Memories shared, forgotten, and reviewed

I often share Facebook “Memories”, some of which are more meaningful (or whatever) than others, and in many of them I joke about something or other (often at my expense). Other times, they serve as a focus for reflection or remind me of other stories. In any case, they’re always a snapshot of what I was doing on a certain date. Yesterday’s assortment of Facebook “Memories” was an example I shared on Facebook as a sort of review of my "Memories" timeline.

On December 18, 2009, fourteen years ago yesterday, I was telling folks to hit me up if they wanted a Google Wave invite, adding “and I can’t imagine why”. A mere five years later, in 2014, I shared that “Memory”, and said I’d already forgotten about Google Wave. It turned out hardly anyone wanted it.

Also yesterday in 2014, I installed the FB Messenger app on my phone. Nowadays, I have it on my iPad (where I use it the most), and the MacOS version on my desktop Mac. When I shared this momentous achievement on FB in 2014, I said I did it “so you all can reach me even when I'm out and about (like today). 😊,” but I’m not sure that smiley emoji I ended with truly conveyed my sarcasm.

On December 18, 2017, I had a peanut butter and jam sandwich that, I said, was “just like my mother used to make! Well, yeah, if she used margarine with plant sterols, low-GI multi-grain bread with linseed & soy, no added salt peanut butter, and NZ jam that’s mostly fruit (but just a little because it’s still high in sugars). Sigh. Doctors take away all the fun.” All of which is still true, and it still amuses me. I also wrote a blog post about this particular social media post, using the original social media post  as a jumping off point for me to talk about the larger issues.

Things got real on this date in 2019 when I published a Note called “Nigel’s Shadow” (which I also published as a blog post). A side note: Why did Facebook take away the ability to create new Notes (or edit old ones—I always make typos, but often don’t notice for ages)? I think it was a mistake because they want people to spend more time in FB, but took away something that could help achieve their goal.

I found that the mostest winningest thing to happen on a December 18 was on December 18, 2022: That day, I mowed my lawns! Bonus, it was rushed because rain was predicted. And that “Memory” reinforces what I think we can all agree on: Apparently mowing my lawns is the centre of my entire life. Well, that and Leo.

None of these things are important, in my opinion. Some of the items in this review became blog posts, while others didn’t, as is often the case. But after I posted the original version of this “Memory” review on my personal Facebook, I realised that the things I post there are the closest I now have to the “daily” journals I used to keep from my mid-teens to my mid-20s (roughly), though there was a brief resurrection in my early days in New Zealand when I adapted emails to friends and family in the USA into a sort of journal—basically, similar to how I now often adapt things I post on social media to make into blog posts. In a sense, I’ve been doing this sort of cross-adaptation for decades—even before blogs and social media existed.

In recent years, though, I’ve often hesitated to adapt Facebook posts into blog posts, and two days ago there was a reason. That day, I talked about the “Memory” from December 17, 2017, and I intended to share it here, too—until I actually looked here and found I covered much of the same territory in a blog post on that date last year. While my Facebook post also talked about things I didn’t talk about here, it was similar enough that I didn’t want to talk about it again—and not for the first time. There have been several times in recent years when I had an idea for a blog post—and sometimes even started work on it—and then searched something or other on my blog and found out I’d already done a post that's substantially the same. I try and avoid that by not talking about the same subject at all—except when there’s a specific point in doing that, maybe.

Yesterday, then, when I again looked at my “Memories”, I knew that there was never a time I did anything like this review, so it was safe to do it and share it here, too. I added at the end of the Facebook post, “What will today add to this list? Stay tuned—it’ll be a surprise to me, too.”

I planned on adding there (and here) whatever it was I did yesterday, specifically, I planned on trimming Leo and was going to make a lame joke about “mowing” him. Trouble is, I developed a bad headache that didn’t want to go away, and I haven’t felt 100% since. In fact, the only thing I accomplished yesterday was to run the dishwasher—and felt too poorly to think of a way to make a joke about it—or, for that matter, to share yesterday’s Facebook post here. Now, I have.

There are plenty of things I planned to post here, not just FB "Memories", and whether they were begun, completed, or merely contemplated, they never made it to publication. As the year runs out, some of them may end up here after all. Or not. It’s been a rough couple years, and there’s no reason to think that’ll change in the next 10 days—unless it does, I guess. In any event, I wouldn’t be surprised if there are multi-post days between now and the end of the year—or if there aren't. That, too will "be a surprise to me, too.”

One thing is certain: Because this blog doesn’t take it upon itself to remind me what I posted on a certain date, it’s unlikely I’ll have a “Memory”, or even a memory, of this post. Some things really do never change.

And suddenly I have an urge to mow my lawns…

Unexpected connections and events

Back in November 2020, I went on a trip to Queenstown with some of the family. I talked about it in a blog post at the time, and that post included a photo montage, along with a link to a Google Photo album of some photos I took on the trip, one of those photos is at right, and shows a busker playing a recycled piano at Queenstown’s lakefront. It was part of a nice day, and the atmosphere in Queenstown that morning.

Last week, I learned that the piano player, AJ Hickling (I never knew his name before), has terminal pancreatic cancer and is unlikely to ever perform there again. He’s been performing in Queenstown since 2012, and only stopped in September when he was diagnosed. He told news site Stuff, “The only time I really felt I knew what I was here for was when I was playing music.”

I remember being fascinated that he was there, playing on that beat-up old piano he rescued from the rubbish, filling the area with beautiful music. I thought all the contrasts were really interesting—and also that it all just seemed appropriate for the Queenstown lakefront.

Obviously, I don’t know him, and I also never spoke with him that day three years ago. He was busy playing, and I never interrupt musicians (apart from my sister when she was practicing, but I was in primary school at the time, so I don’t think that really counts). Nevertheless, I knew who it was about before I read the story, as soon as I saw the news alert about him when I sat down with a coffee and checked my iPad. It stirred up all sorts of things.

I thought about the day I took this photo, just one of many from that holiday. It was a fun trip—and difficult at the same time: We were there fourteen months after Nigel died, after the first Covid lockdown, and at a time when New Zealand’s borders were closed (which wasn’t bad for us: Queenstown wasn’t crowded as it so often is normally). AJ Hickling was certainly part of what I remember about that trip.

It also reminds me, yet again, that absolutely nothing about life is certain, and that it often isn’t even remotely predictable. While he’s realistic about how this will play out, he of course still hopes for a miracle, as I’m sure his family does, too. But for him to have quietly touched the lives of so many people from around the world just by playing music on that beat-up rescued piano, that’s a kind of miracle all its own.

I wish him well and hope he gets his miracle. I’m also grateful for the magic he spread that day three years ago.

Weekend Diversion: 1983, Part 14

This week in 1983, a new song went to Number One, becoming the last Number One of the year. On December 10, 1983, "Say Say Say" (above), by Paul McCartney and Michael Jackson reached Number One, and spent the last four weeks of the year there. There were three 1983 songs that spent four weeks at Number one within 1983, but only one of them limited to that year alone—but more about that later.

“Say Say Say” was the first single from McCartney's fourth solo studio album, Pipes of Peace, and was released in October 1983. The album was Top Twenty in all the countries I mention in these posts, except for New Zealand, where it only reached 38.

The song was the seventh Top 10 hit for Jackson in one year's time, a feat that only Elvis Presley and—ironically perhaps—The Beatles had achieved at that point. It was also the third Number One song that year with Michael Jackson. To date, this song was McCartney’s last Number One single in the USA.

The music video was directed by Bob Giraldi, who had directed Jackson’s “Beat It” video (that song was in Part 4 of this series). During the filming of the video, the McCartneys stayed at Sycamore Valley Ranch, and Jackson visited them there. He told them he’d like to buy it some day, and in 1988 he did, renaming it “Neverland Ranch”.

