Friends, why and when

Don’t interrupt my genius! said Zim to Ger. Invader Zim, the hottest thing to watch from 7pm till 30 minutes later. Invader Zim is an ambitious (to say the least) alien on a mission on earth, im not sure what his actually mission is but he trys to do lots of crazy things, with the help of his side kick - Ger. Tonight he somehow mixed up an explosion with a time slowing device, and so the explosion kept growing like an explosion but really slowly, and so Zim was able to move it away before it exploded too big. Not that it helped because he didn’t move it far away enough. It aptly caters to those with short attention spans, with two episodes in 30 minutes, like SpongeBob Squarepants.

Kevin (my flatmate in 2003) is back in Dunedin now, which is so weird. He left like 2 years ago and I've long since gotten used to living without him, I never expected to see him in Dunedin again. But he is here, and its a great thing because he is a great friend. I feel like its too good to be true actually. I feel like I don’t deserve to have such a good friend.

In fact I feel like I have far too many amazing friends in my life right now, like Im hording them from the world. Dont get me wrong I do just want to spend forever in the presence of such great people, but I feel like I’m not allowed too. Its against the laws of happiness. Who am I to deserve them. Yes I want them but it cant be true they actually want to be my friend. Argh where is all this coming from. I dont think I am this insecure. I mean hey I can admit that there are reasons why someone would want to be my friend (its OK Im not gonna list them). But I am still surprised when I find that this nice theory is actually a reality. Like when someone says ‘I miss such and such times with you’, or ‘I like this about you’, or when someone wants to do something with you, or when they go out of their way to do something for you. Like type out a 3 page summary of an episode of Lost you missed! Who am I to deserve this love. Whoooooooo am I? Who? Who?

Then there is the other side of me that clicks in and says ALERT ALERT cool person ALERT! Must do everything to get to know this person. This person is interesting, they will have a positive affect on me, I could learn from them, they inspire me, they make me laugh, they like what I like, and what I like is cool, we could have some good times. ALERT must accept all social opportunities including this person. Man I am so weird. Isn’t it weird that I sometimes feel undeserving of such friendships but seek them out nonetheless. Does anyone relate?

With friends that I no longer see often, I am in danger of relegating them to memory status. Thankfully this status has partially been diminished by blogging. I think It is probably why having Kevin back is so weird. I remembered the good times in the past and thought - yeah ill see him again... when I visit Singapore, but Dunedin with Kevin is over. But its not, new memories are still to come and what a blessing it is. Now on the other hand I can actually think of times where seeing people again from the “past” was not so weird, e.g. catching up with friends back in Hamilton, or seeing Sam and Brendan this summer. These times just seemed normal, like we just picked up where we had left off, maybe that was becasue It hadnt been as long since I last saw them, maybe it was becasue I had been reading blogs, or maybe its just different with different people. Oh who knows, anyway that’s enough to think about for now.

The injustice of a day in wet jeans

I am angry that I got wet when everything was getting wet from the rain that drenched us. I was swearing as I arrived at the end of my 5 minute bike ride. With more water on me, than I expected would be when I started. I was happy when I was in the building no longer getting wet from the rain that soaked the outside. Then it stopped. It didn’t stop when I asked that it would, thinking that it should, for my own good, when I was at home observing the sky and asking. I am angry that I thought It would never cease and that to wait 10 minutes would to be to waste 10 minutes. Im angry that I thought I wouldn’t get too wet and so in such hope rode off down the road without a change of clothes. I thought I was clever in my endeavour as I spent 5 minutes in the toilet with a towel that I found, that I slung around my waste and with my pants being dried by the hand dryer. I didn’t have the patience to wait for them to get fully dry. I am here now not fully dry, with cold legs just waiting for all the water to leave my jeans. I am cold and I know why from science, that the water is sapping heat from me as it makes its transition from liquid to gas, a process requiring energy, and energy I will give, but cold I will feel. With my hands I make friction, heat to evaporate this worry. I expect it will take hours, maybe I should have put them in the hand dryer longer. I am angry because I emerged from the toilet to look out the window to see the sun and to find no rain. I am angry that I am angry and I hope I will get over it so I can do something else with my self. But my legs that are cold from my pants that are wet, they remind me that I am angry. I’m not so angry now I have told the world on my blog that I write whenever I like. I am considering going to dry them some more in the toilet on the second floor. But I’m still deciding.

