Time to go!

Well over the last few months i had the knowledge this time would come, over the next week i'll be packing up all of my stuff and once again going through it to decide what i still want, then on the holyist of easter weekends i'm leaving.
Where to i don't know!





or maybe not since it is actually the 1st of april, that i'll be leaving is true but only because the long awaited relocation is happening (almost 6 months after i first decided it was going to be so). I am moving to the peaceful suburb of Aro Valley to a nice newflat with a garden so as to be able to kick my cat out when he's being annoying. As much as i am looking forward to a change of scene there are some cons of the big move. Firstly the extra 10 minutes walk to work is'nt entirly welcome, my awesome (and quite expensive) Mt Victoria t-shirt (which i 'm wearing right now) now becomes redundant, and finally i now have to put up with the question " Aro Valley is'nt it really damp there" . As an addition getting myself organised to move is also a huge pain in the arse.
Other than that bit of news i suppose a short update is required on my goings on of the last 2 months (sorry i've been lazy ).
I visited jane and family in the beautiful location of nelson for a lazy sunny weekend, (and to see the legend that is the nelson nightlife).
I've finally trained my cat to only pee in his litter box (although i'm dreading having to redo this in a weeks time), he has setteled in fine although he still smells and appears to have a bad taste in music (his tail goes all fluffy when i listen to punk).
Paul came to visit for the start of his big tour of NZ , so i took him to see the classic wellington sights of the top of Mt Vic, Scorching bay and a really windy Makara beach..
Supported guy's new baking hobby by complimenting (and consuming many ) on his great cakes and cookies.
Went on a work trip to Auckland and got to hear all of the sob stories from our stakeholders.
Got drunk a lot,lost a lot of weight (cos i got really fit) then started to regain it as i'm expecting a harsh winter.
Learnt loads of songs for my band in preperation for our first gig on the 12 of april at the big kumara.
Thats about it, in a change from the norm the arival of a borders superstore on lambton quay has meant my CD budget has instead been spent on books, so go out and read perfume by Patrik Suskind

Oh and did someone say sevens photos

Enter the Kitten

Well as i've indicated over the last few posts my time as free living bachelor was to come to an end as i decided it was time for me to become a single parent (the "single" being decided upon the weekend prior) (and presuming that my exploits have'nt led me to any children unknown to me) and so with a slight damage to my wallet (that pre having to pay back loan money has to go somewhere) and a near miss with a random tyre going down the middle of the road i arived to pick up my bundle of "Joy" on a sunny saturday afternoon. This said bundle of joy did'nt have a name yet although official on his papers he's called hector (thanks to me reading the illiad over xmas), the potentials ranged from scotty mcginger to X-phos, we got home uneventfully and the beast was released, a couple of days of setteling in (and sleepless nights as he readjusted to my sleep schedule) it was at this point that i realised that my plan seemed a bit of a spur of the moment thing , now with weeks cat owning experience under my belt let me run over the pros and cons i really should have thought of before hand,



Pros:

Cats are awesome fun to play with

I get unlimited amounts of cat affection

he's cute (and hopefully the chatup line" do you want to come see my kitten" might start working soon)

Cats are good for when your hungover

Accoding to Jane it displays my good parenting skills (and thus my suitability as a boyfriend) !?



Cons:

He smells and cleaning out litter trays is the worst chore ever

My hands are covered in scratches

Cat stuff is expensive and judging from his digestive troubles at present (adding to the smell) he is fussy

He peed in my beloved bean bag

Finding pets ok flats is nigh impossible

Vets are rip-offs (apologies to all the vets i work with)



So i'm still not sure of my decision to get him (although he's being prety cute at the moment and helping my type this).

Anyway for all those who havnt seen him yet heres Jimmy ( i know his ears are huge):





Anyway with a cat in the bag life still carries on (and god things are just going past in a blur) and that along rolled the weekend that 2 years ago made me decide i was coming back for good next time , the IRB Sevens or as it really should be known the excuse to get reeally drunk, wear a stupid costume , perve on the opposite sex wearing a skimpier costume, sing and dance, and maybe watch a bit of rugby. So dressed as a preist (easy to put together although my costume was minus the little boy manakin attached to my groin) and with a budgeted $200 to spend on beer and hotdogs i rolled along to the westpac stadium with the visiting Jo for 16-20 hours of partying. Suitably it did'nt dissapoint , by close of play on saturday, (which happened with a stunning win of samoa against the overcocky fijians where they turned the stadium lights off before the fijians could score there consloation try),i had lost my voice from chanting for PNG and Kenya, i had spent all my money and i had a renewed love for the exponents.
This lead me to come upwith the following proverb:
"Whenever i feel down i remember its always less than 365 days until the next sevens"
On that profound note and safe with the knowladge that i'm going to stun my bandmates tomorrow by knowing the lead guitar to metallicas whiskey in the jar as well the cool riff from knights of cydonia by Muse i leave you to retrun to watching the rain deny england the crickt trophy (oh the irony)

