I am a Crazy Person | Oh, Sarah-Rose

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Oh, Twitter

Today I woke to a tweet advising me that it was my Twitter Anniversary. I’ve been using the damned, darling website for six whole years.
Six years and um 40,297 tweets.

Dreaming

— Sarah-Rose (@ohsarahrose) March 7, 2007

It started with a ridiculous little tweet. And it kind of snowballed from there.

A good morning: rain outside an open window, cool breeze & warm blankets, curling into my husband’s back for perfect half sleep.

— Sarah-Rose (@ohsarahrose) April 27, 2007

Twitter has been with me since before Craig and I moved to London, before all of our exciting travelling, before everything I consider to be when our life as a family actually began.

Sitting in Hyde Park, by the Serpentine. The sun is out and it’s lovely.

— Sarah-Rose (@ohsarahrose) June 10, 2007

I’ve had to try, time and time again, to explain what it is that I love about Twitter. What on earth is it any good for? What’s the damn point? It’s difficult to answer because, really, there IS no point. And that’s kind of the point.
It’s quite like shouting into the void. But there are other people in the void shouting with you. Sometimes you pay attention to them and sometimes you don’t.
But the people who draw your attention are fabulous.

OH! My favourite part about my #observantboss today? has noticed pink hair, has noticed tiny tattoo, HAS NOT NOTICED MY LACK OF GLASSES.

— Sarah-Rose (@ohsarahrose) August 28, 2012

What has twitter given me? Nothing. And everything.
I mean, I’ve won art and clothes and cider and tickets, but that’s not it, really.
Excluding the fact that I now have an incredible record of the last six years of my life, I have met the majority of my most favourite people through Twitter. I have brilliant and beautiful friends I wouldn’t have met otherwise. I have stayed in touch with friends on the opposite side of the world.

So… Sculptural sound pieces? Good. Sunset over the Thames? Good. Accidentally littering? (empty starbucks + wind & riverbank) Bad.

— Sarah-Rose (@ohsarahrose) September 14, 2007

By St Paul’s, a 5 piece brass band is playing Bohemian Rhapsody. It’s amazing! I pretty much love them.

— Sarah-Rose (@ohsarahrose) October 10, 2007

Really, I can’t fathom my life without it.

Craig: I can hear the sea in your armpit! Sarah: That’s because I’m thinking about Stingrays.

— Sarah-Rose (@ohsarahrose) August 28, 2007

(obsessed with stingrays since aaages ago)

Tags: London, love, serious, Twitter

Comments 1 Comment
Categories I am a Crazy Person, I love my friends, Letters to the Internet, Living in London, Sometimes I'm Serious

Image

Who are you and what have you done with Sarah-Rose

30 Jan

I was walking home the other day and I thought to myself “oh I’m so glad I don’t have rehearsal tonight. That means I can get up early and go for a run on Friday”
I’m sorry, what?

Here’s the thing. I’ve always been too terrified to exercise in the presence of others. Too ashamed of my lack of co-ordination, lack of skill, lack of fitness, excess of flesh. But then I started running and I didn’t hate it. I almost kind of loved it.
I never was the best at staying motivated, however.

I became one of those horrible people who tweets about getting up at 5am to go for a run, I’d post a photo afterwards, sometimes even a screenshot of my Nike Plus running app screen. I tweeted my distance and if I felt like I was dying or not.
I wasn’t doing it to be obnoxious, promise (that was just a bonus). I just wanted to track my progress and, yea, sometimes I was a wee bit proud of myself.

Mainly I tweeted so that I would, at least in my own mind, consider myself accountable if I ever stopped. This has worked better than any other self-motivational method I’ve ever used.

So I’d been running for the last couple of months of 2012, quite enjoying it but never really challenging myself all that much. Enough to buy the running tights & new running shoes but only pushing myself to run just a little bit further each time. I was getting a little defeatist.

