Who says we haven't progressed in recent years? I write this now on the keypad of my Android phone 10,000 ft in the air on a plane somewhere between Denver and Detroit... judging by the vast nothingness below, I'd guess Kansas or Iowa. A kid is happily yelling and kicking away at my seat, and I paid a ridiculous amount to check my bag in order to get all of the gifts I told people not to get me (I'm grateful regardless) back to Michigan.
Another year is coming to a close, another Christmas passed... though this year it didn't really feel like Christmas, it just felt like hectic family time. I guess it's a good thing that anytime I come home, it's like I never left. It's weird to think. That someday we'll likely all be married and will start staying home with our own families rather than go to the parents. I think my dad will lose his mind when that day comes, I'm not sure he knows how to function on his own at times. It's nice to get to go back though and spend time with everyone, get away for a bit. I know the minute I step outside of the airport in Michigan, I'll be missing the wonky Colorado weather... 60 deg in December, with feet of snow in the mountains!
However, I've also realized that Michigan finally feels kind of like home. I'm looking forward to getting to my apartment, walking through the door where my cat will be waiting excited to see me, sleeping in my own bed, and setting my own schedule. It's like I've grown up or something! I never thought that would happen. Christina and I have had conversations about when it is that we really become adults, partly because we were trying to avoid admitting that we might be. Is it when you get your own place? Start a full time job/career? Get married? Have a kid? Own a storage unit? We never came to any conclusion other than that we weren't there yet, but more and more it feels like I'm grownup, and that's not such a bad thing.
Its not going to stop me from doing stupid things like tying a satellite dish to the back of a truck and sledding in it though...
Sunday, December 26, 2010
Saturday, December 25, 2010
Ski Day
Last day of my Christmas trip to Colorado, also Christmas Day. My dad, brother and I decided it was the perfect day to go skiing as there would be no one on the slopes, which was true. It turned out to be a gorgeous day - perfect weather, good runs, few people.
My dads knees have started getting bad as he gets older, so he tends to quit early on us when we ski now. But not before we accidently took him down a black diamond run after lunch. Woops. He gave up after that run, leaving Colin and I to ourselves. Colin suggested using the time to practice on harder slopes since we don't care if we look like idiots in front of each other. And then he suggested we try a small area of moguls to practice. He led us to an area that last year I accidently sent him and Dad down when they were misdirected (I said stay right. I didn't mean as far right as they stayed...). We got to the area, and found that it had no moguls this year. Colin pointed to the right and suggested we go on the moguls on the next run over. Awesome idea!
So we started down, and quickly realized we have no idea how to ski moguls and suck at life. But it was good practice regardless of us falling nearly every time we turned a mogul. We got to one especially steep part, and I chose to go first. I missed the turn and started rolling down the mountain, flopping around 50 ft before being able to stop myself. Colin was cracking up like none other, and I had snow down my pants. A little further down, Colin followed my example and yardsaled hardcore. His pole was left above him, and his ski triied skiing away without him, stopping about 20 yards away on the edge of the tree line, almost lost forever. He then did it again 5 minutes later, losing one pole above him and bending the other one. He was flailed out and couldn't get himself together enough to retrieve the lost pole, so I had to take off my skis and hike the 20 ft incline. During this tiime, two guys skiing past stopped and asked if we were ok, and after assuring them we were only having pole issues, they skiied off. We must have looked like a mess though because they stopped within visual and watched us for 10 minutes while we continued to look like we had no idea what we were doing.
We got down far enough that they moved on, and we found a cut through in the trees that we elected tp take in hopes it'd lead to a less mogul-y run. It didn't, the next one over was even worse. BUT we crossed that one and cut through the trees and finally found the traverse to make it back to the lift we wanted to get to. Turns out we went to the furthest run in the resort, which led to a small lift that at the time we weren't sure where it went (turns out it dropped you off just below the other lift and may have been faster at the point we were at). The traverse had a long flat spot, and we basically had to cross-country ski part of it. Colin got tired of this and chose to take off his skis to walk...and his leg went all the way through the powdery snow. He called out to me and said he didn't know if he could get out without help, and I, 20 yards ahead, told him there was no way I was going back to help him. After using his poles as picks to pull himself out, we finally made it back an hour after starting the run. Runs normally take us 10 minutes. My whole body hurt from the experience.
I am never listening to Colin again.
My dads knees have started getting bad as he gets older, so he tends to quit early on us when we ski now. But not before we accidently took him down a black diamond run after lunch. Woops. He gave up after that run, leaving Colin and I to ourselves. Colin suggested using the time to practice on harder slopes since we don't care if we look like idiots in front of each other. And then he suggested we try a small area of moguls to practice. He led us to an area that last year I accidently sent him and Dad down when they were misdirected (I said stay right. I didn't mean as far right as they stayed...). We got to the area, and found that it had no moguls this year. Colin pointed to the right and suggested we go on the moguls on the next run over. Awesome idea!
So we started down, and quickly realized we have no idea how to ski moguls and suck at life. But it was good practice regardless of us falling nearly every time we turned a mogul. We got to one especially steep part, and I chose to go first. I missed the turn and started rolling down the mountain, flopping around 50 ft before being able to stop myself. Colin was cracking up like none other, and I had snow down my pants. A little further down, Colin followed my example and yardsaled hardcore. His pole was left above him, and his ski triied skiing away without him, stopping about 20 yards away on the edge of the tree line, almost lost forever. He then did it again 5 minutes later, losing one pole above him and bending the other one. He was flailed out and couldn't get himself together enough to retrieve the lost pole, so I had to take off my skis and hike the 20 ft incline. During this tiime, two guys skiing past stopped and asked if we were ok, and after assuring them we were only having pole issues, they skiied off. We must have looked like a mess though because they stopped within visual and watched us for 10 minutes while we continued to look like we had no idea what we were doing.
We got down far enough that they moved on, and we found a cut through in the trees that we elected tp take in hopes it'd lead to a less mogul-y run. It didn't, the next one over was even worse. BUT we crossed that one and cut through the trees and finally found the traverse to make it back to the lift we wanted to get to. Turns out we went to the furthest run in the resort, which led to a small lift that at the time we weren't sure where it went (turns out it dropped you off just below the other lift and may have been faster at the point we were at). The traverse had a long flat spot, and we basically had to cross-country ski part of it. Colin got tired of this and chose to take off his skis to walk...and his leg went all the way through the powdery snow. He called out to me and said he didn't know if he could get out without help, and I, 20 yards ahead, told him there was no way I was going back to help him. After using his poles as picks to pull himself out, we finally made it back an hour after starting the run. Runs normally take us 10 minutes. My whole body hurt from the experience.
I am never listening to Colin again.
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
NaNoFail
So I effectively failed my non-existent November writing month goal. Even challenging myself and committing to writing four blog posts proved to be too much for my little uncreative mind. In part because I did not take time to sit down and think up ideas and actually get something written out. And in part because oftentimes the things that I consider writing about or are on my mind are things I don’t care to share with the unfaithful mistress that is the internet. Plus, I never stop to consider that maybe someone would find it mildly entertaining that there are times when I sit around in a room and consider what I would do if a ceiling tile were to fall on me or that I have an elaborate plan of what I would do in case someone broke into my apartment to steal me that is so much better than that of the silly girls in Taken. Seems a little crazy to me to be sharing with others.
Anyway, its end/beginning of month, which is always crazy at work, amplified when you have full days of training. They’re trying to convince me I’m a leader and therefore need to go through training on how to better equip my employees and convince them of all the happy corporate mumbo jumbo that they’ve tried to infiltrate my mind with. Unfortunately for them, my mind is so full of all of the things I have yet to finish at work, I shan’t have room for corporate silliness. This was just an excuse for a quick break… now I must run and finish to-do lists. And maybe try to talk Loki into giving me a back massage.
Anyway, its end/beginning of month, which is always crazy at work, amplified when you have full days of training. They’re trying to convince me I’m a leader and therefore need to go through training on how to better equip my employees and convince them of all the happy corporate mumbo jumbo that they’ve tried to infiltrate my mind with. Unfortunately for them, my mind is so full of all of the things I have yet to finish at work, I shan’t have room for corporate silliness. This was just an excuse for a quick break… now I must run and finish to-do lists. And maybe try to talk Loki into giving me a back massage.
Sunday, November 14, 2010
Head Conversations
I’m always amazed at how easy it is for my subconscious to go a bit wild and convince me of things. A thought, an idea planted beneath becomes an obsession deeply rooted. It’s like watching a really stupid horror movie that’s laughable because you know that if they *really* wanted to get away from all of those scary apparitions, all they had to do was walk away from the freaking mirrors and never go back to that house. Yet then you find yourself having dreams of strangers that broke into your house, and when you wake up you’re convinced it really happened and you’re not alone in your home. And cats don’t make good guard dogs.
