the girl with kaleidoscope eyes' Journal

5:02pm: Wisdom Teeth
All gone.
It was the most traumatic thing I have ever experienced in my life.

9:55pm: On Vacation (holiday)
Spent 1 night in Hong Kong, 1 night in Cebu, 4 days in Manila, back in Cebu...

My parents have spoiled me with good food.
My grandfather is precious.
We sat in the audience for Wowowee (how Filipino is that?!)
had dinner w/ the CEO of the Filipino Channel (@ her mansion)
sat in the crowd for ASAP Mania, saw mega-stars Piolo, Gary V and Sharon Cuneta
How did I forget? THE JABBAWOCKEEZ performed on ASAP MANIA! I died of happiness. I had no idea they were even going to be there.
We watched the live viewing of Pinoy Big Brother in front of the house, cheered for my reality tv star cousin who's still in the house! 7 out of 24 housemates left! His fans are amazing.

Going to get some dental work done
Beach house this weekend
I wish I could stay longer sigh*

I miss Crease and the bears. Can't say the same for NZ or work. HAHA =P

11:06pm: Costume Day at work
Sometimes I think my boss is like Steve Carrell. Sometimes I think I do work in (American, but NZ) "The Office." In the beginning of November we had a "fun/goofy" day where we dressed up in our favourite characters etc. etc. I loved it since Halloween was a total bust. EVERYBODY dressed up! SOOOO SWEEEEEEET.


I'm proud that our office is so diverse. I work with a lot of nice people with a lot of different stories. My boss is also married to American. He's always teasing me. This is as good as gets for me!

November 2009





More awesomeness here!
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8:08pm: This pretty much sums (most, not all) of it up
Someone recently asked me if I regret moving here. I don't even know how to answer that question! Yes because I love my family and friends and no, because I love Chris.

Honestly, I did not enjoy living here during my first year, and it's only getting better now. My current view of NZ is definitely more positive than it was 6 months ago or even a year ago, but sometimes it was just plain awful. I don't really enjoy Auckland as much as I'd like to, BUT I think my experience would have been completely different if I would have lived in Wellington. Welly is a great city, and I think it would have been a lot more easier for me to adjust there than in an unfriendly place like Auckland. Aucklanders keep to themselves.
...

I just read this long list of of gripes about living in New Zealand.
I have highlighted most of what I can relate to::::::::::::::

"Hey there, I'm an American who immigrated to New Zealand almost four years ago. I'll say up front that I really enjoy living here and I think NZ is great. However, I'm going to try and tell you specific things I don't like about NZ, so this will probably read really negatively. I could write the same things about the States. I could also write an even longer post about what I like about the States or NZ. That said:
(I agree with this introduction. I could say the same.)

- One thing that's really hard to find out until you move here and hear it from other people, so I'm going to warn you up front now: NZ immigration will tell you you qualify under their points system to work here, and maybe that you have a desperately needed skill that there's a shortage of here in NZ. That does not mean anyone will hire you. Kiwis a lot of the time just don't hire immigrants, and yes that includes first-world english speaking immigrants. They almost always want "kiwi experience" which means that before they'll give you a job you have to have already had a job in NZ. Crazy, no? They seem to have the belief that someone doing something like being a receptionist, or writing code, or laying concrete, is significantly different here somehow from anywhere else. They are full of shit. But once you get your first job you'll find getting all subsequent jobs a bit easier.
(I went through this a million times applying for jobs! Even though I had some experience working in news here, it was too concentrated and employers would eventually ask "Why aren't you working for television? You should be working for news." I was stuck. Thankfully, a recruitment agency adopted me and helped me find work.)

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11:51pm: Over The Atlantic @ Cassette #9
On Halloween night, Crease, Jeff & I saw Over The Atlantic (one of my favourite NZ bands). I was half expecting people to be in costumes, but there weren't any. Halloween isn't really celebrated as crazily as in the US.


The opening band from Auckland was so terrible. I won't say who because I don't want to offend. They stood in front of the stage for about 15 minutes after ALL of their equipment was ready to go, DOING NOTHING before their crappy set...they seem to care more about their own "rock star image." Yeah, you're not cool and your band f+cking sucks. Because of this OTA didn't go on until 1:30AM. Not fun because I had work at 9AM the next morning. OTA were amazing! They sound more guitar driven live, shoegazey and some of it reminds me of New Order "Ceremony-ish."

