Day EightyOne of being Aflickionless...

Maz has been playing around with her drawing tablet, seeings as she had the day off work. It will take a bit of getting use to, but it is MEAN!
The Space Invader shoes were finished and handed over on Saturday, will try and put a photo of them up on here tomorrow.
Maz has also found Tetris on facebook...can you say "OH DEAR LORD!"

Not long to go till Style Pasifika now and Maz is a wee bit stressed as to if she will have a props ready for it...oh noes! Your due back in 38days, which means that Style Pasifika is about 32days away....ahhhhhhhhhhhhh!

A woman was seriously injured after being attacked by eight pig dogs while jogging this afternoon. The 36-year-old was set upon as she jogged along a rural road in Arapuni, 37km east of Te Awamutu, about 1pm, Sergeant Jason Shailer of Putaruru police said. A friend who saw what was happening called for help but the dogs had left the scheme by the time emergency services arrived. The victim received multiple bites to her scalp, arms and legs and was flown to Waikato Hospital by the Westpac Waikato rescue service.

Northland's "Lion Man" Craig Busch has dropped his claim for unjustified dismissal from the park he helped make famous. Mr Busch had complained he had been unfairly dismissed from his job at Zion Wildlife Gardens, near Whangarei, by his mother Patricia Busch. An Employment Relations Authority (ERA) investigative meeting into his dismissal was due to resume today after it was interrupted in May by the death of Zion Gardens handler Dalu Mncube. But Mr Busch has since notified the ERA he has withdrawn his personal grievance claim.

Beer bottles littered the floor of a wagon that ran into the side of a car in Western Springs yesterday. Four people were taken to Auckland City Hospital for treatment as a result of the crash - three with moderate injuries and one minor. Police believe the dark Toyota Rav4 was travelling down Motions Rd past Western Springs College near the zoo when it misjudged the right-hand bend and struck an oncoming white Holden Commodore just after 4pm. Two fire trucks were called - one to block off the scene and the other to provide fire protection to rescuers and the injured - as well as ambulance and police. Both drivers were cut out of their vehicles by firefighters.

Pearl Jam have announced they will play in New Zealand in November. The veterans of the Seattle grunge scene, known for hit songs Better Man and Alive, will play for one night each in Auckland on November 27 and Christchurch on November 29. The tour is to promote the band's ninth album, Backspacer.

Paris had a sex tape, Susan Boyle sang I Dreamed a Dream, now Dan Carter has found himself caught up in the YouTube phenomenon by appearing in a grainy video dancing on a bar top in a Perpignan wearing white shots, a cheeky grin and a road worker's fluorescent vest. Short of a glow stick or two, the All Black legend pulls out his best oonst oonst dance moves waving his hands in the air like he just doesn't care. Neither do the other patrons. The bar is full of revellers who seem oblivious to Carter's fame and happy to dance along to the cheesy Euro club mix pop song. Check out the video below...

SIDESWIPPING IT...
There's no need to cycle the length of the country, with a new book offering a pictorial journey of traditional Kiwi welcome signs, you can enjoy provincial New Zealand from the couch. Welcome to New Zealand includes 350 pictures of entrances to cities and towns such as Manaia, which should be a great place for a sandwich. South Otago small towns show off a sense of humour ("Welcome to Clinton, our three-horse town" declares one sign and further up the track, "Welcome to Milton, the town of opportunities") and others have elaborate sculptures like Taihape's giant gumboot. But our art deco capital, Napier, doesn't have a welcome sign at all.

Rosaleen McCarroll of Hamilton writes: "While waiting for an x-ray at Waikato Hospital I read a magazine that I thought was 29 years old. As I walked home wondering if I should invest in a state-of-the-art Asahi Pentax camera advertised in the magazine, I remembered that that issue of Life was dated October 1970, which makes it 39 years old."

AUCKLAND FORECAST TODAY
Max: 15°C
Min: 7°C (overnight)
Humidity: 86%
Cloudy at times. Westerlies. (Translation: A bit nipply this evening...)

CURRENT WEIRDNESS
How quickly the year seems to be going now. Seems like the second part of your trip is just flying...

DAILY FOF MOMENT
Dan Carter's dance on the bar...Fail!!!