Senses working overtime #534

1 A week of frosty mornings

Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash

2 Watched: A Man Called Otto on Netflix

I loved the novel (A Man Called Ove by Swedish writer Fredrik Backman), and Tom Hanks is an excellent Otto.

3 Listened to: my collection of Procol Harum albums.

Some absolute gems in this post. 

4 Reading: Fathers - Jon Winokur

A collection of reminiscences about famous, infamous, and fictional fathers from their children, with contributions by Candice Bergen, Angelica Huston, Thurgood Marshall, Calvin Coolidge, and other notables. Five dollars from Little Red Bookshop.

5 Listened to: Rammstein - Sehnsucht

The Rammstein albums are coming up soon on Goo Goo G'Joob.

Overtime: Arthur Schopenhauer

"The art of not reading is a very important one. It consists in not taking an interest in whatever may be engaging the attention of the general public at any particular time. When some political or ecclesiastical pamphlet, or novel, or poem is making a great commotion, you should remember that he who writes for fools always finds a large public. - A precondition for reading good books is not reading bad ones: for life is short."

Senses working overtime #531

1 Second week of the study break:

Photo by Glenn Carstens-Peters on Unsplash

The first week of the study break kicked off with me marking students' work, this second week ended with planning my five classes for the next 6 weeks. That's a good feeling!

2 Watched: Alone UK and Alone Australia

We finished watching season 2 of Alone Australia (started while at Mabelle and Gav's gaff) and then moved onto season 1 of Alone UK. Slight change for that one with 11 ordinary Brits surviving/ lasting from 4 hours to 30ish days. Brilliant!

3 Reading: God Only Knows (The story of Brian Wilson, The Beach Boys and the California myth) - David Leaf

I've read this in an earlier edition when I borrowed a library copy years ago, but I had to buy this 2024 version while visiting Santa Rosa (Copperfields Books). Good to reread given the recent passing of Brian.

4 Listening: Procol Harum Live in Concert

5 Reading: The Visitor - Lee Child

I'm pretty sure I've also read this one years ago but that's the great thing with his books - because of the frothiness and easiness of the style, you can reread and enjoy them all over again. This is a great study break book.

Overtime:  

"Focus on the seeds, not the trees. What seeds are you planting today?"

James Clear

Senses working overtime #323

The senses went into overdrive on our recent holiday to Wellington. The main reason for our visit was to see the exhibition of surrealist art at Te Papa. The big city sounds and smells were definitely a change from our rural outlook in Takapau!

1 Surrealism at Te Papa

Great little camera trick allows you to reproduce Magritte's famous painting.

2 

3 Flamingo Joe's

Feeling good at Flamingo Joe's after their sticky date pudding!

4 Windy Wellington

Weather was pretty good but windy on our last day. 

5 Pier Review

Spied this well named boat on the Wellington waterfront (before finding ourseleves by the fishing boat Viking Bay Vigo - moored in Wellington so that the fishers with covid can go into MIQ).

Overtime: Replacement copies

I picked up a couple of replacement copies of some damaged albums at Slow Boat Records. 

My English copy of the Procol Harum album had a badly defaced cover - some plonker had coloured in the faces, so this clean Aussie copy was a good find, as was the Quicksilver Messenger Service; my original had some bobbles in the vinyl which made track one on each side unplayable. Given this is my favourite album by them I was thrilled to find this 'new' copy.