Wednesday, March 31, 2004
I'm happy to report that March 2004 -- you know, the month where I didn't write anything -- was probably the most eventful of my life.
Since lists are to blogs what something is to some other media, here's a list of things that happened, in roughly chronological order:
1. Flew in 10 planes and visited 8 airports over the span of 9 days in my trip to the U.S. for my March 12 Truman Interview.
2. Discovered that Qantas really is the world's greatest airline, with actually good food. We're not talking good for an airplane good. I mean good for real. For this observation, I was awarded about 20,000 frequent flyer points and one hour of sleep on the 13 hour plane ride.
3. Tried on a $1400 Costume Nationale suit at Barney's in LA, and actually called mother to see if I could get it (if you saw what it looked like on me, you'd buy it for me, it seriously looked that good).
4. Actually bought a beautiful and more sensible $500 suit at Nordstrom in St. Louis, along with a beautiful Hugo Boss tie the interview panel really liked. As a bonus for being gay, the sales associate Amy also threw in some free skin care products.
5. Realized how much I really care about urban planning. I was at a newsstand on Sunset Boulevard reading my favourite design magazine, Metropolis, when I happened on a story on urban planning in Finland explaining how well respected the planning process is there and how revered planners are. I actually started to cry right there by the magazine rack, and that's when I realized that I really am headed for the right career. It's great to be passionate about something.
6. Saw my boyfriend/anchor/rock Kevin, drank Cosmopolitans with Leslie, had one of the least awkward conversations in memory with Mel, was pampered by Sara's relentless hospitality, had a pep talk with Ted Tarkow, was asked by Dr. Cheryl Kelley if it was really me standing in front of her, and had a not-so-good mock interview with several MU dignitaries.
7. Really enjoyed listening to Air's new CD, Talkie Walkie.
8. Met an amazing, inspiring, humbling group of 13 other Truman Finalists at the interview. I don't think I've ever had a more fun 24 hours than that time in Cincinnati.
9. Had an amazing interview experience, as did most of the other finalists. The regional interview panel was composed of a Cincinnati City Council member, two university presidents, the Kentucky State Treasurer, an Ohio state judge, and the Truman Foundation Executive Secretary. Most of the questions related to urban planning, which was great for me. I was given two planning case studies, was questioned on Kentucky's bright flight problem, had to elaborate on a moral quandary in one of the ancient texts I've read, and had to discuss which ancient author I would most like to have dinner with and why. The interview was only 20 minutes, and it flew by. In general, my answers were well-reasoned and controlled, though I did have an emotional outburst on one question. I was asked how I would develop the World Trade Center site, and I my initial response was that the site should be developed with the needs of Lower Manhattan in mind, in terms of retail, office, and residential development. I then went on a diatribe about the memorial competition, and how all of the shortlisted designs "are without exception awful. They're places of solace, contemplation, little Zen temples that do nothing to convey the horror, the complete evil of what happened there on September 11." I was almost crying at that point, and the only thing that held me together was the stress of the interview setting. When I told my family the story of this question at our restaurant table that evening, I started crying uncontrollably and couldn't get the story out until the walk back to the hotel. I can cry about September 11 almost just thinking about it, sort of the same way my Mom can cry about World War I. But when 9/11 is mentioned in an urban planning context, it gets even worse.
10. Saw my family too. That was really great. Katherine is hilarious and intelligent, as those of you who have met her know. We visited the new Cincinnati Contemporary Art Museum, in a fabulous new building designed by this year's Pritzker Prize winner, Zaha Hadid (it's like winning the Nobel Prize in Architecture).
11. Flew back to Dunedin physically and emotionally exhausted. This sort of trip really takes it out of you, and while seeing everyone for 2 days was great, it justs ends up feeling as if America is just teasing you. I can't wait to return guys.
12. Had a pretty bad week when I got back. I wasn't getting along with my roommate Siobahn, and I slept for 16 hours the night after my arrival.
13. On Saturday March 20, I was checking my Missouri Webmail in the big ugly concrete building on campus. I had a new message, and you know how in Webmail the "subject" and "from" lines appear before the rest of the message... well I got a subject saying "Congratulations!" and a from saying "Wallace, Richard (Chancellor)." It took about a minute for the message to load, and that minute was one of the oddest of my life. I was trying to contain the excitement and expectation building up inside me, because after all it could be another MU mass e-mail congratulating the basketball or gymnastics team or some random life scientist. But when the message did load, I was certainly pleased. The Chancellor was e-mailing me to let me know I got the Truman Scholarship. I made a small scene in the computer lab, quickly left, and tried to call my parents and Dr. Hardy. I truly wasn't expecting this result or in this time frame. Results weren't supposed to be available until the 29th, coincidentally Jo and I's birthday. But somehow Dr. Wallace found out beforehand and let me know.
