Thanks for reminding me to get my absentee ballot...

So apparently there are still people in other countries who not only love America, but are also under the misguided notion that president Bush is doing a good job. No, that isn't the punchline to some sick joke; it's true. Last night at Domino's there was a customer from Sri Lanka, wherever the hell that is, who recognized my accent and asked if I was from the USA. After I confirmed this, he went on to say he had lived in four countries (Sri Lanka, the US, Scotland, Japan, and New Zealand--I guess he couldn't count) and our beloved America was the greatest of them all. And then he said "I support your President Bush," and gave me the dopiest grin in the history of all simple-as-shit dopey grins. Unfortunately, I was not as gratified as he expected me to be, so I just shrugged and said, "Well, I don't."

Wrong answer, I guess. He suddenly became all serious and went off on a tirade about how great Bush is, and how he is a bright ray of hope for the world, and how all the presidents, prime ministers, kings, and princes of all the countries of the world wished Bush would stay in power for at least ten more years (BARF!) since they had such a great relationship with him. Ummmm.... what?

I guess Sri Lanka gets a different slant on the world news. Maybe Fox News on Steriods or something. At any rate, he concluded his speech by telling me, "Just have faith in your president. You are very lucky to have him," and grinning stupidly again. It's not my place to argue with customers, so I just smiled, chuckled, and said, "Yeah, I guess. He's not going to be around much longer anyway." Zing.

Anyway, things have been going along pretty well. As you may have read on Alexa's blog, we went for a couple hikes last week. One was in our neighborhood and it took us through some pretty wooded areas and around the back of the zoo. We hiked for a kilometer or so along the zoo's fence and were able to see inside a bit. We got to see the top of an ostrich's head, for free! Take that, zoo. The other hike was up the side of Mount Victoria, one of the highest points in Wellington with a great view of the city from its lookout point. It was also the location of the outskirts of the Shire in The Fellowship of the Ring. We weren't able to find the filming sites, but eventually we should be able to find the place where Frodo yells "Get off the road!" when the Nazghul first appear, as well as the forest the hobbits run through to get to the ferry and escape the Nazghul. Nerd alert.

Also, things are going okay at Domino's, but I'm still on the lookout for a day job so I can actually start earning a decent income. Today I had an interview at The Organic Grocer, a little Trader Joe's-esque store, and I think it went well. Besides that, about a week ago I sent an email to the zoo asking if they needed any staff for the gift shop, and when I got back from my interview today, I had an email from them saying they had job openings for gift shop/admissions. I'd prefer to work at the zoo, but I guess I'll have to wait and see what the hours are like and how soon they get back to me.

On a sad note, we are now 17 hours apart instead of 16. Sunday marked the beginning of Daylight Savings Time for New Zealand, and once you all in the US head back to standard time in November, we'll be 18 hours apart.

But I think I've rambled on for long enough. In a bit I'm going to meet Alexa in town and we're going to see Eagle Eye. It's the same as the US version, except some guy with a Kiwi accent dubbed over Shia Lebeouf. Seriously.

I was going to post some pictures, but the internet is being a jerk, so that will have to wait until later. Que triste.

In the meantime, you should all go check out this article. It's a very insightful and well-written look at white privilege and the upcoming election, using a lot of examples from the farce that is the McCain/Palin duo (or as I like to call them, Dumb and Dumber--zing!): http://www.redroom.com/blog/tim-wise/this-your-nation-white-privilege-updated

EDIT: Here's the pictures.

This is Alexa being very happy/enjoying the weather at the botannical gardens:

A scary sign along the zoo's back fence:

Wellington, as seen from Mount Victoria: