Matisyahu

Had a great time at the Matisyahu concert, however the crowd left a lot to be desired. It was almost a replica of a frat party...a Jewish frat party at that. I mean, there were actually girls with fake IDs arguing with the dude who hands out bracelets for the bar! Come on, is it really that necessary to drink at a reggae show? First of all, the contact high from all the pot smoking should be enough. And it's not like there's nothing to keep you entertained.

So then strange things kept on happening. First off, the audience was surprisingly young (probably all the parents thought a Jewish rapper would be wholesome enough to let their kids out on a school night). Then there were the two guys pushing each other around, one with a lighter in his hand who almost set fire to the other guy. Then lighter guy came up to me and Sharon while we were quietly chatting away from the crowd and told us he was from Japan (clearly he was not) and slapped our hands really hard. Then one guy came up to us offering to give us the free plastic bracelets they were handing out at the door, then when we said we already had them, dejectedly skulked off. Oh yeah, let's not forget the guy who was crowd surfing with a lit menorah in his hand! Who are these people?!

Moving

Finally all moved in to the new house...well almost all moved in. I still have to fetch my computer and VCR (how retro) from the apartment and hook it all up...ugh. It's times like this where I wish I had magical powers...to just snap my fingers and have it all be done. I guess it's not as bad as in college when I had to constantly bring my computer and electronics back and forth from school and home each semester. Hmm, come to think of it, either magical powers or a laptop would work in this situation. I honestly don't know which I would choose at this point...

Sleeping in my own bed finally...it's delicious!

Disjointed and random

We're moving into the house this weekend...all I can say is FINALLY! Although, my nomadic days are not over yet...NYC here I come!

Oh yeah, and will someone just put me out of my misery and give me a f&*%ing job already?

P.S. I'm back to driving my Dad's car. Oh Firenze, why did your radiator have to break down? Will I ever get to drive you again?

Dreams

This morning I was in the middle of this ridiculous dream where I was laughing and, before I knew it, I actually woke up laughing. Bizarre...

Firenze

Oh man, I just remembered what I wanted to post for the past few days that I just could not remember! So quick, before I forget again...

Those who know my car Firenze know it's a complete POS Oldsmobile from 1987. Now, Firenze has been on the fritz for as long as I can remember (I can dig up all my AAA records if ya'll really want to know). So a few weeks ago, I was sure it was on it's deathbed--there was a leak in the coolant system but we never discovered where the leak was coming from or where the coolant was going (presumably, the engine), yadda yadda yadda. Even my Dad and the mechanic confirmed this suspicion that Firenze was on it's last few breaths. We traded cars for a while so he could drive it locally until it died. However, die it did not! The car recently sprang back to life (well, sprang is a bit of a stretch) and is now running fine. Apparently the leak repaired itself. Can you believe this?! What car does that? Unbelievable. I'm thinking about taking bets on how long it will last...completely unpredictable.

I realize this post is a little late, but I just need to write that on Saturday, I had one of those perfect New York days that make you really proud and excited to be a NYer. I had a meeting at the Tribeca Grand Hotel (gorgeous, I must say) and then afterwards just wandered around Tribeca and Soho. It wasn't even a particularly nice day (cloudy and chilly) but it was still mild enough to walk outside for hours. Then I walked up Broadway to Greenwich Village, which is such a cool experience in itself, full of people and vendors selling their stuff on the streets. I bought a pretty green pashmina/silk scarf for $6! Then I stopped off at The Shakespeare & Co. bookstore...such a great place. Bought a book and took it to Starbucks where I was sure I would never find a seat since it was so crowded, but I did! And it was one of those comfy plush seats to boot! Yay, so I sat in my comfy chair and read for a couple of hours to kill some time. Went to the Angelika to see a movie and afterwards met my friends around the corner at Swift. It was nothing short of a fantastic day and most of it spent by myself. I only hope my love affair with the city lasts and doesn't turn sour.

Ever have that feeling you're standing on the edge of something huge, some big change? It hasn't happened yet, but you know it's just a matter of time and the feeling makes you both excited and anxious. It sort of colors each day differently, makes a moment seem more important.

The last time I felt this way was before I left for Australia...

Jews

Funniest quote ever, in reference to a Jewish fundraising event, made by my boss: "I don't like it when Jews don't serve food. It's unnerving."

A Thank You Note

Thank you LIRR for just sitting like the worthless passenger carriers that you are for 25 minutes with no explanation. You really made my day complete.

