the girl with kaleidoscope eyes' Journal

11:22pm: One-year anniversary
Here are my catch up posts!

Back in May, Crease and I celebrated our one year together!
It was so cold that night. We couldn't find a car park (parking spot), so we drove back to our flat and walked to an Italian restaurant in the city. It was so cold and windy, I almost turned back to our flat!

We braved the cold and sat inside a cozy kinda touristy Italian restaurant. (We've only been to one other Italian restie in the city before this.) We ate amazing pasta with white sauce and talked about how one day we should really visit Italy for something you know...perhaps a honeymoon or something like that. =) True wanderlust style.

5.31.09

One year later here I am in New Zealand all for this guy.



He bought me flowers. =)


We still make fun of each others accents.
It has been so tough adjusting and giving up everything to live out here (only a tiny few could ever understand this) ...but he'll always be sweet...and one day we'll leave this place. I am extremely optimistic about this and sometimes that thought is what gets me by.
We'll be celebrating 1.5 years in 10 days.

5:20pm: Birthday video

There's introductions...
and our American friend Jeff talks about his One Card (grocery card).

(When I'm introducing Chris it's a Flight of the Conchords reference. He's amazing and not, "not very good.")



Photo by Nancy!

11:58pm: birthday happenings...
My birthday is wrapping up in New Zealand time, but it's still happening in the US...right? I was born 28 years ago (yeaaaah) at the old Pennsylvania hospital near 8th & Pine in Philly.


I think the only way to make birthdays less depressing is to celebrate it many days in a row.

Thursday-
We went to see the Teacups @ Hopetoun Alpha. They were so girly and lovely.
I made this video montage of their performance. (LSL you'd love them!)

You can check them out here:
http://myspace.com/teawithfriends

Friday-
Crease and I stayed in since we were too tired from a busy work week and the show the night before. We ate pizza and drank champagne, and watched a few more episodes of "Skins" S2.
aka. perfect night in slothville

Saturday-
I got a haircut. Chris and I had lunch at Raw Power! We ate delicious tofu sandwiches and scramble. I went on a mini-shopping spree in the city centre and in Newmarket. Came home took a nap, got ready, I wore this dress by CUE...(scored secondhand, thank you dress gods!)

So cheerleader, still...I can't help it!

We had dinner with Jeff, Nancy, Kimia, Matt and Jess at an Indian restaurant on K-road. =)
Drank a lot of wine, ate really good food with good company, recorded some silly videos (stay tuned for that),and then headed over to The Studio to see The Buzzcocks. They were SPOT ON amazing. They still have it. I am turning into one of those people who hates new music. Steve Diggle looks like he's having the time of his life and points his finger every other minute which Jeff and Chris couldn't stop laughing about. There were so many old school punks now adults there. So many older men, smiling and singing to the music of their youth. I didn't get to talk to Steve, oh well. =( I recorded most of their set, which I'll post soonish. Before we walked into the show, the bouncer glanced at my ID. As we walked out, he wished me a happy birthday 10 minutes before my birthday kicked in! How sweet!
We went to a gay bar (Family) and danced for a good ten minutes...and I welcomed 28 (oh god, 30 is rapidly approaching, no offence!) in the Southern Hemisphere, dancing like I was 21 again at Sasha's/Tramps. After that, we left and went to Whammy Bar for the "after party." We saw some fun rock band that looked and sounded very 90s.

Sunday(Today)-
I slept in, Crease made me breakfast, watched more "Skins," finished up some chores/errands, went to the mall, had my birthday noodles (It's a superstitious Filipino/Chinese thing.) We drank coffee, had carrot pineapple cake...and passion fruit sponge cake. Relaxed at home, and I made a cake to bring into work tomorrow. That's about it...

Chris said it best, "You don't realise how lonely you are until you celebrate your birthday in a foreign country not knowing anybody." That was the case last year. Thankfully not this year.

xo
jv

10:42pm: I LOVE THIS part 3



&

9:37pm: Oh woooow....lovely.
Summer is supposed to start next month...it's still in the 50s//60s.
We're finally going to Wellington! (I will probably like it better than Auckland.)
Camera Obscura is finally, finally playing a show in the same country I'm living in.
Neko Case is coming too.

