Since coming back from holidays, I’ve been busy looking for work and applying for jobs. I’m young and have the rest of my life to commit myself to the daily grind but I can’t help but feel this sense of urgency. I need to find a job ASAP or it’s going to be the end of the world. I have something casual to tide me over so I’m not sure where all this is coming from. Maybe it has to do with my degree. Maybe I feel that if I don’t find a job it will expire and the purpose of the last three years of my life will evaporate into nothing. I wish I could be one of those people who are happy to just go with the flow and do ‘whatever’. But alas, I need ‘direction’ in my life because I’m just not one of those people who can enjoy doing ‘nothing’ or finding things to do while I’m doing ‘nothing’. The things I enjoy in life tend to be things I look forward to, not things I just pluck out of the air to do then and there. I. Think. I. Need. To. Re-wire. My. Brain. Or get someone to hire me.
Hmm. It’s been a while since I’ve posted, hey? I blame the long and painfully drawn out process of looking for a job for my absence and lack of motivation. It has been sucking the life out of me 
How I wish I were back in the land of COWS (and not sheep, surprisingly!). Here are a few photos I’ve managed to scab off David’s Flickr.
Rotorua
We spent the firstleg of our trip in Rotorua where we got to experience the wonder of its geothermal activity (fart smell) and of course, the Redwoods Mountain Bike Park in Whakarewarewa Forest. It was soooo awesome. Think Stromlo but with trees and better! My favourite trails off the top of my head were: A-Trail, Be Rude Not To and definitely the Exit Trail. Bikes were hired and time was limited so we didn’t get to ride as many as we would have liked. Getting lost through Genesis and being unfit didn’t help but it was an excellent experience and I’d definitely love to go back one day if I happen to be down in NZ.
With his hired GT Force on our way into the park
Trying to navigate with our $5 waterproof map. It was hard at first but got easier as we got a feel for the place.
Me riding through the Tickler on my hired Norco. Saying I missed my Trance would be an understatement. Lagging behind means the person in front can stop to take pictures of you 
On a more low key day, we visited the Wai-O-Tapu Thermal Wonderland. While there was an initial assault on our senses, the sights were worth it after some adjustment.
I forget what this was called. Maybe the “Champagne Pool”? All the minerals and what not made for awesome coloured water while the sulphur steaming out of it made for a very cool effect. Yes, my descriptive skills are at their all time high tonight!
This was the “Devil’s Home”. Radioactive-green coloured water in a crater. I think “Three-eyed Fish’s Home” would have been a better name!
Lady Knox Geyser. “When 9°C water meets 150°C waters”. Powwww! Mother Nature shooting her load.
And it wasn’t only in a nature park that you saw this kind of activity. This is a shot of a body of water that we had to ride over to get to the Redwoods. Don’t be alarmed if you see steam rising out of lakes or random holes in the ground – it’s quite normal around Rotorua.
And this concludes my post on Rotorua. I might surprise you all with other installments on the other parts of our NZ trip.
Woo! I just got a letter confirming my eligibility to gradaute in April along with details of my ceremony. I’m so excited!
Farewell UWS! Although I have looked forward to never setting foot on campus again, I have to admit that there are things I’ll miss… like the bummy lifestyle of being a university student and hanging around between classes. Although it wasn’t spectacular, I’ll also always remember the cafe – chai lattes, meat pies, potato wedges and burgers. Or the time I randomly spotted the words “black cock” scrawled on the desk during one of those horrendous Managing Employee Performance tutorials.
Au Revoir!
We were lucky enough to see Phoenix play last night at The Hordern. At the risk of sounding like a teenager, I have to say that they were FRICKEN AWWWWESOMMME!! Music sounds so much better live and loud and when the stage it’s coming from is ablaze with flashing coloured lights. I’m glad they didn’t disappoint. We heard old stuff as well as the new stuff and even a cover of Air’s Playground Love. My favourite bit would have been their live rendition of If I Ever Feel Better and the round they did. A*MAZING! (ha! anyone remember that kid’s show on after school in the arvos?). We all got to hear our songs, even Thien who was hanging out to hear Funky Squaredance!
One thing that caught me by surprise was how big they actually are. I wasn’t expecting such a ‘huge’ show and the overabundance of teeny boppers but then what could I really expect? Everything is mainstream these days and suppose it all makes sense considering how catchy their music is. One thing that really pissed Rob and I off though, was hearing one teenage twat whine that she “only like[d] shit [she] c[ould] dance to” Well, Sweetheart, maybe you should stick to buying CD singles instead of coming to the whole fucking concert. Or maybe I should suggest, rather, that she stick to downloading singles off iTunes. Bitch, have some respect! Geez.
We tried the mosh during the opening act (Miami Horror) but I think my stature (or lack thereof) and misanthropy got in the way of my enjoyment of it. I got pretty narky, having people constantly push in front of me and I wasn’t sure if it was because they thought I was some sort of easy target or if they were just cunty McCunts in general. It was all good once we headed to the stands for Phoenix though (thank you Paul’s neck for playing up and presenting me with the opportunity to extract myself from the shovefest that was the mosh!), but I will always be torn by the trade off between proximity (and the chance to bust out) and actually being able to SEE the performance. What does a girl of 153cm and 45kg do in these situations?
All in all, I had an excellent time and any voice I had left from being sick was definitely gone by the end of the night. But of course, it was worth it! I don’t have any photos but here’s a video from YouTube that someone took that night.
Member of the Gum Leaf Mafia
