Today I happened to come across this speech that I originally wrote in either 2003 or 2004. To be honest it was one of the best speeches I did at Toastmasters - and I can probably safely say that it was probably the one I put most effort into. I thought I would share it here, because as of late, this blog has just become a list of stuff I have been up to, not particularly interesting or profound stuff - but then if I was any more honest, I would probably be spilling out my broken heart to you all, and that probably isn't great reading either.
I'm not sure where I fit on the scale at the moment - as I think I have been pretty good in recent years just doing it, possibly to the detrement of my career and moving forward. Anyway, may be this will inspire someone.
Time is a great teacher, but unfortunately it kills all its pupils.
Good evening fellow toastmasters, contest chair, judges, and distinguished guests.
TIME - Too often we take it for granted, we will do something tommorrow, we will get around to it at some stage, or “One day it will happen”.
Something you probably don’t know about me is that – I grew up in a place called Naike - a small rural community out west of Huntly in the mighty Waikato.
At high school, when asked where Naike was, my friend & I would jokingly reply “next to Reebok”. However it is spelt different from the shoe brand. Despite this minor detail, I like the shoe brand’s slogan “JUST DO IT”, and tonight this is what my speech will be about.
Several years ago now there was a CanTeen ad on TV that ends with the point that the one thing worst than getting old is not getting old?
Unfortunately it is a sad fact. We won’t all live to be 70 or 80. We may die tomorrow, or 2 years from now, or when we are 45. This fact hit me the hardest 8 years ago, when one of my childhood friends died in an avalanche, a month before he was going to turn 19. It simply hurts to think that he didn’t even get to celebrate his 21st, he will never get married, he won’t have children, and he won’t get to develop a successful career – because he is dead. What I can take comfort in is that he lived a 19 years to the full – he didn’t hold himself back, he gave everything a go, adventure was his middle name – Unfortunately his sense of adventure on this occasion lead to the mistake of getting caught in an avalanche while snowboarding – but at least he died doing something he enjoyed.
Something I had been guilty of was putting my life on hold. I had lived by the theory that when I finished high school things would be so much cooler – and I would have heaps of free time to do all the things that I had put off.
Then I discovered that Tertiary education was actually quite full-on, and that I didn’t “have the time” – but no worries I thought, when I get a job I will have heaps of free time and also an income to use.
Fate of course drew me another cruel blow, and 5 months after Graduating I found myself back at tech, on top of working a full time job. My mistake was not making time. What if it was me that had died? I spent a good 10 years of my life pretty much not enjoying it, and possibly not achieving much more than an education.
Think about this. And remember that Time waits for no one. You should treasure every moment you have.
So what is there to gain? As much as it is a cliché – it is true NO REGRETS.
There must be nothing worst than looking back on life, and realising how little you have achieved, or how little you have done. On the other hand, think of the contentment you would feel knowing you had done your best, achieved your goals, and made your mark – and enjoyed it. Old age is a time when you should be living on the fruits of your youthful successes, and not getting bitter and twisted because of your regrets.
Similarly, if you still have things left undone, there is no time like the present. I like the saying “it ain’t over till it’s over.” - Don’t let age, or any other barrier hold you back. Remember also that if there is something fun, do it today rather than leaving it until tommorrow – because if you like it today you can do it again tomorrow.
I was listening to a tape not long ago, and there was a 68-year-old lady who decided to do a degree at University. Her friends told her that she was silly, because it would take three years, and she would be at least 70 before she would finish it. Her reply was “well in three years I’ll be 70 anyway…”
Don’t you love that attitude? She lived and did, rather than just existed for those 3 years.
Like the Nike saying “Just do it”. Don’t let fear get in your way. A lot of lives are limited because of fears.
Fears of failure. Fears of rejection. Fears of enclosed spaces, spiders, or heights.
Some people choose to live within their boundaries, whereas others climb over them. A good portion of us here may’ve started coming to toastmasters because we had a fear of public speaking.
If so, congratulations, you have taken the first step of jumping out of your comfort zone.
Fears are enemies to your life. They are preventing you from being what you could be – and from what you could give the world.
Lets face it, you may not always be successful, you may not achieve as much as Edmund Hillary, but in the end you are only competing with yourself.
Tonight’s Thomasism is “If you’re going down – go down with both guns blazing”. Basically what I mean by that is, that you may be struggling, but give it everything until you hit the ground, and that way you may succeed, but giving up means definitely failing.
So, Congratulations everyone – by being here you are one step closer to bettering your life
To finish tonight’s speech, I want you to go away with this:
Life is not defined by how many moments you live, rather the moments that take your breath away. You may not get as many moments as you think you will, so make them count.
Saturday, 21 July 2012
M.I.A. in the B.O.P.
So last you heard was me at mum and dads work. I ended up helping out there for most days of 2.5 weeks. I had an interview in that time. One day Dad and I did some deliveries to Tokoroa, another day I went with him to Whangamata where he was sales repping. That was quite nice, he showed me the Waihi mine - a huge hole in the ground, probably the best part of a kilometre deep. We also went to Opoutere .
