I has a bucket.

- posted by Sam @ 1:26 PM

 
A brief comparison that summarises my entire trip.




In New York, I found it interesting to note that the crosswalk signs (red standing man vs green/white walking man) gave off no 'buzzer' sound when you can go, as they do in deaf-friendly New Zealand. I was surprised at the difference it made. You could no longer just talk idly to people, and wait for that instinctively-recognised sound to tell you when you may continue your journey. You have to focus. Big difference.

In Texas, I was surprised to see that the traffic lights - although sticking with the traditional three-capsicum-on-a-stick look (red/yellow/green) - were subtly and yet strikingly different. How so? They were almost entirely horizontal, unlike our vertical ones. I would be fascinated to study the diffent efficacies of such lay-outs. I would have thought the vertical one was more easily distinguished from the horizontal, except in the case of turning arrows.

In Mexico City (where I stopped for a day and a night on the way back home), I was intrigued to see what I regard as a vast improvement on our own crosswalk signs - instead of the simple aforementioned red standing man vs green/white walking man, which we are so used to, they had something else... the standing man was the same, but the walking man ACTUALLY WALKED. They animated their little LED lights to make the walking man move. Wondrous. It was as if I had stepped into Disneyland. I half-expected the little Mexican children nearby to pipe up with "It's a Small World" in Spanish. And then demand I pay them for the privilege of hearing them speak.

Actually, on my return to New Zealand, I found myself naturally inclined (seriously, it was quite weird! I conciously had to stop myself) to shy away from fellow pedestrians, because I had become so used to them trying to sell me something or ask for money, like they did without fail in Cuba, where I spent the last week of my big adventure.

On that note (before I get to my last point), a serious point: this trip has (to my surprise) made me want to travel less. Not because I do not like other places, or adventures, or meeting new (and old!) people and places, far from it. I loved my time away, and the places, and hanging with people... But I got a growing sense that Wellington is the absolute best city (for me) to live in. People my age grew up with that cultural cringe and that sense of being duty-bound to the classic New Zealand O.E., because that's what the previous generation(s) did. But now that New Zealanders have a lot more pride in their nation, I find that similarly I find a whole lot less to dislike about it, and a whole lot more to be grateful for. I could see myself growing old here - with, of course, the occasional overseas trip to exotic locations - like I never could before.

But I'm getting ahead of myself; more on that later. It is now time for my final point:

In Havana, Cuba, there is a suburb called Miramar; funnily enough, one of the richest parts of the city, with all the embassies (I say funnily enough as there is a suburb in Wellington called Miramar that was not the most interesting of places until Peter Jackson set up shop there). They have a 'technology' that I have, on many occasions, only been able to dream of. And I mean this literally - I have actually day-dreamed about how wonderful this would be in our own country. Trust the communists to think of it first, before drinkable in-home running water and flushable toilet paper.

What is this wondrous invention? A screen next to the traffic lights at the major intersections that actually counts down until the lights change from green to amber, amber to red, and red to green again. Why is this so wondrous? Just think about it! Never having to hover your foot over the clutch, eyes glued to the traffic light in front of you... no more cars behind you honking at you when you miss the change due to a too-slow glance to change the song on your iPod... no more running a red light because you thought the amber light would last longer.

Just think about it. It makes sense.
- posted by Sam @ 7:19 AM

 
What happens in Texas, stays in Texas.






- posted by Sam @ 3:14 PM

 
LAXing
So I'm sitting here in strange internet-boothy type thing outside gate 24A of LAX. I am hoping that I will be able ot stay awake for the 12 hour flight back to New Zealand - so that I can take full advantage of Air New Zealand's personalised entertainment center (at least, they had it on the way over... I will be WAY disappointed if it's not there this time. I wanna watch me some movies! By the way, did you hear that Air New Zealand has just cut its domestic flights by about 25%? That's cool... I think I'm long overdue for an Auckland visit - although it's been a while since I've heard from anyone up there, except Jess, and the other problem is time... plus, you know, I'm still on a four-week holiday at the moment, so it's a little too early to be planning. I think there's a law about the how information inside parentheses should never be longer than the information outside of the parentheses, but I don't know. You'd have to ask a lawyer). But I'm not sure if I'll be able to, as by the time of boarding, I will have spent 12 hours in airports or planes already today.

