PARTY PEOPLE!!!
Guess what I just found out!? My uncles both know how to play 500 because they grew up playing it on Kauai!!! Apparently the boys of the west side of Kauai all played 500 and the east side played Trumps. Hahaha!
In related news, on Shalom's last night in Juneau, she, Grant, Devon, and I played 500 for almost five hours. Because we are cool.
Well, that's all, I just wanted to share that strangeness...When I encountered 500 in New Zealand, I did NOT expect it to be originated from the United States! I figured that, like everything else in New Zealand, it originated from somewhere in Europe. But no, according to Wikipedia, it was invented in 1904 by the U.S. Playing Card Company! When Bridge was invented, 500 was phased out in America but is still popular in Australia, New Zealand, and French Canada.
Also, apparently the two jacks are not called the left and right hand "bows" or "boughs," as I thought, but "boweRs!" That's what happens when you learn words from Kiwis :p Also the same with gaffer tape... I thought it was "gaffa tape" until I saw it written.
Although, Nick spells it "bow." Do we trust Nicknick? Actually, he makes a fair point... "Bower," even in New Zealand English, would end in a schwa. Maybe it is just a word evolution and it has actually become "bow."
If you don't know how to play 500, ask me when you see me and we will play. It. Is. Awesome.
Unrelated, but Tasman v. Canterbury Air New Zealand Cup game this weekend!!! GO CANTERBURY! Sorry, Nick, but you know where my loyalty lies :) They are playing in Christchurch. Who has two thumbs and wishes she could go to the game!?!? THIS GIRL!
Okay, all, thanks for reading, I'll see you next time.
Monday, August 17, 2009
Sunday, August 16, 2009
FML
I would just like to share this post to FML:
Today, I literally stopped traffic. I was crossing the street and a butterfly landed on me. Being phobic of butterflies, I had a panic attack in the middle of the road. Oh, and I am 17, captain of our football team, and in very good shape. My girlfriend laughed the hardest. FML
In other news, the mystery party was AMAZING! I... don't think that any of them actually have this address, but all the same, thank you to Erin for hosting and playing, Matt, Jordan, Grant, and Heather for playing, Shane for doing an awesome job filling in, and of course Shalom for being an awesome co-creator and -writer! It's too bad Mac couldn't be there to fill his own role, but I understand completely. Ethan showed up to his own murder, and Shane actually cracked the case at the end! For those of you curious, it was Heather with the gun in the janitor's closet.
Now that the mystery party is over, I'm a little bit at loose ends until Monday, when Transparent Devices reopens. I leave next Sunday. I hope someone with a car wants to go to Chipotle, because the IES group has made me soooo curious about it, and Chipotle just opened in Rochester! Also I hope someone with a car picks me up at the airport... I should really look into that.
I MISS NEW ZEALAND! I've been watching Flight of the Conchords ALL the time, and I don't know if that makes it better or worse! On the plus side, I've figured out how to fold toilet paper, so. That's all for now, bye-o!
Today, I literally stopped traffic. I was crossing the street and a butterfly landed on me. Being phobic of butterflies, I had a panic attack in the middle of the road. Oh, and I am 17, captain of our football team, and in very good shape. My girlfriend laughed the hardest. FML
In other news, the mystery party was AMAZING! I... don't think that any of them actually have this address, but all the same, thank you to Erin for hosting and playing, Matt, Jordan, Grant, and Heather for playing, Shane for doing an awesome job filling in, and of course Shalom for being an awesome co-creator and -writer! It's too bad Mac couldn't be there to fill his own role, but I understand completely. Ethan showed up to his own murder, and Shane actually cracked the case at the end! For those of you curious, it was Heather with the gun in the janitor's closet.
Now that the mystery party is over, I'm a little bit at loose ends until Monday, when Transparent Devices reopens. I leave next Sunday. I hope someone with a car wants to go to Chipotle, because the IES group has made me soooo curious about it, and Chipotle just opened in Rochester! Also I hope someone with a car picks me up at the airport... I should really look into that.