I’m awake at this moment because of this. Yeah, it’s only 8:30, but after a weekend of doing nothing but errands, I was tired out by 7pm and decided to drop myself into bed early. My mind didn’t agree unfortunately. I think I came up with every bad scenario possible for various situations, had a million made up conversations in my head, and after getting my half awake self worked up starting to think it was all true, I decided I needed to get up and eat Qdoba. Best way to fix a made up problem.
How is it so easy to let our subconscious run so wild? Maybe because we want to get ourselves to believe something, get us psyched up so it’s easier to deal with situations if we’ve already talked through the worst case we can imagine. And because I'm a notorious planner that has a horrible habit of thinking something out in it's entirety before it happens, my mind seems to take this to the extreme. I’m not sure I ever talked myself through passing out in front of a recruiter or throwing up on the guy I liked though. My subconscious was a little behind on that boat.
I’ll admit, it has helped me work up the nerve to get through certain situations that scared the bejebus out of me. Or gotten me ready to have hard conversations that I wanted to avoid (ok, so maybe some of them I still avoided regardless…). But currently, I would be preferring sleep. I’m pretty sure Waffles would too, the way he’s giving me angry groggy eyes for turning on the light without warning him. Loki just wants to play fetch with the Reeses I snuck (does it count as sneaking when no one else is around or cares? Well, I was trying to sneak it without Loki noticing, but nay I say…). So hopefully spending time writing this down (for the first time in a long time… 1 down, 3 to go for the month!) means it’ll shut up and I can sleep in peace.
See you at the aftermath, peace...but not literally...
I’m awake at this moment because of this. Yeah, it’s only 8:30, but after a weekend of doing nothing but errands, I was tired out by 7pm and decided to drop myself into bed early. My mind didn’t agree unfortunately. I think I came up with every bad scenario possible for various situations, had a million made up conversations in my head, and after getting my half awake self worked up starting to think it was all true, I decided I needed to get up and eat Qdoba. Best way to fix a made up problem.
How is it so easy to let our subconscious run so wild? Maybe because we want to get ourselves to believe something, get us psyched up so it’s easier to deal with situations if we’ve already talked through the worst case we can imagine. And because I'm a notorious planner that has a horrible habit of thinking something out in it's entirety before it happens, my mind seems to take this to the extreme. I’m not sure I ever talked myself through passing out in front of a recruiter or throwing up on the guy I liked though. My subconscious was a little behind on that boat.
I’ll admit, it has helped me work up the nerve to get through certain situations that scared the bejebus out of me. Or gotten me ready to have hard conversations that I wanted to avoid (ok, so maybe some of them I still avoided regardless…). But currently, I would be preferring sleep. I’m pretty sure Waffles would too, the way he’s giving me angry groggy eyes for turning on the light without warning him. Loki just wants to play fetch with the Reeses I snuck (does it count as sneaking when no one else is around or cares? Well, I was trying to sneak it without Loki noticing, but nay I say…). So hopefully spending time writing this down (for the first time in a long time… 1 down, 3 to go for the month!) means it’ll shut up and I can sleep in peace.
See you at the aftermath, peace...but not literally...
Monday, June 21, 2010
Wedding Planning: A Family Event
I have been talking about this for several months now (read: since last September. Amy reminded me that I had spoken to her about it when I visited her in Columbia), so although many know about the horrors that are wedding planning for my sister, it well deserves it’s own post.
First of all, I think wedding planning in itself is ridiculous. $20,000 on the low end for a single day of entertaining people? Being in debt to entertain others and impress them doesn’t sound like the best way to start off your new life together as one. That is beside the point though; weddings are supposed to be an opportunity to celebrate with family and friends a union that should last a lifetime, something very worth celebration. Thusly, if you’re going to bring them all out to celebrate, a little planning is not too much to ask for. Unless you’re asking my sister.
My sister has never been the most responsible person. I’m not sure if it’s the youngest child syndrome or that perhaps I got the over-planning genes and therefore there were none left for her when she popped out 3 years later. She flies free like the wind, which has often meant disappearing without notice, getting a cat and then promptly giving it to my mother, and dating and breaking up with guys who then break into my old car and steal my birthday stereo that I passed on to her.
Now translate this “free spirit” to fit wedding planning. It doesn’t work. I even gave her the “Anti-Bride Wedding Guide”. I’m not sure she ever opened it…
The wedding is this Saturday. Let’s review how things have been going up to this point:
-The fiancé proposed. With a real ring!
+2 wedding points
-She picked out a wedding dress and got it ordered in December.
+1 wedding point
-She picked a location by January.
+1 wedding point
-She didn’t reserve said location. My dad realized this and had to remedy it in March.
-1 wedding point
-She got a wedding cake picked out and on order in March with the mother’s prompting. We’ll give it to her.
+1 wedding point
-She didn’t order flowers until last week. She also told them that price was no object (to her it wasn’t… my dad, who is paying for them, highly disagreed!).
-2 wedding points
-She changed the entire color of the wedding last minute last week, including the flower colors and bridesmaid dresses, from Navy Blue to Royal Purple.
-1 wedding point
-Luckily, she had not yet picked out bridesmaid dresses, the changing the color was not an issue. The issue was that her choices had ranged from juniors sizes to Mother of the Bride dresses to fabrics that were definitely going to ensure she was the only good looking girl standing in the wedding!
-1 wedding point (or is it a plus for her??)
-After sending out a link to the new purple bridesmaid dress she picked out, I made sure to let her know I didn’t care for the dress, but ordered it anyway because that’s what she really wanted. It then came in the mail, was tried on, and found to need much work to be wearable….
-1 wedding point
-While having Christina try and help me make the dress work yesterday, I was talking to my sister, and she told me that the other two bridesmaids didn’t like the dress either, so she let them order a different one, figuring it would mean I would stand out with a different dress as the Maid of Honor. Yes, I will stand out as the only one with a retarded dress on!!
-10 wedding points (personal bias)
-The groomsmen, which includes my brother, ordered tuxes, but were given no direction by the groom except that he insists on no tie or bowties, which apparently looks ridiculous. I guess the groom doesn’t have to worry about anyone standing looking better than him either…
-1 wedding point
-They completed a registry and sent out invitation a month ago.
+2 wedding points
-She sent invites to friends first, thus didn’t have enough for family, didn’t invite the entire family, and didn’t keep track of who she DID invite!
-2 wedding points
-She also did not keep track of RSVPs and who would actually be attending, so we have no idea who is actually coming and my dad has no idea what number to tell the caterer.
-1 wedding point
-I was one of the people that did NOT receive an invite. Minor since I’m in the wedding, except until last week, I didn’t know what time the wedding was at or where they were registered at. This made it hard to include information for the bridal shower, though that was already delayed due to the fact that I didn’t want to send invites to people who hadn’t even been invited to the wedding!!
-2 wedding points
-I actually got a list of girls she wanted at the bachelorette party.
+1 wedding point
-She told me to Facebook them, but didn’t give last names. Told me I could figure it out from her Facebook… she also insisted that she wanted a wild drinking night (which was a fight in itself) even though she wanted her underage friend and pregnant friend to be joining us…
-2 wedding points
-She was supposed to have all of her stuff out of my dad’s house two weeks ago so that he could prepare for family coming. She did nothing.
-1 wedding point
-After many threats, Colin took initiative and took anything she left behind to Good Will last week. She has yet to say anything (likely because she’s been staying with my mom and hasn’t been to Dad’s yet…). Problem solved, whether it was by her or not.
+1 wedding point
-With all of these frustations, I have had no shortage of prayer requests
+1 wedding point
-Ending on a good note, I get to go to Colorado, family will be gathering, good food will be eaten, and based on Jesus’s example, wine will flow freely. Wedding or not, poor planning aside, a good time should be had as long as we can make it through the rest of the week without killing my dear younger sister! (Thanks to my dad for putting some perspective on my frustrations)
+15 wedding points
Current Wedding Point Running Total: 0
...it could go either way.... ;)
First of all, I think wedding planning in itself is ridiculous. $20,000 on the low end for a single day of entertaining people? Being in debt to entertain others and impress them doesn’t sound like the best way to start off your new life together as one. That is beside the point though; weddings are supposed to be an opportunity to celebrate with family and friends a union that should last a lifetime, something very worth celebration. Thusly, if you’re going to bring them all out to celebrate, a little planning is not too much to ask for. Unless you’re asking my sister.
My sister has never been the most responsible person. I’m not sure if it’s the youngest child syndrome or that perhaps I got the over-planning genes and therefore there were none left for her when she popped out 3 years later. She flies free like the wind, which has often meant disappearing without notice, getting a cat and then promptly giving it to my mother, and dating and breaking up with guys who then break into my old car and steal my birthday stereo that I passed on to her.
Now translate this “free spirit” to fit wedding planning. It doesn’t work. I even gave her the “Anti-Bride Wedding Guide”. I’m not sure she ever opened it…
The wedding is this Saturday. Let’s review how things have been going up to this point:
-The fiancé proposed. With a real ring!