Am I tired? You betcha. And I'm looking forward to having the next two or three post-flight days off (thank God for Wellington Anniversary day!), and most of all, not having to live out of a suitcase (although, considering that I brought all my clothes with me, and they are now desperately all in need of a wash, that may not be as satisfying as I think). There are several things I need to catch up on, too.

I realise that half of my trip has yet to be recorded, but I am exhausted. And I have thought so much about various things (such as how to accurately answer the inevitable "how was your trip?" question - not that I have an answer to that yet), usually at night times (I have slept terribly this trip - but that's all right, no big loss. Misplacing US$500 of travellers cheques - THAT'S a big loss [well, not really, even if I couldn't just get them cancelled, it's not that important, I just said it for dramatic effect]), so it's like I've lived through the next few weeks many times already (example number 2 - telling my boss that I'm having great difficulty with the aforementioned project that has been stressing me out when I let it over this holiday).

So when I haven't been living in the future (which I've kept down to a minimum, honestly), I've been too busy enjoying the present to record the past. But I will do my best when I can... I've certainly got some interesting stories (and yes, pictures) to share...

Be back soon! 1 hour until departure! Prepare the Welcome Home cakes and balloons!
- posted by Sam @ 4:49 PM

 
Golly.
You know, I'm not entirely sure I can do this. Blog, I mean. I've met so many people who read or have read my blog, and I feel SO... MUCH... PRESSURE... because everyone will be wanting to hear what is said about them, or their state, or their hospitality, or the cleanliness of their car.

Luckily, it's all good.

Before I get to impressions, though, a little update: I am now in Cleburne, Texas, staying with the infamous Aunt Donnave (I've passed on a number of "hi!"s from those of you who have had some form of interactions with her. Abbey left today, so I'm living with strangers for the next three days - except, of course, these are strangers who I have basically known for years. That's what it feels like, anyway.

So it's probably best for me to catch you up on Act II.1 of my holiday (Act 1: New York, Act II.1 being, of course, Nacogdoches). On Tuesday I arrived, having had very little sleep. I stayed with Abbey's (lovely and very hospitable) parents, and met a couple of new people, as well as some I had met a few years earlier (Abbey's sister Anna, and Abbey's friend Amy). I went to Abbey's church on the Wednesday night (which I liked, although felt a little overwhelmed by the attention afterwards - just call me the Mumbler!), where I met more people. It was embarrasingly ego-boosting to meet people who I have never even heard of who have read my blog, and pray for me. But I am so grateful for their attention, and kindness.

On Thursday, Abbey and I had our long awaited (three/four years) date: all three Lord of the Rings movies (extended editions, of course) in a row. Almost 12 hours worth, and powered by chinese food, pizza, numerous diet cokes, candy, and of course... puppy chow. I forgot how good and solid those films were. A few other people popped in and out of the films, but the only one who was strong enough to join the mammoth marathon was Abbey's pastor, Steve. Very funny man.

So, with the three Lord of the Rings movies, The Good Shepherd, High School Musical, Pirates of the Caribbean 2 (which I rewatched as I couldn't sleep), and the movie I saw with Aunty D and Jim last night (Rocky Balboa - fun, and probably much better in context - I still haven't seen any of the original 512 Rocky Movies. In fact, I only saw my first Rambo movie a few months ago. That was brilliant.), I've seen 7 movies already this year. That's not counting, of course, the four episodes of te new season of Lost, or the behind the scenes footage of The Usual Suspects which Abbey bought. I'm doing well.

And today (okay, I wrote this over several days, but you get the point), Donnave and I went to Dallas and went to the former Texas Book Depository. Which was very cool. There was a very detailed museum about the JFK assassination, and all that. It's interesting to contrast that seemingly small and insignificant and yet still world-changing place/event with the World Trade Center site. But I really don't have time to write down all of my thoughts about that here and now!

By the way, I am thinking of changing my blog address, to make it more difficult for googlers to find me. So if, one day, my blog is gone, just e-mail me to get the new address. Hopefully, you won't be able to find it otherwise.

