A Nomad's Space

Rings Blings & Sparkling Things

2008-10-30T20:26:00.004+13:00

Earlier this year (before I moved to Auckland for work and started on the path of misery from being apart from Garth), Garth and I discussed marriage. Well we discussed my desire to have one and his not seeing the point of having one. The long and short of it was I decided I wanted something colourful for an engagement ring and maybe a blue diamond might be nice - a real gemstone

Of course, Garth wouldn't be able to afford a genuine blue diamond, so I figured I'd settle for an emerald ring or a sapphire or a ruby. They aren't necessarily very expensive..not compared to a blue diamond. Plus there are discount jewelers out there...

Recently over the last fortnight or so, in our nightly phone conversations, Garth appears to be dropping hints...like maybe he's going to propose. I'm not entirely sure if he is or if he's going off about something else. If he is though, I'm not entirely sure if I should be elated or gutted.

Well why elated is pretty obvious...it is exciting to have the love of your life propose after all. I might be gutted however coz as a student he is pretty much broke, so how would he be able to afford a really really nice ring? You might be thinking "geez materialistic b***h", but hey gimme a break, we're talking about a ring I'm gonna be wearing the rest of my life! It has to be up to standards!

Oh well, at the moment it's all speculation anyway. But what with all the weddings and engagements going on lately, who knows? Hopefully when the time comes I'd be 100% elated and 0% gutted!

From the Pacific to the Tasman

2008-01-23T12:48:00.000+13:00

Where in the world can you cross from the shore of the Pacific Ocean to the shore of the Tasman Sea in 20 minutes on foot?

On the coast of the Pacific Ocean

20 minutes later: Standing in the water of the Tasman Sea

Answer: At the base of the Farewell Spit - the Northern most part of the South Island in New Zealand.

While I was up in Takaka, we decided to make a trip out to see the spit, it being a good day with not much wind about. Of course before actually starting out on what would be a longer walk than I expected, we needed some "fortification" which Garth's parents kindly provided with lunch at the Paddle Crab.

The Paddle Crab is a (really expensive) cafe that overlooks the Farewell Spit from the Pacific Ocean side.

View of the Farewell Spit from the Paddle Crab

They've even got a little viewing room with a telescope through which you can look at spit all the way to the end. They also have the most awesome seafood meal for 2, which includes mussels, cockles, cold meats, and a paddle crab. Yum!

Seafood for 2

Following a most satisfying lunch, we started the walk along the coast of the Pacific Ocean, which lines the bay just below the Farewell Spit. At low tide, the water recedes for miles leaving a wide expanse of mushy sand. It's not uncommon for whales to get beached here because the tide goes out so far, and the locals around the area are familiar with trying to save the whales (from a single one to an entire school).

The tide travels a long distance out

Half an hour and 1 dead very smelly sunfish later (Sunfish are huge, round and flat, and this one was larger than a bus tire), we reached a point where you could cut through the bush to get up to the lower part of the spit. The bush wasn't very dense, and there was only some gorse...and I rode of Garth's shoulders mostly (I'm so glad I've got a strong bf!!). So the hardest part really was climbing up a steep incline of sand to get onto the spit. What's so hard about it? The sand was burning hot after having absorbed the heat of the sun for hours. Honestly, it was scorching, and it isn't me just being a girl since the men found it very hot too. Garth's dad had it the worst since he decided to go barefooted and left his sandals in the car at the start of the walk.

When we reached the top, we saw...

sand. Lots of sand. A whole wide expanse of sand, as though we had warped into a desert. Basically the Farewell Spit consists of sand dunes. Many many sand dunes. Since there was no wind and no clouds, and the sun was really hot, it pretty much nicely fit it with the whole desert theme.

We started across the sand, with Ian (Garth's dad) trying to find cooler spots to step in since the sand was scorching (it wasn't a very fruitful endeavour because all the sand had been getting sun for hours). When we got a quarter of the way across, we could no longer see the vegetation bit from whence we first came up. Then there was nothing but sky and sand. And the sand dunes seemed endless.

An endless expanse of hot white sand

Eventually though, (and much to Ian's relief) we came across a damp area, kinda like an oasis in the desert. The wind had blown the sand into little stiff peaks across a damp patch. The damp sand, of course, was much cooler and nicer to stand on barefooted.

Hurray for cooler sand

The patterns in the sand made by the wind was a fascinating view of nature's artwork.

Nature's artwork: Patterns in the sand

About 5 minutes from the other side in the middle of the sand dunes, we came across an area filled with pebbles. Strange huh? These were pretty large pebbles too, the kind you'd find along the riverbed. And no, there was no river in sight. Just sand.

Huh? Pebbles?

Since the area has seen its fair share of ship wrecks in its time, Ian thought it may have come from ships, since ships put pebbles in their hull when they need more weight.

