You would cry too if it happened to you

My flatmate had his birthday today and boy - did it turn into dramas.

You know when you get too drunk and you get emotional and stuff just all sucks and you snap?

Yeah.

This is why I don't organise my own birthdays and why I lost quite a lot of faith in them a long time ago. For me, my birthdays have more-often-than-not sucked in some way. The turning point came when I stopped hyping them and actually said "fuck it, I'm going to enjoy this day by myself and just do what I want to do".

That was my 22nd birthday. I slept in, had a good breakfast, went book shopping, had a nice lunch, saw a movie in Gold Class with a glass of wine and deluxe icecream - all by myself, and it was awesome.

Each year since I've avoided plans. I just let what will be, be. My awesome friends take care of anything that might need planning and I just go with the flow. Sometimes it backfires, but mostly it's led me to have some absolutely amazing birthdays.

But back to my flatmate and his sucky night...

A friend of mine pointed out that nearly everyone has done things they regret while they're drunk - that almost everyone who drinks has made a drunken fool out of themselves at one point or another and that really, the best course is to write it off on too much alcohol and put it behind you - because when it comes to your own turn, you're going to hope your friends extend a certain amount of leniency.

That's not to say you can't discuss what happened - I wasn't offended by anything said or done so for the most part all I have to do is not make fun of him and help him recover his memory - but I thought it was very sage advice. My friend is right - the stupid things we do while we're drunk should be forgotten fairly quickly and friends quick to forgive.

NZ Music Playlist

I've created a playlist on YouTube of 25 wicked kiwi music tracks. You can check it out below or listen to the playlist here.

It's got the following songs:

1. Sola Rosa feat. Iva Lamkum - Turn Around
2. Opensouls - Standing in the Rain
3. Liam Finn - Second Chance
4. Shihad - Wait and See
5. Muttonbirds - Anchor Me
6. DLT and Che Fu - Chains
7. Tommy Ill & Buck Beauchamp - Letters to the Editor
8. Hollie Smith - Philosophy
9. Scribe - Dreaming
10. Kora - Skankenstein
11. Supergroove - You Freak Me
12. Betchadupa - Move Over
13. Opensouls - Hold You Close
14. Zed - Oh! Daisy
15. EyeTV - Wish it All Away
16. Tadpole - Backdoor
17. Fur Patrol - Andrew
18. Headless Chickens - George
19. Conchord Dawn - Morning Light
20. Split Enz - One Step Ahead
21. Salmonella Dub - Love Your Ways
22. Goodshirt - Place to Be
23. Head Like A Hole - Comfortably Shagged
24. Supergroove - Sitting Inside My Head
25. Crowded House - Fall at Your Feet

Who can turn my wooden heart?

Life is full of ups and downs - good days and bad days.

I've had plenty of good days lately, but today I woke up (late, I'd slept in) and just knew it was going to be a bad one.

It's not that work's overwhelming or my friends are being dicks, I'm just over a lot of the drama in my life. I'm over being a right cow about things that really don't concern me, I'm over the gossip and the backstabbing, I've just... had enough.

I want out of that part of me. I've always been prone to a good bitch session or a gossip, but after a while I start to feel sick about it. I pull back, remove myself from the situation and let it be.

Right now I'm trying to figure out what I want, which person I want to be and who I am. Again. I am a constant revision.

I'm slowly coming to some conclusions. Some doors have recently opened that have exposed me to experiences I'd never dreamed of, and in some ways they're making me reevaluate who I am at a very basic level.

There are many choices and doors. Some decisions need to be joint - made with another person and thus, it doesn't pay to think about them too hard right now - but other, deeper, harder questions need answers beforehand.

And that's the hard bit. Sometimes time is a great thing, and space is always good, but at the heart of it I'm going to have to go with my gut feelings, which to be honest, scare me.

Usually I'm happy with what I'm being told deep down. I'm happy with taking risks and usually fairly comfortable with just seeing what happens, but this time, to do what I think is right involves letting go of safety nets and taking leaps I've never made before.

