Ultra Quick Holiday Recap
Christmas Eve: Dinner cooked by Scooter and Shep (I know, I was shocked too). Followed by Christmas Movies.
Christmas Day: Went to the beach (very kiwi) and rode around baxis just for fun. Attempted and failed to have a BBQ
Boxing Day: Went to local wine country and rode bikes between vinyards. Good times.
Past weekend: Went hiking and stayed in a hut in the mountains. Still sore.
New Years Plans: Working (baxi) planning on stopping by civic square party.
In other news:
No longer worked for ministry of justice, contract over. Hoping to get work as substitute teachers aid for preschool.
Working on writing. Currently working on a story/novella. It is about a seventeen year old boy who works in an Italian restaurant. Loosely based on my own experiences working in a restaurant at sixteen. Was supposed to be under 7500 words. Looking to be closer to 20,000. Oops. Details to come.
Slowly reading 'Paradise Lost' by John Milton. Whew. It's ambitious. Finding it mildly disconcerting that the characters I admire most right now are the fallen angels (Satan and his crew).
Struggling to not be totally lazy now that I have free times. Feels like an uphill battle.
I have a few topics that I want to blog about. I have some more free time now so there should be a few posts in the next week.
Joey
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Monday, December 22, 2008
After hours and really really big invertibrates.
So I've been doing the 8-5 thing for the first time in my life. It's not so bad mostly because I don't really do anything at my job. In fact I was told to move offices 2.5 weeks ago and I just never did it (no one has said anything yet).
The biggest downside is really, the time it takes up. I'm here, in New Zealand and I only have so much time. Lately I felt I had been falling into a rut during weekdays. Just working and going home. So I'm going to try to refocus my efforts on making the most of these days. Yesterday I had a very nice one.
After work I met Henry and Ben at the Te Papa National Museum, one of the true treasures of Wellington and the entire country. I had already been there a number of times, but was coming back for a new exhibition, one of the most exciting in the museums history. Recently New Zealand fisherman caught the largest Colossal Squid , yet discovered in tact. It was an amazing find and luckily the fisherman new it was something worth saving and froze it. A year or so later it has just been put on public display in the museum, the only colossal squid (the worlds largest invertebrate) in the world on museum display. It one of the coolest things I have ever seen. I saw a giant squid (different) in London once, which was great, but nothing like this. It is the most foreign looking animal I have ever seen and is more likely to evoke imagines of movie aliens than anything else. I won't fully describe it here but check out the link they, are truly amazing.
After that, since the day was gorgeous (you can't beat a good day in Wellington) Henry and I were going to go Mt. Biking, but my knee wasn't feeling up to it. Instead we went down to the water and worked on some stuff (he worked on his camp application, I worked through some edits on a story) and talked. At 8 it was starting to get chilly (though still not dark yet) so we moved on to one of the many Wellington Cafes. This one is called Midnight Espresso. While there we did a little more work but mostly got caught up in talking about a business that we are considering opening when we are back stateside. Were aren't sure if we are going to go for it, but we love talking about it and as time goes on it is seeming more likely, not less.
All and all a really nice evening. I should have more of those.
Joey
The biggest downside is really, the time it takes up. I'm here, in New Zealand and I only have so much time. Lately I felt I had been falling into a rut during weekdays. Just working and going home. So I'm going to try to refocus my efforts on making the most of these days. Yesterday I had a very nice one.
After work I met Henry and Ben at the Te Papa National Museum, one of the true treasures of Wellington and the entire country. I had already been there a number of times, but was coming back for a new exhibition, one of the most exciting in the museums history. Recently New Zealand fisherman caught the largest Colossal Squid , yet discovered in tact. It was an amazing find and luckily the fisherman new it was something worth saving and froze it. A year or so later it has just been put on public display in the museum, the only colossal squid (the worlds largest invertebrate) in the world on museum display. It one of the coolest things I have ever seen. I saw a giant squid (different) in London once, which was great, but nothing like this. It is the most foreign looking animal I have ever seen and is more likely to evoke imagines of movie aliens than anything else. I won't fully describe it here but check out the link they, are truly amazing.
After that, since the day was gorgeous (you can't beat a good day in Wellington) Henry and I were going to go Mt. Biking, but my knee wasn't feeling up to it. Instead we went down to the water and worked on some stuff (he worked on his camp application, I worked through some edits on a story) and talked. At 8 it was starting to get chilly (though still not dark yet) so we moved on to one of the many Wellington Cafes. This one is called Midnight Espresso. While there we did a little more work but mostly got caught up in talking about a business that we are considering opening when we are back stateside. Were aren't sure if we are going to go for it, but we love talking about it and as time goes on it is seeming more likely, not less.
All and all a really nice evening. I should have more of those.
Joey
Saturday, December 20, 2008
Christmas...
here is a bit weird. It's like, summer. To be fair summer here isn't that different from winter in Arizona, but still, its weird. It just doesn't really feel like Christmas time. I think the Christmas imagery is just way less pervasive here. I can't believe Christmas is on Thursday, its just, I don't know, weird. Christmas BBQ's are quite popular. Whatever. I think Pjay and I are going to go Mt. biking for Christmas.
People seem way more excited about the fact that it is summer, which is fair. Apparently summer here is amazing. There is a saying, "you can't beat Wellington on a good day". Most of those are in the summer I guess so I suppose things will be tough to beat. There is like 30 free outdoor concert during January alone so we're pretty pumped about that.
We just spent the last 3 hours watching UofA play BYU in the Las Vegas Bowl on Ben's laptop. We tried to find a bar that would get it. Unfortunatly the Australasia ESPN feed was only playing NFL football. Still we made some chicken wings, drank beer, and watched football. It's good to get back to ones roots.
Joey
Friday, December 19, 2008
Kissing
So I was just reading that a friend of mine claims she has kissed 10 boys. It got me thinking; in my adult life of 5.5 years (everyone knows when you turn 18 your record is wiped clean) how many girls have I kissed?
I clearly had to set some criteria as to what constituted a legit 'kiss'. Here is what I came up with:
-First of all it had to be at least 5 seconds. Anything less than that is just a bit of silliness. (note: in the end any that were over 5 seconds ended up being generally much longer, other than one that was about 5-10 minutes the rest were all firmly in 30 minutes + range).
I clearly had to set some criteria as to what constituted a legit 'kiss'. Here is what I came up with:
-First of all it had to be at least 5 seconds. Anything less than that is just a bit of silliness. (note: in the end any that were over 5 seconds ended up being generally much longer, other than one that was about 5-10 minutes the rest were all firmly in 30 minutes + range).
-It could not be part of a game or in any other way obligatory.
I also decided that I wanted to examine some statistics other than just quantity
So I decided to ask these questions:
What was their nationality?
What was their race?
What was their age relative to mine? (based on school year if they were students)
Was that only time we kissed?(time meaning that 24 hour period beginning with the first kiss)
Were they an Ultimate Player: For non ultimate players this one takes a bit of explaining. Ultimate players have a well earned reputation of getting involved with other players, a lot. There are two reasons for this I think. The first is that ultimate communities are tight nit and often times players don't really get outside them much which isn't always a good thing. The second is that by and large ultimate players as a group are: educated, like minded, socially outgoing, and athletic (therefore often attractive) people. The women I meet through ultimate are simply more likely to be someone I'd be attracted to.
Did I regret it at any point?
The was actually one last catagory as well, but this remains a wholesome blog so I will leave it out.
So being a bit of a geek I put it all on an excel spreadsheet and here are the results, many were surprising to me.
Number of girls: 14
I thought this would be higher, for some reason I was expecting more like 20. I'm pleased with the lower number, that's just a little over a couple girls a year. That seems rather choosy to me.
Nationality:
USA 10
Czech Republic 1
Mexico 1
New Zealand 1
The Netherlands 1
Race:
European non-latina 11
Latina 1
Indian 1
Hawaiian Pacific 1
Age Relative to mine:
Same 6
Younger 6
Older 2
Avg difference = 0
I also decided that I wanted to examine some statistics other than just quantity
So I decided to ask these questions:
What was their nationality?
What was their race?
What was their age relative to mine? (based on school year if they were students)
Was that only time we kissed?(time meaning that 24 hour period beginning with the first kiss)
Were they an Ultimate Player: For non ultimate players this one takes a bit of explaining. Ultimate players have a well earned reputation of getting involved with other players, a lot. There are two reasons for this I think. The first is that ultimate communities are tight nit and often times players don't really get outside them much which isn't always a good thing. The second is that by and large ultimate players as a group are: educated, like minded, socially outgoing, and athletic (therefore often attractive) people. The women I meet through ultimate are simply more likely to be someone I'd be attracted to.
Did I regret it at any point?
The was actually one last catagory as well, but this remains a wholesome blog so I will leave it out.
So being a bit of a geek I put it all on an excel spreadsheet and here are the results, many were surprising to me.
Number of girls: 14
I thought this would be higher, for some reason I was expecting more like 20. I'm pleased with the lower number, that's just a little over a couple girls a year. That seems rather choosy to me.
Nationality:
USA 10
Czech Republic 1
Mexico 1
New Zealand 1
The Netherlands 1
Race:
European non-latina 11
Latina 1
Indian 1
Hawaiian Pacific 1
Age Relative to mine:
Same 6
Younger 6
Older 2
Avg difference = 0
Note: this may seem strange, there is one data point which is pulling up the average. If you call it an error (and I mean that purely in the mathematical sense) and eliminate it then the average would be a half a year younger.
Number of girls I only kissed the one time: 5
Number of Ultimate players: 7
Number that I regretted at some point: 4
Using the filter function I tried to see if any interesting results jumped out (I know, I'm being a bad scientist, bad statistician, and below average excel user here. I'm sorry).
Anyway I found that it was significantly more likely I regretted it if it only happened once, no big surprise there.
I found the absolute age difference (doesn't matter if younger or older, just how far away from my age) was higher (2.4) for single occurrences than for multiple occurrences (1.3).
Number of girls I only kissed the one time: 5
Number of Ultimate players: 7
Number that I regretted at some point: 4
Using the filter function I tried to see if any interesting results jumped out (I know, I'm being a bad scientist, bad statistician, and below average excel user here. I'm sorry).
Anyway I found that it was significantly more likely I regretted it if it only happened once, no big surprise there.
I found the absolute age difference (doesn't matter if younger or older, just how far away from my age) was higher (2.4) for single occurrences than for multiple occurrences (1.3).
However those can mostly be chalked up to coincidence do to the small amount of data. Then again, I suppose I have no one to blame for that but myself.
XOXOXOXOXO
Joey
Monday, December 15, 2008
Three Good Things
I went to Christchurch this past weekend for the co-ed ultimate championships (not that impressive actually, there are only 10 teams in the country). My team got 4th, which was better than I expected, I actually played very well and the weekend did a lot to redeem some lukewarm feelings I had towards my experience with the team.
Henry is picking up the car we bought. A 1995 Honda Oddysey. It is a great deal. The guy bought it from a dealership 6 months ago for 5500 NZD. We are getting it for 2020 NZD. He has to leave the country tomorrow. I officially drive a rugby mom car.
I have a coffee date (I think it's a date) tonight with a girl named Dana. She is older than me but I don't know by how much, don't especially care though. I met her this weekend. She's pretty. And nice. That is most of what I can say at this point. Unfortunatly she lives in Auckland. So it goes.
Henry is picking up the car we bought. A 1995 Honda Oddysey. It is a great deal. The guy bought it from a dealership 6 months ago for 5500 NZD. We are getting it for 2020 NZD. He has to leave the country tomorrow. I officially drive a rugby mom car.
I have a coffee date (I think it's a date) tonight with a girl named Dana. She is older than me but I don't know by how much, don't especially care though. I met her this weekend. She's pretty. And nice. That is most of what I can say at this point. Unfortunatly she lives in Auckland. So it goes.
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
Surviving the Game
Note: The title of this post is stolen from the film of the same name; an adventure film starring Ice-T in which he plays a bum taken to the forrest and hunted for sport by wealthy businessmen. This post has nothing to do with that somewhat below average film
While in Wellington biking has clearly remained a big part of my life. It has basically taken on three forms; work (baxi), recreation (mt. biking), and last but not least transportation. Up until now my single speed mountain bike is my sole form of transportation (that may change soon, we are trying to buy a car). I am a full-time commuter, I go to my 8-5 job everyday on my bike parking it in the garage with the one other bike in a building that serves hundreds. Sometimes I ride in a change of clothes, but often I just wear my work clothes. The morning are cool and the ride is almost completely downhill so I never work up a sweat. Coming back is a another story, with the long days it is still warm at 5pm and I have to go up some steep hill for a single speed.
It isn't just work though, it's everything: grocery shopping (those hills become twice as hard with 20 pounds of groceries on your back), going to practice, going anywhere really. Because of this I have spent a lot of time on my bike, a great deal of which has been in the CBD of Wellington; an area of tight one way streets, lots of traffic, and pedestrians with less regard for street lights than any I have seen. In such a city, when riding you have two choices. Option A: be patient and act as a as a car, waiting you 'turn' and maybe sometimes scooting ahead of stopped traffic. Option B: See how fast you can get where you are going with dying.
Okay, perhaps it isn't as binary as that, but nonetheless I find myself increasingly drifting towards option B. Here the thing, riding your bike it traffic during rush hour plodding along is not fun, but riding your bike really fast during rush hour is really really fun. It is hard for it not to become a game; can I make that light, squeeze in that gap, pass the other guy. I leave the office, attach my single earbud to my right ear (only one ear bud, I need to be able to hear, safety first you know) on my ipod, go to some upbeat pop music (Peter Gabriel good, Britney bettter, Ace of Bass, there it is) and just go. When I am able to combine good timing with some luck and everything just falls into place, its such a great feeling. It is intoxicating, passing by and through this whole world, leaving it behind you. When I pass a bunch of cars on my bike it feels like winning as the underdog and I love being the underdog. The only problem is that this game don't have no Game Genie, giving you unlimited free lives. No this is more like when you were at the arcade and mom only gave you one god damn quarter and when you put it in you knew that this had to be the best Donkey Kong game of your life because there wasn't going to be another if you died.
If I had to predict the way I thought I was most likely to die in the next five years, riding my bike wouldn't be a bad bet. Not that that I think it is likely but people do die doing this, even ostensibly more safer riders then myself. In fact in my job at the corner's office I have input data about two bike deaths; one person got 'doored' (parked car opened a door in their path) and another moved into the path of a passing car on a country road.
However I wouldn't want you to think that I just race down the road being careless and endagering myself. I consider what I do safe. There are a lot of factors contributing to safety beyond just how aggressive you are. I do a lot of things that are more safe then other cyclists or drivers. First and foremost when I am riding throught the city I am completely focused on it. Not only am not doing other things (talking on my phone, adjusting the music, eating, et cetera) I am also not thinking about anything else. I am completely engaged in the task at hand. Most people look passively in front of them, and maybe to the side if they are changing lanes. I am constantly scanning around seeing what is in front of me , behind me, where there are cars and people. I am making predictions as to what is going to happen next in this space. When I drive I think in terms most of the space directly in front of me. On a bike I see the big picture, how it all interacts.
So as long as I remember to keep vigilant, watch out passing on the left before a turn, avoid sidewalks as much as I can (though they are so tempting), and don't push it too far I think I can make this quarter last a while. Then again, I suppose that is what everyone thinks.
Joey
While in Wellington biking has clearly remained a big part of my life. It has basically taken on three forms; work (baxi), recreation (mt. biking), and last but not least transportation. Up until now my single speed mountain bike is my sole form of transportation (that may change soon, we are trying to buy a car). I am a full-time commuter, I go to my 8-5 job everyday on my bike parking it in the garage with the one other bike in a building that serves hundreds. Sometimes I ride in a change of clothes, but often I just wear my work clothes. The morning are cool and the ride is almost completely downhill so I never work up a sweat. Coming back is a another story, with the long days it is still warm at 5pm and I have to go up some steep hill for a single speed.