And then...the first sign of water!! A sight for sore eyes and hot feet 8)

Yes we had arrived at the other side of the spit, the Tasman Sea! And while the tide was out, it wasn't as far out as we saw on the Pacific Ocean. It was far out enough though to form little pools of sun-warmed water, just nice for soaking your feet in...

...although much later on I realised that it wasn't a very good idea to dip your feet into "nice" warm puddles without first checking for jellyfish, after Garth nearly stepped onto a very poisonous blue jellyfish that looked like a ring of blue plastic (the kind around a Sprite bottle).

And of course we had to get our feet wet in the Tasman Sea after all that hot sand.

The Tasman Sea

Frolicking in the water

Getting quite wet

Ok I'm tired

Thankfully, when it was time to head back, we had an alternative path to take, which didn't require going back over the "desert". Instead, we wound up cutting through a farm i.e. there was a path. Along the way we also almost got attacked by some native birds who thought we might be trying to attack their chick, which we could see was frantically running off in a distance while its parents tried to distract us.

All in all, a good if rather tiring day out crossing from the east to the west coast of the South Island on foot. 8)

And just to end off with a twisty fact, the North of the South Island is North of the South of the North Island!

2007 in a Nutshell

2008-01-20T09:17:00.000+13:00

Ok it's been a long long long long time since I last posted anything here. So I thought it might be a good idea to sum up 2007.

2007 has been a rather eventful year, being the year...

...I broke up with my summer fling over MSN

...I move into a flat with awesome views

...I met Garth (and ended up renting a room I never stayed in)

...I learnt to shoot a rifle with real bullets too!

...I joined the sync skating team and we won South Islands and South Island Masters

...I worked as a tutor and had 1 or 2 students who apparently had a crush on me

...I got flown up to Wellington for a job interview

...Roly and Sheena came down to visit and we spent a night at the bach

...I saw pregnant sheep being scanned

...I auditioned and was short-listed to film a skating commercial (but didn't get in)

...I finished my degree

...I did my Grade 3 hip hop exam

...I did my first skating tests

...I performed in a hip hop dance show

...Garth gave me a white gold and diamond ring

...I performed in the Dunedin Ice Show

...Garth went through heaps of trouble (and gorse) to cut me a 2.8m Christmas tree

...I attended the Takaka Christmas Parade

...I spent Christmas in Takaka and got loads of presents and a Christmas stocking

...I got to play with newly hatched chicks on the farm

...I went musseling in Takaka

Yeah it's been a great crazy year, with heaps of new experiences, new beginnings, and new people. Hopefully 2008 will turn out to be just as great, as I move forward into the next chapter of my life: Life as a Non-Student.

Energy Drinks: My New Best Friend

2007-09-25T18:37:00.001+12:00

Garth hates it when I consume energy drinks...coz it means I wind up staying up late and keeping him up by talking. But this week has been special. I've had the (mis)fortune of have 2 5000-word assignments due on the same day, with my dissertation due the day after. To finish everything, I haven't been sleeping for the last week or so. Needless to say energy drinks have been my new best friend for the last week...and miraculously Garth has bought them for me. Oh well, not that I'm home much to keep him up late. I practically have moved into the post-grad computer lab in the commerce building. It's kinda creepy at like 2am in the morning here with just me, my snacks, and my energy drinks lol. I predict I'm gonna be needing heaps over the next 2 weeks, or at least till exams are over. Maybe I should just move into the lab already...

Hobbies Online Survey

2007-09-25T17:20:00.000+12:00

South Island Skating Champs

2007-08-27T18:52:00.000+12:00

I've just returned from spending a weekend in Christchurch where the South Island Skating Champs are on. Our synch team competed in the Adult Synchronised Skating category against Christchurch yesterday (yes we finally have someone to compete against!)...and WE WON!!!!! It was a close win really, and totally unexpected. We actually thought we'd be second instead coz some of our members couldn't make it up to Christchurch, and the Christchurch team had more complicated and "cooler" transitions. Apparently we won based on our artistic interpretation, coz our costumes and moves suited the music.

I'm really stoked about it. Haha after all it's my first skating medal. Yep we all got pretty gold medals 8). After the event the team just had to go out and celebrate. We went to the Speights Ale House, and they serve really yummy wedges, with cheese and bacon on top. Tremendously fatty food, but hey even our coach had a whole plateful. It's actually been a not-so-healthy trip. We kept stopping along the way at cafes and little outlets to eat. Along the state highway between Dunners and Christchurch, there's this cafe run by a berry farm. They have amazing raspberry sauce. I had their raspberry and cream cheese brownie, which was divine...especially with the raspberry sauce! The sauce was full of whole raspberries. Pity they dun sell the sauce though, and they're famous for their raspberry cheesecake, but I didn't try that. Oh well, there's always next time.

