Snack Attack!

I think one thing I'm learning about myself is that I like to try weird food. Today I saw "Burger Rings" at the grocery store, which apparently are Burger Flavored Onion Rings. I almost got them, based on sheer ridiculousness. Then I had a vision of what my evening would like like after consuming the burger rings, and it was kind of like The Road Warrior, only in my stomach.

But I did grab some NZ snacks to share with my friends Bea and Andrea tonight. And I thought I would offer you my snackspert impression of Auckland's cure for the munchies.

Here's the lineup:



1. Signature Range's Chilli (they spell it that way) & Lime flavored tortilla chips
2. ToffeePops
3. Hokey Pokey Squiggles
4. Home Brand Party Mix

My assessment:


1. The Tortilla Chips: Actually Pretty Good! I've had lime flavored chips before and they can be pretty zesty, but these have a nice, laid-back flavoring so that the corn really comes through. Perfect for those nice, laid-back evenings maaaaaaaaaan! Post hackey-sack feed food!







2. ToffeePops: Muy excelente! It's basically a cookie with a layer of caramel covered in dark chocolate. The Pop part of the name probably comes from the fact that I could Pop a whole bunch into my mouth right now! That or the fact that they make the shirt buttons Pop after too many.






3. Squiggles: There's this flavor that I keep seeing all over the place (candy, ice-cream, cookies, etc.) called Hokey Pokey. I have no idea what Hokey Pokey is, so I decided to get some Squiggles which are advertised to be centered around the flavor. Well, I tried one and it tasted sort of butterscotchy. I still have no idea what Hokey Pokey is, but the cookies are alright. I prefer ToffeePops. I'm not sure what I'm supposed to be "shaking all about" in terms of this Hokey Pokey stuff. Maybe it's best not to know.




4. Home Brand Party Mix: I think Home Brand is kind of like a NZ version of "Sam's Choice." That should have been my first indication. The second should have been when I pulled out, I kid you not, a marshmallow milk can. Hmm. So I ate it. And guess what. It was as appetizing as it was visually appealing. I think I'm going to stay away from the Party Mix in the future. Here's a visual review:





In review, NZ snack food = acceptable for playing hours of Call of Duty while wearing Xbox pants. In other words: success! Except for weird marshmallow creations.

In other snack news, I definitely ran across a pack of "Starburst Rattlesnakes." At first I thought to myself "How can we not have these in the US?!?!" Then I looked more closely and realized why. They looked pretty phallic. Fruitily phallic?

Also, Andrea pointed out that what I bought at the grocery store today (since I had already done my "real" shopping earlier in the week) was ToffeePops, Squiggles, Gummies, Chips, an energy drink, and light cream cheese. I told her it's 'cause I'm on a diet.

PS As you can tell, my Star Wars shirt has not been forgotten. Now I'm off to the Toshe station to pick up some power converters. Heart!

Buddha-Belly Grub Grab!

So it's been awhile since I last wrote of my adventures here in NZ. And I know what you're thinking. "There goes Travis with another one of his two-post-then-the-abyss blogs." Touche. Really I've just been trying to soak it in. You know, atmosphere and all of that.

But let's get down to the good stuff. The food stuff!

I feel like I'm ready to make some preliminary observations about what I've been stuffing my face with the last month or so. Here goes:

1. Coffee: Totally different approach than the US. They do not really do drip coffee here. Most of what you find in the grocery store is instant (not a fan), and the ground coffee I've been able to find for my french press so far has not been too satisfying. But there are a ton of local coffee shops. Everything is espresso-based in the shops. My go-to drink is a "long black" which is a double shot of espresso pulled over some hot water. Makes my heart beat in that special, "I feel like ADD-children have invaded my bloodstream" sort of way.

2. Burgers: Kiwis make awesome burgers. I went over to my Kiwi buddy Steve's house last weekend and he made me a standard Kiwi burger. Ingredients: hamburger patty, cheese, fried egg, pineapple ring, beetroot. Sounds weird but tastes like High School Musical made edible. In other words, "dancingly delicious!"

3. Peanut Butter: Not as sweet as I'm used to. Kind of disappointing, but probably waaay healthier. But reading my sister-in-law's food blog does not help me with my PB-envy.