Summer has come and past. The sunny times can never last. Wake me up when my Masters ends

Its been a summer of good and bad. I could leave it there but I wont I will say more, lots and lots more. More about the good than the bad, because its harder to write about the bad, not knowing how to say it how much to say or even why I would be saying anything. Its been a summer of two half’s. The BC, Before Christmas and the AD, After December, and well to be fair there was the middle the HT, the HamilTron. Im now to try summaries these three distinct eras of time. The thought of it seems too much effort and almost scares me from attempting to, but the time has come and the review must proceed.

The BC already seems millions of miles away. Back then there was Carmi and Jo living between two flats, back then I was still living in Ravensbourne, there was student lunches with a handful of people, but a handfuls all you need at any one time really. There was helping my friend Kylie move flats, which became a very memorable day meeting lots of her friends. Oh yeah there was the one-off summer life group at Nicolas where we tried to follow the Elim study but went on a tangent and got controversial on sex before marriage. Tangents and controversial both make for interesting conversations, as does sex before marriage. Then there was also the Apo summer lifegroup I went to once in BC. And then there was lab work that wasn’t going well but actually ended on a positive note before I headed to the HT. My supervisor pointed out that some of my results which I thought were crap were actually not so crap, she always gives me hope.

The HT, I never got around to bloging about it, it was a good time. Its awesome hanging with my family Ive got some cool siblings that are really wack and crazy and unique and its so awesome how our sense of humors gel and we have all these shared childhood experiences and jokes and favorite things and I dont know if the rest of the world gets us but I know the rest of the world is glad to have us. Haha! My High school friends who there was only ever a handful of but we still catch up once a year. This HT middle era also saw me in Tauranga at Jesses 21st, good times swimming at the Mt, and seeing people I knew and hadn’t seen since the desertion of Dunedin in November, or even longer than that.

AD was back here in sweet Dunedin. It was moving flats, it was the beach, the few extra people doing summer school, the tramping, Chinese New Years eve playing settlers of Catan, and the Apo lifegroup for a second time. I have come to love Dunedin over the summer, this being my 3rd experience. I love the quiteness the easy goingness the more time to myslefness the less responsibilityness, the less hecticness. In many ways I can see a trend as in previous years. Its like your circle of friends shrinks and so you spend more time just with yourself, and with people you knew but just not too well. Last summer we had an Elim summer lifegroup and I remember it was cool hanging out with those people more. This time I have also gotten to know some Elim people better but also met some completely knew people.

There are various signals that appear as January moves into February and I start to realize all the quietness is about to die. Dan (flatmate and leader of church student group Cutting Edge) coming back is one, its like now he’s back and CE is getting back into action, so now I have to get back into action. In truth I need some action, especially with god, summer can be so easy going it provides too much opportunity to let things slip. Now its back to building a relationship with god, feeling like oh why did I waste 3 months hardly spent with him. If only ... how much closer I would be to him now. But its awesome because right when I have been feeling so lowly before him god has been drawing me in. I just hope that I will be able to grasp and understand all he is saying. So there I did manage to share one of the hard things. Another would be my masters research which has been a huge struggle of overcoming procrastination which has been feed by disappointment and perfectionist ideals. So socially this summer has truly been great, but in other areas it has been a struggle.

But wait the summer is actually still going, right now its in the OW, O Week. There is no easing back into student life around hear, its full on 100% IM A STUDENT HEAR ME ROAR!!! Action. Rewind a week and this was the future, this OW was the foretold great coming of the many, this was the great return of life and sentient beings to the lonely wind sweep paths and buildings of the UO, University of Otago. This of coarse was no surprise, but you cant help thinking its so busy, there are so many students around, man those freshers look so young and well... fresh. And in other thoughts – all these new people seem to be much better looking than usual, is it only the ugly people that stay in Dunedin over summer?

Its all about me

So I got “tagged” again and will oblige by answering the following questions.

