Just being around you offers me another form of relief

Hi! I'm sorry I haven't been updating much. Occasionally some of you get updates in an e-mail or IM (or letter. So basically in a few weeks you'll all be caught up with what I did last week. Well, some of you), but I should probably keep this up a little better.

So! I've been in New Zealand for over a month! Crazy! Very bizarre. For one thing, if someone said to me, “Actually, you've only been here two weeks,” I could believe it (time flies, is what I'm saying), but at the same time, I've definitely had discussions with people where I feel like I've known them for years, but we have to stop and go, “Hey, I've known you for a week.” So simultaneously, time is moving super-fast and super-slow. It's weird.

When I stop and think that it's been over a month since I last saw most of you, it stops me cold because that's unbelievable right there. When do you intend to visit me?

Anyway, let's move beyond the sappy friend stuff. Bleh! OK! Wellington!

So I've been here for a few days. I think I went over a little bit in one of my last entries. I moved hostels, because it turns out that you can only stay in the YHA for a week. Last Sunday, I wound up chatting to this other girl from my original Stray bus who I'd run into in Wellington. We'd never actually talked before, and I think we had more conversations in Wellington than we ever did on the actual bus – probably because when you run into someone you met earlier in the trip, in another place, there's an instinct to catch up, even when you weren't close to begin with. It's actually happened a few times recently. Anyway, so Sarah and I hadn't talked before, but we were both still in Wellington and everyone else'd left (she was stuck here for one reason, I'm here looking for work). And it came out that we were both kind of fighting this pseudo-depression about it. It was kind of great to connect to someone in a very, very similar situation. Both of us were very, “I should be enjoying this, but I'm kind of not.” So after that bonding session, she told me that you can't stay in the YHA for over a week. I would've found out that night anyway, as it was my last night. So we sort of brainstormed other hostels (she was leaning Base, since it's like a block from the YHA. But I wasn't such a fan of the Base I was at in Auckland, so I was leaning Nomads – these are all hostel chains with outposts in Wellington) and decided on Nomads (because it's cheaper). She asked if I wanted to go check it out, and I didn't have Sunday plans anyway, so I agreed. The next morning (during actually the worst weather I've seen here – some rain and some strong Wellington winds) we grabbed all of our stuff and hauled it over to Nomads. Then (since we had to wait until 2pm to check in and it was just after 10am) we wandered around and hung out for a while. Came back, checked in, and did basically nothing for the rest of the day (even though it became a gorgeous day, because that's how New Zealand is. I've decided not to pay any mind to what the weather is like before noon, as it will always change). Although a friend of hers was in town, so we met up with a bunch of people and went to a bar for a while. And Sarah and I, being such awesome partyers, came back at like 10:30pm. We stopped for kebabs on the way. We stayed out late on Tuesday night, though, so it's all good. It was her friend's birthday, so a bunch of people went out. During the DAY on Tuesday, though, we grabbed some picnic supplies, and went up to the Botanic Gardens. I'd actually been there on Sunday afternoon, but Tuesday was a much nicer day. Also, on Sunday I actually explored the gardens, whereas on Tuesday we discovered the playground area and spent most of the day on the zipline, swings, and slides. We're adults! We were swinging around on the swings and they were like, “Oh my god, it's been like 10 years since I've played on a playground! This is so fun!” and then I was like, “It's been....yeah, about a month.” So there's that. Speaking of which, there was one of those poles you can slide down in this park, and it had the little spiral around it and I thought of Jackie because when we were at the playground in GVP (that'd be the month ago), she told me about how she loved those as a kid and explained to me how they worked. Anyway, we did eventually get around to seeing the gardens. Of course, we got down to the rose garden and promptly got caught in a rainstorm. So we made our way back to our hostels and chilled out before a little birthday-partying that night.