Frankly I'm terrified of it.

But the difference between right and wrong is that right makes you happy, makes you smile. It's not always easy (in fact, it's often hard and to be worked at), but it feels good.

The advice I give other people is to do what makes them happy. I just wish I could take it myself.

Opensouls people!

I have to profess my love for The Opensouls right now.

Right now, easily one of my fave acts. Have now seen them live 3 times.

I bought the album, Standing In The Rain a couple of weeks ago and it's brilliant.

If you haven't listened to them. Do it now.

Recovery position

The trip to Wellington was... epic and intense.

So many things happened, I saw so many people and my favourite places... plus two 10 hour car rides... I am very, very tired.

It's left me with a lot to think about.

Staying high and dry's more trouble than it's worth

The final day of the road trip...

To be honest, by this stage we were exhausted. The whole weekend was intense, both on personal levels and just in how much we packed into it. The drive back mostly involved people sleeping in the back seat and just trying to get home.

Thankfully, we eventually made it back to showers and our beds, which after such a crazy weekend, which was exactly what we all needed.

This life is shining more forever in the sun

I got up bright and early on Sunday. One thing I always try to do in Wellington is walk about the city and the waterfront first thing in the morning. It's always so quiet, peaceful and beautiful.

7.40am: NOM! Tulsi vegetable curry pies are the business!
7.41am: Yay! Stumbled onto the farmer's market!


Meanwhile, while I was out enjoying the morning, back at the hotel...

After wandering around for a few hours I met back up with the girls and we checked out of the hotel. We decided to hit Wholly Bagels for breakfast.

After breakfast we went for a walk, saw Te Papa and just hung out for the afternoon. We ended it with a drink at the Matterhorn before we decided to call it a day in Wellington City and head out to the friendly relms of Petone and the hospitality of @amiemccarron.

5.47pm: Sitting in @amiemccarron's backyard, drinking wine in the sun and playing with doggies.

6:50pm: Wow! @octopauly does a WICKED loaf of bread. Yum!

@bobsyauncle turned up around dinner time and stayed around with us for the rest of the night which included Amie's amazing Creme Brulee...

After dessert, the Singstar came out....

And then I went to the toilet and came back to find...

Finally, we finished the night with a whole lot of, what else? Tweeting of course! This time we found Mr John J. Campbell online and, after a whole lot of prodding, we were rewarded in the best way with this:

A real high to end our night!

So much has come before those battles lost and won

Part two of our adventures in Wellington.

We started the day in the best way possible...

11.12am: Breakfast and black coffee at Midnight Espresso. #wgtnrtrip

Then we moved onto shopping. As we moved along, people started dropping off to do their own thing, but I just kept buying awesome Wellington stuff...

12.53pm: Must. Stop. Buying. Cute. New. Things! #wgtnrtrip
1.03pm: Sitting with @dora_nz and got told by a homeless man that if we become lesbians we should enjoy ourselves. #wgtnrtrip

I hung with Kel, Dane and Shera for a few hours (including briefly hitting the 350 festival for gelato), mostly around the waterfront, just talking shit and catching up.

After a while we all had to go our own ways - I ended up heading off for a few drinks with @benjamintelfer in town, before getting glammed up at heading to Hashigo Zake to meet some of the Tweeps.

8.46pm: RT@amiemccarron Omg @cateowen just gave @sitharus a condom! #wgtnrtrip
8.57pm: At Hashigo Zake with too many tweeps to mention. Needless to say, with @cateowen and @annagconnell #wgtnrtrip
9.52pm: Woah @sitharus just got pashed by @annagconnell in front of @cateowen

This is about where everyone's tweets stop for the night, except for me, because I found myself sitting with a bunch of friends playing scrabble, where I posted this photo:

This night was pretty random, but hey, that's Wellington for you. Sunday and Monday's round-up coming soon.

