Weekend Update

So Saturday and Friday I didn't get to post, so I figured I'd just make a weekend post to cover the whole gorram thing. So I'll just take it apart day by day.
Friday: Was some more work. I did most of my work formatting this one new poetry book. It wasn't too hard, but I was certainly busy enough. Though to be fair I also spent a fair amount of time fucking around on the computer. Still the work day itself wasn't bad at all. AT the end of the day, I sat down with some wine and chilled with the rest of the publishers. Also I may be committed now to going to Christchurch in February for a Publishers vs. Writers Cricket match, but that could be cool, we'll see. So after work, I figured I am in no rush so I srtolled down Cuba street and just chilled. I went into the comic book shop, I chilled there for a while browsed around, talked a bit with the dude there, and bought a copy of Scott Pilgrim vol. 1. So then I walked around and noticed that the music shop (Alister's) and just chilled there for a while. It was cool I talked with Alister, and this lady, I forget her name. I bought a capo too, they gave me a bit of discount too. So then I ended up back at the apartment. I chilled for a bit with my flatmates, it was good, then we got word that stuff was going on at night. Now since it was erev shabbat I just warned them saying that if we went out drinking we couldn't go anywhere with a cover charge and I figured I just wouldn't buy anything, and it wasn't a problem. So we headed over to Will's place then learned that we had to bring some alcohol (they had but apparently weren't keen on sharing which is annoying) so we went back out and came in and had some drinks. I knocked back two and a half Guinesses then we went out. We went out to Hooch, which is apparently Will's bar, and it's pretty cool. Whilst there we met some of Will's kiwi friends, Tom and Troy, both really cool dudes. We talked about music, the Israelis here, it was pretty cool. We headed out then, it was Eliza's birthday and so she wanted to go to this dance club. It was loud, and annoying but hey it's her birthday so we went. Then the rest of the night wasn't too interesting, Will and Oren and I bonded a little, went back at like one got to sleep.

Saturday: So Saturday I woke up at like ten, which was nice, and I took it easy. The day was beautiful so after a quick lunch I took my comic books and went out. I figured since it was absolutely gorgeous outside I would head over to the botanical gardens. I went around walked a bit, and read comics, it was fun. Then I got bacdk and just chilled for a while. So that evening Zack gets word about more shit going down that night. See there were two new interns so we had to go out again, and I didn't want to just be alone, and I was fine for going out. So again we went out, but it didn't go too well, since apparently this new intern was 17 and so couldn't get in anywhere. Now she was nice enough bet we kept just hanging outside of bars, it was futile. Still it wasn't too bad, got back with Oren a little early and we watched a little justice league and went to sleep.

Sunday: Woke up, and all we did, was watch Justice League, and Firefly. It was great, then in the afternoon Zach left to hang out with people, but I was way too freaking tired, as was Oren, so we stayed. Then Katy, the new girl, came over and we chilled, I had dinner, and am now blogging. This last half is rushed because I have a shit load of chores to do and it's already late, so good bye fair folk!

Productive Day

So today was significantly more eventful than yesterday. We'll start last night, when I couldn't get to sleep 'til two, because it was wicked hot, so I finished Olynpos, which was really damn good. Still kinda sucked to get so little sleep though.
This morning I woke up forty-five minutes late, so I rushed into the shower, threw on some clothes, had yogurt and ran out the door. When I got to the office though no one really cared all that much so it was no huge. Today I worked a few things, but also had a healthy amount of time slacking off and getting some emails done although my boss scoffed at me for saying that in America we call it a Dollhouse, instead of a Doll's House, apparently no one says it like that. Mostly uneventful, though I did get a free lunch. At the end of the day though we had a birthday party for one of the people, who doesn't work with the same publisher as I do, but shares the offices. There was wine and cake, and we just sat around for about an hour and a half, talked, drank, and I gave a small performance on the guitar, which was a lot of fun.
After work I took a little detour and hot myself a library card. They have a great selection of books, and comics, and I figured it sure as hell beats paying the ridiculous prices of trade paper backs. So I took out Pride of Baghdad by my main man Brian K Vaughan. Then came home. Once I got back into the apartment me and the roomies literally just talked for an hour about a lot of shit, Avatar, Batman, Hulu, it was a lot of fun. Then after that I put on Justice League, Oren made pasta and Zach made the tomato sauce. We're still watching Justice League now, and its been a cool evening. Also weird story, but somehow in the middle of dinner, without either of us knowing why, Oren and I switched the bowls we were eating from. Literally I am in the middle of my eating (my second serving I believe) and Oren say "When did we switch bowls?" I look down and see that he is absolutely right. It was really fucking weird. So it was a pretty mixed day all in all, though I'm happy with how it turned out. Still waiting for a package to arrive from my parents, it has comics, and food, and money, hope it comes soon.