4. Bread: Lots of crazy choices. Last week it was soy and linseed bread. Totally delicious, although weird for making sandwiches. My mouth felt very sophisticated. Now if only the rest of my body could catch up....(maybe the Star Wars t-shirts aren't helping any)

5. Ice Cream: Sampled some "Jelly-Tip Ice Cream." It essentially was vanilla ice-cream with a fruity, raspberry stripe mixed in. I was into it. I could eat a pint while watching "Grey's Anatomy" or as I like to refer to it "Go Away Ghost of Dead Boyfriend!"

Those are my buddha-belly thoughts at the moment. I'm sure there will be more.

On the topic of schooling, here's what's up.

I found out at my first class session that I actually have to finish my novel by July 1st. That's less than 4 months. Luckily I was already planning for this (it's a God thing).

We were split into small writing groups with the purpose of looking at each other's work in-depth. I think I possibly have the best writing group in the history of writing groups. My two group buddies are: Emily Perkins, who is a published and award-winning novelist who is just going through the program to "credential-up." Her newest novel "Novel About My Wife" is a great read. She actually just won the 2008 Believer Award, which is awesome (you can read their reveiw here. Needless to say, I am totally pumped to be able to learn from her. The other member of my group is named Zak, and he is working on a post-apocalyptic graphic novel, which is totally exciting. I've already been learning a ton from both of them!

The other writing news is that I have two stories coming out in publications this month. The first is my story "Eyes Open, A Melody" which will appear in the next issue of the Australian online publication: SWAMP. I think the new issue comes out in the next couple of days. The next is my story "Future Music" which will be coming out in a local Auckland literary magazine upstart called PotRoast. I am very excited to be working with them, and hopefully will be more involved in the future. So yeah, pretty exciting stuff!

I will also be giving a public reading of an excerpt from my novel in progress on March 25th. Here's hoping I don't choke. And my voice doesn't crack!

My life outside of food and writing has mainly consisted of pummelling my brain with as much literature/theory as possible. There's a reason I keep daydreaming of Steven Segall fight scenes. I think it's a metaphor.

I recently finished the novel "The Rings of Saturn" by the German author W.G. Sebald. Absolutely beautiful. A haunting and compelling metafictional walking tour through a quickly-fading Europe. It's like a simultaneous dream sequence/folk tale/history lesson. I loved it.

Here's a quote:
"The day was dull and oppressive and there was so little breeze that not even the ears of the delicate quaking grass were nodding. It was as if I were passing through an undiscovered country, and I still remember that I felt, at the same time, both utterly liberated and deeply despondent. I had not a single thought in my head. With each step that I took, the emptiness within and the emptiness without grew ever greater and the silence more profound."

Dear Grafton, Why So Grave?

Now that I've become fully-adjusted to living in the future (I am a man of Philip K. Dick-ian proportions), I suppose I can tell you a little about the area of Auckland that I'm familiar with.

My flat is in Grafton, which is one of the oldest parts of Auckland because of the hospital that was built in the mid-1800's. This means that if ghosts are hanging out in Auckland, I'm at ghost-ground-zero! Or, more appropriately, it means that if I trip on something and fall on my face, at least the hospital is nearby!

I didn't really notice the relative age of Grafton compared with other parts of Auckland until I crossed the Grafton Bridge (a really old bridge over the highway that is part of my path to the University). It's a pretty normal bridge until the very end, when all of a sudden it's a bridge over an old graveyard. And the graveyard is literally in the middle of inner-city sprawl. It's pretty bizarre. Here are some pictures of the graveyard. Picture skyscrapers 100 feet away and you'll get the picture.






Here's some Kiwi slang I've picked up:

"Take-away" = To Go
"Olds" = Parents
"Pongo" = Smells Bad

There's a complete sentence there, I know it!

My life is still in the organization stage. I have been meeting lots of people--my residence is pretty much full of international students. This means I've been learning lots of important cultural information, like what the Ninja Turtles were called in Peru (Tortu-Ninja, apparently).

I've been reading a ton and understanding a little. Here's a pretty awesome quote from Thomas Merton I came across (It's from The Seven Storey Mountain):

"The logic of worldly success rests on a fallacy: the strange error that our perfection depends on the thoughts and opinions and applause of other men! A weird life it is, indeed, to be living always in somebody else's imagination, as if that were the only place in which one could at last become real!"

Also, here are some good lyrics by my man, The Boss:
"Is a dream a lie if it don't come true, or is it something worse?"

Beauty, Lame Birds, Brain-Busting Books, and Meat Pies.

