Looking at the stars (#13) took a back seat to listening to Dickens

A fair trade, I thought. The opportunity to see Miriam Margoyles’ show, Dickens’ Women with my sister, Jan, and friend, Darryl, outweighed the drawcard of listening to the (who knows his name?) tutor explaining about photographing the stars. And yes, while you might imagine I would be dead keen on the photography aspect, I have learned that the issue is technical and linked to having one’s own telescope – something to which I do not aspire. So Dickens won.

And a fine evening it was too. Quick dinner at Satay Palace in Cuba, then off to the Opera House for a fine evening of Dickens. That’s the great thing about being totally relaxed about this list – while I aim to complete it, this will not be at the expense of snatching other opportunities as they pass.

Opportunity - ˌɒpəˈtjuːnɪtɪ - A chance or prospect

Sometimes opportunity knocks like a loud windburst; more often it arrives like a burglar and disappears before you realize it was there —Elyse Sommer

Look at the stars (#13)

Astronomy class #2. 90 minutes on telescopes, eye pieces, mounts, from very passionate tutor. 30 minutes looking at the stars on the computer using stellarium software. Other galaxies.Globular clusters. Did you know the Southern skies have the largest globular cluster? It is actually getting interesting.

Astronomy – hmmmm (#13 look at the stars in an observatory)

having enrolled in the Friday evening astronomy class at Tawa College (ah the memories!), I have confirmed that Friday evening (6.30 to 8.30) is not the ideal time for an evening class. Nonetheless, I attended. Such a passionate tutor. By day he works at the Carter Observatory, by night he observes the skies from his own observatory in Tawa. A man obsessed with his knowledge. He had two hours to tell us all about telescopes – almost without drawing breath. I hope he was too passionate about his subject to not notice the drooping eyes (even short snoozes) of the only woman in the room. We were to go out and observe – but the clouds came in and we were released at 8.30. Homework – to find the scorpio and sagittarius constellations. That should be possible. And covers mine and Philippa’s star signs.

Exciting upcoming events in the astronomical world are the super moon (tomorrow), the transit of venus (in June) and an eclipse of the sun (total for Australia, partial for NZ – don’t look at it directly!!) in November.

I am over-achieving by doing an astronomy course (after all, the list merely says #13 is looking at the stars in an observatory), but knowledge is good.

And time to work on some of the other things. Still posting photos on blipfoto (#4). Calling my brothers and seeing my sister regularly (#18).

And an update to this blog (#20).

Progress, I think.

Photo a day

A week of  daily posts on blipfotos. Could be a habit. Could tick off #4 – complete a weekly photo challenge.

 

Photo a day

Thanks to a reminder from my friend Trudy, I have now posted my first photo onto blipfoto and look forward to starting the daily habit (#4 – complete a weekly photo challenge). Check out the ted talk on our duty to the future to curate and to think much more carefully about what we’re doing with the fantastically huge number of photos we are taking.

and so this was the photo – taken at the start of the Tongiriro Alpine Crossing, when I was dopping Brett and Tony off to climb Mt Ngaruahoe. It is a long time since I spent any time in the central plateau. I had forgotten how beautiful, vast and desolate it is, and how much I love it.

Time is passing

Time is passing, and I am increasingly aware I have not ticked off a single thing. What point a list without ticks?!

So action stations. Since having the ‘time passing’ thought, I cleared the junk from my letter box and voila! A Tawa College community education flyer, and now I have enrolled in Astronomy: The Transit of Venus:

 Learn about this astonomical phenomenon.Find your way around the night sky. Learn where and when to look for planets and constellations, how to use telescopes, other instruments and take photographs of the sky.

The upside – leading towards an achievement of a list item. The downside – the course is on Friday nights. But let that not impede a woman focused on getting things done!

More to come from the increased focus on ticks on the list.

# 17 Build a labyrinth

And so it goes. We had training in my office today – preparation for doing 360 feedback. In the intros, we were asked (routine trainer trick) to say one thing about ourselves others might not know.

Having realised ysterday my focus on my list had become quite narrow, and talked with my sister-in-kind, Cindy, about our dream of building a labyrinth, I decided to tell people I had a goal of building one.

And what do you know – Hannah, one of my staff, said she had helped build one.

So good putting it out to the universe! Shall report further and better particulars as they come to hand.