Topical treatment

Vasu Iyengar has been in the news recently for failing to diagnose a complication after surgery in time to stop it killing Moina Simcock. Vasu is busy hitting back, she is quoted on www.stuff.co.nz from a letter to the Health and Disability Commissioner: "I apologised to the Simcock family several times and did my very best to pay retribution ... It was not enough for any of you". Then as more complaints come to light Vasu is quoted saying to the Dominion Post: "patients will say these things to get publicity in the wake of what I have endured."

I find it offensive that she appears to think that apologies and a payment might be "enough" and that she is undermining all her patients' credibility. (Although I do realise that these quotes may have been deliberately selected to make her look bad.)

Vasu Iyengar was my gynaecologist until she:

a) diagnosed an incurable condition missing that I actually had eczema (optional gynaecological detail),
b) referred me to the person who specialises in that condition in Wellington without telling me that the person's role was as a counsellor,
c) wanted to treat my PCOS following a recipe that ignored my particular symptoms.

Thanks to Vasu I endured months of unnecessary discomfort. I would not recommend her to anyone.

Matariki stars

This weekend I played in an Ultimate tournament in a team originally called Meatloaf made up of Wellington women who failed to attend the women's practices and women from elsewhere who needed a team to join. At my suggestion the team was renamed Matariki.

Matariki is the Maori name of the star cluster also known as the Pleiades in Greek, Subaru in Japanese, or the Seven Sisters. "Matariki literally means the 'eyes of god' (mata ariki) or 'little eyes' (mata riki). Some say that when Ranginui, the sky father, and Papatūānuku, the earth mother were separated by their offspring, the god of the winds, Tāwhirimātea, became angry, tearing out his eyes and hurling them into the heavens. Others say Matariki is the mother surrounded by her six daughters, Tupu-ā-nuku, Tupu-ā-rangi, Waitī, Waitā, Waipuna-ā-rangi and Ururangi. One account explains that Matariki and her daughters appear to assist the sun, Te Rā, whose winter journey from the north has left him weakened." (Quote from Te Ara). I liked the parallel between a star cluster with seven visible stars and a team of twelve which would field seven players at any one time. Also, as Ultimate is a sport where wind plays a very important role naming the team after the wind god's eyes appealed.

On Saturday there was drizzle, frequent showers interspersed with drizzle, and then pouring rain which was gruelling. In the morning I sent my txt supporters "Wet. Wet. Wet. And lots of alien sporty women. Who have been fairly nice to me. Ok but I feel a bit lost." In the afternoon, which was wetter I sent "People friendly and much less intimidating now they are wet."

Today the weather was much nicer, just intermittent light drizzle and it was fun. We also started to gel as a team and we played the other two bottom ranked teams which was cheering.

I think our scores for the tournament were Saturday: 0-13, 1-13, 1-13, 2-13, Sunday: 4-13, 9-12 (the games stopped at 13 points or with scoring after a time limit). We came bottom of the women's pool. I didn't mind, we celebrated each point we scored with such enthusiasm that scoring at all felt like a win.

Thanks to everyone who organised it, talked me into going or provided childcare, practical assistance or moral support by txt or in person. Most of all thanks to all the other stars on the Matariki team.

Tenuous links

I have been re-reading My Year of Meat by Ruth L. Ozeki. It is a good and interesting book although not recommended for anaemic, carnivorous Americans. It is both a good novel and an exposé of dangerous farming practices. Sometimes it becomes too much of a diatribe and its Japanese characters tend towards caricature.

It quotes from Sei Shonagon's Pillow Book, a blog-like diary written by a court lady in 10th century Japan. A fascinating glimpse of the past. In trying to find a good piece to quote I found this nice blog entry about it.

Which brings me to an unfinished list in the style of Sei Shonagon:

Things one should not put in the washing machine

A treasured watch inherited from ones grandmother.

Flying ferrets

xkcd is my favourite webcomic. It describes itself as "a webcomic of romance, sarcasm, math and language". It is usually funny, always geeky, sometimes poignant and very rarely irritating. The panels/strips usually stand alone which makes it easy to pick up.

Yesterday I read the early strips for the first time. This was my favourite.

