Day OneHundredAndNineteen of being Aflickionless...

So thread.co.nz wrote this article about Style Pasifika and it was a tad wrong...

"MAC did an outstanding job of painting men and women alike in a wide array of “attire” in a multitude of colours and designs"...WTF? MAC? So Maz wrote an email to the editor (ie. how she felt ripped off seeing somebody else get credit for her hard work, and things like "your writing about the fashion industry you should know your A's from your B's; after all it would be terrible if you got a designers name wrong and mislead the public").
Anywho because of Maz's wee email the article has been fixed and they have asked her to write a piece about her effots as a make-up artist or about my piece and what I went through for this year's Style Pasifika.

Maz & Russell moved a few boxes to the new house today, Maz had stacked about 3 or 4 boxes before she noticed something sitting on the bench. To her surprise the something sitting on the bench was a box of chocolates, a bottle of white wine & a note that basicially read "Welcome to your home. Hope you have a happy & long stay" from the landlady. How awesome is that?!?!

Ginger Minx was on the board for last night, since Maz forgot her paints & stuff after painting yesterday. It was also the last chance to try the menu as you currently know it. Today is the Spring Party and it also means that Ginger Minx is launching some new drinks. YAY!

SJ on the other hand was at the Ed Hardy VIP Party looking at hot guys...hmmm...lucky girl!

Bidders have ramped up the auction for a home-made, interisland amphibious van to $6200 overnight. Yesterday the Trade Me auction had reached $5000, with 118 bids but during the past 24 hours another 19 bids pushed the price up another $1200. The matt black DIY boatvan, called Roofliss by its builders Adam Turnbull and Dan Melling, crossed Cook Strait on Sunday. It took 10 hours for the 65km journey from Waikawa Bay Marina to Mana Marina. The pair of aeronautical engineers, both 23, dreamed up the interisland voyage to keep busy and out of Blenheim's bars. They completed the conversion of the Toyota Townace for about $2000. Their auction description attested to the power of the "only van you can't get done DIC in". The van could end up alongside other great New Zealand sea-faring vessels in the New Zealand National Maritime Museum in Auckland. Museum chief executive Paul Evans said the museum, which also housed NZL32, Black Magic, which won the 1995 Americas Cup, was interested in adding the van to its collection. "It's something we think is very unique and it's something that the public of New Zealand will be interested in learning more about," Mr Evans said.

MOTAT’s historical Pumphouse, Beam Engine and Engineer’s Cottage have had a stunning success, scooping a 2009 UNESCO Asia-Pacific Heritage Award of Merit for the Culture Heritage Conservation programme. The Waterworks buildings and Engineer’s Cottage are the only New Zealand buildings to have received the Award of Merit, announced at UNESCO Bangkok. The awards recognise the achievement of individuals and organizations within the private sector, and the public-private initiatives, in successfully restoring structures of heritage value in their region. MOTAT received the prestigious award for its part in meticulously restoring the Waterworks buildings and Engineer’s Cottage, and therefore revitalising an important part of the city’s past, and capturing the memory of the community.

SIDESWIPPING IT...
This ad in the Whangamata paper appealed to Jo: "Free to good home, two mature sheep. Prefer vegan or vegetarian family."

In Britain, Simon Simpkins complained about the packaging of a German lolly called Haribo Maoam, which he said looked sexual. "The lemon and lime are locked in what appears to be a carnal encounter. The lime, whom I assume to be the gentleman in this coupling, has a particularly lurid expression on his face," he told the Daily Mail.

Surviving examples of Queen Victoria's underwear, including a pair of bloomers with a 50-inch waist, have been designated as important parts of Britain's hertiage. The garments have been given heritage status by the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council - an award exclusively given to items of both national and international significance. The bloomers are stored at Kensington Palace in West London and form part of the Royal Ceremonial Dress Collection, which is made up of 12,000 items that were once worn by royalty and courtiers who lived any time from the 17th century until the present day. (Source: telegraph.co.uk)

AUCKLAND FORECAST TODAY
N/A however the day was cloudy, bit windy with a few showers

CURRENT WEIRDNESS
After being the same for almost 6months, the Ginger Minx drinks menu is changing...

DAILY FOF MOMENT
Thread.co.nz fucked up an article about Style Pasifika FAIL! It's been fixed now, thanks to Maz...WIN!

Day OneHundredAndEightteen of being Aflickionless...

Maz went to Ginger Minx to do some painting. Your going to see it all when you get back. It's Spring so Minx is changing it up a bit, they also have the spring party on Friday night.

Maz & Russell got the keys for the new place today, EXCITING!!! Now they can start to move their SHART! So guess what they will be doing for the rest of the week.

Hope you can make it on Saturday night for the Welcome Back party...would be a bit pointless if you weren't there, it would just be people getting pissed for the sake of getting pissed...come on give us a reason!

SJ is currently a bit damaged, but who knows why. Is it fractured or not?!?! The lucky girl is also off to the Ed Hardy VIP Party!!!

Hopefully we make it to the final blog, I'm sure we will find away. But with the whole moving thing, it may be a hit and miss, as to if we get them all done. Wish us luck!

LOUD SHIRT DAY is on Friday 18th September. Just thought we would give you a heads up, so you can pull out those bright shirts of yours.

When Albie the cat didn't come home for his tea, his owners Andrew and Lyn Beale assumed the two-year-old tabby was busy exploring. They had no idea Albie was recovering from a brush with death and a 20-odd kilometre ride wedged into the front of Gail Tomlinson's car. Ms Tomlinson was driving past the Beale's Ormiston Rd, Manukau, property on August 20 when she felt she might have hit a cat. But seeing no evidence, she continued on to work at Auckland Airport, a 20-minute trip driving at speeds of up to 90km/h. When she arrived, she heard a "meowing" from the front of her Holden Commodore. A quick check revealed Albie tucked up in "a perfect little cubby hole" in the chassis of the vehicle, behind the number plate. Afraid to move him herself, a distraught Ms Tomlinson got a workmate to drive her car - "carefully" - about 2km to the Mangere SPCA, where a vet extricated Albie. X-rays revealed he had a broken back leg."I was devastated. I was just beside myself," said Ms Tomlinson. Fortunately for the Beales - who distributed flyers in the hope of finding Albie - the SPCA kept the cat in the hope his owner would turn up. Word eventually reached the Beales that a cat matching Albie's description was being held at the SPCA, on painkillers for his injuries. Albie subsequently had surgery, running up a final bill of about $2000. Now he is up and about, recovering at home. He is able to put weight on his back leg, which has two pins in it, and should suffer no long-term consequences. Vet Craig Hunger said Albie should be fine, as long as the Beales keep up his physiotherapy. "To be stuck in a grill and not fall off is a very lucky thing ... there's a good chance they could have had a dead cat." Mr Beale said that when Albie turned up on their doorstep about five months ago, they named him LB, short for Lost Boy, which morphed over time into Albie. "I think now it might be Lucky Bugger."

