I remember watching a Jamie Oliver special on American school lunches and thinking the weird bureaucracy was over-dramatised for TV. Apparently not.

In one of those very odd legal decisions that don’t even pretend to make sense, Pizza is now legally a vegetable. The lobby groups are happy:

“Our concern is that the standards [I assume these are the one's requiring a 'vegetable' to BE a vegetable] would force companies in many respects to change their products in a way that would make them unpalatable to students,” Henry said.

How long will it be before America loses the concept of ‘real food’ all together? From all accounts, they’re getting dangerously close.

Sorry Claire, I know it was a flippant comment (which was actually more along the lines of she was unsure which side I swing on)! But it did get me thinking….

In New Zealand, well in circles I hang out in, the term “Right Wing” seems to stand for selfish, money grabbing people who stomp on the unfortunate.

I have trouble with that theory, given that most people I come across who have done well are the most generous people I know, while many of those who, are doing fairly well (and by ‘fairly well’ I suppose I mean are able to buy the latest gadgets, go out for dinner/drinks several times a week, take holidays regularly etc etc) don’t seem to follow through their Left Wing Political beliefs with any actual action, other than voting.

I’m tormented by the prospect of being so selfish, I’ll buy some expensive thing for myself without giving back, I shiver at the prospect of taking more than I’m giving (if ANYONE buys me a drink/chocolate bar/dinner, that memory is permanently scarred on my consciousness until I pay it back). If a friend or family member is struggling, I’d like to think I’m one of the first in line to help out.

Yet, all around me, I see people who have no such cares, spouting the virtue of being Left Wing. In my head, if “Left Wing’ means generous, fair and supportive, then surely that should start on a one on one level, rather than one grand box ticking, that let’s be honest, is not going to result in them being any more hard done by.

People say as you get wealthy, you start to vote Right Wing. I don’t buy the argument that as you get more wealthy, you vote to secure your wealth. I do buy the argument that a LOT of Left Wing voters are only Left Wing because THEY will benefit from a Left Wing Government. Hense, as they have something to lose, they change political allegiances.

I’m starting to settle on the idea, that 80% of people are just plain selfish, and thank goodness they generally don’t have all the money, so they can justify their Left Wing political ‘beliefs’ by saying they are all about caring for others. However, of those who have done very well for themselves, there’s a split between those who remain selfish, and those who genuinely understand the pain they went through to be where they are, and the sheer amount of chance involved. These people are the sort of people we should give a giant pat on the back. They give a lot.

I think the reason it may come across that I am Right Wing, is because I’ve seen enough selfishness, and enough people with the theory that it’s alright to take a little more than they contribute, to blindly vote for a Party that I think may have policies that encourage that behavior. I’m not talking about people on Benefits, I’m talking about those who seem to believe the more the world gives them, the more it owes them.

I suppose what I’m saying is that as much as I despise the idea that the world’s wealth is so awfully distributed, I also hate how dishonest most people seem to be about their beliefs, and how easy it is to judge someone else’s motives.

And again Claire, this is NOTHING about your comment :)

Somehow, after 7 weeks of partying, I managed to do the 32km Cape Kidnappers Challenge again. This time last year, we were bam smack in the middle of Oxfam Trailwalker training. This year. Erm, not so much. However, comparing photos of the events, I realised, some things never change….

2010: 5 hours, 45 minutes… walking the whole way….

2011: 5 hours, 37 minutes… Ran 9 of 32 kms

Apparently, we were jogging slower than I thought… Also, I dont appear to change outfits from year to year. This year I noticed the hills more and remembered why last year I decided to train hard before the next one to actually improve my time.

Some more funny pics….

Hitting the first hill after 8km beach run.

Being dragged towards the finish line. Passed 3 people in the last km jog… I lose my competitive spirit as soon as I get tired, but Sarah overheard the guys in front of us mention they couldn’t let ‘us girls’ beat them, so I was forced to run past while Sarah told them we’d keep the beers cold at the finish line for when they arrived. Good old Ferguson family psychological warfare right there.

We launched the GPI website earlier this year. The GPI is a fantastic project that aims to measure how well we as a region are doing on a number of social, environmental, economic and other measures. More accurate than just measuring GDP, it’s part of a growing trend to look at a more holistic measurement of progress.

The team at the Wellington Regional Council were a joy to work with, and their enthusiasm and the results they have achieved are thoroughly worthy of this award.

My favorite part of the press release

“The GPI provides comprehensive information, largely through its innovative website, about the overall health of the region and how it’s doing economically, environmentally, socially and culturally. It enables anyone with an interest in the region to see and understand where improvements in well-being are being made or where efforts need to be focussed to make improvements.”

It’s actually quite hard to create a website that provides such different levels of detail over such a large area and translating a lengthy report into an interactive view was an interesting challenge. Im really happy with the result, and stoked that it’s being recognised as part of the success of the wider GPI project.

