Songs In Blue

I’ve finally got around to answering the last couple of questions that people asked me (months ago).  Raul, Sharon and Lance – thanks for the questions!

Matt, what is the best quality you’ve found in Dayna?

The best quality I’ve found in Dayna is her passion – whether it’s being passionate about travel, family, friends, photography, writing, sharks, funny dance moves or anything else.  I think quite a few people go through life without this passion and without really enjoying it as much as they could.

Dayna definitely doesn’t fall within this category – she approaches life with a lot of passion and energy that makes being around her really fun and she’s just a fun person to be with because of this.  

If you were to re-live your first encounter, how would it be?

I really liked our first encounter so I’m going to have to be lame and say I wouldn’t change a thing. 

What’s your definition of a perfect relationship?

Tough question and one that I am really not qualified in any way to answer.  Not that that’ll stop me…

OK, so I don’t really know if you could have a “perfect” relationship (that sounds really boring anyway) but I think a “really good” relationship needs to be built around honesty, being able to talk openly about everything and being completely comfortable with someone.  I also think having similar goals in life is really important.

This is assuming of course that two people are attracted two each other and are at roughly the same stage of life e.g. Hugh Hefner can talk openly and be as honest as he wants but dating 20-year old twins (plus another 23-year old girl) is just never going to be part of a perfect relationship…although it may be perfect from his perspective.  And yes, I do watch too much bad reality TV shows - I blame Dayna.

If you were stuck on a desert island, and could only bring 3 things with you (food and water is there, conveniently), and you can’t bring transportation to get you away from there, what would you bring and why?

I’m pretty social and get bored quickly when I’m by myself so I’d love to take some friends with me but I’m going to assume they don’t meet the definition of “things”.  For my benefit I’m also going to assume that the island has a lake that freezes over in winter and electricity – without which some of my choices below become pretty boring (it can be a modern island right?). 

So I would probably go with the following:

1) A laptop with internet and speakers – so I can listen to music, keep in touch over the internet etc.

2) A set of ice skates – because I’ve tried skating once and I was terrible.  I figure learning to skate would entertain me for a good decade and give me something to do after that.  And I haven’t been to the dentist since I was seventeen so I may need a skate to perform some minor dental surgery at some point too.

3) A Wilson volleyball – to keep me company because Tom Hanks would not have got through Castaway without his buddy Wilson and I think I’ll need an imaginary buddy too.

What is the one thing you want to do most before you die?

Well, if I assume that I’m going to live at least a few more decades, the first answer that comes to mind is having children some time between now and death.

If I changed the scenario slightly and I only had twelve months to live then the one thing I would want to do before I died would be to travel the world and see all the places I haven’t got to yet. 

What is your dream job?

My dream job is a work in progress right now.  I’m a tax consultant at the moment so I’ve set the bar pretty low anyway – most jobs will seem pretty amazing after this one.

I wouldn’t mind the “best job in the world” (an island caretaker gig that a guy’s doing in Australia – http://www.islandreefjob.com/) or anything that involved being paid to be a tourist really.  I used to be addicted to travel shows and dreamed of being a presenter on one (which would be amazing) but that is not really that realistic.

My dream job in my current career path would be a CEO or CFO for a company that I really care about.  Being in charge, and influencing something that I am passionate about using the skills that I have would be ideal.

So for now, I have some rough ideas but my dream job remains a work in progress – hopefully I figure it out soon so I can start figuring out how to get the job.     

I have a question…for Matt…What would you do if one of Dayna’s brothers bought a Springboks jersey when he was in South Africa?…

WOW Lance – I expected so much better of you. 

I think the only way to make you see the error of your ways is for you to wear that Springboks jersey to an All Blacks home game against South Africa.  We’ll see if you still like your little jersey then…

Oh and I am so going to buy the next Calgary Flames jersey I see.

Only one more week of Movember!  Check out Matt’s MoSpace (he’s got some hilarious photos up) to rate his mo and donate to the cause!

Finally getting around to writing about our weekend!  I don’t know how time seems to go so fast and yet so slow all at the same time! 

Unfortunately, it seems that anywhere I go the internet is really slow and FRUSTRATING so I’m not able to add photos to this post.  You can, however, go to my flickr page and check them out there.(http://www.flickr.com/photos/songsinblue)
 
But yeah, the weekend was a BLAST!  It felt so nice to have a long weekend away with good wine, fun people, and nice weather (for the most part)!
 
We got to our house in Martinborough after work on friday.  It was a pretty chill night with everyone arriving at different times and getting settled in.  There was about 12 of us sharing a 5 (and a 1/2) bedroom house.
 
Matt and I scored the massive king size room with an ensuite on the top floor.  The only problem was that it had 2 sky lights with no curtains so we were awake with the sun at 5:30am every morning!
 