Sawft

You know you've been on Long Island too long when you catch yourself saying "soft" like "sawft." Ahhhhhh! Is this really happening to me already?! I need to get out!

In other news, all is right with the world as the Dems have taken back Congress...whoopeeeeeee!

Dog Eat Dog World

I'm convinced that dog owners are crazy. Yes, I realize that owning a dog can be very fulfilling and fun, but man, are they a pain in the arse to take care of or what?

Goldie had me up three times last night with various scratching, random noise-making, and just general dogginess. This should be great practice for when I eventually have children, but right now I am so not up for the challenge. I'd like to get a full night's sleep in while I still can.

P.S. I love dogs but I could never own one, similarly to how some people feel about other people's children. They're cute when you don't have to look after them.

Up On The Roof

Every once in a while, I come across a song that makes me really happy to be alive and that I obsess over for several days. I think my new song is "Up On the Roof," written by Carole King, first recorded by the Drifters but put on the charts by James Taylor. Neither of these versions do it for me. If you want to hear this song, you must listen to the version by Laura Nyro, somewhat of a contemporary of Carole King, but a little more under the radar. She also happened to be related to some of my Dad's cousins. Her version is live and it appears on the "Gonna Take A Miracle" album. Oh man is it good! She has such great dynamics and really uses her voice so expressively. It's very emotive. Just be warned that when you start listening to it, you might never want to stop.

My new travel writing career

Hey everybody! I've been published on the web! Check 'em out, 'cause if you don't, nobody will...

http://www.st-christophers.co.uk/backpacker-resources/travel-stories

http://www.st-christophers.co.uk/backpacker-resources/travel-stories?result_page=4

Also, does anyone need vouchers for two free nights at a St. Christopher's hostel?

Whole Foods: The new dating mecca?

Have you ever noticed that almost everyone who shops at Whole Foods is attractive? Seriously, has anyone else noticed this phenomenon? Next time you're there, see if this happens--maybe 4 out of 5 people will be good-looking, not to mention the staff. I mean, do they even hire ugly people? There was a really cute stock boy (and when I say boy, I mean man) there today who had upper arm tattoos, but a really sweet demeanor (not that the two are mutually exclusive or anything). It sort of seemed like I was stalking him, but really what happened is that we kept on meeting in the aisles (at least that's what I'll tell the police lol). I would have flirted, but I had my arms filled with groceries (I forgo the basket or :::GASP::: the cart usually because I only pick up a few things at a time when I'm there, but of course I always end up needing a basket). Also, isn't it kind of weird/desperate to pick up guys in grocery stores, especially if they work there? I don't know, who thinks I should go back and try to get his phone number?

The Bill Bryson reading was great! I am so glad I went and for those who missed out, please make sure you catch him next time you have the opportunity. His new book sounds really funny and I can't wait to read it. I even got to meet him and he signed my book. I was totally gushing over him, telling him how big a fan I am and how the first 15 pages of "In A Sunburned Country" was histerical. He seems really humble and appreciative of his fans, which is really cool. He also has this really funky weird accent, a cross between American mid-western and British, the result of living half his life in America and half in England...strange.

I think the fake illness I invented yesterday to take off from work might actually be real...ahhhhhh!

Tomorrow is Love Your Body Day. As hokey as it might seem, I think this is a great opportunity for women to stop examining themselves and start realizing what's really important in life. All women, no matter how confident or perfect they appear to be, look at their bodies with a critical eye, noting their imperfections and thinking up ways to make themselves more aesthetically beautiful. What's the point? To conform to some ideal of what's "beautiful?" To make other people like them? Everyone is built a different way, which I think is pretty cool. I'm not going to go on and on about how we should love people for who they are on the inside because that's what really counts, because we've all heard it before and it's a sentimental notion people tend to shy away from. I would really like to believe in a world where people don't place so much importance on looks, but I realize that's impossible. I'm guilty of it myself--sometimes I look at my body and dislike what I see. I can hardly look at photos of myself sometimes and, in a room full of gorgeous girls, I tend to feel inadequate. But I really do try to make a conscious effort to accept who I am and not try to fight nature. I feel like, most of the time, I really do love my body, as large and awkward as it might be. I know not all women are ready to accept themselves as they are, and that's sad. It's okay to have bad days when you don't want to look in the mirror, but it's never okay to hate yourself. What does a "perfect" body have to do with real life anyway? In the end, does it matter that you're not a size 4 and 5'8"?

