Vent

The best book cover ever

Studio stuff

It looks as if I'm going to have somewhere at home to move my studio stuff to (the sun room). Now all I need is to get my head together enough to do some work. I haven't really done anything since the false start at Liz and Andrew's from a couple of posts back. I'm thinking some basic exercises to start off with (to at least get drawing again). I've got a few ideas for new stuff knocking around in there somewhere, but they haven't resolved themselves into anything yet. Of course reality has only recently resolved itself into four comprehensible dimensions. I'm still reading kids' books after all.

Some links

Just to make sure the Internet's crazy enough, Ben and Steve have started up. The best pa site I visited up north is perhaps Ruapekapeka, simply cos of the info available. Most of them are completely unmarked and you either need a map that's better than this one or a local unless you know what to look for (terracing). And we can't be forgetting Tane Mahuta now.

Oh yeah

Righteous

Going to the Bay of Islands was a very good idea. I haven't been up that way for at least 10 to 15 years (not since the epic trip with the wife and her then boyfriend). Scott and I spent each day hooning about the place, mostly viewing and visiting pa sites (funnily enough I had a view of archaeologically significant volcanos from the rooms I slept in at both places I stayed: Mt Eden when in Auckland and Pouerua when in Pakaraka). I got too much sun, drank too much, smoked too much, and chilled out resting my weary bones of an evening in one of NZ's oldest buildings. It was all good. Everyone we stopped to visit had set themselves up in primo spots (by way of an example, when I went back to the van to grab my bag on one such occasion I was told to check out the waterfall - 'once you go over the swing bridge over the river, go through the orchard and up the track on the left' I was nonchalantly informed). I believe I said something along the lines of chucking it all in and moving to paradise more than once.

I deliberately didn't take many photos as part of a memory rebuilding exercise (remember the urupa), but did take a couple during the excursion up Tara tara.

Looking up:

Smidgeon of the view from the top:

Scott gave me a lift down to Auckland (we'll pass over the horrific plane experience without comment), and we went via the Hokianga. Took twice as long, but it was worth it. It's crazy to think that this morning I was saying hi to Tane Mahuta:

And now I'm back here.

Fit and working again (sort of)

I think the pills are beginning to kick in. Not that long ago the train palaver would've caused a 12-hour continuous panic attack, but it didn't (I think simply travelling again and not being in any hurry to get anywhere helped). I'm able to read more than just kids' books (not that I can remember anything of it afterwards) and even do some small drawings. I've stuck a couple of strips of paper together and folded them somewhat idiosyncratically to make a screenfold book that I'm beginning to fill in:

Epic

Never travel on Friday 13. It all started out fine:

I even had an interesting formal arrangement to contemplate when I wanted a break from the window:

Then a truck took out the overhead cables just up the line and the train stopped dead, so we waited round for a few hours while they sorted their shit out:


Then the luggage door on the bus that took us to National Park (where a train that worked was waiting) didn't open:



Then the local mechanics eventually got on the case:








We left at 7.25 am and were meant to arrive at 7.25 pm. It ended up being about a quarter past midnight.

Disappearing act

I'm getting up at some good awful time to catch the train to Auckland, then I'm going to the Bay of Islands, so I may well disappear from here for a week or so. Then again, I may not. Who can say?

Report from Planet X

Well, yesterday was fairly full on. I don't remember much after arriving at the psychologist. I do remember texting Rose afterwards that it had been 'hard but good'. What I remember of it was that it was a bit of an infodump - getting to know me and making an assessment (which I think was that I'm in no fit state to begin therapy until the pills have properly kicked in or something like that). I'm going back again in two weeks' time to see how I am then.

The attempt at getting a copy of the recording was a complete and abject failure. I crashed on Dave's couch as soon as I'd taken my pills (first day on increased dose) before Kelly even arrived. In any case, he'd apparently had problems with electrical interference (don't ask what that means cos I don't know) so it wouldn't have been a goer even if I had been conscious.