More fun

I just got back from bungy jumping 134 meters into a gorge; it was unreal.  My blog isn't liking myattempts to upload pics, but check my picasa, once again.  I've come to the conclusion that all European girls are absolutely gorgeous, and this place is crawling with them.  To the guys, if you want a job dealing with hot girls in their twenties all day, work as a bungy jump operator.  3/4 of the group of 20 I went with was made up of gorgeous European girls.

"A picture is worth a thousand words"

Well, I'd post a picture, but my blog is not cooperating.  Check my picasa.

UNREAL!

Go skydiving right NOW!  I just got back from plummeting 15,000 feet at about 200 km/h, and it was the most amazing think I've ever done.  The 15,000 ft jump is the highest you're allowed to do without certification; I got to free fall for an entire minute.  The view from 3 miles above Queenstown is amazing; I could see forever.  There will be photos coming in about 5 hours; so, so good.  The feeling it gives you is completely indescribable. 

I've arrived

I just arrived in Queenstown after a 6.5 hour drive from Christchurch.  I managed to snap a few photos along the way, and nap for a while as well.  This place is bumping; I didn't expect it to be nearly as large, or as busy as it is.  The area is beautiful, and it's no wonder they call the mountains around here "The Remarkables".  I'm going to explore, but there will be plenty of updates throughout the week.  

Cheahhhhhh booiiiiiiiiii

This is life, now with the best daily comics on the planet!  Check 'em all the time folks.

That's a hell of a proposition

I just finished watching 'Green Street Hooligans'; great flick.  'Silent Hill', not so much.

Lately I've had my nose stuck in a book more than usual.  I finished up another Nietzsche piece last week, and am about to finish up 'The Problem With Being Born' by E.M. Cioran.  I think many readers would probably find his work more than a little edgy; his main 'thesis' (the book isn't really written in a normal format) is that the worst thing to ever happen to any person was being born.  He theorizes that life is a relatively brief ostracism of sorts from the eternal bliss of non-existence (that which comes before one's birth, and after one's death).  He does give reason for why people don't commit suicide en masse, but I don't really feel like getting too deep into it all.

I'm super stoked for my upcoming jaunt to Queenstown.  Mountain climbing, fiordland, sky diving, bungee jumping; it's got it all.  

What to read next?

A book under belt

The store I work for is now open, which is a little lame.  Now there are swarms of customers, more rushing, and a uniform.  My work pants are very MC Hammer/parachute style, minus the 80's color scheme.  I had completely forgotten that this weekend is Easter (if I didn't work, I'm sure it would have passed without my knowing it); this means four day weekend, sweet.  

I don't have great people skills.  

From time to time I happen to meet some great people, but I suck at starting conversation, and at small talk.  I want to work on this, but it just seems beyond me.  I got to completely skip all the BS when I met Scott (Hamilton Peters) in Arthur's Pass.  I was sitting alone at The Wobbly Kea, and he asked if he could join me.  It turned out that he was also in philosophy (Masters in it from U of Chicago), and that he was one of the nicest, smartest people around.  Great guy all around.  He even likes Nietzsche, and gave me his favorite book, which he thinks I'll love.  Have a good summer in Alaska, Scott.

I'm booked to leave for Queenstown next Saturday for a week; I'd like to spend more time than that there, and most likely will.  I'm all about mountain climbing down there, as well as a few more 'extreme' things.  Speaking (writing?) of mountain climbing, I found that I had the best cell reception of my entire trip (to this point) from the top of Mt. Bealey in Arthur's Pass.  I called the 'rents from up there, and not only was the delay quite minimal, but the reception was clear as a bell.

People here say "How are you going?", which I suppose is a combination of the 'North American' phrases "How are you doing?" and "How is it going?".  I found that I said it today without even thinking about it; freaky.  I also frequently say 'rubbish' instead of 'garbage', and 'nicked' (sp?) or 'pinched' instead of 'stole/stolen'.

For reasons beyond me, the above photo (taken above the tree line on Mt. Bealey) gives me a strange, bad feeling, and freaks me out in general, but I'm fascinated by it at the same time.  What do you think?

Another day, another mountain

Hello all.  I got up fairly early today (9am) and made my way up Mt Bealey.  It's almost exactly the same height as Avalanche Peak, but considerably more difficult to climb, and I didn't see a single person the whole day.  The hike went great, and I saw (therefore took pictures of) some incredible views.  On the way up it was a little cloudy, but once I passed the low peak it open up and gave great 360* views.  I also had great cell reception up at the peak, so I gave Mom and Dad a call from 6000 feet up.  The descent was insane, as you easily gain momentum going down such a steep area; it took me less than half the time to get down than it did to get to the top.  At a few points I was borderline sprinting down, as it was almost easier than trying to slow myself down.  It takes a lot of concentration to run down a steep rocky/rooty area and use your hands to support yourself on vines/trees along the way. Check Picasa for pics.

