27.2.07

in the shadow of the tower...

well the highlight of today has got to be all the progress i've made towards solving my current countdown of doom...

however following up on the information i acquired here today has required me to once again follow the aquaduck through the campus... right past the scary magicy looking clocktower...

now rather then go ANYWHERE near this place i made my way to the opposite side of the aqua L, and came across a very weird landmark...
now it shouldn't come as any surprise that so close to a place of magic one would find something like this... a plaza covered in C's... i can't figure out why they'd be here or why you'd put them up. point is their really weird, and must serve some sort of equally weird purpose.

i don't have time to properly figure it out right now though sadly... just making note of them so that once i have my countdown problems solved i can come back and figure this out...

a enquiry of sorts... a general sort that is

T-Minus: 32 days...

Location: University of Otago
Objective: Home
_

okay people of the innerweb now we're talking! inside the info centre i found exactly what i was looking for. the general enquiries desk!

now i had to stand in line for a few hours just to get to the nice person at the other end. i then had to spend another hour explaining why i as a non-university student needed the information i was requesting, but after convincing the info dude that it was an EMERGENCY he reluctantly gave me the address i need...

so now i'm off to hopefully score myself a new home here in new zealand!

campus tour

T-Minus: 32 days...

Location: University of Otago
Objective: Home

man what a good night sleep that was... forgot how nice it is to sleep in the great out of doors... a nice early start to the day too... nothing like waking up to the sounds of sea gulls squaking in the morning... yeah i they bug me too!!!

okay so first thing here this morning was finding my way around the university, and finding the information centre. already it's a very pretty place. the leith aquaduck runs right through the middle which gives it a very nice civilized feel.

wow and magicy! the main hall looks like hogwarts castle... sure hope they don't have any dragons around here! the scales on my lower jaw are still kinda tender from the last time i met up with a dragon!

i'm just going to avoid that whole section for now. hopefully the information centre is somewhere else as it is still a huge campus, and that clock tower area is just looking a little too magicy for me...

wow it sure is big too! the commerce building was massive... still no info here though. i'm liking this end of the campus better then the clocktower... not as magicy... more vancouvery


after a couple hours wandering around i came across a building that might be what the doctor ordered. the info link... sure hope they can hook me up with my needed information... otherwise i could be in trouble shortly...



pretty sweet building. has a bunch of useful offices and services... including a library! i'll have to email mike about it, and keep it in mind for future reference (get it... i made a pun... you know about referencing a reference... and people say i'm dumb!).
it also has the university inquires desk. just the sort of desk i'm in need of...
so i'm off to get my information here people of the innerweb. catch you in a little bit...

26.2.07

school of hard rocks...

T-Minus: 33 days...
_
Location: University of Otago
Objective: Home

okay things are looking very dire again here people of the web wide world. not only did my last attempt to find a home and job fail, but i wasted a LOT of time with that attempt

now i spent some time brain storming... which with a brain the size of mine is kinda hard too do... but i think i've come up with the perfect plan. it won't get me both a home and job like the last plan, but it will at least score me a place to stay... hopefully...

first i was going to have to find the university. which once back in dunedin hopefully wasn't going to be too hard.

the trip back in from the peninsula though. MAN! i sure am glad i didn't take that job at the albatross observatory. i'd have to leave for work from town the night before just to walk all the way back out here!


well finally i got back into town... way later then i'd hoped! it was already early evening, and i was just dropped off at random. i still needed to find my way to the university.

fortunately i found a key landmark that runs throughout town. the leith it's called, but i could a swore fake rivers like this one were called aquaducks! which now that i think about it is just as confusing... man humans are weird sometimes...


anyways if you follow the aqua L it runs from one end of town to the harbour (you can even see it on the map of dunedin... don't believe me check it out!). along the way though it runs through the university... which meant all i had to do was walk along the aqua L and i'd find my destination.

what do you know it worked! just took me a little while longer then i'd hoped... everything around the university is closed by now...

which is no good... i really need to get some information from them as so as possible cause the clock is ticking

i guess it's okay in a way... the long journey back in from the peninsula has kinda tuckered me out. now i've noticed that your not supposed to sleep around the university (now i've never been to skool of any kind so i'm not sure... but is it normal to have to warn students with actual signs NOT to sleep at skool???) but i'm really feeling the need to crash. especially since that way first thing tomorrow i can get down to business and get that information that i need...

fortunately i'm noticing a nice rocky spot by the aqua L hidden UNDERNEATH a building...

i'll be spending the night there, but please don't tell campus security people of the web wide world!

