Maybe blogging isn't for me, I never remember to update it and when I do get around to it, I can't remember what has happened.
So China was, different. Same sort of fast-paced Asian way of doing things, lots of smog and very commercially driven. Didn't get to see or do the things I would have liked because School trips are like that. Still, was a good time, even if I did have to pay more then was stated and didn't even get the time off I was owed.
After working in emergency services with Fire, Ambulance and LandSAR I decided it was time for a career change. Well, that and being sick of teaching after 8 years. So starting next year (hopefully), I will become a cop, aiming to move into either Search & rescue or dog squad. Or failing that I will go with Ambulance full time.
So right now I am enjoying some downtime before whatever happens next year. After a family Xmas it is up to the bay for new years, then all the way up to Cape Reinga before I turn South and Drive all the way to Bluff. Because I can. Seeing mates and having fun with Loki along the way. Should be quite an adventure.
Thursday 24 December 2015
Thursday 2 April 2015
I have part of a plan
So, at some point on Saturday I leave for China. Which means, given tomorrow is a public holiday, I should really be sorted by now right? HA! I have found my suitcase, and put some socks in there. But that is as far as I have gotten. Good start.
Two weeks I will be spending in Guangzhou with the seven students who were brave enough (and could get the money) to experience a new culture. The programme looks very busy, but hopefully I will have time to get to the great wall and check off another thing on the list. Either way, it is going to be a busy trip. Hopefully nothing goes pear-shaped, I've had enough of that sort of carry on.
End of term one. Boy am I glad for that, even though it has been a short one it has sure been a mission. Almost the whole time I felt like I was on the back foot. Partly my own fault by taking too much on, partly not. Still, when term two rolls around it will be time to start again with some classes. Seems two weeks is too much for them to remember shit.
Fire brigade is going well. Been to a couple of call-outs and training has been progressing. Fitness has also been improving so hopefully I'll pass the saline challenge and get onto the recruit course soon enough.
SAR has been progressing slowly, needing to fit the courses into an already busy schedule and find the ones that are local. Still, what I have been to has been valuable experience.
Only have a couple of drives to get signed of as an ambulance driver, and spent a weekend as medic for the Homegrown festival. Was a lot of fun, some good OTJ experience and great music. Also, a medic Hi-vis is basically all access pass, got to go backstage and everything, no questions asked.
There is probably some more stuff that has happened that I've missed, which will happen when I'm slack and don't update often enough. Oh well.
Two weeks I will be spending in Guangzhou with the seven students who were brave enough (and could get the money) to experience a new culture. The programme looks very busy, but hopefully I will have time to get to the great wall and check off another thing on the list. Either way, it is going to be a busy trip. Hopefully nothing goes pear-shaped, I've had enough of that sort of carry on.
End of term one. Boy am I glad for that, even though it has been a short one it has sure been a mission. Almost the whole time I felt like I was on the back foot. Partly my own fault by taking too much on, partly not. Still, when term two rolls around it will be time to start again with some classes. Seems two weeks is too much for them to remember shit.
Fire brigade is going well. Been to a couple of call-outs and training has been progressing. Fitness has also been improving so hopefully I'll pass the saline challenge and get onto the recruit course soon enough.
SAR has been progressing slowly, needing to fit the courses into an already busy schedule and find the ones that are local. Still, what I have been to has been valuable experience.
Only have a couple of drives to get signed of as an ambulance driver, and spent a weekend as medic for the Homegrown festival. Was a lot of fun, some good OTJ experience and great music. Also, a medic Hi-vis is basically all access pass, got to go backstage and everything, no questions asked.
There is probably some more stuff that has happened that I've missed, which will happen when I'm slack and don't update often enough. Oh well.
Sunday 1 February 2015
3 Weeks and no rain? You've changed Waiouru...
I hope you're good at dodging because here come the bullets... bulletpoints that is, too tired for a decent story.
Summer holidays in summary
Pros
Cons
Summer holidays in summary
- Christmas with family,
- Lots of driving,
- New years on a farm trying to light a Christmas tree with tracer and model rockets. Spoiler alert! we failed,
- 3 weeks in Waiouru training recruits on their basic, more like summer camp! Not even any rain to bring down morale,
- Back to school, yabooo! Still, routine will mean I eat better and do my damn exercise,
- Training Loki to track, when he focuses he is really good!
Pros
- Great weather, yay!
- Paid work, winning.
- New car, Ssangyong (don't judge :P) ute, taking delivery any day now. No more stinky dog farts in the car!
- Seeing friends and having fun, epic winning!
Cons
- Got charged $50 because other soldiers lack integrity and I took the fall, boo!
- Not having any time because I'm doing to many things, not necessarily a bad thing though.
