The Cricketeer

Yesterday, I was sitting on the couch, innocently reading my book when all of a sudden Ciarin busts in.

Hey bro! You know how to play cricket?
Hmmm.... I saw it on tv once. I can play baseball...?
It's pretty much the same thing come play with us!

So 5 minutes later I found myself sitting in a car, on the way to the cricket pitch (their word for "field"). After a whirlwind explanation of wickets, sticks, stumps (all the same thing), bowling, overs, dismissals, fifers, and a whole host of other terms I don't remember, I was standing in the field with a beer in one hand and a cricket ball in the other. This was a "social" league. And they put the emphasis on "social."

I tried pitching, or "bowling." I'd seen it a few times on TV and figured it was basically pitching but with a running start, and I was half correct. Apparently you're supposed to keep your arm completely straight; you can't break at the elbow like when throwing a baseball. For somebody who has thrown the same way their whole life, this presents a challenge.

But the rest of the game is indeed very similar to baseball. Fielding and catching without a glove is a challenge, and kinda hurts. And you can't wing the ball at a teammate because you might break their hand. But when batting, you can hit a ball and if it doesn't go far enough for your liking, you can choose not to run - that's a funky concept.

We got crushed, 48-28, but it was good times. Who knows? I may even try rugby at some point; it'll probably have to be touch rugby though if I want to keep all my bones intact.

Learning a new town...again

The Downhill

After saying goodbye to my Auckland friends on Saturday night, I boarded the plane to Queenstown early Sunday morning. After checking in at the Qantas counter, they handed me my boarding pass and I glanced down at the seat assignment. Row 1, seat D. Hmmm…I’ve never sat in the front row before. That’s pretty cool. But isn’t the front of the plane usually reserved for first class passengers? I certainly hadn’t paid for a first class fare. Must be one of those planes where it’s just all coach. Shrug.

So you can imagine my surprise when, upon boarding the plane, I found out that the first four rows were indeed separate from the rest of the plane. Wide seats, lots of legroom, nicer pillows and blankets…I checked my ticket again and sure enough, I was assigned to the first row. Sweet! So I sat down and didn’t ask any questions. I took this as a good omen for my move to Queenstown. I had been a little sick so I slept for most of the flight. But after enjoying some nice service we touched down in the Queenstown airport. I didn’t wait long for my bags, and as soon as I walked outside a shuttle into town was getting ready to leave. Everything was flowing smoothly until I turned my phone back on.

I had made the decision to move quickly to Queenstown so that I could get an apartment that I wanted. The tenants had called me on Friday to gauge my interest and I told them that I would be back in town on Sunday to go over the final details of the rental with them. So you might imagine that I was less than enthralled to receive a text message from the tenant.

“Some1 else looked at the room and has decided 2move in straight away,sorry but we needed some1 asap.good luck finding a new home, ceire”

I guess it was too much to ask them to wait a few HOURS for me to arrive that afternoon. ugh.

So now I was homeless, sick, and it had started to rain. NOT the way I had wanted to start my stay in Queenstown. Fed up with living on a couch or in a hostel with 7 other people (which I think is where I got sick in the first place), I checked into a hotel for the night. Nothing fancy, just a room with a real bed where I could sleep without being woken 5 times during the night by people coming and going.

The Uphill

The next day I began my apartment search anew. This is a pretty big tourist town, so it’s fairly expensive to live here, and it was amazing what people were charging for some rooms. I saw one house…the whole thing probably fit on a 30’ x 30’ base. The house was in shambles, but I checked it out anyways. The owner brought me inside and said “here it is!” I was confused…one room, divided in two by a sheet. Kitchen on one side, living room with a decrepit couch on the other. Where’s the room? Over in the corner he pulled up a board, exposing a ladder that leads underground. Surprised and pretty much convinced I don’t want live there, I checked it out anyways. The room is smaller than my old single in alley 2, and COLD. I thank him for showing me the room and tell him we’ll be in touch.

But later that day I ran into Cairin, Andrea’s boyfriend. I met Andrea in Auckland about 6 weeks ago, and she’s been living in Queenstown for about a month now. I had met Cairin the week before and told him about my housing dilemma. “Well bro, if you need a place to stay for a couple weeks, my roommate is moving out tomorrow.” Bingo! But that wasn’t enough. He knew that I was looking for some bar work and took me over to a bar, introduced me to the manager, and got me a trial shift there. No problem.

