Category: Photography

Over the past week I’ve realized (and began to address) a challenge I’m experiencing; I’m too comfortable. During the past two years of traveling I was always chasing some mad dream which kept me intimidated and motivated. Surfing, Jackarooing, FIFA World Cupping, SCUBA Diving and all this ruckus was aggressive and motivational. Lately life has been comfortable and placid. I’m addressing this issue…

I’m exploring two things that literally scare the bejesus out of me: fighting and public speaking.

Fighting: It just so happens that there are a few muay thai/ju-jitsu gyms nearby. I took a free introductory lesson at city kickboxing last Wednesday and I loved it. There are some other MMA gyms around so I’m exploring all available opportunities.

Public Speaking: The adrenaline activities always have the highest paying returns, and public speaking is the most gut wrenching, heart thundering, get bloody terrified thing I can imagine. I’ll ski off 100 ft. cliffs and surf 8 ft. hawaiian surf without skipping a heartbeat, but when forced to present to a crowd, my blood pressure will raise roofs.

So what is the most intense way I can kick up the public speaking? Yes, stand up comedy.

I’ll be exploring this over the next month.

We went to the Raw night at The Classic (321 Queen St. Auckland) for an introductory survey of the comedy scene in Auckland. I loved it, but the idea of actually signing up and trying to go on for 5 minutes is like rocket fuel in the veins.

Rob Callaghan did an excellent job at warming up the crowd and keeping us supple for the young comedians. A few of which were good, a few were alright, some where not so great. Overall, it’s not an overly daunting scene for me to get up there and embarrass the hell out of myself.

I don’t consider myself to be essentially funny, but I think I could develop some important skills from the experience…

After we got home, my roommate and her Uni friends were filming a short film for their film class. It involved the beers and the TV I posted for the featured image. I twisted the layers to make it look arty. It reminds me of The Wall by Pink Floyd.

I’d love to hear your comments below. Salud. ian

Generally, I never talk negativity about places. I know my country does silly things and I love seeing the life process in different places.

I’ve been in New Zealand for a little bit now. Check this out:

If you are making a right off a street and the oncoming traffic is making a left on the same street (remember folks, we drive on the left down here), you must yield to the oncoming traffic.

Has that sunk in? Do you understand that? You must pull out in front of the oncoming traffic at this point. Of course, you have to wait a second to make sure oncoming traffic doesn’t just slam through you. Therefore, everyone behind you must stop so as to not hit you. Therefore, EVERYONE STOPS.

Traffic comes to a big stupid screeching halt because one guy is making a left. Only about half the people on the road understand this rule, so the guy who has right of way always takes it real slow because he doesn’t want to get hit by the idiot that may or may not know the weird yield rule.

This rule goes against all natural (i.e. common sense) rules of the road. I’ve been hearing on the radio that they planned to change the rules. “FANTASTIC” I thought. No more waiting for useless traffic jams. They will finally bin (trash for you Americans) this silly road rule.

So I’m looking forward to this new rule change. Clicking through Facebook I notice an advertisement about the new rules.

The government (NZ fed) paid for an advertisement on Facebook (never mind how crazy it is that the government is advertising traffic rules on Facebook!) to bring you to this link.

Check it out.

THEY ARE CHANGING THE RULE TO THE FOOLISH WAY. Go to that link, play the game. Tell me you didn’t cause 100 accidents with the ridiculous space bar go button.

That’s right. They are changing it to be officially inefficient.

Rock on.

That being said. I took today’s featured image (the picture of the forest above) from the mountain bike trail (-36.868292,174.741313) in Auckland. This New Zealand place rocks, even if the road rules are silly.

Muriwai beach has become my new surf spot. I get to surf on the weekends when the conditions are right. These trips out west keep me fascinated with life. It’s incredibly beautiful out here. The black sand beaches and the gannet colony. Surfing is just such a fantastic journey:

• I pack up the gear, food and water
• Listen to interesting Podcast on the way out there.
• I park and blast The Black Keys while gearing up
• Tie the car key to my wetsuit and play in the water for a few hours
• Repeat process backwards

The enormity of the coast adds to it’s captivating feel. When I get out past the wave break, I look back towards the shore and I’m utterly awestruck with the beauty of this New Zealand place.

I always walk to work. Walking isn’t the quickest or the most efficient way to go. It generally takes me 25 to 30 minutes and it’s an indirect path. I have to walk around the infrastructure for the cars. The motorway, the stop lights, the dead heaps of black asphalt dominating the path. Walking is the slowest way for me to get to work. But on the way back, I take a left down Ponsonby and walk through this park. This is Western  Park. This is my favorite part…

Living a freedom lifestyle has its ups and downs. It’s an all too common fate, and when the time comes, you just have to buck up and bear it.

Hello new home…

Just kidding. I’m not in jail. I just walked by this jail today. I took this photo on Boston road from across the train tracks.

I’m kicking off a month of daily photos (MoDP.) I’ll be taking photos of the things around me here in Auckland. All for you beautiful people to enjoy.

Love ya,

🙂