I MISS NEW ZEALAND! I've been watching Flight of the Conchords ALL the time, and I don't know if that makes it better or worse! On the plus side, I've figured out how to fold toilet paper, so. That's all for now, bye-o!
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
The Mystery Party
Hello,
In anticipation of the mystery party on Thursday, I am going to briefly outline what it is we do. When I was in high school, my group of friends went through all of these "How to Host a Murder Mystery" games. They are written for eight people to play eight suspects. Each character is given information that incriminates themselves (conceals) and information that incriminates the others (reveals). When the group has played through all four rounds of information, there are accusations, and then all is revealed. They have themes, like Ancient Roman or Wild West. But we long ago finished all of the professionally made ones.
So Shalom and I wrote our own three years ago. It took place in present day Juneau. We wrote it for Erin, Matt, Max, Lindsay, and Devon with Shalom (Sasha Milovski) as the victim. The next year, we wrote a mystery for Erin, Ethan, Matt, Heather, Grant, Shalom, and me that took place in the 20s on a yacht with Devon (Arthur Sinclair III) as the victim. We took a year off because I didn't come back until after Shalom left for New Zealand. So now we're back! This year, the theme is Class of 2006 ten year high school reunion. Our players are Erin, Heather, Mac, Matt, Grant, Jordan, Shalom, and me, and the victim is Ethan.
I'll let you know how it goes!
In anticipation of the mystery party on Thursday, I am going to briefly outline what it is we do. When I was in high school, my group of friends went through all of these "How to Host a Murder Mystery" games. They are written for eight people to play eight suspects. Each character is given information that incriminates themselves (conceals) and information that incriminates the others (reveals). When the group has played through all four rounds of information, there are accusations, and then all is revealed. They have themes, like Ancient Roman or Wild West. But we long ago finished all of the professionally made ones.
So Shalom and I wrote our own three years ago. It took place in present day Juneau. We wrote it for Erin, Matt, Max, Lindsay, and Devon with Shalom (Sasha Milovski) as the victim. The next year, we wrote a mystery for Erin, Ethan, Matt, Heather, Grant, Shalom, and me that took place in the 20s on a yacht with Devon (Arthur Sinclair III) as the victim. We took a year off because I didn't come back until after Shalom left for New Zealand. So now we're back! This year, the theme is Class of 2006 ten year high school reunion. Our players are Erin, Heather, Mac, Matt, Grant, Jordan, Shalom, and me, and the victim is Ethan.
I'll let you know how it goes!
Friday, July 31, 2009
VERY EXCITING NEWS
OKAY. So this won't be exciting to everyone. But. I had not seen Arthur for a long while, having missed it last Friday (the only day I'm home at three PM), and I think the Friday before that, too. So, today I watched it for the first time in a long while. The opening comes on, and it's Buster returning from outer space... DOES ANYONE ELSE KNOW THIS OPENING??? It's the opening to Buster's Back. Most of you probably know that Arthur episodes come in twos. Two fifteen minute episodes. So every episode has a partner. Buster's Back's partner is... THE BALLAD OF BUSTER BAXTER!!! IN TEN MINUTES, THE BALLAD OF BUSTER BAXTER IS GOING TO BE ON!!! Talk about luck!
It's my favourite episode ever!!! Although, this episode is pretty great, too. "Pip pip, cheerio, crumpets!" Also, I love it when he shows up on the elephant. Also, Arthur's parents are watching a speed knitting competition. Also, I love Arthur. This show is amazing. I love Arthur's trash can. It's blue and there's a space ship on it. Okay, before I dig myself into any more holes here, I'm going to end this post. This episode is over, so Art Garfunkel the singing moose is on his way. Bye for now!
It's my favourite episode ever!!! Although, this episode is pretty great, too. "Pip pip, cheerio, crumpets!" Also, I love it when he shows up on the elephant. Also, Arthur's parents are watching a speed knitting competition. Also, I love Arthur. This show is amazing. I love Arthur's trash can. It's blue and there's a space ship on it. Okay, before I dig myself into any more holes here, I'm going to end this post. This episode is over, so Art Garfunkel the singing moose is on his way. Bye for now!
