We have a high sense of self-Estima!

I also published 2 posts today, so read the one below if you're pedantic about chronological order...

Hello. My Mum emailed me letting me know I hadn't updated this for a while and more often then not she's right, writing it for her, Dad and Ali plus the handful of lovely friends that keep tabs on my ramblings, plus writing it for me in the future to remind me what a awesome time I had, no doubt in 15years I'm shaking my fist at my younger self wanting more detailed updates.

We've had a hectic month. It's been pretty routine-y though has certainly had it's highlights. We both are starting to get itchy feet, as well as cold feet as it's been really fucking cold here at times. Work is getting Hannah down a bit, she's ready to move on. So in order to be in a position to do so we wrote a to-do list, partly because I'm still a child and find it hard to do stuff unless it's written down and I can show someone I've accomplished something.

The coolest update is we bought a van. A Toyota Estima, 1996 and cloudy-green glass colour. It's the first ever car we've both owned. Hannah's brother kindly took us to the car market where we had a look at a few of them and found this one, 115k and unconverted. The bloke selling it was a dealer though didn't say he was, he was the trusting bastion of being half Greek and half Russian. We got it checked out by a Mechanic who said it was one of the better ones he seen, and in true Cheeseman fashion went to work haggling. Out of pure stubborn-ness I spent 10mins knocking an additional 50bucks off as I wasn't keen on the bloke, then as me and Hannah got the dosh out the ATM I got my maths wrong and overpaid him the $50.

It's lovely having a car, it's been raining and Hannah has booked a couple of Sundays off so we've got a few things planned. Going to do a Tree Rope adventure course in nice weather, go to the hot springs in bad weather, and going to Countdown doesn't take half a morning and look like an amateur version of Worlds Strongest Man, both of us with a couple of bags in each hand staggering forwards in vests and the lip between the teeth, blood drew. We need to sort out insurance and then start converting it. At the moment it's got 7 seats which is cool. About six of us are planning a Ski Weekend away in the mountains, and would be really cool to go down in one car and have a right laugh.

Other cool things to happen, we polished off the Star Wars films. Now started on the Terminators! Football has been good, we had 2 byes, lost one and won the most recent one. Went to Footy training tonight and smashed a beauty, a proper ISS 98 style volley. Been boot-camping Tuesday and Thurs, really enjoying it and getting fitter. Haven't been to Yoga in a while, we have a 6 session ticket thing for a place in Newmarket, should start going again. Went the Theatre last week, my mate Toto was in a play called Cat and Mouse, was very good, hung out after with his friends, some very cool and interesting people who have done interesting shit. I spoke to the bloke who wrote and directed the play, was a lovely chap, he's written a few things for Kiwi TV and was thinking of moving to LA as his dream is to write for the Simpsons.  I found it refreshing to meet someone with an ambition that he was trying to realise. I'm still waiting for lightening to strike, inspiration on what to do with myself. I'm not that fussed about it right now, I'm having a ball achieving my short term ambition (have lots of fun and do cool shit) though would be nice.

Our Flatmate Bex moved out today, she's starting Uni and a room got free with her friends so she's off. We have a new girl moving in shortly, a textiles working called Zoe.

I got my NZ driving license. In the most dreary AA building I took my completed forms, photocopy's and money to the lady behind the desk, who looked almost as dreary as the building, and waited while she did her thing. I passed the weird Eye test thing, which has three lines of letters though both Adam and Simon could only see two and somehow cheated and passed. Then it came to the photo-taking bit. She sat me in the chair, perked right up and said "I want your happy drunk face". I obliged thinking she'll get me to do the standard mug shot straight after, but no. So my license came and looks like this...

Good night x

Polar Blast!

Hello, I wrote this a couple of weeks ago though didn't push the 'publish' button because I'm special

NZ is being hit with a Polar Blast at the moment, snow is hitting the coasts and it's fucking cold and rainy. They're calling it a 'weather bomb'. I went to boot camp though it pissed it down with cold rain and wasn't feeling it, so ran home to eat, cooking up a mean roast.

I'm kinda failing at posting weekly though they're hard to keep track of at the moment. I only know it's been a couple weeks since I last posted as we've played footy twice, loosing 2-1 and drawing 2-2. It's been a good two weeks. Went to the pub to watch the ABs then smashed Hannah at darts. Been enjoying yoga, we finished the original trilogy of Star Wars (I might have made a Darth Vader finger puppet at work the day after...), 

It's been quite an interesting couple of weeks of news for NZ. Normally I don't care much for news, it's a showpiece of how fucked we are. Although I've grown to love Kiwi news, how it very much is Kiwi news, so most sport pieces start with the ABs or Warriors, or the news starts with the weather here or some other quirky story. Like recently a English kid fell 15 floors trying to drop into his balcony from his neighbour's flat above. Only in NZ would a lady let a strange drunk man into her flat at 2am when he says he wants to drop down into his balcony like it's a normal thing. The kid didn't even scream. Somehow he'll make a full recovery. 