+2 wedding points
-She picked out a wedding dress and got it ordered in December.
+1 wedding point
-She picked a location by January.
+1 wedding point
-She didn’t reserve said location. My dad realized this and had to remedy it in March.
-1 wedding point
-She got a wedding cake picked out and on order in March with the mother’s prompting. We’ll give it to her.
+1 wedding point
-She didn’t order flowers until last week. She also told them that price was no object (to her it wasn’t… my dad, who is paying for them, highly disagreed!).
-2 wedding points
-She changed the entire color of the wedding last minute last week, including the flower colors and bridesmaid dresses, from Navy Blue to Royal Purple.
-1 wedding point
-Luckily, she had not yet picked out bridesmaid dresses, the changing the color was not an issue. The issue was that her choices had ranged from juniors sizes to Mother of the Bride dresses to fabrics that were definitely going to ensure she was the only good looking girl standing in the wedding!
-1 wedding point (or is it a plus for her??)
-After sending out a link to the new purple bridesmaid dress she picked out, I made sure to let her know I didn’t care for the dress, but ordered it anyway because that’s what she really wanted. It then came in the mail, was tried on, and found to need much work to be wearable….
-1 wedding point
-While having Christina try and help me make the dress work yesterday, I was talking to my sister, and she told me that the other two bridesmaids didn’t like the dress either, so she let them order a different one, figuring it would mean I would stand out with a different dress as the Maid of Honor. Yes, I will stand out as the only one with a retarded dress on!!
-10 wedding points (personal bias)
-The groomsmen, which includes my brother, ordered tuxes, but were given no direction by the groom except that he insists on no tie or bowties, which apparently looks ridiculous. I guess the groom doesn’t have to worry about anyone standing looking better than him either…
-1 wedding point
-They completed a registry and sent out invitation a month ago.
+2 wedding points
-She sent invites to friends first, thus didn’t have enough for family, didn’t invite the entire family, and didn’t keep track of who she DID invite!
-2 wedding points
-She also did not keep track of RSVPs and who would actually be attending, so we have no idea who is actually coming and my dad has no idea what number to tell the caterer.
-1 wedding point
-I was one of the people that did NOT receive an invite. Minor since I’m in the wedding, except until last week, I didn’t know what time the wedding was at or where they were registered at. This made it hard to include information for the bridal shower, though that was already delayed due to the fact that I didn’t want to send invites to people who hadn’t even been invited to the wedding!!
-2 wedding points
-I actually got a list of girls she wanted at the bachelorette party.
+1 wedding point
-She told me to Facebook them, but didn’t give last names. Told me I could figure it out from her Facebook… she also insisted that she wanted a wild drinking night (which was a fight in itself) even though she wanted her underage friend and pregnant friend to be joining us…
-2 wedding points
-She was supposed to have all of her stuff out of my dad’s house two weeks ago so that he could prepare for family coming. She did nothing.
-1 wedding point
-After many threats, Colin took initiative and took anything she left behind to Good Will last week. She has yet to say anything (likely because she’s been staying with my mom and hasn’t been to Dad’s yet…). Problem solved, whether it was by her or not.
+1 wedding point
-With all of these frustations, I have had no shortage of prayer requests
+1 wedding point
-Ending on a good note, I get to go to Colorado, family will be gathering, good food will be eaten, and based on Jesus’s example, wine will flow freely. Wedding or not, poor planning aside, a good time should be had as long as we can make it through the rest of the week without killing my dear younger sister! (Thanks to my dad for putting some perspective on my frustrations)
+15 wedding points
Current Wedding Point Running Total: 0
...it could go either way.... ;)
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
I <'3 U
This is awesome enough that I found it worthy to be shared (because I'm a big fat nerd!):
9x - 7i > 3 (3x-7u)
Solve for i
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
An [Irreverent] Analysis of Super Powers
A friend asked me the other day that if I could have a super power, would I rather have the ability to fly or to be invisible. I’ve had this asked several times before, and I’m pretty sure I’ve changed my answer each time I’ve been asked. To be able to fly means you don’t have to worry about modes of transportation the same way everyone else does, yet to be invisible means you can avoid that ex that keeps stalking you down the “International” aisle at the grocery store. However, if your flying is limited and you can’t go faster than a speeding bullet like Superman, flying wouldn’t be nearly as useful. Might as well just pay Delta to take you to Singapore if it’s going to take you a couple days to make it there… at least they’ll feed you peanuts on the 16 hour flight. And being invisible is really only useful for sneaky or malicious reasons, like stealing or listening in to conversations you’re not meant to hear, not a very respectable superpower.
How about some of the other known super powers? You have superhuman strength1; however, that seemed to come along with some nasty color side effects. X-ray vision2…but who really wants to see that? Shape shifting3 actually seems pretty useful, like playing Spy in Team Fortress 2, until you’re standing next to the person you’ve shape shifted into and they realize you’re a fraud and shoot you.
You have the tele’s: telekinesis4, telepathy5, teleportation6…technopathy7? I’m pretty sure I’m as technically pathetic as I need to be, adding to that would not make me any more super. To be able to control things with your mind would be unbelievably useful when you’re sitting around watching episodes of Big Bang Theory and don’t want to have to move to go get a big bowl of Samoas ice cream and haven’t yet figured out how to train your cat to get it for you without getting fur in it… just make the ice cream scoop itself. Edward proved that reading minds just turns you into a stalker, especially when there’s some horrible actress out there whose mind you can’t read, causing you to fall into ridiculous infatuation. Teleportation does pretty much kick flying’s butt in regards to travel, although the ride there doesn’t seem like it’d be nearly as relaxing as riding the sky.
Body part substitution8 leaves you with three hands and a tail. Superhuman breath9 is not something you want to wake up to in the morning. Power augmentation10 is for sidekicks (but we still love you Ando!). Intuitive aptitude11 means you can understand something without having to learn it, which is what made Sylar so hardcore and the only thing that made Heroes worth watching past the first season…however, it also made for a villian since the need to gain knowledge takes the person over completely.
In addition, since I wasn’t born with a super power, in order to obtain one at this point in my life would mean that I would need to be in a nuclear accident or go eat some of the herbicides I’m brewing… and really, that’s just deforming. Do I really want to go through all the reconstructive surgery and/or know that guys are only interested in me because of my super power, not because of my looks, for the rest of my life? I just don’t think I’m willing to commit to that. And I’m far too lazy to seek out a mad scientist…so I’m going to stick to my own personal super powers that I already possess. Procrastination and short term memory loss. When was I going to end this post?
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
If you want to read up on some ridiculous list of many of the superpowers that have been used in fiction, Wikipedia is always a reliable, highly credible source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_superhuman_features_and_abilities_in_fiction
And unfortunately, I’m sure www.superpowerlist.com *would* be a great resource, except it was hacked into and destroyed by Russians. That’s what you get for being a sidekick…
1.Hulk
2. Peepers aka Peter Quinn
3. Mystique
4. Jean Grey
5. Piccolo from DBZ, Edward Cullen (brooding vamp extraordinaire)
6. Nightcrawler
7. Micah (Heroes)
8. Terror
9. Superman
10. Ando (Heroes)
11. Sylar! (Heroes)
Thursday, April 22, 2010
Chasing Daylight... and about a million other things.
Everyone has been blogging a plethora of posts this week, which has been wonderful in keeping me amused when I need a break, especially since there was a two month drought on blog posts from others... however, K.F. indicated that this meant *I* was supposed to post as well. I pride myself in being a non-conformist... except I'm too lazy to fight the power usually, so I give in to the currently Boston-bound roomie.
Last weekend took Kelsey Face, Joe Jitsu, Mona, and I to Chicago for the Dow Run for Water 6K run. Really, the run was just an excuse to spend a weekend in Chicago with friends, as I often tend to put trips off if I don't have a solid reason to commit myself. I got the chance to spend some good times with my Irish counterpart, ate some yummy Thai food, saw the sights, and even got to go country dancing for the first time in forever! Which pretty much made me very much miss living closer to a city like I did in college. Chicago wasn't nearly as big bad as my mind imagined it would be... this might have been partly due to the fact that my only past experiences have been dealing with traffic during rush hours and lots of toll booths, which I didn't have to deal with at all this trip. AND we were able to run the entire 6k run this time, blister-free! We didn't have incredible run times, but we did run the whole thing, which I didn't think was going to happen since Irish had spent two weeks telling us there's no way she'd make it... lies! Now that I can finally do it, I don't want to lose it, regardless of my hate for generic running. I mean, there's no point to running, no goal besides ending up at the same spot you started. Why did you even bother leaving that spot?? How in the world do marathon runners not pass out from sheer boredom of doing nothing but running for hours?? That must be the ADD kicking in for me...
