Fill Empty Space By Making Lists

I have recently come to re-embrace my passion for making lists and I have Katie to thank for that. She makes lists for every conceivable thing that we do/plan to do/can never in a million years do...you get the idea. I used to make them compulsively when I was younger, I made them to separate the people or ideas that I liked from those I didn't, compile the things I wanted to do when I was older or the places I wanted to see, basically, I felt compelled to organize my world into well-ordered, prioritized columns. As I grew older I mostly felt that lists were too superficial because life would never be tidily arranged into singly worded columns, so excluding grocery shopping, I stopped making them altogether. I have now come around again to being pro-list (thanks in part to making a pro and con list highlighting the advantages and disadvantages of list making). In what I hope will become an ongoing series, I present my first list:


Awesome Things About New Zealand You May Have Never Heard About.


1. Toilets- most toilets in NZ come equipped with two buttons, the full and the half flush, that way you can be a more eco-friendly tinkler (also, public loos are clean and numerous)
2. Grown men in short shorts- once you overcome the desire to shriek and cover your eyes in shame it becomes unceasingly hilarious
3. L&P- Soda- “World Famous in New Zealand”
4. Feijoas- a tiny green fruit that came to NZ from either South America or heaven
5. Outrageous Fortune- a soap opera without the romance and boring shit (as well as its incredibly catchy theme song “Gutter Black”)
6. Sheep- so far I have seen day-glo pink sheep at Sheep World and I have seen a sheep drink out of a public toilet, but only after waiting until someone flushed it, because otherwise that's just unsanitary
7. Scrumpy's Cider- with a name like Scrumpy's it has to be good
8. Being Barefoot- shoes are completely and utterly optional
9. Mullets- bad bleach jobs accentuating either the business or party end optional (but avidly encouraged)
10. Cheap Car Insurance- and on top of that it's not legally required
11. Open Container A-Ok- just keep an eye out for the liquor ban signs prohibiting booze in relatively few areas
12. Lack of Dangerous Creatures- no animal will eat/maim you and there is only one spider that can hurt you
13. Flat Whites- the delicious offspring of a cappuccino and a latte
14. Fire Baths- they may not be exclusive to NZ, but they are frickin'amazing
15. The Guy Family- they keep on warmly welcoming us back and we don't understand why