Pretty much your average day

Yeah nothing huge to report, it was an average day. Work was pretty boring today, because I mostly was just looking over people's shoulders as they implemented edits into this one book. Also I had to stay late to work on some really really stupid shit, but I didn't really have a choice.
However during my lunch break I did get a chance to chill with Oren at the comic book shop, which was pretty dern fun. I am introducing him to modern day comics and shall convert him to my nerdy nerdy ways.
So the day wasn't a complete loss. Also I've been working on my script frenzy idea.
And thus ends my shortest post ever, yeah sorry bout that folks. Hopefully I'll have better things to report soon.

New Flatmate, Old Room

So last night none of the other Americans showed up, Will called at 11 saying he was too tired, and so just went to sleep. Today I didn't have to wake up early since Oren was supposed to be in (according to Angela who I have other issues with) at nine. He didn't arrive by ten so I went to work figuring that I would be expected by then, though Angela did call to say I would be late. So I left and found out that she said I'd be there by eleven, so just went to work. Today I only had about like three hours worth of actually. The rest of the time I just fucked around on the interweb. The boss wasn't around and I wasn't up for it.
So I finish work and get a text from Angela saying that I had to move back into the room with Zach. Now this is slightly annoying since A) I already moved my shit in there, B) when I asked Angela, she said I could move in there, and C) I like my own room/not being woken up by Zach's snoring. So that was a real let down. I get back to the apartment, and my stuff was already moved back into the other room. Though all of my shit was put back in the correct drawers and stuff for the most part. That kinda upset me a lot, Angela, Oren, and Constantino (Angela's son who helps out with shit) were over and we discussed the situation. So she apologized for the mix up, claimed she never heard me ask, but said that Oren was supposed to have a single and that his dad had asked. So my other options were stay with Zach, move out of the apartment and go to the other one, with the insane drama, or move into the living room. So I'm staying, since I mostly like Zach, and Oren is a really cool dude. He is a Math/Physics dude who's just starting getting into comics. So he's a step up from Ben, and I do want to stay here, I just fully blame Angela for fucking this shit up.
So we all went out for Turkish food, talking, chilling, having fun. Then we went over to J.J. Murphy's (a pub), got some beer, and enjoyed the free pool tables. It was fun, Oren won all three games, but we bonded. So we came back and are watching Firefly since Oren has never seen it before.

Anniversary Day

If you read yesterday's post (and possibly the one from the day before) you'll know that I didn't have any work today due to Wellington Anniversary Day. This is very good, because last night Will, Eliza, and Robin (all Americans on LiveNewZealand) came over to the apartment. They only actually arrived at midnight, and then we proceeded to do vodka shots and get drunk. I must say will is much more fun drunk. Also met Eliza who just arrived on Saturday, and is pretty cool. Then there's Robin, who's really cool, and has the same birthday as I do, which is kinda cool. I did about eight shots, and got smashed off my ass. We just chilled around talking mostly, though at some point in the evening I broke out the guitar. However it's really hard to play guitar when you're absolutely wasted. Still it was a lot of fun, Wall-E was playing in the background, but I barely even noticed it while it was going on, then it ended. Our guests left around two-thirty, then I promptly went to my bed, and collapsed.
Unfortunately I woke up at 9;30, and with a pretty bad hangover. The rest of the day was pretty much spent nursing said hangover and resting up. See the idea was to be going out this evening with the peeps who came over from last night. I tried napping twice, got a half hour of sleep, wandered around tried again, and slept another half hour. My parents called so I talked to them for a bit, nothing terribly exciting. So then six o'clock roles around and I text Robin to see if anything is happening. Zach in turn texts Will, and we're still waiting for word of what's happening. It's possible that they just went out and ditched us, it's also equally possible that they didn't get it/suck at being in contact, or that they will get to us in the next few hours. In any case I have work tomorrow, though I'll be coming in late so I can quickly meet Oren when he arrives.