Dell

I don't know whether to be really pissed at Dell for giving me an Mp3 player that breaks after a year and a half or praising them for having such good customer service and sending me another one for half the price in such a timely manner. Seriously, a day after I spoke with a customer service rep, I got a new refurbished DJ in the mail. That's awesome, however, I'm still annoyed that I had to pay for it. Oh well, these things do happen.

Is it sick that whenever I see someone's shoelaces untied (myself included), I laugh because I'm thinking how funny it would be if they tripped?

Reflections

I've been home for 2 months already and while I'm used to being here, I still think about Australia every day. Half of the time I get overcome with a pining feeling, the other half I think about some thing that happened over there and it makes me smile or laugh. I feel very fortunate to have had this experience and sad that I can never have it again, but overall it's a good feeling. I'm still concerned about my persistent wanderlust...will it ever go away? I believe not. I think I'm a travel addict.

Oh man, I am seriously in love with this weather. Gorgeous. This weekend was just amazing. Long Island wineries on Saturday, Chihuly exhibit at the NY Botanical Gardens on Sunday...awesomeness all around.

It occurred to me today that walking a dog is a lot like being a playground mom. You meet all these other "mothers" on the street who also walk their dogs and they stop and play together for a few minutes while you talk to someone you normally would never speak to. You're like superficial friends who only have the one thing in common, and then you move along. Strangeness.

Yesterday was the perfect Autumn day--crisp and sunny, albeit on the chilly side, but the refreshing kind of chilly. The view from the BQE on the drive into Brooklyn Heights, which is normally amazing, was particularly so last night because it was so clear. The entire skyline was visible and the lights were beautiful against the stark night sky.

Loving Autumn...

The Gin Blossoms show was pretty cool and it was at the new Nokia Theater in Times Square, which is really nice. Plus the show was free as they were doing a promotion for the new web tickets...can't beat that with a stick. Josh Kelley and Shawn Mullins opened and they were good too in all their generic singer-songwriter glory. I hadn't been to Times Square in ages and it was really fun...in a tacky, flashing lights sort of way. I admit it, I'm a sucker for neon lights and huge electronic billboards. It was cool hanging out with John (he invited me to the show). It's nice that two people who dated eons ago can still be good friends. But we were like babies when we went out, so I guess it's not so surprising.

The drive home was Horrendous (yes, the capitalization is intentional)! It was raining so hard the windshield wipers were rendered practically useless. Plus, there was so much lightning it was scary. In my illogical mind, I kept waiting for the lightning to strike me. I don't know where my acute fear of being struck by lightning comes from. Maybe it was that Saved By the Bell episode when Screech gets hit and starts receiving radio signals through his brain or something...remember that one? It's a classic. Anyway, it didn't help that my tank was on empty and while filling up, my logic again informed me that I was definitely going to be struck because gas stations are somehow huge lightning conductors. And where the hell was the thunder? Can that happen, all that lightning with no thunder? I clearly am not a science person.

Just bought a ticket for the Bill Bryson reading...I bet he knows all about lightning conductors.

Grrrr I HATE my phone! Every time I want to have a conversation with somebody, it takes like 20 minutes calling back and forth to accomplish ANYthing.

Going to see the Gin Blossoms tomorrow, haha, should take me back to 5th grade.

There is a family of eight living in the apartment above us right now...did I mention they sound like elephants?

Housesitting

I haven't updated in a while, so pardon if this entry is a bit on the random side. Right now I'm house- and dog-sitting for my old neighbors on Regent. It's funny because I'm on the old block and pass the old house every day when I walk the dog and I'm happy to report that I don't feel anything when I see it. I really think I'm over it, which is surprising because I usually dwell on things to the point of obsession. This is a very good thing.

I'm in this big house all by myself and I have to say I don't really enjoy it as much as I though I would. I couldn't wait to get out of the tiny apartment and have a whole house to myself, but now that I'm here, I find the house way too big for one person. It's like, if you want something from the kitchen and you're upstairs, you have to make a whole event of it. You can't just stroll to the next room over. I think it was the effect of moving from one extreme (a big house) to another (a tiny apartment) that made me feel so trapped in the latter. I think the house on Mitchell will be the perfect size.