I found out today that the height of the mountains doesn't include the 920m (about 3000) feet above sea level that Arthur's Pass sits at.  I'm not sure if all mountains are measured to the base, or if their heights are usually in relation to sea level.  

I head back to Chch tomorrow for two more weeks of work, then it's nothing but travel until I'm home.

Made for a hell of a story...

Yesterday while hiking I reached Avalanche Peak, and then decided to head across a ridge to Mt Rolleston (there are pics of both on my Picasa).  I made it about 7/8 of the way across to the ridge when I reached a section that I couldn't pass.  I then headed down the mountain from where I was stopped.  After a short while I found that I reached cliffs, and couldn't go any further; this forced me start heading across the cliff tops looking for a way down.  After about four hours of searching, I was exhausted, cut up a little from all the sharp shale (the loose shale is called scree, and is pretty much impossible to climb up), and was stuck in a small area a few hundred feet from the top of the ridge.  It had become too steep to continue on, and too steep to go down or up.  Because of the loose shale I couldn't even go back where I came from.  I was completely stuck on a cliff far away from everything.  I sat on a small ridge and started yelling for help; I could see a few people in the distance on the Avalanche Peak, and after about a half hour of yelling, I could tell they had heard me, and were scrambling for help.  In the meantime I inched my way around until I got a tiny bit of cell reception and managed to call 111 (their 911).  They operator took all my location info, and then informed me that search and rescue would send out a chopper immediately.  The Chch police then called me and told me the chopper was on it's way, and to hold tight.  I bundled up, as I was far far above the tree line, and since I had stopped hiking I was cooling down quickly.  I was stuck on the ledge for about two hours in total, and freezing by the time the chopper showed up.  I waved around a yellow bag I had to get their attention and within minutes I was throwing my backpack to them and climbing up the strut and into the chopper.  On the ground the local search and rescue team was waiting (expecting potential injuries, hypothermia, etc).  They took me into their headquarters and took my info for the police report, made me a hot coffee and bundled me up.  After a while they took me back to my hostel, and I thanked them all repeatedly.  I'm fine now, but it was more than a little scary being stuck up there.  It turns out two people without backpacks ran from the peak to the village and informed them about the same time I got through to 111.  They used my info, as well as what the people on the peak had told me about my last known location on the ridge (they couldn't see me from where I was yelling) to find me.  All is well, and I've more than learned my lesson about deviating from marked tracks.

Scott Hamilton Peters is the bees knees

I've met loads of killer people in Arthur's Pass.  One guy, with the gnarliest beard ever, came and sat down with me last night at the local bar.  It turns out he has his Masters in philosophy, and we talked for hours.  Unreal French girl in the hostel, too.

I hiked all day today, and there are pics on Picasa to prove it.  Good story coming tomorrow too... (dealing with today's hike)

Good eatings

I'm not sure if we have these at home, but Nashi pears are one of the best things to ever happen to my mouth.  They are massive, juicy, don't bruise easily, and taste fantastic.  I'm going to have to look around on PEI to see if any of the uber grocery stores sell them.

In about two hours I'm leaving for Arthur's Pass to hike for the next five days.  I'm really stoked, as nothing makes for beautiful scenery the way mountains do.  I'll be staying in the YHA hostel there, and should have access to the internet to update you all on my goings-on, but I'm not 100% on that.  Expect some sweet pictures.

Tra lala

I'm not in a bad mood or anything, but I'm going to rant anyway. 

I just got home from work, and experienced one of the worst bus rides I've had.  I've had this particular driver before, and she's not exactly a pro at what she does.  She brakes and accelerates like she's in some sort of death race, and shifts significantly worse than I do (that's saying something).  I've witnessed people actually fall down while riding the bus with her driving; she has no clue what she's doing.

I watched a show last night about a morbidly obese man (I only have five channels).  This man was 39 years old and weighed about 760 lbs.  At the very beginning I felt neutral towards him, but this quickly descended into hatred.  The guy was taken to a special facility where they 'treat' people who are morbidly obese.  On the first day he was already demanding hamburgers and eating countless chocolate bars from his 'stash'.  It absolutely disgusts me to see anyone who is overweight eat a hamburger, let alone a guy of this size.  And I haven't eaten a chocolate bar in...months, and I'm probably borderline underweight.  This guy had let himself get like this, and it seems to me that he barely deserves to live.  Why should someone who gets themselves into a situation like that (very slowly, too, mind you) in which they become a massive (no pun intended) burden on the medical system.  Yeah, I hurt myself riding sometimes, and I know that it is dangerous, but it's nothing like letting yourself slowly become so overweight that you can't walk.

Lastly - and I'll make this fairly short - people who love animals more than people.  Why are people offended at the thought of eating animals which are commonly household pets?  They're no different than pigs and cows.  And finally, no animal, no matter how 'special' they may seem to their owner, is even close to being as important as a human being.  If you donate $$$ to the Humane Society, but none to charities, re-think your life.

