My little sister has a blog...and it's pretty damn good

I'm going to start this post off by quoting my sister, Val:

"(We) grew up in a Christian household; born to a devout Catholic father and a Lutheran mother who eventually became the pastor of a Protestant church. The household wasn’t strict per se, but there was a standard in our behaviour which we were expected to live up to. You share, you thank, you participate, you try, you learn, you do, and under no circumstance should you ever, ever swear."

Even today, at 32, I refrain from "cussing" around my mother.  I censor myself quite a bit, both in person, and online for fear of offending mom and her position.

Val, on the other hand, has bravely gone a completely different route and gone so far as starting a blog all about the joys, wonders and versitilty of words of the swearing variety.

So check it out to get your fill of all the "Bad Talk" you can handle.  It's early days yet, but I have a feeling it's going to be fucking good (sorry mom!)



The awesome bitch behind the blog (sorry Val!)



Waiting for the snow

I never thought I’d be complaining about a warmer-than-average winter, but here I am, doing just that.

It’s now nearly three weeks into this New Zealand winter and there is zero snow on the ground.  This usually wouldn’t bother me, but my (very modest) livelihood depends on the white stuff for the next few months.

Treble Cone is supposed to open on Thursday, but that’s looking extremely unlikely at this point, which is very disappointing for a few reasons.  For one thing, it means I am going to be very broke very soon L. For another, after a few days of training, and having met my excellent colleagues, I’ve been looking forward to getting to work.

And of course, it will be fun to get out on the slopes – though after seeing the steepness of the mountain, my lack of experience and skills is rather worrying. Luckily, I get discounted lessons, and I intend to take advantage of that.

Other than training, I haven’t been very busy since I got back to Wanaka.  Before moving into my new home, (woot!) I spent a lot of time hanging out at a hostel watching movies, doing crossword puzzles and crocheting. I also did a bit of walking, trolled the op shops (second hand shops) for much-needed warm clothing, and watched a friend jump out of a plane (I was almost tempted to join him…almost).

I also went on an impromptu trip to Queenstown where I played Frisbee golf, ate a Furgburger, attempted to climb the very steep hill near town (gave up about a third of the way up), and earned a $25 drinks tab at a bar just for having a tattoo (woo hoo!).

Now I have two more days of training then hopefully I’ll start work.  Fingers crossed!

My new room.

My new lounge.

Beau lands after his skydive.

My drinks voucher.

I just threw a frisbee...you just can't see it.

Airline travel woes

Here is how the last 36 hours were supposed to go:

Sunday morning: wake up refreshed and spring out of bed.  Eat breakfast. Say tearful goodbyes to friends in Mount Manganui. Go toTauranga and attend mom and Roger's BBQ via Skype. 

Sunday afternoon: Take bus to Auckland and find way via shuttle to airport.

Sunday night: sleep in airport between 9:00 and 5:00 a.m.

Monday morning: take 7:00 a.m. flight to Queenstown, arrive by 9:00 then make my way to Wanaka via shuttle two hours later.

Monday afternoon.  Take nap,

Monday night: get organized for my first day of training (tomorrow)

Instead, this is what really happened

Sunday morning: Woke up groggy and sleep deprived after spending most of the night stressing about life in general. Eat breakfast. Say tearful goodbyes to friends in Mount Manganui. Go toTauranga and attend mom and Roger's BBQ via Skype.  (at least that part was good)

Sunday afternoon: Took bus to Manukau, spent two hours wandering around a mall with about 20 kg attached to my back, in desperation went to see a movie just to kill time.  On leaving the theatre, I discovered that I didn't know how to get to the shuttle pick up anymore (the mall halls were all blocked).  Luckily a nice couple saw me looking confused and offered to drive me -- all the way to the airport no less!  Nice!  At this point I thought my luck was running high.

Sunday night: slept in airport on and off between 1 and 4 a.m. Woke up groggy and ill tempered.

Monday morning:  checked into my flight at 5:30 a.m., went to gate, was told at 6:55 that said flight is cancelled.  Oh, and the next flight out is fully booked!  So I have to either wait until Tuesday to fly out (if the weather improves, of course) or take a flight to Christchurch and then be bused 8 hours to Queenstown.  I opted for the second option so I could make it to Wanaka in time for training at 9:00 tomorrow morning.  I was assured that I shoudl have no problems getting to Wanaka tonight cause the bus was going to go through Wanaka on its way to Queenstown.  "Great!"  I thought.
Flew to Christchurch. Found out that bus does not, in fact, go via Wanaka.  But at least there's a shuttle service.  "That;s fine!" I thought.

Monday afternoon: Took 8-hour bus ride to Queenstown with an annoying tour group from China who ate smelly sushi, talked super loud, chewed with their mouths open and farted most of the way.  Found out on arrival that -- Surprise! -- no buses are running tonight! So not only am I stuck in Queenstown, I am operating on approximately 6 hours of sleep over the past 48, and I am also going to be missing my first day of training after all. I nearly started to cry when I found out.

I am sooooo mad.  I wish I'd just decided this morning to wait until tomorrow's flight and I could have had a relaxing day in Auckland (I think they were goign to put me up in a hotel had I stayed).  Instead I'm so tired that I am having trouble focusing on anything, I'm ultra bitchy, and all for nothing -- My next training day isn't until Friday, so there's really no reason for me to be here yet.

Sorry for the whine.  I just needed to vent and the tought of actually talking to a human being right now is awful.