As I've said before, I run a Discord server where some ex-students keep in touch, let me know what's going on with their lives, and just shoot the breeze.

Recently, what with various social media networks doing things like AI-based age verification (requiring uploading photos of oneself, removing a sense of anonymity to which people are otherwise entitled) or, worse, having to upload government-provided ID, we've been talking about alternatives.

The most popular alternative is an IRC server so I set one up (Ergo) and bridged it to the existing Discord server with slightly-modified version of Matterbridge. All of the channels are mirrored, messages from IRC are passed to Discord and vice-versa, and … it's so great. Read more…

As I wrote a few days ago, I've been back to Hawke's Bay, where my whānau are from (and where I grew up at least half of my childhood) a few times. In my previous couple of trips, I stopped in Palmerston North not once but twice (actually four times; twice going up and twice going back).

So, here are the snaps that are utterly improper to include on a memorial page: barefooting pics!

I stayed at the Vista Motor Lodge on the North Clyde side of the bridge that joins the two sides of the town. Therefore, my first stop was the Portland Island lighthouse placed right next to the northern end of the south bank. It's one of the first things you see. Read more…

In the past month, I've had two tangihangi (funerals) to attend.

Of the past fifteen days of the school term, I've only worked eight. As I return from the current one, that's another two off. There's a strange sense of impermanence in my life now.

This also makes the third funeral in the whole year. That say death comes in threes, so hopefully that's the last of them. Read more…

Another quick stop in Palmerston North on the way home from another trip. This time, I went to attend a tangihanga (funeral) that occurred within my whānau (family).

On the way back home, the bus pulled in for the customary driver break in The Square. I popped over to a nearby café for the most underwhelming salad, chips, and fish burger I've ever paid twenty-seven-odd dollars. Nevertheless, I was filled, so I snapped this photo on the grass near the women's rest in The Square whilst I digested it.

If you're wondering "You mean you set up your camera on the ground to take a picture like that? Focused on your feet? Isn't that embarrassing?", I can answer in three parts: Read more…

I've been thinking about this problem for a while but, as usual, Louie Mantia Jr's post about Maps possibly becoming a useful app one day was an inspiration to get writing*.

Now, he sarcastically, or hopefully (or both), posted that "one day search in Maps will be useful". He gave the example of a search for "lunch", presumably to find some nearby cafés and restaurants, turning up a result called Lunch Lake in Canada (he lives in Japan) which could not be less useful if it tried.

I have a similar gripe. I use Apple Maps a lot when I'm planning my many trips to Japan. I've been twice already (once in 2024, once in 2025). I have another trip coming up for school (10 days of babysitting, yay) and another personal holiday for most of December 2025 and January 2026. I've been using Apple Maps a lot. Read more…

I updated my Mastodon server's domain, updated my personal website, and changed my profile picture. Probably not to everybody's taste, but it's my server and my website, so there. 🙂

Hand-writing websites is fun. I based the current design on a website that was around in the 2000s and 2010s, feet.net.nz, run by a New Zealand-based photographer called Kyle Carter. I'm not sure why his website is called Feet Gallery, because it doesn't really have any feet on it other than the two in the logo. I'd ask but, to be honest, I don't really care; after all, if anybody were to ask me "why feet?", my answer would be a simple "why not?" and that's good enough for me as an explanation for anything else.

Not that there was anything that links our websites other than the domain name, really. But, given my username has long had the word 'feet' in it somewhere or other, his website used to pop up from time to time in web searches. I'd have a look. So now, I made a sort of tribute to a self-run blog of the best kind: the early 2000s kind! Read more…

Quick stop in Palmerston North on the way home from a trip to see family. When I lived here as a kid, the Square had a waterfall, more than one pond, and the clock tower didn't have a silly hat.

The other day, some friends and I met up for dinner, drinks, and conversation. Dual purpose: catch up after a long time out of contact (due to moving away, coming back, etc.), and, importantly, pass time until we went to watch the Super Mario Galaxy Movie.

We went to an Asian fusion restaurant on Courtenay Place. I'm not entirely sure what the fusion was. The flavours seemed to be fairly generic pan-Asian food as you would find in New Zealand, the menu not seeming to come from any one place. The food was tasty enough, if not quite enough for the amount we paid.

What I really enjoyed were the two-for-one cocktails. Mango and tequila, lychee and vodka, these things made the night. So, okay food, great drinks. With an hour left before the movie, so we decided to get some more drinks elsewhere. Read more…

Today, my father-in-law was cremated. He had passed away the Friday prior.

Somehow, it fell to me to make a lot of the funeral arrangements. I was honoured to be able to contribute in some way to celebrating his life but I won't lie, it was stressful. I had to take the whole week off just to have time to grieve, process, and get on with the details.

He had only just remarried a little over a month ago. That side of his family was in such shock. One of his step-daughters was incredible and got on to doing the research straight away. By the time I arrived the Friday afternoon to come see them, she'd already done research on funeral homes. We all found the pricing structures very confusing but I'm grateful we had a place to start. Read more…

I went to New Plymouth for the first time yesterday with my partner, a friend, and one of their daughters. Here are the highlights.

Puke Ariki Museum: nice. Slices of local history, wildlife (shark! moa!), and a section on Dalvanius Prime. There were some interactives for kids

Festival of Lights: peak! I loved the Pukekura Park, very pretty, enhanced by the light shows. The park itself is lovely with mini-lakes, Japanese bridges, and plenty of winding paths. Seen here: Ember, with smoke emanating from between a recreation of a campfire. Read more…