I wasn’t particularly fond of this song or its video, but I didn’t hate them, either. Mainly, I was kind of indifferent to them. Nothing about that has changed for me in the 40 years since—not the first time that’s been the case, of course. Still, it’s a pleasant enough song, I suppose, and there were certainly other 1983 songs that I had an actually negative reaction to, so that’s—something?

"Say Say Say" reached Number 4 in Australia, Number One in Canada (Platinum), 10 in New Zealand, 2 in the UK (Silver), and Number One on the USA’s “Billboard Hot 100”, as well as Number One on Cash Box; it was certified Platinum in the USA.

That’s the end of this year’s look at the Number One songs of 1983, a year that was very important for me. As I said way back in Part One of this series:

The thing about 1983 isn’t (merely) that it was 40 years ago, it’s that it was my first full year living in Chicago, and it’s when I established what my life would be up until 1995 when I met Nigel and moved to New Zealand. 1983 was a very significant year for me.

1983, then, was a starting point of sorts, and the songs I’ve talked about in this series were all part of my life’s soundtrack that year—some perhaps more welcome that others, and some certainly more significant that others. It’s logical, then, that I’ll continue the story next year with a new series about the Number One songs of 1984. The significance of the songs of that year were, for me, every bit as mixed as the songs of 1983—and that’s part of what I find makes it so interesting.

In a sense, though, the series about 1984 Number Ones has already begun: “Say Say Say” was Number One for the first two weeks of 1984, too (for a total of six weeks at Number One). In fact, the first Number One song of 1983, "Maneater", by Daryl Hall and John Oates, first hit Number One on December 18, 1982, and remained there for the first two weeks of 1983—four weeks in total. So… should the 1984 series just be a repeat of this post? I'm joking, obviously. The 1983 series began with three songs (because I forgot to start it on time…), so the first part for 1984’s series will talk about the second Number One song of that year (that’ll be clearer when that post appears).

In the meantime, it’s at least possible that before this year ends, I might tack a post or two onto this series (time permitting) to talk about more of the “also-rans” of 1983, songs that didn’t make it to Number One but that were important to me personally for one reason or another. This IS a personal blog, after all.

However, speaking only about the Number One songs of 1983, that’s a wrap for this series. To end it, I’d like to say say say something interesting, witty, or profound, but that’s not going to happen—and it doesn’t need to. I think the songs speak for themselves.

Thanks for joining me at the turntable for this series! See you for the new series beginning January 21, 1984—which is also a rather significant day for me personally. Nice.

Previously in the “Weekend Diversion – 1983” series:

Weekend Diversion: 1983, Part 1
Weekend Diversion: 1983, Part 2
Weekend Diversion: 1983, Part 3
Weekend Diversion: 1983, Part 4
Weekend Diversion: 1983, Part 5
Weekend Diversion: 1983, Part 6
Weekend Diversion: 1983, Part 7
Weekend Diversion: 1983 – And also
Weekend Diversion: 1983 – And also more
Weekend Diversion: 1983, Part 8
Weekend Diversion: 1983, Part 9
Weekend Diversion: 1983, Part 10
Weekend Diversion: 1983, Part 11
Weekend Diversion: 1983, Part 12
Weekend Diversion: 1983, Part 13

A venture out

After putting it off a bit too long, today I ventured out to The Base (shopping centre) and Te Awa (the mall that’s part of The Base). I needed a haircut (the part I’d put off) and to do some necessary shopping.

My first shopping stop was JB HiFi, which moved to Te Awa from Central Hamilton (the mall is a much better location, IMHO), to pick up a couple things (after Price Spy told me they had the best prices). I was helped by very nice, tall (and nice looking—well, he was, and on this blog I speak the truth as I see it) young man with a North American accent (I didn’t ask where he was from; didn’t want him to think I was flirting).

After that, it was off to The Warehouse for some specific things I’d looked at on their App. It was a little bit for my Christmas tree (though they were sold out of Christmas ornament hooks! Most of my ornaments have unbent paper clips on them, and, honestly, these days what else would I ever use them for?!), something basic for the house (towels for the arm of my sofa, to protect it from Leo leaving dirty paw prints on it), and a shirt for me (possibly for my trip to Fiji next month).

While I was at The Warehouse I tried on hats (to protect my head in Fiji), and through that I discovered Panama-style hats really don’t suit me. One kinda hipster-ish brimmed hat was okay, by I’m not sure it’s the best option (it was kinda cheaply made, tbh). The search continues.

I’d intended another stop at The Base, but changed my mind, not the least because my tolerance of crowds of strangers was nearing three-quarters of my capacity. However, I also managed my Good Citizen move of the day: On the way into the store, I dropped off a shopping bag of soft plastics for recycling.

On the way home, I went to get petrol. Wednesday is 10c off per litre day, which I don’t usually bother with—I save maybe $3 or $4 on a fill-up, but since I was already out, why not? On the way home, I realised that was probably the last time I’ll buy petrol until 2024.

I returned to a very happy Leo, and a nice cool house. I have a lot more to do this week, but it’s all around the house. Leo would’ve been even happier if he knew that.

AmeriNZ Podcast episode 407 is now available

AmeriNZ Podcast episode 407, “The circus begins”, is now available from the podcast website. There, you can listen, download or subscribe to the podcast episode, along with any other episode.

The five most recent episodes of the podcast are listed on the sidebar on the right side of this blog.

Tooth telling

Today was part two of my most recent adventures in dentistry, but it’s now just a part of routine maintenance, descended from, but not part of, the old Tooth Tales series of posts I did. That series began in April of 2014, and ended, undramatically and pretty much unceremoniously, in May 2021, when I began routine maintenance—like most people have.

Last week’s appointment, despite my error-born confusion over when, precisely, it was, went well in most respects. My x-rays looked good, and the dentist saw no issues. They hygienist then did the “industrial tooth-scraping”, as I call it with mocking exaggeration, and in the process found a quite deep pocket had formed at the base on one tooth that hadn’t had a pocket before. Uh oh.

Such a thing could be caused by a fracture in the root, however, I’d felt no pain, and such a thing is painful. Maybe it was a tooth’s version of a hairline crack? Or, maybe nothing sinister at all? Further investigation was necessary.

This morning, I went back to my dentist who first took x-rays of the roots of that particular tooth—more detailed and specific than the general lot he took last week. And here, a side note: I’m still always surprised at how fast modern dental x-ray technology is, going from a beep to to an image on the computer in seconds. I remember when they used film, which required a much longer exposure and then the film had to be developed, and it wasn’t digital. My dentist mentioned that he had to learn that as part of his dental training, though he’s never actually had to do it that way. He said he also liked how modern x-ray technology exposed the patient to dramatically less radiation. I share his enthusiasm for that fact.

Fortunately, it turned out that there’s no sign of a crack or other defect in the tooth (apart from fillings, which are fine). He did tests that determined that the tooth itself is sound, and the specific x-rays of the tooth’s roots showed no damage, which was reinforced by the fact I’d never had any pain whatsoever. The most likely explanation is that it’s just another result of my ongoing gum disease (it can’t be cured, and for me, anyway, it can only be managed). So, the best thing for now is to watch it, and, fortunately, my next hygienist appointment is in only six months.

Due to my own fault/lack of care, the dental disease has been a bit worse than it otherwise should be. That’s because sometime after two cleanings ago, I stopped using the little little interdental brushes to help keep calculus at the gumline under control, and so, it was able to make more hospitable places for bacteria to move in to set up house, destroying bone tissue and forming pockets. I have no defence for my lack of attention to using those little brushes, what I knew only too well is my best defence against the calculus and bacteria, and so, the best way to the deal with the ongoing problem. However, there’s a reason this happened, and that’s directly related the Weltschmerz I’ve been dealing with off and on over the past couple years—fix one, perhaps fix the other?