Moving out, moving in, losing chocolate milk

So today was actually semi eventful. I managed to stay asleep until 10:30 so that was a bit of a personal victory for me. The morning was boring, I chilled then had lunch. Then I realized I have very little food left. So I realize it's time to head to the supermarket. Now there are a bunch of mini-marts near where I am, but nothing that sells, you know, real food. The nearest big supermarket is probably three-quarters of a mile away. So I go out there and get some food, then head down try to get a cab. It was taking a really long time, there was a line of people, and cabs were just not coming, so I like a moron, am impatient and decide to walk back. Now I had a lot of groceries $70 of the stuff, and as I walk out of the parking lot, the fucking gallon of chocolate milk. It kinda sucked cause it got on my shoe and sweatshirt, and I like chocolate milk, but such is life. So I walk 3/4 of a mile to get home with all these groceries in tow. It fucking sucked. Man that was a bad idea, not doing that again. But I made it so at least there's that.
After I came back I essentially just lay comatose for a while. Then it was time for Ben to leave. Angela (the person who set me up with the internship and runs these program and shit) and her daughter came to pick him up. They stayed chatted, asked about work and stuff it was nice. Also whilst there we learned that a new roommate is coming to the Apartment on Abel Smith, dude named Oren. So Ben left, don't know when I'll see him again, but ah well. So after he left I took the single room that he was in. It's pretty awesome and no longer have to deal with snoring or stuff like that, so cool.
Then after that I watched Fantasia. It was fun until Kawe (a kiwi who's also in the program for some reason) and Will came over. It was nice to see them cause Kawe is mad chill but Will was giving me shit for watching Fantasia cause "it has looney toons in it." I told him it's awesome and he's wrong then they left, and Zach and I watched Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, and some other stuff. So now Kawe might be coming over later along with some girls who are on the program but not around here, so that'll be cool, if it happens. The thing is I'm pretty tired and had two beers which doesn't really help so big.

Raining again, how novel

Yup torrential downpour again, it sucks ass. So today was pretty dull. I read like 700 pages of Olympos and am just about done with it. I wish the weather were nice, then I'd head on up to the botanical gardens and read in the sun, maybe grab some food, picnic the shit out of there. Ah well. So yeah not much went on today, less so than usual, I rested up and read. After Shababt watched Shawshank, Indianna Jones, and did a smidge more work for Scriptfrenzy. I am actually making pretty good progress considering I don't have to start writing the damn thing until April.
So some big news, Ben is leaving this apartment. See his work is some thirty odd minutes bus ride away, and he found a place closer by. This is unfortunate, because I have actually really grown to like Ben, he's a really cool dude, and balances out Zach pretty well, who is cool when he's sober, but annoying as hell when he's high. Which he endeavors to do often. So maybe we'll get a new flatmate, who knows, in the meantime at least I'll get my own room, and stuff, which is good because sometimes Zach's snoring is pretty loud.
Good news though, is that it's a long weekend so I got some free time around here to just chill out. I think I'll head over to Te Papa, and get some shopping done over the weekend.

Aotearoa

Aotearoa, is the Maori name for New Zealand (the Maori are the indigenous people of New Zealand in case you didn't know). Today I attended what is essentially the Maori version of Shloshim for a major Maori poet. My role in this was to sell her various book, the money would go to the family to pay expenses. Still I got to see some of the Maori culture and it was really fascinating. The service itself was held in a small meeting hall in a village thirty minutes drive outside Wellington, it was on the water so as the service was held you could hear the sound of the waves breaking on the shore. It was really nice, people spoke in English and Maori, and after every speech there was a maori song. Except after one woman named Sunny spoke the room broke into 'You Are My Sunshine'. It made me think of my Great-Grandmother who used to sing that to me when I was little, with all the emotion in the room I literally broke down and cried. Now those of you who know me well know that this is a rare occurrence, but it just hit me like a punch to the gut. Then I pulled my shit together and after everyone spoke I sold a shit-load of books.
That was my afternoon though, in the morning I just sat around the office and procrastinated. Then when we got back, it was already 5:30. So I came back to the apartment chilled out then went out got some fish&chips and some beer take out and ate it in the apartment whilst watching Serenity (FTW!).
Tomorrow I'm going to try to hit Synagogue which I really really have been meaning to do, though it may be raining, so we'll see. If not I'll read some Olympos and reread the shit out of Starman and the few comics I have around. Until next time!

Procrastinating All Day

That was a good portion of my day. At work the big bossman didn't come in until around 1 so I pretty much just chilled around on the internet most of the day. I got sucked into conversations with one guy at the office, who is very nice, but goes on and on and on about everything. I'll just say some minor thing, and get sucked into these conversations, and I mean I can't be rude so have to just stay there and ride it out. I did a bit of work, edited some poems, Nurse thing, read a manuscript. It was your standard Holocaust novel, just the protagonist moves to New Zealand, it was pretty good though. Whereas yesterday I read a book with a pretty interesting premise (essentially what if one day science discovered the soul) and it was ruined with some of the worst writing I have ever seen, no hyperbole.
I got home chilled a bit, then went out for some Mexican, which was expensive and left me hungry still, but I had a mean cocktail, and the food was still pretty delicious. It was also nice just going out for a change and chilling.
I've also been getting some work done on my script ideas. I have the first issue pretty much plotted out, and I have a general idea for the first arc, though I need more specifics. Also am now writing some postcards back home. Tomorrow I'm going out to the memorial service for one of New Zealands most prominent poets, J C Sturm, who died recently, which should be interesting, and educational. It's late so this is a rushed post, I also have other stuff to do, but I wanted to put something up before bed.