One night I went to the Trade day at Gilmours - unfortunately I was too late for the freebies.
However, I happened to stop next to a Zm truck one day and got some freebies - soup mixs and tissues and a ticket to the premier of Rock of Ages at the movies- pretty cool, funny and well done.
I also went to the Field days again, which was interesting again. On the way home I stopped at the Scottish shop in Melville and picked up a McDonald crest badge.
On the 18th of June I started another temporary assignment - this time at Familyworks, at Mt Maunganui. As it happens, I had only recently dropped into my agency (Kelly Services) to ask if they had any work coming in, my agent mentioned something about some in Tauranga, so I mentioned that I would keen for work in Tauranga if any came up, as I could always stay at our house in Papamoa. So I have been here for about a month now, and have a couple of weeks to go.
The first week I was here, I went to The Dictator at the movies, - which was good - and not too cringe worthy, like Borat, and especially Bruno were. That weekend I came back to Hamilton and went to a YouTube night, and caught up with Scott who is back from Kuwait. Suzanne and Bevan came home from their trip also.
The next weekend I came home as well, and went to see Dads Army at the Riverlea theatre (where I was in Don Quixote earlier this year. The acting was good, but it ended up dragging a little, probably because I wasn't so familiar with the show.
On the Wednesday I caught up with my mate Baz and watched a DVD. We were going to have a couple of Pizzas for dinner, but Baz told me Pak'N'Save was having their trade day - so I went down and checked it out - and they were very generous with their samples - I got 3 sausages, amongst some soup, cheese and cracker samples.
The weekend after that I went to Flight of the Conchords on the Friday night - I had to leave work early and drive up to Auckland - I hadn't realised until I researched it how far it is to Auckland from Tauranga - I had always just assumed it was a similar distance as it is to Hamilton, instead it is double that - which is probably why the couple of times I have done that trip that it feels it takes forever - it is actually because it is forever. Anyhow, they were great - not as exciting as when I saw them in London at the Wembley Arena, but still good. I particularly liked their rendition of I'm Not Crying - they had a guy accompanying them on a viola, so instead of being humorous, it was genuinely sad.
The following Thursday night I decided to walk around the Mount to wear in my new hiking shoes (one Sunday a few weeks before-hand I had gotten frustrated with my lack of waterproof and decent shoes, so I went and spent $600 on 5 pairs of shoes - 2 x work shoes, 1 pair of hiking shoes, 1 x gym/running shoes, and 1 pair of skate shoes - this has then led me to discard old holey socks, because if I don't it will just ruin the shoes, which in turn will ruin more socks...) Unfortunately by the time I got down there it was quite dark, however I did it - the first time in 3 years, I realised. On the way home I stopped at Pizza Hut and picked up a couple of $4.90 pizzas, and then dropped in to watch some of the Boxing at the Pap tavern. Seems as though people were drunk before they got there looking at the parking.
On the Friday I decided I would have a night in Tauranga as I wasn't going home. I also worked out it was half the price (and far more convenient) to book a night in a hostel rather than catching a bus and then a cab back to Papamoa.
The next morning I got up, and went and had a Wendy's breakfast and headed to the Karangahake Gorge. For forever I have had it on my list of things to do. I got there at 11.30, grabbed some quick lunch at the Waitoa railway station, and then just started walking. At the start of the walk was some buildings related to gold mining - kilns etc, and a museum, so I checked them out. Anyhow, I kept on, it seemed to take forever before I got to the tunnel through the hill - but it was worth it - the tunnel was really long and came out further along the gorge. The return walk didn't seem to drag as much which was good. All up I would have walked 14kms, not a bad effort. I texted my Uncle on the way back, as I would be passing where they would staying - so I ended up having dinner with my cousins which was nice - and rather entertaining, especially as they are now teenagers and wind their parents up like me and my sister to do ours, and as you can imagine - get similar reactions "You are just showing off because XYZ is here".
The following weekend Mum & Dad came to stay over here which was a nice change.
Tuesday I went to the movies again and saw Ted. Good, but not laugh-a-minute.
Friday I went to see Raybon Kan perform (stand-up) in Tauranga. He was good, but he started off badly I thought - I think he wanted to theme his show attacking religion, but didn't get the positive reaction he was hoping for, so he had to change tact. Near the very end he was getting good, but then it finished.
Today (Saturday 21/7/12) I just did Rock'N'Roll things like doing the washing, and sorting out my stamp collection - not a five-minute job unfortunately.
One night I went to the Trade day at Gilmours - unfortunately I was too late for the freebies.
However, I happened to stop next to a Zm truck one day and got some freebies - soup mixs and tissues and a ticket to the premier of Rock of Ages at the movies- pretty cool, funny and well done.
I also went to the Field days again, which was interesting again. On the way home I stopped at the Scottish shop in Melville and picked up a McDonald crest badge.
On the 18th of June I started another temporary assignment - this time at Familyworks, at Mt Maunganui. As it happens, I had only recently dropped into my agency (Kelly Services) to ask if they had any work coming in, my agent mentioned something about some in Tauranga, so I mentioned that I would keen for work in Tauranga if any came up, as I could always stay at our house in Papamoa. So I have been here for about a month now, and have a couple of weeks to go.