THINGS I WANT TO DO/SEE BEFORE I DIE
1. See the world
2. Climb a glacier
3. Finish my masters
4. Read everything decent in English literature, and everything decent that’s been translated
5. Uncover the greatest secret of the universe
6. Change the world
7. Be Americas next top model

THINGS I CANNOT DO
1. Lie very well
2. Sing like I sound in my head
3. Drive legally
4. Cry when I want to
5. Use my rare talent as an artist
6. Express my self very well with spoken words
7. Be ridiculously good looking

THINGS THAT ATTRACT ME TO THE OPPOSITE SEX
1. Can sing
2. Passionate and excited about what they do
3. Laughs lots
4. loves god
5. Confident and not worried about being them selves
6. A medium level of intelligence
7. Facial hair

BOOKS AND MOVIES I LOVE
1. The matrix
2. Lord of the Rings: Return of the King (the movie)
3. Napoleon Dynamite
4. To the lighthouse
5. The Bible
6. Pride and Prejudice (the book)
7. Mortal combat (the movie)

THINGS I SAY MOST OFTEN
1. Gosh!
2. Arggg why isn’t it working?
3. Hello my name is Justin what is your name?
4. Now Ill never be a teen model! What’s the point in living! I might as well die!
5. So hot right now
6. I doughnut say the same things often ok I just say what ever I feel like!
7. Im sexy Im cool Im popular to the boot I mean right on!

THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT ME
1. I think your cool
2. I like science fiction
3. There are probably lots of things that I’m just not going to say on the internet
4. If you want to know stuff about me you can try asking
5. I’m about words so make my day and tell me how much you love me
6. Hugs are welcomed too
7. I’m a real alien sent to analyse earthlings and so I know about the end of the world and many other things great and mysterious

Incase you didn’t get it I couldn’t think of enough things about me so all the number 7 answers are not fully true.

World Focus

The best thing about the Otago Daily Times is the World Focus magazine on Mondays, its awesome, I love it. Its full of articles on world current affairs that have originally been published in famous papers like The Washington Post or The Guardian (actually I don’t know where that’s from, Britain maybe?). Plus it has great photos to go with all the stories, for example in today’s one there was a photo of these guys in Nepal carrying furniture on their heads. I have liked this magazine since it started in umm 2004 I think, but I have only read it sporadically when I get my hands on it for free, and then I realised hey they actually sell this thing and surely it doesn’t cost that much, especially considering the joy it brings me. And so today I brought it myself for 90c. I don’t really need the rest of the paper because I usually read it at Uni where my department has a subscription. BUT! And I mean this really annoys me, someone always nics the World Focus feature on Mondays and I never get to read it!!!!!!! Which makes me mad! I dont know who it is or who they think they are! I mean its supposed to stay in the tea room for the whole department to share! What do they think? that nooooooobody else is interested in world news and events! Like they are the only ones! I wouldn’t mind if they waited till the end of the day after people have had a chance to read it, but this person must get up super early on a Monday so they can get in before anybody else. Well a couple of weeks ago can you believe that it stayed in the tea room all-day-long, really I was astonished. Maybe the thief was sick, on holiday, gone forever???? So I got my chance to take it home (at the end of the day) and rediscover its coolness, which is how I came to think about paying for it myself, and the thief was back today, so here I am now much more happy with my own copy but still thinking its all so rude.

Poll results for what we should name our flat Hedgehog:

19% Llyod
5% Sonic
43% Enklebert Humperdink
29% Herman
0% Jock
5% Ruben

I feel like democracy failed me on this one. I guess If I really wanted it my way I should have just named him myself or had better advertising/propaganda to convince you to agree with me. I mean if you had seen this hedgehog I think we all would have agreed he definitely looked like a Ruben. Now for the rest of the year I and have to say Enklebert Humperdink whenever talking about the hedgehog. Incase you were wondering that name was suggested by my flatmate Kirsten. Its all part of that failed democracy thing where in fairness I let my flatmates come up with possible names.

Of coarse there is now a new poll now.

Bring it aroooooound, bring it aroo000oound too00oown.

