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  <channel>
    <title>My Blog</title>
    <link>http://people.tribe.net/shamelessheather/blog</link>
    <description>Tribe.net. Local Connections</description>
    <item>
      <title>Valentine's Special!! Send a Singing Telegram!</title>
      <link>http://people.tribe.net/shamelessheather/blog/f399eb96-4b53-4ae9-b51f-8009424dd99d</link>
      <description>&lt;a href="http://people.tribe.net/shamelessheather/blog/f399eb96-4b53-4ae9-b51f-8009424dd99d"&gt;  						          &lt;img class=" picThumb" src="http://images.tribe.net/tribe/upload/photo/695/9c7/6959c7bd-1b73-4864-90d3-f227b7f416ba.thumb" width="41" height="78" alt="" /&gt;
    &lt;/a&gt;
										&lt;div&gt;Valentine's Day is THIS SATURDAY and it's time to show your loved one just how much you love 'em!&#xD;
Everybody is so sick of those tired flowers or lame candy boxes. Be original!&#xD;
Send a Singing Telegram.&#xD;
&#xD;
I'm a professional party entertainer and I work for these agencies:&#xD;
Babaloons and Tunes www.babaloons.com/&#xD;
and&#xD;
Eastern Onion www.easternonion.com/bayarea.html&#xD;
&#xD;
Generally, these guys charge between $189-249 (plus tip), depending on the character and where it's going.&#xD;
**SPECIAL FOR TRIBE**&#xD;
&#xD;
Valentines Singing Telegram $100&#xD;
(In San Francisco, slight increase for other cities, depending on mileage. Tip not included)&#xD;
&#xD;
Characters available:&#xD;
Aphrodite&#xD;
Cupid&#xD;
Marilyn Monroe&#xD;
Nurse&#xD;
Gorilla in a Tutu&#xD;
Biker Chick&#xD;
Classic Tuxedo Gram&#xD;
Nerd Girl Stalker&#xD;
Bettie Paige&#xD;
...and many more!&#xD;
&#xD;
Each singing telegram delivery includes a beautiful balloon bouquet, a party hat and horn, and a special Valentine's song.&#xD;
&#xD;
Send the gift your lover will never forget!&#xD;
I'm your girl!&#xD;
&#xD;
Check out some photos in my profile and contact me at 415-912-6464 &lt;/div&gt;</description>
      <pubDate>Sun, 08 Feb 2009 21:53:56 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid isPermaLink="false">http://people.tribe.net/shamelessheather/blog/f399eb96-4b53-4ae9-b51f-8009424dd99d</guid>
      <dc:creator>shamelessheather</dc:creator>
      <dc:date>2009-02-08T21:53:56Z</dc:date>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Send some Singing Telegram love to your Valentine</title>
      <link>http://people.tribe.net/shamelessheather/blog/108ca41e-1c8e-4a45-a7fb-f6658fff1836</link>
      <description>&lt;div&gt;Valentine's Day is TOMORROW and it's time to show your loved one just how much you love 'em!&#xD;
Everybody is so sick of those tired flowers or lame candy boxes. Be original!&#xD;
Send a Singing Telegram.&#xD;
&#xD;
I'm a professional party entertainer and I work for these agencies:&#xD;
Babaloons and Tunes www.babaloons.com/&#xD;
and&#xD;
Eastern Onion www.easternonion.com/bayarea.html&#xD;
&#xD;
Generally, these guys charge between $189-249 (plus tip), depending on the character and where it's going.&#xD;
**SPECIAL FOR TRIBE**&#xD;
&#xD;
Valentines Singing Telegram $100&#xD;
(In San Francisco, slight increase for other cities, depending on mileage. Tip not included)&#xD;
&#xD;
Characters available:&#xD;
Aphrodite&#xD;
Cupid&#xD;
Marilyn Monroe&#xD;
Nurse&#xD;
Gorilla in a Tutu&#xD;
Classic Tuxedo Gram&#xD;
Nerd Girl Stalker&#xD;
Bettie Paige&#xD;
...and many more!&#xD;
&#xD;
Each singing telegram delivery includes a beautiful balloon bouquet, a party hat and horn, and a special Valentine's song.&#xD;
&#xD;
Send the gift your lover will never forget!&#xD;
I'm your girl!&#xD;
&#xD;
Check out some photos in my profile and contact me at 415-912-6464 &lt;/div&gt;</description>
      <pubDate>Wed, 13 Feb 2008 18:38:24 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid isPermaLink="false">http://people.tribe.net/shamelessheather/blog/108ca41e-1c8e-4a45-a7fb-f6658fff1836</guid>
      <dc:creator>shamelessheather</dc:creator>
      <dc:date>2008-02-13T18:38:24Z</dc:date>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Capitol of Pronoia</title>
      <link>http://people.tribe.net/shamelessheather/blog/24a49adc-03ce-4933-86ad-0cd8ded144c2</link>
      <description>&lt;a href="http://people.tribe.net/shamelessheather/blog/24a49adc-03ce-4933-86ad-0cd8ded144c2"&gt;  						          &lt;img class=" picThumb" src="http://images.tribe.net/tribe/upload/photo/d57/e28/d57e28a3-3a03-4509-b7a8-5ff151e5c1d5.thumb" width="65" height="48" alt="" /&gt;
