Fascinating!

Air New Zealand has a monopoly on flights to and from Palmerston North, so I always prefer to 'take the scenic route' and travel via Wellington. I was there for a week this time round, and Beth had the whole time off work, so we managed to do plenty of cool things that we'd wanted to over the last few years. We ate lots of yum food, explored the streets, went pasting (No Face from Spirited Away! (among others)), travelled to Somes Island, made rainbow cake, snuck in to spas, watched movies, visited Strathmore, drank cocktails, attended fun gigs, and bumped in to friends and strangers.
The main reason I'd travelled when I had was for Laneway Wellington. It was pretty good overall. The definite highlight was Beach House, who were overwhelmingly gorgeous. I was covered in shivers their whole show, which actually made me feel really hot. Deerhunter were disappointing with sound issues, though they did play Desire Lines, which I'm pretty crazy about.
I met up with my very good friend Adam, and we had sushi train. I also had juice with the lovely and very supportive team from Music 101.

It was a really great trip. Wellington, you're a gem.

Swinging

I passed back through Wellington after being in Palmerston North. It was a flying visit, but absolutely brilliant. Beth and I had planned to explore around Mt Victoria, and though the forecast was horrible, it was a gorgeous day. We walked around, taking photos, exploring, using swings, and making our own from a skateboard. It's above the bus tunnel if you'd like to use it

Radio, et al

I was in Wellington over the last week, and as usual, it was great. Beth and I had some groovy times, and I'm heading back down again on my way to Christchurch this weekend.
Probably the best part of the trip was heading in to the Radio New Zealand offices, and meeting the lovely people behind Music 101.  It was really great to meet them, have a look around, and check out the music catalogue (wowza). It seems like I was everything they were looking for, so I'll be making stories for the show with a bit of a Christchurch spin. I was ecstatic.
Now seems like a good time to check in on some goals for the year:
Budget well - Going pretty well. Though it seems to take ages to 'get started' on the savings front
Read more - Hmmm, about the same
Get involved with RNZ - Yay!
Complete my degree - Pretty close... and grades have been good
Spend more time outdoors - Hmmm, outside, maybe not 'outdoors', like in 'nature'
Kiss a stranger - Still waiting... It feels like it's been close a few times
Keep living - Check

Wellington. Again

This past weekend I flew up to Wellington and spent four wonderful days there. It was quite impulsive; I missed Beth heaps, and the next time I was going to be passing through wasn't until August.
It was so great to see her again. It felt like ages since we'd seen each other. Is ten weeks ages? I think so.
We went to a gig each night, and I was very impressed by all the bands I saw - Mammal Airlines, No Aloha, Seth Frightening, Grayson Gilmour, The Sing Songs, Jordan O'Jordan.
We went swimming in a fancy spa, ate yummo foods, watched some movies, tried to catch leaves, and talked about 'where we were at'.
It felt good, and it feels like things make sense again. On the last day, we sat on the balcony, and watched the sun set. It felt like a fitting analogy for the whole trip.

A trip to Wellington

I went up to Wellington on Thursday - it was Beth's birthday. She didn't know I was coming, and I was incredibly nervous, sitting in her room, hearing her walk up the stairs after work. She walked in to the room with her palm outstretched. The words "Hi David!" were written there. "Agh! Who told you I was coming?" I asked. "No one. I just figured you'd come up". It's like no matter where we are, we're always touching by underground wires.
We had a great weekend together. We had beers and kebabs, walks around the city, special moments, and a fraudulent admission to Homegrown. It was a flying visit, but amazing all the same.
Leaving her was, as usual, so hard. "I love you", we both said. Crossing the road from her place, I turned to see her at the top of the stairs. Further down the road, I checked again, and she was peaking out from the balcony. I waved, and turned and cried in to my palms.