The Copland track

You may travel NZ from one end to the other, but nowhere else will you find, at the end of a long ride through virgin forests, a comfortable little hut in a green valley encircled by rock walls with jagged peaks mounting thousands of feet into the sky, where, under the shadow of eternal snows, you may take an open-air bath in a delicious warm pool behind a screen of native trees. NZ Herald 1913.

Welcome Flat hutOne of the hot pools and surrounding mountians

This Waitangi weekend I escaped away to the great outdoors, the beauty of our country. Location: West Coast, the Copland track leading to Welcome Flat hut. The draw card: natural hot pools at the end, plus all the standard tramping goodness such as the bush, rivers, mountains, road trips, good times with friends, and making new ones. Me, Jane Macky, Jane’s flatmate Hailey, and Nicola Lowe left Dunedin on Friday at about 6pm. We set up camp at a DOC campsite 30 minutes past Wanaka, the ground was super hard. The night was restless, there was a strange animal making noises outside. The next morning we couldn’t agree on what the noises were, I thought it was a clucking sound and sometimes growls (like what animal makes both of those noises?! a scary one surely!), whilst Jane0 thought it was heavy breathing... obviously a giant sand fly then. 6am we rose to the cell phone alarm that was much more perky than I. Hailey is a morning person and was up so fast that I was actually confused by it. We drove about 2.5hrs to the start of the track where we meet up with Vanessa and Hamish (a couple from Christchurch, who I didnt know).

From back to front: Hailey, Jane, Hamish, Vanessa, Nicola

6-7hr to Welcome Flat hut, so the sign declared. Hamish was pumped to do it in 5. It took us 6.5 including lunch. The track went through bush, as you’d expect, and pretty much followed a river up the valley, the water was a milky blue. It looked very refreshing, especially considering the great sunshine beating down on us. We had such good weather especially considering it rains lots on the West Coast. There were lots of little streams to cross which was fun, jumping from bolder to bolder to stone to bolder to stone and to land. There were about 8 cars at the car park and we were worried off not getting a mattress at the hut, I desperately wanted a mattress because I wanted at least one good sleep out of 3, I knew on the floor that wouldn’t happen. The hut was very full but we all got a mattress. Sweet! The hot pools were great, especially after dark when the stars were out and the sand flies in bed. The walk in was pretty tiring so it was great to relax. Jane carried in a bottle of wine! Ha silliness but it was good. Nicola was horrified at her absolute forgetfulness when she arrived at the hut and discovered she had no sleeping bag. But actually Jane0 had taken pity on the sore sate of Nic’s back and so stole the sleeping bag and carried it in for her (0 what sacrifice), a great joke and we gleefully played along for 20 minutes till we were caught.

Just as you'd expect, its a phone in the bush.
The hottest hot pool

The walk out on Sunday was a lot easier, more down hill. We then went to Fox Glacier township for dinner (30 minutes away), which was a bit of a down moment cause we couldn’t find a cheap place, plus we had milkshake cravings near the end of the tramp and the only place that sold them was closed. We settled for expensive fish n chips form an actually restaurant and flavored milk. It was raining lightly as well. But Oh the Oasis saved me from the gloom. I mean the camping ground saved us, hot shower, bright lights, warmth, boiling water on Zip... wonderful. Though another restless night, the tent was too short for me but I forced it to comply.

Monday we parted from Hamish and Vanessa who went back to Christchurch, whilst we ventured to Franz Joseph Glacier and walked up to it. So. many. tourists. the girls tried to get “free information” by tagging along with a tour group, but they chickened out, and I was too cool to play those games. I’d been there before, so I thought, but it looked different, the track up to the glacier was defiantly different. Im still confused to whether It was Fox of Franz that I had previously been to. The West Coast is so rugged, they have power polls that look like they have never been updated. Its cool, even the animals on the farms look more rugged. The houses and the vehicles (not that there were many) definitely looked a bit worn. On the way back we had lunch at the same place we camped on Friday night. Eat, swim, stress stress, and finally sorted see previous post for more details.

