We drove all day yesterday, through towns like Bulls and Vinegar Hill until we made it to Piakakariki (Piecock for short), a pleasant coastal town an hour North of Wellington.  Mom's cousin, Pru, offered to let us stay at her place for the night.  Pru and her husband, Steve, greeted us on the street and directed us toward a tiny, weatherbeaten ( Read more... )

Another jam-packed day.  Jen and I lazed around a bit in the morning until we had to leave the house around 11.  It was my first foreign driving experience, but I think I got the hang of it after a while, activating the windshield wipers instead of the turn signal just a few times.  Our first stop was the Maori Cultural Center in Rotorua.  Once ( Read more... )

The last two days have been packed.  On Christmas morning we woke up to a ridiculous breakfast spread of tea, mincefruit pies, assorted cookies, chocolates, peanut butter cups (which we brought as we heard they didn't exist in NZ), Pinkys (a NZ candy comprised of pink, strawberry flavored marshmallow covered in chocolate) and pineapple lumps ( ( Read more... )

Sounds overheard in a strange room in a strange country trying to sleep off the jetlag:

strangely familar accents
Snow Patrol, "light up"
"They're coming to take me away, ha ha"
intermittent wind gusts
the sound of food being prepared, metal striking porcelain
Eagles, "Hotel California"

We skipped a day and lost a bit of our souls yesterday as we spent a ( Read more... )

Just got back today from our whirlwind tour of New Zealand. Need time to process everything. But I did keep a travel journal, so I will post that and some pictures soon ( Read more... )

We are in New Zealand now. Too many things to report, so I will just list the animals that we have seen to give you a vague idea how much we have done so far ( Read more... )

The other day a three year old kid said to me in a very matter-of-fact manner, "you know, sometimes I forget how much I like juice ( Read more... )

I am so lame these days. Halloween consisted of me getting home from work, changing into my pajama pants and waiting to see if any kids would come trick-or-treating. No parties, no costume. At least I haven't yet hit the old man stage of my life, where I turn the porch light off on Halloween, and cower in my bed hoping some derelicts don't throw ( Read more... )

So, I was in a group show at Me and You Variety Candy last night with two other artists, Justin Michel (graduated from UCSD) and Allan Ludwig, who is still going to Claremont. I like both their work, Allan's pieces were cryptic drawings with obscure symbols and representational imagery (like a four-headed dog beast, ninjas and architectural ( Read more... )

I guess I am truly blessed by the obscure celebrity gods. Last night, Jen and I attended a party thrown by BET for the Christies' reality show (Doug Christie of Sacramento King fame and his domineering wife, Jackie). My friends Brenden and Ryan filmed the pilot, and it was finally picked up by BET's new channel, BETJ after a couple of years ( Read more... )