Ashleigh Rose my stunningly beautiful new niece, born after a very odd sounding labour at 3.35am on Wednesday 2nd November – while I was zonked out after a day at the Melbourne Cup.

It is just about the weirdest thing in the world when one of the people you played Barbie with, jumped rope with and have known since the day you were born, produces someone so amazing. It was odd enough when Brooke got married, but the fact that Ashleigh started out as a couple of cells just a few months ago, and is now this amazing little person is beyond belief.a

Both are doing super well, and our entire family is just the gushy, fluffy bundle of happiness. And when I met her at just over 1 day old, she was already showing signs of being advanced beyond her years (she can MOVE HER HEAD!) And now we have the long-term pleasure of introducing her to the whole, entire world.

Craziness.

I saw an article on the news about how Australian Returned Service men are in outrage at the thought of forgiving the men they fought against in the Vietnam War, and us all just getting along.

I didn’t catch all the details, but it reminded me of the first time I went to Cambodia. Virtually every single Cambodian lost a family member friend during the reign of the Khmer Rouge. And because of the way things worked out, many people today, literally live next door to the guy who killed their child/sister/parent only a couple of decades ago.

I actually couldn’t get my brain around the philosophy of the people I met. I’m a total grudge holder, I find it incredibly hard to forgive people, and when I’ve heard about religions where people are encouraged to forgive, I honestly believed that everyone in those religions just lied their way through the forgiveness process.

But to be confronted with not one, but an entire country of forgivers, changed my life. It definitely changed my theory on human nature, because what they were capable of forgiving, flies in the face of everything I knew of human nature.

I’ve heard forgiveness is the ultimate revenge, and the ultimate gift to yourself, you let go of the pain and anger. And people who are truly capable of it get my utmost respect. I would love to learn how they manage to do it.

But, I also completely understand that it must be a very, very hard thing, to vividly remember scenes of horror, transplant the enemy into today’s life and just get on with it. I respect the Australian Returned Servicemen either way.

It does, however, inspire me to spend some time with the idea and figure out, how on a smaller scale, we can all learn to forgive.

I just submitted a support ticket. You can select priority of’low’, ‘medium’ or ‘high’.

As far as Im concerned, EVERY support ticket I submit is high. Why not? I assume most others are the same.

I remember always being told in my youth that one day you give up your ideals and stop caring about things you can’t change.

I think I may have almost got there.

I’m not sure if I got shallow, or if it’s simply that too much bad stuff happens in the world over the course of three decades and eventually your brain has to decide to blow up, or to cut the bad news out.

We have a major oil spill right bam smack on the beach I was virtually brought up on. And yet, Im out all the time feeling like a nervous wreck over whether our rugby team can score more points than the other team. Every night, my brain tries to ask why I even care, and I push the thought aside and try to pretend that winning a rugby game actually means something.

Because if it doesn’t, then I’ll have to think about the oil spill. And I just don’t want to.

I’ve never been one to join the mass movements. In theory, I back them, but when I come face to face with a bunch of 18 year old spoilt brat kids telling me how hard the have it, I just want to ask them to go find a job like all the people who have actually struggled through life are trying to do. Or actually go overseas where the 99% don’t get free health care, a benefit if they can’t work, a 50% subsidy on their student fees, and the rest given to them interest free for life. Then tell me how hard life is. (In New Zealand, the movement needs to focus more on the 40-60%, and I honestly believe even they, despite feeling the pinch, have no comprehension of the crippling clutches of poverty in other countries).

When Queen Street was taken over by the Youth Of Today telling us how disenfranchised they are, I felt like pointing them to the advertisement on the nearest bus shelter. 3 out of 4 of them are too busy making placards to enrol to vote… And that 2 second act would probably have more national significance than 15 minutes of subjecting the rest of us to their confused and mildly embarrassed chants.

I have spent so much of my life twisted into knots about stuff like this and whether or not I’m even entitled to an opinion, and now I just find myself so tired of it all. I think part of me wants to believe that winning the RWC will somehow equate to us winning all these other battles and inspiring people to aim for something bigger, even though I know it’s totally illogical.

On the upside (?!?!) though, by even writing this, I suppose there’s still something in there that clings to the hope that caring, on it’s own, is a beneficial thing.

In my attempts to keep my brain going beyond the 25 year mark (when apparently everything stops), Im thinking of diversifying into property.

Well one property, to be precise. I am basically after a place that I can rent out for the next few years until my liver explodes from living in town, then move in and start this brilliant new life of puppies, spa pools and outdoor pizza ovens.

My search so far has been somewhat enlightening.

