Take this, 2012!

Apologies to everybody, I haven't blogged in ages. If I look at the stats it's almost embarassing (yes, go ahead and read the following 2 lines, but I won't guarantee anything. In fact, if you have a pre-existing condition I highly recommend to stop reading right now. It's depressing. But I guess you're asking for it. Don't tell me afterwards that I haven't warned you. Here it goes.)

Number of blog posts in 2011: 27

Number of blog posts in 2012: 5

Well, what can I say. In summary it's pretty clear: 2012 wasn't exactly epic! However, since I don't think I'm known for permanent sulking, I decided this year needs a worthy, happy final post. Ladies and gentlemen, may I present

The amazing alphabet, or 26 reasons why I liked 2012 anyways

A - Alpenclub. For when we're really craving German food, and when we're feeling lazy enough to not make some our own. Lazy? Oh wait, that's almost all the time.

B - Beach time. Some people find it hard to believe, but Vancouver has cool beaches and awesome swimming in the ocean.

C - Camping in BC. It's beautiful.

D - Down, or not. Uhm, what? One of the many times in an airport, for security I have to take off my belt. Out of habit, I did what I do when I'm tired: I open my jeans, my body in happy anticipation of me putting on my comfy pants. Oh right, I'm in an airport. Luckily I remembered the fact *before* I actually took off my pants ;)

E - End of the World News, by Tom McRae. Now this has nothing to do with the Mayan Calendar and 2012, but it's one of the many songs/albums/artists that I (re)discovered this year. Some other recent (and all time) favourites: Lakes of Canada, by The Innocence Mission; Heroes, by David Bowie; The Fletcher Memorial Home, by Pink Floyd; Easy Come, Easy Go, by Great Lake Swimmers; Symphony No.9, by Ludwig Van Beethoven; Kandi, by One Eskimo; and many more.

F - Fire. I didn't cause one, but the sock that I put in the microwave to warm it up certainly has a few black spots now... not to mention the smell that came out of the microwave. Uhm, why do they include silly instructions like "don't microwave your cat"? I have no idea ;)

G - German Christmas Market. See Alpenclub.

H - Home: Susi and I moved into our awesome apartment this month one year ago. Trips to IKEA, some parcels from the homeland and several visits to the dollar store have turned it into a cosy little home. Did I mention we have great landlords, neighbours, and a beautiful backyard?

I - IPAs. Gotta love the West Coast. All these hops, almost too good to be true!

J - Jackson Avery, aka Jesse Williams. For those who know: Yum!

K - Kässpatzn.

L - Lava Lake: Hiked to the active crater Halema`uma`u  of Kilauea Volcano, Hawai`i, during a blue moon. Lava glowing, cracking, convecting, splashing. Do I need to say more?

M - Museum: Whether I'm running tours for school groups, doing workshops in mineral ID, rock ID and tectonics, or enjoyed nachos and beers with the other volunteers, the museum and the volunteer crew are always there for good times.

N - New Girl: Definitely a show worth being addicted to.

O - Outdoors. Season's pass for Cypress, season's pass for Whistler, and when there's no snow for skiing I can always hike.

P - PJ pants. That's right. Is there anything better than hanging out on the couch on a rainy, dark Vancouver Saturday in your PJs and watching movies all day long?

Q - Tough one. But here it is: Susi-Q. It has to be said, so why not say it here: Thanks for an awesome year, Susi-Q. You are the bestest roommate I could possibly have. To another awesome year! :)

R - Rated PG. When visiting my grandma in hospital one morning, a lady asks me whether I don't need to be in school... Good thing my mum was with me to sign me out so I wouldn't get in trouble with the teacher ;)

S - Sissi. Our (not so) little Chevy Blazer has had a few hickups, but she still got us out of the city for trips on several occasions. Nevermind the fact that we almost didn't make it back. At least there is no shortage of car related stories...

T - Travel plans. Went to Germany (3 times!), Victoria, Summerland, Whistler, Manning Park, Seattle, San Francisco, Hawai`i. Can't wait to see more next year.

U - Usual, the. The lady at our local favourite Sushi place knows where it's at: Sushi Special A, with salmon instead of tuna roll. Including Miso Soup. Delicious!

V - Veruca Salt. Character in one of my favourite movies (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory), here to represent all the awesome movies that I watched this year. A few of the best: Moonrise Kingdom, The Perks of Being a Wallflower, Life of Pi, We bought a zoo, Beasts of the Southern Wild, and probably heaps more that I'm forgetting right now.

W - Wok. Luckily, I didn't destroy it.

X - Xmas. I almost decided to wear my "I'll be home for Christmas"-Shirt on the plane. If only I had had time to do laundry...

Y - YVR. As we all know (and if you don't, you better read this), Douglas Adams once said: "It can hardly be a coincidence that no language on earth has ever produced the expression 'As pretty as an airport'." Nevertheless, Vancouver has a really pretty airport. What a good homebase for all my trips.