Next time isn't all that far off anyway. Coz we're competing in the South Island Masters Games as well, and that's in Christchurch too. Gonna have to make our program more complicated though, to make sure we keep ahead of Christchurch! It would certainly be nice to bring another medal home!!!

Up to Wellington

2007-07-30T20:03:00.000+12:00

Given this is my last semester at uni, finding a job for the next year is one of the foremost things-to-do. I applied to the NZ Racing Board sometime in July, got through the CV elimination round to the interview round. Excitingly enough, I got through the interview round and this week, the NZRB is flying me up to Wellington for more interviews and an assessment centre.

On one hand this is really good news to have made it this far. On the other hand, I'm freaking out. I don't know anyone else who have made it into the selection...would have been so much easier to know someone so you could kinda work through the thing together. It's pretty freaky coz you have to socialise with all the exec members. The CEO himself is gonna be present and while making small talk, there is the pressure of ensuring you make yourself memorable. I hate small talk...

While I've yet to decide whether I actually feel entirely happy about being flown up for more interviews, it means I'll be missing a horse riding lesson on Friday 8( Now that's devastating coz I began last week and it only goes for 3 weeks and it's real fun. My horse's name is PJ and she's really nice. It's gonna be a bummer missing out on the lesson, especially when this time we'd be really getting into it. Still, getting a job's more important aye? I really hope I survive this final elimination round. On the other hand, well I'll get a free trip up to Wellington with good lodging! 8)

2007-07-12T12:54:00.000+12:00

Back again for the last semester after a long 3 week break away from everything. Yep, spent all the time up in Golden Bay with Garth on his parents' farm in the middle of nowhere...away from cellphones and the internet (well pretty much...dial up doesn't really count does it? 8p). The highlights of the holiday include:

1. Riding on the 4 wheel farm motorcycle (as a passenger mostly)...attempting to drive it through the opening of the gate, and nearly crashing into a tree. It's not as bad as it sounds really, I just didn't have the strength to steer at that time (think big bulky noisy machine)...

2. Staying up in the bach...no electricity and no hot water coz it's at the top of the hill (which my sister and I named Garth Hill), but cellphone reception is good there. I learnt why you can go blind trying to sew by candlelight...needless to say, I left my cross-stitching behind thereafter.

Candlelight dinner up at the bach (candlelight not optional)

3. Roly and Sheena coming up to visit. Garth tried to take us up Cobb Valley, only we got stuck in the snow and ice partway up the hill and didn't have snow chains on. Thankfully we managed to dig and push the car outta the ice so we could turn around and go back down! Good thing Ian (Garth's dad) had a grubber in the trunk of the car, or else we'd have been stuck near the top of a hill till 6pm in the freezing cold...not fun. We did have a fantastic snack of cheese and crackers in the valley by the Takaka River.

By the Takaka River...it's cold!

Garth had heaps of fun tormenting Roly...and Roly saw lots of the floor in Golden Bay courtesy of Garth...as can be seen:

4. Getting to see sheep scanning...and getting bumped around by muddy heavy sheep.

The sheep were being scanned using ultra-sound to see how many lambs they were carrying. Lotsa twins and 2 or 3 triplets! I got to see the screen and learnt to tell how many lambs the ewe was carrying, also got to push the sheep up the ramp to be scanned (they're heavy).

Scanning the sheep

Marking those with twins

The sheep are chasing me!!

5. Missing the awful cold weather in Dunedin. Basically it rained, frosted, iced, snowed, sleeted almost everyday. They even had to close the road between Dunedin and Queenstown coz of snow and ice. It's been the coldest winter so far. Brrr... Here's what I missed which I saw went we came back:

Just driving into Dunedin

While up in Golden Bay...

Sunshine!!!

I miss the warmth...

Where Has the Semester Gone?

2007-05-18T21:09:00.000+12:00

It never fails to amaze me how fast time flies. We're onto the last week of labs this week, and not too long ago I recall freaking out over teaching my first lab. Needless to say, my class has settled down since to stop talking over me. Plus after lecturing to a class of 19 to 20+ year olds every week, presentations are no longer quite so scary...even if they're worth 30% of your entire course grade like the one I had today. Probably the worst part of the job now is marking. It's amazing how 2nd year University students for whom English is a first language can have such terrible grammar and punctuation. I've found that most of my students love to replace full-stops and commas with a semi-colon. And English is only gonna get worse here in NZ now that they've actually allowed text lingo to be used during the national exams!!! Ok I should refrain from going on and on about it (which I can do). Although marking would be hell for teachers in future...boy am I glad I'm only teaching as a part-time job.

So where has the semester gone? Assignments, readings, teaching and marking, dance classes and skating lessons and practices...that's where. It's fortunate my boyfriend lives with me and so we see each other a lot, otherwise considering everything I have on my plate I wouldn't have time for him!

