Social Butterfly
Sunday February 24, 2013
I have been doing too many things with my life.
That\'s okay though, I have thoroughly enjoyed the fun times and the awesome people I\'ve been hanging out with over the past two weekends. Now is the time to make the most of the sun before it fades away behind the abysmal weather so typical of Wellington for ten months of the year. Summer has been great and it\'s sad (if not alarming) that it is March very, very soon.
Last weekend, we went out to Harcourt Park in Upper Hutt to watch some jousting after badminton. It\'s not particularly like what you would imagine (or what Hollywood would have you imagine). The tips of the jousting lances are fragile and break easily, and are colour-coded for each person. The idea is to land a hit against your opponent (with rules around where you can and can\'t hit - no hitting the horse!) and points are given based off aforementioned criteria. As the lances break, the resulting fragments are clearly identified by their colour to assist in the judging. There were also longbow displays and sword fighting re-enactments, but none as exciting as the jousting.
The next day, we were out at Adrenaline Forest in Porirua for part one of Ben\'s birthday celebration. Swinging, climbing, gliding and shuffling (often struggling) our way through the treetops proved quite the physical challenge at times; not so much the mental challenge I was expecting since I was so focused on the obstacles, I barely had time to look down at the ground. Unlike previous ropes courses I\'d been on, this one is more individually managed so you clip yourself onto safety ropes to traverse the trees instead of being belayed by a group of people on the ground. Additionally, you\'re equipped with your own pulley and hook system so you can clip yourself onto the wire and ride the gradient to the other side with some gravitational help. There\'s some great Indiana Jones-type swings, including one into a large spider web of ropes on course six!
Part two was competitive go-karting - teams of two doing 30 laps each. Jordan and I paired up to deliver a relatively unrisky and consistent display that landed us fourth place out of eight (not last, yay!). The karts supposedly reach 50kph and handle pretty well, though my skidding and sliding were not as masterful as I would have liked. I kept feeling like I was going to topple the kart over. There were fortunately no coloured turtle shells on the track.
I went for an improv show at the Gryphon Theatre on Ghuznee St, then to dinner at the Matterhorn on Friday night. I was last at the Matterhorn in 2009 and they have changed the menu and the style of eating since. The intention is that you order a selection of plates to share instead of having individual meals. Essentially it is like yum cha, except ten times the price. We found the concept complicated and were a bit nervous when the waitress asked us if she could have the authority to place food on our tab without our explicit permission. We shared some oysters with champagne sorbet, crispy pig tails, deer fillet with blackberry, potatoes with roast almonds and various other plates that I can\'t recall off the top of my head. The company was great and the food was good, but the messy logistics put me off and wouldn\'t recommend it - would have been much better if we had just had individual meals and maybe some sides to share.
Yesterday after badminton, we had the PikPok Barbeque at the Mt Victoria Lawn Bowls club. It was a family-friendly event, with a kids-only bouncy castle (much to the disappointment of many of my workmates), face painting and board games available. There was of course the lawn bowls outside, and in defiance of the Wellington wind, beer pong on a table decked out with some fantastic Flick Kick Football artwork. Time passed quickly and it got a bit chilly around 6pm so I left for another barbeque out in Island Bay with my church\'s family group. Though it was a brief event, it was good to catch up with various people and I was absolutely smitten with the two guinea pigs called Pip and Squeak. I ended the day over at Andrew\'s flat in Roseneath, taking one hour to set up a new board game called CO2 and three hours to play. Would not recommend.
Finally, to finish it off, I celebrated Chap Goh Mei, the last day of Chinese New Year, at Big Thumb in style, with plates of chicken, pork and seafood in dumplings, buns, rice noodles and deep fried!
Though we don\'t have the fireworks and fantastic lion and dragon dance displays that the Auckland Lantern Festival provides, I\'ve had fun celebrating Chinese New Year in my own way. This will be memorable for years to come.
<<edit>> Okay we just got fireworks. Yay!
![jousting](\"/gallery/pictures/chinesenewyear-feb2013/IMG_3510.jpg\"){kind=link}
![Adrenaline Forest](\"/gallery/pictures/chinesenewyear-feb2013/IMG_3546.jpg\"){kind=link}
Posted by Jeremy at 7:33am on Sunday February 24, 2013 :: 0 comments :: 
Depressed
Monday December 13, 2010
I can't remember the last time I was actually depressed over something relatively serious and non-trivial, but I guess life has its ups and downs and this in particular is a downer.
I got an email from Beth this morning. It was a lengthy but cleverly written poem about indecisiveness. As I sit here pondering about my housing options for next year, I can't help but think about the what-ifs. If I sign this tenancy agreement, I might miss out on a nicer place for a cheaper price. If I don't sign it, then I might have to settle for a dump at a high price (a bit like what happened with my current place). There's a lot of properties out there - some are damn expensive - but all the ones I've seen have been inadequate or were taken by someone else.