I should go. We're about to play Axis and Allies, and I need to read the rules. I really feel that this blog isn't even scraping the surface of my time here - I've only really talked about places, not people. And there are some wonderful people here. I'm just a bit overwhelmed by it all, so I'll try and make my comment on that later. Then of course, there are other things I should comment on... but not now. Not this day!

God bless y'all.
- posted by Sam @ 1:53 PM

 
Two thousand and seven!
Here I am in Abbey's home in Texas, blogging in the new year. That's pretty crazy. First up, apologies for the lateness of the blogging - I would have liked to have done it sooner, but it's been surprisingly hard to a. find time and b. find internet access. Which is generally a good thing.

Anyways, you don't wanna hear about that, you want to hear about what I've been doing here. Well. I spent the last nine days in New York (from Saturday 23 to Monday 1 - well, technically Tuesday 2, at 7am). I saw four shows on Broadway: Avenue Q (very funny); The Producers (starring Tony Danza! He can sing and dance! Good show, too...); Spamalot (hilarious, although I knew most of the jokes from the movie MP and the Holy Grail - the songs were new and fabulous, though); and Wicked (after waiting in line for a total of about 8 hours over four days - but it was totally worth it!). I also saw a bunch of movies, whether on small individual Air New Zealand screens (Out of the Blue and half of Pirates of the Caribbean 2), DVD players (Once Were Warriors - good Christmas Eve movie [first time I'd seen it]! - and High School Musical (had to show Abbey) or movie theatres (Blood Diamond [good, quite similar to the Constant Gardiner], Pan's Labyrinth [excellent] and The Good Shepherd [very long and complex, but also very good].

What else did we DO... walked through most of central park (a very long way, but it was good). I went to the Metropolitan Museum (ancient Egyptian art and Picasso were the highlights) and the Museum of Modern Art, aka MoMA (Picasso was again headlining, but there were heaps of others too - Warhol, Van Gogh, Matisse, Pollock, and more - some of the contemporary stuff was awesome, too... I'm so cultured). Went to a number of Christmas displays, went to Staten Island, went to Century 21 (still the hands-down best shop in the entire world - we need one in New Zealand), ate out a lot... got incredibly familiar with the Manhattan subway system.

And you know what? Even though I packed a huge suitcase full of winter gear, and bought shoes especially - it did not snow once! I know! Not even for Christmas! It's kinda good though, because it made things more comfortable, and meant that I had not much room in my suitcase so I didn't go crazy with my shopping. But yeah, it was crazy-warm. And speaking of expectation-defying, I am SO glad to be sleeping in a bed of my own, in a dark, quiet, not-extremely-hot room down here in Texas. Honestly, I hardly slept, which almost made for cranky-Sam time.

But of course, the best part of that part (Act one of three) of this trip was having the family all together again - Christmas and New Years (both of which I spent with Kate in her apartment in Brooklyn - cool place, fun flatmates). Kate (my sister) got a bit homesick as I was leaving (and presumably as my folks left, a little later than I did) - and so did I. That's the way things go, I guess.

So now I'm in Nacogdoches, Texas, where I will be for another few days before Abbey drives me up to Dallas, Texas, to stay with her Aunt Donnave (which I'm looking forward to!). We already had a fun time trying to find the NASA rocket launching pad in Houston, and spent an exorbitant amount of money to go to the hyper-touristy and rather dull Space Center there. But it was good fun.

All in all, this had been a great trip so far. The lack of preparedness (in terms of both what we're doing and where, and also psychological preparedness - getting excited, forgetting about work etc) has been a lesson for me, but it has all worked out. Texas is/will be a lot more relaxed than my time in NY, where I was surrounded by people 24/7 (and we all know how much I need my me time). It's also been a good lesson about putting off difficult/stressful work projects, and having them on your mind over the holiday period (D'oh!). There's a part of me that's looking forward to going home, and getting back to routine, but I think that's because this trip kinda snuck up on me, and I wasn't really excited about it beforehand (because of things like the High School Musical audition, etc). Lessons learned.

All right, I'm out of here. Some guy is drilling a hole in Abbey's window, and it's making it hard to concentrate. Until next time (and who knows when THAT will be!) - Good night, and good luck.
- posted by Sam @ 7:05 AM