Speaking of my boyfriend, I suppose some might be wondering where he came from, considering that I wrote that I was single again back in Jan. Ok I confess to committing the crime of dating my flatmate, Garth (honestly we both tried to fight it...but hey there's only so much struggle you can put up when you get on really really well and are both single!). Surprisingly we're getting on really well living with each other and seeing each other so much. It's really good to be able to come home to him for a hug after a long day. The best thing about him is that my sister actually likes and approves of him. Good reason to hold on to him, considering that my sister has never liked or approved of any of my previous boyfriends. She was ok with them but didn't explicitly like them. 8)

We went home with him up to Golden Bay over the mid-sem break, which was wonderful...we had sun and his parents rented a house by the beach (Dunedin on the other hand had crappy rainy cold-as-usual weather the whole week). His parents are great and have kinda adopted my sister and I as family (and so have all his relatives...). They own a "small" hill (which is pretty darn big for a city girl) and run a farm. Garth usually lives in a bach at the top of the hill when he's home, which is pretty cool but has no electricity. Anyway we learnt to shoot coz he's got a gun license and 3 rifles. It was fun shooting at paper targets and learning to load the rifle. I've still got my bullet casings from the shots I made with the .22. Gonna see this break if I can get away to go back up with him again, otherwise a month apart would feel rather strange 8(. That's what happens when you get used to seeing someone first thing in the morning and last thing at night...

Costumes

2007-04-17T22:07:00.000+12:00

I recall looking at costumes online last year to get ideas for themes for my 21st. Eastern Toys was one of the sites I looked at among others. They've actually got pretty interesting stuff for sale, great for a 21st or Halloween...or just any theme party. Costumes make things more fun after all...even as an adult. These retailers of costumes do have realistic costumes for both adults and kids too.

For instance, Eastern Toys carry quite a wide variety of realistic Star Wars costumes, which incidentally is on sale. The masks look quite good...which is probably why they cost so much! I guess the problem with getting good costumes is the price. Most people would rather make their own or rent something. Still, aside from masks and body suits which are expensive, props that make a costume more real like a lightsaber isn't too expensive. I recall Peter buying "Captain Hook's Hook" when he was dressing as Captain Hook (duh!), which wasn't too expensive.

Anyway, to anyone looking for costumes, or ideas for costumes, try the 'net...always a good place to start even if you probably wouldn't like the price. Then again who said realistic costumes come cheap? Hmm I wonder if they can actually make profit from the sale of these things...

Icky Dissertation Project

2007-03-30T22:07:00.000+12:00

Ok this is gonna be a post where I gripe about my horrible dissertation project. If I haven't previously mentioned it, my project this year looks at the effects of gender of vocalists of in-store music in women's fashion retail stores. Basically I need stores to participate by playing music I've selected over a period of 3 weeks and then look at sales figures and store traffic.

Sounds easy aye? Hah! Trying to get stores to participate is a real pain... Common issues are that they're not comfortable with revealing sales figures, even if we tell them to disguise it by multiplying/dividing by some unknown constant, and that they can't change the music.

After much effort, I managed to get 3 stores which matched my criteria (yes there's that too!)...and now 2 out of 3 have backed out!!! 8( Yes I'm one unhappy camper here, especially when I thought I'd get everything sussed before Easter. Now it's back to store hunting (and getting multiple rejections)...depressing...

Teaching Nightmare

2007-03-16T16:36:00.000+13:00

It's been 2 weeks now since I began lab demonstrating. It's kinda scary and weird playing the teacher rather than the student in the lab. It's really not easy trying to lecture around 26 20-year-olds, many of whom are way bigger than me in size. Plus I've been so "fortunate" that the class I teach is full of noisy students. And it doesn't help that I look like a high-school kid either.

When I took the first class last week, one of the guys in the class kept laughing at me. He'd glance up at me talking, start laughing, glance down at his work and back up, start laughing again, glance down... Well you get the picture. It was a most disconcerting thing! Still, it wasn't as bad as this week's class, where 2 of the noisy ones (guys of course) were actually drinking beer throughout the lab! Ordinarily students do occasionally bring in cups of coffee or soft drink cans with them, so I didn't give much thought to them bringing in cans, assuming it was some soft drink. So I basically didn't realise that it was beer until as the guys were leaving, one of them said, "I suppose you would like us to take our beer cans with us." Like @#$%%^#$^@#?!!!

