I'm continuing to work 3 days a week, which is awesome. I took a Friday off in January to attend the Auckland Big Day Out, a multi-stage music festival that travels around Australia (but starts in Auckland, NZ). This was my first BDO, and I went mainly to see Grinderman. (Grinderman is Nick Cave's most recent band.) I also would have liked to see Tool, but they were playing just before Grinderman on a different stage. Since there was no seating, and I had difficulty seeing over peoples heads and shoulders during Iggy and the Stooges, I got to the Grinderman stage about 2 hours early so I could be right in front, so I could see. It was totally worth standing for hours, getting harassed and shoved around by an obnoxious, big guy during Primal Scream, and enduring one of the most boring bands I think I've ever seen, Primal Scream. You would think a band with such a cool name would be fun, but none of them smiled and their music was lame! Being up front for Grinderman was awesome, because they are such talented, energetic, and engaging musicians. Oh yeah, it was raining too! I was pretty pleased with myself because I'd stuffed a light rainjacket in my backpack, so I didn't get as cold and wet as other people. I also saw the Deftones, who I love. I remember seeing them back in San Diego at the Van's Warped Tour in about 1999. Wolfmother played a cover of The Who's Teenage Wasteland, which is my favorite Who song ("I don't need to be forgiven!"). I like this band and have one of their albums, and they sound a bit like Deep Purple or Led Zeppelin (remember them!?)- retro hard rock- you can hear Wolfmother's song Woman on YouTube if you click here.
Darin's birthday was celebrated in early January with a flourless chocolate cake (with sprinkles!) and a glass of port- yummy!
We took the ferry to Waiheke Island and rented scooters the day before his b-day. We visted Obsidian winery, swam in the warm Pacific ocean at Onetangi beach,
and had a charming lunch at Casita Miro. Our visit was over much too quickly!
We also went snapper fishing recently. I was a bit concerned because the weather had been very windy, which can make the water quite rough in a boat. But it was fine- a bit choppy later in the afternoon, but calm all morning. We took a boat charter out in the Hauraki Gulf (Dr Hook) for a full day. Between us, we caught 16 snapper, of which I filleted one of them! I caught the biggest one on the boat that day, 8.5 pounds, and all the other fishermen were jealous- what a great feeling. That gave my arm a real workout. 
Snapper are delicous!