This last statement just distracted me and led me to call my brother and have a conversation about our horrible horrible attention spans. This post is a very good example... I started this earlier today during lunch, but didn't get past the first sentence because other things, like mapping running routes on google maps, were more important. Once I got home, I grabbed whatever was in the fridge for dinner and came back to continue the post. Instead, I got distracted by an episode of Arrested Development that included male stripper cops and the lesson that you should never teach people lessons. I then decided to do some cleaning, with the goal in mind that I'd focus on the kitchen tonight. I washed the dishes, got bored, and started for the bathroom. Cleaned the sink, got bored, cleared off the coffee table. Back to the kitchen, instantly bored, decided music was needed for the task at hand. I then got distracted organizing my music since it was all reset on the new computer. This then led to me wanting to spend some time practicing the guitar chords I've been learning... and since Face is out for the weekend, I figured I'd take a shot at pulling it all together myself and learning a song. That went disasterously for a while... I could do it slow, but not to the beat it was actually supposed to be at. Frustrated, and it already being 8pm, I decided it was time to chase some daylight and go for a run for the first time since the 6k on Sunday. You see, my legs have not stopped aching with a dull pain for weeks now, and I figured it was probably from the strain of forcing them to continue even when they didn't want to, so I thought I'd give them a few days now that the run is behind me. Noooo, the pain never went away! We had a conversation/fight the entire time. It went something along the lines of the following:
CO: "Left... Left... Left..."
Leg 1: "Sarah, why do you hate us so?"
Leg 2: "Yeah Sarah, why do you hate us?"
CO: "Shut up and keep running or we'll never make it home for pie! I promised you strawberry rhubarb, what more do you want from me??"
Leg 2: "Charlieeee...woops, I mean, Sarahhhhhhhh"
CO: "God only needed 1 day of rest, you guys got almost 4x that and you STILL think you can complain??!"
Leg 1: "Shun the abuser!"
Leg 2: "Shunnnnnnnn"
CO: "We're at a freaking baseball game! Get me a mountain dew!! Wait, that's not right..."
Leg 1: "You suck at guitar!"
CO: "I thought we agreed we were NOT going to speak about this again!! And what does that have to do with running anyway? Stop getting in my head! That's it, you're totally not getting your toenails painted tonight."
Legs: "Nooooo!"
Upon arrival at home, I kept my promise and downed some rhubarb yumminess, came back and wrote two more sentences for my post, and then got distracted with my frustration about the guitar and went after it again. AND GOT IT. Maybe not perfect, but enough so that I felt a little more at ease about my less than adequate skills. And I'm pretty sure all of my neighbors hate me. Good thing I keep my door locked at all times.
So now I suppose I'm back here once again, telling my computer about my Chicago trip. Yeah, it was sweet; 'nuff said.
So if you see me sprawled out on the side of the road, it's because my legs finally won. Don't worry... I'll get them back for it.
Last weekend took Kelsey Face, Joe Jitsu, Mona, and I to Chicago for the Dow Run for Water 6K run. Really, the run was just an excuse to spend a weekend in Chicago with friends, as I often tend to put trips off if I don't have a solid reason to commit myself. I got the chance to spend some good times with my Irish counterpart, ate some yummy Thai food, saw the sights, and even got to go country dancing for the first time in forever! Which pretty much made me very much miss living closer to a city like I did in college. Chicago wasn't nearly as big bad as my mind imagined it would be... this might have been partly due to the fact that my only past experiences have been dealing with traffic during rush hours and lots of toll booths, which I didn't have to deal with at all this trip. AND we were able to run the entire 6k run this time, blister-free! We didn't have incredible run times, but we did run the whole thing, which I didn't think was going to happen since Irish had spent two weeks telling us there's no way she'd make it... lies! Now that I can finally do it, I don't want to lose it, regardless of my hate for generic running. I mean, there's no point to running, no goal besides ending up at the same spot you started. Why did you even bother leaving that spot?? How in the world do marathon runners not pass out from sheer boredom of doing nothing but running for hours?? That must be the ADD kicking in for me...
This last statement just distracted me and led me to call my brother and have a conversation about our horrible horrible attention spans. This post is a very good example... I started this earlier today during lunch, but didn't get past the first sentence because other things, like mapping running routes on google maps, were more important. Once I got home, I grabbed whatever was in the fridge for dinner and came back to continue the post. Instead, I got distracted by an episode of Arrested Development that included male stripper cops and the lesson that you should never teach people lessons. I then decided to do some cleaning, with the goal in mind that I'd focus on the kitchen tonight. I washed the dishes, got bored, and started for the bathroom. Cleaned the sink, got bored, cleared off the coffee table. Back to the kitchen, instantly bored, decided music was needed for the task at hand. I then got distracted organizing my music since it was all reset on the new computer. This then led to me wanting to spend some time practicing the guitar chords I've been learning... and since Face is out for the weekend, I figured I'd take a shot at pulling it all together myself and learning a song. That went disasterously for a while... I could do it slow, but not to the beat it was actually supposed to be at. Frustrated, and it already being 8pm, I decided it was time to chase some daylight and go for a run for the first time since the 6k on Sunday. You see, my legs have not stopped aching with a dull pain for weeks now, and I figured it was probably from the strain of forcing them to continue even when they didn't want to, so I thought I'd give them a few days now that the run is behind me. Noooo, the pain never went away! We had a conversation/fight the entire time. It went something along the lines of the following:
CO: "Left... Left... Left..."
Leg 1: "Sarah, why do you hate us so?"
Leg 2: "Yeah Sarah, why do you hate us?"
CO: "Shut up and keep running or we'll never make it home for pie! I promised you strawberry rhubarb, what more do you want from me??"
Leg 2: "Charlieeee...woops, I mean, Sarahhhhhhhh"
CO: "God only needed 1 day of rest, you guys got almost 4x that and you STILL think you can complain??!"
Leg 1: "Shun the abuser!"
Leg 2: "Shunnnnnnnn"
CO: "We're at a freaking baseball game! Get me a mountain dew!! Wait, that's not right..."
Leg 1: "You suck at guitar!"
CO: "I thought we agreed we were NOT going to speak about this again!! And what does that have to do with running anyway? Stop getting in my head! That's it, you're totally not getting your toenails painted tonight."
Legs: "Nooooo!"
Upon arrival at home, I kept my promise and downed some rhubarb yumminess, came back and wrote two more sentences for my post, and then got distracted with my frustration about the guitar and went after it again. AND GOT IT. Maybe not perfect, but enough so that I felt a little more at ease about my less than adequate skills. And I'm pretty sure all of my neighbors hate me. Good thing I keep my door locked at all times.
So now I suppose I'm back here once again, telling my computer about my Chicago trip. Yeah, it was sweet; 'nuff said.
So if you see me sprawled out on the side of the road, it's because my legs finally won. Don't worry... I'll get them back for it.
Ultimate Power Song of Choice: "The River" by Good Charlotte w/ M. Shadows and Synyster Gates
Monday, April 5, 2010
Ebbs and Flows
As spring kicks in and the weather gets better, I'm finding that my weekly planned activities all seem to be winding down quickly. I've come to realize this is very seasonal... I seem to go through the same thing every spring and fall. Every time, I wonder what in the world I will do with everything coming to an end, but I have yet to have a time where I actually felt like I needed to find new activities to fill my time as it naturally gets filled once again.
Currently, volleyball, wallyball, and my womens bible study will all come to an end in the next two weeks, opening up 3 of my 5 weeknights. However, based on past experience, those will likely soon be replaced with a different bible study, tennis, softball, and beach volleyball. Plus Christina and I have been discussing joining a noob golf league to learn how to play yet another sport. Mario is skipping town, and thus the Cowboy Bebop nights that have filled my empty time lately have come to an end; however, Kelsey Face just ordered all three seasons of Arrested Development, so a new show addiction will take the place of the beboping.
Oh yes, and we will finally complete our 6k run in Chicago two weekends from now, which we have been attempting to train for for months now. Joe asked me if I felt like I'd accomplished what I wanted to with the training for the run. My answer: no, because I still hate running. I even tried to spice things up by running with Christina's dog this weekend, which turned out even worse as she tried dragging me the whole way, and my right leg is now sore and killing me from the effort of constantly pulling her to slow down. Overall, I'd much rather be doing interactive sports or doing a circuit or at the very least be on a treadmill where I can read a book or watch a movie and be distracted from the mundane task. So I'll replace it with some other sort of workout... at least until next year when I've had enough time to once again forget my dislike and force Kelsey to once again sign up for another run ha.
The moral of this story is that life ebbs and flows, things may go, but new things will always take their place. Oh, and never leave things in the fridge.
See you space cowboy....
Currently, volleyball, wallyball, and my womens bible study will all come to an end in the next two weeks, opening up 3 of my 5 weeknights. However, based on past experience, those will likely soon be replaced with a different bible study, tennis, softball, and beach volleyball. Plus Christina and I have been discussing joining a noob golf league to learn how to play yet another sport. Mario is skipping town, and thus the Cowboy Bebop nights that have filled my empty time lately have come to an end; however, Kelsey Face just ordered all three seasons of Arrested Development, so a new show addiction will take the place of the beboping.
