Almost the Last

Running out of Rarotonga photos. Another one of the island, but at the height of the day. With weather like we have here, I am really missing the island right now!

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Arachnid It Ain't

Don't get scared now. A closeup photo of a little friend from Rarotonga. When I say little, I mean little when compared with a human. He was about the size of my hand, which is rather on the big side for someone of his species. Anyone know what it is?

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P*L*O*P Continued

Continuing in my urge of support for our favourite planet Pluto, I offer you this banner to place on your website to show your support. Please feel free to add it to your blog and strike a blow for freedom and liberty!

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P*L*O*P

Ever since I have known about the planets I have known there are nine. Nine I tell you! Now some science geeks have dared to bring dishonour to the world by dissing Pluto and leaving him off future planet lists. Nine is a good number. It rolls off the tongue. Eight is a bad number, it sticks in the throat like a spiky cat hair. I hereby announce officially the formation of PLOP (Protection League Of Pluto). Oricon is Vice President of Intragalatic and Planetary Affairs, but there are still plum jobs to be had if you get in quick. Please sign up for the good of our children and their children's children and so on and so on... Act now, Mercury may be next!

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Cook Islands Church

Now, as you should all know, I am an athiest. One without religion. I don't begrudge people the right to believe, in fact I would fight for that right, but it ain't for me. Saying that, I love a good church, mosque, temple, you name it. You can tell a lot about a society through their houses of worship.

The church above is one of the many covering Rarotonga in the Cook Islands. It was built with giant blocks of coral, which you can see quite clearly on the right hand side of the church. (as always clicking on the image will make it bigger) Due to the sea air in Rarotonga, it is a constant battle to paint and repaint buildings and as a result this church has suffered. I understand it is about 100 years old or so. The other interesting thing is the graves. As Rarotonga is a coral atoll, the ground it too hard to dig. As a result people are buried above ground, or in shallow pits dug out of the thin top soil. You can clearly see this on the right hand side again.

So endeth your Rarotonga lesson. I only have more sea pictures remaining which I may or may not post.

San Nakji for President!

The State of Manchester Poety

If moths had eyes, would they be happier?
How do they know they're not dead?
Cavemen hunting for food but
Not before they style the hair on their head.
What would last longer in dinosaur times?
A blind man didn't stand a chance.
Not with all those rocks about.
I'd rather be a blind moth.

Karl Pilkington

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Up high in coconut tree

I have realised that pretty much all the photos I took in Rarotonga were of the sea. I have one of a church made from coral, but the rest are sea. I took 440 photos in the Cook Islands, but due to privacy laws in San Nakji's World, very few are able to be published.

I think a coconut tree really symbolises all that is good about tropical islands. It is the scene you see in your mind's eye when you dream of warmer climes I think. One thing about coconuts though, they can kill you when they fall! A few years ago I was in Rarotonga during a hurricane. I had to drive from one side of the island to the other and it was a harrowing time trying to see in the darkness and trying to avoid flying coconut fronds and coconuts. Fortunately I wasn't killed, but the soft top on my rented sports car leaked and the passenger side of the car was flooded....

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Sukkafish

Time for an update from the journal of SN to you...

What's with older guys and funny facial hair? Handlebar mustaches, enormous beards. What's up with that?

In Rarotonga one night I headed out with the family to a bar/restaurant overlooking Avarua harbour. As we sat enjoying good food and a great view, a guy, with not a hair on his head, walked in. Nothing wrong with a bald guy. How ever there is something wrong with a bald guy with a mullet... This guy had a shiny dome but hair cascading down from the back and side of his head. Can't people balding just do it gracefully? To make things worse, his friend walked in and had the exact same haircut! It was like I had fallen through a hole in the space time continuim and had entered bald mullet world. It was a truly horrifying experience!

