You know it's a good read when...

You force yourself to go to sleep waaay past your bedtime, then lie awake for another ten minutes contemplating if you made the right decision to stop reading for the night.

The struggle!

Anyways, this TRUE STORY both captivated and horrified me. And sure, you can say it's biased and prejudiced, but it's her story, so she's entitled to her observations and opinions.

And it's pretty amazing how far Iran has come since the 80s, judging by the Rick Steves documentary on Iran I watched on Hulu a little while ago (Rick Steves is way goonie, but what can I say, it was a boring Friday night in Provo), and their Twitter-influenced elections late last year... different picture, indeed.


Have you read any good books lately?

I have a few long flights ahead of me :). Recommendations are greatly appreciated.

Beyonce was onto something...

If I were a boy, I'd hop over to Cambodia and Thailand right now. I'm so close, it's killing me!

That is all!

And the cool factor ante is upped again

The funniest town name exists in Neverland.


Nightcaps, New Zealand.

Nightcaps.

Isn't that hilarious?


There is also Athol... and Alexandra (aww).

I can't stop grinning.

Ah! I want to tell the world about yesterday, last night, and today, but it's just too good for a blog.

This is how I feel right now.

Life is sooo good when it's good.

Make it a good day today (what is most likely my awesome yesterday)!

Oh and PS: I'm going blonde this summer as there is even more sun in sight (Hello Hawaii) and I have ambidextrous hair that goes well blonde or brown (or currently, auburn). Might as well commit.
Going along with the childhood theme of being out here in the Pacific for what seems like an indefinite amount of time, as I was blonde as a child.

Love my Ambi-Hair.

That is all.

The Kiwi rub-off and some cliche epiphanies

New Zealand is a really good place to let go ... let go of anger, bitterness, regret, vengeance, and the like... tolerance is our only hope in this world. love our only vehicle.

I am filled with so much love for everyone and to anyone I may have wronged in the slightest, I am sorry.

So much indescribable clarity... (Yes, I'm just shirking the opportunity to explain, but really, the attempt would be unfair).

I wish I could sum all this up...blogging used to be a place for me to outlet some intense boredom, but now that I am just encircled with fun and nonsense, it seems to be an after thought.

In short, I'm so grateful for New Zealand for nursing me back to happiness. And I feel privileged that you would take time to read these thoughts of mine, to stick with me through good and bad times.

Nonsense between and after our movie double feature. nonsense, I tell you. nonsense.

I wouldn't have Neverland any other way!

I am grateful for you.

I know I'm homesick when...

I have the burning desire to cut my hair Peter Pan short.


No pun intended, actually (and you all know how I love intending puns!).

I remember wanting to do this around this time two years ago in Spain.

Que extrano!!!

6 impossible thoughts before breakfast

Nothing about today was bad.

1) Woke up, finished The Cove on my laptop while I ate some Scroggin bar for breakfast. Yup. Don't worry, I pounded all 200 grams within 12 hours...



2) Rode our bikes to the beach.

3) Listened to music on the way and at the beach (Tell Me Baby and Say Hey I Love You were multiple repeaters)

4) Starbucks. The southernmost Starbucks in the world, my little haven.

5) Seeing Alice in Wonderland (LOVE) and Valentine's Day (my first movie hop, I felt like a rebellious 15 year old mall rat)

6) Hilarious photo session in the movie theater bathroom as we waited between movies. Oh wow.


Such a happy little corner of the world.

Dear Sea World

An open letter to those I have 'left'

I'm talking about being a leaver, as in de-'following' peoples' blogs.

I'm in the process of consolidating my google accounts. Exporting this, importing that yadda yadda yadda.

Which brings me to my next topic du jour:

Although I can import the content of this blog to another account, I have to create a new blog URL in which to host it. So, ideas?

The first qualification is that it must be clever. And I know I have some clever readers....

I still don't have a shtick in mind, because blogging is not my life obvi...and it's hard to top 'sensationalism.'

Basically, it has to be something that can explain why I talk about Turkey and their UN bid AND Justin Bieber (i'm a tell you one time, please show me my worth in your infinite prepubescent wisdom, and stay strong when your voice changes - you don't want to slip down the tragic road that is Aaron Carter) in the same forum.

I created the blog title for my dear friend Kristine whose nickname is "Teen"- I came up with existeentialist ... probably one of the greater things I have done in the name of blogger.

Lofty, I know... I am anxious to hear your suggestions...

Neverland update: we roadtripped to Dunedin and some local hotties called out to my blonde roommate "We love you Ke$ha!"
She loved it.

CHEERS!

Foreign Babes in Beijing

Found this post - a sort of book review - I drafted from a while back and I thought I'd get over my hangups of potential further embellishment and polishing...and just publish.

