Mintyjulep
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Posts posted by Mintyjulep
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Wow, that is insane. I thought cyclones were scary
I feel terrible for them - what is the attraction of living in tornado alley if the tornados are getting so frequent? It's mostly farm land isn't it, but there are cities through there right. I don't really know much about that part of the USA so any info or insight is new to me
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His shoes are a bit muddy???!
At least in Japan the people asleep on the floor of trains and subways don't smell obscene
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Well, we found the Nintendo game cube and it still works, so we've had some friends over and been playing that.
But today we finally did some stuff - and we still have half the day to go, yay! We actually only unpacked our ski bag today! (had both sets, jackets, pants, hats etc in it) I couldn't believe how dry everything was - nothing smelt musty, mold free, rust free. I'm stoked!
We're moving our bedroom into the study (and study into the bedroom) today because our fireplace in the bedroom will be removed soon and it's easier to cover up the computers than our bedroom mess. So far so good!
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Ok, Mallet golf course.
I actually enjoyed it for just warming up, I had a few problems with my calf muscles while we were there so it was always nice to have that cruisey little run to warm up on. Mr Minty hates it.
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lol, you sound like Mr Minty and I - we have a whole room dedicated to junk, and the rest of the house isn't that much better.
We're going to get a skip soon, yus
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Originally Posted By: BagOfCrispsOriginally Posted By: MintyNZRAWR
Angry
Tired of how SELFISH people are.
Tired of insomnia, tired of an AS hitting 10 minutes before my alarm every other morning.
oh, and HAPPY for TB grats!
Who is selfish, Minty?
Just certain people who don't like me very much, so have essentially tried to prohibit their partners from being friends with Mr Minty. Their excuse: their EQ experience was worse than mine and I'm a "vindictive *itch"
Originally Posted By: muikabochiStill getting lots of aftershocks then, Minty?
Yeah, we had one today that was probably a high 3 and the house came away from the foundations more. We're just so close to the epicentre
Smiley rules make me confused!
Oh, and a positive update - I have a job!!! I lost mine in the feb quake, so things have been dour lately, but I have a brilliant new job so I'm stoked
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We used to use black council bags here in Chch, absolutely hated them - always felt like you ran out the night before the rubbish collection. They were about $1 each I think, so $52/year, it does start to add up, and that's based on only 1 bag per week too.
Submit a petition for reusable plastic bins, they are amazing, and because you're restricted on how much you can throw out you really rethink your rubbish habits - we recycle so much more now.
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You're in chch right? Does that place on Linwood ave - brewers friend or something sell it? They seem to have a fairly good range of winemaking products.
I'll have a better look tomorrow (royal wedding is starting omg!) - I'll also ask a friend if their winery has any spare.
When do you need it by?
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Originally Posted By: muikabochiGolf course
But it IS a golf course! -
OMG! Reading FRENZY! I'm about to start my fifth Raymond E. Feist book in 10 days. They're just vanishing, how is this happening? It could be one per day if I didn't make myself do other stuff.
Honestly, compared to all my clavells recently this is a bit scary fast.
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RAWR
Angry
Tired of how SELFISH people are.
Tired of insomnia, tired of an AS hitting 10 minutes before my alarm every other morning.
oh, and HAPPY for TB
grats! -
I don't like summer much, but I like cold summers even less (unless it's cold because I'm in the opposite hemisphere and it's winter!) - so yay for you guys that you should get a decent summer!
We're setting in for a long cold winter to match our long hot summer, I saw this fantastic article recently, written by someone who knows lots about snow sports and tourism.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/news/4911859/South-Island-tourism-hurting
my favourite bit is the caption "EMPTY SEATS: Queenstown has reported a significant slump in tourist numbers since the February 22 Christchurch earthquake."
Fact: it's autumn
Fact: those seats are empty because the ski season hasn't started yet
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I think it was the main gondola had some damage, and the golf course covered quad.
Which one is fixed?
I'm glad to hear they're ending the season on a high note
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Originally Posted By: JynxxMinty, howyagoin !
Southern season is the start of the 2011~12
Sorry mate, no splitting hairs. I reckon we start the season earlier DownUnder.
I'm cool with that, I guess 9 days for me last season, dammit hope to break double digits this coming season.
