happiness
i went to see an astrologer last week -- in the pathetic attempt of finding some direction in life -- and one of the things she told me was that when we are happy, we accumulate fat in our bellies. i've had a pretty good time here, so if i come home fatter than when i left, just chalk it up to me having a great time and being happy, and nothing to do with the copious amounts of alcohol finding a home in my tummy.

so the update...

last week i took the written exam for DiveCon and passed! 94%. Not quite what I wanted, but still the highest mark in the class. once i get my 60 dives in, andrew (who has turned into an amazing grump) will sign me off for DiveCon, and I can be done with this godforsaken institution. this week i'm finishing up sea kayaking (which is stupid and boring as hell) and then i'm going to dive my ass off until i leave. only 4 out of the 11 people in my class passed.

speaking of which, the local paper is running a series of articles on local businesses and one of the first was on mark scapens and adventure education, where i'm receiving my training. the lede described our boat, the adventurekoru, pulling up to the dock after a trip to Mayor Island and all these "'second-chance' learners" disembarking. umm, hello, that was my class! holy shit, man, i'm pissed off for so many reasons. i will be the first to admit that some of my classmates may not be the most academically-oriented people, but who the fuck are these stupid newspaper people to judge? and then to use it as a blanket statement. Ooh man, it's been a big controversy here.

but fuck that shit. this past weekend i went to auckland with a few of my classmates and a friend from hamilton. i went for the purpose of fighting at the nz tkd nationals, and my friends came along to show some support and to party. we had a pretty good time, too, but being in the city and drinking a sour-apple martini in a dark, trendy bar only made me miss nyc more. oh, and i did win my fight, but i'm not sure i should have. i didn't fight nearly as well as i have in the past, and that may have something to do with my lack of training, and quality training at that.

as for my future...the astrologer did say that coming back to nz would be a good thing. now is apparently still a good time for training, so i'm thinking of coming back and doing an instructor's course, but probably not with adventure education. good lord, i'd be crazy to let them have a second-chance at my money after they've done nothing but fuck up our course. and i'm overwhelmed by this feeling that if i had done a similar course in the states, i may not have been treated to such great scenery, but it probably would have been run better.

that's it for now.