Busy, Busy Busy

That's me these days. There reason I didn't post last night was that by the time I remembered to, it was already late o'clock and I figured rather than go into the living room (source of working plugs) I would get some much needed sleep.
So yesterday was the first really beautiful day for a long while. As such I left work early (which at this point you should be able to easily extrapolate what was going on there). Though the bossman did take me out to lunch which was nice of him. I wandered back to the apartment, dropped my things off got my laptop and went to the library. See I had heard that there was free wifi, and as my wifi here sucks I figure anything would be better. So I went out to the library to discover, it was all deceit and treachery. So I figured I'd chill there, do some reading. As I was looking for a place to sit I spied an incredibly attractive girl reading some Ultimate Spider-Man. I couldn't pass up this opportunity so I interrupted asked if she was a fan, yadda yadda, we talked she seemed really cool. Then her boyfriend came around, and I know he was her boyfriend since he gave her a fuckoff kiss when he arrived. So that was frustrating. Then when I got back I spent a good amount of time working on the background details for my Script Frenzy thing. Then it got late and I went to bed.
So today I wake and head off to work. Work unfortunately was really really really boring today. I just got stuck with the most monotonous jobs ever. It was kind of annoying. So I took a longer than average lunchbreak, and got myself some comics. It was a pleasant surprise when it turned out to be a lot cheaper than expected. Also as I was leaving a busker was playing "Helplessly Hoping" so that was kind of fun. Getting back to work I continued trecking on, until around 5:18. I got back here and essentially did nothing.
After this I shall get some more work done on the background stuff for my Script Frenzy piece.

Chillin' and William

So today was the first day in a while that we had sunshine. That was one of the most momentous things that happened today. New Zealand has been fun, for sure, but so far I haven't really done anything besides half a concert, and the occasional bar. Part of that is because we all get back from work exhausted, part because we haven't figured out what to do, and now because my roommates are semi-big stoners and now have a dealer, which is great for them, but Zack gets really fucking annoying when he's high, and hasn't been sober since he got the weed (at least while I'm around).
Today was the start of my second day of work. This morning I went to work, and met Sarah, one of the publishers, and she just got engaged so there was champagne. That was cool, but it was a little early in the morning for alcohol, but I had a little because she just got engaged and figured why not. Then the rest of the day was mostly working on the Festschrift, which was pretty fun. One of the images I scanned was from a book about an Allosaurus. The actual book is about its fight with an Ankylosaur, and mind you this is a book for kids, and in the end the allosaur is beaten and bleeding profusely. So I did some formatting and whatnot, good times. Also worked a bit more on the nurse book, I'm already at the 1970s and 150+ pages in. It's pretty good.
Also today Prince William was in town. My boss asked if I wanted to go out and see him, but I really had no desire to. I understand that sure he'll be the next King of England, but I really don't care. I hope I didn't offend him.
I actually left work at five today, and got the Olympos at the Borders across from work. I took the bus from work and got back to the apartment, and then spent an hour ironing. I think I'm doing it wrong because I only did like three or four shirts, and they're still kinda wrinkly. Fuck. Then the night consisted of T.V. the highlight being Band of Brothers, first episode, which is a really great show. Also caught part of Dexter. Anywho, tomorrow I'll probably be working on poetry. Then in the coming days I'm going to be doing some more work for Script Frenzy. I'm going to be writing a comic book script but I can't decide between two idea. The first would be for a self contained graphic novel, which I have already done some of the legwork for. The other one would be for more of an ongoing thing, which I actually like a little more, but haven't put anything on paper yet. Also I would need to look up some historical data.

Getting Groceries and Getting Electrocuted

So yeah, I was just electrocuted. I'll start there since this is something I feel I need to share with you all. So here's the thing, Zack has been doing his laundry for five hours, and his shit still hasn't fucking dried, and I have one set of viable clothing for the morrow. Now the drier that his shit is in has made the entire bathroom wet, with mist, and it gets everywhere and it's been running for five hours. So I go in to check on his shit, turn on the light, and the floor is wet, and we live in a shitty building and I fucking get electrocuted. It wasn't anything serious of course, it just has left me a little scared, which is something I hadn't realized until just now. I mean thank God everything is fine, but that's a shitty ass reason to get electrocuted.
So today was mostly uneventful save for that one slight detail. I took my flatmates out and showed them how to get to the grocery store. Bought some supplies and came back home. Then just sat around on the couch mostly. We just finished watching (500) Days of Summer which was a pretty darn good flick. The main dude looks eerily like Heath Ledger, if you look hard, so that was a little weird, but it was good. A sweet movie and they had some creative ways of telling the story. Also it had a pretty kick-ass soundtrack, seriously well done. Though I find myself resenting a lot of romance movies lately, mostly since I haven't had any romance for about a year, which sucks
After this I think I'll do some writing, well some other writing, it's been a while and I really should get back to it. Anyways hope I can finish my laundry, hope I don't get electrocuted in the process, and hope the week's good. Until next time.

