Hey there! I saw we had a couple mutuals (modernhope and wrecklessly) and thought I'd see if you'd mind if I added ya? It looks like we both watch a lot of TV, lol. From your list, here's what we have in common:
Being Erica, Better Off Ted, Bones, Castle, Chuck, Friday Night Lights, Glee, How I Met Your Mother, Life Unexpected, Modern Family (behind a bit since watching on NZ tv for the time being though), Parenthood, Party Down (got behind though; waiting until I'm back in the US 'cause I don't have much usage to spare this month.. yea in NZ, you have to watch how much you download), Psych, Royal Pains, Southland, and White Collar.
Though there's a few more that I want to catch up on. Those are:
Burn Notice (fell off in mid-season 1), Fringe (fell off in mid-season 1), In Plain Sight (was too busy with an internship to catch season 2 and not enough Internet for season 3), The Listener (external died before I could catch up :/), The Mentalist (season 1 has only aired in NZ at the moment), True Blood (have seen like the first two episodes and that's it; my college friend's schedule and mine didn't mesh too well during my last semester of college), and Weeds (have maybe 5-6 of season 5 to go).
And for the RIP shows:
Alias, Arrested Development, Dirty Sexy Money, Dollhouse, Frasier (Mom was more of a fan than I but I've seen the occasional episode), Friends (had to sneak around 'cause my sister was weirdly possessive about it), Full House (occasional episode, not sure how many I've actually seen), Futurama (I love it but haven't seen much of it), Life, Heroes (though totally need to finish season 3 and season 4), Monk (I started watching regularly in season 5 or 6 when my mom got cable at her apartment? I didn't grow up with cable though I did see a season 2 episode when it was on ABC one summer), Privileged (need to see the last two of the show, I think.. but needs to wait until back in the US as external took it away from me), Pushing Daisies, Twin Peaks (watching this now, actually.. halfway through season 1), The Unusuals (a character in one episode actually had the same name as me, first and last name.. that was weird.. especially after my name got a shoutout in HIMYM season 4), and Wonderfalls.
..Yeah, a lot :D Fair warning though... I'm gonna head off to Australia (I'm in New Zealand currently though I am American) in 3.5 days and then after Australia (which is until the 25th of the moment), there's a weekend in Auckland, and then a week-ish in San Francisco and then a week without any Internet b/c I'll be in a cabin in the middle of the woods... so my Internet will be spotty for the next month or so. I don't think I'll be with regular Internet again until July 10th (Internet in hostels tend to charge by either data or how much time you use, so I think I'll be limited)? So if you wanted to wait or whatever, that's totally cool, heh. But I wanted to say hi5 to a fellow TV lover!
Wow! That's very cool! We have a lot in common (including friends!) And New Zealand, how amazing. That's atop my ist of places I'd love to visit. I haven't been outside the U.S. except Tijuana, Mexico, and the Canadian border. But, that's a story in iteself. My favorite city I've been to thus far has been San Francisco, coincidentally. I interned there last fall with Gavin Newsom's gubernatorial campaign. I want to move there one day. I live in Los Angeles now. Since I was 4/5ish. Before that, Ohio, where I was born.
I love that you watch "Being Erica"! I don't have anyone on my FL who does, so that's awesome. I'm behind on it, though. The whole second season. I actually just recently compiled a list of shows I'm behind on, how many episodes and the order I'm going to catch up on them in. And I just updated it my last post!
That's so crazy about your name being in HIMYM and "The Unusuals"! My name would never be in anything because it's very unusual. lol. You just reminded me that I need to finish watching "Twin Peaks" - I only got a couple episodes into the second season before trailing off. I see why the ratings went down hill that season, tbh. The first season was SO much better. But I just adore that show and nobody what weird twists await me the rest of the second season, I'll love it, I'm sure. lol.
Don't worry about it! I don't have any requirements about how often friends need to update or comment. I know that circumstances change for people, so they're not able to be online because of time or access for some periods of time (just three weeks ago, I was without my laptop for a week because my dog ate my charger and I was going a little stir crazy without my beloved Internet. lol.)
And what you said about not growing up with cable: same here! I was TV-obsessed from a young age and even had a blank VHS tape for each day of the week, so while I was at work (I worked at a talent agency from age 12-16), my mom could record my shows for me. lol. And I would rent movies and TV shows from my local video store on a daily basis. They knew me by name and I collected my receipts (I used to be super OCD, especially about collecting things. lol.) and I got to over 1,000 (and they had three movies on each, usually). Anyway, it wasn't until college that we got basic cable, and I became hooked on TNT, USA, etc. lol. It opened a whole new world to me. Then, when I got ~real~ cable like HBO, Showtime, etc. - don't even get me started. Heaven. Absolute heaven. lol.
So, what are you in New Zealand for? Work or school or something else? And where do you live here in the U.S. (or did live before you started globetrotting)?
part 1 of... idksquaringkarmaJune 5 2010, 16:46:40 UTC
So, what are you in New Zealand for? Work or school or something else? And where do you live here in the U.S. (or did live before you started globetrotting)?