Anyway, so I mentioned it in the staff meeting today and apparently this is the first time they've come across students audacious enough to do something like that...and consumption of alcohol isn't allowed on campus premises. The head demonstrator suggested that I should swap labs for a week with one of the other bigger, scarier demonstrators like herself. The guys volunteered too...one of them's the "clown" of the psyc department really and he wanted to swap so he could make them cry. lol Funny how guys come up with "solutions" to problems...'beat the other guy and make him cry' seems to be the first solution they think of. Even my flatmates, when I related the incident at tea last night, the guys went, "Ok we'll come with you to class next week and beat them up." I've swapped with the head demonstrator for next week though, so perhaps she can scare some good behaviour into them...or my class might decide I really suck...sigh

Marking assignments is another tough thing...and trying to decipher handwriting or what the students are trying to say. Then there's the issue of what grade you should assign them. I'm not looking forward to marking the major reports which don't have a "right answer"...marking is gonna be rather awful. Plus we have to calculate standard deviations for the class grades and make sure we distribute marks according to a normal distribution. Can't escape stats....it's everywhere!

Online Dating

2007-03-03T15:10:00.000+13:00

It's always really interesting to look at online dating. There are heaps of these sites on the internet...country-specific, city-specific, global. Most of the sites as usual cater to people in the US,like JustSayHi.com.

Quite a couple of dating sites do actually cost to join or those who pay have more features available to them. The main matchmaking site in NZ allows only the paid members to initiate contact. JustSayHi.com claims to be absolutely free. I'm quite suspect of claims of "free" coz there usually is a catch. I mean these sites have to cover their operational cost after all. Aside from Google ads, I haven't seen how JustSayHi.com generates income to cover its costs.

Reading the descriptions people put up of themselves has gotta be the most interesting part of pretty much any dating site. You have everything from the ordinary Joe to glamourous chicks...to even a mother looking for a guy for their daughter as I saw on JustSayHi.com. I wonder whether her daughter knows that her mum has posted an ad looking for a guy for her daughter... I reckon I'd be pretty unhappy if my mum went to an online dating site to find a guy. Parents and matchmaking....'nuff said 8S.

Week 1

2007-03-02T15:03:00.000+13:00

We've now come to the end of the first week of semester. And it is not good...as far as school is concerned. Mean lecturers have decided that at 4th year since you're pretty much a post-grad they should just jump right into things. Hence I've a 1500 word essay on some vague topic due next week and weekly quizzes (who even does pop quizzes anymore...esp at 4th year!!!) and heaps of reading to do. 8( Plus my dissertation is not going very well coz I've not quite been able to get stores to cooperate with me on my project.

On the other hand, school aside, things are going great. I've started skating again...which does require me waking up at 5.30 in the morning to get to the rink by 6am but it's exercise. Hip hop is going great too although grade 2 is much tougher (but more fun!). Tango classes are beginning next week and Garth has volunteered to go for classes with me as my partner 8). Finally I get to learn the tango...haven't had the chance before coz none of my guy friends would sign up with me! What's it about guys and dancing anyway?

Even more good news this week: We've got internet connection at the flat! Finally finally finally! 8) Now people can expect to see me online...well if I'm not busy doing other stuff that is. Like hanging with my flatmates, who are pretty cool...everyone is crazy and it's quite awesome lol. Plus this week 2 of Jorinde's friends have come to stay with us from the Netherlands so we've been having 9 people for dinner and dinners have been really fun (though not too fun if you're the cook!).

Hypnotism

2007-02-23T12:13:00.000+13:00

Every year, one of the O-week events is the hypnotism show. Given this is my last year, I figured I ought to check it out since mates who have been to see it in previous years have said it was good.

And so it was. It was awesome and hilarious really. The thing about hypnotism is that you can't go under unless you allow yourself to. Guy, the hypnotist got 21 volunteers from the crowd and 18 of them did go under. Then the fun began...lol. He made the guys think they were ballerinas in a performance whenever he played a certain piece of music and it was really hilarious to see them prancing across the stage. He made one guy think he was James Bond and the guy was sneaking and creeping around.

It being a college event, you can't really avoid dodginess. At one point he told the hypnotised people that on a count of 3 they would put their right hand on their favourite body part and then they'd wake up but their hand would be stuck on their favourite body part. No prizes for guessing where all the guys' hands went. And the chicks? There was the assortment of lips, boobs or between their legs. The funny thing was their expressions when they found they couldn't move their hands lol.

Then he put them back to sleep and made the guys think they had x-ray vision where they could see through every chick's clothes (both in the audience and on stage) when they awoke. One poor confused guy when asked how he was feeling said, "I wasn't aware this was a nudist function!" Another thought he was on a nude beach. Then he told the guys that although they had x-ray vision it meant also that their male parts have started shrivelling. All the guys were grabbing between their legs and one guy actually shoved his hand down his pants to check! He also "gave" the chicks x-ray vision, except that he made them see that all the guys had tiny penises...except for him, when they "saw" through his clothes they would be impressed by his size. Some of the chicks actually covered their eyes and upon seeing him, one of the chicks asked if he would like to move into her flat with her. Another chick actually called out to one of her mates in the audience and was laughing at him.