During our New Year holiday in the Mansion House Laura said that she would quite like to get bufty arms in 2013 while I said I would maybe perhaps possibly consider running a 5k* so our other Laura (my evil twin) suggested that maybe perhaps we could sign up to Les Mills for their January trial period and then we could all go to classes together. Seeing as how she was a member already and all.

Just like that #teambufty** was born.

But no, actually, I think I kind of adore the gym.
I thought doing classes & running on a treadmill in the same room as other people would be terrifying but everyone is kind of in their own little world. I’ve done classes where I lift weights until sweat drips from my elbows & classes where I punch & kick & get a little lost in the combinations and it’s brilliant. I push myself so much harder.

I’ve even got a little routine down – weights classes three times a week & running three times a week***. Sometimes I switch out one of the runs for a “combat” class instead.

It was when I tweeted at 8:30pm on a Wednesday that I’d just finished a weights class and I hadn’t pushed myself as hard as I would have liked so I was going to get up to do the 6:30am combat class that Aly tweeted me

@ohsarahrose right – I’ve let this go on long enough without confronting you. Who are you and what have you done with Sarah-Rose?

— alyciamaree (@alyciamaree) January 23, 2013

She kind of has a point. I’ve … never been a member of a gym before. I’ve never had exercise be such a regular part of my life before. I really quite like it.

(I also really REALLY love tracking my exercise. I’m currently using an app called Moves in addition to my Nike Plus Get Running & oh! I love it so. Now I’m coveting a Nike FuelBand)

Of course, it is still January. This could all be over by March. But I hope not.

* yea. That’s still very much a maybe at the moment. There is the Round the Bays in a couple of weeks but that’s 7km!
** we have members all around NZ and even an international contingent. It’s not really a thing apart from the fact that we tweet encouragement at each other.
*** you know MOSTLY. When life like rehearsal and um occasionally parties and such take precedence. I haven’t gone completely mad.

Tags: #teambufty, exercise, instagram, nerd, running

Comments 5 Comments
Categories Exercise? Really., I am a Crazy Person

Climbing up a Mountain

6 Jan

I wanted to get out of the house as the sun was high high high in the sky.
(We get so few good days in Wellington in summer, let alone in the weekend, that I hate to miss them.) Craig told me to put my shoes on and we headed down to the waterfront.

“We’re going up there” he said, pointing right up to the top of a hill.

Right.

We were one third of the way. One third.

Almost at the summit! But that next bit was …. steep.

The GPS on this app is way off. But you get the general idea.

Tags: exercise, hiking, hill, mount victoria, wellington

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Categories Exercise? Really., I am a Crazy Person

Cold Dead Heart.

27 Nov

On Sunday night I was wincing around the apartment with my newly-tattooed thigh. Every time I sucked breath in through my teeth Craig would look over at my and say “oh, poor baby”*

Me: gah, don’t say that!
Craig: what? why?
Me: don’t feel sorry for me! It’s my own damn fault.
Craig: … I don’t feel sorry for you. It’s called COMPASSION.
Me: … oh.
Craig: hmmmm.
Me: … no wonder I didn’t recognise it?

This probably says more about me than I would care to admit.

*yes, I know, hush, it’s the cutest

Tags: conversation, crazy, marriage

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Categories Conversations, I am a Crazy Person, Tattooed Lady

La Specola, Florence

2 Aug

panorama

On one little page in our City Guide to Florence is an entry with an especially enthusiastic star next to it. The entry is, of course, for the Museum of Zoology and Natural History, aka La Specola.

Down a side street from the Pitti Palace and up three flights of stairs, Craig and I spent a deceptively long time wandering the 34 rooms. It was a must see.

It is, essentially, a museum full of taxidermy and medical wax works. I could think of little better.

With a collection dating back to the Medici Family, and a nickname referencing the observatory that stood there in 1790, this unassuming little museum was just delightful. It’s also the oldest scientific Museum of Europe. At the time of its opening it was the only scientific museum or “wunderkammer” specifically created for the public to view.

Oh. And most of the labels were in untranslated Italian. Adorable.

Yes. As you can see in the reflection next to the lion, I wore leopard print to a zoological museum.