(Lol starting with the bottom, but you also mention it up top :P) New Zealand is amazing! Very gorgeous. I have been here since late September. I flew into Auckland, since that's the largest city (1/3 of the population! Which is like 4 million people) and spent two weeks working my way down to Wellington (which is the capital and on the south end of the North Island), so I've been in Wellington since mid-October-ish. Though there's been some travel since basing myself in Wellington. (Fyi, I picked Wellington because of the really good public transit and its compactness. It's such a cool city even if the weather is a bit crap most of the time :P) My manager (who went to uni in the States.. I guess ex-manager now since I had my last day on Friday since I'm leaving for Oz on Wednesday) and her partner took me up to the Manuwatu region (about 2 hours north of Wellington) over the Christmas weekend since that's where their families are from. I mention my manager went to uni in the States because I think that's part of why we bonded like we did. She felt like she needed to payback all those people who took her in during the holidays when she was at college and far away from home. Aside from that, my dad visited in late January and his (belated) Christmas present to me was a tour of the South Island. So I got to check that island out, too.
As far as what I'm in NZ for, well, there's this thing called a working holiday visa and it allows American citizens between 18 and 30 to come to NZ for a year/12 months. You can only get it once in your life. Here is the page on Immigration NZ. I graduated from college (in northeastern PA) in May 2009 and figured, why not go for it? I had a lot of online friends from NZ and kinda doubted that they would come to me, so I had the money (grandpa left me a sizable inheritance in gold that my parents decided to trade in for cash a couple years ago.. well, they traded in half of it, but it was still enough since it's cheap as to live here... my rent is $130 a week [that's how they do it here] and so that's about US$350 a month) and yeah, just packed up and came.
So I was hoping to find paid work to cover my expenses (at least partially), but it turned out to be harder than I planned. I ended up volunteering most of my time. One place, I started in November and they were cool with me looking for paid work while volunteering for them. Soon after looking though, I kinda decided to stop because Dad visiting in late January would put a cramp on things. Like if I got a contract that would be on for when he was here, we couldn't go to the South Island. (And that would have sucked, for many reasons including the fact that I would have had to spend two weeks on the couch in my first flat, not just the few nights that Dad and I were in Wellington during his visit.)
After Dad left, I started looking again but then I had this great idea of coming home to surprise my mom for her birthday (3rd of July) so I stopped again. I was registered with some temp agencies, but they never had anything for me. I think because while I do have office work experience (and not really any retail; this is probably why I couldn't find something at a shop), it's not a lot. So yeah after I had that idea, I decided to just continue volunteering until early June so I could go to Aussie and SF before Mom's birthday. (I'm telling my mom I'm leaving NZ because who would hire me with less than 3 months on my visa? And that's true. Who would?)
Re: part 1 of... idkmarsupialsJune 11 2010, 00:31:34 UTC
Wow, it sounds like you've thoroughly cover all of NZ! And rent is so cheap! Wow. It's funny, the only two places I've lived/had to look for apartments is Los Angeles and San Francisco, so when anyone anywhere talks about rent where they are, I'm floored. lol. But, yeah, $350 is definitely a great deal by most standards, not just L.A./SF ones!
If I ever came into money, I'd so move somewhere really cheap to make it last. lol.
And I've also always wanted to go to Pennsylvania. I'm from Ohio and that's the farthest East I've been. I really want to visit all of the eastern states.
That Working Holiday Visa thing sounds amazing. Once in a lifetime? That's interesting. I guess they can't have people just living places forever under that provision.
So, are you going back to NZ after Australia and SF for the rest of your three months or are you just cutting the stay short by however long?
What an amazing experience that must be. I can't imagine being that far from home for so long! That farthest I've been alone is SF, and even then, I went home every other weekend and it only last a little over a month. And I've been 2,000 miles away, but only for a few days and I was road-tripping with a friend.
Re: part 1 of... idksquaringkarmaJune 11 2010, 05:34:29 UTC
I didn't make it all the way south, like to Invercargill (I love how that's pronounced for some reason) or the island south of the South Island, which is Stewart Island. Or the West Coast of the South Island, but I had a fair amount of travel of the country, so I'm happy with what I did do :)
And yea, definitely a great deal. I'm guessing rent in NYC is gonna be at least $1000.
Pennsylvania was really good; I have/had family out there. (My other grandpa and his second wife were near Philly when they were still alive [grandpa passed away in July '98, second wife in December '96] and I have some cousins that are about half an hour from where I went to college though they're moving to Kentucky on July 1st, apparently, so not much anymore.)
I guess they can't have people just living places forever under that provision.
