Hello, once again, people of the northern hemisphere.
Once again, I bring you news of my activities and happenings down here in New Zealand. A fair few things have happened since we last spoke, so I'll give you the usual run-down and abbreviation of them. Enjoy!
First and foremost, I decided to take the tour of the Cadbury Factory here in Dunedin, partially because it came highly recommended on Dunedin's list of tourism spots, but mostly because I wanted to see if it was the same as the factory tour I took oh-so-many years ago. I'm pleased to say that I was not disappointed. Instead of being trapped inside a pod and wheeled through the factory, we were, in fact, taken through the factory on foot. I tell you, though, it wasn't the factory itself that I found to be the most impressive feature of the tour; what I found to be the most astounding feature was the variations in chocolate that they have here down south. Trust me; you would not believe the variants and flavours that we never even see in the north. But I digress. The factory tour was very impressive, lasting just over an hour, and picking up a reasonable amount of chocolate, from both the gift shop and the tour itself. I thoroughly enjoyed myself.
Anyway, let me think...what else has happened? Ah, yes. I know what to tell you about! I have now booked my tickets to Australia. I am now set to leave on the 14th of July. Regrettably, the tickets have set me back a bit more than I would have liked, but it was worth it. I'll reveal more details closer to departure. There were a few issues regarding my contract with PS in connection to this, but I was able to resolve it, extending my contract to the day before I depart. All in all a good thing considering that I will now need all the extra money which I can scrounge up. Hence why I am now pulling extra shifts down in the Student Union; not so many new faces now, but still the occasional stranger.
Right, now I shall move onto the next issue in the title; the weather. In two words; bloody awful. You would not believe the amount of rain we have had...well okay, maybe you would. For the last week it has rained, non-stop, pausing ever-so briefly on Thursday, only to return with a vengeance on Friday and Saturday, resulting in without a doubt one of the dullest weeks I have experienced to date. The countryside is still recovering from the flooding, land slips and goodness knows what else. However, it is meant to be much better this week. The sun was actually shining today.
And on to the final topic. I now have my own room over at Emma's, which now lets me spend more time over there. Very useful, since Emma lives closer to town, allowing me to get to work at the union more easily. The fact that this gives me more access to Simon's XBOX is neither here nor there...honest!
Anyway, that brings you up to speed with recent events. I'm afraid that I'll have to sign off now, seeing as John wants to use the computer. Oh! Before I forget, check out my Facebook album for all the photos from this month, including those from the Anime convention.
Laters,
Alex
Monday, 31 May 2010
Monday, 17 May 2010
Parties, Conventions, Haircuts 'n' Plants
What's up, other side of the world? Yes, it's that time once again; the time where I tell you lovely people all about whats been happening to me over here in NZ.
Anyway, weather-wise over here, its been all over the place, sometimes its bloody freezing and wet, whilst on other days, like today, it's been hot and sweltering, which is rather unwelcome when you're digging over over-grown plots for re-planting, but I digress. Here's the news that you guys have tuned into for.
Things have been pretty slow since my last update in April, however there have been several events of importance. For instance, my boss down at PS, Malcolm Watson, has now retired. We had a leaving do for him on April 28th. I think it went pretty well, but I'm not one to comment, as I got drunk...and this time it was quite severe. I remember walking into a door frame and falling off my chair, just to give you an idea, but I was still able to hold a coherent conversation, and had sobered up by about 10 o'clock, so I think that counts in my favour. Anyway, moving on.
Anyway, the other major event that has happened was the NZ Anime Convention that lasted from May 8th-9th, which was pretty good for Dunedin's first go. I was originally considering attending in costume, but backed out when I realised that I'd have to take public transport in costume. Regardless of my cowardice, there was still a colourful collection of costumes (how's that for alliteration, huh?) from both anime and video games, and you'll be able to see some of those via the photos I'll be posting on Facebook...well, at least the characters whom I recognised. Anyway, I also had the opportunity to meet Johnny Young Bosch, the voice actor best known for his work in Bleach and Trigun, and got his autograph on the latest volume of Bleach manga that I bought, and on my copy of Dissidia: Final Fantasy, (he voices one of the main characters). Anyway, I also bought a few other items of memorabilia, including a replica sword from Final Fantasy VII which I will eventually post home), a few DVDs, and the fore mentioned manga. In short, I had a great weekend.
So, that pretty much clues you in for the major events that have happened over the past few weeks, so now we move onto the more mundane news.
One point that you might find interesting is that I have had a haircut, (hence the title) and I am now trying out a new style, which has actually been complemented quite a few times; so long bird's nest! Anyway, check out the new batch of photo's and decide for yourselves.