At any rate, so far I’ve been good about using those little interdental brushes again—though I only resumed using them less than a week ago, so… yay me, I guess. The scare with the tooth/pocket may help persuade me to be even more determined to persevere with those little brushes, and to be as regular in using them as I used to be before the Bad Times of 2021 began.

There was one last thing about this already unusually complicated dental maintenance story: Thanks to a Facebook “Memory”, I found out that I first saw the dentist three years ago yesterday. When I told the dentist that, he said, “happy anniversary—where’s the cake?” It’s a bonus when a healthcare professional has a similar sense of humour to me.

First music mash-up of 2023

The video above is “DIE FOR 2023 | A Year-End Megamix (Mashup)” by Adamusic, the first of the annual year-ed mash-ups I share on this blog. This mashup was released yesterday, and I happened to be on YouTube not long afterward (I’d forgotten it was being released yesterday), so, for what I’m pretty sure was the first time ever, I was among the first people to watch the video—awwww!

This year, I felt my familiarity with the songs was the lowest ever: While I recognised many artists, I was unfamiliar with the songs themselves—apart from Luke Combs’ cover of “Fast Car”, and that was only because I know the original.

I could take this as further evidence of my advancing age, however, a more accurate cause is that I don’t listen to pop radio, and we don’t have the pop video music channels anymore. The one channel we have that sometimes broadcasts music videos is all over the show—some pop, some alternative, some New Zealand music, and some perhaps not easily classified. This matters because I just don’t have time to “discover” new music on YouTube, and I’m usually not able to listen to new music playlists on Spotify (usually due to a combination of a lack of time and my inability to sit still long enough to pay attention).

The only connection to my age is that I came to love pop music through the power of pop radio, then music videos, and that sort of curated and broadcast presentation of new music doesn’t really exist anymore, and I haven’t yet adapted to that reality. Maybe next year—though probably not.

All of this is against the backdrop of the fact that I actually quite like Adam Wright (Adamusic) and his work. Over the past year or two, I watched more of his mashups, and especially his more vlog-style videos, in which he’s talked about making his mashups and his videos, as well as a bit about his sensibility. I really like his vibe, for lack of a better word, and I think he does interesting work. My inability to connect with songs I don’t know has nothing to do with him or his work—in fact, I found the mash-up as a piece on its own got and held my attention. Talking specifically about structure, I like particularly like the sort of chapters he uses, rather than trying to force all the songs to have the same tempo and feel, something that allows a wider variety of songs.

I guess I just need to do some work studying new pop music each year.

My 2023 Christmas Ad Playlist has been updated

Exactly one week after I posted ”2023 New Zealand Christmas TV Ads”, my annotated post with this year’s edition of my annual YouTube Playlist, the last ad I was expecting, Air New Zealand, was posted on YouTube and also started airing on TV. I didn’t have a chance to update the playlist until today, partly because I also wanted to search YouTube for any other ads I’ve seen on TV (the Animates ad, Number 7, was also there—and may have been broadcast before the Air NZ ad). After updating the Playlist itself, I then also had to update that November 24 post so it includes the updated video playlist as well as my annotations for the newly included ads (and all the ads in the Playlist, of course). To get to the Playlist, simply follow the link above.

Summer begins again

This past Friday, December 1, was the start of Summer 2023 in New Zealand—and it was a very nice day. It came at the end of what has been an extremely busy week for me, one so busy that I now have blog posts—overdue, present, and future—all stacked up. It’s time to start fixing that.

The photo up top is of a blooming plant on the Hamilton City Council owned and maintained bit of land between the footpath and street in front of my house. They’re intended to help with retaining storm water, somewhat—there are raingarden/catch-pit kinds of things every so often on both sides of the street, but these smaller ones helps to slow runoff from the footpaths.

This plant blooms like this every year in late Spring/early Summer, and I think it’s pretty—and I really, really wish I was allowed to plant something pretty like this in the Damn Raingarden in my front lawn, rather than the dull thing I’m required to plant. It is what is—and at least I got a nice photo out it (that I’d have shared on Friday if I hadn’t been so busy…).

This week was so very busy because I had the unexpected-though-it-should’ve-been-expected dentist appointment on Wednesday. The next afternoon, we were heading to a family member’s birthday party, though I needed to run up to the supermarket for something first, so I was out twice that day. Then on Friday evening we got together for a barbecue for my niece’s birthday. All up, I was out doing something three days in row, which is unusual. Then on Saturday I joined family for a trip to Raglan for lunch and a wander around the numerous galleries and artisan shops there. It was a lovely day, though the clouds were starting to move in by later in the afternoon. Still, four days in a row!

Today, Leo was spared having to do without me on yet another day mainly because it’s raining a lot, and also because the main thing I need to do—go to The Base shopping centre—isn’t something I’d do on a normal weekend, and absolutely never on a rainy weekend three weeks before Christmas! Besides, a rest day is a good idea on its own.

Tomorrow morning, I have a follow-up appointment with the dentist, followed by my trip to The Base (among other things, I NEED a haircut… though I can also hear the siren song of the shops beckoning me in. Seriously, I need some things for my Fiji trip, especially [inhales deeply] clothes for hot weather. Seems to me, Christmas sales are as good a time as any to see what I can find—and Boxing Day sales will give me yet another chance well before the trip.

Add all of that busy onto my periodic weltschmertz, and it was inevitable that I’d fall farther and farther behind in—well, pretty much everything. Take this blog for example. At November’s start, and even into the month, I was certain that the total number of posts would equal or pass September, my most-blogged month of the year so far*. Instead, November’s 20 posts put it in sixth place (so far?) for 2023. That’s disappointing, but not surprising. It’s been a similar story with my podcast over the past few weeks, though in that case it was mostly that it was complicated by the story of NZ’s post-election circus changing several times—and usually right after I’d just finished recording (more about that specifically in the next episode).

And, of course, I have numerous projects around the house that I thought would be done by now, including even putting up my Christmas tree. All things in time, I guess.

At any rate, summer is here, and hopefully we’ll actually HAVE a summer this year. Kirikiriroa-Hamilton is expected to have some above average temps this summer, but they they also say we’ll have both cool and hot periods, just like this past Spring. I just hope we don’t get any “worst-ever” storms this summer, or another “wettest day on record”. That’s actually a far bigger deal to me than whatever I do or don’t get done.

*My most-blogged months of 2023 (so far): 1. September (30 posts); 2. October (29); 3. August (26); 4. April (25); 5. May (22); 6. November (20); 7. With 19 each, January, March, June; 10. July (18); 11. February (6).

Looking up

I’ve shared a lot of photos of the sky since I moved into my house in Hamilton. It’s not that I didn’t notice a pretty sky before, though maybe I notice it more often now. Instead, the vast improvement in the iPhone camera has made my photos so much better, especially at night. It’d be rude not to share them.

The photo above was the sky above my neighbourhood a week ago tonight, something I saw when I took the recycling out to the kerb. When I shared it on my personal Facebook, I said: “Went to put the recycling out before going to bed and, as usual, I looked up. Those white dots are stars, of course.”

Someone asked me if I was sure it wasn’t a Starlink satellite, and I wasn’t—though I’ve since found a site that tracks the satellites’ positions around the globe (one can rotate the globe to look in a specific region). However, my understanding is that once they’re in position they turn their shiny side away from earth, though I don’t know that for certain. In any case, the stars are quite bright in the sky overhead, possibly because this part of Hamilton isn’t very built up.

Three days (well, nights…) later, I let Leo outside and noticed the moonlight. I went outside, looked up, and the photo below shows what I saw. The moon would appear through the clouds from time to time, but because the exposure is a long one, that’s not what I captured: The clouds were moving too quickly. Even so, I love this photo, too.

