restarting

The other day I was having problems with my laptop. Foolishly, I did not follow the golden computer problem rule. No, I just rolled my eyes at how annoying technology is and stormed upstairs to see the technicians.

In a very calm voice, Derek asked me whether I had restarted the computer. Um. No. Of course not. That's way too obvious and I'm sure it's not that. Said the one who knows a whole lot of things about French to the one who knows a whole lot of things about computers.

I restarted the computer. The problem was no longer there.

"80% of all problems can be resolved by restarting."

And let me add, Derek said this in a very deadpan non-judgemental voice. For which I was grateful. Because really. I deserved a more condescending tone.

He's right though. It's easy to get caught up in problems, become frustrated and annoyed or avoid that particular aspect (...for me, I thought, it's ok, I just won't print anything. Ever. That's totally practical. Printing is bad for the environment anyway...) of whatever situation we're in. And we complain. It's the dog sitting on the rusty nail scenario. (And for the animal lovers amongst you, no animal was harmed in the writing of this post and I did not make that saying up. I have, however had someone use that phrase against me in pretty much the condescending tone Derek should have adopted.) If it's really that bad, we do something about it. We move off the rusty nail.

I have people I know and love who have restarted. They have said No to the situation they were in and stopped, got off and walked away to recalibrate and I respect them for that. One of these restarts shook things up for a few people, but on the other side, the people that mattered were still there. And things fell into place they way they were always supposed to.

You see people often don't want to be part of the process, but they do want to be part of the outcome. The process is where you figure out who's worth being part of the outcome.

On a very small and quite different scale, I am doing a bit of a restart. Being a food writer, it can sometimes feel as though I am eating and drinking some pretty flash and fancy food a lot of the time. I'm not complaining. I'm very lucky and I love it. But when I saw an Instagram of Karmic Cold Pressed Juice and read about their 2 day cleanse programme, it was as though my body leapt in the air and cried out for it. Far be it from me to shut down what my body needs.

The lovely people at Karmic Juice suggest that I will notice a difference in my skin, my feeling of wellbeing, and my energy levels. I'm hoping for a feeling of goodness at a DNA level. It's a 2 day cleanse. I know. I'm very optimistic. Still. Two days without coffee, fancy food, wine. Two days of antioxidants, raw multi-vitamins and bliss nutrients. It's a pretty good pause, if not really a restart.

So these things I've talked about there are all juxtaposed and not really related. But you know, sometimes when you look in a certain direction and start thinking about a particular idea, everything feels as though to is related and affirms the original idea.

80% of all problems can be resolved by restarting.

Thanks, Derek.

be the walker, not the dog

Asi son las cosa, muchacho. This is how it is, boy. Pablo Neruda.

Sometimes I am a slow learner. Sometimes the universe has to shout quite loudly and relay to me the message in various forms before I get it. And then suddenly in a quite cataclysmic way, it all comes together in a blissful moment of realisation. As has happened now, sitting here on my red couch, having watched a film, listened to the song playing over the closing credits and then watched the final episode of Girls and thought, ohhhhh...yeah...ok....right.

And no, I don't get all my epiphanies from the screen or from emo lyrics. That was just the teetering pinnacle. (Not sure that's a valid image, but I'm sticking with it). I've had all kinds of conversations about this thing in the last couple of weeks. It's there, this thing, and I finally digested it.

And what is this thing, you may ask. Or perhaps you're not asking that at all, but hoping to dear god that this isn't yet another one of my existential wonderings where I hang all my thoughts on the line, look at them from all sorts of angles and then finish with some trite line about not really knowing the answer, but feeling happier for having explored it, while you, the reader, is left groaning in exasperation and wishing I'd decided to write a review of the new toast cafe, and not do all this jumping through soul searching hoops in such a verbose way.

The Thing has to do with relationships. And fear.

Again?

Yup.

Someone pulled the "Do you know what fear stands for? ... False Evidence Appearing Real," quote on me recently. I had just heard the exact same words from the mouth of Jake Gyllenhaal's character in the film, Nightcrawler, and consequently rolled my eyes at the melodrama of its use in that particular context.

And also I'm not really sure that quote is true as a concept. Fear isn't so much about false evidence. However, it is an emotion that can distort the way we see things sometimes.

All fear is based on the idea that we need something. And fear comes from the thought that we're not going to get the thing we think we need. So then fear is need announced. The person who doesn't need anything has no fear. So when we are in a place of fear, we need to ask, what is it that I need?

Fear manifests in two ways. Either I'm not going to get the thing that I need or I'm going to lose the thing I have acquired and that I feel I need. This most often presents itself in relationships. First I'm afraid that no one is going to love me and then I'm afraid that if they do, I'll lose that. It's not rocket science, is it? People have been banging on about that old chestnut for a very long time.