Two Weeks

So again I find myself apologizing almost out missing a day. I want to be consistent and get as possible, both for people reading this and for myself, but life happens.
So as time goes on here, with little to know internet I find myself not needing it so much, I think I might even wait out the weeks here before seeing Chuck (crazy I know), but I just really don't miss youtube, and hulu all that much I suppose.
So how have I been keeping myself busy here? Well Thursday night the flat went out with one of the girls we met on Wednesday night, the older of the two (they were sisters). Went over to a Turkish place, it was pretty durn good. We ate talked it was chill, but it was already overcast then, (more on that in a bit), and it was cold, so we headed over to the mill and came back to the apartment and watched The Boat that Rocked. In America they released a version of the movie that cut out some parts and called it Pirate Radio. It's a lot like Almost Famous in its philosophy, though the story itself is different. Anyway we watched that and had some Yellow Tail, which only cost like $18 so all in all a pretty damn good evening.
Friday morning I headed out to work, the day was pretty gloom the clouds that blew in on Thursday began swell and linger in the air spraying down a cold damp mist. I walked down to work, and got set on the poetry book I had been making the day before. It's going pretty well, and I'm getting the hang of InDesign, which is pretty exciting because it means I can get to work on some other serious projects, which would be sweet. Also as always a good deal of my day was spent editing the nurse book. It's getting a little tedious, I mean this thing is some dense material, it is not fine entertainment. I've done about 120 pages of this, it has taken me a week to read what normally should take me about two hours. Although two pretty sweet things happened at work then. First was that we finally went out to the guitar shop. The guitar my boss was considering buying was a fifty year old German piece of wood. It was only $250 but it wasn't all that good, and while they did refurbish it after they bought it off its previous owner. So I tested it out and recommended that they not buy it. So we just got a ukulele, which was only $60, and for being about the price of a videogame, it was a pretty damn good considering. So then we went back to work and I couldn't really concentrate all that much, but fortunately I didn't really have to, since the day ended soon after. The wine broke out and I had a glass of merlot, then the bossman had two guests, the writer of the nurse book (who had also done a bunch of other shit), and one of New Zealands rising poets, so he invited everyone over and we just chilled. It was interesting talking, though since I felt a little awkward not having a lot to contribute I ended up having two and a half glasses of wine. While I was not totally drunk, I was certainly in the neighborhood. So the conversation shifted over to the ukulele and I was asked to give a demonstration. I had intended to merely play a few chords of House at Pooh Corner, but ended up belting out the entirety of the song. I was fortunately applauded though in retrospect if I hadn't had liquid courage I probably would never have done that.
So after work I headed back to the apartment, kicked back made some dinner then chilled and went to sleep. Nothing much happened in the evening because what started out as a drizzle was now looking like a tropical storm. One which continued even as I woke up this morning. Needless to say it put a stop on any plans of going to the museums or thoughts of walking. Instead I stuck around the apartment, and read comic books. I finally finished the Starman Omnibus my dad sent over and IT WAS AMAZING. Now there are a lot of comic books I like, I mean there are good comics that you read everyday and not to say anything to belittle the sheer talent there is out there, but Starman is on a level apart. I mean it's up there with Gaiman, and Moore, and the comic book titans. The art is stunning, and the characters, oh my god, I love everyone. Every single person who walks onto the scene I love. You have Jack Knight, Ted Knight, the starmen, and you have the O'Dare policeofficers, all of whom are badass. And the villains, damn, The Mist (the daughter of the originalt in the first twenty something issues of the series makes herself as insanely villainous and intriguing as the Joker, and the best of them. Hell Robinson even manages to make the henchmen compelling characters, henchmen! I also reread Siege, and still liked, then finished Blackest Night: Wonder Woman. The beginning half was as good as I remembered, then I got to the ending. What I have to say is that while it was a total copout, it was at least an okay copout, and the rest of the issue was pretty damn good. I also finished my book Illium the ending was a little crazy, but in a good way. It, like its characters, dare to do the unthinkable and that makes it great.
So yeah today was pretty slow, read and lounged until Shabbat ended, then Zack called up Will to go out for half-price drinks at Big Kumara, but I had already had two beers, and was too tired to go out into the rain and wind.
I got an email from the Script Frenzie website so I think I'm going to start work on that soon, in terms of research and outlining. Tomorrow I expect to get some groceries and hopefully do some shit. Until then be well, and if you catch me talk to me, or feel free to comment here.

