In Rebuttal to the Cynics

Valentine’s Day: whether we love it or hate it, it’s here to stay. And this year, as the 14th of February rolled around, came the anti-V Day postings, the rantings from friends and workmates. And the complaints flew thick and fast: selling out to commercialism, a marketing scam of global proportions, men should act like this every day, women should act like this every day as well, it’s too much effort, people suffering from hayfever from flowers, chocolate adding on the pounds, jealous and snide remarks, excuses for not doing something, excuses for not receiving something.

Valentine’s Day is a way of celebrating love. It doesn’t mean you have to shell out $2000 for 140 roses (as one Wellingtonian did on Tuesday). It doesn’t have to be champagne or diamonds. Or a boat cruise, or a truckload of flowers. But it is a day for appreciating what you have. And appreciating it in a way that is special to you and your Valentine. It doesn’t mean that you love your Valentine any less than you do any other day. Receiving a dozen, freshly cut red roses every day would quickly get boring – it would only be a matter of time before the novelty wore off. But it’s about sharing and reliving your special moments together. The things that make you a couple. Songs. Moments. Experiences. Talking on the phone. Sharing an ice cream. Late nights. Text messages. Walks on the beach. The first kiss.

I think a big part of V Day is the element of surprise. You don’t know what your Valentine will do for you. And what’s better, you also get to surprise them. In fact, you have a whole year to think up what you’ll do next. There’s nothing better in the world than watching someone’s face light up when you surprise them. Watching as their lips begin curling upwards into a smile. Seeing their eyes dance with anticipation. Feeling the glow radiate off them as they flush with delight.

This is Valentine’s Day.

Right now I'm at my desk, looking out my window. I see a small boat on the horizon, listless on a glassy blue sea, far far away. Bathed in the golden afternoon glow. Soft white clouds in a baby blue sky. I can feel the breeze on my face, smell the salt in the air, and taste the freedom. No words can express how much I need to be on that boat, right now.

Running Through My Head

Sometimes I think that we don’t appreciate what we have. Perhaps this difficulty to appreciate is exacerbated by the nature of nomadlife; and the world of @. As a half-AIESECer, I can only imagine that it must be even more difficult for most of you – those who have gone on traineeships, or had your lives touched by visitors – which I gather is probably most of you.

Human nature is often such that instinctively, things are “good”. Q: “How are you?” A: “Good”. And a lot of the time, this reflects on our blogs. They are filled with fun, life, excitement, culture, experiences, passion. We see the highlights of people’s lives in a constant stream. Turn on nomadlife, and you get that comforting "feelgood" buzz - immediately.

"Turn on nomadlife, and you get that comforting "feelgood" buzz - immediately"

What it is easy to forget is that this stream is made up of hundreds of fellow nomads. And, in what must also be human nature, we compare this to what we have. Of course, highlights of the lives of those all over the world, travelling and having the most wonderful experiences, cannot compete with our so-called “regular” lives. It’s only when we embrace that, realise that our lives are also part of the stream, and open up to give even more that we enrich our lives and those of our fellow nomads.

A Belated New Year's Posting By Pictures

Since I had some spare time on my hands today, combined with my guilty conscience of having not posted up my photos from our South Island trip over New Year's, I thought I would sort it out today. You may have already seen those posted by my other roadies: Tee, Devrim and Drake. They say that a picture speaks a thousand words. So without further ado, here is the roadtrip in photos, and captioned as appropriate. I hope you can relive some of our memories. Enjoy!


Tee and I meet the Drake on our home soil - outside the Budget Rent a Car at Wellington Airport. Drake had texted me before he took off, saying to look out for the obnoxious gringo with the Santa hat and robe on. Needless to say, he wasn't hard to find!


This is Drake, blindfolded on the way to the Mount Victoria Lookout. We are stopped at the local Pak n' Save, as Tee had to pick up a few things ;)


And here is the first "nomad" sign we saw - there were many more to come.


The road trip begins! Drake and Digs in the back seat, as we wait to load the car on to the Interislander.


Tee goes for the smart-alec look. There were many more of these to come.


The Captain on the bridge? Or just a guy having a bit of a think?


At a cafe in Collingwood (incidentally called The Courthouse): Sofie, Drake, me, Tee (there's the smart alec look again) and Digs.


Pupu Springs - this was absolutely gorgeous. Clear blue skies, clear blue water, plenty of green nature, and not a soul around. There was a lot more of this that the Americans got to experience.


And the actual Pupu Spring. So clear and beautiful.


Digs, Sofie and Drake unloading the booze from my car in preparation for one big New Year's Eve :)


The last night of 2005. How romantic.


The Drake's way of saying "size doesn't matter".


