The Ninth: Land of the Long White Cloud

Correct. I am in New Zealand. It seems appropriate for me to write an entry about my time here, because that is the purpose of a blog, right? To write posts about your travels and whatnot? Well that's what I'm doing anyway.

Me and my immediate family of 11 others arrived about 6 days ago in Auckland, NZ, where we spent a night there before heading out on the ferry to Waiheke Island, where I am currently residing. Waiheke is quite lovely. The weather has been kind to us, with fairly hot temperatures and a lot of sunlight. I've discovered that the sun here has a lot more bite to it than the Australian sun. Tilt of the Earth or something. As I write this, the afternoon sun is kissing my legs, casually browning them as it sets.

My dear sister Nadia has taken a seat next to me on the balcony. We've been doing nothing for a while now. Literally, nothing. This is one of those holidays where you sit around in the sun and talk about stupid things with people who you don't get to see too often. Christmas day was a bit like that. Sitting around, catching up with family. Paige is lovely. If she ever reads this, she'll understand the sentiment.

But yes. We've visited the village, gone to some beaches, cooked lots of food, drank LOTS of wine and had many laughs. Hopefully there will be more of that in the next few days.

The Eighth: Choice

When you are faced with tough choices in your life, ones that you didn't think you'd ever have to consider, it's hard to talk about them. It's even hard to think about them within your own mind. You're not sure who to discuss these choices with, and if you did tell someone, you don't know what they might think of you. It begins to consume your thoughts, and you grow fearful of yourself. Doubt becomes second nature, and you wonder why you ever had to have the stupid thoughts in the first place.

At least, this is what I experienced recently. Luckily though, I am surrounded by the most amazing friends. Who, despite not having the same train of thoughts and feelings as I, are totally willing to accept and understand what I'm thinking. Who can ask for anything else? I know that I feel blessed (by what I don't know, considering I don't believe in religion).

On another note entirely, I spent the last week down south with my hilarious but totally fabulous friends. 12 of us ventured to Dunsborough and into the wine regions where we spent copious amounts of time playing drinking games and eating in each other's company. I have some of the most hilarious video footage of them, but I assure you, the footage taken of me is worse.

If I could live down south with my friends, I would.

The Seventh: Rest

I am not biblical or religious in the slightest, but the seventh post on this blog just happens to be a story of resting. This week has been quite busy, but also really relaxed. And it's only going to continue next week when me and 11 other friends head south for 5 days of madness. I ventured to Rottnest Island yesterday with my friend James, and we spent the day chilling on the beach and in the surf (I did the beach, he did the surf), before heading home for a night of movies with Joel. May I point out that in between those two events, I played a netball game where I was smacked to the floor and nearly concussed. I like saying "nearly concussed" because I get the sympathy without actually being knocked out. Anyway....

Today I had such a nothing day. I was supposed to go burn a uni film, buy more CD cases, buy a set of books, write more of a script.....none of that happened. I like days like this though. Involving food and comfy furniture. And Facebook. Naturally.

Next week, as I mentioned earlier, is going to be a tonne of fun with all my friends. We've got 16 bottles of spirits plus a slab of beer (not that I drink it though), and 6 bottles of champagne. And we're doing a wine tour on the second day. Probably going to be a wild week when you think about it!

The Sixth: Needle

Peculiar title? Not really. "Needle" is the local film production that I'm currently working on. I'm the stills photographer. A little shift from the norm, but that's ok. My life tends to revolve around awkward and uncomfortable situations that turn into something semi-good. Normally.

I've finished my first year of uni; I mentioned in the previous post that it was a big achievement for me and I mean, it still is, but I'm thinking of bigger things.

I love how nobody really knows what the hell they're doing in life. Really. When you think about it, everyone is just doing what they think they should be doing. What they hope is right. But is it? What are we even trying to achieve?

Staying up late makes me think philosophically. We've started night shoots this week, and my first call starts in half an hour at the ripe time of 2am, wrapping at 5.15am. Hopefully I'll be able to wake up in the morning. I know a few people who might get angry if I don't.

The Fifth: Closing Time

The title might seem like I'm paying homage to Tom Waits, but I'm actually not. I'm finally reaching the end of my first year of uni. That alone, is the biggest achievement that I've had for two years.

