Cinematography from the heart

Happy New Year!

2008-02-09T14:15:00.000+13:00

I started off this new year in Mexico riding motorbikes across the Baja desert! It was an amazing trip and one that I will never forget..... like them all really. We rode from Tijuana in the north to Todos Santos in the south over 13 days cruising through deserts, cactus, rock formations, valleys, over mountains and through rivers and farms. The scenery there was unbelievable at parts and the people were very friendly.

The most memorable things for me.......

The Cactus. They are over 2000 years old each! They don't start growing another arm until they are at least 80 years of age and the ones with multiple arms are really really old.

SCORPIONS! We went to a beach called 'Scorpion Bay'..... called that for a pretty good reason. Every rock you look under has a scorpion under it! This little guy was the biggest we found and it was as big as a 50cent coin. The smaller they are the more poison they pump out.

After the shoot in Mexico I met up with Gerard, Jacquie and Hayley in Los Angeles. We spent 1 day filming a dream sequence and the rest of the time Jake from Steriogram showed us around in his cool van. I went to Universal Studios and have some fun! Brian left me with the motorbike so I spent a week cruising around L.A in style. I cruised Santa Monica beach and then rode up over the Beverly Hills and along Mulholland Drive. It was so much fun and a really nice break. Jado, KC's Cousin let me use his apartment for a few days which was awesome of him!

In other news! I am the proud owner of the new Sony EX1! This camera creates stunning images and I am looking forward to filming a drama with it. We will be filming our next movie on this.

I have finally got my personal website going. I have been uploading photos to that each day and in the next few weeks i should have them all up there. I will try and arrange the gallery and do a little more design on the pages so that they are not so messy. But I don't know anything right now.... it took me 4 hours to add photos.

Right now I am getting back into the groove of a freelance cameraman. I am working on a couple of drama series at the moment. 'Outrageous Fortune' and 'Jacquie Browns Diaries'. I will be learning a lot from each of these jobs and I cant wait to get stuck in.

So thats a quick update from me. There are a hundred things happening at once.

later

lance

Its like i have started a new life.....

2007-12-04T20:04:00.000+13:00

Settling in.....

I have been working non stop since i got back from the earthrace epic. This week alone i have done over 106 hours which is insane really when it is such physical work..... but man, it is fun and i am learning a lot!

Things are going great outside of work.... I moved in to my new flat with Amit on the north shore 2 weeks ago. It has been great living with Amit as we get along so well and also living so close to the city really saves a lot of time travelling each day. The house is situated right next to the wharf in birkenhead and each night the sun sets out over the Waitakere hills. I have 2 baby birds living right outside my window so that adds a bit of wildlife to the scene. A few days ago they started to talk...... hmmm no 'sleep ins' for me on my days off.... if i get them.

I am counting down the days till we go to Mexico..... It is going to be one of the most amazing experiences of my life to date. Just hope that this time i dont get lost in the wilderness because these conditions will be a lot more extreme than the last one.... at least there is no bears this time. In 2 weeks I cruise down to Queenstown for xmas with the family. Tania and Andrew have moved in to a new 1.4 million dollar apartment so that should be a few days of absolute luxury before we cruise the dessert of Baja, Mexico on dirt bikes yeehaa!!

Scott and Alison came over last week to help me out with my photo book of Earthrace. I have just not had the time to finish the book off so Scott will be doing that and it should be available for sale in the next few days. Scott and Ali are absolute legends and its great to have them in NZ.

I have a lot more to write and a few photos that i will load up in the next week or so. right now tho i am going to go to sleep. good night

lance

Back to normal life

2007-10-27T08:26:00.000+13:00

Well. What a trip!

I arrived in New Zealand yesturday after sitting in a plane for 24 hours with complete strangers resting their tired heads on my shoulders and a cute little girl (her entire family was coming to live in NZ) from Namibia, Africa crying and laughing at me all the time. Why is it, and i am sure Amit gets the same thing, that kids ALWAYS look at me and smile and laugh! Do i look radiculous or something? Dont get me wrong, i love it because i love kids but whey do they do that? I was in the supermarket once and this kid of about 2 pointed at me and laughed! hmmm, anyway.....

I've unpacked all my belongings already.... a sign that i have changed because a year ago i would have just left it on the floor in my room to rot. And, being back in New Zealand is a breath of fresh air... literally. During my travels I have now come to realize that New Zealand really is, the nicest place in the entire world to live and that the 4 million people that live here are the luckiest in the world. Just driving home yesturday i had a huge smile on my face because of how beautiful it is here. I am guilty of taking New Zealand for granted over the last few years and its not until you have travelled the world that you realise how amazingly fortunate we are.

Another thing that I have been contemplating over the last couple of months is how the world really needs help. Not just from a few individuals who want to make a difference, but from all of us who are able to. Education of the issues and what we can do to help is the key and I have made my mind up on how i will help but i hope it makes a big enough difference....

I met up with Tania and Andrew who were up from Queenstown. Was really nice to see them again and also, Max. man i missed them! I could'nt believe how much people have changed in the last 10 months! Amit is coming for breakfast this morning so cant wait to see him again. Will post photos up soon.

I plan to get fit again and start playing all my sports again. Will get into the routine of having at least one sport each night if i can.

And i do plan in writing a blog for each country that i was in over the next month or so....

later

lance

Portland, Oregan

2007-08-27T18:28:00.000+12:00

After an amazing time, i have left europe and arrived in Portland, Oregan for my next adventure...... riding across Washington state on dirt bikes!

I met ryan and Brian at the airport last night after a long but relatively stress free flight. Naturally, being in a new city we went out for a quick drink..... which quickly turned in to a few drinks with Thor, one of the guys who is riding with us and who is also a pretty damn good rider..... he was on Jackass 2 and did a complete loop the loop!

Waking up the next day was easier than expected.... a lot easier! considering that, now, because i have'nt drunk much for ages, i get drunk off 2 beers and we downed at least 7 each! Brian and I spent the day getting stuff ready for the trip. Ryan picked up the beautiful Tara from the airport. After a long day of driving around looking for a new stills camera (unsuccessfully) it was time to head back home and actually learn how to ride a motorbike! especially when the trail we are riding is quite difficult in some places.

So, Ryan and I were in the same boat. He had'nt riden a motorbike for 10 years.... and i had only ridden a motorbike once in my life (excluding the amazing ginger moped of course) and was'nt very good at it back then! So, after some great wisdom from Brian it was time to jump on and give it a go. Wearing full body armor and helmet i sat on the bike rearing to go. Unluckily for me i was blessed with short beautiful legs which make it very hard to touch the ground.... so it was a little difficult to even get on the bike at first. Ryan laughed, he has incredibly long legs. I started the bike, cranked it in to 1st gear and away i went.... nervously awaiting the accidental wheelie that could occur from too much throttle, but, to my amazement, I did'nt do that this time! (last time i almost fell off the back of max's bike) Ryan then had a go and took to the bike like a worm to mud.

After some practice Brian decided to take us to a park to learn some skills. But, on the way we were stopped by a guy in a car. I thought he was an off duty cop who was going to tell me off for filming on the back of the bike without a permit... but it turned out he was a wicked wicked guy who wanted to know about camera's. So, after a small chat he took us to his 'boat house' for a beer. The boat house was incredible! amazing in fact! he also had his 42 foot sail boat docked on his deck outside and then had his speed boat down the other side of his house! So tomorrow he has invited us around for dinner and a wakeboard which will be good fun.

Portland really is a beautiful city. This evening i was watching hundreds of geese fly in and land in the river against a stunning sunset of green and blue colors. Took a mental picture because my stills camera is broken so sorry i could'nt share. Maybe they will be there tomorrow.

am in a happy happy mood right now.

Singapore

2007-05-10T23:49:00.000+12:00

I have been really bad at keeping up to date with me blogs..... and it is important for me to keep in touch with a lot of people who read this so I will try my best to keep it going from now on..... it is hard tho.

Earthrace came and left Singapore the other day. Tomorrow, I fly to my favourite country, India which i am extremely excited about. Just have to get my visa tomorrow at 4pm.... flights at 8.15pm...... hmmmmmm...... pushing it but it should be sweet!

The trip so far has just been amazing. The more countries you go to the better they become! It has changed me a lot.... more than anything else ever has..... and i hope it is for the best. The countries we have been to so far have been Panama, Guatemala, Mexico, San Diego, Hawaii, Marshall Islands, Palau, Singapore and now on to India. We are not even half way around the globe and still have the most interesting stops to make! I have shot so much footage and going over it on my laptop makes me confident that this doco will be an extremely interesting watch.

Right now I am mentally exhausted and the travelling and shooting on no money at all is demanding and frustrating. But i love it! My favourite stop so far would have to be Palau. That place has something special about it and is absolutely stunning! I ended up doing some helicopter stuff with Roll em Productions in Palau and seeing it by air is something else! Singapore has been an interesting trip..... the boat left and most of the time i have been stuck inside the hotel room dumping footage, loading footage to TV3, Loading up blogs, loading up photos for my blog, loading up hi res photos, editing b roll footage, editing footage we shot of earthrace at the marina and sending emails, footage logging... so now i can go outside and see Singapore.

Marshall Islands was nice but very small. There was one road from the airport to the other end of the island. The island is shaped like a horse shoe and is only 100metres wide at the most! The marshallese are beautiful and friendly people. I went for a walk one evening at dusk and took photos of the local kids. There is a really nice feeling of community there which i dont think i have experienced anywhere else. Each night all the locals meet up and have games of volleyball, basketball and sing songs.... I wanted to join in but did'nt know what they were singing lol....

Hawaii was amazing also. The scenary of Maui's volcano's and the deep blue water. We cruised up the tallest volcano at dawn to watch the sunrise.... it was so disorientating because it looked like a little hill, yet it took 1.5hours to drive up it! and at the top the view was amazing! There was a weird cloud in the sky that looked like jet vapour... It was actually steam from a meteorite that flew accross the sky as we drove up. I got a great shot of the steam going over the horrizon. I also went whale watching and met Mele who was the greatest guide in the world! I hired a helicopter to go out and film earthrace coming in.... It was so worth spending the money because I got some pretty cool shots of earthrace flying through the water and dodging whales... that helicopter crashed a week later.

I am about to go and have one last drink with Joan, Angie, Arion and Rama who are the coolest bar staff ever! I am sad to say goodbye to them actually.....

Will post a photo of them on my next blog....

lance

Miami - Panama

2007-03-11T03:32:00.000+13:00

Wow, what a blur the last couple of weeks have been!

We arrived in Panama on Wednesday 7th March at night...... The first thing i was thinking after leaving the airport is how much some of the smells of Panama remind me of India.... but not half as strong. The other thought that was running through my head apart from the wind (head hanging out window) was how many photos i am going to be taking throughout this whole trip! I know it was a random thought but when you see Panama, you will know what i mean..... it is stunning in some places!

Before i go onto Panama tho.... i had better fill in on a little of the time in Miami....

Im my last blog i mentioned...o gotta go... update later

Kinder. Children. Bambini

2007-02-26T06:39:00.000+13:00

'Kinder. Children. Bambini' - The book that was published with my photos in it is now available to order on the internet.....

Please go to www.avisys.at and order it!! All proceeds go to AMREF - www.amref.org - (African Medical Research Foundation) and www.sos-kinderdorfinternational.org which help provide medicines and build housing and schools for orphaned children.
It is a great cause and only costs 30 euros which to us is nothing, but to them is huge!

We are sitting in our hotel room on Miami Beach..... The room kinda smells at the moment and we are struggling to find the cause of it! We have the incense burning and all the windows open so that should fix it........ hopefully. All of us are on our laptops working right now..... trying to find sponsors, flights, organize fuel, accomodation etc etc.....

This morning i went and took some photos of the sun rising over the ocean....... Definately a good start to the day and will TRY and do that each morning whilst we are staying here. you really do meet some strange people in the early morning hours which is always uplifting. Yesturday i went for a walk along the beach for a while to gather my thoughts. The thing i loved the most, apart from topless women running towards me, was how multicultural it is here....... even more so than New Zealand. There were people from every continent all swimming together and just having a great time.... Its hard to imagine that happening 100 years ago.......... Here is a photo of the sunrise this morning:

and just a random that i liked:

John just farted......

I found a piece of music on the internet yesturday that really inspired me to be a cameraman as a kid........ Its called 'Cadillac of the skies' by John Williams and was on the movie "Empire of the Sun" - an amazing movie. So have been listening to that song a lot whilst trying to install software on my computer..... a lengthy process..... and john just farted again.

Since spanish is the main language for a few of the locations we are going to, Alison and Scott are going to try and teach me...... I will also try and download some lessons off the internet some time soon. gonna go get some cuban lunch.......

Adios!

www.earthrace.net - Go there!!!

2007-02-22T20:01:00.001+13:00

Yoga! I am now completely hooked on it. Devann, Ryan and I went to a free lesson kindly donated to the Earthrace crew by Jeffrey and Andrea (www.satsangyoga.com) and we had a blast! Some of the moves that you have to do are amazing and completely impossible for short ginga's with stiff muscles! But, the next morning Devann and I went back for a new session and I could really feel the difference in flexibility and my body did feel a lot better...... So have decided to take up Yoga when I get back to NZ or wherever i end up next.

