HELLO WORLD.
February 20, 2009

Well, the obligatory first post on a new blog. A quick thank you to K.MA for asking me to be a part of the new blogroll, and a shout to existing friends – Brian, Annie, Keith, Leftfoot TPE, and of course, Team Canto-Canada. I look forward to catching up with you all during my travels this year. I hope through this roll I can keep everybody updated with what's happening in this area of the world.

I’m not one for traditional introductions, so I thought I’d drag up an old post from the archives. Hello.

"OH, I'M FROM NEW ZEALAND."
Friday 7th November, 2008.

Well, for some reason I can't sleep again, so here's another late night update.

I travel quite a fair bit. And in my travels I meet all kinds of people. Young, old, industry people, non industry people, artists, designers, friends of friends, some dude on the street, some dude on the train, some dude on the plane, whatever. So, as it normally goes we end up striking up a conversation.

Inevitably the conversation always leads to this:

- "So where are you from?"
- "Oh, I'm from New Zealand."

After this particular part in the conversation it generally gets quite amusing. I thought I'd list the top ten most common responses I have heard from various people around the world.
(NB: these are actual responses I have heard, quoted verbatim.)

#10. Oh yeah, that's where kiwifruit is from, isn't it.
#9. Is that the place with lots of cows?
#8. Awesome, I love your English accents.
#7. Right, Lord of the Rings was incredible. I watched it twice.
#6. Oh, I went there, when I was 8/9/10/11/12 years old.
#5. Oh my God! I love Flight of the Conchords. Do you know them?
#4. Wow, I haven't been to Sydney in years. How long does it take to drive there?
#3. Ohhhhhhhhh. Oh. Where?
#2. Cool, you're from Oakland.

and the #1 most common response -

#1 - ... I hear it's beautiful in New Zealand.

Hey, at least it's better than the other nine responses.