The first week I was here, I went to The Dictator at the movies, - which was good - and not too cringe worthy, like Borat, and especially Bruno were. That weekend I came back to Hamilton and went to a YouTube night, and caught up with Scott who is back from Kuwait. Suzanne and Bevan came home from their trip also.
The next weekend I came home as well, and went to see Dads Army at the Riverlea theatre (where I was in Don Quixote earlier this year. The acting was good, but it ended up dragging a little, probably because I wasn't so familiar with the show.
On the Wednesday I caught up with my mate Baz and watched a DVD. We were going to have a couple of Pizzas for dinner, but Baz told me Pak'N'Save was having their trade day - so I went down and checked it out - and they were very generous with their samples - I got 3 sausages, amongst some soup, cheese and cracker samples.
The weekend after that I went to Flight of the Conchords on the Friday night - I had to leave work early and drive up to Auckland - I hadn't realised until I researched it how far it is to Auckland from Tauranga - I had always just assumed it was a similar distance as it is to Hamilton, instead it is double that - which is probably why the couple of times I have done that trip that it feels it takes forever - it is actually because it is forever. Anyhow, they were great - not as exciting as when I saw them in London at the Wembley Arena, but still good. I particularly liked their rendition of I'm Not Crying - they had a guy accompanying them on a viola, so instead of being humorous, it was genuinely sad.
The following Thursday night I decided to walk around the Mount to wear in my new hiking shoes (one Sunday a few weeks before-hand I had gotten frustrated with my lack of waterproof and decent shoes, so I went and spent $600 on 5 pairs of shoes - 2 x work shoes, 1 pair of hiking shoes, 1 x gym/running shoes, and 1 pair of skate shoes - this has then led me to discard old holey socks, because if I don't it will just ruin the shoes, which in turn will ruin more socks...) Unfortunately by the time I got down there it was quite dark, however I did it - the first time in 3 years, I realised. On the way home I stopped at Pizza Hut and picked up a couple of $4.90 pizzas, and then dropped in to watch some of the Boxing at the Pap tavern. Seems as though people were drunk before they got there looking at the parking.
On the Friday I decided I would have a night in Tauranga as I wasn't going home. I also worked out it was half the price (and far more convenient) to book a night in a hostel rather than catching a bus and then a cab back to Papamoa.
The next morning I got up, and went and had a Wendy's breakfast and headed to the Karangahake Gorge. For forever I have had it on my list of things to do. I got there at 11.30, grabbed some quick lunch at the Waitoa railway station, and then just started walking. At the start of the walk was some buildings related to gold mining - kilns etc, and a museum, so I checked them out. Anyhow, I kept on, it seemed to take forever before I got to the tunnel through the hill - but it was worth it - the tunnel was really long and came out further along the gorge. The return walk didn't seem to drag as much which was good. All up I would have walked 14kms, not a bad effort. I texted my Uncle on the way back, as I would be passing where they would staying - so I ended up having dinner with my cousins which was nice - and rather entertaining, especially as they are now teenagers and wind their parents up like me and my sister to do ours, and as you can imagine - get similar reactions "You are just showing off because XYZ is here".
The following weekend Mum & Dad came to stay over here which was a nice change.
Tuesday I went to the movies again and saw Ted. Good, but not laugh-a-minute.
Friday I went to see Raybon Kan perform (stand-up) in Tauranga. He was good, but he started off badly I thought - I think he wanted to theme his show attacking religion, but didn't get the positive reaction he was hoping for, so he had to change tact. Near the very end he was getting good, but then it finished.
Today (Saturday 21/7/12) I just did Rock'N'Roll things like doing the washing, and sorting out my stamp collection - not a five-minute job unfortunately.
Saturday, 2 June 2012
Trench Warfare
So where the last post left off was bang on middle of April - the 15th.
The following couple of weeks were nothing much to write about, albeit I was finally told that I wasn't required by the my work anymore, and Susan my partner in fighting crime also left - the week before I did, on the 4th of May. In between this there was Anzac day, which really was "help Anne & Wayne around the house day".
Once I finished up at work I decided I really wanted to get away for about a week, as I would soon be house-bound in the role of custodian of Jordan & Jess (J-Dog & J-Cat). I decided I would brave a trip back up to Kaitaia and visit some old friends after 3.5 years.
So on the Wednesday - I hopped in the car and headed to Tauranga, probably shouldn't have bothered with Tauranga, but I wanted to take my wetsuit up north in case I got the chance to have a swim. Nothing much to report Tauranga-wise, except for the fact that someone near the house has unsecured WiFi, so I made use of that.