The lead singer is in another side project that's based in Los Angeles. They're actually playing a show in LA at the end of the month. I won't be surprised if he ends up moving there.

10.31.09

11:06pm: I started one of these...
Feel free to ask me any random question... (It can be anonymous)
http://www.formspring.me/jenvegas

1:16pm: Update rant part two
I'm out of commission today. AGAIN. This is a typical Friday night drinks spilling over to Saturday sickness pattern. Sigh* I'm useless!

8:33pm: Why I am lame and flakey...
What it's like living in another country...
I'm eternally "wanting to write essays and novels, so I can catch up with friends from back home"


But outside of my 40 hour work week
There's 10+ additional hours of my daily commuting time
+ spending time with the boyfriend
& trying not to be so anti-social on the weekends
+ I always nap on the weekends
+ I 'm always really anxious and need to unwind and not do anything physically or mentally stimulating 1-2 hours before bed on a week night. Otherwise, I will not sleep.
That doesn't leave me much time to do anything at all.
It's frustrating.

I enjoy doing nothing and having my weekends NOT booked up, so I can accomplish all of the millions of things I never get done.

When I lived in Vegas, I only went out one night a week...if even that?
And yes, I know how counterproductive writing a blog entry about being unproductive is. blah. blah. blah.

Anyway, I really love this song.
They're an electro group from Melbourne, OZ (You probably figured that out.)

11:55pm: I do it at my leisure
I haven't slept much.
The Vegas kids were so much fun. It was out of control, and a bouncer wanted to kill Troy. And a group of Polynesian gangstas almost chased after us due to some drunken verbal diarrhea, thanks to another Vegas kid. How are we still alive?
The guys seriously say that my American accent has turned a little Kiwi.
Big Day Out was amazing. And so was Dizzee Rascal & Dead Prez. (I'm straight up thug)
I made a donation to Haiti. I went to mass.
We watched Entourage.
I'm going to see Camera Obscura tomorrow.
I leave for Hong Kong/Philippines in a little over a week.

8:31pm: 2010 Approval
This year is already so much better than the last.

-We had an amazing weekend in Wellington
-My mum's surgery was successful (spinal surgery, how scary that was!)
-I now have a full-time job
-Vegas friends: Troy, Matt, Paul, Ivan and Matt are going to be here in 2 days! I already know I won't be sleeping much this weekend
-I'm going to Big Day Out to see Dizzee Rascal, Lily Allen, Muse, Calvin Harris, etc. etc.
-Chris and I had a nice weekend in Whangaparaoa with Matt & Jess, lots of drinking games, and discovering how crazily funny Ross is
-The discovery of a NY pizza shop in Auckland (AMEN!)
-Libby sent me two X-mas tops with an old Vegas inside joke, AWWWWW!
-I'm going to Hong Kong/Philippines in 2 weeks
-I'm going to see my parents in 2 weeks!!!!!! I haven't seen them in 8 months. AURRRRGHHHH!
(Which means I haven't seen my home friends in 8 months *tears*)
-I'm hoping to go home (Vegas) for a short, short trip sometime in August/September


We also want to visit Welly again and check out Rotorua, and wherever the hell else in NZ.

8:17pm: More East Coast Banter
I'm always homesick or wishing for adventures. I've been missing and thinking about the East Coast "heaps" lately. It could have been all those episodes of "It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia" that we were watching recently. I've also caught up on "The City" season two. I am lame I know.


And this video didn't help:


Before I left Brooklyn, my old Uni friend Lauren had offered me her room since she was hardly ever there and was always at her boyfriend's place anyway. It would have been less than $400 a month in a nice new building in Williamsburg, BK! Right next to the L. YOWZA! I just figured that if I would have stayed there Chris and I would have never made it through a long-distance relationship. And I didn't want to throw us away. Life would have been so different in the city! I just wish Chris could have magically moved out there. I wish that it wasn't so competitive to find a job...and I wish that you didn't need "New York City" experience first to actually land a job.