Probably one of the funniest parts of the show was when he told them that when they shook his hand they would feel exquisite, almost orgasmic pleasure. It was funny watching them squirm while shaking his hand and trying to disguise the fact that they were feeling kinda "funny" when they were asked how they felt while he was shaking their hand all the while. Some of the guys turned all the way so their back was to the audience... The chick who previously asked if he wanted to move into her flat asked him to do so again (she was really hitting on him...and he's a balding old guy...). Another chick told him he had great hands, even better than her boyfriend...and her boyfriend was back in Christchurch (luckily). She kinda didn't wanna let go of his hand.

As a finale, he gave them instructions on how they would respond to 3 different kinds of music. When "Love Me Tender" was played, they would fall deeply in love with the first person they saw and would stroke their cheek and say "I love you". When this millitary march played, they would think they were famous conductors of a marching band and lead the march. When "YMCA" played, they would think they were The Village People and perform the song. So he put on the millitary march and YMCA and let them loose in the audience where they dispersed and marched/hopped/danced all over the place and then played "Love Me Tender" and it was hilarious to see them grabbing random people and professing their love for these strangers. The funniest moment? When during one of the times he played "Love Me Tender" and the first person 2 of the hypnotised guys saw was each other. They spotted each other right behind where I was sitting and within a few seconds they somehow jumped into each other's arms and rolled on the floor and actually started kissing enthusiastically. There were definitely startled screams and gasps from the chicks in the audience around where the 2 guys were making out. A rather disturbing sight I guess, considering that minutes ago these same guys were each professing their undying devotion to a random chick in the audience...and they were definitely heterosexual guys.

Well it was a really entertaining performance really and totally hilarious. I'd definitely recommend catching this to whoever is attending an NZ uni (he performs during orientation at quite a couple of universities around the country). 8)

Last Week of Vacation

2007-02-20T12:17:00.000+13:00

Yep this is it. The last week of my summer vacation...and it's probably gonna be the last summer vacation for me for a long long time, unless I decide to do my Masters next year. At least I can be grateful that we've had wonderful weather the last couple of days. 8)

I actually spent the whole afternoon sunbathing in a mate's backyard the other day and wound up mildly sunburnt on my back. Probably didn't help that I wasn't wearing very much while sunbathing...who does? Fortunately while it was a little sore, I didn't peel and now I'm nicely tanned to face the upcoming cold weather which will eventually fade my tan since your skin rarely sees sun during winter.

To make the most of my last week of vacation, I've been visiting people pretty much everyday. This year I'll also be going for the hypnotism show that's always on during orientation week. Definitely gonna hit the clubs!!! Plus I'm attending the Highlanders game on Saturday. Well the Highlanders are the Otago team and I'm really a Crusaders fan and my mate whom I'm going with is also a Crusaders fan... Still, since they're playing the Stormers who are South African we figure it's ok lol... Garth will be at the game too, but he was always a Highlanders fan so for once we're on the same side. Should be interesting to be in our flat when the Highlanders play the Crusaders, what with my sister being a very strong Crusader fan. 8)

Valentines Day

2007-02-14T11:09:00.000+13:00

Happy Valentine's Day everyone!!! It's funny how we set aside a day especially to show our partners our affection...and for the other 364 days (365 if it's a leap year) nah can't be stuffed doing anything extra special lol. Well for those without partners, it's a good time to meet other singles or to spend time with good friends (who are either single or have partners who juz don't care...awww). It's a pity it's a Wednesday, otherwise I reckon the bars and clubs would be crowded with people...and most wouldn't be going home alone either lol. Come to think of it, the bars might juz be really crowded anyway. Still not much point in going I guess. After all, how likely is one to meet someone you'd actually wanna enter into a serious relationship with in a bar?

So I'm gonna be spending my Valentine's with friends...as usual. The other day Garth and I were discussing Valentine's and it occurred to us that we've not actually spent Valentine's with anyone...well I have once when I was in a 2.5 year relationship. It's mostly bad timing really, you tend to either break up before Valentine's or get together after. Speaking of Garth, he's pretty sweet really...he got a bunch of roses for us chicks in the flat (well he did that last night and banned us from the kitchen where he put them...and my sister thought that perhaps he might have been hiding a spider or bug to scare her lol). Most guys wouldn't have bothered...

Anyway new aim for my next relationship: Make it to Valentine's Day...and he'll have to be pretty darn romantic too lol so I know I'll have a great one ;p

Blogging for Income

2007-02-13T14:10:00.000+13:00

With blogging being a pretty common thing now, it's no surprise that someone thought of using blogs as a commercial marketing tool. I recently signed up with Blogvertise, having heard of it being mentioned in one of those forums I randomly read.

Basically the idea behind Blogvertiseis that they pay you to blog about a specific topic...which I reckon seems pretty good given how you actually get an income from blogging...and in my case, somethingto blog about lol. After all I only blog if there's something I can write about, which isn't all that often really.