24.2.07

small birds - big birds

T-Minus: 36 days...

Location: royal albatross centre

Objective: job



well today being the new day that it is time to seize it (i heard that carpeting denim was how the romans seized the day back IN their day... weird guys the romans must have been).

if i could get a job at the albatross centre then i'll be set. i'd have a home and job all in the same area, AND be practically finished with the government criteria... all in less then 10 days!

so up to the top of the hill i went first thing in the morning to scoop out the joint. the plan was to see what it was about, and then apply for the job.


wow what a nice setup they've got in there! a big giant maori carving greets guests at the door... wonder if it is supposed to be like the giant globe at the tyrrell? still it is super cool! kinda like the totem poles in BC...

further inside there is whole gallery on critters of dunedin... ubber sweet!

included in the displays is a force field squid... which would make a nice treat i've decided... if only i could find a way to penetrate it's dense see through spherical bubble of defense...

next was a display on the penguins of otago. the rarest of these is the yellow eyed penguin. a very pretty bird, but i'd say it's name is very limited... more like a yellow eyed tuxedo bodied duck footed penguin...

wow i REALLY wanted to work here after the next penguin i saw. that is sorta saw!!! something in this building gave me superpowers! i had x-ray vision and could see INSIDE the penguin!!!

quick side note though you'd think it the most unlikely thing imaginable me and this guy are very related... you can see it even just in our arms... though drastically different in size and shape... the same bones are there... creepy eh



well after checking out the galleries it was time to take in the main attraction: the albatross tour!

so up to the VERY top of my neighborhood went our tour group. to a special viewing building to see the centres main attraction...


the royal albatross...

now at first from our viewing position... which was kinda far away, but for good reason to not bug the alby's... they just looked like big sea gulls at first, and man there is a LOT of sea gulls in my neighborhood...


looking through some bioocculars though and i realized just how HUGE an albatross is!!!

now this was a cool time of year to see these guys cause their in the middle of taking care of their eggs!



holy smokes though... when they get flying do you really get just how BIG they are... so big they need the wind to help them fly!


well after seeing these guys in life i was TOTALLY in for working at the centre!


at first it looked promising. going over my resume they were impressed by my tyrrell experience. they said they'd never thought of having a dinosaur work at the centre, but it might be an interesting addition to the staff. all they had to do was get me cleared through the department of conservation as the centre was run by them...

and here's where all my work of the last few days came crashing down...

the D.O.C. wasn't opposed to my working at the centre initially. what they were opposed to was my new stated address on my application form... turns out that my choice of nature preserve wasn't as cool with them as i thought it'd be...

you see no where in the description of a tyrannosaur is the scientifically stated need for an oceanic/shoreline habitat... meaning i was an intruding species on pilot's beach... in other words i was nearly breaking a few of my directives!!!

now long story short i was able to get out of trouble... well okay minus a long lecture about the terms of my bio restriction directives, and the preservation of new zealand's environment...

i however now have NO home again, and as i'll have to find one in town, and am without transport i'll be unable to work at the centre... it's just too far out...

so back to the drawing board people of the innerweb...

23.2.07

best backyard EVER!

T-Minus: 37 days...

location: taiaroa head

objective: job

well now that i've got myself settled into my new home at pilots beach i thought i'd check out the surrounding area... since it is my stomping grounds and all.

i'd also like to see if i can find a job in the area. cause otherwise it's a LONG walk to get into town for work...

up on top of the hill is a museum looking place about albatrosses... not sure what that is... i'll have to check tomorrow as the centre is closed at moment...

now where i'm living at pilots beach is in a nice protected bay, but on the other side of the hill (on the top is the centre) is taiaroa head which is facing the big open ocean...


WOW is all i have to say!

i do LOVE the ocean, and this is it in its wettest, crashingest, wavest form...


you get a real impression of just how powerful the ocean is here... i don't even think godzilla could bet this stuff... why does he live in it i wonder?


after a nice hour or so enjoying my new backyard the sun started to set... good first day in my new home though...
tomorrow time to get to finding a job seriously, and reporting my new place of residence to the government!
things are looking up people of the web-wide world!