Saturday, July 25, 2009
Reentry
Can I do that? Can I name two posts the same thing? I'm going to try it! I'm going for it! Pushing the limits! LIVIN' ON THE EDGE!!!
Okay, sorry. No, I just wanted to add, really briefly, and this is going to be an overshare, I cannot for the life of me figure out how to fold American toilet paper. In New Zealand, the sheets are skinnier and longer, so three sheets can be nicely folded into four, which confused me at first because that involves not folding on the lines. But HERE, the sheets are really fat (haha, America...), and they're square. So yes fold on the lines, but then you end up with this toilet paper that seems ginormous to me. I do not remember this being a dilemma before...
So. Hi.
Okay, sorry. No, I just wanted to add, really briefly, and this is going to be an overshare, I cannot for the life of me figure out how to fold American toilet paper. In New Zealand, the sheets are skinnier and longer, so three sheets can be nicely folded into four, which confused me at first because that involves not folding on the lines. But HERE, the sheets are really fat (haha, America...), and they're square. So yes fold on the lines, but then you end up with this toilet paper that seems ginormous to me. I do not remember this being a dilemma before...
So. Hi.
Thursday, July 23, 2009
Reentry
So before we left New Zealand, Eunice gave us this whole talk on reentry and how it might suck. Well, it doesn't suck quite as much as all that, although I do get madly "homesick" for New Zealand (New Zealandsick?) at times.
However, I do spend a fair bit of time wondering why we don't have outlets that switch on and off. I still look right first before crossing the street or pulling out at an intersection, so I just have to look every which way several times before going anywhere! I've finally started moving to the righthand side of the stairs at work when I'm going up and someone else is coming down (or vice versa), but my gut instinct is still to move to the left when I encounter someone on the sidewalk. I've stopped saying "tea" for "dinner," but I still type with the British S and U. I sometimes say "zed." I have nearly remastered Fahrenheit temperatures and am in fact losing my Celsius conversions rather rapidly. There was a little overlap period in there during which I had no concept of temperature at all.
I think that as long as I am in Juneau, which is beautiful like New Zealand, I will be okay. As for reentry to Rochester... that is entirely a different kettle of fish.
You know, I never went to that little bookstore that had a pottery section. Well, I guess I'll just have to go back!
For those of you still following, 1) I'm impressed, and 2) the All Blacks beat the Wallabies last week, 22-16 in Auckland! They next play (possibly tomorrow?) in South Africa against the Springboks. Right now is tri-nations, which means they'll just be playing Australia and South Africa for a while.
That's all for now!
However, I do spend a fair bit of time wondering why we don't have outlets that switch on and off. I still look right first before crossing the street or pulling out at an intersection, so I just have to look every which way several times before going anywhere! I've finally started moving to the righthand side of the stairs at work when I'm going up and someone else is coming down (or vice versa), but my gut instinct is still to move to the left when I encounter someone on the sidewalk. I've stopped saying "tea" for "dinner," but I still type with the British S and U. I sometimes say "zed." I have nearly remastered Fahrenheit temperatures and am in fact losing my Celsius conversions rather rapidly. There was a little overlap period in there during which I had no concept of temperature at all.
I think that as long as I am in Juneau, which is beautiful like New Zealand, I will be okay. As for reentry to Rochester... that is entirely a different kettle of fish.
You know, I never went to that little bookstore that had a pottery section. Well, I guess I'll just have to go back!
For those of you still following, 1) I'm impressed, and 2) the All Blacks beat the Wallabies last week, 22-16 in Auckland! They next play (possibly tomorrow?) in South Africa against the Springboks. Right now is tri-nations, which means they'll just be playing Australia and South Africa for a while.
That's all for now!
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
Final Countdown
Hi everyone,
This post is going to be bit jumbled and probably not so interesting, sorry. It's just a wrap-up of New Zealand, and post Simon and Garfunkel, it was relatively low-key. Whenever my planetary geology professor would talk about the main sequence, I always imagined a band of helium and hydrogen atoms (as in Radium Man style). They would be called The Main Sequence, and they would always play the Final Countdown. They would have a drummer. Don't ask.
