The Hobby

The best hobby ever.

Discovery

After extensive searching, police uncovered a severed head wrapped in plastic alongside various torture devices and tools.

Further details are pending.

White

It's snowing. It's actually snowing outside.
It's winter over here in New Zealand, but it NEVER snows where I live. Never ever.
I heard on the news that it last snowed like this 40 years ago.

A huge winter storm has been sweeping up the country for the past few days. Temperatures dropped below freezing point, huge amounts of hail dumped on everything, sleet, rain, gale-force wind, and snow.

Around 11:00 on Monday morning, were were getting some really decent snow outside, so we got taken out of class to play in it. It was drifting down all around us, little white flakes floating lazily to the ground. Occasionally the wind picked up and icy snowflakes flew into our faces. The whole experience was incredible. People were jumping around and yelling and opening their mouths wide to eat the stuff.

There wasn't enough snow to actually build up on the ground, but yesterday, late afternoon, there was a huge hail storm and I ventured outside with the camera. Our entire street was smothered in hail, the roads and sidewalks were all white. Hail had built up an inch thick on windscreens, and there was a soft crunch under my feet as I walked around, awe-struck. Never before has anything like this happened around here. Here's some pics I snapped (mostly of my back-yard).

A miniature snowman I built when the first snow was falling on Sunday.

Hot spiced apple juice (lots of cinnamon and clove).

I took the following photo just before a huge flash of lightning.

Afterwards, I stopped and listened to the huge, booming, rolling thunder that lasted 20 seconds. Then the hail came beating down full force and I raced back home, drenched and shivering.

Keeping warm and toasty.

It's magic. Cozy, snowy, white magic.

苦痛

My wallbreaker ghost was originally named Kutsuu. He was inspired by Japanese ghost films, and Kutsuu is Japanese for agony/suffering. He was a sad soul, perhaps he was a victim of a brutal murder - his mutilated body buried in a concrete wall. Years of hatred and sadness finally led to his soul breaking free from his concrete tomb (caught conveniently on camera by yours truly). But when the time came to post the pictures on my blog, it felt wrong. This was only a few weeks after the tragic tsunami that killed 20,000 Japanese civilians. I renamed the post Manifestation and erased all traces of 'Kutsuu' from my blog.

Fun Fact:
Kutsuu has a tube running from his throat to a hole in the side of his stomach, thus allowing marbles to be run down through his body. Something I'd wanted to do for a while. Expect more of this sort of silliness.

Kutsuu is now being recycled, reborn. Keep an eye out for him in this year's haunt.