a horse, after all

Today I am a major grouch. I spent most of the night trying to find a comfortable position to lie in; preferably one that didn't involve my back or my stomach/ribs touching anything. Of course, this is impossible (I'm not a horse, you know), so I didn't get enough sleep.

Jeremy had to practically hoist me out of bed this morning, such were the aches in my legs and ribs. I am lucky that he is so patient with me on Wednesday mornings. He offers to make anything from a full variety of breakfast items, knowing that I usually a) feel like I'm going to vomit, and b) chewing anything hard, crunchy, or in anyway un-liquid hurts my jaw/head (it's all that bone marrow in the skull). Today I had berry yoghurt, and that was good. Except when it was 11am, and I hadn't eaten anything else. I had to try and quell my tummy-grumbles as I listened to the speaker going wayyy over her time limit. I managed to keep myself from sliding off my chair into a hungry and overheated puddle, but it put me into a foul mood that is still to dissipate.

Making me slightly happier is moving a book from 'Want to read' to 'Reading now' on my Facebook Visual Bookshelf. I bought Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver from Unity Books yesterday. I've been wanting to read it for a long time, and I stroke the beautiful-paper cover every time I go into the shop. Yesterday, I was weighing up whether to buy a book by Theodore Dalrymple or the Kingsolver, and BK won. I was in a bad mood yesterday afternoon too, and I thought the Kingsolver book would cheer me up. And it did.
So I have sore bones, and there isn't really any remedy for it. It usually passes by Thursday, which means I should be less grouchy by tomorrow. I think I'll spend the rest of the afternoon eating a delicious Granny Smith apple, reading my new book, and thinking about how good I've got it. After all, I could be a horse.

otaki beach

I haven't written here for a long time, and this entry is only prompted by a large, looming assignment. But I'd like to make it known that this is my last assignment. Phew – 5 years of assignments is enough, thanks.

I don't much feel like writing about everything that has happened since my last update. Although, I will say that The Six Pack Two not only got to number one on the New Zealand Bestseller's List for Fiction, but it is also being reprinted (after selling out of 30,000 copies). I'm pretty pleased about that.

Only three more weeks of my diploma. I'm going to miss my classmates, despite their funny ways. I won't miss the large assignments, or the computer lab with no windows, or the notoriously slow computers. But I've enjoyed going along to class at 9am every morning, the 10am coffee break, and the general chitchat about punctuation, books we are reading, gossiping, sharing ideas, and just generally becoming friends with many of my fellow students. It's been an intensive year; even more stressful than my Honours year. In light of this, I'm glad J and I got married last year and not this year!

We went on holiday last weekend to the IDFNZ holiday home in Otaki. It was really great to get out of Wellington; sometimes I find it so claustrophobic here. I was pretty tired most of the trip; my neutrophils are low right now. I still managed to take two walks along the beach each day, bolstered by the energy-saving activities of reading books in the sun, drinking a cup of tea. I've even got some photos:

Skimming rocks on the river

Uprooted tree on Otaki Beach

Trying to make that impressive rock-thrown-into-the-water noise.

Success!

I was so surprised to see a meringue for sale in a café that we bought it. Then it came to our table all covered in cream and raspberry jam...

But that didn't stop us eating it...

This is what holidays are all about...

Taken on our trip to Auckland the previous weekend; just off Mayoral Drive.

And that's about all I've got to say. The next two months are going to be exciting. I'll try and write more about it.