It's the holidays!

I know, I know. I have been neglecting my posts terribly. I believe the last time I posted was Sunday, and now it is Thursday. This has been (I think) a crazy week, though. But it is the holidays now!

Now let's see if I remember back to Monday. I had class all morning and into the afternoon. Phil Goff had to cancel coming to class on Monday. Besides being the foreign affairs spokesperson, he is also some kind of judicial big shot, and Labour announced their big judicial agenda. Hence, he had to be present and do a lot of election / political business. I have it on good authority that he is truly trying to reschedule, so perhaps we will be graced with his presence some time soon. I spent that afternoon playing email-tag with several people about some projects and then working out at Les Mills. Since I stopped going to geology on Mondays, I can go to the afternoon BodyPump class. Meredith also goes to this class, a pleasant surprise I had the first day I went. She convinced me this week to stay afterwards for BodyAttack. BodyAttack is basically a big cardio workout, and it is packed in the evenings. I enjoyed myself, but I missed my run. I am addicted to the cardio theater. I had every intention of doing work that night, but it became Waffle Night in my room. V has a Waffle Night where her friend Andrew (I think) brings down waffle batter and makes a bunch of people waffles. This day varies every week, but I was grateful it was Monday as the dining hall had no food I could eat that day. I ended up watching Desperate Housewives and playing Presidents with V, Andrew, and a bunch of their friends. I know I should have been doing work, but I jumped at the opportunity to get to know and be social with V's friends. School work is important, but when it comes down to it, I only need a C to get credit at GT, and I shouldn't pass up opportunities to meet Kiwis.

Tuesday began with Les Mills again. I normally go at 12:15 on Tuesdays, but as I decided to get my hair cut at 2:15, I couldn't work it in then. I left later than I expected to, so when I got back, I only had an hour or so before my hair cut. Then, I got my hair cut. (This feels repetitive.) I want to grow my hair out, so I needed some sort of style to do that. I was unsure of if I liked my cut or not at first. It is very different from how I have had my hair cut before. It's all short in front, longer in back, with some serious layers and feathering. Once I started looking around, I noticed that it is a very Kiwi cut. A lot of people have styles similar to this, just not the same. I like it a lot more now. I think I just needed to style it on my own and get used to it. It looks good now. Anyways, after that, I only had an hour and a half before walking downtown to meet Brian Blacktop at Public Trust to go to the Tawa Rotary Club meeting. I was initially invited to speak on Tuesday, but they ended up getting a past president who had just returned from mission work in India to speak. I still got to go as a visitor, which was incredibly nice. It was good to meet the Rotarians. They were all very friendly, and I am going back to give a presentation on 6 September. I did some real work when I got home that night, including editing most of my essay. Then, I passed out in bed.

Wednesday began once more with Les Mills. I spend way too much time in the cardio theater. Wait! I take it back! I love it there. My muscles were really screaming on Wednesday, though. Anyways, I had gotten caught up in AIM conversations, so I left later than normal. I was OK with this until I realized that I had a lot to do before class. I had gotten an official notice saying a book I had requested was in the library, so I had to deal with that. I also had to run all over campus trying to get forms filled out and faxed to GT Office of International Education by that same day. Craziness! Then, it was off to a review session for geology, geology lab, and geology class. Lots of geology on Wednesday. I really wanted to go to a classical concert that evening, but I couldn't. I hadn't finished my essay completely, and I had a lab practicum exam on Thursday that I really needed to study for. I also started stressing out on Wednesday night because I thought my mp3 player had bit the dust. It was making the clicking sound of death and wouldn't charge. It got me really worried.

Now, we're up to Thursday. I have a good amount of class today. I went to my morning classes, then set out to work on my mp3 player. I ran into Jonathan outside the student center and got distracted talking to him. He bought me lunch and then we walked down to town together. I had to go to Dick Smith to check out my mp3 situation, and he had to buy a suit for a ball he is going to in Auckland over the break. I picked up Satay Kingdom on my way home for lunch (Chris: I got what I always get - Roti Chenai!) and the proceeded to work myself into a severe state of denial over my impending geology exam. I spent the better part of my afternoon talking to my mom, Patrick, and Marianna, interspersed with brief bits of studying. I headed up to my 4 PM tutorial, it let out early, I studied, and then I took my exam. It went pretty well; there were only a few questions I didn't know. I think I did OK. Came back, had dinner, went to Primal, caught up with Clare. Now, I am here with my laptop and a glass of good New Zealand wine. Lovely, yes?

AND ... it is the holidays! I don't have any classes on Friday, so the holiday has officially begun. No more class until 29 August, and 5 days til I leave for Fiji! 4 til Meredith's birthday. It should be an amazing break.

Now, that is the most detailed record of my life that I have posted thus far. I hope I haven't bored you terribly. It hasn't been a particularly soul-searching week. About the only introspective thing that happened is when Michelle realized that I know people serving in the US Military in the Middle East. We had a good conversation on what that really means and what it is like to be in a country at war.

I hope I do something entertaining to amuse you this weekend. Maybe something involving good pictures! Til then ...