Saturday morning we went for a walk around Martinborough then came back to a sweet lunch spread of dip, cheese and bread-y goodness!  The boys played touch rugby in the yard while us girls tanned and read magazines.  Matt scored a couple tries but ended the game with a broken toe.  I think I could dedicate an entire post to his toe injuries – he should really cut them all off!  The best part of my afternoon was my hour-long nap, A NAP!  It was awesome!
 
Whenever I write a post about weekends away or vacations, I always regret that I didn’t take enough photos.  It’s because I feel like a paparazzi with my SLR and don’t want to make people uncomfortable because there’s a big-ass camera in the room.  I’m going to get over this and start taking more photos…
 
But I digress.
 
Saturday night we had a BBQ (with enough food for an army) and watched the New Zealand vs. Bahrain World Cup qualifier.  My North American friends probably had no idea what that is/that it was happening.  Basically, whoever won that game would play in the Soccer World Cup in South Africa next year. 
I’m not a soccer fan, but the game was so exciting to watch!  And New Zealand ended up winning!  It’s the first time they’ve made it to the World Cup since ‘82 (I think), and it was a really big deal here! (Kinda the same as the Canucks making round 3 of the Playoffs)

Sunday was the actual wine festival.  The weather was perfect besides, you know, GALE FORCE winds.  It didn’t stop us from fully enjoying the day and probably kept us from getting too drunk.  My favourite wine was the Alana Estate Riesling.  If anyone visits me, we will definitely go there for a lunch!  Our programs listed the menu of each vineyard (there were 7 taking part) and we went to one specifically because it had a ‘Diet-be-damned Brownie’.  Worth it.

After listening to a few bands, drinking more wine and bussing to different wineries, we went back to our place and an epic dance party ensued.  There’s a photo of Matt and I having a dance off and we both look pretty intense.  We’re serious about our dance moves, yo!

So the weekend was a complete success!  There wasn’t much drama, no one did anything they regretted (at least I think so) and I’d go again next year in a heart beat!  Anyone want to come with?

I’ve been in a weird head space this week. 

I had my end of year review meeting with my manager today and the first thing she said to me was, “You look numb.”

Funny, I feel numb. 

I got some not-so-great news about work earlier this week and in my normal fashion, I completely shut off and made myself not care.  Without going into too much detail, I was told that because I’m on a contract I don’t qualify for any sort of reward (salary increase, bonus, nothing).  It would’ve been really nice to know this before I worked my ass off for the last year.  Not that it would’ve changed my work ethic AT ALL, but it’s the shock of only finding out now that’s really got me bummed out.  I was doing everything I could to prove that I deserved a raise and even started running a fund all by myself – which isn’t what I was hired to do. 
My manager told me that they wanted to make me permanent for next year and that I’m in a good position to take over a more challenging role but that doesn’t really make me feel any better.  Normally, I could care less about the money and just want to advance my career, but I can’t do that right now.  Plus, it’s like being told you’re worthless – it hurts, yo!

More than anything, I’m ready for a change.  When that doesn’t happen, I feel like I’m not accomplishing anything and my life is pointless.  I get angsty, claustrophobic, and end up really annoying myself (and I’m sure, others). 

But yeah, I’m starting to get over it now and who knows what will happen.  I do love my job and the people I work with so it’s not all bad!

On a brighter note, this weekend is Toast Martinborough.  The actual event isn’t until Sunday, but we’re leaving tonight!  There’s a group of about 12 of us going and we’re staying at this really flash house on a golf course!  There isn’t much planned besides a BBQ and the soccer game Saturday night so it should be a nice relaxing weekend away.  Which will be great after this last week!

What are your weekend plans?

For those of you that don’t know, Movember is a fundraising event for men’s health issues, specifically prostate cancer and depression.  The goal is to grow a moustache for the month of November and collect donations.
 
When I asked the man behind The Mo in my life, Matt, what ‘look’ he was going for, this was his response:
“I think Johnny Depp is a big inspiration for the look I am going for (sans goatee) but in reality, it will be more of a ‘dodgy uncle’ sort of look”

Basically, it’s a lip glove/flavour saver combination.  And at only 6 days in, The Mo seems to have a mind of it’s own.  Every morning it seems to double in size and when Matt kisses me, The Mo tickles my lip.
It’s gonna be a long month….

I think the women supporting these men should get something pretty at the end of the month for putting up with the ’70s porn star’ look for 30 days.  It’s for a good cause so I guess I should keep my not-so-keen-on-having-a-Moed-boyfriend to myself.

If you want updates on Matt’s Mo Growing progress you can check out his Mospace at http://nz.movember.com/mospace/127429

Feel free to donate!