After 3 weeks it was a real shame to leave Charleston..... especially since we had made so many friends there..... but, everything has to end some time so last week Devann and I had to drive from Charleston, South carolina to Miami......... A good 10 hour drive. It is pretty fun driving on the wrong side of the road and some of the rules are a little different which can be confusing. On the way down we stopped off at a pretty cool cafe to get a much needed Chai Latte...... and it was the best i have had in the USA so far. We then went to a town called St Augustine which is the oldest town in the USA. We had dinner and then strolled around town for a while....... St Augustine is definately my favourite place in the US so far.......

We arrived in Miami last week and set up for the Miami Boat Show. I was walking some stuff down the pontoon to the boat and in the corner of my eye, in the sea, I saw a couple of huge brown things drifting up towards the surface of the water. The first thought that pooped into my head (haha) was "they are whale turds!" because I really did'nt know what they were...... and then i realised that it was a female Manatee and its son, daughter, foul, calf, kitten, pup, puppy, cub......... I dunno, lets just say baby! So i was pretty happy for a few hours after that...... Check out this photo of the whal...... Manatees.

Jiye came down from Houston for 6 days during the boat show. Was great to see her again..... Most of the time we spent at the boat show. We only had half a day to ourselves and ended up walking down the beach a long way, climbing palm trees, shopping and holding a wicked python! Check out some of these photos:

- Jiye chases the seagulls

- Miami beach has stunning water

- Trying to get coconuts

- The coolest snake in the world!

We went out to a couple of bars for a couple of nights and had some cocktails. The music was wicked and I absolutely love the metal drums everywhere! One crazy thing i noticed i have been doing since in Miami is humming the theme tune to Police Academy 5!! Crazy i know but that movie pretty much was all i knew about Miami.

Earthrace left for Puerto Rico a couple of days ago... so now the ground crew is completely official. Me, Devann, John, Scott and Alison all stayed in a hotel in Fort Lauderdale which is just north or Miami. Devann left us yesturday which was sad but we will see her in San Diego. Devann and I also went for a swim in the ocean the other night which was wicked! Want to keep doing that from now on as every place we go to during the race is on or near the equator.

We are looking at leaving for Panama city soon which i am very excited about!!!!!!!

Here is a couple of random photos i have taken during the last couple of weeks......... enjoy:

- Earthrace cruises Chareston

- Beautiful sunset

- Miami city at night

- Guy thinks im a freak as i put a little too much sun block on

- Charleston port

- Devann and I keep warm on top of Earthrace

- Earthrace sits peacefully at the Miami boat show

- Jiye took this stunning photo of some random handsom man

- Team Earthrace!!!

Starlight

2007-02-06T03:31:00.000+13:00

In a bit of a daze and could'nt think of a good title to call this blog so I just wrote down the name of the song I cant stop listening too by Muse....great song!

The samurai sword fighting skills are improving a lot. I look forward to the faceoff when Devann gets back. Especially with this move:

It feels like I have been in the States for at least 1 month but it has only been 2 weeks so far.... Things are going great and the boat is well on its way to getting back in the water on time which is great because we then have a couple of days in Charleston at the Aquarium taking people out on the boat and raising money / awareness of biodiesel. We get to visit the aquarium for free and go to the local Imax which is showing a movie about New Orleans so am looking forward to that....

The other night, Jessie, a local boatbuilder had us over for oysters and beers (good mix) and we stood around the fire in his back yard...

And then last night Phil, Ryan and I went to his house again and he cooked us crab legs and corn.....delicious!
Guy, a local boatbuilder also, brought his guns to work yesturday :) I liked haha. I still find it quite weird to know that almost everyone in this state has guns, and big ones at that! Some time in the next few days we are going to have some target practice.

8 days ago we all had Saturday morning off and played bullrush..... I was being pretty carefull as there is no way I wanted to break my thumb again.... but, instead of hurting my thumb I ended up getting smacked in the jaw pretty hard. I was in quite a bit of pain for around 5 minutes and then the natural morphene the body produce's kicked in haha. A week later now, and I can hardly move my jaw without intense pain shooting from my left ear, all the way around my head and back to my left ear.... so, in a nutshell, it feels like my head is stuck in a vice constantly and it is a pain in the neck to eat haha! I look on the brightside tho because when you feel pain, it makes you feel human, plus it should get better soon.... it has to.

We had a fundraiser the other night and played Ryans documentary in front of around 70 people. The night was really fun and we all met, yet more amazing people. This world is full of em and its inspiring when you actually get to meet them! The doco had a great reception but I found it so funny that a lot of American's cant understand kiwi accents hahaha! I could hear people behind me saying "what is he saying".... And if you look on one of the blogs on the earthrace site there is some pretty funny footage of this lady giving an interview to Pete and continually asking him to "slow" his accent down.

Watched my first Superbowl last night! I have only ever seen little bits of American Football in movies and occasionally the odd clip on the internet of a player either scoring an amazing touchdown or breaking his leg or neck... So I found it a very interesting game to watch, tactically speaking. When you dont know the rules it looks like they are idiots and most of the game you would spend telling them to pass the ball like a rugby ball and also thinking that, if the allblacks played American Football they would kick a@%! But, I had the rules explained to me last night and now realise how the game is played.... and i love it! Still not too sure why they wear such tight pants tho.

Lance

On a bit of a down note..... My stills camera decided to stop working a couple of days ago.....So i may not be posting any artistic photos anymore.....It still works on auto tho....just..... I really do feel like I have lost an arm or something!

Earthrace - day..... I lost count :)

2007-01-29T18:35:00.000+13:00

Im just sitting at the kitchen table, its 12.30 am and I am knackered. Jason and Pit are watching TV and everyone else is in bed. Its been a long few days but a really fun ones at that.

Today we played football and bullrush. We had kiwi's versus American's..... and I must say, we really kicked their butts haha! I got smacked in the jaw pretty hard and am having some trouble moving it at the moment.... should ease up tomorrow...... and also my thumb (the one I broke years ago) is playing up quite a bit...... guess I'm not as fit and young as i used to be lol!

We hit the town on friday night and had a blast! We ended up at a really cool bar that played live gospel and blues music! Met a lot of cool people including Blaine and his wife who looked exactly like Jessica Simpson and who are marine biologists (my childhood dream).

Got some cool photo's today of us flying through the air.... will post later.

Bobo, from Alabama, took us out to dinner tonight and we had a typical American dinner. I can't believe how big the plates are here!! No wonder the USA has a huge obesity problem.

Devann and I are learning how to fight with Samurai swords (ok, not real ones.... she made them today out of plastic pipeing but did a pretty good job).... She is half japanese and seems pretty nifty with the sword so I better get some practice in when she is'nt looking.

Tomorrow I should be editing some of the stuff i have done so far and then Devann and I may sit down and do some stuff for the website.

I better get to bed..... an soooo tired!

Earthrace Day 3

2007-01-27T09:00:00.000+13:00

This morning i watched the DVD on earthrace that Ryan had shot, directed and produced. Was a really good watch and I am even more excited about working on this project now. Just to be involved is awesome!

I took the starboard rudder off the boat today and had to dig a hole 4 feet deep into concrete in order to get the rudder out. Anthony and Dan helped so it only took us all day haha! After working on the boat for a few hours we all cruised to the boat yard down the road for a drink. Daniel Hightower (love his last name.... reminds me of Police Academy) took me for a spin on this!!!.....................

It is one of the coolest motorbikes I have ever been on! This thing almost ripped my face off when he took off and believe me... I was holding on for my life! Well.... until I went past the camera haha!

We were going around 50 miles per hour on two wheels when this photo was taken.... When i got off the bike my hands were shaking quite a bit.

After that excitement we went to Jessie's house and he showed us the back yard. He's going to take us hunting some time in the next couple of weeks to get either deer or pig. Have to watch out for aligators.... time to wrestle one... better get it on film.

Driving home there was a pretty cool sunset over the lake.....

Pete and I had to cook dinner tonight... The deal is, we each have a partner and the worst couple at cooking have to run around the block naked! Everyone so far has done AMAZING meals consisting of fresh salmon from Alaska, amazing red thai curry and suculant taco's from Mexico...... and then...... Me and Pete's sausage surprise. Unfortunately, we burnt the main dish of sausages so instead of being delicious, it tasted like it was charcoal haha! So, me and Pete are preparing to run around the block in the nude next week....

After dinner we hit the town. The girl to guy ratio here is 8 girls to 1 guy haha! It's pretty funny for me, Ryan and Pete who are taken haha. We went to one bar which was just like the movie Coyote Ugly which i thought was pretty cool. All these cowgirls dancing on the bar!

Overall it was a really cool day....

Earthrace day 2

2007-01-25T12:40:00.000+13:00

Went to the boat yard today to work on the boat....

Check out the coolest boat in the world!!!!

Helped Phil put on a shelf on top of the boat to stop water coming into the cabin when it goes through the waves. Its quite fun helping out on the boat.

Ryan arrived last night so me and him will start working on the doco tomorrow and organising stuff like flights, gear etc etc. The camera that he is using and hopefully I will be using if we get sponsorship is amazing! Love it.... We just got back from the gym. We are starting to run and get fit for the race and generally just running around.

Check out this photo I took at Phili airport..... It was just like christmas again!!

It was snowing but was'nt very cold. I could probably wear a t-shit outside and still be quite warm..

We all went out to a coffee shop last night which was filled with women and chihuahua's! Wish i had my camera because it would have been a chihuahua feast!

lance

Earthrace - Day 1

2007-01-24T17:55:00.000+13:00

Today was a busy day....

Woke up early for the boat yard. Jumped on the Earthrace boat... which is INSANE!!
It is the coolest boat i have ever seen and to be able to work on it is just a wicked experience. It is twice as big as i thought it was.

We drove the boat up the Estuary in South Carolina. I was filming Pete shaving his head and just looked into the wake the boat was making and saw a heap of dolpin which was cool. There were also lots of pelican which are amazing birds. As we were driving we went past a naval military base and we then got asked to move on and were escourted by boats with machine guns, was pretty cool. One things for sure,,,,, I cant wait to go on the boat from Miami to Barbados! It will definately be a endurace trip.

We arrived at the other boat yard where the boat was then lifted out. Was a nerve racking experience for everyone, especially Pete. It definately was'nt the easiest boat to dock what with the tide moving pretty quickly and the boat being 25 metres with no bow thrusters. But in the end it all went to plan and we spent the whole day clearing out the boat and down in the engine room. I have oil on my shoes and fell into the motor haha! Wasted my knee (which now has a huge lump on it) and got a couple of cuts, was'nt too bad tho.

Ryan arrived back tonight from New York with a meeting with Discovery Channel... fingers crossed its all go.

Im pretty tired now and have huge day tomorrow.

Lance

Earthrace - Charleston, South Carolina

2007-01-23T17:10:00.000+13:00

So the Earthrace begins.....

After travelling for around 43 hours, we have arrived in Charleston, South Carolina...

It truly has been the most amazing trip so far... and its only just started! I have met so many people on this trip so far and every single one of them has been amazing!

Our travels consisted of

5 hours - Auckland to Tahiti (3 hour stop off)
8 hours - Tahiti to Los Angeles (8 hour stop off)
1 hour - Los Angeles to Sunny San Diego! (8 hour stop off)
4.5 hours - San Diego to Philidelphia (1 hour stop off)
50 mins - Phili to Charlotte (1 hour stop off)
1.2 hours - Charlotte to Hilton Head Island, South Carolina
4 hours - drive to apartment in Charleson, South Carolina

So, as you can see, it was a bit of a long trip. But, the people we met... man! In San Diego, we had our dinner and drinks brought for us by an amazing couple Andy and Roxanne from San Diego.... thankyou so much guys! you rock! I also met and became friends with Huanhuan from China, Chuck from Orlando, Jaxin from Florida, Connie in San Diego and also Jessie from North Carolina..... I love America already!! Everyone is so friendly!!!

The boat gets lifted out tomorrow morning and then we start work on it... I will be filming bits of it but also working on the drive shaft... should be interesting but i am a fast learner. Devon and Ryan cooked an amazing dinner tonight consisting of tacos and salad and also a bowl of beans that looked like poo haha. Tomorrow, everyone is giving up something or doing something to change their lives in some way..... John and Devon (Yoda) are going on a cleansing diet which sounds interesting... may join them in that.

Overall its been a perfect start to whats going to be an amazing trip... Cant wait to see whats in store for tomorrow!

lance - out

Pohutakawa

2006-12-14T21:06:00.000+13:00

Its been a while...... not because i've been busy, but because i am lazy.... I am sorry for those of you who actually read my blogs.

So, I have been pretty busy lately. Where do i begin......

Bought a webcam today and used it for the first time, which was great haha. It just brings two people a lot closer. It is hard not seeing, for months, the person you care for more than anything else in this world. The webcam just makes you feel like you are almost together in the same room (kind of).

Just thought i would mention that all the Pohutakawa flowers have come out early. Which means its going to be a great summer!