We went to the Coromandel peninsula w/ some friends over the weekend.
We stayed in Pauanui, hiked in Cathedral Cove, and got "fush & chups" (vege burgers) in Tairoa.
We watched so many epidoes of "Skins" season one.
I really fell in love with the Sid & Cass storyline.
Cass is so spacey and so cute. (and tragic)








"Oh wowwwwwwww...totally."


I'm still about 6 months behind with photos.
It'll be easier to update now that I don't have to work 12-13 days in a row anymore.
Ahhhhhhhh, f+ck it!

7:47pm: topp twin, train, plane
I forgot to write about Saturday night's quote of the night. I was in the restroom when I heard a girl say, "Oh my god, I look like a f+ckin' Topp Twin. F+ckin' hair!"

http://images.google.co.nz/images?hl=en&um=1&ei=1iPxSpbeA4P46QOC-bm_Bg&sa=X&oi=spell&resnum=0&ct=result&cd=1&q=topp+twins+new+zealand&spell=1&start=0


Sometimes when I ride the train, there's this funny Maori bloke-y Kiwi man who processes tickets. He says, hi to every customer and asks how they are doing. Usually, he tells everyone to have a nice day. And if it's a Friday, he'll sing "It's friiiiiiiiiiiday!" and talk over the intercom welcoming tourists to NZ, cracking jokes.

Today, he pretended to be a pilot and went on and on about how there was a delay on the "Britomart runway" and our Air New Zealand flight would be able to land in a few minutes and to "sit back and relax" and "have a nice day" of course. Everybody can't help but smile and laugh every single time. I wonder what he'll be saying next week...

10:51pm: Top Models everywhere...
Last night, Crease and I went to the launch party of the "Flip" camera. Colin from NZ's Top Model was there (He's kinda like the Jay Manuel) ...and so was the goofy guy from Juice TV's "The JD set." If Scotty Rocker were there, I would have talked to him because I think he is so hilarious. Some other former All Blacks rugby star was there too. Ahhhh, funny NZ celebs.

Tonight, we went out to dinner (Mexican) for Jeff's birthday w/ his friends Emma and Sarah. We went to Rakino's, and that's where we saw Terryl Leigh AND Rebecca Rose from NZ's N Top Model.

Also, Jeff work's w/ Laura...the runner up from NZ's NTM.

They're everywhere I tell you!

11:38pm: Over The Atlantic
On Friday night, Jeff, Crease and I went to see Over The Atlantic @ Cassette#9.
There were a million opening acts (that I didn't really care for), and OTA didn't go on until about 1:30-2:00 AM. AURGH!


They were really amazing though. Definitely my favourite NZ band (after FOTC!) It made me a bit sad to think that if I move back home, I'll prolly never see them again.



I think it's cute how the lead singer has a solo project and writes songs about having crushes on people. And he EVEN dances around all giddy-like in his music videos. This should be your "I have a crushhhhhh on someone song." Nikky you're so cool, and it's even cooler that you're a fan of Kevin Shields. You should date my bestie, LSL.

9:46pm: Fall
I was envious of your freedom summer but still a little optimistic for my soon-to-be Spring. Summer's almost here now, and I'm jealous of your crisp air, leaf changing, pumpkin carving, hot cocoa drinking, sweater bundling, Halloween dressing and story-telling selves.


Halloween isn't "hard out" down here, but I'm definitely gonna cook a tofurky or something similar for Thanksgiving.

8:12pm: My famous reality tv star COUSIN =)
All right here's his profile:



Paul Jake C. is the Richie Rich ng Cebu and one of the lucky housemates in Pinoy Big Brother (PBB) Double Up. Check out his pictures and profile to see if he can win this reality show.