Or Sky TV have lost the rights to the English Premier League. They've lost it to a new Internet company who will provide every single game live and on demand with a variation of packages from 3-5 bucks a week. That's 380 games for at most $200 a year. I found this really interesting. Firstly, this only cost them a reputed $600,000 (this number may be wrong), and Sky said that was too expensive. Secondly, they narrowly beat a new free to air sports channel. Also normal TVNZ1 will show a game each week, as well as an hour highlights show every Monday. NZ has just become a little more attractive to live in!

Also a burglar was robbing a house and bumped into a hung up body in the dark, scared the shit out of him and called the police.

*I've also been coerced into saying I didn't smash Hannah at darts, it was her first time and she improved rapidly.

I still like you Liz

We had a 3 day weekend just gone for the Queen's birthday and had a cracker.

Played football Saturday, smashed them 7-0 then cooked Hannah dinner and had a quiet one. Had a great day Sunday, went to Nikau Cave, 2hours out of Auckland almost on the west coast, on Farm land where this family found a cave full of Glow-worms, Staglamites (sp?) and Stagalitites (sp?), was awesome. Drove down with Adam, Sarah, Johnny and Katherine. They roasted their own coffee down there, which was awesome, and had a super special pizza. The caving bit was really cool, mostly following the stream, in some bits thigh deep, including a special squeezed bit (specially for Adam who's a big bloke), where we slipped between and crack and crawled through a 15m tunnel Army-Style in the water. Had a great day. Monday was spent chilling and we started looking at Vans.

During the week we yoga'd, went to Boot Camp where I attempted to join the 500 club, 100 Squats, Sit ups, Burpees, push ups and 20m shuttles in 25min, I failed, managed 423 all together, next time... Work   has been good, went out for drinks on Friday with the team, had a mate over for dinner and a movie, seen a lot of Hannah as her roster has been very kind to us recently. We also went to the FoodStore for our friend Liz's birthday, had Paua to start (devine, like a posh seafood Chowder) then me and Hannah shared a venison and an Eye fillet. It was a great evening round a big table, with Liz and friends, as well as her partner's family.

Other stuff you may want to know or I may want to read again in a few years time or whenever...

- My 'Smart'-phone reset itself for some reason, losing all my photo's. My fault as I didn't back them up so not going to cry or moan about it, though had some really cool shots in and around Auckland. Sunsets, rainbows, landscapes, my Darth Vader Cake that Shelley made me, a few funny pics of people, the massive Santa on Queen St - (Ali, I don't know how to use Hannah's Mac, so if you Google Map 'Queen St', on the intersection of Queen and Victoria St, you can't miss it, it's the 50ft Santa...). Also had some really cool pics of sporting events, all 3 international England Black Caps Cricket games, where during the breaks they let everyone on the pitch so you see 300 games of mini cricket, rugby and football which was awesome, Super15 Rugby, Provincial Rugby, an NRL game, they were cool.

- It's been 2 years since I left home. Today is Day 734. Fuck yeah. I remember in my first couple of weeks of traveling talking to Pat (of Pat and Ellie fame, the Aussie's whom I spent most of Italy with. Ellie met a English boy she liked, Tom, who was with magician Josh, and he liked her, and now she's in Southampton with that boy and Pat's engaged!) Anyway, talking to Pat about why I'm traveling and the grand plan I had before myself, how my attitude was 'I'm never going to be able to do this again so I'm doing it now', and he said that was bollocks and was a rubbish way of thinking and not true, and I had me a little epiphany. *Sorry - my flat isn't the most soundproof and upstairs are having a bit of sex, I say 'bit'... So yeah, have had a great two years.

- Hannah had never seen Star Wars (I know...) so we're watching the Original Trilogy at the moment and loving them, and then no doubt have to watch the prequels out of curiosity only to be disappointed yet consoled by Revenge of the Sith.

This is a Vid that two mates made of their trip, the Daves, from the 'No Shave-a-Asia' and the Game of Fives fame. We met these two boys in Hoi An and took them for a jaunt on our bikes. It's a cool vid, with some bits that I really like, such as casually riding a bike through Asian countryside or beautiful new mountain roads, stumbling upon neat urban areas or hidden waterfalls, sitting in the back of a Pick up (I'm surprised there were no manic tuk-tuk rides in it). There's better done vids out there, though  it's cool how I know these two, they don't try too hard and have a great time.

Hello again

It's sad but true that one of the reasons I haven't updated this is because I couldn't think of a witty/half original blog title post... and that was annoying me, so I thought if I left it I'd stumble upon something, though haven't so we're back to 'Hellos'.

We've had a very good couple of weeks, relatively quiet in a busy way. We went to a posh restaurant for a friend's birthday dinner, went to a mate's sci-fi dance play, been to yoga, been to boot camp, played football a few times, had some more metre pizza, seen some friends, visited Zeffa's for a coffee (I think I spell his name differently every week but he's class), seen a fair chunk of Hannah, had Hokey Pokey and Bacon ice cream, had some drinks, went to footy training, seen some films... we've done loads though struggling to remember it all.