I always knew that if I tapped on a spot in the image on my phone’s screen. The cameras would focus on that spot, however, I recently learned that if I put my finger on a particular spot and hold it there for a couple seconds, the iPhone camera will lock on that spot. That’s really helpful for night photography because the low light requires a longer exposure. The thing is, though, I’m pretty sure this is the first time I thought to do that for a nighttime photo, even though it was so obvious (or, maybe it being obvious is why I didn’t think of doing it?).

I never shared the photo below anywhere before because I’d shared a night sky photo only a few days earlier. The good thing about having a blog, though, is that I can share the two of them together. And so I have, along with the story behind them.

Sometimes I think I share too many photos of the sky since above my neighbourhood, but to be completely honest, it’s the most attractive thing about the area where I live: Right now, we have no parks, no interesting walks, nothing particularly pretty or that's interesting to me except, sometimes, for the sky. Sure, I noticed pretty skies before, but the vast improvement in the iPhone camera has made me so more likely to share photos of the sky precisely because they’re so much better. It’d be rude not to share them.

Important decisions

Yes, yes, decisions about elections and a new government’s policies are all very important and what not, but there are some things that are far more important than that, so much so that they transcend politics, religion, the current performance of one’s favourite sports team, or the relative merits of Taylor Swift’s latest release. What truly matters is peanut butter.

Five years ago this month, I made a similar joking introduction to a blog post about peanut butter. That post was about brands I tried and what I liked. Then, things changed.

One of the brands I mentioned in that post, “Woolworths American Style Smooth Peanut Butter”, was Nigel’s favourite, something he had on toast for breakfast nearly every working day for several years, right up until not long before he died. After he died, things took an unexpected turn when I decided I preferred that same brand, something I talked about in a post in May 2021. Then things changed yet again.

Sometime in the last year or so, the peanut butter disappeared, then reappeared. At the time, I assumed it was related to the infamous supply chain issues after all the Covid lockdowns. That assumption was reinforced when it appeared in Countdown again—until it finally disappeared again and even the shelf labels disappeared, something that didn’t happen the first time it disappeared. I assumed the brand was discontinued.

The next chapter was, “what should I switch to?”. My first impulse was to go back to the brand I preferred in that 2018 post, the “Pic’s No Salt Added Peanut Butter”. Only trouble is, I didn’t like it nearly as much anymore.

Then, I found out that Countdown started carrying US-made Skippy, so I bought a jar, even though I knew its nutrition profile wasn’t great: On the bad side, Skippy was higher in sodium, energy (kilojoules/calories), and fat (including saturated fat), and also lower in fibre than the old brand. On the other hand, it was somewhat higher protein and lower in sugars (which surprised me because I think it tastes sweet).

When I was a kid, Skippy was my favourite brand. I didn’t have a “taste memory” triggered when I tried it this week, but I don’t know if that’s because the formulation has been changed, or if my tastes have—or maybe both—but in any case, it didn’t compare favourably with either my memory or the now-lost brand.

I’m only two servings into this test, but I’m already certain this is a detour in my search, and not merely because to taste: Today I went into my nearest Countdown for something else and saw that they had Skippy on the lowest shelf, which in my experience is usually where cheap brands as well as where products being phased out often end up. I suspect, but certainly don’t know, that this is at best an experiment to see what happens, and that if it sells well it may move up a shelf or two, or it may otherwise disappear, just like the lost brand did. At the moment, I’m predicting the latter outcome.

In comparing the nutrition profile of the two brands, I looked at the label of my last, basically entirely empty, jar of the old brand, and noticed for the first time that it was made in the USA, too, I thought about how there are plenty of other US-made peanut butters Countdown/Woolworths can sell, but for me, once this jar of Skippy is used up, I plan on trying other brands, ones with better nutrition profiles and, almost certainly, only ones made in New Zealand. Clearly, I have very important decisions to make—far more important than next year’s Local Government elections, right? Right?!

NZ’s new government: A grab bag of hot takes

New Zealand’s new three-ring circus government goes back and forth from from comedy to farce, and the jokes that are its announced policies, while jokes, aren’t even remotely funny. This is going to a long—well, however long this government ends up surviving before it implodes.

So far, one announed policy scrapping has attracted worldwide attention: The Tripartite Regime has announced it will repeal the landmark world-leading smoke-free legislation adopted by the previous Labour-led Government. That legislation would have slowly raised the legal age to buy tobacco products so that no one born in 2009 or later would ever be able to buy tobacco products in New Zealand. It was also slowly reduce the number of places cigarettes could be purchased from 6000 to 600. Naturally, powerful forces moved against it.

The tobacco lobby claimed that not allowing today’s 14-year-olds to ever buy tobacco would lead to skyrocketing increases in blackmarket tobacco, a dubious claim that the National Party Prime Minister, Chris Luxon, has been parroting since coming to power. Given the declining rates of smoking in New Zealand, and that the law wouldn’t even affect anyone for another four years, this was an interesting claim—and probably utter nonsense.

The real reason for the change seems to be tax (though Chris Luxon now denies that, as well as denying the claim that senior National MP Chris Bishop, a former tobacco industry lobbyist, took part in coalition negotiations on the issue). However, ever since the current Job Share Deputy Prime Minister, Winston Peters (who himself has been a cigarette addict for decades), killed National’s promise to allow foreigners to buy private houses above $2 million, and so, also killed the 15% tax Luxon planned to charge foreigners, National was desperate to find revenue somewhere to pay for their planned tax cuts (which will almost certainly be targeted at helping the rich, if the past is any guide).

Winston apparently struck again in securing a promise to pull all sex and gender education guidelines from schools. Winston wants to prevent schools from addressing any Rainbow issues, gender identity in particular. During the campaign, he promised that if his party formed government, he would pass a law requiring business owners make sure that toilets for customers would only be used by people whose gender corresponded to their sex assigned at birth, though he didn’t say how, exactly, he expected businesses to do that—did he expect them to conduct inspections of customers’ genitals? Probably.

Winston knew he’d never lead any government—only a small fraction of NZ voters ever vote for his party—but by pandering to the most ignorant, bigoted and conspiracy-loving segments of society, he knew he could win votes and get donations to his party. With Winston, politics has always been transactional, not philosophical or ideological. Well, it never used to be.

The thing is, most of the curriculum was about how the body changes, about relationships, diversity, and—most importantly—consent. The goal was to help young people to understand the changes they were experiencing, that there are rules around sex, and that, most importantly, no means no. That, too, will be dumped so Winston can wage his “war on woke”.

Maybe this shows that Winston has spent too much time around cookers and other fans of conspiracy theories, because in many ways he seems to have gone weird. For example, attacking the news media has always been part of his cynical game: His fans ate it up because they hate the new media and/or just like to see Winston go after journalists. Lately, though, his attacks have become downright sinister.

He spread baseless disinformation and lies born out of conspiracy theories about the New Zealand news media, first at the singing of the coalition agreement, then during the photo op at the new cabinet’s first meeting, and also told a media outlet that he’s “at war” with the news media.

Then he truly went off the deep end, spewing the utterly bizarre claim that the news industry was responsible for the long second Auckland Covid lockdown, asking, "Why did [the media] allow the second dramatic lockdown with only one case in Auckland”, and since he was a real, non-job share deputy prime minister when the lockdown first began—um, every accusation is a confession, maybe? Chris Luxon said that Winston puts things in ways he wouldn’t (which must be the understatement of the week), and the Deputy Leader of his Party, Nicola Willis, tried to diminish the seriousness of Winston’a ravings, calling it “hyperbole”. How long can Luxon and Willis carry on pretending like that?

