Oh, right! I have a blog.

Apologies for dropping off the face of the earth after, well, moving to the other side of the earth. It's been relatively quiet round these parts, three weeks of hanging out in Wellington, taking sword fighting classes, collecting temp agencies, going to see shows, and auditioning for shows. The job I interviewed did not pan out, so I am in a holding pattern until things start to reopen after January 5. It is still very odd to me that so many places straight up shut down over Christmas and New Years. I do think it's very cool that New Zealand has a culture where it's acceptable to actually take time off.

I've been taking classes here: http://swordsmanship.co.nz/wsema/index.html two nights a week, which has been absolutely fascinating. I still have zero interest in actually fighting people, but the history and the body mechanics are really, really, cool. The train ride around the bay isn't half bad, either, even on rainy gray days like this one:

My first sword fighting class was December 1, having just missed the lighting of the town Christmas tree - but the band was still playing.

The bus system is great, but I spend a lot of time walking. I walk by the water whenever possible.

The bird life is impressive. I love the ginger pigeons.

I shared lunch with this plucky little dude one day. I did not initially notice that the poor thing only has one foot. Didn't slow him down much, though.

I had two auditions, one of which was successful and I have cast in a show for Stagecraft Productions, which will open March 25. The show is Ben Elton's first stage play, Gasping! Rehearsals start January 11. Though I was not cast in their fringe show, I did meet the lovely ladies of Discharge Collective, a fantastic local comedy troupe. I went to go see their Christmas sketch show, Mary's Christmas, which was ridiculously funny. I'll definitely be putting them at the top of my must-go-see list.

The weather in early December wasn't stellar, despite that it should have been summer there were a lot of colder, rainy days, which was my preview of winter. There have been some stunningly beautiful days, though, and I'll share further adventures in the coming days.