Missed a day

Yeah sorry about that, last night I met my new flatmate Ben, and we went out and I didn't have time to post last night, but more on that in a bit.
So yesterday I essentially was moving boxes all fucking day. We had to get a shit ton of books out of the offices and into a warehouse. So that meant carrying boxes down the elevator, loading them on a van, then unloading the buggers and organize them. Though it wasn't just me, everyone in the office helped out, in fact Roger Steele (the big boss man) worked much harder than anyone. There was also this random dude who was parking his car, and just decided to help out, for like an hour, it was really really nice. So yeah work was pretty boring, and at the end I was really really really tired.
But then I came home and we had a new flatmate Ben. He's a cool guy, graduated from UVM a year or two back, and traveled around to a bunch of places before ending up here. So it was his first night, and naturally he wanted to hit up the down and do shit, then two other girls who had been in this apartment before we were showed up and wanted to join us and stuff. So I had already spent a shitload on comics, and I don't have an ATM card yet so have to stay on a tightish budget. So I ate here, then we went out for a while. It was pretty gun, spent a while wondering and shit. As I said though, I was tired, and really not that much in the mood, so didn't enjoy it nearly as much as I would otherwise. I even left early, around midnight, then totally crashed.
So woke up this morning went to work, formated a book of poety, worked on the nurse book, moved a few more boxes. Then got back played some guitar and now I am probably going to be going out again for the evening, which will hopefully be good. Until next time!

DINOSAURS!!!!

Actually nothing even remotely Dinosaur related happened today, but I really couldn't think of a proper title to encapsulate my day.
So I woke up this morning, and walked myself to work. Got there a minute or two late but it was all good. Today I started off with my boss teaching me about formatting, specifically using InDesign. It's actually pretty cool, I'm working on a Festschrift right now, that's a German word essentially meaning a book celebrating the life of a deceased individual. It's not that hard, but it's good practice, especially as I'll I be doing this for several other books in my tenure here. Though I already have my name in this one, it looks like I'll probably get credits in several other books as well. My boss took me out to lunch today with his wife. It was very nice of him though felt I felt a little bit awkward at times. I also worked on the nurse book, did some scans, and a few other things. I actually stayed in the office a bit late finishing up my workload, but that was good because we had wine and cheese at the end of the day, it was quite nice.
So I have a problem, my internet is crap, and I can't watch youtube let alone megavideo, so I really need to see chuck, but the only way to do so would be to go pay for stuff at an internet cafe. In any case I stayed out late, had some pizza for dinner, got back and essentially watched Dr. Who and the Illusionist the rest of the evening. Tomorrow the final flatmate arrives, so exciting stuff there, and I'll be lifting around boxes, and thinking of Musicians on Call.
Oh also I have only ever twice submitted a question to various online sources that had Q&As and twice gotten my question in but I think this link has the explanation (if you don't want to read the whole article you can skip to my name, it's funny.

First Day of Work=Awesome!

So today marks my first day of work, and it was pretty durn sweet. Woke up at 8, walked down to the office, and met my boss, at Steel Roberts Publishing. I sat down and drank tea with Roger Steele, the guy who runs the place, and literally just talked for about two hours straight. It was really cool, we discussed my life story, publishing, the German language, and just about everything in between. Met some other people who work there, there's a brother and sister who are cool who work there, and a dude called Joel who has an XKCD change. We talked about the general type of thing I'll be doing: office maintanance, going to the bank, editing formating, manuscript analysis (whether a book is worth publishing or not). Also they have a guitar at the office, but want a new one, so since I play I'm going to help pick one out, as well as an ukulele.
Today one of the things I worked on was doing some edits for a book about the history of New Zealand nursing. The author needs to use a lot of stronger language, and learn to not repeat words, but it's pretty educational. For example some cool facts: Nurses in the early part of the century were paid shit and worked insane hours, so it was actually extremely rare for them to marry, or if they did to do so before menopase. Also the medical training they received (including the midwiving nurses mind you) didn't include information about the reproductive system because it was "unbifitting ladies". It reminded me a lot of my grandfather (paternal) who was a doctor, and also wrote several books about Israeli medical history, specifically in the IDF. Also I started a manuscript that some lady had sent us about her struggle with crystal meth. She had a really really sad life for a lot of it, and was very sincere, but I'm pretty sure I'll advise against writing is, as she really doesn't hav e agrasp of the craft, and it just seems a like a public service anouncement.
So got back to the apartment Zack and I left for dinner grabbed some falafel. Then we went out to a free concert in the Botanical Gardens, it was a Brazillian folk band, we got there a little late, and Zack wasn't really digging the music so we left early, as they played a Brazillian folk cover of Beat It. Walked back to the apartment and now I'm on the couch watching Die Hard and drinking beer.
Oh two other great things my Starman Omnibus finally came, and I saw the craziest drunk driving commercial ever http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DylHlnH6i6U