These are only some of the latest highlights from the 3-ring circus, and there will be plenty more to come until Parliament finally goes away for Christmas and gives us a break from them. At the moment, my personal favourite description of the new government and it’s mishmash of policies came from Chlöe Swarbrick, Green Party MP for Auckland Central. Yesterday morning, she told TVNZ’s “Breakfast” programme:

It's definitely not the government of low wage workers, renters, or anybody who sits on the margins of our society. The priorities of the incoming government should be dealing with the dual crises of inequality and the climate crisis.

But instead, what we have with those two agreements is a grab bag of 200-plus-odd random policies that come across more as hot takes from your uncle at Christmas. It's not a vision for the future that New Zealanders deserve. I just can't see how we're gonna get anywhere near the issues that really matter.

Swarbrick also succinctly described the reality of this hodgepodge government: "It's a pair of scissors, it's not a vision for the future of this country.”

This is going to a long—well, however long this government ends up surviving before it implodes or is turfed out.

Keyboard error, here and gone

Typing on a device isn’t easy for a lot of us digital immigrants: Unlike those who grew up with smart devices (phones and tablets), some of us have a bit of trouble or awkwardness using the virtual keyboards on those devices. Sometimes, the device manufacturer can make matters worse. That happened to me, until one day it was gone.

I’ve used the “New Zealand English” keyboard on my iPhone and iPad for many years now, chiefly so I can get the macrons used in most versions of written Māori (for example, in the word "Māori" the “a” has a macron). I pretty obviously like to try to type Māori words correctly, and those keyboards made that possible.

As a bonus, those same keyboards allowed all sorts of other character modifiers used in various European languages, such as, umlauts in German (like in the word “grün”, which means green in English). I have the same sort of commitment to try to to type vowels correctly in all the non-English European languages I use from time to time (in non-English European languages, it’s most likely to be for a proper name).

After some upgrade or other, I noticed that the “New Zealand English” keyboard on my iPad no longer had anything but regular letters and macrons—there were no other character modifiers. I noticed this because I was leaving a Facebook comment and needed an umlaut (for a name), only to discover they were gone.

After some fruitless research, I ended up adding a German keyboard to my iPad, which gave me umlauts again. Unfortunately, that added new problems and frustrations.

In the screenshot avive, the NZ English keyboard is at top, and the German version is below. I toggled between the keyboards by tapping the globe symbol in the bottom row (second key from the left edge). However, that was also how I accessed emojis, something I use a lot in Facebook comments, private messages, texts, etc. It turns out that it was easy to accidentally switch to German and then be faced with a different keyboard layout (apparently called QWERTZ instead of the English QWERTY, and for the same reason). Sometimes I wasn’t even aware I’d accidentally bumped the globe key, so intent was I on what I was writing. Sometimes I also got into a weird loop trying to get an emoji or back to English. I was exasperated enough that I decided to (eventually) delete the German keyboard.

Then, everything changed.

Apple released another update to the operating system for my iPad, and I—eventually—noticed that the New Zealand English keyboard once again had all the special characters that had been missing. I then deleted the German keyboard, and my switching between letters and emojis was once again a peaceful endeavour.

The not noticing thing is a repeating reality, so I don’t know if my iPhone keyboard was similarly afflicted, though I presume it was. I generally only use that keyboard for texting because it’s so small and my fingers aren’t. I also never installed the German keyboard in my phone because I rarely, if ever, needed anything beyond macrons.

The story is even more complicated on my desktop Mac, and another reason I didn’t notice the difference on the iPad.

On my Mac, I use "Australian English" as my “input source” (which is mainly about keyboard configuration, though it apparently helps with spelling/autocorrect; there is no NZ English keyboard). That keyboard has all the European characters—but no macrons. For that, I have a second keyboard—called “Māori”—that has macrons, but no European special characters. Most of the time I have the keyboard set to Māori, which is usually all I need. When I need an umlaut or whatever, I use my mouse and toggle to the Australian keyboard, then back to Māori (there's probably a keyboard shortcut to toggle between the two keyboards, but I've never looked into it; it's highly improbable I'd remember it). When I noticed the change on the iPad keyboard, I just assumed Apple was standardising keyboards between mobile devices and Macs.

At any rate, I'm glad it's once again simple to type whatever non-English character I need, and to only have to use one keyboard to do it. It'd be nice if Apple did something similar with the Mac, but toggling keyboards on my Mac isn't even nearly as annoying as it was on the iPad.

Sometimes it's the smallest things that can make the biggest difference. I just never would've expected a virtual keyboard on a tablet would prove the point.

Errors in my ways

Remembering stuff is important. We have so much to do, so much stuff to keep track of, but sometimes things go awry: We forget things, and because of that, we may let important things slip. We may also lose stuff, and then spend too much time looking for what we’ve misplaced. Any of this can happen to any of us at any time. We find ways to cope.

I’ve talked about the system I designed to help keep me from forgetting stuff—what I’m doing, where I put stuff, etc. I needed to do that because remembering stuff is difficult for me. My system has mostly worked—except when it hasn’t. Today, I was again reminded of my system’s imperfection.

Early this morning, I got a text message reminding me of my upcoming dental appointment, something they always do. I was annoyed: My appointment wasn’t until Friday of next week—why were were they sending me a text early Tuesday morning, the week before my appointment?

When I actually read the message later in the morning, I saw that my appointment is tomorrow, not Friday of next week. It’s true that they changed the appointment twice due to planned staff absences, however, I never updated my calendar the second time, and so, I forgot all about the appointment being rescheduled to this week.

A short while later, after breakfast, I discovered the second failure: I went to grab the Tuesday pouch of my prescription medication, only to discover the pouch said “Monday”. I was shocked, angry with myself, disappointed—and deeply confused. How could I have forgotten again?!

I realised that the day I missed actually could have been any one of several days from Saturday through Monday that I forgot to take the medication, but whenever it was, I only noticed today. I’m absolutely certain I took the pills on Friday, and I also know I got up late on Saturday, which is why that’s the prime suspect. Still, I don’t remember anything, really, about my medication rituals between Saturday and today, so I can’t be sure which day it was—and, of course, it doesn’t really matter.

This latest medication failure was caused by the same thing as the other failures over the past couple years: My system technically worked, but my adherence to it didn’t. I didn’t take my medication one day, marked the reminder that I had, then also marked the double-check reminder that I’d done that. This is the biggest flaw in my system: It still depends on me not assuming anything, and always physically checking and double-checking.

The dentist thing is mainly about me needing to do things like updating my calendar immediately: I can’t trust myself to remember to do such things later. Putting things on my calendar isn’t a formal part of my organisation system, but it’s obviously a close relative, and failures can cause me problems.

The fundamental truth that these two incidents reinforce is that all my efforts to remember stuff, and so, stay focused and organised, ultimately depend on me. If I make any slip-up at all, the whole thing collapses. Short of having a minder—a robot or maybe a handsome personal assistant—to manage details for me, there’s very little I can do to fix things (multiple reminders to stop me forgetting stuff would be so annoying that I’d be certain to ignore them as easily as I can ignore two).

With no real alternative, I’ll just have to try harder, and also accept the reality that I can’t count on always getting it right, and sometimes things will go wrong. Or, maybe someday that robot or handsome personal assistant will arrive for duty. I think I’d better not count in that, either.

Let the annual inquisition begin

Another year, another go at what’s now a more than decade long series of blog posts. Back in 2012, I began an end-of-year series of “Ask Arthur” posts (skipping 2019, of course), and now it’s time for the 2023 version. Or not—it’s entirely up to others. As I put it in last year’s series introduction post:

The “Ask Arthur” series of posts is a chance for people to ask me nearly anything, and I try to answer whatever I’m asked. I’ve never had a question about a topic that was “off limits”, however, I’ve always said that if I couldn’t answer a question for any reason, I’d say so. It turned out that I've never had a question that I wouldn’t answer. It also turned out that I haven’t yet met a topic I don’t have an opinion on. Who’d have guessed that?

