and while I'm at it... Back to NZ for a quick memory jog

So maybe I mentioned that this blog-reading public was safe from a reminiscent post about any more trips, but I lied.  I do that from time to time, or maybe I don't - you can't really tell if I'm telling the truth on these things.  Anyways, moving on from this stupidity- here's a few shots from my year in New Zealand.  I highly HIGHLY highly recommend the place.  It's beyond beautiful, the people are fantastic, and it's just uber-laid back and lovely.

And there's sheep.  

When George Bernard Shaw visited New Zealand a reporter asked him his impression of the place and, after a pause, Shaw is said to have replied: "Altogether too many sheep"

 Akaroa Harbor.  If I remember right, this was about a 20 minute drive from where I lived.  aaaahhh.

My favorite of my clients...  We spent a bit of time relaxing on the swing outside everyday, since she was only able to be awake for about 6 hours each day and couldn't handle a whole lot.

The best of hangover cures: floating in the waves in Byron Bay in Australia.

 Travel Friends.  Again, they're just too awesome.

 When I was bored I was cruise out to New Brighton Pier to wander around.  Not too bad of a place to waste a little time.

 YAAAKS.  Should've uploaded the picture of the Yak that was about to headbutt Tristan.

 The view during a dinner of fried hot dogs and chips while in Kaikoura.

 Somewhere between the west coast and the east coast of the South Island...  We road tripped back and forth, and now can't remember where exactly this was.

My bro and I while on a kayaking/camping trip around Abel Tasman.  SO AWESOME.

BUNGEEEEE!

just ONE more trip down the tanz memory lane

So, I'm sitting here getting really really nostalgic for travel, and make the horrible mistake of cruising through some of my photo albums.  Argh.  So instead of my initial plan for the night to finally clean up my apartment a bit so it no longer smells/looks like a barn and/or nuclear test site, I decided to go through the albums and choose the pics that best represented the things I missed the most.  Obviously, it did not have the effect of purging my nostalgia...  and I am now going a bit bonkers.  On the plus side, if I have any luck getting this third job, I may be able to afford a trip to Croatia in May- so I will be able to miss terribly yet another wonderful place in this world.  I wish at times that my NZ, Scotland, and other various trips were documented with a digital camera, so that I could bombard you with those memories as well.  But luckily (for your sake) that's not the case.  So back to the Tanz we roll.

“All the pathos and irony of leaving one’s youth behind is thus implicit in every joyous moment of travel: one knows that the first joy can never be recovered, and the wise traveler learns not to repeat successes but tries new places all the time.” – Paul Fussell

1.)  I miss travel friends.  The people you run across with the same travel mentality, current excitement for life, and passion for something new or different.  They're with you as you basically transform into a whole new person.

 2.)  The kiddos!  They were curious, silly, and very direct and blunt about that curiosity and silliness.

3.)  Getting to play soccer with the Bagamoyo Sisters, and other situations like that.  I was so out of my element, played like crap, and never really understood what was going on around me- and that's most of what made it so awesome.

4.)  My students :)  They were rad beyond rad.  Often times beating the crap out of each other, and basically none of us spoke the same language (few were verbal, many were deaf, no one could teach me any Tanzanian sign, and my Swahili was lacking...) so it ended up being a very exciting environment.  Loved it and miss them quite a lot.

 5.)  This.  Does Zanzibar need an explanation?  Hapana.

6.)  And this.  I did not scuba (as I've never tried, and I'm fairly certain my ears and possibly brain would explode) so I snorkeled around the surface seeing beautiful sea-shenanigans while sunburning the bejesus out of my legs.

 7.)  How many of you can say you danced to Madonna with a Masaii?

 8.)  Seeing this...  and accomplishing one of the best drink-sip moments of my life.

 9.)  A cliche picture to be sure, but even having sat there, I still see this picture and think it looks fake.

10.)  Everyone likes camping if you get to camp above the clouds.


Oh geez, now it's even later, my apartment is still pretty gross, and I'm still drowning in memories.  However, if this at all makes you want to cruise around to some unexpectedly beautiful, life-changing locations- then I have done my job.  And if you choose the Tanz- want a friend to go with you???

sampler platter.

It's a great time of year to find lots of 'best of' shenanigans.   So I decided to cruise through some of the best of the year lists for photos, and for the most part became massively depressed.  So instead of pulling which pictures were the best in my opinion, I chose a few that didn't make me want to run off and join a pack of wolves.  Also, this may seem a bit redundant, as a few posts ago I tossed a few links out to some amazing collections, but this is the lazy persons version.  You can enjoy a few without the work of clicking a link.  You're welcome.