13. Had an amazing joint birthday with my Welsh friend Jenny. I got really drunk and molested a chocolate bunny while whispering sweet nothings into its gynormous ears.
14. I gained a greater degree of confidence today when my name appeared on the Truman.gov website, making my selection a bit more official. I can breathe easy now, and there are only two weeks until fall break, and I’ll be back in the states for a week during mid-May. It really doesn’t get much better.
Since lists are to blogs what something is to some other media, here's a list of things that happened, in roughly chronological order:
1. Flew in 10 planes and visited 8 airports over the span of 9 days in my trip to the U.S. for my March 12 Truman Interview.
2. Discovered that Qantas really is the world's greatest airline, with actually good food. We're not talking good for an airplane good. I mean good for real. For this observation, I was awarded about 20,000 frequent flyer points and one hour of sleep on the 13 hour plane ride.
3. Tried on a $1400 Costume Nationale suit at Barney's in LA, and actually called mother to see if I could get it (if you saw what it looked like on me, you'd buy it for me, it seriously looked that good).
4. Actually bought a beautiful and more sensible $500 suit at Nordstrom in St. Louis, along with a beautiful Hugo Boss tie the interview panel really liked. As a bonus for being gay, the sales associate Amy also threw in some free skin care products.
5. Realized how much I really care about urban planning. I was at a newsstand on Sunset Boulevard reading my favourite design magazine, Metropolis, when I happened on a story on urban planning in Finland explaining how well respected the planning process is there and how revered planners are. I actually started to cry right there by the magazine rack, and that's when I realized that I really am headed for the right career. It's great to be passionate about something.
6. Saw my boyfriend/anchor/rock Kevin, drank Cosmopolitans with Leslie, had one of the least awkward conversations in memory with Mel, was pampered by Sara's relentless hospitality, had a pep talk with Ted Tarkow, was asked by Dr. Cheryl Kelley if it was really me standing in front of her, and had a not-so-good mock interview with several MU dignitaries.
7. Really enjoyed listening to Air's new CD, Talkie Walkie.
8. Met an amazing, inspiring, humbling group of 13 other Truman Finalists at the interview. I don't think I've ever had a more fun 24 hours than that time in Cincinnati.
9. Had an amazing interview experience, as did most of the other finalists. The regional interview panel was composed of a Cincinnati City Council member, two university presidents, the Kentucky State Treasurer, an Ohio state judge, and the Truman Foundation Executive Secretary. Most of the questions related to urban planning, which was great for me. I was given two planning case studies, was questioned on Kentucky's bright flight problem, had to elaborate on a moral quandary in one of the ancient texts I've read, and had to discuss which ancient author I would most like to have dinner with and why. The interview was only 20 minutes, and it flew by. In general, my answers were well-reasoned and controlled, though I did have an emotional outburst on one question. I was asked how I would develop the World Trade Center site, and I my initial response was that the site should be developed with the needs of Lower Manhattan in mind, in terms of retail, office, and residential development. I then went on a diatribe about the memorial competition, and how all of the shortlisted designs "are without exception awful. They're places of solace, contemplation, little Zen temples that do nothing to convey the horror, the complete evil of what happened there on September 11." I was almost crying at that point, and the only thing that held me together was the stress of the interview setting. When I told my family the story of this question at our restaurant table that evening, I started crying uncontrollably and couldn't get the story out until the walk back to the hotel. I can cry about September 11 almost just thinking about it, sort of the same way my Mom can cry about World War I. But when 9/11 is mentioned in an urban planning context, it gets even worse.
10. Saw my family too. That was really great. Katherine is hilarious and intelligent, as those of you who have met her know. We visited the new Cincinnati Contemporary Art Museum, in a fabulous new building designed by this year's Pritzker Prize winner, Zaha Hadid (it's like winning the Nobel Prize in Architecture).
11. Flew back to Dunedin physically and emotionally exhausted. This sort of trip really takes it out of you, and while seeing everyone for 2 days was great, it justs ends up feeling as if America is just teasing you. I can't wait to return guys.
12. Had a pretty bad week when I got back. I wasn't getting along with my roommate Siobahn, and I slept for 16 hours the night after my arrival.
13. On Saturday March 20, I was checking my Missouri Webmail in the big ugly concrete building on campus. I had a new message, and you know how in Webmail the "subject" and "from" lines appear before the rest of the message... well I got a subject saying "Congratulations!" and a from saying "Wallace, Richard (Chancellor)." It took about a minute for the message to load, and that minute was one of the oddest of my life. I was trying to contain the excitement and expectation building up inside me, because after all it could be another MU mass e-mail congratulating the basketball or gymnastics team or some random life scientist. But when the message did load, I was certainly pleased. The Chancellor was e-mailing me to let me know I got the Truman Scholarship. I made a small scene in the computer lab, quickly left, and tried to call my parents and Dr. Hardy. I truly wasn't expecting this result or in this time frame. Results weren't supposed to be available until the 29th, coincidentally Jo and I's birthday. But somehow Dr. Wallace found out beforehand and let me know.
