B*gger it, I'll start in the middle!
I'm just gonna post my pics n it'll all be sweet as!
Except this Internet cafe doesn't let you use half the friggin' software that's on here to view your pics...
Oh well this'll have to be a 'verbal' catch-up, n leave the images for later.
'Kay, so. I'm in Wellington, NZ and, roughly, on the surface, liking it!! It's happier than I've had almost ever before as far as being settled in one place goes!
I'm living with a bunch of lovely people in a house on a hill overlooking a beautiful piece of NZ landscape and wondering how I got to be so lucky!! (kind of!)
I'm well on my way to learning the guitar. I'm on Hotel California for the minute, practising strumming patterns n bar chords. Then I've got into rollerblading too, would you believe?!! I'm going backwards, doing spin stops n such like. It's been the cause of a good few bruises and muscle aches, but it's all good ;-) And my housemate is kindly teaching me to knit (so my first scarf is coming my mother's way...). How does a rollerblading guitar-player sound? Who knits too?! (As long as the wool doesn't get caught in the strings, I don't see any problem... ;-) )
I have to say this single thing is good for the soul. I'm happy to remain this way for some time yet!
I've discovered some top places here for a good night out (e.g. Motel - down a dodgy alley, press a red button for access - and into a maze of 3 rooms full of peeps; live music in one, DJ in another, & an Asian restaurant stuck in the middle!)
The social scene's a bit weird as a foreigner. I've got the group of original backpackers who've come here to work like me. They kinda have this superficial 'lean on each other, but not really' friendship, where no-one really talks about how they really feel, they just get drunk together and talk (loudly n drunkenly) at each other. It's quite comical; I choose to sit somewhere on the sidelines by the hot dog seller... You catch my drift...
My housemates are quite a good source of entertainment. The cat's plain disturbed at times (as any cat would be living with 4 people and having moved twice by the age of 3). Sorry to sound so uninvolved. I am getting to know one housemate quite a bit better. She's a very lonely girl who you kind of feel is waiting for something to happen to her, who's not really living or alive, or has switched on her 'out of office' for the last few years... I've been there... It's not a nice place. So I go out with her and the others too, well, whoever'll put up with my inane banter and plethora of weird expressions as I attempt to sort out my facial muscles into the required positions in reaction to whatever they're telling me about!!
I have to say I am mostly talked 'at' and not 'to' over here in NZ. I feel like I'm on the set of ... what's that film n book called again??... The one where this guy works in an office talks about what people wear n who they're talking to n finally loses it n kills someone, except he hasn't really... Well, it's kinda like that. Superficial. N it kinda makes me sad, cos sometimes you just want to talk to someone about things that matter, that are important. And there's no-one there. Lights aren't on, etc. No-one's interested to ask, or go a little further...
I'm continuing to boycott McD's and Burger King from my veggie days (hah! veggie month was all it was; I didn't want to start a veggie thing without seeing a nutitionist first...). I only go into McD's to take pee, which I smugly smile inwardly at!! Spending a penny but not...! Hah, there's a joke there somewhere!
As far as human rights go, I haven't got involved with anything yet. It's downright scary the amount of abuses going on in the world. Where and how do you start to help? What's the best way to get involved? For me & who I am? These ones remain to be answered. But I've met some amazing people and don't intend to sit back on the couch of convention and do nothing, watching people continue to suffer.
Have a good one chaps n thanks to those who signed in 