HE JUST WANTS TO BE YOUR FRIEND

Rinolofio di blasius! Look at his little face!

Always look for the Kiwi.

I may have squealed just a little when I saw the room of rays.

Craig added for size comparison.

There were only a few rooms of anatomical wax works but the detail was amazing.
(those of a sensitive disposition might want to skip the rest of this post)

The art of anatomical waxworks was developed in Florence in the 17th century in order to teach medicine when practicing on corpses was illegal. Anatomical waxworks was slightly more true to life than learning surgery from a book. These waxworks are famous for having been modeled off actual corpses. How that is any worse than letting medical students loose on the deceased is simply beyond me.

It’s just wax. It’s just wax.

IT’S JUST WAX

I think this lady was my favourite. She was flayed open and yet her face was so serene. Like she was just about to fall asleep on a hot summer day.

One of my favourite parts of the whole museum was that, always a few steps behind us, we were shadowed by an Italian family, a mother, father, and a boy of about 6 years old who was just SO DAMN EXCITED to be there. We lost them in the anatomical section, they didn’t stay there long.

I am a little distraught that I didn’t notice the stuffed hippopotamus which was a 17th-century Medici pet that once lived in the Boboli Gardens. I know, I know they are, apparently, vicious killers but seriously? a hippopotamus ambling around your extensive gardens? it sounds pretty amazing.

panorama

Tags: Europe, florence, italy, la specola, medical wax works, medici, photography, taxidermy, travel

Comments 2 Comments
Categories Europe, I am a Crazy Person, I am MORBID, Travel, Uncategorized

Travelling light. My baggage is mainly emotional.

6 Jun

I was SO proud of myself. My packing list for Europe was just 18 items long. Including the outfit I would wear on the plane.
What a hopeless, optimistic fool I was. The weather, my acquisitive nature, and a few foolish choices conspired against me and I returned with many many many more items than I left with.

But, for what it is worth, here is that base list.

3x strappy tops – white, black, and grey
3x shoes – boots, stud flats, and leather chucks
2x jeans – blue and black.
2x sweaters – chartreuse cardigan & fox sweater
2x tees – black lace & Kate Sylvester swan
2x jackets – leather and cropped blazer
1x blue belt
1x little black dress
1x sheer black maxi skirt
1x knee length black skirt

The mistakes:
I should have taken one fewer strappy top and one more t-shirt.
I should have taken a lightweight ¾-long-sleeved shirt.
I should have left my boots at home, they were not comfortable enough.
I should have taken a less sheer maxi skirt and ditched the knee length skirt.
I should not have taken that belt.
I should have taken one other warm jumper
I should have taken a pashmina. And I would have. Except I didn’t own one.
I should NOT have taken that DAMN belt. I did not wear it once. HATE.

In general though, I’ll stick by my list. For a trip shorter than a month but longer than two weeks? Definitely. Over packing drives me crazy.

In London with the fashion and the style and the wedding to attend I ended up adding four dresses and another pair of flats to my suitcase. I also added three shirts and a knee-length pencil skirt. Oh and another light-weight jacket. And a super cute mint-green-and-skull-print
In Edinburgh with the freezing cold, and the style, I added a cashmere sweater and another t-shirt.
In Prague with the oppressive heat I added a pair of shorts and two lightweight long-sleeved shirts. Oh and another t-shirt. I also bought a pashmina.

So, coming home my item count was 34. I was surprisingly disappointed with myself*.

A lot of what I purchased I didn’t wear overseas. Or if I did wear it, I could have very easily worn something I had brought from New Zealand instead. That’s not to say I regret the purchases. Well, maybe one of the t-shirts. I’m getting off topic.

My point is that out of the clothes I purchased in Europe, only a few of them were necessities. If you go through my list of mistakes they are all there – the sweater and pashmina because it was colder than I expected; the lightweight shirts because it was warmer than I had expected. The shorts because PRAGUE WAS FUCKING WITH ME.
I wore those damn shorts for a sum total of 6 hours.