Nickname: Paul Jake
Status: In House
Real Name: Paul Jake C.
Origin: Cebu
Age: 24
Birthdate: December 22, 1984
Nationality: Filipino-American
Occupation: Businessman
Civil Status: Single
Religion: Catholic
Hobbies: drag racing, air soft, flag football, online games
Favorite Color:
Favorite Food: Japanese and Filipino food
Favorite Show: action series
Favorite Actor: Denzel Washington, Anthony Hopkins, Brad Pitt
Favorite Actress: Kate Beckinsale
Favorite Singer:

Paul Jake belongs to a wealthy family and since childhood he lived a comfortable life. But his parents also taught him all the right values. Paul also doesn’t mind enjoying the simple things in life with his friends. He mingles with employees of their company as if he is not the heir to the family empire. However, not wanting to rely solely on his family, he put up his own business which eventually became successful. Paul earned enough money to study abroad.

What would you consider your greatest accomplishment so far?
To be here in PBB. I never expected I would be chosen.
What/who will you miss the most upon entering Kuya’s house?
My family, friends, girlfriend, car.
If you can be a celebrity for a day, who would you be and why?
Brad Pitt. He’s a good actor.
Do you think you’ll get along well with the other housemates? Why?
I get along with almost everyone.
What would irritate/annoy you inside the house?
People with no manners.


He's still in the house!!!
The producers of the show were debating on whether they'd choose him or his older brother. They kept joking about how if they went on the show..."who'd take care of the family business?"

7:47pm: Average hours of sunshine per year::::
Las Vegas = 3896
New York City = 2600 hours
Seattle = 2100 hours
Auckland = 2000 hours
Tokyo = 1600 hours
London = 1400 hours


I'm still not over my fascination with the weather. Auckland gets more rain and has less (or equal amount of) sunshine compared to Seattle.

10:18pm: Saturday night
On Saturday night, I drank too much red wine at our flat with Crease and Jeff. We went to a show at an underground bar on K-road called the Whammy bar. (It's basically a dive in the basement.) The first band was an alt-country, head bopping band that wore plaid flannel shirts. I loved it, but it appeared that the majority of the crowd didn't understand their music. They were so lovely and unpretentious. They reminded me of Limbeck but not so well constructed. I barely made it through the second act since I was so tired...It was the bass player for The Mint Chicks solo guitar/ electro project. I woke up in the middle of the night with all of my "going out" clothes on and found my earrings on the floor in the hallway the next day. Crease held on to them for me and put them there. =) I forgot about that. It wasn't me being foolish.


The next day I met up with Ingrid for lunch at a cafe on Vulcan Lane. We talked about how easy it is to feel "stuck" sometimes.

9:34pm: Silly, I know
I just realised that Sex and The City 2 will be showing in theatres May 2010.


I must either:
a.) Plan a trip back home to coincide with this movie release
b.) Just freakin' move back to America


Who else is gonna do silly stuff like this? And look fabulous with me????







Ladies? We should plan a reunion. Please!

11:34am: New Zealand mommy fashion war
Nancy just posted this article on Twitter.
It's silly and not so newsworthy to me. There's an actual picture of a mummy wearing Abercrombie and her kids dressed up like Gap kids.


Fashion war breaks out at school gates
A silent war between yummy mummies and slummy mummies is being waged in Auckland's upmarket suburbs.

The former, with disposable income and time on their hands, ensure they are immaculate on the school run; the latter opt for comfort - trackpants and sneakers - rather than high fashion.

"There is an element of that," said mum Nicky Cranshaw outside Ponsonby Primary this week. "I don't think there's a competition, but there are some mothers who think there is a code."

Catherine Coop, whose son Walter has just started at the school, agreed that some mothers think you have to look a certain way.

"I have noticed that there are a variety of looks. The sporty look, people going to meetings. Each to their own."

A young mum who didn't want to be named said she was aware of a fashion face-off.

"Because I'm younger, I notice it more. I'm stepping into another world. It's a higher socio-economic group - go figure. It's a money thing - an expression of how much money you have through your clothes."