The next day I brought my stuff over to Cairin’s place and continued to look for some full time work. Most of the fun, adventure, outdoors-type stuff around here requires experience, and those that don’t are super competitive. So that’s pretty much limited my options unless I want to go back to working in a kitchen (which wouldn’t be so bad I guess; there are ads for cooks all over town here). But there is one bright prospect.

Queenstown is one of the only places in the world where people do river surfing. I described it earlier, but the basic idea is to go down a river with whitewater rapids on a boogie board. It’s supposed to be absolutely crazy. But the cool thing is, since so few places in the world do it, the companies here assume that you have no experience. So I found a company that’s willing to train me to be a guide, but it takes at least 6 weeks, during which I won’t get paid. But it sounds like a super fun job, so I’m gonna go check it out within the next few days.

This apartment is real nice. The whole complex is only 6 months old, came fully furnished, and equipped with some awesome views. And since I’m sharing a room with Cairin, the rent is less than it would have been at the house with the underground room. It’s about 10 minutes from town – not the most fun walk to have when it’s raining. But worth it for this:



Sweet as.

It’s Official

I’m moving to Queenstown. Tomorrow. It’s short notice and I actually wouldn’t mind staying in Auckland for a few more days (now that I officially know that I’m leaving). But there’s an apartment that I might want to take and am afraid that they’ll give it away if I wait too long. But more about that later. Before we get to that, my first few days in

Queenstown: The Adrenaline Capital of the World

It’s a pretty bold statement for any city to lay claim to the title of any “[insert adjective/noun/grammar thingy here] capital of the world,” but Queenstown may be justified in theirs. Here’s a brief sampling of some of the activities available in Queenstown (in the summer): skydiving, bungy jumping (3 sites), hang gliding, parasailing, paragliding and a street luge track. They decided that the standard activities weren’t enough so decided to go ahead and invent their own activities.

The canyon swing is like bungy jumping, but a lot gentler. Start at one side of a canyon, 109 meters above the river rushing below. Your harness is hooked to a wire that is stretched across the canyon, effectively forming a huge…swing. Gather the courage to jump off the platform and realize that unlike your standard playground swing, your rope is not taut. After screaming and freefalling for about 60 meters, the ropes are stretched to their full length and you arc out over the river, swinging back and forth in an arc that’s about 200 meters long. The swing comes to a stop after about a minute and you get to enjoy the view, suspended in the canyon, about 10 meters above the waters below. One of the really fun part about this activity is the wide variety of ways you can leave the platform. Unlike bungee jumping, you can leave the platform in almost any manner and still be safe. Here I’m releasing backwards…just kinda leaned back and pushed off. I know I look like I’m relaxing, but I’m actually screaming:


But it was so much fun that I had to do it again. The second time I did a style they lovingly refer to as “Gimp Boy Goes to Hollywood.” They hung me upside down and made me wrap my feet around the rope and extend my arms, so I’m staring at the canyon floor. “Do you want a countdown?” they ask. “Three, two…” POP they release the pin and before I know it I’m hurtling through the air. Whew. Scary.

And then there’s river surfing. Queenstown is inland, a few hours away from any decent surfing (of the typical kind). So they went ahead and invented river surfing, or sledging. I haven’t done it yet, but the idea behind it is pretty crazy. Get on a boogie board, strap on a helmet and a wetsuit, and fly down a river on it. No problem, if you’re going down Corte Madera Creek. But the rivers in Queenstown have lots of whitewater, their fair share of class III and above rapids. Let the craziness begin. I can’t wait.

I also got the chance to go bungy jumping. Never really thought I’d have so much fun just…falling…but it was great. I was pretty nervous during the bus ride out to the jump site, but once I walked out on the bridge, I was just stoked to go. I jumped off the Kawarau bridge, the site of the first commercial bungy setup in the world. The jump is 43 meters, and the view from the jump pod is simply stunning. Setup over a river, jumpers get to see this:


And then they look like this:

I was SO amped after jumping. Heart thumping, I pretty much sprinted up the steps back to the jump office and immediately signed up to jump at the other two sites in Queenstown. There’s the ledge, where you take a gondola up this HUGE hill to a site that overlooks all of Queenstown. That one’s 47 meters. And then there’s the Nevis. At 134 meters tall, it gives the jumper about 8 and a half seconds of free fall. No surprise that it’s one of the biggest jumps in the world. I’m going to do it. I’ve made myself a promise. Now it’s just a question of when.

