Two weeks in...but don't call me a twoweeker

Hey hey hey. When I last left off, I was just delving into the world of full time employment again. A couple of weeks into it, I am know reminded that working full time unfortunately takes up most of your day time. BUT, it just so happens that my job is pretty awesome. Let me break it down:

1. I am splitting my time between trying to build a six person raft that will successfully navigate the Auckland harbour and working at rock music concert events put on by the University and our radio station. So, it could be much worse. I could be checking some one's data entry, like my friend had a dream about. Shivers.

2. I am commuting an hour each way into the city everyday. While just being able to roll out of bed would be nice, the fresh mountain air and peaceful trees of the hill I live on is breathtaking. I have a nice little routine down where I ride my bike 35 min down the mountain to the next neighboring town, then take the train into the city. Coming back, I bike UP the same hill, so I get the chance to unwind from the stresses of the day and occasionally mutter curses under my breath as I round another corner of the windy hill that refuses to end.

3. On my off days, I've been amusing myself by biking into the city. It's not too bad of a ride, only an hour and a half, or two back. Last Saturday I accidentally rode there and then was forced to ride back when all of the trains services had been stopped for the big rugby game in Mt. Eden stadium.

4. This last Friday was a big day at work. I spent my morning shuffling back and forth between setting up a resource fair, meeting the lumber guy with raft building supplies, moving 8 200 L giant barrels across the street, and promoting that evening's concert by doing all of this with a giant poster (that was not University approved) tapped onto my back. The fun thing I have been learning about moving large objects when people are around is that no matter how obvious it is that yes, in fact I am moving a large object and it would indeed be nice if you could not walk directly into my path, look at me confused, hesitate a bit, then walk very slowly towards me, it is going to play out that way EVERY SINGLE TIME.

That afternoon, my time was devoted to working at the concert. Part of job was to track down all of the bands and have them sign release forms so we could use their images etc. I learned that hunting rock stars is a tricky business. I eventually found most of them congregated around the buckets of beer they were supplied with (no surprises there). Since they were already signing stuff (and these were boring pieces of paper...) I also pulled out one of two custom made shirts that my co-worker had made with the awesome poster she had designed on it and got ALL of the bands to sign it. See picture. Most of the bands are up and coming, but to my surprise even the two headliners had never signed a shirt before. The Kids of 88 appreciated how the poster made one of their lips' look rather cherub like, while Zowie and I complimented each other on our brightly colored shoes. Also, Sam, one of the members of Computers Want Me Dead wins for having part of his signature be a drawing of a stinky hamburger.

Another part of my job was to go into the bar area with my co-worker and drink a beer so the concert goers would see people in there having a good time and then possibly more at home with the idea of parting with $5 for a plastic cup of Speights. For work? Done and done. And we made sure to repeat this action when necessary.

The day was long (7:20 am to 11:30pm), but was capped off in a very memorable way when two co-workers and I had to move a giant full horse sized fibre glass painted horse 50m into a building. Good way to end it.

6. I staggered towards my accommodation, my muscles heavy and my whole body feeling completely tired. My brain was a bit harder to call, because it was a bit less tired than my body after I had been supplied with a few free cokes. But, I had also tried to even that out with a few beers too. Hmmm. Upon letting my head hit my pillow, I was soon reminded of the fact that the room I was staying in was situated across the way from a venue that had another concert going in full swing. Damn. While I eventually drifted off to sleep out of sheer exhaustion, I was jolted out of my slumber at 5am by some guy standing below my window screaming expletives into a phone. From the side of the conversation/ shouting battle that I was privy to, it sounded like this other guy had dropped the ball...to the point that the guy below my window wanted to drop a wall on his head the next time they were unfortunate enough to work together. Ahh, the peaceful city morning.

7. This next week is full of two more big events: a battle of the band competition and another BIGGER all day concert in the giant park next to the campus. I'll be hard at work, but since most of the work will be music related, it should be more hard rock than hard work. (Ahha, and I will leave you with that groan inducing last thought.)