( Read more... )

* Spot the difference

YUMMY MUMMY

labels
heels
make-up
designer sunglasses

SLUMMY MUMMY

trackpants
sneakers
food stains
pyjamas (on a bad day)

- HERALD ON SUNDAY
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/lifestyle/news/article.cfm?c_id=6&objectid=10605289

11:57am: Our own FOTC's tour in NYC, October 2008 (one year later!)
It's the first time I've had 2 days off in over a month, so I'm posting a million photos. Blogging marathon!


I lived (struggled) in NYC for about 3 months back in 2008. That was when the Conchords were filming for the second season! I was so bummed because I read they had filmed scenes just a few blocks away from where I lived in Brooklyn. I found out THE DAY AFTER. UGH. =*(

The day before I left, my roommate and friend Nicole promised me we'd do our own Conchords mini-tour. We looked up all the landmark scenes on trusty wikipedia. HAH! Since my camera had been stolen...Nicole took all the photos with her "camera phone."

It ended up being a glorious day! We took the bus over to the end of Williamsburg, BK. We walked over the Williamsburg bridge and then walked into Chinatown. I had always wanted to do that!





This is me trying to pose like "Bret" for photos.





Manhattan in the background!

We went to Fontana's??? which is the bar where they met the Groupies. The photos were too dark though.



Next up, those world famous steps. Bret and Jemaine's apartment in chinatown. All these people were walking around giving us funny looks.


more photos here!
( Read more... )

<3

11:36am: Flight of the Conchords in Las Vegas (Hard Rock)
When I first arrived at the show, I noticed a man wearing a "Speights" shirt. That's a NZ beer company!


Jemaine intro'd Arj Barker with his voice over the speakers sounding like the voice of god. AMAZING!

Arj (Dave) kicked off his comedy act. He was pretty funny. I've seen most of his stand-up on Youtube already, so it was a lot of the same material. He intro'd the Conchords, and the duo came out in their robot costumes. SO CUTE!

May 2009




The distant future...

( Read more... )

I've seen Rhys Darby, Bret, Jemaine AND Arj perform! Next up Mel/Kristen Schaal someday...

My ticket was about $80 US (I'm poor as), but it was worth it. They never play shows in New Zealand, so I figured this could be my only chance to see them in years! I really wish Chris and LSL could have seen them with me.

Two days later I left for NZ. It was a bitter sweet way to leave.
<3<3<3

9:31am: Freaky Friday
Yesterday morning I accidentally slept through my alarm and had 15 minutes to shower, get dressed etc etc and race out the door. I'm such a genius. I set it an hour later! Oops.


As I was running down a little hill in front of our apartment, my flat shoe fell off, tripped me, and then I fell face down, used my hands to catch myself but slid for a little bit. It scraped my left hand and all of the sudden blood was gushing everywhere. Thankfully, no one saw me! I felt pretty crummy and sad, I tried to call Chris, but he was in the shower. I said, "fuck it" and walked to the train station with my bloody hand. I was so freaked out that I was going to get hit by a car or bus, since my luck was pretty sh+t. I just washed it off in the restrooms at the train station and used some tissue to soak it up. YUCK! It looks my left palm was nailed to some cross.

Once I got to work, my boss searched around the building to find someone certified for first aid. He found a nice Kiwi bloke-y bloke who seemed a little excited to finally use his training and help someone. The man said, "Whereabouts are you from? I hear your accent." "Philadelphia/Las Vegas." "Oh Philadelphia eh?! I was born in Cinncinati." He introduced himself as Mike.

Later in the day, I laughed at the thought of myself falling, but I think my co-workers thought it was funnier.

I managed to escape any other disasters for the rest of the day! Funny how I've always joked that I'm crucified on a daily basis while living here, but now I really look the part. Pretty soon, I won't have to worry about that anymore.

8:14pm: Just another day at the office...

A few weeks ago we had "Spring Cleaning Day" and prizes went out to those best dressed.
This is my co-worker doing "Cleaning Couture." Fierce pose! Tyra would approve.


Our department giggled for at least a half hour.
He won the "weird" category.