Yes, who could or would have guessed that there doesn’t seem to be any topic on which I don’t have an opinion? Over the years, questions have been about me, my personal history, about life in New Zealand—mine or in general—about being an expat, and what I think about various topics or events in the news. The possibilities seem to be endless.

To ask questions, simply leave a comment on this post (anonymous comments are allowed). Or, you can email me your question (and you can even tell me to keep your name secret, although, why not pick a nom du question?). You can also ask questions on the AmeriNZ Facebook page, though keep in mind that all Facebook Pages are public, just like this blog. To avoid being public there, you can send me a private message through the AmeriNZ Facebook Page.

Finally, as I always note, this idea is stolen from inspired by Roger Green’s “Ask Roger Anything” (“ARA”) posts. After all, imitation is the sincerest form of thievery flattery. Or, something like that. In fact, Roger’s already passed on a couple topics I haven’t gotten to yet, so they’re my backup plan in case there are no questions this year—I mean, it’s bound to happen sooner or later.

So, over to you: Ask your question whatever way works best for you, and I’ll do my best to answer.

All posts in this series will be tagged “AAA-23”. All previous posts from every “Ask Arthur” series are tagged, appropriately enough, ”Ask Arthur”.

Previously:

What do you want to know? (December 2012)
Ask Arthur (July 2013)
Ask Arthur – Again (December 2013)
Ask Arthur Again, again (December 2014)
Ask Arthur yet again (July 2015)
It’s that time again (December 2015)
It’s ‘Ask Arthur’ time again (December 2016)
Let the 2017 asking begin (November 2017)
Let the 2018 asking begin (November 2018)
There was no “Ask Arthur” series in 2019.
Sure, why not ask again? (December 2020)
Yes, ask again (November 2021)
AAA 2022: A decade-long inquisition (November 2022)

New Zealand’s 3-ring circus begins

New Zealand’s new three-ring circus government was sworn in today, beginning the most rightwing government has scene in three decades. It’ll be a wild ride.

Last Wednesday, while the clowns continued the circus negotiations, the saga was still funny. The next day, they announced that negotiations had concluded, and the coalition agreement would be signed the next day. On Friday, the agreement was signed, and today the Governor General swore the new Prime Minister and other ministers into office. The “Speech from the Throne”, which is part of the royal opening of Parliament, will be next week.

Apparently the delay last week was because David Seymour, leader of the hard-right “libertarian"-ish Act Party, and Winston Peters, leader of the righting populist New Zealand First party, both thought they should be Deputy Prime Minister. David thought he should get it because he has many more MPs in his party’s caucus than Winston has in his, and supposedly Winston thought he should have it because he’s been in politics for many, many decades, dating way back to when New Zealand was ruled by the Queen (Elizabeth, not Victoria, as perhaps some people might assume…). This is, by the way, the first NZ government to swear an oath of allegiance to any monarch other than Queen Elizabeth II since the middle of the last century.

National Party leader and newly sworn in Prime Minister, Chris Luxon, arranged for David and Winston to share the job. Winston will be Deputy PM for the first 18 months, and then David will take over for the remaining approximately 18 months of the term (assuming, of course, the government lasts 18 months or more). This situation is as absurd as it sounds, but there could be a method to the madness—for one of the two, anyway. Writing in an opinion piece on the website of TVNZ’s 1News, veteran journalist John Campbell said:

Winston Peters gets to be Deputy Prime Minister first, of course. Whoever’s responsible for that is either Winston Peters himself, or someone without a particularly robust understanding of our history. Peters campaigns best when he’s in opposition. New Zealand First has never, once, been returned to government after being in a coalition. Any remote chance of retaining his loyal participation in (to use his least favourite phrase) “Cabinet collective responsibility” would have been enhanced by making him deputy at the end of the three years, not at the beginning. It’s harder to go rogue when you’re second in charge. But his bauble time will be over. (This ain’t his first rodeo.)

The entirety of Campbell’s piece is worth reading, as are several others. Here’s are some more: Former journalist Vernon Small’s piece for The Sunday Star-Times, "The results are in and it’s Winston by a length” also looks at the shape of the new government. Glenn McConnell, political reporter for Stuff, pointed out the "5 surprising policies buried in the National, ACT, NZF coalition agreements”, and the news organisation’s chief political correspondent, Tova O’Brien, pointed out the absurdities in the public signing of the coalition agreement (it was pretty much Winston’s show). Finally, Gordon Campbell’s "On The New Government’s Policies Of Yesteryear”, published on Scoop pretty much sums up National’s coalition partners, and so, why the coalition took the shape it did:

For all the media attention paid to the Seymour v Peters personal conflict, a large number of crossovers exist between the hidebound conservatism of New Zealand First and the Thatcherite young fogey-ism of ACT. Both parties are actively hostile to any form of identity politics, both detest any expressions of indigenous rights, and both oppose any forms of affirmative action being taken to address the existing levels of ethnic or gender dis-advantage.

I did not vote for the circus, of course, and so, I cannot wish the new government “well”, because that would mean wishing them success, something I cannot do: Success would mean taking actions I absolutely oppose. So, I wish them good health instead. The indestructible Winston doesn’t need such wishes despite being 78, and perhaps David doesn’t either (rightwing politicians' rigid ideological certainty seems to be a life-enhancing force for them, though less so their supporters). No, it’s Chris Luxon who needs the wishes of good health. He will have an enormous job merely trying to keep his new playmates under control, and managing Winston will be a full-time job by itself. Preserving his own well-being while serving as ringmaster for his circus will require Luxon's attention and a lot of energy, and for that much he deserves good wishes.

While much of this post was written with my tongue firmly in my cheek (so much so my tongue got cramp), there’s a dark reason for that: The next three years will be painful. So much of what the three intend to do is divisive and will cause a lot of bitter anger, particularly among Māori, but also workers, Rainbow communities, those who care about fighting climate change, and who want action on child poverty, all of whom will be worse off under this government. My concern, though, isn’t that—the next Left-of-Centre government can fix everything the circus destroys, except, maybe, for one thing: The circus’ policies may make more hardcore followers feel they have permission to unleash aggressive, even violent, hatred, just as the leader of the USA’s Republican Party did.

Still, there’s one thing that gives me hope. We had no riots today, no one tried to violently stop the new government. We had no one bleating on that the election was “stolen”. Right on schedule, the caretaker Prime Minister, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins, whose Labour Party lost the election this year, rang the Governor General to formally end the caretaker government’s roll. The new government was then duly sworn in. I didn’t vote for any of them, and while I have grave concerns about how much harm that they will do, that peaceful and orderly transfer of power gives me hope that New Zealand might avoid the fate of so many countries that are falling under the thrall of the far-right, including overt fascists. I suppose the next election will show whether that hope was justified.

2023 New Zealand Christmas TV Ads

New Zealand's Christmas advertising began late last month ago—once they were done with Halloween and the NZ General Election. This year, I shared the first Christmas TV ad I saw, mainly because of how surprised I was to see an ad in October—far too early for Christmas ads. However, last year the ads began even earlier, and it’s at least possible that election advertising may have helped delay Christmas ads this year—which I guess is one good thing about them (there had to be something). At any rate, I started compiling this list the same day I posted that first ad.

In the nearly three weeks since I shared that first ad, a few more have started airing—but not all that many. Moreover, some of the ads that are on TV aren’t on YouTube, generally because the companies don’t do much (or even anything…) with their YouTube Channels, and that presents a problem.