Probably the only pain about Blogvertise is that you've to make a link to whatever website you're reviewing 3 times in your post... Oh and the fact that there's a 5-day dateline. Still it's a source of income...and if anything, the one thing a student needs it's income lol.

Views of Dunedin

2007-02-12T15:15:00.000+13:00

One of the great things about the flat I'm currently in are the fantastic views from the front coz we're up on the hill, overlooking town and the harbour.

I've placed my desk in front of the window so that the great view out might inspire me to spend more time at my desk this year!! lol Below are photos I took from the from window...

Straight out...the harbour and campus

To the North...Leith Valley and Mt Cargill

Town in the South but the bushes kinda block the view

The view's better from upstairs where we've got a wee balcony and a pretty much unobstructed view so you can see all the way to the South. I took a video of the view...hopefully it works!!

But in case it doesn't work or the image isn't clear (which I highly suspect would be the case)...I've got more photos from the balcony!

North

East

South

Full House

2007-02-07T19:54:00.000+13:00

Everyone in the flat has moved in now...well not exactly everyone since Oliver's girlfriend moved into his room as a substitute for him. He's "The Mystery Guy". None of us have met him and all we know about him is that he does rock-climbing. His girlfriend seems pretty cool though so I guess he should be a nice person too aye? He's upstairs in the room right beside my sister's.

Opposite my sister's room is Chrissy's. We only met her once prior to moving into the flat and we thought she was a quiet non-party person. Well...turns out she's quite the social party girl. The first day of her moving in saw her with a crate of beer and several mates over (1 of which was rather annoying since he kept slamming doors and left the toilet seat up). Still don't know her very well coz we hardly see her and usually when she's in she's had mates over.

And next to her in the prettiest room is good old Garth who has now taken to tormenting me everyday by poking me or otherwise squishing me by throwing himself on top of me on the bed (he doesn't look it, but he's heavy!!!)...except for when he's upset or when he's out at cricket practice. My sister and I are probably closest to Garth given how the 3 of us shared the flat initially before everyone else moved in. The 3 of us preferred having the flat to ourselves lol, but oh well...

On floor 1.5 (coz it's on the landing between the top and bottom floor) there's Jorinde who owns the flat with her boyfriend. She's from the Netherlands and is a pretty outdoorsy kinda person. She does tramping and mountain biking. It's great having your landlord (or surrogate one) living in the same flat coz it means if you have issues regarding bits of the flat you don't have to wait for ages to get it fixed...like I got new curtains coz the ones originally in the room were awful and kinda too short.

Downstairs opposite me is Josh. He's really really tall which was great when it came to hanging up my new curtains coz the flat's one of those ancient ones with really really high ceilings. He's a funny guy and into biking. The other day he cycled to Mosgiel to pick up a pair of mountain biking shoes kinda late at night, thinking that Mosgiel was only an hour's bike ride away...took him 3 hours instead coz it's really far away. I told him in future if he feels like travelling out of Dunedin he could borrow my car. Since then we've all been teasing him each time he goes out, asking him if he's biking to Mosgiel or maybe Oamaru lol. He's a funny guy though and great as a neighbour coz I wouldn't have to fear making too much noise coz he's partially deaf.

It should be an interesting year with the bunch of us...and I'll probably post a new opinion on the people in the flat in April...for some reason April seems to be the time when problems and quarrels among flatmates start emerging. I suppose 2-3 months is the tolerance limit of most students. So we'll see what happens when April comes round.

Super 14 Not-so-Good Start

2007-02-03T02:01:00.000+13:00

Super 14 began today with the first game: Blues vs Crusaders. Sadly, for the first game it was a bad start for the Super 14 season...because the Crusaders lost!!!! I'll bet that aside from the Aucklanders, everyone else would have been gutted that the Crusaders lost, simply because the Blues are the Auckland team and well, you always support whichever team is playing Auckland (unless you're from Auckland yourself).

I blame it on the fact that this year is World Cup year and since the Crusaders are the best team, naturally many of the players are also in the All Blacks. So the poor Crusaders lost 9 of their players to the All Blacks for this year's Super 14, a couple who are likely the best players in the whole International Rugby Union (think Daniel Carter...the guy is a real all-rounder). I think the Crusaders might have to give up the Super 14 cup this year (in favour of patriotism lol).

On the up-side, the All Blacks are ranked world's best rugby team (duh) based on game stats. The French are ranked 2nd and our Aussie neighbours, the Wallabies 3rd followed by the Springboks from South Africa and the English Lions (or was it the other way round?). The funny thing is that the last time we won the World Cup was in 1987... So this year being 20 years later we have to win it again...and we will too! 8)

Totally Random Note: Did you know that New Zealand has a larger population of possums than we have sheep?

