The Book of Ashes

Staying the week with Eddie in Dunedin... 4:17AM

So I'm back again. Its been awhile and I've been stuck on my 666th entry. Time to remedy that! Time to fill in all the gaps. So much has happened and I've had so many thoughts that I don't think I'll be able to recollect it all here. I'm in Queenstown now, theres fresh snow on the hills and I'm staying in a mansion but I'll get to that in good time. First back to Dunedin and where I left off...

The Dunedin weather was crap when I wanted to hitch to Qtown so I stayed till the end of the week. Eddie was coming up with his ex, Sophie on Friday so I thought I'd get a ride up with them. I spent my week going out to the pubs, hanging out with the flatmates and walking around Dunedin. It was very relaxing and most enjoyable. Highlights of the week include walking up Baldwin street (the steepest in the world) and sitting at what I call the seat at the top of the world (I'll post a picture up later). There I could survey the world (North-East valley, Dunedin) beneath me and I met up with two attractive (blonde) Swedish chicks. Unfortunetly they were off to Chch very soon so I couldn't ask them out for a drink ;)

On Thursday I wondered out to the beachs (more photos to come) which were awesome. It was a great day and quite a long walk (about 5 hours all up) but the beaches there truely do rock. There was only a couple of people on them and at some stages none. There are rolling sand dunes and awesome cliff faces and you really have to see the photos to appreciate it or have been there before.

Thursday night I went out for a last drink with Eddie's flatmate, Duncan. We went to the Bowler and over a beer or two played a little pool. Now my pool sucked and I ended up getting a bleeding nose which was really embarrassing (cause I'd got one earlier that day and it hadn't healed properly) but it fixed up soon after. Then we started to notice large groups of girls coming in. It was most excellent (altho most of them were too young for me to be interested in). Duncan tho was how most of us were at that stage... scared to talk to girls and too self concious to dance. I decided to give him a few tips on picking up chicks. I realised that I was a veteran at it compared to the Dunedin guys... I could dance better than any of them (they were all still learning like it was there first times on the dance floor, awkward and so not stylie, how I remember what that was like). The chicks also danced pretty badly. I eventually got old Duncan drunk enough to dance and we started hitting on some chicks. I found it quite amusing to find he had an Asian fettish... hehehe, reminded me of someone I knew but he had it worse! So we did alright until this pissed off her face Irish chick hit on him, asking him for a kiss, her friends pulling her away but she was coming back and back. They finally got her out of there but the bouncers politely told Duncan he needed to go get some food and sober up a bit. Getting kicked out of KCs huh! Was a good night tho.

Also of interest there is the mission, an old church turned into a pub. Makes for quite a cool dance floor. Ok so I think thats about my Dunedin experience. I will have to write up about student life at some stage tho as it is also quite interesting..

Of students and student life... 4:32AM

Of students and student life...

Oh to be a student, free to do as you please, relax, laze around, rack up student debt. Staying at Eddies flat was an experience that brought back many memories. First thing you notice is the smell. That horrible, the windows in your room have never been opened and all your bodily smells have mixed together into this yucky smell, smell. Our Speights flat used to smell the same, but not quite as bad as this. Secondly is the mess, bottles everywhere, bits of rubbish, dust and hair and stuff on the floor, couch a dishevelled mess, the lounge floor hadn't been vaccumed in months, the kitchen floor looked like it had never seen a mop. Then there was the dishes, piled up for days on end, some times weeks. Eddie said they had a couple of months where no one did the dishes, they used an advanced technique called JIT (just in time) management where they would wash only what they needed right there and then. As Thomas says you become apt at spreading butter on your toast with a spoon if thats the only thing there. Then there is the flatmates, relaxed as you can be without lying on the floor. Things don't need doing now when they can be done later. None of them ate properly (who did back then?), fruit was a rarity, cooked meals an event. Their core diets consisted of pasta with pasta sause, baked beans, toastie sandwhichs and noodles plus takeaways. Takeaways have become a bigger part of student life. I was happy to see Mei Wahs was still there still giving out $1 scoops of chips. Their hygiene was also an issue. Most of them didn't wash their hair very often, it had a dull greasy look too it, that of the poor mans hair styling product. Also pimply faces (lack of fruits and veges) and greasy skin... uggghh. Still it was cool to stay there. I had a wicked time. It was funny to walk round the supermarket with a calculator with Eddie so we didn't spend too much. They ran out of toilet paper twice while I was there. It wasn't really a problem as the Universities Library toilets were only two blocks away and much more hygienic and appealing than their toilet. Its probably the only time I had prefered to use a public toilet. But what doesn't kill you only makes you stronger. I was subjected to colds, flu's and other never before classified super bugs. My immunity from previous years there shrugged them off but I still picked up a runny nose for a while. At the end of it all you come out stronger, the smell will wash off, the bad habits will die (stomped out by that classy woman you hook up with) and the good food you start eating will clear up your complexion...

Dunedin is all good. Just not to stay in for too long