I think very few mothers look forward to the day when one of their offspring phones from the other side of the world to inform them that they've just jumped from a tiny plane 15,000 feet above a volcanic crater lake, but I subjected my mother to that earlier today. Sorry, mom. At least I didn't tell you I was planning to do it beforehand.

I have been putting off posting for the past few weeks simply because of the volume of things that I want to post about, and I'm reluctant to do a sum-up post because I feel like it would do such an injustice to all the amazing experiences I've been having. But I need to post SOMETHING, particularly because I will be just as busy (if not more so) for the next 28 days, and I don't want anyone to think I've died or fallen off the planet or something. So, I shall attempt to sum up.

I did in fact skydive over Lake Taupo. Taupo is a huge, beautiful crater lake that was created by massive volcanic eruptions over they years, of which one of the most notable occurred in 180 CE, causing the skies to turn red in places as far away as China and Rome. I went up in a tiny plane with 4 other people from my bus tour group, strapped to a professional sky-diver, and was in free-fall for approximately 60 seconds, probably 50 of which was spent screaming incoherently in a heady mixture of pants-pissing terror and euphoria. The 4 or 5 minutes I spent floating down to earth via parachute rates as one of the most beautiful, uplifting things I have ever done, and I was so giddy upon reaching ground that I wanted to high-five every person I came across for a good 30 minutes afterwards.

I went rappelling down 3 waterfalls underground in the Waitomo Caves, amidst a lot of exploring said caves and time spent crawling around on my hands and knees (and sometimes on my belly) in icy river-water. Thankfully, I was wearing a wetsuit. It rates as one of the most amazing things I have ever done--which was a huge surprise to me, let me just tell you. Dark caves + tight, enclosed spaces would never have been at the top of a bucket list for me before now, but I am 100% a convert.

I went white-water rafting over a 7-meter waterfall in the Kaituna River, which is a grade 5 river. Most notable because the 2 rafts behind us both capsized, while we remained fine (well, incredibly damp, but that's river-rafting for you).

I went up to the Bay of Islands & the very most northern tip of New Zealand, Cape Reinga. I also stopped over at the improbably named Ninety Mile Beach, which was eight kinds of amazing. During those 3 days, I also went out on a tall-masted sailing ship; I climbed the riggings and went out on the bowsprit, and I also met a few friends of my grandmother's from when she was living in the area.

I went sea-kayaking again, this time in the waters off Waiheke Island. I stayed overnight at a Maori lodge; I hugged a 2000-year-old Kauri tree; I watched the sun rise over the eastern coast of New Zealand; I walked out along the waters of Hot Water Beach and dug up geothermally heated spring water (and nearly burned my feet off in the process); I went traipsing all over Wellington to a good dozen places at which Lord of the Rings was filmed.

I'm stopping now because these bullet points are so inadequate---I swear to God I'll make a better post for each of these events when I get back, but I've had next to no breathing room for writing and that isn't going to let up any time soon. However. Probably the most important part of this post is the fact that I have just today changed my plane ticket. I've done a lot of soul-searching and a lot of whinging talking with flatbear, her mom, my dad, and with jou, and I'm coming home on Friday May 13th. It's the right thing to do, for a lot of reasons, largely but not solely to do with money. I feel good about this decision, however; it's enabled me to do more with what money I have left, and I've been having an absolute blast the past few weeks in New Zealand as a result. I am going to miss this country so badly that I can already feel it like a hole inside me.

Okay, enough emo whinging. I have to go prepare to hike this mountain. It's called Mt. Nguaruhoe, but you know it better as Mt. Doom.




Yeah, that's right. I'm gonna go hike through Mordor tomorrow. Peace out, folks. ♥

First--thank you to all the lovely people who left me comments on my last entry (or on my whiny one-line Facebook post, hurrrr). I love you so much and I am so blessed to have such wonderful friends who love me. ♥

Second, I can't think of any of you who WOULDN'T enjoy this, so if you've ever had a laugh at slash or fanfiction or fandom in general, do yourself a favor and click HERE. So. Damn. Funny.

I'm headed to Paraparaumu for flatbear's mom's party. I love you all. ♥

For those of you who are going to go "lol, tl; dr" at this post, I shall sum up: I remain stubbornly pale due to SPF 50 sunscreen, despite spending the week on a "farm" with a private beach and rolling green hills right out of Lord of the Rings. I miss California, I am covered in bug bites, I somehow manage to keep injuring my left foot the past 2 days despite not doing anything more strenuous than wandering around in flip-flops, my uncut hair is longer than it's been in six years, and I've just hit the 6-week mark in my trip. I have been massively homesick and yet also more exhilirated than I think I have ever been in my life.

This past week, I got up early to let the farm dogs out so we could walk down and feed the chickens; I helped paint the entirety of the farm house; I watered the vegetable garden and raked leaves and hauled debris in a giant Land Rover to a massive leaf pile in one of the further fields. We puncuated these pleasantly pastoral experiences with trips down to beaches so empty and pristine that Jack Sparrow would be jealous--beaches that you could see from the window of where I slept each night.

( Te Ananui, WWOOFing, and Rumi.Collapse )

More to come, including pictures to be posted, when I reach flatbear's family's house tomorrow night. Hope everyone is doing well. ♥

At this moment, I am craving exactly three things in life:

1) A working motorcycle or car: a vehicle that can transport me and perhaps some gear OUT of this lovely city
2) The money to take some time away from work and bills
3) The time to run away to the middle of fuck-off nowhere to research, write, and be out in nature.

It's doubly maddening because we're coming up on one of the most beautiful times of year for camping and whatnot. And gas is really cheap right now, PERFECT for a road-trip. Aaaaand I live in a state with some of the most gorgeous natural scenery in all of North America, a continent which is already busting at the seams with natural beauty.

