A peek inside my bedroom

On the weekend, yes, this weekend just passed, I finally completed unpacking at Park Place!

That is, as long as you ignore the shambles which is my office. Why do I even have an office? all of this must be ignored. Along with the realisation that it took two months (exactly) for the unpacking to cease.

But I digress, my final final battle in the war of the boxes was my jewellery. I have a lot of jewellery. I like it! It's sparkly! And when I had packed up said jewellery I didn't go about it in a neat and tidy manner, I was delirious with jet lag and post-Japan malaise, so it was all (save for the 2 pairs of earrings, 3 necklaces, & 4 rings I had travelled with) thrown into a plastic bag. Or two. I have a LOT of jewellery.

And so the task of unpacking my darling jewels took a good three hours. And that's just wrong. Sure, mostly it was because of the whole just chuck it all in a bag, it'll be FINE delusion but still, wow.
This is also since my post-new-years-resolution to have less stuff.
So I culled. I threw out the lonely earrings, missing a mate, and the irrevocably damaged. The rest I boxed up for the vultures of my darling family to fall upon. I restricted myself to favourite pieces*, those of great sentimental value**, and those I consider "grown up" jewellery, the silver and gold***.

And then? I put on my scarily organised hat, pulled out my two perspex jewellery boxes from Muji (one purchased in London and one in Osaka) and organised to my cold black heart's content.
And then I photographed it, so that the darling family who don't live at Park Place can see and mock, lovingly of course.









* Like my Anatomical Heart and Moustache necklaces.

** Like the earrings to which I am allergic but which were given to me as an 8/9 year old by a cousin living overseas, when I wasn't allowed my ears pierced until I was 11, and the ring with a plastic rat on it (with diamante eyes!) which provoked someone into speaking to me on the tube (who wasn't completely drunk)(you can see his tiny ratty feet in the second photo, he's in the ring drawer), and the ring Craig gave me on our first valentines day together (2001!).

*** I may consider them grown up due to the material but they still include my sterling silver knuckleduster ring, my vampire fang necklace, & ring, & earrings ... I have a lot of sterling silver jewellery due to my nickel allergy.

A Conversation (of sorts) on the ride home ...

Sarah-Rose: Hee! I wonder if that guy's licence plate (2HORZN) is meant to indicate that he's a cowboy heading for the horizon, or that he's a pimp and has two whores in ??
Craig was wearing sunglasses and I could still STILL tell that he was rolling his eyes. A lot.
Sarah-Rose: Hee! Word play!!

A Conversation between Sisters

Day Six: Osaka

Back in Osaka, back chez Tim, where you can tell you're getting near his place when you spot Hotel Mickey Cookies.


Mickey Cookies is a Love Hotel.
A "love hotel" (ラブホテル) is a type of short-stay hotel found in Japan operated primarily for the purpose of allowing couples privacy to have sexual intercourse.
Which is probably why you can rent it for 90 minutes.


And hire costumes.

But that was just on the way to the Osaka Aquarium!



We arrived at the aquarium just after it opened (as recommended by Lonely Planet Japan) to a sign advising that there were ... a LOT of schoolchildren inside. Like thousands. And they recommended that we come back later.
But we had come all this way so we went inside the door where a lady reiterated what the sign said and handed us two tickets to the IMAX theatre show "Under the Sea" to occupy some time before we could come back and brave the hordes.
So occupy some time we did. Incidentally, I had really wanted to see "Under the Sea" narrated by Johnny Depp and Kate Winslet when Craig and I were at the Science Museum in London but he scoffed, and we didn't see it.
Instead we saw it completely in Japanese, not dubbed by Kate and Johnny, and it was just as amazing. Impressive 3D and an empty cinema (seriously, there were two other people in there, and the IMAX cinemas are LARGE). Plus, due to the complete language barrier I got to play the fun game "fucking or fighting?".

By the time we made it back to the Aquarium pretty much all trace of the children was gone. It was a little eerie. But we got to go inside!







The Osaka Aquarium Kaiyukan (海遊館) is one of the largest public aquariums in the world and is home to a pair of Whale Sharks.
Whale Sharks are the largest living fish species and can grow to 12m in length. Their mouths? can up be up to 1.5 metres wide.



But I was more impressed by (unsurprisingly) the Manta Rays.



Partly because of my well documented love of Rays, partly because it was completely unexpected, partly because as a child I had read and reread and reread The Girl of the Sea of Cortez by Peter Benchley and it just ... stuck with me.







(they had other Rays there as well)







Craig christened this species the Dork Ray.





Christmas time at Kaiyukan







And randomly, as you leave, there is a Capybara.
















Ah. Just like that, I'm exhausted. I will finish of this day later.
So. Many. Fish. Photos.

Prince William came to Wellington

We watched his official welcome from our office.
Then debated going down to join the hordes ...





Yea.

Week Three

Sunday
Sparkly deer, Fifi Lapin, and painted while bricks.
The last day of the holiday was one of unpacking suitcases and boxes (yes. still.) followed by dinner and very competitive Trivial Pursuits chez Trinity.


Monday
I've got this thing I can do with my eye. I can change it from blue to blind.
My first day back at work-itis was assuaged by a midday parcel of a Cheap Monday jacket and a dinner of popcorn, cider, and Criminal Minds.


Tuesday
Apparently the way I eat apricots is strange.


Wednesday
I attached my Hello Kitty Hiroshima phone charm to a case for my baby iPhone and wrote a post about said city for this darling site.


Thursday
Our 4th wedding anniversary. Craig bought me flowers as an apology; he suggested celebrating with Dinner but ended up having to work.


Friday
Waiting for Craig in the cold and grey outside my work, I investigated the new court building. The facade is supposed to evoke native trees.


Saturday
Buddha's hands (unpacked!) on a no-good, very-bad day.


&



So cold and grey this week (oh, how I adore summer in Wellington) that I resorted to my flannel dress and faux-uggs.