To race... Or not to race.

I hate making posts about me but I have a bit of an issue at the moment that is directly related to me being ill. I kid you not when I say that I've been sick for nearly ten days now. And things just don't seem to be getting any better.

Normally I would just shrug it off and wait to get better, but I have a feeling that I may be so stressed this time about being sick that I'm just making myself sicker.

I have the Tour de Manawatu cycle race this sunday and I've been looking forward to it for ages as it's my first race. I've been rather nervous but very excited about it and can't wait to challenge myself against numerous other cyclists.

However, we encounter our first problem. A while back now, when I started to get sick, I was on a training ride of the course. I had no energy to get up the hills, was feeling nauseous to the point of being sick twice. I really don't want that to happen during the race when I can't stop. (On that particular training ride I ended up bailing about 25km in because I was feeling so rotten).

The next problem - I havn't trained since then. I'm petrified of going into a race and not being very fit. Yes, I understand that a week or so off training shouldn't affect me too much, but I didn't have a hang of a lot of base fitness. Not on hills anyway.

Basically I guess you could just say I'm afraid of coming last. Maybe I would have come last anyway, but I really didn't feel the need to increase my chances of this embarrassment.

And the third problem is - I don't really think that it will do much for my health, if I race while I'm sick. I'll probably get sicker. And I'm going away next wednesday or thursday to New Plymouth for a few days with Daniel for one of his races which I really don't want to be sick for.

Actually - there is a fourth problem. There is no way that I want to bail from something like this. It's only 50km..... I should be fine, right?

How not to get sick

Since I am sick, I felt compelled to write something about steps we can take to... not get sick. Yes, I know it is nearly Summer, but hey, sickly people like me get sick all the time, regardless of the season!

Since I'm clearly not exactly a picture of good health I looked up on trusty xtra for some tips on how to stay healthy. It came up with these seven:

1. Get moving
2. Quit smoking
3. Lose weight
4. Eat right
5. Drink moderately
6. Bust stress
7. Avoid danger

Well, I have this to say:

SCREW YOU XTRA!

I exercise probably a lot more than the average person (swim, run, cycle, gym etc etc), don't smoke, am not overweight, don't drink at all (well, not alcohol), bust a hang of a lot of stress when I'm exercising and generally avoid danger such as mountain lions and poisonous snakes.

So why am I sick?!

I'll admit that I havn't exercised in a couple of days, but that's BECAUSE I'm sick!

The only thing I can see that could possibly be causing me to be a weakling is my diet. I only have about 3 weeks left here in my flat. After that it's back home to mum and dad over the summer. So I've sort of gone into a "there's no point in going shopping properly" mode.

My diet has been mainly ice cream, gummi lollies, chocolate, juice, popcorn and sorbet.

More recently I have done the lazy option of making Wok Creations stirfries that take about 10 minutes to make and involve very little effort and a lot of vegetables. Clearly this hasn't been enough though, as I find myself here with a running nose, a blocked head, chest and sore eyes.

I can only encourage others to not do as I have done and neglect my diet as I focus too much on the other aspects of staying healthy.

BLOWING ONE'S NOSE EVERY 5 SECONDS IS NOT A COOL LOOK!

How excited am I...!?!?!?!

Being the History geek I am (I left my crooked teeth, rancid smell, and taped up glasses in my other pants) and I was majoring in Classics before realising there weren't enough internal classic papers, you can only imagine how freaking cream-your-jeans excited I was to find out about this little gem:

Ooooooooooooooh Baby!! Frank Miller (who created Sin City - we all remember how awesome that movie was) wrote a 'graphic novel' called '300' about the infamous battle of Thermopylae in 480 BC when the Spartan King (not Spartacus) Leonidas and 300 Spartans defended the narrow passage of Thermopylae against approximately 1,000,000 Persians. All 300 Spartans were killed, including King Leonidas, but the casualties to the Persians were approximatly 200,000 - 500,000. Stuff legends are made of.

