NZ

I'm in New Zealand!

Kia Ora!

A lot, yet not a lot to say yet. I'm paying $1 for 20 mins of internet right now and I have to research the phone I got. I don't understand anything here really. So far it's been pretty uneventful. Still very lonely, hopefully I can make friends with my dormmates? If not thre's that IEP orientation tomorrow morning where I will force myself to meet folks. And then I hope to be out of Auckland and into a job ASAP. I've got a job lined up in the West Coast of the South Island, I just need to make sure there aren't any better options before I commit to it and head down there.

I wish I could say WOWOWOWOW I'm in NZ and I LOVE it. But mostly I'm disoriented and alone. Still wishing I had a travel companion, but that'll change once I get more settled. Don't worry about me-people here are nice.

Next update will be less sad. Promise. Just not used to anything yet. Like when is 14:03?? 2:03. yup. conversions.

OK

My love is sent. Ciao.

Mad World Cover

Well, here goes-



It's not the greatest, believe me, I'm aware of that. However, posting this is the wrecking ball to the wall that I put up around me so that no one could ever see/hear me perform anything. And just to note, I learned the piano piece in a day, and I hadn't really played piano for years before I picked up this sheet music and taught myself. So hey, at least I'm proud of my piano skillz!

CHACHA!

Videos (read in spanish accent)

Here are my videos. The first two are pretty mediocre, in that, unless you were in them, they're not actually that interesting. But feel free to watch them anyway! I always love feedback. And in the first one you actually get to see me act (and what mighty fine acting it is ;p) !

Pyramus and Thisbe

school project based on Shakespeare's Pyramus and Thisbe

Ode to Alison

video I made for one of my best friends while she was in Germany

Ferdinand and Miranda in Milan

another school project, based on Shakespeare's The Tempest. My gem.

Warm Melting Chocolate Cake

Remember, back in April 2011 when I said my next post was going to be on how to make warm melting chocolate cake (http://crazedandinexperienced.blogspot.com/2011/04/moment-of-elation.html) ?

Well, here is it! Just about 10 months late, but hey, at least I remembered.

So you start with this:

yes, if you wanna make it right you must listen to John Coltrane & Johnny Hartman, or any other smooth jazz artist of your choice. ;)

8 oz of semisweet chocolate (I recommend Ghiradelli 70% cacao)

1 C (2 sticks) butter

7 eggs

6 tablespoons of sugar

1/2 C flour

1. Preheat the oven hi broil. Now, this is for the carnival cruise warm melting chocolate cake, meaning we're going for only the top being hard, the bottom and sides are still gooey chocolate. If you want to make a molten chocolate cake, where only the very center is gooey chocolate, follow this same recipe except preheat the oven to 400.

2. Melt the butter and chocolate together. Let cool.

3. In a separate bowl, mix 4 eggs with sugar and whisk. Then add the flour, whisk. Add the last 3 eggs, whisk. Finally, add the chocolate/butter mixture and whisk.

4. Butter the ramekins! This is fun, as you get to play with butter. Take a dollop of butter in your fingers and go at it.

5. Pour batter into individual ramekins, fill about 1/2-3/4 way full.

6. Place ramekins into the oven and nuke em! i.e. watch em closely. As soon as the tops of the cakes start to harden, about 3-7 mins, remove from the oven. Let sit for a couple minutes, just long enough to be able to touch the ramekin without burning yourself.

7. Serve immediately. Tastes best with some vanilla ice cream on the side.

Enjoy!

This recipe fills about 7-8 ramekins.

P.E.R.S.E.V.E.R.A.N.C.E

It took me about a year to perfect this recipe and get only the top to be hardened. But I persisted and I prevailed! muaha!

Sex. For my Eardrums.

That would be jazz, my friends. I'm not entirely sure why, but I've grown up with this propensity for loving the sweet sounds of smooth jazz, and often times, not-so-smooth jazz as well. I believe it may have been instilled in me while I was growing up since NPR would always play it in the evenings and so it became associated with that calm time of day.

Within that, I've also always had a particular sweet spot for the saxophone. Strangely, I've never felt a huge desire to learn it, I just enjoy watching while someone else plays. And perhaps this is one of my few sexist thoughts, but a sax, to me, is really a man's instrument. Not that a woman can't play it–but I just don't associate the two. This love was, I believe, planted back on one of my birthdays when I went to the Hilton hotel in Nashville and I'd sit next to my window and watch the man in the lobby go at it with his sax. There was nothing I enjoyed more.

