As Fi Bows to Peer Pressure

I am dissertationing - bear with me until Thursday when it is handed in. Even better, bear with me until next week when I will have fully recovered from this traumatising experience.

Meanwhile I have something to share. Andy Feltoe, who was my cell group leader at the Street in first year, is one of the contenders for Stuff’s Blog Idol. One contestant is voted off everyday, and the vote-booth thing appears to be properly sorted so that you can only vote once a day not that that’s something to worry about). Anyway this is me encouraging you to all vote. Andy’s currently living in London and so that makes it extra fun :o) You can read his Stuff blog here and his normal blog (which is “suspended” while he does this Blog Idol thing) here.  

Like many Kiwis, I was deeply upset by the recent case of little Nia. What I find so deeply depressing is that this, like youth suicide, is a really difficult issue to tackle because at the core of it, it requires attitude change not legislative change. While I have had some problems with these organisations, I think this might be a very powerful action. I’m not living in New Zealand but I promise that at 1:12am I will be standing and thinking about it along with everyone else (1:12am is a silly time to stand around outside in a tiny village in the middle of England). Child abuse is rife in New Zealand,  how did we let it get this far? You can be the change by letting everyone you know know that child abuse is not ok. Every individual counts and this could be a very powerful stand if enough people join in. I urge you to join Kiwis everywhere as they take a stand at 12:12pm today.

 *Nationwide Stand Against Child Abuse - This Wednesday, 12:12pm*

Family First NZ , For the Sake of Our Children Trust and the Sensible Sentencing Trust have joined together to call on all NZ’ers to stand against child abuse this Wednesday.                                       
                                                                                                                                                      
They are asking NZ’ers to stop whatever they are doing - to come out onto the street, outside the office or classroom, to stop their car or truck and stand outside their vehicle - and make a symbolic ‘stand’ against child abuse for three minutes at 12:12pm, this Wednesday 8 August.                        
                                                                                                                                                       
The three minutes represents the three short years of little Nia’s life, and the number 12 is significant as it represents the months of the year where children are abused, neglected and killed in NZ.                    
                                                                                                                                                
The three short minutes is an opportunity for each person to reflect on what each one of us can do to be part of the solution to our unacceptable rate of child abuse .   

Spread the word, the more people involved the stronger this action will be. 

So here’s what they say about my name:

Etymology*:

Forename:
Origin: Irish
Meaning: Fair

Surname:
Origin: (Origin Scottish) From the personal name Coinneach meaning comely

Top 5 facts:

1. 46% of the letters are vowels. Of one million first and last names we looked at, 8.5% have a higher vowel make-up. This means you are very well envoweled.
   
2. Backwards, it is Anoif Eiznekcm… nice ring to it, huh?
3. In Pig Latin, it is Ionafay Enziemckay.
4. In ASCII binary it is…
   01000110 01101001 01101111 01101110 01100001 00100000 01001101 01100011 01001011 01100101 01101110 01111010 01101001 01100101
5. People with this first name are probably: Female. So, you are constantly overcharged for beauty products.

3 things you didn’t know:

1. Your personal power animal is the Mountain Gorilla
2. Your ‘Numerology’ number is 5. If it wasn’t bulls**t, it would mean that you are adventurous, mercurial, and sensual. You seek growth through adventure and different life experiences. Although you are a critical thinker, you can sometimes over-ponder an issue.
3. According to the US Census Bureau°, 0.003% of US residents have the first name ‘Fiona’ and 0.023% have the surname ‘McKenzie’. The US has around 300 million residents, so we guesstimate there are 2 ‘Fiona McKenzie’s.

I’m feeling a tad domestic because I am currently in the process of sorting out how to fix my (or rather the Taines) flooded laundry with a plumber. It appears the water softner is leaking and since I have no idea what to do, I figured I’d call an expert. How delightful! And a brilliant distraction from dissertation work :o)

To be honest, I had never heard of a water softner until today anyway and the only reason I know what it is is that I googled the brand and number thing. Oh and rather entertainingly, the plumbers wife (who I talked to on the phone) was a little confused when she thought I said that I lived on Gay-on-gay road as opposed to Gamlingay Road. Yip! And it’s sunny and warm here. It’s the little things that keep one smiling. Domestic bliss!

I just made a most delicious dinner for myself. I’m back in Waresley and discovering the difficulties of cooking for just one person. Nevertheless I made a fantastic sausage casserole with mashed potato and now have enough left over for tomorrow’s lunch. I am soooo full and definitely made to live with people caus cooking for one on an everyday basis is too difficult for me.

I haven’t had the most productive of weekends for my dissertation but I have spent a lot of time lying on the trampoline thinking about life, love, friends, lots of stuff really. Looking at the sky for hours is very relaxing and it did provide me with lots of time to think about clarifying my argument for my dissertation too so the time wasn’t completely wasted. Some of my thinking has been mental torture. I pull myself down, wonder whether I’m good enough, and generally struggle to understand why things happen the way they do but much of it is tied to being alone in a large house with just a dog and a cat who hates me to keep me company. I was meant to be a social person, yet another good reason to never live alone. Talking to friends has helped to make me feel much better. Never fear, it’s not a permanent state of mind.

I have a second job interview with VSO (voluntary service overseas) this week. I had my first interview and a written exercise with them last Wednesday and apparently it went so well that they’re inviting me back for a second to do another exercise and meet more of the team. The job is working as their Research and Analysis Manager and it’s based in London. It’s a new role and I’m really keen so we’ll see what happens.

My dissertation is about how New Zealand’s aid programme has failed to provide the right incentives for good governance in Fiji. It looks at the problems of being a small donor and whether there is enough donor harmonisation as well as awareness of the institutional needs of the recipient. It is called “Trouble in Paradise - Examining a small donor’s attempts for good governance in Fiji” or words to that effect. Anyone want to say anything? I’d appreciate any comments on the title and how to make it sound better. Hardcore writing begins tomorrow.