Fleetwood Mac have added a second concert to their visit to New Plymouth in December after the first one sold out in minutes. Having played a 55-date, sold-out tour in North America, the band had committed to a single New Zealand show on December 19 at the Bowl of Brooklands. Promoter Andrew McManus Presents said demand for tickets at the 18,000 seat venue was overwhelming and the second show had been scheduled for the following night.

A judge has jailed a Northland man who kicked his partner and baby after an argument, saying society has had enough of such abuse. Michael Luke, from Whangarei, was sentenced in Whangarei District Court to 12 months imprisonment after attacking his partner at his home on July 9, the Northern Advocate reported. (Well I thought that was going to be more interesting, especially since the headline was "Man who kicked partner, baby jailed".)

A complaint will be made to the Independent Police Conduct Authority after a Wellington student allegedly had his neck broken by a police baton as a party was shut down. Police were called to a Khandallah party last Friday after gatecrashers began fighting outside, Fairfax Media reported. Although the gatecrashers fled when police arrived, 18 officers entered the house and used batons to drive the remaining 40 guests from the house, the partygoers claimed. Jakob Christie, 19, said the end of a police baton was jabbed into his neck, causing a vertebrae to break. He woke on Saturday unable to move his head and X-rays showed a lower neck vertebrae had broken.

Just a third of students going into secondary school are numerate, says a maths lecturer from the University of Auckland. And because secondary schools focus on algebra, trigonometry, geometry and statistics rather than basic number problems, they may never get a chance to learn the essentials - in fact, numeracy can worsen. (Yes, we are a nation of STUPID RETARDS!)

The demise of fuel storage at the Tank Farm means cruise ships and large cargo vessels in Auckland will be refuelled directly from a new tanker, the Awanuia. The 80m vessel can hold the equivalent of 25,000 barrels of fuel which it will ship directly from the Marsden Point oil refinery. It will replace a smaller barge which used to take on fuel at Wynyard Quarter and then supply visiting ships. The Awanuia was built in Turkey for around $20 million for Seafuels, a joint-venture company involving Ports of Auckland and Pacific Basin Shipping and is under charter to Shell.

The future of a subdivision intended to save tribal land from being mortgaged off is hanging in the balance. The Maori Land Court appointed interim administrator Kevin Gillespie eight years ago to control the affairs of Matauri X, a land incorporation which had amassed a $2.5 million debt after a water bottling deal went bust. But debt levels have risen to $16 million because of a refinancing deal with Strategic Finance to complete a two-stage, 139-section subdivision. A critical point for Maori landowners was that the sections were not freehold, instead they were subject to 52-year lease terms. But of the 81 sections, which have been on the market for 18 months, only eight of 25 sales had been settled, with many buyers trying to back out of their deals because of the economic climate, Mr Gillespie said. No houses have been built yet.

NEW STYLE PASIFIKA PHOTOS

SIDESWIPPING IT...
Margaret Wong of Epsom writes: "I was walking around One Tree Hill when I spotted a lone paddock of black sheep and lambs. The white sheep and lambs were gambolling freely all over the rest of the park. It was all a bit District 9 ... No doubt someone will be able to enlighten us." (you know the South African's are going woohoo)

Two girls lost in a stormwater drain in Adelaide updated their Facebook status via their mobile phone rather than ringing emergency services. A Fire Service spokesman said the 10- and 12-year-old girls were lucky another young friend was online and was able to call for help for them. Walking through drains is known as "urban caving", is popular in many major cities, despite the danger of flash floods.

A reader writes: "In 2001, my wife went for a precautionary mammogram because of a 4mm lump. We never heard any more about it but were delighted to receive the x-rays today (eight years later) with a letter to say that there is nothing to worry about. Except maybe the Health Service?" (SJ...SEE...YOU AREN'T THE ONLY ONE!!!)

AUCKLAND FORECAST TODAY
Max: 17°C
Min: 10°C (overnight)
Humidity: 83%
Cloud increasing. Northeast breeze. (Translation: Nice sunny day, YES sun again, but its about to all turn to shite)

CURRENT WEIRDNESS
"What is & isn't photography over mai tai's Yay" - check it out FB

AND the morpork still doesn't have Swine Flu...bwahahahaha!

DAILY FOF MOMENT
People not knowing if SJ's foot is really fratured or not. X-ray people say "yes, fractured" 'experts' say "Nope...nothing wrong" FAIL!

Day OneHundredAndSeventeen of being Aflickionless...

Maz did some painting at the Ginger Minx with the assistance of Russell. SJ drove past & saw everybody behind the lock down, but it was too late by time she realised and she was on her way back to work. Otherwise she would of popped in to say "Hi".

Blog has to be really short today, since this is a catch up one (stupid internet going on the blink *grumble* *grumble*)

AUCKLAND FORECAST TODAY
N/A because the internet CRAPPED ITSELF!!! BUT it was sunny ALL DAY! WOOT!

CURRENT WEIRDNESS
It hit midnight and the internet died!

DAILY FOF MOMENT
The internet dying at about midnight, more than likely some server thing...FAIL!

Day OneHundredAndFourteen of being Aflickionless...

Well where to start. After all the disco balls, hot glue and feathers Style Pasifika finally arrived yesterday.

This year Maz had both Russell & SJ helpping her out, and of course as you know JayJay was the model. Maz was overly calm throughout the whole day, so she isn't sure if it was a good day or not. She spent a total of 11hours painting, it took about 7 layers of blue to create the final blue tone of the piece and 3 different glitters.

Maz never placed, which was disappointing, although she recieved a lot of comments about the tail and the head piece she made. Maz believes that the piece that got second should of won, rather than the one that did. But that's how competitions go.

