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talking about travel Before I left work this morning, I spent an hour or so talking with a fellow traveller who had just returned from New Zealand. Despite some miserable weather she had a nice time and gave me tips on what to expect as I looked at some photos from her trip. The two of us have exchanged travel stories in the past, but this was the first time that we had both chosen the same destination. Her trip was much more athletic than I expect mine to be, but I guess that that is fine. She did some serious hiking of the kind where a person spends the night in a hut rather than coming back the same day. Now as much as I like hiking, I have yet to go that far into the wilderness, where a night stay is needed or part of the trail. I've thought about it and New Zealand would be a good place to do it, but I decided that I want to see the place first before I go the tramping route as they call it there. She said that she didn't get too much hassle for being an American and that made me happy to hear. I can understand how people might see me as an ambassador of sorts when I go abroad and to a degree that makes sense to me. On the other hand, I am not entirely responsible for the acts that my country makes against other countries. Of course if things do get bad, I can always say that I am Canadian since very few people outside of North America can tell the difference and I know that from experience. More than once when I was in Australia, people there asked my sister and I if we were Canadians or Americans. That may not sound like the most patriotic thing to do, but I'm not an American soldier trained for combat. I just want to see New Zealand for a couple of weeks. ... Once I got home I watched Signs for the very first time and understand why so many people hated the ending. Since I had been warned about the end, it didn't bother me as much and I laughed instead of getting angry. Plus I can always chuckle to myself as I say swing away Merrill. ... I dreamt that my girlfriend from high school and I were in Finland on vacation. As to why I chose that location and her is beyond me. I haven't seen and or spoken with her in years and I liked Sweden more than I did Finland. ... Another pop culture first for me today was watching American Idol for the very first time. Since there was a basketball game on instead of Buffy, I got to see bartender Janine Falsone do her stuff. I've seen parts of the show before, but had never sat through an entire episode. In fact tonight was the first time that I managed to remember any of the names of the contestants with Janine being my favorite. I didn't vote, but I did think about it for a moment. I also agreed with what the judges said about Janine. She can sing, but there was next to no emotion in her performance. To put it another way, she was more beauty than substance. My second choice for the night would have to be the girl who did Angel by Sarah McLachlan, but I think that had more to do with the song than with her. |