Oh yes, and we will finally complete our 6k run in Chicago two weekends from now, which we have been attempting to train for for months now. Joe asked me if I felt like I'd accomplished what I wanted to with the training for the run. My answer: no, because I still hate running. I even tried to spice things up by running with Christina's dog this weekend, which turned out even worse as she tried dragging me the whole way, and my right leg is now sore and killing me from the effort of constantly pulling her to slow down. Overall, I'd much rather be doing interactive sports or doing a circuit or at the very least be on a treadmill where I can read a book or watch a movie and be distracted from the mundane task. So I'll replace it with some other sort of workout... at least until next year when I've had enough time to once again forget my dislike and force Kelsey to once again sign up for another run ha.
The moral of this story is that life ebbs and flows, things may go, but new things will always take their place. Oh, and never leave things in the fridge.
See you space cowboy....
Monday, March 22, 2010
Lost Communication
There was a day last week where I sat at my desk at work, chugging away at whatever it is I do at work, when I thought of something so hilarious it simply had to be shared with a friend... and I realized I had no one to share my hilariousness with.
We have Microsoft Communicator at work, a form of work-approved IM between other coworkers. This has also served well as my outlet and break from work to keep me sane in the face of the daily grind insanities. However, it seems the people that I most often communicate with have seemed to dwindled....the Scoobies have dwindled down to Sam and I over the past year, J to the M left for Africa, and M and I had been outlets for each other since the day I started work, and last week Mario was officially gone. Luckily I recovered a roommate in the process and have Kels back to once again chat it up with, but unluckily for me last week, she was pretending to be Canadian to visit friends from Guinea. Which brought me to the realization that I find work days to be unbarable to get through without someone to talk to, namely someone I can relate to outside of my immediate coworkers.
This may be learned considering I've almost always had this in my long two and a half year career, so I really don't know any different... I'm pretty sure older generations that did not grow up chatting online don't feel this critical need. But then again, I don't roam the halls looking for unsuspecting people I can corner to show family photos to and share mundane stories about my curling adventures over the weekend, much like many of them do. Curling was excellent, FYI -BTW (that means by the way in our new age chat speak!).
So this could mean one of three things:
1) I need to make more friends that work at my company so we can chat
2) I need to stop wasting time chatting (which might make my head implode when I have no other outlet during the day)
3) Time to move! (But only if it's to NZ...)
I'd also like to take this moment while I have you captively pinned in a corner to share some family photos... this would be Loki dominating Waffles in a chokehold while laying on his head. That's my boy!
We have Microsoft Communicator at work, a form of work-approved IM between other coworkers. This has also served well as my outlet and break from work to keep me sane in the face of the daily grind insanities. However, it seems the people that I most often communicate with have seemed to dwindled....the Scoobies have dwindled down to Sam and I over the past year, J to the M left for Africa, and M and I had been outlets for each other since the day I started work, and last week Mario was officially gone. Luckily I recovered a roommate in the process and have Kels back to once again chat it up with, but unluckily for me last week, she was pretending to be Canadian to visit friends from Guinea. Which brought me to the realization that I find work days to be unbarable to get through without someone to talk to, namely someone I can relate to outside of my immediate coworkers.
This may be learned considering I've almost always had this in my long two and a half year career, so I really don't know any different... I'm pretty sure older generations that did not grow up chatting online don't feel this critical need. But then again, I don't roam the halls looking for unsuspecting people I can corner to show family photos to and share mundane stories about my curling adventures over the weekend, much like many of them do. Curling was excellent, FYI -BTW (that means by the way in our new age chat speak!).
So this could mean one of three things:
1) I need to make more friends that work at my company so we can chat
2) I need to stop wasting time chatting (which might make my head implode when I have no other outlet during the day)
3) Time to move! (But only if it's to NZ...)
I'd also like to take this moment while I have you captively pinned in a corner to share some family photos... this would be Loki dominating Waffles in a chokehold while laying on his head. That's my boy!
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
Feed and Water Twice Daily
Being sick sucks.
Sure, when you're a little kid, it's great; you get to skip school and lounge around all day while your mom brings you soup and ice cream, and if you can convince your brother that he's sick too, you have a Mario Kart buddy for the day.
But when you have no such people to bring you ice cream or play games with, and instead have big presentations to leaders the next day that you're not yet prepared for that you're trying to write up in bed with a fever in the 15 minutes you're able to keep yourself awake every few hours before the Nyquil kicks in once again...not so fun.
It also makes it hard to write blog posts evidently, as this is as far as I've gotten in a couple of hours ha.
I had high hopes that working in a chemical plant full of formulations that kill off plants and insects and anything else it touches would kill off the little teenie germs currently plaguing my body. Or at the very least, the neighboring plant next door that produces pharmaceuticals would have at least given some pleasant healthy side effects. But *apparently* Allegra is only for allergies and doesn't help fevers. Lame.
I'm going to have to fight this a different way. I'm thinking of choking down some chocolate chip banana muffins the roomie made in what I can only imagine was full anticipation of me being sick and lonely. But if you give a sick princess a chocolate chip banana muffin, she will want a glass of milk. If you give her a glass of milk, she'll want some medicine to take as well. If you give her medicine to take, she'll get drowsy and ask for a blankie. Once she's curled up with her blankie, she'll need a bedtime story. The bedtime story will send her off to sweet dreams of kitties and yoshis. And if you send her off to dreams... you're going to have to finish her presentation for her.
Good luck roomie ;)
Sure, when you're a little kid, it's great; you get to skip school and lounge around all day while your mom brings you soup and ice cream, and if you can convince your brother that he's sick too, you have a Mario Kart buddy for the day.
But when you have no such people to bring you ice cream or play games with, and instead have big presentations to leaders the next day that you're not yet prepared for that you're trying to write up in bed with a fever in the 15 minutes you're able to keep yourself awake every few hours before the Nyquil kicks in once again...not so fun.
It also makes it hard to write blog posts evidently, as this is as far as I've gotten in a couple of hours ha.
I had high hopes that working in a chemical plant full of formulations that kill off plants and insects and anything else it touches would kill off the little teenie germs currently plaguing my body. Or at the very least, the neighboring plant next door that produces pharmaceuticals would have at least given some pleasant healthy side effects. But *apparently* Allegra is only for allergies and doesn't help fevers. Lame.
I'm going to have to fight this a different way. I'm thinking of choking down some chocolate chip banana muffins the roomie made in what I can only imagine was full anticipation of me being sick and lonely. But if you give a sick princess a chocolate chip banana muffin, she will want a glass of milk. If you give her a glass of milk, she'll want some medicine to take as well. If you give her medicine to take, she'll get drowsy and ask for a blankie. Once she's curled up with her blankie, she'll need a bedtime story. The bedtime story will send her off to sweet dreams of kitties and yoshis. And if you send her off to dreams... you're going to have to finish her presentation for her.
Good luck roomie ;)
Saturday, February 6, 2010
Sydney
Last day in Australia! We flew in to Sydney yesterday and walked down to Chinatown for dinner in hopes of finding some yummy Thai food. It was pouring and we were drenched after about a block, so 4 blocks in, we quickly gave up and instead chose a Korean BBQ. We were the only white people in the entire place and the waiters had to explain to us what each dish was and how we did it, but it was a cool experience, very similar to fondue places. They had the grill on each table, and you throw the meat on with vegetables, make a lettuce wrap and put some sauces on it for flavor. I don't have much idea of what I ate besides the basic meats and a bunch of seaweed (very good), but it was fun.
Today we went to the Aquarium and Wildlife experience, which included all of the dozens of deadly creatures Australia is home to, as well as the kangaroos, koalas, wallabees, and other animals that I've been waiting to see. We then went to Paddy's Markets, a large area with lots of different shops and kiosks set up, very similar to the marketplaces of Thailand. We're now enjoying afternoon tea at the hotel while my dad checks email, and then we're off to look at some Australian Black opals and search for Tim Tams.
I have to say, Australia/NZ really are not that different from the US; surprisingly so in fact. They listen to all of our music, watch our movies and tv shows, and after reading their newspapers for the past two weeks, they seem to have the exact same issues as we do regarding education, politics, and healthcare. Since it's my last post down under though, I'd like to note some of the differences between Australia and the US:
-Obviously, the accents. Which are in truth very similar to British accents, and were sometimes hard to distinguish between on the ship. Apparently the Aussies still consider Britain their homeland, and they trade people back and forth frequently. They still have their unique words down here though. And cheers is used in place of thank you, goodbye, hello, you're welcome, I hate you, etc...
-Electrical outlets. Pain in the butt... they luckily had U.S. outlets on the ship; however, no such luck in any Aussie hotel rooms. This is especially upsetting when you realize your camera has run out of battery and you have no way whatsoever to recharge it. Darn.
