X-Men 2

Morgan Avery

So, as unexpected as it may be, X-Men 2 is really really really good.

Right from the opening scene in which they introduce Nightcrawler, it’s absolutely actionpacked. And it’s cool action, big fights, eeeery powers…

Oh, and Mystique in all of her hot blue naked (I guess) glory.

Even the moron sitting next to me – that was clearly desperate for approval, who kept pointing out things that were clearly visible on screen to everyone else, and looking at me when he laughed to check if he was right to be laughing (also made breathing noises, and like to squirm around a lot) – couldn’t spoil it.

Way better than I expected, enourmously better than the first one.

Raglan kayak action.

Morgan Avery

Got my way with the kayaking, had a great time paddling around the harbour. Sore arms afterwards, but not too sore. Back to home base for fish & chips and a nicely stoked up fire. w00p.

Softcocks in the surf.

Morgan Avery

Another great day on the west coast.

We took George down to the beach again – yesterday he was such a good boy, and had such a great time, that we felt he deserved another, even longer, walk.

I’ve been taking a lot of photos, some of them are great, some of them are not, but when you’ve got a capacity of over 900 shots, who gives a flying donut?

I also went bodyboarding, great fun, even if the waves weren’t being entirely cooperative. Everyone else was wearing a wetsuit, I started off thinking ‘they must think I’m crazy’ and ended up thinking ‘those guys are fucking soft, this isn’t so cold’. You’ll also be pleased to learn I was wearing my ‘tiny shorts.’ Good times.

For dinner we went to Costa’s and got very good pizza and very strange tasting water… Then headed over to the Harbour View hotel for sundaes and hot chocolate. Yummo.

Anyway, that was yesterday, today I’m hoping to go kayaking around the protected inner harbour with red, but she’s not being very enthusiastic about it, and I suppose it is a bit windy, so that might have to wait until tomorrow.

The coffee at Tongue & Groove is very good.

Raglan

Morgan Avery

Raglan has proved to be an excellent place for a getaway. The bach we’re in rules, apart from the outside toilet. We’ve got a great view over Whale Bay from the deck, not to mention from the bed. What a great place. Dinner last night was at the Tongue and Groove Cafe in Raglan town, great atmosphere, service a bit poor, food absolutely awesome – and it had to be at those prices, they really do charge Auckland prices, but guess who their target is?

That’s all for now, I’m about to take the dog for a walk on the beach, it’s a hard life.

Oh, really last thing, photos have to wait until I get back to the nasty big city. When your camera isn’t USB your options are limited. 🙁

Ski jump in the park.

Morgan Avery

April 11, 2003
So Claire and I were thinking about going and getting some dinner when people started making a bunch of noise outside… I figured it was nothing, just people in the construction site across the road, something like that, then I heard a bunch of digging, which didn’t sound right… So I had a look out the window, and saw a bunch of guys with shovels and what looked, for a strange moment, like a line of white plastic sandbags.

This didn’t make sense. I had a closer look.

What I saw still made little sense… Why would there be snow in the park, and if there was snow in the park, why would these guys be futzing with it?

How amped am I about this shot?.. Awesome.The snowboards helped bring clarity to the situation. I went outside and approached them, digital camera (with extremely flat batteries) secure in my vice-like grip.

These guys were building a ramp, and a sliderail… I asked them about things, like "where did you find the snow?".. "Oh, we sorta stole it".. "Yeah, from an iceskating rink". Yes yes, I’m paraphrasing. I’m also leaving out all the young snowboarder guy talk. And the fact they weren’t at all interested in my questions, but were instead completely focussed on building a nice kicker.

Crashing snowboarder destroys the rail...I said I wanted to see some injuries, and that instead of making sure the rail was firmly affixed, they should be riding their boards. They didn’t seem to be entirely sure if I was kidding.

I got a couple of snaps… Then the dreaded red-light of doom came on. Fucking batteries.

Click the thumbnails for bigger versions.