times i have met stacey teague #1

(this will continue as a series)
2008 New Year: Rhythm & Vines

This was the first time me and Stacey met. Prior to this meeting our correspondence had mostly been letters, myspace, msn and emailing. We had a 'tradition' of calling each other on ANZAC day, so we knew what each other sounded like. Some excerpts of our emails to each other leading up to this visit

26/11/2007
Susie Anderson
To sparklesista234@hotmail.com
honey I can't write anything
I am so polar
just write to me

5/12/2007
stacey teague
To hologram__@hotmail.com
All my follies, they have just shaped me, made me stronger, taught me lessons and i'm grateful to have the freedom to make so many mistakes.
I feel as if i'm hardly ever devoid of inspiration. Everything inspires me. There are the rare times when i'm in such a bad mood I can't appreciate the sky or the trees but it passes because I know its only temporary.
I love you and i'll be seeing you in 3 weeks and 3 days :) You got to give me a call before you come, lets talk :)

6/12/2007
Susie Anderson
hologram__@hotmail.com
To sparklesista234@hotmail.com

I feel a bit discontent and need to sort out my feelings.
ohhhh its only 22 days until the Stace/Suse affair begins yo
good.

18/12/2007
stacey teague
To Susie Anderson
I read this poem (THE HUSBAND TRIES TO WRITE TO THE DISAPPEARING WIFE - Jeannine Hall Gailey) aloud, then I whispered it to myself. Argh, what words can do to me.


21/12/2007
Susie Anderson
To Stacey Teague
I've been fucking around with friends for 4 days and I can't believe it's the end of the week already. It's so hot and humid and shiiiiiiit
LOLOLOL we are meeting in fucking 7 days motherfucker

26/12/2007
stacey teague
sparklesista234@hotmail.com
To Susie Anderson

I thought that I would finally write an email to you, I haven't beeen on the interwebz for a while and i'm also stoned so please forgive me.
Yeah so you are coming in 2 days, holy sheet!



I flew to Auckland a few days after Christmas 2007 and met Stacey. We stayed at her parent's place. My flight got in pretty late. Stacey picked me up in her dad's 4WD. She had mix CDs in the car, and it seemed perfect. We had the windows down and NZ seemed fresh and dewy in the near-midnight. We were probably both nervous as hell. I imagine this is why instead of going home to bed, we had a lil session by the water. Stacey was climbing trees. I felt awkward and less lithe than she.

The bulk of that trip was spent camping in Gisborne for a music festival called Rhythm and Vines. We met up with Stacey's friends Laura, Meliesha and Ben at the campgrounds. I think I met Huna (Stacey's current housemate) a few times around the campgrounds. Meliesha had lost all our acid for the festival. In hindsight, it was probably a good thing. I remember getting really drunk, drinking tequila from a drink bottle and getting lost at the campground wearing my "Kevin07" tshirt. While I was lost I think I was victimised by some bros. I got the worst sunburn of my life, had some nice swims, spent a lot of time stoned in the tent which felt really weird because it was actually my family's tent that I had brought because Stacey didn't have one at that point in time. Kept seeing odd things on the roof of the tent.

On NYE we were at the the actual festival RnV. Somebody smuggled drugs in via lipgloss. There was some pretty good music. I got to see the Mint Chicks, everybody went nuts for them. Also we saw Die Die Die and they were pretty cool. We watched this band called Jakob on a stage in a little woods. The stage looked like a gypsy caravan or something. We left the woods to go watch fireworks. The grass was wet and the ground was muddy because it had been raining. Stacey, Meliesha, Laura and I clung to each other watching them and did group hugs. We sat on a hill far away from all the people and listened to Scribe like it was a joke.

Back in Auckland, we moseyed around Green Bay, went to Piha beach with Sam and got stoned and overwhelmed by jam. We went on a day trip to a sculpture trail and had fish and chips by the beach. Driving with Stacey in NZ was the first time I listened to The Very Best of The Smiths. I felt awed by how 'cool' she was irl, driving around singing 'hang the dj hang the dj hang the dj'. seemed very awesome for my silly country gal mind. By this time we were becoming more at ease with each other.