22.2.07

sealing the deal

T Minus: 38 Days...

alright so people of the innerweb as i'm sure you now know, i'm facing the greatest crisis of my life... well okay post-tyrrell life... the point is that my plans in this new dinosaur-less land are in jeopardy...

to resolve this i'm going to have to be more dedicated and organized then ever before...

as i've now explored the rough area around dunedin (again when i have some time i'll share some of these findings, but in the meantime) i now need to get down to the business of

  • finding a home or place to stay
  • getting a job
  • convincing 3 people to give me autographs

this reminds me of my exploits in dinotown... only hopefully less booby traps here in new zealand... just like there i have a goal that needs a plan to be achieved...

so from here on in i'm going to keep track of my attempts like so:



Location: Pilot's Beach
Objective: Home
so after my exploits around town i realized perhaps the easiest place to start would be far away outside town, and work my way back in...

so out here at the ocean end of dunedin is the best starting point i figured... they call this area taiaroa head though i'm not seeing any skulls around... it's PRETTY far out of town. the drive was almost 45 min, and it's practically in the middle of no where.

so why did i choose to start out here?


the reason... it might be an easy fix to my home situation... because this whole area is a big nature preserve run by the department of conservation...

now i have to answer to the D.O.C. because i'm an endangered species in new zealand, but that comes with one good thing. they have to help me with my survival... so the nature preserve seemed like the perfect place to start!

the other great thing i can be picky about who comes to visit me while at home... only those with a permit can enter.


right away big bonus to picking this location. it has a beach! man i love the ocean!

though nothing is perfect (even free accommodation it would seem)... i wasn't too impressed with the D.O.C.'s management of the beach. it was covered in old dead logs and drift wood!


though suddenly to my surprise i was shocked to discover that the logs moved... they'd come to life!!!... or had they?

turns out their not logs, but a sea mammal called a sea lion... not my first pick of preserve-mate, but hey they are really cool... their kinda like some of the things i'd seen during my undercover work at the aquarium...

there were a lot of rocks lying around, and i figured it'd be fun to see if i'd moved into a fossil site as well as preserve.

to my shock the rocks here move too! of course it turned out to be a fur seal... quite the busy place to live its turning out... but hey the price is right!


even though their mammals i'm kinda digging my lion and seal preserve-mates... anything that can swim in the ocean is just neat, in my book anyway.

well this whole criteria thing is turning out to be easier then i thought...

i'll just have to report this into the department of immigration and the D.O.C. tomorrow, and on to the other two items on my list...

21.2.07

exploring

T-Minus: 39 days...

okay no pressure or anything, but AHHHHHHHHH...

so i've spent (hopefully not wasted) a few days checking out the town of dunedin... i promise to update you with a vlog of my findings, BUT of course i'm a little rushed by a certain impending doom... so it might be a week or two before i finish it (vlogs take a little bit of time to make surprisingly)...

just to give you a taste of where i'm trying to establish myself, and meet the government criteria here's the map of the area, and i'll try to give you an idea of where i am or have been operating around here...



i'd love to make this a longer entry, but i've got a few leads, and not much time. so catch you soon people of the web-wide world...

16.2.07

upgrade and new approach...

well suddenly my planned new simple and easy life down under has become very complicated and hard!!!

the new rules i have to operate under seem to be pretty fixed and strict, and even worse those three criteria i need to reach before march 31 could ruin everything!

with this ticking countdown of doom i think i should start taking note of the passage of time

T-Minus: 44 days

okay there we go. good start to handling this crisis if i do say so myself... wait i did just say so myself... no if really involved.

i'm not going to lie though people of the innerweb i'm still a little lost as to what i should do to sort these things out. fortunately i know one person whose job is to make sense of such things...


i gave bond... peter bond... my special talent agent a ring (as they'd say here in new zealand) to see what he could do to help me with my problem.

now tracking down peter has been a little hard. he's been travelling around europe (a dinosaur populated place i'll point out) to increase his talent base. everywhere from germany to england, and i haven't talked to him a whole lot since his move.

he was happy to hear from me, and he launched into pleasantries. now i tried to convey to him the urgency of my call, but i didn't want to be rude... so we ended up wasting like 10 whole minutes on pleasant conversation!

man can't do that anymore. the blog clock is ticking!!!

fortunately he finally asked me "so how are you doing now that your down in new zealand?"

man it was about time. i told him not good. which naturally lead to him asking why not...

now i have a bad habit of rambling when i'm upset... it's not my fault. i do have brain the size of a peanut after all... but peter wasn't able to keep up with me, and well after wasting 2 minutes on trying to tell him i wasn't about to calm down...



fortunately i had all the regulations and rules in a text form so i just sent them to his phone...


peter was even more mad then me! all i heard was some unrepeatable in blog format words, and then "this is a total infringement on your freedom, and mine to profit off yours!!!"

now peter is a professional... he calmed himself down within 30 seconds... which i greatly appreciated cause again the clock is ticking!