Queenstown as a City

reminds me a lot of Tahoe. Gorgeous lakeside resort town with access to amazing ski fields during the winter – it’s pretty easy to make the comparison. Check out my pictures link on the left for more pictures. It’s just smaller, with a permanent population of about 8500. But since there’s so much stuff to do, it’s a super popular tourist destination. Even if you’re not into scaring yourself so much that people start using words like “sheet” and “ghost” to describe you (people get really PALE at bungy sites), there’s more natural beauty around that I can even begin to comprehend or describe. Airplane tours, boat tours of the lake, hiking, river tours on powerboats, vineyard tours – there’s really something for everybody there. Which is why I’m moving there. I’m hoping to get a job with the bungy company. Or maybe the skydiving company. Or the canyon swing company. Or anywhere I can do stuff every day that really makes my heart scream like it did during that first jump.

I saw a sheep! And then hundreds more

Getting out of Auckland

I’ve finally had enough of Auckland. I’m not sure what the final tipping point was but I think it might have been when I went in for a trial shift at a nearby bar. First a quick explanation about “trial shifts.” In the New Zealand hospitality industry (and I presume other industries as well), getting hired isn’t as simple as having a sweet interview or a manager who likes you. Your first few shifts are termed “trial shifts,” and involve training and evaluation. One is generally paid for these shifts, but it’s often in cash and at a lower wage than the job will ultimately pay. The trial shifts usually result in actually being “hired” as a real employee (I only know one person who wasn’t hired after a trial shift), but you’re still “on display” and want to be on your game during the shifts so that you get the job.

Back to this specific trial shift… I had spoken with a manager several days earlier about doing some bar work for them and as most managers do, she told me to come in for a trial shift. One thing that was a little odd about this trial shift was that they wanted me to come in on Friday night. Most places start you out on a slow night to see how you do, but at this bar they just throw you to the lions and if you make it out alive, you’re pretty much hired. So when Empire Tavern called earlier in the week and offered me a shift on Friday, I turned them down. And when I did my day shift at La Zeppa on Friday and the executive chef asked me to work a double shift through the evening, I told him that I wasn’t available. The trial shift was to run from 10:00 PM – 6:00 AM so I came home early and had a nap, ate a late dinner, showered, did all the stuff that anybody else would do to prepare for their first day on a job. So when I walked in for my shift, I was ready.

But they weren’t. Apparently, somewhere in the days between when I spoke to the manager and that Friday, she had forgotten to inform the staff that I would be coming. And this meant that there wasn’t anybody who could show me around. Nevermind the fact that the place was deserted at that hour and four bartenders were standing behind the bar, not doing anything. Clearly nobody was qualified to show me how to work the till (not complicated) or their technique of pouring layered shots (the same as everywhere else) or how they renamed standard drinks (they call a jager bomb a “trainwreck,” for reasons I still don’t understand). The manager on duty at the time asked me to come in the following night and was unmoved when I told him that I had given up two other shifts to come in for them. The real kicker came the next morning when my roommate Brady, who also works that bar, staggered out of bed and told me that they could have really used an extra pair of hands the night before.

So I gave notice at all my jobs and officially returned to “unemployed” status. And what’s an unemployed 22 year old to do? The answer is simple; go spend money and visit…

The Northlands

I booked a pass a few weeks ago with a bus company, Stray travel. They have a route that goes all over New Zealand, and I can get on and off the route as I please. So I decided that it was finally time to put the pass to good use and traveled north from Auckland to a region known as The Bay of Islands. As you college graduates might be able to deduce, there’s a bay. And there’s islands. Lots of islands.

The trip up to the Bay was an entertaining one, but in typical Eagle Scout “be prepared” style, I had packed my camera away in my pack and wasn’t able to get to it during the trip so have no fascinating pictures to tell the story of the trip. First stop on the bus tour was to visit an 8000-year old Kauri tree. Kauri wood used to be one of the main exports of New Zealand because its wood is very hard and mostly free of knots, making its trunks a prime choice for use as a ship’s mast. The trees are of spiritual importance to the Maori people (the indigenous people of New Zealand) and nowadays there remain less than 1% of the original Kauri trees, so they are protected as strongly as any endangered species might hope (can trees hope?). The visit to the tree was followed by a short walk through the forest where we learned about more of the native flora. I think my favorite tree was the one that looked kind of like a palm tree but had a Maori name that roughly translated to “no coconut tree.” I guess some Maori guy climbed the tree and when he didn’t find any coconuts, he named it accordingly.

