Today could be summed up in one word – AWESOME! We flew to Hokitika and back on a private flight. I was going to put up 9 photos… as if that is going to be enough.

A few of the photos didn’t turn out as well as expected but who cares. I got to:

• fly in a light aircraft;
• view the Southern Alps from above;
• refuel the aircraft;
• move the aircraft by sheer strength (with help from a couple others);
• walk on the beach; and
• have lunch in Hokitika.

If you ever need to refuel your light aircraft, I highly recommend Avgas 100.

I finished badminton, went for supper at Ancestral, got home, showered, prepared a gift for someone’s birthday, and finally went to bed around 2:15 am.

*slept like a baby*

I was suddenly woken up by violent shaking, and sounds of objects falling over. The unlatched closet doors were making very unnerving noises that is fit for horror movies. It took a while for my sleep-deprived brain to work out what it was—EARTHQUAKE! On the hindsight, my reaction after realising it’s an earthquake is idiotic. I simply laid in bed waiting for the earthquake to stop. It was dark, and it felt like forever. I didn’t even bother opening my eyes. In case you are wondering, the proper reaction should be to get under a door frame, or a sturdy table. In my defense, I didn’t realise the earthquake was that serious. The fact that I was under-dressed that night also contributed to my decision to stay in bed.

After the tremors ended, I got dressed and went to switch on the light to check what had fallen over. Took me a few flicks of the switch before I realise that we had lost power. That’s alright because I had a torch nearby. I opened the door and in the hallway was my flatmate. Luckily I got dressed first. A quick check around the house revealed that there wasn’t much damage at all. In fact, only a few items had fallen over. No breakages. I exchanged a few txt messages with friends about their situation.

I checked my phone to see what time it was. Initially, I thought it’s around 5:40 am. But damn the analog clock. It turns out it’s actually around 4:40 am. At this point, I didn’t realise just how little sleep I’ve had. I guess the adrenaline is making me wide awake.

I can’t possibly go back to bed after such a strong earthquake. My curiosity got the better of me and I decided to wander outside to see if there’s anything interesting. It was really cold. Turned out the power was out in the whole neighbourhood. When I looked up at the sky, it was incredibly clear. The bright stars and the crescent moon was a sight to behold.

I stayed up for an hour in the lounge, beside the door, just in case I needed a quick exit. I now realise just how tired I was. I decided to grab my polar fleece blanket and camped out in the lounge with my flatmate. I had my down jacket on just in case. For some reason, I decided that it’s important to have my camera bag with me. So, I did.

I didn’t get much sleep at all. By now, the sun is already coming up. I decided the lounge floor really isn’t that comfortable and decided it’s safe to move back to my bed.

After a few more hours of not actually sleeping, I decided to head over to my parent’s place. My flat is definitely under-prepared for a disaster. With no radio and power, I felt rather uninformed about the whole situation. The drive from my flat to my parent’s place was quite interesting as none of the traffic lights were working due to the power cut. It’s basically a test of your defensive driving skills. Slow and courteous seems to do the trick. I didn’t see much earthquake damage along the way. There wasn’t much traffic on the road though. I got to my destination without problem.

At my parent’s place, there was no power either; but at least there was a functioning battery-powered radio, tuned to an appropriate radio station. I started getting a better picture of the earthquake damages. I also learned a lot about what to do in an earthquake. Maybe it was more of a refresher, but definitely one I desperately needed. Thankfully, the day is warming up nicely. I was really impressed with how well the cellphone networks performed throughout the whole event. A few of the cell towers were running on backup power but I never lost cellphone communication.

*an unknown amount of time passed*

The street lights came on. Everyone was frantically flipping switches expecting power to be back on. Maybe frantically was exaggerating. Anyway, the power to the house is restored not long after. The first thing we did is to switch on the TV. It was a very strange feeling watching the news. I was really surprised when i saw the full extent of the earthquake damages on the news. The city centre was badly affected.

Christchurch residents are labeled as earthquake victim; which means I’m also an earthquake victim. However, I didn’t feel like I’ve been that badly affected. I mean I was a bit shaken, but I was unharmed and had no property damage. While being an earthquake victim may sound interesting, it really isn’t. The state of emergency meant that we are not allowed to go into the city. We had to cancel our typical lunch plan and prepare something at home instead. Luckily, we use gas cooking so we could still have a cooked meal.

*I was bored, so decided to head back to my flat*

When I caught up with my flatmate, I found out that Chopsticks Restaurant in Fendalton hasn’t been badly affected and was still open for business. We decided to head there for dinner. Partly, so that we don’t stay indoors for the whole day. The place was filled with people, as though the earthquake had never happened.

After dinner, I went back to my parent’s place. I was becoming increasingly aware that I was very much sleep-deprived, having slept around 2 hours in the past 24 hours. I finally decided to head back to my flat to sleep. As soon as my head hits the pillow, I was out like a light.

Yesterday, I went up to Porters to do some snowboarding for the first time this season. Porters is the closest ski field to Christchurch that I’m aware of. Having never been to Porters before, I’m not quite sure what to expect. There has been lots of advice and comments from friends; and most suggested Mt Hutt is better. I decided to check out Porters anyway.

The drive was easy; taking approximately 90 minutes to get to the ski field car park. The access road is in good condition; it didn’t even require snow chain on this particular day, which saved me at least 20 minutes. Admittedly, the facilities are not as good as Mt Hutt. The rental gear looks old. They have T-bars instead of chair lifts. The cafe is smaller, and the car park looks like an organised mess. On a positive note, the crew are great; most of them anyway.

