Out there and havin' fun, in the warm California New Zealand sun.

Hello! How are you!
I've been in Nelson now for almost two weeks. I've had a very easygoing life so far. Most days, I get up whenever the sun hits our bedroom windows (usually 830 or 900), head downstairs, start up my laptop, and put the coffee pot on the stove. After a cup of coffee and some time to check my email, I drink a glass of water, stretch, and put on my running shoes. Then I head around the corner from our little house on Washington Rd. and jog up the hill on Arrow St. to Quebec Rd.
Today, I took the camera with me to document my regular walk/run up to the cliffs and back. It's incredibly convenient, as my path makes a loop that spits me out, via a walkway parallel to the street, back onto Washington Rd. about four blocks from our house. That said, the origin of these photos isn't that interesting - I'm running up a big hill and back down the other side - but the scenery is great. On the way up, there's a great view of Nelson. As Quebec Rd. curves toward the top of the hill and I'm heading roughly west (I think), the trees open up to a slice of the ocean. And finally, after I hit the top, the water is in full view as I make my way back down the hill.
Presented below is a mini photo documentary of my path.

The view up Arrow St.





Curving onto Quebec Rd.



A view of the group of apartments where we live.








Some views of Nelson from about halfway up the hill.





Some views from Quebec Rd., facing away from the water.



At the end of Quebec Rd., some shots from the crest of Princes Dr.
Looking down the hill on Princes Dr. This is where I'm going next. It's steep enough that I kinda roll my ankles if I try to run straight down it. Being from Minneapolis, I am not used to hills like these.






More shots of progress down the hill.

The turn down to

here, the walkway that leads back to Washington Rd., where we live.


Washington Rd.

A picture of our, uh, apartment complex. We live in a unit that comprises maaaaybe a quarter of this.

Home! A view of our little courtyard. It looks a lot nicer when we've extended that flash new umbrella we bought over the weekend.

And that's about that. I'm getting back into running, and it's gotten a lot easier since I started over a week ago. Getting to the top of the hill and seeing the ocean is a huge motivator; I'm not much of a photographer, but the view is majestic.

Other than that, there's not a whole lot to report. I've started applying to jobs, and I've got one small freelance project going back in Minnesota. I've been spending the rest of my time getting some exercise, reading, drawing, and enjoying Corina's company. I'm happy! Now I just need to start making some money.
Hope you're all well. Feel free to comment on this if you're reading it, or write me an email or a note on the Facebook. Miss you guys.

Sunshine

It's a beautiful day in Nelson. The first one we've had since I arrived, actually. It's nothing but clear blue skies as far as I can see. I can't find cause to complain either way, really; I've loved the overcast, spottily rainy weather we've had the last four days, but it's great to see old Nelson as bright and cheerful as it was the last time I visited.
I went for a run this morning, and it was more arduous than I'd expected. I guess I should clarify: as Corina and I are living in an area called Washington Valley, the only non-hilly direction I can take when leaving the house leads me straight into town. As such, I headed up into the hills around the house, and as a result, my "run" was pretty intermittent. Turns out cycling uses muscles far different from hill climbing, and I wore myself out very quickly trying to travel at any speed faster than a walk. Certainly got my heart rate up for a good thirty minutes, though.
I'm easing into life here. I feel as though I'm continually experiencing deja vu, I guess mostly as a result of having dreamed of being here for so long. That said, I do have many awakening moments throughout each day, when I think to look around and then realize that this place really is different from Minneapolis.
For one, I'll have to wake up pretty soon and find myself employment. One thing I'd conveniently forgotten is that everything here is bought at a premium. I'm not worried about it, but the rate at which one must spend money here is a good motivator to continue the search for work.
For two, more interestingly, we just don't have this kind of landscape back home. There are familiar trees for certain, but they mingle with huge ferns and palms and tall grasses all the way up the hill. I'll take photos of all of this, I promise; right now, you'll have to settle for a shot of the view from our couch.
For three, the insects are strange. Our courtyard is covered (without hyperbole, yes, covered) at certain times of the day with these tiny bugs whose backs are covered in a tuft of fur that looks like dandelion seeds. Their backs are arched like those plastic carnival toy frogs with the tab on their backs, the ones you can make hop across the room; and if you put your finger at their backs, they hop in the same way. They also have a habit of hopping from the trees and the roof, and plummet straight down at the ground. At first I confused them for raindrops. They're completely harmless, and I get a big kick out of them. Also, less impressively, there are flies. Lots and lots and lots of flies. The windows here don't have screens, so if we want a breeze to pass through the house, we have to accept the presence of a few extra tenants. (It's alright, though - Corina keeps a big can of Raid at hand.)
Not much else to report yet, really. Everyone here has been warm and welcoming, and I'm grateful for that. I'm happy here, and excited to see what happens in the next week. Hope you're all well.

Arrival!

Happy New Year to all. I've arrived in New Zealand safely and soundly. The brief rundown, for those of you to whom I've not yet written, is that everything's gone very well at this point! I'm here, and I appear to be in good condition.
For the first, all of the timing on my flights was spot-on. I had plenty of time in San Francisco to leave security and retrieve my international boarding passes - a task at which I was initially annoyed, as the United agent in Minneapolis confusingly refused to issue boarding passes for flights outside the U.S. due to her aroused suspicion at the inspection of my work visa - and, upon reentering security, again found time to eat some airport sushi and have a short rest at the gate before boarding the long flight. The twelve and a half hour flight from San Fran to Auckland passed quickly (and groggily) thanks to the Advil PM I received in a Christmas care package from the lovely Laura Fulk, and before I knew it I was zombie-ing from the international terminal to the domestic through heavy rainfall. It was a short island hop to Nelson on a Bombardier Q300 through more rain, and I was excited out of my mind to land and meet my lovely ladyfriend once again.
Corina and I spent a couple hours at her brother and sister-in-law's house in Stoke, just outside of Nelson proper, watching Corina's nephew, Ozzy. Despite being a little coldish, he was in high spirits; and whether or not he remembered me from my last visit, we took to each other quickly. He's a hilarious little one-year-old, and a real high-energy little brute. I like him.
The rain cleared mid-day on New Year's Eve, and after Corina and I ventured into town for the Saturday market, we wandered a few blocks with her father, got some coffee, and returned home to prep for the night.
Corina's dad (Dennis), her grandfather (Ed) and his girlfriend (Dot) came around to pick us up, and Corina and I spent New Year's Eve back out in Stoke at Damien and Celia's. Several of their friends came over with their kids, and we had a very low-key night complete with a beautiful sunset (photo above).
Yesterday, as is typical of a New Year's Day, Corina and I did practically nothing. We made it into town for lunch with her friends Ren and Jo; it was lovely to meet them, and as a bonus I got my first taste of fish in the orange roughy with cajun potatoes and green beans I ordered at the restaurant. After lunch, we swung by the supermarket, then spent the afternoon lying around reading.
It's been a very relaxed time thus far. I'm getting a nagging itch at the back of my mind, meant to remind me that very soon it's time for a job search, but right now I feel very much like I've returned to the most wonderful vacation I could ask for.
I hope you're all finding 2012 to be wonderful, or at least agreeable. My hopes are running high right now. All seems to be wonderful.

new painting

here is a new painting.



some details:

work in progress part 2

here's the next entry in this series... again, probably. gotta look at it for about a week.



some details:

work in progress

here's some work. messing around with live trace, as well as some other stuff, in illustrator cs3. the colored version may be (about) finished.

image dump!

here's a bunch of stuff from the last while. some drawings from the children's book, and a couple newer paintings. all can be seen at my website, noelyoungstudio dot com, which has been updated!