The only way to solve the fear issue is to understand who I truly am and understand that I don't need to be affirmed by others to experience serenity and joy. Often when I feel as though my joy comes from somewhere outside myself, I get into fear. Because if the thing that is making me feel joyous is removed, then I'll be left with that blackhole feeling of emptiness. But if I can understand that the source of my joy comes from within myself, that it was given to me, from me, perhaps then my fear will disappear.*

Again, I know none of this is new. It's the stuff the new age philosophy empire is built on. There are plenty of posters with rainbows on them proclaiming this message of self-empowerment. As I said. Slow learner.

Give time to time. Allow. Be. Do. Take hold. Lean in. Be the walker, not the dog.

* Wording inspired by Neale Donald Walsch's ideas

living in quadrant two

Everything we do in life can be categorised as being urgent, not urgent, important and not important and it is the combination of these states of being which will decide whether our life is calmly productive, slightly frenetic, in a constant state of heightened reaction, or so laid back we are almost horizontal and getting things done is a vague concept we heard about once in passing. 

Calmly productive is the ideal, by the way. Despite the melodrama that comes with putting out fires and living off adrenalin, it's really not that zen.

So. These are the combos presented in a nicely designed matrix by Stephen Covey; American educator, businessman and author of the popular book, The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. Why even try and come up with my own version of this when it has already been done so well? 

	URGENT	NOT URGENT
IMPORTANT	Quadrant I: Urgent & Important	Quadrant II: Not Urgent & Important
NOT IMPORTANT	Quadrant III: Urgent & Not Important	Quadrant IV: Not Urgent & Not Important

Quadrant One is for crises and emergencies. They are at the top of the to-do list and have to be done today. There's a certain amount of zing involved in these tasks. There's a bit of heart-racing, panting, frowning and maybe even a light sweat with this one. If only figuratively. "Will I make it in time? Will I get it done?" is the background chant to this quadrant.

Quadrant Two is all about prevention, planning and improvement. These are the tasks that aren't due until tomorrow, but if we don't do them, then in the future they will enter quadrant one and become more urgent. They are a priority, but not a top notch one. The reason why this is a good quadrant to sit in is because it allows for more forward planning and creative thinking. When we are calm and productive, we also have time and energy and a certain sense of self-satisfaction that allow for this. 

Quadrant Three is the zone of interruption. Emails, telephone calls, some meetings. They're not necessarily important but they are things we may have to deal with in the moment. Simply because they are happening now. But these things are in the third quadrant which does mean that they are third on the list of priorities and should be treated as such.

Quadrant Four can be seen in both negative and a positive light. In terms of getting things done, quadrant four is about distraction. Sometimes seen as time wasters, the kind of activities that go on in this zone are checking Facebook, watching television as an alternative to getting on with other tasks, and busy, yet meaningless work. But quadrant four can also be quite nice. No sense of urgency or importance is quite relaxing. It's just not that productive long term.

We do tend to have personalities that veer quite sharply towards a particular approach and they probably feel quite happy functioning within the parameters of that quadrant. For example, Quadrant One thinkers focus on deadline driven projects and activities where they get to use the high pressure hose on sudden blazes. On the other hand, Quadrant Two personalities think beyond the present and aim to build long term capabilities.

Which is why living in quadrant two is the way to go. Getting things done, feeling successful, keeping calm and carrying on.

Another way of labelling the quadrants might be hell, happy place, stop annoying me and silly. 

Go to your happy place. Now. 

C1

C1 Espresso, Christchurch, New Zealand

There’s a lot going on at C1 Espresso in Christchurch. And all of it’s good.

Closed for almost two years after the Christchurch earthquake in February 2011, C1 reopened in a whole lot of glory in late 2012 across the road from its original site in the old post office building dating back to the 1930s.

I was in C1 the morning of the earthquake. After my daily swim in Centennial Pool, coffee at C1 on the way to school was part of my life. And I do remember that morning quite vividly. Would I have remembered it as well if there hadn’t been an earthquake, if everything hadn’t changed?

The new C1 has less of the grunge. The old C1 was eclectic. It started off small, pretty much standing room only, with maybe some seats on the pavement. Good coffee and great raspberry and chocolate muffins. It grew because it was good. And it grew back because it was very good.

High ceilinged, light, airy and with a myriad of quirkiness, the new C1 offers the same great coffee made with milk, produced especially for them from a herd of nomadic cows, no less and delivered daily in glass, excellent food, pneumatic sliders, Star Wars figures on the toilet door, a sliding bookshelf door to the toilets and beehives and a very small vineyard on the roof. Sound exhausting? It’s fantastic!

