Week of June 20 to 26

Still pretty quiet this week at work. Got through 3 shots, simple work correcting a highlight, and adding debris, but good to be able to crank 'em out. The most positive development at work this week - I'm moving into TD! That's what I was hoping for before I even signed, probably do some comp at the end (TDs will do a lot less OT), but this'll make for a good show. Rented a handful of DVDs this week - Bakshi's 'Lord of the Rings'; 'Chopper' as recommended by Smitty; 'Ghost Ship' that some friends had worked on; 'Insomnia' w/ Pacino and Robin Williams; a docu on Aileen Wuornos. More movies on Sunday perhaps. Monday signed up for a trial membership at a real gym, Club Physical, see how that works out (ha) but I doubt that my schedule will be open enough to let me get into town several times a week. Played soccer on monday, field was too wet for touch on Tuesday. My back was really tweaked for some reason earlier in the week, slowed me down at basketball on Thursday, but had a great time still, 5s full court. Not going out much in the evenings this week, but missed a couple check-in times with Bonnie when I napped too long, felt like a heel.

Friday - went out at lunch to watch Game 7 of the NBA finals. Lordy, but it is hard to get a straight and correct answer from people around here. I had called several places - "Do you know if the NBA game is on? It's on ESPN, do you carry that at your *SPORTS BAR*?". This place said they did, The Strathmore Local, so I gathered some folks from work to check it out. We got there, ordered our food, and after stumbling and bumbling for 10 minutes they found out they didn't have ESPN. Mike said we could watch it at his house, so we got take-away. "Yeah 10 minutes on that" - half hour later, we were still waiting. It's also hard to get anything done in a timely fashion around here; never be in a hurry. We got our take-away, and 20 minutes later were in front of the TV at Mike's house (amazing view), watched the last few minutes of the 1st half, then had to go back to work. But an experience I suppose. Spurs won, by the way.

Friday night went out to Indigo to check out The Phoenix Foundation. Met up with the rock chicks at Imbibe, right around the corner from the club. Saw a car getting towed from a parking lot, they proceeded to talk about how evil Wellington parking facists are. Show was pretty cool - Indigo is one of the few venues that hosts live rock, maybe half the size of Slims. Sound wasn't great, but they put on a good (drunken) show, and I really liked the wide range of music. This is one of those bands that deserves a huge break. Then home for later chat with Bonnie.

Saturday - Jumbled schedule today, several things I wanted to do wouldn't jibe time-wise. Another frustrating timeline - gym closes at 4:30. What kinda gym closes at 4:30? Majority of biznesses round here are open half-day on Saturday, not at all on Sunday. Went in to work for a few hours, then went to Karori Wildlife Sanctuary. It was less like a zoo/nature center and a sorta woodsy, swampy hike. There were signs by the pathway saying 'Such and such birds are nested here. They're nocturnal. But if you're quiet, can you hear them rustling around? You can't'. Anyway, it was cold but the weather held up, and I got pics.

Ended up just staying out, to go into town and hit The Loaded Hog for The Rugby. Big sports series, the best of the UK, the Lions, are touring New Zealand, playing some municipalities but this was the first of 3 games (or 'tests') against the All-Blacks, NZ national team. They only make this tour every 12 years. The All-Blacks crushed them 21-3. Next game is Saturday 2 July in Wellington stadium, the city is gonna be a mess.

Sunday - Was able to pull it together to get out to the gym in the morning (no yoga, wouldn't fit into my sched and though my back is much better, couldn't have handled yoga). Got tickets for the Shihad show on July 9 (more on that later, one of NZ's biggest acts, US audiences may know them as Pacifier), then I realized the Complete Shakespeare, Abridged had their final show today at Te Papa's Soundings Theatre, so I planned my day around that. Stopped in at work for a few hours (taking advantage of being in comp still for OT), went back into town for the Shakespeare, then headed over for the movie. Missed the end of the play, who'd've thought a 97-minute play would still be on 2 1/2 hours later, eh. Funny, too much self-deprecating humour and abuse got really tiring, but good audience interaction. Cut across the street to the Cinelounge for Madagascar. How's this for running into Weta foks everywhere : Eileen was at the play; animator Greg (from bball) was waiting for a co-worker in the theatre lobby; Randy Link showed up at Cinelounge. Greg and friends ended up going in for Madagascar with Unay, Diana and I.

So, this coming week is official start in 'shots'; War of the Worlds & Kong trailer (the latest Kong production diary has a lot of diary of Weta Digital); The Rugby on Saturday; and maybe some Amurican-style BBQ on July 3.