It isn't just work though, it's everything: grocery shopping (those hills become twice as hard with 20 pounds of groceries on your back), going to practice, going anywhere really. Because of this I have spent a lot of time on my bike, a great deal of which has been in the CBD of Wellington; an area of tight one way streets, lots of traffic, and pedestrians with less regard for street lights than any I have seen. In such a city, when riding you have two choices. Option A: be patient and act as a as a car, waiting you 'turn' and maybe sometimes scooting ahead of stopped traffic. Option B: See how fast you can get where you are going with dying.
Okay, perhaps it isn't as binary as that, but nonetheless I find myself increasingly drifting towards option B. Here the thing, riding your bike it traffic during rush hour plodding along is not fun, but riding your bike really fast during rush hour is really really fun. It is hard for it not to become a game; can I make that light, squeeze in that gap, pass the other guy. I leave the office, attach my single earbud to my right ear (only one ear bud, I need to be able to hear, safety first you know) on my ipod, go to some upbeat pop music (Peter Gabriel good, Britney bettter, Ace of Bass, there it is) and just go. When I am able to combine good timing with some luck and everything just falls into place, its such a great feeling. It is intoxicating, passing by and through this whole world, leaving it behind you. When I pass a bunch of cars on my bike it feels like winning as the underdog and I love being the underdog. The only problem is that this game don't have no Game Genie, giving you unlimited free lives. No this is more like when you were at the arcade and mom only gave you one god damn quarter and when you put it in you knew that this had to be the best Donkey Kong game of your life because there wasn't going to be another if you died.
If I had to predict the way I thought I was most likely to die in the next five years, riding my bike wouldn't be a bad bet. Not that that I think it is likely but people do die doing this, even ostensibly more safer riders then myself. In fact in my job at the corner's office I have input data about two bike deaths; one person got 'doored' (parked car opened a door in their path) and another moved into the path of a passing car on a country road.
However I wouldn't want you to think that I just race down the road being careless and endagering myself. I consider what I do safe. There are a lot of factors contributing to safety beyond just how aggressive you are. I do a lot of things that are more safe then other cyclists or drivers. First and foremost when I am riding throught the city I am completely focused on it. Not only am not doing other things (talking on my phone, adjusting the music, eating, et cetera) I am also not thinking about anything else. I am completely engaged in the task at hand. Most people look passively in front of them, and maybe to the side if they are changing lanes. I am constantly scanning around seeing what is in front of me , behind me, where there are cars and people. I am making predictions as to what is going to happen next in this space. When I drive I think in terms most of the space directly in front of me. On a bike I see the big picture, how it all interacts.
So as long as I remember to keep vigilant, watch out passing on the left before a turn, avoid sidewalks as much as I can (though they are so tempting), and don't push it too far I think I can make this quarter last a while. Then again, I suppose that is what everyone thinks.
Joey
FAQ
So as many of you know I have been working as a 'pilot' for baxi, a bike taxi company. People talk to me constantly throughout the night; some are interested in a ride, some just want to talk, others are jerks. So I have compiled a list of frequently asked questions I get and my usual responses.
Q: How much does it cost?
A: Depends where you're going. Usually 5-20$.
Q: Can I have a free ride?
A: No
Q: Please?
A: No.
Q: How far do you go?
A: Oriental Bay, Basin Reserve, Train Station, Bottom of Aro Valley and anywhere in between.
Q: How about Lower Hutt? (a suburb man miles away. This question inevitably cracks people up. Feel free to replace Lower Hutt with any place very far away or very high up. The hilarity is just as strong).
A: I'll do it for 1000$ (or more)
Q: How many can you take?
A: Only 2
Q: How about 3?
A: No
Q: What if she sits on my lap?
A: No
Q: What it I gave you an extra 5 dollars?
A: No
Q:C'mon
A: No. Sorry.
Q: How long have you guys been doing this?
A: About a month and a half.
Q: You must keep pretty fit doing this, eh?
A: Ya, I do okay.
Q: Can I touch your thigh (calf, butt, et cetera)?
A: Sure.
Q: How much to Porirua?
A: 1500$ Up Front.
Q: Do you get paid hourly?
A: Nope, I just hire out the bike and whatever I make on top of that is mine to keep.
Q: Do you pay taxes?
A: Umm, sure.
Q: What are you doing later?
A: (Depends on who is asking)
Q: Where are you from
A: The States, Arizona.
Q: Can I get a free ride, just to up there, please?
A: Sorry but like my Grandpa always says, there's no such thing as a free lunch.
Q: Are you absolutely knackered (tired)?
A: No, I'm fine. (This transitions from the truth to a lie as the night goes on).
Q: How much money do you make in a night.
A: Oh it depends on the tips. (Real answer: 100$-150%$ dollars most friday, saturday nights)
Q: Do you like this job?
A:Ya, it's sweet as.
Q: How much does it cost?
A: Depends where you're going. Usually 5-20$.
Q: Can I have a free ride?
A: No
Q: Please?
A: No.
Q: How far do you go?
A: Oriental Bay, Basin Reserve, Train Station, Bottom of Aro Valley and anywhere in between.
Q: How about Lower Hutt? (a suburb man miles away. This question inevitably cracks people up. Feel free to replace Lower Hutt with any place very far away or very high up. The hilarity is just as strong).
A: I'll do it for 1000$ (or more)
Q: How many can you take?
A: Only 2
Q: How about 3?
A: No
Q: What if she sits on my lap?
A: No
Q: What it I gave you an extra 5 dollars?
A: No
Q:C'mon
A: No. Sorry.
Q: How long have you guys been doing this?
A: About a month and a half.
Q: You must keep pretty fit doing this, eh?
A: Ya, I do okay.
Q: Can I touch your thigh (calf, butt, et cetera)?
A: Sure.
Q: How much to Porirua?
A: 1500$ Up Front.
Q: Do you get paid hourly?
A: Nope, I just hire out the bike and whatever I make on top of that is mine to keep.
Q: Do you pay taxes?
A: Umm, sure.
Q: What are you doing later?
A: (Depends on who is asking)
Q: Where are you from
A: The States, Arizona.
Q: Can I get a free ride, just to up there, please?
A: Sorry but like my Grandpa always says, there's no such thing as a free lunch.
Q: Are you absolutely knackered (tired)?
A: No, I'm fine. (This transitions from the truth to a lie as the night goes on).
Q: How much money do you make in a night.
A: Oh it depends on the tips. (Real answer: 100$-150%$ dollars most friday, saturday nights)
Q: Do you like this job?
A:Ya, it's sweet as.
Monday, November 24, 2008
hobbies
So I would say right now I have four major hobbies in my life. I thought I might just throw in an update on how they have treated me here and where they are at.
Ultimate: I've been playing ultimate out here and I have mixed opinions. I am playing with a club that is going to going to nationals in Christchurch in December. I like a lot of the people on my team, I just don't like my team. The play is a much lower quality than I am used to and I am struggling to adapt and not get frustrated. I can deal with players that aren't good, that is fine; but the problem is they think they are good, so they try to play outside their limits and it doesn't work. If they learned to work harder adn be more conservative it would be a lot more fun, but that just isn't the culture out here. I am forced to run idiotic drill planned by well intentioned but skillless leadership who talk and talk and talk. I really don't like going to practice. The truth is Ben and I would probobly quit (we've had an offer to play with a club from Auckland) except that we would feel too bad and don't want to burn any bridges with people that off the field we like very much and as bad as they are now, they would be awful without us.
I am also playing 'competetive' (I'll let the term slide) league on thursdays. This is a lot more fun, no drills, no talking and Henry and I have taken it upon ourselves to organize post game drinks at a place called 'the office' that has 10 dollar pitchers. That I enjoy.
Mountain biking:
I have been doing more lately and it has been great. Wellington is surrounded by hills and Pjay and I have been trying to go after we get off of work because it stays light until 830pm these days. There is one single track called the 'rollercoaster' which has a downhill only section which is sick. There are some jumps people have built which are pretty scary for someone at my skill level, especially because I am riding a bike with a rigid fork (no shocks). There are more trails than we will ever get a chance to ride but I am looking forward to hitting more of them.
Running: Running has found a renued place in my life now that I am trying to train for a marathon. As I've said before Welly is the best city I have ever been in for running. Every run is a new adventure and I find some new place to discover every time. Unfortunately I've been off the habit for two weeks because my knees were hurting after the Taupa hat tournament I wrote about. I think I will start again on Sunday.
Writing: This is a new one and the one I am most excited about right now. About a month or so ago I was telling Henry a story about a guy I used to work with Darrell and my regret of never having helped him. Henry thought it was a great story and commented that it would make a great short story. I figured, why not, so I wrote it, and Henry edited it for me. Oh, and it was fun. I really enjoyed it. So I started writing another, this one was longer. By this time I had decided that I was getting a lot of enjoyment out of this and started to hash a plan. So right now I am writing an anthology of short stories about my life. Writers get made fun of for writing memoirs I know, these aren't meant to be for anything other than my enjoyment and to try to get better. I think I will write 8-12 depending on length. After that I have some thoughts, but I'll hold onto them for now. In any event it has been a big focus for me lately and has taken up a lot of my time, though I don't regret it. I have written three stories so far and have just started a fourth. I don't think I am particularly talented, but maybe some people I know will at least enjoy them. We'll see.
Joey
Ultimate: I've been playing ultimate out here and I have mixed opinions. I am playing with a club that is going to going to nationals in Christchurch in December. I like a lot of the people on my team, I just don't like my team. The play is a much lower quality than I am used to and I am struggling to adapt and not get frustrated. I can deal with players that aren't good, that is fine; but the problem is they think they are good, so they try to play outside their limits and it doesn't work. If they learned to work harder adn be more conservative it would be a lot more fun, but that just isn't the culture out here. I am forced to run idiotic drill planned by well intentioned but skillless leadership who talk and talk and talk. I really don't like going to practice. The truth is Ben and I would probobly quit (we've had an offer to play with a club from Auckland) except that we would feel too bad and don't want to burn any bridges with people that off the field we like very much and as bad as they are now, they would be awful without us.
I am also playing 'competetive' (I'll let the term slide) league on thursdays. This is a lot more fun, no drills, no talking and Henry and I have taken it upon ourselves to organize post game drinks at a place called 'the office' that has 10 dollar pitchers. That I enjoy.
Mountain biking:
I have been doing more lately and it has been great. Wellington is surrounded by hills and Pjay and I have been trying to go after we get off of work because it stays light until 830pm these days. There is one single track called the 'rollercoaster' which has a downhill only section which is sick. There are some jumps people have built which are pretty scary for someone at my skill level, especially because I am riding a bike with a rigid fork (no shocks). There are more trails than we will ever get a chance to ride but I am looking forward to hitting more of them.
Running: Running has found a renued place in my life now that I am trying to train for a marathon. As I've said before Welly is the best city I have ever been in for running. Every run is a new adventure and I find some new place to discover every time. Unfortunately I've been off the habit for two weeks because my knees were hurting after the Taupa hat tournament I wrote about. I think I will start again on Sunday.
Writing: This is a new one and the one I am most excited about right now. About a month or so ago I was telling Henry a story about a guy I used to work with Darrell and my regret of never having helped him. Henry thought it was a great story and commented that it would make a great short story. I figured, why not, so I wrote it, and Henry edited it for me. Oh, and it was fun. I really enjoyed it. So I started writing another, this one was longer. By this time I had decided that I was getting a lot of enjoyment out of this and started to hash a plan. So right now I am writing an anthology of short stories about my life. Writers get made fun of for writing memoirs I know, these aren't meant to be for anything other than my enjoyment and to try to get better. I think I will write 8-12 depending on length. After that I have some thoughts, but I'll hold onto them for now. In any event it has been a big focus for me lately and has taken up a lot of my time, though I don't regret it. I have written three stories so far and have just started a fourth. I don't think I am particularly talented, but maybe some people I know will at least enjoy them. We'll see.
Joey
Monday, November 10, 2008
Taupo Hat and science of dance floors.
Went to a hat tournament in Taupo this weekend, I'll give ya'll a mini-rundown. In case you did not know a hat tournament is where you sign up without a team and they make teams randomly out of the players.
We drove up in a one of two vans that had been organized by some Wellington players, it was really fun. You can drink in cars if you aren't driving here, and we did. We one of my new favorite drinking games, team choose your own adventure. The way it works is that one person (in this case me) reads a choose your own adventure. When you come to a decision you do a thumbs up thumbs down vote as to what to do. Majority rules and if you voted for the decision that did not get picked you take a drink. However if you voted for the majority decision and it ends up leading to an ending you drink 3. If it ends up leading to your death you finish your drink.
We stayed in a hostel where most of the people in the tourney were staying. My team wasn't that good and I ended up getting a little frustrated but still had a lot of fun playing. I got grips of D's but my team would just turn it over again. We went 0-6 which was kind of weak. We lost two games by 1 point. I think I got the most MVP votes on my team, so that was nice Ben and Henry were on other teams and they made it too the final and were actually picked as tournament MVPs, I think because they were the highest vote getters from the two finals teams so that was awesome. The three of us gained a good amount of cred. NZ ultimate is small and everyone knows everyone. We have been thinking about putting a team of our own together for the men's championship in April and this was a good first step to helping us recruit.
The highlight might have been the party. The theme was French. Ben, Henry, and I dressed up as three french kisses. Henry made stenciled shirts with the French flag then a pair of lips (get it). They below that we were each a 'type' of kiss. Henry, Ben, and myself were tasteful, recreational, and playful respectively. It was at a bar and everyone got two free drink tickets though I was able to score more later.
After we had been there for just a bit I decided I should kick start the party and get the dance floor started (cue Blake's laughter). I recuited about 8ish people, only 2 of which I really knew and we got that shit started. It was interesting to see to see the dynamics of it from there. We got that little flame going and with the right song it got a little larger. After a little while we were in a steady state of abotu 12 people all dancing in a circle. This was good, but not ideally sustainable or good for growth. It made it hard for new people to join and a single dancing circle much like a single cell is very vulnerable to annhilation if circumstances aren't as good. So Pjay and I did what any smart single cell life form does. We divided. We went into the middle and created two circles. With two smaller circles it was easier to join one and made it comfortable for people to start their own. Soon we had about 20 people and I knew I had created a self sustaining lifeform and no longer had to nurture it, we had reached as they say in nuclear physics, critical mass. Would people have started dancing on there own, yes, but I think I accelerated the process by between 30-75 minutes.
So I took a break and had a beer, my work was done. Not to say I wouldn't be back. I mostly just danced for the next 4ish hours. It was a really fun group and the bar got pretty crowded with us and others. All and all a great night. The tournament as a whole was really fun, not too expensive and we got to go to some amazing natural hot springs while we were there. I enjoyed it. Now I'm back in Welly working, resting, training, and thinking up plans for the weekend.
Joey
Just finished: Foundation and Empire
Currently Reading: Special Topics in Calamity Physics (a novel)
Up Next: ?
We drove up in a one of two vans that had been organized by some Wellington players, it was really fun. You can drink in cars if you aren't driving here, and we did. We one of my new favorite drinking games, team choose your own adventure. The way it works is that one person (in this case me) reads a choose your own adventure. When you come to a decision you do a thumbs up thumbs down vote as to what to do. Majority rules and if you voted for the decision that did not get picked you take a drink. However if you voted for the majority decision and it ends up leading to an ending you drink 3. If it ends up leading to your death you finish your drink.
We stayed in a hostel where most of the people in the tourney were staying. My team wasn't that good and I ended up getting a little frustrated but still had a lot of fun playing. I got grips of D's but my team would just turn it over again. We went 0-6 which was kind of weak. We lost two games by 1 point. I think I got the most MVP votes on my team, so that was nice Ben and Henry were on other teams and they made it too the final and were actually picked as tournament MVPs, I think because they were the highest vote getters from the two finals teams so that was awesome. The three of us gained a good amount of cred. NZ ultimate is small and everyone knows everyone. We have been thinking about putting a team of our own together for the men's championship in April and this was a good first step to helping us recruit.
The highlight might have been the party. The theme was French. Ben, Henry, and I dressed up as three french kisses. Henry made stenciled shirts with the French flag then a pair of lips (get it). They below that we were each a 'type' of kiss. Henry, Ben, and myself were tasteful, recreational, and playful respectively. It was at a bar and everyone got two free drink tickets though I was able to score more later.