So mix this story, with Frank Miller - and you can gauge how stoked I am about this movie!!!

It's on like Donkey Kong

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nv_nrafAa34 - Preview

How come every time you come around....

My bladdy, bladder contents wanna come out....

John announced to me before that he was bringing sexy back, which is how we got onto the topic of what exactly does Fergie mean by 'London Bridge'?? Our conclusion = Bum Juice.

Which also reminded me of that stooopid ad on TV "whats your favourite part of my body?" Yeah, it's going to be the armpit - every time.

My favourite part of your body, is your belly-button. My lint-filled dream.

What is your favourite part of the body?? Is it the ear-hair, the space between the toes where "jam" can collect??

Or is it infact - the bottom. A regular supplier of juice.

Those mother-ballers don't know how to act....

Bella's

Ah the delights of writing about food. It just occurred to me that I might be considered a big fat pig because I'm writing a bit about this topic of eating and where I consider good places to engage in this happy pastime.

But we all need to eat. Food gives us energy. Energy helps us do things. When we do things (like exercise for example) we feel happy. Happy people don't kill their husbands! How I love Legally Blonde!

Anyway, what I mean to say is that eating is important, so why not enjoy it?

I would like to talk about one of my favourite places today. I can't remember how long I've been going there for but I think it would have to be going on 10 years. My parents go there a lot, so I've always been taken along. In more recent times I've been out to dinner with friends there and even more recently Dan has taken me there.

I'm referring to Bella's. It's a charming little restaurant situated on the Square, nestled between the ramp to the library and The Stunned Mullet on the corner of the Coleman Mall. Most people don't seem to know where it is which I find odd, because Bella's does a roaring trade, especially on Thursdays and Fridays (from experience).

It's a two levelled building, with a cute narrow staircase to the upper half. There's a dusky, candlelit sort of atmosphere and the staff never fail to look after you extremely well. In my entire experience of dining there I have never once had a complaint about anything. They're all extremely well trained and professional as well as friendly.

The menu is superb. There is a classics section which consists of italian style meals, based on pasta and some on seafood. I have to point out here that the mussels are beautiful. They are cooked in a chilli and cream reduction and are without a doubt the yummiest mussels I have ever had. Mum has always taken me there for lunch after I've passed my exams or managed to achieve something worth celebrating, and we always have the mussels. I actually can't even begin to explain how good they are. Take care if you have trouble with spicy food though - they do have a bit of a bite to them on account of the chilli.

The rest of the menu is generally set, usual dished like beef, pork, chicken, lamb, fish and salmon. All of these are accompanied with fascinating sides like kumara rosti (the salmon) and other interesting things. Along with this, diners can also choose from a green salad, a baked potato (of the day), shoestring fries with aioli, or (my favourite) the seasonal vegetables.

On top of this there are also about three specials. Last time I went (about a week ago) one of the specials was whitebait (which Dan got) and another was scallops (which my mother had as a main and I had as an entree). I can't recall the third but it was something equally as enticing.

This is one of the few places about which I can really say "It's worth staying for dessert." Yes, it's expensive, but wow, you really get what you pay for. The menu generally stays the same, with delicious treats such as raspberry creme brulee, frozen chocolate mousse and baked white chocolate cheesecake. Along with the menu, there is also a cakes cabinet (to my father's glee) which contains an assortment of sticky treats such as pecan pie and blackforest cherry cake.

Finally - I can actually say something about the drinks. They have a fantastic assortment of wines which will perfectly compliment your meal. They also have (to my delight) a wide range of pure juices, such as pineapple, feijoa and sundry other ones. I can truly say that these juices are SO good.

Atmosphere

9

Food

9

Drink

8.5

To my dismay and astonishment......

I realsied while reading the blog that I hadn't posted for quite some time and that I really have no excuse for this lack of electronic communication between myself and my peers.

So............ I'm back in David Burton mode again!!!