Everyday I make myself a sandwich for lunch. Well, one day I don't that day is KEBAB DAY! But I digress... Two things came to my mind this morning as the sandwich progressed. The first was regarding sprouts. We have a container holding something called a 'spicy sprout mix'. Not sure what that is, but it fulfills my daily green requirement and therefore Mrs SN gets off my case. I have been removing sprouts from this container for what seems like weeks but it still seems to be full. I wonder whether we have, by some freak of chance, bought a magical container which will give us a never ending supply of sprouts forever? Do I even want sprouts forever? Could I make money from this device? Hmmmm...

The second thing I was thinking was that a sandwith is a great analogy for life. I couldn't really give you anything more than that statement. It is still an analogy in the making....

Finally I was thinking about the film Death Becomes Her. Has anyone seen it? I know it has that awful Goldie Hawn in it, but that is compensated by the appearance of Bruce Willis. However he doesn't shoot anyone which is quite annoying.

But that's beside the point! What I was thinking was the final scene when Bruce has died and the priest is giving a speech about what he accomplished. The priest says that he will live forever through that which he has left behind. Do you think this is true? Most people in this world don't want to snuff it, but unfortunately this is inevitable. Can we therefore continue on after our demise through things that we have accomplished? I used to think that I would need to continue my DNA to have eternal life, but now I am not so sure... What say you?

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Morning Weirdness

"I was at an airport bookstore. A shop assistant near me plucked David Hasselhoff's 'Christmas Songs' from the shelf and said to his me, "I've heard this C.D. actually makes some people actually vomit. Listen to this." He played it aloud. It was about a guy who eats ten freeze-dried turkey dinners, and dies when his stomach literally explodes. Moments after blasting this gruesome tale, the businessman collapsed and went into convulsions.

I knelt down and cradled his head. A saleswoman called paramedics, and 15 minutes later he was fine. "That never happened to me before," he said. "I don't have epilepsy. It must have been a reaction to what I read." The moral of the story, is: Words will have potent effects on you in the coming days. You should therefore surround yourself not with Hassehoff-type curses but with good news and uplifting stories from music legands, such as The Grates, who dispense articulate blessings." From thegrates.com

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Islands in the Sun, that is what we are

Bored of Rarotonga yet? A dusk view of a Motu (island) in Muri lagoon. I really wanted to swim out to the island and check it out, but just didn't get time. It looked quite wild and rocky. Nothing like the other islands in the lagoon, which were sandy and luxurious...

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Belated Birthday Greetings

I talked to Sara, Friar, and she wanted to pass on this message to you. She was so busy with touring that she lost track of time. I am pretty sure it won't happen again!

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Fire, Come Walk With Me

Cook Island dancers are awesome. Unlike San Nakji, they have rhythm making everthing look so easy. I took this photo of a fire dancer on the beach pictured in previous posts. He just swung that fire with the greatest of ease. I just watched with the greatest of ease.

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Standard Beach

You standard beach photo... The difference here is that I was there!!! Coming back to an Aotearoa winter, well, I wish I were back there now! Brrrrrrr!

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Kia Orana from Rarotonga

San Nakji is back! I really had too little time in one of my favourite islands. Only four nights, but was it a welcome relief from the Aotearoa Winter? Yes it was! There is a real different feel from the Caribbean in the Pacific Islands. More laid back, less money and hastle, basically just a wonderful place to get away from it all. I heard nothing of the Middle East, nutters with bombs on planes or bad weather. What could be better?
This photo was taken at the beach I spent most time at. I only wish I had an underwater camera because some of the fish I saw... wow! More photos to come of San Nakji's holiday. Excited?

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Orlando Says...

Hope you had a wonderful day my friend. All the best for the coming year.

All the soppy stuff...

SN

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Dear Blogging Friends

San Nakji is in Rarotonga this week. (Loooooong awaited holiday!) No blogging until next Tuesday. Stay well and stay safe until then!

San Nakji for President!

Honesty is such a Lonely Word

Time to get Honest. I see that KS and Ori have both posted giving away all their secrets. It is time you heard from me I think!