And I felt the need to make that public.

To myself.

Good.

Oh, and now you too Katey.

The Fourth: The Music

Just as a quick snapshot of the music that I enjoy, here are the top 20 most played in my iTunes.

1. See You Soon - Coldplay

2. 3 Gymnopedies: No.1 - Reinbert de Leeuw

3. Blindsided -Bon Iver

4. Lump Sum - Bon Iver

5. Porcelain - Moby

6. The Past and Pending - The Shins

7. Way I Are - Timbaland

8. Middle of the Hill - Josh Pyke

9. Re: Stacks - Bon Iver

10. Flume - Bon Iver

11. Skinny Love - Bon Iver

12. The Greatest- Cat Power

13. I Will Follow You Into The Dark - Death Cab For Cutie

14. Fix You - Coldplay

15. Into Dust - Mazzy Star

16. Such Great Heights - The Postal Service

17. Music Sounds Better With You - Stardust

18. Wish You Were Here - Pink Floyd

19. Walking On A Dream - Empire of the Sun

20. The Edge of the Ocean - Ivy

This is definitely more of an online diary. No one reads this. And I'm not complaining. But I find it mildly amusing that I am writing this for personal benefit. If I'm the only one that's going to read it, why right so well? And punctuate correctly? Couldn't I simply right stupid little things that don't make sense? Oh well, this is more fun anyway I think.

The Third: Rise and Shine

After you've come home from a big night, slept for however long you can, woken up and realised that death by hangover is imminent, you discover that a few things become your salvation. I find them to be the following.

• Fast food - Any and all kinds, from Chinese to McDonald's, my favourite is Nando's.
• Juice - All kinds, except if you used them to mix drinks the night before.
• Milk - I'm weird like this. I crave milk. Skim of course.
• Bakery goods - Nothing like a pie or sausage roll with tomato sauce.
• Bread - Bread in general is sort of beautiful, but more so the morning after.
• Pasta - I love the satisfying feeling of boiling some pasta, and eating the entire lot. Although it's a little bit more effort than the other things on the list.

Obviously there are more things than that, but no one even reads this. It's more me just making a list of things to go and get when I actually can force myself to get out of bed this morning. If that actually happens.

I'd also like to point out that something that stays on the mind of someone who partied hard, are the photos that are soon to be posted on various sites. I happened to be at a Circus themed party last night, dressed as a monkey. Needless to say, a drunken monkey is always funny to take photos of.

The Second: A thought.

"If you find yourself going through hell, keep going."

I have no idea who wrote that, or where it came from, but I find it to be one of the simplest yet most inspiring quotes I've read.

It's also a very true quote though. It's saying that if you're at the lowest of the lows and you think that you can't continue, you literally have no choice but to keep going. It's definitely a quote that people can liken to so many situations of theirs, I know I can. Sort of makes you feel like you're not alone. Thankyou Emma Joy for introducing that to me.

Another quote that found it's way into my head this week was one taken from the postsecret.blogspot site.

"You shouldn't give up. Fight for yourself and who you are. You've got to go through the worst times in life to get the best"

It's a quote that's along the same lines as the first one, but perhaps more self-inspiring. I'm glad that other people's wisdom is still having such a profound affect on me. I wonder if one day, something I create will have a similar affect.

I'm going to go with most likely not.

The First: In the beginning...

Being a virgin blogger, I'm not entirely too sure what to write in here. There are a lot of things for me to write about in a blog that would interest others, but rather than share my life in the first post, I think I'll leave it for the next however many to come.

I've been thinking about creating a blog for a while, but it was only when my friend showed me her blog that I finally got the motivation and courage to actually create one. So thankyou, Kate.

The URL for this blog is "ridingonyoureverything" which are lyrics from a favourite Modest Mouse song of mine, "Gravity Rides Everything". Undoubtedly, song lyrics and film quotes will make their way onto my page quite often. Hopefully, in times of my travel (something which I do a lot it seems), I'll be able to record the happenings on here.

I actually think that I'll be the only one to read this. In that case, maybe I should start addressing these posts to myself. Or not. I'll force my friends to come and read it. Brilliant.