Rocks and hard places

gosh, my previous post (aug 24) was ages ago! sorry.
I feel like I've seen almost everyone who reads this fairly recently, but just in case you're feeling left out, here's what's been happening:

As you know, I arrived back in NZ on Aug 17, and I've been at home at my parents' house. Yes, apparently I cannot stay here for as long as I would have liked, and have an exit deadline of Oct 1st. Apparently it's the tough love approach, but it feels more like the "we don't understand how hard it is to get a job because we're from a generation where our degrees lead straight into careers and even though we're your parents and we're supposed to be supportive and offer a haven that our offspring can come home to, but we're not going to" approach. And that's all I'm saying about it.

I've been looking at flats but it is difficult. I am looking for jobs here, in Welly and overseas, and there's a fantastic job that I'm applying for in Auckland. In other words, I have no idea where I am going to be in 6 months (or even 3 months) time. A prospective tenant who has no job and will possibly not stay for long isn't a tenant many people want to rent their house/a room to.
So you can see my dilemma.

aaahhh, Firefox crashed and only saved half of my post! Damn! Now what was I typing again?

Oh yes, onto happier things.
I had a lovely three days in Wellington visiting the girls (and Steven). It was all good, but the best bits were
(1) catching up with everyone and being in a supportive environment where I didn't have to feel crap about being unemployed. (or should I say "currently seeking new job opportunities")
(2) visiting Deluxe Cafe THREE TIMES in three days. That's how good their scrumptious vegan food was. I had researched them before I visited (geek alert!) and dragged anyone who invited me out for coffee/lunch there. Their vegan espresso chocolate cupcakes were too die for.
(3) Gelato with Ana and then more gelato and lying in the sun at Oriental Bay with Ana and Druinie. oh crap, gelato has milk, doesn't it? I got confused between gelato and sorbet.
(4) most excellent Korean food with Ana
(5) Turkish food with Kim, Becs, Amanda, Caroline and Steven
(6) buying more books at the 2nd-hand book fair, including a great really old cookbook that's all about grains, nuts and pulses.
(7) getting a free coffee at the airport after taking part in a survey. I look surveys and filling out forms!
(8) delish vegan muffins that Amanda made - isn't she a sweetie?

Hmm, that was supposed to be a list of the highlights, but it's covers pretty much everything I did. There were no bad things, only good: just food, friends and books.

More good things: I'm off to Dunedin this weekend to catch-up with Liss, and I can't wait. I think it'll be a bit weird visiting Dunners after so long; the students will seem so tiny!
My cookbooks arrived today! One is all about brunch (yip, the whole thing! No dinner, just brunch!) and the other is about quick and tasty vegan dinners. They're both books that other vegans on theppk.com have loved, so I'm looking forward to cooking up a storm.

Ooh, and one last thing: I'm getting free money from the govt - mwah-ha-ha! Hopefully this will be the only time in my life that I ever have to get the unemployment benefit, but I'm pleased nonetheless.