Thursday - I headed to Auckland. Decided once I got to Sylvia park that I would stay the night in Auckland, as I could casually do stuff, rather than drive some more and then have to find some dinner, and set up a tent etc possibly in the dark. I walked down Queen Street and decided to take part in a Pub crawl that was advertised at the hostel. The downside was everyone else on it was probably in their early twenties, so I felt like a real old man. I gave up on the last free drink and bar because I wanted to check out the Ice bar (bar in sub zero temperatures)- I would have gone earlier in the night, but at about 6pm when I was down that way no one else was there - Awesome if I was with someone else, but would've been lame just by myself. Unfortunately when I got there at 12.30am (they are advertised to close at 1am) they were shut, and someone said they'd closed at 12.
On Friday I got up and headed north, and got to finally check out the new bypass road and tunnel - that they had been building the two years I was up north, but not quite finished by the time I went to London. I stopped in Whangarei for lunch, and then headed on to stay with my old workmate Peter.
Saturday & Sunday - I picked olives for Peter in his olive orchard. It was a relatively easy task, almost like milking a cow. The worst bit was the hidden trenches/drains that were hidden in the long grass between the rows - hence the above title. For my work I got 10.5 litres of organic olive oil which was pretty choice. It was also nice staying at Peter's - out in the country.
Monday, I left Peter's and went down the road to Mangonui and visited a distant Bruntlett relation, shared information, and had lunch with them. From there went to Kaitaia. I kept my eyes open as I cruised down the main street to see if all my favorite haunts were still there - yes to the roast shop (albeit with a different name and owner) and the 2nd hand book shop. Nero's had closed, and my former workplace has changed it's name and one of the partners.
I stayed the night with the Brott's, who were essentially the chairpeople of the Puriri Park village where I orginally lived when I first moved to Kaitaia. I had a great time with them, in some ways they remind(ed) me a lot of my maternal grandparents, albeit a lot more youthful. Pam even made a Nek Minit joke - how she knew about that I don't know. It was great catching up, reminiscing, and telling them the stories of my travels.
While I was in Kaitaia I also went to visit the Little Theatre, where I had performed several plays in my time up there. It was now part of the Te Ahu complex that had been proposed around the time I was up there. It combined the museum, community centre, information centre, Little Theatre, and library into one building, and looks totally awesome. Probably way over-budget though...
I had to come back to Hamilton for a WINZ appointment, which really was a waste of time as it simply was a hoop to jump through.
Suzanne and Bevan went to Europe, so I am currently in charge of their house. Jess shows me lots of affection and sleeps with me (too bad she is a cat), and Jordan is a dog, he has just learnt to bark (at everyone and everything) and seems to want to chew everything. In the few quiet moments I get, I have been getting London-sick by watching 'The Only Way is Essex' and 'Who Do You Think You Are?'
I had my graduation day for my "Advanced Certificate in Te Ara Reo Maori" the other week. It was alright, but most of my classmates weren't there, so I didn't get to catch up with them, which was a real shame. The food was alright, and the sash I got to wear looked pretty awesome. It seems to be a painful coincedence that I always seem to be unemployed (or at least underemployed) whenever I have a graduation, which just goes to show that a million letters after your name doesn't make you anymore job secure.
Last week I spent helping Mum and Dad out at their work, picking orders and going out in the van to help on deliveries.
The following couple of weeks were nothing much to write about, albeit I was finally told that I wasn't required by the my work anymore, and Susan my partner in fighting crime also left - the week before I did, on the 4th of May. In between this there was Anzac day, which really was "help Anne & Wayne around the house day".
Once I finished up at work I decided I really wanted to get away for about a week, as I would soon be house-bound in the role of custodian of Jordan & Jess (J-Dog & J-Cat). I decided I would brave a trip back up to Kaitaia and visit some old friends after 3.5 years.
So on the Wednesday - I hopped in the car and headed to Tauranga, probably shouldn't have bothered with Tauranga, but I wanted to take my wetsuit up north in case I got the chance to have a swim. Nothing much to report Tauranga-wise, except for the fact that someone near the house has unsecured WiFi, so I made use of that.
Thursday - I headed to Auckland. Decided once I got to Sylvia park that I would stay the night in Auckland, as I could casually do stuff, rather than drive some more and then have to find some dinner, and set up a tent etc possibly in the dark. I walked down Queen Street and decided to take part in a Pub crawl that was advertised at the hostel. The downside was everyone else on it was probably in their early twenties, so I felt like a real old man. I gave up on the last free drink and bar because I wanted to check out the Ice bar (bar in sub zero temperatures)- I would have gone earlier in the night, but at about 6pm when I was down that way no one else was there - Awesome if I was with someone else, but would've been lame just by myself. Unfortunately when I got there at 12.30am (they are advertised to close at 1am) they were shut, and someone said they'd closed at 12.
On Friday I got up and headed north, and got to finally check out the new bypass road and tunnel - that they had been building the two years I was up north, but not quite finished by the time I went to London. I stopped in Whangarei for lunch, and then headed on to stay with my old workmate Peter.
Saturday & Sunday - I picked olives for Peter in his olive orchard. It was a relatively easy task, almost like milking a cow. The worst bit was the hidden trenches/drains that were hidden in the long grass between the rows - hence the above title. For my work I got 10.5 litres of organic olive oil which was pretty choice. It was also nice staying at Peter's - out in the country.