Snake Eyes here. I'm finally getting acclimated to Auckland, which means I'm not running into everyone on the sidewalk and I look right instead of left when crossing the street (trust me, I've almost been hit like six times). The last couple of days have been full of clouds and rain, so I took full advantage of today's sunshine and walked around my area of Auckland all day. My legs are going to be Chuck-Norris-strong by the time I obtain my Masters. Be prepared for lots of slow-motion roundhouses.

The following are some pictures from the park that is right by my flat. It's called "The Domain" and it is a place of peace and beauty.




When I was sitting on a bench for a bit, the white bird in this picture came to keep me company. You can't really tell (due to my less-than-stellar photography skills) but he only had one good leg while the other was shriveled and hanging limply from his body. You should have seen him move, though. I was silently cheering him on when I should have been reading.






Speaking of reading, I met with the head of my program and we had a discussion about what authors I'm currently reading and what I am interested in. Based on this discussion she made me a personalized list of reading materials so I can begin my research. I have been trying to work my way through a particularly dense book of philosophy that includes sentences like:
"The paradox of the last phrase (or of the last silence), which is also the paradox of the series, should give x not the vertigo of what cannot be phrased (which is also called the fear of death), but rather the irrefutable conviction that phrasing is endless."
What?
Here is a visual aid as to what is happening to my brain. Pretend Steven Segal is the book, and my brain is the dude with the knife.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k8uIdYpImHY&feature=related
I'm being taken to the blood bank by this stuff!

Oh yeah, and I had a meat pie courtesy of a cool Kiwi I met named John. He insisted meat pies are about as Kiwi as it gets. It was a giant pastry shell stuffed with minced meat, gravy, and cheese, smothered in ketchup. I'll probably digest it by the time I'm returning to the states.


Edit: So I just found out that the Auckland Domain lies mostly in the crater of the Pukekawa volcano. How cool is that?!?!

19-02-09: Everything's N00B!

Welcome to yet another attempt by me, Travis aka Snake Eyes aka DragonFlashLightningFoot, to keep a blog of semi-daily happenings. This time, I'm in New Zealand! My year will be full of the following swashbuckling adventures:

Travis Vs. Masters in Creative Writing from the University of Auckland
Travis Vs. Writing a Novel
Travis Vs. Picking up some Slang
Travis Vs. Listening to lots of The Boss

Since I just arrived yesterday after 30+ hours of cramped air travel, I figure the first adventure I will fill you in on is Travis Vs. The New Home.

I am living in a furnished student apartment in an area of Auckland called Grafton, that I've already discovered is full of really old cemetaries, lots of good coffee shops, and great food. Here are some pictures of my new room for a year (I'm still not sure that it compares to the basement).

Here is a view of my new quarters. Yes, the bedding was provided free of charge, and Yes, I think it came from a hotel that went out of business. You can't tell from this picture, but the color scheme is essentially sea greeen and cream. Yes, I am living in the 1970's dorm. I love it!










Here is a picture of the front wall. I have my own fridge, which currently is holding a bottle of weird champagne I got for free on my flight from Fiji. You can also see a cord trailing into the distance. I only have 4 outlets and way more appliances, so right now it gets kind of crazy, in a sci-fi way.






This is a view of my desk/bookshelf. In case you can't tell, I am bookending my books with five king-size cartons of Rainbow Nerds. Thanks King Family!









This is my bathroom. I totally forgot to bring towels, so this morning I walked to "The Warehouse" which is like Walmart NZ style. I think the tan goes well with the sea green, don't you?!









This is a picture of my "back yard" from my window. My neighbors John and Ola are excited because it is a great window to put speakers against if there is ever a backyard BBQ or shindig or the NZ equivalent. Yesterday a cat plopped down outside and watched me unpack. I tried to go talk to her, but she wasn't having any of it. I need to work on my suave-ness when talking to the ladies, I guess.








Last, but definitely not least, here is the artwork that ties the whole place together. It is a painting that was given to me by Maddie King as a going away present. It's above my bed to remind me that no matter how much I get stressed over all the intensive school stuff, things will always be all right. It's like my own slice of Miyagi.







So that's the place. I came, I saw, I kicked some butt. I will keep you posted on further adventures. But let me leave you with one of my first NZ lessons. Just like driving, walking is done on the left side of the sidewalk. I was a little dense to this at first and it looked kind of like this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zx3m4e45bTo

Until next time,

Snake-Eyes