Come Saturday

I’m really looking forward to tomorrow night. At 6pm this guy (see below) is performing for free at a bar in Wellington called Mighty Mighty, and guess who’s going? That’s right, moi.

I suppose I should tell you who that is: that, my friends, is none other than Kiwi musician Dave Dobbyn, who became very popular in New Zealand in the 80’s, and has written and performed many songs that are now part of NZ’s culture (he’s particularly well-known for having written the soundtrack music for the animated feature film Footrot Flats, a classic Kiwi cartoon), such as ‘Slice of Heaven’, ‘Welcome Home’, ‘Loyal’, ‘You Oughta Be in Love’ and many more. The reason he’s performing for free in Wellington this weekend is to celebrate the start of NZ Music Month (May 2010). Dobbyn has been active in the music industry since his first debut with a rock band called Th’Dudes way back in 1979. This is a guy with musical credentials, so I’m excited about watching him live. After all, he’s a national treasure here in New Zealand.

Spoiler alert

I’m one of those people who hasn’t seen the ending of LOST, mostly because I, for some reason, thought it had already ended a while ago. After I discovered that it hadn’t, I decided against downloading episodes to catch up on it, simply because it takes up too much brain capacity to try to understand what the f**k is going on, and 99,9% of my brain capacity is already devoted to my university studies so there was no room for it. However, I think the last episode aired on TV in NZ tonight, and I came across this one link on facebook to a cartoon that pretty much sums up the answers to all the things everyone has been wondering about when it comes to LOST, in a rather funny way. Enjoy.

This is where I belong

I have never felt more at home in Wellington than I do right this moment. “Why?” do you ask. Because it’s raining.

Not like, drizzling. It’s actually raining. Properly. The best part is that it’s still incredibly warm (we’ve had 20 degrees today) and hardly any wind; so big, heavy raindrops are falling almost vertically, with an occasional warm gust of wind just to make you smile. And such great timing! I didn’t have my first tutorial until 3pm, so I had the entire morning and most of the afternoon to just do my own thing, so this morning I put on a pair of shorts and went into town to do my grocery shopping. However, even shorts were too warm, but I mean, I saw people wearing large coats, boots, scarves, hats and so on, so I guess I’d look even more ridiculous if I’d taken my light jacket off and walked around in a T-shirt and shorts when apparently, it’s almost winter. I walked past a shoe shop with a big sign in the window which said: ‘Weeeeee! Winter is here!’ I just smiled at it and kept walking.

Then when I was walking to university I felt a raindrop land on my head, and a minute later I’d walked straight into a shower, but once you manage to get inside a building you’re pretty safe, because you can walk between all the buildings without having to go outside. It kept raining during my tutorial and the lecture I had straight afterwards, and then I was off home. I was lucky, though, because the rain came at a slight angle and hit me on the back, which makes it more pleasant than annoying. Before I was halfway home (it only takes about 5 minutes for me to walk home) I was contemplating just staying outside to play in the puddles and get soaked to the skin, but then I decided against it just because I started thinking about the song ‘Bowl of Oranges’ by Bright Eyes, which begins with the words ‘The rain, it started tapping on the window near my bed’ and this made me want to play it in my room, so I went home.

Oh and lest not forget: I got a test we had before the Easter break back today, and I got an A-. It made my day.

(Completely intentional blurred movement by the way…)

Zombies!

You know, the zombie apocalypse is all fun and games, until people start getting killed… Trust me, I would know.

Last night I had a dream that it was the zombie apocalypse. The weird thing about it (OK, weirder than the fact that I had a dream like that) was that it lasted throughout the entire night. At first it wasn’t that bad. It started out with me discovering that we had strange creatures amongst us, but nobody caught on with the fact that they were zombies. They were acting almost normal and looked just like humans, and no one could figure out where they had come from. Then I sat down and talked to the leader, because I had somehow realised that they had, in fact, come from outer space. I remember laughing hysterically in my dream when the leader understood that I had found out. But then the dream turned into a nightmare. Once their cover was blown, they turned into the zombies that we are all accustomed to – rotten, blood-thirsty, flesh-eating monsters. And the first people they went after were my family. Not cool, dudes. Things got way out of control; we were all split up, the zombies were everywhere, and my older sister and me became zombie-fighting experts (only now can I see the resemblance between us and the Winchester brothers, by the way). But when other members of my family were getting killed, I met my father back at our house, which was momentarily zombie-free (it was pretty much their head quarters, because it was where we were when I talked to the leader and started the apocalypse) and had a breakdown because things were so hard and it seemed impossible to win. At that point I woke up, because the nightmare was so “real”, and I couldn’t take it any more. But once I was awake and realised that it had only been a dream, I turned over and went back to sleep, with the dream still fresh in mind. Normally when I have nightmares I go back to sleep and have a decent sleep for the rest of the night. But not this time. The moment I went back to sleep, I arrived straight back into the same situation, pulling my act together after the breakdown and going back to killing zombies. It was like I entered another dimension in my dreams.