Yea, it's mostly a travel/holiday visa, it just allows you to stay in the country longer if you want to and you can take jobs to supplement your travel funds. The US did recently (within the last few years) reach an agreement with Australia for a similar thing, so my plan was actually to do NZ for a year and then Australia for 6-8 months to be back in the US by the end of April 2011. However, since no income was found in NZ (aside from data entry I did for Dad, but that was roughly $180, so not a lot, really), I'm cutting my stay short. I am coming back to NZ after Australia, but it's just about 48 hours so I can see sir_fireboard one last time before I go (I stayed with her and her mum my first weekend in NZ, which was really nice to ease into it, you know?) and also so I can rearrange things. My free baggage allowance for NZ to Australia was 1 piece up to 20kg (44 pounds or so). My free baggage allowance for NZ to US is 2 pieces up to 46kg total (100 pounds).
part 2 of... idksquaringkarmaJune 5 2010, 17:12:36 UTC
So while I was a volunteer at this organisation (lol you'll get used to my Kiwi type even though I'm an American ;P), I got a lot of great experience (I was pretty surprised they gave me all this responsibility!) for my resume and gained a fair amount of independence in the process. (College independence is so a different kind.) I volunteered at other places during my time in Welly, not just this one place, but they were more short term projects than what I got at what I call "my main volunteering" and is the one I'm definitely using on my resume.
Oh and I am originally from upstate New York, near Albany. Though I know I don't want to live there long term after I return to the States (public transit sucks! I don't have my licence even in the US... My dad's place has none within walking distance; my mom's current place has a bus every 50 minutes?), I'm not sure where I want to live. I'm thinking NYC is my best bet (film/tv industry is what I want to get into and I did have an internship in NYC with a production company) since the bus that does go by Mom's will go by the train station that then can take me to NYC in less than 3 hours. Though like my most recent entry says, Mom is thinking about moving and I'm not sure if I will be able to move with her.
So NYC will probably be where I end up. It's just there are jobs that look good in Atlanta, too. I feel like I could relocate anywhere if I was still with my folks (well, Mom.. so not living with Dad even though I have a good relationship with him because of the total lack of public transit). Oh well, I guess I'll commit to NYC if I don't get anywhere with any possible SF interviews.
Now to get to other parts of your comment...
I love that you watch "Being Erica"! I don't have anyone on my FL who does, so that's awesome. I'm behind on it, though. The whole second season. I actually just recently compiled a list of shows I'm behind on, how many episodes and the order I'm going to catch up on them in. And I just updated it my last post!
Hee, awesome! Dee watched season 1, actually. As far as I know, she hasn't seen season 2 either :P But catch up! Season 2 is AMAZING. I'm so glad it's got a season 3 coming. Though I will miss Erin Karpluk on season 2 of LUX because she doesn't think scheduling will work out :/ BE is much more important, I'm sure.
That's so crazy about your name being in HIMYM and "The Unusuals"!
It was weird, to be sure. And I'm probably the only one that can say that they had shoutouts on both shows. Because I go by Gaby, but my full first name is Abigail. (When I was young, I said Gabigail. And that got shortened to Gaby. I really dislike it when people do two B's [like Gabby], but if people write Gabi, I'm not fussed.) There was the Gaby version on HIMYM and Abigail on TU, so I'm sure you can figure out my last name if you rewatch the shows, heh. Or I mention it in some of my entries, heh.
nobody what weird twists await me the rest of the second season
Hmm I think you missed a word here. Help with the context? I'm glad I reminded you to finish it though! Hopefully, I'll get season 2 for my birthday (July 19th) since I just have season 1 at the moment. (It's all that my friend had.) I mentioned watching season 1 on Twitter a while ago (I think it was on the 20th anniversary) and Dad (yea he's on Twitter, Mom is, too.. great way to keep in touch with me being overseas and all) asked me if I wanted season 2 for my birthday or if I'd prefer to DL.
Re: part 2 of... idkmarsupialsJune 11 2010, 00:52:30 UTC
Is that Jules in your icon?! Adorable.
Upstate New York, I bet it's gorgeous! I imagine it's so idyllic. And nice and relatively close to the most interesting and diverse city the country has to offer. I've never been to New York (city or state, lol), but it - like most of the other places you've mentioned! lol. - is on my wishlist of places to visit.
I was so afraid when I saw her pop up on "Life UneXpected" (and when her character became more and more significant) because I thought it might mean her obligation with BE was over. I always get scared when actors from shows I love (but are on the bubble or I just don't know about their next season) pop up on other shows. lol. But soon after, I read the third season was green-lit. Definitely need to get the second season watched!!
Abigail! I absolutely adore your name. I've always been name-obsessed (probably because my name is so unusual) and as a kid I was extremely OCD about list-making (I still kind of am, but much less so, and I get it out of my system through memes and things. lol.) and I would make lists of my favorite names all the time. lol. Weird kid, I know. Anyway, Abigail's always been a favorite. I always like to match names or group compatible ones. lol. Anyway, I've always liked Abigail and Amelia for like sisters or something. Abby and Amy for short. lol.
lol! I read that and I was like, "What the hell was I trying to say?!" I think I meant to say "no matter" rather than "nobody." I've read that there are some whacky things that happen the second season (not that there weren't plenty the first!). I bought both volumes of the show's soundtrack after watching season one. The music on the show is so amazing! I miss watching that show. I really need to get back to it. Despite the fact that my list of currently airing shows I'm behind on is super long, I might just have to sneak this one in there. lol.