This time - I am reviewing a cafe/bar that is relatively new to Palmerston North, although they have been popping up randomly all over the North Island for the last two years I believe.

I am of course talking about Breakers and I feel the need to mention my first encounter with this.... restaurant was in Napier. Then a few months later in Taupo. I thought it was a great idea for somewhere a bit better than Pizza Hut but a bit more casual than somewhere like.... say the Cobb. Not that the Cobb is particularly flash either....

Anyway, Breakers fits in somewhere between a cafe and a restaurant. As the name suggests, there is something of a beach theme going on which is quite cool. Some of the tables are in the shape of longboards, there are surfboards on the walls and sundry other beach items. There's even a table in Kombie van style (spelling may be wrong there!) with seats and a table inside.

A decent meal ranges from $10-$25. There are great burgers from $10 which come with fries. Paying a bit more can get you a steak, salad and fries. And then there are seafood dishes like platters, scallops and prawns. If you want my honest opinion on these dishes I's say - go somewhere else. You're paying about $25 for a seafood dish that you could pay an extra five bucks for somewhere that prepares food a lot better.

The drinks are nothing flash. I believe Tim mentioned on one (possibly more) occassion that the tap beer was warm. I tried a kiddies cocktail (haha) once and it was pretty darn bad. The drinks seemed a bit pricey as well. $5 for a shake that is pretty much just flavoured milk. Not cool at all methinks.

Overall though I give Breakers the thumbs up. It has a decent atmosphere, good burgers and a fun pretend van that you can eat in. What more could you want?

Atmoshpere

6.5

Food

7.5

Drink

4

Have You......

'Hasselhoff looks like a Rapist'

..... according to David Walliams (Lou) from Little Britain. Although I find the video rather creepy, and quite disturbing - I don't think I would have used the word rapist....

Little Britain star David Walliams has raised eyebrows by claiming David Hasselhoff "looks like a rapist" in his new music video - which depicts the former Baywatch hunk picking up random women in his car. The British funnyman made the comment after being told Hasselhoff's new song 'Jump In My Car', reached number three in the UK music charts. The video shows the ageing hunk kerbcrawling a group of girls, serenading one of them to join him in his car, before using the vehicle's ejector seat on the young girl when she refuses his advances. He says, "It looks like he's going to rape the woman in that video."

http://xtramsn.co.nz/entertainment/0,,12254-6435837,00.html

and check out the video here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ltE62fohrLY

Times they are a changing...

Yes kids, it's that time of the year - or that time of ones lifetime. It's the end of an era, it's the end of the semester, it's the end of university. Today I did a big-girl thing and booked Sparticus into a Cattery, and booked a moving company. So on Thursday, November 16th at 7am, the truck comes along and takes my shit, and moves it for me. Then I need to follow the truck in my wee car with my wee cat, to make sure they don't drop anything.

I can't believe we're nearly finished you guys!! Three years ago I was in my school uniform (a rather fetching green kilt and jersey) getting ready for bursary, then getting ready to move to a new town - in a new island!!! I've now been here for three whole years (managing to keep a cat alive for two of those years) and it's time for me to move on again. Now as much as I have campaigned to move away from Palmy, I have had some awesome times here - and despite the weather and location, my student years have been pretty booze filled and top notch (much of that thanks to you fullas).

So as we near to an end - I ask you to reminisce on your student years, and to share. It's not long now until we're adults in the big wide world with proper adult jobs. I don't ever want to grow up!!!

Now where is Sparticus so I can see if the fatty still fits her harness......

New Blockbuster Announced!!!

I don't know about you fools, but "I've had it with these motherfucking Camels on this motherfucking submarine!!"

This is why I don't eat vegetables

Because they look at me like this.

This cat is named Susie, and is a boy. So if that didn't fuck the cat off enough, his owner made him dress up as a pumpkin.

Now as much I think it would be funny to dress Sparticus up as a witch or a bat for Halloween, if she even thought about looking at me like this - I would burn the costume in front of her and sacrifice a neighbour to the ashes.

