Russell Kirkpatrick's Journal

Difficult words

Tue, 02 Sep 2008 14:37:00 --0800

I've been reading a cancelled library copy of P.G. Wodehouse's 'Blandings Omnibus'. A previous reader has gone through and marked in pen any word he/she found too difficult, as well as changing all the 'pretty' as in 'pretty quiet' to 'very' as in 'v...

Good News and Bad News

Sat, 23 Aug 2008 20:31:00 --0800

I've been picked as part of the six-man Waikato Masters (over 40) golf team. I am a god, and you must bow down before me. w00t.Today was the final trial, and I played under a slight handicap - a tooth twinge has exploded into full-on toothache....

Mortality

Tue, 19 Aug 2008 11:22:00 --0800

I'm watching the Olympic men's triathlon. Great stuff - men in their prime competing on a combination of strength, stamina and strategy. Highly entertaining, inspirational, and an encouragement to extend one's own horizons.Then the ads hit. We ...

Nothing to Report

Tue, 12 Aug 2008 04:14:00 --0800

Not a very catchy title for a blog, I'll admit. Things are ticking along - in fact, I'm rather busy, which explains the lack of blogging.Organised and ran Dorinda's mum's memorial service last week, held down in Christchurch. It went well, ever...

More Unusual Names

Thu, 24 Jul 2008 04:02:00 --0800

Children's names can also be bizarre. Witness the New Plymouth judge who temporarily deprived parents of custody of their child 'Talula Does The Hula From Hawaii' (last name withheld). http://www.stuff.co.nz/4628719a10.htmlOther names mentioned...

The Unlikely Names file

Wed, 16 Jul 2008 10:42:00 --0800

You know, people with names coincident with their work (Mr Lamb was for a time the head of the Meat Marketing Board, the local dentist called Mr Payne, that sort of thing).Well, there's a cliff threatening to come tumbling down on tourist opera...

A Sad Day

Sun, 13 Jul 2008 16:06:00 --0800

Yesterday Dorinda's mum, who lived with us for over twenty years, passed away. Like all people, she was a glorious mixture of the admirable and the irritating, but the fact that my mother-in-law lived with us for such a long time shows how easy...

Raybon gets it Right

Sun, 13 Jul 2008 16:05:00 --0800

Here's Raybon Kan's comments on the Tony Veitch assault:

http://www.stuff.co.nz/4617035a1861.html

Bubble and Squeak

Mon, 07 Jul 2008 16:40:00 --0800

That's what you're getting today - mental bubble and squeak.I've been indulging my passion for music this week - went to The Mars Volta last week and thoroughly enjoyed it. Then I *ahem* found a copy of my all-time favourite live band's best pe...

Emoticons lie!

Tue, 24 Jun 2008 15:19:00 --0800

Emoticons lie.They are so insincere. They allow us to be far harsher with each other than we ought to be. They remove the need for moderate language. They mask the most appalling rudeness. Yet another way of strangling the language - or of hidi...

Fanmail

Wed, 11 Jun 2008 11:04:00 --0800

Many authors hate fanmail, but I love it. Hearing personally from readers is one of the great things about being an an author. Of course I enjoy the praise: yes, I do occasionally get praise from misguided or sheltered individuals :) But I enjo...

What's it Like to be a Writer?

Tue, 10 Jun 2008 16:57:00 --0800

I often get asked this question. Those asking seem to think I'll tell them about the glamour, the fame and the fortune.Well, there's none of the first, little of the second and intermittent amounts of the third.There's no glamour. I'm constantl...

Trudi Hat

Fri, 06 Jun 2008 13:13:00 --0800

It's minus 2.8 degrees, frosty and so perfect for golf. Before I go, time to get the Trudi Hat.Timely I should talk about the Trudi Hat, given Trudi and Paul have just finished visiting. Trudi is a successful writer and Paul is an even more suc...

30 Pieces of Silver

Fri, 30 May 2008 03:37:00 --0800

Time for another rant unrelated to writing.A while back I talked about Garth McVicar and the damage his 'Sensible Sentencing Trust' is doing to New Zealand. Last year's 'White Rose Day', an attempt to get the government to legislate tougher jai...

Of Doctors and Hospitals

Sun, 25 May 2008 17:58:00 --0800

So the moment I step off the plane in Christchurch I get a call to say mother-in-law has renal failure and is not expected to last the weekend. Her rest home GP took her off her meds and told Dorinda there was nothing more to be done.I was read...