- Lack of sleep, snore!
And now it's time to go back to work. Most of my students passed their exams, so that's a bonus. Still, seems like same shit, different faces to be honest.
Tuesday 23 December 2014
Leaving the farm
Got a new place, back in town. Nice and handy to school and the fire station so that means money saved on fuel. It is more expensive than currently but bigger and nicer etc. Actually it is really nice, insulation is amazing! Plus there is a nice covered in area for the dog. He still insists on sleeping on the doorstep though.
Finished my first responder course, lets hope the fire service accept it. Should do, given it is at a higher level. Went out on a shift and got to do some driving and assessing, good to put the skills into practice. Hopefully get to crack into that once I am back home.
School has finished for the year. Yay! Physics 3 to teach next year so brushing up on that so I don't screw up too badly :P But apart from that a rather lengthy holiday. Even if half of it is spent teaching recruits how to soldier. But that can be fun too.
Tongariro tramp was pretty good actually. We got lucky with the weather and missed the worst of it. Pretty amazing going from tussock to volcanic terrain then into the forest. The huts are pretty amazing too, much better than I've been in previously.Definitely recommend the Northern circuit if you want some pretty scenery and a bit of a challenge.
Finished my first responder course, lets hope the fire service accept it. Should do, given it is at a higher level. Went out on a shift and got to do some driving and assessing, good to put the skills into practice. Hopefully get to crack into that once I am back home.
School has finished for the year. Yay! Physics 3 to teach next year so brushing up on that so I don't screw up too badly :P But apart from that a rather lengthy holiday. Even if half of it is spent teaching recruits how to soldier. But that can be fun too.
Tongariro tramp was pretty good actually. We got lucky with the weather and missed the worst of it. Pretty amazing going from tussock to volcanic terrain then into the forest. The huts are pretty amazing too, much better than I've been in previously.Definitely recommend the Northern circuit if you want some pretty scenery and a bit of a challenge.
Monday 10 November 2014
Nobody likes dogs
Is what have deduced from my search for a new place to live. Oh, this place looks perfect. Sorry, no dogs! Bugger! Well I still have a few weeks left on that one. And a couple of prospects have just opened up.
I have completed a couple of observer shifts with St John and seen some interesting stuff. A lot of slow and routine things but a bit of excitement now and then. For the rest of this month I have training courses so that by the time December rolls around I will be useful on the ambulance.
I joined the volunteer fire service here in Levin (because why not). Seems like a cool brigade, lot of humour. There are a couple of new recruits I will go through the programme with so that helps. Hopefully the med screening gets sorted quickly though, I don't fancy waiting three years to get on the appliance.
I completed the Combat Fitness Test for the army back in the holidays, Much prefer it to the RFL. Much more functional and realistic, even if it does take longer. Particularly proud that as the only Reserve I managed to beat the Regulars on a couple of tasks. Although very few of them seemed to understand the meaning of 'operationally valid pace'.
I had a holiday of sorts somewhere there. Got away up to the Bay of Plenty for a few days of R & R, then came back through the Naki to see the family. Really racking up the miles on the car. Might be time for a new one soon.
I'm now officially on the system for LandSAR, so as soon as I can get to some training I will increase my chances of being used. Unfortunately I have a lot of ambulance training over the next few months. Might be a struggle fitting everything in. Good thing I don't have much of a social life eh :P
I spent the weekend up in Taupo with some good mates. Went prawn fishing, had a bit of a paddle in the lake and a few brews. Was good to get some relaxing in. Brilliant weather too, just a shame we didn't get out on the lake. But there is always next time.
I have completed a couple of observer shifts with St John and seen some interesting stuff. A lot of slow and routine things but a bit of excitement now and then. For the rest of this month I have training courses so that by the time December rolls around I will be useful on the ambulance.
I joined the volunteer fire service here in Levin (because why not). Seems like a cool brigade, lot of humour. There are a couple of new recruits I will go through the programme with so that helps. Hopefully the med screening gets sorted quickly though, I don't fancy waiting three years to get on the appliance.
I completed the Combat Fitness Test for the army back in the holidays, Much prefer it to the RFL. Much more functional and realistic, even if it does take longer. Particularly proud that as the only Reserve I managed to beat the Regulars on a couple of tasks. Although very few of them seemed to understand the meaning of 'operationally valid pace'.
I had a holiday of sorts somewhere there. Got away up to the Bay of Plenty for a few days of R & R, then came back through the Naki to see the family. Really racking up the miles on the car. Might be time for a new one soon.