I was thinking about dressing Sparticus up as a New Zealand idol - just need to find a poo costume for cats.....

An interesting book. Or journal.

I just at this very second remembered the title of a book that I shelved this morning. Or yesterday morning, if you will.

The Production of Fermented Dairy Drinks.

Mmmmmmh, how's that for a title?

It was actually someone's postgrad project on yoghurt based beverages, but couldn't they have thought of a better title? Yes I know that yoghurt is a fermented bacteria filled form of milk or whatever but I mean honestly, I don't know about you but I don't think I ever want to have another smoothie ever again!

Fermented?! What were they thinking.........?

GO SARAH! And a shocking surprise on the xtra rugby-is-too-good-for-other-sport site.

I would like to register my disgust and astonishment that a rugby article somehow found its way into the sports news section on xtra. What's wrong with it's own special to-good-for-other-sport section?

I am very very irritated!

Plus I wanted to post this cool pic of Sarah. That's what victory looks like. AND guess what? She's going to be in Pedal Pushers tomorrow morning! She's also back in training after struggling a bit with a back injury.

So GO SARAH!

When you want something fast, inexpensive and artery blocking....

I have an idea for you...........................

Go to Pizza Hut! All you can eat, $9.90 for lunch.

I'm back in David Burton mode baby!

Today, as John needed a study break and I needed something to do, we decided to go out for lunch. But where to? John was starving, I was relatively hungry and we are both students. So, the obvious solution to our problems was to go to Pizza Hut - All you can eat!

While it may have been the solution to our hunger and monetary problems, it was just the beginning of all sorts of other ones.

School holidays. A large chunk of the restaurant (if one can call it that) was taken up by a screaming mass of children. I know and understand that when you compromise on price, of course you are going to compromise on other things. The atmosphere was less than enjoyable as we sat down with our first round of artery clogging pizza.

A second round of pasta and chips (or in my case pasta and coleslaw) followed. But we encountered a rather nasty surprise. The pasta sauce. When you come across a cream coloured pasta sauce you automatically assume that it is something like cheese, or Alfredo or something of that sort. However as we sat down we discovered that it was in fact..... Chicken.

Chicken sauce. On pasta. Like they had opened up a few tins of condensed chicken soup and had dumped it on their stupid hot plate "keep the food warm" thing. We began to wonder if it may have been a wiser idea to choose the red sauce. Don't ask me what it was, I wouldn't like to assume tomato, it was just very red.

We finally arrived at the dessert stage. Finally we were expecting something nice - the lovely chocolate mousse there always seems to be without fail. We were to be disappointed. In this time, the majority of the screaming children had left, but so had all of the mousse! I approached a man who was cleaning up the tables, throwing the scraps into buckets (I mean honestly, was it a farm or something? There were still people dining there!) very publically.

He was kind enough to arrange for some more mousse to be brought out and we finished our meal on a fairly average note.

Now... It's rating time!

Food

4

Drink

3

Atmosphere

0.2

Maybe I'm being a bit harsh. But I did give them the benefit of the doubt with the atmosphere since I can appreciate that it's not always school holidays and there are not always children running around screaming or scraps being thrown into buckets in front of the patrons still dining.

We only drank water and while it was iced, the glasses looked greasy. Plus they only offer the Pepsi range which I think is inexcusable. (They are however a liscenced restaurant and do sell RTDs such as KGBs and the like.

So - when you are simply hungry, desperate to eat and lacking money, then head to Pizza Hut.

Happy artery clogging everyone!

Ah Tiny Teddy's - Why do you look at me the way you do?

Ah yes, the childhood treat that I actually didn't eat as a child.

Now I think I have been doing pretty well attempting to branch out into this "healthy" food stuff, and going for walks etc But alas, while walking through the supermarket with Kendall, on that fateful Wednesday (that's yesterday for those of you playing at home) I saw them. On special for $1.99, and I had a $2 coin in my wallet.

