a Day

Monday.

Get up and moan about the morning, branches scratching at the window and making squeeching sounds. The noise of cars going by filters in. A bus passes in a mighty diesel roar. Push the cover up, folding the duvet over the sheep skins on top. cloths? oh my cloths... uh grab the merino top for the moment as it's light, comfy and warm.

Into the kitchen to prepare some food. Simple, it's already past 10:30 (as indicated by the bus passing) so no cuppa this morning, no eggs or pancakes (oh I should make french toast sometime...). Chop a banana, pour some Musli over it, mix and enjoy. listening to some classical music on the radio as I eat. Finished I take out bread, salami, tomato, butter, greens; slice the bread and tomatoes, stack it all up to make two sandwiches and put in a very fancy tupperware. Grab an apple.

Now to really choose some clothes, bah I need to do a wash, was going to do that but I got out of bed too late, tonight I guess. hmm, these will do. Brush teeth. search around my room to assemble all my school supplies and papers; and that pesky house key that keeps vanishing. Damn, still late always late... at 11:40 class is far away, but at 11:45 it's looming and then it takes another 5 min just to get the bike out of the garage (lord knows why!).

Try and sprint, as always, but that one light at fendalton rd always takes forever. Get to the engineering building and realize I forgot the bike lock. oh well. Put the bike in the bike parking cage that only students can access with a card, and use helmet as a bike lock... Yep, late, 12:03 as I walk into my Materials Science lecture and sit in the front row as Anil continues to lecture. Yay phase diagrams, fascinating things.

Then I have a two hr break, but not really. I go to the library to tackle a frustrating Energy engineering problem: a dairy factory is considering using a heatpump and a heat exchanger to use waste heat to preheat water, but I cant solve for the correct things. Consulting a few textbooks gets me know where and an hour and a half later I still don't get it and have to get to lecture. I swing by and turn in the frustrating assignment, with a brief explanation of my frustrations.

The prior class is taking it's time, which gives me time to enjoy my lunch outside the lecture theatre. Kapa Haka, maori performing arts: today we learned about the haka kamate, which was made famous by the Allblacks (NZ rugby team). Watched some movies of the Allblacks performing it, and it's evolution through time. talking about the positive and negative effects of the globalization of the haka, and some of the disrespectful imitations that have emerged. And I still havn't started my essay for that paper...

Since the lecture started late Corban held us over a bit, and I was a bit late for my Materials Science lab on the other side of campus. Quick lab, the tutor quickly tests some materials, we quickly copy numbers, he shows us some pictures and away we go! 'Have fun writing the 6-8 page write up' he says.

Thats the day. So I head home to do some reading and eat a full meal. I edit a geology on Ice Marginal Morains, which wasn't very good. For tea I saute carrots and gorgets with some garlic etc. then add some chicken I picked up from the butchers on the way home. Bring water to a boil and the pasta's ready at about the same time. mm yummy and then was I full. crap 6:30 already? gah, back on the Bike and down to uni!

Meet at the gear shed for the university of canterbury canoe club (UCCC) where we meet and secure kayaks to cars before driving off to QEII recreation center (and getting lost). We get there early anyways and so enjoy a bit of time in the hot tub before the pool frees up and we get in our kayaks and into the water. Tonight I'm not doing so hot. I get a few decent rolls and then just fail. paddle keeps hitting the boat and slicing into the water too much... I need to find the rigth equilibrium point to place my paddle at and then I know what to do. SO I fooled around and practiced my hip snap at the wall. Did some side stroke things to practice hipsnap and balance, which resulted in a few capsizings (then I'd try and roll, fail, and get resqued or wet exit) Great time!

Back from the pool, it's 10, bike home, eat a snack. mess with this and that, send some emails. enjoy sitting on my sheep skins on my bed and reading a bit. Thats my monday. oh and the weather was high clouds but not really any rain. Go to bed again with the branches squeeching and then my door half opening and letting in a stream of too bright light that disturbs my sleep.