Re: part 2 of... idksquaringkarmaJune 11 2010, 05:44:48 UTC
It is. She's awesome <3 It's from the season 3 roller derby episode. Which reminds me I still need to see Whip It! with Ellen Page and Drew Barrymore and I think Alia Shawkat, too.
We definitely get all four seasons in upstate NY. I love this small town that's about an hour away from the Capital District called Red Hook. It's everything you imagine small towns to be. (My hometown though, it's small but not quite what I picture small towns to be? Like I'm thinking Stars Hollow here. There's no "Luke's" though there is a local diner in Red Hook, which is why I made the "it's everything you imagine small towns to be" comment, heh. Also no movie theatre in hometown... you have to go to the next town over to get anything, even grocery shop, that's how small my hometown is. It's more like a village, really.)
Yeah! While I will miss her on LUX, very glad BE is still around for season 3. Guess LUX season 1 was filmed on her filming hiatus from BE.
Hee! I so don't see me as an Abby though some people do call me that when they know my first name is Abigail. My health teacher from middle school called me Gaby-Abby, heh.
part 3 of... three! i actually finished finally, yes!squaringkarmaJune 5 2010, 17:27:12 UTC
(Speaking of Twitter, I think I added you to my Twitter filter, but let me know if you just want to follow me on Twitter and take you off the filter. Don't really want Dad on LJ, so I don't make mention of this site on there. He asked me for my name once, via Skype, but I just ignored it since I wasn't around on the computer when he actually asked. I also have multiple Twitters. The one with the parents which is the one imported to LJ and my main one, but I just recently started another one in conjunction with a TV blog over on WordPress [which was started so I could do the 30 Days of TV meme before I left for Aussie.. today is the last day] and I also have a tumblr associated with both of them. When I'm back to the States, I'll probably officially take all my TV tweets to that Twitter instead of sometimes writing some on one and sometimes writing on the other and sometimes crossposting via HootSuite. I just don't want my parents to know about that blog yet in case I stop using it when I'm back in the US [sometimes I fail about updating non-LJ blogs] and also because I'm not quite secretive about my US/East Coast return on there, heh.)
Don't worry about it! I don't have any requirements about how often friends need to update or comment. I know that circumstances change for people, so they're not able to be online because of time or access for some periods of time (just three weeks ago, I was without my laptop for a week because my dog ate my charger and I was going a little stir crazy without my beloved Internet. lol.)
Oh good! Heh. And wow, that must have sucked. Tsk tsk, Dog of marsupials.
I was TV-obsessed from a young age and even had a blank VHS tape for each day of the week,
Niiiiiiiice. I think I had that, too XD
it wasn't until college that we got basic cable, and I became hooked on TNT, USA, etc. lol.
True for me, too. Mom moved into her first apartment (in the time I'd been alive, I mean.. she had apartments before she had me) in November '05, a few months after I started college. TNT and USA are great networks, aren't they?
Then, when I got ~real~ cable like HBO, Showtime, etc. - don't even get me started. Heaven. Absolute heaven. lol.
lolol. I technically don't have ~real~ cable, I'm a naughty pirate even in the US. (Even more awful because it's the industry I want to be in :/ Though maybe a perk when I get in the industry will be free subscription tv.. I know one of my friends who works in the industry -- in Australia, tho -- has that perk.) Though we do have basic cable (Mom, in the US, I mean.. I only get like 3 channels here in NZ.. One, TV3, and C4.. for some reason TV2 doesn't come in.. and TV3 is actually channel 4 and C4 is channel 2.. so odd), we don't have TiVo, so still with the ole VCR (or stream, glad that's starting to take a footing). Though with my habits, I need to DL. When I get a ~real~ job, I'll totally need to get TiVo and the ~real~ cable and Netflix though.
They knew me by name and I collected my receipts (I used to be super OCD, especially about collecting things. lol.) and I got to over 1,000 (and they had three movies on each, usually)
Damn, girl! That's intense.
...Okay, I'm done. Holy cow, a 3-part comment because I rambled so much. You'll probably get used to that, heh. I really need to sleep. It's nearly 5:30am here :/
Re: part 3 of... three! i actually finished finally, yes!marsupialsJune 11 2010, 01:11:16 UTC
Wow, you're all kinds of Internet savvy! I'm on Twitter and Tumblr (and FaceBook and, obviously, LJ), but I usually only consistently use one at a time, and I wouldn't know how to cross-post or link them if my life depended on it. lol. I only use Tumblr to post random fandom related photos I come across. I was (still am) always hoarding cute actor/actress/show/movie photos I come across online and just couldn't help myself from saving them, but I had nothing to do with them! lol. I would just end up deleting them later. This reminds me, though, that my Tumblr file on my laptop is getting pretty plump as I've neglected my account for a pretty long time, so I should rectify that! You're reminding me of so many things I've forgotten about and let slide. lol. By the way, all of my networking site links are in the sidebar of my layout if you want to add me on them. And I'd love to check out your TV blog.