Sadly, though, I know very little about the genre and only have one jazz CD! Apparently, I prefer to let it just pop into my life rather than actively seeking it, at least that is what it would seem from my lack of readily available music. That, I want to change.

If you've got CD's or songs you'd like to share with me, please do so, I would much appreciate it.

I was simply born in the wrong era..

Oscar-prompted-post

I've always considered myself a movie buff, yet recently I've felt very detached while watching movies. I first noticed it while I was at Hendrix, and I assumed it was just because I was too stimulated by other things to really settle down and focus on one thing. But when I came back home it was the same way. It fills me with discomfort, this new development of not being able to connect emotionally with the films.

I've never experienced this before, and I'm hoping it's just a phase. That ability to really watch and feel films has been a part of me that I love. This hiatus is disconcerting.

And one of the women that helped create my attachment to films, Meryl Streep, just won her third Oscar!!

Tears did well, I kid you not. But I wasn't alive for her other academy award wins, so being able to watch her receive that award meant a lot to me.

So, in light of the emotionally wonky day I've had and her nomination, I am going to watch Mamma Mia!

I hope it leads to a reopening of that connection. Meryl's never let me down before!

The 12 days of Hendrix

There really is no way for me to summarize my time at this magnificent school, which is the way a vacation should be.

But it turned out to be more-mean more-to me than I could've ever expected. Honestly, what I imagined was getting to hang out with Alex and then while he was in class or busy, I would just read, write, or work on gathering info for New Zealand. Oh, was I wrong wrong wrong.

Hendrix quickly became home. I made a significant number of friends, all with very different and very enthusiastic personalities who I miss dearly. I wish I didn't have to leave...that I could've just stayed there until I had to take off for New Zealand. Alas, I couldn't overstay my welcome. And I knew, no matter how often my friends would say STAY STAY STAY-I would become a burden after another week. They did have to pay for my meals, after all.

It's crazy to think that before I went there I was nearly set on Eckerd, now it is the opposite. Of course, there's still a good chance I'll end up down south, if they give me an equal amount of money to attend, but at least at this point, I know I'll be happy in either place.

But what did I do during my stay?

Well...

I, along with Matt and Alex, spilled 5 gallons of hard cider all over an on-campus apartment's kitchen and spent hours cleaning it up. I baked cookies from scratch on valentines day and then shared them with the students chilling in the lobby at 11 pm. I spent a morning in a park with Alex reading and deciphering poetry and then attended his poetry class that afternoon. I also attended Thomas's 375 Philosophy of Religion class-that was a good one! A bunch of friends and I went up to Matt's house and just had a chill day-some brewed, some watched movies, most slept. I met lots of incredibly nice and interesting people who's aspirations and down-to-earth values astounded me. I ate really good cafe food. I fell in love with cheesy bread!! I learned, more thoroughly, not to judge anyone based on appearance. I made pierogis from scratch in the dorm kitchen (that was kind of challenging). I pondered the life of a fish. I had an unexpected romance. I found a friend who never ceases to engage me in deep intellectual conversation. I went to an ABC party that was busted by the cops. I helped take care of a too-drunk prospie. I was a canvas for henna practice. I watched and enjoyed while friends delighted in their musical passions. I watched A Beautiful Mind. I spent an entire afternoon sitting in the sun, writing down my thoughts and pondering certain revelations, many related to my the results of my meyers briggs test (ENFP). I met a guy who took a gap year last year and spent 5 months in New Zealand. I shopped for an hour at a local flea market. I ate vietnamese with people I barely knew. I became part of the Hendrix community. I fell in love with the school.

... I also got sick.

The last two days I was there I was much more tired than usual and had a sore throat. But I didn't think much of it until the day after I got home when I woke up with a 101 fever and am still recovering.

That aside, it was a wonderful time. I miss being there, and am very much looking forward to next fall when I can go back, even if not there, then a similar place where I can make friends and meet more amazing people.

Since being there I've also gotten more into music. I sing more... or did until I lost my voice completely. I also practice piano everyday and asked my father to bring my drumset back, though I have yet to play it since I'm at a loss for headphones that fit the jack. What I'm really yearning for is a Ukulele...but that may have to wait until after New Zealand. Oh well. At least I'm finally pursuing some long-term hobbies, and I think this will stick.

Until next time-