    &lt;/a&gt;
										&lt;div&gt;Part 3&#xD;
Wellington&#xD;
So I gave Jonathan a big hug, squeezed him tight to seal in all those memories we just made and he went back up to Auckland and I got on the road with Haykey.  Like I said, he’s got a camper van and was making his way south, so I contacted him through CouchSurfing to tag along.  Haykey is an interesting character.  He’s a boatload of self-determination after surviving a paragliding accident 10 years ago.  He’s been paralyzed from the waist down, but despite what the doctors told him, he’s walking again with the use of those half-crutch things he calls his sticks.  He is very proud and hates for anyone to make a big deal or try to help him, because he’s plenty capable himself and he’ll let you know exactly what he needs. God help you if you offer before he asks!  It’s good though.  He’s living proof that you can do anything you put your mind to.&#xD;
Heykey and I made our way out of town stopping at another hot spring in the called Kerosene Creek.  This one is also pretty awesome.  You walk a short bit and there’s just this warm river flowing through the woods, and a little further on it gets wider and there’s a waterfall with a lovely pool to soak in.  Ah.  Nice.&#xD;
Then we were on the road again, I wanted to get to Wellington and meet all these cool people I’ve been hearing so much about.&#xD;
Jonathan figured it was about a five-hour drive from Rotorua, but it took us much longer than that.  Even though we left at about noon, by 9pm we were still about 2 hours from Wellington.  Granted, we did stop in Foxtown because Haykey was keen to climb the windmill there.  That’s another thing, “keen”.  It’s a regular part of the Kiwi vernacular and I freaking love it.  I’m keen on the word keen.  They use it to mean both “intense and lively,” as in, “they’re a keen bunch of hikers, look at them go!” and “eager and willing,” as in “I’m keen to get to Wellington so I hurry up and pee!”  I really don’t mean to knock the man, honest!  I like Haykey.  I just… well… we stopped a lot.  A lot.&#xD;
Ok, so here we are at 9pm and my friends (that is, would be friends, we met on tribe and they’re meeting me to host me and hang out, etc.) are waiting for me at a bar and texting me to find out what time I’ll arrive.  When I tell them that I’m still 2 hours away, they head home and ask me to sort my self for the night.  (Sort is another one of those Kiwi vocabulary words they just love.  It’s a handy one too.)  &#xD;
So, Haykey and I camp out for the night in his van (it is a campervan after all!) and though not super-kush, it wasn’t bad. We parked it in a reserve, which was basically a big open field surrounded my bush.  Not a bad place, actually.   The next morning he asks me to pump up the tire in his scooter and I have it propped up on the picnic table and Haykey’s in the back of the van making tea.  He says, “Look up,” in a tone like he was saying, “Look up.  Nice clouds up there.”  But instead when I looked up there was a massive bull charging at me.  It’s a weird feeling, seeing an animal rush at you like that with the purpose of taking you down.  “Eeep!” I yelped and dove into the back of the van.  The bull continued his forceful running around the circumference of the clearing and I waited for my heart to resume a reasonable pace.  Yikes! Haykey is just laughing this whole time.  &#xD;
So, survived the bull rush, packed up the van and hit the road again.  We were two hours from Wellington, left at around 10 am, but still didn’t make it till 3pm.  Hmmmmmm….&#xD;
Anyway, finally arrived in Welly and I met my host, Jez, otherwise known as Doctor Science.  He’s in environmental strategy work, and damn smart too.  Wendy, whom I met from tribe, was kind enough to arrange the bed for me.  So far I’ve been really lucky in my CouchSurfing and tribe surfing… there haven’t really been couches, I’ve had my own room with my own bed.  How sweet!  So Then Jez and I met up with a crew of burners (including Wendy!  Yay!) for their Friday evening gathering at a pub called the Southern Cross.  Nice place.  We ate, drank, talked, party and bullshit, and bullshit and party… then a smaller group made our way to Polly’s for tea.  Ok.  I know I’ve been talking about how great New Zealanders are, but damn.  Wellington has got a good crew going on.  Wendy is freaking wonderful.  Great energy, great sense of style, great sense of humor, greatly generous…. I love her.  Jez too.  Nice guy with a good head on his shoulders out to save our planet.  Then Polly.  She’s got this warm heart and wee bit bashful sense about her, but also a wicked sense of humor and a house full of books on Wicca and a mind full of those very books.  Love them all!&#xD;
