Apologies for the delay

Well, I've been in New Zealand. To tell you the truth, I'm still there. I came about a week ago to see my family and it's been tricky getting my hands on a computer. But here I am. Hopefully there's still someone out there reading.

Things are great in New Zealand at the moment. The government just passed a civil unions bill for gay people, the economy is sweet, the weather is balmy, and the country doesn't have troops in Iraq. On the minus side, they haven't got 'Lost' here, which outweighs everything.

Naturally, a great number of people have told me how much they despise Bush. New Zealand was really into the U.S. election - maybe more than their own elections. People had election parties, and pubs in town broadcast election night coverage on their giant projection screens. This led, of course, to many people being just as depressed as democratic supporters in the U.S.

The reason is simple, of course. New Zealand, like every other country, feels that four more years of Bush will effect them as well as Americans. New Zealanders are scared that Bush the bus driver is erratic and twitchy, prone to bold and sometimes stupid driving decisions. And like the rest of the world, they feel annoyed that he's back for four loooong years of boneheaded decision making.

I was talking a a good friend of mine yesterday and giving him my opinion - that it's in the nature of the right wing to overreach, and once they do, the pendulum will swing back - and I realized he was looking at me like "poor, deluded fool". That's the kind of smugness they have in New Zealand at the moment, with their center-left government and their nice beaches and their lame tv.

Despite all of New Zealand's ample benefits, I realise that I have been completely americanized - I find the service in restaurants shocking, and they charge you to refill your diet coke. However, I thouroughly understand why thousands of Americans will be rushing to immigrate here in the next year or two. Me, I'll be getting back on the bus in a week. The road is twisty and full of corners - hopefully we won't crash.