So the packet of Tiny Teddy's came home with me, and whilst writing me script I have demolished the majority of the Tiny Teddy population.

They are my source of weakness.....

Within a space of 24 hours, the majority of which the box has not been in the same room as me - I would have finished off an ENTIRE box of Tiny Teddy's - I could probably do it in a sitting if it wasn't for that fat teddy (makes me feel guilty, especially as there is more of that teddy to eat).

And the worst thing is, over exams, there will probably be more Tiny Teddy boxes and packets demolished. Soon I'll have secret stashes hidden around my room, in my car, in my cat's fur!! I'll be begging in the streets for change to help my habbit - WHEN WILL IT END?!?!

But as I glance over, there is a happy Tiny Teddy looking at me, half covered in milk chocolate, and all I want to do is eat his face off, and kill his family....

Guys, I think I have a problem.....

If you have spare Tiny Teddy's , please send to:

Tiny Teddy's Anonymous
C/O Roslyn Lusty
(Please post on my blog and I'll send you the address)

Sport. And Rugby. Seperate.

I was outraged today when I went to my homepage, http://www.xtra.co.nz, and discovered a slightly new page layout.

It wasn't so much the fact that it was new. I think it was actually quite cool. You could choose your previews of the news by genre. Like travel, games, entertainment, general news and such like. It's actually a really good idea and I give xtra a big thumbs up for it.

However, what I do NOT like is that RUGBY has its own little section. There is a SPORT section but is it good enough for rugby? Nooooooooo. Rugby is so special that it needs a section to itself.

I can appreciate that rugby is our nation's sport. That's ok. I enjoy watching rugby sometimes. I even join in with making angry animal noises every time George Gregan is on the screen (that man is a w******!!!!!!). And sure, I'll be happy if we beat the Aussies. Or South Africa. Or even England (only because of the way they acted after "winning" the World Cup).

But why seperate it into a sub-group in the xtra news? Is it because it's the sport that our nation is best at? Last I checked the last time we won the World Cup was in 1987 when we thumped the French 29-9 at Eden Park. (Please correct me if I'm wrong there, I'm only going by what two and a half years with a rugby crazed boyfriend does to you). I'm not saying that we suck at rugby. We do seem to be quite good at it, but we rarely perform that well.

I know that by writing this I am probably going to be inspiring large amounts of rage in some people but I myself am rather enraged that rugby is getting it's own special little spot on xtra.

Why not, wait for it...... Cycling. Good old Sarah Ulmer won us the gold AND broke several world records at Athens.

And just so I'm not being biased... Why not multisport? We've got Hamish Carter and Bevan Docherty. Between them they've won gold AND silver at Athens AND a World Championship to name some! And good old Hamish got second at the most recent World Champs. Those boys are making us PROUD!

And further evidence to show that I'm unbiased - THE EVERS SWINDELL TWINS!!!! Come on! They're twins!!! And even Rob Waddell!

We have more success in sports like this, yet they don't get nearly the same amount of support that rugby does. Is it because Daniel Carter is, like, the sexiest thing you've ever seen? (*vomits*). Is it because Dougie is just so cute with his bouncy hair? (Actually hasn't he cut it off? I havn't seen him and his boofy hair round for a while.....) Is it because we like seeing men running around with a ball and jumping on top of eachother in, as Bill and Ben would describe it, a Man Love Moment?

Why do we like rugby so much? I wont deny that we clearly so love it as the nation practically goes into mourning when we lose to the Aussies (or the French! Or anyone!!) and it's been proven that domestic violence rises when we lose as well.

Oh well, as much as I wish there was something I could do about it, it doesn't look like there is. And I'll be stuck with the annoyance of seeing the "Rugby" section on xtra every time I use the internet.

Maybe I should change my homepage...

Tuesday Trauma

Last night something traumatic happened to me. I feel a bit better about it today, better enough to talk about it....

