it all on the cashier who didn’t check the sizing. Surely, if she had, she would have noticed they were different and two left shoes, thus avoiding this whole situation to begin with. But I am not going down that path, I am admitting that I should have checked thoroughly. After all, if I had noticed a mark on one shoe, I should be vigilant enough to notice two left shoes and two different sizes. I screwed up; I was an ‘unengaged consumer’. Now I have a pair of useless gym shoes. Pretty yes, but useless.

I must note, however, that my shopping adventures weren’t completely unsuccessful. I did pay a visit to Wild Pair shoe store where I found the most fantastic range of shoes: T.U.K Shoes. At first I wanted to get the pair of heels with the creepy bride on them, but decided on the cupcake wedges. I do plan on going back though…and also raiding their online store.

I’m not a name history buff so I’m not sure if there is a ripe history of coming up with one’s own ‘creative/kre8tiv’ spelling for fairly usual names, but it seems to be an increasing trend in various part of the English-speaking West. Here in New Zealand we might refer to unconventional alternative spellings as being ‘Bogan’/'Westie’, which is basically our version of ‘white trash’, except the colour of one’s skin doesn’t matter. Actually, one can give their kid a Bogan name and even be Bogan, but it’s highly likely that one would be*. I know this sounds incredibly judgemental, and it is, because as I already mentioned, I’m a name snob. I’m definitely not a Bogan, and I’m not posh either, by any means. Oh but let’s not get started on those Faux Posh people who name their kids ridiculous things like Montgomery and Prudence because they think it makes them appear more sophisticated. Another day, another post.

Okay, are you ready for kre8tivi’T? Here we go!

• Aleigha *#8212; Interesting variation on Aaliyah. I don’t actually dislike it, though I’m not a fan of the name in general.
• Aliychiyah — I’m guessing this is meant to be Alicia, but with the ‘i’ pronounced.
• Elexcious — I literally slapped my hand over my mouth and astonished-laughed an ‘Oh my God, what the hell?!” at this one. I’m not sure if this is meant to be Elex-see-ous or Elex-shus. Either way, it isn’t good. When I Googled it I got results about Elexious, which is a real name that is listed at name websites. But then I opted for my original spelling and it appears that it is a real name (as proved by ancestry lists) and seems to be masculine, but just pretty rare (like 2 paes rare).
• Kaytlyn — I really dislike the excessive use of the letter ‘y’ and it seems to be increasingly popular amongst those who like alternative spellings. Too bad it’s not still the time of Generation Y, otherwise it would be quite fitting.
• Kristeena — Could be worse, but still.
• Kortni — This is totally brilliant in a I-wish-you-hadn’t way.
• Kyrah — This is apparently pronounced as Key-are-uh. ‘kay.
• Peyghtin — One of my most disliked names and with one more reason to! Who in their right mind…?

And here are some names that aren’t really a spelling thing, more of a made-up-when-drunk-or-high thing:

• Sir’Ray Kreedell — Bit like ‘Sorry’, which is probably what little Sir’Ray will be when, and pardon the gender assumption, he’s older.
• De’marquay Tylik — Tie-lick or Til-ick? Hmm.
• Ja’Kyle Juelz — What’s the ‘Ja’ for? But if you remove the apostrophe is becomes Jakyle which is wonderfully similar to Jekyll!
• Markalyn Dae’Shaun — It’s the apostrophes; they just piss me off.

So, that was my bitch of the day. I hope you enjoyed this very informative post and feel on your way to being educated about the kinds of names to avoid punishing any future children you may have with. If you want a unique name for you child at least put some real, intellectual effort into it and don’t just use a word scrambler or letter-substitutions!

These names were found in some recent posts at Baby_Names on LJ.

*People that graduate university can still be Bogans though. Please remember that just because someone has a higher-education degree doesn’t mean they are intelligent when it comes to naming their children (Or intelligent at all). It becomes a rarer occurrence, yes, but it can still happen. This is why I urge those of you attending university to encourage any of your fellow students who become parents while at university to avoid Boganism. This may also lessen the likelihood of alcohol consumption during pregnancy so it’s really a double-whammy-win here!

I have been reflecting a bit on blogging as well. I know part of the reason why I don’t post regularly is because I’m pretty busy and don’t often feel like it. Blogging has always been driven by my feeling like it, not because I have to or have some kind of schedule for regular posting. I guess that may be why I don’t have a ton of followers (that I’m aware of anyway). It’s not really about whether or not it’s being read, but sometimes I do wonder what on earth the point is in blogging if there aren’t many readers. I don’t write in a public sphere in the hopes that no one will read what I have to say! If I wanted to do that I would stick to my paper journal. No, I am just as ego-driven as the next blogger, though I don’t really sit around thinking up topics people might like to read about. I just spit out boring rubbish about my day.