I hang out with people who quote the latest xkcd in conversation before I've read it. But, the other day I found out that JK, multiply manifest internet goddess, hadn't heard of xkcd and so I thought I'd better make sure that you, my gentle reader, had.

The naked logophile

The best thing about facebook is Scrabulous which lets me play scrabble with friends on the other side of the world. We each play a move every day or so and the game slowly unfolds.

But I'm sick and I'm waiting for the other player(s) to move in all my games so I checked out "Join Table". I forgot the internet is for porn. I forgot Rule 34 of the internet: if you can imagine it there is porn of it.

So when I found:

Hara is requesting a Regular game using the English TWL dictionary.
Note: **LADIES ONLY** HAVE A WEBCAM? LET ME SEE YOUR BODY while we play scrabble, I have pictures of my thick hard [...] to share. Send a message when you accept so I know you read this.

I ended up in a giggling, coughing, wheezing, gasping, snorting fit.

An ambivalent review

I read The Facts behind the Helsinki Roccamatios by Yann Martel. I bought it because I gave my mother The Life of Pi by Yann Martel for her birthday and she enjoyed it.

The Facts behind the Helsinki Roccamatios is a selection of three short stories and a novella. They are emotive, interesting and interestingly told. I almost entirely recommend them.

There is one word that makes my recommendation hesitant. One word that sticks in my mind and caused me to rant at the book. In a story told in the first person Yann Martel writes:

"But Paul wasn't gay. He had never told me so outright, but I knew him well enough and I had never sensed the least ambivalence."

Ambivalence! I felt outraged. Ambivalence implies that the person is unable to make a choice or is torn between two conflicting desires. What makes this fictional young man think that gay people are any more ambivalent than anyone else?

Book stick

I stole this stick from clarityburntime.

1. You’re stuck inside Fahrenheit 451. Which book do you want to be?
One that is loved enough to be memorised. (I haven't actually read Fahrenheit 451 but...)

2. Have you ever had a crush on a fictional character?
Often while reading and in the afterglow of a good book.

3. The last book you bought is:
I bought The Tiger Who Came to Tea by Judith Kerr for a third birthday present and before that My Heart Goes Swimming: New Zealand Love Poems, and Dear To Me: 100 New Zealanders Write About Their Favourite Poems which inspired my leaving work poetry appeal.

4. The last book you finished is:
Ten in the Bed by Penny Dale (the board book version). I haven't been finishing adult books recently, just starting them. I think the last I finished was The Other Wind by Ursula Le Guin, the sixth in the Earthsea Series. Despite them being highly recommended to me for as long as my reading age has been up to it I only started the series this year, they lived up to my high expectations.

5. What are you currently reading?
D is reading The Thunderbolt Kid by Bill Bryson aloud to me before we go to sleep. I love being read to and I feel very lucky every time it happens.

On my bedside table I have bookmarks in: Dear To Me, Life of Pi by Yann Martel, Small Holes In The Silence by Patricia Grace, The Rough Guide to Climate Change by Robert Henson, The Fountain of Tears by Stephanie de Montalk, Are Angels OK?: The Parallel Universes of New Zealand Writers and Scientists and The Halstead Treasury of Ancient Science Fiction. Fortunately most of these are short pieces or non-fiction which can cope well with a long break in the middle. Life of Pi is the exception.

I am also reading The Complete Winnie-the-Pooh by A.A. Milne to H and K, and the very beautiful Fairy Tales by Berlie Doherty and Jane Ray which is K's current favourite. It is wonderful reading Winnie-the-Pooh to people who have never met the jokes before and find them hilarious.

6. Five books you would take to a desert island.
Is this the kind of desert island where I need the book with the biggest covers I can think of for shade, the bulkiest book drenched in water to quench my thirst, the most nutritious book to eat, a book of matches to light a fire and a fishing book with a two free hooks?

Assuming the desert island has a luxurious resort which caters for all my other needs including entertainment for H & K, I'll take a bunch of books I haven't read but want to: the Life of Pi to finish, My Heart Goes Swimming for romance, Red Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson because I've heard it's good and I'm interested in the politics of terraforming, Captain Nemo by K.J. Anderson which D wants to return, and Of course I love you... NOW GO TO YOUR ROOM! by Diane Levy which I have been meaning to read for ages.

