Where in the World has Carman been?

[jamesthecarman]

Hey guys and gals,

Sorry I haven't been around much.

But don't worry, your not the only ones I've been neglecting. I've also neglected friends in NZ, work, and just NZ in general (I've only been here for 18 weeks so far this year). You'll be happy to know I haven't been neglecting family though (which is the main reason for my general absence this year).

Lets see, where to start. I suppose the beginning would be good.

There was a bright light as I emerged from my mothers womb, everything was very blurry, and I was of course crying but looking cute all at the same time......

Err, wait, not that far back. Lets try the beginning of the year

January - South Island for a road trip with mates.

Then the remainder of the next 7 weeks I spent working in Wellington (but seemed to be out of town every weekend, whether for a wine festival in Marlborough, or the A1GP race in Taupo, etc).

That's when things got crazy. I went home (Orlando) for 7 weeks. I also happened to be at the courthouse in Fort Lauderdale at the time of the whole Anna Nicole Smith fiasco. I wasn't up on charges for being the mastermind of Al Sheepa thankfully, but lets just say it involved a family member and asbestos.

The next 7 weeks I was back in NZ.

Then the next 2 weeks I was back in Orlando again (very unexpected trip....semi-related to my trip in February).

Then I was back in Welly for a week....right in the middle of winter, having come from 34 degree heat in Orlando.

Then I went to Australia for 8 weeks. It was supposed to be 3, but I was enjoying the sun too much. But in my 7th week there I figured out that I HAD to come back to NZ within 2 weeks if I wanted to keep being eligible for citizenship.

And now I've been back in NZ for 3 weeks, and in my 2nd week at my new job (which I'm very fortunate to have).

So without giving too much detail.....It's been a challenging year, filled with lots of frequent flier miles, not much working, and lots of catching up with people now that I'm back.


To make up for it, I've got 2 monsterous posts to make (even longer than this one) thanks to personal experiences (i.e. citizenship eligibility) that I've kind of had to do a lot of research on this year. If you've been in NZ for a while like me, then these topics may be pretty relevant for ya.

BTW, someone please stop me if they have already been done. A. Eligibility requirements (superannuation pension, having children for free, KiwiSaver, indefinite residency, citizenship, etc....with timeframes, contact numbers, and such). And B. An overview of KiwiSaver.

[MotherBear]

Hey James, welcome back to the fold . You've had a bit of a quiet year then?

I don't know how NZ's sheep have managed without you. Glad to see that you haven't forgotten about us. We've moved on since you were last on here with 24-hour music on our own radio station (top right of the page) and also live broadcasts by Taffy and Dawn from time to time. What a riot that is! You must try to get yourself into the Radio Room (same place as the Chat Room) when the broadcasts are going on and you can take part, albeit only by typing comments, unless you have Skype and can arrange a phone-in.

Look forward to reading all your up-coming posts regarding citizenship and anything else that you'd like to throw on here. It's all good stuff.

[jamesthecarman]

Yep, it's been a quiet year in some ways....and not so quiet in others (sleeping on planes was tougher than ever).

Ah, the sheep. Well, you see, I gathered intelligence and did a thorough defence analysis before leaving. What I found was that no one was going to invade NZ, or beat the All Blacks at home, during my 17 weeks overseas. And I guess that just goes to show you why NZ (ruled by Al Sheepa) will be the greatest country in the world. Our intelligence was correct, which is more than can be said for some other countries (who shall rename wmdless....err, I mean nameless).

Originally Posted by MotherBear

We've moved on since you were last on here with 24-hour music on our own radio station...

Ooh, very cool. I caught a glimpse of it somewhere, but thought I was seeing things. (like, sometimes, I see sheep jumping over my bed at night.....but that's another story!)