Slope Style

If you have spoken with me or emailed me recently, I've probably been whining about winter. I won't be doing that anymore, I have embraced the winter. I am in Methven, a small village at the base of Mount Hutt, a ski resort. The season has just begun and the conditions are not that great yet, but it's supposed to hit full swing in August. That didn't stop Prince William from skiing there a couple of days ago. I'm trying to score cheap lift passes; no luck yet, but I'm pretty good at these kinds of things. In the week that I've been here I've met all sorts of cool people. I really will be spending the winter here. I like Methven.

I have a job too, possibly the best job in the world! I'm the night porter at the Methven Resort Hotel. I work 5 nights a week from 11pm until 7am. On an average night I spend 3 hours cleaning, 1 hour surfing the web, 1 hour soaking in the spa, and 3 hours napping or watching movies. This behaviour has been approved by management. I am also allowed to make anything I want to out of the kitchen and they feed me breakfast in the morning. I love it!

Top 25 and My 26th

On New Year's Eve of 2004 I got myself an iPod, I had been a good boy that year. I filled it up with 5500 of my favorite songs and it has been excellent to travel with. One of the countless cool things that it does is maintain a list of my 25 most played songs. So after 6 months, here they are:

1. "Gone For Good" -The Shins
2. "Walhalla" - Gouryella
3. "I Offered It Up To the Stars and the Night Sky" - The Dirty Three
4. "Young Pilgrims" - The Shins
5. "Fighting In A Sack" - The Shins
6. "See No Evil (Lab4 Remix) - DJ Amethyst & Phil Reynolds
7. "Run (Z2 Remix)" - Ecano
8. "The Kilburn High Road" - Flogging Molly
9. "12:18" - Global Communication
10. "Where Is S" - Infected Mushroom
11. "Next Exit" - Interpol
12. "Afrotekno" - Nick Sentience
13. "Inspiration (Club Mix)" - Polartraxx
14. "Vanguard (Original Mix) - Raymondo
15. "Pink Bullets" - The Shins
16. "More Drug N Bass" - Venetian Snares
17. "Girl/Boy Song" - Aphex Twin
18. "Sim Gishel" - Autechre
19. "VLetrmx21" - Autechre
20. "Swagger" - Flogging Molly
21. "VI Scose Poise" - Autechre
22. "Pen Expers" - Autechre
23. "May The Living Be Dead" - Floggin Molly
24. "Cruel Mistress" - Flogging Molly
25. "Just Listen (Original Mix)" - Ali Wilson & Matt Smallwood

Besides celebrating 6 months of having an iPod, I am also celebrating another journey around the sun. That's right, it's my 26th birthday. I remember so well my 19th birthday, I was travelling in the UK then. I spend the day getting drunk on Heineken and cheap chardonnay on the back of a bus travelling around London. It was a Wednesday. Feels like it was yesterday. Part of me still thinks (and probably will always think) that I'm 19. But that was 7 years ago and apparently my thirst of travel has not been quenched. If anything, the desire seems to be growing. I have spent my last four birthdays in five different countries, that's pretty wild. Nope, it sems that I'm only travelling farther, for longer periods of time, doing it more independently, and listening to stranger music. And I'm gonna go out and celebrate tonight. I'm going to see one of my favorite DJs from my London daze, Phil Reynolds (see song #6). I'll be wiggling to some hard trance until the sun rises the next morning.