And then I remember that one is generally assumed to be stranded for a very long time on fictional desert islands not just on holiday and, after putting aside worrying about either being separated from or having to educate H and K, I think maybe I should bring some more sustaining things: an encyclopaedia to feed my love of trivia, The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis because they will survive much re-reading, Dear To Me for some great poems, an omnibus edition of Kim Stanley Robinson's Mars Trilogy to keep the wolf from the door, and a guide to the local flora and fauna to answer my curiosity.

7.Who are you going to pass this stick to (3 persons) and why?
JK and i because they both love to read and sometimes do memes and I'll leave the last invite temptingly open to anyone who wants it.

What's on tonight

I don't know about you but when I go to the movies I normally don't have a specific film in mind. An opportunity comes my way and suddenly I want to know what's on tonight. I want to go to a website and see all my options on one page. Sometimes I want to print that page and take it with me so I can discuss which movie to go to over dinner.

Here are some quick reviews of the sites I've found that meet that need in Wellington:

www.noremote.co.nz
+ good, comprehensive and reliable info
+ links to www.imdb.com (the movie database on the web)
= sessions by cinema
- I haven't found a way to print the information sensibly

www.feelinggreat.co.nz/movies
+ sessions by film across all cinemas (a very nifty feature)
+ good information
+ prints OK and you can cut, paste and reformat it
- sometimes incomplete and not obvious when it is
- link changes name from time to time, if it doesn't work go to the feelinggreat site and search for movies

www.tonight.co.nz
- only covers arty cinemas
= sessions by time
+ prints OK

There are a couple of sites which cover all of NZ which have all the information but do not present it on one page. www.flicks.co.nz is very glossy, www.nzcinema.co.nz has info for only some cinemas but I've included it because I like the design.

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Actually tonight I'm going to the Northland Toy Library committee meeting but conceptually I might be going to the movies and if I was I'd be using these sites.

Chocolatey goodness

My top ten:

1. Schoc - Lapsang Souchong - individual chocolates infused with smoked tea
2. Whitakers - Dark Orange block
3. dark chocolate covered crystallised ginger
4. de Spa Chocolatier - lime individual chocolates
5. the dark chocolate covered dried apricots you can buy individually from Kirks
6= Cadbury - Energy Chocolate block
6= Whitakers - Bittersweet Dark block
6= Cadbury - Old Gold block
9. chocolate covered hokey pokey
10. jaffas

Snail trial

Last night I went to the cast and crew screening of my cousin's movie The Last Great Snail Chase. I'd read the script months ago, been a sounding board for character development, and lent a variety of oddments and minor assistances to the crew. Our chest of drawers plays an important role in one scene.

I have been living with the expectant parent of the movie for many months and it was amazing to see it out in the light. It isn't independent yet - there are still some special effects to finish - but that will be done soon and it will take its first steps at the film market at Cannes. I am vicariously proud.

It is a coming of age movie with elements of magical realism. It is about twenty-somethings and is set in Wellington against a light hearted backdrop in which the world might be ending. I fear it will be interpretted as a very politically radical movie as some of the leading characters are politically radical with all the enthusiasm, optimism and naivety of youth.

At first I was very aware of what I think of as the Shortland Street Problem where .every. actor makes everything they .say. significant. But pretty soon I was caught up in the story. Well actually, stories. The Last Great Snail Chase has many different interweaving stories and it does it really well - the stories feel like parts of an organic whole. I think it manages multiple storylines better than any other movie I've seen and I don't think that is only my genetic bias talking.

I loved its quirky humour. I loved the way it flits off with minor characters. I loved the depth of detail in it and the feeling that if I watched it again I'd see more.

I hope that one day it will come to a cinema near you, and when it does - go!

To the borderline

Borders has recently opened a shop in Wellington. As someone who has read Dykes To Watch Out For and mourns the fate of Madwimmin Books* I am a little concerned at this but here some of the good things about it:

• My sister, who used to live in the States, points out that Borders isn't a great bookshop, what it is a cafe which also sells books and that makes it a damn good cafe. The only other cafe which sells books (and music) in Wellington is Parsons. I don't like the cafe at Parsons and I've only ever found the rest useful for buying classical music and birthday presents for my aunt, neither of which I do frequently.
• Borders is close to my work.
• The authors I am reading most at the moment are all accidentally Americans (Ursula Le Guin, Tony Hillerman and Orson Scott Card). Borders has American editions so their books are available there first before they have been published by people who can spell.
• The areas where Borders does best it is competing for my book buying dollar against Amazon not against my favourite bookshop, Arty Bees.
• Someone once told me that 10% of people buy 90% of books. So to keep Wellington properly supplied with bookshops I obviously need to support 100% of the bookshops.

