With club rugby season coming to an end, we also farewell the perm mullet that has comforted me and kept me warm on and off the field. Who knows what the next season may bring. Good bye for now.

Beautiful day down south 💖

One year anniversary since I've been back home after spending a year in the US. It's all been a bit of a blur: finding our feet, finishing the PhD, and starting my new role. Definitely need to take some time unpacking the time I spent there.

Two weeks ago we won our first game in the last game of the round robin (34-30). Today we've got a chance in the bottom four playoffs for a (slim) chance for a spot in the plate semifinals. Wish us luck! 🏉

I was on the SQ297 fight from Singapore to Christchurch and I lost count the number of times we circled above CHC before we finally landed. It did in fact felt like we were going in circles. Well done to the cockpit and cabin crews for taking good care of us.

It's such a sleepy day in Cheechtown

Another hard day at the office, but at least the beer tasted good 🏉

"The P in PhD stands for perm." PhD officially conferred!

After reaching a 100 day streak on Duolingo for chess and German I've decided to uninstall the app. I've already disappointed enough people, I don't need validation from a machine-generated owl.

Okay, Google. I'm just trying to make sure I have the right vocab to talk about my new job when I go home, but why did you have to make it personal 😭

It's the end of Pride Month* in Ōtautahi (Christchurch) and it was an absolute pleasure to speak with feature writer, Jacob Sanson, about 'casual' Queerphobia in the Pride Issue of Canta [1], the official magazine of the UCSA. *Yes, Pride Month occurs in March here

Average pic of Chch

It is with great pleasure to share that I've successfully defended my PhD thesis: "Language, Place, and Social Media: Geographic Dialect Alignment in New Zealand" with the recommendation I be awarded the Doctoral degree subject to the satisfactory completion of minor amendments.

I'm now engaging with Gen Alpha discourse

I'm not mad about this but I honestly thought there'd be a few more of us out there!

I'm appreciating ECAN's new Smelt It app (I'm guessing a play on Geonet's Felt It) to address the waste water treatment smell over the last few weeks smelt-it.web.app

Soft launching a new look for 2026 and embracing the mullet+mo combo ✨

I went to my first DnB rave last night at Sydenham Underpass and I had so much fun. I also received my first trinket from someone wearing a ghost patterned shirt 👻. So happy to learn it meant I was bringing the right vibe to the dancefloor.

Weatherwise, the Midwest is terrifying - one minute it's sunny, nek minit a thunderstorm out of nowhere. Photo 1 is the view outside the apartment, and Photo 2 is the other side of the apartment 20 metres away (you can still see the blue skies).

St. Louis ⚜️

This has been my attempt to be artistic. Not bad considering my colourblindness. The derpy penguin feels like a physical manifestation of me. Credit to the Pottery Place for making the ornaments for me to paint.

Here's my attempt to link recent events back home and monitoring speech and offensive language online on X (Twitter). We've still go a long way to go before we can use AI and language models to support the needs of our most vulnerable communities.

Outside of all the memories I've made with the better half, what I'm going to miss the most will be the squirrels and the big (oak?) tree from my writing desk.

This feels like a major life milestone making it to Sidney, IL.

Poor wee thing holding on to the tree for dear life.

Severe thunderstorm rolling through Champaign County just turned day into night ⛈️

I'm staying up late to watch my mate play in rugby 11s tournament in Phuket. The wonders of a YouTube livestream.

Do you or your family have close links to Cantonese in Aotearoa New Zealand? Help support the language maintenance and shift in the New Zealand Chinese community project by completing the survey. English: tinyurl.com/canto-eng Traditional Chinese: tinyurl.com/canto-tra

Not Google Photos thinking photos of us burning joss paper during ancestral worship as a "camping trip". Tell me more how AI and LLM lack cultural awareness.

My high school geography teacher just received some #Choice posters for the classroom. It'd be like I never left!