Corey stopped in after work and took photos of the piece, Maz is glad she could get some photos taken of the piece, although she hasn't seen them yet.

At the after party JayJay & Maz were photographed by Express and also met a person from Pasific Blue (they were a sponsor) and could possibly have some work for them at some point doing body art.

STYLE PASIFIKA 2009 PHOTOS

First & Second place


JayJay's buns

AUCKLAND FORECAST TODAY
N/A

CURRENT WEIRDNESS
How calm Maz was yesterday during Style Pasifika...it was scary.

DAILY FOF MOMENT
Second place in the body art section of Style Pasifika should of recieved first place...FAIL!

Day OneHundredAndNine of being Aflickionless...

Maz & Russell went and signed the papers for their new place today. And thought while they were at it they might as well also visit Russell's mum.

"10 more days till Haydn gets back, 10 more days till he returns, wake up one day and fuck around, 9 days till Haydn gets back"

Wanganui District Council banned gang patches from the city at its council meeting today. The bylaw, which comes into force on tomorrow, will give police powers to fine patchwearers $2000 and to take their gang insignia from them. "This bylaw is intended to deal with.... gangs, but will not affect clubs and groups who are law-abiding and non-confrontational generally," a report on the gang bylaw submissions hearing, tabled at today's meeting by senior councillor Randhir Dahya, said. (bylaw goes into effect at midnight)

An Auckland man is taking on soft drink giant Coca-Cola Amatil after he was struck in the eye by an exploding fruit juice bottle. Chinese immi grant Ming Fu Hu, who runs a drink bar in Northcote, was injured in the eye by an exploding bottle of Keri orange juice, which had fermented, on May 21. Mr Hu told NZPA still could not see very well and would probably not recover his full vision. The injury had cost him about $5000 and the Accident Compensation Corporation had only covered part of the cost of treatment. Coca-Cola confirmed to him the 2.4 litre bottle of Keri juice was fermented. As a gesture of goodwill it offered him a case of Keri orange juice and grocery vouchers to the value of $200.

Police cordoned off part of Swanson St in central Auckland this afternoon due to fears that a window could fall. A police spokesman said the window had come loose and could have come down "like a piece of paper". The loose window was on the eleventh floor. The building is on the corner of Swanson and Mills Lane and the road has now re-opened.

The Hospitality Association says two controversial pub promotions are pushing the boundaries. A bar in Whangarei is offering a refillable cup for only ten dollars while a Hamilton establishment has all you can drink for only $39. Association spokesman Bruce Robertson is confident the relevant agencies will be making sure there are terms and conditions which keep the promotions within the law. Mr Robertson says such conditions could be a limit on how many drinks people can have per hour and cheap meal deals.

Thousands of small children - many clutching tiny bouquets, cuddly toys and glittery cards - filed into the Auckland Zoo to say goodbye to their biggest friend, Kashin the elephant. About 17,000 people - most of them children - were at the zoo yesterday to pay their final respects to Kashin, who died last week. Colourful drawings, fruit, cards and tiny flowers tied with string adorned Kashin's grave, as children and their parents gathered to say goodbye. Youngsters were invited to write messages on a day all about Kashin - with large elephant bouncy castles, elephant face painting and a special video and photo display of Kashin.

SIDESWIPPING IT...
According to Anthony Smith, the electronic sign outside Takapuna Normal Intermediate School in Northcote Rd has this message displayed: "Teahcers only day 24 August."

For more than 200 years, when anyone in Marlborough, Wiltshire, fell ill it was easy to know whom to turn to: Dr Maurice. Members of the Maurice family have served at the local medical practice since 1792. But after six generations of Dr Maurices, the last of the line, Dr David Maurice, 59, is preparing to retire. His son, James, has just qualified in the profession but is planning to spend his career as a hospital doctor.

AUCKLAND FORECAST TODAY
Max: 16°C
Min: 9°C (overnight)
Humidity: 78%
Fine spells, chance of a shower. Westerlies easing. (Translation: sun...showers...average day really)

CURRENT WEIRDNESS
Is it just us, or do those motorway lights encourage drag racing?

DAILY FOF MOMENT
SJ went past a police car that had pulled over a van. The van had "Catch me if you can" written on it. FAIL!

Day OneHundredAndEight of being Aflickionless...

Maz's day started at about 5am (well thats when the alarm went off) as she had to be on set (Outragous Fortune) at 6.45am. It was a long day with a lot of waiting.

Good news came in the form of a phone call to let Maz know that the house that she & Russell had looked at was now theirs. After finishing on set and after a visit to Dee's house, Maz decided that her & Russell should go to Ginger Minx. There are some really yummy drinks coming out of that place.

AUCKLAND FORECAST TODAY
Sunny, overcast, wet...hmmm a normal Auckland day really!

CURRENT WEIRDNESS
Maz & Russell found a place...it was the 4th place they looked at.

DAILY FOF MOMENT
Maz & Russell had to work on a Sunday, starting at 6.45am. FAIL!

Day OneHundredAndSeven of being Aflickionless...

What a busy day...maybe not as busy as you, The Jet Setter, but still busy.

At 9.30am this morning Maz & Russell had a house to view in Mount Albert. It was a nice 3 bedroom place (well 2.5 bedroom) and it was in Mount Albert, so that was a bonus but Russell felt it was a bit small. However we were interested.
A spot of shopping (both window & buying) was called for and Maz had to get a Starbucks (for some reason she felt like one & she hasn't had one in about a year or more).
The window shopping was in Diamond & Time. Not that Maz likes "store brought" jewelry, it amuses her to look and Russell wanted to have a nosey. I think Russell wishes that maybe they didn't go in there, because for the first time Miss "I Don't Do Diamonds" found a diamond ring she liked. It was a 2.08 carat solitaire for around $37,500 (a wee expensive isn't she?). And then when the lady in the store asked if Maz & Russell would like to try on anything, you should of seen how quickly Russell said "No!"...it was the funniest thing ever.
The "spot" of shopping which involved the spending of money resulted in Maz spending just over $200 in Amazon *gasp*. She brought Russell a new hoodie and Quicksilver polo shirt, and got a hooded puffer vest for herself (RPM). It was 50% off everything, so why not huh?
And after grabbing a Starbucks it was off to the second Style Pasifika rehearsal.