I learned when I made last year’s playlist to not share any ads that aren’t posted to official YouTube Channels. That’s because of one ad, for retail chain Noel Leeming (originally Number 7 on last year’s list). I found it from an unusual YouTube Channel that was eventually deleted, taking the video with it. I had to re-jig the playlist and update it, then update the blog post—all because of one ad that came from a “non-official” YouTube Channel. On the other hand, it allowed me to add the ad from Countdown supermarket, which I didn’t even realise they’d posted to their YouTube Channel (it was a couple weeks after I made the playlist). This year, Countdown has a revised version of that same ad, but it’s not on their YouTube Channel—maybe I’ll be able to add it later? [Update – December 3, 2023: I added ads 7 and 8 to the Playlist and to this post]

At any rate, I began doing these playlists because I had so many Christmas ad posts from previous years with missing videos—which makes those posts utterly pointless. I figured that if a particular ad was later deleted by the company, the playlist itself would still be fine. The Noel Leeming incident taught me that if an ad is deleted or made private, I need to delete it from the playlist or it will stop its playback when it gets to the deleted ad (it doesn’t just skip it). Always learning!

This year I used the same criteria I’ve used in the past: The ads must must be airing on New Zealand television (not merely online or on social media or whatever). Second, they have to be New Zealand companies, or companies that are connected to New Zealand. This is because international ads might be seen in many countries, though our ads aren’t necessarily seen elsewhere (the word “necessarily” is actually relevant to this list). However, if there was an “international” ad that was dubbed with NZ voice actors, I might consider including it for the novelty—assuming it’s not geoblocked, as such things so often are. Finally, as I said, the ads must be on an official YouTube Channel, not one belonging to third parties.

A warning: Just like in the past, the annotations below include spoilers, which I mention in case you want to watch the videos first. All that out of the way, here’s a bit more about the videos, all of which are, as before, in the order I first saw them:

1. “However you do Christmas, we've got you sorted at New World - 30 seconds” – New World. New World is owned by one of two supermarket companies in New Zealand, and the only one that’s New Zealand-owned (each store is individually owned). This year’s ad is more straightforward than last year’s, and maybe a bit less fun. Still, it’s a supermarket ad, so it does the job. [Full disclosure: I shop at both New World and Australian-owned Countdown.]

2. “Christmas spent together" – The Warehouse. This ad is my absolute favourite of the year (so far?). It’s also much more straightforward than last year’s ad, but it’s designed to tug at the heartstrings as the boy, Jack, notices the older man next door living alone, seemingly forgotten at Christmas. Jack gets an idea: Using a cricket ball he got for Christmas, he invites the man over for Christmas lunch. The ad has included bargain prices for various things, then in final scene is the cricket ball with “Lunch?” written on it, and a tag “Christmas Invitation $5”. The point of the add is summed up in the narrated tagline when the ball is shown: “Bargain! But the real bargain, a Christmas spent together”. Indeed. [Update: I deleted this ad from the Playlist because it was made "Private", and the playlist stopped because of that; it works again after I deleted the video].

3. “Give A Gift That Unleashes Theirs This Christmas” – Spark NZ. This ad is for Spark NZ, one of the two main mobile phone (etc…) companies in New Zealand. It was originally part of Telecom New Zealand until that company was broken into thirds to free up the market. The Spark name began in 2014.

This ad centres on a boy dancing around the house as the family snoozes after their Christmas lunch—a real enough thing, actually. He takes off the paper crown thing at some point and we see he’s wearing earbuds. The tagline on screen at the end underscores what the video is about: “Give a gift that unleashes theirs”, by which they mean a tech gift, one must assume, especially because the final shot of of earbuds given as a gift. [Full disclosure: At the moment, I’m a Spark NZ customer.]

4. “The Home of Christmas” – Farmers. This ad has the same name as last year’s ad, but it’s different. This year, there are more families shown celebrating Christmas, all giving each other presents they bought at NZ department store chain Farmers. Still, it’s a nice, upbeat ad, and, I think, better than last year’s. [Full disclosure: I sometimes shop at Farmers.]

5. “A Christmas to Remember” – Michael Hill Jeweller. This long-version ad, like the ones they’ve run for the past two years, was pretty obviously not shot in New Zealand, and also like previous years, the characters never speak out loud. Still, the company began in New Zealand, which is why it makes this playlist. The version in the playlist is 2:31 long—far longer than the version shown on TV, and that’s a good thing: When I saw the much shorter ad on TV, I couldn’t really work out what was going on, apart from the fact there was a sullen teenage girl, but the specific reason for it wasn’t obvious. This long version make it clearer what the characters’ story is, but maybe a better edit of the TV version would’ve made it clear, too? At any rate, this ad is all that's on YouTube, and I think it's fine—maybe not as good as the previous two years, in my opinion, but still good for what it is.

6. “Variety's Christmas Appeal 2023” – Variety New Zealand. This ad is from the New Zealand branch of Variety – The Children's Charity, and it promotes their Christmas Appeal. This isn’t the first time I’ve shared a charity Christmas ad, and I think they’re good reminders that Christmas isn’t just about gifts and lavish celebrations: It’s about people, children in particular.

7. “Christmas Brand Ad - 15 seconds” – Animates Vetcare NZ. This ad is for Animates (usually called “Animates Vetcare NZ” in social media, due to the co-location of many Animates pet shops with the company’s Vetcare vet practices), and, obviously, the ad promotes Christmas shopping for pets at their shops. This ad is based on a series of other TV ads that use the same music and focus on individual pets looking happy, and it’s fine for what it is—and the tune IS catchy. I don’t know, but I suspect that this may be an Animates-branded version of ads being run by its Australian owners in that country. While Animates began in 1996 in Christchurch, in 2014 it was bought by then-ASX listed Australian pet care company Greencross, which, in turn—well, let’s just say it ended up with the usual labyrinthine world of corporations’ fractured organisation. This ad was posted on YouTube on November 6, but I don’t remember seeing it on TV until very recently. [Full disclosure: I’ve long shopped at Animates, and my furbabies have been patients at Vetcare for years, too—and before that at the predecessors Animates aquired along the way.]

“Air New Zealand presents ‘The Great Christmas Chase’” – Air New Zealand. This adl like last year’s started airing on December 1, which is also when it was posted to YouTube. This year’s ad is—obviously—not about the airline’s service, even though it features a woman dressed as a flight attendant. In the YouTube description, they say, “The magic of Christmas makes the impossible, possible 😉🎁”, which I suppose is kind of what the running woman is doing. The description continues: “…Seriously though, please don't rush at the airport or try this at work. All stunts are performed by professionals; have a nice, slow, safe, relaxing Christmas.” Um, okay? I think this ad is a bit more straightforward than last year’s, even if neither is particularly focused on the airline. Having said all that, I think it kind of works, and the very end is sweet: The flight attendant helps the boy hide the lost gift to his mum before exiting kind of adventure movie style, before the mum can see any of it, and ending with the boy whistling the music used. This ad is kind of a nice alternative to the crass “Buy! Buy! Buy!” of most other TV ads this time of year.

An ad for Mitre 10 has also been running, but it’s the same ad they used in last year, and it’s included in the 2022 New Zealand Christmas TV Ads playlist. I thought about including it again, but decided against it, mainly because if I included it on both playlists and the company later removes the ad from YouTube, it would cause problems for both playlists—and so, more work for me.

There are more ads I’ve seen on TV, but since they're not on the retailers’ official YouTube Channels, they’re not in this year’s playlist. Among those ads is one for Australian-owned supermarket Countdown, and it's similar to the one from 2022 that I mentioned above, but it also includes the rebranding of the chain as the company changes the name of the stores from Countdown to Woolworths, the same as the Australian parent.

As always, if more NZ ads start airing—and they’re available on an official YouTube Channel—I’ll add the videos to the Playlist and the annotations to this post (and post an announcement on the blog that the playlist is updated). However, you can also follow the direct link the YouTube Playlist if you’d rather skip my comments, or even just to share the playlist.