(My NYU summer school '08 professor Betty Liu's voice rings in my head often, "Condensing is an art form!" She is one who encouraged me to publish this...here I am, months later!)

My friend Al lent Foreign Babes to me...yes, the one with Hodgkin's. The one who BEAT Hodgkin's.
She is doing awesome...finishing up radiation, heading off to Venice in May to do an internship at the Peggy Guggenheim Museum. Such a rockstar.

Anyways, Al went to NYU, so naturally she had all these cool professors with rad worldly stories to impress upon young minds.

So she lent me Foreign Babes in Beijing by one of them, Rachel DeWoskin.



In a nutshell: it's Sex and the City meets The Office meets Lost in Translation.

Adventure is synonymous with life for DeWoskin- she grew up being tucked in with Goodnight Moon on trains throughout the Chinese countryside.

Her family bases themselves in Minnesota, and for college, it's off to Columbia, then immediately to China. (Today, DeWoskin splits her time between Manhattan and Beijing.)

She wanders around Beijing and China to find herself, but because of her background, it's a sort of 'coming home' in a sense.

Foreign Babes is a quirky, insightful, and self-deprecatingly humorous, and ultimately a neat insider's view to 1990s Beijing: a city struggling with young streaks of modernism while still rife with suspicion over the infiltration of Western ideals.

DeWoskin's title is the life and the soap opera she finds herself starring in. Literally. She becomes an overnight star to 600 million.

She has consistent insights comparing her life to her on-screen character Jiexi's, who like Beijing has an identity crisis centered around themes of tradition, sacrifice, love and opportunity.

DeWoskin's descriptions resonate through you: you can taste the hotpot, feel the wind of fellow bicycling commuter comrades pedaling along through gray industrial Beijing, chuckle at her apartment building's 'elevator schedule' ...to the point where you wonder if she is some sort of Master diplomat-slash-expatriate, where every cultural rift simply contains no irritation or fascination, like water off her own duck-lo-mein back.

Finally, she admits she never gets over the culture shock... the essence of what I perceive as that mystical Asiatic allure I have yet to personally experience.

Top it off with humorous conversations with fellow expats, as well as insightful commentary and surprising humor from the locals DeWoskin befriends, and you have a great cultural-type autobiography of sorts.

The GAGA stars aligned today...

Check out GAGA Dollars.

And this new Miranda video...not my favorite, but a noble effort. I would like the 'Haters' shirt.


Neverland is spectacular as always. I'm very lucky.

Cheers!
xo

It's hard to say...

how much this place affects me.

The people I hang out with, the places I go, the people I meet.

I still think being "speechless" is a cop-out. I just don't have the time to describe...


Apparently Valentine's Day happened...
Well if it counts for anything on the blogosphere, I sure do love all of my family and friends and think of you all daily!

Want to see pictures of me acting like I'm 12 in New Zealand?

A series of photos and stories regarding my camping are UP!

Go here.

It's been so wonderful so far.

The other day when I video chatted my mom she said that I look about 8 years old, so relaxed, so happy...

It truly is like childhood...like Neverland.

Cheers!

I camp. I'm a camper.

Just consider me Bob Wiley, camping-style.

Remember how I'm in Neverland? Kia Ora.

How are you guys?

Cheers!

Kiwis, Maoris, and me- oh my!

Kia'Ora,

If you'd like, please come follow at me at the blog I'm keeping for my experiences here in New Zealand!

"Keeping Up With The Kiwis"

It'll get more regular (and have pictures!) when we're not tramping around random hostels and campsites.

Hope you are all well.

Cheers!

Hello from down under

Kia Ora, friends!

I realize I dropped off the face of the planet the last few weeks blogging wise, but I was too busy having fun to do much of anything else!

After I finished my finals, I snowboarded in Park City for a couple days, went to Paris*, then Kauai with my family and cousins, and now...I'm in New Zealand!

It's so beautiful- I literally started chuckling as I walked out of the airport because it looks and feels like the English countryside mixed with Hawaii.

Today we did THIS.

And tonight we're doing THIS, which I'm assuming is like a Hawaiian luau, but Maori.

The people are awesome.

The accent is awesome- we imitate is as much as we can, when locals are not around haha.

Lots of people don't wear shoes- awesome. I made a joke in my currently-rubbish-status NZ accent about how stores should put up signs that say "No Shirt, No Shoes- Preferred."

I saw a sweet tree house today, awesome.

I'm totally out of my element in this Chaco-and-fleece world I've immersed myself in, but I'm growing partial to being granola!

Thank you for all your emails and notes, I love you all and only wish you were all here with me!

Cheers!

("Cheeahs" in a Kiwi accent ;) )