Off The Grid

When I move to Japan, I intend to open a new blog account and call it "There's No Place Like Kagawa" - Kagawa prefecture being where my starfish Nayuha lives, and as such where I intend to take up residence. Today, however, I decided that maybe the old adage is true, maybe there is no place like home. Or, at the very least, there's nothing like a shower.

On Monday Thom and I drove to "Skyland", a powerless, running water-less cabin in the hills behind Katikati to shoot for his third-year film project, "Labour Weekend". We were joined by his crew from Wintec, Luke, and some other friends of Thom's until this afternoon. We did in fact have running water, at times, as well as some electricity in short supply. We also had cellphone coverage. And lots of fun.

I always rave about 48 Hours weekend, and how it was the most fun I've ever had in my life, but this week I've come to realise that Thom is the most fun I've ever had. The man is without doubt the funniest person in my life. He has to be experienced to be believed. Explaining to people why "ain't nothing but a thaaang" makes me laugh so hard I stop breathing just isn't the same as hearing it for yourself.

Not everything went to plan - something student filmmakers are a little more adept to coping with than your average bear. There was the glitch in the matrix that saw one of our SD cards delete itself, requiring us to re-shoot 57 minutes of footage. Good. There was the intermittent weather - something Thom coped with in advance by writing two scripts - one for summer and one for winter. There was the small matter of not having power. We shot without a monitor, and at night hooked up the softbox and lights to a generator which sounded more like a lawnmower than a source of power. After the SD card debacle, we made sure to format the shots directly after shooting so as not to lose them. Pedantic? A little. But in the long run, a better plan than spending another week without a shower.

Which brings me to my next point: cleanliness. Or lack of, as the case was. In the past, the longest I've gone without a shower has been less than 24 hours. I like showers. I like exfoliating, I like shaving, I like coating myself completely in bubbles from shower gel and then rinsing it off and doing it again. I don't like washing my hair, but it has to be done. You can imagine then, this last week has been a bit of a stretch for me (in more ways than one - I survived on giant cookies). I managed to return home without smelling like a three-week-old egg sandwich left in the sun, but I was not a happy camper. Neither is the skin on my face. Trip to the Albany Dermalogica bar? Required.

I don't know. Most of the time that I was there, I was laughing at Thom too much to think about how bad I might have smelt. Feeling grim? Find the funniest and most inappropriate person you can, and go away with them for a few days. Right now, I think I might even be the happiest I've ever been. Big call? It was a big week.


At 5:30am Saturday, New Zealand time, the 2016 Olympic City will be announced. Am I the only person in the world counting down to this moment? Maybe. But it's exciting! I'm still backing Tokyo for the win.


With all that said, it's time for me to get some much-needed beauty sleep (you should see the drug rashes on my face right now. Good) so good night, internet land.