In any event. Merry watching-mas!

My storage wars

The end of last week, I decided that instead of tackling any of the (very) numerous room organisation challenges I have, I’d instead organise my kitchen pantry. I did it because I realised that most of my waking hours are spent in the living area, and if I could get my kitchen benchtops clear, it’d do wonders for my psyche/moods/quiet rage.

I had no idea how how big the project was.

This project has been on my list for Quite Some Time, and I finally started work on reorganising the pantry sometime around September of 2022, only to abandon it in December 2022. In June of this year, I organised one shelf—where I kept my spices—and it was a big improvement, though it was actually only part of one shelf, and two more were also in desperate need of change/organisation.

What bothered me all along was that I often couldn’t find what I needed, and also that I often bought the same things several times because I thought I’d run out of whatever it was. Parts of the shelves were so crammed full of stuff (literally) that things often fell out, or felt like they might.

One of the first things I did was to put all my rice and pasta into storage containers, and that meant no more plastic bags that refused to stack neatly. However, it also meant they all sat out on my kitchen bench because until I organised the rest of the pantry, I had no room to put them in there.

Meanwhile, I re-reorganised my spice storage a bit because I’d started piling things on top of the bottles. The revised system was better than the original one (among other things, I used plastic trays with straight sides, which made it much easier to organise the square-sided bottles.

That’s where things remained until Thursday of last week.

First, I emptied the two upper shelves, which meant covering all my benchtops, the dining table, and, it seemed, most of the North Island with stuff that had been haphazardly stored in the pantry. I worked on it off and on all afternoon, and into the evening—but I was nowhere near satisfied with my efforts.

On Day 2, Friday, I realised I’d need to clear out the cupboard of no return—the one above the fridge—so I could use it, too. It was something I hadn’t gotten around to organising since I shifted into this house in January 2020. Coincidentally, the cabinet over the fridge was also the last one I organised at our last house.

Expired medicines.

Clearing out that cabinet meant going through medicines—mostly prescription, but some over-the-counter, too—and there were a LOT that were expired (including some Panadeine (paracetamol and codeine tablets, that expired in 2013 (until November 2020, such codeine-based medication was available from pharmacies without a prescription; I used them for severe gout attacks up until around the time the tablets expired).

Most of the prescriptions were mine—things I had leftover because of frequent changes my doctors made over the past few years. However, there was also one that had been Nigel’s, a statin he wouldn’t take, but I was on the same drug/dosage, so I kept it in case I ran out—and of course I never did. With all the Covid lockdowns we were having not long after I moved into this house, it seemed prudent to keep the excess drugs just in case. Still, Nigel’s unused prescription, along with some now-expired supplements Nigel bought, and even some of my own prescription receipts from happier days—all before Nigel died—made me a little sad.

However, and on the plus side, there was very little expired food—in fact, only one thing was actually expired, and the rest was merely well past its “best before” date, like some chai latte syrup Nigel bought at least seven years ago. I’m washing out the bottles and cans for recycling. At this point, though, I feel I need to add that I’m well aware that “best before” is NOT the same thing as “use by” (aka “expiry date” or “expiration date”), but what I’m talking about is stuff that’s been in the cupboard for many, many (and even many many…) years.

My organised batteries.

I finished the project late Friday afternoon (photo up top is a kind of before and after, using photos from September 2022 and this past Friday). While the cupboards aren’t perfect, everything’s definitely better and makes sense—to me, which is the whole point, of course. There’s a small amount of stuff I want to find a place for somewhere else because it doesn’t belong with food, like batteries—lots and lots of batteries, because I kept re-buying batteries when I couldn’t find any and thought I was all out (yet again…). They’re all now VERY well-organised.

This was technically only a step, albeit a big one (maybe “huge step” is more accurate…), toward getting my kitchen re-organised, but it was good to get this much done. My challenge now is to remember to tell the family that I’ve moved the chocolate and bags of chips to a new spot. That, and to never again re-buy things or throw them in the pantry haphazardly. It’s kind of a toss-up as to which will be harder for me to do.

AmeriNZ Podcast episode 406 is now available

AmeriNZ Podcast episode 406, “Interregnum continues”, is now available from the podcast website. There, you can listen, download or subscribe to the podcast episode, along with any other episode.

The five most recent episodes of the podcast are listed on the sidebar on the right side of this blog.

Changing Memories, sort of

Well, well, today I was served up a Facebook “Memory” (at right) that was full of things that have changed. Clearly that’s never happened before, I mean surely! Still, it’s a good opportunity to revist those halcyon days of yesteryear, November 15, 2022. Let’s go!

What I posted on Facebook that day later ended up in a blog post, ”The day ended with less than at its start”, and that post included the photo in the "Memory". That blog post was much more detailed than what I said on Facebook, as is often the case, but because it was shorter than my blog post, I’ll quote from what I wrote first, my Facebook post.

I said, “I bought a cultivator (that claw-like thing I’m holding) and a new hammer,” and I was actually holding both in the photo, which I used first on Facebook, then at the bottom of my blog post. I went on:

I hope the cultivator will help me removing weeds from the bank (when the weather permits…). I misplaced my hammer, and I know from experience that the best way to find a misplaced tool is to buy another one. Actually, we noticed some years ago the old hammer’s head was getting loose, and we needed a new one. Never got around to it. Today was as good a time as any.

It turned out that the claw thing has been very useful, though the weeds on the bank completely grew back (and then some…) after all the relentless rainy weather last “summer”. And we’re in the midst of more rainy weather right now—for awhile, anyway: A drought this summer is still possible/probable. Also, within days of the Facebook post a year ago today, I did find my old hammer. It was, not surprisingly, in plain sight all along. I now have two. And, I no longer sing, “if I had a hammer,” unless the next line was something about in addition to the other two…

Next up, I talked about my project to add storage to my laundry area:

I also got some storage containers for the shelves in my laundry area (and filled two of them so far)—but that project has actually stalled, because once I was done hanging the shelves, I didn’t like the result. I’m working on some changes, so The Reveal will be further delayed. This was supposed to be a simple little project, LOL.

A short time after that post, I finished the laundry project and shared the results on Facebook and in a blog post, and, again, the blog post was much more detailed. However, two of the containers I mentioned a year ago are still empty (!), and a couple others could easily be empty, too—but, why waste my time/energy sorting them out when I don’t need them, right? Actually, right now I’m in the midst of plotting changes to that area, and I may repurpose the containers elsewere—and whatever happens, it’ll end up here (and probably Facebook…).

I made that Facebook post after Leo and I got home, because I was doing some shopping while he was being groomed. I said about that:

Still, Leo looks good and he sometimes just stares at me—because he can actually see me now that his fur is trimmed away from his eyes. This evening, I let him outside after his dinner, and I watched him through a small window in the lounge, with the blinds tilted open. He raised his head and froze, looking directly at me from around 10 metres away, then came running back to the house and came back in through the door. That’s never happened before. The lighting must’ve been just right.

This year, Leo isn’t shorn, but over the past several months I’ve been slowly working on grooming him, mainly getting him used to it, and also taking my time to learn how to do it properly. However, I never let his fur get long over his eyes, so that staring at me in wonder thing doesn’t happen. Instead, he just stares at me until I give him treats or let him outside. I think it’s mind control. He may have forgiven me last year, but this year I’m trying to avoid the need for forgiveness.

None of these updates are important, obviously. I just think it’s kind of funny the changes that have happened since then, especially that I really did find my original hammer as soon as bought a new one. Mostly, I suppose, it’s an opportunity to point —especially to myself—that my life really doesn’t stay the same or stand still, not even unimportant things, no matter how it may sometimes seem. It's good to remind myself of that.