Summary of April 2014

This has been a busy month to out-do all other busy months, so I should have been blogging as I go, but I have not. So this is a little lengthy.

This month last year

It was my Dad's 60th birthday so we had a lovely family lunch at Mirabelle in Carterton, and Emily, Charlie, Emily's boyfriend Sam and I gave Dad his helicopter flight voucher. Gay marriage was legalised in New Zealand and I was elated and super proud of NZ - anyone who was less than indifferent can get off mai internetz. There are not many other memory-triggering posts on my blog or Instagram. Looks like April last year was when Charlie showed me Lil Dicky's music, so his success in the 12 months since is pretty inspiring.

Entertained by

The QuizUp app! It's so much fun, you absolutely need to download it now if you haven't already. Similar concept to Words With Friends etc. in that you're playing your friends or strangers, but you battle in timed quizzes - so many categories to choose from, and I haven't noticed a speck of advertising so far, so get in there while it's hot and free.

Our dear buddy Dylan gave us access to his Netflix account which is pretty much the best thing ever and what was life before it? Last week was pretty busy, but this week I've been having a good ol' relax and watching all the things - Luther (brilliant, S01E04 was phenomenal - Nicola Walker is a-ma-zing), The Office (US version, had never tried it before but it really is just as good as the UK version once you get past the too-similar pilot episode), Weeds (good so far, love Haley Hudson), and The Brady Buch Movie and its sequel (such innuendo! Amazing! Went right over my tween head). Dylan, Charlie and I watched Bad Words and The Inevitable Defeat of Mister and Pete - highly recommend both. Amazing child actors in both movies, but oh my gosh the little boy who plays Pete in the latter is the most adorable kid ever.

Charlie and I went to see The Lego Movie and it was pretty funny. We went to a late night screening which was good since it's school holidays, but even though there were hardly any other people in the theatre there was one individual with the most ridiculous laugh I have ever heard. Ever.

Was loving My Kitchen Rules (spoilers ahead, NZ, skip to next category) until Thalia and Bianca were eliminated, such a shame the pressure got to them. And the bad-brows girls beating the surfer dads was the end of it for me.

Purchased

I bought a bunch of clothes from ASOS which arrived at the start of the month. Everything fits great and I am loooving the cat scarf and ribbed tights shown below. I bought my sister a bunch of things for her birthday and a gold hanging pot from Typo for myself. My birthday's in a couple of weeks and all I really want is some house plants - we only have one and I want more. Our lounge gets so warm even in winter, so should really be taking better advantage of that.

Highlights

So many!

At the start of April Charlie and I went to his friend's leaving drinks at St John - he's off to live in the States, lucky guy. It was one of the last warm evenings before we had a lot of stormy weather, so it was really nice having beers and cocktails on the lawn in the late afternoon sun.

Cocktails at St John

I finished my job which was a high and low. Everyone was commenting on my non-stop smile during my last week, but I swear I was sad to be leaving! Mainly couldn't stop smiling because I've never had so many compliments, a shame all the praise doesn't come pouring out until you're leaving! Had some leaving drinks at Southern Cross on my last day which was really nice.

Went to Masterton on Easter Sunday with my sister and her boyfriend, stopping for brunch at Go Bang Espresso in Petone on the way which was delicious. That evening I went bowling with my family at Master Bowl - definitely wish it had existed when I was a teenager! I was much better than I anticipated and came second after Dad - a mix of crappy gutter balls and some good'uns, but I am usually the worst-at-sports so it was great fun. Then it was my sister's birthday on the Monday, caught up with my friend Alishia in the morning, then went with the family to Castlepoint beach in the afternoon. Lovely weather, I miss the Wairarapa winters so much - often so icy cold and still, rather than Wellington's hot/cold howling wind and rain.

Bowling scores

Super cold but super sunny

Sam and Emily

Beautiful Castlepoint

Next highlight was also a lowlight - did some more filming which is possibly more than I can say but didn't get any specific confidentiality instructions so whatever. It was in my own house and first thing in the morning, and far more nerve wracking than the last filming I did. But y'know, another good experience. Hopefully they'll be happy with the outcome. Planning to keep up YouTube filming to keep improving my speaking/camera skills, but it's pretty hard to be engaging on camera when you're speaking about really personal stuff, man.

Then Dylan stayed with us for a few nights, we all went to dinner with Charlie's mum on his first night, then lazed around at home the next few days due to rubbish weather and lack of funds.

My favourite boys, that fluddy mound of Wallace included

Lowlights

Leaving my job was sad - said a few words in my last morning tea acknowledging the fact most people there saw me as a quiet person, and how much I appreciated them making me feel immediately welcome despite that. I wanted to say a lot more but felt myself getting a wee bit teary, so kept it very brief! That's probably the only real low light of this month, as The Lego Movie dudes would chorus everything is awesome!

While in Masterton I finally got an iron infusion (IV) at the hospital that I've been needing to have for a long time. The nurse that put my line in was an absolute champion - fist try, minimal pain. IVs for steroids when I was 16/17 were a nightmare - once I had nurses and then doctors having multiple attempts to get it in my arm. Mum suggested quitting fizzy drink and being more hydrated might have improved my veins, who knows. The gross-coloured bag bag of iron-y goodness took about 3 hours to drip and thankfully I was on a bed rather than a chair so I pretty much napped the whole time. Felt like absolute crap the next day, but have been fine since. No dramatic increase in my energy levels at all so far, but if it'll keep my GP happy with my blood test results then all good. Pretty much all the people I know who are tested regularly because of their arthritis needs have low iron, so I'm curious to know whether it's an arthritis thing, or whether the average young adult has shit iron levels but most people don't have regular blood tests so no one knows...?

Looking forward to

I'm starting my new job on Monday! So very excited, nerves haven't kicked in yet but sure they will closer to the weekend. Was scrolling through my Facebook yesterday and saw a humblebrag from an old classmate doing their crazy awesome dream job, and had my initial "sigh, jealous" reaction followed by "wait, no, so am I next week!" I know this isn't even humble you guys, I'm truly proud of myself and on such a go me, go me buzz.

Also coming up is my 25th birthday on 17 May. I was one of the younger people in my class year at school, so pretty much all of my friends' birthdays are before mine and I play catch up to each age. So I feel like I've been 25 for ages already which is stupid, but yeah... still always get IDed (drinking age in NZ is 18) so definitely can't be claiming any quarter life crises at this stage, thanks baby-face (I guess).

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