Monday, I left Peter's and went down the road to Mangonui and visited a distant Bruntlett relation, shared information, and had lunch with them. From there went to Kaitaia. I kept my eyes open as I cruised down the main street to see if all my favorite haunts were still there - yes to the roast shop (albeit with a different name and owner) and the 2nd hand book shop. Nero's had closed, and my former workplace has changed it's name and one of the partners.
I stayed the night with the Brott's, who were essentially the chairpeople of the Puriri Park village where I orginally lived when I first moved to Kaitaia. I had a great time with them, in some ways they remind(ed) me a lot of my maternal grandparents, albeit a lot more youthful. Pam even made a Nek Minit joke - how she knew about that I don't know. It was great catching up, reminiscing, and telling them the stories of my travels.
While I was in Kaitaia I also went to visit the Little Theatre, where I had performed several plays in my time up there. It was now part of the Te Ahu complex that had been proposed around the time I was up there. It combined the museum, community centre, information centre, Little Theatre, and library into one building, and looks totally awesome. Probably way over-budget though...
I had to come back to Hamilton for a WINZ appointment, which really was a waste of time as it simply was a hoop to jump through.
Suzanne and Bevan went to Europe, so I am currently in charge of their house. Jess shows me lots of affection and sleeps with me (too bad she is a cat), and Jordan is a dog, he has just learnt to bark (at everyone and everything) and seems to want to chew everything. In the few quiet moments I get, I have been getting London-sick by watching 'The Only Way is Essex' and 'Who Do You Think You Are?'
Last week I spent helping Mum and Dad out at their work, picking orders and going out in the van to help on deliveries.
Wednesday, 25 April 2012
Act Two: Who do You (I) think You Are (I am)? Taranaki & Wellington
Following that I mucked around for a bit, and then nipped down to New Plymouth, to check out where Puke Ariki was (the local museum, which also has a great archive). Admittedly it ended up mostly being a recon & use the free Wi-Fi mission. That night I had a small walk down to the beach (in pretty much stark darkness) and then watched a bit of TV and slept after a call to one of my mother's cousins who knew a bit about my mother's mother's (Nana) side of the family, the Melvilles of Kaponga.
The next day I went to New Plymouth and did my research - looking up all my Taranaki ancestors (of which are the majority). Unfortunately, I only found good information on the Melville ancestors, however that was better than nothing.
I had intended to do a bit of a drive around Southern Taranaki once I had finished there, to see some of the places my ancestors had come from, unfortunately it had decided to rain quite heavily, so I cut my losses and headed straight to another set of distant relations - Alan & Annette Reardon - who are related to me as John Reardon (pictured above) my Great Great Grandfather, was the brother of Alan's Grandfather William.
Alan & Annette had recently come back from a big trip around the British Isles - including spending some time investigating our ancestors and exploring where they came from - they managed to find Ballyriordan (The Valley of the Reardons) and met some O'Riordans, so they had some good stories and some extra information, including a map if I ever make it over there. We also had a fantastic feed of corned beef that night, which topped it all off nicely.
The next day I did most of the looking around Taranaki that I had intended to do the day before, first starting with Kaponga (Melvilles), then making my way to Hawera and then around the coast through Patea (Bartz), stopped in Maxwell (Reardons), and then spent some time at the Aramoho cemetery in Wanganui (various - Reardon, Bruntlett, and especially as apparently my elusive ancestor Edwin Valentine Westerby is buried there, but in the row where he is supposed to be, there is no headstone - probably not surprising when you desert your wife and kids, even if they do find out when and where you die, they might not be so keen to fork out for one.)
From there I hightailed it to Wellington, checked into my hostel, and caught up with Campbell - my mate that I worked with at the CPS in London.
The next day was Friday, and I had several things I needed to do on a week day - unfortunately the hostel didn't have it's own parking, so every morning I had to go and move my car before doing anything else. Anyhow, I wanted to visit the consulate offices of Spain, France, and the U.K. and go to Archives New Zealand. The Spanish consulate was very helpful, the French ignored me, and the British were closed by the time I got there.
At Archives New Zealand I mucked around a bit as I figured they wouldn't be so useful, being a bit cynical and jaded from other institutions I had visited so far, however, once I got into the swing of it I found they had a whole lot of my ancestor's wills - which I got them to photocopy for me, and have made very interesting reading.
Admittedly the rest of my time in Wellington was fairly low key, Friday night I did my washing, Saturday night I went out, but otherwise the only thing of great interest was on the way out I visited some more distant (again second cousin, twice removed) relations (Clemoes side) and chatted and shared information with them for several hours, which was great.
Tuesday, 10 April 2012
Whakapapa Hikoi - Act One - Rotorua
So finally I made it to my holiday without dying of exhaustion, or insanity. I haven't had any time off bar a week between assignments in July, since March last year.
Thursday night once I escaped work and had packed my car I got the hell out of Hamilton and headed for Rotorua.