So, then next day Wendy takes me Op-Shopping (Opportunity Shops, that’s a thrift store to you and me) for an outfit for Bliss next weekend.  She’s also on the hunt for fluorescent tape for her hula-hoops.  She takes me to this superb shop outside of town (explaining that the Welly ones are picked over and expensive anyway) and let me tell ya, I could have gotten so so so much stuff there if I only had a bigger bag (that I didn’t have to lug around with me for another month!).  The stuff there was really great, and really cheap.  I may have to move to Wellington.  We even managed to find a pink moa for Jonathan.  His theme camp at KiwiBurn is The Pink Moa.  It was a killer find and we decided to do a little photo essay of the moa around Wellington.  First stop:  the Te Papa museum, a really wonderful (and free!) museum of NZ geology, geography, culture, etc.  Loved it, as did the moa.  (This picture is Wendy photographing the Pink Moa with his ancestor…)&#xD;
Later that night we met up with Biz, a friend of a Miss Tickle’s from SF.  Jess (Miss Tickle) used to live in Wellington and hooked me up with her.  Biz is an ex-pat performer girl who has a group called “Ministry of Boys” and they make these terribly funny short films www.ministryofboys.com  Check them out.  Anyway, Biz told me of a band playing that night, a relatively famous guy from Wellington in a band called Rhombus, who she knows from his participating in some anti-violence thing she worked on for kids.  Anyway, this guy from Rhombus, Amond, has started another project called “Sonic Infantry Five” and they are freaking outstanding.  They are a blend of hip-hop, dub, rock, and electronic.  They have a DJ scratching and spinning with them (love it!) a beat boxer who kicks ass, guitar, bass, drums, keys now and then sprinkled in, a freestyler, and Amond as the lead vocalist.  There were break dancers performing, the band was smokin’, it was just, “wow”.  They were amazing, yo.  I danced my ass off.  Before the show, Biz introduced me to Amond saying, “This is Shameless Heather from San Francisco.  She’s a freestyler.”  He said, “Oh, yeah, you should get up there with us.”  I was thinking, “Yeah, right.” But at the end of their show, he did call me up and I was so thrilled to jam with them a bit.  These guys rock it and I want to see them drop their stuff on SF.  I rapped with them a bit and felt great.  Yay!&#xD;
Then we were off to another dance spot to meet up with yet more friends of friends.  We met up with Dale, a friend of Crash’s.  Dale’s an awesome, fun guy and we made our way to Mercury, a little dance club/bar over on Welly’s Cuba Street—the happening part of town.  I was in good spirits, and good form and danced yet another ass off.  I don’t know where I get these replacement asses, but I manage to leave a few of them scattered around dance floors across the world.&#xD;
I met DJ Danny Boy, he was spinning there at Mercury.  He’s also going to be up in Auckland next weekend at Bliss.  I was really digging what he was playing so I talked to him a bit about maybe doing a song or two with him at Bliss.  He was into the idea.&#xD;
The next day I just kind of played it chill and strolled about town checking out shops, etc.  Then a bunch of us met up to go see “Hot Fuzz”.  I had low expectations, but let me tell you:  Funny. Fuckin’. Movie.  I was laughing my ass off.  How do I keep loosing these asses??&#xD;
So, I love Wellington.  It kind of reminds me of SF in some ways.  It’s hilly as all get-out, there’s a vibrant music scene and nightlife, and the people are freaking cool.  I’m keen.&#xD;
&lt;/div&gt;</description>
      <pubDate>Thu, 05 Apr 2007 02:09:41 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid isPermaLink="false">http://people.tribe.net/shamelessheather/blog/24a49adc-03ce-4933-86ad-0cd8ded144c2</guid>