After we had been there for just a bit I decided I should kick start the party and get the dance floor started (cue Blake's laughter). I recuited about 8ish people, only 2 of which I really knew and we got that shit started. It was interesting to see to see the dynamics of it from there. We got that little flame going and with the right song it got a little larger. After a little while we were in a steady state of abotu 12 people all dancing in a circle. This was good, but not ideally sustainable or good for growth. It made it hard for new people to join and a single dancing circle much like a single cell is very vulnerable to annhilation if circumstances aren't as good. So Pjay and I did what any smart single cell life form does. We divided. We went into the middle and created two circles. With two smaller circles it was easier to join one and made it comfortable for people to start their own. Soon we had about 20 people and I knew I had created a self sustaining lifeform and no longer had to nurture it, we had reached as they say in nuclear physics, critical mass. Would people have started dancing on there own, yes, but I think I accelerated the process by between 30-75 minutes.
So I took a break and had a beer, my work was done. Not to say I wouldn't be back. I mostly just danced for the next 4ish hours. It was a really fun group and the bar got pretty crowded with us and others. All and all a great night. The tournament as a whole was really fun, not too expensive and we got to go to some amazing natural hot springs while we were there. I enjoyed it. Now I'm back in Welly working, resting, training, and thinking up plans for the weekend.
Joey
Just finished: Foundation and Empire
Currently Reading: Special Topics in Calamity Physics (a novel)
Up Next: ?
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
This might just be it
So I was going on a nice run yesterday down Happy Valley Road; a two lane road that runs through a fairly narrow and attractive valley on it's way to the south coast of Wellington. It was the first time I had gone running in a while without my music and it was great, I forgot how much I like to think when I run.
During this run I was feeling great and was overcome with a feeling of contentment I dont' think I have ever known except for perhaps in my best times at camp and maybe one other time. I realized how happy I am with the way my life is right now, today (or yesterday as it were). Even for me, someone who lives a pretty easy fulfilling life it is hard not to look to the future or the past with anticipation or longing.
Right now I am exactly where I want to be and I couldn't be happier. After5 weeks almost everything has finally come together for in my life here. I have a day job (Data work at the Ministry of Justice) that although not exactly exciting, pays well, is pretty easy, overall pleasant, and may even be interesting every once in a while. I have my 'Batman' job working for Baxi where I get to make money, have a blast, meet people, and feel like the king of late night bar scene.
I've found an ultimate community here which has been welcoming and I am getting to play a couple times a week, which is all I want. The people are great, the competition is reasonable, and I love playing on actual grass. I am going to a hat tournament in Taupo (4 hours north) this weekend that I am really pumped about.
If there was ever a great city to train for a marathon then Welly is it. I haven't gone on the same run twice there is so many great and scenic options. Every run I explore a new little part of town with some cafe or movie theater that looks nice. I am totally getting sucked into cafe culture. Wellington has more cafes then New York, Seattle, or San Francisco per capita. They are everywhere and I find myself caught in the infectious pull of a long black, flat white, or double mocha on a chilly spring afternoon.
I work a lot between the two jobs but am packing in as much of Wellington as I can while I am here. I love the city and it is amazing how much there is to do in such a small city/region. I have been mentally compilling a list of everything I want to do while I am here and will make it a written list soon.
I'm not even looking forward at traveling in a few months. I'm sure it is going to be great, but I'm in no rush at all. Working, really getting to know this city and becoming a part of it in a meaningful way is what I really wanted when I came here and I really am living my NZ dream.
This doesn't mean my life is perfect, far from it. There are many people who wouldn't want this at all. I live in a flat where there is no light in the bathroom right now, Some nights I only get 3 hours of sleep and most others I get 6. I dealt with an arduous job hunting prospect rife with disappointment, during which I went into a little dept and which led me to two jobs that seemed great but were really not well represented and I was forced to look again. In two months my contract is over here and I will have to do it again. Plus it is freakin cold here, a lot, in the spring.
Still for all my life deprecation it really is great. I am so excited about 3 months of saving money, late nights ruling cuba mall and courtney place on my baxi, overpriced movies at gorgeous movie theaters, places, rugby matches, cricket matches, long blacks in the cafe or in the baxi garage, running all over the city, the Newtown shops, John's Kitchen, biking through wine country, Te Papa for the 7th,8th, 9th.. times, lunches in the park, plays, music, fireworks, views, ultimate, Mr. Bun, Havana, Southern Cross, the Kelburn butcher, Lamb Salad, Thanksgiving picnic, and whatever else I can squeeze out of the next few months, before we head south. I was about to type 'it's gonna be great', but here's the thing: It is great.
Joey
Finished: Brief Wonderous life of Oscar Wao
Currently Reading: Foundation and Empire- Asimov
Up Next: Jonathon Strange and Mr. Norell or the Yiddish Policeman's Union or the Omnivores Dilema.
During this run I was feeling great and was overcome with a feeling of contentment I dont' think I have ever known except for perhaps in my best times at camp and maybe one other time. I realized how happy I am with the way my life is right now, today (or yesterday as it were). Even for me, someone who lives a pretty easy fulfilling life it is hard not to look to the future or the past with anticipation or longing.
Right now I am exactly where I want to be and I couldn't be happier. After5 weeks almost everything has finally come together for in my life here. I have a day job (Data work at the Ministry of Justice) that although not exactly exciting, pays well, is pretty easy, overall pleasant, and may even be interesting every once in a while. I have my 'Batman' job working for Baxi where I get to make money, have a blast, meet people, and feel like the king of late night bar scene.
I've found an ultimate community here which has been welcoming and I am getting to play a couple times a week, which is all I want. The people are great, the competition is reasonable, and I love playing on actual grass. I am going to a hat tournament in Taupo (4 hours north) this weekend that I am really pumped about.
If there was ever a great city to train for a marathon then Welly is it. I haven't gone on the same run twice there is so many great and scenic options. Every run I explore a new little part of town with some cafe or movie theater that looks nice. I am totally getting sucked into cafe culture. Wellington has more cafes then New York, Seattle, or San Francisco per capita. They are everywhere and I find myself caught in the infectious pull of a long black, flat white, or double mocha on a chilly spring afternoon.
I work a lot between the two jobs but am packing in as much of Wellington as I can while I am here. I love the city and it is amazing how much there is to do in such a small city/region. I have been mentally compilling a list of everything I want to do while I am here and will make it a written list soon.
I'm not even looking forward at traveling in a few months. I'm sure it is going to be great, but I'm in no rush at all. Working, really getting to know this city and becoming a part of it in a meaningful way is what I really wanted when I came here and I really am living my NZ dream.
This doesn't mean my life is perfect, far from it. There are many people who wouldn't want this at all. I live in a flat where there is no light in the bathroom right now, Some nights I only get 3 hours of sleep and most others I get 6. I dealt with an arduous job hunting prospect rife with disappointment, during which I went into a little dept and which led me to two jobs that seemed great but were really not well represented and I was forced to look again. In two months my contract is over here and I will have to do it again. Plus it is freakin cold here, a lot, in the spring.
Still for all my life deprecation it really is great. I am so excited about 3 months of saving money, late nights ruling cuba mall and courtney place on my baxi, overpriced movies at gorgeous movie theaters, places, rugby matches, cricket matches, long blacks in the cafe or in the baxi garage, running all over the city, the Newtown shops, John's Kitchen, biking through wine country, Te Papa for the 7th,8th, 9th.. times, lunches in the park, plays, music, fireworks, views, ultimate, Mr. Bun, Havana, Southern Cross, the Kelburn butcher, Lamb Salad, Thanksgiving picnic, and whatever else I can squeeze out of the next few months, before we head south. I was about to type 'it's gonna be great', but here's the thing: It is great.
Joey
Finished: Brief Wonderous life of Oscar Wao
Currently Reading: Foundation and Empire- Asimov
Up Next: Jonathon Strange and Mr. Norell or the Yiddish Policeman's Union or the Omnivores Dilema.
Friday, October 31, 2008
Joey the Baxi guy
You may recall that last time on this blog I mentioned Baxi the bike taxi service I was interested in joining. So on Wednesday I went down to meet the guy who owned the company, Thomas. He has a little garage near the night life area of town. He told me about the company, I learned that they had just started a week ago, it was completely new here. That had been doing alright so far though and had gotten some good publicity. Basically you rent the bikes from Thomas and then whatever you keep is your own. He had me try out riding one around the alley and saw that I could handle it. I decided to try it out for real the next night.
I came around 7pm to the garage on Thursday. Normally he would charge straight off for the bike but since it was my first night it was free. If I didn't do well or didn't like it no charge, if I made some money then we would work something out. I went out and road around with Thomas for a while, each on our own bike just getting a feel for things. He is a great guy and we really got along. He has been a bike courier in 4 cities and lived for 6 years in Austria. He is working crazy hours right now getting this business off the ground while working full time for the post. Luckily he's got a free espresso machine in the garage.
After a little while I got my first fair. A couple around my age wanting to go to a bar/restaraunt called the Southern Cross. Fares are negotiated on ride by ride basis. Normally this would have been probobly a ten dollar ride. Instead we agreed on 5 bucks and they'd buy me a beer. So I took them there, we chatted a bunch. James, the guy, told me they were celebrating him having a won a entreprenuership contest for his new company which sells bottled water with biodegradable bottles (made from corn, a very American idea in a way). They bought me a Montieth's Black (a boutique beer out here) and we shared a large antipasta platter. We had a blast as we hung out with each other and two girls they were meeting there. Eventually I left, though we may hang out in the future.
After that it was work, kinda. I loved it. In some ways it was one of the coolest nights of my life. Craziness packed into those next 6 hours. A fight practically broke out on my cab, I was kissed on the cheek by a transvestite passenger, I got a much more real kiss from a much more real woman, drove around promo girls from a strip club whilst they handed out flyers, and made countless new friends. People loved me, the idea is so new here that people are just curious and intrigued. I thought I might have issues with the local cab drivers or police but they were all great and I talked to a lot of them. When Thomas txted me and the other guy that was riding to bring the bike back I had made 150$, even after giving Thomas 30 for the bike. That makes me the current company record holder for one night, though to be fair the company hasn't exactly been going that long. Thomas really liked having me out there. As the company is young he is very image concious and feels like I am doing what he wants. I got home at 315 and got 3.5 hours off sleep before waking up for my day job with the ministy of justice (a post later this week about that).
So that is my new night job and I couldn't be happier about it. I quit the promo job. I hated it. Bad shifts and boring work. I am supposed to ride again tonight. The weather looks awful so it could be tough, we'll see. I am also set to work Wednesday and Thursday.
In other brief news:
-We moved into our flat today. I am so happy to finally be settled in somewhere. Details to come
-I am going to Taupo (a town 4.5 hours north of here known for its large lake) for a ultimate hat tournament next weekend. Details also probobly to come.
Joey
I came around 7pm to the garage on Thursday. Normally he would charge straight off for the bike but since it was my first night it was free. If I didn't do well or didn't like it no charge, if I made some money then we would work something out. I went out and road around with Thomas for a while, each on our own bike just getting a feel for things. He is a great guy and we really got along. He has been a bike courier in 4 cities and lived for 6 years in Austria. He is working crazy hours right now getting this business off the ground while working full time for the post. Luckily he's got a free espresso machine in the garage.
After a little while I got my first fair. A couple around my age wanting to go to a bar/restaraunt called the Southern Cross. Fares are negotiated on ride by ride basis. Normally this would have been probobly a ten dollar ride. Instead we agreed on 5 bucks and they'd buy me a beer. So I took them there, we chatted a bunch. James, the guy, told me they were celebrating him having a won a entreprenuership contest for his new company which sells bottled water with biodegradable bottles (made from corn, a very American idea in a way). They bought me a Montieth's Black (a boutique beer out here) and we shared a large antipasta platter. We had a blast as we hung out with each other and two girls they were meeting there. Eventually I left, though we may hang out in the future.
After that it was work, kinda. I loved it. In some ways it was one of the coolest nights of my life. Craziness packed into those next 6 hours. A fight practically broke out on my cab, I was kissed on the cheek by a transvestite passenger, I got a much more real kiss from a much more real woman, drove around promo girls from a strip club whilst they handed out flyers, and made countless new friends. People loved me, the idea is so new here that people are just curious and intrigued. I thought I might have issues with the local cab drivers or police but they were all great and I talked to a lot of them. When Thomas txted me and the other guy that was riding to bring the bike back I had made 150$, even after giving Thomas 30 for the bike. That makes me the current company record holder for one night, though to be fair the company hasn't exactly been going that long. Thomas really liked having me out there. As the company is young he is very image concious and feels like I am doing what he wants. I got home at 315 and got 3.5 hours off sleep before waking up for my day job with the ministy of justice (a post later this week about that).
So that is my new night job and I couldn't be happier about it. I quit the promo job. I hated it. Bad shifts and boring work. I am supposed to ride again tonight. The weather looks awful so it could be tough, we'll see. I am also set to work Wednesday and Thursday.
In other brief news:
-We moved into our flat today. I am so happy to finally be settled in somewhere. Details to come
-I am going to Taupo (a town 4.5 hours north of here known for its large lake) for a ultimate hat tournament next weekend. Details also probobly to come.
Joey
Monday, October 27, 2008
Bars, Bush, and Baxis
So Saturdy I was working my Bar-Promo Job, which has been alright. The shifts are short, and it is a lot of handing out stuff. Anyway when I finished up (Midnight), the manager of the bar I was working for that night asked if I wanted to work for a while longer, they were short handed. I said sure and worked as a bar back for 4 hours. It was pretty easy. Pick up glasses, clean glasses, put glasses away mostly.
Apparently though all the staff were pretty surprised at how well I did considering I started when it was already packed and supposedly did better then most of the people that had been around for a while. It was pretty fun actualy. Lots of music and free red bull. After working for about an hour or so the manager asked me if I wanted a job at one of their other bars doing this. I might take it, I enjoyed the work and it goes quick. He is supposed to call me today. We'll see. At 4am when we were done working all the staff just hung around and drank for free for a little while. It was pretty sweet. The staff were all really appreciative for my help and we got on great. I enjoyed myself. So we'll see.
On Sunday Pjay, Ben and myself went on a tramp (hike). It was a two day trip, and we stayed overnight in one of the many 'huts' that are set up on New Zealand trails that you can stay at overnight for pretty cheap. We got a much later start than we originally intended because Peej had to work in the morning so we had to alter our plans a little. Still the hike was great both days. The taxi driver had told us that it was some 'rough bush' (country) and it was a little, though we didn't get to the toughest parts. It was quite muddy though. The highlight though wasn't looking up as looking down. They ground was really neat. There were all these mossy, fearny, soft spots that made the ground feel like a trampoline or memory foam. It was really cool. There was also some great river crossings, some easier than others.
Staying in the hut was great. There was one other group there (this one slept up to 20). We talked a lot to them and shared some of our food. We had pasta, apple crisp and s'mores (though Kiwi Marshmellows are not quite the same). They have gas stoves in the huts which is nice. Combined with a roof, and fireplaces, and some camp mattresses it was pretty comfortable. The next morning we hiked out a different way which was also great, very steep in the beginning. A nice little trip. With work it will be a while before we are able to get out and do something like this again I think.
The other night while working promo stuff I started talking to a guy would was baxi (bike taxi) driver and started asking him about. He told me a bit and said he had only done it a few times but thought it was cool. I got the phone number for the guy that runs it and called him. He said they are always looking for new drivers. It is an independant contractorship so, basically, you rent the bike, and then whatever you make is yours. You just let him know when you would like to work and it works on a first come first serve basis. He said the first time out the bike is free to try it out no-risk (just like crack, right). I told him it sounded good and asked if I could give it a go on Thursday. He said I could and that I should just come by for a quit orientation on Wednesday that he gives to everyone. So I am going to do that tomorrow and ride Thursday. I don't know how much I will make but if it is anything at all I might do it just for the fun one or two nights a week. Updates to come.
Oh and I am cooking lamb salad, tonight, I'm pumped.
Joey
Apparently though all the staff were pretty surprised at how well I did considering I started when it was already packed and supposedly did better then most of the people that had been around for a while. It was pretty fun actualy. Lots of music and free red bull. After working for about an hour or so the manager asked me if I wanted a job at one of their other bars doing this. I might take it, I enjoyed the work and it goes quick. He is supposed to call me today. We'll see. At 4am when we were done working all the staff just hung around and drank for free for a little while. It was pretty sweet. The staff were all really appreciative for my help and we got on great. I enjoyed myself. So we'll see.