In other news, I'm really piling up the interviews, which on one hand is a good thing, but on the other completely sucks because it means I'm not getting any of these jobs. I know I should just keep going on them because eventually one will be fruitful (right?) and that's exactly what I intend to do. But I am really itching to get out of this current job situation. I feel like it's sucking my brain dry, it's so boring and mind-numbing. Marissa and I are in a similar situation, both work- and home-related, so it's really nice to have someone to commiserate with. We're both in that oh-so-frustrating point in our lives where we don't have any serious job prospects, have no idea what we want to do with our lives, aren't in school and live with our parents. Good times! It makes for some fun conversations.

Switching gears somewhat, I'm writing a lot more lately (lol even at work...take THAT suckas!). I'm working on a series of creative non-fiction/memorish essays about my backpacking experiences. I don't think I'm going to do anything with them, just write them for my own personal gratification. But I did submit a story to a British backpacker's website and they want to publish it! I also might send a story in to an essay contest through STA Travel. We'll see where this thing heads. If it ends up being something I could submit as a whole for publication, then so be it but I am so not getting my hopes up about that.

On a technical front, I'm debating whether or not to get a new Mp3 player. The situation is that my Dell DJ, after one and a half years, has a serious problem in that it only plays out of one side of the speaker/earphones (and yes I did test several speakers and earphones to see if that was causing the problem). It still plays, which is a good thing, but is completely annoying because I can only hear one side therefore I am missing a lot of the overall sound. It's out of warranty but I can send it back to some warehouse and get a new one for $180. This is a very good price for an Mp3 player but i'm worried the same problem will start to occur in the future. The other option is to spring for a brand new iPod or Creative Labs Zen player. I hear the Zen is better than the iPod and they cost the same so it will probably be the former. However, I have heard that none of these devices has very good longevity, so what seems to be the point spending close to $300 for one when it will only last a few years? Has anyone had an Mp3 player for a long time that they can give me advice on this issue?

At work

Ahhhhhh what the hell am I doing here?! And no, that is not an existential question, I really have no idea what the f%$& I'm doing here.

Oh My Gawd!

I have HAD it with the LIRR! Rather, the people who ride the LIRR, who automatically make me associate the train with a loud, obnoxious, drunken mass of people who treat the cars as their own private frat house. This has always been a problem while coming back to the Island on the 2:55 am train, but last night was the pinnacle of the rudeness and obnoxiousness that is the Ronkonkoma-bound. The shrieking, the chanting, the pounding on the windows...these are sorry excuses for human beings. Let's not forget the "ladies," who permeate the car with their "oh my gawd" accents and their loud chatter about that night's hook-up. Shut the f*&% up! And the "gentlemen" respond with their standard macho, neanderthal chest-pounding, calling the girls bitches and what-not. When I finally switched to the Long Beach train at Jamaica, it calmed down a bit. But then a baby started crying (folks, what a BABY was doing on a 3 am train is beyond my comprehension) and while at first it was almost refreshing to hear a baby after the football stadium antics to which I had just borne witness, after several howls from the little one, it was time to shut that baby up. How a person doesn't go mad on the LIRR is a mystery.

I wish I could say I am done riding the LIRR, but unfortunately I have to endure it for several months more. I think I'll be driving to the city much more...

You wanna know why Australia rocks? Because, despite living across a whole ocean and a country, their government has issued my tax refund in such a timely fashion, I'm a little embarrassed for this country. So what if they taxed me at a ridiculous 29%, I got it all back baby!

Bored

Omigod, soooooooo bored. Contemplating creating a My Space profile just to pass the freakin' time.

In memory of 9/11/01

Five years ago I was a freshman at Binghamton University, a state university in upstate New York. On the morning of 9/11, I slept late because I didn't have class until about 11am. The first thing that happened was the phone rang. My roommate answered it and, half-sleeping, I heard her say, "You have to tell her yourself." It was my sister on the phone and she was hysterical. My first thought, funny enough, was that she had just broken up with her boyfriend. Then she proceeded to tell me what had happened: that a plane had just flown into one of the twin towers. Bewildered and confused, clearly thinking it had been an accident, I replied, "But isn't it illegal to fly planes so close to tall buildings?" She explained that it was a terrorist attack--this was before the word "terrorist" had become part of everyday lexicon, at least for a 17-year-old. I had a brief moment of panic when I heard that it was the World Trade Center. "But doesn't Dad work nearby?" I remembered that his office was just around the corner. She assured me that he was probably okay, that none of the other buildings outside the Trade Center had been harmed and that they would most likely evacuate them anyway.