Since my memories of my experiences buying my apartment had started to fade, and combined with my awareness of how much Agents make, I think I sort of assumed there was some sort of standard around customer service…

However, so far, the lowlights have been:

• Abysmal advertising that lacks any sort of basic info, no general awareness at all on the area and property (I’m talking insulation, rental rates for tenanted properties, pictures in ads etc etc). There is no standard information, and while I’m aware it’s somewhat up to the owner to provide it, surely a checklist wouldn’t be amiss?
• Awfully presented homes. Dripping windows, tenants that are not only at home, but in their rooms with the doors closed and hostile expressions. Once again, owners issue, but if I was an Agent, i would be strongly advising hiring a cleaning company and incentivising tenants to be absent. Surely, once you’ve paid Agent fees, marketing fees and legal fees, what’s an extra couple of hundred dollars to present your house in a way that might add value? And for an agent, creating a network of complimentary suppliers surely can’t be that hard?
• Totally dis-interested agents. Either no response to emails, or when calling for an appointment, being met with a frosty “I’m busy this week.” I’ve actually twice now requested that maybe someone else in the office might have time, and then had them begrudgingly organise a replacement.
• And then there’s the lovely woman who had a fight with her husband on the phone 2 minutes after meeting us at the door over where he had put the spare key.

All this is a very low time in the property market. I thought Agents would be less arrogant and more eager, but it definitely seems a few missed the invention of the internet and haven’t cottoned on to the fact that we all now KNOW that market is in a slump.

I am aware that Agents work for the seller (though, it seems logical that there is a gap in the market for those who work for buyers – I’m almost at the point that I will walk away from a place simply because I can’t stand the idea of the Agent in charge getting a commission despite, it seems, trying as hard as possible to avoid a sale.) I can’t however see how any of the above is doing anything for ANYONE. Actually anything.

Which has prompted several conversations about what the job of an Agent should be. I know the likes of 200 Square are trying to address the same questions, and I know one Agent who is clearly passionate about changing the industry, but it’s a slow moving beast. My apartment was a private sale, and I’m unconvinced Joe Public has enough negotiation experience, which combined with a lack of emotion towards their pile of bricks and mortar means that doesn’t seem to work overly well.

I’m sensing that my usual strategy of thinking of a better way and running with that, is probably not going to happen here, nor is my guerrilla warfare plan of dropping notes in owners houses, when they have a particularly bad agent. But what to do….?

Just accept ridiculous commissions?

There’s been a spate of bankruptcies around the world in recent years, New Zealand’s have mainly involved finance companies. However, the most most recent was a property developer who fronted New Zealand’s version of The Apprentice and was the force behind a national football team… He also liked his Ferraris. I suspect that there’s many people who now wish he’d forgotten about enjoying his money, banked a little more and invested a little less in a garage full of high-speed depreciating assets (Thanks JD for this description) and a football team he couldn’t afford.

Anyhoo. As with any bankruptcy, there’s a whole bunch of people who invested in the guy, or one of his many companies, and now they are out of pocket. Potentially to the tune of $200 million.

I had sort of a turnaround on this particular bloke. I never used to be a fan. In a town like Wellington the rumors stick, and I bought into them. However, as things started to turn to custard, I started to wonder if I was a perpetrator of a wonderful local custom A.K.A Tall Poppy Syndrome. Who am I to judge a someone, who, for all intents and purposes has contributed a whole heck of a lot more to our community than most of the rest of us ever will?

There is inherent risk in business and as businesses grow, the dollar figures involved in that risk grow alongside them. I think that quite possibly in this case, there was a freak combination of bad decisions and bad circumstances, that combined to form a situation that even the best wheeler and dealer would struggle with.

But where does that leave the investors?

I don’t know about the rest of the world, but we take it personally when someone loses other people’s money. After a couple of years, and a climb back to wealth, we often turn around and give them a Knighthood (despite them never quite getting around to fulfilling their commitment to paying everyone back)… But at the exact time of bankruptcy, a LOT of people are crying foul.

I’m not so sure they should.

We live in a big world, and as this exceptional piece of writing pointed out the other day, in most parts of the world, there is no backup plan. Most people have to live with the consequences of their mistakes or misfortune, to an extent that would sicken most kiwis.

In New Zealand, we strive to look after the little guy. But I wonder if, when it comes to investing, we are shooting ourselves in the foot by doing so.

When you invest money, it’s not a sure thing. When you have money, you can always lose it. When you invest it in property development, or mortgages or anything else, you have a chance of losing it all. It’s tragic, but that’s the risk YOU take on. That’s why you have GOT to do your research.

I feel gutted for everyone who’s out of pocket. I generally feel disgusted at the way those who are bankrupt somehow have the cash to live in luxury anywhere-but-here, while those left behind face the reality of having lost everything… But I don’t think we should necessarily act like investors have no responsibility at all, if only because it creates a culture of people who are easy pickings for experts at ripping people off.

In an all-round disastrous situation, one takeaway is that we need to educate ourselves a little more financially. Freak accidents will always happen, but hopefully not with us blindly following.