In my spare time I have been learning photoshop, Avid Express Pro and Dreamweaver 8. Lets just say it has probably been the biggest learning curve of my life so far. I've designed my personal website which will hopefully be active in the not too distant future. I've also been working on a lot of my photos for the website to try and get a good portfolio. Need to travel a lot more tho. Will definately look into photography more as a career backup as well.

Had my sisters hen's night last weekend which was a fun experience and have the stag night this weekend in Paunui which is a good 2 hours drive south of Auckland. Me and Max (lil bro) and Kyle had to be the servants for the evening. The wedding is on the 30th december so everyone is frantically getting ready for that. I personally can't wait to get dressed up and have our two familys come together.

Work has been coming along nicely with a few days of freelance work creeping into my life slowly. Its been pretty good for this time of year too so next year is looking like it will be busy. Most of my work for the remainder of the year will be with Sky 1 filming a cheerleading idol kinda show which will be fun. Applied for a job on 2 feature films in January so i pray I get that job as it would be a huge career boost.

gonna go work on my website a bit more now

lance

Pre Five

2006-11-10T15:52:00.000+13:00

Just getting ready for the weekend of filming the independant horror "Five" in the bush, west of Auckland. We are staying in a cool hut in the middle of nowhere for 2 nights which will be fun! Im expecting some pretty scary ghost stories to be told so Im taking a few pairs of gruds haha.

So life is slowly getting back to normal after a strange 8 months of not having a proper home. Just got to find myself some freelance work and should be back in the flow of things.

Got my suit for Tanias wedding a few days ago and I like it haha! Will post some pics from the wedding up in a couple of months.

Next week I gotta meet up with some friends I hav'nt seen for ages which will be cool. Just like old times again. Its been a great experience being overseas for so long because you really understand a lot of things and once you get back you know what your prioritys are.

anyway, i better go finish packing my stuff.

till next week............

Good to be home!!!

2006-11-03T22:59:00.000+13:00

Yes, its true.............. I have finally made it back home and I must say......... New Zealand, I really missed you!!!!!!

The first thing I noticed was the traffic haha. I was driving in rush hour traffic yesturday and I thought the roads were empty compared to London! I found myself laughing because I used to think traffic in Auckland was bad.

Spent a few hours sitting in the sun yesturday working on a shot list for our next movie. I could'nt concentrate too well tho because of the sea and the sound of the waves on the pebbles down below. There is nothing better than sitting there, looking over the water and just listening and having the sea breeze brush against you. I sat out there a tad too long because I got burnt. Having burnt nipples is quite a weird sensation.

Filming starts the day after tomorrow so I am going to be pretty busy for the next 2 and a half weeks. Will update when i can.

Anyway, im off to bed.

lance

South Korea!

2006-09-30T10:07:00.000+12:00

Im back from a truly divine time in Korea!!

The place we stayed at was paradise on earth! We stayed in a valley hidden by mysterious mountains. Even if you were a local you still would have no idea this place existed! There were waterfalls and the most delicious grapes, apple trees, pear trees that you could imagine!! The wildlife up there was pretty cool too. Me and some mates from LA went out one morning to see what we could find..... Frogs, Toads, leach's and every kind of insect imaginable. At night, to make things even better, the sky was filled with fireflys down the valley!! SIGH, now Im back in London, speaking engrish and the only wildlife here is the scrawny foxes (which i love) and cats and dogs haha, oh and cant forget the beautiful pigeons. Send me back!!!

One day we went to a high school and university event and were the special guests haha! There were 10,000 students there! All the students organised every kind of game imaginable for us to play so we spent a good couple of hours playing with them. My personal favourite was making paper airplanes and throwing them through a small heart about 5 metres away (im such a kid!). If you got it in you would get a free icecream haha. By the time it took me to get my plane through the heart a huge crowd had gathered to cheer me on, so funny!! I finally got it on around my 20th attempt, your meant to have just one go :), special treatment. Korean icecream is the BEST! hhmmm. It was definately one of the coolest nights of my life which will be in my heart forever and it was like i had known all of them all my life. It reminded me of the time i was in India when all the Indians lined up for a photo with me at a fort in Hyderabad because they all wanted photos with me because of my hair colour haha! I did'nt mind tho :) I guess i should expect it when I go to countries when all the people have black hair huh.

On the last day we all travelled to Seoul. We went up Seoul Tower to see the view which was spectacular! We then went to Coex Aquarium which was pretty cool. Stuck my hand in a tank filled with doctor fish which clean wounds and heal you. It was one of the most weird sensations i have felt so far. They all flock to your hand and suck and man does it tickle!!!

I will try and post some pics of Korea soon. Come home in about 4 weeks now!! I cant wait. I was only meant to be away for 3 months! Ended up being 8 months!

O yeah! Cant forget the food! Korean food is now my fav, it was delicious!!!! I love Kimchee!!!! (think thats how you spell it)

Lance

I took the red pill and now I see

Al Basrah - South Iraq

2006-08-31T06:30:00.000+12:00

Finally the trip to Iraq has been and gone after waiting for a few months of suspence, now it is over.

Im home safely after one of the most amazing experiences of my life to date. I will try and keep this blog short.

We flew to Qatar from Brize Norton air base in Oxfordshire. We then flew with the british soldiers to Iraq in a Hercules which was WICKED! Was a little bit nervous but more excited whilst on the Herc. The scariest part was flying into Basrah and all the lights on the plane going off. It was pitch black and all I could hear was the muffled sounds of the propellors due to my ear plugs. The only available light source was shining in from the city lights of basrah through the one window and striking the soldiers scared faces, moving up and down, side to side as the Herc banked over the city. We were all wide eyed and sweating with our body armor and helmets on. We arrived, had a briefing and was shown to our tents. The soldiers said that we probably would'nt get mortared as they had'nt come under attack for ages. But..... 10 minutes later, whilst having a cool drink in the mess hall, the director and i heard the explosion. Then the sirens went off and we had to put on our helmet and body armor and run for cover. It was pretty scary the first night. It was my first real feeling of fear and i thought to myself "what have i got myself into!!!!". Luckily tho, that was the only fear I had the whole trip.

Me at the helicopter base.

Those things are so cool!

The first day we went out on patrol to visit the marsh arabs. Was very exciting to get out of the base and meet the local people. We met the local Sheik who was in charge of 30,000 people. Was an amazing experience.

I know what your thinking! Such a geek..... goes to Iraq and takes photo of dragonflys! But, i really dont care haha.

The temperature was pretty warm but it did'nt effect me as much as i thought it would. The heat really does suck the energy out of your body, so at each meal i was eating about 3 times as much as i usually would. Jon, my director probably thought i was a pig but i lost 3 kg's for the whole trip!! I think the temperature one day was about 52 degrees celcious, quite warm. There was one stage when i was literally lying in a pool of water on my stretcher. You have to keep drinking ALL the time or you get tired and dehydrate.

The wildlife there was pretty cool!! There were Turtles, Bats, Camel Spiders, Dragonflys, mosquitos, Camels and a lot more creatures. Only saw one camel spider which attacked the two soldiers we were talking to. But it was just a baby and got squashed by one of the soldiers boots. I could'nt believe how fast those half spider, half scorpion beasts were tho!!! and the soldiers were pretty scared of them haha. dont blame them!

There is soo much to write about but i just don't have much time. So, overall the experience in Iraq was amazing and has changed me in a lot of ways. At the end i really did'nt want to leave and if i get asked to go again i will probably say yes.

Since i have been back, my life in England has changed a little too. The day after i got back i took a train to the south coast of England to film the acceptance speech of the winner of the "Lucie Awards" which is the oscars for photography. What a beautiful old couple they were and such an inspiration! Its funny because most documentary photographers / cameramen all have the same personalitys. I got along really well with him (cant name him yet) and his wife and his work was just unbelievable. It really made me begin to itch because i wanted to travel and take photos again!!

When i got back to London i was stuck out of the house for a few hours and being so tired and such a nice day i decided to go and have a nap on the park bench. I fell into a deep sleep and when i awoke i got a pretty big fright! This cute little cat was streched out on my belly purring! I named him Hercules to remember the trip.

Yesturday i met THE funniest old man i had ever met! We started chatting at the bus stop and i just could'nt stop laughing. The stuff he told me about London life was just gold! I have to do a documentary about this guy. That is my main aim before i leave for NZ.

My next big adventure is in a couple of weeks. I am going to South Korea on the 10th Sep for 11 days which I cant wait!!!!

will update later

lance

New beginnings

2006-08-17T07:29:00.000+12:00

Its been a long time since i last posted. Not because i have been lazy or slack, but because basically i needed time away from everything. I was searching for something...... So....... I am calling this post "New Beginnings". Im not changing the way i live or anything, im just looking at this trip as kind of a new start and new outlook on life, and you can expect more posts from now on :)

Its been a week of quite intense emotions and changes, will write more about it next week. I went to Wimbledon library last week to use the internet and had to wait for 30 mins so i got a book and studied for a little bit. As i sat down with my book, Belle and Susan (two koreans) who were sitting across the table randomly smiled and asked me to play badminton that weekend with some of their friends. I was kind of shocked because 1. I am addicted to badminton and havent played it for almost 6 months! and 2. People in London just dont randomly smile and talk to strangers!........... So, of course, i said yes!! Unfortunately, it was pouring that day........ so we met in Wimbledon and i was willing to play in the rain (Thats how desperate I was to play!!) but they took me to meet their friends and we played table tennis and foosball (Two other loves of mine muwahhahaha!!). The atmosphere was amazing and I really felt like home instantly. Met a lot of beautiful and friendly people and have suddenly made a lot of good friends. Its such a contrast in feelings when you lose someone special, for now (had to say goodbye to Cristal on monday) and then suddenly gain good friends... its kind of weird how life always links up like that. Makes you wonder...

The last couple of days I've been walking around london taking photos to be used as backgrounds in a music video. Has been quite nice walking around taking artistic photos..... something which I have to admit, has been lacking lately....... Photography clears my mind.

Heres a kind of artistic and scary view of big ben..........

And yes,,,,,,,,, it is out of focus on purpose! Looks like a water painting and when you see it as a bigger photo it has soothing qualities. HAHAHA "Soothing qualities!!" Im such a geek!

And for those of you who miss me, here is the latest photo of me that Maryam took for her new website www.artclubfilm.co.uk with which i am involved with now. Its still under construction.

Well the photo wont seem to upload at the moment so heres my face anyway:

:)

This week is going to be very busy work wise so i will probably be uncontactable for the remaining week and may not be able to check my emails due to internet cafes closing early. I get a days break on the 26th tho so if you want to contact me i am free then.

I better leave it at that for now. Just want to say thankyou to everyone who has been there for me so far. Bye for now

lance

A felicitous life!

2006-07-15T21:27:00.000+12:00

I have now come to the conclusion that for some reason, I have no idea why, I have extremely good fortune in life. Maybe it was the month i was born in, maybe its because i have strawberry blonde hair or the fact that god feels sorry for me for looking like a leprechaun, but right now, I have been having some pretty good karma!!

Flu and Natural History Museum

2006-03-31T03:48:00.000+12:00

Been recovering from a bad cold that turned into the flu over the last 4 days. Heres a question, why does snot keep coming even after you have just blown your nose!!!!!!! Its really quite annoying. Im pretty sure its from that night in Edinburgh. Poor Ollie, I must have spread the germs around the flat and given it to him haha. Im really lucky i had a couple of days off this week. Have the most important interview of the doco tomorrow so i am really looking forward to that. Make sure you watch 3 news over the weekend / monday to see our stuff. Will try not to get my reflection in the glass cabinet this time :)

Since i spent the last couple of days in bed and i was feeling a little better today i decided to check out the Natural History Museum and to make things even better they had the Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition on!! I was very excited because i have been following most of the entries for about half a year, so to actually get to go to the exhibit was really cool. There are some amazing photos there! I think i am going to enter this years competition so will start getting some photos ready for my application. I still cant believe i almost deleted my best photo! If your interested in some of the photos at the exhibit go and check this site out www.nhm.ac.uk/wildphoto/ Some of the photos really are inspiring.

The Natural History Museum is amazing! There is so much to see and do. I spent about 5 hours there and i still had'nt seen about half of the museum. The amount of fossils and dinosaurs are incredible and it made me feel like i was a little boy again. They have this giant Tyranosaurus Rex robot and it is so real! At least, i thought it was life like, no one really knows tho do they haha. Some of the kids where having heart attacks which bought out the evil side of me because it made me laugh :) Until i got an evil eye from one of the kids mothers. They also have almost every creature on earth in pickle jars! The one animal they did'nt have was a human! I may donate my body to be pickelled when i die, they could'nt get a more perfect specimen than that haha, that would be so wierd. The one animal that freaked me out being pickled was a sheep, poor bugger. They also had a life sized replica of a blue whale (but not in a pickle jar). HUGE! and it weighs exactly 1463 times my weight! Which was a shock to me because i found out i have gained 4 kg's since being here haha. If you don't know, there is a saying among kiwis here that when you come to London, everyone gains 7 kg's. Its because of the pub culture and the pub food. So only 3 more to go for me. I think i can achieve that in a couple of days. My plan for the day was to go to the Photographers Gallery after the Natural History Museum but will have to save that for another day. Its meant to be amazing tho.

