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November 25th, 2009
07:49 am - Memetics
Questions from ![[info - personal]](http://s.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png) trixtah:
1. What lead you into musical performance, and melodramatic electroclash [ETA: or whichever label actually suits!] in particular? Have you ever wanted to be a girl + guitar songwriter?
I don't think I ever had a choice. Music is inherent in my being, to wax pretentious for a moment. I couldn't not be musical - my grandmother had an old piano that fascinated me and we were allowed to take it home and get lessons for me. Now from piano we go naturally to synthesizers, since I am of course a massive geek and was fascinated by the technicalities of turning electrical impulses (in analog synths) or 1s and 0s (in digital synths and MIDI) into music. And from there, we get several years of me playing in dead-end bands, reliant on the usual bunch of flakes and druggies and plain wankers that you find in such bands, until a friend introduces me to Depeche Mode and I realise that - with a decent sequencing program and a few singing lessons - I can be a self-sufficient unit, no longer having to rely on a vocalist's ego or a bass player's ability to stay off the weed for ten minutes.
I find it difficult to imagine being girl + guitar because I find it difficult to imagine learning to play guitar to anywhere near the level of my keyboard playing. Girl + acoustic piano, certainly, perhaps even put out an album of that stuff, but (a) Tori Amos did it first and did it better; (b) pianos are heavy; (c) I like the flexibility of the electronic setup. As you'll find out when you buy Small Group Psychosis, I can go from Enya-like drones and tinkles to heavy-metal stomp to pseudo-orchestral grandeur. I am in control of my own little musical world, and it might not sound much like music sometimes, but at least it sounds like me.
2. You've been having a go at Gaelic football recently. Are you of Irish descent? What interests you about the game?
As mentioned in a previous post, the family tale is that my great-great-grandmother, Kathleen Lawless, was the same who was the last lady of the manor of Cloncurry in County Kildare, although if that's true then there seems to have been a massive scandal which we never talk about and that my great-grandmother was illegitimate and part Bengali. (So I like cricket and spicy food as well!) Truth be told, my favourite code of football is AFL (go the Hawks!), but there's not a women's league for that in Auckland, so Gaelic is the next best thing - plus, I can carry over a lot of my goalie skills from soccer. Also, Irish girls are teh hottz0rs.
3. How did you acquire your kitteh?
Four letters: SPCA. She stood up on her hind legs in her little enclosure to greet us as we came in, so she looked like she was saying "pick me! pick me!"
4. What's the best place(s) you've visited?
I love Melbourne to death, and I'll be there for WorldCon 2010, insha'allah. About the only reason I don't move there is that every Kiwi musician does that and I am loath to do anything popular or fashionable (plus, I like my current job). I do want to go back to Thailand at a stage where I'm not whacked out on painkillers and able to appreciate it properly - and also when it's not under military dictatorship. And I loved San Francisco, apart from the homeless people and the cops with guns.
5. What's a good place to eat out around Ponsonby/Grey Lynn/Westmere these days?
Geez, I dunno, I've only lived here for a week! A weird lady I met on a dating site took me to SPQR a few months ago and I was amazed at how gay the waiters were. The food was excellent, but I think (given my financial status) I will put off further gastronomic exploration until I've reached the limits of what cooking my own meals can do for me.
Meme participation, if desired:
• Leave me a comment saying "Free Helicopters On Demand"
• I'll respond by asking you five questions so I can satisfy my curiosity.
• Update your journal with the answers to the questions.
• Include this explanation in the post and offer to ask other people questions. (Or not, it's up to you)
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November 24th, 2009
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November 23rd, 2009
11:38 pm - Update
Little Miss Pictured-In-Icon has proved litterbox competence, and is thus free to roam the house. She has been very affectionate, which is totally out of character for her and I put it down to worry.
But seriously... perhaps in this great wide world there are pleasures more refined or intense than sitting in a piping-hot bubble bath by candlelight, an ice-cold beer in hand and Type O Negative on the stereo (album with "My Girlfriend's Girlfriend" on it). But really, I honestly can't think of them right now. Life is good if you pay attention to what's actually happening.
This entry was originally posted at http://vostoklake.dreamwidth.org/285472.html. Please comment there using OpenID.
