ABs are shit but Kora rocks!

What a major disappointment, I woke up with a raging hungover after sleeping for 3 hours and spending 1 hr on the tube just to watch the All Blacks lose. When will the New Zealand Rugby Union (NZRU) admit that they hired the wrong person for the job!

Anyway, its midnight on Saturday and I am at home updating this blog. Some may scream 'Soft' but I think my explainations will be pretty valid. So I was out in Shephards Bush on friday night as Kora was performing. If you would like to hear some of their tunes, search youtube for hit songs like 'Politician' and 'Burning'. So back to the story, the night started at a pub (as usual) where I met up with Rangi; a mate from school. In the last 4 years, I have only seen him twice so it was random to see him in London. Wth reunions, there has to be alcohol. Big Pete was also kind enough to bless us with his presence. It was only a small concert (about 1500) but they rocked the party. I was pretty loose by the time I got there so I decided to try to get right up the front; I was like a snake weaving through the crowd. As I got to the fifth row, some girl tapped me on the shoulder and passed me a joint, SWEET! I do not condone affilating with illegal substances. I think it is irresponsible and damaging to your health. Being up the front is totally awesome, beats standing out back listening to static.
The concert finished at around 12am and drinks carried on till 5am.

All Blacks played Australia on Saturday so we had to get up bright and early. As stated, with only 3 hours sleep, I could still taste the rocket fuel of alcohol. But that is not the worst part (Is it 'more worst' or 'worser' Jacqui?), Richard Dalton was about to give me a turkey slap. I think people have different meanings to the term 'Turkey Slap' To illustrate:
Man sees victim sleeping
Man pulls cock out
Man slaps victim across the face with one-eye snake.

So yeah, what a way to start the day!
Anywho, we were back on the piss at 10am and clearly on a liquid diet only. AB's obviously lost but meh, we were too thrased to care. We caught a ferry to Greenwich to check out the Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) and Greenwich Meridian. Wikipedia will have all the info on Greenwich but in a nutshell, NZ is GMT +12 and London is GMT +0. Greenwich Meridian is 0° longitude. The night ended with a BBQ on a small balcony and more drinks.
It is now 2am and I am not even tired but my liver needs a rest.

Ka kite

Sam





Chilling at Shephards Bush







Tower Bridge








Tourist?










Greenwich Meridian










Go Wellington!

Another Weekend of looseness

I was out in Chiswick on Friday night to watch a few stand-up comedy acts. The guy from the Hellers bacon commercial had a slot. I really wanted to shout out "Thats New Zealand Bacon". We were drinking heavily during the show and it continued till early hours of the monring; 6am to be exact. Sleep is for the weak, although I did sneak in 3 hours.

Saturday night rocked around and it was time to head to Putney for a triple Birthday Party.

There was a guy passed out in the corner so we decided to take photos with him but as I got closer and closer to his face, he woke up and was he fuming!!

Going to watch Kora peform on Friday night and up early for the All Backs vs Australia game on Saturday. Should be a pretty good weekend.

Sam




Party back at the flat








Notice the Sun rising








ZZZZZzzzzzzz......

Unemployed Bum

Well I have been in the market for a week now and I am still jobless. Had a couple of interviews but thats about it. Also found a gym close by and have started working out since I have so much spare time.

Anywho, we went to an Adult puppet musical last weekend. Imagine sesame street characters having sex; very entertaining. After that, it was time to go out on lash. There's an Australian bar here called the Walkabout aka Walkie. This place was cheap for alcohol and girls. Skanky Aussie's and plastered English lassies, I will indeed return.
We also caught up with Richard Dalton and a few other Kiwis, Saffers and Frenchies.

The tubes are like spaghetti, a 20 min trip sometime takes me over an hour as I am constantly getting on the wrong train. I do have a whole year to get use to it though.
Not much else has been happening here, job hunting during the day, dinner and drinks during the evenings.

Sam





Party Mix








eh....Frenchies








Urinal on street corner

The eagle has landed, again!

I arrived in London on Thursday 3rd July at 5:00pm. After crossing numerous time zones, I was very jetlagged. After the long customs queue and getting lost, I was finally reunited with Eileen (my sister). We opted for the cheap (₤5) and long option when we were at the tube stop. This was a very bad idea! The whole Journey took about 80mins whereas the more expensive (₤15) option would have taken about 25mins. I was forced to stay awake to get used to the time zone but didn't last long and ended up passing out on the couch.

I tried to harden up and went out for a few drinks on Friday night, bad idea. I was tired, anti-social and was tipsy after 2 beers. Never have I felt so crap from beer.
So on the way home, we went to a place called Chicken Cottage and picked up a family pack which consisted of a bucket of chicken (18) and 4 large fries. It was disgusting just looking at the amount of food we got for just the two of us. Chicken for breakfast it is.

On Sunday, we attended the O2 Wireless Festival, it was cold, wet and muddy but the outing was great and I was able to embrace what London was all about. Each of the bands were playing 1 hour sets and we got to see, Goo Goo Dolls, Powderfinger, Ben Harper and Counting Crows.

So today is Wednesday and the first day on the market for jobs. Recruiters are totally different here, most don't even have an IT background. All they are doing is selling you like a used car; polished and shined. To give you an idea of my day, I applied for about 15 jobs today and spent about 4 hours on the phone speaking to 10 recruiters, think its time for a beer.

Sam




mmmm breakfast








Borrowed raincoat








Partying with Sis

Weekend in Auckland and Seoul Korea.

The olds and I decided to go up to Auckland for a final family trip away before I depart off the shores of New Zealand. While we were up there, we got invited to dinner party, great food, mahjong (Chinese game), drinks and karaoke were the main attraction. Never in my life have I seen so many random high 5’s, cheering of glasses and man-hugs go around. Not to mention and pace that the alcohol was getting drank. These guys really know how to party and would put us binge drinkers to shame.

The lads came around for dinner on Tuesday night. We ate, drank and reminisce the old times. I did not get to sleep till 3:00am and had to get up at 4:30am to catch my flight. I was feeling like total crap.

A lot happened while I was at Auckland Airport. As I was sitting peacefully trying to kill 4 hours, a Samoan family of 20 decided to sit next to me, across from me and all around me. Babies were crying, kids screaming and jumping on seats. I bet they were probably thinking

“Look, there’s a quiet Asian sitting over there, let’s ruin his day by causing havoc around him”

I was also greeted with a piece of hair in my ham & cheese croissant. Things were not looking good for me. But when I went to the Travelex to exchange some money, I gave the lady $85 NZD and she gave me $55,000 Won (Korean Dollars). She must have made a mistake as I am now filthy rich. Shortly after, the Airline paged me to advise me that there has been a mix up with my luggages. So now I have to pick one bag up in Seoul and pick the second one up from London.

I was only in Seoul, Korea for 1 night during transit. The room I was in had a touch panel for all the lights in my room. The toilet seat had water jets for Rear Cleansing and Front Cleansing options. I was even able to specify the water pressure, water temp and seat temperature; now that is what I call a luxury toilet. I went out for a few beers with some randoms that were on the same flight. Even though we were in a remote part of Seoul, there were a lot of eateries around.

Off to bed, have another 12 hour journey tomorrow

Sam

Asian Karaoke - 5.3 MB

Find the white guy?








Man-hugs all round








Spot the hair








Chicken 15,000 Won









Squid in a pack







Korean Breakfast of Champions









Engrish







Fresh Taste Keeping System?