Z - Zoo, as in Vancouver Aquarium. Ok, it's not actually a zoo, but close enough, and you try finding a word with Z! Either way, I got a one-year membership for the Vancouver Aquarium, and it's totally awesome. That reminds me, I should go again soon when I'm back in Vancouver next year (i.e. in a week and a bit)!

...and with this thought in mind it's time to close for 2012. Merry Christmas and a happy New Year! To quote Douglas Adams once again: So long and thanks for all the fish!

A summer full of travels

Another summer is passing, full of awesome places, old and new friends. After last year's summer when I moved from NZ through Oz to Germany, with visits in Sweden and the UK before finally getting to Canada, I was happy to have a proper home base this time.
After Canada Day Ted invited to come up to Summerland, BC, and I spent a few days recharging. A great area, and an even better time with ze boyz, thanks Ted et al.! I had a months to get some research done, before heading to the motherland for the second time this year. 10 days worth of good summer time, and of course, happy 90th birthday, Grosspapa! Back in Van I only had a few days to get ready for the next big trip: Hawai`i.  So many good things happened, I don't even know where to start. A week on the west side of the Big Island enjoying sun, sand, snorkeling and science at the AGU Chapman. Great to see all the faces again. The next two weeks were finally where the action happens: Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park. Everybody up at HVO was amazing, including Madame Pelee herself, of course. While the lava flows were at an epic low, Rich and I took a sneak peak into the crater lake... BEST SECRET MISSION EVER IN THE MULTIVERSE. I've never experienced anything cooler in my life. Pics here. Thanks here to the gasmask manufacturer for helping us avert potentially lethal doses of SO2 :) A helicopter flight over the lava lake at Pu`u O`o, some snorkeling, dining, drinking, yoga-ing, working, Mauna Kea-ing later it was time to drive back down to sealevel to soak up some last rays of tropical sun. Thanks to Cyndi, Jess & Ben, Michelle & Rich & Master John, Allan and everybody else for an epic time!
During all this time, whenever I wasn't traveling there was a ton of visitors hanging out with us in Vancouver: Starting in June with Erik, followed by Susi's parents and Miri in July, Sanne just over the past few days and Melli and Grosse Kathi on their way here on Saturday we've pretty much always had a full house. I'm not even sure Susi and I will know what to do with ourselves over the winter. Guess there's only one option: Skiing! With Cypress season passes secured and the Whistler one in the works we're pretty much ready for the snow to arrive. Since most likely won't arrive for several weeks we might have to find a new hobby. Suggestions, anybody? I personally think I might actually be doing some research for a change. My creative output has been shockingly low over the past few months, another thing that should be changed. Will also keep myself busy with a few classes, some more grad council action, museum tours and workshops, and maybe some more hanging out with the Elementary School kids to get them excited about Volcanoes, Life, Universe and all the Rest. After all, what's not to like?

Summer is here... or *was*.

Update time! Over a month has passed since my last entry. So many things have happened, that I don't think I can give every little event the credit it deserves. Instead, a summary of a few highlights.
We had the pleasure to enjoy the arrival of spring - almost summer - over these last few weeks, and all the joys that come with it: Coffee in the sunshine, some chillaxing in the backyard, BBQ at the beach, a dip in the ocean and of course - last but not least - roof top patio time at Darby's. A little earlier, I spent a week in Germany to celebrate several birthdays, including mine :) The sunshine decided to come with me and I had a blast hanging out with my homies. The bday BBQ was a success, and I even managed to be only slightly tired and hungover on the flight back the next day!
With my birthday my new addiction began - yes, I'm gonna admit to it openly: The Hunger Games Trilogy! I pretty much ate the first book on the plane on my way to Vancouver, finished the second one a week later and am currently on the way with the third. While the movie was *ok*, the books are simply amazing. Also the fact that they're probably aimed at 16-year-olds makes them a pretty easy read.
A week ago we got an addition to our little family: On the way to buying a car we ended up getting some more kitchen stuff, a TV and 3 goldfish in a flower vase instead! Poor little buggers were gonna be orphaned since their previous owners are leaving the country, so we decided to take care of them. Good times! Susi invited me for birthday dinner at one of those turning restaurants - Cloud 9 on a sunny Thursday night. Thanks, hun :) Of course I should also mention some of our nightlife activities: The Great Lake Swimmers played at Commodore Ballroom a week ago, and we had a great time. Roger Waters is playing at BC Place tonight, we might try to get some tickets at the door. Hopefully they won't be crazy expensive.
Not such good times came our way this Saturday - of course... After what was an exciting, but goalless 2 hours it came down to penalty shoot out. Schweini, Olic and Manu all failed on us in their home arena, and left us devastated (but happy to not be in Munich...). Good thing most of our friends hate Chelsea more than they don't care about Bayern, so we had supporters in our grief ;) In accordance with our mood the rain came back to Vancouver yesterday, and is most likely gonna hang out for a bit. That way we missed the eclipse, but had a chance to watch the latest Tim Burton featuring our favourites Johnny and Helena. Nice movie, but definitely not an epic must-see!
I finally managed to have some quality skype time with some of my NZ homies. Can't wait for a reunion with at least a few of them at the German-Kiwi wedding in September. Fingers crossed I can afford the flight!
Well, this should probably be update enough for now. The rain today asks for really only two options - hang out on the couch and watch movies, or head downtown for a little shopping trip. Let's see what the day brings :)
Song of the day, an all time classic from a good movie based on an even better book (Alex Garland - The Beach): Sugar Ray - Spinning Away

Que pasó?