That was interesting

I didn't know what to do today, so out of the blue I decided to go hiking in the Port Hills again.  I took the bus to Lyttelton, walked on the Summit Road for a bit, then just head up.  It was steep at first, then got steeper, and steeper, to the point that some parts were past vertical.  Needless to say, it was pretty scary, but fun at the same time.  It was the first time I'd ever gone hiking/mountain climbing and known that if I slipped and fell backwards, that was it for me.  There were some great views once I got to the top, which got me more stoked for my trip to Arthur's Pass this Friday.  Check my picasa for pics.

Blah

Random business going on.

For the last twenty four hours or so I've lost my sense of balance.  It feels like I'm all over the place, all wobbly and whatnot.  Very strange, and very annoying.

My left ankle has got to go.  It's coming up on the first anniversary of me ruining it at the lovely Charlottetown park.  It healed up to....90%ish of it's 'full capacity' after about six months or so, but it's not felt any better since then.  It's not like it's ruining my life by any means, it's just quite annoying.  It randomly pops, clicks, and locks depending on what position it's in and what I've been doing.  If even remotely tweaked from side to side, or if it experiences a bit of a jar from riding (doesn't take much), it quickly decides it hates me and swells up like a blister on a lumberjacks hand.  I've pretty much given up all hope of regaining my full range of movement in it, as if I try to stretch it beyond where it wants to go, it just aggravates it further.  I want  a new one, ASAP.

The weather here has been strange lately.  Since the summer here was so dry, all the foliage had either died, or stopped growing entirely.  If you can recall, my photos of the Port Hills show plenty of golden 'grass', but not a green blade in sight.  Now that fall here has begun it's been raining more frequently and the local foliage is growing again, and the hills are becoming more green by the day.  It feels like spring, sort of.

The people at work call break time 'smoke-o', which is just plain funny.

I think that's all for now...I'll edit/post again if anything else should pop into my head.

Product promotion

Bit of a product review today.

If you have an ipod, or just use Apple's earbuds, these things will improve your headphones ten fold.  Griffin EarJams are worth their weight in gold, to make use of a cliche.  I've been using them for quite some time now...I'd say nine months or so, yet I didn't truly notice how much I like them until yesterday.  I had originally heard about them through the product reviews on silverorange's site; Dennis had reviewed them and raved about them.  I hated the way my Apple earbuds constantly fell out and just didn't fit in my ear particularly well.  The EarJams come with three different sized soft rubber attachments that clip on to Apple earbuds.  I use the biggest size, and they fit my ear perfectly, leaving them securely in there despite all sorts of mishaps (dropping ipod, cord getting caught on belt, etc.).  Not only do they increase the security of the earbud fit and feel, they also vastly increase sound quality as well as volume.  I didn't notice the latter until yesterday when one of the rubber bits had gone missing and I was in a rush so I was forced to wear the naked earbuds; they suck.  The sound was awful, the didn't fit my ears at all, they let in heaps of background noise, and my ipod's volume had to be turned up far higher in order to hear the music in a high noise environment (walking down a busy street, on the bus).  One of the rubber pieces had developed a habit of falling off the earbud attachment over the last few days, hence it going missing.  I found it in the hall outside my flat later last night, which means I didn't have to purchase another set of these wonders; there is no way I could listen to my ipod without them now.  A dab of super-glue where the rubber bit 'snaps' onto the earbud attachment and I'm all set once again.  I can't speak (or write) highly enough of EarJams; they're not exactly cheap, but when the amount they improve the usability of my ipod is taken into consideration they are more than worth their price.  If you don't like the way your Apple earbuds fit, or want to vastly increase the quality of the sound of your ipod/mp3 player grab a set of these.  

If anyone is curious, I ordered mine through the Little Mac Shoppe on Victoria Row, and they only took a week or so to come in.  Not only were 'they' easy to deal with, but the girl working there (whom I did not recognize) knew who I was enough to not need to ask my name for the order; how's that for uber/creepy customer service?

99.9%

Bad mood tonight.  I just got home from the lamest excuse for 'going out' that I've ever experienced.  I suppose some people like to go to bars and not do much, but if I'm going to 'go out' there has to be either a good conversation/discussion going on, or some sweet dancing.  Neither happened tonight, so I'm less than pleased.  As I stood in Sol Square tonight, I started to think about a topic that encroaches on my thoughts quite often; I hated the vast majority of people.  I don't hate everyone, and I can have a good time with lots of different types of people.  But to find someone who I can thoroughly enjoy being with more than fifty percent of the time is an almost impossible task for me.  I think this is due to my strange mixture in personality/preferences; I like to make stupid jokes, goof around, go dancing all night, and ride my little kids bike, but I also like to read, talk to people about topics that I enjoy (philosophy, humanism, sociological goings on, etc), and most important of all, I like to learn.  This means that I don't really fit in with the crowd that just wants to have 'fun' all the time (their definition of fun; i.e. goofing around), but nor do I fit in with the 'nerdier' crowd who would prefer to spend all of their time on the academic aspects of life.  It's a combination between the two that is difficult to find.