"okay, i've got a plan..." peter said in a calculated manner. "but it's going to require some changes from you there big guy"

oh boy i thought... i was hoping peter would make this all go away nice and easy, and make things return to normal. well turns out that special talent agents can only do so much when it comes to being faced with a governmental menace...

peter said the march 31 requirements were the most important to deal with now... the rules can wait...

i need a "drastic public image make-over" peter thinks. we tyrannosaurs have a very terrible reputation, and as of such i need to overcome it if i'm to succeed here in new zealand, or anywhere...

as my blog is my "ambassador" to the world... wow suddenly i feel important... my blog is going to have to serve as the main means of convincing people that i'm not a brutal prehistoric killing machine.

to do this peter has a list of things i'm going to need to change so that the blog "reflects me as a person" this includes the following:

  1. Add personal elements and touches to my blogs format
  2. Start posting more of my personal thoughts and feelings
  3. Start getting to know your audience and engaging them

so basically make my blog more about me... isn't it already about me though???

well who am i to argue with peter. i've got some ideas for #1. if you look along the sidebar you'll find that i've added a bunch of things about me. so check them out

even more important leave a comment people of the web-wide world, and let me know what you think of my new and improved blog!

i in the meantime am going to try and start meeting those 3 criteria...

15.2.07

the "man"... or rather the "state"

okay just when i thought everyone was over the "incident", and not mad at me anymore, i thought wrong...

it turns out that the new zealand conservation department had an alterior motive for driving me personally to my destination in the south... turns out we were making a stop at the otago bureau of the department...



i've never really understood the phrase "signing my life away"... that is till now...

so for me to live here in new zealand a whole new category of immigrant status had to be invented. as of 12:04 i'm now officially a

"Landed Extracontinential Organism"


(sounds kinda like an alien invasion movie title or something!).

the reason for this weird and scary sounding title, is that in the old days when people were moving here from overseas they brought a bunch of animals over that weren't supposed to live here, and they've caused quite a mess with the local environment...

what my new status is saying is that i'm an allowed foriegn species of animal, BUT that they'll be watching me closely (i'm kinda scarred... i've seen that movie 1984. they watched people in that all the time too, and bad stuff happened!!!... hopefully 23 years later those problems have gone away...) to make sure that i behave... in an ecologically friendly sense of the word behave...

because i'm the only member of my species living in new zealand there's a bunch of other stuff i have to do as well... apparently because there's only one of me (a tyrannosaurus rex traumadorius) i'm a nationally critical animal on their endangered species list. ie. i'm as endangered an animal as they come around here!


so because i'm so "threatened" the people in the department of conservation have given me a TON of that i must follow at ALL times from here on in...

Any individaul or population of tyrannasaurus rex traumadorius:

  • A. May not engage in any behaviour or activity that might threaten individual's or population's well being or survivial

  • B. May not engage in any behaviour or activity that will alter or disrupt New Zealand natural habitats, species, or ecosystems

  • C. Must report to the DOC (Department of Conservation) any change in habitat, territory, or ecosystem within 24 hours of change

  • D. May not breed within New Zealand without permission from the D.O.C.

  • E. Must report any and all predation of native species to the D.O.C. (with a possibility of violation of clause B.)

  • F. Must assist in research efforts at better understanding species biologic and conservation needs and issues

  • G. Must cooperate with D.O.C. agents and officers in any capacity or function they deem necessary to protect New Zealand's environment

where's the fun in any of that?!? now i have to follow a bunch of directives like a stupid robot!!!

even worse due to my being considered "intelligent"...

at first i might add i was very happy they said i was intellegent! that is till i found out it lead to bad things! they decided due to my almost being smart that i wasn't just an endangered species, but also an immigrant.

as of such i have the following criteria from the department of immigration, and i have to meet them before march 31!!! AHHHHHHHH

  • A permenant place of residence
  • Stable employment
  • At least 3 signed referals or endorsement

oh man... no pressure or anything, but if i don't get these 3 things by mar. 31 st their going to ship me back to canada!!!

well people of the web wide world i'm needing to go. things to do and all that... oh boy oh boy

12.2.07

wrong side of the road

okay so they finally let me out of quarantine today!!!