Fully loaded, we've got snacks and supplies

This is essentially a combined Twitter-stream of our trip to Wellington with additional comments by me (in italics). All tweets are by me unless otherwise specified.

5.55am: We're up! Last minute packing and getting ready to head off on the #wgtnrtrip with @annagconnell and @cateowen

6.35am: Sunrise from the motorway

7.05am: Rocking my new Canteen bandana to cover my manky I-got-up-at-5am hair. #wgtnrtrip
7.46am: Huntly is full of class. There is still a D.E.K.A sign, a toy shop called 'weewillywinky' and kids smoking on an overbridge. #wgtnrtrip

Not far out of Huntly, I took over the driving. Clearly I couldn't tweet at this stage, but the girls could...

9.12am: Saluting @josiecampbell from Tokaroa

...and for a while there, Anna took over my Twitter account...

9.22am: Listening to Pina Colada. Somehow this gives @katjnz and @cateowen license to call me cameron and say I have a smelly poonani #wgtnrtrip
9.32am: I offered to drive but @cateowen reckons she can smell chardonnay from the front seat so we're fearing for our lives with Kat at the wheel

I drove on through to Taupo - overtaking my first cars and without managing to kill anyone before stopping at the Taupo toilets, because y'know, that's what you do when you're in Taupo.

10.13am: Fabulous experience at the Taupo super-loos. @cateowen bought a condom. #wgtnrtrip

10.32am: Am back in the passenger seat. @cateowen back to driving and @annagconnell hungover in the back seat. #wgtnrtrip
10.56am: According to friendly Turangi bk lady, we're 4 hours away from Wellington. Prepare for hawtness. #wgtnrtrip

She lied.

11.16am: Eating dessert on the Desert Road. #wgtnrtrip

11.45am: Saluting @josiecampbell from Waiuru #wgtnrtrip

Taihape proved to be quite a highlight for us...

12:18pm: Shopping in Taihapi. There are a lot of tea shops and ranchsliders. #wgtnrtrip

12.51pm: We have to pimp Soul cafe on the main street of Taihape. Excellent food, great curly fries and the staff actually smile. #wgtnrtrip

1.48pm: A pic of @annagconnell's awesome Elton John glasses from Taihape #wgtnrtrip

1.53pm: Going thru Bulls. Wellington in 148kms. Ready or not, here we come. #wgtnrtrip

So many people bought that. Heh.

3.16pm: Holy Crap! A cop just about smashed into us! Took the worst gamble at an intersection. Safer communities together my ass! #wgtnrtrip

The prick came out of a side road onto SH1 and almost t-boned us. Thankfully Anna saw it and swerved, but it wasn't a pleasant experience. The cop pulled right back away from us - so we couldn't get the plate - and took the next exit. We were highly unimpressed.

4.05pm: Wellington! Wellington! Wellington!

After arrival we checked in, took a couple of hours by ourselves to take a breather (10 hours in a car is a long time), got coffee and then Anna and I went to see The Little Bushmen at the Town Hall with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra.

7.06pm: Tweeting to you from the back of a really long line. #wgtnrtrip

As per usual, this is pretty much when the tweets run out - when I've been drinking I don't like to tweet and there is a certain 'what goes on tour...' vibe on this trip. The concert was great, and I didn't really get up to much this night. I visited Enigma (and almost had a heart attack when I saw the new courtyard) then went back to the hotel to crash out.

Roadtrippin' with my two favourite allies

Tomorrow is the big roadtrip with Anna and Cate down to Wellington. No doubt there will be a lot of tweeting going on, so I'm thinking for the most part the next few blogs will be tweets, twitpics and additional comments/photos that didn't get posted.

They'll be going up after we get back.

BDO - in my defence

Today all the Australian Big Day Out events sold out - two weeks after they went on sale.

This is a record. Sydney always sells out fast, but the other events aren't usually gone for a month or so.