Next stop was Goat Island, the first marine reserve established in New Zealand. It’s a small tidal area and has little macroscopic life, save some fish swimming in the channels between the rocks. There’s no feeding allowed but we sprinkled a few crumbs in the water and watched the fish come around to check us out (shhh don’t tell the DoC). The two main species there were snapper and a completely blue fish, called a maomao. I’d never seen blue fish before except in Dr. Seuss books, so that was a really wierd experience. During the summer some people go snorkeling at Goat Island but it was windy and cold that day so it was a short stop. BUT, leaving Goat Island, I saw my first sheep in the country of New Zealand! They were merrily munching on somebody’s garden so the bus driver got out and scared them away; I’m sure they came back as soon as we left.

Onwards and northwards towards the Bay of Islands. We stopped in a few tiny towns to grab food and make use of the facilities, but it was in the town of Kawakawa that I truly came to the realization that I had chosen the right bus company. I had never heard of Frederick Hundertwasser, but apparently he was a very highly regarded Austrian painter and sculptor who happened to also love New Zealand. He had a second home in the town of Kawakawa, where he could live in relative anonymity out of the public eye. So in 1998 when the Kawakawa city board was looking to upgrade their public toilets, Hundertwasser offered his design services. If you’ve ever been to Parc Güell in Barcelona, or seen any of Gaudí’s architectural work, imagine that, but as a public bathroom. That’s a pretty close representation of what we saw there in Kawakawa. Now I’m no “toilet aficionado,” but I’m fairly confident in saying that I think it will be a while before I see a more unique and original public toilet. If this intrigues you, go look him up on the intarweb.

Paihia

The ultimate destination of this travel day was a small seaside town by the name of Paihia with a population of about 1800 people. Although the town is tiny, it swells with people during the summer. People with boats flock there to visit the islands and enjoy the weather. There are activities for everybody, mostly involving boats of some sort. Some people sail, some people go looking for marine mammals, some people power around the islands being jealous of other people who have houses on the islands, and some go out to “the hole in the rock,” which is just an island where water has done its erosion thing for thousands of years, resulting in a hole…in the island. There they go again with the creative naming.

Another popular activity is to take a tour up to Cape Reinga and visit the northern tip of the island. Several bus companies go up there, putting the skills of their drivers to the test as they maneuver their huge buses through windy gravel roads (the last 20 km on the road up to the tip is unmaintained gravel). There’s lots of gorgeous scenery, and it’s pretty cool to see where the Pacific Ocean meets the Tazman Sea, but the best part of the day is sandboarding. In among all this lush greenery, there are some sand dunes. I haven’t a clue as to how or why they developed, but they’re BIG, probably up to 100 or 150 feet tall. Now in any other country, people would leave well enough alone and let the dunes be. But this is New Zealand! And so somebody figured out a way to fly down these dunes at high speed; I wouldn’t expect anything less from the Kiwis. So we hiked up the dunes, lay down on boogie boards, and let fly. It was awesome, except the hiking part. I only went 4 times before my legs decided they’d had enough. But I did manage to get some fun pictures, like this one.

While I was in Paihia, I did pretty much everything I could. Went out to the hole in the rock, found some dolphins, went up to cape Reinga, kayaked up a river surrounded by mangroves, and even found a potential job. The deckhand on one of the boats that I was on is leaving his job in a week or so. So I’m going to go scope out Queenstown next week and if it isn’t awesome, I’m moving to Paihia. The town and the weather were just so beautiful…it was the first time I’d worn shorts since coming to New Zealand. And we all know what a pansy I am when it comes to weather. I’ve been spoiled by California.

Next week: Queenstown, the adrenaline capital of the world. If I gather the courage, I’ll be throwing myself off perfectly stable platforms and out of perfectly functional airplanes. Or maybe I’ll just enjoy the gallons and gallons of wine grown in that region.

