adam’s [insert adjective(s) here] blog

there hasn’t been any work for me at EMC this week, so i’m on extended holiday leave. i watched a lot more Voyager episodes today. i’m now into season 4, in which Jeri Ryan stars as the hot de-assimilated Borg, Seven of Nine. there were a lot of people who complained that she was just added to the show to “sex up” the series. i say “get over it…you’re all a bunch of nerds who secretly download jpgs of Jeri from the internet, but have nothing better to do with your time than complain…”

i am neither a nerd, nor am i complaining about Jeri Ryan.

i took a break from watching Voyager to eat lunch and win some movie tickets. i haven’t done that for a while. so me and Jon went and saw ‘Stranger Than Fiction’. it was pretty good. not your standard Will Ferrell comedy, but still good. that means that i’ve won tickets to 100% of the movie previews that ZM has shown this year (all two of them). i wonder if i can keep up the trend…

however, in so watching said movie, i missed the first episodes of the new seasons of Lost and CSI:NY…’cos i forgot to set the VCR, but who cares. gone are the days when i would fly into a fit of rage because of missing a TV show. i was home in time to watch Prison Break. it’s not the same watching it alone. it was much more intense last year when i was staying at Jono’s, and we’d all gather around the TV to watch Prison Break.

ahh…memories.

my computer had a brain haemorrhage yesterday. she stopped working. this morning, i performed open-case surgery and removed a lot of dust clots, but she’s still touch-and-go. she’s not working at the moment, but maybe she just needs to rest after her operation…

apart from that, i had a pretty boring day yesterday. i won $2 on a scratchie, which i then spent on another scratchie and won $6. but mainly i watched TV.

went to church this morning. it was alright. went out for lunch afterwards with Mike and Brendan. that was cool. we sat around and chatted.

came home and caught up on TV that i taped when i was away. unfortunately, i didn’t know Prison Break was coming back on, so hadn’t set the VCR to tape it. fortunately, the prison break website gives detailed episode recaps, so i got the idea of what went down. i might still see if Jon has the episode on his comp. i don’t doubt it.

spent all night watching TV. there’s a lot of good stuff on TV now. Prison Break, Heroes, Lost is back on next week, House is coming back, CSI:NY is coming back.

well, i didn’t take a single photo while i was away. sorry. this post is going to be photo-less…

on Sunday, Rose and Lané picked me up and we drove up to Taupo. met up with the Palmie team for lunch. met Zane, who’s joining their team this year. he’s cool. we convoyed up to Auckland, stopping a couple of times along the way to swap passengers and buy ice-blocks :o)

got to Auckland, then went and saw Cindy Ruakere perform at night church. she’s awesome. cruised back to The Gate where we were staying.

we met the rest of the trainees. there are eight this year:

• Hutt Valley - Rose, Lané
• Palmie - Ben, Zane
• Papakura - Kyle, Sarah, Rachel, Hazel

over the next few days, we heard a few speakers, most of which i heard when i trained in 2oo5. it was good to go over a few things again.

we spent three afternoons going into different parts of Auckland and interviewing young people about some issues that affected them when they were going through high school. it was a long process. a lot of people said ‘no’. each group was s’posed to get 50 surveys done per day. no one did. we had three BBQ dinners, two of which were at beaches. we played a lot of frisbee and some volleyball. i sprained my thumb playing volleyball.

it was cool hanging out with everyone and getting to know the trainees better. they’re a cool group of people. Team X this year is going to be awesome!

caught up with Mell a couple of times too. it was cool seeing her again. we met up for breakfast this morning before i drove home. the drive home only took 7 1/2 hours, including stops…usually the drive to Auckland takes about 8 1/2 hours, so i don’t know what happened there…meh.

spent the night playing Diablo II with Carl. it was fun.

went into Wgtn today with Kaiona. we finally put into action the day that we planned ages ago. we went to Te Papa and looked around, then we went rollerblading. i haven’t done that in years, but it was fun! and by the end of the hour, Kaiona was pretty good at it for someone who started out not knowing how to rollerblade. we checked out the library before coming home.

i met up with Steve from WIT this afternoon. he’s putting together a show for the Comedy Fest, and wanted to know if i’d be interested in being part of it. heck yeah! so it looks like i might be. watch this space for details. and watch this space for details about our Fringe Festival shows and also the 24hr Improvathon that’s happening over the 40hr Famine weekend.

went out with Jon and Si tonight. we went to Denny’s and played poker. and also ate food. then we went and saw ‘Blood Diamond’. it was pretty cool. it’s amazing how movie makers can make a 2 1/2hr politically infused war movie about a diamond. although, i wouldn’t mind getting my hands on a 100 carat blood diamond. apparently, they’re so rare that they sell for $1,000,000.00 per carat! that’d be nice…

tomorrow i’m driving up to Auckland and spending a week there with the 2oo7 Team X trainees. while i’m gone, feel free to post comments on my blog, so that when i get back, i feel appreciated and loved. i know at least three people read it!