I loved living with Nicole & Jen and hanging out with Femi who was always there. And I loved hanging out with A2 & Dom on the weekends.

We'd love to live in one of those big east coast cities, but I'm also terrified that I'll get mugged again. And, I don't think I can handle working some crap, doesn't-pay-enough-job, so I can struggle like a college student all over again. I am so over that. Best case scenario we'll be living on the west coast and the distance will only be a 4 hour flight away.

8:00pm: My Auckland life has changed...
Chris and I just had New York style pizza. We spotted random pizza boxes for "Sal's NY Pizza" throughout the last year. Last week, I stumbled upon the actual shop.


Today we tried it. Amazingly authentic!

9:09pm: Go Phila
I just got this emailed to me:


DEAR SOMEONE NEEDS A BREAK,

Guess what's coming up? You guessed it - a three-day weekend. Those are way better than two-day weekends. And there's no better place to spend three days than with me, Philly. So come eat some great food, watch a fab show, dance, eat some more, shop the sale racks, appreciate some art, and stay in a posh hotel while someone else makes the bed. That sounds like three-days worth of hoopla and happiness.

P.S. Book me now at gophila.com
With Love Philadelphia XOXO 2010


I love that whenever I go to Philadlephia stuff like this happens:



These photos make me so happy.
It's Always Sunny (with lovely lady friends) In Philadelphia
September 2005

10:25pm: Vegas Youth
I can't believe Troy and le Frenk are going to be here next week for BDO. I am so, so, so damn happy. I am so happy that I can be a true spazz without feeling judged or given strange looks. I am so happy that they are total chatter boxes, really into being adventurous and fun etc. etc. etc.



Frankie is right, Troy is in the middle

I have known Frankie ever since I was 18. He made me an indie mix once and introduced me to Jejune and Paris-Texas. We used to go to shows together at Sound Barrier/Balcony Lights and watch bands like Taken, Casket Lottery and Piebald. We even took a few road trips to California to see Coheed & Cambria (haha, we got lost on those damn Los Angeles freeways) AND we even saw Converge somewhere in Corona.

Troy (Robot Reporter, resident PAF'er) is always so full of energy, travels the world endlessly and was also close friends w/ my dearest of dears Remington B. I haven't heard from Remi in years. My god, I hope he's somewhere happy, safe and so full of life.

Their friend Matt is coming along too. I've never met him, but he's also friends with Sal who's in that crazy rock n' roll band Dangerboner (HAHAHA) that wears spray painted unicorn shirts, he also loves Philly/Kid Dynamite & Lifetime just as much as I do...

Matt is also friends with Jerrad who's hilarious, has the voice of Chuck Ragan...and once took me flying over the Colorado River

just because I took a candid photo of him & Chuck Ragan singing together,
even though he didn't even know me, but wanted to do something nice and "pay it forward." He didn't expect anything in return, didn't turn it into some bs "I'm a good friend because I did this for you..." but simply just wanted me to do something nice for someone else and pass it on. I will never forget that for the rest of my life.

Both of those guys are so, so, so awesome, I imagine that Matt will be just as awesome.

Even though I'm JV, I don't think I could ever live in Vegas again, but I knew the most amazing people there. I met so many people passing through. I have so many stories. My eyes perk up, and I get so fluttery thinking about the good vibes, the artists, the movers and shakers of that crazy-f_cked up-in-a-good-way-town.

Update: I just found out Frankie isn't coming out anymore. BUMMER!

10:33pm: Blue Bell Cafe, Mike's Birthday Party
Since our American friend Jeff moved here...we've been trying out more vegan/vegetarian resties in Auckland. This is at Blue Bell Cafe. I had satay sauce on Kumura which is like a sweet potato...with some special bread.



October 2009






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Just hanging out with John Key =)

10:01pm: Bear Cat & Kimia's Party
One of the cutest bands to come out of Auckland is Bear Cat.
Chris' friend Chopper Dan is the lead singer...and they sing songs about Pandas (or actually things happening in his life disguised in Panda scenarios)


October 2009 @ Wine Cellar

They wear panda capes and make-up.


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Cutie Crease

11:47pm: Wellington, New Zealand
Chris and I just spent the most amazing weekend in windy-artsy Wellington! It is this big-little city with a skyline that stretches for miles and miles.


