Christmas Parties and Surfing
Trip Start
Sep 05, 2007
1
22
71
Trip End
May 01, 2008
Mount Maunganui,
New Zealand
Saturday, December 1, 2007
Christmas is different here; it has more of a "1st of July" feel to it. The "Christmas Spirit" doesn't seem to exist. It is summer which may be part of it, but Christmas Spirit is so lacking that there are almost no decorations around... with the exception of retailers. They have lots of "Commercialism Day" spirit.
Young Kiwi males, in general, are pathetic. A correction; young kiwis on the verge of adulthood are mostly pathetic (plus they are attracted to each pathetic other).
Back to the X-mas party
Me'n my mo
! Apparently I like to complain... It was fun. I ate too much and once again earned the reputation of being able to eat half my body-weight in one sitting. It is funny how you can get to know someone better after drinking with them for 15 min, then you do after working with them for 6 months.Yesterday also marked the last day of Movember. I had a pretty good "mo" going on, and it didn't look too terrible either! At least by comparison.
After my surf lesson a couple weeks ago, I decided to buy a board of my own. I decided nopt to buy a short-board because they are apparently difficult to learn on. The problem with long-boards is that they are expensive and I really would have no idea if I was getting a good used one. So I found a good deal on a "mini mal" at the surf shop I took my lessons at, as they offer a reasonable "buyback" program; if I can't sell the board on my own, they will buy it back from me before I leave (at a reduced price of coarse). I had purchased the board and was admiring it when I looked at the receipt and realized that I had gotten a much better deal than i had expected. Too good, in fact. So I went back and sure enough, they had charged me $650 instead of $750. So I paid the last hundred dollars and went home again. As cheesey as it sounds, it put me in a good mood.
I have been out surfing a lot since I got the board and am still crappy. There is no way a several hour surf tour for newbies would have satisfied me. I have actually been taking off from work early during the week on good days to surf and the other day I was even out past sun-down with Damon (flatmate) surfing. I've also had my first animal attack while surfing! It was bad enough to draw blood from my ankle. I figure it was a crab. Nothing serious, but something going "ape-shit" on your ankle in turbulent waters that you can't see scares the crap out of you, and I am now a little paranoid.
I am proud to say that I have been staying very active lately. Aside from surfing (which is a really good workout), I have been using my gym membership and running on a regular basis. I was even running in the mornings for a while! My current goal is to get in to good enough shape to run all the way up the Mount (I've made it halfway so far, but have always had to walk up the last half). By the time I do that, I figure I will have worked off last night's dinner, or at least my first 4 helpings.