TNT and USA are still my favorites even now that I've gotten HBO and Showtime and all that. I mean, I LOVE my Dexter and other shows on those networks, but I definitely watch much more on TNT and USA, and I love the shows they syndicate. They've gotten me hooked on so many shows! lol.
I end up watching most of my shows online just to avoid having to fast-forward through commercials :X lol.
5:30! That's what time my body likes to go to sleep. My natural sleep cycle is to sleep during the day. Always has been. When I was younger, in school, when it hit summer, I would revert to that schedule. I'm always struggling to keep it ~normal~ Just like two days ago, I got back on a good schedule after letting myself slip into, and stay on, my natural, bad sleep schedule.
Re: part 3 of... three! i actually finished finally, yes!squaringkarmaJune 11 2010, 06:01:45 UTC
There's this site http://www.twitterfeed.com and you just need to put in the RSS feed url for your Tumblr or other blog and it'll do a lot of the work for you. I think there are ways you can do it on the site in question, but I like twitterfeed because it's one site that you just need to put the urls in.
My TV blog is here though I'm debating getting the tvphile.net domain when I'm back in the US (I think tvphile.com is taken) and importing all of my content to there so I have more control on customisation (though still with WP since that seems to be an industry standard) and whatnot. I already have a domain and there's unlimited space on it, so if I get a new domain, I can just link it to my account on that first domain or something. I'm not sure what I'm getting at here, but I think it'd only cost me for the new domain registration and I'd have more control over customising it and showing off more of my web development skills for potential employers and what not. Also tumblr and the second Twitter also have the usernames of tvphile ;) All connected, you see.
TNT and USA's syndications are great, definitely :D
Haha, that is a perk to watching shows online, yes :D
Lol, yeah... it's so weird though. My first few months in NZ, I was actually on a normal sleep schedule for NZ (I think that's because my US sleep schedule was so messed up), like up before 9am and what not. Somehow, I slowly reverted to an insomniac's schedule. Though now that I'm travelling in Australia, my sleep schedule isn't too bad since when I check out of hostels, it needs to be no later than 10am... Though I am not 100% sure how I will wake up for my tour that departs around 630am on Tuesday though.
And I love yours! Tami Taylor definitely wins at life. She's got a really great storyline in season 4 and I can't wait to read your thoughts on it!
Being Erica, Better Off Ted, Bones, Castle, Chuck, Friday Night Lights, Glee, How I Met Your Mother, Life Unexpected, Modern Family (behind a bit since watching on NZ tv for the time being though), Parenthood, Party Down (got behind though; waiting until I'm back in the US 'cause I don't have much usage to spare this month.. yea in NZ, you have to watch how much you download), Psych, Royal Pains, Southland, and White Collar.
Though there's a few more that I want to catch up on. Those are:
Burn Notice (fell off in mid-season 1), Fringe (fell off in mid-season 1), In Plain Sight (was too busy with an internship to catch season 2 and not enough Internet for season 3), The Listener (external died before I could catch up :/), The Mentalist (season 1 has only aired in NZ at the moment), True Blood (have seen like the first two episodes and that's it; my college friend's schedule and mine didn't mesh too well during my last semester of college), and Weeds (have maybe 5-6 of season 5 to go).
And for the RIP shows:
Alias, Arrested Development, Dirty Sexy Money, Dollhouse, Frasier (Mom was more of a fan than I but I've seen the occasional episode), Friends (had to sneak around 'cause my sister was weirdly possessive about it), Full House (occasional episode, not sure how many I've actually seen), Futurama (I love it but haven't seen much of it), Life, Heroes (though totally need to finish season 3 and season 4), Monk (I started watching regularly in season 5 or 6 when my mom got cable at her apartment? I didn't grow up with cable though I did see a season 2 episode when it was on ABC one summer), Privileged (need to see the last two of the show, I think.. but needs to wait until back in the US as external took it away from me), Pushing Daisies, Twin Peaks (watching this now, actually.. halfway through season 1), The Unusuals (a character in one episode actually had the same name as me, first and last name.. that was weird.. especially after my name got a shoutout in HIMYM season 4), and Wonderfalls.
..Yeah, a lot :D Fair warning though... I'm gonna head off to Australia (I'm in New Zealand currently though I am American) in 3.5 days and then after Australia (which is until the 25th of the moment), there's a weekend in Auckland, and then a week-ish in San Francisco and then a week without any Internet b/c I'll be in a cabin in the middle of the woods... so my Internet will be spotty for the next month or so. I don't think I'll be with regular Internet again until July 10th (Internet in hostels tend to charge by either data or how much time you use, so I think I'll be limited)? So if you wanted to wait or whatever, that's totally cool, heh. But I wanted to say hi5 to a fellow TV lover!
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I love that you watch "Being Erica"! I don't have anyone on my FL who does, so that's awesome. I'm behind on it, though. The whole second season. I actually just recently compiled a list of shows I'm behind on, how many episodes and the order I'm going to catch up on them in. And I just updated it my last post!
