A book of last words that don't have to be famous. Spotted that on the blog of a fellow NZer. It's interesting reading...

I visited Phil for some more help today. I now have handy functions that allows me to link and/or quote at a right-click. No opening another window, no logging into blogger.com. Maybe I'm lazy, but I like this. See how it (BlogQuote) works:

Install BlogThis

You can only have either Pro or Classic installed at any one time (the flavors just install over top of each other), but you can have both BlogThis (the original) and BlogQuote (which puts any highlighted text in the page you are blogging into an italic blockquote) installed at the same time: when you just want a link to the page, use BlogThis, and when you want to quote something, use BlogQuote to make the quoted text stand out from your comments.

So students are going on strike in support of their teachers (or perhaps against the government). Something's got to give. The election is on the 27th of July. Does Trevor have time to do anything? Or will people's careers and educations be messed around even more? It's interesting to note that there is no indication on education site (that I could see) that teachers had failed to ratify the settlement. Check out the PPTA.

The cynic in me is realising that tertiary education isn't going to feature in this election. But I shouldn't be pessimistic, because it is bad for me...

Online personal ads. No, I don't have one. But good on Yahoo for cashing in on the lonely, anonymous state of the world where people are more likely to find love online than talk to their next door neighbour. Sure, it may not be the desperate that are driving the industry (they would say that, wouldn't they), but don't you think it's kind of sad that younger people are using such services, perhaps limiting the scope of their real-life personal interactions. Are computers taking over our lives?

Lawyer jokes are welcome. We shall have our revenge...

Oh, before I forget, venture off and investigate The Velmas, and support some new and independent music. I've listened to a demo, and some of the singer's individual material, and I was quite impressed. The advantages of being a fan of The Verve Pipe! So I'm going to order the CD when I've got a little space on my credit card!

While I'm thinking about good music, I visited Lean just before and noticed a rather cool 'popup' advertising their next gig. I miss my Lego. A rather attractive photo of the guys, too. If you haven't listened to my copious ramblings about them yet, go and check out Lean. You can listen at garageband.com or iuma.com. Step out of the mainstream and listen to some more music that isn't being force fed to you by those nasty major labels. Go on, I dare you.

So, yesterday I took the IQ test on www.emode.com. I scored 135, and the title of Visionary Philosopher. After 40 questions, it was determined that I am equally good at mathematical and verbal tasks, and learn from experience. I get the maths and verbs bit, but how on earth do they know that I learn best from experience?! I do?! You can pay to get a full report sent to you (a whole 15 pages) but I don't think that's going to be happening any time soon. Still, I would like to know which questions I got wrong!!

I went back today and did a variety of tests, including emotional IQ (apparently I'm very empathetic), and the 'right job' quiz. At least my choice of job fits in with what I already thought of myself, revealing "From that, we can tell you are tirelessly inquisitive and thoughtful. You love exploring new ideas, investigating, and understanding the world around you" and that the right job was something allowing me to be analytical. Cool. My personality type is "Observer". I'm happy with that.

My theme song is "Walking on Sunshine", I'm more nice than naughty, I'm a subtle flirt, and my inner rockstar is Sade. Oh, and in my past life I was a leopard. Uh-huh. It must be true, I found it on the internet...

It was the last day of lectures for the term. I know have 12 days to prepare for my 6 exams. I really need to draw up a schedule. That will give me a legitimate reason for not actually studying. Anyway, I have no more lectures on international law, or ethics. I'm not too upse about missing out on international, but I'm a bit sad about ethics. I liked it. So many law papers are 'black letter' law where you learn the law, how it works, how it doesn't, and maybe a bit of it's history. There isn't often scope for any indepth critique or suggestion for reform. Ethics actually required you to THINK about yourself and how you fit into the scheme of things, whether the whole thing (like the legal profession's monopoly over many aspects of legal service) is justifiable. Still, I guess there is nothing to stop me from thinking about whatever I want to!

My family law, employment law, and evidence classes continue for the rest of the year, and I pick up the advanced intellectual property paper to replace the one that just finished. I'll have a much lighter load in the second half. I might yet pick up another paper, but then again, I might not. I could always just studying really hard for the four papers I will have... um, yeah. Maybe.

I went to the supermarket today. I used a trolley. Big deal, I hear you say. Well, you see, I don't normally. I'm not a very patient person, and I find the supermarket incredibly frustrating because of all the people who have no idea what they are looking for, or decide to chat with their neighbour in the middle of a bloody aisle. Usually I just charge around with the handily supplied 'express bags' grabbing the few items I can carry home on the bus (no car, no licence). I have no idea what possessed me to get a trolley today, and the minute I was in the supermarket, I regretted it. My social conscience prevented me from abandoning it in the produce section where some little old lady would be blocked off from the lemons. As a consequence I must have given at least five people the "would you move your f#$&king trolley out my f*&$#king way?! now!" look, and stood 'patiently' while they decided whether they wanted the $1.35 packet of rice or the $1.45 one. ARGGHHH!!!

While I'm ranting about supermarkets, why is that some families like to shop together? I don't mean Mum or Dad and the kids (I'm not that unreasonable), but the middle aged husband and wife team. You know the ones, the husband pushes the trolley, the wife seeks out the bargains (while standing in the middle of the aisle blocking off other shoppers!!), and then trails along next to the trolley, taking up valuable space in the trolley passing lane. I swear some people have no idea that they aren't the only people in the world. Normally, this isn't a problem for me, as I can squeeze through with my bags. Not today. And because I had a trolley I had no idea how heavy all the cans of tomatoes (they were on special) would be once I got off the bus. I hate the supermarket.