13. Had an amazing joint birthday with my Welsh friend Jenny. I got really drunk and molested a chocolate bunny while whispering sweet nothings into its gynormous ears.
14. I gained a greater degree of confidence today when my name appeared on the Truman.gov website, making my selection a bit more official. I can breathe easy now, and there are only two weeks until fall break, and I’ll be back in the states for a week during mid-May. It really doesn’t get much better.
Saturday, February 28, 2004
Wanna hear about the most absurd little trip ever? No. Well tough shit, because I'm on way to Columbia, Missouri for three nights of debauchery, drinks that make me feel fabulous, and interview training for my Truman Scholarship Interview on March 12 in Cincinnati. I'm a finalist for the scholarship, and it's of sufficient importance to require me to leave Dunedin for 9 days. I hope to see some of you when I'm home.
Saturday, February 21, 2004
A New Record
I have now gone out five nights in a row. If a sorority girl came up to me today and asked, "You goin' out tonight?," I think I would say yes.
Dylan in need of a home
To save money and spend time with the fam' before grad school, I've decided to graduate in December instead of next May. Does anyone have a room available within walking distance of campus? Ask your friends. I'll pay you cash money.
I have now gone out five nights in a row. If a sorority girl came up to me today and asked, "You goin' out tonight?," I think I would say yes.
Dylan in need of a home
To save money and spend time with the fam' before grad school, I've decided to graduate in December instead of next May. Does anyone have a room available within walking distance of campus? Ask your friends. I'll pay you cash money.
Thursday, February 12, 2004
I recently learned that my new flatmate Adam -- a beer swilling, jam band loving, terrorist coddling walking embodiment of everything wrong with U.S. campus liberalism -- has termed me a "typical American." If this were indeed true, I'm not sure our fair country would be in better shape. Here's three reasons why:
1. We would be greater than 50 percent fag, and things would be great until God decided to do something about it (Sodom and Gommorah ring a bell, anyone?).
2. In the meantime, while God was weighing his options, we would all want to move to Canada where, for reasons we can' t quite articulate, things would be generally better.
3. Thrift stores would perennially be sold out of nice shirts, as typical Americans would have bought them all in attempts to wring hilarious pick-up lines out of the hot yet kinda evil barista girl at the Artisan (if you have questions about what this refers to, feel free to ask Lynn, Chrissy, or Kevin) who for some reason doesn't get the whole "fag thing."
As you can see, not good situation. I hope Adam is wrong about this whole typical thing.
1. We would be greater than 50 percent fag, and things would be great until God decided to do something about it (Sodom and Gommorah ring a bell, anyone?).
2. In the meantime, while God was weighing his options, we would all want to move to Canada where, for reasons we can' t quite articulate, things would be generally better.
3. Thrift stores would perennially be sold out of nice shirts, as typical Americans would have bought them all in attempts to wring hilarious pick-up lines out of the hot yet kinda evil barista girl at the Artisan (if you have questions about what this refers to, feel free to ask Lynn, Chrissy, or Kevin) who for some reason doesn't get the whole "fag thing."
As you can see, not good situation. I hope Adam is wrong about this whole typical thing.
Thursday, February 05, 2004
This week, I did one of New Zealand's nine Great Walks: the Kepler Track in Fiordland. It was all sorts of fun... three days, two nights, lots of rain, and two bright green cleptomaniac alpine parrots that steal everything from Polartec fabric to rubber door seals off cars. No kidding, these birds are geniuses.
Wednesday, January 28, 2004
I just spent NZ$120 on a shirt. It's a Ben Sherman striped thing, totally hot. But as my flatmate Siobahn (pronounced She-von) pointed out, for $120, couldn't I have gotten the boy drunk enough to score him without the shirt?
Sunday, January 25, 2004
They use the word "shift" here like we use the word "remove." I learned this when my flatmates and I were at the New World Grocery yesterday and purchased a bottle of Handy Andy all-purpose cleaner. The label said, "Shifts all types of dirt." I imagined myself cleaning, as Jo knows I so like to do, and shifting a pile of dirt around the kitchen, never really getting the place clean. I guess in New Zealand -- and probably in life -- dirt is never really gone, it just moves from place to place. But you won't find that kind of honesty on the labels of American all-purpose cleaners.
Mea culpa: I'm not 1,000,000 miles away from home, just 8566. So why have I turned this blog into a house of lies? I don't know... 8566 miles just doesn't sound right.