There isn’t much point to the above paragraph though. I’m just rambling because it’s something I’ve been thinking a lot about lately. I’ve gone to write something several times since my last post and every single time I’ve ended up starting at a blank screen with my brain blank, or deciding I actually can’t be bothered, or knowing that what I really want to write about is too personal for me to be comfortable with sharing unless I had much more anonymity than I do. I wish I had never associated my real name with this blog! Then I could just be this person who writes about whatever and no one would know it’s me and I could be so much freer.

Oh well, I suppose internet life shall go on and I shall continue in this uncomfortable place of not wanting to share too much but not having anything else that’s super-interesting to share, because the good stuff is always the gritty stuff and never what I ate for breakfast. Unless it was from a 5 star restaurant or breakfast in bed cooked by my boyfriend, or it was cereal but then I vomited and it looked funny. Actually, you probably don’t want to know about that last part. Sorry.

That reminds me though… Awhile ago Josh and I had some Purple Goanas and we decided it would be a cool drink to get really drunk on because then if you threw up your spew would be purple. And purple vomit is really the only awesome thing about vomit. Not our most mature moment but never mind.

The beigey-bronze shade is #378 ‘Posh Trash’ and the orange is #050 ‘Tangerine Queen’. Of course I also had to pick up some eye shadow, too! Shade #004 ‘Smokey Blue’.

I got told off in Kmart by an employer for testing out the colours… Naughty of me because they didn’t actually have any testers, but I refuse to spend money on nail colour without knowing what it looks like on! Some colours end up being too sheer or whatever, which is very annoying. There should always be testers for that reason, otherwise you they will get annoying customers such as myself who will take the product back and demand a refund.

Do you where nail polish? What are some of your favourite brands and colours?

I hope you all had a very nice Thursday!

*It comes from here.

I can’t bare to witness cats toying with creatures, live or dead. The only sort I’m okay with are the fake ones made of felt or some other material! So, naturally, I had to rescue Little Mouse from Tyrant Molly. Little Mouse was so, well, little, that I didn’t want to put him or her in my hand in case I accidentally crushed the poor dear, but the only thing I had handy was…a bra of mine. So, Little Mouse was carefully picked up by the tail and placed gently in my bra cup!

To get an idea of size. So now the whole internet knows I have a nude coloured padded bra…

Before taking my new friend (I definitely consider the mouse my new friend since not only did I rescue it from a cat, but it’s seen my bra up close and personal!) to a safe spot outside I brought it into my room to take the photos. Little Mouse’s body would have only been about the size of my thumb to the first knuckle. Dinky-wee.

Hopefully the spot I found for it was safe enough. There was an area of metal to hide under that a cat couldn’t fit in, and lots of long grass.

For example, I live directly under the flight path of two airports, Auckland domestic/international and Ardmore (think small commercial aircraft, helicopters and private planes). This means that at around 5:30am every morning we get nice big jumbo jets literally shaking the foundations of our house, and we also get small, loud, warcraft-type planes. While they’re pretty cool to watch in formation*, they don’t sound so fantastic at 10:30 on a Sunday morning when you’re trying to do your psychology report.

I’ve also mentioned previously our…flock? gaggle? complex foul social grouping?…of chickens and their Mighty Male Minders (i.e. roosters). One rooster is enough noise for most people, but two can be quite intense at times, especially when poor Richard (the small one) is trying to romance one of the ladies and then Jeremy comes along in a rage. How dare Richard get a leg over any of Jeremy’s chicks? Who does he think he is, anyway? And this isn’t even the half of it, because there are fourteen chickens, all of which make just as much noise as the boys do. You can always tell when one of them is in the nest box, popping an egg out, because there is this distinct sort of egg-laying squeal. I know that egg shells are soft when they come out and harden afterwards, but by the sounds of things, it’s not the most pleasant experience in the world. And they do this daily for a large portion of the year! I’m so glad I’m not a chicken.

