What about the Land of the Long White Whatever?

I keep wanting to randomly assemble my thoughts on the New Zealand trip, which was one of the best holidays I’ve ever had, but I’ve been sleepy and stressed and a bit fluey ever since I’ve been back, and the motivation to do anything that resembles work is not unexpectedly absent.

To add to the tidbits I’ve committed to the ether, though, I will observe that although the original plan included a vague notion to go and visit places where they filmed various Middle-Earthly scenes, there was really no need for that. The whole place is just spectacular. Offhand I could recall only about two or three vantage points on the whole trip where we couldn’t see a snow-capped peak or sweeping verdant hills or treacherous gorges or, you know, something breathtaking. It really is the most ridiculously sight-seeable place imaginable.

Be warned though: the food is not cheap. However, their beer is pretty bloody good. And Queenstown is a total tourist trap of the order of Airlie Beach, but if you have money and an adventurous spirit, there’s an almost inexhaustible supply of cool stuff to do. Most of it is still there even when the snow goes away. We didn’t get to Milford Sound or Aoraki Mount Cook or any part of North Island so we’ll be going back.

And we wrote a lot of songs. Some of them will eventually become music, and then you’ll be sorry.

Took one o’ them internet personality test things

It seems to be a moderately perceptive specimen of the breed.

the Wit (57% dark, 30% spontaneous, 21% vulgar)

your humor style: CLEAN COMPLEX DARK You like things edgy, subtle, and smart. I guess that means you're probably an intellectual, but don't take that to mean pretentious. You realize 'dumb' can be witty--after all isn't that the Simpsons' philosophy?--but rudeness for its own sake, 'gross-out' humor and most other things found in a fraternity leave you totally flat. I guess you just have a more cerebral approach than most. You have the perfect mindset for a joke writer or staff writer. Your sense of humor takes the most thought to appreciate, but it's also the best, in my opinion. You probably loved the Office. If you don't know what I'm talking about, check it out here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/comedy/theoffice/. PEOPLE LIKE YOU: Jon Stewart - Woody Allen - Ricky Gervais The 3-Variable Funny Test! - it rules - If you're interested, try my latest: The Terrorism Test

My test tracked 3 variables How you compared to other people your age and gender: You scored higher than 72% on darkness You scored higher than 7% on spontaneity You scored higher than 8% on vulgarity

Link: jason_bateman on The 3 Variable Funny Test written by OkCupid Free Online Dating

It thinks I like Woody Allen more than I usually do and of course it is insufferably smug, but otherwise it’s a pretty good call.

End of the holidays

Our two week adventure in New Zealand ended with a rather sleepy train ride back from Sydney on Sunday, and now here I am back at work. Don’t ask me what I did yesterday, because I can’t remember through the fog of self pity and desperate fantasising about being somewhere else. To be honest, it’s not much better today, but I am steadily drawing closer to the point of being a functional worker again.

(Clearly that’s not the case right at the moment, as I am writing a blog entry instead of working, but be assured that by small iterations I am creeping stealthily towards actually doing something useful).

I’m not going to get all the details of the trip down now – I don’t quite have so little regard for the multitude of tasks I’m supposed to be dealing with – but a quick synopsis: it was great. There was skiing/snowboarding, there were plentiful quantities of fabulous kiwi wine, there was so much scenery you wonder if your brain is starved of oxygen and you’re hallucinating, and there were good friends in fine spirits. What more could I have asked (apart from another two weeks off work?).

And now the return to reality

There seem to be a million things to do. Normally I would ascribe that to the usual post-holiday malaise, but actually I think there might actually be rather a large amount to get done as soon as possible. I’m kind of nervous about lifting up the rock on a few of the more obvious jobs, because I strongly suspect that all sorts of nasties are going to come scuttling out. I just don’t know that I’m in the head space to deal with nasties right at the moment. Conventional wisdom says that it takes a few days to get back into work routines after a good break. I’m just hoping that until then I can keep treading water without stirring up more muck than I have to.