I wandered, bleary-eyed, throughout my dorm suite. Every television was turned to CNN. My suitemate, Daniela, was glued to the t.v. but turned to me when I appeared at her door. "Just go back to sleep so you can dream again," she said. I saw the smoke rising from one of the towers. Shortly after, it collapsed. I don't remember when the second tower was struck or where I was at the time. I was probably somewhere in the Pitts (basement floor where I resided) of Hughes Hall, trying to convince one of my suitemates and one of my floormates not to rent a car and drive down to NYC to make sure their families were okay. Possibly, I was upstairs in my friend Heather's suite, watching "Clueless" to take our minds off the mayhem that was ensuing. During the movie (it might have been the part where Cher and Christian are watching "Spartacus"), my roommate came in to tell me that my sister was on the phone again. She had been trying to get in touch with my parents all day and finally got through to my mother, who told her that my dad's office had been evacuated and he had run uptown, away from the madness, and was safe. I finally breathed.

They were holding a candlelight vigil on campus that evening and for some reason, I didn't want to go. I just wanted to go back to sleep and forget the whole thing had happened. But I couldn't go to sleep no matter how hard I tried. I finally ran out of the dorm, across campus, and joined the vigil in the Peace Quad. Some people spoke, everyone held a lighted candle, I think some people were handing out flyers for bereavement groups. I don't remember much of what was spoken, just a lot about peace and justice and what a terrible tragedy had just happened. It was altogether a bizarre and surreal day.

I just wanted to share my experience in a purely empirical way and invite others to do the same. It's sometimes comforting to hear how others experience a similar event and talk about their coping mechanisms.

New Job AND Home

I start my new job tomorrow...really looking forward to a higher balance on my statement.

We officially move out tomorrow as well...isn't there a limit to how much change a person can handle?

And on top of all the stress, tomorrow is September 11, which 5 years ago didn't mean diddly.

House

We close today and move Monday...:::sigh:::...

Beach

I finally went to the beach yesterday...it was just such a beautiful day. I had been meaning to go since I got back but just never found the opportunity, mainly because the weather has been crap. I have to admit, I felt a bit of a rush stepping onto the sand at first as I remembered all those wonderful days in Sydney spent on the beaches. But really, it wasn't as great as I expected. I mean, obviously, spending a day on the beach in your hometown is never going to be as exciting as it is in some exotic or foreign locale. When I was in Australia, I kept thinking that when I go home, I'm not going to take the beach for granted anymore, I'm going to take full advantage of my location. Of course that didn't happen because here it is, almost 5 weeks after my return, and this is the first time I found the time to go to the beach. But I think what I was really looking for when I stepped onto Lido West was Coogee or Bronte, and obviously that can't happen because those beaches are thousands of miles away. That's not to say Lido West isn't a beautiful beach, but let's face it, there's nothing like the Sydney beaches.

Partly for a sense of closure and partly because it's such an awesome book, I just finished re-reading Bill Bryson's book, "In A Sunburned Country" and want to share his closing remarks. I think they explain a lot about my feelings on leaving and for many people who leave this amazing country after visiting for a period of time:

"It seemed a particularly melancholy notion to me that life would go on in Australia and I would hear almost nothing of it.... Crocodiles would attack, bushfires would rage, ministers would depart in shame, amazing things would be found in the desert, and possibly lost again, and word of none of this would reach my ears. Life in Australia would go on, and I would hear nothing, because once you leave Australia, Australia ceases to be."

Obviously, this is a little dramatic and not entirely true--just look at the recent Steve Irwin tragedy. But I think he has a good point in that this is a country that is hardly ever on most Americans' radar. It's too bad really and as Bryson says, "the loss is entirely ours."

SHAME ON THE LONG ISLAND POWER AUTHORITY (yes, I'm shouting!)

Here follows a rather Shakespearean (in my opinion) letter my Dad wrote to LIPA. Note the wonderful sarcasm in the last line:

The power to 5 houses on Regent Drive in Lido Beach went out at approximately 3:30 PM on Saturday, 9/2/06. It is now 12:24 AM on Monday, 9/4/06, and the power has not yet been restored. LIPA crews have been out here three times, the first to look at the burning tree (the one that knocked the power out in the first place), the second time -I'm not sure what they did the second time they came out, but they sure as hell didn't restore power (then the tree crew came out to chop up the offending tree), then a third crew came out, actually there were two crews to replace a fuse in a transformer, and still, no power. If it sounds as though I'm angry, you are quite right. I just came in from driving around the area looking for a repair crew: none to be found in Long Beach, Lido Beach or Point Lookout, although your outage report shows a total of 89 current outages in this area. WHY AREN'T THEY WORKING AROUND THE CLOCK HERE TO RESTORE OUR POWER?????????