Random Guys Random Texts

2007-02-01T21:13:00.000+13:00

It's amusing how the male mind works...especially when it comes to picking up chicks. Last night I got a text from an unknown number asking how's it going. As one usually does when seeing an unknown number I texted back to ask who it was, and got a text back saying "Ben". Right that speaks volumes seeing as to how Ben isn't exactly a rare name and I do happen to know a couple of Ben's as I told the chap.

I guess the guy finally got an inkling that perhaps he might have got the wrong number or something coz he asked who I was. Turned out he thought he was texting a "Shannon". So I texted back to say he had the wrong number, upon which he texted an apology. Now one would have expected the texting back and forth to come to a halt since both of us now knew he was texting the wrong person. However, right after the apology another text followed to explain that Shannon was a chick he met in a club last night and he must have written down the wrong number. Okkkay I wasn't expecting him to explain himself to me, but fine if he felt the need to assure that I didn't think he was a nut.

End of text volley? Nope. Guess he figured since Shannon was a lost cause now and here was some other chick he wound up texting, might as well take the opportunity...coz he followed with "Well Antonia sounds way better than Shannon anyway. So where are you from if I may ask?" An obvious pick-up line lol (one that even someone as dense as I got...). I've never actually been hit on through a text-by-mistake situation so I guess this was somewhat amusing. Hence I found myself entertaining the guy lol...well with encouragement from my sister (who kept saying it was so romantic...how so I still can't figure that one out) and Garth (who went so far as to grab my cell and try and text this random guy back in my place). After all I didn't exactly have anything to do at the time.

So turns out Ben is one of those beach dudes, totally into scuba diving, and is an Aucklander (figures...a third of the population lives in Auckland after all). Pretty interesting conversing with him although some of his text lingo took me awhile to figure out. Anyway some 20 texts later I ended the volley, being rather sleepy so he said he'll text again another time. I think if I'm gonna be having text conversations I'll probably switch plans to the 2000 texts for $10 a month thing. Good thing Ben's on Vodafone too since it only applies to Vodafone numbers 8)

Single Again

2007-01-31T05:44:00.000+13:00

Broke up with my boyfriend just now. I guess I'd already come to terms with it the last week since I'm completely calm about it. As usual my philosophy is don't look back, so henceforth it's over and I'll no longer think about it. It's always a good philosophy to follow...no point thinking of all the "what ifs" which would drive one completely nuts.

In any case I think I'll lay off relationships for awhile and stick to just-for-fun stuff. After all I've got heaps on my plate already with school and work and a relationship is a pretty risky business. Yeah places to go, people to meet and lotsa stuff to do...like start working more towards my goal (which I know I've been doing quite a bit of procrastinating on...bugger). 8)

Changes

2007-01-30T21:17:00.000+13:00

I'm not entirely sure I like change. Sometimes things seem to go really well and you're perfectly happy and content with life. Then BAM something comes along and changes everything. And then you end up floundering confused, wondering what the hell happened. Needless to say this rather unwelcome change is followed by negative emotion and the unanswerable question...Why me? On the other hand I suppose some change is good...like self-improvement changes. Like winning the lotto? lol Yeah I'd welcome that change...

Still change is inevitable. Everything changes every single day. Appearances, relationships, environment... Can't quite control it. I guess life would be pretty boring if everything stayed the same. It would be nice if one could control change though aye? I guess if you are able to control the changes in your life you'd be happier since people tend to be more content and happy when they are in control. Which makes sense really since you make the choices that decide your life rather than being controlled by fate. Argh if only I had more control over my life at the moment!

Broken Promises Empty Words

2007-01-29T14:52:00.000+13:00

Promises are really meaningless words until one backs them with action. It's saddening to know how easily they're broken or how much hope a person can place in them...even the slightest promises. Funny how you never realise how much you treasure a promise over the tiniest issue until you realise it was just empty words.

Making a promise (implied or otherwise) may mean little to you, but so much to the other. And breaking it without reasonable justification, even the tiniest simplest promise, would that not therefore signify that the one you've made a promise to means so little to you that you could not attempt to fulfil your promise to the best of your abilities?

I'll admit I've broken my share of little promises...without actually considering if I've hurt the other. Strange that I've never really thought about it till now, considering that I've been hurt several times by unfulfilled promises and empty words. So from now on I'm gonna try and keep all my promises...especially the little ones. It's really the small things that count the most after all. If some promises are too hard to keep or if you are unsure of your ability to keep them, do yourself and the other person a favour...don't make promises you can't or are unwilling to keep.

Of course, as with all things, special circumstances apply. Nothing is absolute after all save death (and even that is debatable, but we shall not go there...). Still, for those looking at self-reflection and character improvement, might be a good idea to consider what promises you're making in your life and whether or not you're keeping them.