A few weeks ago I was contacted by T-post asking if I’d like one of their shirts. I took a look at their site, and discovered that their shirts aren’t like normal tees. They’re also micro magazines!

Printed inside each tee is an article that reflects both a current news piece, and the state of the world. The issues I have to give away are “Negotiating a War” this article is about music file sharing and the charges RIAA are claiming from small time downloaders; the other is “Spare a Square” which talks about Cuba’s current toilet paper crisis, they’re running out of it quickly! Alongside the article is a column about the tee designer.

T Post is a unique idea. You subscribe like you would to a magazine, receiving a new issue every 6 weeks and not knowing what will be inside till it arrives. Each shirt is exclusive, print runs are limited to the current number of subscribers and back issues cannot be ordered.

I’m extremely fussy when it comes to tees and I’m a good little bogan who only strays from black for special occasions. For this reason alone I turned down the offer of a free shirt and instead asked if I could give one away. Lucky for you they sent two.
Both shirts are womens medium. If that’s not your size don’t forget the other t shirt lovers in your life, you could score a unique xmas present for free!

If you’d like to win these shirts simply leave a comment letting me know. For extra entries tweet (include @msconstantine so I see it) or blog about the giveaway.

You have until the 20th of November.

After going to see my tattoo sketch (which hadn’t been done) and on the way to drop a library book off I saw the reopened City Gallery covered in spots for Yayoi Kusama’s exhibition. We flew to Tauranga later in the day.

That night we were treated to dinner at the amazing Tay Street Cafe. After a quick walk on the beach across the road of course. The area’s called Bay of Plenty for a reason, the first metre or two of shallow water was covered in baby pipis (or tuatua, how do you tell the difference?).

I got my chef on while we were in Te Puke, helping to make these old school prawn cocktails for starters. I also helped make aioli, a couple of dinners and made a couple of cakes too.

How great would it be to not only have this view, but to have the view from your own little bar with both ping pong and pool tables!

You can get a much better lay of the land up on the platform in the tree.
It’s strange to see my hair like this, until a couple of weeks ago it was down to my waist and my fringe was so long I had to kept it swept to the side in order to see.

Found on my Mum’s dresser: a picture of me looking cute as in my snoopy outfit. I think I was about four. Twenty years later I have the same haircut again.

Eek Get this whitey out of the sun!

I tried on an awesome dress the day before I bought this skirt. It was on sale at Max and would have been perfect except my upper and lower halfs are different sizes, my boobs and shoulders couldn’t fill the dress properly. This skirt was a great alternative, almost the same material. I have a few skirts in this shape now, I really need to make a big petticoat for underneath.

My big, younger, league playing, brother is the master of getting the most out of a Chinese takeaway buffet. Just when I thought he’d filled the container so much he’d have trouble getting the lid on he sticks a couple of slabs of egg foo yung on top and closes the lid tightly! Side effects of this include a meal shaped like a brick, big enough to feed a family.

Everything is green in the BOP this time of year. It’s a nice drive back over the Kaimais.

Down the road from Te Puke at Maketu we enjoyed a lovely meal with stunning views. I ordered a huge pile of mussels which came with a huge bowl of chips and a salad. I couldn’t even get close to finishing everything.

Have you had any adventures lately?

Eat candy, cupcakes, and cheese than:
• have great skin
• be really thin
• eat vegetables or meat

Feel sick sometimes than:
• give up popcorn and ice cream forever
• go to bed early
• never get things off my chest

Wear sneakers than:
• be super model tall
• have what looks like a perky butt
• look sophisticated

What would you rather?

• Sally from Alraedy Pretty has the same figure as me. We can look totally slim from the front but get us side on and you see where we store our food! She gives some tips on how to dress including which items to embrace, which to avoid, and which to wear when you don’t care about showing your shape.
• Some people make me think sterilisation for those almost too thick to function wouldn’t be such a terrible thing.
• Have you always been curious about Madonna’s sex book? The scanned pages are available online. (NSFW natch)
• ickle and Lardee dress up for Halloween.
• Chinese people write in Chinese, not english.
• Amazing Halloween makeup! Zippered face.
• Double Fail – Not only does Andrew completely lose at trying to win some affection from his ex he also writes like he’s been taking tips from the How To Write Badly Well blog.
• It’s true, us Kiwis are ridiculously polite (or just ridiculous) when it comes to paying for meals at a restaurant, particularly when you’re in a party larger than five. We’re hyper aware that some people may have ordered cheaper dishes and no drinks because they’re short on cash. Frankly, unless we’re sharing food, like at yum cha, I like to pay for what I ate.
• What a cool idea. It looks great

• Christ died for easter sales.
• xkcd does beauty as well as snark. I’m an organ donor and am quite happy to donate my body to science if my family doesn’t mind having to keep their memories rather than my ashes. The law is a bit weird in NZ though, even if you have donor printed on your licence your family still gets to decide what happens with you when you die.
• Things I hate: Men who tell me to smile.

