Welcome, 2011.

I spent New Year's Eve busking around downtown Wellington. There were a lot of buskers out there, and most of them had amplifiers. This left my friend, Tamau, and me at a great disadvantage. It was not as wildly profitable as I had hoped, but it was still a lot of fun.

Due to the fact that I have not found employment, I might be returning to Canada sooner than I had planned. As much as I would like to stay here for longer, if I do have to head home early, I won't be sad about my trip. It has been exactly what I needed it to be, and much more. The fact that I haven't been working has actually been one of the best parts of this trip. I had no idea how badly I needed to unwind until I had the time to do so. And the repeated job searches have led me to a bunch of opportunities that I would otherwise have missed out on, including the chance to help rewrite scripts for a comedy that's going to be shot in Auckland sometime early this year. I have always been interested in screenwriting, and now I have gotten a start. I like scripts. I would never have known that if I had found a job right away.

I've written a fair bit of music, and had time to reflect on the shortcomings of my songwriting. I have met some great people, and had a blast here. I have no regrets about what has happened so far. Don't get me wrong, if I found a job tomorrow, I'd be ecstatic. But if I have to go home early with the experiences that I have had here so far, this trip will still have been a bigger success than I was hoping for.