I Hate Auction Sites.

Seriously, I do.

I'm selling a pile of our shit on the Kiwi version of Ebay to pare down the crapload of things we have to mail to the US and let me tell you, it sucks. By the time I've ironed, photographed, measured, and written up the description and price requirements and submitted them to be posted, a sizable bite out of an hour is gone. Multiply that by the whole stack of clothing and the time in my day is going by much faster than I'd hoped and they are still not all listed!! Who knew it took so long to post a shirt on one of those bloody sites!?!

Kudos to the people who actually make a living doing this stuff! I'll be so glad when it's all sold and mailed off to the new owners. They'd all better sell damn it.

Especially because I've probably spent more buying stuff off that site recently than I will make selling the clothes! *snort* But it was worth it, I had to have a travel case for the laptop so I was hunting a purse/laptop case combo to make the whole airport juggle a bit easier. I found it! It's red leather, very sexy.

So...anyone wanna come pack up my flat? Hmmm? I'll feed you well (with take-outs). It's warm and sunny here! There's a beach not even 5 minutes away! What's that? The plane ticket is too expensive? *sighs* If only we'd win lotto...

Less than 4 weeks to go! I'd bite my nails but there isn't much left to bite at this point...

That old melancholy feeling.

Tonight we booked one-way tickets to the US. In 5 weeks we'll be saying goodbye to New Zealand and starting anew somewhere in the States.

I know I should be ecstatic about it, but I'm not. All I feel is this deep sense of melancholy. We've been planning to leave NZ since before I even moved here, but now the plans are so permanent and I find myself asking "Why are we moving?". I know all the logical reasons why, I just can't seem to give a shit about them anymore. Who leaves a place that makes them happy for the unknown that could bring them misery? Apparently we do. What the fuck is up with that?

Okay, I'll admit it...I'm scared. Not just a little, I mean I am completely overwhelmed by this huge fear that is sitting squarely on my chest. I think it's having a lovely chat with the neurotic panic and paranoia currently circling 'round in my mind. The two of them are having quite the party with my sanity (what little I have).

I suppose the fact that I've been sick since New Year's with some "tummy bug" (as named by the urgent care doc I saw) that seems more like a tummy gila monster is not really helping the matter any. I haven't been able to take most of my medication so I'm feeling really grand at the moment if you catch my drift.

I have an ENTIRE FLAT FULL OF SHIT to sort, sell off, or pack and ship, but instead of doing that I'm sitting here with this "deer caught in the headlights" dazed look on my face, in between the bouts of hysterical tears.

I've been trying to find my happy place, but I think it's on vacation indefinitely. Probably sunning itself on the same tropical beach as my sanity. Bastards.

The sun is so mean to me...

It is! Yesterday Chris and I drove 2 hours south to Hamilton (a smaller city in NZ) to get a computer that was on clearance for $400 cheaper than originally, and they had one of the only stores left in NZ that had any in stock. Yes, this is what happens when one is married to a computer geek, but I love Hamilton (and this was a perfect excuse to get away from the computer for a day and truthfully, NaNoWriMo *snort*) so I wasn't complaining any!

Hamilton is famous here for "Hamilton Gardens". It's huge, full of gardens representing designs and plants from all over the world. Twice before we've been to Hamilton and managed to run out of time with other things (or end up with shit weather), so when we saw it was supposed to be a clear day we decided to go walk the gardens and take pictures (I'll post them eventually).

Since we were going to be outdoors in the brutal NZ sun, we both doused ourselves with sunscreen and took advantage of the shade when possible. I lucked out and didn't burn at all, so we'll be using that sunscreen all summer! A soak in tepid bath water last night still didn't bring out any burn, so I figured I'd gotten away with the 2-3 hours out in the sun, right? NOPE

Earlier today I noticed my arms felt like they had tiny bumps on them, you know, like I was covered in goosebumps, but they weren't goosebumps? I call it a sun rash. Usually the bumps go away within a week and don't bother me much, but not this time. I'm sitting here itching up a storm and the raised bumps are pinkish and now along the tops of my hands, fingers, cheeks, and upper chest. Basically, anywhere the sun hit. WTF is up with that?

Doctors always laugh when I say sometimes I think I'm allergic to the sun...little do they know how it really is. I've had the rash for years, but this is the worst it's been. I don't think it's the fault of the Plaquenil though because I was on it last year and as long as I was careful about sunscreen and being in the shade as much as possible I only got the rash if I started to burn.