* Madwimmin Books was a fictional independent local women's bookshop closed down due to competition from fictional bookshops including Bounders.

Huey, Dewey and ...

I've just finished re-reading Cordelia's Honor by Lois McMaster Bujold (which is was originally published as two books, Shards of Honor and Barrayar). Some of my gentle readers will appreciate knowing that it is great action sci-fi, some that it is an interesting, romantic love story and some that in the afterword she writes "Shards of Honor and Barrayar between them contain most of what I presently have to say about being a mother".

This snippet tickled my fancy:

He looked grandfatherly--though only if one's grandfather was a research professor. His face was held together with an intensity of intellect that seemed to give the term "military intelligence" real clout.

To appreciate why you have to understand that my father, H & K's grandfather, is a research professor. Although he is not my mental image of a professor which has always been my Uncle Donald, who looks like Professor Branestawm, and is similarly endearingly absent minded.

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This is the second post on my Wikifamily, the first is here.

Of great uncles

I have been reading The First Eagle by Tony Hillerman. I like all his books, mostly he writes very readable detective stories that feature the Navajo Tribal Police. I enjoy the glimpse into other cultures that his Native American protagonists bring.

In The First Eagle Tony Hillerman writes: "Hosteen Nakai was Chee's maternal granduncle, which gave him special status in Navajo tradition." Which led me to thinking about my only maternal great uncle: Francis Skinner. My uncle Francis died in 1941, long before I was born. He is famous in a small way as a friend, protege and lover of Wittgenstein. You can read about him in Wikipedia here and although it mentions "the dismay of Skinner's family" it doesn't tell you that the thing that really caused them lasting grief is that Wittgenstein did not tell them Francis was dying until it was too late to visit him.

Jim Chee's granduncle Nakai is steeped in Navajo tradition, my great uncle Francis's life did not fit with tradition. Chee spent a lot of time with Nakai, Francis was distant even from his sisters. Chee visits his granduncle on his deathbed, none of my family visited Francis. Chee and his family are fiction, my family is real. Both of these men are treasured.

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The rest of my WikiFamily (people with articles about them in Wikipedia I am vaguely related to) are:

Donald Lynden-Bell - British astronomer
John Brown - American abolitionist
John Reed - American bolshevik

Four movies and spoiler

I've been making it to lots of movies lately. Here are potted reviews of them:

Babel - Three stories: two which together make a gritty Hollywood movie with Brad Pitt and one that is out of the ordinary, powerful and great.

Casino Royale - Began with one of the greatest chases ever. Ended with me wishing that First Aid courses were compulsory for script writers. Fun, dark, Bond.

The Valet - Frivolous and funny.

Children of Men - A distopian dream. Deserves a cult following and a hearty recommendation.

Warning - the next bit contains major spoilers for Children of Men, if you are intending to see the movie read no further.

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In Children of Men there is a scene where a woman carries her new baby, the first in the world for 18 years, through crowded corridors and a battle. As she walks through everyone pauses, some reach to touch, some drop to their knees, some just gape. There has been a miracle, everyone can hear it.

This is exactly how I felt when I'd just had my babies and after the births I've attended. There has been a miracle. The strange thing is that normally the world doesn't stop.

Forget this post

I have a dark secret, I have a hobby so embarrassing that I rarely speak of it, I usually wait for others to mention it before coming out to them, I'm a gamer. Yesterday, for the first time, I participated in Kapcon, Wellington's annual role playing convention.

At Kapcon a friend said she felt like she didn't fit in and I said I felt like I did fit in but also had an entirely irrational sense of superiority. Then I remembered watching Heroes on Friday night and realised that the people at Kapcon looked just like the uncool group in an American sitcom high school, 10-20 years older and 0-100lbs fatter*.

