On NEW ZEALAND

February 27th
On NEW ZEALAND
For a while after Lord of the Rings, New Zealand was the faddish place to go to discover one’s self, kind of like Machu Picchu is now. My roommate Jordan (a girl) went to New Zealand and sent me back a postcard with hundreds of sheep on it, and a joke that I think was along the lines of ‘we outnumber the humans 4 to 1!” My memory is hazy. She had a great time though.
My parents went to Machu Picchu last year, and now their house is Inca-themed (except for my bedroom, which is still African, and the children’s bathroom, which is Japanese. My parent’s house is like the Epcot Centre.) I have no inclination to go, as my travel ambitions these days are limited to Major League Ball Parks. Although I’d like to take Krista to Greece someday.

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I used to go and watch the Lord of the Rings movies with my sisters the weekend they came out, in the early aughts. I was impressed more and more as the series went on at Peter Jackson’s ability to tell a story on so grand a scale. I eventually got the entire thing on DVD and watched all of the special features while I was living on Crawford Avenue, and working at the bank. Every day before work, I would watch a short documentary on makeup, or foley sound, or CGI, and every documentary had at least one ‘Wow!” moment. There were a lot of special features.

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My favourite show on TV right now is Flight of the Conchords, and that’s true of everyone else in my demographic as well, apparently. When I heard they were playing Massey Hall this April, I tried to get tickets, and I almost got one online, but I gave it up because I wanted to try and get three tickets for Matt, Taralyn and I. Luckily, I work for Massey Hall anyway, so I’ll still be able to enjoy the show with only a mild risk of having to usher people. Krista will be seeing them in Vancouver, where she will be on her tour of different Arbys across America. We paid for that with our Stub Hub gift certificates. Stub Hub is a ticket resale website, where you can get hot tickets for only several times the price. We had received the gift certificates from my in-laws at our wedding shower.
I had severely underestimated the popularity of the Conchords. I thought that I was the only one who knew of thir brilliance, but when I went to work, everyone was talking about them and reserving choice ushering spots for their shows. Matt, my comedy partner, and I have written a spec script of Flight of the Conchords, and it is quite funny. Ask me to show it to you some time.
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In conclusion, New Zealand is

a) a place I’ve never been, and possibly never will
b) where they filmed Lord of the Rings, a series of films I have enjoyed
c) was briefly a very popular tourist destination
d) where my favourites, the Flight of the Conchords are from
e) superior to Old Zealand, which may or may not be in the Netherlands