Thanks SKI - yeah I'm getting there. Had a bit of a bad run but I had my last physio appt today (yus! didn't have to get my disc shaved!), and my stomach seems to have healed up nicely from the op. House is getting more and more broken but what can I do hey
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There is still the southern season to go before I can vote surely
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Originally Posted By: Mamabear
Re: The Mag2 in Perth. I think I understand Pete, being a fellow Perth resident and Japanophile. Having been pretty focused on the sad goings on of our friends in Japan, and being tectonically stable ourselves I rolled my eyes, dropped my jaw and then pissed myself laughing at the stupidity of a Mag 2 (that may well have been just a sonic boom) making news in Perth. It is not having a giggle at Japan's expense - it is having a giggle at the ridiculousness of THAT making news in the light of the very serious situations going on elsewhere.
MB you put what I was thinking very very well - it is a 2.0, it is ridiculous that it was reported! As I said, even in my shakey rattley house only a few km from the fault line we wouldn't feel or even hear a 2.0! I'm sorry for offending people. I do understand what people are going through in the affected areas in Japan.
I did see a staggering example of selfishness today where a bunch of Chch Quake survivors called a 5.1 in the north island "un-news worthy" and said things like "they should come down here if they want to complain about a 5.1"
a 5.1 is pretty bloody scary - to me - a 5.1 off our Banks P fault line (runs within a few km of my house) would result in another pantry explosion at the least. A low 5 from that fault knocked our chimneys down when the 7.1 didn't manage to.
Anyway, this is group therapy! It's free! -
Originally Posted By: JellyBellyWonder if they actually stayed in NZ?
How much of the country was affected by it? Showing my ignorance here.
I'm sure they would have stayed for a while - only really Christchurch and Banks Peninsula were badly affected - there would have been some damage in other parts of Canterbury, but not enough for towns to close up shop the way we did. -
Originally Posted By: muikabochiSounds like a long holiday!
When was the earthquake in NZ? Then they were next in Japan for March 11?
22nd of feb for us. so that's roughly two weeks in NZ before going to Japan.
I found it quite interesting that they went to so many parts of Australia! -
That poor couple had quite bad timing really!
We went to Japan for ours
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Hey Metabo,
I have to say, the Japanese USAR team were amazing here in NZ, I saw them walking back from working one evening and everyone on the street was having a good clap
Our USAR guys weren't in Japan for long unfortunately - I believe they were camping in the snow and after working in chch for so long it was all a bit much.
We are coping ok but everyone is affected. We're heading into winter now so a bit nervous.
The cracks in the roads in the video are on the big side, but the house damage is pretty standard
I feel a bit like our quake is old hat even to other NZers - of course it is to the rest of the world! But we're still shitting in buckets, our cats keep ripping through the tarpaulin keeping the rain out of our roof (they like sleeping in the pink batts), and we feel every aftershock over a 3.2 if we're moving around in the house, and everything above a 2.4 if we're in bed.
Oops, skim read your post.
I've actually wondered about Thursday too, when did he last post? I know on the wedding forum I post on we had a roll call for the chch girls - and thankfully even the ladies who hadn't posted in a year or so came on and said "i'm ok"
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I hope this helps the SJ forumers in Japan who are a bit anxious about the future. There is a future, it's uncertain and it could be years before you're back to normal. Right now learn to live in the "new normal"
I live in Christchurch, New Zealand. It's the second largest city in NZ, but it's pretty small - everyone knows everyone and the tallest building in the CBD was about 25 stories - small bikkies compared to "real cities"
I never really wanted to live here, but I love my husband and I agreed to stay. On the night of Sept 4th 2010, we awoke to hear a roaring noise - literally the shingle beneath the Canterbury plains (this layer is very deep) rattling together to make the scariest noise I have ever heard. My then fiancee jumped out of bed first as the house started to rock, he got to the doorway just as I managed to get out of bed - I had to run the long way, but at that point the shaking was strong enough that I was being thrown around the room. The chandelier was swinging and hitting the ceiling, I was too scared to run under it in case I fell and it landed on me. Eventually I did make it to the doorway.
Although it shook all night we kind of thought that was that - that you have a big earthquake (EQ) and then it goes away again as suddenly as it came, but four days later we had an aftershock (AS)that brought our chimneys down, then a few days later another where I stood and watched all the tanks at work (winery) swaying menacingly, and another a month later where I lost control of my car and the ground rolled up and down under me. Then another on boxing day where I cowered in terror as thousands of people screamed and ran out of the mall. Then we had feb 22nd - I was in hospital recovering from an operation, it actually felt like nothing to me, but I cried because I was on opiates and my bed glided across the room, and I couldn't move far by myself, or even get off the bed. Turned out this was the worst of the lot - our house was trashed, chch was trashed.
