5 strong

im gonna start with the present and work my way back through the time missing...

it's p.o.e.t.s day (piss off early tomorrow's saturday) in new zealand- phew survived the week. jess and i enjoyed a beer after work, courtesy of our boss as seems to be the trend on fridays. i then came home to a mashed up box at my front door which turned out to be a halloween package from my magnificent mother! inside was a pumpkin adorned card that read: "halloween smiles across the miles". also included were wannabe cowgirl earrings, candy, fake tats, facepaint, and loads of smooth move. that woman knows me so well. with speights in hand i've been all smiles ever since.

yesterday was guy fawkes day and itty bitty cromwell celebrated with fireworks. it was like a drive in with all the cars parked around the lake- i didn't even know cromwell had that many cars. our most favorite kiwi friends set up a couch on the green and we stretched out to watch the display which was, in fact, lovely.

a bit earlier we took our tired behinds to "hot dance" at the gym. the teacher is this beautfil brazilian ball of energy and for 45 minutes we rolled our hips and shook our bootiess. the best part was there is no separate room for classes, just some transparent mesh hanging from the ceiling which serves to divide the weight area from the dance area. pretty sure we got laughed at a few times, but couldn't care less. after class she asked if i had taken dance before because, she said, it looked like i had a background in hip hop. haa, no formal training in hip hop persay. im fairly certain that she was only trying to ensure i come back next week but there was really no need to encourage me because i was already in love with her and her hot dance.

wednesday night josey and i had our second sailing class. the wind was pretty strong so it was a good time. i worked at my skills on the 420 the whole time, but josey made a gettaway to the big boat where she was, apparently, fed gin and tonics. no fair. the only dangers of collision or capsizing came when another boy, christopher, was at the helm. he's a sweet thing, but terribly cofused when it comes to sailing. also, i watched his sunglasses fall off his face and sink into the lake while he failed to notice entirely.

the other girls arrived safely and skipped right past their jetlag (very unlike josey and myself who were up and adam at 5am for the better part of a week) by joining in with our nightly drinking til all hours. those were the days... sadly work began for all of us last tuesday. with the exception of one day of planting jess and i have been shoot thinning (flicking out double shoots and that sort of thing) allllll day everyday. when the sun is out i really don't mind doing it for 8 hours. for one thing, the vineyard is gorgeous. for another, the old men we work with are hilarious.
example:
ewen commented that the thumb on his glove was ripping and my boss shane responded that he hardly uses his thumb at all. "oh well shane," ewen said, "you always have to use your thumb when you're goin' round the bottom." so good coming from old men. and lastly, vineyard work isn't so bad because im able to listen to my ipod all the livelong day. greg brown, ryan montbleau, bob dylan, the mountain goats, and crowded house have topped the charts recently. although, i've embarrassingly listened to saves the day (thought of matthew kilbane) and natasha bedningfield (thought of a.)the time val and i dance partied our hearts out to pocketfull of sunshine until she flying leaped into my face and forgot to ask if i was ok while i lay in a pile on the ground and she went into hysterics, and b.)this summer when mr. cataldo played pocketfull of sunshine 5 times in a 2 day period). today i could not stop listening to hot chip and when i wasn't looking the old men had a group laugh at my one woman dance party to 'ready for the floor'...eh woops. and when music doesn't cut it, books on tape make the hours fly!