On Sunday Pjay, Ben and myself went on a tramp (hike). It was a two day trip, and we stayed overnight in one of the many 'huts' that are set up on New Zealand trails that you can stay at overnight for pretty cheap. We got a much later start than we originally intended because Peej had to work in the morning so we had to alter our plans a little. Still the hike was great both days. The taxi driver had told us that it was some 'rough bush' (country) and it was a little, though we didn't get to the toughest parts. It was quite muddy though. The highlight though wasn't looking up as looking down. They ground was really neat. There were all these mossy, fearny, soft spots that made the ground feel like a trampoline or memory foam. It was really cool. There was also some great river crossings, some easier than others.
Staying in the hut was great. There was one other group there (this one slept up to 20). We talked a lot to them and shared some of our food. We had pasta, apple crisp and s'mores (though Kiwi Marshmellows are not quite the same). They have gas stoves in the huts which is nice. Combined with a roof, and fireplaces, and some camp mattresses it was pretty comfortable. The next morning we hiked out a different way which was also great, very steep in the beginning. A nice little trip. With work it will be a while before we are able to get out and do something like this again I think.
The other night while working promo stuff I started talking to a guy would was baxi (bike taxi) driver and started asking him about. He told me a bit and said he had only done it a few times but thought it was cool. I got the phone number for the guy that runs it and called him. He said they are always looking for new drivers. It is an independant contractorship so, basically, you rent the bike, and then whatever you make is yours. You just let him know when you would like to work and it works on a first come first serve basis. He said the first time out the bike is free to try it out no-risk (just like crack, right). I told him it sounded good and asked if I could give it a go on Thursday. He said I could and that I should just come by for a quit orientation on Wednesday that he gives to everyone. So I am going to do that tomorrow and ride Thursday. I don't know how much I will make but if it is anything at all I might do it just for the fun one or two nights a week. Updates to come.
Oh and I am cooking lamb salad, tonight, I'm pumped.
Joey
Friday, October 24, 2008
The grind
So I am no longer working at Leuvan and start a different job on Friday. Basically I hated my boss, and the pay wasn't near good enough to make me put up with it. The guy was just a big jerk, it is no surprise they had employee retention issues. Pjay is still working there and doing alright, he works nights so doesn't really deal with the him that much. Apparently though, the guy has been out of character nice since I left. Maybe hearing that I was leaving purely because I though he was a jerk made some impression, I doubt it though.
So on friday I start a job for two months doing data entry for the Ministry of Justice- Office of Coronial Services. Yep, I work with coroners. Basically I will be entering in info about people that have just died under any type of suspicious circumstances. As data entry positions go it is pretty weird, but it pays okay, 17/hour and the hours are good.
I have been doing my bar promo job recently as well. It has been mostly just handing out cards for free drinks. It is pretty cool. I just hang out and see a very different side of the city. I meet all kinds of people. Last night I got a free hot chocolate from the salvation army and was talking to a bike taxi guy about his job. I'm actually going to look into doing it a couple nights maybe, we'll see. People's responses to getting the cards are interesting; everything from enourmous gratitude to anger. All and all it is a pretty chill job. I don't usually work for more than 2 hours at a time so it is a nice extra little bit.
So that is it for now. All of us have Sunday/Monday off work so we might go hiking, camping for the night. Ok Peace.
Joey
Just Finished: Entire Hitchkiker's Guide to the Galaxy Series
Currently Reading: Foundation- Asimov
Up Next: The Brief Wonderous Life of Oscar Wao- Diaz
So on friday I start a job for two months doing data entry for the Ministry of Justice- Office of Coronial Services. Yep, I work with coroners. Basically I will be entering in info about people that have just died under any type of suspicious circumstances. As data entry positions go it is pretty weird, but it pays okay, 17/hour and the hours are good.
I have been doing my bar promo job recently as well. It has been mostly just handing out cards for free drinks. It is pretty cool. I just hang out and see a very different side of the city. I meet all kinds of people. Last night I got a free hot chocolate from the salvation army and was talking to a bike taxi guy about his job. I'm actually going to look into doing it a couple nights maybe, we'll see. People's responses to getting the cards are interesting; everything from enourmous gratitude to anger. All and all it is a pretty chill job. I don't usually work for more than 2 hours at a time so it is a nice extra little bit.
So that is it for now. All of us have Sunday/Monday off work so we might go hiking, camping for the night. Ok Peace.
Joey
Just Finished: Entire Hitchkiker's Guide to the Galaxy Series
Currently Reading: Foundation- Asimov
Up Next: The Brief Wonderous Life of Oscar Wao- Diaz
Saturday, October 18, 2008
Absolutely Positively Wellington
... is the slogan from the Wellington city council for promoting Welly and things to do here. It is a nice evocative slogan and I like it, much like I like Wellington. I have actually been in the city for a week now and the more I get to know it the more I like it. Welly combines so many of the things I look for in a city. It is a cosmopolitan city with a great deal of art of culture, partially stemming from it's status as New Zealand's capital. Welly is also just in a beautiful setting, it's harbor is gourgeous no matter how many angles see it it from and it is sliced through and closed off with hills and small mountains. You are never more than a few kilometers from both no matter where you are. Wellington also has benefited from these two natural barriers in another way. Its forced the city to stay very compact. You can walk most places and bike anywhere it no time. Welly has suburbs, but they are true, well defined suburbs, not sprawl.
Wellington is also just small, there aren't that many people here. The city proper has about 170,000 and there are another 200,000 in the burbs. Many people talk about big cities that feel small, I think Wellington is a small city that feels big. With all the culture, large buildings, and restaurants and cafes (Wellington supposedly has some of the most such establishments per capita of any city) you feel as if you are at the center of some huge city. Instead it is all just right there.
For a city of its size there is so much to discover. I have been the national museum, Te Papa, 3 times now and haven't seen half of it. Today Ben and I went on a great hike that took us from one of the suburbs (we took a train) through mountains and parks back into the city. During this we saw the South Island for the first time. Yesterday Pjay and I went mountain biking and found ourselves in a Newtown, a working class neighborhood of Wellington that we immediately fell in love with. On Friday we went to the National Rugby League semi-final, which the local team, the Lions were playing in and won. I've been running a good deal (I'll get to that) and have been discovering some parts of the city that way as well; little enclaves of shops that the top of hills, stairwells that provide convenient short cuts, and new places to eat, though mostly we just cook. We eat well though, we have been having a lot of Lamb, I love reasonably priced Lamb.
I've been working at Leuvan, a Belgian Beer Cafe for a few days now. I think I am going to stick it out there. I am waiting tables, it was tough at first, the place is very busy and there was a lot of stuff to learn, but I am getting there. They like me, though the owner is a bit of jerk, one of the assistant managers is awesome. It is good experience. They have a real nice menu and a great beer selection. They needed more people so Pjay went in and applied and he is working there now too. The money isn't great, but it's money and the hours are steady. Plus I get off from 2pm-3pm each day so I have enough time to go to a museum or go mountain biking or just get a beer and relax each day. Though it is tough waking up at 545am, I just kinda do it.
Also I have become pretty committed to running a marathon. Actually I have found the one I want to do and it is ambitious. It is an off road marathon in the South Island in March. It looks hard, a lot of hills and you have to carry some of your own water plus some bad weather gear. Still it looks awesome and would be a great challenge. I think I am going to run a 1/2 marathon in town mid December. I'll let you know how it goes. Here is the Link to the marathon.
Other than that, life is good, I just can't wait to get out of the hostel and into our own flat in a couple weeks. Hope all is well with you all. Bye.
Joey
Wellington is also just small, there aren't that many people here. The city proper has about 170,000 and there are another 200,000 in the burbs. Many people talk about big cities that feel small, I think Wellington is a small city that feels big. With all the culture, large buildings, and restaurants and cafes (Wellington supposedly has some of the most such establishments per capita of any city) you feel as if you are at the center of some huge city. Instead it is all just right there.
For a city of its size there is so much to discover. I have been the national museum, Te Papa, 3 times now and haven't seen half of it. Today Ben and I went on a great hike that took us from one of the suburbs (we took a train) through mountains and parks back into the city. During this we saw the South Island for the first time. Yesterday Pjay and I went mountain biking and found ourselves in a Newtown, a working class neighborhood of Wellington that we immediately fell in love with. On Friday we went to the National Rugby League semi-final, which the local team, the Lions were playing in and won. I've been running a good deal (I'll get to that) and have been discovering some parts of the city that way as well; little enclaves of shops that the top of hills, stairwells that provide convenient short cuts, and new places to eat, though mostly we just cook. We eat well though, we have been having a lot of Lamb, I love reasonably priced Lamb.
I've been working at Leuvan, a Belgian Beer Cafe for a few days now. I think I am going to stick it out there. I am waiting tables, it was tough at first, the place is very busy and there was a lot of stuff to learn, but I am getting there. They like me, though the owner is a bit of jerk, one of the assistant managers is awesome. It is good experience. They have a real nice menu and a great beer selection. They needed more people so Pjay went in and applied and he is working there now too. The money isn't great, but it's money and the hours are steady. Plus I get off from 2pm-3pm each day so I have enough time to go to a museum or go mountain biking or just get a beer and relax each day. Though it is tough waking up at 545am, I just kinda do it.
Also I have become pretty committed to running a marathon. Actually I have found the one I want to do and it is ambitious. It is an off road marathon in the South Island in March. It looks hard, a lot of hills and you have to carry some of your own water plus some bad weather gear. Still it looks awesome and would be a great challenge. I think I am going to run a 1/2 marathon in town mid December. I'll let you know how it goes. Here is the Link to the marathon.
Other than that, life is good, I just can't wait to get out of the hostel and into our own flat in a couple weeks. Hope all is well with you all. Bye.
Joey
Monday, October 13, 2008
In the city with two jobs
So I now living in Wellington proper, which is a great change. Being with the Milne's in Lower Hutt was great but I am excited to be where the action is. We are staying at a hostel for a few weeks before our lease starts in Nov. It is not too bad. It is a hostel which has is strong and weak points. We are all sharing a room, but it is just the three of us. We have done some interesting construction including a lot of rope and a large plastic bread tray we stole to give ourselves additional storing/clothes hanging space. It isn't so bad though.
In other new I have secured primary employment. I am serving at a Belgian Beer Restaurant breakfast and lunch. I start tomorrow at 630am, ouch. On the other hand it is Mon-Fri which is great, full time, and they have the best beer selection ever. Here is the place: www.leuven.co.nz
So hopefully that goes well. Also I have been doing some running recently. Thinking about doing a marathon while I am out here. The two questions though are will I have enough time to train between two jobs, ultimate, and fun and can my knees take that kind of running. We will see. I went on a great run to the top of Mt. Victoria last night. It was one of the best runs I have ever been on. I felt great and the view was unbelievable.
So now it is all about learning my new jobs and getting my ultimate club situation figured out. The local ultimate politics here are bewildering. I don't know what team I will be on but it will probably come down to me getting to choose. At least once I understand it all. Anyway I am off to eat, run, and go to an orientation at Leuvan.
Joey
Just Finished: Streets or Loredo (the last of the Lonesome Dove Saga)
Currently Reading: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
Up Next: ?
In other new I have secured primary employment. I am serving at a Belgian Beer Restaurant breakfast and lunch. I start tomorrow at 630am, ouch. On the other hand it is Mon-Fri which is great, full time, and they have the best beer selection ever. Here is the place: www.leuven.co.nz
So hopefully that goes well. Also I have been doing some running recently. Thinking about doing a marathon while I am out here. The two questions though are will I have enough time to train between two jobs, ultimate, and fun and can my knees take that kind of running. We will see. I went on a great run to the top of Mt. Victoria last night. It was one of the best runs I have ever been on. I felt great and the view was unbelievable.
So now it is all about learning my new jobs and getting my ultimate club situation figured out. The local ultimate politics here are bewildering. I don't know what team I will be on but it will probably come down to me getting to choose. At least once I understand it all. Anyway I am off to eat, run, and go to an orientation at Leuvan.
Joey
Just Finished: Streets or Loredo (the last of the Lonesome Dove Saga)
Currently Reading: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
Up Next: ?
Friday, October 10, 2008
Promo Job
So I was hired for a part time job. I had decided that in addition to working a full time day job (still getting that settled) it would be sweet to have a night job. This way I could save way more money and have another way to meet people. I was hoping to get a job working at a bar or
questions asked, she was just telling us about the job. I think she just wanted to size us up to see if we seemed like the type of people they wanted, and that we were all right looking (it's a cruel shallow world, but it's the one we live in). Anyway I will let you read the job description,
Hopefully it goes well. So I have a second job, now all I need is a first.
Joey
questions asked, she was just telling us about the job. I think she just wanted to size us up to see if we seemed like the type of people they wanted, and that we were all right looking (it's a cruel shallow world, but it's the one we live in). Anyway I will let you read the job description,
Role and Responsibilities
The role requires confident, bubbly and happy people who enjoy meeting new people and taking
on a challenge. Aspects of the role include:
- Distributing flyers or other promotional material in a specific area as required
and being friendly and fun
good time
or in pair
any of our bars.
So most of the time, since I will be primarily working at night, I will be getting paid to hang out at a bar and meet people. Life is tough. The bars are really nice, here is the link to the web site: http://www.ghgroup.co.nz/Hopefully it goes well. So I have a second job, now all I need is a first.
Joey
Thursday, October 9, 2008
And now there are three
So Pjay is in New Zealand. Yay. It has been great to see him, even though we only parted ways a few weeks ago it feels like much longer, maybe because we hadn't seen each other for four months right before that. Either way, he has arrived and I showed him around the city.
Other than that things are going well. On Sunday we will finally leave the hospitality of the Milnes, the family we have been staying with. We have a booked a triple room at a hostel in the city for a few weeks until our lease starts Nov 1.
I mentioned the job setback, but I have been diligently working again and have a few possibilities on the horizon. It was a big setback but hopefully I will be working soon. I'm not worried.
Ben and I went to the first Wellington ultimate training session for the upcoming Co-ed season. There was a good turnout, and we met some nice people. We were noticed quickly as quality players and were invited to a practice this Sunday which we will be going to.
I've been doing a good bit of mountain biking on trails around here, there are some nice ones and it has been good to get a feel for the new bike.
Lastly we were featured in the local paper for our hitch hiking experiment, the story can be seen online here:
http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominionpost/4719109a24118.html
That's it,
Joey
Other than that things are going well. On Sunday we will finally leave the hospitality of the Milnes, the family we have been staying with. We have a booked a triple room at a hostel in the city for a few weeks until our lease starts Nov 1.
I mentioned the job setback, but I have been diligently working again and have a few possibilities on the horizon. It was a big setback but hopefully I will be working soon. I'm not worried.
Ben and I went to the first Wellington ultimate training session for the upcoming Co-ed season. There was a good turnout, and we met some nice people. We were noticed quickly as quality players and were invited to a practice this Sunday which we will be going to.
I've been doing a good bit of mountain biking on trails around here, there are some nice ones and it has been good to get a feel for the new bike.
Lastly we were featured in the local paper for our hitch hiking experiment, the story can be seen online here:
http://www.stuff.co.nz/
That's it,
Joey
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
Today kinda sucked
So in general in this blog, or when I am telling people how things are going I tend to create a pretty rosy picture. Not that I am dishonest, I just choose to write/talk about the good things; it's what people want to hear and what is more fun to talk about. Because of that, I think people tend to get a sense that everything is always going well. That is not actually the case, today is a great example.
Today was a bad day, no other way to put it. Primarily because as awesome job that I was all but told was mine slipped through my finger. It was such a good job, and was presented as such a likelihood that I turned down some other opportunities for it. I even went out and spent 100NZ$ (70US$) on new clothes I needed. It really was a big step backwards for me. I'm not back to square one in the job hunt now, but I'm not nearly that far from it to be honest. I was pretty much depressed all day. I tried to get myself out of it, but could only do so much.