Girls having fun: Tee, Kate and Bex (Kate seems to be having a lot more fun!).


Great times with great people - probably my favourite photo of the trip: Katherine, Vesi, me, Sofie, Paulus, Moose, Tee, Kate, Mole and Bex.


Happy Birthday, Tee! One year old ;)


Tee and Digs decide to take up farming. First things first: a proper Southern hat.


If there is a higher being, then I'm sure this was it saying "hello" :)


Dusk in Queenstown.


Another group photo (see, I actually did make it to Queenstown!). Drake, Tee, Digs and me on the shore of the lake in Queenstown. The beauty of Queenstown simply took my breath away.


This is how clear the lake at Queenstown was - like glass. The shadows of me and a couple of the kids.


And here is the scenic shot. If you were ever feeling stressed, just looking out over the lake would surely calm you down quickly.


This is the result of me trying to lie on the beach by the lake and capturing an "arty" shot. Only just a little bit off, but I still liked this shot :)


And here is another "nomad".


A shot of the mountain ridges above Queenstown, from the top of the gondola.


Tee claims she's Swedish, Digs confesses to actually being South Korean, and Drake realises that the British stand between him and his beloved.


Yes boys, that is a "kiwi".


A Maori warrior - Maoris are considered the natives of New Zealand (despite the fact that the Morioris got to NZ first but got eaten by the Maoris, who then took the "native" mantle by default).


And here are local native dance moves.


Tee decides to have a go, and looks suitably enthusiastic. Not.


This is the steamship we caught across the lake to a farm. Digs and Drake wanted to see sheep and sheepshearing. They weren't to be disappointed.


Hello, Mr Bird.


Digs sure has a thing for being the lone wolf at the front of the ship.


Tee, reclining styles.


Tee, arty shot styles. Either that, or hide and seek. Hiding behind a concrete block works well, provided you actually keep your head down.


You wouldn't want to be run through with these.


Digs was so afraid of the horns he stood as far away as he could.


Lambs - aren't they cute?


This was Drake and Devrim's highlight of the trip - the sheep shearing!


Spot the "nomad" - right in the middle of the sign.


I swear, this guy likes to stand by himself. Don't the low-hanging clouds look great as a backdrop, though?


The Southern Alps. This is a photo taken at the the entrance to the Fox Glacier.


Me behind the bar at the Monteiths Brewery. Monteiths Original? Pilsner? Black? Golden? Celtic? Summer Ale? Radler? We managed to try them all at some point on the road trip :)


Only in New Zealand will you see sheep coming out and blocking off the road.

I don't think there's any more that needs to be told of the trip - the boys and Tee have done a brilliant job already. Suffice to say that we had an absolutely wonderful time. A huge thanks to Paulus Nalder for hosting us down in Parapara for New Year's, the whole @ gang who turned up for some fantastic times, great memories, and awesome partying. This New Zealand summer will go down as one of the best I've had for a very long time!

Solicitor, X

I got in to work this morning to discover that I received this email on Friday afternoon from the District Law Society, when I was at the Sevens (see the post below):

"Good afternoon Chris

Pursuant to s56(3) of the Law Practitioners Act 1982 you are the holder of a Practising Certificate current to 31 January 2007.

The physical Practising Certificate is mere confirmation, and should be mailed within the next couple of weeks, Deo volente."

So this completes the final step for me, having gone from law student, to law graduate working in a law firm (aka law clerk), to law clerk admitted as a Barrister and Solicitor of the High Court of New Zealand (aka solicitor), to practising solicitor. Practically, I am doing exactly the same work that I have been - I'm just now deemed to be a proper lawyer (albeit a baby one).

Work will be putting on a party (read: drinks and food in a nice place) for me on Friday night after work to celebrate, so RSVP below if you're in town :)

48/7

Wellington customarily springs to life when the Wellington leg of the IRB Sevens Tournament occurs in early February every year. That's right, it's 48 hours of Sevens style rugby - so instead of two teams of 15 playing for two 40 minute halves, it's two teams of seven, playing for two seven minute halves. Sounds easy? Yeah, right. It's essentially an all out 14 minute sprint, to see which team can score the most tries. And with 44 games being played over two days, it's all about the action. Thank goodness it's more than just rugby though - even die-hard fans like me would probably have trouble paying attention that long. The Sevens is a weekend long party, full of dress ups and costumes, drinking, and having a great time. They say a picture tells a thousand words, so I'll let my photos do all the talking :)



It all started when we came up with the idea of being Helen Clark (the NZ Prime Minister) and her Police drivers. There was an incident last year where her drivers put the pedal to the metal and got her half way up the South Island so she could catch a plane to watch the All Blacks play. She claimed she didn't tell them to speed and had no idea they were driving so fast (apparently they were averaged doing something like 150kmph). Several of the drivers got their hands slapped and ended up having to go to court. This is us with the Lynx Jet Girls, who have formed the basis of a marketing campaign for men's deodorant. Not surprisingly, it's sold out across New Zealand and Australia.