-They drive on the wrong side of the road. Which you would think would mean they pass on the left side while walking, but that seems to be misunderstood also, so they instead just walk right at you until you dive out of the way to keep from becoming Aussie pie. Also, they're obsessed with their meat pies. I had one, and it was just a shepherd's pie with no vegetables at all...mmm so healthy. And although their toilets may not flush in the opposite direction of ours in the northern hemisphere, they did walk counterclockwise on the running track on the ship. Still haven't figured out why that was different...
Tomorrow, while the U.S. watches the Superbowl (still don't even know who is in it this year), I will be boarding the plane back to the homeland. And hopefully quickly switching my body's timeclock back to Eastern time... 9am here is 5pm there, completely backwards. Oh joy!
Goodbye Australia....
Aussie Aussie Aussie, Oy Oy Oy!
Today we went to the Aquarium and Wildlife experience, which included all of the dozens of deadly creatures Australia is home to, as well as the kangaroos, koalas, wallabees, and other animals that I've been waiting to see. We then went to Paddy's Markets, a large area with lots of different shops and kiosks set up, very similar to the marketplaces of Thailand. We're now enjoying afternoon tea at the hotel while my dad checks email, and then we're off to look at some Australian Black opals and search for Tim Tams.
I have to say, Australia/NZ really are not that different from the US; surprisingly so in fact. They listen to all of our music, watch our movies and tv shows, and after reading their newspapers for the past two weeks, they seem to have the exact same issues as we do regarding education, politics, and healthcare. Since it's my last post down under though, I'd like to note some of the differences between Australia and the US:
-Obviously, the accents. Which are in truth very similar to British accents, and were sometimes hard to distinguish between on the ship. Apparently the Aussies still consider Britain their homeland, and they trade people back and forth frequently. They still have their unique words down here though. And cheers is used in place of thank you, goodbye, hello, you're welcome, I hate you, etc...
-Electrical outlets. Pain in the butt... they luckily had U.S. outlets on the ship; however, no such luck in any Aussie hotel rooms. This is especially upsetting when you realize your camera has run out of battery and you have no way whatsoever to recharge it. Darn.
-They drive on the wrong side of the road. Which you would think would mean they pass on the left side while walking, but that seems to be misunderstood also, so they instead just walk right at you until you dive out of the way to keep from becoming Aussie pie. Also, they're obsessed with their meat pies. I had one, and it was just a shepherd's pie with no vegetables at all...mmm so healthy. And although their toilets may not flush in the opposite direction of ours in the northern hemisphere, they did walk counterclockwise on the running track on the ship. Still haven't figured out why that was different...
Tomorrow, while the U.S. watches the Superbowl (still don't even know who is in it this year), I will be boarding the plane back to the homeland. And hopefully quickly switching my body's timeclock back to Eastern time... 9am here is 5pm there, completely backwards. Oh joy!
Goodbye Australia....
Aussie Aussie Aussie, Oy Oy Oy!
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
A Grotto-ing Experience
Hooroo! Today was our last port, Auckland. We had a long bus ride to visit the glow worm grotto, a unique limestone tunnel of stalactites and stalagmites that are home to a worm that glows. These worms hatch after a few days, spend nine months as a worm, a few days in a cocoon, and then 5 days as a flying insect. Since they’re in a dark tunnel, they have a single thread web that hangs down to catch insects to feed on, and they glow to attract insects to them. We took a boat through the tunnel, and it looks just like millions of stars glowing in a pitch black sky, pretty neat. When you shine a light on them, you can see all of the single thread webs hanging down- that is a bit trippy. Once the glow worms graduate to flying insects, they apparently only live for 5 days because their only purpose is to reproduce, so they don’t even have mouths. Disturbing… Afterward, we had the best meal I’ve had yet on this trip. It was a cruise-sponsored tour, which meant we had 50 people on it; however, the lunch spot was out of a local’s home who had set it up specifically for cruise tours. They had their home decorated in an old English style, and I think it is one of the most beautiful homes I’ve ever seen. The garden area was spectacular, and that’s where they had a dozen big tables set up for lunch. It was a simple meal, but it tasted amazing; roast lamb, meatloaf, potatoes and tomatoes and wine carafes with fresh berries and ice cream for dessert. Sounds simple, but it was drool-worthy. All the ducks and cows were there to watch us eat lunch as they have a large farm as well. Pretty cool experience compared to the normal restaurant scene.
So now we’re back on the ship for the next three days before we arrive back in Melbourne and fly up to Sydney. Our dinner partners unfortunately got off on Auckland not to return, so it is now my father and I alone for dinner. We have dinner in the dining room each night, where you are assigned a table and sit with the same people each night. It’s a good way to build relationships with other people on the ship, some sort of consistency. In the past, we’ve been sat at tables of 6 or 8 where you have plenty of people to talk to each night. This trip, we had a table of 4, and we were sat with two women. One of the women is an independent cruise agent who books them for people and will act as a tour guide if needed, so she came on this cruise as a ‘familiarization cruise’ and brought her friend along with. When we had dinner the first night, I thought they were pleasant enough, but was not happy because I felt our conversations would dry up quickly and it would be awful to be stuck together just the 4 of us day in and day out. Turns out our conversations only got better and better, we loved their company and actually looked forward to dinners with them, and we were really sad to see them getting off the ship early since they worked in Auckland and didn’t want to have to pay to fly back from Sydney. Tonight it was just my dad and I, and although we had good conversations, we see each other all day and enjoyed having other people to talk to =P Our two waiters are very entertaining though; the head waiter is Thai and has made my dad very happy by bringing him Nam-pla, fish sauce. The other waiter is Filipino, he’s been working on the ships for much less time and seems more nervous, but he finally seems comfortable as he’s joking and singing to us during dinners now. He has two children; he works for 7 months and then gets a 3 month break, so he goes a long time without seeing them. That seems very difficult, I feel for some of the workers here; it’s good money for them, but it’s difficult to leave everything behind for long periods of time.
The ship is rocking pretty hard tonight for some reason… always an adventure when you’re trying to walk down halls and everyone is pinballing off of each other. Then, you finally get your sea legs and can account for the constant rocking so that you’re not swaying down the halls, and you get off the ship and start zigzagging down the street trying to account for rocking that is no longer occurring. I’ve also been trying to work out on each of our at-sea days, which is an experience in itself to be running on a treadmill while watching the Australian Open on individual TVs with the ocean spanning in front of you through the huge windows the machines are all set up in front of. It is much harder to account for rocking while running on a treadmill, so it is an adventure to try to keep from falling off the sides of the machines constantly and maintain speed.
Here’s to hoping the tipping and turning doesn’t get to my stomach tonight, or my father’s. And although if everyone else on the ship were sick, it would mean less people at activities tomorrow, I don’t think I could wish seasickness upon anyone…not a fun way to spend a holiday!
I leave you with the glow worm song that our driver sang to us following our grotto experience:
I wish a I were a glow worm
Because a glow worm’s never glum.
How can you be unhappy
When the sun’s shining from your bum?!
Kai Ora (hello in Maori)
Kai Ora, welcome to February! It is Day 8 or 9 of our New Zealand cruise (we’re not really counting, but it’s somewhere over the halfway point), and we are currently in Tauranga, NZ- home of the kiwi fruit, kiwi bird, and Maori people (who consider themselves Kiwis ;))
Two days ago we ported in Wellington, the country’s capital city. We had a city/Middle Earth tour scheduled, which ended up once again being a private tour since no one else had signed up! We walked some nature paths through the wooded areas surrounding the city that were used in scenes in the LOTR movies, and our tour guide made me be a hobbit to get reenactment photos. I don’t think I did the best job, despite my natural shortness. Turns out our tour guide and her husband helped start the movie industry in Wellington and they both work for Peter Jackson now (or Peter or Pete as she called him all day). I didn’t realize how big of a movie industry Wellington actually had until the tour; Miramar is based there, and Peter Jackson has made all of his movies here. Weta, a big company that does a lot of costume design and digital effects, is also based here (Peter Jackson was one of the people that helped create it). Avatar was completed here through them. We had the opportunity to go by it’s showroom and see some of the things they’ve done, and we ran into one of the owners (Richard something-or-other… you can tell he made an impression…). They’re very obsessed with their movie industry, or at least our tour guide was. We also saw all of their parliament buildings, such as the Beehive… a building that took the place of the second half of the original parliament building that never got finished being built because funds ran out, and rather than completing the original, the beehive was instead designed by one of their drunken governors back in the day. We also saw Te Papa, the national museum. And I had lamb for dinner, mm.
Yesterday we were supposed to port in Napier; however, there were bad storms that got worse throughout the day, so they chose not to dock. Although it was disappointing, it was our shortest port of the trip, only a half day, and we have had absolutely gorgeous weather other than this one day. Considering my grandparents went on this cruise last year and missed 3 of their ports and got rained out at one port during their trip, I’m not going to complain too loudly. It was supposed to be our souvenir shopping day, so in some ways, it saved me money, though still disappointing. We did, however, win trivia once again with our trivia buddies. This time, we won a bottle of champagne, so we all sat around and celebrated with champagne and sandwiches. I then continued celebrating with an afternoon nap, which was even better. And then I ate duck and lamb for dinner, mmm.