This weekend me, Ollie and Poos are going to do a spring clean of the flat. We have suddenly been attached by an army of ants armed with the shear determination to make our live misserable. Little shizers! So on sat morning we attach back armed with mops, sponges, flannels, a hoover (vacuum cleaner for kiwis), and Mr Muscle! Not to mention our brains and brilliance. We should be able to win the war. If we don't then we must be pretty dumb because ants brains must be at least quarter of the size of a grain of sand! We are having a dvd night tomorrow night too. My friend Jessica arrived in London yesturday so will meet up with her soon. Plus, Karman (friend from school) is arriving in a couple of days too so will hook up with her also. The weather here is getting a lot warmer now so i am thinking i will start going for runs and maybe start swimming each morning if i have any time. I always write in my blogs i will start exercising but do i ever follow through, no. But this time i have some encouragement because Kiera Knightley lives down the road haha. Maybe i will run into her one morning by accident :). In the flat Ollie put up a bar to do chin-ups. Back in the school days i used to be able to do 30 proper ones easily, now, the most i've managed to do in one go is only 8! So before i leave for NZ again my goal is to achieve at least 9 haha.

Gonna go and cook some dinner now, Or maybe i will get the chinese guy down the road to cook it for me :) haha, so lazy but his food lasts for about 2 days and it is so good so its worth it.

Adios,

Lance

Scotland

2006-03-26T21:44:00.000+12:00

Update:

The doco is going well. We have interviewed a few more amazing people recently including the Francis Fukuyama who is one of the worlds leading acedemics or meant to be THE worlds leading acedemic. So i am learning a hell of a lot. We took the train from London waterloo to Edinburgh on Saturday night. Was a nice trip on the train and got to see a lot of the countryside. It was nice passing through tiny farming villages. They are really pretty and are basically all layed out the same. You have the church in the centre of town, some houses surrounding the church, then the local shop and the local pub and thats it. We arrived in Edinburgh at 8pm and found some accomodation. John went and met a friend for dinner and then i went to town in search for dinner. Whilst in town this girl (Mei) comes up to me and randomly asks me out to dinner which was great because i knew nobody. So we went to this Thai buffet restaurant and had all you can eat, i was starving! Now i have a friend in Scotland.

After dinner i went back to the hotel. I ended up going to bed at about 1.30, woke up at 3 and could'nt sleep at all and there was no way i would get any sleep so i decided to walk around Edinburgh at about 3.15 in the morning. It was pouring with rain and freezing, plus i had a pretty bad cold but i loved it! I walked from my hotel, down town, around the castle, up through the alley ways to Edinburgh castle which is on top of the hill, then down to the other side of town. The walk took about 2.45 hours and then i did the whole thing again! I kinda felt like Forest Gump when he goes for a run for a couple of years and dos'nt stop. I just did'nt want to stop walking. Although i did have a little lie down in a bus shelter haha. The alley ways leading up to the castle were wicked! The wind and rain was howling through and around the buildings and it was pitch black, talk about scary! I found myself looking over my shoulder quite a few times haha. It was just so silent because there was absolutely no one around! On my walk i came across this graveyard. The first time i passed it it was dark. the chain around the gate had been cut so i was going to go in. But i chickened out :( Luckily i did because i was told the next day that that graveyard was actually famous for having a poultergeist that actually hurt people so that why it was chained up, to keep people from danger! The second time i passed it the sun had just risen so i went inside to have a look. It was a very scary feeling even before i knew it was haunted. Some of the graves where from the 14th century! I took a couple of pictures but will post them in the next couple of days.

I got back to the hotel at 9am and had breakfast. John and i then went and looked around during the day and shot another interview. We then caught the 7pm train back to London. I must have looked like a zombie by the time i got home and basically collapsed onto my bed! Overall it was a great weekend and i really made the most of my time in Scotland.

Today it is Julias birthday so we had a birthday dinner and a few wines. If you want to get rid of a cold have a couple of nice wines, it does the trick :) although i may not be saying that tomorrow morning ha. I get to sleep in tomorrow and then have an interview tomorrow afternoon. We are heading back up to Scotland next week and then i go away for a little bit. I will try and post a few more photos later this week. HA, this blog took me ages to write because whilst im typing i am watching the A-TEAM!!!! I pity the fool!!!

Lance

Aldershot and war protest

2006-03-19T10:44:00.000+12:00

Man it feels like i've been in London for about 3 weeks but its only been 5 days! We went to Aldershot for the trial on Wednesday. It was like being in a movie during the trial. Each of the lawyers were trying to outwit each other and it was fun trying to think what the other lawyer would come up with next. The prosecutions skeleton was soo long that i was almost falling asleep in parts. I felt really guilty about it until the lunch break and i was talking to other journalists and they were all falling asleep too.

Aldershot is quite a depressing town. I went there expecting it to be depressing but this town is so depressing i felt down after a couple of hours!! When people talk it sounds depressing! On thursday morning I woke up at 5am because I cant sleep so I went for a walk. As i was walking down the road this old guy with 2 teeth was riding on a bike behind me. He then rode right up to me, stared at me, and suddenly burst into song!! I almost pissed myself right in front of him because it was so random. He sung "Video killed the radio star" and then rode off as fast as he could laughing like a hyena! Ahh Aldershot, Wanganui of England haha. We stayed in this nice little pub with a lot of character, and a 9 year old girl that fell in love with me!! It was quite embarrassing because she just would'nt let me go! Her mum said she had a thing for gingers haha! So wrong!

I moved into Julia's the other day. It is great having a bed and a nice place to stay. Me, Ollie (Julia's boyfriend) and Julia went into town for St Patricks day. We ended up at the Walkabout bar. It felt weird going to an Aussie bar in England. They have these disgusting drinks that everyone has called snakebites. Im not sure if you get them in NZ but i did'nt like it!! Its half cider, half beer and a little bit of cranberry syrup! Yuck!! We caught a cab on the way home. I did'nt put my seatbelt on and the driver floored it. He then slammed on the breaks and i flew forward and smashed my head on the head rest. The sound of my neck cracking made Julia really worried that i had broken my neck haha! It was bloody painful tho and today, when i woke up my neck was very stiff. Its getting better tho. Talking about injuries, i have slipped twice in the showers here so far and almost smashed my head on the side of the bath yesturday morning. So it really is dangerous here. Yesturday Peter and I went to Westminster Abbey. Its just incredible the history of England! Some of the tombs in there are from the 12th century!

Ive just got back from filming the anti-war protest in London. It started at Big Ben and ended up in Trafalgar Square. Met a lot of very interesting people with different views about Iraq. Must say it made me think what Im doing is gonna be for a good cause. There were thousands of people marching from all walks of life. So i am absolutely stuffed right now. I have been suffering from jetlag a bit. By 4pm it feels like i should be in bed. We've been so busy the last couple of days there is so much to write about but im gonna have to go to sleep. O yeah, my English mobile is +44771 748 2966 if anyone wants to get in contact with me. Txts cost the same as txting NZ too :)

Lance

I have learned a hell of a lot over the last few days about war and different peoples views.

London

2006-03-14T10:59:00.000+13:00

Good ol London!

haha, saw a funny thing today. I went for an early morning walk to Sainsburys (the NZ Pack n Save). Now I think i have seen and experienced a lot in my life and I saw a lot in India. But today i saw a pigeon in south London with Delhi Belly!!! I just could not believe what was happening to this poor pigeon!! I honestly thought i should look for a cork (or a gun)! Poor lil bugger. O man, just had a thought. Maybe it was'nt a viscious strain of Pigeon Delly belly, maybe it was bird flu!!!! If it was bird flu they should rename it to bird poo.

Just got back from the first days shoot. Went really well and am happy with the footage which is good because i havent been happy with any of my footage for over a year now. Am really excited about this project seeing the people im working with and the topic, plus its taking me to yet another country!

We shoot off to Aldershot tomorrow morning. Spending one night there and then when i come back to London i will be moving in with Julia and Ollie for a little bit which will be cool.

Anyway, there is so much on my mind but my body is telling me i have to go to bed. So i will

lance

FA FA FA REEEEZZZINGG!!!!!!

2006-03-13T23:03:00.000+13:00

Well i have arrived home and it is freakin cold!!!!!! My hands froze to my bag when i was walking to Ollies flat!!

The flight went really well and i have no complaints at all. Sat next to a couple of really interesting people on my journey. One was a guy who worked for U2 and he was traveling back to Belgium because the show was cancelled. He had a lot of really amazing story's!! The other was a personality psychologist which again was very interesting!! She told me a lot about why people think and act the way they do. I want to be a psychologist now!! Maybe i can combine my camerawork with psycology. I will be a psycocameramanologist!! Will look into it.

Its funny a sense of belonging i get here. Although i say that now when i have only been in the country 2 hours haha. So now i am sitting in Ollies flat alone in the middle of London! Ollie had to go to work. I just cant believe i am actually here. So i have a couple of things to organize after i finish typing this blog. So will head into the middle of London on the tube to do some stuff. Will catch up with Poos later tonight too!!

Thought i better show where abouts i am in London so here is a photo of me outside Ollies flat. I may look like a munter because i am one hahaha. Na, i just haven't had much sleep over the last few days. Stress is all gone now tho :)

Look at the houses!!! Ollies flat is on the left. If you look really closely you can even see a snot icicle on my left nostril haha.

Anyway, better get organised. Have a really busy two weeks ahead. Man, its good to be home!!

Lance

Im off!!

2006-03-11T23:34:00.000+13:00

Well, it is 11.30pm on sat night and i am sitting at home alone with no sound apart from the wind and my keys on the keyboard, and to be honest the odd fart haha. I leave for England tomorrow lunch time :) Spent the day getting stuff done and seeing a few people before i go. It is a real shame i had to cancel my going away drinks on sunday night because my flight was on sunday lunchtime. It took bloody ages to send txts and emails to everyone! I will miss you all. I must admit that i am really excited right now but also a little nervous.

I have been asked to go and film in Iraq! Thats all i can say at this point but just the thought about it makes me a little nervous. I guess its better i go than another cameraman who has wife and kids. So to be honest i will probably do it when it comes. Its strange tho because i remember watching the news about Iraq and thinking that there is absolutely no way i would go there, but now, i would. And i have no idea why i would change my mind like that. random i guess.

But yeah, IM OFF TO ENGLAND!!!!! hahaha. I freakin cant wait!! Get my posh pommie accent back too ahaha. So i am mentally and emotionally drained at the moment and have a million things racing through my head but as soon as i get into my seat on the plane and relax i will be sweet, hopefully :) If not i have a few wines and beers with my name on it haha.

I am stuffed right now so better go and pack and get a few more things ready
Will update the blog as regularly as i can when im over there.

Lance

Busy

2006-03-04T21:08:00.000+13:00

Thought i'd better update my blog after a couple of weeks!

The fortune teller in India was right haha, or should i say parrot! So random and every time i think about what was said it makes sense, but then, if i had'nt of heard what he said, would i be doing what i am going to do... the answer is yes. He said that i would go through a life changing event in March, one for the good, and I am guessing that this documentary that i am doing is it! Now i did'nt really think that it would come true at all. I mean, i have had pshycic experiences in my life that has scared the hell out of me but this was a parrot!! The thing that really made me think about what he said to me is that about 3 weeks ago, I woke up one morning and decided I was going to move to England because i was feeling a little down here. I opened my diary at a date that i thought would be possible for me to sell everything and have everything ready and then wrote in it, "Lance to England!" The wierd thing is that about 2 weeks later i got a call asking to film a doco in London and i said i would do it! This is too much of a coincidence, the ticket that the production company booked for me was the exact same date that i had written in my diary 2 weeks earlier!!!!!!!!! To make things even more wierd, he said that i would meet someone before i go overseas that has the potential to change my life forever, i believe i have met this person!!!! Hope the fortune teller was right about everything else haha, because then im going to be rich at the end of the year!!

Been pretty busy the last couple of weeks. Had my wisdom teeth out which was wicked!! The drugs they pump into your body are pretty cool, gota get me some of that haha. I woke up halfway through the surgery and remember saying to the doctor "Im awake" and then i remember nothing haha. So i guess they pumped more drugs into me straight away. All i can remember was the doctor with his hands in my mouth and me trying to speak. Afterwards was cool too because you feel drunk but without the sickness feeling when your drunk. So spent a few days recovering, nothing too bad apart from one day that i had a migrain the whole day and spent sleeping, which i did'nt mind doing at all.

Last weekend i went away with the family and family friends to Russel in the Bay of Islands. In the next two years I am going to own a place on the waterfront of Russell. Its one of those towns with a really nice feel to it. Its something that you cant explain but you can truly feel it inside. Plus it is an absolutely stunning place with the water and beach ahhhhhhh. I love it!! And then the other side of Russell you have a beautiful beach where the sun rises. One morning i woke up at 5.30 am because some dickhead was pumping his music out really loud!! I liked the music so i did'nt really care until they turned it up even louder. Then i got out of my tent and bagan to make my way towards their house to tell them to turn it off and came accross Chris (family friend) who too, was about to tell them off. But somebody had beat us too it and we heard yelling. So i could'nt sleep after that and decided to go for a long bike ride which was awesome. Cycling is such a great thing for the mind. You can think clearly and intellingently haha. So I cycled to the other side of Russell to watch the sun rise over the water and the amazing beach. There were all these couples getting up at the same time to watch the sunrise together which was both depressing for me and made me feel happy at the same time if that is possible. Was a nice atmosphere and a stunning sunrise!! Overall it was a wicked weekend and made me feel something that i havent felt since India which was great. LIFE!