Given that news, I decided to tweet and mention that anyone who wanted to go should get their tickets soon and I was inundated with people telling me that I was over reacting, that Australia always sells out and NZ never sells out until January.

Now, I'm no fortune teller and I can't see the future so maybe I'm wrong here, but this is the way I see it: the Auckland Big Day Out will sell out, probably in mid-November after the second announcement. Despite a lack-lustre response from people in response to the line up, it's actually an amazing one - certainly one of the strongest in the last few years. It's just missing a real headliner to grab... well, the headlines.

There is no Rage Against the Machine/Metallica/Neil Young. Instead this year is about MANY slightly-smaller acts. Muse, Lily Allen, Dizzee Rascal, Ladyhawke, Kasabian and Peaches - that's a strong line up. Not to mention the newer and more underground stuff.

Girl Talk headlined Laneways in Australia earlier this year and did two sold out New Zealand concerts on the same tour (and, for me, is worth the $140 ticket price alone). The Decemberists have gained quite a following in the States and are reknowed for their live shows. Not to mention the already-strong New Zealand based acts - KORA and Gin being highlights.

And that's just the first lineup. Many people I know are right on the cusp of making that decision, they're just waiting for that push. My prediction is it will be sold out very soon after the second announcement.

My advice is to actually look at that list. If there are 2 or 3 acts you like, get a ticket. If nothing else, the Big Day Out is always an amazing day with an incredible vibe. The lineup doesn't matter all that much because half the fun is in finding new acts. Last year I didn't rate the lineup at all and yet it was my favourite Big Day Out ever and completely changed my perspective on music.

Again, I'll reiterate I'm not a fortune teller and I admit - I might be wrong, but the facts are these:

• ALL Australian concerts sold out in record time
• For only the second time in 18 years, there are TWO Sydney shows - and the second one sold out in an hour.
  
• The lineup is actually one of the strongest in years and is really only missing a MAJOR headliner
• Big Day Outs in Auckland have sold out early in the past - 2004 and 2007 - though the argument is that this had to do with the major headliners (Metalica and Rage Against The Machine respectively)

I still think if you're considering going and like a couple of those acts, go. I understand the money is quite big, but given very few majors sell for less than $90 these days, and you can get so many for $140, I think it's well and truly worth it.

So hard to blog right now

Yeah, so... I've been very busy lately hanging out with friends, going to concerts, working and having a whole lot of fun - which has essentially meant I've been ignoring this here project.

But I haven't forgotten about it, I've just got limited time, and to be honest, apart from when I'm at work, these days I'm spending the majority of my time - gasp - offline.

Sometimes there are just better things to do.

This weekend I'm headed off to Wellington with the girls for a crazy weekend living it up. It should be great fun.

But for a while at least my blogs are going to be rather... perfunctory.

Call me Loyal

I went to the I Love The Islands Samoa tsunami relief concert tonight and wow!

Every iconic New Zealand song - Loyal, Language, Weather With You, Six Months In A Leaky Boat, Who Loves Who The Most, Victoria, Sway, Fast Times In Tahoe, Misty Frequencies, Not Many, Swing and, most awesomely, Anchor Me - was played by a series of NZ's finest musicians.

While many people were there for the cause, I've got to admit I was there for the music - the cause was an added bonus.

This Summer is slowly turning into the Summer of music. I have concerts and festivals coming out of my ears in the next few months. It's going to be amazing - Green Day, RnV, BDO and now the Laneway Festival who are bringing Florence and the Machine!

So very, very, very exciting.

Offline weekend

This weekend I was offline.

No tweeting, no blogging, no emails, no Facebook.

And no, I don't plan to publish what I was doing while I was offline, but I enjoyed it, quite thoroughly.

Going Offline

This weekend I'm going offline. I just simply won't be around. That includes blogging.

Brilliant.

TweetUp

I went to another TweetUp tonight. This time out at The Falls in Henderson and it was, without a doubt, the best TweetUp I've attended.

