Urgency

Ever since i got to New Zealand about six weeks ago, I have felt this overwhelming sense of urgency. It seems like I have to do so many things before i leave and the only way to do it all is to go somewhere every weekend and take as many trips as possible. Last weekend was the first time i didn't leave Dunedin to travel around NZ. I had a big test on Monday so i thought it prudent to keep it local and adequately prepare.
This weekend, I was planning on going Mt. Cook (the tallest peak in NZ and the last mountain Edmund Hilary climbed before his ascent up Mt. Everest). I was heading up there with a bunch of Germans (sidenote: There are so many fucking Germans in New Zealand that it would make your head spin). The trip did not work out because they were going to be gone for longer than i could be away so I tried to move on to Plan B: going to Queenstown, the adventure capital of NZ. This didn't interest me because the town, in addition to being extreme, is also extremely touristy (meaning expensive). The only reason to go is to be EXTREME, but i'm going to do that later over my mid-semester break by sky diving over Mt. Doom. Consequently, i decided not to go to Queenstown.
So scratch the travel and enjoy the city of Dunedin. This was my plan for the weekend.
Things started off well. Me and my friend, Kevin, went to the main street in Dunedin on Friday night and played guitar for the drunken masses passing by. We made $40 in under two hours; my frist experience in making money while in NZ. There is nothing better than drinking boxed wine out of a Diet-Coke two-liter bottle covered in a plastic bag while people pay you $5 to let them sing Wish You Were Here. The George Bush song brought in the most money out of any one song. We were fucking rockin' and the people were eating it up.
The next night (Saturday), I went with a very large group of people to a place called Long Beach, about 30 minutes outside of Dunedin. At one end of the beach, there was a large network of caves. They were massive (pictured): Twenty-five feet high and sixty-feet deep. I played more guitar (but don't worry, i wasn't that "guy" obtrusively thrusting his guitar into the scene. I kept my meta-physical distance and only came in when requests were made ("Do you know Stairway to Heaven?"...). One guy fell in the fire, but was OK. People were so drunk and i was reminded of Megan (oh how i miss her). I slept under the stars and slept well on the beach
Now i'm home eating Pistaschio nuts in the comfort of my apartment.
I'm sick of feeling rushed! Does anyone else feel this way? I don't need to see everything there is to see in NZ. I won't feel more fulfilled if i see one additonal Fjord. At the same time, why not leave some things for if you ever return? As always, I should really just try to stop and enjoy the moment.
Well there you have it: My weekend of March 24th. I hope you feel better knowing a little more about the life of Tom.

No offense: Writing this kind of entry ("I did this, this, and this... " "I met someone..." "I don't know if i can ever leave...") is incredibly lame, I know. Aren't these kind of entries meant for your diary? But everyone else is doing it and when it all goes down, i'm deeply impressionable. Everyone take care.

-Tom

P.S. Rob: I hope you enjoy this "appropriate" entry in the first person. I can't promise it will happen again. Sorry for trying to break away from the ordinary, mas'a...

Asi es.

I found some crazy, tripped out message from Megan in my Junk mail folder which had some sort of statement like tell me about costa rica now bitch. I didnt think I had much to go on but it turned into a long message worthy of bloggage. Here it is. I pulled the pictures off the internet but i was definitely at both places exactly. I was there at that palm tree. It is at playa cocles and I took the same exact pciture but i havent gotten around to doing the camara download. i think my picture was better.

I guess last weekend was worthy of some discussion. The carribean coast has a whole different culture than the pacific coast. (American and euro travel culture) After leaving the central plateau and down the mountains, the bus coasted through hours of banana plantations punctuated by del monte and chiquita factories. Limon province or the carribean coast is Afrocaribean. History: escaped slaves. 2 minutes after i got off the bus, i got a request to dread my hair. Hmmm I think not. They cook their rice and beans in coconut milk instead of oil. They smoke bud. They have the biggest wave in costa rica, the salsa brava. (reef break) Everyone rides around on bicycles there which is cool. I took mine from Puerto Viejo down almost to Manzanillo and back (20plus km) and stopped at random isolated beaches.

There is some reef to snorkel at as well but there were some thundershowers earlier which i think would have limited the visibilty. Slept under mosquito nets. By the way, they can still bite you of you are touching the net so tuck it in around the bed. All in all, lots of fun, a bit cheaper than west coast, and a lot more chill. Ill be back, want to go to Cahuita and Manzanillo which are a bit less developed than puerto viejo I think. However, there just isnt time to get to all the places I want to go. Semana santa or spring break will be a trip up through nicaragua: Ometepe island, Granada, Masaya, Managua, Leon maybe?, and san juan del sur. I am also planning a scuba trip to Isla de Caño, which will be pretty sweet. Jurassic Park was filmed at Isla de Coco, which is about 500km or a 36 hours from the west coast. It is one of the best dive sites in the world and are guaranteed a dive with whale sharks, its famous schools of hundreds of hammerhead sharks, and everything else down to clown fish. the island is supposed to be pretty nice too. Unfortunately, a ten day dive trip will runn you $3000. So, the other island is like an hour from the coast and you still see sharks, rays, all sorts of fish, reef, and the visibility should be at least 50 feet. I think the visibilty in the pennsylvania quarry where our infamous scuba crew last dived ranged from 0 - 20 feet. And i saw one large mouth bass. Whhoopeee. Great trip thoug.h I degress. So, I am excited about future travel. School is actually hard which seems to be different from everyone elses experience. One IR class would be a joke at AU but is still difficult because its in spanish. The other is pretty much US standards, History of IR, which means I get to memorize the history of the world in spanish. fun considering that every place, organization, treaty, and theory have different names. Like The treaty of versailles might be el tratado de Versallèn or some random crap. NATO is ATON, USSR is URSS, the UN is ONU. Etc. I had to present on ¿What happens with failed states? and debate 2 days ago. I also fucked up on my first spanish exam which should have been cake. Either way, I dont really worry about these things but I am trying to pull out decent grades since they transfer directly. Thats it. there is also a very small, tiny even, probability that I will stay here over the summer. If this happens, i will let you guys know pronto.

I think im late for class.

later,

Rob

Doof

I imagine a doof like this. You drive out to the outback. there is a huge djierdoo concert. The best djideroo players from every corner of OZ. There all jammin and everone gets piss drunk. When everyone is drunk enough. maybe at midnight , they whip out there boomerangs and begin the epic boomerang battle. Those who are not knocked unconscious get to watch midgets fight kangeroos in mud pits. if anyone has better guess, lets hear it. Doof.

Sean and Creative Control

_____WARNING:______
______ DO NOT READ THIS EXPECTING VERY MUCH OUT OF THE EXPERIENCE_____

Sean says:

Let all the gay men marry gay men
Let all the lesbians marry lesbians
Let all the people who want abortions have abortions
Then in three generations, there will be no Democrats!


... This was a joke Sean said as Tom was trying to figure out what to write. Tom was hesitant about entering this joke into the blog because it might offend Friend X. After some intense inner-thinking, Tom used Sean's joke [in full, un-edited text] to begin his entry. Tom did not want the post to be too long, because he is essentially lazy and not of the creative sort, says Sean. And so on-a-non.... ... .. .

Sean: Do you like Coldplay? I like Coldplay.
Tom: To be honest, It's a dirty secret of mine. Don't tell anyone!!


For all intents and purposes, Sean and Rob are the gods of this website. God Bless their genuis, says Sean.

Sean has to go take himself up, up, up into the stratosphere...

Ground Control