N is for...

New Experiences.

N was originally going to be for New Zealand, and I mean seriously, what else could N possibly be for?  Except that I don't really have much to post about New Zealand that I haven't already.  Basically it would just be a reminiscing blog and I don't want to do that.  So I will, instead, focus on new experiences and anyone interest in reading about my time in NZ can check out this post or this one. 

New Experiences!  I love doing new things.  Even if they turn out to be pretty suck-y, new things just give a little kick to life.  I've had a lot of new experiences in the past year, going to NZ, traveling around NZ, traveling around cities, abseiling, almost skydiving, etc.  All of those experiences are great memories to have.  Even little things like going to the Pennsylvania Renaissance Fair last fall or the 2012 Northeast Conclave of The Wildlife Society this past weekend (the reason I posted three blogs at once) are great to mix up the daily grind.

Yes, days off are always important.  Give yourself some time to relax, sure, but make sure you get out, too.   There is so must to do, so much to see, and so much fun to be had!  Why would you ever pass it up to sit on your couch and watch reruns on TV?  There are plenty of activities out there, both that require money and ones that don't.  There are plenty of parks around, even stopping by a playground while school is in session and spending some time reliving your childhood is a great way to step out of the ordinary.  Teach yourself to knit or go to a photography workshop.  Like the picture says, try something new! 

A reoccurring theme in one of the books I'm currently reading is the John Lennon quote, "Life is what happens while you are busy making other plans."  Don't let life go on without you because believe me, it's entirely too short to begin with.

New Year

Well everybody, it is the end of another year.  It will never again be 2011.  You will never again be the same as you were this year.  Is that scary?  Well it shouldn't be.

I'm pretty sure it was the end of the 2008 marching season when somebody told me that the group I just spent my summer with will never be the same group again.  Members come and go, the show changes, the people evolve, etc.  Everything is different.  And it's true.  Everything changes, be it to the better or to the worse.  You just don't know until it happens. 

So I would like to take a moment and wish each and every one of you a healthy and successful 2012.  Whether the world ends or not is a moot point.  Take a hold of your life and do what you want with it.  Succeed in those New Years resolutions, travel really far away on vacation, jump out of a perfectly good airplane if that's what you want!  Live your life with no regrets.

Today I finished watching the first season of the show Dead Like Me with my mom.  The show aired in 2003-04 and it was about a handful of people who had died but instead of passing on to their next destination stuck around here and became grim reapers, in charge of guiding other souls to their destinations.  The second to last episode had one of the characters, Daisy,  give quite an interesting revelation; "We are all temps."  It's as simple as that.  No matter how much we do in life, or how much we impact others, we are still only temporary.  So instead of letting the little time we do have slip by, we need to live it.  To quote my favorite poet, e.e. cummings, "Unbeing dead isn't being alive." 

So on that note I would like to wish you all well with your New Year celebrations.  Have fun, be safe, and for goodness sake don't drink and drive.  I'll see you all on the other side!

Oh Time, Where Have Thou Gone?

Hello readers!

So I apologize for not blogging in a week... or two.  I swear the time here goes by about 2x as fast as it does at home.  It's absolutely crazy!  I just wanted to inform you all of that.  So please don't be mad at me.  I've been super busy. 

Two weekends ago, April 1 and 2, myself and four other friends took a bus up to Lake Taupo.  We headed out Friday morning and got there in the afternoon.  We stopped at this cute restaurant called the Gumboot Manor for lunch.  Our orders looked a little something like this...

The food was absolutely delicious.  I got "one piece of fish and chips" expecting a light meal.  Oh no.  That piece of fish was half the size of the plate.  A full size dinner plate.  And the chips (fries) were falling off the other side.  It was some of the best fish I've had here.  And I've had quite a lot.  So after finishing our bus ride and getting to Taupo, we checked in to our hostel and then wandered the area.

Great place to sleep for cheap!

Not only is this a McDonald's plane, it's actually part of the playplace.  No Joke.  Best playplace ever.