April 2008

April saw a variety of things in different areas of exploration. That makes me sound like I discovered something crazy. And I guess I did something crazy as far as my own live is concerned.

I took several different classes and saw a bit more of the country.

1. Took a sailing class starting at the end of April. Oddly enough I started up the class the morning after my first big night on the town here in Wellington. Tune in to next month's "New Stuff" to learn about me quitting my first sailing class the day of the last class. Fuck you Dean.
2. Hosted my first Couchsurfer. Really nice chap named Brian Cohen. He's the first of about 10 or so that I've hosted so far. Incredibly nice American guy, wish I'd had a chance to hang out with him more. I think within a week of him being here I hosted Ruby. She was awesome as well. English lass with just a huge heart for adventure and a wonderful personality. I was well on my way to falling in love with couchsurfing.
3. Took a couple cooking classes. This one that was North African (Moroccan mainly) and a Spanish one. Didn't get to go to all of the spanish class but made some good friends in the African one so that was pretty rockin.
4. Almost killed myself and a friend when we accidentally climbed a mountain. We decided to visit the Putingirua Pinnacles about 3 hours east of Wellington. They filmed some LOTR stuff there so it seemed like it might be a cool little trek. Little did we know, but the "easist" path ended up being this 2 hour hike up a huge mountain. When we finished we both just sat there and prayed for a quick death. The walk back took like 30 minutes. Never again will I trust guideposts in Kiwiland that say something is easy. They're lying, cause kiwis are mutants. Plain and simple.
5. Did a bit of work on Tintin. Nothing too crazy, but another flick none the less.
6. Me and the rest of the Creatures Department got to visit the Weta Workshop. It was pretty damn wicked to tell the truth. Things that really stick out in my mind still are seeing the "Hall of Weapons" and getting to ride on the life size Warthog tank from Halo. That was amazing.

So that was April. A couple big things, couple small things, and luckily I didn't drown.

Cheers,
Malcolm.

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January - March 08

Well now atleast I'm in the current year. So 2008 has so far been a completely crazy year for me and it all started in January, like most years do. So I rounded out last year by taking a couple weeks off between jobs. Visited family in the states, gave a second speech at my old school (Full Sail), and got to see friends and family that I haven't seen in a long time. All somewhat normal for me, but then came the craziness. So here's all the major things I remember from then.

January --

1. First time out of the country. Until like November of last year, I didn't even have a passport. So the 24 hours of travel to get to Wellington, New Zealand was a bit crazy. I flew from Nashville to Dallas to LA to Auckland to Wellington. So 24 hours and 21 hour jump ahead in time. I lost two days traveling. Hooray. But I was here. I was in New Zealand, the home of my dream job.

2. Started work for Weta Digital. It was a goal for about 5 years. Even before ever going to school for Computer Animation. I remember watching Fellowship of the Rings at my home in Kentucky and thinking about how amazing it would be to work here. Seeing Gandalf fight the Balrog still makes me smile, and now I'm in a position to work on something that will inspire people to do what I'm doing now. That's an amazing feeling. It's something that I can tell my Grandkids about (assuming I ever have kids and they have kids), and how many people can say that.

"Hey sonny, see this old movie that you think is pretty cheesy cause computers have advanced exponentially since my day?"
"Yeah? What about it?"
"I used the money from working on that to buy a jetski. "
"I love you grandad!"

3. Saw a good deal of the area around Wellington. Explored the Mount Victoria area a bit and generally just kinda got used to the area.

February --

4. Not completely sure what all happened that month but I think this is when I actually moved into my new apartment. I love the place because it's everything I've wanted from a place. Great view of the city from the interior and plenty of space to have friends over and whatnot.

5. Actually started working on Avatar (movie I'm here to work on, next James Cameron flick). So far I'm doing mainly cloth/hair setup and simulation but it's a really sweet project. Definitely something I can mention later in life, jetski or no.

March --

6. My major thing for March was joing couchsurfing becuase that continues to let me do new things all the time. If you've never heard of couchsurfing then i'll quickly explain what it's all about. Pretty much it's an international group of travelers and "travel enthusiasts" that meet with each other wherever they are and offer their home to fellow "surfers" if they have the space. So it gives you a chance to meet new people in a new area and have experiences with people that you would have never met otherwise. Truly a great idea and something that I'm consistantly happy about. So far I've hosted like 10 people or so, but more on that later.

At first with couchsurfing I thought it was a bit umm...."stupid" for lack of a better word to let people into your home that you don't know, but after meeting everyone in the Wellington group for lunch one day at Fidel's then I've been hooked to the community and to Fidel's.

My Profile.

7. Fidel's. If you're in Welly ever, go eat here. It's at the top of Cuba street and the only place in Welly I've been to that can make a decent milkshake. BOOYAH!!!!

Cheers,
Malcolm.

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