EQ's get you really down, they keep on going and going and then you think it's all over, it's all ok, and then they bite you in the ass.
The most valuable thing I've learned is that you need to find something to occupy your mind - working, volunteering, anything, just don't focus on the EQ or the AS's - don't scaremonger, and don't make people feel bad. I actually always try to laugh them off when one happens and my family call. They know it's scary - I don't need to tell them that they're much luckier and they don't understand.
I found myself making jokes pretty early on - there were a bunch of pictures circulated of things like the terminator standing by a church that had collapsed, jaws swimming in silt and water from liquefaction. You ARE allowed to joke about the thing that could of killed you. The more you talk and joke about it, the easier it is to move on.
I still burst into tears a lot - writing this post is making me a big weepy mess. Days where I find new damage to our house, when another name is released, that my insurance company didn't reinsure after the sept quake (thank you govt for bailing them out) I cried a lot when my work didn't pay me after the quake - everyone around me was being paid, why did I get the crap deal. Actually I got a very good deal - I'm alive and I have all my limbs, both my cats, all my friends and family, my husband. I sometimes still imagine the feeling I felt when I was sitting outside in the rain watching a guy wake up from surgery in the carpark and wondering if my husband was ok.
Relax - I've been tense for 7 months, worst idea ever - I struggle to relax at all, but you need to really try because if you do what I do, and don't relax, you'll hurt yourself and you'll be useless. I had a back spasm two months ago and so not only is my husband the breadwinner now (my place of work fell down) but also he has to do a lot of housework, and all the digging/jackhammering etc for our broken water mains as I have such a limited range of movement.
Don't live in fear, but be prepared. Chile has had over a year of EQ/AS's, we're working on month 8, yes Japan will be shaking for a long time - who knows to what extent, be prepared for this mentally, but don't become a Ken Ring and start predicting EQs
Lastly, life does change. I lost my job, I also lost my ability to go to uni as they've cut intakes for the coming year. I'm applying for jobs in the insurance and social development sectors as I'd like to help people. There are other things that change too, our house is damaged enough that we can't progress with our renovations, which means that we've chosen to put off children for a year at least. We're in limbo for "6-9 months" on top of the past 7. You need to adapt to your new life, like we're trying to
a lot of people are adamant that nothing should change. I think they're finding it hardest. -
I was just reading a post made by someone in Tokyo - upset that forum members were joking about a 2.0 in Perth. It made me think about the perception that others have looking in on a disaster zone. It also made me think about the on going effects of a catastrophe on your body, your psyche, your home and family, and your lifestyle.
I think that it is important to share your experience - what happened to you, where you were, was everyone you know ok, has your heartrate returned to normal yet, what was the first thing that made you smile again, what makes you cry still, what made you feel useless and what made you feel empowered.
You don't need to post about the Tohoku (did I get that right?) EQ and tsunami, you could have been in any natural disaster. This is about sharing coping mechanisms and (god forbid) feelings, and to let people understand that while it is no joking matter - that you are still able to lol at funnies.
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I feel ok joking about a mag 2 in Perth, and I think it's a bit off telling everyone off for joking about it.
I live in Christchurch - and actually I'm going to start a new thread rather than explain here the effect the quake has had on me - and it doesn't upset me if people joke about Perth having a 2.0, and I'm sure that most people affected by the Japan quake + aftershocks + tsunami wouldn't be too upset by it either. It's Perth ffs, it is funny.
EQs and the ensuing ASs wind everyone up so bloody tight, and people need to relax and have a sense of humour about it - or else you'll end up like me and crippling yourself through having all your muscles tense all the time.
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Originally Posted By: JATime for Mr Minty to get himself a cow and learn to milk it. Then youse will all know what milk should taste like!
Funny that, we're going to stay at a friends dairy farm this weekend!
The speeding trap
in General off-topic discussions
Posted
I didn't know how to drive when I went to Japan in 2003, but this time around I did and I was shocked on the highway from the airport to Osaka - I mentioned to Mr Minty "are the speed limit signs in Mph?" and eventually we confirmed with someone that no, they aren't, they are in kmph - everyone just speeds really badly.