had my last day of work at EMC today. i might go back and work if i get days off Team X…my supervisor at EMC is happy for me to do that. it’s pretty cool, ‘cos it means that i can also go back during holidays and get extra money and not sit around and be bored…

i had a meeting with Paul Mather from Praxis after work. as part of Team X this year, we’re doing a Praxis course. i’m going to be doing the Diploma in Youth and Community Studies part time over the next 2 (or 3 or 4 or 5) years. it means that when i finish up my work with Team X, i’ll actually have something to show for it!

went over to the Hutt this morning and met up with Whetu, Rose and Lané. we are Team Xtreme Hutt Valley 2oo7! i think we’re going to make a good team this year, and it’s nice to have the Hutt Valley team up and running again. we met today so that Rose and Lané could get some idea of what Team X is like. we’re all heading up to Auckland for the 1st week of training, which is a first. usually it’s just the new trainees who go to training. it’s going to be like another Team X conference. it’s going to be awesome!

we cleaned up our office as well. it’s looking very nice now. we’ve got our designated work space, and our designated couch area. it looks a lot different than is did back in 2oo5.

came home at around 4:00. it was too hot to do anything productive, so i didn’t.

work today had its boring moments. and a few not-so-boring moments, so the whole day averaged out to ‘meh…’

i caught up with Jalina Cameron tonight. we went to Tawa College together, and haven’t seen each other in a couple of years. it’s always cool catching up with old friends and seeing how far things have (or haven’t) come. we ate McD’s and sat around chatting for an hour or so. just like old times :o)

watched ‘Heros’ tonight. i taped it on Monday. i like it! i’m intrigued! i want to know everything that happens! i hope it doesn’t end up being like Lost!

i don’t know what super power i’d want out of the ones they’ve shown so far. being indestructible would be pretty sweet! but so would mind-reading…although if you couldn’t turn it off, it’d get annoying. being able to fly would be cool too…but i’d want to be able to fly like Superman, not like the guy who jumped off a building and ended up in hospital. that’s a dumb way to fly. the others are weird…or just not cool enough.

i choose indestructibility.

but it’s never going to happen.

meh…

at work today, i did the same thing i did all last week, yet somehow it seemed less boring. i guess not having worked for 3 days lessened the dullness of it all…i fear it will seem more boring tomorrow.

had a Project K meeting to determine whether or not Kaiona is able to graduate next month. he’s sweet. i have to write a speech apparently, outlining the growth/achievement that i want to acknowledge in my student and what i’ve learnt about myself during my time with Project K. luckily, it’s 3 mins max, so i don’t have to come up with a lot.

went to WIT tonight. it was awesome. heaps of people turned up. it was quite cool to see people again who i haven’t seen for a while. we had some laughs and i got to be a dalek, so i was happy :o) went out for coffee afterwards. it’s nice not having to rush up to Palmie straigh after WIT and not having to miss every other WIT night ‘cos of other stuff. (that being said, i am going to miss two of the next four practices becuse of other stuff…)

i had a pretty dumb first half of a day today. i feel like i let a lot of people down, especially myself. i really wasn’t feeling crash hot this afternoon.

but then i started thinking, there’s no way i can change what i’ve already done. this isn’t Groundhog Day. i won’t wake up tomorrow with a chance to start the day all over again. what’s done is done and i’ve got to move past it.

i started to relax, i ate some food, then i went and read through Proverbs 15. (it’s in the Bible). like a lot of the Proverbs, it’s got bits and pieces about knowledge and wisdom, but also some verses about being corrected.

Prov 15:32 “If you refuse to learn, you are hurting yourself. If you accept correction, you will become wiser.”

if i keep making the same mistakes over and over again and never learn from them, then i’m just hurting myself. i’ve got no one else to blame.

Prov 15:33 “Reverence for the LORD is an education in itself. You must be humble before you can ever receive honours.”

to accept correction, i’ve got to humble myself and actually admit i made a mistake. the longer i keep myself from doing this, the longer i’m going to have to wait before i can receive honours from God…

my afternoon got better. i stopped thinking about what my morning had been like. Jen and some of her friends came round for dinner and we had a great time! so much laughing. we all sat around chatting and having a great time.

if you’ve never read the Bible, then Proverbs is a great place to start. it’s full of great advice and non-threatening statements.

Prov 15:30 “Smiling faces make you happy, and good news makes you feel better.”

they sure did :oD