Wednesday I did laundry and a bit more job-hunting, then came back and sat around with Sarah talking about how lame we were for not doing anything, but not doing anything about it. I made dinner because she made dinner on Tuesday. Thursday was....once more I can't remember. I could say “I went down to Oriental Beach and read” because it's probably accurate. Hung out with Sarah because she was leaving Friday. I think I mailed stuff on Friday. Friday I talked to Carrie and Allie online for a while, and applied to some jobs. Then I dropped off an application and then...I can't remember. I do know that it ended with me watching Casino Royale in the hostel lounge and I've told a few people about this part so it's probably boring. But I've never actually seen a James Bond film before. So we watched Casino Royale and at some point, I snapped from my super-serious demeanor of the last few days and since then, I've not been able to stop giggling. Something in Casino Royale broke me. Saturday (my memory is so bad. This is the most boring entry ever!) I decided to Do Something. So I took the train to Porirua because I'd heard it was nice. But it seems that the nicest thing there is the mall (Admittedly, I couldn't find the bus to the Bay, which is maybe also very nice). But I did a small bit of shopping and wandered around for a while. Came back, made dinner, and found The Simpsons on. And as I said, I've been giggling over nothing, so you can imagine what something that's ACTUALLY FUNNY did to me. Then I met a bunch of Americans and chatted with them. We wound up watching Walk the Line on TV and just generally getting on really well, so that was really fun. Later that night when I came back down, one of the guys was still there and he's from Alaska. So he told me all about Alaska and we did some Palin-bashing. Which consists of me going, “No, I feel really bad for her, though. But she's really dumb” a lot. So I went to bed at like 4:30am and tested my theory that no matter when I go to bed, I wake up at 10:30am. And then I woke up Sunday morning at 10:30am (EVERY MORNING), bought a new book to read (Zadie Smith's White Teeth), and went out for some breakfast. Found that there's a farmers' market in the parking lot of Te Papa, so that's something to know for the future. I got myself a gingerbread man (I keep forgetting it's Christmastime, even though I saw the Santa Parade last week, because it's summer here). And I went over to Oriental Beach to read and people-watch. There are so many young families in this town. And then I popped on some Dixie Chicks and decided to walk the length of Oriental Parade (which is very long, but I've done this a few times now). Then, on the way back, I cheerfully admired the scenery while listening to my music and was all-in-all very content. And then FOR SOME REASON I can't resist something that looks like it might be something, so I wound up on the Southern Walkway into the city, which takes you to the summit of Mt Victoria. Which is LOVELY, but quite the hike. But I did it anyway. I have some pictures from that, because it was DAMN impressive. You get so high up! And the city is so pretty! And the sun was shining on the harbor! You can't beat it. So that took up some time, but mostly I wished I'd brought water. Finally came back down, got some water and a snack, and (wait for it!) sat on Oriental Beach reading. Dipped my feet in the water a bit. Generally enjoyed myself.

And that's pretty much your update on Wellington! I've done some more wandering since then, but there's nothing too interesting. I discovered that the Wellington Library is gorgeous and I love to spend time there. They also have American magazines! Yay! So since Monday was all about the rain and wind, I've spent a significant amount of time there. Today I was walking through Civic Square thinking about how much I love Civic Square when I thought to myself, “I should pop into the Library!” This was naturally about 15 minutes before closing. So I went in, looked around for a while, and went up to the magazine section (I have been to other sections, I swear) to see if today they had the August edition of SFX because the July edition said that August had an interview with David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson. Found that, discovered that it's actually an interview with David Duchovny and an interview with Gillian Anderson. So with 7 minutes to closing, I had to make a decision! And since you've met me, you know that it kind of wasn't a contest. To give a fair share, I think I glanced at the Duchovny picture. But, anyway, the interviewer said that Gillian Anderson was really nice and fun, and at one point she talked about how she loves Scully because of how strong and awesome she is (possibly not in such blatant Katespeak). And she said that one time she was rehearsing a scene with a gun and she started crying and Chris Carter yelled, “Scully wouldn't cry!” And that kind of makes up for some of the hell that Chris Carter has put me through in my life. Not all of it, but some. Seriously, you guys. “Scully wouldn't cry!” It's awesome.

Anyway, that's all for me. I swear, there will be pictures to follow at some point.