The whole event was aimed perfectly at it's audience - a screen showing the tweets of those at, and talking about, the party, a large open room, free drink on arrival, Twitter drink-specials, canapes...

I wasn't there for very long but I did get the chance to meet a few people I'd wanted to meet for a while, got to catch up with some great people and have a few drinks in total geek-heaven.

It amuses me how much I'm starting to look forward to these things. It's really hard to explain to a non-tweeter, but for the most part, these people are my friends. I follow their random lives (or, at least, the parts they choose to show me) all day, and then I go to these parties and I get to meet these people, talk to them, meet new people I don't know who I then go home and follow...

It's a strange community to be a part of, but at the same time a pretty awesome one. It's the interaction between online and offline that does it I think. It's the one thing Twitter does that so many people don't understand, it leaves the internet, but never entirely.

Certain things about this TweetUp rocked. The big screen where we could all see the Tweets and the interaction that came out of it (particular highlight was Cate tweeting "that waiter was hot" and then having the waiter bring her food all night), the nametags (as naff as nametags are, they really do help a TweetUp), the free drinks and drink specials - all contributed to put everyone in a very good mood.

It was a great night, I'm glad I went. It's good to put faces to usernames and to catch up with those I've already been lucky enought to meet. Looking forward to the next one.

Between Two Lungs

I promised myself I'd write an actual blog today...

The problem is everything in my head is the kind of stuff I can't post and I'm too busy looking forward to the weekend to really even stop to think about anything.

So unfortunately for you dear reader, you only get this very cryptic blog simply filling the requirements of the project.

A long, long day

Ack.

It's been a very long day for me at work. This week is kinda blowing on the professional front.

It's pretty amazing on the personal front, but I take my job seriously and I don't like it when things go really wrong.

So today, this is my blog because what I really want to do is drink wine and watch TV in bed.

Skinny People Pants

I've had a pair of pants hanging in my wardrobe for close to a year now. They're really nice, but they had a serious flaw...

I seriously muffin topped in them.

But this morning I put them on and suddenly fit them.

I fit the skinny people pants.

I'm in serious danger of losing that bragging right as I skoffed an entire pack of Oreos at work today, but I know I can get back there, it may just require more visits to the gym than I'd ideally like to make.

When everything blows up in your face

I had a bad day today, a really bad day.

I've messed up a few things at work, made a couple of social faux pas... it's just been a little shit all round.

So tonight I decided to skip the gym, come home and crack into a bottle of birthday wine.

A friend came over and we shared the bottle, had chat, watched some videos, messed around with Google Wave (oh yes, I got a Google Wave invite which is somewhat exciting) and generally just had an enjoyable night.

The net result is I'm now happier, having had a distraction from the pile of crap that caused me no end of trouble today.

That's what I like about my job, and my friends - when I leave, I leave the crap behind and my friends really don't give two shits about my job so I don't have to talk about it - I can just move on, put it to the back of my mind and hope I've developed some kind of plan in the back of my mind by the morning.

Which hopefully I will have.

(500) Days of Summer

I went and saw (500) Days of Summer today with a couple of friends. A number of things interested me about the film.

Firstly, it's suffering from the Juno effect. About once every two years a movie creates such a buzz in the States and garners such amazing reviews that I am positively humming with excitement to see it. Then I see it, and it falls below expectations. This is one of those films.

That's not to say it wasn't good - it's wonderfully crafted, says some interesting things about relationships and the simple fact that it is essentially an anti-romantic comedy is a comment in itself on romantic comedies and their effects on our general belief systems - something which does interest me greatly.

I just wish I'd gone in off my own volition, and not because I'd bought into the hype.

But forgetting about what I expected and looking instead at what the film actually was, it's about a relationship that doesn't end with a 'happily ever after'. The male protagonist, Tom, is a hopeless romantic who carries with him notions of fate, love and soul mates. The film credits this to "an early exposure to sad British pop music and a total misreading of the movie, The Graduate". Right from the early set-up of the movie, we are aware of how Tom has been shaped by his culture to yearn for his soul mate.