After several turns in the plot, where I discovered that my father had been turned into a zombie but acted “normal” like the original zombies had done at first, and he and some other “normal” zombies had started cutting down the forest to get to something in the earth, my sister and I were briefly re-united with one of my brothers and our mother, chased by zombies, split up and hid in a dark, abandoned building until night came. When we went outside, we met many other survivors, but no zombies. They had disappeared, and the streets lay deserted and the buildings in ruins. People started gathering in large groups and walked along the empty streets, and more people kept joining in. When morning came, so many people had gathered that they started organising themselves, rounding up the few zombies they could find and killing them. We were just starting to believe that we had won, when all of a sudden there was a massive zombie attack, and many of the “people” turned out to be zombies acting normal, and the death toll was higher than ever. After this, I can’t remember any more, so I guess it’s safe to assume that I was killed, and the world came to an end. Needless to say, I woke up, just lying there staring at the ceiling, trying to figure out what the f**k made me have a dream/nightmare like that. It was so real and terribly detailed the whole time, it almost always made “sense” and didn’t have huge gaps where the setting/situation just changed, as it often does in dreams; there was dialogue, fight scenes, change between night and day, sounds and strong emotions involved, not to mention a beginning, middle and an end.

It is beyond a doubt the strangest dream I have ever had. It was like watching a movie in my head all night, with me as one of the main characters. If this was my unconscious speaking, then I’m slightly scared of my sanity. Or maybe it was trying to give me a plot for a movie? Who knows. Either way, it was terrifying.

Back to varsity

After two very long weeks of holidays today was finally the day when I got to go back to university. Yes, I really am this enthusiastic about studying. It was great seeing some familiar faces again and asking people how their holiday had been. Before my first lecture one of the girls I know told me that I should do something (I happened to tell her that I’d been looking forward to going back to uni), and mentioned tramping clubs. I didn’t know that such a thing even existed, but apparently Victoria University has one, and I am definitely interested in signing up for it. They arrange weekend tramping trips all over the country, which sounds totally awesome. I get to go tramping, see more of the country and meet new people at the same time! I couldn’t ask for anything better.
VUW tramping club – the tramping club’s web site. I’m so tempted to sign up!

The Miracle

Guess who’s got a ‘coffee date’ tomorrow at 1pm? With a boy? You’re right, that’d be me. And I’m so excited it’s ridiculous. It’s amazing what a brief night out on the town can bring you. Finally, a decent bloke who was kind, interesting, funny, etc, and he invited me out for a coffee. It’s been a long time since I was this excited about a Tuesday.

Hurry up, Monday, go away.

The Wall of Shame

Just playing around on a boring Saturday afternoon…

I don’t want anyone to say that I can’t make fun of myself…

…and here’s a tribute to my friend:

I picked out all the “failed”/funny photos from me and my friend’s trip around the South Island, and our stay in Wellington.

No offense intended! :-)

Coffee break

After a long morning of studying (OK, I made that sound worse than it actually was – I’ve been reading a detective novel for one of my courses. It was fun and work at the same time.), I finally have time for a break, consisting of afternoon coffee and a bite of chocolate. I’m not complaining.

An anecdote

I just remembered something. I was sitting on my bed just now, with a bowl of Cadbury ice cream in one hand and Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone in the other hand, listening to The All-American Rejects and thinking that I should close the curtains, because it’s dark outside now, and people can see in more easily. Realising this, I also realised that I often change clothes and/or get undressed in my room without closing the curtains first. My across-the-road neighbours must love me. But that’s not what I was planning on sharing. What I had in mind was something that just came back to me, which happened a couple of weeks ago.

Like some of you might know, I live at the top end of a long, steep road, and on the day I’m telling you about I was walking down the road to catch the bus into town. The road is lined by houses on both sides, which are mostly occupied by students. This day my walk down the road started out like any other day, I was listening to my iPod and minding my own business, when all of a sudden I looked up, turned my head to stare at the buildings on the right side of the road and saw, to my astonishment, about four people sitting on the roof of one of the highest houses. They were happily chatting away with each other, and when they saw me staring at them, they waved at me, and I waved back. To put it MLIA style: I still have no idea what they were doing sitting up on the roof, or how they got up there. I have not seem them up there since. Either way, it easily made my day.