The evening was a little better for a while as Ben and I went out with some people we had met to a quiz night at a bar. It was fun, and I had a good time. When we went to get the car we were using, Ben realized that he had left the lights on and killed the battery. This was an expensive mistake as it caused us to now have to take a bus then cab to get home as well as pay for a bunch of extra parking downtown before we can take care of it tomorrow. So ya.
All and all today sucked. Still, tomorrow will be better and sitting around feeling sorry for myself is unlikely to improve the situation. I can only count on myself to make things better and I most certainly will. I have already started working on new opportunities and hope something will come of it. Overall though I cannot complain, my life is still more than I could ask for or most could hope for. Besides it's not supposed to rain tomorrow.
Joey
Today was a bad day, no other way to put it. Primarily because as awesome job that I was all but told was mine slipped through my finger. It was such a good job, and was presented as such a likelihood that I turned down some other opportunities for it. I even went out and spent 100NZ$ (70US$) on new clothes I needed. It really was a big step backwards for me. I'm not back to square one in the job hunt now, but I'm not nearly that far from it to be honest. I was pretty much depressed all day. I tried to get myself out of it, but could only do so much.
The evening was a little better for a while as Ben and I went out with some people we had met to a quiz night at a bar. It was fun, and I had a good time. When we went to get the car we were using, Ben realized that he had left the lights on and killed the battery. This was an expensive mistake as it caused us to now have to take a bus then cab to get home as well as pay for a bunch of extra parking downtown before we can take care of it tomorrow. So ya.
All and all today sucked. Still, tomorrow will be better and sitting around feeling sorry for myself is unlikely to improve the situation. I can only count on myself to make things better and I most certainly will. I have already started working on new opportunities and hope something will come of it. Overall though I cannot complain, my life is still more than I could ask for or most could hope for. Besides it's not supposed to rain tomorrow.
Joey
Thursday, October 2, 2008
The legendary kindness of the Kiwis, hitchhiking and free cell phones
So in the neighbourhood where we are living there are these signs around that say "Hitching Post - Wellington CBD". I had noticed a few of them while driving around and found them intriguing. I thought it was a cool idea to have defined hitch hiking spots into the city, especially since that is where almost everyone is commuting. These posts came up in conversation back and the house and Chris (the dad) told us that he in fact was the person responsible for their creation. When he was on the city council he had them put out there.
He said that we should try them out because he said that although he knew some people used them he had no data on their effectiveness. I love hitch hiking (my last experience was in the back of a milk truck in Slovakia) so I was totally down. Chris further thought that it would be neat to have the editor of the local town paper come out to do a short story on our experience with it to highlight their use. I being a well known media/attention whore was more then happy to oblige.
So this morning we went out to one of these and met Simon, the editor of paper met us. He interviewed us quickly then snapped some photos of us at the stop. He then took off and told us that he would call for a follow up interview on our experience. He asked us how long we thought it would take to get picked up, we guessed 8 minutes, he seemed to think that was rather optimistic.
After 5 minutes of waiting someone stopped, unfortunately he wasn't going to the CBD. After 14 minutes another person stopped, was going to the CBD and we hopped in. We started talking and he was a nice guy, early 30's I would guess. He told us he was a project manager in construction. At some point on the drive it came out that Ben still needed a cell phone. Our new friend immediately makes a phone call to someone, which includes the phrase, "do you still have those phones". He hung up and asked us if we wanted free cell phones. I already had one but I figured that someone else coming might need it or I might lose mine so I said yes. We exchanged contact info (and found out his name was Matthew Banks) as he dropped us off and said he would drop them off where we were staying.
All and all the trip itself was quite convenient, a total process of 25 minutes including waiting and no cost. The bus/train would have been 30-40 minutes and 6 dollars. Around 1pm, I get a call and low and behold it is Matty Banks asking us if we can meet him somewhere to get the phones. 5 minutes later (Wellington is quite small) we meet up he gives us 3 brand new Nokia cell phones (older models, but never opened). He asks absolutely nothing in return and tells us that if we ever need anything give him a call. We haven't had our follow up interview yet, but probably tomorrow, who knew it would make such a great story. The paper with the story will come out on Tuesday though, woot.
The summery of this story is thus:
-Hitch hiking rocks
-New Zealanders are really nice (they really are)
-Attention is awesome
-Matthew Banks is the raddest fucking dude alive.
Joey
He said that we should try them out because he said that although he knew some people used them he had no data on their effectiveness. I love hitch hiking (my last experience was in the back of a milk truck in Slovakia) so I was totally down. Chris further thought that it would be neat to have the editor of the local town paper come out to do a short story on our experience with it to highlight their use. I being a well known media/attention whore was more then happy to oblige.
So this morning we went out to one of these and met Simon, the editor of paper met us. He interviewed us quickly then snapped some photos of us at the stop. He then took off and told us that he would call for a follow up interview on our experience. He asked us how long we thought it would take to get picked up, we guessed 8 minutes, he seemed to think that was rather optimistic.
After 5 minutes of waiting someone stopped, unfortunately he wasn't going to the CBD. After 14 minutes another person stopped, was going to the CBD and we hopped in. We started talking and he was a nice guy, early 30's I would guess. He told us he was a project manager in construction. At some point on the drive it came out that Ben still needed a cell phone. Our new friend immediately makes a phone call to someone, which includes the phrase, "do you still have those phones". He hung up and asked us if we wanted free cell phones. I already had one but I figured that someone else coming might need it or I might lose mine so I said yes. We exchanged contact info (and found out his name was Matthew Banks) as he dropped us off and said he would drop them off where we were staying.
All and all the trip itself was quite convenient, a total process of 25 minutes including waiting and no cost. The bus/train would have been 30-40 minutes and 6 dollars. Around 1pm, I get a call and low and behold it is Matty Banks asking us if we can meet him somewhere to get the phones. 5 minutes later (Wellington is quite small) we meet up he gives us 3 brand new Nokia cell phones (older models, but never opened). He asks absolutely nothing in return and tells us that if we ever need anything give him a call. We haven't had our follow up interview yet, but probably tomorrow, who knew it would make such a great story. The paper with the story will come out on Tuesday though, woot.
The summery of this story is thus:
-Hitch hiking rocks
-New Zealanders are really nice (they really are)
-Attention is awesome
-Matthew Banks is the raddest fucking dude alive.
Joey
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
New City, New Job, New Family
So I am here is Wellington as I have been for a few days. It has been a nice introduction. I have been staying with a family in one of the suburbs, Lower Hutt. While searching for possible nutrition work from the States, Ben came accross a women who was the president of the New Zealand Diatetics association, Jan. She couldn't get him a job but invited him to come stay with her once he was here and in doing so me as well.
So we flew into Welly, took a airport bus out of the city, followed by a cab to their place. We didn't really have any idea what the situation would be like, we didn't even know if she was married. The house is in a beautiful settin in the hills that hug the coast here. We came in and introductions with her, her husband (Chris) and their 17 year old son (Angus) and 14 year old daughter (Lucy). Within no time we were one of the family, and the relationship has been going great. I talk to Chris about politics (we are both classic liberals and he has involvement in local politics here which is interesting to hear about), to Lucy about youth culture in our respective countries (Facebook v. Bebo, Miley Cyrus, and Ipods), and Chris has been teaching me and Beb=n about Cricket and Rugby.
I've also been earning my keep so to speak; for the past two nights I have been tutoring Angus in math and physics for his upcoming exams (we have more working to do tonight). He has never been tutored before and seems to really respond to the extra help. Tonight Ben and I cooked dinner for our adopted Kiwi family; Chicken Fajitas, homemade Guacamole, and mixed fruit crisp (pears, plums, and tamarillos; a local favorite we had never used before).
My days have been spent in town looking for work. I think I have settled on what I am going to do for now. It looks like I am going to be a icon on any functioning CBD, the temp. Today I got taken on by my first temping agency. I had to go in and take a test and did quite well apparently. I typed 56 words per minute at 99% accuracy. I also did 7272 keys per second for alphanumeric data entry with 98% accuracy, apparently average speed is about 5200. Apparently I am plenty qualified. Having a B.S. in Math doesn't hurt either. So I have my first job one week from today, data entry for the NZ dept of Education. My contact person at the company thinks she can get me better work once it is available, or so she says.
My plan is to get on with a few more agencies so that I should hopefully have pretty consistant work. It won't be the most exciting work but it has some distinct advantages. It pays 15-18 dollars/ hours usually which is the best I could hope to get pretty much. I get to decide when I work so if I want to take two weeks to go travel, no big deal. Also it is only 9-5 work so I can get a weekend or night job if I want, I think I may work in a shop for the holidays to earn some extra scratch, but I am not going to worry about that for now.
Wellington is great, but that will be another post. Ben and I are happy here and will be staying with the family for a maybe another week. Tomorrow I start looking for a place in the city. University gets out at the end of the month so we are hoping to sublet for the summer, until then maybe just a hostel. I let you know how it goes. Alright, peace.
Joey
So we flew into Welly, took a airport bus out of the city, followed by a cab to their place. We didn't really have any idea what the situation would be like, we didn't even know if she was married. The house is in a beautiful settin in the hills that hug the coast here. We came in and introductions with her, her husband (Chris) and their 17 year old son (Angus) and 14 year old daughter (Lucy). Within no time we were one of the family, and the relationship has been going great. I talk to Chris about politics (we are both classic liberals and he has involvement in local politics here which is interesting to hear about), to Lucy about youth culture in our respective countries (Facebook v. Bebo, Miley Cyrus, and Ipods), and Chris has been teaching me and Beb=n about Cricket and Rugby.
I've also been earning my keep so to speak; for the past two nights I have been tutoring Angus in math and physics for his upcoming exams (we have more working to do tonight). He has never been tutored before and seems to really respond to the extra help. Tonight Ben and I cooked dinner for our adopted Kiwi family; Chicken Fajitas, homemade Guacamole, and mixed fruit crisp (pears, plums, and tamarillos; a local favorite we had never used before).
My days have been spent in town looking for work. I think I have settled on what I am going to do for now. It looks like I am going to be a icon on any functioning CBD, the temp. Today I got taken on by my first temping agency. I had to go in and take a test and did quite well apparently. I typed 56 words per minute at 99% accuracy. I also did 7272 keys per second for alphanumeric data entry with 98% accuracy, apparently average speed is about 5200. Apparently I am plenty qualified. Having a B.S. in Math doesn't hurt either. So I have my first job one week from today, data entry for the NZ dept of Education. My contact person at the company thinks she can get me better work once it is available, or so she says.
My plan is to get on with a few more agencies so that I should hopefully have pretty consistant work. It won't be the most exciting work but it has some distinct advantages. It pays 15-18 dollars/ hours usually which is the best I could hope to get pretty much. I get to decide when I work so if I want to take two weeks to go travel, no big deal. Also it is only 9-5 work so I can get a weekend or night job if I want, I think I may work in a shop for the holidays to earn some extra scratch, but I am not going to worry about that for now.
Wellington is great, but that will be another post. Ben and I are happy here and will be staying with the family for a maybe another week. Tomorrow I start looking for a place in the city. University gets out at the end of the month so we are hoping to sublet for the summer, until then maybe just a hostel. I let you know how it goes. Alright, peace.
Joey
Sunday, September 28, 2008
Pictures
So I have started uploading my photos on a picasa web page so people can view them with ease.
The url is http://picasaweb.google.com/JosephDShannon I have photos from Minnesota and Europe up so far. First New Zealand pics will be there soon.
The url is http://picasaweb.google.com/JosephDShannon I have photos from Minnesota and Europe up so far. First New Zealand pics will be there soon.
The Gateway to my New life
So I am here in the Auckland Central Backpacker’s (backpacker’s means hostel), which I have heard may be the largest hostel in Southern Hemisphere. It is huge, too huge really. Doesn’t feel like a hostel at all. Feels like somewhere between a hotel and a huge college dormitory. More importantly though I am here, in New Zealand, finally, and in general it is going great so far.
I arrived on Friday (after leaving on a Wednesday flight, weird) very early in the morning. I went through customs and had my stuff looked at by the impressively thorough New Zealand Bio-security. Mostly they were concerned with my shoes and tend and making sure they weren’t dirty and full of dangerous tid bits. I took a convenient shuttle to the city center and found my hostel and Ben waiting for me. We killed a bit of time walking around and then went to the orientation for our program.
The office was right nearby. We had a three hour orientation, much of which was very useful. They talked about logistical things like getting a tax number and a bank account as well travel related stuff. They offer a lot of free resources including mail forwarding so for the entire time I am here I can just have my mail sent to one address and they will forward it wherever I am. In general they seem excited about helping in anyway they can, then again just about everyone here is.
The rest of the day was spent doing logistical stuff like bank account, tax number, and getting a cell phone card. So I was pretty much good to go the day I arrived which is awesome. We cooked ourselves some cheese steaks back at the hostel. Pretty much every time we have cooked our meals have been looked on with envy from the many culinarily inept young people here.
Saturday was a great day. We did what is called the coast to coast walk. Auckland lies on an ismuth and they have a marked 16km walk that takes you from north coast at the city center to the south coast across town. It winds through major streets, little neighborhoods, up the tallest point in the city (an erstwhile volcano), and through a number of great parks. It was so much fun. Ben and I really got a great feel for the city that few probably do and were able to Auckland as more than just the entry point to the country. It is hard to explain but it really was a great experience. We took the bus back and cooked up some roasted bell pepper and portabella sandwiches.
Today in the morning I did some internet job hunting. More and more after talking to people and thinking about what we want, we are thinking about settling down in Wellington. We are going there tomorrow and staying with this women that Ben has been in contact with for 5 days-ish. I applied for 8 jobs in a varied number of fields. I’m open to just about anything, I just want to work.
This afternoon we went to local Ultimate pickup. It was great. The level of play was much higher then I expected and got me really excited about playing disc here. Also they heckle, which made me very happy (I was very disappointed that heckling wasn’t part of European Ultimate culture). Ultimate has many time served as a great way to get to know people in local communities, it is a great tool. We talked to them about what we were doing and most of them said that we would love Wellington. One guy, an American ex-pat working in Auckland told me I should send him my resume and he would forward it to some contacts he has down there, he seemed to think he might be able to help me out, so that is great.
It is amazing, after being here for 3 days it doesn’t feel like 8-11 months will be enough time. I am so excited and have a renewed sense of happiness and confidence with my decision. Most of all I have been struck by the genuine friendliness of the locals here. I had always heard it was the case, but it has been more then I expected. Everyone seems eager to help and interest in who we are and what we are doing. I am really looking forward to getting to know more of them.
So tomorrow is Wellington, and the next step in this adventure. Hopefully I will like it, find a job, find a flat, find a team, find a girlfriend and live happily ever after.
Kiwi Joey
Just finished: Metamorphosis- Kafka
Currently Reading: A Feast for Crows – Martin
Up Next: Streets of Loredo – McMurtry.
I arrived on Friday (after leaving on a Wednesday flight, weird) very early in the morning. I went through customs and had my stuff looked at by the impressively thorough New Zealand Bio-security. Mostly they were concerned with my shoes and tend and making sure they weren’t dirty and full of dangerous tid bits. I took a convenient shuttle to the city center and found my hostel and Ben waiting for me. We killed a bit of time walking around and then went to the orientation for our program.
The office was right nearby. We had a three hour orientation, much of which was very useful. They talked about logistical things like getting a tax number and a bank account as well travel related stuff. They offer a lot of free resources including mail forwarding so for the entire time I am here I can just have my mail sent to one address and they will forward it wherever I am. In general they seem excited about helping in anyway they can, then again just about everyone here is.
The rest of the day was spent doing logistical stuff like bank account, tax number, and getting a cell phone card. So I was pretty much good to go the day I arrived which is awesome. We cooked ourselves some cheese steaks back at the hostel. Pretty much every time we have cooked our meals have been looked on with envy from the many culinarily inept young people here.
Saturday was a great day. We did what is called the coast to coast walk. Auckland lies on an ismuth and they have a marked 16km walk that takes you from north coast at the city center to the south coast across town. It winds through major streets, little neighborhoods, up the tallest point in the city (an erstwhile volcano), and through a number of great parks. It was so much fun. Ben and I really got a great feel for the city that few probably do and were able to Auckland as more than just the entry point to the country. It is hard to explain but it really was a great experience. We took the bus back and cooked up some roasted bell pepper and portabella sandwiches.