*bangs head against desk*

Well THAT'S annoying.

Today I woke up with every intention of going to work and making a little money, only to wander into the bathroom door (literally—SMACK!) and then notice that my left freaking eye is caked shut. With mucus. Ew. Yeah, I've got a fantastic case of pink eye, the kind you notice from 10 feet away because it looks like the infected ball of my eye is going to ooze out of its socket and come across the floor waving its tentacles trying to eat you. Jesus Christ, I'm going back to bed.

*grumbles*

So I am leaving to go to England next month with jou and my mom and have a lovely old time, and I just sort of realized that I have sucked royally at posting pictures of pretty much everything since I moved last year. In an effort to remedy that, I have made sweet, sweet love to the Bulk Uploader function of Photobucket and am starting from the ground up. Easiest and most recently relevant, here are some pictures of where I live, hiking in and around San Francisco.

Dial-up users... I am so very, very sorry. ( My heart floats in the Bay: Image Heavy Like a Sumo WrestlerCollapse )

Aaand that's probably more than enough. Next I will attempt London pictures. For now, I'm going to bed. My boss is showing her love for me by scheduling me 10 straight days in a row. ROCK ON!

On a much more serious note than my usual posts, I am re-posting the transcript of Senator Obama's speech that he gave in Philadelphia yesterday. I very rarely discuss politics in my journal because it's a fairly personal subject for me; beyond that, I feel less-than-educated about the situations being discussed, many times. I'm not ignorant, by any stretch of imagination, but my brief experiences in journalism, anthropology, and statistics showed me just how easy it is to be ill-informed on a given subject, and when that given subject is something explosive like politics, well...I'd rather stay away from it. Anyway, many of you may or may not know that I support Barack Obama this year.

All that being said, whatever candidate you endorse or politics you espouse, I think you would want to read the text of this speech. I mean it very seriously when I say I believe it will go down in American history textbooks, the type of speech that gets quoted from frequently many years from now. It's not a simple "Vote for me!" speech, and it encapsulates many of the things I find most compelling about Senator Obama: his intelligence & dedication to his work, his passion for what he believes in, and his willingness to rise above petty disagreements and partisanship that are so prevalent in politics. Also, the most intelligent discourse on race in America I've seen in a long damn time. Text kindly re-posted from zarq.

( Barack Obama: A More Perfect UnionCollapse )




EDIT: A video of the speech is here.

Apologies in advance for a lack of response to comments; I have to pack and then get on a plane, so I won't be able to discuss or respond to anything y'all say till much later tonight. Have a good hump day!

It's a beautiful day outside. If I peer out my window, I can see the Golden Gate Bridge from my apartment. San Francisco loves me today.

I have a job that pays me well, two fantastic roommates and a sweet little place to live. I have a plane ticket to Ohio for Christmas to see my family and old friends, and a new home here in a city filled with new friends and more opportunities than I can actually wrap my head around. And you'll forgive me the cheese, but I am so happy right now I don't actually know what to do with myself. I am so lucky and blessed to be able to share this with people that I love and who love me.

I hope you're all having a great day. ♥

Confetti rainfall and the quiet street.
The beauty is in what you make it,
So get up on your feet.

Because tonight, the world turned in me,
Because right now, I don't dare to breathe.
Oh, babe, I know, it's alive and somewhere for us to find tonight,
Chase this light with me.

Hello from Missouri! I don't have time or bandwidth to do a halfway interesting update, so I'll do a few bullet points instead.

+ No one seems to camp with anything but RVs anymore. Maybe it's just the time of year?
+ We got randomly assaulted by a skunk last night. No one was injured (or scent-bombed) but we did end up hiding in the car for a bit. It was tre amusing.
+ We're camping at an RV park in Missouri right now. The sunset was absolutely BEAUTIFUL, and it's kind of funny, because we're in the middle of a damn field surrounded by a bunch of RVs, along with some dial-up internet masquerading as wi-wi. Har har.
+ We've had nothing but beautiful weather so far, but it HAS been a little chillier than I was expecting, hence I have dug out my warm winter pajamas. It's terribly enjoyable.
+ There is a town called "Toad Suck, Arkansas." Holy crap, y'all.
+ The Ozarks are stunningly beautiful. I took lots of pictures, none of which will load right now. Naturally.
+ Branson, Missouri is stalking us. WHAT THE HELL.
+ Just when I'm feeling awesome, my dad calls me from Argentina. He tells me he'll be heading round Cape Horn tomorrow. Dangit.

Okay, we're gonna go eat dinner now because we have to get up early and it's already quite dark. Take care! (theory_of_chaos, can you text me tonight? I think I lost your number when I got my new phone. Either that or I'm just retarded. ♥ )

Hello boys and girls! I'm in Jackson, Georgia, about 45 minutes outside of Atlanta, at the lovely tempest_gypsy's house. I made it through pea-soup fog that threatened to eat my car, survived my battery randomly committing suicide at a rest stop (bless you AAA), and was greeted at the door by a coyote and two dogs literally the size of Shetland ponies. It was quite interesting. Anyway, tempest_gypsy's wireless doesn't like my computer much, and at the moment I'm jacked into a wall outlet to check a few things, but I have to get to bed here in a minute. Just wanted to touch base.

Tempest and I will be driving west starting tomorrow, arriving in Vegas on the 17th. Very exciting! We'll keep in touch as much as we can.

PEE ESS: stumphed, I looked around, but I couldn't find a clip of Matt on LA Ink ANYWHERE, much to my distress. *woe* Thank you again for the heads-up!!