F'uary was F'in Ph'nominal

Man. Man-oh-man. For a short month I definitely crammed a lot into it. And it all got started on the 1st, no less.

I caught myself one of them jet aero-planes back to the US and A. 24 hours straight into Salt Lake City, Utah. There I met up with the entire Psyop clan, which has grown substantially since I left. I had begun the planning of this company retreat back in October, with a total of 35-40 staff members on board, and by the end of January, the number was up to 62. So two giant bus loads later, the whole crew had arrived. Despite having the worst snow conditions I have ever experienced in all my trips to Utah (35 inch base in Feb, when last year they had 130), it was really cool to get out on the mountains and enjoy the scarce snow. The conditions were pathetic enough that we took a day off of riding to go snowmobiling, which after the fact I would intentionally set aside a day for in almost any conditions. It turned out to be the most fun we had, save for the few people who took their chances with some unintentional acrobatics. But I wasn't safe either. I managed to pop my shoulder out of it's socket....while opening a door. I know, I know. Waaaay to hard core for you.

Anyways, 4 Days in Utah were followed by 5 days in NYC. Returning to New York, seeing all the familiar places, meeting up with friends, sure made me miss the place a lot more than I had anticipated. And coming home to what already feels like "good ol" park ave with Haej was really nice. It may have been 10 degrees with a wind chill of -10 at times, but being there felt as cozy as any home could feel. But enough sappiness, there's no time for that here. We are only one week into Feb!

So on to a plane again, after spending the morning watch Haej and Eben direct their Caress shoot. And then 24 hours later, I'm am landing back in Wellington - minus 2 bags of course. Those were to arrive a few days later. But in the meantime, I had to begin Scuba Certification classes - beginning the night I returned from New York. No rest for Team Zissou. And then 4 hours of class time, 10 hours of pool time, and 12 hours of open water dives later, I was a certified scuba diver. And all this crammed into 6 days, while working. I would daydream at work about what it was like to sleep. And I managed to pop my shoulder out again, during one of the pool sessions. But now I'm certified to dive to 18 meters. I have yet to go that deep, but this weekend we are doing a dive, and we'll see what kind of pressure these ears can take.

Next up was a more leisurely tour of the Weta Workshop. Basically this is the place where all the cool stuff gets made for the movies. All the physical elements, weapons, character busts, costumes, statues, toys. If its geeky and cool, it's here. And they are so high security there that in order for other Weta employees to take the tour we have to know somebody who knows somebody who can get us clearance. Even met and talked with Richard Taylor, who is the man behind all of these physical props and one of the 4 founders of Weta.

Then the weekend rolled around again, and it was off to my first Rugby Match. Game. Spar. Whatever they call them. I mean they call a goal a "try", so go figure. Positives are that its a quick game - it's over in an hour and a half, they sell fries, not chips (unless served with fish), and a 4 pack of beer (yes 1 person can buy 4 beers) is less than 20 NZD (roughly 14 USD). Unfortunately it was freezing cold and off and on raining. But enough Tui and fries, and you forget about all that. And to top it all off, the NZ team won with literally seconds left in the game.

The following day was the Cuba Street Carnival. But before any of that, being summer and all, and needing to live up to my upbringing, I finally went out surfing. I borrowed my flat-mate Mark's Fun Board and Short Board (both derrick and I went) and met up at Tom and Greg's place for a little Saturday morning session. Nothing like walking out someones back porch onto the beach. The 4 of us were out for an hour and a half, with some pretty weak waves, or as Tom calls them - "Mushburgers". I actually caught 6 waves, believe it or not. And I have this tiny little bug inside of me now, similar to that one that grew into the gargantuan obsession that is snowboarding for me. I find myself actually checking surf reports now. Uh-oh. I'm turning into Scoot.

On to the Carnival that evening. We ended up at a friend's place that was smack dab in the middle on the festival, with a concert right out his front window and the parade passing by his front door. No need to get lost in the crowd, we just hung up there all night, watching and enjoying the festivities. Oh, and I think there might have been a little bit of drinking. Choice.

And finally, the capper of them all to the month. With all of this diving and Team Zissouing, it's about time something came of it. I mean, I get the joy of being in the water and seeing all the amazing sea life here literally in my backyard, but I wanted a souvenir, dammit! So on Monday, it was another one of those days that are so gorgeous, it makes you think "this could be the last one like this, I better enjoy it." Difficult to do while you are at work, behind a computer. But luckily enough Victor, the guy who has gotten all of us into spearfishing, mentioned he was going at lunch for a dive. Nobody else seemed interested, but I decided last minute that I'd join him. Never having used the actual spear gun before (I have only used the Hawaiian Sling, which is incredibly ineffective), I needed a quick rundown from him on how to use it. Then geared up and ready, we were out in the water, hunting. He happened to know a spot that had a decent amount of fish, and after approaching a few fish here and there, and hesitating due to their size, I finally saw it. Biggest fish I'd seen in my 4 or 5 dives. I missed my first shot, and figured, well that's it, no other chances. But just a few minutes later after reloading, I saw him again along the bottom. I dove, aimed, and fired. It was then that I realized how big he was. He started swimming around frantically, actually managing to pull me a bit. I was able to surface and called Vic over. Being the seasoned pro, he knew what to do. I pulled the fish up towards me, he loaded his gun, aimed it at this fish, who was swimming around like mad, tracked him for a good 30 seconds, and then fired a shot, literally right between his eyes. There was definitely no more squirming after that. And with that I got my first fish. Vic said it's the biggest Kahawai he's seen in the water. So I guess I can retire now, no?