Happy Anniversary

Well as i sit here eating my flatmates vodka choclates and enjoying some rare sunshine on a beautiful wellington anniversary day, i can only reflect that this blog has now been ruining the conent of google searches for a year now. Reminiscing back to my first post "So it begins" of trudging through the endless monotomy of final year uni life, how diffrent things feel now. Well some might say that a year is a long enough time to keep a blog going especially since i only started it to chronicle my emigration, but i say "fuck that" (loudly), the feelingof accomplishment of actually writing an entry although now pretty infrequently is enough alone to keep me spoutting my crap onto the internet. Well rant out of the way lets get updating
Well last post like some kind of lost episode i left you with many unanswered questions, "will he enjoy melbourne", "will he get eaten by a mythical beast", "will his great acting skills get him hired onto neighbours", "willl england ever win a cricket match", "why did they kill of Mr Echo when everyone knows he's the best character"(oops lost S3 spoiler).
Well i arrived in melbourne on the 22nd of december with a flash and a bang, the heavens opened and a tropical storm hit clearing the 1000% humidity in seconds,it also meant i got very wet trying to find the right tram to st kilda, in the end some gay dutch oldman handily pointedme out the way but not before showingme where he lived in case i wanted to visit.
After upgrading my room at the hostel (sharing with fat sweaty barmy army fans did'nt really appeal) and dumping my bag in my bed i went and got drunk with Jo and some birmingham uni guys ( i then had to sleep on my bag when i got home drunk later). The next few days the temperture plummeted, this was of a huge suprise to me since i was in Aus but i was cold (and i did'nt bring a sweater). Anyway after a few days of doing the tourist thing and spending xmas having a windy bbq in the park, it was time for the cricket. Well actually lets not mention the cricket. A couple more days of toruisty trips like out to the great ocean road ( i poked a koala) , and a new years eve fireworks spectacular i was off home.
There the tale ends since returing i have had the joy of lots of work and the excitment of getting my kitten soon (only 5 days away).
Well i'm giving up now as i have a desire to get down to the beach, Go enjoy summer (or winter, hahaha) with some Muse (soon to be played live by my band).
Pictures of Aus are here

Famous Last Words

Well well well,what do we have here, its a blog thats been sitting and waiting for 2 months with no update, well to alleviate my friends and annoy my enemies i'm not actually dead.
Just incredibly busy/lazy and also i've been waiting for confirmation of a major change in my life.
For the last couple of years i have been habouring a semi secret need, those of you who know me well enough will know that i'm very fond of animals. So now i'm independant without the authority of parents or university i decided it was about time i got a pet, but no oridnary pet but a cat,, but no ordinary cat but a pure bred (just so i can lord it over other people), this explains the time taken to arrange ownership since i originally started out with a bid on an abyssinan (http://www.cfainc.org/breeds/profiles/abyssinian.html), then it changed to a somali(http://www.cfainc.org/breeds/profiles/somali.html) and then back to an aby( specifically one of these http://www.abyrose.co.nz/abyssinian_kittens.htm ). and so slightly out of pocket i now have ownership of a kitten from the end of jan. What i'll call him is a toss up between X-phos or Monty, however suggestions are encouraged (and may not necessarily be ignored).

This hunt for a cat then leads into another hunt, the hunt for a new flat, since my current dwellings aren't great cat homes, especially since the breed of choice has a preference for getting run over. So the great flat hunt began at the end of November and still continues (i'm going to see 2 tomorrow)

The problem with new flats is that you have to explain to prospective flatmates that you loudly play guitar and that you have to practice lots because your in a band, thats right with one seemless transition i have informed everyone that i'm in a band, thanks to some creative advertising and the power of expensive equiment i have joined a covers band, which very handily play covers of songs that have played all of my guitaring life (greenday, weezer, muse). so look out scene i think andy is finally catching up!

I think that marks the major changes in the last 2 months , on the minor front i grew a mo as part of movemeber, however after realising what a tosser i looked it was promptly shaved off.
Other than that the roll in to christmass has been slightly easier this time round (less S.A.D) and i have thrashed my way through loads of alcohol as part of the many parties required by this time of year. pictures to come.
On friday i jump on a plane to go to melbourne for the 4th ashes test which by now we have already lost , it also means you'll soon be seeing some Andy on holiday wasted photos.

Other than that my knee is back to full strength (never again will i mock physiotherapy) and the weather has finally after some major hiccups turned good.

That leaves me the joy(chore) of wishing you all a Merry Xmas and a happy new year.
As for me this blo will continue into 2007 (i'm looking forward to its anniversary ) with the previews for now indicating i'll be receving many guests (Paul your gonna get so wasted in wellington) and potentially a secondment to canberra waiting in the wings.