That's so crazy about your name being in HIMYM and "The Unusuals"! My name would never be in anything because it's very unusual. lol. You just reminded me that I need to finish watching "Twin Peaks" - I only got a couple episodes into the second season before trailing off. I see why the ratings went down hill that season, tbh. The first season was SO much better. But I just adore that show and nobody what weird twists await me the rest of the second season, I'll love it, I'm sure. lol.
Don't worry about it! I don't have any requirements about how often friends need to update or comment. I know that circumstances change for people, so they're not able to be online because of time or access for some periods of time (just three weeks ago, I was without my laptop for a week because my dog ate my charger and I was going a little stir crazy without my beloved Internet. lol.)
And what you said about not growing up with cable: same here! I was TV-obsessed from a young age and even had a blank VHS tape for each day of the week, so while I was at work (I worked at a talent agency from age 12-16), my mom could record my shows for me. lol. And I would rent movies and TV shows from my local video store on a daily basis. They knew me by name and I collected my receipts (I used to be super OCD, especially about collecting things. lol.) and I got to over 1,000 (and they had three movies on each, usually). Anyway, it wasn't until college that we got basic cable, and I became hooked on TNT, USA, etc. lol. It opened a whole new world to me. Then, when I got ~real~ cable like HBO, Showtime, etc. - don't even get me started. Heaven. Absolute heaven. lol.
So, what are you in New Zealand for? Work or school or something else? And where do you live here in the U.S. (or did live before you started globetrotting)?
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(Lol starting with the bottom, but you also mention it up top :P) New Zealand is amazing! Very gorgeous. I have been here since late September. I flew into Auckland, since that's the largest city (1/3 of the population! Which is like 4 million people) and spent two weeks working my way down to Wellington (which is the capital and on the south end of the North Island), so I've been in Wellington since mid-October-ish. Though there's been some travel since basing myself in Wellington. (Fyi, I picked Wellington because of the really good public transit and its compactness. It's such a cool city even if the weather is a bit crap most of the time :P) My manager (who went to uni in the States.. I guess ex-manager now since I had my last day on Friday since I'm leaving for Oz on Wednesday) and her partner took me up to the Manuwatu region (about 2 hours north of Wellington) over the Christmas weekend since that's where their families are from. I mention my manager went to uni in the States because I think that's part of why we bonded like we did. She felt like she needed to payback all those people who took her in during the holidays when she was at college and far away from home. Aside from that, my dad visited in late January and his (belated) Christmas present to me was a tour of the South Island. So I got to check that island out, too.
As far as what I'm in NZ for, well, there's this thing called a working holiday visa and it allows American citizens between 18 and 30 to come to NZ for a year/12 months. You can only get it once in your life. Here is the page on Immigration NZ. I graduated from college (in northeastern PA) in May 2009 and figured, why not go for it? I had a lot of online friends from NZ and kinda doubted that they would come to me, so I had the money (grandpa left me a sizable inheritance in gold that my parents decided to trade in for cash a couple years ago.. well, they traded in half of it, but it was still enough since it's cheap as to live here... my rent is $130 a week [that's how they do it here] and so that's about US$350 a month) and yeah, just packed up and came.
So I was hoping to find paid work to cover my expenses (at least partially), but it turned out to be harder than I planned. I ended up volunteering most of my time. One place, I started in November and they were cool with me looking for paid work while volunteering for them. Soon after looking though, I kinda decided to stop because Dad visiting in late January would put a cramp on things. Like if I got a contract that would be on for when he was here, we couldn't go to the South Island. (And that would have sucked, for many reasons including the fact that I would have had to spend two weeks on the couch in my first flat, not just the few nights that Dad and I were in Wellington during his visit.)
After Dad left, I started looking again but then I had this great idea of coming home to surprise my mom for her birthday (3rd of July) so I stopped again. I was registered with some temp agencies, but they never had anything for me. I think because while I do have office work experience (and not really any retail; this is probably why I couldn't find something at a shop), it's not a lot. So yeah after I had that idea, I decided to just continue volunteering until early June so I could go to Aussie and SF before Mom's birthday. (I'm telling my mom I'm leaving NZ because who would hire me with less than 3 months on my visa? And that's true. Who would?)
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If I ever came into money, I'd so move somewhere really cheap to make it last. lol.
And I've also always wanted to go to Pennsylvania. I'm from Ohio and that's the farthest East I've been. I really want to visit all of the eastern states.
That Working Holiday Visa thing sounds amazing. Once in a lifetime? That's interesting. I guess they can't have people just living places forever under that provision.
So, are you going back to NZ after Australia and SF for the rest of your three months or are you just cutting the stay short by however long?
What an amazing experience that must be. I can't imagine being that far from home for so long! That farthest I've been alone is SF, and even then, I went home every other weekend and it only last a little over a month. And I've been 2,000 miles away, but only for a few days and I was road-tripping with a friend.