In a similar vein, yesterday was the end of my first year in NZ. I'm not really in a writing mood so not going to attempt anything too meandering or contemplative, though it's been a fucking good year.

Auckland's great, in a take it for what it is yet look round the edges sort of way, like this  vid.

And I got my Visa!

love x

May I get my Visa extension, please...

The week was a mixed one, started off quite good, enjoyed my days, handed my visa extension application in, went to boot camp, though I then came down with something and felt like shit.

I had half of Wednesday off, Thursday and Friday off, which sucked as it was Hannah's Birthday at the weekend, and we were going to go down and do the Tongariro Crossing with Adam and people. They still went and had a great time, with cracking weather.

So this is how the weekend should have gone...

Saturday morning wake up lazily, go for a walk up Mt Eden on a crisp morning with a Zepher coffee in hand, before having a posh brunch and having a nap. Then walking into town, tucking into a little Italian place and sharing two meals, then watching the new Star Trek, which would have been fantastic.

Sunday would have been spent chilling out before heading into town and doing the SkyWalk, 192m off the ground, harnessed in enjoying a beautiful sunset, leaning out back and forward and it would be fucking high. Then we would go round Hannah's brother for a amazing dinner with friends and a natter.

Alas that wasn't our weekend, it was spent in bed or sat down, watching the Batman Trilogy, reading and sleeping. And my football team lost 6-0, our first loss of the season.

Here's traffic in Hanoi, a crazy place to buy a bike and ride around

May...

So it's May and Winter has truly set in, I dusted off the Duffle coat yesterday, we closed the windows and it's been raining so much Football was cancelled because in parts of the fancy artificial pitch we were shin deep in water. Apart from the rain it's been a good week, mixed things up at work with an 'engagement' 2 day thing, where all the teams came together and chatted, did some cool things including have a tour of Sky City's restaurants and it's inner workings, plus a nice Chinese and some drinks.

Chilled out the rest of the week when not at work, went to my friend Ari's graduation ceremony, helped ourselves to champers and canapes... Friday night cooked Hannah a Roast and fell asleep during 'the Illusionist'. The weekend was pretty quiet, had a 5pm kickoff so not much during the day, watched 'Looking for Eric' with our flattie Bex, the Eric masks cracked me up, then went to the game though was called off so had a beer with some of the lads and back to chill out with Hannah.

 Sunday headed off to Oaklands to say goodbye to Gorgeous Alex, who's heading back to France, then hung out at Adam's, Sarah's, Gary's, Ari's and Simon's gaff, did a top notch lasagna and watched Game of Thrones as it was pissing it down, then played Futsal, lost 5-3 to a not great team before coming home to a butternut squash risotto that Hannah rustled up. I missed playing 11-aside footy last week, and not playing this week as it's Hannah's birthday, but this makes up for it, the most Sunday League Goal Ever, complete with the Goalie kicking the post...

The days of April

Hello,

It's Monday night and have a good week since we last spoke. I'm pretty knackered atm, just got back from football training, gonna watch the Crowd goes Wild in a min before crashing out.

We had a great week, both Monday and Tuesday night was spent with Hannah, Hannah did home-made fish and chips which were brilliant, and Tuesday I boot camped, she ABT'd and then we Yoga'd. Had another good session, really enjoying it. Wednesday was a complete chill out getting ready for thursday...

Which we had off for ANZAC day. Hannah worked it so Adam picked me up and along with his mrs Sarah and Simon went off for a walk around Hunua ranges, saw the waterfall and went for a wander up to a reservoir, had a great time. On the way back stopped off for Manwich material and ate too much, before getting shipped off home and walking into town in the drizzle to meet Toto and go see Apocalypse Z. We had a drink before then went to the show, it was an immersive Zombie play, and thought it was shit, no real story, some cool camera shots, but it was people shouting at each other and the crowd were knobbers. It was in this made up space, and reminded of a theme park queue for Hostel at Thorpe park, only done worse.

Friday was back at work for a pretty laid back one, got a metre pizza with Toto, yep, it's a normal pizza by the metre, in it's metre box, magic. Then met up with Hannah for a couple of drinks down Mezze bar and met Shelley, Jenna and Graham for dinner at Tony's steakhouse, had a good evening. Walked home, watched some more Wire.

The weekend was a good one, lazed saturday morning away before playing football. We played top of the league though we did them 3-2, should have won by more. Sat night I cooked Hannah dinner, a decent pork belly thing, then we went to see Olympus has Fallen, which was dreadful. Maybe worse then The Sweeney, which in turn was worse then Taken 2...

Sunday was spent chilling round my friends, cooked them some dinner, watched some Game Of Thrones and played Futsal in the evening, winning 7-3, I played in goal as our keeper was away and didn't do half bad. Spent the rest of the evening watching the last episode of Season1 of the Wire (!).

Here's an example of why I love the Crowd Goes Wild