      <dc:creator>shamelessheather</dc:creator>
      <dc:date>2007-04-05T02:09:41Z</dc:date>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>The pronoia continues...  New Zealand is amazing!</title>
      <link>http://people.tribe.net/shamelessheather/blog/c5f095fe-9de8-4cfa-a33c-ffdf6357fc31</link>
      <description>&lt;a href="http://people.tribe.net/shamelessheather/blog/c5f095fe-9de8-4cfa-a33c-ffdf6357fc31"&gt;  						          &lt;img class=" picThumb" src="http://images.tribe.net/tribe/upload/photo/27f/0e4/27f0e420-b6ee-4e10-ac00-d9aa1497ffac.thumb" width="65" height="48" alt="" /&gt;
    &lt;/a&gt;
										&lt;div&gt;Part 2&#xD;
The Northland &amp;amp; Rotorua&#xD;
&#xD;
As sad as it was, we said goodbye for now to Waiheke.  I promised to return for Ingrid and HiDive’s wedding on April 28th if they agreed to make it my going away party.  We ferried back to Auckland and once there decided it best to take the bus a little ways out of the city to be near the motorway to hitch a ride north.  It didn’t take long to land our first ride and we were off to Whangerei.  In Maori the “wh” is pronounced like “f,” so there are all these words, when spoken with a kiwi accent, that sound like they’re saying “fuckin’ this” and “fuckin’ that,” or Fucker-ay for Whangerei.  It’s hilarious!&#xD;
We did pretty well hitching.  It took four rides to make it into town, and only about 3 hours to do what would normally be a 2.5 hour trip.  Not bad at all.  &#xD;
When I had trouble finding a CouchSurfing host in Auckland, I decided to email a few people in Whangerei and they all ended up saying yes!  How funny.  We originally decided to stay with Colin and Karen, but they ended up having other guests, so we picked the next one who answered affirmative, Matt.  He met us in the town center and took us back to his place.  He turned out to be a super nice guy!  I also stayed in contact with Roger, another CouchSurfing host who offered us his place, and Karen and Colin invited us all to their place for a BBQ.  Kiwis love the BBQ, man.  It was really nice.  We ate well and met CSers from Poland, Germany and Brittan, as well as the local Kiwis.  &#xD;
The next day Roger took Monika and I on a 800km trek around the Northland, including a forest hike to see Tane Mahuta (means Lord of the Forest), the biggest Kauri tree in New Zealand, ninety mile beach, and Cape Reinga, the northern most tip of the island.  It was a great day, even if most of it was spent in the car! &#xD;
&#xD;
The next day Matt was driving into Auckland so I hitched down with him.  I made plans to meet up with Jonathan, a DJ I met through tribe.  Tribe’s been great for meeting burners!  Yay, tribe!  Matt dropped me off down town and Jonathan, AKA Helix, picked me up.  We got some lunch then ventured back to his place.  Jonathan lives in an intentional community in Glenn Innes.  Basically, there are three houses in the same area where they share resources, as in, one house has a washer, another has a dryer; they have community dinners, and they have common values they’ve decided on together.  It’s a pretty cool set-up and a great bunch of people.  Jonathan is a DJ, like I said, and also a party producer.  &#xD;
Before I hit the road for NZ, he and I corresponded a bit and he told me about a party, Bliss, that he was putting together in Auckland on March 23rd. Even before we met, he saw from my profile that I’m a freestyler and offered me a performing opportunity at the party.  I figured that I’d be in the south island by that time so I kindly declined.  &#xD;
Jonathan and I made a plan to travel to Rotorua, the land of volcanic action and hot springs.  The night before we were to leave for our little trip we met up with Jason from SF and Rich from the kiwiburner crew for drinks.  By the end of the night they had convinced me (it wasn’t that hard) that I really ought to do the Bliss gig.  Something about “International Supa-star” cut me to the quick. I’m in.  Plus I thought it would be fun to get to spend a night out with Jason.  So, in addition to lyrics, I am now proficient at the improvised travel itinerary—I changed my plan to head straight to the south island and decided to loop around the north and be back in Auckland for the party. &#xD;
