False nails

The first professional manicure I ever had was at age 12 and I got fake nails put on. I thought it was pretty neat but they didn’t last that long, and because I’ve always had fairly decent nails of my own I could never justify spending the dollars on getting fake ones. Or professional manicures for that matter. I still don’t, really. However, a couple of weeks ago my sister-in-law treated me to a professionally done set of false French tips and, quite frankly, I fucking love these things. My own nails, while perfectly fine, are a little on the thin side and once I let them get to a about half a centimetre in length they start to break pretty easily. But these fake babies are as hard as anything and have served me well. I can’t bite and/or pick at my own nails and my nibbling at the skin around the nail bed has decreased as well. I am going to get another set put on later in the week because, well, why the hell not? It’s not like I spend a fortune every month doing my hair and on make-up and professional beauty services, so the occasional set of false nails is something I am highly supportive of! At lest until my bank balance says otherwise…

Mid-century furniture

I have a serious addiction to mid-century anything,  but especially furniture at the moment. I want to my future house to be mainly mid-century pieces. I wish I could afford this cabinet! It’s to die for.

Scrambled eggs

One delightfully filling, protein packed meal, breakfast, lunch or dinner! My favourite way to make them is with a couple of tablespoons of milk, salt and freshly ground black pepper. Sometimes I like ‘em with herbs, too, and sometimes I like ‘em with toast. I’m lucky enough to know exactly where my eggs come from (the chickens that have free range over our property, except inside the house) and what those chickens eat. I can assure you that eggs from happy, healthy chickens, freshly laid that day, are a zillion times nicer than those from battery productions.

When I made some for lunch today, one of the yolks broke as I cracked the egg and it looked like Pac Man for a few seconds. It made my day.

Chihuahuas

I’ve had the privilege of knowing three Chihuahuas in my life, one of which currently lives in my house. I can say, without a doubt, they are my favourite breed of dog, and this is coming from someone who is pro-rescue, which usually means mix-breed. I love mix-breeds too, but there is something really special about Chis and I am utterly desperate for a pup of my own right now! Possibly because I’ve been having extra maternal urges lately and since I can’t have children yet, the next best thing is a dog.

Matryoshka Dolls

I adore matryoshka dolls, though I do not own one! Never have. But I am on the hunt for the perfect doll so I will be sure to post about it when I bring it home. In the mean time, I will happily swoon over pretty photographs of other peoples’ matryoshkas.

I’ve always been quite fascinated with names and the first thing I think of when I know a new baby has been born, a part from “Is he or she healthy?”, is “What’d they call him/her? God, I hope it doesn’t suck.” And if I know the person well or the information has been made public prior to birth, I want to know; I need to know. I can’t help it; I’m a bit of a name snob. I have my own definite taste and I know it’s not for everyone, so I obviously get that people have different ideas about what to call their kids. But some names should never, ever be given to a child. Ever. Or, at the very least, there should be some kind of spelling regulation. I have posted about this topic before, but I have a few new ‘gems’ from the unusually-spelled-names mine.

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!

One of the highlights of my weekend was when Josh and I invaded a new furniture store and sat in their massage chairs for about ten minutes. Too bad we didn’t win lotto on the weekend because I guarantee that matching massage chairs would have been at the top of the shopping spree list.

Am on my bed waiting for the rain to ease a bit before I go and get my freshly laundered bedding from inside, after which I will make my bed then get into it and spend the rest of the night reading Harry Potter. I remember when those books were becoming quite popular here in New Zealand back in 1999 but I never tried reading them. Then I refused to read them because everyone and their grandmother was reading them. And now that Twilight is everyone’s favourite it is safe for me to finally read Harry Potter books. I have seen most of the movies though. I don’t think I would have enjoyed the books if I was younger, to be honest, because I was very picky about what I read. Now I’m older and tend to be more open minded, so I can absolutely say that J. K. Rowling is a marvellous author and no bloody wonder so many children and adults have been captivated by her work for the last decade.

Very old photo of my bedroom. Basically the same as now except the duvet cover is different and so are a few other things.

Do you ever feel like you just have to change something about your living spaces? I don’t have the luxury of being in my own place so I just have my bedroom which is roughly 3×4 metres. Quite frankly, life in this little box is beginning to piss me off, however not just because I’m itching to have a place of my own but because I have changed a bit since I moved into this room. I feel like it doesn’t reflect me as much as it used to. I have made small changes here and there over the last year and half, but nothing seriously major in terms of furniture arrangements and such (except for moving my drawers to make way for a desk).

So, my plans for the long weekend, providing the weather is nice enough because I will need to put things outdoors, is to rearrange and turn my room into a sanctuary I actually enjoy being in. Hopefully anyway!

Yep, I’m still alive, though I feel only about one half living, if that! This week has been the last of classes for the semester and it couldn’t have come fast enough. I am thoroughly over it now. I have to admit that the week has been a fairly quiet one for me though, because most of my assignments were due a couple of weeks ago. I got through that mad rush okay. I even got an A+ for my sociology essay. I was expecting a B+ to and A- at best, so I’m very pleased with my result!

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.