Style Pasifika rehearsal went well. Pretty straight forward, but was running on island time...haha. Maz got her passes for the event (the next rehearsal is at Vector, so we need them to get in) and rather than getting 3 like everybody else, she was able to get 4. Hehe...the bonus of being in her 4th year and have the same crew from a couple of years ago.
The PA for the body art section also gave Maz shit and asked if her model was drunk or hung over this year. She is known for having the drunk model...haha...even on show night! All class she is!!!

It was then off west to pick up lunch and hang at Dee's for a bit, before going to view a house in Glendene...and seriously the woman (Maz) has fallen in love. The house is relocated and has been done up nicely inside. Over the back & to the left of the property are some paddocks which have horses grazing in them. It's 3 bedroom (all doubles pretty much), separate bath & toilet, big laundry, nice size kitchen which is open plan with dinning area and lounge. Enough room for either a flatmate or to have visitors stay. See LOVE!!! It is planned that papers are being signed on Monday.

Back to Dee's. Then dinner at a Vietnamese place off Lincoln Road with Dee, Hez, Andy (Dee's coussie bro), Korey and his girlfriend. Yummy, yummy food. So a pretty full on day for the two of them, and tomorrow they have work on Outrageous Fortune. YAY!

NOW on to the news...
The former Hobsonville air base will be transformed into a marine hub dedicated to building some of the world's finest super yachts. Developer Waitakere Properties hopes to complete the first stage of the $80 million project by 2011. The 20ha site will be equipped to deal with building yachts as long as 75m.

Television westie Tammy "Munter" Davis says this week's publicity of his drink-driving conviction made him "look like a dick". Television westie Tammy "Munter" Davis says this week's publicity of his drink-driving conviction made him "look like a dick". Davis received a $1600 fine and was disqualified from driving for a year and a day after recording a breath-alcohol reading of 798 micrograms, almost twice the legal limit of 400 micrograms. "There were reporters there and they reported what happened and it's made me look like a dick, and that's fine because what I did was stupid. I made a mistake, you know, no one was hurt. "What would you like to talk about? Would you like just to keep going? "Do you want just to keep reporting this 'cause it makes you feel good?" Davis said he was annoyed his full written statement - which he read to media after his appearance - had not been printed. "I gave them a statement and they didn't print it all. "You could have done that, you could have printed it - you could have printed my statement. You could have done something else that ... as far as I'm concerned it's finished. "What you've printed has done exactly what you wanted it to do which was show people that if you're a star you should act better, okay, and that's fine, okay. I don't agree with it. I think it was a little bit one-sided but hey you guys write the papers."
... Outside court Davis said he "deeply regretted" his action and was "embarrassed and disappointed by my behaviour. "I am fully aware that drink-driving is simply unacceptable under any circumstances. "I made an error in judgment and have been held accountable for it. "Not only have I let myself down but I have let down my family, my friends, my employers and fans. "I want to take this opportunity to publicly apologise to them and to thank them for their continued support."(GO YOU WESTIE...TELL THE MEDIA OFF!!! O.F HARD!!!)

Waterview residents fear dozens more homes may be lost than the hundreds already proposed for demolition to make way for a $1.4 billion surface-tunnel motorway. Tunnel or Nothing spokeswoman Margi Watson, one of about 15 residents who subjected the Transport Agency's board to a barrage of concerns at a meeting in the city yesterday, said she had counted 63 threatened homes in addition to the 365 already facing demolition. That count was based on a recommendation to Auckland City's transport committee from the council's urban design review team that the agency buy and remove a line of houses on the western side of Great North Rd because of the likely severe construction impact of a "cut and cover" tunnel under the road.

Young New Zealanders are postponing the usual commitments of adulthood, just like their international contemporaries in what has been called the "Peter Pan generation". A study has found that "Generation Y" Kiwis aged 20 to 24 are more likely to be still studying and living at home with their parents, and less likely to be working or living with partners, than preceding generations of young people born 10, 20 and 30 years earlier. Legal marriage has almost disappeared in the age group and religious affiliation has almost halved. But welfare dependence and sole parenting, which peaked when the previous "Generation X" reached adulthood amid record postwar unemployment between 1985 and 1999, have declined among today's youth as jobs again became easier to find in the first years of this century.

A cold and early winter has been replaced by an unusually warm and early spring, in a rare act of symmetry by the weather gods. Forecasters have confirmed what people and plants might already sensed - winter has disappeared long before the official first day of spring. Spring arrives on Tuesday, but already August looks likely to set records for heat. (that heat better be coming)

AUCKLAND FORECAST TODAY
Max: 17°C
Min: 13°C (overnight)
Humidity: 90%
Often cloudy. Northeasterly breezes. (Translation: It was warmer today than it has been but it's still not hot enough for some of us)

CURRENT WEIRDNESS
How positive Maz is feeling...

DAILY FOF MOMENT
JayJay ate sugar, after saying she was cutting down/not having any. FAIL!

Day OneHundredAndSix of being Aflickionless...

JayJay has a custom pair of bunny ear. If they are custom then that must mean they are JadedSphnix, and you would be right in thinking that. They have been made for Chemistry. So photos of them will go up tomorrow night. Maz is also going to make custom bunny ears & other animal ears to go with all the other custom stuff.

This afternoon Maz & Russell had to go look at a place on Rosebank Road, was nice but right at the intersection by Avondale Racetrack, so heaps of road noise. STINK! After that it was time to go to the first Style Pasifika rehearsal...one week to go. JayJay is lined up to be 4th on stage on the night. Exciting! oOo and one of the artists in the competition is one of Maz's former tutors.
After the Style Pasifika run through it was off to Ginger Minx for A drink...but hmmmm it turned into two for Maz. SJ also popped in to Minx, but missed Maz by that much...which isn't much. She walked in, as Maz, Russell & JayJay drove off. Very quite night at Minx...well it was at about 8.30pm.

A large earthquake in Wellington early this morning shook locals out of bed but there were no immediate reports of damage. The tremor, measuring 5.2 in magnitude, hit at 2.10am, GNS Science reported. It was centred 20km south of Wellington and was 30km deep. It was followed by a 4.3 aftershock at 3.52am.