The Golden Age of Video – Ricardo Autobahn

(I have just under 300 posts left to read from last week. I suspect there’ll be around 500 waiting for me when I get up in the morning. Hopefully Pick N Mix will be bigger next week!)

Best buy: Two coats – A Golf Punk jacket $75 down from $150 and a long cute coat with a little fish tail and green and black polka dot lining $61 down from $200. Love these sales! Wellington is jacket friendly all year round.

I’m loving:

• Catching up with my family. Even though the circumstances are not ideal, even though there have been tears, it’s still great to see everyone while they’re reasonably well. I got to spend a few hours with my Grandparents and it was great, just being able to sit with them.
• The sun! The warmth! (despite the sweat)
• The food I’ve eaten this week. It’s been equal parts amazingly decadent and cheerfully cheap.
• Seeing my friend Kezz doing well. We only get to catch up a few times a year, but now she has internet at her house we can see each other on facebook. She’s much happier in life these days after a rough couple of years. It’s great to see.


Me and Kezz
The pink tights I got last week
Grey skirt I scored at the PPP clothing swap
Unicorn t shirt from 1-day tee
Ghost necklace from the shop

I’m loathing:

• The family of starlings that have taken up residence once again in Mums roof. They come every year and they’re right above the room we’re staying in. The incessant squawking that starts in the early hours of the morning has me wishing bad things about the poor little birdies.
• Feeling bad for neglecting the blog this week! Family and sleep has taken precedence. I admire those of you that have busy full time jobs, busy social lives, and still find time to blog. I’m home again on Sunday, with a realisation that I really will need to schedule posts over the holidays.
• Packing for winter. I’m so used to the Wellington weather that I took 2 hoodies, 2 cardies, and a jacket on our trip and I’ve hardly needed a single one of them!

Favourite photo:

http://rottenindenmark.vox.com/

• Are you missing amazing things in life because you’re always rushing to your next destination?
• How old is this woman? Digital retouchers go mad!
• Have you ever seen a tattoo do itself? Now you can.
• I’m a bit of a geek blogger Charlie has been so kind to let Cupcakes and Mace use her blog name as a necklace in our C² range. The lovely lady herself models her I’m a bit of a geek necklace on her blog! She’s so adorbs.
  You can get your own I’m a bit of a geek necklace too!
• Michelle has turned her ongoing negative experience with a counterfeit Melissa shoe seller into a public service announcement. Some great advice if you’re looking into buying Melissa shoes, or if you’re having trouble dealing with a seller on eBay.

• The Governator says FUCK YOU.
• I can hardly imagine what internet at 61mbps would be like. The average US broadband speed is only 4.8mbps!
• Those dirty rotten houses…
• Jude Law and Ewan McGregor sharing breakfast in bed. Keira Knightley looking more princess than anorexic. Lorenzo Agius catches these images and more in a totally gorgeous way.
• If you’ve spent any time at all on highly visited or commented on blogs you might have heard terms like ‘Poe’s Law’ and ‘Rule 34′ bandied about. But what does that mean, and are there any other internet rules you should know about?
• 25 years and 7 million dollars for a job that doesn’t even exist?!

Hilarious piss take of radio friendly “artists” featuring Sarah Silverman!

I’m listening to: Sonata Arctica – The Day of Grays. I have listened to this album on repeat a ridiculous number of times now. I didn’t listen to anything else this week!

Best buy: Pink tights from Jay Jays!

I’m loving:

• The amazing weather in the Bay of Plenty. I’m not much one for sitting in the sun, but just being able to see it cheers up my mood.
• The flat landscapes of the Te Puke and Papamoa area. Such a change from the Wellington landscape. Every time we come up here I long to be able to snap photographs as wide as my field of vision, and with as much clarity. It’s pretty stunning.
• Tay Street Cafe. We went there for dinner last night and everything from the food, to the location, and most of all the service was stunning.
• Seeing my family tomorrow! :D
• Finally receiving my initial tattoo sketch and not absolutely hating it. I’m SO fussy when it comes to designing anything that I intimidate myself. I provided the artist with a whole bunch of pictures I kind of liked the idea of and gave him a basic premise and he managed to come back with something that was different to the designs I provided that I actually like. Amaze.
• Hair clips. I finally got my hair and fringe trimmed and the clips provide the perfect amount of cuteness to pull the long bits of my hair back. My fringe is very blunt once again and combining that with the long darkness on either side was making my face disappear.
• Grass; vines; an expansive house to sprawl in; being domestic and helping to make aioli, a modern twist on the prawn cocktail, orange cake, and crumbed fish all for one meal; not being pinned down by my laptop for hours on end. All things I’m enjoying at the start of my week away.

I’m loathing:

• Constant fear of sunburn. The absolute worst thing about being so pale you’re practically translucent.
• Having to sleep.
• Spiders!

Favourite photo: Snowy Dock at CMS

Recently my family received some very sad news. My remaining Grandad, my Dad’s dad has been given a couple of months to live. He has been living with cancer for 14 years but the drugs originally used to fight his myeloma have led to leukaemia and the specialist says there is nothing they can do.

