& Now a shout out to our listeners (readers)

I thought of that title on my way home from Huntly tonight, after being told last night by a friend (that I hadn't realised I had told about my site)that most of her floor at the Hamilton IRD knew about my site.

What a week.
It has been rather eventful. The last couple of days have been quite productive, and busy. Since Monday, I have been knocking jobs off slowly and catching up with friends. Monday night I found out that the Japanese Immigration had spelt my name wrong (how they managed that I don't know) therefore delaying my certificate of eligibility (COE) from coming through (which I need for my working visa). Anyway turned 26 this week. Seemed to be a non-event, usually it seems like a special occasion, this year it was almost just another day. I went out for tea with the folks and Suzanne and Bevan. That was OK. I tried baby Octopus and oysters for the fun of it, thought I should start being adventurous food-wise. The day was also made a bit more special by mum creating a treasure hunt for me around the house, with each clue was a pair of socks, and the prize at the end was... a 10-pack of undies.

One of the major jobs I achieved this week was applying for a credit card. I have never had one. I have gone with BNZ as Westpac apparently isn't as efficient, and would not have been able to get me one in time (unless of course if I paid an urgency fee of $25). I am thinking of dumping Westpac altogether as a bank, as their fees are stupid. In addition to that, made the olds signitories to my accounts, and ordered some yen. I also took my suits into the drycleaners. On Friday my COE actually came, ahead of schedule. Therefore I decided I would take it up to Auckland, and go to the Big Boys Toys expo. I had been thinking about going for several weeks, and almost decided against it, due to the ethical question of whether I was really going to see the toys, or the girls. I like cars and cool stuff like that, but only to a limited degree. Being a male-targeted event, of course there is plenty of attractive young promotion girls. I didn't want to be going simply for the girls, cos thats just sad and pathetic, and really is just treating them like objects (which is bad, and I'm not just saying that to impress my female readers). Anyway, the decision was made for me, or the ethical dilemma was removed to a degree, as I then had another reason to go to Auckland (to take my COE to the Consulate) and went to BBT since I was there anyway. Maybe I am just trying to justify myself, I don't know. I did think it was bad that some of the promotion girls looked like they were 15/16, which is just sad and not attractive, and sick if that was purposeful to attract certain males. Maybe they were 18, and just really thin. Still its a bit sad.

After gathering as much free stuff as I could possibly get, I went and visited some family friends.

Saturday night was the big leaving party. It was a good turnout - naturally not everyone showed, I was expecting that, all in all I was happy, those that I wanted to be there came, so it was all good. I felt good about it, I hadn't made it a popularity contest for myself this time around (or maybe it was just that the litmus test actually was positive this time). It was fun, we played some touch rugby in the park early on, and then it was a case of eating and talking. I hope I managed to get around to talking to everyone, and paying them enough attention, introducing them etc. Sorry if I didn't. In terms of parties, it was a tame social one, (except for the fireworks) ie not much drinking, and we didn't go to town afterwards. I was impressed (and grateful - thanks) at how many leaving presents I got, especially considering not many of them knew that it had been my B day earlier in the week.

It was weird saying a final bye to people, and I feel I didn't quite do it justice. I guess I wish I could say something deep and meaningful, rather than seeming aloof and blaise about it. Again, I don't know - I just felt that at crunch time I dropped the ball. I guess it is a conflict between wearing my heart on my sleeve, and trying to be scarce - a theory that seems to have worked - based on if you are always keen to do stuff or are too reliable/predictable, people start taking you for granted - (simple economic theory, really), therefore I have relaxed in that regard, and I guess moved on with my own life. However now of course I am getting paranoid that I give off the wrong signal (especially combined with my "quiet" or "reserved" nature,) ie that I'm not interested, when really I am etc. A related new Thomasism that I have wanted to publish lately is this:
"Don't hold a flame for someone for too long, as you just get burnt, or you end up with full hands"
I say its related, as in being able to let go, and go with the flow. I guess the overall diagnosis is I have matured, maybe got a little jaded as well, and am just a little tempted to revert back to past habits (of not letting go). I had thought about giving a speech, but again, I wondered if that would have been over the top and grandstanding - out of nowhere I would have been putting my heart on my sleeve.

I'm a head case aren't I? Just as well I intend hiding this entry between photos and light reading...

Today things got a bit more real.
We went to church, and they had a bit of a leaving thing for me. I had to say a few words about why I was going overseas, and we had a morning tea etc. Just as we were heading home, Graham said to me "that will be your last service here for a while" and then it struck me, how real it was all becoming. It is no longer hypothetical, and all these "lasts" are coming at once. We had the youth group lads around for lunch (which was tea's leftovers - I told mum we didn't need that much, but of course she doesn't listen to me...) and we played Pictionary, and just yakked.

For tea we went to my Grandparents in Huntly, to have a final family gathering with them and my cousins before I left. It was fun, I entertained my cousins with a bit of toilet humour (much to Nana's annoyance) which of course worked, due to their age. My cousin Natasha (6yo) kept the pace up, going and telling the jokes to the adults, and then telling me jokes that she made up there and then, that made no sense at all (but because it contained a toilet word, it was funny to her). Again I wish I could have been a bit more serious about it, and spent a bit more time with the adults. When I got there I was a bit tired so I had gone and laid down.

Leaving was the hardest. My Grandfather (who has mild/moderate altziemers) said bye to me, and to make sure I looked out for myself etc. I think he was aware of what was happening, and after that seemed to be sniffing a lot, so I was wondering if he was crying. I almost cried too, knowing that when I come back he may not be here, or he may not remember me.