A Week Since I Left

So it has been one week since I left the shores of New York City for Wellington. So this morning I woke up a little early so that I could tiddy up the apartment before my new roommate Zach got here. Oh by the by, I'm not sure if I've told you yet, but interesting thing about this apartment, the shower is shorter than I am. So this means that I have to get creative, i.e. assume the Terminator time travel pose anytime I want to rinse my hair. So I clean, I shower, I get ready but turns out though that his flight was delayed so I ended up waiting around in the apartment for him to arrive. That in itself was pretty boring, but there was curling on TV. Now I had never actually stopped to watch it for any amount of time, and I must say while I can see it takes a lot of skill to curl, it is really really boring to watch. I also feel really bad for the announcers because while you need some soundtrack while watching any sport, their job is really redundant. I mean they throw the rock, the sweep, it gets on the target, it hits another rock, there's not a lot to discuss there.
So then around three Zach arrives, which is good because I have been just sitting around alone for the past few days, as you well know if you've been following this blog. So you know what kind of roommate he is, he brought with him a harddrive full of Battle Star Galactica, Doctor Who, Firefly, Torch Wood, and lots and lots of other movies as well. Suffice to say, he's not too shabby. Also funny story, he is from Chicago, and is going to college in New York City, so that's pretty crazy. So he got his stuff sorted out, I showed him around the place, which took all of five seconds, and while he set up, I did the laundry. Then we went out to a pub had some sandwiches and beer. Then we went over to The Mill, the rather large liquor store a block away, and picked up further provisions, including more beer, and vodka (and Zach got some Bloody Mary Mix). Then we headed back upstairs watched some Torchwood, both episodes were pretty damn good. I had only seen the first two episodes before due to the incooperative nature of the intrawebs. So we watched that, then as he was preparing other tv shows we checked the actual telly, and found Death at a Funeral on one channel and am currently watching that, with a pleasant alcohol buzz. Tomorrow I start work, so that should be pretty cool, but for now I'm enjoying chilling with Zach, and generally bonding.

A Week Since I Left

Shabbat in New-Z-Land

So today was the big test of my ability to live independently, and I think I pretty much aced it, well for the most part.
I woke up hacking and coughing, spitting up phlegm and all manner of fluids (this bug is sticking around longer than I'd like), so Beit Knesset was out of the question. So my morning was a little less than pleasant, but I showered and took some pills and starting feeling a bit better. So after all that I sat down and started reading Illium by Dan Simmons. It's essentially an Illiad fan fiction on Mars, with Dinosaurs, and Shakespeare, and a lot of other things thrown in. So it's pretty great. I had leftovers for lunch then headed out for a walk.
So this was definitely the highlight of the day, though it would have been a lot better had I been a little bit smarter about going forth. So after I have finished lunch I decide that it is time to get outside, and stretch my legs. So I pack up a bag, take a map, and my book, and leave. I decided to head up north of my apartment where the map said there were several parks. The walk was mostly uphill, but from the start it was stunning. Looking out over Wellington on a bright summer day is gorgeous. The bleached houses cling together, huddled between explosions of trees and shrubs, and the vast expanse of the ocean. Really quite lovely. As I walked on I took paths diverging off the main road and heading up into the hills that overlook downtown Wellington. I passed a cricket pitch where people were playing a game; I stopped to watch, but realized that I really do not know how the hell that game works. So I walked onward, passed an empty playground, and walked into a narrow pedestrian walkway shoved in between houses. I got out and wuickly fould this beautiful meadow that faced another one of the sprawling mountains that surround the city. So I rested there read a little, and continued my exploration. I found some really cool stuff after that, mostly a bunch of trails that snaked into some native flaura and fauna, though also had a set of steps that had a word morph from body to soul. I walked past a duck pond, a rose garden, all the while the sounds of strange birds and insects acocompanied me. It was really great until I realized I was completely dehydrated. Like a moron I had gone out to walk on a bright summer's day, and had no water to speak of. So I started my way back, but as I was in a park and the design of the paths of those things are with the purpose of keeping out in, so it took a little while. Then I got out a little too far north of where I wanted to be, so ended up having to cut through some people's backyards. I made it home exhausted and parched as hell.
So then the rest of the day was spent either napping or reading. Now I'm up posting this blog and struggling to understand my internet which can't decide if it wants to be nice or oppresively slow.
So that's the day, tomorrow I get my first roommate, here's to hoping it works out.

Slowly Corroding My Brain

So I guess it's half because I'm still dealing with jetlag or this cold or whatever but I really have not been going out all that much. Granted it's also because I pretty much don't know anyone in this country but still. Today I went down to the Kosher deli to buy some meat, and went down to the comic book store again. I also just walked around Cuba street. It's a pretty awesome street, you've got bars, clothing, books everything, it's pretty cool. There's one awesome music store that hasn't been open any time I've passed it but has a shit ton of ukuleles I want to hold them and touch them and play them, like a miniture polynesian guitar.
Besides that it was extremely uneventful. I made myself some lunch sat down in front of the couch opened the computer turned on the T.V. and that's about it.
I'm posting now because I plan to go out grab some food, and possibly check out a bar or two around here. Tomorrow I may even go to Beit Knesset, but either way will spend the afternoon exploring the city, and shall post of my adventures tomorrow eveing. Hopefully there's more to report as this goes on, with adventures and more awesomeness.