My name is San Nakji. In my world our family name comes first. For many of you, I would therefore be Nakji San. However please call me, San Nakji or SN if you are lazy on the keyboard. I come from a small planet orbiting the star Mu Cephei. If you were to attempt to pronounce the name of my home it would drive you mad and cause your brain to explode. Best not to I think! As Mu Cephei is a dying star, I was sent by my parents to bring light and goodness to this miserable planet. So far I am succeeding in my mission. I am currently 3245 earth years old. This is equivalent to 3245 years on my own planet.

Due to unexplainable science type stuff I have the ability to fly and have xray vision. I can also kill a yak from 500 metres away with mind bullets. Perhaps my most powerful power however is my ability to turn blue cheese into brie. I mean, who likes blue cheese? Really? I use my powers only for good except when I am committing crime.

I currently reside in Te Raki Pae Whenua, Aotearoa, which you may know as North Harbour New Zealand. Contrary to popular belief, Aotearoa is not the ends of the earth, but in fact the beginning. I bide my time here organising a secret society of super aliens who will one day take down this world once and for all. To make ends meet I rob old ladies and steal candy from babies. You would not believe the money to be made in used candy!

So there you go. Any questions?

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A Bird of Some Kind

Yup, this is a bird of some kind. He didn't tell me his name....

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I am Siam

Thoughts from my journal...

What's with spam? No not the ever so yummy when deep fried meaty treat, but that awful email crap we all get in our inboxes every damn day. Apparently there are only a small number of people out there sending millions of these things. One of these guys was living here. I hope they shoot him. Anyway, the idea of spam is to get people to buy your stuff right? Who the hell out there is buying their stuff? It ain't me. It ain't anyone I know. I sure hope it is none of my faithful readers! So if it's no one... Then why are we still getting spammed? This is a great weight on my mind... :o(

On Tuesday night the bus was quite crowded. Normally I look quite menacing and manage to keep my seat to myself. However this guy in a suit decided to invade my seat space and sit next to me. One of the reasons that I don't like people sitting next to me is the smell. Why do I always get the smokers who have just smoked 5 packs before getting on the bus or the guys who have just drunk a yard glass of beer? Well this guy didn't smell like them. He didn't even smell like one of those people who go to the gym after work but would prefer to use the showers in their own homes. No. This guy smelt of lemons. The minute he sat down next to me, my nostrils were invaded with the pungent aroma of freshly cut lemons. Who smells like lemons? I worry that I have a brain tumour. Isn't smelling lemons the first sign?

San Nakji for President!

The Arctic Monkeys

It's been so long since I went out to see a live band. However this was once experience I couldn't miss. The Arctic Monkeys are a band from Sheffield, a depressed city in northern England which is probably most famous for the movie The Full Monty. These guys are remarkable for a number of things. The first is that their success comes from MySpace.com.(apparently the 2nd most popular site on the net. Yahoo.com is no.1) People heard their songs online and told their friends who told their friends and before long they went from playing in front of a crowd of 50 to sold out crowds of as many as could fit into the small venues they were playing. When they signed a record details with the small London company Domino and released their debut album, Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not, it sold 360 000 copies in one week in the UK alone. This made the album the fastest selling debut album in UK history. Quite a feat and this says a lot about our modern society where the internet is king and king maker. This attracted me to the Monkeys, but what kept me there was the rocking music and the amazing lyrics. Now, they are not for everyone, but oh how I love them!

Oh yeah, the concert! It was awesome. Being old and decrepit now, I sat on the mezzanine floor sipping beer and rocking out. The sound was right on the money and the band played all the songs we were hanging out for. One of the weird things about the concert was I didn't meet one person there with a NZ accent. Everyone seemed to be from England!

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The Grates

The Grates were the supporting band for my concert experience on Friday night. My concert experience you ask? Please see above. They were pretty good, although their sound technician wasn't the best, meaning our experience could have been better. The lead singer, Patience, just couldn't stay still which was really funny and in the shot above she was swinging a ribbon around her head which she proceeded to wrap around the security guy in front of her in a seductive serial killer type fashion.

San Nakji for President!