The next morning Jonathan and I headed south to Rotorua. Once we made it to town, Jonathan took me directly to the Maori marae, or meeting house. You can’t go into a marae  unless you’re invited, and apparently the invitation is quite a thing.  There’s singing and speeches, and singing back, and a hongi—the nose-to-nose touching greeting thing.  I would have liked to have seen all that, but it was a quite day at the marae.&#xD;
Rotorua is one of the centers of Maori culture in New Zealand, and the area with the marae is right next to this amazing Maori church with beautiful carvings all throughout.    Inside there’s even a window that faces out to the big lake with an etching of a Maori Jesus angled in such a way to look like he’s walking on the water. I love how Jesus can be any ethnicity.  Go, Jesus!&#xD;
After church we went to Hell’s Gate, which was cool, but kind of a tourist trap.  It’s a short walk around a volcanic area complete with “The Devil’s Cauldron” and as I learned from Jonathan, “The Devil’s Toenail,” and “The Devil’s Armpit…” Hee hee.  As we walked around the park, we made a little video documentary of the place exploring all the little nooks and crannies and commenting on the scenery.  “And here we have the Devil’s Pimple, when you squeeze it, sulfur and bubbling mud oozes out…”&#xD;
We finished up the tour of the park with a dip in the mud baths.  We managed to rock it, even though it was kind of a disappointment over all.   I was expecting, you know, mud. In a tub.  That we would squish down into.  What we got was a tub of muddy water, with a two-inch thick layer of mud on the bottom.  We still got our silly on, though, and painted each other with mud and had a monster contest.  Fun.  &#xD;
Then we took a cold shower and headed to the hot spring pool.  Finally, worn out from the heat and ravenous, we made our way back to town for awesome Indian food.  Nothing tastes better after mud, yo.&#xD;
That night we surfed with Russ in Ngongotaha.  Russ was great!  He was right in the process of moving down to Christchurch on the south island, so most of his house was packed up and shipped already, but it was still a homey place and he was a really nice guy to chat with.&#xD;
The next day we met up with Haykey, a Finnish guy I met through CouchSurfing.  I made a plan to ride with him in his camper down to Wellington. Haykey knows a lot about NZ, he’s lived here for something like 15 years and is writing a book about camper-van-ing around the country.  It’s a big thing here; so many people come here and buy vans and tour around then sell them again when they’re done.&#xD;
Haykey took us to an awesome hot spring right outside of Rotorua.  It’s a stream connected to a spring so there are really hot areas and not so hot areas.  We spent a couple of hours there, shifting around the stream, getting really hot, then cooling off, then getting really hot again.  It felt great, and the really nice thing was that it was a mineral stream, not sulfur, so none of that sulfur smell.&#xD;
We spent one more night in Rotorua, which was good because I got a chance to copy some music from Jonathan to get ready for the party in Auckland the next week.  I will be freestyling to trance for the first time and the prospect of that scares me to no end.  Trance?  Yikes!  But the party is called Bliss, so how bad could it be?&#xD;
&lt;/div&gt;</description>
      <pubDate>Wed, 28 Mar 2007 06:10:37 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid isPermaLink="false">http://people.tribe.net/shamelessheather/blog/c5f095fe-9de8-4cfa-a33c-ffdf6357fc31</guid>
      <dc:creator>shamelessheather</dc:creator>
      <dc:date>2007-03-28T06:10:37Z</dc:date>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Full Blown Case of Pronoia in New Zealand</title>
      <link>http://people.tribe.net/shamelessheather/blog/46da02f2-73cd-4ba4-ae3c-2869833d9f53</link>
      <description>&lt;a href="http://people.tribe.net/shamelessheather/blog/46da02f2-73cd-4ba4-ae3c-2869833d9f53"&gt;  						          &lt;img class=" picThumb" src="http://images.tribe.net/tribe/upload/photo/ad8/2b1/ad82b192-e5e8-43a6-a7db-82c61d1f3d64.thumb" width="65" height="46" alt="" /&gt;
    &lt;/a&gt;
										&lt;div&gt;(Pronoia:  The opposite of paranoia)&#xD;
&#xD;
Part 1--Auckland and Waiheke Island&#xD;
&#xD;
&#xD;
He looked at my ticket then up at my smiling face.&#xD;