Today in the morning I did some internet job hunting. More and more after talking to people and thinking about what we want, we are thinking about settling down in Wellington. We are going there tomorrow and staying with this women that Ben has been in contact with for 5 days-ish. I applied for 8 jobs in a varied number of fields. I’m open to just about anything, I just want to work.
This afternoon we went to local Ultimate pickup. It was great. The level of play was much higher then I expected and got me really excited about playing disc here. Also they heckle, which made me very happy (I was very disappointed that heckling wasn’t part of European Ultimate culture). Ultimate has many time served as a great way to get to know people in local communities, it is a great tool. We talked to them about what we were doing and most of them said that we would love Wellington. One guy, an American ex-pat working in Auckland told me I should send him my resume and he would forward it to some contacts he has down there, he seemed to think he might be able to help me out, so that is great.
It is amazing, after being here for 3 days it doesn’t feel like 8-11 months will be enough time. I am so excited and have a renewed sense of happiness and confidence with my decision. Most of all I have been struck by the genuine friendliness of the locals here. I had always heard it was the case, but it has been more then I expected. Everyone seems eager to help and interest in who we are and what we are doing. I am really looking forward to getting to know more of them.
So tomorrow is Wellington, and the next step in this adventure. Hopefully I will like it, find a job, find a flat, find a team, find a girlfriend and live happily ever after.
Kiwi Joey
Just finished: Metamorphosis- Kafka
Currently Reading: A Feast for Crows – Martin
Up Next: Streets of Loredo – McMurtry.
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
whoo
So it has been a while. I have been in back in the US for a about 4 days. It seems like I am just in another endless stream of goodbyes; Hana, friends, parents, only Annie is left. I leave on the bus for LA in a couple hours. It has been nice to be back in town and see people but again sad goodbyes. I can't believe I am leaving tomorrow. This is probably craziest thing I have done. I don't know where I am living, or what I am doing. It is exciting and a bit scary.
I am fully packed now with a big backpack, medium backpack and small backpack. I can't believe how many shoes I am bringing; 6 pairs including those on my feet. Lucking I don't own too much so I am mostly just leaving my bikes behind, though I will miss them like old friends. Alright, I'm off.
Monday, September 15, 2008
woot
Carlsberg factory tour + practice with Ragnarok + going out for drinks (perhaps in the free city of Christiania) = great day
Sunday, September 14, 2008
København v. Praha
So I am now in my old stompin' grounds, K-town, Copenhagen. It feels weird to be back but it is nice. I miss this city. It got me comparing Prague and Copenhagen. These two cities alike in dignity. Both about the same size, both old capitals of old European nations of erstwhile great importance. Both beautiful in their own way. Still, in my opinion very different despite all these similarities.
I love Copenhagen. It is just such a nice place to be. Copenhagen to me epitomizes something very important to the Danes, coziness. With long, fairly dark winters, the Danes love to be cozy in their homes. This idea trickles down to a number of things and cozy is really the way I would describle Copenhagen, at least as cosmopolitan capital cities go. With a municipal pop. of 1/2 million and a metro pop. of a little over a million Copenhagen feels like a true city, but a managable one. It has a density that keeps it a managable size but there are very few large buildings. It's indvidual sectors and neighborhoods feel like large towns that you can really get to know, but the entire city is highly accesible wherever you are. It is a city where you can ride a bike almost anywhere due to it's size and status as one of the best if not the best bicycling cities in the world. In this regard I really prefer Copenhagen to Prague. Prague is surprisingly spread out in the metro area considering it's population. The suburbs feel very seperate from the city center and although nice enough lack much charm. Biking is difficult and unpopular due to long distances and lack of infrastructure though both cities have extensive, quick, and convenient mass transportation systems based on 'honor systems'.
The city center of CPH is fairly compact but incredibly vibrant. Although it was highly controvesial at the time the decision to turn a large portion of the city center into pedestrial walking streets has proved a great decision. It also helps make for a highly defined central area. The area is filled with people walking on a Saturday doing shopping (much is closed on Sundays due to some interesting legislation designed to support small businesses, this can be frustrating). Even at 3-5 am you can see loads of young people about (establishments are open much later here). There are beautiful squares, one of which has ice skating in the winter. I miss being here in December, the city center lights up with Christmas lights. Prague is very different is this regard. The city center feels much larger and has a few pedestrian only areas. However Pragues' endless meandering alleys and small streets make going through the city center an adventure and it lends itself to really discovering it for yourself. Prauge has a lot of it's large businesses mixed in as well which is why it larger whereas CPH is more strictly residential, retail, and food. I think CPH is the one I prefer but that may just be because I know it better.
Pragues buildings are undoubtably more beautiful. There is no better city to be lost in. Just walk around, look up and you are sorrounded by art. Strolling anywhere is a pleasure, it is a truly a city to be discovered on foot and it takes time, more than I have. With CPH on the other hand the buildings are far more well, Scandanavian; simple, attractice, functional. Think if Ikea had been making buildings for a couple hundred years. No eyesores and a few truly attractive buildings, but no comparison to the ubiquity of beauty to be found in Prague. Then again when all those beautiful buildings were being built in Prague, Denmark was as a local friend Søren said,' having a war with Sweden about every ten years', so what was the points. Instead the beauty to be found in CPH is when looking down not up. CPH has some of the most unique water settings of any city. It doesn't have a great river like London, Berlin, Prague or so many other cities. It isn't filled with Canals like Amsterdam. Instead it has a unique mix of some canals, harbors, ports, and man made water fortifications that I love. It is my favorite city to run in. Many of the canals are and harbors are filled with sailboats which gives the city a great maritime feel and the forifications make for some unique and beautiful waterfront settings.
As a tourist city I have to say Prague is probably better. There is simply more to do as a tourist and the city is truly more impressive to see for a few days. Plus there is the money thing. CPH is really, really expensive. Wages and prices are much higher (minimum wage is about 18 dollars/hour and a beer in most bars or restaraunts will set you back at least 7 dollars +) here which makes it a tough place to travel to and live coming from somewhere else. You can get a lot more bang for your buck in Prague with meals coming at half the price and beer at a genuine fraction (if you're paying for then 2 bucks for a pint your getting ripped off). If you could only visit one I would have to say Prague, especially on a budget. However Copenhagen doesn't have that tourist city feel that can get frustrating in Prague. If money wasn't an issue I would love to live in CPH again. It is just so damned pleasant.
As for what I have actually been doing. Mostly just seeing the city again and hanging out with some people I know. I went out until 6am last night. They party late here. It isn't really my thing but it is good for me to do now and then, remind myself I'm still young. I've got a couple more days here. Shep and I are going to go to the Carlsberg factory to take the tour and see some other stuff. Also I am practicing with my old ultimate team Ragnarok tomorrow which will be fun. Should serve to show me how bad I have gotten at disc.
Alright that is all for now. I am going to upload pictures soon, I promise, once I get back home. I will just backlog them into pertinent posts. Okay, I should get some shut eye now.
Jøey
I love Copenhagen. It is just such a nice place to be. Copenhagen to me epitomizes something very important to the Danes, coziness. With long, fairly dark winters, the Danes love to be cozy in their homes. This idea trickles down to a number of things and cozy is really the way I would describle Copenhagen, at least as cosmopolitan capital cities go. With a municipal pop. of 1/2 million and a metro pop. of a little over a million Copenhagen feels like a true city, but a managable one. It has a density that keeps it a managable size but there are very few large buildings. It's indvidual sectors and neighborhoods feel like large towns that you can really get to know, but the entire city is highly accesible wherever you are. It is a city where you can ride a bike almost anywhere due to it's size and status as one of the best if not the best bicycling cities in the world. In this regard I really prefer Copenhagen to Prague. Prague is surprisingly spread out in the metro area considering it's population. The suburbs feel very seperate from the city center and although nice enough lack much charm. Biking is difficult and unpopular due to long distances and lack of infrastructure though both cities have extensive, quick, and convenient mass transportation systems based on 'honor systems'.
The city center of CPH is fairly compact but incredibly vibrant. Although it was highly controvesial at the time the decision to turn a large portion of the city center into pedestrial walking streets has proved a great decision. It also helps make for a highly defined central area. The area is filled with people walking on a Saturday doing shopping (much is closed on Sundays due to some interesting legislation designed to support small businesses, this can be frustrating). Even at 3-5 am you can see loads of young people about (establishments are open much later here). There are beautiful squares, one of which has ice skating in the winter. I miss being here in December, the city center lights up with Christmas lights. Prague is very different is this regard. The city center feels much larger and has a few pedestrian only areas. However Pragues' endless meandering alleys and small streets make going through the city center an adventure and it lends itself to really discovering it for yourself. Prauge has a lot of it's large businesses mixed in as well which is why it larger whereas CPH is more strictly residential, retail, and food. I think CPH is the one I prefer but that may just be because I know it better.
Pragues buildings are undoubtably more beautiful. There is no better city to be lost in. Just walk around, look up and you are sorrounded by art. Strolling anywhere is a pleasure, it is a truly a city to be discovered on foot and it takes time, more than I have. With CPH on the other hand the buildings are far more well, Scandanavian; simple, attractice, functional. Think if Ikea had been making buildings for a couple hundred years. No eyesores and a few truly attractive buildings, but no comparison to the ubiquity of beauty to be found in Prague. Then again when all those beautiful buildings were being built in Prague, Denmark was as a local friend Søren said,' having a war with Sweden about every ten years', so what was the points. Instead the beauty to be found in CPH is when looking down not up. CPH has some of the most unique water settings of any city. It doesn't have a great river like London, Berlin, Prague or so many other cities. It isn't filled with Canals like Amsterdam. Instead it has a unique mix of some canals, harbors, ports, and man made water fortifications that I love. It is my favorite city to run in. Many of the canals are and harbors are filled with sailboats which gives the city a great maritime feel and the forifications make for some unique and beautiful waterfront settings.
As a tourist city I have to say Prague is probably better. There is simply more to do as a tourist and the city is truly more impressive to see for a few days. Plus there is the money thing. CPH is really, really expensive. Wages and prices are much higher (minimum wage is about 18 dollars/hour and a beer in most bars or restaraunts will set you back at least 7 dollars +) here which makes it a tough place to travel to and live coming from somewhere else. You can get a lot more bang for your buck in Prague with meals coming at half the price and beer at a genuine fraction (if you're paying for then 2 bucks for a pint your getting ripped off). If you could only visit one I would have to say Prague, especially on a budget. However Copenhagen doesn't have that tourist city feel that can get frustrating in Prague. If money wasn't an issue I would love to live in CPH again. It is just so damned pleasant.
As for what I have actually been doing. Mostly just seeing the city again and hanging out with some people I know. I went out until 6am last night. They party late here. It isn't really my thing but it is good for me to do now and then, remind myself I'm still young. I've got a couple more days here. Shep and I are going to go to the Carlsberg factory to take the tour and see some other stuff. Also I am practicing with my old ultimate team Ragnarok tomorrow which will be fun. Should serve to show me how bad I have gotten at disc.
Alright that is all for now. I am going to upload pictures soon, I promise, once I get back home. I will just backlog them into pertinent posts. Okay, I should get some shut eye now.
Jøey
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
Confessions of a twenty something bum
I have stolen things at many points in my life and from many different sources.
I lie often, to everyone at least sometimes, though rarely about large things
I once allowed myself to become mildly involved with a girl who had a boyfriend who did not know about me. She said she was going to break up with him and did though. I have never cheated on anyone though.
I often flex in front of the mirror when no one is around
I have cheated in college on an exam.
I went through a period of my life when I was younger in which I virtually never brushed my teeth
I often have flashes of thought so upsetting to myself that I am embarrassed to have had them relating to all manor of terribly awful things. These pass almost instantly though.
There has been at least once where I would have caused a car accident if not for the quick action of another driver.
I've just skipped jury duty. Twice.
I have cheated, at least passively when competing against children
Ok, that feels good.
JDS
I lie often, to everyone at least sometimes, though rarely about large things
I once allowed myself to become mildly involved with a girl who had a boyfriend who did not know about me. She said she was going to break up with him and did though. I have never cheated on anyone though.
I often flex in front of the mirror when no one is around
I have cheated in college on an exam.
I went through a period of my life when I was younger in which I virtually never brushed my teeth
I often have flashes of thought so upsetting to myself that I am embarrassed to have had them relating to all manor of terribly awful things. These pass almost instantly though.
There has been at least once where I would have caused a car accident if not for the quick action of another driver.
I've just skipped jury duty. Twice.
I have cheated, at least passively when competing against children
Ok, that feels good.
JDS
CZ Republics's not so ugly stepsister
So I just got back from Slovakia, sometimes considered [certainly by many Czechs] as the ugly stepsister of CZ. We went to the Tatras mountains, the largest part of the Carpatian Mountains. One of Hana's friends from school has a cabin there. It was myself, Hana, Shep, and two of her friends. It was a really nice time. We spent two days hiking and one day just kind of relaxing not doing much. Both were nice as some of the hikes had some amazing views and some cool things to see, notably a crashed plane from the end of WWII. When I get home I will post some pictures, I haven't had my card readers so I haven't been able to so far. The hikes were long but had good changes of scenery. During the first day Shep and I spent so much time just talking and reminiscing about great times we have had that the girls made fun of us for talking so much. It is amazing how much I can enjoy just remembering some of the stuff we have been through over the last 5 years.
One night we went to some local natural mineral springs, it was pretty nice but a bit cold. While there we ran into the only local we would meet that spoke English the entire time. He was nice guy and overly generous with his alcohol, as it is I never turn down a free drink, so I partook a number of times. We went out to a pub that night and restaurant the next day. Things were stupid cheap. This is an inexpensive country and we were in an area that could be called a little touristy, but those tourists are mostly Slovaks, Poles and Czechs so things were cheap. We had an amazing meal for five that cost about 42 bucks with drinks and dessert.
All and all a really nice few days. It is nice to get outdoors a little while I am here and get away from the normal tourist path. Prague is amazing, but the one criticism I would have is just that there are so many tourists. I don't blame them, I am obviously one too, but it doesn't mean I can't be a bit annoyed. I will have further thoughts on Prague when I leave, I am showing Shep around tomorrow as I have a bit of a handle on the city now and Hana heads for CPH a day before we do.
Joey
Just Finished: The Tipping Point and Lonesome Dove
Currently Reading: Immortality By Milan Kundera [Czech Author]
Up Next: Crash by Jerry Spinnelli
One night we went to some local natural mineral springs, it was pretty nice but a bit cold. While there we ran into the only local we would meet that spoke English the entire time. He was nice guy and overly generous with his alcohol, as it is I never turn down a free drink, so I partook a number of times. We went out to a pub that night and restaurant the next day. Things were stupid cheap. This is an inexpensive country and we were in an area that could be called a little touristy, but those tourists are mostly Slovaks, Poles and Czechs so things were cheap. We had an amazing meal for five that cost about 42 bucks with drinks and dessert.
All and all a really nice few days. It is nice to get outdoors a little while I am here and get away from the normal tourist path. Prague is amazing, but the one criticism I would have is just that there are so many tourists. I don't blame them, I am obviously one too, but it doesn't mean I can't be a bit annoyed. I will have further thoughts on Prague when I leave, I am showing Shep around tomorrow as I have a bit of a handle on the city now and Hana heads for CPH a day before we do.
Joey
Just Finished: The Tipping Point and Lonesome Dove
Currently Reading: Immortality By Milan Kundera [Czech Author]
Up Next: Crash by Jerry Spinnelli
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
Strollin'
Still in Prague with some exciting news. Shep has decided to come. After a little cajoling online this morning he brought a plane ticket. I guess that is what you get when you are impulsive, and have large quantities of expendable income and time like Shep. I'm pumped that he is coming. Today was cool. Mostly we did a lot of strolling. Prague is I think the best city I have ever been to for just walking around. Near the city center or old town going anywhere feels like an experience. Everything is so well preserved it feels like it can't quite be real. Cars look wildly out of place. The physical beauty of the city matched with outrageously ideal viewpoints is unrivaled in any city I have been to. It is truly amazing what avoiding a world war's worth of bombing can do for the aesthetic value of a city.