Also if I had remembered how terrible I am when last-minute shopping for specific events I would have taken a dress to wear to the wedding. But I didn’t. So instead of taking one cute dress I bought FOUR. Two were options for the wedding and two were supercute dresses I found but that wouldn’t work at the wedding.
However! This does mean I have many many cute dresses now. Which I am pleased about. And which is why I am not allowed to shop for the rest of the year.

I should have made sure I had outfits that covered me knees to elbows for both hot and cold weather. It was a little awkward. Basically, unless you are sure of your itinerary for the day, dress so you could walk into a church just fine.

But don’t sacrifice everything. Looking cute is important to me. So I tried to look cute. But I was practical about it. Cute flats or cute sneakers, I didn’t take heels**. If you are tourist-ing then just don’t wear them. Especially around cobblestones. I saw too too much of that. They always looked ridiculous and uncomfortable.

* which was, frankly, ridiculous. My bag was not over the weight limit, it was not straining at the seams, and, most importantly, I could lug it both up and down stairs if I needed to. Admittedly I DIDN’T a lot of the time, but that’s because I have a very large very strong husband who could carry both his and my bag up stairs. But the rest of the time I insisted on carrying my own.

** I did buy a pair of Underground heeled creepers. They are amazing. Now I want regular creepers.

Tags: Europe, packing, travel

Comments 5 Comments
Categories Europe, I am a Crazy Person, Travel

#starwarsvirgin

17 Apr

A long long time ago, in an apartment not too far from …somewhere. it was realised that both I and Christopher, the flatmate, had never seen Star Wars. Not the original trilogy, not the prequels, not the holiday special, not one single film. Craig was ever so disappointed.

Okay, okay, I saw The Phantom Menace in 1999 when it was released but I really do not think that counts.

Someone, somewhere, sent me the link to this post which breaks down the different ways you can watch the saga. Most people choose between Release Order (the order the films were shown in the cinema) or Episode Order (apparently the way George Lucas intends, starting with Episode I and going straight through to Episode VI).

Then there is their alternate suggestion, which I have taken to calling the “straight narrative” order. You watch the Saga thus: IV, V, I, II, III, VI.

In this order just as Luke (SPOILER ALERT) finds out that Darth Vader is his father, wondering what turned him to the Dark Side, you flick back to the story of how Anakin Skywalker became Darth Vader and back to the ‘present’ to finish with Return of the Jedi, as Lucas intended.

(The site truly recommends ‘Machete’ order which misses Episode I entirely but I wanted to watch it for Queen Amidala’s outfits. Truth.)

Somehow it was decided we would watch them all in 2012.
How we got from watching them all in a YEAR to watching them all over the EASTER BREAK I will never understand. But we did it. Six movies in … I think it was actually 3 days. I do not recommend it.

To keep myself amused and, honestly, awake through all 797 minutes of the saga – I’m not even kidding with that, I did the maths – I ‘live tweeted’ the event.

Here are a few of my favourites.

Episode IV: A New Hope

8:25pm Why did I think Darth Vader didn’t really speak? He’s going on and on and on.

8:30pm Craig thinks we are watching the special edition. I think the dudes in the hoods look like demonic monks.

8:45pm Me: these robots don’t look very futuristic. Craig: that’s because it’s the past #longlongtimeago

8:56pm Huh. I thought Vader was in control. I didn’t expect him to be taking orders. Perplexing.

9:01pm I’d forgotten all about Han Solo!

9:45pm “only a master of evil, Darth” aka ‘pfft, you’re not even a real master, egg’.

10:35pm Verdict on Star Wars IV: long. Sound made on discovering it’s the shortest of the six movies: SIGH.

Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back

10:37pm Craig on Episode V: he goes to Hoth to visit Yoda. Chris and I: oh, that’s right! Yoda’s in these!

11:11pm What is with the weird new storm troopers? I find their smooth faces unnerving.

11:17pm Why couldn’t they just give R2-D2 subtitles? It would save a lot of clunky expository lines.