On the way into Rotorua I noticed they had Wendy's restaurant, so the first thing I did the next day was go there for breakfast - which was awesome. While I was there I got a text from a family tree contact (who we have worked out is the partner of my second cousin twice removed) saying come over when your free - I texted back and said 'I'm free now - coming over'
The rest of the weekend involved a bit of family tree work, but mostly getting to know them through food and a road trip to Ohope (in which I managed to get my first ever speeding fine)
I had booked two nights in the hostel in Rotorua, and ended up being able to stay in two different houses the other two nights as my 'new-found' relations owned a business renting out holiday rentals. One of these houses was especially flash - spa pool on the back deck - and both of these houses backed onto Lake Rotorua. On my last night I went to church, and then found a place where you shoot an airgun (slug gun) at targets for prizes. For example I had to shoot an aluminum can until in fell in half to win a can of drink (which I did). It was fun.
The next day after a cooked breakfast, I headed off - I was heading first to Piopio, to meet and catch up with a Scottish girl I met in December in Hamilton. I got there eventually despite technology failing me - my SatNav was being a dick and not finding satellites, and then my iPhone had no reception until I turned it off and back on again.
From Piopio I carried on down to Waitara - to stay with Cheryl - who I stayed with back in May last year - and was the Director of the plays I was in 2007 & 2008 in Kaitaia.
Thursday, 23 February 2012
A Little Quixotic
For work We had our Christmas celebration as a breakfast at a local cafe. Christmas was spent at Papamoa with Mum, Dad, Suzanne, Bevan and Nana. Christmas day at Bowentown with us and my cousins. The weather that weekend was fairly average- I only had the statutory holidays off. New years went to the Papamoa tavern and saw the Feelers and Zed- two of NZ's popular bands of the early 2000s. The Feelers were the headline act, but I went more to see Zed, as they had broken up a while back. I had seen the Feelers in London for free not so long ago, so it was almost sad having to pay to see them here. 
The middle weekend in January I made use of a birthday present from Adessa and went to Waitomo caves and went through the footwhistle cave after a nice lunch. The cave was good-interesting and well presented, but not too touristy. 
I had noticed when I looked at a map that the Waitomo caves road becomes Te Anga road, and I recalled that my great grandmother had lived there at one point, so on the trip home I did a big detour to check it out, as well as anything of interest on the way such as the natural bridge and the Marakopa waterfall which was huge and pretty cool.
The following week I managed to catch up with Campbell my workmate I worked with in London at the Crown Prosecution service. We had a couple of beers at home then had tea in town and finished off with a beer at a local pub called the Londoner, which seemed fitting. I was expecting it to be a 'London' pub in name only, but it turned out to be just like an east London pub.The next weekend I used another voucher to kayak along the Waikato river from Cambridge to the narrows.
That was quite cool- peaceful more than anything. once that was over I had to rush to my first rehearsal of Don Quixote of La Mancha at the Riverlea theatre.The next weekend was Waitangi weekend, and Christine, a girl I grew up with got married to her welsh boyfriend now husband. Therefore we had a weekend in west Auckland, I got to catch up with a couple of girls I'd travelled around the south island with, so that was good, and my family and I went out to Piha to check it out at sunset. Since I had hardly swam in the last 3 years I decided to have a quick dip. The wedding was great, they made a lot of choices that I liked as ideas for my own future wedding. On the way home we dropped mum and dad off at the airport to go to Sydney. The following weeks were fairly similar, a lot of don Quixote rehearsals with the occasional other thing for variety such as a travel night put on by Calder and Lawson- the travel agency I used to go to London. The other thing was an Irish ancestry research day at the society of genealogists in Auckland- mum and dad were going out fishing with one of their suppliers so we shared the ride, but meant I had less time. On the Sunday my mate Ron had his birthday and celebrated it the usual way- with a KFC party.In the following weeks I had a couple of interviews at our area office for a couple of jobs, and then I did two weeks on another team to cover someone. During this time we started performances of the play. In all it was good, we had pretty poor audience turn outs but admittedly it was competing with st Patrick's day and the balloon festival which were free events. Also I think with the economy and the price of the show people would be quite discerning with their cash.
I'm now just about to embark on an epic road trip... watch this space...
Thursday, 17 November 2011
32 & No Further Ahead
A small victory can be claimed I guess, in the fact it only has been a month and a half since the last entry.
In saying that, that 1.5 months has had a few achievements and milestones. I had intended to write something sooner, so I could be more philosophical, rather than listing off what I have been up to week to week, because if it's boring me, chances are it's boring you too.
And so it begins...
The weekend following my last entry (15/16 October) I decided that I would head to Auckland and check out the Fanzone for the Rugby World Cup while I a) still had a chance, and b) it got really wild for the final. I stayed the Saturday night at Nana's in Huntly, to spend some time with her, but also because it was half an hour closer to Auckland.
