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.