Health authorities have lifted their warning on people going to beaches in the Hauraki Gulf. The Auckland Regional Public Health Service (ARPHS) lifted the warning today but recommended people take extra care. The warning was put in place last month after marine life and dogs were found dead at Narrowneck and Cheltenham beaches. Approximately 15 dogs from a wide geographic area within the Hauraki Gulf became unwell with symptoms consistent with tetrodotoxin (ttx) poisoning. Five of the dogs died.

QUESTION OF THE DAY...
Diagnostic Medlab has hired a film crew to interview patients emerging from the rooms of its rival, Labtests, and has threatened to release the footage if it finds undisclosed problems. A public health chief last night slammed the move as "desperate". Is switching from Diagnostic Medlab to Labtests Auckland a good idea?

SIDESWIPPING IT...
The Vegetarian Star reports that executive producer for The Simpsons, David Mirkin, says Paul McCartney agreed to appear on the cartoon only with certain conditions. "When I asked him to do the vegetarian episode, he agreed but made me promise to keep Lisa as a vegetarian - and I was happy to comply with that because I'm a vegetarian too. Every time I see him, he always checks - and he's always surrounded by nine or 10 lawyers, so it's quite frightening!

Sharon writes: "A colleague came into work a couple of weeks ago as mad as hell. She and her 16-year-old had a heated discussion on the way to dropping daughter off at school. Mother angrily declared 'you're grounded!' Daughter's comeback was great. 'You can't ground me! I've got a ranch slider and a bus pass!' ... daughter 1, mum 0."

TRAILER, TRAILER, TRAILER...
Interesting fact. All movies that come out have a website, pure and simple a .com, but Wolfman also has a .co.nz...how cool is that?



AUCKLAND FORECAST TODAY
Max: 18°C
Min: 9°C (overnight)
Humidity: 89%
Fine, a few cloudy periods. Northwest winds. (Translation: Fairly nice day...bit chilly this evening though)

CURRENT WEIRDNESS
Style Pasifika is only a week away now...

DAILY FOF MOMENT
Dave was about to walk out the door to dj at Degree and realised that Gabbie's g-string was hanging out of the back of his shoe. FAIL! Haha Imagine if he got all the way to Degree and didn't notice.

Day OneHundredAndFour of being Aflickionless...

RUSSELL VACCUMED and took the washing to the laundry mat...you didn't pass out did you?

WARNING
THIS IS THE LONGEST BLOG YET!!!

Maz was looking through Tina's entertainment booklet this evening and saw a voucher for salsa classes and below it was ceroc classes. She has wanted to take up a latin dance for a while, and eventually wants to learn the tango. She suggested salsa to Russell, and he pointed out the ceroc classes as he thinks that salsa is a bit too hardcore for his liking. So currently Maz is tossing up which to do, but also realises that she may get peeved with Russell doing these classes (which ever one we decide), because "must be better" and everything is a competition. We will see what happens.

JayJay is attempting a no sugar...well to cut it down...in the lead up to Style Pasifika. It's just over a week away now. AHHH!

Last night Maz decided that since she has been paying for rent & food for the past week, Russell was going to take her to Denny's for dinner tonight and he was going to pay.
Maz told SJ about this brilliant plan and she (SJ) asked if she could join, which Maz thought was a brilliant idea.
So this evening Maz, Russell & SJ went to Denny's North Shore for dinner.

NOW where to start...the funnys started flying as soon as we were all seated. While deciding on what we were going to have, Maz was waiting (she had decided last night) and she flicked to the back of the menu and said to Russell "Hey look on your birthday we can bring you here" and pointed to the menu, followed by "We could bring both you & Haydn here for your birthdays".

Thought you might want a photo so you can start deciding now

It was then decided that we have to take you both into Denny's between Monday & Wednesday because kids eat free and well if you & Russell are seniors than we must be kids...

Free Food FTW...oOo FFFTW...haha

Maz ordered a magarita at Denny's (she couldn't help herself)...and yeah there was a shot in it and yeah it tasted like a magarita, but it didn't look like one. She should know better the only place she should be getting drinks is Ginger Minx.

Does this look like a margarita to you?

Dinner must of been about 2 or more hours long, but it was so worth it. Laughing, talking, poking fun. It was brilliant. We also need to have a funky shoe party, where people have to wear their funkiest (looking not smelling) shoes...we know you have plenty of new shoes to fit this.

Since we didn't know if you would believe it unless you saw the bill. We spent $100 at Denny's tonight between three of us. The bill is all colour key so you can see who got what...hehe (GEEK)

We left Denny's just after 11pm so we can say it was def. a really good night!

Any replacement for Auckland Zoo favourite Kashin will come from established Asian elephant breeding programmes under way in Europe. But a new addition to the zoo's elephant colony - which since Kashin's death on Monday stands at one - is likely to be at least two years away. Zoo director Jonathan Wilcken yesterday said regulations did not allow for the importing of new elephants, and the zoo would have to wait for Biosecurity New Zealand to approve new quarantine standards. He said a female would be the ideal partner for Burma in the short term, with more breeding stock imported in the next four to five years.

The spring storm currently passing over the South Island has the potential to cause another avalanche. MetService has a severe weather warning in place, with heavy rain forecast for the Southern Alps and and severe gales forecast for Canterbury. Most of the South Island's ski fields were closed yesterday due to the strong winds. Mountain Safety Council spokesman Ray Goldring says the heavy rain has the potential to disrupt the mountains as it filters down through the snow.

A man with a samurai sword and ammunition belt who broke into a Christchurch home sparked an armed offenders squad (AOS) callout, before police discovered he was locked out of his house after a fancy dress party. A neighbour called police around 12.45am on Sunday after hearing a window breaking at the suburban Avondale house. When police responded, they saw the sword and belt in a vehicle. They placed a cordon around the property and called the AOS. When the AOS contacted the house's occupants, the man appeared at the door and explained his partner had locked him out of the house, so he had to break a window to get in. On closer inspection, the sword and belt were found to be props, police said.

Eating too much or too little during pregnancy has been linked in an Auckland University paper to the early onset of puberty. Studies at the university's Liggins Institute have shown a mother's diet before conception and during pregnancy and lactation affects her offspring's growth, age of puberty and later reproductive capacity in subtly differing ways. The studies were done in rats, but one of the researchers, Dr Deborah Sloboda, said there were striking parallels with some human studies and observations.

