June 11th - The Robotic Uprising of the CBD

Are you passionate about accounts receivable? When you put your head on the pillow do you dream about data entry? Do you love filing things in order? If you answered yes to any of the above questions, you’re an idiot. You’re apparently also a prime candidate for one of the many jobs on offer in the Wellington CBD. Isn’t it a tad overdramatic to throw around words like love and passion as prerequisites for duties at a temping agency? In this city, filled with free thinking, liberal arts aficionados, whose youthful exuberance is a result of menial office work? Maybe I’m wrong, maybe all the cool people I’ve met here at shows or at the pubs have been getting high off life at jobs that involve alphabetizing for eight hours a day. I don’t believe that for a second, instead I believe that the majority of the want ads have been written by Satan himself. Just kidding, though in all seriousness these jobs must truly suck if they have to be advertised so incessantly by these various temp agencies with their similar sounding mono-syllabic names which are always obscure English words presumably meant to sound edgy. I don’t know what’s worse, the soulless robot programmed to write this drivel or me for actually applying for them and pretending like I’m the person who fits their bill. All I know is that I can’t afford, both literally and metaphorically, to have another transition period experience like that of Dublin. With that still fresh in my mind I am applying feverishly for anything and everything just to have some form of income while I search for a job that will live up to my lofty standards (read: Activision). In the meantime I found myself on Friday afternoon without any concrete plans. I texted the few contacts I’d made but they were either broke or searching for flats. I decided not to let that deter me and made the 25 minute downhill stroll into town solo. I’d found this handy online gig listing called Groove Guide which reaffirmed that Wellington, for a city of its size and population, has a disproportionate number of music venues and thus frequent shows and multiple options. In my excitement I forgot to write down the addresses for these places so on my way into town I thought I’d pop by my old hostel to see if I could snag directions. Just as I’d expected, my friend Mikey was on the front porch again, smoking a cigarette and playing his guitar, just as he had been doing each night that I stayed there. Not only did he give me directions but he came to the gig with me and we discovered our mutual respect for many artists and made plans to jam on Sunday. On Saturday afternoon I went down to the Four Kings pub again, grabbed a seat in a recliner and watched the Canucks beat the Bruins on 18 screens (yes, I counted). For whatever reason, everyone who bothered to come and watch the game (mostly kiwis as their accents suggested) was a Canucks fan, which was fine by me. Many even had Canucks jerseys! For a second there I’d thought I’d stepped through a portal into a Vancouver pub until the commercial breaks came and two back to back adverts for rival worm medicines for sheep brought me back to reality. I guess my hard work in trying to make friends has paid off as on Saturday night I had not one, not two, but three official invites to social gatherings of one form or another; one house party, one concert, and one dinner party. Despite having just eaten I settled on the dinner party because I didn’t know the address for the house party and had been to the exact same concert venue the night before. The dinner party was at one of the flats I’d went to on my flat hunt. They had offered me the room but I’d already accepted the place I’m in now. It’s not so bad though, I can have the bigger room and extra privacy here (not to mention some pretty cool flatmates) and I now have some awesome mates just up the street. Continuing my streak of meeting like-minded individuals, these guys have a ‘’flat band’’ in that most of the flatmates play an instrument or sing and have decided to form a group because apparently there is a contest or something that will get you free tickets on the ferry to the South Island. I found this out after hearing Fleet Foxes on the Ipod playing over dinner. One girl mentioned something interesting when she related her story of seeing the new X-men movie as the guy she went with was part of the special effects team at Weta, Peter Jackson’s company that worked on the Lord of the Rings films. I’d forgotten that much of the CGI on these big movies is being done right here in Wellington so it shouldn’t come as a surprise when people get excited in the theatre at random moments, the scene might just be something they worked on! So there you have it, my good luck goes on as I continue to meet intelligent, artsy locals who are as welcoming as they are interesting. Who knows, maybe I’ll regret buying a van because it will mean weekends away from all the excitement right here in the city.