Last year, I did a beginners lesson at Mt Hutt and discovered that I’m goofy. As a refresher, I signed up for a half day beginners lesson. It was NZD 95 for the beginner lift pass, gear rental, and lesson. The lesson went rather well… that is until I have to learn to use the platter lift. There are no platter lifts at Mt Hutt. The platter lift looks easy but I just couldn’t get the hang of it the first few tries. I was not looking forward to keep walking up the slope. I did it once and it was a real workout. Luckily, perseverance and words of encouragement from the instructors and friend paid off. That and a few handy tips. Having the platter between my legs, and putting the bulk of my weight on the front foot with it slightly towards the heel side seemed to work really well for me. This allowed me to keep going up the platter lift and snowboard down the beginner slope almost non-stop for the whole afternoon. It was AWESOME. Other than getting used to the platter lift, I spent most of the time improving my control of the board. Being able to slow down and stop when you want to is surprisingly helpful. It is also great that the board goes where I want it to go; most of the time anyway. Due to where the lesson was conducted on the slope, I ended up having to ride fakie. On the upside, I can now go both directions quite comfortably. I can’t wait to get back up the slope.

I reckon this piece of art, which I acquired while in Australia, pretty much sums up where I am at in life.

I missed the delivery of my Nikon D90 today. This time tomorrow, I should be able to hold it in my hands. Photography seems to be the latest obsession. Last year, it was badminton; and to some extent it still is. I will probably be playing interclub badminton this year. Anyway, I really should be catching up on my assignments.

Evidently, quite a bit. We drove all the way to Kaikoura just to have crayfish. Anyway, the prices have gone up since the last time we had it. It’s now about NZD 40 for a small crayfish; or roughly NZD 80 per kilogram.

I took the opportunity to take a few photographs. It was high tide at the Seal Colony in Kaikoura so we didn’t go out.

I’m currently faced with a dilemma of choosing a lens to invest in. A 35mm or a 50mm fast prime for my Nikon D90 which has yet to arrive. I think I’ll go for the Nikkor AF 50mm f/1.8D. Cheap and great.

For the past six weeks, I have been doing a part-time course on Identity and Access Management. I have also enrolled for a course on Secure Software for the second half of the year. Apart from completing a Postgraduate Diploma, I’m hoping this will provide the opportunity for me to transition into a more security focused career.

I’m currently also searching for a mid-range DSLR camera that will allow me to further my interest in photography. My Fujifilm FinePix S6500fd is just not cutting it for the macro and night photography that I really want to get into. Nikon D90 seems to be my best option at the moment. The camera body plus a couple of lenses are going to set me back at least NZD 2,000; not to mention the list of accessories that I want to get along with it. Now, when are they going to go on sale?

Today started off earlier than usual as I had an early presentation at 7 am. Presentations make me nervous but that wasn’t the worst part of the day.

At 9:45 am, I received an email calling for a company meeting at 10:00 am. If I’ve learnt anything from 3 years of studying history, it’s that history repeats itself. Unfortunately, 27 colleagues will lose their job. Late 2008, the company had axed over 20 staff members. The difference is, I didn’t expect this as the recession is over. The reason this time round? Cost-cutting by shifting development to India and China. Ultimately, all businesses are out to make a profit.

I consider myself incredibly lucky as I’m probably a borderline case. I think the reason I still have a job, for the time being at least, is that I was involved in a project that has been generating quite a fair bit of buzz amongst the clients. While I appreciate the fact that I haven’t been made redundant, I can’t help but think how similar this feels to my experience with the failed investment company, United Finance. I now have over 20,000 shares in Allied Farmers, which have a present value that is about half compared to the value when it was issued to me.

I have been at my current job for just over 4 years. During that time, I’ve shifted desk 4 times, twice of which involves moving to a different building, and one of which involves moving to a different suburb. Occasionally, I can feel the floor shaking under my current desk. I just hope the floor doesn’t collapse under me, both literally or figuratively, at least for the next year. Otherwise, it would really mess up my plans for the year.

The first time was ten weeks ago. I admit I was a bit nervous to start, not knowing what it’s like. I have only seen and heard stories about it. There was a group of us, but everyone else seems to have experienced it before.

Anyhow, ten sessions later, I’m fairly comfortable with it now. I even have a certificate to prove it. Actually, it took only about three sessions to get the basic hang of things. I logged some extra time on my own as well, in order to keep up with the rest of the group. Being the slowest in the group isn’t fun.

I’ve had the occasional falls but nothing too serious. I read somewhere that, if you don’t fall, then you’re probably not progressing as fast as you could. The worst was the time I ran into a little girl and ended up bruising my shin. She fell but was okay, I think. Don’t ask me who’s fault it was cause I rather not dwell on it.

The best advice that I could offer a fellow beginner is:

Make sure your skates fit properly.

I started off with skates one size too big and it made things more challenging than it had to be.

My goal was to be able to perform the backward crossover. However, I still have some way to go yet before I could do that. I still need to work on my backward skating, and balance on one skate before I would dare attempt a backward crossover. However, even though I have not reached my goal, I’m still stoked with the progress to date.

If you’re keen on joining the lessons that Alpine Ice Skate School has to offer, it’s not a bad idea. The ten sessions that I had costed me NZD 135 including skate hire. I appreciated having an instructor to explain how to execute the manoeuvres, and having plenty of space to practice. While you could get a friend to show you the manoeuvres, I find that space is hard to come by. The public sessions are generally quite busy. I might consider going back for more lessons if I can’t master backward crossover on my own. We’ll see.

Beginner’s luck at the Christchurch Casino. I spent NZD 40 and won NZD 70. One of my rule for gambling is stop after a big win, which I did. All the gold coins are perfect for my badminton fees. At NZD 2 a session, it is turning out to be an expensive addiction.

I actually went to the casino for the NZD 6 steak. My medium steak came out dry and well done. You get what you pay for I guess.