“Hello, Heethah, your seat is just ovah theyah,” he gestured towards the opposite isle. I was grinning ear to ear… I just remembered how much I adore the kiwi accent. Then I also remembered that I hadn’t set my voicemail to warn people that I wouldn’t be returning calls for a while. Man, I wish that flight attendant would make my outgoing message.&#xD;
Monika tucked into the window seat and said, “why don’t you just ask him.”  Good idea!&#xD;
“Heeethah will return your call when she returns from New Zealand on April 20th.”  &#xD;
It was already happening… The pronoia was kicking in hard core.  I had the sneaking suspicion that forces are conspiring to do good for me. This is going to be an incredible trip.&#xD;
&#xD;
Monika and I slept most of the twelve-hour flight and made it through customs and immigration without a hitch.  My old friend Jason greeted us at the airport with a smile.  It was great to see him so super nice of him to pick us up at 6am!  We drove along Tamaki Avenue into Jason’s neighborhood as the sun rose.  Jason and his wife (also named Monika, but pronounced Moe-nika) live with their 3-year old son, Nolan in Kohimarima, a posh suburb.  Monika is expecting a daughter at the end of April.  We spent the first day in New Zealand running around town, getting cell phone SIM cards (Jason and Moe loaned Monika and I their old phones so we just had to get the cards), picking up a sofa bed they bought on Trade Me, the NZ version of Craigslist/Ebay, trying the new Mexican place in the neighborhood, etc.  That night, we met up with a CouchSurfer, Guy, and his family when he invited us to dinner at his parents’ place in Penrose.  Guy and his family are awesome!  We had a really yummy BBQ dinner and sat around talking for a few hours about travel, NZ, pommies (what they call the Brits here; I learned later it stands for prisoners of mother England) and all sorts of other things.  I had kumera for the first time, and it’s freakin’ delicious.  It’s Maori sweet potato and damn good.  Monika and I left Guy’s place full and sleepy…&#xD;
&#xD;
The next day we went to check out Waiheke Island, off the coast of Auckland.  Moe dropped us off on the main road so we could catch the bus to ferry terminal, but Monika and I decided that now was as good a time as any to start hitch hiking.  About 3 minutes after standing with our thumbs out, a lovely older woman and her husband approached from the street and asked if we wanted a ride into town.  We said yes, that we’re on our way to the port, and they led us to where their car was parked.  These guys were so nice!  They took us right into the ferry’s departure area, and even invited us to go sailing with them on Thursday if we were around.  But we wouldn’t be… we’d be laughing our asses off and having the time of our lives on Waiheke.&#xD;
&#xD;
I met Chris, AKA Kiwi, on tribe.net.  I had posted in the KiwiBurn tribe (a tribe for their regional burn, duh) that I’d be invading New Zealand and looking for fun people to meet up with and be entertained by.  Kiwi took the challenge and invited us to his place.  I am so glad I took him up on the offer.  After a beautiful 30 or 40-minute ride across the bay, this funky, long blonde haired, hippy-looking guy met us at the ferry wearing a “Black Rock International Burner Hostel” t-shirt.  We hugged hello and he drove us across the island to his house.  What a place!  Kiwi lives in a collection of geo-domes sort of connected by a roof in some sections with a cool garden area and a freakin’ skate board half pike in the back.  This place is cool.  He lives there with his son, Jason, Jason’s girlfriend Alice and another kind of adopted son, Deja.  Even with all these people around, Monika and I got our own dome room.  Awesome!  When the kids got home from work, we all piled into Alice’s car and went to the beach for a swim.  My first dip in the NZ ocean, and it was beautiful, mate!&#xD;
&#xD;
I convinced (or maybe bribed) Kiwi to bugger off work the next day and go on a hike with Monika and me.  I told him we needed a local guide to take us to the best places, and I reckoned he was the best one I knew.  Later when Ingrid and HiDive came over, we convinced them to join in the fun.  It wasn’t that hard.&#xD;
&#xD;