that's right i'm finally allowed to enter new zealand, and start trying to make a life for myself here...

there's just one thing... i don't know a thing about new zealand... including such things as where i am or more to the point where i can live...
i had been hoping that once i was over here i could just go and live with craig, just like in the good old days... but now thanks to bio-security i've been separated from craig, and i'm not even in the same town as him...

there is some good news though!

thanks to my status now as the ONLY dinosaur on the south island of new zealand the department in or conservation is legally supposed to take care of me... after all if something bad happens to me then there'll be NO more dinosaurs down here!

now that's what i'm talking about! a place that treats a t-rex right!!!

they weren't too happy about it though... i found out about it by accident while asking what sort of cool animals i can see around here... when they were talking about endangered animals they said they had to help these animals from going extinct. that made me think of dinosaurs, and i asked why they hadn't helped us... suddenly they were accusing me of being so clever for threatening them like that, and asked who i had told...

wait you think they thought that i'd thought that they thought that i thought that they thought that i thought... uh wait what was i saying again???

anyways now i'm being driven... that's right i'm not having to drive for once!!! i'm being driven to otago. which if i understand is where craig is right now... though i thought that he is in a place called dune-dine...

the weird part about this ride is that i'm in the same seat i would normally be in if i was driving back home... that's right these weird new zealanders they ride on the WRONG side of the road...

i missed much of the nice scenery since we set out cause i was freaking out... wasn't till 30min into the trip they finally told me that was normal... how was i too know?

oh well that was okay... soon i got my first view of the ocean since arriving... ah man i LOVE the ocean... after all it is what made me think to leave canada behind... i can't wait till i get a chance to go explore it in more detail...



wow there sure is a lot of it! still going on...

i'm being told we're getting closer to otago here people of the innerweb so i'm going to sign off for now... keep you posted once i arrive, and hopefully figure out a bunch of things like what am i going to do for a home, or work, and most important to make something of myself here...

7.2.07

funny story...

hey there people of the web wide world. i know it's been a LONG time since i last posted, but i have a good excuse!!!

well you know how i was looking for a place without dinosaurs, and i found a few when i went to the library last month... well here's what roughly went down... the story must stay rough for, well, let's just say complicated reasons...

i can't say how exactly it happened, but SOMEHOW... though again i have NO idea how... i ended up SOMEHOW got lost in calgary after leaving the library, and ended up getting mixed up in craig's laundry...


for a number of reasons... most of them legal... i really can't for the life of me remember how this happened... fortunately with a brain the size of a peanut that is too be expected. phew or i'd be one dead meat t-rex right now...

now in my defense from all the allegations flying around as of late, craig SHOULD have checked his luggage more diligently!!! whose to say i didn't fall in there several days before he left as opposed to seconds before he grabbed his bags from the cars' trunk at the airport... i certainly couldn't say!

due to his affiliation with the tyrrell museum several countries customs didn't ask as to why he had a tyrannosaurus skeleton in his luggage... all but one, and here's where i got in a lot of trouble...

craig you see was heading to new zealand to try and become a teacher, and well new zealand it turns out is very picky as to what kinds of critters they do and more important DON'T let into their country...

they have a thing called bio-security that screens all incoming goods and luggage for intruding organisms... including dinosaurs it would appear... well sort of anyway.

they'd never seen a dinosaur before, but they recognized me as an undeclared predatory animal of some kind. man i don't think i've ever seen craig so surprised or mad at the same time before as when they opened his bag to find me, and i've done some stupid things before! now again i have NO idea how i got there. i certainly didn't sneak into his car the night before he left so i could catch a free ride to new zealand where there just happen to be no other dinosaurs... and they couldn't prove it.

craig was really mad at me... oops... but fortunately they let him off with just a stern yelling at...

he got off easy if you ask me, but when you hear his side of it you'd think i actually got him arrested as opposed to just threatened with it...

boy, at least he didn't have to spend the last MONTH in quarantine!!!

yeah since i was listed as a dependent of craig's, and he couldn't afford to fly me back to canada i was a landed pest... however since i could speak for myself they couldn't get rid of me the "usual" way... whatever that is. won't it be the same as flying me home?... new zealand customs deemed i could remain in the country...

so long as i wasn't a threat to their native environment... as of such i was locked up in a special building kinda like in a movie to make sure i didn't have a cold or something...

now i'm about to be released, and i can see about making a place for myself here in this new zealand...