But now with more ZEAL

Wow. It really is interesting what twists and turns your future can take while stumble forwards into whatever possibilities lie ahead. Here are some updates of my journey so far:
1. After finally scoring a bike shop that was not insanely busy, I was able to get my bike put together! Whooo. BUT, that also meant that all of the stuff I had so cunningly crammed into the bike box had to be exposed to the light of day, and more importantly, had to fit somewhere new.
My friend generously dropped me off into Auckland city, where I had booked myself an "economy" single room in a hotel on Queen Street (the central drag) that had the glorious reviews of "it smelled like wet paint," "there were ants everywhere," and my favorite "the receptionist had a face like a slapped arse." After those enthusiastic reviews, how could I stay anywhere else!? (For the record, while the room was small and rather sauna-like, the receptionist was lovely and the location was hard to beat. Besides that, the room smelled like onions...but that was entirely my fault since I was surviving on the hummus, tomato, and onion sandwiches that I carefully prepared in my economy room using the gigantic bowie knife that came attached to my "military chow kit" that my Dad and I had found at our local Army/Navy surplus store. Wait, sitting here and thinking about Army/Navy surplus stores has left me mulling over a big question. Time for a tangent! Whooooooo.
*Ok, now here it is: with our country's current military use, we have awesome Army/Navy surplus stores that are filled with all kinds of things that you had no idea existed but INSTANTLY want (mosquito head net and flame proof swamp suit, I'm talking to you). Now, do you think that if we demilitarized our country, our Army/Navy surplus stores would surge with an increased stock or would they be driven out of business since the Army/Navy no longer had to produce 20 million flame proof swamp suits? Hmm. Do they have those in the JC Penny's catalogue?*
Alright, alright. Back to sanity. More recently I have been staying in a family friend's home that is nestled in the Waitakere mountain range. I quickly realized that the free wheeling, plan as you go along nature of my travels thus far had left me with...shockingly NO plan. Well, that's actually not really true. My problem was not that had a lack of plans. I had too many. For a few days I was pondering riding down to the Napier/Hawkes Bay region to try to pick up some work as a fruit picker. "Hmm," my concerned friend said. "Didn't the orchards down around there get into legal trouble a couple of years ago for forcing their employees to pay them a heavy cut of their wages in exchange for being accommodated in shipping containers?" "WHaaaaaat?" I said. The guide book I have has a nice passage about how many traveling backpackers try to earn some quick cash by picking fruit. However the conditions you will left to do so in are not described. Could be awesome or a bit dodgy. (I have also slowly been learning that my other guide book that suggests cycling routes around NZ may be SLIGHTLY flawed when one of the routes it suggests takes you into NZ's version of "da backwoodz" where most of the country's pot is grown and angry gang members apparently sit on their porch with sawn-off shot guns waiting for intruders. It's ok, I'm sure that the bright orange safety vest that you'd be cycling around in to try and avoid being killed by drivers would help you blend right in (actually, you'd probably be better off with the aforementioned flame proof swamp suit). All part of the learning curve I suppose.
Well, I also applied for a bunch of random jobs around the Auckland area. I got an interview for a paid fruit picking job a bit south of here, but upon reaching the small white interview room and finding out that the job didn't actually start for until March and the interviewer had no idea what the pay would be but I would have to fully commit for the three month season, I more or less high tailed it out of there and tried to mend my slightly dampened spirits by climbing Mt. Eden again and eat my onion sandwich in peace.
That afternoon, in an unexpected turn of events I received a phone call offering me another interview for a job working for the University helping them out with various events. As the door to the sketchy fruit picking job slowly shut, a better paying air conditioned window opened! Long story short, I landed it and will start working full time for the University this Monday. My job is temporary but AWESOME my main duties include the following: figuring out how to and then building a raft out of any buoyant materials that will be duplicated for a race across the harbor between the different faculties (departments) and working at some cool David Bowie themed and college radio sponsored concerts. Doing this, I hope to gain some cool job experience AND save up some money so that I can realize my dream of traveling to the tropical rain forests of Queensland, Australia to throw sausages at a rather unruly family of Cassowaries.

I'm back in the land of Kiwis and am currently surrounded by cows

Hello followers,

Well, it is that time again. Breakfast? Why yes! Oh, and I am also back in the AWESOME land of New Zealand! After returning to California to finish my degree and work a bit, I am finally once again in the land of the long white cloud (which is fitting name for today).

Upon my arrival, I had a few hours to kill in the Auckland Airport before my friends could pick me up which I spent watching lone travelers be greeted by their loved ones. Some danced, some cried, and some children climbed on railings. It was pretty darn entertaining. Luckily, I was easy for my friends to spot since I was sat next to a GIANT cardboard box that I had used to transport my bike over here. The reactions of fellow travelers to my mysterious giant box was nothing short of awe from SF to Auckland ( 'I say, what is in that box?/'My word, that is a big box, isn't it?'/'You really must have something quite large in that box, eh?'). And by golly, they were all right.

While the last time I was in NZ the fashion trends seamed firmly set in 1980's US hits (fashion mullets anyone?), my suspicions of those trends not moving forward much should have first been aroused by spying on the Kiwi family sat next to me in SFO returning from a trip to LA. Boots with pointed toes, rolled up jean shorts, and mullets seamed to be common. But the evidence I found on the plane could IN NO WAY prepare me for the delights that awaited me in Auckland. As soon as I stepped off of the plane, I was instantly cast into a sea of mullets-EVERYWHERE. And I mean that you could seriously not move more than six feet ( or around 2 metres) without bumping into at least 3 mullets. These glorious hair manes ranged from shorter fashion mullets to long flowing symbols of strength. There were also the added bonus of plenty of splendid rat tails too. Ohhhhh thank you 1980's.

Wandering around Queen St in Auckland city yielded even more awesome hair finds and an equally impressive number of 1980's to early 1990's style cut off jean shorts, with some bravely navigating the fine line between jean shorts and jean underwear.

After spending the night in a hostel in the city with a friend of a friend who was from the Faroe Islands (go ahead and google that. Everyone else we met had to), I traveled to Lake Taupo to hopefully hike the Tongariro Crossing. Mother Nature had different plans, as we were met with a tropical cyclone that flooded us out. Fortunately, we soon ventured up to start the real vacation part of our journey, up to the Coromandel (ie beach paradise) by way of a giant gorge, giant soda bottle, some smoking hills, and a failed attempt at seeing Hobbiton ($60!? No thank you).

The Coromandel was beautiful. We hiked waterfalls, jumped over waves, ate fish and chips, and explored old mining tunnels filled with giant Weta bugs. Anyway, now I am staying at my friend's farm and woke up to cows eating grass under my window. Awesome. Enough of my yammering, here are some pictures.