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And yea, definitely a great deal. I'm guessing rent in NYC is gonna be at least $1000.
Pennsylvania was really good; I have/had family out there. (My other grandpa and his second wife were near Philly when they were still alive [grandpa passed away in July '98, second wife in December '96] and I have some cousins that are about half an hour from where I went to college though they're moving to Kentucky on July 1st, apparently, so not much anymore.)
I guess they can't have people just living places forever under that provision.
Yea, it's mostly a travel/holiday visa, it just allows you to stay in the country longer if you want to and you can take jobs to supplement your travel funds. The US did recently (within the last few years) reach an agreement with Australia for a similar thing, so my plan was actually to do NZ for a year and then Australia for 6-8 months to be back in the US by the end of April 2011. However, since no income was found in NZ (aside from data entry I did for Dad, but that was roughly $180, so not a lot, really), I'm cutting my stay short. I am coming back to NZ after Australia, but it's just about 48 hours so I can see sir_fireboard one last time before I go (I stayed with her and her mum my first weekend in NZ, which was really nice to ease into it, you know?) and also so I can rearrange things. My free baggage allowance for NZ to Australia was 1 piece up to 20kg (44 pounds or so). My free baggage allowance for NZ to US is 2 pieces up to 46kg total (100 pounds).
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Oh and I am originally from upstate New York, near Albany. Though I know I don't want to live there long term after I return to the States (public transit sucks! I don't have my licence even in the US... My dad's place has none within walking distance; my mom's current place has a bus every 50 minutes?), I'm not sure where I want to live. I'm thinking NYC is my best bet (film/tv industry is what I want to get into and I did have an internship in NYC with a production company) since the bus that does go by Mom's will go by the train station that then can take me to NYC in less than 3 hours. Though like my most recent entry says, Mom is thinking about moving and I'm not sure if I will be able to move with her.
So NYC will probably be where I end up. It's just there are jobs that look good in Atlanta, too. I feel like I could relocate anywhere if I was still with my folks (well, Mom.. so not living with Dad even though I have a good relationship with him because of the total lack of public transit). Oh well, I guess I'll commit to NYC if I don't get anywhere with any possible SF interviews.
Now to get to other parts of your comment...
I love that you watch "Being Erica"! I don't have anyone on my FL who does, so that's awesome. I'm behind on it, though. The whole second season. I actually just recently compiled a list of shows I'm behind on, how many episodes and the order I'm going to catch up on them in. And I just updated it my last post!
Hee, awesome! Dee watched season 1, actually. As far as I know, she hasn't seen season 2 either :P But catch up! Season 2 is AMAZING. I'm so glad it's got a season 3 coming. Though I will miss Erin Karpluk on season 2 of LUX because she doesn't think scheduling will work out :/ BE is much more important, I'm sure.
That's so crazy about your name being in HIMYM and "The Unusuals"!
It was weird, to be sure. And I'm probably the only one that can say that they had shoutouts on both shows. Because I go by Gaby, but my full first name is Abigail. (When I was young, I said Gabigail. And that got shortened to Gaby. I really dislike it when people do two B's [like Gabby], but if people write Gabi, I'm not fussed.) There was the Gaby version on HIMYM and Abigail on TU, so I'm sure you can figure out my last name if you rewatch the shows, heh. Or I mention it in some of my entries, heh.
nobody what weird twists await me the rest of the second season
Hmm I think you missed a word here. Help with the context? I'm glad I reminded you to finish it though! Hopefully, I'll get season 2 for my birthday (July 19th) since I just have season 1 at the moment. (It's all that my friend had.) I mentioned watching season 1 on Twitter a while ago (I think it was on the 20th anniversary) and Dad (yea he's on Twitter, Mom is, too.. great way to keep in touch with me being overseas and all) asked me if I wanted season 2 for my birthday or if I'd prefer to DL.
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Upstate New York, I bet it's gorgeous! I imagine it's so idyllic. And nice and relatively close to the most interesting and diverse city the country has to offer. I've never been to New York (city or state, lol), but it - like most of the other places you've mentioned! lol. - is on my wishlist of places to visit.
I was so afraid when I saw her pop up on "Life UneXpected" (and when her character became more and more significant) because I thought it might mean her obligation with BE was over. I always get scared when actors from shows I love (but are on the bubble or I just don't know about their next season) pop up on other shows. lol. But soon after, I read the third season was green-lit. Definitely need to get the second season watched!!
Abigail! I absolutely adore your name. I've always been name-obsessed (probably because my name is so unusual) and as a kid I was extremely OCD about list-making (I still kind of am, but much less so, and I get it out of my system through memes and things. lol.) and I would make lists of my favorite names all the time. lol. Weird kid, I know. Anyway, Abigail's always been a favorite. I always like to match names or group compatible ones. lol. Anyway, I've always liked Abigail and Amelia for like sisters or something. Abby and Amy for short. lol.
lol! I read that and I was like, "What the hell was I trying to say?!" I think I meant to say "no matter" rather than "nobody." I've read that there are some whacky things that happen the second season (not that there weren't plenty the first!). I bought both volumes of the show's soundtrack after watching season one. The music on the show is so amazing! I miss watching that show. I really need to get back to it. Despite the fact that my list of currently airing shows I'm behind on is super long, I might just have to sneak this one in there. lol.