11:23pm Oh. Yoda. I just … No.

12:01am Chewbacca always sounds so sad. I find it distressing.

Episode I: A Phantom Menace

12:44pm Ewan McGregor’s hair is just The Worst. Liam Neeson’s is not much better.

12:46pm Little known fact: Jedi can hold their breath for a long time. Apparently.

12:49pm I wish current royalty had to dress like Queen Amidala. It would make it all so much more interesting #fiercefashion.

12:51pm Oop. There is Jar Jar Binks. The most reviled character in the series, or so it seems. I get that.

1:34pm So Anakin has no father. Are we supposed to believe it’s human parthenogenesis or a Jesus analogy? #ridic

Episode II: Attack of the Clones

12:04pm Watching Attack of the Clones. So annoyed Jar Jar is in this one too #hateful

12:09pm “don’t forget, she’s a politician & they’re not to be trusted” Obi Wan #truth

12:47pm I doubt it will ever seem normal to have kiwi accents as Jango and Boba Fett #incongruous

12:50pm “you are in my very soul. Tormenting me” Anakin has so many Feelings! #GROAN

(we took a break for several hours)

7:38pm Oh god. Still have 5 hours of Star Wars to watch.

7:54pm Anakin is a whiny little bitch in II. Actually … reminds me of Luke in IV

7:54pm Rolling my eyes so hard. I think I might strain something.

8:20pm SERIOUSLY? NatPort loses JUST enough of her shirt in the battle to have a crop top? Oh! She lost a sleeve too #totesplausible

8:23pm Laughed at R2-D2 pulling off C3PO’s head. Groaned at “this is a drag” & “I’m beside myself” #worstscriptever

8:28pm They do not seem to have dialled back the “engrish” accents of the trade federation delegates since Episode I #embarrassed.

8:37pm Yoda flipping and twisting around Christopher Lee makes my eyes hurt. From all the rolling.

8:43pm 1. Golden skeleton hand, really? & 2. Least romantic wedding kiss ever. But really: GOLDEN SKELETON HAND!?!

Episode III: Revenge of the Sith

8:45pm General Grevious turned out to be evil. Who’d a thunk it?

8:54pm A robot with a cough? I call bullshit. Also, I am half disappointed the golden skele-hand has been replaced with a glove.

8:59pm There are a lot more laughts in Revenge of the Sith. And it seems as if quite a few of them are even intentional.

9:48pm Oh, Ewan McGregor and your quippy quips. #swoon

9:52pm They sure do need to twirl a lot with their light sabres.

9:56pm “Power! Unlimited Power!” Palpatine being even more obvious than usual.

9:58pm Just like that he is christened Darth Vader and seems to be breathing heavier already. Evil is apparently hard on the lungs.

10:16pm The Dark Side: hard on the lungs and the eyes, terrible for the skin. I am officially too vain for the dark side.

10:39pm Endlessly amused by Obi Wan’s “it’s too late! I have the higher ground!” #soliteral

10:47pm Darth Vader is definitely the most fashion forward of all the Star Wars characters #fierce

Episode VI: Return of the Jedi

7:45pm TONIGHT! IT ENDS! Return of the Jedi has just begun.

7:47pm Ahh! Hahaha! I forgot about the oversized helmets! How very Balenciaga.

7:49pm Again! I forget he is not The Great and Powerful Vader but just an imposing minion Vader. So disappointing.

7:56pm This alien pop star malarkey is … embarrassing. Apparently tis from the remastered version. Damn Lucas.

8:03pm “who are you?” “someone who loves you” and people say the prequels are poorly scripted!

8:05pm It is an impressive gold bikini, I will give y’all that.

8:18pm I mean, there is VERY LITTLE to that bikini #pandering

8:20pm I do like the Imperial March! I will give them that.

8:27pm YODA DIES? What?

8:27pm (I always found him a bit creepy)

8:29pm Poor Luke. Finding out Leia is his twin AFTER seeing the gold bikini.

8:43pm Ewok!