Hana has to work tomorrow so I am going to do some walking tours and put some of this into context. Once I get back home and have my card reader I will also finally upload some photos. I have been doing a good job keeping it on the cheap though I will probably spend some money the next couple days to see stuff. I am currently trying to secure couch surfing spots for CPH for Shep and I. Alright out for now, I haven't had a good nights sleep in days, hopefully I am adjusted.
Joey
Just Finished: A Short History of Nearly Everything
Currently Reading: The Tipping Point and Lonesome Dove
Up Next: New Zealand Guide
Hana has to work tomorrow so I am going to do some walking tours and put some of this into context. Once I get back home and have my card reader I will also finally upload some photos. I have been doing a good job keeping it on the cheap though I will probably spend some money the next couple days to see stuff. I am currently trying to secure couch surfing spots for CPH for Shep and I. Alright out for now, I haven't had a good nights sleep in days, hopefully I am adjusted.
Joey
Just Finished: A Short History of Nearly Everything
Currently Reading: The Tipping Point and Lonesome Dove
Up Next: New Zealand Guide
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
Prague
In Prague
With Hana
Saw some stuff
Will see more
Saw Tereza
Going to Slovakia
Jet Lagged
Going to Sleep
With Hana
Saw some stuff
Will see more
Saw Tereza
Going to Slovakia
Jet Lagged
Going to Sleep
Sunday, August 31, 2008
Joey on a Stick
A quick post before I take off. Last day and half has been solid. Went to the Minnesota football game last night. Golden Gophers won in a squeaker v. Northern Illinois. This one win matches their win total from last year so there is no where to go but up.
Today I went to the Minnesota State Fair. It is awesome. Kicks the Arizona state fairs butt. I had always heard it was great and it was. It is a total event out here, everyone goes and the grounds are huge and crowded. I had cheese curds (which are amazing), fried snickers, and some apple cider. I would have eaten more but I went on a ride and lost my appetite. They have so much there. They have unlimited milk for a dollar, huge tubs of cookies, friend alligator, cheese on a stick, meat on a stick, fruit on a stick, everything is on a stick. The big hit this year was bacon w/ chocolate. I was gonna try it but I went on a ride and my stomach was unsettled after that. It was a true Minnesota culture experience; if you ask locals why they are there one of the answers you are most likely to get it, "you have to go". I'm glad I did.
So now I am back with Blake and Beth. I leave for Prague at 1117 tomorrow. I don't know when I will post next. I'll try to throw down some updates when I can. Some aspects of the trip will be kept a little closer to the chest then this blog allows of course, for those that have been following that saga, you can ask me in person for an update.
I've been in neutral for a few days here in the cities. It's still been an action packed neutral though and I had a great time. I leave the twin cities more in love with them then before and further convinced that this may the place for me someday. I love Minnesota and will miss it.
Time for the next gear though. I'm out.
Joey
Today I went to the Minnesota State Fair. It is awesome. Kicks the Arizona state fairs butt. I had always heard it was great and it was. It is a total event out here, everyone goes and the grounds are huge and crowded. I had cheese curds (which are amazing), fried snickers, and some apple cider. I would have eaten more but I went on a ride and lost my appetite. They have so much there. They have unlimited milk for a dollar, huge tubs of cookies, friend alligator, cheese on a stick, meat on a stick, fruit on a stick, everything is on a stick. The big hit this year was bacon w/ chocolate. I was gonna try it but I went on a ride and my stomach was unsettled after that. It was a true Minnesota culture experience; if you ask locals why they are there one of the answers you are most likely to get it, "you have to go". I'm glad I did.
So now I am back with Blake and Beth. I leave for Prague at 1117 tomorrow. I don't know when I will post next. I'll try to throw down some updates when I can. Some aspects of the trip will be kept a little closer to the chest then this blog allows of course, for those that have been following that saga, you can ask me in person for an update.
I've been in neutral for a few days here in the cities. It's still been an action packed neutral though and I had a great time. I leave the twin cities more in love with them then before and further convinced that this may the place for me someday. I love Minnesota and will miss it.
Time for the next gear though. I'm out.
Joey
Saturday, August 30, 2008
I fucking love bikes! (and the twin cities)
Seriously, I fucking love bikes. Bikes are sweet. They are just so awesome. I've missed riding my bikes so much. . I'm gonna talk about bikes in a minute but first let me tell you about my day. Today I borrowed Ice's bike while he went to work. It was just an okay mountain bike but it was so nice. He offered me his car but I said no way. There is no better way to get to know a city then on a bike
I took it to the Minneapolis Institute of Art, a great museum. It should have been about a 10 mile ride. However, on the way there I got incredibly lost. Like super super lost. It was great. I love getting lost while riding a bike. It's how you learn new roads and the ins and outs of the city. I somehow ended up at the University of Minnesota, which was kind of neat actually. School starts there on Tuesday so it was a busy day. The streets were packed with confused and lost looking freshman, I'm sure I fit right in being confused and lost myself.
Eventually I found the river, which you wouldn't have thought was that tough, but it was. I rode down the river path to an awesome thing called the Midtown 'Greenway' . It is like a bike freeway, similar in a way to the Rillito river path or the the aviation highway path, except in a way more useful spot, and therefore much more used. It runs along an old railroad track, it is 5.5 miles right through the middle of town, it's great. It connects to other bike paths so it's really useful. There were a lot of people on it, the most people I've seen biking since I was in Copenhagen.
I eventually made it to the museum. I had been there before and didn't spend a super long time, just looked at some stuff I wanted to see again. It is in a beautiful building and I could go back countless times, I just don't spend a long time in art museums at once. On the way back I stopped on the famous 'eat street' of Minneapolis. It is a stretch of road famous for it's wide variety of ethnic restaurants and markets. I ate at a Pho restaurant. Pho is a traditional Vietnamese soup made with beef broth, rice noodles, and other stuff.
The ride back was far less eventful, having learned a few things I was able to make the 10ish mile ride from eat street to Ice's place in St. Paul with a great route. I stopped at a used book store I saw, mostly because I am a sucker for used book stores.
The Twin Cities are rated as one of the best places to bike in North America (Tucson is also often on these lists) and I can see why. It lacks the sheer number of bike lanes as Tucson (though pretty much every city does) though it makes up for it with more really nice bike paths with good road separation. Also although their aren't as many bike lanes, there is a good amount of riders which is more important. When cars are used to seeing bikes on the road they know how to deal with them and it becomes an awesome self perpetuating process. I stopped inside of a bike center they have along the greenway and it looks like they've got some really cool bike culture stuff going on. It is certainly one more plus for me as I don't think at this point I could live in a city where I couldn't bike as my primary form of transportation.
I have become really committed to the idea of bike commuting for not only myself but American society in general. Biking won't solve any of the major problems facing our country today but it will take a bite out of a lot of them. Some facts:
- The average person loses 13 lbs. their first year bike commuting
-3 hours of biking a week can reduce your risk of heart disease and stroke by 50%
-Each rush-hour auto commuter spends an avg of 50 hours a year stuck in traffic
-60% of the pollution created by automobiles happens in the first few minutes of driving before pollution control devices start to work
-25% of all trips are made within a mile from home
-40% of all trips are made with within
-50% of the working population lives within 5 miles of work
2 of the biggest issues today, the environmental crisis and the obesity crisis can both be attacked by promoting biking for short trips. Plus it is fun. It turns a chore (driving) to a recreational activity, something to look forward to. It gets your energy going to start the day. You meet cool people who sometimes have sick tattoos. It is one of the best life choices I think I have ever made and it is hard to imagine going back. I really hope the rest of the country will catch on; there is good and bad news here.
The good: bike commuting is increasing almost everywhere. Numerous studies have come out showing a steady increase in city ridership over the past 5 years with a recent spike due to high gas prices. Cities around the country are committing to making their cities more bike friendly with trend setters like Chicago and NYC investing millions. People and communities are starting to realize this is a good thing and are studying Amsterdam and Copenhagen (in which about 1/3 of the population bikes to work) to find how to make this work. Bike shops are opening and electric and recumbent bicycles are gaining popularity.
The bad: The numbers are still dismally low. About 1% of all trips are made by bike. At 2.5% Tucson has the highest rate of work commuters in the country, 2.5%. This is a city with 300 miles of bike lanes/paths/routes, completely flat, and has year round great weather, and still only 1 in 40 people are biking to work.
More good: Still with all things it may not continue at this gradual rate. As more people slowly trickle onto the roads and it gets more visible, safe, and hip, some people believe we may be approaching a critical mass point and that biking is on the verge of exploding in this country. I hope so.
In closing let me echo something said a long time ago by H.G. Wells:
Every time I see an adult on a bicycle, I no longer despair for the human race
I Heart Bikes,
Joey
I took it to the Minneapolis Institute of Art, a great museum. It should have been about a 10 mile ride. However, on the way there I got incredibly lost. Like super super lost. It was great. I love getting lost while riding a bike. It's how you learn new roads and the ins and outs of the city. I somehow ended up at the University of Minnesota, which was kind of neat actually. School starts there on Tuesday so it was a busy day. The streets were packed with confused and lost looking freshman, I'm sure I fit right in being confused and lost myself.
Eventually I found the river, which you wouldn't have thought was that tough, but it was. I rode down the river path to an awesome thing called the Midtown 'Greenway' . It is like a bike freeway, similar in a way to the Rillito river path or the the aviation highway path, except in a way more useful spot, and therefore much more used. It runs along an old railroad track, it is 5.5 miles right through the middle of town, it's great. It connects to other bike paths so it's really useful. There were a lot of people on it, the most people I've seen biking since I was in Copenhagen.
I eventually made it to the museum. I had been there before and didn't spend a super long time, just looked at some stuff I wanted to see again. It is in a beautiful building and I could go back countless times, I just don't spend a long time in art museums at once. On the way back I stopped on the famous 'eat street' of Minneapolis. It is a stretch of road famous for it's wide variety of ethnic restaurants and markets. I ate at a Pho restaurant. Pho is a traditional Vietnamese soup made with beef broth, rice noodles, and other stuff.
The ride back was far less eventful, having learned a few things I was able to make the 10ish mile ride from eat street to Ice's place in St. Paul with a great route. I stopped at a used book store I saw, mostly because I am a sucker for used book stores.
The Twin Cities are rated as one of the best places to bike in North America (Tucson is also often on these lists) and I can see why. It lacks the sheer number of bike lanes as Tucson (though pretty much every city does) though it makes up for it with more really nice bike paths with good road separation. Also although their aren't as many bike lanes, there is a good amount of riders which is more important. When cars are used to seeing bikes on the road they know how to deal with them and it becomes an awesome self perpetuating process. I stopped inside of a bike center they have along the greenway and it looks like they've got some really cool bike culture stuff going on. It is certainly one more plus for me as I don't think at this point I could live in a city where I couldn't bike as my primary form of transportation.
I have become really committed to the idea of bike commuting for not only myself but American society in general. Biking won't solve any of the major problems facing our country today but it will take a bite out of a lot of them. Some facts:
- The average person loses 13 lbs. their first year bike commuting
-3 hours of biking a week can reduce your risk of heart disease and stroke by 50%
-Each rush-hour auto commuter spends an avg of 50 hours a year stuck in traffic
-60% of the pollution created by automobiles happens in the first few minutes of driving before pollution control devices start to work
-25% of all trips are made within a mile from home
-40% of all trips are made with within
-50% of the working population lives within 5 miles of work
2 of the biggest issues today, the environmental crisis and the obesity crisis can both be attacked by promoting biking for short trips. Plus it is fun. It turns a chore (driving) to a recreational activity, something to look forward to. It gets your energy going to start the day. You meet cool people who sometimes have sick tattoos. It is one of the best life choices I think I have ever made and it is hard to imagine going back. I really hope the rest of the country will catch on; there is good and bad news here.
The good: bike commuting is increasing almost everywhere. Numerous studies have come out showing a steady increase in city ridership over the past 5 years with a recent spike due to high gas prices. Cities around the country are committing to making their cities more bike friendly with trend setters like Chicago and NYC investing millions. People and communities are starting to realize this is a good thing and are studying Amsterdam and Copenhagen (in which about 1/3 of the population bikes to work) to find how to make this work. Bike shops are opening and electric and recumbent bicycles are gaining popularity.
The bad: The numbers are still dismally low. About 1% of all trips are made by bike. At 2.5% Tucson has the highest rate of work commuters in the country, 2.5%. This is a city with 300 miles of bike lanes/paths/routes, completely flat, and has year round great weather, and still only 1 in 40 people are biking to work.
More good: Still with all things it may not continue at this gradual rate. As more people slowly trickle onto the roads and it gets more visible, safe, and hip, some people believe we may be approaching a critical mass point and that biking is on the verge of exploding in this country. I hope so.
In closing let me echo something said a long time ago by H.G. Wells:
Every time I see an adult on a bicycle, I no longer despair for the human race
I Heart Bikes,
Joey
Friday, August 29, 2008
All things are relative
So recently (recently being a relative term) I was in one of those, "what is the most fundamentally true statement you can make about the nature of the universe", conversations that are always popping up at parties. The best answer I could come up with was that, "all things are relative". As an aside, the second best answer I could think of was, " nothing is certain, however all things converge in large numbers". Anyway as I was walking down the street today I was thinking about that, not in large scientific ways, but just in my life.
Much of yesterday, today, tomorrow and the next day I have absolutely no commitments whatsoever. I get to wake up and every morning decide how I want to spend that day. Sure I need to eat, and I've got some plans, but these things are up to me, I can eat where and when I want, and change or cancel the plans if I so choose. This may not seem like a particularly big deal. In fact most of you that are reading this have days all the time that are like this, or if not days, large portions of days. For me however, this is an amazing thing. It is amazing because for the past 3 months I have not had a 30 hour period in which I didn't have to be somewhere or doing something. Sure my job is considered to be one of a great deal of freedom, but that is relative to the counselors. The work I do involves a lot of freedom but that doesn't change the fact that every day I have to eat breakfast lunch and dinner at a specific place, sleep in a specific place every night, and largely stay in one place for an entire summer. Strange as this may sound this is one of the great things about camp. It makes me appreciate so many things about my life that I take for granted. You can't truly appreciate the simple joy of sleeping in until 10am, going for a run during the middle of the day, or sitting down to decide how you wish to spend your time for the next 3 days until you haven't really been able to do these things for a while. When I expressed this a long time ago to my uncle Howard, he asked if that wasn't similar to the statement, "I love beating my head against the wall because when I stop it feels so good". He made a point but it was flawed, here the difference; I love camp. Hitting your head against the wall and then stopping implies a relief of pain, but camp isn't painful. I don't really dwell on the things I can't do there because I love the things I am doing. It doesn't change the positive feeling I get from having those things back.
Much like right before camp I am staying with my friend and former camp colleague, Mike 'Ice' Eckberg. He shares a house in St. Paul. It's a nice neighborhood. A lot of modest, but nice homes with mostly young families (lot's of plastic Playschool type furniture around), small backwards which face each other with alleys in between, and tree lined streets. I've really grown the like the twin cities. If one day I come to my senses and get a 9-5 job, a mortgage, 2.3 kids, and a Toyota Camry, this is one of the places on my shortlist right now. I should note that although I have been here during winter I have not lived through a Minnesota winter. There are nice neighborhoods, a quality culture, actual seasons (something I have never had), and rather friendly people. It is the last two I wanted to hit on.
As much as I hear about how people leave cold places to escape the winters I think they may be missing something. There is something that is part of the reason that more people go to baseball games in St. Louis than Florida, parks are vacant during the best parts of the year in Phoenix but packed in Minneapolis, and why more restaurants are built to accommodate outdoor seating in Germany than California. I think without bad weather you just can't appreciate good weather. It is those times of the year in which people in places that get cold are held up in the their homes that sends them outside in droves when the weather is good. There is a sense of urgency and appreciation that you don't get in places with year round good weather. In the end, I think that people in the colder places end up enjoying the good weather that do have more than those who get it all the time. The only exception is people that move from cold places to year round warm places, but even that only lasts a few years. Eventually it becomes normal and you settle down like everyone else.
