30

I haven't written in AGES.  I have been pretty down in the dumps and haven't felt like writing.  A variety of things, starting with the stress of trying to find a job and not knowing if I could stay in the country or not, followed by moving out and cat sitting on my own for 6 weeks, followed by being led on and rejected for the 2nd time by Morrison followed by some family stuff at home making me feel a bit anxious, followed by moving back into my house and not feeling part of the flat anymore, followed by my new job being utterly ridiculous put me in a pretty shitty semi-constant mood, and it was a vicious cycle as I come home from work grumpy and exhausted and not want to join in flat festivities and hide in my room, which meant I only isolated myself further and made me feel lonelier than I already did. And with my impending birthday - the big THREE OH, being in a state of flux, realising that I was in the same place I was in when I left London 2 years ago - flatting, in a job I don't really want to be in, single - that was kind of the icing on the cake really.

But. I have now turned 'that age' and even though I cancelled my original birthday night out and spent the evening crying myself to sleep instead, I am feeling a bit better and more 'me'.  I need to change my perspective on my job - it's a means to an end, and it's character building, and I need to remember that my friends do sometimes leave me out but it's not intentional -I can't be invited to all things at all times, and I need to remember that being single isn't the worst thing in the world and though it'd be nice to be 'in love' etc that it might not happen and to accept it - love can be found in other places like hobbies and passions and nature.

So hopefully I'm getting back on track to being more normal again and the upbeat me because being down in the dumps was pretty shitty and did not feel good and it scared me a little bit how down I felt for the length of time I felt it.

Anyways an update.

My Job

This is the biggest bug bear at the moment.  I feel like I work with idiots.  Spoilt babies who have no idea how to respect anything or anyone.  In one particularly bad week, I had to stick my hand down the toilet to retrieve someone's access pass that they'd dropped...why they couldn't get it themselves I don't know.  I had to stick my hand down an insinkerator because someone had put a $2 coin down it.  I had to clear up a whole heap of used wet Nespresso coffee pods because instead of someone telling me the box was full, they just put a bag on top of the overflowing box so when the next person opened the cupboard they all fell out over the floor.  It's very cliquey.  I took my indirect team out for lunch to a nice restaurant to thank them for their hard work over the last 6 months.  They complained when I wouldn't let them have more than one alcoholic drink, and tried to order the most expensive cocktail on the menu.  One girl refused to eat anything as she doesn't like coriander or lemongrass and we were at a Vietnamese restaurant and blamed me for not checking her dietary requirements beforehand. A bunch of girls only communicated to me via the receptionist.  It's all very weird and the culture is odd.  They drink a shit ton.  We recently had a social event where we probably went through $800 worth of booze in one evening.  A core group of people stayed drinking in the office after the event until they had to be bribed to leave with the promise of a beer on the company in a pub at 11pm so that the cleaners could clean the office. One of the Directors got arrested and put in a cell for being drunk and disorderly that night.  It's lonely as I don't really have any friends there or anyone to complain to about people.  I miss the relationships I had with people in my old job.  I was having a pretty shitty Friday the other week and I met up for coffee with some old colleagues but it turned into a 3.30pm sneaky beer instead but they put such a big smile on my face which was so nice as I felt like crying.  I do miss them.

But - I had a really nice birthday at work and it changed my perspective slightly of my immediate team.  They'd got me a cake and some presents, wrote me a sweet card with words to the effect of 'we know how hard your job can be but you're doing an excellent job' and took me for lunch - very unexpected but very welcome and received by me with a lot of gratitude. So that was nice and I am hoping that the more I get involved the more we will warm to eachother and maybe I'll get some friends.  I've joined the work netball team and signed up to the touch rugby too.

Things I Have Been Up To

- a weekend away to our friend Sylvia's bach in Rotoiti, down near Rotorua.  Me, Shanyn and Lachie drove down late Friday night to meet the others and pretty much fell asleep straight away.  The next morning we woke and had delicious porridge with stewed apples (my idea - so yummy) then boarded kayaks and a motorboat for a trip across the lake to a beer garden.  It took an hour or so and we were pterry cold and wet by the time we arrived so we huddled up inside to drink some craft beer and eat an incredible cake and some pies.  We stayed for a while before swapping boats - me and Sam got to ride in the motorboat which if I am honest was probably the highlight of my year. Haha. It was much quicker than a kayak that's for sure!  Back at the bach we huddled up by the fire to warm up again and read books, before getting back into the boat and heading out to a boat access only hot pools - awesome!!! There were 6 or so pools with only 2 other guys in them, so we had the place practically to ourselves, tentatively trying each pool - some were like bath water and others were super duper hot.  There was also a slide that went off the jetty into the lake, so I surprised myself by sliding down it - man that was cold and breathtaking and also a bit scary sliding into the darkness of the water at night time!! But I am glad I did it - even if I did swallow a load of water and nearly lose my bikini in the process.  The following day we took a slow drive back to Auckland, stopping at a nice cafe on the way home.  Me and Shanyn nearly got wiped out by an idiot driver on the wrong side of the road which was a bit scary but we survived, woo!















one of my favourite birds, a Fan Tail.  They're very friendly and flit around trying to catch bugs you kick up. 