We watched the semi-final between Wales and England that night, and then the next day I drove on up, parked in a car park building at the top of Queen Street, and walked on down. It was kind of interesting, as I had stayed at the top of Queen street multiple times during the period when I was living in Kaitaia. On my way down the street I came across the couple I worked with at Pacific Aerospace in a souvenir store, so I got to catch up with them. Once I got into the fanzone, I decided the first thing I would check out was the big 'New Zealand 2011' despite the hour and a half wait, mainly because it seemed I had chased it around the globe, and hadn't manage to catch it - it was in Paris under the Eiffel tower in 2007 during that World Cup, then it went across to London, and spend some time in Potter's field next to Tower bridge - which is where me and Campbell, my then-work mate from Wellington ate our lunches for 8 months. The other place of course it went, was Japan. It wasn't really worth the wait to be honest.
Once I came out of there I went to find my old school mate Simon (who you may remember from the Doughnut shaped island adventure). By the 'Cloud' a long building built for the RWC. Simon and I walked through the fanzone, seeing what was there to see (not a whole heap), and then went down the road (and happened to bump into Suzanne and Bevan) and checked out the big plastic waka (boat) complex that had gotten media attention due to it's ridiculous cost to build, and the fact it would only get 11 days usage. By that stage it was about 3pm so we went and had lunch at a Mexican place which was awesome- I'm pretty sure I'd been there once before. Right next to the Mexican place is the Ice Bar - which Adessa & I have sworn to go to when she comes out to visit - as we intended to go the Absolut Ice Bar in London, but never got that far.
That night, the All Blacks convincingly thrashed Australia in the semi-final, however I was a bunch of nerves at the start of the game, as I knew they would be some-what of a challenge.
The next weekend was Labour weekend, so Mum, Dad, and I all went over to Papamoa. That weekend's project was organising my currency collection, and attaching pictures to the relevant data in my family tree. Because of the Rena crashing into a reef, and the subsequent oil spill, I couldn't go swimming which was a bit of a downer.
On the upside however was the RWC final against France. If I was nervous about the Australia game, I was petrified about the France game. In theory we should nail it, as we'd already beaten them fairly convincingly in the pool games, however theories don't mean anything on game-day. They would also have the adrenaline from being in the running to win the cup. I had intended to enjoy the game with a beer or two, but because I was so on edge about it, I ended up not bothering. We won by one point, and the nation rejoiced.
The following week I went to a couchsurfing meeting, which once again was cool - enjoyed the pizza.
The weekend following was the mile-stone of all mile-stones, Adessa & my One year anniversary - despite the distance, the detractors, and the distractions (Ok, there aren't really any distractions because I only have eyes for Adessa, but I needed a third 'D' word) we did it.
The next day was my last Wananga for my Maori class, where I finished off the last assessment. That was rounded off with the usual food.
The following week started quietly but on the Wednesday I celebrated another birthday. Me and some friends went to 'The Dinsdale Office' for dinner, and they were also having a quiz night. Our team, to our surprise came second-equal, although there was no prize.
Thursday there was a Contiki night at the House on Hood (where I go for the Couchsurfing meetings) co-hosted by House of Travel, which are the people I went through to go to the UK. The night was good, free pizza, 3 glasses of boutique beer and a couple of drinks bought for me it was all good.
Friday night was the training for the Elections- as I have decided to work on the Elections, since it is fairly decent money.
Then we get to this week, Monday I went out to Dave & Sandra's for dinner. Tuesday was our Maori class end-of-year celebration, where they took us out to Valentines (a smorgasbord restaurant) where I hadn't been in nearly a decade (I had to clean the numerous windows there in one of my past student jobs, which probably put me off).
Today I went to the gym - there had been promotions for this gym several times, where you pay $3 for 30 days, but I was always too slow, however this time I got it. It was nice once I got going to not feel like I was going to die. Tonight I also managed to change the seat on my bike - something I wanted to do, as I have biked into work a couple of times, but the seat was a bit small and hard, so I decided my old seat would improve my motivation.
This weekend I am house-sitting for Suzanne and Bevan, and baby-sitting my blond nephew (puppy) Jordan, which should be fun.
As for the title above, I guess I have felt the rollercoaster of emotions that go with being fortune's fool. Let me explain... I have found an amazing woman, but she is on the other side of the world. In some ways I haven't worried too much about getting a full time job because I wanted some flexibility for when she comes out to visit, but now that looks like it will be next August. I had also thought that my job would finish shortly so I had gone as far as pricing out a cheap ticket to the UK for Christmas, however then found out that if I want it, I have a job until June, which is nice, but conflicting obviously. Now of course, I am sticking with the job, but every time it gets me down, I get negative and think about how I could be in the UK with Adessa.
Turning 32 didn't get me down so much, possibly because this year I have at least got closer with one goal, finding Miss Right, in saying that though, I also didn't get the other feelings in the spectrum either, none of the 'birthday euphoria'. So, anyway, that's me for now.
In saying that, that 1.5 months has had a few achievements and milestones. I had intended to write something sooner, so I could be more philosophical, rather than listing off what I have been up to week to week, because if it's boring me, chances are it's boring you too.
And so it begins...
The weekend following my last entry (15/16 October) I decided that I would head to Auckland and check out the Fanzone for the Rugby World Cup while I a) still had a chance, and b) it got really wild for the final. I stayed the Saturday night at Nana's in Huntly, to spend some time with her, but also because it was half an hour closer to Auckland.