As far as work is concerned, we've nearly won the war against the leaves down in PS. As such, Graham has now introduced me to the joy of planting out empty plots. Last week I did this for the first time, and was quite pleased with the result. Therefore, you can imagine my horror and anger when I got into work this morning, only to find MY plants trampled and crushed. I won't bore you with what I said...but let me suffice it to say that it was a general rant against all students in general, with several colourful expletives thrown in for good measure. Graham applauded my reaction, telling me that was exactly the right reaction for a gardener to have.
That's pretty much it for PS news, as for Union, its been pretty slow lately, however, I did help out with a function last Saturday, I had actually told them that I couldn't make the event, due to the bloody weekend buses, however, I relented when they said that they didn't have enough hands, and offered me a lift home when it was done. Anyway, enough about how they bribed me emotionally; the event itself was a cocktail function up at the Public Art Gallery for the Law Students who had graduated that day. It wasn't as mad as past events, but what made it difficult was the fact that everyone was crammed into such a narrow venue; it would have made it much easier for us to distribute the trays of nibbles throughout the crowd if they'd supplied crowbars as well. Additionally, there were several new faces at this event, unsurprising really, since I haven't worked with them in over a month-and-a-half, but they seemed an alright bunch.
Right, that's pretty much it for events that have happened since my last post, and I hope you've enjoyed reading about them. As I've said before, you can check out all my photos from NZ by clicking the address here:
Anyway, weather-wise over here, its been all over the place, sometimes its bloody freezing and wet, whilst on other days, like today, it's been hot and sweltering, which is rather unwelcome when you're digging over over-grown plots for re-planting, but I digress. Here's the news that you guys have tuned into for.
Things have been pretty slow since my last update in April, however there have been several events of importance. For instance, my boss down at PS, Malcolm Watson, has now retired. We had a leaving do for him on April 28th. I think it went pretty well, but I'm not one to comment, as I got drunk...and this time it was quite severe. I remember walking into a door frame and falling off my chair, just to give you an idea, but I was still able to hold a coherent conversation, and had sobered up by about 10 o'clock, so I think that counts in my favour. Anyway, moving on.
Anyway, the other major event that has happened was the NZ Anime Convention that lasted from May 8th-9th, which was pretty good for Dunedin's first go. I was originally considering attending in costume, but backed out when I realised that I'd have to take public transport in costume. Regardless of my cowardice, there was still a colourful collection of costumes (how's that for alliteration, huh?) from both anime and video games, and you'll be able to see some of those via the photos I'll be posting on Facebook...well, at least the characters whom I recognised. Anyway, I also had the opportunity to meet Johnny Young Bosch, the voice actor best known for his work in Bleach and Trigun, and got his autograph on the latest volume of Bleach manga that I bought, and on my copy of Dissidia: Final Fantasy, (he voices one of the main characters). Anyway, I also bought a few other items of memorabilia, including a replica sword from Final Fantasy VII which I will eventually post home), a few DVDs, and the fore mentioned manga. In short, I had a great weekend.
So, that pretty much clues you in for the major events that have happened over the past few weeks, so now we move onto the more mundane news.
One point that you might find interesting is that I have had a haircut, (hence the title) and I am now trying out a new style, which has actually been complemented quite a few times; so long bird's nest! Anyway, check out the new batch of photo's and decide for yourselves.
As far as work is concerned, we've nearly won the war against the leaves down in PS. As such, Graham has now introduced me to the joy of planting out empty plots. Last week I did this for the first time, and was quite pleased with the result. Therefore, you can imagine my horror and anger when I got into work this morning, only to find MY plants trampled and crushed. I won't bore you with what I said...but let me suffice it to say that it was a general rant against all students in general, with several colourful expletives thrown in for good measure. Graham applauded my reaction, telling me that was exactly the right reaction for a gardener to have.
That's pretty much it for PS news, as for Union, its been pretty slow lately, however, I did help out with a function last Saturday, I had actually told them that I couldn't make the event, due to the bloody weekend buses, however, I relented when they said that they didn't have enough hands, and offered me a lift home when it was done. Anyway, enough about how they bribed me emotionally; the event itself was a cocktail function up at the Public Art Gallery for the Law Students who had graduated that day. It wasn't as mad as past events, but what made it difficult was the fact that everyone was crammed into such a narrow venue; it would have made it much easier for us to distribute the trays of nibbles throughout the crowd if they'd supplied crowbars as well. Additionally, there were several new faces at this event, unsurprising really, since I haven't worked with them in over a month-and-a-half, but they seemed an alright bunch.
Right, that's pretty much it for events that have happened since my last post, and I hope you've enjoyed reading about them. As I've said before, you can check out all my photos from NZ by clicking the address here:
http://www.facebook.com/#!/album.php?aid=145622&id=719348724
Okay, that's it for me, folks. I'll see you soon with more updates and pointless gibberish. Hope you're all doing well.
Laters,
Alex
PS. to Matt and Katie, thanks for setting up the Skype account, its great to talk to you guys in person...well you know what I mean.
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