In summary, I would say the actual tramp wasn’t as good as the Routeburn we did last year just because it didn’t have any of the amazing views, but we did it for the hot pools which made it worth it. On the other side it was good to have an extra day after the tramp to do other stuff. And we had plenty of laughs and good conversation twas great. Also I was inspired to do a couple of other things 1) Climb a glacier one day, the photos looked amazing, could do that in NZ or overseas. 2) Really want to go to War Birds over Wanaka this Easter (we saw it advertised in Fox)... so who wants to go? It’ll be awesome!

Me facing Franz Joseph Glacier

Later than initially necessary

Yesterday
JUSTIN! She yells.
What! He replies
I’m so tired because of you! Because you locked the keys in the car!
Im tired too, if it makes you feel better he replies.

Bum bum ba ba ba bum bum ba ba ba

The day before yesterday
We got back to Dunedin at 11.30ish pm, about an hour and a half later than initially necessary. Initially I hadn’t locked the keys in the car. Initially we were on our way back from tramping on the west coast, stopping to enjoying ourselves on the shores of lake Wanaka, swimming in the beautiful water out out, out towards the view of mountains, and back back, back towards shore, hills and warmth. I love to swim, the water was cold but refreshing and not as cold as I thought it would be, we were use to it in a couple of minutes, it was awesome. But then back at the car I realised I had left the keys in my pockets and my pockets were in my pants which I had left inside the car which I locked. Almost everything was in the car, wallets, cell phones, clothes, and gosh... keys!

We waved down a car, asked them to call AA for us, they offered to take one of us to Wanaka township 30 minutes drive away where the AA would be. I offered to go because It was my fault and because I was the only man. Not that I had anything to prove, well actually I had a lot to make up for. Anyway Nicola (the driver, the owner of the car the AA member, and the all round lovely person) should have gone because I didnt know enough about Nicola to convince the AA 0800 call center people to send someone to help us. They gave me the number of a contractor and said we might be able to apply for reimbursement later. The contractor said we were too far out of his area, what he meant was he just wanted a holiday (it being Waitangi day - a public holiday). He gave me another contractors phone number, which was a cell phone number, up till now I had been using the phone at Caltex petrol station in Wanaka, they didnt like the idea of me making a cellphone call. There I was looking all ridiculous, bare footed, wearing a Tshirt and still in my swimming toggs whilst holding my towl...

But thats gonna cost US they said
The mangagers are going to make US pay they said
How do we know how long you will talk for
How do we know you will pay us back
How did you do it
That was pretty stupid wasnt it
What are you going to do?
Cant you jimmy it?
What sort of car is it?
I dont know how, Im not a car person I said
What kind of a New Zealander doesn’t know how to jimmy a car they said!
you will have to hitch a ride back
Can I use one of your cellphones I asked
But thats gonna cost US too! They said
You can go over the road to the pay phone
I have no money, its in the car
You cant come to Wanaka without any money mate, they said!

Ok Ill just ask someone else (what the heck is wrong with you people!)
Caltex in Wanaka you make me so mad even though I was being nice to you. mmmmarrrrrrrrrggggg!

Some British tourists let me use their cell phone, and then I got told off by the Caltex staff
WHAT ARE YOU DOING! YOU CANT USE A CELL PHONE HERE, YOU’LL BLOW US ALL UP!

Anyway this contractor was the greatest, he came picked me up no hassles and I told him I didnt have all of Nicolas membership details but he sorted it all out. Ya know that’s what its all about isnt it! Thats what the AA are there for, we were a customer in trouble they were supposed to try help us, which is what this guy did and the help line people didnt. Arggg. He was a crack up I was laughing the whole way back to the car he just said crazy things. Like he was hassling me saying I must be popular because I was with three girls! Ha : ) and then he was saying that I did it all on purpose, locking the keys in just so I could come to the rescue! Then he said I would have to tell Nicola that I would make it all up to her in a “special way” and that she could choose that “special way” and that I was to tell her this when she was alone! I did tell her just for fun, but not when we were alone. I brought the girls real fruit ice cream in Cromwell, cost me $12 which I calculated to be about $1 per 8 minutes of waiting I put them through. Not a lot, just a way to say sorry. They took it quite well, they decided to make a joke of it all and pretended (I think) to be really annoyed and kept hassling me, which was supposed to be a better way of making me feel better than providing sympathy.