Motivated

Sadly I’ve been feeling less than averagely motivated to read my course books lately, so to boost my love for reading and hopefully find some motivation, I went to a book shop today and bought Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone… I’m sitting here staring at it now, wondering if it was such a good idea after all. I know what’s going to happen when I start reading it. I won’t be able to put it down until I’ve finished it, and no more studying will have been done. But I say what the heck, I deserve to have fun and to find my inner child every now and then. Hogwarts – here I come.

10 Facts

…about Wellington.

1. It’s really not that windy here. Windy? Yes. Extremely? Nah.

2. There’s a saying in New Zealand that the further south you get the friendlier people become. This, as well as the city’s position on the North Island, has caused some people to claim that Wellingtonians are not that friendly. This is not true. Let’s face it, the entire country is rather far south, hence people all over the country are friendly.

3. The hills in Wellington are not that bad. Yes, there are some steep sections, but keep in mind that the steepest street in the world is located in Dunedin, not Wellington.

4. The airport. Yes, that’s right. It’s a scary location, and windy, but after several arrivals to it, and as many departures, I can with my hand on my heart say that I was only afraid that we were going to crash into the ocean once.

5. It might be nicknamed Wellywood, but I haven’t seen a single Hollywood movie star or film director yet.

6. There IS always something happening in Wellington. Seriously. Walk down the street, and you’ll find something for you.

7. Te Papa, the country’s national museum, which is located at the waterfront in Wellington, is actually THE coolest museum ever.

8. The city is famous for its high ratio of cafes/people, which is great for a coffee enthusiast like myself. So far, my favourite is Caffe Astoria in Lambton Quay (the fanciest area, I reckon).

9. It is really compact. I have walked from ‘corner to corner’ of the city several times, in one day. Great for shopping without having a car.

10. The buses DO run on time. Beat that!

Who killed the Easter Bunny?

Hello. I’m sorry I’ve been AWOL for so long. It’s not that I haven’t had the time to write anything, nor that nothing interesting has happened lately; on the contrary. If you know me even just a little bit, you should know that I work best under pressure, so when I had an hour to kill before a lecture at uni I would update my blog, but now that I’m on holiday and my schedule consists of doing nothing 24/7, I find it hard to get anything done.

So, last Wednesday, my second last day at uni before the holidays, I was invited to a party. It happened during my very last tutorial that week, and the girl who invited me was none other than the girl who knew Anette (see earlier post; ‘Surprise, surprise’). The party was the day after, at Natasha’s flat (she lives with 8 other people, so many of their friends would also be there). Luckily I felt really social and happy on Thursday, so I walked to the place feeling confident and slightly tipsy, thanks to the alcohol I’d already consumed. At the party I was thrown right into a dance with three other girls, to Beyoncé’s ‘Single Ladies’. I then proceeded to talk to several other people, both male and female, a rat called Bosh and a cat which name I didn’t quite catch. I met a guy with a ukulele, who let me hold it and play a few random notes, talked to an awesome dude about Supernatural in the crowded back yard, stood in the toilet queue without having to use the loo but talked to more people and let them go before me to the toilet, did a bit of DJ-ing in the dance room and danced with some of the guys, before I decided to head home. Oh, and I got a phone number, written down on a piece of paper, tucked into my hand as I was leaving. *Melt*. I also made some new facebook friends, which makes me feel good.

The next day was less of a blessing. I got out of bed about three times that day, only to use the toilet or to get some food/drink. Not only did I have the sorest back in the history of sore backs (from carrying four bags of heavy groceries home on Thursday morning), but yeah, there was a hangover. A wine hangover, which is by far the worst kind of hangover as far as I know.

On Saturday morning I felt almost even more sorry for myself. There was no easter egg or easter breakfast waiting for me (I’m not even sure it was the right day for it?), so I cooked a simple breakfast with eggs on toast, and ate some Cadbury milk chocolate. Then I went into town, where I spent too much money (on stuff that I actually need, mind you). I got a new pair of shoes, a thin jacket, a late birthday present for my mum and some folders to keep my uni notes in. And yeah, I bought a small bag of Cadbury Chocolate Eggs, with a caramel filling, to make up for the lack of a traditional easter egg. Way to spend Easter Day or whatever it’s called.

Since Saturday I’ve just been chilling, watching movies at home, reading ‘The Turn of the Screw’ (which I’d decided I wouldn’t allow myself to be scared of, but it’s impossible not to), trying to get used to having another woman staying at the flat (my flatmate’s girlfriend, I assume, arrived from Hong Kong on Sunday or Monday, and she’s staying here for two weeks), and just attempting to stay away from the shops, to avoid spending more money.

I managed to get round to doing some sit-ups and other exercises two days ago, and I kept up the good habit yesterday, so I’m determined to do it today as well. I need to get some abs going.

 

That will do, bitches. I’m going AWOL again.