After the Bay of Islands trip i have been working on Shortland Street as a camera ass and then on friday a lighting ass too, guess i can be called "ass boy". It is the greatest feeling having to get up at 4.30am each day and finishing by 8 - 10pm! Long days make you feel like you've done something and then when you get home a nice cold beer really does the trick. Thats the thing about beer for me, I really don't appreciate ice cold beer unless i have actually worked my ass off for it :) Hmmm beer!!!

So now i am getting ready to go to England. My ticket is booked on Monday 13th March. I sold my car today YESS!!, my kayak and air rifle yesturday. Selling some more stuff soon. So i leave in 9 days!! I will be filming a doco for the first 2 and a half weeks and then i will stay on for a while and see what happens. My friend Poos (Julia) has a spare room in her apartment so I will stay with her for a while. When i have finised the doco i will go and visit grandma and auntie belle in Devon. Then, depending on the work situation i will travel to Germany and Switzerland for a short time and hopefully visit family and Elisabeth :) I am going to miss everyone but I will be back. Im still not sure when i am coming back, but one things for sure i will be back in June for Amits next movie. The funny thing is, one of the reasons I am going to stay in England is to find work, but as soon as my ticket was booked i have had work offers coming at me everyday!! Guess it was just a slow start to the year.

Now i am going to a "Animal" themed party as a monkey! So if there is any spelling mistakes i am a little drunk. I don't know anyone at the party apart from Jenifer me who i met at video Ezy last week. So this will be a fun night.

Lance

Damn mosquito's!!

2006-02-21T05:51:00.000+13:00

Mosquito's!! Its 5.50am at the moment and i have been awake since 3.30am!! Its really wierd that at the time of 3.30am each night i wake up. Its always bang on 3.30am! Usually i would go back to sleep straight away but the whole right hand side of my body was basically a giant mosquito bite!! SOOOO ITCHY!!! Plus I have a couple of things racing through my mind at the moment. Got some great advice on saturday night and I have decided to take it. Its amazing how someone can completely change the way you think by asking one, short, simple question!!

In 3 hours i will be asleep again having my wisdom teeth out. I hope i dont talk in my sleep because the dreams i've been having lately are a little on the crazy side but the same each night haha. I wont say what i dream about but it would be funny to hear haha. Im not nervous at all which is good because i have a fear of needles.

On thursday I will be having the last paid work for me. Working on Shortland Street so that will be cool. And then its off to the Bay of Islands for a few days with family and family friends from England! They've hired a wicked house right on the beach and I love Russel, its got a really nice feel to it!! So that will be nice to spend my last days with family and friends and in the most beautiful place :)

Will update later in the day when the drugs wear off hahaha.................

Universal choices

2006-02-20T21:09:00.000+13:00

Today was the turning point of my life. I flicked a coin today and made a huge decision based on that 50/50 chance!! Some may call me crazy, others a fricken nutter!! hahaha. But so far, throughout my life, that decision making toss has proved right in every way!! I will leave the big decisions to the universe for the rest of my life if this one works out :)

Update, coming soon................

Valentines Day and Dentist!

2006-02-15T13:08:00.000+13:00

Proabably the best valentines day i've had so far. Went out for dinner with Echo and some friends for her 27th birthday. The food was soo good plus it was all you can eat. You had to cook all the food yourself on a hot pot. Sophie told me that in China they call it hot pot. Funny that. But it is also called hot hot hot. So now, when i go to China i will be able to find the nearest hot hot hot hahaha. After dinner caught up with Vicky again. Thats always good.

Spent the morning at the dentist today. Expected to be told that i am going to be getting a couple of fillings. Got told that i have to have a couple of fillings :). But the one thing i did'nt expect at all was that i have to get my wisdom teeth out (no more wisdom!!) ASAP. One of my teeths roots is dangerously close to the main nerve in my face and if i dont get it out now there is a chance i may have a numb face for the rest of my life HAHAHA. I can just imagine myself talking like Sylvestor Stallone, maybe i will be the next Sly!! So that is booked in on Tuesday morning!! Great! Cant wait!! The dentist also said when he was looking at my x'ray that i have a jaw bone that looks exactly like the Terminators haha. Im happy with that resemblance!
Another thing i was told is that i grind my teeth when i sleep. They are really worn down for my age and i suggested its probably the dreams i have each night of eating peanut buttered chewing gum, THE best dream!! haha. So i may have to wear a teeth brace thing at night GEEK!!

So i have just got back and i have to go back again in an hours time to get a teethal. Which is a word i just made up then. If you dont get it, think "facial". Get it now, good. If you still dont get it it just means that my teeth are gonna be cleaned haha. Im pretty tired so will probably have a nap in the dentist chair because you cant talk when you've got 50 peices of equipment down your throught anyway :)

Have my first lacrosse game tonight in a couple of years and i am playing midfield. Can expect to come home with a few bruises tonight if i don't break anything. Will be interesting. Then Lost is on tonight at 8.30pm so cant wait for that! Its the first tv series ive been hooked on for years. Cant miss it haha.

Will update probably later after the game

Lance

Showreel

2006-02-13T22:43:00.000+13:00

Most part of today was spent trying to put together my showreel. From now on i really should get a copy of everything i do so that later i don't have to ring 100 people. Lesson learnt. It is nowhere near finished yet but i am really happy at how it is gonna look. Its strange because the most professional thing i have shot so far was at film school. It was my end of year drama called CODA.

I also spent a couple of hours going over a shotlist for a short film i am doing in the next few weeks. Now i have just got back from playing badminton again. My smashes were by far the most powerful i done and i have no idea why. There is a possum up the tree at the moment and i have just had a close encounter with it. pretty cute thing but bloody big claws!! I will put a photo on the blog tomorrow.

Lance

Attach of the Bakini's

2006-02-12T23:34:00.000+13:00

Yesturday i was filming girls in bakinis all day!

It was a very interesting day to be honest. I learnt a lot about myself, I am not like most guys, I am different. Now, Im not saying that I am gay because I really really like girls! So thats good. But I found myself out of place filming this competition and most men would kill to be where i was last night! But I just was'nt attracted to any of the girls at all. I mean, they were all extremely hot, dont get me wrong, but there was no beauty about them. I actually felt sorry for them. Some of the comments that people would yell out whilst they are on stage were pretty horrible, there was no respect. Anyway, lets just say it was'nt my cup of tea haha. Sound like an old man, i guess i just don't like seeing girls downgrade themselves. So finished there at about 1am and went home to bed. There was an after party that we were invited to with the girls but I ended up leaving as i was'nt desperate to go.

Today i had a meeting with Angelique about her short film we are going to be filming in a few weeks time. Checked out the house we were filming in and it has a very unique feel to it so am looking forward to filming in it. After that meeting and a damn good coffee I cruised to Amits place. We went and saw Jarhead which was a cool movie. Cinematography was awesome and too was the acting.

I then met up with Sophie and Simon and went and filmed at the lantern festival at Albert Park in the city. Such a nice atmosphere there with all the different cultures. Some of the lanterns this year were amazing and the fireworks at the end were insane. So finished there at about 10.45pm and i am now stuffed. My eyes keep closing and my head keeps going into random nods every now and then so i guess that is a sign that i should go and get some shut eye.

HAHAHA, thought i would end this blog with a little random photo that makes me laugh every time i look at it. This cute photo was taken in Samoa when I was there with Studio 2. This puppy was looking at me and i took a photo. It was good but i wanted the dog to smile. So, as a joke i yelled out to the pup, "SMILE!" and this is the result :)

Lance

Lost

2006-02-11T08:35:00.000+13:00

Just a quick blog as i have to go shoot soon.

Im better now from a really bad stomach this week. Won't be eating chicken thats over 6 days old from now on. It was tasty tho :(

I watched the whole 1st series of Lost this week. What a geek!! Such a cool series tho and i would really reccomend people watching it. Went for a kayak as a break. Its really relaxing just being out on the water, quite far away from land and just sitting there listening.

Echo came over on thursday night and i taught her how to drive. She was a very quick learner which made it easy for me :). After teaching her how to do hill starts we then went to foodtown to get ingredients for the dinner she was gonna cook for me as a thankyou. Man, the dinner was so good! I now know how to cook stir fried chiken with toefoo (dunno how to spell it haha) and stir fried noodles! And the best part was smashing the chiken pieces with a big knife haha, although i would reccomend wearing an apren!!

Yesturday i had to go into town and buy another tripod plate as i had lost mine!! Its really funny tho because during the doco i remember saying that the tripod plate is THE hardest thing to lose out of all the gear you have because it permanantly attached to the bottom of the camera!!! How the hell did i lose mine because I havent lost my camera!!! Random!!

Anyway, better get going.
Have to go film a bakini contest and then go onto a private boat with them all for the day!
Its a hard job but someone has to do it!!

Lance

Bad Shape

2006-02-08T10:43:00.000+13:00

Not feeling the greatest today. I ate some chicken last night and i think that is it. Have been throwing up this morning and I feel pretty bad. Would replace this for delhi belly any day!! This is the perfect oportunity to watch the series of Lost.

Lance

Coffee and lightning photos

2006-02-07T23:03:00.000+13:00

Today was a pretty useless and non productive day. And I loved it!!!

Although its nice having time off and to yourself, if you have too much, and in my case I cant handle more than a days relaxation, you can start to feel useless. Its funny because a few years ago I would have a few weeks off in holidays etc. Now there is no way I could do that. I have to be busy. Even if its busy doing something I don't like doing.

But today wasn't too bad. I "studied" a couple of films today. One was one of my favorites "Unbreakable". Just love that film so much but most people don't like it at all. I guess I just love the thought of having super powers. I think that if I could have a super power it would definitely be invisibility. Imagine how much fun you could have with it!! I think the first thing I would do would scare the cats hahaha. Then I would go for a drive along the motorway in rush hour. hehehe, imagine the looks on peoples faces when they see the car driving with no one in it. hahaha, I am such a loser!! O, and then I would go to one of my mates church's when he is there and lift him up in the middle of a worship session and make him fly around the room, HAHAHA, soo evil!! Imagine!! I would do a whole lot more too. I am finding it hard to type because Gareth is trying to play the guitar and sing to take my mind off what I am typing. Plus he really cannot sing so it is really working!! The next film I "studied" was American Beauty. I love the pacing in this movie, plus, the music really is incredible. Each piece of music brings out the emotions and makes you feel exactly what you should be feeling at that point in the movie. Big ups to the composer!!

After American Beauty I caught the ferry to town to catch up with Alys for a coffee. Its so interesting hearing what she has been up to over the last year and a half. It made me really want to work harder to get to where I want to be career wise. We are gonna go surfing some time next week and film it on our bolex's because she wants to make a surfing video. Cant wait because I haven't run film through my bolex for a few months now. We worked out that the last time we saw each other was in November in 2004!!!! My god time flies!!! I love Wellington and am thinking (just an idea) I may move down there just for a few weeks, not too long, if I am struggling to find work up here. I have a few contacts down there and they said that there is work going so will have to see how things go over the next couple of weeks.

I emailed my photos of lightning to the paper today and they liked them. So you can expect to see my lightning pictures in the paper on Thursday. Here is one of my favorites. This bolt of lightning was by far the biggest I have ever seen in NZ! The storm lasted for about 2.5 - 3 hours! That little island is called flat island and you can see it from howick beach.

It makes me happy that people are actually going to see my pictures and hopefully at least one person will look at it and go "WOW!". I know when I took that photo I said more than wow! Lucky there was no audio haha, but there was on my video camera ahaha, better delete the audio :) Here is another of the best ones. I really have been waiting for a few years to take photos like these. Patience is a virtue.

Tonight Dean, Becs, Gareth, Max and I had a ping pong game. Ping pong is such a cool game! It takes a little bit of time getting into the swing of things but soon your skills come back. Its really annoying tho because Max and I have had a few games. to begin with I kicked his ass. Now tho, he kicks my ass! Turn of the tides I guess. I will get better tho and then once again I will reign supreme! haha.

So tomorrow I have a brilliant plan. Sleep in is the 1st thing on my agender. Then its off to the city to sort out my camera plate which got returned with some of the gear from scapa a couple of weeks ago. I hope I get it back otherwise that's another $100 down the drain for me :( And after that I will start to put together a show reel for myself which will be interesting. Considering that most of the stuff I do, I never see it. So have to make a fair few phone calls to a few people and get copys. Thats gonna be a mission. Not mission impossible but pretty close to it haha.

Its almost 12 at night now and I still cant go to bed. Ive been going to sleep at about 1-2am lately and then waking up at about 7.30-8. I find it really difficult to sleep past 9am now, which is a good thing because you get way more out of the day. Even if it is just relaxing.

Lance

Waitangi Weekend!!

2006-02-06T22:17:00.000+13:00

This has probably, no, it has been the best Waitangi weekend I have ever had!!!!