I went to use the toilet last night (I needed to wee) but I soon realised a big reason why LIVING WITH BOYS IS NOT COOL. They leave the toilet window WIDE OPEN (for obvious reasons) and don't ever want to shut it. So when I turned the light on, A HUGE FUCKING MOTH FLEW IN THE WINDOW AND TRIED TO EAT MY FACE OFF!!!!! Now as much as I hate moths, I can handle one being in the room, and I have been known to even get rid of them all by myself - but when my bladder is full and a moth is trying to kill me, I tend to freak out.

I asked Luke to do the boy thing and get rid of it for me, but he said "spray it with the air freshener" which wasn't of any use because that was where the little creature from hell was flying. We did have some bug spray under the kitchen sink, so I sprayed the majority of the can on it (I felt kinda sorry for it dying slowly, so I sprayed more on it, which actually seemed to slow down the dying process....) but as it flapped around on the floor I could see the light reflecting off it's eyes, and they were BRIGHT RED. Straight from hell I tell you.

I don't know where it was this morning, I think Luke may have flushed it (no one wants something with beedy red eyes staring at you while you try to urinate). The only thing that would have made it worse, would have been if it was a spider - had it been a flying spider I probably would have wet myself and then died from terror, or called Richard Branson to take me to the moon where there are no spiders.

The Japanese Restaurant Around the Corner From My Flat

I thought that since I fancy myself as the next David Burton that I might attempt a restaurant review.

It will probably turn out more like a little story of my trip out for dinner, but hey, it should be entertaining!

Yatai Izakaya
Featherston St, Palmerston North

Last night Dan took me to the Japanese restaurant that is just round the corner from the flat. I've driven past it many times and always wondered what it was like in there. It just looks like a house from the outside which I initially found rather irksome. But on the inside it's just super! I've only been to Japan once and it was a 2 day-ish stop-over on my way back from Germany and we didn't go to any restaurants, only McDonalds, but I'm sure that the interior was pretty authentic. Lamps of a paper-like-nature for lighting, oriental wall hangings and such like.

Now, I had better point out that it's not a cheap night out. Well, maybe David Burton would say it was, but from a student's point of view it is most definitely not. Initially when you look at the menu you think "great!" because all of the dishes are prices somewhere between $10 and $20. However, when you get told by the waiter that they suggest you share the dishes between you and that they suggest at least four dishes per head, it's not looking so "great!" anymore.

Having said all this bad stuff, I have to say - it is definitely worth it. We decided to order 4 dishes between us and see how it went (Dan had just been for a 110km cycle and was starving) and that we could just order more if we needed to. Turns out we didn't need to! We started with a large plate of salmon and chicken teriyaki Sushi, moved onto octopus tentacle dumplings, then this japanese style pizza with squid on it and then finished off with japanese imported smoked eel on a bed of rice and japanese pickles (the japanese pickles are a lot nicer than they sound and look like sliced black olives, only a bit pinker).

Be prepared to use chopsticks. Knives and forks are not provided. I'm sure they could be, but it's fun to get into the spirit of it and give it a shot. Imagine the hilarity though of me getting frustrated and skewering an octopus tentacle dumpling in my desperation for it to reach my mouth. Or one of Dan's chopsticks going flying as he wrestled with the complexity of what to do with the japanese style pizza.

We didn't stay for dessert as our time spent coming to terms with the chopsticks had made us late for the movies, plus imagine our bewilderment when we turned to the desserts section of the menu and found "Italian Desserts" printed in bold letters! While I love Tiramisu to bits, I was hoping to try something japanese so I was a tad disappointed in that respect.

I believe that David Burton gives a rating out of 10 for atmosphere, food and drink. There may be another one in there too..... But here are mine:

Atmosphere - 7.5

Food - 8

Drink - n/a

(We didn't sample what they had on offer to drink, but I believe that there were some authentic japanese cocktail type concoctions that would no doubt be delightful)

(I can also really recommend the eel. It was SO yummy!)

Well, I hope that was vaguely entertaining! It definitely makes for a very fun and different night out!