This job SERIOUSLY, SRSLY reminds me of being on the American "Office."
=)

10:12pm: Big Day Out 2010
I'm looking forward to the BDO music festival in January!
I'm mostly excited to see:


Dizzie Rascal (saw him at Coachella in 2004!)
Lily Allen
Muse
Temper Trap
The Mars Volta
The Horrors
Calvin Harris
and many others...I'll be running around the stadium all day.


The 2nd and 3rd line-up announcements will be coming in the following months.
It's time for you to come visit!

8:46pm: My friend Steve Diggle...says hi
The Buzzcocks are playing here on my birthday weekend! THANK GOD. That means my birthday will be 1 million times better than last year...


Birthday 2008-
I went to somebody elses party, faced mostly unfriendly strangers, drank more hoping I'd loosen up and make friends, got sarcastically made fun of most of the night and then got confronted over something completely unpleasant. GROSS. That night I realised it'd be really hard to meet people out here. I went home in tears, completely gutted, missing my friends. I never wrote about it...and now here's the truth!

It took a whole year...but now we hang out with a bunch of fun/nice friends on the weekends.

Thanks to Max (Adored now Golden Years), we hung out with Steve once in Vegas back in 2007! He sat in the front seat of my car as we drove around the valley looking for the perfect guitar. Punk rock super hero! One of my favourite moments was when we listened to The Jam...and he talked about Paul Weller his FRIEND. I'm such a teeny bopper. I wonder if he'll remember me. Maybe not. =)

5:28pm: She's a Mod, She's a Mod...yeah, yeah, yeah

The Mint Chicks covered the already covered song "She's a Mod" by Ray Columbus & The Invaders.
It was a tribue to the group for the NZ music awards.

Kody does the mod nod at :58 & 1:53! BTW, this Kiwi band lives in Portland now!

"All profits from the sale of the single go to the Raukatauri Music Therapy Centre, a charitable organisation that helps special needs children communicate through music.

Click here to buy your copy: http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZ..."

*WARNING* This song is so catchy, and it'll stay in your head for hours.


Here's the other cover:

8:49pm: Las Vegas trip (continued)

May 2009
After a crazy week of SF, LA and then Vegas again...I got so sick. I mainly stayed in because my mom wouldn't let me leave the house! After a few days, I was able to meet up with my old HS bestie Drew for coffee in the neighbourhood where we grew up. This is the west side yo! I have so many memories with this guy mainly laughing so hard to the point of tears, massive tummy aches...and me yelling at him to leave the room for at least 5 minutes while I recuperate from laughing so hard.


We became friends when I was 15. He was 14.
We were in Varsity band together and both played the clarinet. He warded off my crazy stalkers.
When I was 17, I worked in a smoothie shop. He worked next door at a sandwich shop.
And then I worked for a portrait studio as a photographer...3 months later he started working with me. We took tons of dance classes together in college including: hip hop, jazz and ballroom dancing. He was on MTV's "Say What Karaoke." He taught me all the Britney Spears and N'sync dances. The boy could sing, dance and TICK! We made a terrible horror movie with our old friend Jen Lopez-Pena. He made me watch the movie "Showgirls." He'd do impersonations of "Chunk and Sloth" from the "Goonies" in my car with the window down, just so everybody at the bus stop could hear us. When Natalie Imbruglia's "Torn" came on the radio, he'd scream "NATAALLIEEE" out the window just because. Sometimes, he'd pick me up so we could go for a drive around the city just listening to music, laughing and talking sh+t. He showed me around beautiful central California and took me on boat rides in Lake Havasu, AZ. We took poli sci and psychology classes together at UNLV. We'd dance at hip hop clubs and drink Hypnotiq. This list could go on and on FOREVER. He is so fabulous. I love being ridiculous. I miss my crazy ass friends. =)

Wow, I just realised that I'm about 5 months behind with photos.
Next up, photos from when I saw Flight Of The Conchords in Vegas. =)

9:43pm: Geeky Dreamboat Lovers..

LSL seriously, seriously, seriously sent this book to me in the mail.
She always sends me the best books.


