A Vacation from a Vacation

I am a little slow posting as usual. I read an article recently while cruising the disreputable parts of the web about how persistently keeping a journal will turn you into a genius. Methinks they have inverted cause and effect or suffer from insufficient sample size.

I shouldn't call my year in Christchurch a vacation, but it doesn't feel like the grind of work that I experienced in Boston or Seattle. Presently, I am not in New Zealand and am visiting my parents in Massachusetts. I leave for LA next Monday, the 26th, and return to Christchurch on the 27th. The weather in MA has been superb compared to the rainy/haily/snowy weather my youngest sister, Margee, says that we have in Christchurch. I am affected by the amount of day light and getting away from the shortest day of the year helps my psyche. I feel good but a little stuffed up from allergies.

My trip has been low key. I played kayak polo with the Boston Club a few times. The biggest improvement in my game has been greater confidence. The fine skills will come with more. The club is hurting for members because a lot of people have left and no new players have joined. I believe it's questionable whether the men will field a team for nationals this year. If you want to play, meet them on Spy Pond in Arlington on Sundays at 3. They have all the gear and are extremely nice folks.

I went to dinner last night with Affinnova and ex-Affinnova colleagues. What a smart and interesting group of people. One has went on to making a living by blogging, another is interviewing with Google, and a third designs artificial intelligence systems for the military. I have never seen a place churn through talent like Affinnova does. It sounds as though Affinnova is limping along and rehashing old ideas that haven't worked before. I don't understand how the company keeps going but querying my acquaintances for when they thought it fold the most common answer was "Never." It's like the US trade deficit: How does money keep appearing? I don't malign the company though. It's premise is as they say "R/evolutionary." Affinnova came into my life at the right time and I left it at the right time.

I worry that the US doesn't feel foreign to me. Travel should change your perspective from what I have read. Maybe the Canterbury plains are too much like the Midwest. Maybe the global corporations are furthering their stranglehold on every aspect of every person's life. There are significant challenges facing the US and I don't like a lot of what we've become. I feel that I would have seen this even if I stayed home. I am glad that my taxes are going to New Zealand rather than the US. There will be time to try to change stuff once I return.