- I know they sound like men's hair regrowth treatment, but I have started doing these things called 'rogaines'.  They're essentially a super fun orienteering race - someone's laid out a course with checkpoints and numbered them with a difficulty level (if they start with a 3, they're worth 30 points and are easy, start with a 5 and they're 50 points and harder to find etc).  You get given a topo map with the check points on and half an hour to plan a route to capture as many of the checkpoints as you can, taking into account access, hills, streams and how far you think you can go in 90 minutes - because if you're not back in time, you lose something like 20 points for every second you're late back. So we like to plan a route that has 'escape points' where we can turn back and get back to the start line as quick as possible if we've over estimated our fitness.   I have done 3 of these now and they are SO MUCH FUN.  The first 2 I did were with North West Auckland Orineteering club, and I felt like I was in the Hunger Games - groups of adults and children running around in the mud trying to find these little checkpoints.  It was such an adrenaline rush and very fun.  The last one I did had more of a chilled vibe but equally as fun - the benefit of them too is they take you places you wouldn't necessarily go, whilst also doing exercise and having fun.  At the end of them there's a little sausage sizzle and and prize giving - at the last one I won a pair of arm compressors!! I don't know what they do but at least I'll look like a professional athlete!







getting the checkpoint








- a weekend away to the Coromandel with Amy and Colin.  Amy found an awesome house bus and couldn't resist booking it so we headed down there on Saturday afternoon and chilled in our new surroundings, reading books by the fire on board the bus.  The place was awesome! 2 double beds including an upstairs bedroom, a fire, a sink, a sofa - it was so cosy.  We went for dinner at the local pub (very local - it was dead and filled with pokie machines and local memorabilia) and the next morning went for a little walk in the bush before driving back home again. 



I do have some more photos but for some reason my phone isn't syncing with google photos anymore so I can't work out how to upload them.

There's been a few other things too, like
- flat last minute July 4th celebrations
- flat Christmas dinner
- Bastille day raclette party at Yann and Renee's
- Leah's hippie vs hipster leaving party
- tree planting day at Tawharanui
- gatecrashing the Beca mid-winter ball
- Parnell markets, Matakana and Tawharanui Saturday
- going on an ex America's Cup yacht and getting to learn about how it sails

At some point I'll share the photos when my phone starts syncing them again. 

My little brother is coming out to visit and travel in September - I am SO excited to see him.  I cannot wait to give him a big squeeze. Three weeks to go!!!!

Oh yeah my birthday.  So I ended up not doing anything too crazy.  I am seeing a guy at the moment and he took me out for cocktails and dinner which was very nice of him, he planned it and everything which was a nice change. Then this Friday my friend Conor wanted to have a flat warming party so we did a small joint thing - I wasn't feeling the most social but I went anyway (I couldn't cancel 2 parties in a row!) and it was nice to see people plus there was a dog there.  Then today I roped some friends into picking up litter from Long Bay beach, it got very awkward as we saw Morrison and I forced everyone to go in a different direction to him so we didn't have an awkward bumping into conversation and we spent the rest of the morning hiding from him. We then went for a nice lunch before going back to Amy and Colin's to play board games, except I fell asleep as I was hungover from getting accidentally very drunk last night.  We had a flat dinner and the guy I am seeing came over and for some reason I just kept drinking wine which I don't normally do and I don't remember going to sleep. Oops.

Comments

  1. Dear Nainsy. Cannot believe you are only thirty. Most jealous. As good as it feels to hear that you're miserable, I think you've probably grown more than you realise. Afterall, you did move halfway around the world and the continual trials of work and dating are adding to your library of experience, even if it's not all a walk in Peckham Rye park.
    Delighted to see you're blogging again. Your colleagues sound like a bit of a rabble but it looks like you're persevering and doing well. I think you must be very healthy as well, due to all the fresh air and outdoor activities. Whoever served that sausage in a square slice of bread needs a good talking to.
    I very much like the camping bus pics. Glad to hear your ickle bro is visiting. Perhaps we will hear more about the gentleman you are courting in your next blog post. xx

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    1. Love you Dan. Thank you for taking the time to read and comment ������

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    3. The bus reminds me of the bus from Into The Wild.

      I meant to say, if you get a chance to physically assault the person who served sausages in nothing but mechanically sliced white bread, you have my encouragement to do so. I found the photo upsetting.

      Oh, unless it was you. I wouldn't suggest you hit yourself. That would be daft. x

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  2. Thank you, don't make me nag you for the next update please!

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    1. Let's be honest, you'll need to

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  3. Happy Birthday! Milestone birthdays are to be celebrated.

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  4. Replies
    1. Not yet! Hopefully next year. As I thought I wasn't allowed to stay here I decided to spend all my time in New Zealand but if my 3 year visa gets approved then I'm definitely headed over :) whereabouts in oz are you?

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  5. I'm in South Gippsland. Went to Uluru and Alice Springs on my honeymoon. Highly recommended. Sydney opera House is too.

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