Here's some of my favourites:
Bret & Jemaine of course
Ryan Gosling
Paul Rudd
John Cusack
Adam Brody
"Barry" Obama
John Krasinski

The only person missing from the book is "Dan Humphrey" aka. Penn Badgley.
Oh, and Simon Amstell! But I suppose he's not American pop culture-y enough to make the list.

<3

11:03pm: My famous cousin
It's official my cousin is a celebrity and reality tv star in the Philippines. I just spent the last hour being starstruck looking at his fan pages and message boards. People are begging for pictures from his private Facebook...people are also asking how he's "American," "who his girl friend is" etc! And I even saw a family photo with my parents and cousins in Vegas etc. etc. posted on a messageboard.


Fun fact:
My cousin went to school in Christchurch, NZ for a few years.
When he was in Vegas back in October 2008, he showed me a little bit of a haka dance that he learned while living in NZ.

I'll post his pics and celeb profile later. =) I'm so proud of him.
Funny how it'll probably show up in a google search. OH GODDDDDDDDDDDD.

10:06pm: I'll make this quick
Last, last Saturday we went to Rakesh's farewell party. He made me feel extremely welcome here in NZ. I'm sad he's gone but happy we'll be visiting him in London one day! I tried to take shots of vodka, but nothing was happening. Jess and I took more shots. NOTHING. Oh well. =)

Sunday, another one bites the dust. We spent time with Phil our crazy (extra crazy) American friend just before he moved to Wellington. He was also my friend, who'd randomly text message me like, "Hey what are you doing? Want to go take pictures?" And we'd vent about a lot of things...and talk about racism, photography and some of the things we miss/don't miss about home. He's a lot of fun when he's not smashing bottles at bars. (Glad I wasn't there for that!)
That night we made 3 delicious pizzas from scratch, and we watched the movie "Milk." It was so good, but it f+cked me up bad. Sometimes I hate everything.


Monday, I started my first day of working 12 to 13 days in a row. I finished up day 10 today. Ahhhhh, exhausted.

Wednesday, immigration. run. dash. Chris and I frantically drove South of Auckland to turn in my passport as the (hopefully) final step in my immigration application process.

Thursday, a door shuts and a window opens. Jeff our new American friend (who's friends with Tom and Jamie G.) moved here! He's been staying with us, and we feel like we have a new roommate. He's a Scorpio, just like me...and I feel like I'm getting a little more insight on how I am perceived and operate in social settings. We went to dinner at our new favourite vegan restaurant called the "Golden Age." We walked around the city...and took him for a quick drive over the bridge and into the North Shore area.

Friday, we went to Nancy's birthday party! Fun times. It was at some place called Smith Bar...which looked very "Anthropologie" w/ cutesy wallpaper and wall candles. They played 70s funk and soul. Hell yes. We intro'd Jeff into the Auckland social scene...and Nancy tried to alienate him. =) We also briefly stopped by the Whammy Bar for a Breast Cancer awareness/benefit show. A bunch of bands played all night...we watched half a set of some random band, the music was mediocre, and I was too tired to stay out any longer.

Saturday, we went to the Wine Cellar and watched Chopper Dan's cute band "Bear Cat." They wore cute little panda capes...and painted b&w lines under their eyes. The final act was "The Great North" and they were lovely. Reminded me of The Walkmen/The Fray/The Replacements/alt country anything.

Sunday, I can't even remember.

Monday, Chris and I went and saw "500 Days of Summer." FINALLY. It was cute even though the Belle & Sebastian//Smiths parts were really cheesy and Zoey D's acting is also kinda cheesy. She's so cute though.

I haven't been this social since May in Vegas. (Blame it on recession blues and financial instability)
All of this while working 12+ days straight. I'm a champ, and I owe you a million e-mails.


I just found out that Troy, Paul and DJ Le Frenk are coming to Auckland in January! Vegas takeover! I'm so excited. I knew those wanderlusts would get down here for Big Day Out.

I miss Monday nights.
Good night.