I’ve started to put pictures online as you’ve likely figured out by now: click here.

The First One!

Intro

By now you know that I didn't actually drop off the face of the earth... I've just been on the other side. For almost a month now, I've been living in Auckland, New Zealand. I've finally gotten sort of settled in (you'll see what I mean) and so figured it was finally time to answer all those deep meaningful questions everybody has about my experience thus far, like "do you live in a tent?" (no), "do they speak english there?" (they claim to, but half of the time I can't understand them), and my personal favorite, "have you seen a sheep yet?" (how many sheep do you know that live in big cities... also no). I have a lot to tell and I’m sure that most of you aren’t interested in ALL of it, so I’ve tried to break it up somewhat. I’ll try to add more here as more happens, so I don’t bombard everybody’s inbox with emails.

The first weeks

I landed here about a month ago, via Seoul, Korea... but as those of you who understand geography know, Korea isn't exactly "on the way" to New Zealand - it was just the cheapest way to get here. The whole trip took about 30 hours so once I finally got to my hostel, I stank like something funky. I wrote an email to my parents to let them know I was alive, showered and slept almost straight through to the next day.

The next week was filled with lots of walking around, getting my bearings and exploring the city. The weather was pretty poor…often raining and cold. On those occasional days that the sun DID peek out, it would disappear just a few minutes later – what a tease. Over the course of the week, I met a few Americans, and through one of them, a group of Canadians. Also staying at the hostel were primarily people from Brazil, Switzerland, Holland, Germany, and Britain. Lots of Brits. Everywhere.

Auckland

Auckland, as a city, is not that amazing or unique. It’s pretty much like any other big city, just not as cool. A while ago there was a big power outage in Auckland that lasted something like 9 months. During this time, the business ran on generators but there weren’t enough to go around, and some business couldn’t afford to share generators. So lots of them moved just outside the power outage area and set up shop again. As a result, instead of one centralized “downtown” area, there is one small main area and several “satellite” areas… all of which are too far to access by foot to make working in one and living in another feasible. In addition, Auckland city is similar to Los Angeles…just as LA county sprawls out for miles, as does Auckland; a car would be very helpful (except that I’d probably crash it since they drive on the other side of the road… I still don’t really know how to walk across the street safely).

For about a week, I toyed with the idea of moving out of Auckland immediately. Thing is, most of the other reasonably sized cities are south…implying even worse weather. And if you know me, you probably also know I’m a bad weather pansy. So at least for now, I’m staying here; once the weather improves I’ll probably take a bus tour of the two islands and try to choose a different city to move to.

After staying in the hostel for about two weeks, I moved into an apartment with two Canadians. It’s up a hill and on the 14^th floor so we have a pretty cool view of the Auckland harbor. But it’s certainly no OCA; it’s pretty small and only has two bedrooms… so I’m living on the futon/couch that’s probably one of the more uncomfortable things I’ve ever slept on. Here's a picture...oooh it looks so deceivingly comfy

But I’m paying the least in rent so I guess it all works out. I’ll probably try to move out before too long, after I get the whole job thing sorted out. Which brings me to…

Jobs

In Auckland. Despite being a Bachelor of Science and having been admitted to all of its rights and privileges, I seem to have pretty much no employable skills. I visited probably ~50 bars/restaurants and retail stores in the area around where I live, looking for work. Kitchen, bar, sales, anything. Most places were gracious and pulled the “we’ll keep your CV on file and let you know if anything comes up,” and a few places even called me back. But for the most part, the phone has been silent. I think my favorite was an Italian restaurant in the viaduct (an area with lots of trendy bars and restaurants). After he inquired about my experience, the guy snorted, looked at me like I was trash and said “here? Not a chance.” I was floored - not even a “sorry kid I just don’t think you have enough experience.” Just “not a CHANCE.”

But I did manage to get a job as a kitchen hand at a pretty nice restaurant called La Zeppa. They do lots of small dishes…no real main courses, sort of like how they do tapas in Spain. So that’s been ok – mostly the same kind of work I did at Mannion’s, but with LOTS more dishes. Even the “slow” nights are really busy because they let the other kitchen hand (who’s been there for 8 months or so) go out and work the larder (the cold food station) in the front kitchen, so my work effectively doubles. The staff there is pretty cool, but I’m tired of coming home from every shift with my jeans soaking and smelling funny from doing so many dishes. I think that my time there is limited and will likely leave soon.