The next morning we all piled into “The Sheep End” and headed towards the old WWII tunnels in Stony Batter, a place Kiwi knew would entertain us for the day.  “The Sheep End” is HiDive’s camper van.  It started out as “The Cheap End,” (his theme camp for KiwiBurn) a joke on Burning Man’s “Deep End,” but while there, someone had the idea to rename it “The Sheep End,” in homage to NZ’s most plentiful population.  (There is something like 10 times as many sheep as people here!)  We drove up a ridge overlooking an amazing valley and right to the water and arrived at our destination.  We hiked along the trail, rolling hills dotted with big stones (hence the name) on one side, thick jungle like bush on the other.  We walked about 20 minutes or so and arrived at the tunnels.  There we met Sue, the historian responsible for the site and she gave us the map and some torches.  A torch is a flashlight, though I was hoping for the old fashioned flaming kind J.  Seems more fitting with burners.&#xD;
&#xD;
Something had gotten into us and we spent the next 6 hours laughing our asses off.  I’m talking giggles, chuckles, deep belly laughs, chortles, twitters, those strong-yet-silent-body-shaking-laughs, hoots, guffaws, snickers, smiles, doubled-up sides aching laughs, cackles, and every other kind of amusement.  I was sore at the end of the day.&#xD;
&#xD;
We ventured into the tunnels, bedecked in EL wire and flashlights blazing.  Kiwi knows the tunnels pretty well and he led the way through the labyrinth.  This place is unreal.  There are winding caverns that twist about and spit you out in spots with the most amazing views of the ocean and bay.  I mean, it makes sense, the soldiers would need to have a good view, right?  Because Kiwi knows Sue, we were able to get into restricted places in the tunnels, too.  I, for one, always appreciate special access!  We ran around these tunnels, cracking ourselves up, for about an hour or two, then emerged into the daylight moist from the humidity and exercise.  It was truly something!  The skies bright blue with little puffy clouds and the green grass scattered with stones and trees.  We ventured on.  We went up the ridge to take in the view of the surrounding islands and deep blue waters.  It’s too beautiful!  There was a moment I just had to close my eyes because I couldn’t stand it; it was just too much to take in.  This place is too glorious, I just can’t take it.  And we had a good laugh about that too.&#xD;
&#xD;
Then at one point we were lounging by a massive felled tree and I searched the ground fruitlessly for a spot that hadn’t been visited by a sheep, and subsequently littered with little brown pellets.  &#xD;
I said, “I just want to find a spot without shit so I can flop down on it!”  &#xD;
They all laughed.  &#xD;
HiDive said, “As soon as you find it, let me know so I can shit on it!”  More deep laughs.  These guys!  I love them! I wish I could remember some of the other stuff we thought was so freakin’ funny.  It’s one of those things, I guess.  It existed in the moment.  &#xD;
After tramping around for another couple of hours, we made our way back to the van ravenously hungry.  We gobbled up the food and beer Ingrid packed and decided to make our way down to the bay to have a swim.  I felt like I was in a movie rolling down the road, the music sultry with a deep beat, as we traversed through the lush bush.  We got to the bay and I was the only one who stripped down and got into my bathing suit and into the water.  They warned me that this was the kind of bay that you need to go out about half a mile at least before the water reaches your knees.  I ran out into the bay.  I kept running.  I could hear them laughing behind me.  I kept running.  Finally, water still about mid-calf, I turned around and raised my arms up, like, what the hell? Then turned around and ran some more. I was about 50 yards from the shore and still the water wasn’t getting deeper so I finally just fell backwards to immerse my body in the warm water.  It was great to rinse off after a day in the sun and below the ground.  Standing up, I saw a jet ski off on the other side of the bay.  I stuck out my thumb.  Why not, I thought.  It’s random enough to hitch hike on the water that he just might pick me up.  A minute later, there was the jet ski, stopped right next to me.  &#xD;
“Want a ride?”&#xD;
“Hell yeah!”&#xD;
