turning 30

last night, I got younger. the dread of turning 30 lifted from my shoulders as I went from being someone in her late 20s to being someone in her early 30s. of course for me that dread wasn't really there. in fact I breathed a huge sigh of

Good Riddance to the Golden Mile

The Golden Mile project is being canned. Good riddance, I say. It's a symbol of everything that is wrong with the city. I'm relieved that sensible decisions are finally being made on behalf of all of us who have seen how far this city has fallen.

for the record

my first journal is a miserable read. beginning in august of 2019 and concluding in august of 2022, it is an artifact of pure misery. reading it you would think that nothing good happened in my life in those three years, but that isn't true–i just didn&

the bill

i get up for the third or fourth time and some part of me recognises i can't afford to hit snooze again. i look at my phone. it feels like a cup of sugar on an empty stomach, but the light keeps me from falling back asleep. i

masculinity, domination, and big cars

Content warning: this piece discusses rape culture. A while ago I posted the following observation: for a country so full of performative masculinity it's weird that men can say shit like "cycling isn't a solution–what if it rains?" with zero fear of immediately

On wasting work

Welcome back! How was your long weekend? Good? That's great to hear. Say, can I ask you something? You can be honest, I won't tell anyone: do you think the work you do matters? Like, obviously I hope it does. But if it doesn't,

see you at cuba dupa

this week i am taking a break from giving my latest hot take there's a party, you see and it's the place to be and i'll be there from arvo 'til late cuba street is the spot this weekend to put all your

EVs aren't going to save us

There's another oil war, thousands of innocent people have been killed, and "electric vehicle" are the words on everyone's tongue. The discourse around the rising cost of oil has me feeling like I've died and ended up in the stupidest hell imaginable.

I'm a Foolhardy Middle-Aged Cyclist and I Don't Understand Why Children Don't Just Ride Their Bikes in the Road

This was originally posted May 17th, 2024 on my previous blog. It has been re-posted here without changes. As a cyclist of 40 years, I’ve watched on with grave concern as people have asked for cycling infrastructure that I personally don’t want. I began riding my bike

We could microdose Cuba Dupa every day, if we wanted

This past Sunday I was at Newtown Fest; an annual event where the centre of Newtown becomes a combination marketplace and music festival. A light drizzle and a few intense gusts of wind weren't enough to kill the vibe, and I had a wonderful time. I caught a

My experience riding an e-bike in Wellington

This was originally posted April 4th, 2024 on my previous blog. It has been re-posted here with some changes. The cycleways that have gone in in Te Whanganui-a-Tara Wellington–and the promise of more in the future–gave me the push I needed to invest in a

I'm always repeating myself about: ADHD

This is the first of a series where I write down all the usual stuff I say when I'm talking about something I talk about a lot. In this entry I talk about ADHD. "I've tried all sorts of medications, and none of them work&

bike riding on a sunny day feels so good

whenever it rains I think about how, despite what you'd think, riding a bike in the rain is actually really nice. at least it is for me. my rain jacket and goofy rain pants keep the rain off my body, and the rain that hits my face refreshes

opinion

please tell me your dreams aren't that small

there's one policy position that makes me unreasonably angry: "the cost of living is too high; we should take the GST off fruit and vegetables." I've got problems with this idea. if we did, the best-case scenario is if you spend $100 on

disability

car parks and disability warriors

almost none of New Zealand's housing stock is accessible. our footpaths are too narrow. most roads are too dangerous to cross if you can't run. there are stairs to basically every venue. disabled people are given unliveably low benefits; but when it comes to parking, suddenly

Wellington needs better advocates

This was originally published on the 30th of October, 2024 on my previous blog. In the windows of many Wellington businesses, you'll find notices decrying the "deluded bureaucrats" of the "undemocratic WCC" and how their plan to give cars slightly lower priority in the

"Lest We Forget"

This was originally posted April 25th, 2024 on my previous blog. It has been re-posted here with minor changes. "Lest we forget". We have forgotten. New Zealand is just as much now as we were back then, a tool of the colonial war machine. Thousands of us

a blog, a bar, and a confession

kia ora, my name is River, and this is my blog. it's not my first blog. my previous blog was hosted on another platform. I was made aware that that platform was a nazi bar, and I swiftly resolved to move to another platform. that's what