8:46pm It’s a hat. YOU’RE WEARING ONE TOO #sillyewok

9:01pm This scene between Luke & Leia is … so bad. So very very bad. Natalie and Hayden bad.

9:13pm “it is pointless to resist, my son” “but the chase is half the fun” #sexystarwars

9:15pm The tiny catholic in me (help!) can’t help but respond “and also with you” whenever I hear “may the force be with you”

9:24pm My wine is gone! How will I make it through the rest of this movie?

9:38pm Oh you have GOT to be kidding me. THAT is how it ends with the Emperor? What a cliché.

9:42pm The back of the Millennium Falcon makes me want an Oreo. Or an icecream sandwich.

9:45pm Partying and pan pipes all over the star wars universe #baller

9:47pm IT’S OVER! Thank everything. It is OVER. I never have to do that ever ever ever again.

P.s. to my eternal shame, I must admit that Revenge of the Sith was my favourite of the saga.

Tags: conversation, star wars, Twitter

Comments 2 Comments
Categories Conversations, I am a Crazy Person

I am sure it will all be fine.

13 Mar

Everything is sorted, everything is planned, everything can still go wrong.

Flights are booked, accommodation is booked, and just last week Craig and I booked our train travel in Europe. London to Edinburgh, Berlin to Prague, Venice to Florence to Rome*.

I am ever so excited.
I’m sure train travel in Europe has largely been romanticised but, damnit, it has worked. I am dreaming of watching the countryside roll by. Of arriving into mediaeval Prague in such an old-fashioned method. Perhaps, ideally, it should be a horse and carriage but horses scare me and I’m not that much of a romantic, not really.

All this anticipation is making it very very difficult to be without my passport. Or birth certificate. Or marriage certificate. Any identifying documents of any kind really.

Yes. In order to get my Irish passport I have had to send all my original documentation, all proof of my state-sanctioned-self to … I’m not exactly sure where. Presumably Ireland. Or maybe just Auckland.

It takes six weeks for an Irish passport to be crafted and posted to New Zealand. As of today it has been four weeks since I posted it and we are booked to leave New Zealand in six weeks.

I am getting anxious. Perhaps it will not arrive in time. Perhaps they will lose the whole precious bundle. If that happens I won’t even be able to get a new New Zealand passport because they have all official proof of my existence. All I have is my university degree. And that does not count. The trip will be cancelled and I will melt, thaw, and resolve into a dew.
It can’t happen.

I am sure, Shakespearean hyperbole aside, that it will all be fine. But each Tuesday that passes passportless is harder and harder to take.

In the mean time I will immerse myself in guidebooks. I am sure it will all be fine. I am sure it will all be fine. I am sure it will all be fine.

* Yes. There are a couple of trips missing from the list. It turns out that you can’t pre-book for the overnight train, and booking for the bus from Prague to Munich can only be done 60 days before you travel. So there’s that.

Tags: freakout, travel

Comments 8 Comments
Categories I am a Crazy Person, Travel

I have no words.

30 Nov

I am speechless. Bereft of words. Exhausted and ineloquent. I have been under an intense amount of work-related stress. Which I do not talk about on the internet.

I realised last night that the last time I can pinpoint feeling wholly well was sometime around my birthday. Oh the joys that stress brings. Joy and hairloss and a weakened immune system.

Suffice it to say that I’m currently unemployed.
I’m sure I will be employed soon enough, but in the mean time I will enjoy my redundancy payments for a few days at least.

Also! I am taking part in Dressember.

I think I was somewhat drunk when Amy suggested it on Twitter. We had missed “Frocktober” and … it kind of grew from there.

So. For the 31 days of December I will be wearing skirts or dresses or … anything that is not trousers.
There is one dress I adore which is a smidgeon too short and will need shortshorts to be worn underneath but aside from that, it will be all dresses, all the time.

Why? I have no earthly idea. BUT I AM DOING IT ANYWAY. There is little I like more than ridiculous challenges. You will probably see terrible grainy instagram photos every day as well. Because I also like to share my ridiculous challenges.