Look who thinks she's all productive now?

My, my! Changing the look again, eh? Damn you, Nesting Instincts!

Speaking of non sequitars, Kris did indeed do an awesome job with the burritos yesterday. According to one Weta veteran, never before had such a thundering herd of hungry people gathered so quickly and in such numbers for food from a lunch-vendor. Many email were sent to me afterward saying how delicious the burritos had been. Huzzah!

Also, the sad news of The Cheat is also true. I've been looking at it in terms of an adventure, though. For something to be a proper adventure, I've maintained, it cannot be easy. There must be hardship, and adversity, difficult choices and painful sacrifices. Otherwise, it's not adventure, it's tourism. We had thought that the pain we went through in the month or so leading up to our leaving the US was all the dues we would pay. We didn't anticipate losing a member of our party, but clearly Fate had other plans. Not that I've given up hope that we'll be reunited with The Cheat, or that I'm not sad and anxious about it, but things like that are part of the nature of adventure.

But turning now to positive things, Allen gave me a present today: a tobacco pipe! We had been over at his house a couple weeks ago, and he had busted out his pipe collection and tobacco. After a brief tutorial, I was soon puffing away like a champ. OK, maybe a "champ" in the Special Olympics sense, but sometimes, we're all winners. It came in a little case with a tamper, some filters, and an ounce or so of flavored tobacco. Needless to say, this is quite awesome, and I'm quite humbled. Now, of course, I have another reason to need a workshop, so I can craft my own pipes. It's added to the growing list of things to do or make, such as root beer brewing, jalepeno pepper growing, tobacco growing, motorcycle building, VTOL aircraft making, and other such crafting and inventioning.

Another shining beacon of awesome is the 48Hours Film Fest, which is a competition in New Zealand to make a short film in 48 hours. It happens in about a month, and we had a meeting last night to discuss ideas, roles, budget, and to watch the DVD of last year's movies. Some were really great, while others were painfully bad. I think we can definitely avoid painful badness. There is a little doubt that we can be as good as last year's winner. But it can't hurt to try, and it's bound to be fun.