 A Thai dude during floods in Bangkok.  When there isn't anything else you can do, why not watch a bit of TV.

 Holy crap, that's a lot of snow.

 First same-sex couple to get married in Manhattan.  Oh, shit.  Marriages are going to start falling apart all over the place.

 Because The Dude, that's why.

I would really like to go to this place.  If only it wasn't a seafood restaurant.  Looks rad, though.

 Those are spiderwebs.  GROSS.

Because thank God, someone has a sense of humor.

an old sang lime.

The Earth is yet again in the same place it was 365 days ago, and for this, we drink ourselves stupid.  To be followed up by a list of things we plan to change about ourselves, but never really get to because, let's face it- we're all too hungover on the first and that's a rotten way to start out any kind of transformation.  But then again, I'm perfect, so I've never had that problem.

But seeing as this was originally supposed to be some sort of photography blog (which has begun to get a bit redonk as of late... or as of the beginning) I will include a few of my favorite new year's pictures.  by a few, I mean three.  That's all you punk asses get.  Oh, okay, I'll share my resolutions too.  

ONE: learn, to use commas correctly.

TWO: fucking swear less

THREE: edit. proofread.  anything.

FOUR: make millions of dollars to somehow counteract the millions of nothing I have.

FIVE: work on that whole personal hygiene thing.

and SIX: post some damn pictures.

 I enjoy this picture since it's pretty classic New Year's.  A little cham-pagan.  

And it's at the LBJ, which is a pretty rad place to be.

 Upon review, this really could be any night.  But it was from this new years, and makes me laugh- so enjoy.  

I SAID ENJOY.

Again, this could really be any night.  But I do enjoy reposting this as much as possible to destroy what professional reputation my brother has at all.  

Have a super duper 2012, to the two, maybe three people that will read this.  Make it your best year so far :)

That's about right.

I'm definitely guilty of some pretty terrible pictures, but this was still a funny post to run across.  Fancy cameras don't make the photographer...

well said.

An open letter to God,


This morning you decided that my grandma was needed more in heaven then here with us, you seem like a smart guy so we will trust in your decision. However, you should be aware of a couple things before my grandma gets to you.

1) You best have heaven in tip-top shape. My grandma likes things to be neat and tidy and will get upset with you if you leave stuff sitting around and/or forget to turn off lights when you leave a room.

2) You had better have a nice selection of wine and a bunch of steaks in the freezer. Maybe some fresh veggies as well. She really likes good food, especially steaks and potatoes and pie.

3) If there is baseball up there, she is a huge cubs fan, so, make the heaven version of the cubs be real good please.

4) She will need either a library card or access to a selection of books, so she can read a book, have a glass of wine and sit by the window looking out at the lake.

5) Speaking of lakes, set her up in a nice cabin in the woods by a nice quiet lake. Have some loons and ducks hanging out and in the winter months you can have some deer hang out as well. She also likes to have bird feeders around as well.

Long story short, my grandma is awesome so you better be prepared when she gets there, because she deserves the best. If you don't hook her up, we are going to here about it and get irritated and then when we get there we are going to have some words.

Anyway, hope all is well, take care of my grandma

Sincerely,
Bugsy Hansen

I would like to add a few expectations for our Gram:

• Plenty of butter pecan ice cream
• Jane Austen...  Not only books but movies based on the books.  Every version of 'em.
• Lots of puppies in need of snuggles.  She's pretty good at that.
• Black Forrest gummy bears.  by the truck full.
• Self-fluffing couch pillows.
• Someone to go to movies with.  Preferably after having some Mexican food and margaritas.  
• And also- she does NOT allow for sick days.  Be on your game, my man.

link pile of mind-bogellingly awesomeness

I had a nice long shpeal explaining my lack of posts lately, but my POS work computer (yes, I'm overwhelmed by work at the moment, so taking a break to oggle some pics) lost my rant.  So here is a far less eloquent blob of a blog that includes two links to some of the most amazing pictures I've ever seen.  I will not deny that the first link includes a few pictures that made me cry, and one that made me yelp/wail/something pathetic.  When you get to the baby, you will understand.  But enough of my badly spelled, gramatically incorrect crap.  Click away at these beauties...

http://www.buzzfeed.com/mjs538/the-most-powerful-photos-of-2011

One of my favorites-  A group of Christians protecting Muslims at prayer during a protest in Egypt.  It's nice to have some visual proof that not all humans suck.  Mother Nature as a badie is one thing, but people need to stop trying to compete with who can be more terrible.



Thses aren't quite as sad, but equally amazing.
http://www.theatlantic.com/infocus/2011/11/national-geographic-photo-contest-2011/100187/

This is one of my faves from this group...