We watched the semi-final between Wales and England that night, and then the next day I drove on up, parked in a car park building at the top of Queen Street, and walked on down. It was kind of interesting, as I had stayed at the top of Queen street multiple times during the period when I was living in Kaitaia. On my way down the street I came across the couple I worked with at Pacific Aerospace in a souvenir store, so I got to catch up with them. Once I got into the fanzone, I decided the first thing I would check out was the big 'New Zealand 2011' despite the hour and a half wait, mainly because it seemed I had chased it around the globe, and hadn't manage to catch it - it was in Paris under the Eiffel tower in 2007 during that World Cup, then it went across to London, and spend some time in Potter's field next to Tower bridge - which is where me and Campbell, my then-work mate from Wellington ate our lunches for 8 months. The other place of course it went, was Japan. It wasn't really worth the wait to be honest.
Once I came out of there I went to find my old school mate Simon (who you may remember from the Doughnut shaped island adventure). By the 'Cloud' a long building built for the RWC. Simon and I walked through the fanzone, seeing what was there to see (not a whole heap), and then went down the road (and happened to bump into Suzanne and Bevan) and checked out the big plastic waka (boat) complex that had gotten media attention due to it's ridiculous cost to build, and the fact it would only get 11 days usage. By that stage it was about 3pm so we went and had lunch at a Mexican place which was awesome- I'm pretty sure I'd been there once before. Right next to the Mexican place is the Ice Bar - which Adessa & I have sworn to go to when she comes out to visit - as we intended to go the Absolut Ice Bar in London, but never got that far.
That night, the All Blacks convincingly thrashed Australia in the semi-final, however I was a bunch of nerves at the start of the game, as I knew they would be some-what of a challenge.
The next weekend was Labour weekend, so Mum, Dad, and I all went over to Papamoa. That weekend's project was organising my currency collection, and attaching pictures to the relevant data in my family tree. Because of the Rena crashing into a reef, and the subsequent oil spill, I couldn't go swimming which was a bit of a downer.
On the upside however was the RWC final against France. If I was nervous about the Australia game, I was petrified about the France game. In theory we should nail it, as we'd already beaten them fairly convincingly in the pool games, however theories don't mean anything on game-day. They would also have the adrenaline from being in the running to win the cup. I had intended to enjoy the game with a beer or two, but because I was so on edge about it, I ended up not bothering. We won by one point, and the nation rejoiced.
The following week I went to a couchsurfing meeting, which once again was cool - enjoyed the pizza.
The weekend following was the mile-stone of all mile-stones, Adessa & my One year anniversary - despite the distance, the detractors, and the distractions (Ok, there aren't really any distractions because I only have eyes for Adessa, but I needed a third 'D' word) we did it.
The next day was my last Wananga for my Maori class, where I finished off the last assessment. That was rounded off with the usual food.
The following week started quietly but on the Wednesday I celebrated another birthday. Me and some friends went to 'The Dinsdale Office' for dinner, and they were also having a quiz night. Our team, to our surprise came second-equal, although there was no prize.
Thursday there was a Contiki night at the House on Hood (where I go for the Couchsurfing meetings) co-hosted by House of Travel, which are the people I went through to go to the UK. The night was good, free pizza, 3 glasses of boutique beer and a couple of drinks bought for me it was all good.
Friday night was the training for the Elections- as I have decided to work on the Elections, since it is fairly decent money.
Then we get to this week, Monday I went out to Dave & Sandra's for dinner. Tuesday was our Maori class end-of-year celebration, where they took us out to Valentines (a smorgasbord restaurant) where I hadn't been in nearly a decade (I had to clean the numerous windows there in one of my past student jobs, which probably put me off).
Today I went to the gym - there had been promotions for this gym several times, where you pay $3 for 30 days, but I was always too slow, however this time I got it. It was nice once I got going to not feel like I was going to die. Tonight I also managed to change the seat on my bike - something I wanted to do, as I have biked into work a couple of times, but the seat was a bit small and hard, so I decided my old seat would improve my motivation.
This weekend I am house-sitting for Suzanne and Bevan, and baby-sitting my blond nephew (puppy) Jordan, which should be fun.
As for the title above, I guess I have felt the rollercoaster of emotions that go with being fortune's fool. Let me explain... I have found an amazing woman, but she is on the other side of the world. In some ways I haven't worried too much about getting a full time job because I wanted some flexibility for when she comes out to visit, but now that looks like it will be next August. I had also thought that my job would finish shortly so I had gone as far as pricing out a cheap ticket to the UK for Christmas, however then found out that if I want it, I have a job until June, which is nice, but conflicting obviously. Now of course, I am sticking with the job, but every time it gets me down, I get negative and think about how I could be in the UK with Adessa.
Turning 32 didn't get me down so much, possibly because this year I have at least got closer with one goal, finding Miss Right, in saying that though, I also didn't get the other feelings in the spectrum either, none of the 'birthday euphoria'. So, anyway, that's me for now.
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