Kiwi actress and True Blood vamp Anna Paquin has a very important message she'd like to share with us all: Despite fevered gum-flapping to the contrary, she's not pregnant; although her uterus thanks us for all the attention.

SIDESWIPPING IT...
A text came through to my phone yesterday offering a deal with Christmas Hamper company Hampsta. Join to get $65 of "free stuff" it said. I rang the 0800 number provided to find the free stuff quickly became a $10 Mad Butcher voucher. The remaining $55 - a $20 joining fee and a $35 "account maintenance fee" - would be paid for you. Voila! $65 worth of free stuff. Er, not really. (Reply with STOP to make them leave you alone)

The 10 most costly wedding singers
1. Rolling Stones (up to $12 million)
2. Sir Elton John (up to $4.8 million)
3. Kylie Minogue (up to $4.8 million)
4. Christina Aguilera (up to $3.6 million)
5. George Michael ($3.1 million million)
6. Amy Winehouse ($2.4 million)
7. Sir Paul McCartney ($2.4 million)
8. Leona Lewis ($2.4 million)
9. Jennifer Lopez ($2.4 million)
10. Barry Manilow (pictured) ($1.8 million)

STUPID PEOPLE ARE FUNNY



SO NOT PC...
What do you call a Tongan dog wagging its tail?

A Happy Meal

AUCKLAND FORECAST TODAY
Max: 18°C
Min: 12°C (overnight)
Humidity: 93%
Rain developing, some thunder. Northeasterlies. (Translation: SOME thunder...how about shit loads of sheet lighting & thunder? It was nice during the day though. Sun even!!!)

CURRENT WEIRDNESS
Maz is going to be wearing a bridesmaids dress next year...it may look like the picture below *gasp*

So girly...but HAWT

DAILY FOF MOMENT
Maz & Russell went to Mc Donalds to get a snack this afternoon. Maz got two hamburgers and Russell got one double cheese burger and one standard cheese burger. Normally you get pattie in your cheese burger aye? Somebody really needs to let Mc Donalds Glenfield know aye, cause Russell's cheese burger had the cheese but ummmm something was missing. Oh that's what was missing...THE MEAT PATTIE! Fail!!!

And then this evening while at dinner with Russell & SJ we order dessert. Maz the oreo sundae, Russell the fudge cake and SJ the PIE & CAKE. The guy asked what kind of pie SJ wanted, went off and got it...hmmm something is missing from this plate. WHERE IS THE CAKE? SJ may of ordered Pie & Cake but was only served cake. FAIL!!!
So when paying SJ said about the whole Pie & Cake thing and only getting the pie. And we find out that it means one or the other not both. But did it say Pie OR Cake...NO...it said Pie AND Cake. DOUBLE FAIL!!!

To top it off when leaving Denny's Russell went to push the door (it said push) but it didn't move, so he tried to pull and that didn't work. And SJ walked to the other door, pushed it and walk right out. Bwahahaha MUNTER! That must make today a PHAIL!!!

Day OneHundredAndThree of being Aflickionless...

Maz & Russell went to look at another place today, this time out in Mt Roskil (near May Road). Maz really likes the place, plenty of room for all of the stuff and then some. 1 double bedroom, 2 single bedrooms, 1 living room, 1 dining room, separate toilet and bathroom, good size kitchen, laundry and carport. So tomorrow she is handing in the form for the house. The biggest mission is going to be finding a flatmate, but the rent will be fairly alright for whoever ends up being the flattie (Maz made sure of that when working on the costs).

This evening while getting dinner (Wendy's...Maz & Russell even ate in), Maz clicked that she has also been paying for food over the last week. So while eating dinner she told Russell that she was temped to text facebook status with "Maz Smutley...is going to hold a wee poll. She thinks that Russell should be paying for food considering that she is paying the rent. Who agrees?".
Russell didn't like this very much (Maz was really going to do it too) and after a sigh he said "You'll drag my name through the dirt and make me look bad". To which Maz responded with "You drag my head through the pillows every night and you don't see me complaining". Haha touche as SJ's mum would say. Wonder if he got the point?

Maz needs Skype...wait...Maz needs a mic.

Southbound motorists trying to get into Auckland city were reduced to a crawl after a cement mixer rolled on an inner-city road just before peak-hour traffic this evening. The Golden Bay Cement truck was lodged at the side of Sam Wrigley St in the inner city, just off the Cook St motorway off-ramp. The truck was eventually moved after nearly three hours. The off-ramp, the second exit into the city south of Auckland Harbour Bridge, was closed for over an hour before reopening after 6pm. Inspector Barry Smalley of the police northern communications centre said the truck didn't cause as many problems as might have been anticipated.

The Warehouse is recalling a batch of convection heaters after potential safety concerns were identified. The recall applies to Evantair CH-2000A basic and turbo model convection heaters purchased by customers between January 2005 and December 2007. The two recalled models have the following barcode product descriptions: 9417648400979 Heater Convection Basic 2000W (CH-2000A BAS), and 9417648400962 Heater Convection Turbo 2000W (CH-2000A TUR). The recall follows a customer complaint about a heater which was fire-damaged when left switched on overnight.

The final results of the smacking referendum have been released, showing the "yes" vote was slightly higher and the "no" vote slightly lower than preliminary figures issued on Friday. The "yes" vote was 201,541, or 11.98 per cent of those cast. Preliminary figures were 191,495, or 11.81 per cent of those cast. The "no" vote was 1,470,755, or 87.4 per cent of those cast. Preliminary figures were 1,420,959, or 87.6 per cent of those cast. The total number of valid votes cast was 1,682,717 compared with the preliminary figure of 1,622,150. The number of invalid votes cast was 1685, or 0.1 per cent of the total.

Auction website Trade Me crashed for several hours last night following "significant hardware problems". The website's disaster recovery procedures had to be implemented after "some issues...that affected our database clustering software at one of our data centres", the "tired" Trade Me technical team announced on the site at 12.45am today. The site experienced an outage at 6.55pm which lasted 15 minutes, but was down again between 9.05pm and 11.50pm. All auctions affected by the outage would be extended by 24 hours, the company said.