The female antagonist (Summer) however has been shaped by her life-events - her parent's divorce - to hold essentially the opposite belief system to Tom. She doesn't believe in love, or soul mates - and this is how their relationship begins. A man who wants love, and a woman who doesn't, beginning a relationship which is never actually named as a relationship.

There are so many ways to read this film - you can look at the way culture has shaped us and our attitudes towards love, and equally how this film acts to break away from these traditions in order to make a statement about the genre it itself is a part of. You can consider the gender roles presented - as a generalisation, Summer's insistence on a casual arrangement and Tom's intent to give it relationship status is a complete reversal on the social norm.

You can look specifically at Summer as a character - as my friends seem to be doing - some people like her, and others hate her and I'm finding it fascinating to see who falls on which side of the divide because (and again, I'm generalising here), it seems to come down on how you personally feel about casual sex.

I for one am not too fussed either way these days. Casual is fun so long as all parties are aware of the boundaries and are open to discussing any problems that may arise from it, but a more serious relationship is also fun if it develops naturally and organically. That said, I'm not entirely sure what Summer and Tom had could really be considered 'casual' by most people's lines.

To me it's Tom who is the more interesting character because of the way he has been programmed to think about love - a way that I was also programmed to think about it. The problem I see for Tom, and myself, is that in limiting our view of who is worth getting involved with, we lose out on a lot of valuable relationships, friendships and experiences.

Some critics have focused on the (excellent) soundtrack of the film, others on the characters, but for me the criticism of the popular portrayal of The Great Romance (made famous by Jane Austen and popular with females everywhere) was far and away the most interesting part.

Four Gopher Guys

Night at Home

Unusually, I find myself at home tonight.

It seems odd that a few months ago, this was a normal Saturday night because, honestly? I'm not sure I like it tonight.

So I'm planning to clean my room, watch a DVD and perhaps get an early night.

Exciting, at least my liver will appreciate it I guess.

Friday Follow

It's Friday, and on Twitter that means it's Friday Follow day. The problem is I like to recommend people for good reasons and tend to find Friday Follows clog my Twitter feed, thus, here is my guide to who you should follow on Twitter, in alphabetical order, because to give them a rank is just mean, and hard.

@annagconnell - one of my girls. She's just as much fun in real life as she is on Twitter. Get this girl into a link battle and it's likely you'll lose - and maybe go blind. You've been warned.

@benjamintelfer - interesting music and Wellington-related tweets, including the joys of flathunting.

@cateowen - there is a reason this girl's been on the Twitter Top 10 numerous times, it's because she's funny. She's also just a genuinely awesome chickee and another of my girls.

@crazycoug - mysterious, sarcastic and overly-confident. He can be mean, but he can take it as well. Really fun to just chat with.

@EDENAuckland - promoting positive body messages. It's just awesome to see the links and messages posted by this account throughout the day.

@FlicksNZ - This is pretty much how I know about movies these days and also how I get free tickets to previews.

@iChild - great music tweeter and, as she's in the advertising business, also has a lot to say about that.

@JessCann - we have incredibly similar taste and she's a Nerdfighter. She's just a highlight of my list.

@MissFleabe - I owe her my hair. After a tweet asking for magical potions to calm it the heck down she gave me an easy little recipe which has caused me to have fantastic hair ever since. If for no other reason, this gets her a spot in the list.

@Naly_D - this boy has brilliant taste in music and a great wee sense of humour.

@paul_bruere - ah the mullet, the insightful comments and the insane link fights that come from Mr. Bruere. Good fun.

@undertheradarnz - perfect for keeping up-to-date on the music scene in New Zealand. Tours, videos, events. It's all there in your Twitter feed.

Please note, this is not a list of the people I think are good, or the people I think deserve props - I follow 130 people and if I don't want to follow you, I'll stop - politics be damned, these are simply the people who I consistently enjoy and would recommend to others.