On Saturday Me, Amit and Echo went up north for a road trip to look for locations for Nowhere to Love. We stopped at Pakiri beach which is north of Leigh and it was such a beautiful beach!! After about an hour of body surfing and playin in the waves we had to make our way. Was such a nice cool off after driving for a while. We then drove to Kerikeri and had the biggest icecreams I have ever had!! None of the towns we had come across so far had anything that we could use in the film. That was until we came across Helensville. The graveyard there was really nice and there was definitely a few nice angles to film from. So overall it was a fun, semi successful day.

Sunday, Amit, Echo and I met up with Troy, Angela, Emily and a couple of others at Hunua Falls near Papakura. So we had a picnic which I haven't done for ages. It was really cool just sitting there listening to the water falling over the edge and hitting the pool below. I was really wanting to go for a swim but I was too burnt from the day before. Echo took some great shots of people jumping into the water. I think Amit has put them up on his blog. After the relaxing time at Hunua falls the 3 of us drove home past Whitford to look for some more locations for the film.
On Sunday night I went to Marks for a BBQ. We then cruised round to my house for a few beverages and some shooting of my old air rifle. That was pretty cool and then came the possum. You can imagine what happened next :). No possums were hurt tho which is kinda good and bad at the same time haha.

Monday, monday, monday. What a monday!!!!!! In the morning I spent a good couple of hours cleaning the house from the night before. Which I actually didn't mind doing at all and actually found it quite therapeutic. I then did a very much needed sort out in my room because I was catching up with Vicki later on in the day and my room was a mess!! So now I can actually walk into my room without standing on something and breaking it!! Gareth came over during the day and we played a bit of ping pong. He then left and Vicki came over. Was really good seeing her again after such a long time. As soon as she left I went out to the deck and couldn't believe how beautiful the clouds were!!!! Probably the nicest I have seen from our house. So I grabbed the camera and decided to do a timelapse of the ocean and clouds. VERY NICE!!! Then, to make things better, a MASSIVE Fork lightning storm went past in the near distance. So then quickly repo'd my video camera, plus my stills camera, plus myself, a maglight, 3 lenses and 2 tripods onto the roof of my house and clicked and rolled away. WOW!!! What a storm it was!!! Got some wicked photos of lightning!!! Plus got about 1000 mosquito bites but soo worth it!! I have been wanting to get photo's of lightning like I did for about 5 years and today was the day!! So tomorrow morning I will send a couple of the pics to the local newspaper to see if they want to publish them. Fingers crossed :)

So overall was a great weekend and I am feeling really happy for the 1st time since I have been back from India. I am stuffed now and can feel the adrenaline from the storm wearing off so will cruise to my lovely bed, probably lie there for a while and then dose off into a nice relaxing sleep hahaha. Man I love my bed!!! I wonder if its legal to marry a bed, hhmm. Although the baby's would look a little odd hahaha. Look what I type when im tired!!!

Lance

Computer Geek!

2006-02-03T10:16:00.000+13:00

Have just woken up after a late night!

Went to Troys and Angela's last night for dinner. Was really good catchin up with them. After that I went to the viewing of "The Last Year" which was the pilot series I worked on before I went to India. Bloody hell it looked really good!! I was really impressed by the whole thing! And also the acting was amazing by all who was involved. I am pretty confident that someone will pick it up. Was really weird seeing myself on screen!! Don't know if I liked it too much but maybe in the future when I have a few more wrinkles I will give acting a good go.

After the viewing we all went to Match bar on Pitt st. I think I have now found my favorite bar! Was such a nice atmosphere. Everyone was just relaxed and chilling to Opshop who were playing. Loved it!!

So next for me is a road trip tomorrow up north with Amit and Echo. Love road trips! Then on Sunday I am going to the Hunua waterfall for a swim and picnic with troy, Angela and a few others. I have always wanted to swim in that waterfall because its soo beautiful plus the water is crystal clear and cool :)

During badminton a couple of nights ago I had shooting pains going from under my right arm right down to my right little toe. Have never experienced something like that before and my right knee gave way yesterday whilst walking. I think it has something to do with my left shoulder tho because its spazzaming and is painful. I read up that if you pull something on one side of your body or hurt a nerve, it can affect the other side of your body!! So interesting. So I think I just pulled my left shoulder whilst playing. Man the human body is interesting!

Anyway, gotta get a WOF for my car today. Its overdue by only 4 months hahaha. So slack!!

Lance

City and Shooting Star!!

2006-02-02T16:58:00.000+13:00

Spent the last couple of days in the city. When you don't have much to do being in the city is quite a good thing because you meet a lot of people. Met up for coffee with Jessica yesturday from the documentary i was filming so that was really cool. After coffee i went to catch the ferry home but it was cancelled so ended up seeing River Queen. I must say that i was really dissapointed with the movie although there were some pretty cool shots in it i liked. This morning i had a meeting for a job that is coming up later in the year and after that i went and visited Alex and Dan to see how things were going with the doco. I then went and saw Domino which stars Keira Knightley. I thought it was an ok movie but not the greatest. Some of the cinematography in it was beautifull and then some of it was really annoying by the way the camera moved. It was more shaky than Memories haha.

Just spent a good 2 hours in Borders book shop on Queen st looking at photography books. Some of the photo's in those books are incredible and really inspirational. I have decided i am going to focus more on my photography than i have been. I do want to become professional at it one day so i am now looking at a few courses. Will see how it goes i guess. And after seeing those books today I now have even more of a travel bug. Its like having an itch but you just cant get it!!! I guess everyone feels like that at some stage in their lives tho. After borders i met up with Echo and Sophie (crazy chinese camera chicks) haha. Was good to see them again and now Echo is coming up north for a road trip this weekend.

Tonight i have the viewing of "The Last Year" that i was doing lighting ass on before i went to India. I know that as soon as i see the scene with me as a computer geek i am just gonna sink into my chair. Cant believe i did that and Jerard did'nt even make me wear computer glasses so that makes me think that i am actually a geek!! Would explain a few things haha.

Shooting Star!!!! Saw an INCREDIBLE shooting star the other day and the REALLY wierd thing is that i was expecting it!! Freaky!!! Plus it was an overcast night!! So random, i was just sitting on the deck at about 2am in the morning and i knew it was coming for some reason. I just looked up and there it came through the clouds. It lit up the whole sky!! Pretty cool!!

Im going to Troys and Angela's for dinner tonight before the viewing. They live in the Heritage just down the road from TVNZ. Cant wait to just jump into the pool they have on the roof!! Its been sooo hot lately!! Plus I havent seen them both for a few months.

Lance

Relaxin

2006-01-31T10:32:00.000+13:00

So, have finished the doco now. The last weekend was pretty hectic but its all over. The final show was really entertaining and i think all the kids did an amazing job! We still have a few exterior shots and maybe a couple of interviews to go so am looking forward to shooting those.

I got my first payed job of this year last week!! Thank god!! Now i will last for a little while more. Did one day of lighting on Power Rangers, and it happened to be on tuesday when a small cyclone hit the north island!! It was funny because it was the day after we finished the doco and i was really tired. I woke up that morning and it was pouring!!! I just thought to myself, "i want to go outside today in the rain". As soon as i thought that, i got the call to go to bethalls beach and stand in the rain all day. There was no way i was gonna pass that down. Met up with a lot of people on the set that i havent seen for ages!! So it was wicked catchin up with them!

Been playing badminton quite a bit at night which is good because i kinda feel lost at nights. Played last night and i somehow managed to hit myself in a place where the sun don't shine too often. Amit, Dean and becs were all laughing. I woulda laughed too but it hurt quite a lot!!
Last week during a break i went to get a drink from the vending machine. The machine stole my money!! The next day, i did the same thing, but went to the 2nd machine because the one that stole my money was out of order. That machine wouldn't except ANY of my coins!!! Sooo annoying!! So i sat there with the others and was just saying how the gods weren't on my side at the moment and that i must have done something to piss the vending machine gods off. Anyway, i then went to see if the machine had sold out of everything and then suddenly, a drink falls down, WITHOUT me putting any money in at all!!!! Man, it was weird!! The vending machine gods must have heard my call!! haha. We were all in hysterics for a little while.

Got back from Parachute concert last night. Me and Jono went down there to do camera on the big screen for the weekend. Little did we know that as soon as we got there we were told that we were not actually doing camera, we were pressing a button called "play" on a DVD player all weekend!! We could'nt believe it!! It was pretty annoying especially as i had given up payed work to do that for free so i was a little pissed off! Anyway, im not too much of an angry person so ended up having quite a good time just sitting right next to the stage and watchin the bands all weekend, and also taking photos of the bands. got talking to this girl who was a photographer for the event so now i am going to be one of the photographers next year so that will be wicked!! On the way home we stopped off at Rachaels house to say hi. Hadn't seen her and Carl (her little bro) for at least 2 years!! Man time just flys!!

better leave it there for now bacause my apple that im trying to eat is going brown. And im not a fan of brown apples. i like them crunchy!

lance

Shatisfied

2006-01-20T22:49:00.000+13:00

Today was one of the happiest/scary days i have ever had due to a couple of reasons and also, by far, the most stressful!!

Stressful because we have shot a shizer load of tapes!! And we need a shizer load more to be able to finish the doco and we dont have enough! We will find a way tho. Another was trying to organize this weekends equipment at the herald theatre whilst shooting non stop all day! What a mission but i know its all gonna go well this weekend (positive thinking, great secret!!).

We had a couple of amazing interviews. One of them i was almost balling my eyes out. Its incredible the amount of struggle some people go through and survive to tell the story. It has definately been one of the most inspiring days of my life today and I consider myself really lucky to have met and got to know these people.

Its pretty cool being busy again. I have done more work in 10 days than i did in a couple of months last year. I wrote the other day about dreading the end of this doco. I am now not dreading the end but am excited about the work coming up afterwards. I have a week off afterwards and am probably gonna travel up to the Bay of Islands to swim with the dolphins and then its all go!!!

I better go to bed, im starting to see things

LAW

Time and insomnia

2006-01-18T22:16:00.000+13:00

Can't believe its been 10 days since my last post and i also cant believe i've been back from India for almost 2 weeks now!! I have already started planning my next trip back that i will be making either at the end of this year or sometime next year!! Cant wait!! I am seriously thinking about going back to become a mango farm boy (no joke!). Haha, mum freaks out when i tell her!!

Been really busy with the doco i am working on at the moment which is a VERY good thing because if i was'nt working on this doco i think i would have gone nuts by now due to the lack of sleep because of the dreams im having. I think it is the Malleria drugs that i am still taking. Will finish them in a couple of days so hopfully can get a good nights sleep and stop dreaming. I am dreading the day the doco ends (22nd) but i do think that we will be following a few of the kids to their homes the following week so i really look forward to that :)

The doco is going really well now and there is a few amazing stories poping up. I think that it is true that everyone on this earth has an incredible story to tell, you just have to get to know people. As this is happening with the doco. I think experiencing India has given my people skills a huge boost too which is cool. I am getting quite excited about a few of the stories emerging! The kids in the doco are wicked and full of life!!. Working with the juniors and hanging out in their classes all week has been a really cool experience. There is one kid in the class who is just, the most intelligent and funny kid i have ever met. He is destined to become a famous presenter or actor or dancer (which he wants to be), no doubt about it!! The funny thing is that Me, Echo (crazy chinese camera girl 1), Simon, Sophie (crazy chinese camera girl 2), Dom, Tina, Melanie, Melissa, Greydon and Katja are all starting to sing and dance everywhere because we are all being inspired. And whats even crazier is, i usually dont dance!!! So at the end of the shoot we are all gonna go to a karaoke (think i spelt it right) bar and sing one of the songs from the show we are filming. I already know the song im gonna choose (it requires a really high pitched opera voice haha).

I almost lost it in one of the interviews today too. One of the students broke his toes and we interviewed his mum. She was asked what she was gonna do now. She said that she was gonna go home to Takapuna now. I thought that she said, "I am gonna go home to Take A Poo Now!!"
Was really hard keeping the laughter inside but i managed after locking my lips together and holding my nose so nothing would fly out. As you can see, honest mistake on my part when you say "Takapuna now" quite fast!! Lucky i managed to keep myself together. Thats another thing i love about this doco. The whole crew is having a blast and mucking around whilst getting the job done. It reminds me of Studio 2. I LOVE being Imature at work and in these situations you just have to. I have had to step up my responsibility heaps for this job but my levels of maturity have dropped hahaha.

Its now 11pm and i am pysically stuffed, mentally stuffed too and am fighting off a shizer head cold and cough. Look forward to tomorrows interviews with a lot of the kids. Have a really good feeling about it.

LAW

HAHAHA

2006-01-09T20:38:00.000+13:00

HAHAHA,

i was checking on the internet to see if www.lance.com was available.

It was already taken but check it out!! It's pretty funny!!
I cant get that song out of my head hahahaha!!
I cant believe you can actually buy T-shirts that have "I've got LANCE in my pants!!!"
Sooo gotta get one!! hehehe

LAW

Games

2006-01-08T01:54:00.000+13:00

Last night Armpit, Dean, Becs and I played badminton. It was quite hard getting into the swing of the game after not playing for 3 weeks. Being unfit and weighing 3kg's heavier than before i could really feel how unfit i was. So over the next few weeks, if im not too tired, i am going to go for runs in the morning and then do some boxing in the afternoon. Be interesting if i stick to the routine haha, doubt it!!