Shoppers buying sausage meat could have got more than they bargained for - small metal flakes. The discovery has prompted Goulds Fine Foods to recall the 500g tubes of The Valley Sausage Company sausage meat. Goulds said that the sausage meat had been sold in supermarkets in the lower North Island and Wellington region. All stores had been notified and all the remaining product had been destroyed. Goulds said there had been no reports of illness.

Scientists at the police's electronic crime laboratory have created a computerised system to help detectives examine seized computers and other items containing microchips. Other government agencies such as the Customs service are trialling the technology, and the scientists say there has been strong interest from other enforcement agencies around the world.

Drivers trying to squeeze the last kilometre from an empty fuel tank now face the prospect of a hefty fine if they run out of petrol on Auckland's motorways. Acting on a request from the police, the Transport Agency is proposing a bylaw that would make it an offence to run out of fuel anywhere on the 72.7km network. Police want the deterrent because of the number of stranded vehicles blocking lanes and endangering other motorists. During a three-week period in July last year, 148 vehicles - including three trucks - ran out of fuel on Auckland motorways.

And some entertainment news as well today...The price for spending eternity above Marilyn Monroe is more than $4.6 million. That's how much the crypt directly above the actress went for in an online auction that ended on Monday. The eBay.com listing says the space at Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery above Monroe is being vacated, making room for someone else. The listing also offers the detail that the current occupant is "looking face down on" Monroe, who was laid to rest at the cemetery in 1962. Bidding for the auction started at $500,000 on August 14. The final bid was $4,602,100.

The Rolling Stones charge £5 million (NZ$12m) to perform at weddings. The ageing rockers – made up of frontman Sir Mick Jagger, guitarist Keith Richards, drummer Charlie Watts and guitarist Ronnie Wood - have been named the world's most expensive wedding act, ahead of Sir Elton John and Kylie Minogue who only demand £2 million to play at nuptials.

Jessica Biel is the most dangerous celebrity on the web. Security technology company McAfee has reported that searches for the 27-year-old actress are more likely to lead to online threats such as spyware and viruses than searches for any other celebrity. McAfee said fans searching for the actress have a one-in-five chance of ending up at a website designed to damage one's computer. Its the third annual report on the subject from McAfee, which last year found that Brad Pitt was the "most dangerous" celeb online. (now everybody say..."mmmmm Jessica Biel")

SIDESWIPPING IT...
A reader realises a valuable life lesson: "I recently signed up with the IRD online to check my student loan balance. Imagine my excitement to see I had an $800 refund due from the year 2000! Then imagine my disappointment to be told I cannot get the money as too much time has passed. Sigh. Life is so unfair."

Rules are made to be broken

QUOTE OF THE DAY
"Don't put your big hunk of meat on my table" - Dee to Hez about putting the dog meat on the outside table

AUCKLAND FORECAST TODAY
Max: 17°C
Min: 12°C (overnight)
Humidity: 92%
Rain and fresh northerlies. (Translation: don't you love that word "FRESH"...current wind chill is hmmmm FRESH)

CURRENT WEIRDNESS
What is it with Sports Tonight playing background music during the articles???

DAILY FOF MOMENT
That Maz never noticed that she had been paying for dinner for the pass week, plus she does 100% of the rent. WTF? Fail!!!

Day OneHundredAndOne of being Aflickionless...

Seeings as Maz spent the whole day in bed this is all going to be about last night.

Maz & Russell got the energy to go check out Thank You at Space Bar, the closing party. IF they had of known that people would want to be at Space for once then they would of turned up earlier. They waited in line for 2 hours and were so close to the front of the line when it was annouced that the police had shut them down for 2 hours and they were unable to let anybody else in.
Naturally the paddie wagon turned up to Space and they took away one person. It was this guy. And a girl was also being spoken to, so I take it that something had happened in there. So I have heard though, it was too packed and you could hardly move inside. Really funny since every other weekend they are hardly full.

The line outside Space.

So after not being able to get into Space and talking to SJ via text, we ended up rocking down to Toto's for Flamingo 'Electric Nights'. We never got there till very late but had a good time and got to see SJ, Chris (he was working the bar), Kylie and a few other people. Also picked up a demo CD by Pedro M (I will flick it your way when you get back for a listen).

Maz & Russell gapped it from Toto's at about 4.30amish, and finally after weeks of seening the perfect weather for it Maz took a photo of the city.

'Early Morning Auckland'
Taken from Bayswater, North Shore

Straight is the new black for frizzy-haired bar-goers, who can now flatten their wild locks between beers. Nearly 20 pubs and bars across the country are offering hair straighteners in the women's toilets, giving patrons the offer to straighten their hair for two minutes, at $2 a pop. Newmarket's Mac's Brewbar was among the first to install the hair straighteners, already hugely popular in Irish and Australian bars. Shawn Brookes, co-owner of Mac's, said the straighteners had proved "extremely" popular with the ladies. The machines were put in during a recent refit of the bar in an effort to make it more female friendly. Read More...
Photo pictured was taken by Maz at Space Bar in May. And even though Princess SJ put me onto this article and she says she wouldn't use them. I'm sure there will come a day.

AUCKLAND FORECAST TODAY
Max: 16°C
Min: 11°C (overnight)
Humidity: 87%
Showers, becoming more frequent. Northeasterlies. (Translation: been in bed all day so cannot confirm nor deny the weather events of today.)

CURRENT WEIRDNESS
How busy Space was last night. I remember it was only in February that they had about 10 people there for the Valentines Day event...

DAILY FOF MOMENT
Waiting for 2 hours outside Space to find out that the police had shut it down from letting any more people in. Fail!!!

Day OneHundred of being Aflickionless...

DAY 100 BABY!!!
Only 19 days to go, ENJOY IT!

Maz has been feeling pretty seedy all day after last night. Although she got home at about 6.30am it would of been somewhere between 7.30am - 8.30am by time she got to sleep, and then she was up at about 1pm, so not much sleep at all.

Maz did a spot of shopping today. She went out to find strippy black & white socks but ended up getting a few other things as well. Two t-shirt for Russell...one reads "It's all fun and games till somebody looses a nut" and the other t-shirt reads "I Have Plenty of Talent and Wisdom. I JUST DON'T GIVE A SHIT". Maz also got two t-shirts...one reads "I'm not short, I'm fun sized" and the other has some cute picture on it.
Also brought some pillows as well...like that is exciting. Haha!