Anyway, so when I got back from Auckland, I had finals. So I dealt with those. Yay, interesting story! No, really, I studied and I took finals. Whoo! Well, okay, there was also a games night in there and a significant number of movies and TV shows. Okay, so, I really was sort of a slacker relative to what I am at home, but I did study, and I don't feel too badly about any of my finals, so... here's hoping!
Ellen left on the 15th, which is ridiculously early, and that was so sad!!! A bunch of people went to the airport with her to lighten the cost of the shuttle and to see her off at the airport. Earlier that day, we went downtown and did some last minute shopping with her and just puttered around Christchurch.
Tamar, Alyssa, Shalom, and I went on the Grand Tour somewhere in there... on a Sunday, as I recall. This is a photo of Mona Vale, a garden in Christchurch.
When we all had just one final left (and some of us none, but I was not one of those lucky few), we celebrated by going to get souvlakis. Unfortunately, the really awesome souvlaki place was CLOSED and we had to settle for a different one. I do have some really fantastic photos from souvlakis, but Shalom would probably kill me if I posted them. She was disapproving enough of me taking photos while she was eating in the first place. Later that day, Nick and I went to Campbell's window display! It was awesome!
Then, on my last full day, I wandered around Christchurch and took some photos.
The fountain outside of the Canterbury Museum and the house in the Arts Centre. Oh, and I went to the Art Gallery with Kate (Maude) and it was AWESOME. Rita Angus is completely talented, but the gift shop had NO Rita Angus postcards. It was tragic. I have no postcards from my visit to the Art Gallery... unheard of. The Canterbury Museum was nice, but was a little bit too much New Zealand for me on my last day.
So, now I am back in Juneau! I might continue to post, but I'll be less frequent (and interesting, let's face it). I'll see you all when I see you, Americans and Kiwis alike!
This post is going to be bit jumbled and probably not so interesting, sorry. It's just a wrap-up of New Zealand, and post Simon and Garfunkel, it was relatively low-key. Whenever my planetary geology professor would talk about the main sequence, I always imagined a band of helium and hydrogen atoms (as in Radium Man style). They would be called The Main Sequence, and they would always play the Final Countdown. They would have a drummer. Don't ask.
Anyway, so when I got back from Auckland, I had finals. So I dealt with those. Yay, interesting story! No, really, I studied and I took finals. Whoo! Well, okay, there was also a games night in there and a significant number of movies and TV shows. Okay, so, I really was sort of a slacker relative to what I am at home, but I did study, and I don't feel too badly about any of my finals, so... here's hoping!
Ellen left on the 15th, which is ridiculously early, and that was so sad!!! A bunch of people went to the airport with her to lighten the cost of the shuttle and to see her off at the airport. Earlier that day, we went downtown and did some last minute shopping with her and just puttered around Christchurch.
Tamar, Alyssa, Shalom, and I went on the Grand Tour somewhere in there... on a Sunday, as I recall. This is a photo of Mona Vale, a garden in Christchurch.
When we all had just one final left (and some of us none, but I was not one of those lucky few), we celebrated by going to get souvlakis. Unfortunately, the really awesome souvlaki place was CLOSED and we had to settle for a different one. I do have some really fantastic photos from souvlakis, but Shalom would probably kill me if I posted them. She was disapproving enough of me taking photos while she was eating in the first place. Later that day, Nick and I went to Campbell's window display! It was awesome!
Then, on my last full day, I wandered around Christchurch and took some photos.
The fountain outside of the Canterbury Museum and the house in the Arts Centre. Oh, and I went to the Art Gallery with Kate (Maude) and it was AWESOME. Rita Angus is completely talented, but the gift shop had NO Rita Angus postcards. It was tragic. I have no postcards from my visit to the Art Gallery... unheard of. The Canterbury Museum was nice, but was a little bit too much New Zealand for me on my last day.
So, now I am back in Juneau! I might continue to post, but I'll be less frequent (and interesting, let's face it). I'll see you all when I see you, Americans and Kiwis alike!
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