Darryn, who was dressed up as the Prime Minister, saw the Queen and Prince Charles. He decided that it would be appropriate to give them an official welcome to New Zealand :)


Miss January, February and October. There was a $2000 prize for the best crossdresser costumes!


Here's the Prime Minister with Blanket Man. Well, not Blanket Man per se, but someone who dressed up as him.


Me, Chris R and two Speights girls. Speights is a New Zealand beer, with an ongoing marketing campaign about the "Southern Man" - the man's man. Unless you've seen the ads, it's quite difficult to explain, so that may have to be the subject of a later blog.


The Economist running a marketing campaign with blow up rugby balls? How funny :)


Darryn and Bart, aka Helen Clark and one of her VIP Escorts.


Me and the Lynx Jet Girls. Thanks to Craig, my buddy at Unilever, who was organising the marketing event and got me a minute with the girls :)


The Thunderbirds were called out to the Stadium.


And even Rocky had a montage...


The boys at play: Ryan, Simon, Alan and me.


Ozge, cheering for New Zealand. Note the irony of the Turkish girl having the New Zealand flag, and none of the Kiwis having one (although I did have my Canadian one too).


Nisha and Vaish going for the Brits. They were so close to getting evicted for that (the Kiwis and Brits traditionally don't get on very well on the rugby field).


We got to see Big Bird getting married.


And here's the obligatory Stadium shot. Note Mr Green Hair in the foreground. This place was pumping, all day and all night!


Since I was also one of the PM's Police Escorts, I happened to be carrying around a set of handcuffs with me. We ended up handcuffing Ozge's jeans to Vaish's hand, which was all very funny until we had trouble trying to unlock them. The initial plan was for me to run away back to my other seat and for the two girls to have to come find me to get unlocked. It didn't eventuate, but as my key was on my necklace, I had to lean in to Ozge's jeans to try to unlock. I believe the paparazzi was in full force, so I'm sure photos will turn up on Amy or Yat's blogs.


Co-lonel, Co-lonel, Co-lonel, Co-lonel, Co-lonel: me and The Colonel. I later found out that he is paid by KFC to turn up like that. Every time he turned up in the Stadium itself, the whole crowd would go berserk, chanting out "Co-lonel, Co-lonel" while pointing at him. Great stuff :)


Bikini, anyone?


One of the sponsors had little blow up plastic tubes. Someone had the great idea of tying lots of them together, and passing it around the Stadium. I saw a couple go around, each one probably a quarter of the circumference of a whole Stadium - it was huge! The idea was that you attached something to it as it went past you - in this case, someone decided to attach their undies. Nice.


The girls having a great time: Yat, Vaish and Amy Lily.


The boys having a great time: Simon and Alan.


And more girls having a great time: Alice, Anna and Sharon.


I swear that DHL is taking over the world. It's everywhere you go.


Yat decided to borrow my camera after hers ran out of batteries. She claimed the reason she took this photo was because team huddle showed great camaraderie. We weren't so convinced!


If this is what the Devil looks like, I'll gladly go to Hell :)


After the rugby finished, with NZ losing in the semifinals to Fiji (boo!), we went down to a dessert restaurant called Strawberry Fare. Dessert was delicious as ever, and since the girls had trouble cutting down their decisions, I suspect that they'll be going back soon.


The night ended when Ryan and Paul ended up in jail. Actually, this was just a club that had some random bars in it, and with their PJs looking like prison jump suits, it was a nice op for a photo :)

Other highlights: Tee not being able to find us at all over the two days; Kate, Bex and Claire dressing up like Xmas trees; my phone running out of batteries within about an hour on Saturday since it was a free texting weekend; falling in between two seats while clambering over them, and narrowly missing impaling the important bits while in front of lots of people; getting evicted from our seats multiple times; 2 for $7 Heinekens; and having loads of fun with cool people, all weekend long!

Today at a Glance

Got up early for work. Cycled to work. Had an accident on the motorway. Suffered throughout work. Received U2 tickets. Prepared for rugby sevens tomorrow (prepare for the photos, which reminds me that I have a whole bunch from the South Island trip that I need to post up). Picked up printed tshirt costumes. Did lots of work today. Got a lift home. Advised mum and dad on their new house. Looked for flats online. Started to get tired and fall asleep at the keybsfdahgnnnba'frlkjglre;ntergnekrngvxc......

My U2 tickets arrived by courier at work today. Now I need to work out who will be getting the other 3 tickets...