I did have a pleasant shopping experience at the butcher shop though. The butcher is located just down the street from the supermarket, and generally cheaper, and so gets a lot of my custom. The butcher is getting on in years, and what you could class as a 'gentleman'. Once you've paid for you purchase, he brings the bag around the counter, and opens the door for you, passing you the bag as you exit. It's so sweet. I guess I'm an old-fashioned girl at heart!

I've been listening to Tori Amos...

Please disregard my whiney last post. I got it sorted. I just didn't know enough about FTPing. But I know enough now, thanks to Phil and some careful instruction reading. So, the upshot is, my minimal expenditure on my ISP is very good value! Why pay for a fancy host with PHP when I get it for free with my internet conenction? Most of the other providers I checked out wanted $20 for a similar service, and I would have needed my own domain name. Now I just need people to use them, so it looks like people read my site. I know they do, sitemeter tells me so... I'm watching you!

I've been listening to Phantom Planet...

Oh, last night I tried, once again, to put a place for comments under each post, so I don't have to use the shoutbox that currently exists (which people seem to be afraid of using, and email instead!). It would be nice to have the comments moved into the archive along with the relevant post, instead of the static comments box, which once it is full, renders comments invisible to readers (though I can still see them).

It turns out my ISP (the cheapest I could find), does support PHP, so I can use remotely hosted dotcomments, as explained by Phil Ringnalda in his ever helpful unofficial FAQ blog. Anyway, it was all going OK until it came time to create the necessary subdirectory. I can't. And I'm pretty sure that is the reason why I couldn't get it to work. Damn it all. Maybe I can create a directory, but I don't know how. According to my FTP programme, what looks like a directory to me (my bit of the public_html directory) isn't. Maybe the solution is simple, but one consequence of my cheap internet connection is expensive service. Today I don't feel like paying $2 a minute to call for help when chances are the person I speak too won't know what I'm talking about, and if they do, the answer will probably be no.

One day I will find a cheap host in NZ who offers what I need, so I don't have to fork out US currency to get it. I have found one no frills provider, but that still leaves the question of registering a domain name and the fees associated with that. Priorities. So send me email!

Oh, and check out Jen's blog. She was having difficulties with her old blog template, and I directed her to BlogSkins. She's got some rather cool quizes linked. Give 'em a go. It's fun.

I've been listening to Poe...

One day of term to go. This year has gone so fast, and I'm conscious that I have not achieved what I had intended. My master plan was to stay on top of my work, be dilligent and focus. What a joke! It's just so damned hard to focus when you know that in the past you've coasted and done just fine. When my some bizarre happenings I was super studious in the first half of last year, I blew myself away with how much better I could do. Why am I happy with my consistent OKness? I am happy. I feel bad for a few minutes when I think of all the time I have wasted, and the effort I could have put in that would have paid dividends, but then I go back to thinking that I'm going alright anyway. No doubt my apathy will kick me in the ass when it comes to finding a real job. And yet even that isn't enough motivation to shake me out of my tree. Why not?! It's not as if my heart isn't in the law, it so is. This is what I want to do, something I truly see myself doing. I'm not missing anything. I've got the knowledge and skills, without a doubt. I'm just not applying myself so that my assessment reflects that. I've never studied for exams, at least not in the traditional sense. I think it's too late to start now. It's obviously not the way I function. And yet every now and again I feel the need to beat myself up over it! Hence this post!

My Mum sent me some gloves and scarves to match the hats she made me! And the guy at the service station gave me a free chocolate fish! Life is good!!

I cried a lot this morning. I had to say goodbye to someone who at one stage meant the world to me. I guess this last week saw the culmination of a few months of denial, feelings of rejection, confusion, and resentment. I'd like to think nobody was to blame, that we just drifted apart, but I'm not sure. I know I'm not the easiest person to get along with, but I think something changed in our dynamic. All I know for sure is that I tried very hard to keep things the way they were. But you can't control how another person thinks, more's the pity. Perhaps the reason I felt so bad was that sense of failure. I could have let things so how they were, but that wasn't doing me any favours. In fact, it was probably the opposite. I had to make a break, I couldn't just let it go. I needed to share my feelings one last time, to clear the air. For my sake. There's no looking back, except to some wonderful memories. But it is no use pining for something that isn't going to return, and I wasn't satisfied with how things had become. I've got that sense of closure now. It pretty much came as soon as I got my feelings out. There's still so much more I could have said, but it wasn't worth it. I'm not into wasting my time, in that sense. Why should I have continued to put myself on the line, when I can now move on with a clear (enough) conscience? Things change, nothing lasts forever, and all of that. So, today was tinged with sadness and reminiscence, and some self-pity. But overall, there was a sense of well-being, of strength. I'm a better person for my experiences, I know more of myself. That can't be bad...

Anyway, my Grandad is doing well. He got through his surgery well, and seems to be on the road to recovery, rather against the odds. All that finger crossing must have paid off. Selfishly, this means I get to see him when I visit my family after my exams. My ticket is all booked now, for travel on the 5th of July, returning on the 15th. Of course, there's the small matter of exams between now and then...

A lot has been going on in the country this last week, while I've been neglecting my blog. To be honest, I'm not that concerned that I don't know about half of it. I am conscious that I should care, but I have to wonder if I will ever have the time, and inclination, to catch up. I'm not sure what it is that I've actually been doing with my time. Certainly not studying. Tomorrow, I promise myself. I will study.

I've changed my template again, so it now looks as the designer intended, plus all my nonsense and introspection. You'd think I was indecisive or something...

I've been listening to Tonic...