So, today.

Today was the Pasifika festival, where there were a bunch of different booths set up representing different Pacific islands and cultures and such. Janelle, JT, and I went together, but it kinda rained all day and there were huge throngs of people so we didn't spend too much time there. We went to Hell's Pizza and ate Mordor and Lust (they're both delicious). A window-wiper dude outside told me to "say that to [his] face" (I had said nothing, so I looked him in the eyes and repeated myself as best I could), then he told me to fuck off, so I went ahead and did that as well. That was fun.
Hung out in Mt. Albert for a while, then went to walk home at around 7:30. I found out just then that my bus no longer runs that late, soooo I decided to try and walk home. Turns out I'm not very good at this, and the 20 minute bus ride turned into an hour and a half walk through I-don't-know-where, but I did eventually get home.
ANYWAY, reason why this is cool, is that as I was walking, the cutest, chubbiest little puppy came running up to me and started tagging along. I checked his collar for an address and found a phone number, but when I dialed it a voice chimed in that said it had been disconnected. My heart immediately went out to the poor little fella; I thought he had been abandoned, making both he and me alone and far away from any place either of us could call home. We walked past a whole mess of other people and homes and shops, but Bobby the dog would always come running back to me. Animal magnetism, man.

Or as my host-dad Mike suggested, Bobby smelled terrible, and so do I, so he wanted to hang out with me. Thanks, Mike. (Ass.)

So yeah this little dog and I walked for an hour and a half all over Auckland with no leash until I eventually found my way home (after a panicked call to Janelle because it got really dark and I was in residential areas and I heard a lot of yelling and then I started to wonder "Hey I wonder if Auckland has a ghetto and if I'm currently in it?"). We gave Bobby feed and discovered that I had dialed the wrong number...oops...but we found his owner and got the little pup home. His owner seemed grateful since Bobby had actually been lost for a while, but he made it sound like this was a regular occurence, at which point we decided that Bobby's owner must be kind of a big dumb. Anyway, it made me really happy to have a fellow adventurer on my journey home, so thanks Bobby the dog.

And that was today. (originally written on saturday the 14th)