The games were great fun and challenging. I smote evil, flew in the Tardis and connected terrifyingly easily with my inner bimbo.

*If you were there I'm sure you were out of the room when I made this unfair and possibly insulting generalisation. Feel free to say "speak for yourself" and point out that I am at the upper end of both these ranges.

A motto for perfectionist procrastinators

If a thing is worth doing,

it's worth doing badly.

I have been following this and catching up on a heap of small things at work that I haven't been doing because I wanted to do them properly but badly is better than not at all. In fact a perfectionist's badly is sometimes better than other people's properly.

In other news I have been watching lots of Heroes. As one of the people that recommended Heroes to me said "The premise is that people all over the world are developing superpowers, from California to New York" and before you say "What about the Japanese Guy?" I'd like to point out the first thing he does with his superpowers is go to America. Despite this and its complete disregard for science as we know it, I recommend it.

Being productive at work and watching Heroes in the evenings has led to the sad neglect of this blog for the last few days.

Oh, and D is away again. Bother that man.

Note: For increased appreciation of that last statement you need to be familiar with a later edition of Mog the Forgetful Cat. For those of you familiar with an earlier edition - Drat that man.

Mummy laid an egg

Becoming a parent has taught me many things. Some of them are useful transferrable skills like the applied art of bribery. Some of them less so, like how to put a disposable nappy onto a child who is standing up and attempting to walk away.

One of the skills I have learnt is how to make really good scrambled eggs. There are three secrets:

1. use one 15 ml tablespoon of milk per egg (at least 2 eggs per person)
2. don't stir too much, and
3. take the eggs off the heat when they are still a bit runny - glistening is good.

The title of this post is a wonderful, silly book by Babette Cole which we had out from the library. Great early sex education without taking it too seriously.

To sleep, perchance to dream

My best beloved, D, thinks that sleeping is a social acitivity. Given a group of people chatting he'll probably be snoozing in the corner. I mention this because I was going to write about the wonderful production of Hamlet I saw recently but I just realised that he is snoring into his book so I'll wake him up and drag him off to bed.

Actually first I'll cut and paste these snippets about Hamlet from a chat:

Hamlet was angsty, self-involved and unpleasant. The King, who was also the dead King, was excellent in a very intense way. Ophelia was mostly believable, Polonius was funny, Gertrude wasn't very good but they didn't try making it all oedipal so that didn't matter and I've never really got it like that anyway.

Must to bed. Last night I had Shakespearian dreams including a play within a play/dream.

Oh and Hamlet said the 'To be or not to be' speech at Ophelia which one felt probably contributed to her later demise.

The best thing with sliced bread

I have recently discovered supermarket shopping online and I'm hooked. I love the way that it doesn't take much longer than making the list. I love that I can see all the products that meet my search criteria in one place. I love the way that substitutions for products that are out of stock add an element of surprise to unpacking. I love that you can leave instructions for your 'personal shopper' and that they follow them. I love that they give you something extra - a present of celery last week and lip gloss this week.

Deck the halls

It turns out my staggeringly early Xmas shopping was none too soon. On Saturday the girls and I went to the C family Xmas celebration, D being a C by birth and me an honary C by marriage. D was missing as he is in the US, again, humph.

It made me think about how different our two families' Xmases are.

The C family can have their Xmas on 2 December where you can only tell it is Xmas because there is a beautiful tree and presents. My family, the Hs, are flexible too, we can move our Xmas celebration from lunchtime to the evening of 25 December.

The C family was missing people who live in the Wellington region but were out with friends. The H family would take it hard if anyone within 300kms was missing.

The C family had casual BBQ with people milling about, sometimes they have a afternoon affair with nibbles. The H family sit down to a three course meal, always. First course is turkey, second Xmas pudding and third glace fruit and nuts.

The C family normally gives presents only to lower generations so D & I get two presents each and H & K get six each. The H family each family gives each person a present so H & I will get about the same number.

I love both. I'm glad not to have to rush between two Xmas celebrations on one day and still go to both. I'd be disappointed to only have the low key C Xmas and two traditional Xmases would be one too many. I am glad I don't have to think of presents for each of D's siblings and their partners but enjoy choosing presents for all my family.

Two happy christmases are better than one.