A ton - and at the same time not much. Work, work, work, some skiing, good dinners, pub time, and more. The term just ended and soon the campus will be mostly free of undergrads. Time to get more work done! No more classes, no more TA, just my volcanoes and me. Can't wait :) Susi started work last week, bought skis and a season's pass, so hopefully spring skiing will still last for a while! Maybe I should bring my snowboard over from home, to mix it up a little. We're finally starting to look into buying a car, so we can get out of the city now that spring is here.
I've managed to finish a few books I still had lying around, and we watched a bunch of old and new favorites. Amazing to see that Donnie Darko is still epic even after watching it for probably 15th time! We also started a new addiction: The show "The Killing", American remake of the Danish original "Forbrydelsen" (Kommissarin Lund). Then there's of course How I met your mother, and all our other regulars that help us to get through some of the rainy days. 
We went to see The Asteroids Galaxy Tour a few weeks ago at the Venue. Brought back good memories from back in our Atomic Cafe days (gell, Sarah!). Great show, and Mette Lindberg made us pretty jealous in her epic golden pants. Almost like our outfits during Rock'n'Roll times! I might even have been able to wear those shiny pants back then. Guess I could try here too, but wearing a pair of golden, very sparkly and glittery pants to uni might get me some weird looks - I get those enough from people who know me, so I don't think I need them from strangers in addition. Ok, that was a lie, strangers give me weird looks too. But hey, who says that playgrounds are only fun when you're 4?? And everyone should walk and run with their arms out like a plane! Speaking of which, the other day the bus driver on the bus I was on had to get off to hook the bus back onto the electric cables. On the way back he totally did the plane move to get back on. Epic! I fell in love immediately, I'm sure I've found my soul mate. I don't think life gets any better! Might post some moments from the past few weeks in a bit. The one below is obviously from way back, pretty sure I couldn't pull this one off anymore. Good times nevertheless!

 

Phantoms and Ghosts...

... are here, by my side.
Things have been busy, as usual. Skiing, class, gym, research, chillaxin, teachin, and more. Especially the teaching part has been amazing. I've been hanging out with around 50 kids in grade 3-4 to teach them about volcanoes, plate tectonics and other cool earth-sciency stuff. And they're sooo excited about it! Makes me remember why I got into this whole business, and why I still love it. This is particularly refreshing since I've had a bit of a downer in terms of motivation lately. On the other hand, a little low also means it can only get better as the year progresses - which is a good thing, right? Speaking of which, it's already March!! How crazy is that?! Less than 8 weeks until I'm flying to Germany for a bit, and soo much stuff to do until then. If only the day had 48 hours - at least.
I haven't had time to spend a ton of quiet minutes lately, but a little bit here and there always works out. Went for a nice walk a few mins ago hoping to see some aurora borealis, but no luck. The full moon, the water, the beach, the city skyline and of course the illuminated, snow covered mountains made up for it though. It was also good to sort through some thoughts and tidy up my brain. For some random reason - probably just the way life works - almost all the phantoms from my last southern hemisphere fall/winter that I had buried quite successfully managed to come up again within the less than two weeks of each other. How do these things happen all the time? One, two, three, there they all are, standing at my doorstep and trying to squeeze back into my life. The one and only song accompanying this, one of my all-time and old-time favorites from 2001: Phantom/Ghost - Phantoms and Ghosts
In addition, two paint updates, one from earlier this year, and another one from some different, crazy times almost two years ago.

 - Phantom -

- Once upon a time -

Hey there, 2012!

Things have been pretty good so far! Susi and I are enjoying our cozy little apartment, there has been some good day and night-time skiing, and  NYE was nice, but pretty unspectacular without fireworks. We did a weekend trip to Vancouver Island with Emily, where we spent Saturday and Sunday in Victoria. My personal highlight was the National Geographic Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition at the Royal BC Museum, which of course is totally non-specific for Victoria :P We're now finally regulars at Darby's, the little pub just a block away from our house.
I was super unproductive at work for the first two weeks, but things are improving since last week. A plan for the year is slowly developing: In a committee meeting this coming Tuesday I'm gonna try to define a few clear goals in terms of my research. There's a few conferences/workshops/collaborations coming up that will hopefully enable me to travel a little bit. Two one-week trips to Germany are coming up in April and August, and potentially another one in September. My supervisor Mark is gonna go on sabbatical starting in September, and has emphasized several times now that we're more than welcome to join him there for a few weeks. Guess a skiing trip to Colorado is in order towards the end of the year then :)
After what felt like the longest time ever I finally got around to buying some paint. The first production of 2012 is done! Check out some pics from various events during the last view weeks as always on my Picasa page.

- Poppy Love -