Anywho this has to be cut short, need to get read for Space (get dressed, make-up etc). Hope you are having an awesome weekend. Enjoy your flight to Berlin. Photos of tonights adventures at Space will be on the blog tomorrow (hopefully).

MAZ's LATEST PAINTING

Opps, I Threw Up Custard!
Acrylic on Canvas

AUCKLAND FORECAST TODAY
Max: 15°C
Min: 9°C (overnight)
Humidity: 89%
Fine breaks increasing. Light winds. (Translation: that light wind has picked up just in time for Maz to go out and freeze her balls off.)

CURRENT WEIRDNESS
Space is closing...hmmmm...

DAILY FOF MOMENT
Tina lost Maz's strippy socks that she got while in Sydney, so Maz had to go out and buy a new pair for the Space Bar closing. Fail!!!

Day NintyNine of being Aflickionless...

Oh where, oh where can my Flicky be...oh where, oh where has he gone???

AND just because it's day 99 and the song is based on it...
"20 more days till Haydn gets back, 20 more days till he returns, wake up one day and fuck around, 19 days till Haydn gets back"

It's 6.30am and I just got home...BITE ME!!! I can hear the birds!!!
Maz has finished (well for now) The Disco Ball Mirror project. She still has a few things to add to it and a couple of tweaks to make, but the bulk of it has been done. YAY!

This evening Maz & Russell went to Ginger Minx. Russell wasn't working, so yippee we got to sit back and just enjoy a few drinks & a chat. SJ also popped in to say Howdy and hang out for a bit (even photos to prove it...HAHA!).

How Space is going to happen tomorrow night...well tonight if you think about it...I have no idea. Can already tell it's going to be a slow start to the night. BUT it was well worth the laugh. In tonight's blog we have photos and a VIDEO to share. Booyah!

We all hope that you are having an awesome time...and if it's not all rainbows & fluffy clouds; chin up petal at least your not an egg (Maz will fill you in on that one...).

OH HAI (without the sign)

Maz & SJ at Ginger Minx


Adam after a hard days work


Josh (from Barfifa) & Maz


Dom & Adam. HOODRATS


Maz, Josh & Gemma...WORD!!!


Sitting on the kitchen floor at Josh's house. Fridge magnets...FUCK YEAH!


Fun times. Don't you miss us?

QUOTE OF THE NIGHT
Dom (bartender at Minx) said something about signing off, prob. something along the lines of "I wanna sign off". This was just after he had been asked what he wants to drink too and Russell heard a bit wrong I think..."I think Dom wants a sign off". Then we found out what Dom really wanted, which was to sign out/off for the night...so the quote of the night is

"I'll have a sign off please" - Dom at Ginger Minx

AUCKLAND FORECAST TODAY
Sorry was too busy having a good night at Minx...

CURRENT WEIRDNESS
How late Maz got home...these all nighters are really going to hit soon...we think!

DAILY FOF MOMENT
Russell got a wof ticket...haha. At least he didn't get the rego ticket as well...nice piggy. Fail!!!

Day NintyFive of being Aflickionless...

Lets see...disco ball mirrors, glue and glitter. That pretty much sums up Maz's day, but unlike the last few days, there was no burning of fingers and no cuts recieved. This may be because Maz is gluing to the floor and hasn't peeled off todays work yet. Hmmmm...

Nikki brought a pair of shoes of Maz today for her little niece. She got the Outta Space kids low tops. Awesome...she is so going to have the coolest shoes ever!

This Saturday is the closing of Space. Yes the day has finally come for us to say "see you later". Maz will possibly be going to it...just to see if it was all worth it.

PHOTO MANIPULATION SNEAK PEEK...
Thought we would let you have a look that something else that Maz is working on. It is only it the very beginning stages, so who knows where it will end up.

Now...NORMALLY I would put the news up here...and I could possibly still do that, but right now I think it is time for some...

RANDOM PICTURES MAZ FOUND ONLINE

And now on with the news...well what little there is.

It must have been a fur-raising ride for Poppy the cat. The four-year-old was believed to have secretly hitched a ride in a car from her Levin home to Hunterville, 100km away, where her collar meant she avoided being shot by bird-loving farmer. Levin couple Kevin and Sandra Stent noticed Poppy was missing after a visit from some friends 3-1/2 weeks ago, but were assured no felines were stashed away in their car. Mrs Stent thought Poppy must have climbed up under the car and held on as it travelled through northern Manawatu and either fell off or jumped off somewhere near Hunterville. For the next three weeks she foraged for food and nursed her injuries until Waituna farmer David Guylee noticed her lurking around his neighbour's property. Mr Guylee said it was lucky Poppy was wearing a tag.

Cadbury has bowed to consumer pressure and agreed to stop using palm oil in its chocolate. The confectionery giant received hundreds of letters and emails of complaint after it revealed a new recipe substituted cocoa butter with vegetable fat, including palm oil. Palm oil has been linked with the clearing of native habitats in third world countries. Cadbury New Zealand Managing Director Matthew Oldham says recipes will now only use cocoa butter. He says Cadbury is "really sorry" and the change is a direct response to consumer feedback.

Experts have added a grim warning to the poison beach scare in Auckland, saying the toxin that killed dogs is deadly enough to paralyse humans in seconds and kill them within an hour. Test results have shown that tetrodotoxin, a poison found in puffer fish, is responsible for the deaths of two dogs, birds and sealife on Auckland beaches. The poison was found in the dead dogs' vomit and in a sea slug sample taken from Narrow Neck Beach on the North Shore. Further tests are being carried out to find out how the sea slug came to contain the poison. Touching a dead animal on the beach could be enough to endanger human life, said Cawthron Institute algae specialist Paul McNabb.

TRAILER TO WATCH...
Dorian Gray...HOW AWESOME!!! Personally I think that Dorian Gray is the hawtest character ever...


AUCKLAND FORECAST TODAY
N/A because it's 2am...oops. But guess what, there were showers today.

CURRENT WEIRDNESS
How fully dedicated Maz is to doing well at Style Pasifika this year. Talk about a lot of glue.

DAILY FOF MOMENT
Getting to the Flying Horse Takeaway's to find out they are closed, look at the clock and see it's almost 10pm. Wonder why they aren't open? Maz blames Russell. Fail!!!