Which brings us to today- Tauranga. We had another tour, though this one did not end up being as private. No complaints though, there were only 4 other people who were all together, and they were about as picky about things as we are, which is very little. First we stopped at a kiwi orchard, where we learned kiwis grow on vines and tried various gold and green kiwi wines and juices. We then went to Rotorua, a geothermal area that the Maori inhabited. It STUNK. You could smell the sulfur from miles away. However, you quickly adapt, and by the end of the day, you couldn’t smell it at all. I have a feelng my clothes smell like sulfur and I just can’t tell any longer. The entire region had underground geothermal springs, and every house had it’s own thermal well in it’s front yard. We walked Te Puia, an area with geysers and hot springs, and saw a cultural performance by the Maoris. We also saw Hell’s Gate, another area of sulfur hot springs that was slowly killing everything around them. And we saw sheep (and lambs mmm… and cows, and horses, oh my!).
Tomorrow is our last port we stop at in New Zealand, Auckland. My last chance to illegally immigrate over here, maybe I’ll get lost on our ride to the worm grotto ;) We can only hope. Cheers mates!
Two days ago we ported in Wellington, the country’s capital city. We had a city/Middle Earth tour scheduled, which ended up once again being a private tour since no one else had signed up! We walked some nature paths through the wooded areas surrounding the city that were used in scenes in the LOTR movies, and our tour guide made me be a hobbit to get reenactment photos. I don’t think I did the best job, despite my natural shortness. Turns out our tour guide and her husband helped start the movie industry in Wellington and they both work for Peter Jackson now (or Peter or Pete as she called him all day). I didn’t realize how big of a movie industry Wellington actually had until the tour; Miramar is based there, and Peter Jackson has made all of his movies here. Weta, a big company that does a lot of costume design and digital effects, is also based here (Peter Jackson was one of the people that helped create it). Avatar was completed here through them. We had the opportunity to go by it’s showroom and see some of the things they’ve done, and we ran into one of the owners (Richard something-or-other… you can tell he made an impression…). They’re very obsessed with their movie industry, or at least our tour guide was. We also saw all of their parliament buildings, such as the Beehive… a building that took the place of the second half of the original parliament building that never got finished being built because funds ran out, and rather than completing the original, the beehive was instead designed by one of their drunken governors back in the day. We also saw Te Papa, the national museum. And I had lamb for dinner, mm.
Yesterday we were supposed to port in Napier; however, there were bad storms that got worse throughout the day, so they chose not to dock. Although it was disappointing, it was our shortest port of the trip, only a half day, and we have had absolutely gorgeous weather other than this one day. Considering my grandparents went on this cruise last year and missed 3 of their ports and got rained out at one port during their trip, I’m not going to complain too loudly. It was supposed to be our souvenir shopping day, so in some ways, it saved me money, though still disappointing. We did, however, win trivia once again with our trivia buddies. This time, we won a bottle of champagne, so we all sat around and celebrated with champagne and sandwiches. I then continued celebrating with an afternoon nap, which was even better. And then I ate duck and lamb for dinner, mmm.
Which brings us to today- Tauranga. We had another tour, though this one did not end up being as private. No complaints though, there were only 4 other people who were all together, and they were about as picky about things as we are, which is very little. First we stopped at a kiwi orchard, where we learned kiwis grow on vines and tried various gold and green kiwi wines and juices. We then went to Rotorua, a geothermal area that the Maori inhabited. It STUNK. You could smell the sulfur from miles away. However, you quickly adapt, and by the end of the day, you couldn’t smell it at all. I have a feelng my clothes smell like sulfur and I just can’t tell any longer. The entire region had underground geothermal springs, and every house had it’s own thermal well in it’s front yard. We walked Te Puia, an area with geysers and hot springs, and saw a cultural performance by the Maoris. We also saw Hell’s Gate, another area of sulfur hot springs that was slowly killing everything around them. And we saw sheep (and lambs mmm… and cows, and horses, oh my!).
Tomorrow is our last port we stop at in New Zealand, Auckland. My last chance to illegally immigrate over here, maybe I’ll get lost on our ride to the worm grotto ;) We can only hope. Cheers mates!
Friday, January 29, 2010
Sheep!
I LOVE New Zealand. Two ports and the Fjordlands down, and I am more than ready to leave everything and move here. To say I like New Zealand more than Australia would be unfair since I have only seen the big cities of Australia, but what I’ve seen of New Zealand is far closer to my taste. The towns are quaint, the scenery is quite lovely, and everything is so much simpler. Each town is working hard to increase it’s tourism and bring more people in, and I’m pretty sure they’re not using MBAs in order to accomplish that. Or working as hard as possible to get a plethora of business experience in order to get to the top. I digress.
The Fiordlands were a unique experience. I learned a lot about New Zealand’s history while we sailed through the Fiordlands since that’s the first thing that Captain Cook saw and documented when he discovered New Zealand in the 1770’s. It finally clicked for me that Australia and New Zealand are far younger countries than even the USA. This was surprising since I have grown accustomed to being one of the youngest countries in the world, and for some reason I had it in my head that Australia had been discovered long before America had. I was of course wrong. The Fiordlands are water straits that have been cut by glaciers, and they are all over the north-western side of the south island. We had a local forest ranger on board that told us their history as we sailed through many of them. It was quite lovely. Captain Cook had a bit of fun naming the hundreds of islands along the waterway… I’m pretty sure he ran out of names quickly and just started naming them whatever word came to mind first.
Dunedin (pronounced Dune-eedin) was the first port we’ve stopped at. We booked a tour with a local company apart from the cruise line since the cruise is overpriced for anything additional once you’re aboard, and there are always local tours at a fraction of the cost, which are easy to find now that the internet has made the world so much smaller. We choose a wildlife tour so that we would be able to see most of the New Zealand-specific animals. We were chosen to go through customs (2% of the passengers, and somehow we were chosen!), which worked out nicely because we ended up being one of the first off the ship. We found our tour guide and discovered we were the only two booked for the tour- a private tour! Apparently they had 27 people the day before, so we lucked out that no one else had booked with them from our cruise. I thank all the old people on the ship who could not handle the walking. Although there wasn’t a whole lot of walking for the tour, New Zealand does appear to be made up purely of hills, so if you are walking, it’s either at a 45 degree angle up or down at all times, which wears on you quickly. Dunedin has the steepest road in the world according to Guinness World Records; however, I’m pretty sure almost every road we traveled on was just as steep as the steepest. Beat that San Francisco.
We traveled around the countryside, taking in the thousands of sheep in all of the pastures surrounding the town, and went to Tiger Peninsula, where the only Royal Albatross colony is located in New Zealand (the only other place in the world is a tiny island a thousand miles off the coast). They have a wingspan of 3 meters (I love you, metric system!), and we were fortunate enough to be there right after some of the hatchlings had been born, which we got to see. We also had the opportunity to go to a private beach owned by the owner of the tour company, which had a view of a fur seal breeding ground where we saw pups running around playing with their moms, as well as massive sea lions that we stood 5 feet from since they don’t have any fear of humans, yellow-eyed penguins and their young, blue penguins (the smallest penguin in the world), and more sheep. We went four-wheeling through the pastures in a small van, and all I could keep thinking was that if those brakes went out, we were at a 45 degree angle right down to the cliffs over the water. During the off-roading adventure, my dad and our tour guide discovered they both shared an interest in beer snobbery. Our guide brews his own beer, and he knew all of the microbreweries in town, so upon completing our tour early since it was just the three of us, we went over to one of the microbreweries, tried all of their beers, got the t-shirt, and then went on to a local pub. I’m pretty sure this has been the highlight to my dad’s trip thus far.
Today we went to Christchurch/Lyttelton. We had no tours scheduled for the day, so we took the shuttle into town and walked around. There were no sheep there. New Zealand has heavy European influences all through it, so it looks and feels like many of the small towns you’d find in Europe. We found another microbrewery to make my dad’s day, then walked through the botanic gardens, through a couple local markets, and watched as people punted through the park (similar to taking a gondola along the river flowing through the city). Lyttelton was a tiny town along the water that is trying very hard to bring tourists to it… however, it was scarcer than even Midland or Golden’s downtowns, so our walkthrough there did not last long to say the least. They did however, have a time ball- it’s a tower on a building with a ball similar to the ball setup for new years in Times Square… at 1 o clock every day, the ball is dropped. It was how in the old days people could set their clocks based on Greenwich time to ensure they were all set to the correct time. That would be about all that you can find in Lyttelton.
