The Final Countdown

I'd link to a video of GOB on Arrested Development, but apparently it's been deleted. I'm actually shocked that I didn't use that as the title for this post - it would probably have made more sense to switch titles. It's funny how much someone changes the music they listen to over time - back in the middle of June, I was obsessed with the Traveling Wilburys. The last couple months though, I've listened to a lot of reggae, and most recently, OK Go, The Strokes and Nirvana.

Anyway, this will be my last post from New Zealand. I take off roughly 12 hours from now, and my packing's pretty much all set, thankfully. The flat inspection went off without a hitch (and damn well should have, compared to the state some others are in), leaving me home free. I couldn't possibly begin to wrap up my feelings and thoughts about leaving here and now - I may try to think about that on the plane from Auckland or later - because trying summarize now would be too short-sighted.

Here are two things that I know I'm going to miss. First off, jazz night on Thursdays at the Robert Burns Pub down on George St. Every Thursday, me and some friends converge on 'the Burns,' or 'the Robbie,' as it's called, to enjoy a nice pint of Monteith's Black or Emerson's Pilsner (one of NZ's best beers) and some conversation. The Pub is full of Dunedin's history - mostly from the list of owners dating back to the mid-1800s etched in the mirror above the bar, and the presence of poems written by Robbie Burns, Scottish poet, on the walls. The Quartet is fantastic, particularly the drummer, who'll make you do a double take when you see that old white guy sing just like Louis Armstrong.

The other thing? The culture of hospitality surrounding Pat, Rob and Xander's flat. I'd mentioned it before in passing, and really, it became an institution. A sunny blue sky was our Bat Signal for barbecues, and every Monday was Poker Night, where 8-16 of us got together to play some Texas Hold 'Em. Their end-of-finals barbecue was the perfect send off for the semester.

Alright, that's it for me, for now. Next up on my plate is a 5 days in paradise - also known as Pomona College. I'll try to check in from there if I can manage it between the laying around and doing nothing and the running around catching up with friends.

The Game Plan

So about a month ago, Andrew, Carrie and I decided that during finals we should do a tramp on one of NZ's Great Walks. Since I've never explained them before, briefly, they're a set of tramping tracks on the North and South Islands, managed by the Department of Conservation. Each track has well-maintained tracks and huts spaced about a day's walk from each other, meaning it actually costs quite a bit, usually $40 per hut. They have a booking system, too, to keep pressure on the tracks to a minimum, so really popular tracks like the Milford and Routeburn fill up fast. This brings us to the tramp we planned on: the Kepler Track. It was actually built in the mountains near Te Anau to alleviate pressure on the Milford and Routeburn, and is really nice - particularly the second day of the tramp, which is almost exclusively walking along alpine ridges.

Unfortunately, it's that ridge line that's caused us problems. We were going to do the track this weekend, but because of some late-season snow, crampons and ice axes are required, which is something we can't really muster right now. So briefly, the outline of our fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants plan:

• Go to Kepler, and hike the first (passable) section, and stay at Luxmore Hut Friday night.
• On Saturday, hike out and make an epic, beautiful drive to Haast and the West Coast, and stay in a hostel.
• Sunday, we'll go to the glaciers at Franz Josef and/or Fox, which are the most accessible glaciers in the world. At the same time, we should get a great view of Mount Cook across Lake Matheson. Maybe camp out Sunday night, and head back to Dunners Monday.

Cool, eh? It's gonna be great. Cheers.

End of the Line

The title isn't supposed to sound depressing; rather, it's more about the fact that I have the Traveling Wilburys song stuck in my head. It's pretty awesome, you may recognize it from the Knocked Up trailer.

ANYWAY, that doesn't have anything to do with anything, except that I leave home in about 30 hours. I have (thank god) made significant progress since my first post - I got a great 5000 cu. in. backpack from EMS. We'll see how that holds up when I actually try packing all of my crap later. The bigger news, of course, is I know where I'll be living for the semester. I'll be at 687 Cumberland St (the green arrow on the map). For some perspective, my flat is about 6 1/2 blocks from the Octagon (lower left), the center of city life, and literally across the street from the University. On the map (which is a little blurry) the school is the block of larger buildings without streets going through it, just east of the green arrow.

According the email I got about housing, I'll be living with 1-2 Kiwis (and no, I can't just throw them away if they're bad - I've already heard that joke before) along with 2-3 study abroad students. I haven't heard from anyone living with me yet (nor do I have their contact info) so I can only hope that it goes as well as the day I got to Pomona and saw that I had a roommate - not a single - who also happened to be from Texas and have a weird-ass name. Turned out to be the best thing that could've happened for me!

Some other predeparture info:

• I have Skype, and you all should too. If sitting in front of your computer and talking isn't your thing, I've got SkypeIn, which means I have a regular, U.S. phone number that anyone can call (like any other normal number) and if I'm signed on, it'll ring on my computer and I can talk to you. If I'm not online (or worse, don't like you) it'll just go to my voicemail and I can listen to it later. Even better, if I want to harass people, I can call your phones too. I like. I guess it would be nice to give my number: (802) 659-4786. And no, that's not a coincidence.
• On a related note, I will not have my cell phone in NZ. I might get one there, but it won't be the same, so don't bother calling me on that number. Keep it though, I'll use it again with I get back.
• I don't know for sure whether my address above is my mailing address too, so until I say so, I wouldn't send anything there (not that I'm expecting you to or anything).

Since I do want to do something in relation to the title, I'll leave you with this picture I took at Sumner Falls in North Hartland today, with Mary and Amy. There are waterfalls there, and I thought this little one was cool. (Click for full size)

At home

Note: Yes, I admit that I posted this weeks before anyone even knew about this blog. I think we can all learn from this and move on. -6/25

Well, I'm at home now, working in Preservation Services at the Dartmouth College Library. It's a pretty sweet gig, especially compared to my former job at Quizno's. I have (functioning) AC, no pressure, no one depending on me, and all of the glue I desire.

It's a great thing that I have a laid-back job, too, because I don't think I could otherwise handle the fact that I'm leaving for New Zealand 3 weeks from today. Among things for me to figure out:

• where I'm living
• what to pack
• what to buy

Sound vague? Of course it is. As far as living, I'm waiting for my program to let me know where my flat will be and who my flatmates are. With any luck, it'll be somewhere near The Octagon, which is pretty clearly the center of the city. As far as packing, I guess that depends on what I buy - I need to get some sort of pack - but the number of choices feels daunting.

As much as it may sound like I'm complaining about all of this, I'm actually really, really excited about the trip to NZ. I just have nothing better to do. The Sox blow right now; they're down 3-0 in the 6th against the A's - I blame Dan Johnson:

And there you have it.