Charlotte and I looked at a place today in Mt. Vic, and she seems really keen on it. The practical side of me likes the place and I can see myself living there. But something doesn't quite appeal emotionally. Something isn't quite right. I pride myself on being logical and rational, but there is something I do not like about the place and I cannot for the life of me figure out why. Is my gut instinct telling me there's something wrong?
Usually when I become stressed or depressed, I can just sleep over it and wake up feeling fine. Maybe that's all I need, just some time to relax and chill out, sleep and process the day's events, then come back with an answer tomorrow.
Posted by Jeremy at 9:17am on Monday December 13, 2010 :: 4 comments ::
Lazy with the Blogging
Wednesday June 11, 2008
I guess I've just been so busy with everything. Last week was the last week of the sprint at work, so we were trying to finish things up. Mat, Nats, Stacey and Richard came down over the weekend for a visit (see the Gallery pics), and I've got an influx of work from Psypoke...and also another secret website ¬.¬
Let's see... last weekend was really good. It was great to see Mat again, and he got to meet all the Wellington people I hang out with, as well as see some sights (including my work place). We had lots of good food (YAY PARADE CAFE AND STRAWBERRY FARE). We did a 15 minute run through Te Papa, we visited Mt Victoria in incredible winds, we watched the All Blacks beat Ireland, we played Pictionary (never again.), Mafia (never again.) and Puerto Rico, and Mat even went to church with us.
It's bug-fixing week this week, so it should be relatively quiet, but I've got a lot to do outside of work. *yawn*
Posted by Jeremy at 8:27am on Wednesday June 11, 2008 :: 1 comment ::
Queen's Birthday
Tuesday June 3, 2008
Alice, Cinta and Jo came down to Wellington for a visit on Saturday very morning. I picked them up from the airport at 8am - thus began the love affair with Wellington.
Saturday was sight-seeing day. We went to Mt Victoria, Oriental Bay, Lambton Quay, Civic Centre, Te Papa and Botanical Gardens. We saw the Beehive, that stupid Platform 9 3/4 sign at the Railway Station, the giant floating silver ball, my workplace, a large umbrella.... we ate lots of delicious things too. We had brunch at the Parade Cafe (I had been there with Andy, Nat and Jono before) where we totally indulged on far too much bacon, corn fritters, eggs and divine chocolate cake and carrot cake.
Sunday I took them to Central Baptist where they were treated with scones ("I approve!" said Alice). They can report back to KCC and tell everyone how I'm doing :p We went for yum char after that, at Majestic Cuisine, where we insisted on tofu fa, mango pudding, and durian pastries. I also took them shopping down Cuba Street and Lambton Quay, and that was rather excruiating. We had a simple dinner - two wood oven pizzas from Maverick's, just down the road. This was in anticipation of epic dessert at Strawberry Fare, where we ordered far too much and I had to force myself to consume the entire lemon cheesecake that I had ordered (It was delicious). They also met everyone from the Estate and the Hub - we hung out for a bit at the Hub.
But the worst of the shopping had yet to come, as we went to Dress Smart in Tawa. Geez. Haha nah it was alright. There were some cool non-clothing shops there that had interesting things (like a sim card backup device for $2 or something like that, or giant candles shaped like Chess pieces). We had a quick bite at KFC before heading back to Valley Girl on Willis, where we saw Auntie Su, Yining and Liann. Then it was a quick walk up Lambton Quay and Cuba Street again, before heading home to pack. We ended the weekend of awesome food by going to Great India on Courtenay, where, again, we ate far too much.
It's been a really good weekend! And we have more visitors this weekend too \o/
Posted by Jeremy at 10:03am on Tuesday June 3, 2008 :: 0 comments ::
Epic Long Weekend
Thursday March 20, 2008
Let's start chronologically. You'll never guess what I did on Sunday.
Yeah, there were four of us: me, Laura, Laura's friend and Laura's friend's friend's boyfriend's friend.
Anyway, after that, we went to Mt Victoria - pictures in the gallery. It was such a windy day, we kept getting blown around. The view was awesome though, however it was a pity we couldn't see the South Island. We saw quite a few planes going in and out of the airport - it's really weird when you're walking by the mountain and suddenly you see a plane at the same altitude as you.
This week was the last week for our sprint (Basically, a task period) at work, so we were trying to finish off all our tasks. I think I was pretty productive this week, I managed to achieve a lot of things that I didn't have any idea of a week ago.
Yesterday I celebrated a friend's birthday, but I also mourned the loss of a family friend. It really was a hilly day yesterday. My heart goes out to all those affected... I'm sorry I can't make the funeral and I guess it's just lame timing.
Tomorrow.. I leave for Auckland at 1.15pm, arriving 2.15pm. It'll be awesome seeing everyone again, and I know I'll have a great Easter camp with my youth group.
Posted by Jeremy at 6:01am on Thursday March 20, 2008 :: 2 comments ::