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09:28 pm - Oriental prince in the land of SOUP
The wireless internet is finally working in The Tower of Murder*, and I have a staggeringly large and yet weight-losing bowl of udon, tofu and bok choy miso soup. Myfanwy is still in the laundry until she proves that she knows what the litterbox is for. The weather is up to Auckland norms of Freakin' Humid, and I only get 1 TV channel, but life is good.
* Official name for the Grey Lynn flat. Because it's where I hang out. (ref: the cool claymation dude from Flesh Gordon)
This entry was originally posted at http://vostoklake.dreamwidth.org/285278.html. Please comment there using OpenID.
Current Music: I'm going to burn your fucking planet to a fucking crisp!!!
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November 22nd, 2009
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November 21st, 2009
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November 20th, 2009
08:00 am - Genealogy
While one part of my family tree were cattle drovers from Nottinghamshire, I was always told that the Lawlesses were actually scions of nobility from somewhere called "Cloncurry" in Ireland. And today I just found the first evidence of that:
CLONCURRY, a parish, partly in the barony of EAST OPHALY, but chiefly in that of IKEATHY and OUGHTERANY, county of KILDARE, and province of LEINSTER, 4 miles (W. N. W.) from Kilcock; containing 2299 inhabitants.
[...]
The manor became the property of the Aylmer family, whose ancient seat, the castle, was defended for the parliament, in 1643, by Col. Monk, who was at length obliged to abandon it for want of provisions. From the Aylmer family the estate was afterwards purchased by Sir Nicholas Lawless, subsequently created Baron Cloncurry. During the disturbances of 1798, a skirmish took place at the foot of Ovidstown Hill, in this parish, between the king's troops and a party of the insurgents who had effected their escape from the county of Wexford
Here's more on several-greats-granddad Nick.
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Current Mood: ![[mood icon]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/charitycam/goth_girl/happy.gif) aristocratic
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November 19th, 2009
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November 18th, 2009
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November 16th, 2009
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November 15th, 2009
05:48 am - Que sera, sera / we're going to South Africa
Highlights from a travelling weekend:
- atrocious coffee at the railway station at Tongariro National Park, served by one American and one Central European of some description (backpackers have to make a living somehow);
- a righteously pissed-off train conductor threatening to put off a bevy of drunken soccer fans in Levin (a fate worse than death for anyone who knows the North Island)
- chez Crazy Cat Lady / Tofulope, meeting my ex-cat Vega (was she always that hairy?!?) and her skittish but pretty little sister Turtle;
- a delicious meal of tofu and pasta;
- remembering one of the reasons I continue to live in Auckland, viz. the fact that apparently winter lasts all the way into November in Wellington;
- remembering that, while there are many things to love about Welly's public transport, the 60-year-old trains on the Johnsonville line are too noisy to have a conversation in;
- buying a white scarf and hat at Farmers Lambton Quay, and explaining to the clerk exactly where Bahrain is;
- reliving my young adulthood, wandering vaguely around town with mermaid all afternoon trying not to spend money;
- dinner at one of the glorious Middle Eastern restaurants on Cuba Mall (staffed by Assyrians, I believe);
- the kind and courteous fan who agreed to swap seats so the Mermaid lady could sit by me and have the offside rule explained to her;
- lustily singing the National Anthem in Maori, since the English lyrics suck;
- the fantastic cheering effort by the Yellow Fever/White Noise boys, including having the brass nads to take their shirts off with ten minutes to go, on a freezing evening in Wellington;
... and, lastly, being there, and shouting myself hoarse, the day Rory Fallon put the ball in the Bahrain net; my new boyfriend, Mark Paston, saved a penalty; and the mighty All Whites went to their second ever World Cup. I'm only just old enough to remember the last time, so I hope Brazil don't beat us 4-0 again. For the sake of my flist, I do hope we end up in the same pool as Australia, Germany and the US so we can beat you all. XD
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Current Mood: ecstatic
Current Music: Minuit, "Aotearoa"
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12:00 am - Today's selection of random crap
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November 14th, 2009
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November 13th, 2009
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November 11th, 2009
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November 10th, 2009
07:54 am - One swallow never made a spring
Twenty years ago today, I believe I was at home studying for my final high school examinations, and I turned on the TV at about lunchtime and there were a bunch of Germans dancing on a wall.
I really believe that New Model Army sum up best what happened that night, and afterwards.
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Current Music: Auferstanden aus Ruinen
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