This doesn't bode well for the rest of the summer 'cause the sun will only get more intense as we head into December.

OMG somebody make the itching stop! Alright, I gotta go Google to see if I can find something to help 'cause this is so not cool.

Liberals in NZ are not dancing in the streets tonight...

NZ election results tonight have shown a "changing of the guard" so to speak, not one that the left wing wanted to see though! National has won a substantial portion of the votes and it looks as if the next Prime Minister will be from their party, Prime Minister-Elect John Key.

That doesn't mean much to many people outside the country, but lets just say in a way NZ went in the opposite direction of what the US did earlier this week. Well, with the exception of the fact that like Obama, John Key is a relatively young guy (47) who has been in the national political scene a relatively short time (just 6 years), he's seen as a bit of a centrist, and has energised the National Party this election year. I mean, come on, he used a similar "Vote for Change" mantra.

It's no big surprise really, change was in the air here too, and the Labour Party has been in charge for the last 9 years, so that's the way it goes I guess. *sighs*

Should be quite interesting to see what happens with the National Party in the coming months!

Now it's the Kiwis Turn!

Tomorrow is Election Day here in New Zealand! Chris has been walking around talking about all things Green (being a Green Party supporter), and while I was sitting here Wednesday waiting for polls on the East Coast of the US to close, Chris was off attending a lunch for Green supporters to talk about what the party was aiming to do after this election.

All the election fever has caused a good many interesting discussions between Chris and I about the differences in the election process of each country. I find New Zealand's method of doing things fascinating. Here's a rundown of how this country decides its leaders:

New Zealand uses something called MMP (Mixed Member Proportional) voting. Each person has 2 votes. One vote is the electorate vote--the person who will represent your region (similar to districts in the US). The second vote is the party vote. That's the one that all the political parties court you for, they want that party vote, since the number of party votes they get across the country is directly proportional to the percentage of seats they will control in the House of Representatives (informally also called Parliament). In other words, each electorate votes to decide who will represent them in the House, and the rest of the seats are determined by the party vote.

Those that run for the electorate seat can be of any party (or even no party at all!). So how do the parties decide who will fill the allotted seats that are won in the party vote? They have a party list, which lists the order in which the party will fill the rest of the seats in. The highest slots on the list are as you can imagine, pretty sought after within each party. Each party has their own way of determining the listing order, but it is usually voted on by all its members.

A party has to receive either 5% of the party vote, or at least have one member win his/her electorate seat in order to receive any seats in Parliament at all. The New Zealand House of Reps has 120 seats total (much smaller than the House in the US). Every New Zealander who is eligible to vote MUST register, it's the law! However, the law doesn't require you vote, unlike say....Australia! Still, it is highly encouraged that you vote, and in general voter turnout is really good, the 2005 election had about 81% of eligible voters cast their vote!

Once the election happens and the votes are tallied, the fun begins! Since typically no one party gets 50% of the party vote, the race is on to negotiate an alliance with the smaller parties to make up the majority. This usually involves the two biggest parties in NZ politics (Labour and National) trying to one up each other in order to convince smaller parties (like Green, Maori, Act, NZ First, etc...) that they will provide a better fit for the policies of the party in question. Kind of like, if you join up with us, we'll make it worth your while...;-P This allows the smaller parties to have their voice heard and their main party issues given more consideration by the larger ones, which leads to a more diverse government that is a bit more representative of the vast array of political opinions of New Zealand citizens.

Once a coalition that totals more than 50% of the vote is formed, that's it! The government is then established by the ruling group and they dictate who the cabinet will be, and most importantly, who will be the Prime Minister. Usually the Prime Minister comes from the largest party within the coalition (in other words, from either Labour or National).

Labour is more left wing and National tends to be more right wing, although there have been historical occasions when each of those parties has stepped outside of such labels. Regardless of that, National is still not as conservative as say the Republican party in the US! The more extreme ends of the spectrum are occupied by some of the much smaller parties.

So there you have it! It's a bit more detailed than that, but at least you have the general idea. And if you're an American and reading this post, now you can give yourself props for knowing the election process of another country!! Because lets face it, while the world seems to watch ours, most of us don't pay much attention to the elections of other countries...but we should.