The latest incredibleness comes as a result of owner Sam Crofsky’s chats with the organic farmers he sources his coffee beans from. Golden Panther Tea Company was launched during the 2014 United Nation’s Third International Conference on Small Island Developing States in Apia, Samoa. After hearing farmers talk about their cocoa, chilli and lemongrass, C1 came up with a tea company that would celebrate these products and empower small family farms to realize their entrepreneurial potential.

The tea ingredients from Samoa include dried hibiscus flowers, lemongrass, chilli, mango, ginger, coffee cherry, coconut and pineapple. It will be sold in collectible matchboxes that offer two servings – one for drinking in the café and one for later.

Christchurch has a lot going for it right now. C1 is part of it.

catching the egg

Shin's Teppanyaki may well have been the world's fist mobile Teppanyaki restaurant. I'm going to say it was, because I like that idea. And if we go with the line of thought that it's not how it actually happened, but how I remember it, then, sure it was.

Shin started his mobile business when the restaurant he worked in closed after the September 2010 earthquake in Christchurch. Ingenuity and entrepreneurial prowess. He is now running another mobile teppanyaki unit in Auckland. 

It's an impressive way to dine in the comfort of your own home. The huge hotplate is there, the bench, seats, crockery and cutlery are also provided and, in the case of today's lunch, a smiling and very happy chef, Toshi, to provide entertainment and a deftly prepared several course meal. Salad, salmon, vegetables, lamb cutlets, chicken, beef, fried rice and the egg throwing course...and no, I did not manage to catch the piece of egg in my mouth and I certainly did not look in the least bit graceful as I tried. Others at the lunch did, amongst them the lovely bride-to-be, and that's a great skill to bring into a marriage.

Aren't people clever for coming up with these things? 

calling your bluff

Bluff Oysters. Some say they are the tastiest in the world. Plump, juicy, buttery, even sweet tasting, they are the least snot-like of their genre around. I'm not sure that's really the best description but I know you know what I mean. Bluff Oysters have texture and are a mouthful of loveliness that you savour rather than just allow to slip down your throat. Although clearly with my exceptional choice of words here, no one is going to pick me for the Bluff Oyster ad campaign...

Bluff Oyster season, and here I was really going to abbreviate it to BO season, but thought better of it...whew, lucky save, Jo Jo...has just begun in New Zealand. Restaurants, bars, fishmongers and supermarkets are blackboarding it up and making sure that everyone knows that it's time.

The official harvesting season is from March until June or July, depending on when the quota is reached. May is the ultimate month for the oysters and that's when Bluff itself (oh yes, international readers, there really IS a Bluff, waaaaay down south at the bottom of the South Island) gets its party clothes on, and on May 23, these little treats from the sea are the absolute stars.

The reason Bluff Oysters taste so great is because they are slowly grown in the cold, turbulent and therefore clean waters of Foveaux Strait.

Bluff Oysters are native only to New Zealand and Chile and they are tricky to export, so, if you can, get to New Zealand in the next few months and experience the goodness for yourselves.

Quiz Bite

Morgan Williams is a clever guy. He's the kind of guy who makes things happen. All the time. I am constantly amazed at the ideas he comes up with. Lots of people have great ideas. Not everyone makes them happen every time.

Not long after the earthquakes in Christchurch, Morgan set up Quickie Events, an event company to get people moving again and interacting with a landscape they may have thought had betrayed them. A series of events such as a Quickie in the Forest, a Quickie in the Quarry, Quickie on the Beach and the Quarter Pounder, which, despite the suggestiveness of their names, were family friendly and allowed people to take part in mini multi-sport events and feel successful. Instead of daunting amounts of kilometres on bikes and running, Quickie Events offered short, achievable distances and a way to move on from the shaking.

His latest idea also involves a Q and a good time. The inaugural Quiz Bite was a resounding success, sold out well before the night and resulted in a lot of happy, if perhaps also slightly-disappointed-in-their-own-lack-of-what-they-may-have-thought-was-an-incredible-culinary-knowledge people. Here read I was slightly disappointed in my lack of culinary knowledge.

Five rounds. Three involving tasting and smelling and working out just what was IN (and in one case what wasn't in) those little pottles and slithers and morsels of entrees, mains and dessert/cheese. Two involving general food knowledge and responding to visual cues. There was also a practical bread-making challenge thrown in for good measure. I'm still not really sure what a zopf is, but there was a lot of laughing and goodness in between the furrowed brow moments.

Look out for the next one, Christchurch people. So. Good.