I can’t believe I hitched a ride on a fucking jet ski! I got on and the guy took off.  This thing had some serious power, and he wasn’t afraid to take corners going full tilt.  It was exciting (and also a little bit scary) whipping through the water.  He drove me around for a bit then asked if I wanted to take it for a spin on my own.&#xD;
“Hell yeah!”  &#xD;
And off I went.  I whizzed around by myself a bit, amazed that no one else from my party were making their way into the water to join me.  Finally, I rode up near them and gestured, “Get out here!”  Monika stripped down and waded into the water.  “Hop on!”  I told her and she did.  We rode around some more and then I reluctantly returned the awesome machine to its owner.  We hung around with those guys a while and watched a beautiful sun set, music streaming out of the van, with big goofy smiles on our faces.  As it began to get dark, Kiwi and I noticed a small fire down the beach and made our way towards it collecting wood along the way.  &#xD;
We met Hein from The Netherlands and Almud from Isreal, two travelers also enjoying the sunset on the beach with a lovely little campfire.  These two had met at an Auckland used car lot and within 20 minutes of knowing each other bought a van together.  They were at the end of their journey, having traveled together for the past two and a half months.  It looked like they got on well with each other still!  &#xD;
After enjoying some dinner together and telling Hein, a fire enthusiast, all about Burning Man, we made our way back home.  It had been a really outstanding day, and we were all tired from our adventure.&#xD;
&#xD;
The next day Ingrid and HiDive came over and gave us copies of all their pictures.  HiDive is quite the photographer!  I was psyched!  He even got video of me on the jet ski.  Thanks, man!  &#xD;
I originally thought that we’d be leaving this day and making our way north, but it just seemed too hard and we were having too good a time on Waiheke Island with our new friends to rush out.  We decided to stay another night, and since Kiwi was actually leaving for another party on the main land, we decided to surf with Ingrid and HiDive.  First, however, we thought food was in order and they took us to this wonderful little bakery that makes the most yummiest savory pies.  Yum.  We took our lunch to a hill and sat looking over the bay.  Then we decided to check out Ingrid and HiDive’s batch house, near the beach.  Once there, it seemed like a good idea to check out the beach too.  We hadn’t moved our stuff over to their place yet, so we didn’t have our swimsuits.  No worries, the beach near their place has a nude section!  Awesome.  We swam and sunned our pale bodies (Monika and me from northern California, the rest were golden brown) and reflected on how truly blessed we are.  Pronoia, man.  It’s taking over my life!&#xD;
&#xD;
&lt;/div&gt;</description>
      <pubDate>Thu, 22 Mar 2007 06:46:04 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid isPermaLink="false">http://people.tribe.net/shamelessheather/blog/46da02f2-73cd-4ba4-ae3c-2869833d9f53</guid>
      <dc:creator>shamelessheather</dc:creator>
      <dc:date>2007-03-22T06:46:04Z</dc:date>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>I wanna freestyle with some DJs at Burning Man</title>
      <link>http://people.tribe.net/shamelessheather/blog/f83f0994-034c-4087-ae67-a2d1612a3b00</link>
      <description>&lt;a href="http://people.tribe.net/shamelessheather/blog/f83f0994-034c-4087-ae67-a2d1612a3b00"&gt;  						          &lt;img class=" picThumb" src="http://images.tribe.net/tribe/upload/photo/d57/cd4/d57cd48e-3193-49fe-879f-0e2d292b16c0.thumb" width="65" height="58" alt="" /&gt;
    &lt;/a&gt;
										&lt;div&gt;I am badass freestyler.  There, I said it.&#xD;
I want to perform with some DJs, breakbeats preferably.&#xD;
I love to sing and rap, and I do it all improvisationally.  People dig my flow.&#xD;
&#xD;
Anyway, I'm putting the word out there:  if you or someone you know is a badass DJ and wants to mix it up a little with a hottie rapper, well, I'm your wondergirl.&#xD;
&lt;/div&gt;</description>
      <pubDate>Tue, 08 Aug 2006 03:54:57 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid isPermaLink="false">http://people.tribe.net/shamelessheather/blog/f83f0994-034c-4087-ae67-a2d1612a3b00</guid>
      <dc:creator>shamelessheather</dc:creator>
      <dc:date>2006-08-08T03:54:57Z</dc:date>
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