I'm now officially on the system for LandSAR, so as soon as I can get to some training I will increase my chances of being used. Unfortunately I have a lot of ambulance training over the next few months. Might be a struggle fitting everything in. Good thing I don't have much of a social life eh :P
I spent the weekend up in Taupo with some good mates. Went prawn fishing, had a bit of a paddle in the lake and a few brews. Was good to get some relaxing in. Brilliant weather too, just a shame we didn't get out on the lake. But there is always next time.
Thursday 7 August 2014
I do solemnly swear... again.
26th April 2013.
5th August 2014.
467 days.
That is how long it took to go from me completing my enlistment requirements to finally being attested back into the Army. But now it is done and I am officially part of the RNZAMC as a reserve medic. Next step is the CMT course so I can work as a medic.
In other news, my holiday to Stewart Island was very relaxing. I ended up doing all of my tours on the first day so took a bus tour of the islands (took 1 hour, there weren't many roads) and a water taxi to the bird sanctuary island. Here I wandered around, hearing all sorts of noisy birds and lo and behold, a snuffly big Kiwi rocked up through the undergrowth and came within 1 metre of me. Much bigger than I was expecting, but an amazing experience. The next day I went out fishing. After a while I got the hang of this deep sea fishing lark and was pretty much bringing up fish on each cast. Between the four of us we kept 32 after two hours. Not too shabby (although apparently that was a poor days fishing!)
I attended the National TKD championships, having not done nearly as much training as I wanted. Still, I managed to come away with a silver medal in Male 1-4th gup Heavyweight sparring as one very close fight and a second which wasn't as close but wasn't a whitewash either. So pretty proud of that.
I applied for a St John Ambulance volunteer position this month. Sounds like an interesting role with some unique situations. Plus will be good for enhancing my medical knowledge. Still no word from SAR though...
5th August 2014.
467 days.
That is how long it took to go from me completing my enlistment requirements to finally being attested back into the Army. But now it is done and I am officially part of the RNZAMC as a reserve medic. Next step is the CMT course so I can work as a medic.
In other news, my holiday to Stewart Island was very relaxing. I ended up doing all of my tours on the first day so took a bus tour of the islands (took 1 hour, there weren't many roads) and a water taxi to the bird sanctuary island. Here I wandered around, hearing all sorts of noisy birds and lo and behold, a snuffly big Kiwi rocked up through the undergrowth and came within 1 metre of me. Much bigger than I was expecting, but an amazing experience. The next day I went out fishing. After a while I got the hang of this deep sea fishing lark and was pretty much bringing up fish on each cast. Between the four of us we kept 32 after two hours. Not too shabby (although apparently that was a poor days fishing!)
I attended the National TKD championships, having not done nearly as much training as I wanted. Still, I managed to come away with a silver medal in Male 1-4th gup Heavyweight sparring as one very close fight and a second which wasn't as close but wasn't a whitewash either. So pretty proud of that.
I applied for a St John Ambulance volunteer position this month. Sounds like an interesting role with some unique situations. Plus will be good for enhancing my medical knowledge. Still no word from SAR though...
Wednesday 18 June 2014
One step closer
Quick post to keep the numbers up. Also if it leaves it too long it forgets, silly hobbitses.
Got my red belt in TKD. Good to finally have a new belt and new stuff to learn. New goal is Black belt by end of 2015. Which means I'll need to get black tag but January at the latest (more or less). Time to dig in for the duration.
Got some medals at the Regional TKD tournament. Silver patterns and Bronze sparring. Had 3 rounds up against a young guy who just pipped me on stamina. So my areas for improvement for future tournaments? Fitness.
Got a promotion at work. I am now the second in charge of the science faculty, with the areas of responsibility of... Well, I'm not really sure. I'm not a head of a subject, so I guess I just prod everyone else to keep them in line and fix IT-related issues. Fun.
2.5 weeks left of work. Yay! Finally a real holiday, since the last one I was sort of working anyway. Going down to the deep South. In Winter. Seems like a great idea!
*porky pig noise* That's all folks!
Got my red belt in TKD. Good to finally have a new belt and new stuff to learn. New goal is Black belt by end of 2015. Which means I'll need to get black tag but January at the latest (more or less). Time to dig in for the duration.
Got some medals at the Regional TKD tournament. Silver patterns and Bronze sparring. Had 3 rounds up against a young guy who just pipped me on stamina. So my areas for improvement for future tournaments? Fitness.
Got a promotion at work. I am now the second in charge of the science faculty, with the areas of responsibility of... Well, I'm not really sure. I'm not a head of a subject, so I guess I just prod everyone else to keep them in line and fix IT-related issues. Fun.
2.5 weeks left of work. Yay! Finally a real holiday, since the last one I was sort of working anyway. Going down to the deep South. In Winter. Seems like a great idea!
*porky pig noise* That's all folks!
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