We also had a BBQ at Dean's house and it was great having a proper BBQ for the first time in summer! If you can call this summer because for some reason I have been cold the last 2 days. Played Poker for the 1st time in my life and i must say that i really liked it. Next time we should play with proper money!!! Or lollies will do.

Today I went to Joanne's house for lunch and a catch up. Bronwyn and Pratesha were there too so it was cool seeing them again. We played "Cranium" which is a cool game. Its kinda like a mixture of all the best games around like Pictionary or scrabble but with a twist. So had a great laugh with that game! When i went home Anna and Gareth came over so showed them the photos from the trip and then we ended up playing "Perudo", this amazing dice game!! Such a random day playing board games but pretty fun.

Saw "Legend of Zorro" with Gareth after Perudo. Really enjoyed the movie although the pacing did seem to slow down in the middle of the film. But apart from that it was full of action, fun and adventure and there were some pretty cool moves! Zorro's son is cool. I can imagine my son turning out like him haha. Its strange because i actually felt connected to the character of Zorro. There were some strange similarities with me and him although i am not Spanish :(

Its now 1.30am, i've been sitting up for a while just looking over my photos. I am exhausted but cant sleep. I think it is just adjusting to the different time zone again. Will go and try and sleep now seeing as i am playing golf tomorrow.

LAW

Home!

2006-01-07T12:34:00.000+13:00

Well, after quite a long period of no sleep and travel i am sitting at home, by myself, in silence, typing. Its quite weird being here now. I was really looking forward to coming home but now i just want to go away again and experience the world. Especially after a shit morning yesturday (excuse my french) with my car breaking down. But im over it and happy now because everything happens for a reason. I have decided that i will make that trip at the end of 2006 or begginning of 2007. I don't even know how long i would go for yet but i think it would be for a long time. There is just too much to see and experience.

Did'nt have a very good sleep last night even tho i went to bed after midnight. The main reason was because it was too quiet!!! My ears were ringing (and still are) from the noise of Delhi. When i did go to sleep i had 2 freaky dreams. One was me, on my bed, in the middle of the road in delhi hahaha. Pretty crazy!! The other dream was even crazier!! I was working on this film and there was a huge explosion in the distance and all the power went out. It was my job to go out and check what happened. So i went out of the house in the dark and I then got attacked. Not by monsters, ghosts, giant ants or mutant babies, but by PUPPIES and KITTENS!!!! WTF!!! And it actually was scary too hahaha!! One thing that did help me go to sleep was this really annoying fly that kept flying right over my head!! Having at least some form of noise helped.

Hong Kong was a fun experience once again. We had 12 hours there so we made the most of it. We traveled to Big Buddha which was about a 40 min drive from Tung Chung. It was a very peaceful and serial place. Just being up in the hills, surrounded by mist i felt this feeling of immense power. Duno what it was but i find it strange going to some religious places because, no matter what religion it is, I still feel something. We then went into the city and walked around all day, going to markets and shops and bassically experiencing HK. Was funny on the MTR (train) because Armpit and I both had to stand the whole time. If we sat down we would fall asleep instanly!! I almost fell asleep standing up too which i did'nt think was possible.

The flight from HK to Auckland was pretty long. It felt a lot longer than the trip to HK and i think that was due to the fact that i was really looking forward to seeing people at the airport. After a long wait in customs getting Max's flute checked and Armpits pickles hahaha, we escaped and saw my family. Was nice to see everyone again :)

This morning i was offered another job which is good because i really thought i would be struggling and did'nt expect to get offered one when i hav'nt started looking yet. I am now excited because, if i take this job, it will mean i have a busy year ahead of movie making and travelling in between:)!!

So, now I am going to go out and smash some cocks with Armpit, dean and becs so that should be fun. Will be interesting to see how my shoulder holds up from that 250kg weight i lifted (tried too :( ) in Hydrobutt. From there its onto a BBQ and a couple of beers so bring it on!!

LAW

Last Day!!! :(

2006-01-04T20:38:00.000+13:00

Today is our last day in India!

I am sad leaving because this country has sooo much to offer and i feel like i hav'nt seen the slightest part of it. Will miss the people, the life, the history, Armpits whole family, the squirrels, the eagles, people taking photos of me, black bogey, the traffic, elephants, sleeping with Armpit (hahaha NA!! sorry amit, i know you liked it but im just not like that), auto rikshaws :(, the temples, mosques, tombs, smells, sounds, public toilets, ahhhh the list goes on!! I am definately coming back soon and it has now put a travel bug into my system. Next trip overseas - as soon as i have the time and money :)

So after the morning packing my bag, and then sitting on it, and packing again, i am now ready to leave for Honk Kong and then HOME!! We weighed our bags earlier and my bag is exactly 20kg's so hopefully its all good. And thats not including my hand luggage too! Armpit had to get a bigger bag for all of his clothes and after i finish this blog i have to buy an extra carry bag for my stuff haha. The bags here are extremely cheap too.

So the flight to HK is 4 1/2 hours, we then have a 13 hour stop off in H.K, then we leave for an 11 1/2 hour trip to NZ and arrive on 6th at 11.15 am :) One thing i did miss was how quiet it is in NZ. No more horns!!

If anyone reading this wants anything from duty free you can txt me (before i reach Auckland haha).

So, I am looking forward to seeing everyone again :) Look forward to being unemployed!!! What have i done, one thing i have learned here is that i am an idiot haha!! Cant wait for a HOT shower!! Cant wait for a lot of things. I feel like this trip has changed me and my outlook on life. I will still be the same old me when i return but some things may be different (my new found religion of the toilet paper). Its funny because now i am used to being here and walking amongst sooo many people, i might be considered rude in NZ when i don't move out the way of people hahaha.

Anyway, got a lot of things on my mind but will leave it here.

Lance

Delhi - MY BIRTHDAY!!!

2006-01-03T20:38:00.000+13:00

Happy birthday too me!!

Thanks for all the txts everyone!!

So i woke up and Armpit was in a good mood because i did'nt wake him up! I can not believe that i am 23!!!! Don't feel like it.

Today Armpit and i went for a nice stroll around the city. Went to a nice park in the middle of the city. Its amazing how much noise parks drown out from the city. It was nice listening to the birds.

gotta go,

Lance

Hyderabad - Delhi - Day 15 - The waking of the bald Indian!

2006-01-02T15:32:00.000+13:00

This morning was funny! Over the last 3 days i have been sleeping top and tail with armpit because i did'nt want to catch what he had. When i woke up this morning my head was the same side as his an my feet were resting on my pillow! I was completely confused as to what had happened. Amit (looking pretty pissed off ahaha) told me that i had been talking in my sleep and that i jumped up and down and then rested the other side of the bed. Whilst jumping up and down i kicked Armpit and he almost fell off the bed!! I could'nt remember a thing about it tho but i do know that i had a really scary nightmare last night.

Our flight to Delhi was at 5.50am. The flight was only 1hr 45mins but i had THE most annoying person sitting behind me. I have never heard anyone snore whilst they are AWAKE!! Plus i was getting a back massage from his kid kicking my seat the whole time.

Delhi is a lot colder than Hyderabad, the traffic is a hell of a lot bussier, the noise is 10 times louder, the air is 10 times thicker with pollution BUT, i still love it here!! Although taking baths in the morning is freezing. But when you are here you really cant complain about ANYTHING because when you look around you, there are millions of people here who have it a whole lot worse than you do. My personal thoughts and feelings are nothing to what these people on the streets have to go through every day. So i am content with being freezing, but clean :)

When we were in Vijayawada i got bitten on the chest by somthing one night. The bite was perfectly positioned to be a 3rd nipple. Its funny because everytime i get bitten between my nipples, the bite gets infected!!! This one has now turned out to be a rather impressive 3rd nipple and i am sure it will leave a scar. So now it is a permanent third nipple haha. O well!
Its funny because Armpit said the other day that i could become a national monument because everyone wanted photos with me. I was thinking, maybe i should go to a national monument, stand there with my top off and have a cup by my feet. I could become world famous in India as the 3 Nippled Ginger God!! One things for sure, I would definately make a lot of money! Maybe, if the Mango farm boy thing fails, this is what i will end up doing. Would definately get me an indian wife then :)

Lance

Hyderabad - Day 14 - Fort

2006-01-01T05:09:00.000+13:00

Today we travelled across Hyderabad to Golconda Fort.

This was definately the most amazing fort i have seen!! We decided to pay a little extra and have our own guided tour of the fort. Im really glad we did because the guide told us a lot of really amazing info!! Just the history of this fort made me gasp! It was built in the early 13th century and i was amazed at how sofisticated they were back then. They had a very interesting way of communicating using accoustics. What they did was have these great ceilings that were covered in small diamonds. (i took a photo so you can see soon). When you stand directly under the centre of the ceiling and clap, on top of the hill you can hear it clearly. There was also 7 Gates around the fort with these ceilings. As soon as the enemy was spotted, they would clap and the whole fort would be closed up within a few seconds. And this fort is HUGE so that is an amazing thing. The length of the outer wall is 7 km's!! Another thing that amazed me was there water system. They had no water at the fort so they had to collect the water from a lake, which was MILES away and on top of a hill!! So they made an underground clay pipe and pumped water to these huge pools. If the king or Queen wanted hot or cold water, all she did was send a messenger to the top of the hill and through a series of pipes leading down the bottom of the hill to the main palace the water would be pumped. How cool is that!!

To be able to get into the army you had to pass a test. And that test was a test of strength!! The only way they would get in would be to lift 250kg, yep 250KG!!! with ONE ARM!!! ONE ARM!!! How big were they in those days!!! They must have been monsters!! Kinda like Luke, no, Shane, no, hang on, i forget his name but he was a cyclops in The Lion, Witch and the Wardrobe" but even bigger!! So being me, i wanted to see if i could get into this army and tried to lift the weight. I must say, and i will be honest, i almost moved the block with one arm, Almost. But with 2 arms i managed to get 3 corners off the ground so i left it at that. Next time i go back, my aim will be to lift that sucker off the ground with my little finger! Then i will join that army and become a warrior! ahaha!

After climbing the fort 2 times, it was actually quit tough when you've been eating so much and not exercising over the last 3 weeks. And becoming a national monument (as Armpit calls it) because SO many people wanted photos of me because i was so amazingly good looking, ahaha!! Na, i think it was my hair :( And poor Armpit must have been roasting because he was wearing jeans and a denim jacket! We left and travelled to Hyderabad markets. Almost got hit by an Auto Rickshaw, supposedly Armpit saved my life! Looked around the markets. We then went and met MG (Armpits uncle) and had dinner and now i am here typing (NERD!).

Oh and i almost forgot to mention a couple of things. This morning, i had a shower!!! O man it felt sooo good!!! Its amazing the things i take for granted when i am living at home. Even tho there was no hot water, just the feeling of drops hitting your head and shoulders hmmmmm. It was almost like slow motion when i was in there. Kind of like a pantene pro v advert. God it was good!! Another thing was we went past a stall today that was selling Goats heads!! There were about 20 heads all lined up staring at ya. I was saying to Armpit that i should try and bring one back to NZ. Maybe if ripped the head off a teddy bear and stuck a goats head on it then customs would'nt notice :) Actually thats just sick so i probably would'nt. And last night for new years, the fireworks were pretty cool!! It was almost like we were being bombed. The sounds were incredible!!! So it was a cool, but very quiet and not so quiet new years for me.

So overall it was a great day, even tho the scene from yesturday is haunting me quite a bit. Hopfully i will sleep better tonight because we have an early start. Our flight to Hydrobutt is at 5.50am so we are getting up at 4.

Anyway, better head off and kick Armpits butt in pool. Plus i have one beer from last night to finish off before bed.

Lance

Hyderabad - Day 13 - Train and Film City

2005-12-31T05:13:00.000+13:00

So this morning we caught the 6am train to Hyderabad.

I was actually quite sad leaving Vijayawada. Its funny how you can become attached to a place even after 4 days. I guess that that was due to Armpits family treating me like i was their own son. Its funny bacause i instantly felt comforatble being there from the 1st day. But as Arnie says, "I'll be back". And i know i will one day if not next year.

So the train was 6hrs again! This time it was in the day so could look out and see India. Although i did sleep for about 3 hours even tho i tried not too. O, and the cockroaches!!!! Now, i lived with them for 2 months in 2003. i became one with them during my year of study and thought that i could live in peace with them. I don't kill them, they dont crawl up my nose during sleep. Fair deal. But these bastards on the train!! They just seemed to be everywhere. After about an 1hr of caring you just have to learn to not worry about them anymore. I would be quite happy if i never saw another one again tho.

When we got to Hydrobutt Armpit had to ditch me because he was very ill with his fever. I felt a little guilty leaving him to go to the film city. Rajovi film city was pretty cool and lets just say, A very funny xperience! I will tell you in person haha. I did get shown around the studios which was awesome. Huge studios!! On the way back to Hydrobutt i saw a girl get hit my a car. I was in shock and that image will stay with me forever. So this years new years eve will be a different one for me. With Armpit in bed with a fever and me still in a small state of shock i, for the 1st time felt a little home sick. Especially after thinking about friends on the beach around the fire. I am ok now tho and wanna get back into the fun of being in India!!

