Yay! Vacation!, Climate, A New Bracelet & Gay Marriage in NZ
It is Saturday & I've got a week off. Part of me is "I'm tired don't want to do ANYTHING" and part of me is "Oh hey, I've fallen behind on so much it's time to DO THINGS". I've only been up for 30 mins so right now I'm checking emails & drinking coffee. I might wander over to the table to have some watermelon and make a list of things I do want to achieve this week.
We've got dry, hot conditions in the country this summer. It's one of the dryer years on record, I've heard both 30 and 70 year records mentioned. There is some rain due today but sounds like it's not going to break the drought in the farming areas. NZ has a generally wet climate and we get rain in the summer. So far I think the whole (or just about the whole) North Island has been declared a drought zone & I believe sections of the SI as well, if not a good portion of it. It reminds me of Calif summers, hot and dry and while I like to be able to experience it (especially without the same level of heat) again which I never thought I'd get to, it's really not good for the country, the animals or the farmers. Wellington was down to 18 days of water supply yesterday. There is a little bit of rain due this weekend but doesn't sound like much.
Here is a photo from the NZ Herald showing satellite comparisons of the North Island in 2012 and 2013. Read the article here
In non-climate news, I have been able to take some time to make a Viking knit bracelet. It turned out really good & I'll post a photo for you later (photo taken, still on camera). I showed it to some coworkers & someone is interested in buying it. I'll be making another to put up either on Felt or Craftworld. I do like how it turned out, despite the sulphur solution doing something unusual in the patina processes. It made it look better in my opinion & I don't know if it's because of the age of my sulphur solution, the fact I used silver filled wire instead of sterling silver (silver filled = 10% silver, 90% copper; sterling is about 99% silver vs 1% copper) or both that gave the results but it was pretty cool. The sulphur didn't tarnish black like sterling does, but made the wire kind of look like titianium, with metallic blues, green & brown on the inside surfaces. I've used a green scratchy cleaning cloth to take off the surface tarnish and it has left the piece with a brushed look on the outside and the metallic colours on the inside. I've re-purposed a couple 9mm brass casings, given them the same brushed look with the green scratchy & put some coating on to keep them from tarnishing. It's simple but nicely masculine.
In the good news category: The "Marriage Equality" (aka gay marriage) bill passed it's second reading in the NZ Parliament. It's not over yet, still a run through Parliament clause by clause, possibly another reading. Overall there was a shift of a loss of 3 votes for it, but it's an interesting make-up because a couple MPs who either voted against it or didn't vote at all changed their vote so while it's 3 less for gay marriage it isn't that easy. There's an interesting article here about a Labour candidate who didn't vote the first time around who voted for the bill this time around & an article about one of the lesser-known MPs who spoke eloquently for it, despite going into the hearings neither for nor against it. His speech was supposedly super-inspiring (there's a link somewhere, I wasn't overly interested so haven't looked it up). If all goes well it could be passed into law next month and then there's a 4-month stand-down period. C and I might look at changing our Civil Union to a marriage.
I thought I'd read in an article that a couple of the MPs who opposed the bill the first time supported it the 2nd time because of the hatred and extreme discrimination in many of the submissions of the people who opposed it. Even one of the staunch opponents (voted against both times) commented on this: "National MP Chester Borrows, who described himself as a conservative Christian, slammed the "abhorrent" way that some groups - including churches - had conducted themselves in the debate.
Wow, surprised anyone?? GLBTI people have had to live with an extreme level of hatred and discrimination world-wide for hundreds of years at least (thousands in some cultures) and push for equality because of this. The Religio Right Extremists get their panties in a bunch because they are "under attack". Wake up idiots, you guys started it & we haven't actually started an "attack", just a demand for equality. Sorry (well, not really) if that means you can't go around killing GLBTI people with impunity or using the "Gay Defense" to get out of your hate crimes.
I'll get off the soap box now!
Not a ton going on. I'm trying to give myself permission to do nothing or to do what I want, hence the bracelet. I've written a couple letters and post cards this month which is nice. I do have to wrap up Relay now that I've FINALLY gotten the invoice for our branding and can pay that (like, as of yesterday finally) and get our totals. I put an article up at work about Relay too, so hoping to spread the general "Relay is fun" vibe in prep for next year's team.
Craftworld is going ok, last couple of months were better than 2012 so that has made the lower-than-last-Christmas thing a bit better. I've slipped a bit because of time, but we've been out to Craftworld recently and changed a few things out. I've got to focus on Felt now and this next week will work on the website with Carol. I have a "regular" still ordering sets of angel necklaces/braclets/earrings from time to time. With the big, cheap order we got it I've been able to drop the prices on them a little bit and think it's been a good thing for her too as I've also got a little more options for her for necklace chains and angel heads.