Also, we must not forget about farm machinery. I have a family in which the men are all into machinery of any sort. If it’s got a motor in it they will like it. Particularly if it’s really big, has a seat and they can move dirt with it (really, this just goes to show how a giant sandpit would be The Best Thing Ever for them). Tractors, diggers, trucks, whatever. They make a lot of noise and are the bane of my student existence because I get woken up on weekends by them, and then my studious efforts are interrupted by brain-numbing “brrrr-rrrrr-chug-chug-brrrrrrrr”ings.

Last, but not least, I would like to inform anyone who’s never been around them that bulls and spring time equal a lot of roaring and grunting. If they are not trying to have it off with a cow, they’re trying to fight each other to figure out who’s the toughest. They like to do this at one o’clock in the morning.

So, if you think that the countryside is a lovely place to live where little lambs hop on pogo-stick legs, horses whinny, and cows with extremely long eyelashes chew grass, you would be right. But don’t forget about the noises that come with all of it!

*The other thing we’ve seen twice in the last year are those planes that tow banners. These banners had marriage proposals on them! I always think one would have to be pretty sure of the answer before doing that, ’cause otherwise it would be a lot of money for a ‘no’. :/ It’s still a bit of an “aww” moment, though for me it’s more from a perspective of super-for-you-but-not-for-me. Marriage is not on my list of Necessary Accomplishments In My Life.

Oh my fuck, stationery heaven! And Hello Kitty, and bento boxes, and Sanrio plushies, and STUFF. I maybe peed my pants a little from the excitement (not really; that would be weird). I spent ages picking out the perfect pencil case and then I found a headband for $3; I stopped there because I knew I did not have much money left.

In fact, it turned out that I did not have enough money to buy anything. My card declined. Twice.

FOR SHAME!

I’m going back tomorrow, of course.

Today I went to the chain of supermarket I usually shop at, but in another part of the city because it just so happens to be up the road from gourmet supermarket, Nosh, and health food supermarket, Huckleberry Farms. The most delightful stop being at Huckleberry Farms because it’s the only place I can pick up a vegan pie or where anyone actually knows what a vegan is. No bug-eyed looks there! Nosh was…posh…and expensive, but they did have this stuff called liquid smoke, which you add to food to give it a smoked taste. I need it to make tempeh “bacon” (yes, this is very exciting for me!). Of course, the regular supermarket was, well, regular, but it wasn’t overly busy and thus I did not want to ram my trolley into anyone.

And, before I go, I want to recommend Teza Iced Teas. They come in great flavours such as Peach and Passionflower, Lemon and Mandarin and Velvetberry, and are delicious, fresh and thirst-quenching. Yummy!

My latest is Elliot Cowan, an actor who recently played the Jane Austen character Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy in a mini-series called Lost In Austen. It’s no secret that Pride and Prejudice is one of my all-time stories, be it in writing or one of the many on-screen versions. Elliot is actually now tied for #1 Mr. Darcy, with Colin Firth. He does such a brilliant job at capturing Darcy’s character, and let us not pretend Elliot isn’t bloody gorgeous!

The only issue with this new crush of mine is the lack of information and, more importantly, visual media available on the Internet. So mysterious and aloof, which I suppose is very attractive in itself but downright frustrating on a Sunday afternoon when you’re bored and feel like having a good perve…

Do you have a celebrity crush? Come on, tell me all about them (so I don’t feel so nutty…)!

I haven’t been able to get this song out of my head for a couple of days. Every time I hear it or see this video I collapse into laughter. There is also Tutti Frutti Summer Love.

Not the funniest video but The Ketchup Song always gives me a giggle, probably because I actually really liked it when it came out. Haha!

Anyone remember This Is How We Party by S.O.A.P? This is from 10 years ago, and I have to say it seems really innocent compared to how music sounds and what the videos are like nowadays.

This is ‘Rough Enough’ by Popsie, a European girl band from the late ’90s. I got their album in the summer of ’98 and spent a significantly large amount of time in my room dancing to it. I believe this was their first single, called ‘Single’. I really loved them. That was the summer of Popsie and Aaron Carter.

Billie, better known as Billie Piper, the one who was on Doctor Who, had quite the pop career ten years ago. This particular song was one I liked a lot back then.

Going back earlier to TLC with their video for ‘Creep’. I made my mum make satin pjs for me because of this video! I was probably 7 or 8 at the time. Except mine had quarter-moons with smiling faces for buttons.

Usher! I didn’t really like him all that much when I was younger, but I totally like this song now. Or I have this thing where I hated a song when it came out but like it now purely because it reminds me of the time back when it was released.

Ok, I should probably stop now before I spent all night doing this. By stop, I mean stop posting links. I probably will keep looking all night…