Anyway, almost got killed trying to write this post because of the traffic,

Will go, only 2 hours till the new year for me here. I will update this day soon.

Have a happy new years everyone!!!

Lance

Vijayawada - Day 12 - Fever Goddess

2005-12-30T04:42:00.000+13:00

Today was a kinda relaxing day compared to every other day.

Armpit had caught a really bad fever so our plans for the day kinda dissapeared. I was fine with that because it was kinda nice having a relaxing day seeing as our next few days will be hectic. So we stayed at home and looked after the Armpit. One thing we did do today tho was take family portraits as it was the last day in Vijayawada. So that was cool and now i have an invite back to India next year to be the photographer for Veni's wedding. Will definately take that offer up (Veni if your reading this) and if i am not busy. Fingers crossed i have a couple of weeks.

Me and Jayachand (Armpits dad) went to Kanakadurga temple on top of a hill later on in the night. Amazing as all the temples are here! This temple was devoted to the Goddess Kanakadurga. She is a very beautfull goddess and also has 8 arms and a very long tongue. It was incredible standing in front of her with everyone around chanting and praying. The funniest thing tho was with 2 kids in front of us getting blessed by the priest. You know when your at a fireworks display and everyone sees a pretty average one, they all go "Oooo" and then they seee a better than average one they go "Aaahh". And then there is the final display and the crowd goes "Whoa!!" Well, these two kids were in front of Kanakadurga looking pretty bored and praying to the goddess. As soon as they turned around and saw ME they both went "WHOA!" quite loud hahaha. I cracked up and then a few people around came out of prayer and laughed! I was just thinking, here i was looking at Kanakadurga, a very powerfull goddess, thinking to myself "whoa". And then these 2 kids not even noticing her but saying whoa to me!!!! hahaha. If i was her i would be a little annoyed ahaha.

As we were leaving the temple we walked past these people doing a ritual. This guy had a pitch fork (A PITCH FORK!!) sticking through his tongue! He was covered in ashes and paint. It was amazing and i could see that he was in quite a bit of pain. He was carrying jewels and flowers and food to give to the goddess. wow.

So, then we packed because we had an early morning train the next morning to Hyderabad (Hydrobutt - just for you Vicki :) I ended up sleepin on the couch (me and Armit had a fight). Na, because i did'nt want to catch whatever it was he had. So it was the first night that we havent slept together for about 2 and a half weeks. I could'nt sleep bacause i missed his muscly man arms wrapped around my body. YUCK! just joking!!

Sorry bout that image.

will go now

Lance

India - Day 11 - Amravati Temple

2005-12-29T16:21:00.000+13:00

Bad thing happened this morning.

I was in the loo and i dropped the toilet paper!!! The floor was covered in water and as you know, toilet paper is very absorbent!!! :(

Update rest of day later

Lance

Update: Ok, so after a rather hectic start with the whole toilet paper dropping thing, the day started rolling smoothly. We went for a long drive to Amravati Temple in Amravati. Really interesting drive as there was just soo much to see, as always here in India. The temple was quite amazing and i got an amazing sense of peace whilst inside. It kinda reminded me of a scene from "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom". Just because of all the chanting, the clothes that a lot of people were wearing and also this plate full of fire (you touch the flame!) to pray. Outside there were a lot of beggars so me and Veni gave them some money and i took a couple of photos. It is really hard tho because as soon as you give just one coin/note away, everyone wants some. So you just have to be tough and say thats enough. There were 3 kids with a monkey so that made a wicked shot :)

After, we travelled to Sai Baba temple which Lakshmi (Veni's mum) is a treasurer and helped build. Beautiful building! So we spent a while in prayer to Shirdi Sai Baba. The other day with the fortune teller, the card i got was of Shirdi Sai Baba so in a way i felt connected to this saint god. Especially with what the teller said.

We then travelled to Amits old school which was cool. It was really funny just imaging a little Amit running around being cheeky. Took a couple of cool photos there. Its funny the beautiful things you see that most people would never look twice at when you just look around. Will put them in the gallery.

So we got home and then it was Amits turn to get his fortune told by the parrot. It was funny because he got similar things to me with the business and money side. So maybe that is a really good sign that we will be in for a good year next year. One thing i learned is that the lines on your palm change all the time depending on what direction your life is taking. I was'nt going to get my fortune told again but i did end up getting my palm read. So i am going to be wealthy, very happy, i will become famous, i will be on TV some time next year, people will be jealous of me for some reason, i will have a life changing event in the next 3 months, he also told me that i was due to have a serious accident but for a strange reason it did'nt happen. The rest of the deep stuff i will keep for myself ;)

One thing that is different about Vijayawada are the mosquito's!! We have just walked back and were eaten alive! And when i say eaten, i mean EATEN!! They are vicious and if you don't cover up then you will look like a prune. We are about to go to a club (not a night club) where we will play games and have dinner. Cant wait!

will leave it at that

Lance

India - Day 10 - Tukkuluru Village!

2005-12-28T16:13:00.000+13:00

This will be a quick post for now. Will update when i can.

Went to Tukkuluru village today. This is where most of Armpits family live and they have a wicked family home there that is 88 years old!! Met all of his close family and they are all such lovely people! There i met my first buffalo calf. She was really cute. Maybe i could bring her home as my indian wife.

We then went to Veni's mango farm. If my life dos'nt work out when i get back to NZ this is where i will end up spending the rest of my days as a mango farm boy. But if the fortune tellor was right the other day this will not happen :(

The kids at the village had never seen a white person before!! So when one saw me suddenly i was surrounded by about 15!! They were just staring at me in amazment with their bright white eyes. I took quite a few photos of them and when i showed them to them, at first they did'nt know who they were looking at. But when they realised that that was themselves they were amazed!! A couple of them jumped back in shock which was really funny!!!

Anyway, gotta have a bath now so will update later

lance

Vijayawada - Day 9 - Subject: Trains and Fortune Teller!!

2005-12-27T03:36:00.000+13:00

Wow, what a cool day!

We arrived in Vijayawada at 5 am in the morning after a 6 hour train trip through the night from Hyderabad. I LOVE trains!!! It was soo much fun. Had to share a cabin with 8 other people which was cool. Here in the South you dont eat with utensils so had my first experience with eating rice with my hands. Must say it is a little tricky with limited space and also a moving train but i did'nt make too much of a mess :) Amit had a really bad stomach due to mixing ice coffee and tea at the airport so he went straight to bed. Going back to yesturdays subject about toilets now. The toilets on the trains are really cool!! They are just holes in the floor and you can see the tracks below. I must say that i actually spent most of the time just staring down the hole in amazement!! And the sound of the wheels on the tracks is wicked.

So then we made our beds and everyone slept. I could'nt really sleep because i was so excited about being on a train. So me and this little girl that slept across from me played Peekaboo until she got told off. Then i just had to sleep. It was a nice feeling lying there with all these people around. Most poor, some sick and then this little white guy from NZ. It made me think a lot about life and how we are all the same, just born into completely different lives. Why was i born so lucky? I could have easily been born to someone in India who lives on the streets and then i could be one of the beggars. Was it meant to be? i dunno what im trying to say but everyone is the same and the lucky ones like me should try their best to help others who are'nt so lucky.

Vijayawada is a quiet little city (compared to Delhi) and has a population of around 1 million, but the area is a fraction of the size of Auckland so seems a lot more packed. We spent the day hanging out with Amits family at home which was really fun! Veni (Amits sister) is really cool and one of the easiest people to get along with. We have come up with a plan that i will move to Vijayawada next year and become a mango farm boy. And to be honest that does actually sound pretty cool. Going to the mango farm tomorrow so will have to make up my mind then ;)

Veni and i went for a walk later in the afternoon. I was wondering why everyone was staring at me more here than in Delhi. Then i found out that most people here had never seen a white person before!!! Travellers do not usually travel to this part of India, and whats even cooler is that tomorrow, when we go to Amits grandfathers village, i will be the first white person to go there!! Pretty cool stuff and i cant wait. Also on the walk we went past this fortune teller. So we both had our fortunes told. He let out a parrot from his cage and told the parrot my name. The parrot then looked at all these cards and picked out the one for me. It was actually quite weird because the parrot actually was sifting through the cards and looked like it was thinking. I thought it is a well trained bird but then what the fortune tellor told me was quite incredible!! Im not going to say what he said (maybe later) but i now feel like i have absolutely nothing to worry about. The stuff he knew tho was a shock!

So today was very interesting and one that i will never forget. It may have even changed the way i think and see even more. I am really excited about tomorrow.

Lance

Delhi - Day 8 - Hyderabad

2005-12-26T20:57:00.000+13:00

So today we left the chaotic Delhi and flew to Hyderabad where we caught a train to Vijawada. So our flight was meant to leave Delhi at 3.30. I ended up leaving at 7.15!!! I was quite a long wait in the airport. Amit and i bought ourselves some lemon tea hmmm, and we then had a coffee. Although that combination did'nt do Armpit justice at all. He ended up having a bad stomach on the plane and train. To make things worse, He sat next to two very dissabedient men, whilst i sat next to an Indian air hostess who was very pretty haha, poor him!

The first thing i noticed about Hyderabad was how clean and less populated it was to Delhi.

Got to go, will finish blog later

L

lance

Delhi - Day 7 - Subject: Xmas and Toilets

2005-12-25T21:49:00.000+13:00

Ho ho ho, Merry Christmas everyone!!!

Today is christmas, but in a way it did'nt really feel like it for me. Guess it is just because it is not really celebrated that much over here. So in a way i did feel like i wish i was home for christmas, being with family and having shrimp on the BBQ, and the sun and close to friends. But as soon as i stepped outside of the house again in Delhi and experienced this amazing country and life, the feeling dissapeared completely and did'nt come back. So this will be a memorable christmas ;) Plus got heaps of txts from friends in NZ which always makes me smile!!

O yeah, this morning was the first day that i have used my mobile since leaving. I originally was'nt going to bring it with me so that i could completely get away from NZ for 3 weeks. But i forgot to take it out of my pocket at the airport so ended up bringing it. Now i am really glad i did :) Although i did'nt charge it before i left so really have to rashin the battery life. So i just turn it on at night (Apart from xmas day). I learned that here, you can charge your phones at McDonalds so will do that at some stage.

Started the day with a light breakfast that consisted of toast and jam. Had to have this because i have had Delhi Belly for the last 2 days. I am glad to say that i think (THINK) that the worst is over. That is the thing tho, I really cannot tell. It just happens.

Now, todays subject is on toilets. I have now become really religious and now worship tiolet paper! When i get back to NZ and smell the aroma of scented toilet paper, soft on my bum, and 4 ply (Bless my little cotton softs) i will worship the toilet paper and also build a shrine to it in my room. On Sundays i will dance down Queen St banging on the tamborine and singing "Haera toilet paper". I respect it. Hard to believe i have only used half a roll since i left NZ!! That is incredible and a huge victory for me.

Toilets in India are actually hard to find from my experience so far. If you are in a shopping centre or restaurant then you are fine. But if not, you are not fine. Especially when you are dribbling, (but not from your mouth) as Vicki calls it. Places you do not want to go for a number 2 are in public places. I consider myself to be a pretty easy going person, and i dont think i complain much about anything. But some of these toilets are pretty bad. As in, i would rather do my business in public, where everyone can see me. I havent taken any photos of the toilets yet. I will leave that for people to experience themselves when they come to India. I know that i will be back one day.

But enough about todays subject. We had a lunch meeting today with family friends of the Trips. Very nice family and it was sooooo good to be able to eat proper indian food again!! And once again, the tea was beautiful!! I have only experienced one beggar since i made my deal and she worked for her money. She was sitting on the side of the road with drums. When the lights went red she got up and did these wicked tricks. I whipped out my camera and took a few shots. Then gave her some money. Will post a shot here when i get to NZ.

Anyway, heaps more to write but soo little time.

Merry Christmas All!!

Lance

Delhi - Day 6

2005-12-24T21:03:00.000+13:00

Went to CP and met up with Amits friends. Had another rout of Delhi Belly!! Will update soon

Lance

Delhi - Day 5

2005-12-23T21:35:00.000+13:00

Met up with Uday and D.O.P from bollywood. Got Delhi Belly

Delhi - Day 4

2005-12-22T21:45:00.000+13:00

Agra! Taj Mahal and Agra Fort!!!

Delhi - Day 3

2005-12-21T21:42:00.000+13:00

Red Fort
Dinner at Binny's

Delhi - Day 2

2005-12-20T15:31:00.000+13:00

Hey

Delhi - Day 1

2005-12-19T21:41:00.000+13:00

hey

Hong Kong - India!!

2005-12-18T15:30:00.000+13:00

hey

Hong Kong!!

2005-12-17T21:36:00.000+13:00

hey

First Post

2005-12-17T01:05:00.000+13:00

This is my first post

Going to India tomorrow!!
Excited!
A little nervous and will miss a few people!!

1am at the mo, sooooo, am going to go finish packin and get some sleep.

Bye for now

law