Back to Dunedin, a bit latter than anyone wanted, but a great time, I really laughed so much on that trip back, maybe I was just trying to feel better. The whole Wanaka Caltex thing has stuck with me a bit since, just thinking why did those people act so uncaring, and feeling a bit sorry for them and their negative view of the world and others. Though maybe we are just lucky to have people like the family that I hitched a ride with. Its a hard world out there, people are out for themselves and whats in it for them watching what it’s gonna cost them. Also it could have been worse, what if the second AA guy did want to help either, what would I have done? Thank god (and I did) it worked out, and I have learnt a lot, especially only lock the door with the actual key.

P.S It took him about 10 seconds to break in. All that waiting and all that hassle and only 10 seconds.

Lament for what’s wasted

Will I be dictated to by my feelings. Will I let them pull me here and push me there. Will I let there greed never cease. Or shall I choose, shall I choose action as I know is right. Shall I commit my efforts into life’s priorities or will I instead be thrashed by impulse, abusing myself because what is good is sidelined rather than held with high regard. Lord help me to hold in high regard things that are good, things with long term importance. Help me lord not to lead a lifestyle of instant gratification. Lord I thank you for your word which shows me what is to be held in high regard, what is good and beneficial, and what is to be rejected that which would destroy me now and in eternity. Lord you have not left such choice ambiguous but you have given me structure, that of love and all it produces. Please Lord let it produce it’s self in me.

Strange but true

I am in the strangest mo0d. Its realLy an unhapPy mo0d where Im fed up with myself and say stufF it and do something weird. I felt like something like chocolate, the jafFas didnt satisfy and neither did the marshmalLows and mammamamamamm and I put on some sunglasSes whilst being inside at 9.30pm and I decided to have NutelLa on a piece of too0000aASt. And after it popPed I margarined it and thought im going to put sooooooo much NuttelLa on it so that it would just be ridiculous. And I sco0ped out heaps but i put some back. The Marmite was just beside me and I though that I could put some Marmite on with the NutelLa, and I knew it wouldnt go together but WHO CARES! and I sco0ped out heaps of Marmite but then I put some back. The marmite turned the NutelLa to like a dark chocolate colour. I tell you it was weird as to eat, entirely disagreEing with my taste whilst fulLy complementing my state of mind. Someone nearby suggested putTing some tomato and letTuce on, ha! silLyness I thought, but then I imagined my NutMite toast with tomato and lettuce and mayonnaise on top, then i realised the ridiculousnesS of what was being contemplated so I snapPled myself out of it, thinking what a weird mo()d im in.

This morning at approximately um 9am I poured milk on my cereal, I expected the milk to come gushing out in a beautiful stream but it came out heavy and sort of sagged out of the bottle onto my cereal, I expected it to create an arc as it came out but it just went down. Odd. Maybe I was expecting too much. No! I thought defiantly, it is my favorite lite blue milk and I will expect no less! To expect no less would normally not lead to the disappointment of that moment. But to have normally you have to have a fridge that is working like it normally should, and we don’t have one of those. The milk smelt bad even though it's “best before 04 FEB 06”, and I thought you blameless milk and you bad bad fridge. For a moment I almost put it back in the fridge, but being the bigger man and taking the initiative I washed it down the sink, about a liter. The fix-it guy, who was very happy, says our fridge isn’t worth fixing soooooooooo new fridge hopefully. But but but that all is beside the fascinating point of this story. I was really proud of myself after this next bit. You’ll be thinking it was too late for the cereal, with all that blameless bad milk on it, ya know I thought like that once..... but now.... Im a winner! I mean cereal is one thing that is just painful to buy in the supermarket because you want it so bad but it just seems overpriced, especially when you compare it to the cheap but nutritionally lacking cocoa puff things, or the cheap but not as tasty Weet-bix. So not wanting to waste it I thought: ‘I could wash all the bad milk off the cereal then it would be just like new!’ BRAIN WAVE! So I tipped it into a sieve and ran water through it. Then I added yogurt and peaches (in a bowl, not the sieve). Feel free to use this technique whenever your caught in such a situation, especially if you want to impress.