Midwestern people have a reputation for simplicity that I think is underserved. I think it may come from a missinterpritation of people's friendliness. People do seem more friendly out here, it isn't a huge difference; people just say thank you more, smile at you more, things like that. Somewhere along the line we got this image that to be a member of the would be intelligentsia/hipster/coked out sexpot set that can really just be summarized as 'cool', you had to be stoic, cynical, and far too deep to subject yourself to pedestrian things like friendly waves. I personally am very cool and (a unstoppoble mixture of intelligentsia, hipster, and sexpot of course) yet I like waving to people and smiling, it feels good to be waved at and smiled to. Now I am not implying that people in other places in the US are unfriendly, in fact far from it. In general the United States is a strikingly friendly place. So many friends of mine from other countries comment on it and most like it. (though apparently NZ and OZ give us a run for our money, I suppose I'll find out). I've also noticed this, especially when I lived in CPH. The Danes are supposedly the happiest people on earth http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/5224306.stm . Still they aren't an especially friendly people, except when they are drunk, which is fortunate considering how often this is the case. When I would go running and wave to other runners (a ubiquitous practice throughout the US in my experience) I would get nothing but confused looks. I eventually stopped doing it. So LA can be considered a friendly or unfriendly place I suppose, it just depends of your frame of reference.
The human brain has evolved to deal with the relative nature of the universe. It only really cares about things that change. This is why 'white noise' such as the fans that help my mother sleep work or why what once seems like complete darkness can quickly become full of things to see as soon as your eyes and your brain adjust to the situation. We are designed to detect change or difference. That is what new experience is all about. Maybe that is what I am trying to right now, see enough different stuff that my brain has to keep guessing and won't fall asleep.
3 days until I leave for Europe
Joey
Just Finished: Love, Stargirl
Currently Reading: A Short History of Nearly Everything
Up Next: Lonesome Dove, The Tipping Point, and Lonely Planet's guide to New Zealand.
Much of yesterday, today, tomorrow and the next day I have absolutely no commitments whatsoever. I get to wake up and every morning decide how I want to spend that day. Sure I need to eat, and I've got some plans, but these things are up to me, I can eat where and when I want, and change or cancel the plans if I so choose. This may not seem like a particularly big deal. In fact most of you that are reading this have days all the time that are like this, or if not days, large portions of days. For me however, this is an amazing thing. It is amazing because for the past 3 months I have not had a 30 hour period in which I didn't have to be somewhere or doing something. Sure my job is considered to be one of a great deal of freedom, but that is relative to the counselors. The work I do involves a lot of freedom but that doesn't change the fact that every day I have to eat breakfast lunch and dinner at a specific place, sleep in a specific place every night, and largely stay in one place for an entire summer. Strange as this may sound this is one of the great things about camp. It makes me appreciate so many things about my life that I take for granted. You can't truly appreciate the simple joy of sleeping in until 10am, going for a run during the middle of the day, or sitting down to decide how you wish to spend your time for the next 3 days until you haven't really been able to do these things for a while. When I expressed this a long time ago to my uncle Howard, he asked if that wasn't similar to the statement, "I love beating my head against the wall because when I stop it feels so good". He made a point but it was flawed, here the difference; I love camp. Hitting your head against the wall and then stopping implies a relief of pain, but camp isn't painful. I don't really dwell on the things I can't do there because I love the things I am doing. It doesn't change the positive feeling I get from having those things back.
Much like right before camp I am staying with my friend and former camp colleague, Mike 'Ice' Eckberg. He shares a house in St. Paul. It's a nice neighborhood. A lot of modest, but nice homes with mostly young families (lot's of plastic Playschool type furniture around), small backwards which face each other with alleys in between, and tree lined streets. I've really grown the like the twin cities. If one day I come to my senses and get a 9-5 job, a mortgage, 2.3 kids, and a Toyota Camry, this is one of the places on my shortlist right now. I should note that although I have been here during winter I have not lived through a Minnesota winter. There are nice neighborhoods, a quality culture, actual seasons (something I have never had), and rather friendly people. It is the last two I wanted to hit on.
As much as I hear about how people leave cold places to escape the winters I think they may be missing something. There is something that is part of the reason that more people go to baseball games in St. Louis than Florida, parks are vacant during the best parts of the year in Phoenix but packed in Minneapolis, and why more restaurants are built to accommodate outdoor seating in Germany than California. I think without bad weather you just can't appreciate good weather. It is those times of the year in which people in places that get cold are held up in the their homes that sends them outside in droves when the weather is good. There is a sense of urgency and appreciation that you don't get in places with year round good weather. In the end, I think that people in the colder places end up enjoying the good weather that do have more than those who get it all the time. The only exception is people that move from cold places to year round warm places, but even that only lasts a few years. Eventually it becomes normal and you settle down like everyone else.
Midwestern people have a reputation for simplicity that I think is underserved. I think it may come from a missinterpritation of people's friendliness. People do seem more friendly out here, it isn't a huge difference; people just say thank you more, smile at you more, things like that. Somewhere along the line we got this image that to be a member of the would be intelligentsia/hipster/coked out sexpot set that can really just be summarized as 'cool', you had to be stoic, cynical, and far too deep to subject yourself to pedestrian things like friendly waves. I personally am very cool and (a unstoppoble mixture of intelligentsia, hipster, and sexpot of course) yet I like waving to people and smiling, it feels good to be waved at and smiled to. Now I am not implying that people in other places in the US are unfriendly, in fact far from it. In general the United States is a strikingly friendly place. So many friends of mine from other countries comment on it and most like it. (though apparently NZ and OZ give us a run for our money, I suppose I'll find out). I've also noticed this, especially when I lived in CPH. The Danes are supposedly the happiest people on earth http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/5224306.stm . Still they aren't an especially friendly people, except when they are drunk, which is fortunate considering how often this is the case. When I would go running and wave to other runners (a ubiquitous practice throughout the US in my experience) I would get nothing but confused looks. I eventually stopped doing it. So LA can be considered a friendly or unfriendly place I suppose, it just depends of your frame of reference.
The human brain has evolved to deal with the relative nature of the universe. It only really cares about things that change. This is why 'white noise' such as the fans that help my mother sleep work or why what once seems like complete darkness can quickly become full of things to see as soon as your eyes and your brain adjust to the situation. We are designed to detect change or difference. That is what new experience is all about. Maybe that is what I am trying to right now, see enough different stuff that my brain has to keep guessing and won't fall asleep.
3 days until I leave for Europe
Joey
Just Finished: Love, Stargirl
Currently Reading: A Short History of Nearly Everything
Up Next: Lonesome Dove, The Tipping Point, and Lonely Planet's guide to New Zealand.
Thursday, August 28, 2008
The end for super duper actually realseys this time
I leave camp in a couple hours Spent the last day and a half painting (the trim on about 7,000 windows) and thinking. Thinking about Europe, Hana, Camp, New Zealand, Biking and everything in between. I leave camp knowing that I will come back someday, but also knowing that it may never again be for a summer or as a staff member. I officially have 4 months to decide.
Joey
Joey
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Okay so it's almost actually over for real but still not quite yet.
It feels like recently I've been on a string of not quite endings. Yesterday was another big one. Almost all the staff left except for the full time staff, 3 staff that are staying to do work crews for two weeks, and me. Yesterday was the second day of work crews. It was a great day. I did more pick up in the morning and in the afternoon was the leader of brush pickup. This meant that we went through the forested areas through camp and picked up large sticks/branches and small fallen trees and through them into the dumptruck and dumped them. There are reasons for doing this but from the prespective of most staff it seems rather meaningless. However, the group got really into it. I knew it would be a little tough to motivate people, it being hours before they would leave and doing a seemingly pointless job that you can never finish, no to mention the other group leader was a bit negative at the start. So I just overcompensated and kept talking about how sweet brush crew was. Eventually Luke, an awesome staff member and I started this elaborate conversation where we pretended that brush collecting was a sport. We talked about levels of competition, rules, issues with performance enhancing substances and technology, stradegy, training and anything else. The other staff got involved as well and despite it being tough plodding work everyone legitimatly had fun. That is really what makes camp work, a conscious effort to stay positive. One of the most important things I've learned at camp is that your attitude is up to you; you can make yourself and those around you happy just by commiting to being happy. In the end it was a great way to wrap up the summer for the group.
There was another round of goodbyes, more tears, and more good feelings. This was almost entirely international staff and many of them are going to travel now. They seemed so excited. Perhaps the only thing better then a great trip is a great trip that you feel like you've earned. Blake and I both drove down vans to hotels/bus depot/ airport last night. Andre drove another this morning. Blake, Wig, and I all stayed at Blakes appt last night before dropping off Wig in the morning. It was nice to see Blake's new place and talk to his girlfriend, Beth. It's weird because I know a great deal about Beth but I've spent almost no time with her so it was nice to put some personality to the stories and face.
I'm back at camp now, I've moved cabins again for just the last two nights. This summer I've been in 5 different cabins at different times. I realized that although I already sent a box of stuff home it wasn't enough and I need to send another. I don't want to bring too much to Europe. I am a bit dissapointed about one thing though. I thought that I was going to get to see the Republican convention in St. Paul but it starts the day that I leave. I'm pretty dissenchanted with presidential politics but it would have been cool to see all the hoopla and protests. Eh, another time.
Joey
There was another round of goodbyes, more tears, and more good feelings. This was almost entirely international staff and many of them are going to travel now. They seemed so excited. Perhaps the only thing better then a great trip is a great trip that you feel like you've earned. Blake and I both drove down vans to hotels/bus depot/ airport last night. Andre drove another this morning. Blake, Wig, and I all stayed at Blakes appt last night before dropping off Wig in the morning. It was nice to see Blake's new place and talk to his girlfriend, Beth. It's weird because I know a great deal about Beth but I've spent almost no time with her so it was nice to put some personality to the stories and face.
I'm back at camp now, I've moved cabins again for just the last two nights. This summer I've been in 5 different cabins at different times. I realized that although I already sent a box of stuff home it wasn't enough and I need to send another. I don't want to bring too much to Europe. I am a bit dissapointed about one thing though. I thought that I was going to get to see the Republican convention in St. Paul but it starts the day that I leave. I'm pretty dissenchanted with presidential politics but it would have been cool to see all the hoopla and protests. Eh, another time.
Joey
Sunday, August 24, 2008
Work crews
Today was the first of two days of work crews where all the remaining staff 'shut down' camp. We spend about 20-30 days all toll preparing camp and then we try to shut it down in 2. Pretty crazy. Everyone was working really hard. Mostly it is taking stuff apart and putting stuff away. My job was pickup. I would drive around in a old F-350 coverted to a dumptruck and pick up what people had packed up from activity areas and bring it to the warehouse or dumpsite. That rig is a beast. The most memorable moment though had nothing to do with my own work. One of the biggest work crews is always building/ taking down the docks. I have always arrived by the time the docks were built and left while they were still standing. Today for the first time I saw our waterfront with no dock. I cannot explain exactly how weird that was for me, highly surreal. Imagine if you drove to the location of you childhood home and saw that instead of a house you saw a vacant lot. It was something like that.
Joey
Joey
Saturday, August 23, 2008
And they're gone
The last campers leave tommorow. In fact I have to wake up in less than 5 hours to wake some up. Craziness. A few days of hard work up here and then 2 days to breath before I leave for Prague. Been looking at a lot of different places to live in New Zealand right now. Christchurch is maybe at the top of the list.
Joey
Joey
Friday, August 22, 2008
Job Hunting
So I've started looking for seasonal work in New Zealand. I spent the last 1.5 hours looking through listing and requesting information. I've attached my CV (curriculum vitae, just means resume for people in Britain, OZ, NZ, others) to some of those. That of course meant I had to put one together for the first time in my life. Yet another milestone I suppose. I've mostly looked at hospitality/tourism stuff as well as one supervisory position in an before/after school program for kids. The first step ladies and gents.
J David?
Just Finished: Storm of Swords
Currently Reading: A Short History of Nearly Everything and Love, Stargirl
Up Next: The Tipping point and Lonesone Dove (reread)
J David?
Just Finished: Storm of Swords
Currently Reading: A Short History of Nearly Everything and Love, Stargirl
Up Next: The Tipping point and Lonesone Dove (reread)
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
Idiotic and Pretentious, or Awesome
So as I am moving to a far away place where I will know almost no one. I feel like this is a unique opportunity to do something I feel many people wish they could do; change their name. Now I'm not talking about actually legally changing my name or even making something up in the sense of claiming my name is Finnegan or something. No, I was thinking about going by a different possible but legitimate version of my given name. I've almost always introduced myself as Joey except when I worked at the Phoenician and I was Joseph. Also many people call me Joe on their own accord often (notably my parents and grandparents). At camp some people became enamored with my middle initial due to it's use in my email address, josephdshannon@gmail.com. So that has led to occasional and inconsistent use of any of the following: Joseph D, Joey D, JD, JDS, and even prompted the nickname Da-wayne after Andre joked that, that is what it stood for mocking my consummate whiteness. As an aside, 'Da-wayne' has had the most staying power being my Prep 4 nickname for the last two summers. Still I had really only ever gone by Joey, Joseph, and Joe. This left these possible candidates all of while required some use of my middle name.
David-The classic, 'go by the middle name', I would consider it but David is pretty pedestrian to begin with (sorry Dad) so it really wouldn't be that fun. Plus having the same name as my father would be a tough adjustment even if he wasn't around.
JD- The obvious choice perhaps. Common enough but not so common as say, Joey. Still I have a friend named JD for one which takes a bit of the fun out it, plus I just don't feel like a JD. It doesn't fit in my opinion.
J- Could try to go by just the first letter. Didn't like this one as it is effectively going by an existing name, Jay, which I don't want.
So after all the vetoes I thought of one that I liked. It's pretty pretentious, but I think it has a nice ring to it and I think I could get used to it. So without further ado I give you:
J David - It's clearly going in a totally different direction than my previous names, but retains legitimacy. At the same time, in my entire life I have not known a J David so I don't have to feel like I am copying anyone, so it satisfies my silly human need to feel unique. Plus I just think it's catchy.
So this is an idea, not sure yet. The three big questions I have to ask are:
1. Is J David a good name? Or is it silly and pretentious.
2. Even if it is, am I just being a vain jerk for trying to change my own name?
3. If I am, do I give a shit?
So in my first attempt to even actually illicit a response from my small cadre of readers I want to know your thoughts. Just click the comment box below. In the end I reckon I'll just decide on my own but it would interesting to hear what some of the people closest to me think.
Signed,
J David Shannon
Just Finished: Stumbling on Happiness
Currently Reading: A Short History of Nearly Everything and A Storm of Swords
Up Next: The Tipping Point and Love, Stargirl
David-The classic, 'go by the middle name', I would consider it but David is pretty pedestrian to begin with (sorry Dad) so it really wouldn't be that fun. Plus having the same name as my father would be a tough adjustment even if he wasn't around.
JD- The obvious choice perhaps. Common enough but not so common as say, Joey. Still I have a friend named JD for one which takes a bit of the fun out it, plus I just don't feel like a JD. It doesn't fit in my opinion.
J- Could try to go by just the first letter. Didn't like this one as it is effectively going by an existing name, Jay, which I don't want.
So after all the vetoes I thought of one that I liked. It's pretty pretentious, but I think it has a nice ring to it and I think I could get used to it. So without further ado I give you:
J David - It's clearly going in a totally different direction than my previous names, but retains legitimacy. At the same time, in my entire life I have not known a J David so I don't have to feel like I am copying anyone, so it satisfies my silly human need to feel unique. Plus I just think it's catchy.
So this is an idea, not sure yet. The three big questions I have to ask are:
1. Is J David a good name? Or is it silly and pretentious.
2. Even if it is, am I just being a vain jerk for trying to change my own name?
3. If I am, do I give a shit?
So in my first attempt to even actually illicit a response from my small cadre of readers I want to know your thoughts. Just click the comment box below. In the end I reckon I'll just decide on my own but it would interesting to hear what some of the people closest to me think.
Signed,
J David Shannon
Just Finished: Stumbling on Happiness
Currently Reading: A Short History of Nearly Everything and A Storm of Swords
Up Next: The Tipping Point and Love, Stargirl
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