yeah, nah, yeah: on having lunch with my former workmates

i know the Aussie expression (it is Kiwi depending on whom you ask) of: yeah, nah, yeah can differ based on context and the actual variant used – in this case it indicates ambivalence.

it’s hard to believe that it’s been nearly 12 years since i stopped work. don’t get me wrong – i was really glad to see them and i had seen some of them over the years but something was slightly different this time.

i had to reflect on it to figure out why. i don’t know if it was because my wife now worked for the same organisation, the place where we ate was just a stone’s throw away from our offices, they were “purely” social visits before, it was something else, or a combination of some of these factors. there were moments (admittedly, few and far in between) when the conversation was lightly peppered with “shop talk”.

this sounds like i’m nostalgic for work but i still recall it was a hardly a “bed of roses”. the core group is still around even after all these years (which is a testament to my former boss’ management skills). i think, to some extent, i miss the challenge – sure the team sometimes handled things differently, but our goal was, ultimately, to arrive at a singular mitigation strategy.

i guess i felt a little frustrated that stopping wasn’t really on my own terms and it wasn’t a conscious decision on my part: in short i didn’t have a choice.

i feel there were still things i could’ve “accomplished” and my contribution would’ve been much “greater”. Oh, well…

one if by land and two if by sea: recent disambiguation of the terms gondola and luge

on our recent trip to New Zealand, we were told we had to take a gondola to the restaurant. we were quite perplexed when we found out it was on top of a mountain – we thought we had to take a boat and wondered what was next. by default, we were all thinking about the “flat” vessel popularised by the canals of Venice.

it piqued my interest so i Googled the term on my phone. apparently, although not as well known, it can also refer to an alternative mode of transport: an enclosed lift or cable car – which made much more sense!

my son and wife also tried riding the luge down. although we were atop a mountain., there was no snow – instead they took vehicle similar to “bikes” which were also “powered” by gravity.

sometimes, we have pictures in our heads that don’t match the reality.

a “red” wedding in the Land of the Long White Cloud and Hobbit dwellings: our short (mis/)adventures in New Zealand

we recently came back from New Zealand (Aotearoa in Maori) to attend a wedding. no, it wasn’t bloody like the GoT episode – it was just the bride was Vietnamese and her gown was a shade of crimson.

despite also having a tea ceremony after the nuptials, it was not at all stuffy – i found their vows funny and they even had a jumping castle for the adults.

not only did we travel overseas to get there and drive a long way to attend the event but we really wanted to be there on that joyous occasion. unlike some destination weddings it made sense to me. although the groom (who’s my wife’s cousin), the bride’s a Kiwi and most of her relatives are still there. it was at a garden for people to feel more at ease and so that there could be other “fun” activities. it was a balance between fiscally responsibility and meaningfulness – i think most couples spend so much time, money, and effort on just one day instead of being mindful about the remainder of their lives together: there’s even a stat that states the more money that the couple spends on the wedding, the likelier they are to break up.

we also had a little time to do a few “touristy” things. we drove aways for most destinations but being on several OZ road trips the NZ views were much more picturesque. My son took several photos using a proper digital camera of the scenery – to keep the post downloadable, i exported a select few to “smaller” files.

Rotorua – Landscape

Rotorua Nightscape

DISCLAIMER: The copyright of all the pictures is his and these were shared with his permission.

we also saw a geyser:

Rotorua Geyser

while there are kangaroo crossing signs in OZ, NZ have them for cows. i thought the dairy products were already good in OZ, but they were better in NZ as their milk is much creamier (and i could tell as i like my cheese, coffee (although i’m partial to doppio and ristretto, i get lattes in countries that have good milk), and ice cream). That said, vegans close your ears, cows are bred better in OZ for eating.

there were too many photos so in the interest of space and download speed i’ve decided not to share all of them.

we had a chance to witness a Haka performed live – prior to that we’ve only seen it on TV, mostly by the All Blacks prior to a rugby match. we know it was for intimidation and, if possible to avoid conflict. it was also interesting to learn that it is used to “warmup” major muscles so it makes a lot of sense in the sporting context.

because i’ve always been a nerd (it would be a misnomer to call me a John Ronald Reuel Tolkien geek, although both can be socially awkward, because more than just being an enthusiast i can get quite cerebral about the topic. case in point, when Gandalf in the movies (played by Sir Ian McKellen) utters the words: “You shall not pass!’ in the original text it was will not shall – it was a “happy accident” that wasn’t edited out of the film) we also visited Hobbiton.

interestingly, the movie set is in Matamata which translated in Filipino means eye-eye and the whole Fellowship of the Ring was formed partly because of the expanding reach of the Eye of Sauron.

i even tried to read the books (as i was a fan of fantasy novels). alas, i wasn’t able to finish the books (i attempted The Hobbit and The Fellowship of the Ring) as some words were a bit obtuse for me (my excuse was that i was young and English wasn’t my primary language) and the author was a Professor of English Literature at Oxford. i instead settled for the cartoons and movies.

in any case, i want to return for a longer time but their accessibility facilities can still be improved…