Go out and listen to some David Bowie (no i'm not drunk ) and have an awesome holiday whether your in the UK, Canada, Poland, Australia or in NZ (like Guy who is spending xmas at my house).

Cranked, Spanked and Strained

Well since i have excess time available (for reasons you'll soon learn), i guess i have no excuse not to give a mid-october update. So to explain the title:

Cranked is for cranking the volume upto 11: in other words my fine credit rating has allowed me to go out and purchase a beautiful marshall AVT 100, now the whole street can here the beautiful crunchy overdrive tones of Andy thrashing out punk, this also puts me a step closer to getting a band (all i need now are other members).

Spanked for being absolutly thrashed in soccer through two semi finals and my return to the business games, the only victory being 2-1 against a team we really should of thrashed. Thus i was left pretty soccered out.

Strained for strained knee ligaments, to put and end to my soccers woes i managed to strain my right knee, thus putting me out of action for upto a month (hopefully) and screwing up my plan to go tramping over labour weekend.

Other single word descriptors that explain the last 3 weeks

Wasted: A random off the cuff fruday night out and Marys party allowing for considerable alcohol intakes

Delivered: All my Cds and DVDs final arrived frm the UK

Dissapointed: When you expect better from someone

Jubilant: The mighty waikato win the NPC, meaning i get to lord it over guy

Bored: Stuck on my Arse all of labour weekend thanks to my knee

Relocated: After heavy consideration i've decided to start looking for new flat

Summer: I've bought the summer clothes, so the warm weather better turn up soon

Tunes: Go listen to the new My Chemical Romance album

Done: Au revoir

Wake me up when september ends...

Where the hell did september go then!, this month has thrashed by, since i've been a bit lax in the blogging i'll present the brief september highlights package.

Finally pledged my semi-support (only the mighty waikato get my full support) to wellington in the bore-fest that was the tasman match and then the thriller (and chiller as i'd only gone in a t-shirt) that was the canterbury match.

Continued the sunday dinner trend with such classics as enchiladas and steak

Went to a random house farming part with guy, left 30 minutes later smelling of meths

Bought cool t-shirts, cool shoes and generally upped my whole coolness

Unsually only got drunk only once,

Upped my soccer goal average to 5 goals a match

Continued to longingly eye up amps.

Sorted out my xmas in melbourne (i can't wait)

Forgot everything else i did because the month has flown by.

Anyway as a preview of the october to come i can look forward to the following events:

Mary's garden warming party (complete with the fence that i helpt to stain)
Finally buying the amp that my electric guitar so badly needs
Watching wellington take on canterbury again in the NPC quater final
A halloween themed house warming party


Anyway a kind of half arsed bolg effort but hopefully as the weather gets better blogging will be easier. Go Listen to The Moth by audioslave

The Small Print

Well i could'nt even wait a week to get penning on my next entry (this is primarily because i'm washing my bed clothes so can't be lazy and goto bed early).
This weeks dilema has been what to spend my hard earned wages on, which is actually much harder than it seems. Given that as my last 2 years have been in a form of limbo (although i still bought a guitar (i hope shes still safe in the UKs crime hot spot, rich?)) so i was reluctant to buy too many possesions, this left me generally loads of money to get drunk on and to restock my warderobes after chucking clothes out to meet baggage limits. Now i've developed a large list of absolute necessity possessions, which goes something like the following:
A decent sized (100watt +) amp (for my aspiration of setting up a punk band ).
A sofa
A new bed (i'm not sure how you survived a year in it sion(though when jane gets back maybe she can explain some of the stains))
Some funky artwork for my barren bedroom walls
Some new shoes
Some more ties (for tie friday!)
A car?

And the list goes on and on, the only problem is that I'm too indecisive and by the time i decide on one i usually have spent too much on CDs and DVDs that fortnight to buy it.
Combined with this i have an anarchic desire to break the tenacy rules and get myself a pet,( i was thinking something with lots of shedding hair sion). Though once again this falls into the indecisive thing and i change my mind constantly on what i want.
Given that very soon the student loan folks will start banging on my mums door for some money, i have a weird feeling that maybe i ought to start spending this money on unessecary assets while i still can. (also spending money annoys Guy who is trying his hardest to save for the west indies).

Well enough of my boastings, this week has been a pain in the arse to get out of bed for, though after a cinema trip on sunday i can definatly recommend Thank you for smoking. The healthy eating continues as well as some (ir)regular exercise so i'm actually feeling quite fit for the impending summer (though supposedly El Nino is going to fuck it up(damn spanish global weather patterns)).

Thats it, my sheets are probabaly dry (or at least only mildly moist) by now, and whats that coming over the hill......