I’m also doing bar work at a nearby bar, Empire Tavern. It’s split work – some back bar stuff but they’re also training me on the front bar, which is convenient since no other place was willing to do so. It’s hard work and also entails doing lots of dishes, but it’s nowhere near as intense as La Zeppa. For example, even when I’ve washed every dish at La Zeppa, I’m doing something like peeling kumura (a crazy New Zealand vegetable that has knobs on it, making it a major pain to peel) or making mashed potatoes or cranking out wontons. I think in the first two days that I was at La Zeppa, I probably made on the order of 500 wontons or so. Yesterday I made 15 liters of mashed potato (but rather than mash it, I had to hand crank the potatoes through the thingy you use to make applesauce. I’ve done more enjoyable things in my lifetime). So I’d like to stay at Empire and do more work there, but since I have so little experience, I just pick up a shift here or there when they need.

I’ve also been trying to get a job at retail stores, like quicksilver, or somewhere they sell outdoor gear or sporting goods. But most places are already full and won’t need staff until the holidays, when in addition to the “holiday rush,” they also have the “summer rush” since so many people come here to visit over the summer months of December – February or so. But I think that I’ll be out of Auckland by then (shhh…don’t tell my bosses). I’m considering moving to Paihia, which is a small town about three hours drive north of Auckland. It’s probably too small of a town for me to enjoy right now, but apparently the population swells during the summer, and they do all sorts of cool things like diving and sailing and swimming with the dolphins. How cool would it be if I could get a job working on a boat that takes people out to go swim with the dolphins every day? In a word, I think that would be… AWESOME. So if you happen to know anybody who owns a company that takes people out to swim with dolphins, put in a good word for me.

My Friends (OH canada)

I live with two Canadians, Bud and Brady. Bud is kind of like…me. He’s tall and skinny and kind of a nerd. But he’s a theatre nerd, which reminds me of me a few years ago. But his dad is a computer tech, so we make nerd jokes and say things like “snarfle” and “roflcopter.” Brady is huge; 6’ 8” and one of the most sarcastic people I’ve ever met. Even more sarcastic than Patrick, if that’s possible (I love you Patrick). They came here together from Canada, and intended to move away from Auckland immediately but then ended up spending too much money and are now working, trying to save their money back up to move in a few months. Bud is a waiter at La Zeppa and Brady works at two bars down in the viaduct (that trendy area I mentioned earlier). Even though neither of them have been to college, they have more experience in the hospitality industry than I, and had little problem finding a job.

We mainly hang out with Lauren, Joanna, and Callum. Joanna, also Canadian, is a waitress at a nice restaurant on the water down by the harbor. Callum is Scottish, or British, or Welsh, or Irish… we don’t really know. He works on boats, shimmying up masts and cleaning bilges and other associated fun things. The other day we went and hung out on the yacht that he’s working on…180 feet long. Cost about 150 million USD to build, about 5 million USD to keep it running every year. omg. Lauren, ANOTHER Canadian, works at a juice bar and also for a bus company pestering people on the street and giving them flyers that travel from her hand to somebody else’s hand to the trash can.

I also have a few Mexican friends that I hang out with. They are here to learn English, so I try my hardest to prevent this by using them to practice my Spanish. I know I’m selfish, but they get to practice English in school all day.

My Free Time

I’ve been here almost a month now and just two days ago went running for the first time. As I jogged away from my apartment I was surprised at how good it felt. I was running downhill. About five minutes later I was rudely reminded why running is so…HARD. And could barely walk the next day. But I went again today, and have even been looking into joining track clubs. Most of them are pretty far away, but their competition season is coming up and my spikes are just begging me for some action (stu I’m gonna swoop on you when I get home).

I’ve tried to find some pickup soccer or Frisbee games, but people here just LOVE rugby so much that I literally haven’t seen anybody playing soccer. And I live about 3 blocks away from a park! Might have to take up rugby, but would like to make it back home in one piece.

Apart from that, I’ve just been doing whatever it is that people do. Cooking food, getting things for the apartment, watching movies, hassling people trying to get internet set up, cleaning up the apartment, and missing everybody at home.

That’s all for now, folks. Check back here in a few days or so; hopefully I’ll have more glorious and interesting things to tell. Miss you all.