Food. Oh the food. Let me tell you about some of my meals. Today was an international dinner, so I had a Mediterranean salad with a duck appetizer followed by lamb with mint jelly and a chocolate passion fruit genache for dessert. I have found a new love in passion fruit… I’m not sure if I’ve ever had it before, but it’s a new favorite fruit. I’ve had passion fruit yogurt for breakfast every morning, yum! And kiwis, fresh kiwis! New Zealanders call themselves kiwis because of the native kiwi fruit grown here, as well as the kiwi bird, a national symbol of New Zealand. Yesterday was the Thai dinner, satay and panang curry. I had a rabbit appetizer a couple of days ago; rabbit is dry, I don’t recommend it. Lamb is amazing. Yesterday for lunch they brought us a takeaway. Here, fast food is called takeaways. We had a turkey/brie/cranberry sandwich with an apricot/poppy seed muffin and fresh New Zealand cherries. Drool. I just got back from dinner and am so stuffed I’m going to explode, and I’m still drooling.
Tomorrow, we will be in Wellington, where we have a city and Middle Earth tour. For now, I’m going to take my book and sit out on our balcony and watch the moon dancing on the waves. And dream of never having to go back to any other commitments. Cheers!
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
G'Day mate!
G’Day from the Tasmanian Sea on Australia Day! I am currently on Day 3 of my Australian cruise with my father. Today just happens to be Australia’s equivalent of the US Independence Day, and since it seems the majority of the ship is Australian, it is being celebrating with rigor around here. The Australian Open is also currently taking place in Melbourne and is all that we have been watching the past few days. We also have wifi on the entire cruise, so I figured while my dad naps, I could take the opportunity to write a quick update from the sea!
We successfully arrived in Sydney Saturday morning (roughly 5:30pm EST Friday!!) after a very long flight (my ankles swelled again! NOT good) and spent the day exploring the city. It was in the 90s the entire day, which is quite the shock coming from the freezing temperatures of Michigan. We walked the Botanic Gardens, which are inhabited by thousands of bats, all waiting to poop on you as they sleep during the day in the trees. Luckily, I had no such incidents. We also took a harbor cruise around the city since it is almost all along the water to see the historic districts and the Sydney Opera house and harbor bridge. We’ll be back in Sydney for the last two days of our trip and will be visiting the Aquarium and Wildlife exhibits to see the ‘roos and koalas that I otherwise won’t have the opportunity to see this trip.
Sunday was boarding day for the cruise. We hopped on a plane to Melbourne and headed for the pier. Turned out the ship was 3 hours late getting back because of bad seas during its last sea day, which meant we had 3 hours to burn at the pier before they started loading. We walked the harbor and had fresh fish and chips at a small little restaurant. We also discovered that about 90% of the people on our cruise seem to be above the ripe age of 60. I have the feeling I am the only single twenty-something (outside of staff) on this cruise… and even honeymooners are scarce! This, however, means that there are certain times of the day when the ship seems deserted… before 9am, after 8pm, and the apparent naptime from 3-5pm. It also means that they can’t judge ages and keep thinking I’m much older and that my dad and I are married. CREEPY. That mistake has only been made twice, but that’s 2 too many times for me.
The last two days has also reminded me of a conversation Kelsey and I had before I left regarding how people feel rejuvenated…whether it be alone, or by being around other people. We discussed it from the standpoint of hanging out with friends and such, but I have now been regarding it from the standpoint of strangers. Being on a ship of 2000 passengers where you get sat with random people for every meal, it is easy to determine where you stand on the issue. My dad is the type to love sitting with new people each time, make small talk, tell the same stories over and over. I, however, have already grown tired of it, and although I prefer the seated meals, I have started thinking more and more that I’d prefer to do the buffet just to have a break from trying to keep up conversation with strangers. We have table assignments for dinners, and somehow we ended up at a table of 4 with two other women. After dinner with them for one night, I feel like the conversation has already dried up and have no idea how we will possibly be able to continue coming up with new topics for 10 more nights!! Thus, I’ve once again put myself into the loner category for rejuvenation regardless of the fact that I rejuvenate better in the presence of friends.
Despite my introverted tendencies with strangers, we have still found ourselves some companions in some of our activities. We both enjoy doing the daily trivia that is offered, and on the first day we teamed up with an older couple to better our odds. And wouldn’t you know it, we won! We beat somewhere around 30 other teams. We haven’t been as fortunate in the last two rounds of trivia, but we have decided to stick together and continue to be a team throughout the cruise on sea days. We also played carpet bowling today, and our team of approximately 10 people beat out 3 other teams , and we all won gold medals. I have won a gold medal for some competition on every cruise I have been on thus far… so either my family is overly competitive, or the old people are making it too easy on us J I think it is partly due to the fact that we enjoy the activities, so we participate in everything offered that we can fit in. My dad was 1 point away from winning a golf chipping –into-the-pool contest today.
Tonight is formal night, and tomorrow is cruising through the Fjordlands of New Zealand, the first contact we’ll have with New Zealand. If I knew how to easily load up pictures, I might show them here..but as it is, I don’t, so you don’t get any… so sorry!
And as one final note….it seems almost everyone on board is either Australian/New Zealander/British. So I am surrounded by a similar accent everywhere I go… I’m not going to be surprised if I start picking it up without noticing, I’ve already repeated random phrases I’d never otherwise use. Now I must sign off, good show ole chap!
We successfully arrived in Sydney Saturday morning (roughly 5:30pm EST Friday!!) after a very long flight (my ankles swelled again! NOT good) and spent the day exploring the city. It was in the 90s the entire day, which is quite the shock coming from the freezing temperatures of Michigan. We walked the Botanic Gardens, which are inhabited by thousands of bats, all waiting to poop on you as they sleep during the day in the trees. Luckily, I had no such incidents. We also took a harbor cruise around the city since it is almost all along the water to see the historic districts and the Sydney Opera house and harbor bridge. We’ll be back in Sydney for the last two days of our trip and will be visiting the Aquarium and Wildlife exhibits to see the ‘roos and koalas that I otherwise won’t have the opportunity to see this trip.
Sunday was boarding day for the cruise. We hopped on a plane to Melbourne and headed for the pier. Turned out the ship was 3 hours late getting back because of bad seas during its last sea day, which meant we had 3 hours to burn at the pier before they started loading. We walked the harbor and had fresh fish and chips at a small little restaurant. We also discovered that about 90% of the people on our cruise seem to be above the ripe age of 60. I have the feeling I am the only single twenty-something (outside of staff) on this cruise… and even honeymooners are scarce! This, however, means that there are certain times of the day when the ship seems deserted… before 9am, after 8pm, and the apparent naptime from 3-5pm. It also means that they can’t judge ages and keep thinking I’m much older and that my dad and I are married. CREEPY. That mistake has only been made twice, but that’s 2 too many times for me.
The last two days has also reminded me of a conversation Kelsey and I had before I left regarding how people feel rejuvenated…whether it be alone, or by being around other people. We discussed it from the standpoint of hanging out with friends and such, but I have now been regarding it from the standpoint of strangers. Being on a ship of 2000 passengers where you get sat with random people for every meal, it is easy to determine where you stand on the issue. My dad is the type to love sitting with new people each time, make small talk, tell the same stories over and over. I, however, have already grown tired of it, and although I prefer the seated meals, I have started thinking more and more that I’d prefer to do the buffet just to have a break from trying to keep up conversation with strangers. We have table assignments for dinners, and somehow we ended up at a table of 4 with two other women. After dinner with them for one night, I feel like the conversation has already dried up and have no idea how we will possibly be able to continue coming up with new topics for 10 more nights!! Thus, I’ve once again put myself into the loner category for rejuvenation regardless of the fact that I rejuvenate better in the presence of friends.
Despite my introverted tendencies with strangers, we have still found ourselves some companions in some of our activities. We both enjoy doing the daily trivia that is offered, and on the first day we teamed up with an older couple to better our odds. And wouldn’t you know it, we won! We beat somewhere around 30 other teams. We haven’t been as fortunate in the last two rounds of trivia, but we have decided to stick together and continue to be a team throughout the cruise on sea days. We also played carpet bowling today, and our team of approximately 10 people beat out 3 other teams , and we all won gold medals. I have won a gold medal for some competition on every cruise I have been on thus far… so either my family is overly competitive, or the old people are making it too easy on us J I think it is partly due to the fact that we enjoy the activities, so we participate in everything offered that we can fit in. My dad was 1 point away from winning a golf chipping –into-the-pool contest today.
Tonight is formal night, and tomorrow is cruising through the Fjordlands of New Zealand, the first contact we’ll have with New Zealand. If I knew how to easily load up pictures, I might show them here..but as it is, I don’t, so you don’t get any… so sorry!
And as one final note….it seems almost everyone on board is either Australian/New Zealander/British. So I am surrounded by a similar accent everywhere I go… I’m not going to be surprised if I start picking it up without noticing, I’ve already repeated random phrases I’d never otherwise use. Now I must sign off, good show ole chap!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