My maternal Grandad died a few years ago from Alzheimer’s and cancer. And his gradual decline into the harsh life of Alzheimer’s meant he was figuratively gone before he was diagnosed with cancer. Dad’s dad however has lived around 9 years longer than he was supposed to and we kind of expected him to keep fighting forever. It has been a hard couple of weeks for everyone just trying to come to grips with the situation.

I handled it in my usual way, taking everything in at once, realising all the implications and then deciding the only way to stop crying and feeling shitty is to not think about it.

Instead, I got tattooed. In honour of both of my Grandads who I love. Although I do not believe in a god, and I am agnostic about spirits and an afterlife, having this reminder on me means I can never forget where I come from. Even when I’m old and wrinkly (assuming I live that long) and it looks like I have dirt on my arm, I’ll know that I had a life full of family that loved me.

Thursday the 15th of October I went to Tattoo City to book an appointment to have a tattoo designed and decided to look at some fonts while I was there. I had an idea of getting the g tattooed I just didn’t know where I wanted it or what it would look like. The guy from Tattoo City (I need to find out his name) was so friendly and sat with me to have a look. I found a font I liked and he suggested I could get it done that weekend at the Lower Hutt Tattoo Show and he kindly photocopied the font for me to take along.

This isn’t the bigger tattoo I’m planning, so I hope you’re not all disappointed expecting to see that.

I hadn’t planned on getting tattooed so quickly but there is no time like the present. So I rocked up to the Tattoo City booth on Saturday the 17th only to find they were too busy and was sent to Sacred Tattoo.
I was lucky enough to be tattooed by Erin from Sacred Tattoo. Sacred is located in Auckland and usually very hard to get an appointment with. The work they produce is amazing. Erin however was just back from the UK and had forgotten they were coming to the show so she had a spot available right away!

I was expecting tears and pain, but what I got was scratching, a few winces on the bony bits, and a numb hand from the vibrating and the lack of blood flowing in my arm due to the angle I had to hold it. The most painful part was the way I had to twist my arm to get my wrist to sit right.
$150 later and I am marked forever.
I also managed to win a bag of protat aftercare products when the guy on stage called out for any women tattooed on the day!

I can hardly wait till I get the big tatt done which will be revealed after December 25. I am hopefully going to see the preliminary design tomorrow (today really I guess), but I’ve booked the actual tattoo appointment for the 14th of December!

We take off for a week tomorrow (today!) to stay with The Boys dad and my family and to visit Grandad. I’ll still be around but not as much. We fly back very early on Sunday the 8th.

T shirt – Misery
Skirt – Pagani
Shoes – Nike
Bag – Loungefly

They were giving balloons and popcorn away at the tattoo show, likely to keep the multitude of kids occupied. Well, I’m a big kid so I asked for a pink balloon and it was so worth it! It had been ages since I had a helium filled balloon.

I think that’s my OMFG what am I doing I hope I don’t pass out letsjustsithereandactlikeimcoolwithit face. Real tattoo photos tomorrow.

While you could call me biased – I know a few of these guys personally and have been a big fan since I first heard them – there’s really no need to doubt my word though.

Afternoon Raj is a five piece band that mixes prog rock with reggae, dub, and ska influences. I love to skank so I have a huge amount of fun dancing to these guys! The Raj’s ringleader James Mason draws the crowd in with a huge smile and a genuine love for what he’s doing. Bede, Matt, Andrej, and Nick impress with guitar solos and great beats.

The crowd grows every time I see them play and more than a handful of us have learnt the words to their older songs. They know it and use it to their advantage! Their show on Saturday, at Wellington’s cool kid venue Mighty Mighty, kicked off with number one crowd favourite Lickity Split, a song that creeps up and kind of explodes. After a few originals guitarist Bede Eagle stole the mic to sing a cover (turns out it was another original!), I’m not sure what song it was but Brandon Boyd (of Incubus fame) could easily have been the one singing it. And then the short set concluded with a few newer originals.

Quite frankly I was relieved when the set finished, I was about to pass out from heat exhaustion. In a matter of 30 minutes I managed to go from tipsy and excited for the music, to AHH WOoo *dance* *dance*, to omg I think I’m going to drown in my own sweat, to I need fresh air and a chair or I’m going to throw up. It was awesome.

Afternoon Raj is the sound of Hawkes Bay in the big city, it’s the sound of summer, and it’s for dub and rock fans alike. These boys may work in offices by day but they’re drunk musical hippies at heart, singing at concerts bringing awareness to global warming and generally trying to save the world.
They’re yet to record an album, an album I’m looking forward to having on repeat, and I’m nervous about how they’ll capture their perfect live sound. They’re smart guys though, I’m sure they’ll figure it out.

Check out Afternoon Raj on Facebook and MySpace. (Don’t take the recordings on MySpace as an indicator of their talent, just an indicator of the style.)

Hear them in real life on the 6th of November at Watusi for a gig I am sadly going to be out of town for. :[

Photo credits to James Schollum