So I did the math

and this is actually true, putting things into perspective.  And of course, the death toll has risen since then.  Not sure where it originated from.  It was shared from a Facebook account for a Blair Thomas Greenem.

This is so horrific

My heart goes out to the victims and their families.  I don't understand how anyone could do this. So much hate.

New Zealand shooting: 49 killed, 1 man charged after shootings at 2 mosques in Christchurch

I've been crazy busy so far this week

so no real blogging the last couple of days, for which I'm sorry. But things should settle down a bit starting tomorrow, as I won't be in scheduling and can concentrate on catching up at work. Monday night I came home and crashed again, still feeling the effects of my cold. Yesterday I felt better, and last night I did manage to go over and visit YKWIA and A for a little while. YKWIA and I watched an episode of the New Zealand show 'The Almighty Johnsons', which I found rather fun (although followers of Norse religion may not agree). It was on Netflix, and follows four brothers whose family are all descended from the Norse Gods, each one learning which he is on his 21st birthday. There are a group of Norse Goddesses who try to interfere with a prophecy concerning the youngest member of the family.

Today I weighed myself and I'm at my lowest weight in years. In fact, if I lose one more pound, it'll be 25 that I've lost this year. So I'm feeling pretty decent about that. However, it has been a challenge, particularly with the new schedule, to take all of my medicine properly and really watch my diabetes. I must improve on that.

Okay, I'm going to go listen to some music and maybe read for awhile, and generally have a quiet evening at home. Oh, and I should straighten up and work on unloading the dishwasher, etc. Things aren't bad in the apartment, but I didn't do a thing while I was sick, and there is a mountain of tissues on my bed, for example. I need to wash the bedding this weekend with the rest of the laundry; while I never officially ran a fever, I swear I got very hot and on Saturday night it felt like a fever breaking.

Oh, one more thing. I'm very excited that they managed to land a craft on a comet: Philae spacecraft makes historic landing on comet. The Rosetta mission is a great opportunity. Even Google has gotten into the celebration with a doodle. :) I didn't hear until some time after it happened, while I was at lunch, because things were so busy in clinic. But yay and congratulations!

Oh, dear God, this is for Brenda

(And for 'Doctor Who' fans, one of the gentlemen is Sylvester McCoy, who, while he is Radagast the Brown in the Hobbit movies, played the seventh Doctor.)

Despite my love of fantasy books

I am not really a fan of Tolkien's books, of which I've read little, but I must admit, a trip to New Zealand, where the movies for both The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit were filmed, does seem lovely. My main trouble would be the many hours on a plane above water, and of course I'm usually cash-strapped and such. But it is so beautiful there, it would be nice to see.

New Zealand’s Hobbit Trail

The hill is perfect — steep, shaggy and as green as a radioactive shamrock, like the matching hills around it. The sheep seem pretty idyllic themselves: polite little nibblers who only sometimes block the road.

As for the oak tree on the hill’s crest, it is quite literally perfect. Every flickering leaf was handcrafted, right down to the spidery plastic veins, a tribute to the meticulousness of Sir Peter Jackson, the movie director who staged this place, even creating the pond. (Where better for Paradise Geese to land?)

You are standing in Hobbiton, the place where J. R. R. Tolkien’s furry-footed Hobbits came to life in Mr. Jackson’s “Lord of the Rings” trilogy and will soon reappear in his “Hobbit” prequels. The sky is dramatic, with sunbeams radiating like spotlights from behind thunderheads. You are woozy from the two-hour car ride from Auckland on a twisting two-lane road (nonstop chatter from Mr. and Mrs. Fanny Pack standing next to you doesn’t help), but a few deep gulps of the agrarian air is restorative. And no matter how stubborn, cynical or reluctant you may be (we were all three), this place is most likely casting its spell.

:) New Zealanders love their sheep

New Zealand mourns Shrek the sheep

Shrek the New Zealand sheep, whose ability to avoid the shearers made him a national celebrity, has died.

Shrek came to prominence in 2004 after evading capture for six years by hiding in caves on the South Island.

The cunning Merino lost his giant 27kg (60lb) fleece in a televised shearing.

The 16-year-old sheep had a high-profile career. He met then Prime Minister Helen Clark, became the subject of several children's books and made regular charity appearances.

He raised thousands for charity.

:( It was a valiant effort, and nine were saved

Stranded whales buried in New Zealand

But the video is just heartbreaking. Best wishes to the survivors, and to those people who desperately tried to save the other forty-nine beached whales but who, in the end, could not. It must have been very difficult to make the decision to euthanise them. And the Maori ceremony was a lovely thing.

Another interesting election

John Key: victory for New Zealand's multimillionaire political novice

Like Barack Obama, he was raised by a single mother without much money (she was an Austrian Jewish survivor of the Holocaust). Although he only has six years' experience in government, he has managed to bring his party nearer to the centre and his rags-to-riches story and financial acumen has a lot of respect among the Kiwis. It should be interesting to see how he does.

Okay, back to work!

Reason #1,329 why I love Google

All this watching TV from my youth had me half-remembering a show from Nickleodeon in the 1980s where there was a Mr Wilberforce, aliens, and kids with paranormal powers. I Googled 'Wilberforce TV Nicklelodeon' and behold, came up with The Third Eye (and here's the Wikipedia entry). It was a collection of different mini-series from around the world with unusual happenings in them. The specific feature I remembered was a New Zealand show called 'Under the Mountain'. I am now happy, mystery solved.

Here are scenes from that feature:


and a longer scene, where they find out Mr Wilberforce is not what he appeared to be.



The (bad) aliens' subterranean base looks ripe for Shoggoths, let me tell you. By the way, remember 'Shoggoth on the Roof'? Well, apparently it was a condensation of an actual musical published by the HP Lovecraft Historical Society. For more, check out the article on Wikipedia. Songs include: 'Tentacles', 'Byakhee, Byakhee', 'Shoggoth Prayer', 'If I were a Deep One', and 'Do You Fear Me?'

I'd love to get a copy of the original cast recording. It can be obtained here. For more on 'Shoggoth', check out the HPLHS' website on the subject, including the trials and tribulations of staging it with music (it was threatened legally by the creators of the music for 'Fiddler on the Roof' and even though a parody and therefore legally they'd most likely win, they don't have the money for legal fees.)