There are so many cute shops, a variety of vegan/vege/mom n' pop restaurants, indie/punk kids, bohemian parents walking around with babies, the buildings are painted funny colours like pink & indigo or bright yellow. The separate areas reminded me of Montreal, San Fran, Portland, South Street/Univ. City Philly and what I imagine Providence would be like etc. etc. etc. but with a Kiwi vibe.

The people are friendly and small talk with you in queues. It was such a relief to see this since Aucklanders are more so "busy" and usually never talk to anyone outside of their routine.

Here's a few photos:









I got two peace signs, a moon walk and a funny dance thanks to the people of Welly.
I have to take you here one day!

11:44pm: New Zealand country side & the Coromandel peninsula
Chris and I left for the Waikato province on X-mas Eve. We went to mass on X-mas day and then left for the beach. We ate really good food, drank wine, went body surfing and I watched a million B-movies.


I made this video with most of the views from the passenger side. I just wanted you to see this.


From Matamata to the Coromandel Peninsula
and then back to Auckland

It was a fun trip, but it's so nice to sleep in our own bed again. There are no bugs and the temperature is much cooler in our flat.

Auckland is such a ghost town right now.
Most New Zealander's get 4 weeks out of the year for vacation, amazing compared to the US where you're lucky if you get a mere 1-2 weeks!
When the holidays roll around, Kiwis head for the beach or elsewhere in the country.

We'll be in Wellington in less than 48 hours!

9:43pm: Nancy's Birthday
On Nancy's birthday we met up at Smith. bar in the city. A lovely night.
I only took a few photos because my camera died. Sigh*
It was the first time we took our American friend Jeff out to meet everybody.



October 2009

Nancy, the lovely birthday gal.



Jeff is on the left, boyfriend on the right

9:39pm: When Auckland lost Rakesh to a city called London
We went to Ivy in Kingsland for Rakesh's farewell. Chris and Matt did these really funny Aussie accent impersonations on video, but we weren't able to upload the videos. Sigh*

September 2009




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8:31pm: feeling a little bit "normal"
b***** jen (8:29:27 PM): haha good night!
ARose**** (8:29:31 PM): xoxo
b**** jen (8:29:37 PM): gossip girl
b**** jen (8:29:39 PM): HAHA sorry I had to
ARose**** (8:29:45 PM): you know you love me
ARose**** (8:29:54 PM): night
b**** jen (8:29:55 PM): HAHAHA!

11:05pm: WOW, thanks to L and a little bit of Luck
Wednesday 24 February
The Pains of Being Pure at Heart (US)
at Toto Bacco Room, 53 Nelson Street, CBD


9pm
doors

9pm
start

$40
presales

10:59pm: 2008 & 2009
I wanted to write how my year went last, last year. I started a rough draft of it on my home computer in Vegas which I'll never have access to. EVER.


Alas, I'll write it from a 2-year-perspective which won't be as fun or as spastic as it could have been... (I used to be)

You've been warned.

11:39pm: Happy Holidays!
Thanks for the well wishing. =)


There were so many things I wanted to do and so many people I wanted to write this week... but sadly never got around to it. I apologise.

I'm leaving for the country side tomorrow and may not have internet access.
Merry X-mas, happy holidays and happy new year to all of you!

Much love from me
and
Crease Bear, Gin Bear and Em (Emerson) Bear
aka. The bears we made for each other/DeAndre's gift to me
aka. Build-a-bear-beanie-baby-bear-cuteness-overload


(This photo was from our X-mas decorating contest at work)

10:22pm: Some of my favourite music in 2009
In no particular order:


Albums:
Over The Atlantic "Dimensions"
The Holloways "No Smoke, No Mirrors"
White Lies S/T
Camera Obscura "My Maudlin Career"
Fun "Aim & Ignite"
Phoenix "Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix"

Some singles:
The Airborne Toxic Event- Wishing Well
The Airborne Toxic Event- Sometime Around Midnight
Friendly Fires- Skeleton Boy
The Rumble Strips- London
Computers Want Me Dead- We Walk In Circles
Nesian Mystik- RSVP
Dei Hamo- Teenager

This song L sent me! How did I never hear this before?
It's shoegaze perfection.