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We definitely get all four seasons in upstate NY. I love this small town that's about an hour away from the Capital District called Red Hook. It's everything you imagine small towns to be. (My hometown though, it's small but not quite what I picture small towns to be? Like I'm thinking Stars Hollow here. There's no "Luke's" though there is a local diner in Red Hook, which is why I made the "it's everything you imagine small towns to be" comment, heh. Also no movie theatre in hometown... you have to go to the next town over to get anything, even grocery shop, that's how small my hometown is. It's more like a village, really.)
Yeah! While I will miss her on LUX, very glad BE is still around for season 3. Guess LUX season 1 was filmed on her filming hiatus from BE.
Hee! I so don't see me as an Abby though some people do call me that when they know my first name is Abigail. My health teacher from middle school called me Gaby-Abby, heh.
Haha okay :)
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Don't worry about it! I don't have any requirements about how often friends need to update or comment. I know that circumstances change for people, so they're not able to be online because of time or access for some periods of time (just three weeks ago, I was without my laptop for a week because my dog ate my charger and I was going a little stir crazy without my beloved Internet. lol.)
Oh good! Heh. And wow, that must have sucked. Tsk tsk, Dog of marsupials.
I was TV-obsessed from a young age and even had a blank VHS tape for each day of the week,
Niiiiiiiice. I think I had that, too XD
it wasn't until college that we got basic cable, and I became hooked on TNT, USA, etc. lol.
True for me, too. Mom moved into her first apartment (in the time I'd been alive, I mean.. she had apartments before she had me) in November '05, a few months after I started college. TNT and USA are great networks, aren't they?
Then, when I got ~real~ cable like HBO, Showtime, etc. - don't even get me started. Heaven. Absolute heaven. lol.
lolol. I technically don't have ~real~ cable, I'm a naughty pirate even in the US. (Even more awful because it's the industry I want to be in :/ Though maybe a perk when I get in the industry will be free subscription tv.. I know one of my friends who works in the industry -- in Australia, tho -- has that perk.) Though we do have basic cable (Mom, in the US, I mean.. I only get like 3 channels here in NZ.. One, TV3, and C4.. for some reason TV2 doesn't come in.. and TV3 is actually channel 4 and C4 is channel 2.. so odd), we don't have TiVo, so still with the ole VCR (or stream, glad that's starting to take a footing). Though with my habits, I need to DL. When I get a ~real~ job, I'll totally need to get TiVo and the ~real~ cable and Netflix though.
They knew me by name and I collected my receipts (I used to be super OCD, especially about collecting things. lol.) and I got to over 1,000 (and they had three movies on each, usually)
Damn, girl! That's intense.
...Okay, I'm done. Holy cow, a 3-part comment because I rambled so much. You'll probably get used to that, heh. I really need to sleep. It's nearly 5:30am here :/
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TNT and USA are still my favorites even now that I've gotten HBO and Showtime and all that. I mean, I LOVE my Dexter and other shows on those networks, but I definitely watch much more on TNT and USA, and I love the shows they syndicate. They've gotten me hooked on so many shows! lol.
I end up watching most of my shows online just to avoid having to fast-forward through commercials :X lol.
5:30! That's what time my body likes to go to sleep. My natural sleep cycle is to sleep during the day. Always has been. When I was younger, in school, when it hit summer, I would revert to that schedule. I'm always struggling to keep it ~normal~ Just like two days ago, I got back on a good schedule after letting myself slip into, and stay on, my natural, bad sleep schedule.
I love your icon!
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My TV blog is here though I'm debating getting the tvphile.net domain when I'm back in the US (I think tvphile.com is taken) and importing all of my content to there so I have more control on customisation (though still with WP since that seems to be an industry standard) and whatnot. I already have a domain and there's unlimited space on it, so if I get a new domain, I can just link it to my account on that first domain or something. I'm not sure what I'm getting at here, but I think it'd only cost me for the new domain registration and I'd have more control over customising it and showing off more of my web development skills for potential employers and what not. Also tumblr and the second Twitter also have the usernames of tvphile ;) All connected, you see.
TNT and USA's syndications are great, definitely :D
Haha, that is a perk to watching shows online, yes :D
Lol, yeah... it's so weird though. My first few months in NZ, I was actually on a normal sleep schedule for NZ (I think that's because my US sleep schedule was so messed up), like up before 9am and what not. Somehow, I slowly reverted to an insomniac's schedule. Though now that I'm travelling in Australia, my sleep schedule isn't too bad since when I check out of hostels, it needs to be no later than 10am... Though I am not 100% sure how I will wake up for my tour that departs around 630am on Tuesday though.
And I love yours! Tami Taylor definitely wins at life. She's got a really great storyline in season 4 and I can't wait to read your thoughts on it!
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