"The good times are killing me. Here we go! Got dirt, got air, got water and I know you can carry on. Shrug off shortsighted false excitement and oh what can I say? Have one, have twenty more "one mores" and oh it does not relent. The good times are killing me." ~modest mouse

I went to church this morning; I found a Presbyterian church here that I love. It's really small, and the people are incredibly nice. It's mostly an older population. Today I sat with a retired minister and his wife and I talked to them for a long time after the service, about all kinds of things. Everyone's so friendly here.

It's my turn to cook tonight, and I'm making pizza. I know, what a cop-out, right? It was Scott's idea when I couldn't think of anything else. And everyone loves pizza.

I talked to my parents today; I haven't talked to them in a while and it was good to hear their voices. I can't wait 'til my family gets here. One more month. I miss them a lot.

Going to the grocery store here is so much fun. I mean the actual walk to the grocery store, not the shopping part (though I like that, too). There's a botanical garden directly behind my flat, and I walk through it to get there. It's perfect; it's about a 20-minute walk through the gardens and I emerge directly in front of the store. I probably look pretty strange walking back through the gardens carrying my grocery bags because everyone else is there hiking and exploring with their families, but I don't care. Have I mentioned how beautiful it is here?

"Just get the world off your shoulders, And close your pretty blue eyes. Hey monkey, what's life without an occasional surprise? Got nowhere but home to go, Got Ben Folds on my radio right now. I'm in trouble for the things I need, Hey monkey don't you want to be needed, too?" ~counting crows

Fun fact: That song is about Courteney Cox Arquette (she was just Courteney Cox when it was written, though).
Another fun fact: Adam Duritz has dated 2 Friends cast members (Courteney Cox and Jennifer Aniston).
I wish I could remember academic information as easily as I remember stupid music facts. I can rattle off more than you'd ever want to know about a good number of bands, but ask me to remember a few historical dates and I'm useless.
I love my friends. Especially the ones who send me real mail. And the ones who haven't forgotten about me. I think I take them for granted a lot, but I really am so glad that certain people are in my life. :-)
I also love my hot water bottle. That's an amazing invention. It stays warm for, like, 12 hours. I don't know how it does that.

"With the windows clear and the mannequins eyes, Do they all look like mine? You know you could, I wish you would, Come pick me up..." ~ryan adams

That is quite possibly the saddest song I've ever heard, but it's so beautiful. It's a shame Ryan Adams can't get his act together (read my Rolling Stone entry from a while back). Counting Crows do a great cover of that song, too. It's especially enhanced by Adam Duritz's comments on how miserable and horrifying life is.
The other day Matt took Perrine and I up to Mt. Cargill, where there's a great lookout. I'll post one picture (I took tons, but it takes forever to upload them). It was really beautiful.

I need to take some pictures of my flatmates to show you guys. I've posted one with Perrine, but I don't have any of the guys yet. I'll work on it.

"But when we're broken, we hate to be broken. It's hard enough to breathe in and out, Or is hard enough to come down from the clouds. Did you ever find your way back home?" ~adam pascal

I miss home. I miss New York, I miss my family, I miss my friends, I miss my dog, I miss my room, I miss my house...I feel like I'm missing out on everything. I've been in a funk I guess. I wouldn't exactly say I'm homesick...it's more like I'm...tense, because I'm afraid things are slipping away from me. My friend sent me a message trying to make me feel better, and it made me cry. But in a good way. It really made my day. It just felt so good to know that someone cares about me. I really, really needed that. So thanks. :-)
Here's a picture of Josie, my baby. I miss her.


Today just got better and better, starting with that message, and now I feel pretty good. Matt was at a wine & cheese event tonight and came home really, really drunk. It was fun to talk to him. I'll get to make fun of him tomorrow morning because of it.

Tomorrow night I have my own wine & cheese event to go to (although I plan on arriving home much less intoxicated than Matt did tonight). It's with the mentor program, which is a group of International students and Kiwi mentors that have been assigned to them. I find it strange that most of the events organized through the program are centered around alcohol; I wouldn't expect that of school events. But the drinking age is 18 and drinking seems to be a major part of social life here, so I guess it's a cultural thing. It's just interesting.

My family's coming to visit in a month and I can't wait. It's when I have a week off of school. We're going to see a rugby match, it's New Zealand's national team against South Africa's national team. Perrine's coming with us to that. And we're going skiing in Queenstown, where I also want to go bungi (sp?) jumping (this is where it originated) or sky diving. I'm really excited to see them.

"You, you're not allowed, You're uninvited, An unfortunate slight." ~alanis morissette

Oh. My. Gosh. Why do I get myself into these situations? This guy from my Music Industry class is exhibiting some seriously stalkerish behavior. I won’t go into all the details because you don’t need to hear about all that and I don’t feel like explaining everything, but I’ll give an example: he called me 6 times today. 6 times. In one day. He won’t leave me alone. I’m really bad at rejection and I don’t know how to get him off my back. I told him I have a boyfriend back at home (I lied), but he still doesn’t get it and won’t leave me alone. I guess I was too nice because I told him that I’d still like to be his friend (I didn’t want to hurt his feelings), but he still hasn’t let up since then. He’s planning trips to the movies and wants me to come over so he can cook me dinner and wants to take me out to the bars here…I’m having trouble coming up with excuses. And now my favorite class ever has lowered in value because he’s in it and I’ll have to deal with him everyday. There are a few guys I’ve met here that I definitely wouldn’t mind going out with, but he’s just not one of them. I’m just not attracted to him. And I don’t know how to get rid of him without making the rest of the semester in that class awkward. Any suggestions (or commiseration) would be appreciated.

Okay, I'm adding an update. You know how I said he called me 6 times in one day? Make that 7. And HE TOLD ME HE LOVES ME. And, when I was speechless, he had the nerve to ask if I loved him. I don't believe this. I've done nothing to lead him on, I've told him I don't like him, I told him I love my boyfriend (my nonexistent boyfriend, but he doesn't know that), and I've been increasingly cold and distant with him. And he won't leave me alone. I do everything I can to avoid him, but I don't want to have to be on guard all the time. My flatmates are being cool (even though Matt and Rich tease me about it) by telling him I'm not home whenever he calls. But I can't deal with this much longer.