One Appliance Down, One to Go!

So today was slightly more eventful than the past two day. I mean I just arrived on Tuesday, and here it's Thursday so there hasn't been a lot of time for real adventures yet. This morning I went out to see the place where I'll be working for my internship. It was pretty fun, though I didn't really find anything out, because anytime the dude asked me a question he would get sidetracked with some other thought, or shiny object, and just ramble. But he's totally not ADD, and it seems like it'll be pretty sweet, I start Monday.
Also I don't think I mentioned this yet, but here in Wellington it's the World Unicycle Championships. So apparently that's free, and I'd like to head down there, but in the mean time there are unicyclists all over the fucking place. In the last three days I have seen more unicycles than in the eighteen years before that put together.
In the meantime the rest of the day was spent saying goodbye to my mom, and then sitting on my couch watching T.V. Which is cooler than it sounds because the T.V. was not previously working, but then I made it work, and there was joy and happiness.
So for the next two days I'm pretty much fending for myself, a slightly scary prospect, but not too bad, as I'll maybe hang out with the other kids on the program and generally just enjoy the city, and the privacy.

Walking Across Wellington

Day two here in sunny New Zealand, it's seven o'clock and the sun is still out, how's winter treating you back home? But I jest. So my second day here was spent mostly just shopping, and walking around to said shops. I went out and bought a ton of food at the super market, as I am the only one in my apartment for the next four days it's important I have food. So I bought some frozen meals, and some bread, cheese, chocolate milk, random stuff and the like. There isn't a lot of space to store it all though, so I had to improvise (there is cereal and Ciabbata on top of my fridge).
I also checked out Wellington's comic book shop to prepare myself for the coming months. I bought a copy of Ex Machina vol. 5 and spoke to the dude at the desk about comics getting here. According to him they get all the comics a week late, which is meh, also since they mostly just sell trades there they don't get a lot of copies of each comic, but that is remedied easily by the fact that I am just going to have him reserve stuff for me. The worst part though, is that comic books are about twice as expensive here as in the states. That's not even because of the currency difference (the New Zealand Dollar is about three fourths of the American), it's because of the fact they have to ship it around the fucking world. So that makes me very sad, but there is no way I'm missing both Siege and Blackest Night. However I have Midtown holding about half of my books for me while I am away, so I'll have to wait three months but I figure it's worth not paying double price for a bunch of titles (like Marvels Project, Spider-Woman, Streets of Gotham). It does mean I'll have to pay in one fell swoop though which always makes me feel guilty when I see what my addiction actually costs. Being a coke head is probably cheaper.
Also I met two of the kids who are on the program with me. I checked out their apartment, and chilled a bit. They seemed nice enough, though one of them likes season one of Dollhouse more than the second, so take what you want from that. Still it's all really quite cool, tomorrow I'm going to go meet the people I shall work with to discuss what I'll be doing there and the terms of my internship, then Friday I'll go and buy me some kosher food, because meet is good.

Traveling to the Other sSde of the Planet is a Bitch

So first post, whoo! Anywho I left from New York City bright and early on Sunday morning at 5:00 to start on my trans-equatorial journey. I woke up and realized I was pretty sick, which kinda sucked. Especially when you consider the trip is five hours to L.A, a nine hour layover, then thirteen hours to Aukland, and another hour to Wellington. Still it strikes me as superemely bitchy that we as a culture whine all the time about flying and how we don't get enough leg space when you consider how much of a fucking step up that is from the cramped, diseased, rat infested sea voyages of even sixty years ago. Fortunately I slept for most of the L.A.-Aukland flight which was nice, though I did watch Inglorious Basterds, because that is a fantastic movie. So I left on Sunday, and arrived on Tuesday which kind of threw me for a loop. Once in Wellington not much really happened. I checked out the apartment I'm going to be staying at (though am in a hotel now as I'm still getting over being sick and all), talked with the person who's helping coordinate my internship and had Ramen for dinner.
First impressions of New Zealand, Wellington specifically. It's like no where else I have ever been. I mean I've done extensive travelling in the U.S. been to Britain, Israel, Austria, Spain, and so on, but I can't make any comparison. Any time I try to attribute certain characteristics of some previous city I've been in, I realize it just doesn't hold up. You have big corporate buildings dotted along, and then nice houses tucked away a few blocks later. The streets are pretty empty compared to New York, and everything is pretty much in walking distance. It's also just so green, trees lining the streets, the city itself never really encroaches on the evniorment, they exist more like to films overlaid on one another. I'm pretty excited to get some exploring done, walk the streets get to know the place better. My roommates don't arrive for a few days, and I don't start work until Friday or much more probably Monday, so it looks like I'll have plenty of time for that.