Last Day of the Year...

Yes I am still here...

I have been reminded that I am being rude (which I am)
That I have a novel to write (which I will)
That I still have international appeal (I really dont think so)
That I will always have local appeal (of course I will)

Last day of the year 2007... Spent the weekend in Taupo/Tapuki, which is south of Auckland and left work early. I am determined to groove into 2008. The Fireworks at the Sky Tower were impressive last year. Hope to see it again.

New Year Resolution? Stop losing interest in blogging...

Happy New Year Everyone!

SO many things going on...

My last post has a November 20 publish date but this was the day I started to compose it. I actually published it 2 days ago on December 4.

It happens to the most conscientious blogger.

So many things going on... so many thoughts and experiences to share; but it seems like there was never enough time to sit at a computer and write a post. Sometimes it seemed like the hardest thing to do.

But now I am back in the blog groove and hopefully I can summoun the motivation to sit and compose the posts.

FONTERRA CRUISE

Bonuses are paid to the employees at the end of the financial year (in June) but the company still manages to find a way to extend some Christmas cheer to the troops at this time of year. Last year it was a costume party where I went as Michael Jackson. This year it was a cruise around the Auckland harbour on a really nice boat.

I had made the observation that although Auckland is known as the "City of Sails" and there are any number of boats, Yatches and cruise boats anchored at the Viaduct harbour in downtown Auckland, I didnt know anybody personally who owned a boat! Perhaps I am moving in the wrong social circles. Hmmmmm...

Anyway, my department hired a cruise boat that had an open bar, on-board DJ and sumptous buffet fare and invited us all to a 4-hour cruise around the Auckland harbour.

And what a load of fun it turned out to be.

A piece of advice - make sure there are a couple of Latin Americans at any party you are throwing. The culture and passion of Latin America will ALWAYS out where 2 or more are gathered. They got the ball rolling with the dancing and when the boss of my boss ended up doing a very lewd dance with a pole on deck, I knew we had a real party on our hands.

Pictures say a thousand words.

I really have to dance more. It is such good clean exercise. And if you do it really well... you invariably draw the attention of the most beautiful girls in the group. Hyuk hyuk!! Guaranteed!

We got back to the harbour at about 5pm but most of us were so fired up that we decided to continue the party. And luckily, the Auckland Harbour has a bustling club strip built up around it collectively known as the Viaduct. We made our way (led by the Latin girls) to a bar called "Cowboys"

Again I will let the pics tell the story.

Please note that I was stone sober but was having enough fun that any inhibitions I had were very easily cast aside. (my friends might argue that I dont have that much in the first place)

It was very very nice to see my work colleagues let their hair down and have this kind of fun. Anybody who is willing to get up on a table and dance to Gloria Estefan's Conga cant be all that bad aye?!

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Welcome to World of Warcraft!

A massive role playing PC game. I first played this game in Sweden at a friend's house in the chilly northern city of Umea. I played it for 8 hours straight! I was disciplined enough that I didnt rush out and install it on AIESEC Sweden's computer and play myself into oblivion. (or to be honest... I couldnt afford it then :-)

You buy the box set which comes with a DVD and game manual book and then have to pay about $20 a month for subscription. When i was picking up my box set... the attendant warned me how addictive it was and I told him calmly that I knew how addictive. So now...

To my credit... I dont play it every spare moment that I have...There are breaks for the bathroom and to pick up the pizza from the delivery guy hahahahahaha! But seriously it is a really cool game that has 9 million active subscribers in the world.

And considering the fact that I get into trouble when I have too much free time on my hands. This is perfect for me. I am on Level 22 of a possible Level 70. Will keep you all posted.

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Not such a great author!

Laurell K Hamilton is not the author I thought she was. Please do not buy her books... or buy it if you are interested in literary porn.

Yep! You read right. Her Vampire Hunter novels deal with were-wolves; vampires; shape-shifter and arcane magic. And they revolve around the main character Anita Blake. Now I was conned into reading her because Marvel comics had made her first publication into a really really cool graphic novel (minus the porn) and I was so impressed that I rushed to get all the novels.

To be fair to her, the first (maybe) three novels were more in the pulp detective arena. Anita Blake was a vampire hunter and she had to solve crimes in modern day USA. But from the fourth book, the sex scenes got more graphic, which in itself is not a bad thing, but more and more such scenes were included that did ABSOLUTELY nothing to advance the plot of the novel.

She has been villified by her fans ( I am no longer one of them) and she did this interesting open letter to them basically asking if people didnt like it why were they still reading it. Good point. I gave up mid-way through Book 7! Of a 14 set series...

...Jim Butcher on the other hand is still going strong and has just released the fourth book of his Codex Alera series. Apparently, his Dresden files are a bit more popular and I really should look for those as well.

The joys of reading! I hope I can the same of writing very soon!

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Jose for England Job!

It is a prospect that sends thrills down my spine!

I have never been able to support the English national football team. They lacked a certain charisma as a unit, that even the presence of David Beckham failed to convey on to them. But because I support Chelsea football club of London, I am always sympathetic towards them. And I was really sad on their behalf when they failed to qualify for the European Championships next summer.

I usually pick a team (or two) to support at the beginning of any major football tournament from which Nigeria is absent. Case in point was the last World Cup. I was supporting Sweden until they were knocked out. I switched to France and was absolutely gutted when they lost to Italy.

A key determinant in which team to support as a neutral would be... personalities playing on the team. A Ruud Van Nistelroy would make me cheer for the Netherlands (as Ruud Gullit made me do a decade ago); A Zinedine Zidane on the French team made me want them to win so he could go out in a blaze of glory!

It was such personalities as the aforementioned Guullit, Gianfranco Zola and Marcel Desailly that attracted me to Chelsea in the first place.

And then came the Jose era.

The Special One brought a mix of over-powering personality and winning results that made me feel like I had lost someone when he left Chelsea a couple of months ago.

And now he bookmakers favorite to take over from Steve Maclaren as England coach. If that happened, England would be able to count me as one of their most ardent supporters. At least second after Nigeria and for as long as Jose was in charge!