Welcome to the public part of my diary

(A warning to my parents: there is profanity here. I'm sorry. I swear.)

Welcome to the public part of my diary. You’re in the foyer and I’m leading you to the kitchen. There are back rooms you’ll never see, but I posit that the kitchen is a mighty important and intimate place, so pull up a stool and stay a while.

A rainy reception in Auckland. This is the view from my hostel off Western Park.

I moved to New Zealand 10 days ago. “Why New Zealand?” This isn’t you asking, this is me getting on my soapbox. My house, remember? The short answer is that I felt called here late one night in college. I meandered home on a route I didn’t usually take, I saw a flyer for a guest lecture I wouldn’t normally attend. The next day, I slipped into the back of a packed lecture hall and was so moved by the speaker, I asked if I could visit him at work. That summer, I flew very, very, very far south and visited Weta Digital and the Weta Workshop for the first time.

Wellington, New Zealand, felt like home. Between panicky “holy-shit-I’m-so-far-away” calls to my mom, I recognized that I felt tugged to be here. So here I am.

(The long version of the^ story is more delightful. I love a juicy detail. Call me, ask about it.)

Day 1 Allaira - tired, disoriented, happy

There are some things that, if you don’t do them, feel like betrayal. When I returned to a formative theatre campus after giving up acting, I realized I’d betrayed myself in quitting. I betrayed myself when I stayed in a relationship that wasn’t right for too long. You know these moments when you rub up against them. It’s like stroking sandpaper or petting a cat in the wrong direction. Wrong! New Zealand danced in my head for seven years after that initial trip. I knew: if I didn’t do it, didn’t try, it would be another betrayal. And I’d really like to stop betraying myself.

So here I am! It’s as simple as that. My plan is to drive north from Auckland to the tippy top of the country (Cape Reinga-ish), then go south, then who knows. This is very out of my comfort zone!! HA! I’m excited and uncomfy and that’s the whole damn point. I’m glad you’re here.

Happy travels,

Allaira