Photos to come soon of the bracelet and who knows what else. That's all from me for now!
More comment(s) at Red_trillium's Dreamwidth journal. Come join the conversation! You can comment there using OpenID or ask me for an invite to create your own account.
We've got dry, hot conditions in the country this summer. It's one of the dryer years on record, I've heard both 30 and 70 year records mentioned. There is some rain due today but sounds like it's not going to break the drought in the farming areas. NZ has a generally wet climate and we get rain in the summer. So far I think the whole (or just about the whole) North Island has been declared a drought zone & I believe sections of the SI as well, if not a good portion of it. It reminds me of Calif summers, hot and dry and while I like to be able to experience it (especially without the same level of heat) again which I never thought I'd get to, it's really not good for the country, the animals or the farmers. Wellington was down to 18 days of water supply yesterday. There is a little bit of rain due this weekend but doesn't sound like much.
Here is a photo from the NZ Herald showing satellite comparisons of the North Island in 2012 and 2013. Read the article here
In non-climate news, I have been able to take some time to make a Viking knit bracelet. It turned out really good & I'll post a photo for you later (photo taken, still on camera). I showed it to some coworkers & someone is interested in buying it. I'll be making another to put up either on Felt or Craftworld. I do like how it turned out, despite the sulphur solution doing something unusual in the patina processes. It made it look better in my opinion & I don't know if it's because of the age of my sulphur solution, the fact I used silver filled wire instead of sterling silver (silver filled = 10% silver, 90% copper; sterling is about 99% silver vs 1% copper) or both that gave the results but it was pretty cool. The sulphur didn't tarnish black like sterling does, but made the wire kind of look like titianium, with metallic blues, green & brown on the inside surfaces. I've used a green scratchy cleaning cloth to take off the surface tarnish and it has left the piece with a brushed look on the outside and the metallic colours on the inside. I've re-purposed a couple 9mm brass casings, given them the same brushed look with the green scratchy & put some coating on to keep them from tarnishing. It's simple but nicely masculine.
In the good news category: The "Marriage Equality" (aka gay marriage) bill passed it's second reading in the NZ Parliament. It's not over yet, still a run through Parliament clause by clause, possibly another reading. Overall there was a shift of a loss of 3 votes for it, but it's an interesting make-up because a couple MPs who either voted against it or didn't vote at all changed their vote so while it's 3 less for gay marriage it isn't that easy. There's an interesting article here about a Labour candidate who didn't vote the first time around who voted for the bill this time around & an article about one of the lesser-known MPs who spoke eloquently for it, despite going into the hearings neither for nor against it. His speech was supposedly super-inspiring (there's a link somewhere, I wasn't overly interested so haven't looked it up). If all goes well it could be passed into law next month and then there's a 4-month stand-down period. C and I might look at changing our Civil Union to a marriage.
I thought I'd read in an article that a couple of the MPs who opposed the bill the first time supported it the 2nd time because of the hatred and extreme discrimination in many of the submissions of the people who opposed it. Even one of the staunch opponents (voted against both times) commented on this: "National MP Chester Borrows, who described himself as a conservative Christian, slammed the "abhorrent" way that some groups - including churches - had conducted themselves in the debate.
Wow, surprised anyone?? GLBTI people have had to live with an extreme level of hatred and discrimination world-wide for hundreds of years at least (thousands in some cultures) and push for equality because of this. The Religio Right Extremists get their panties in a bunch because they are "under attack". Wake up idiots, you guys started it & we haven't actually started an "attack", just a demand for equality. Sorry (well, not really) if that means you can't go around killing GLBTI people with impunity or using the "Gay Defense" to get out of your hate crimes.
I'll get off the soap box now!
Not a ton going on. I'm trying to give myself permission to do nothing or to do what I want, hence the bracelet. I've written a couple letters and post cards this month which is nice. I do have to wrap up Relay now that I've FINALLY gotten the invoice for our branding and can pay that (like, as of yesterday finally) and get our totals. I put an article up at work about Relay too, so hoping to spread the general "Relay is fun" vibe in prep for next year's team.
Craftworld is going ok, last couple of months were better than 2012 so that has made the lower-than-last-Christmas thing a bit better. I've slipped a bit because of time, but we've been out to Craftworld recently and changed a few things out. I've got to focus on Felt now and this next week will work on the website with Carol. I have a "regular" still ordering sets of angel necklaces/braclets/earrings from time to time. With the big, cheap order we got it I've been able to drop the prices on them a little bit and think it's been a good thing for her too as I've also got a little more options for her for necklace chains and angel heads.
Photos to come soon of the bracelet and who knows what else. That's all from me for now!
More comment(s) at Red_trillium's Dreamwidth journal. Come join the conversation! You can comment there using OpenID or ask me for an invite to create your own account.