This was a minor storm by comparison to what could have been; is this what we can expect from our power utility in a major storm, weeks of no power (by extrapolation). I never thought LIPA would be able to make FPL look like super heroes; but you did it this time. So much for our northern expertise and sophistication!

Just being able to talk to a human would have helped us though what started as a minor inconvenience and evolved into a very major annoyance, making the calmest of us come to the brink of utter rage. Richard Kessel and company should hang their heads in shame for the complete bungling of this situation, which could probably have been minimized by proper monitoring of local trees, and the proper crowning and pruning instead of the butcher job I've seen your crews do.

It has now been 35 hours since I've been able to put up a pot of coffee or read my newspaper in the evening, or watch a movie on TV. I am able to write this only through the generosity of my next door neighbor, who just happened to be lucky enough to be on the other side of the utility pole.

SO KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK, LIPA, AND DON'T BE TOO SURPRISED WHEN THE PUBLIC DEMANDS HEARINGS INTO YOUR TOTAL INEPTNESS IN HANDLING A STORM SO MINOR THAT IT DOESN'T EVEN RATE A CATEGORY!

Blackout!

Gotta love LIPA...apparently because there are only 3 or 4 houses on my block that are suffering a power outage, they don't seem to think it's a priority. THINK AGAIN MFs! It's going on 30 hours here with no power or hot water. Our next-door neighbors, who miraculously escaped the blackout, let us plug a super-long extension cord in one of their outlets so we can have a little piece of the electrical pie. As a result, our refrigerator and computer are running...you know, the essentials.

They're working on it right now, supposedly, and it will take "5-30 minutes." Yeah right. They were supposed to be working on it yesterday too, but first they had to clear the damn trees that caught on fire when the electrical wires snapped. Oh man, never a dull moment on Regent Drive.

Since I'll be working on Long Island, I'm going to make it a point to go into the city at least once a week or else I might shoot myself. So what are everyone's plans for this coming weekend? Doing anything for Labor Day? It's going to be major suck-o with the weather so I might do a reverse and do a city thing for a change. Unless the weather suddenly changes and it's a beach day, then you're all welcome to come down to LB.

This crap weather really needs to stop. Of course it would figure that the last few days of Summer would suck weather-wise.

Flipped out!

I saw a car flip over on Old Country Road today. I'm not talking about a teeny tiny sports car either, I'm talking a full-on truck! I didn't actually see how it happened. All I know is that I heard a very loud metallic sound and I looked over and there it was, mid-flip, then teetering back and forth. Very unsettling.

Garage Sale

The garage sale was a huge success, even with the initial crappy weather. To accommodate, we had to open the first floor of the house to let people come through and look at stuff. As a result, we got a lot of people commenting on how nice the house is and what a great artist my mother is, etc. I didn't really get too sad when that happened, though, which makes me feel like I'm getting over the whole moving thing finally. I'm actually sort of looking forward to the change in a way. We found a place to live in the interim in the dunes section of Lido Beach, so that's a huge weight off right there. It will be sort of cool to live in the house I lived in as a baby, even though I don't remember a damn thing about it. It was weird, but my dad took me through the house recently and nothing jogged my memory at all. It will be like a whole new house anyway since we are getting it remodeled.

I would like to remark on a subject I like to call "Garage Sale People." These people go around to garage sales every weekend, meet the same people so they're all friends in a demented sort of way, and try to bargain the shirt off your back. I can't really say I dislike these people but they are certainly an interesting breed. One woman came with her measuring tape to take measurements of the clothes we had on sale. Another woman was chatting my mother's ear off, distracting her from the other customers so she couldn't see what was going on. That's not to mention the people who saw the ads and came a day, two days, THREE days early to try and get a head start on the merchandise. I'm sorry, but this is not normal people. Anyway, the sale was sort of fun and became a neighborhood bonding event. We had some neighbors come and help us keep an eye on people while they were in the house and help control the flow. It was nice.

I feel like a new person

I finished organizing all my stuff for the garage sale and man does it feel good! I pretty much threw away anything extraneous and trust me when I say that most things are. I even tossed about 2/3 of my wardrobe, which may end up being a mistake but I don't care! I was just so sick of it, clothes that I'd kept for ages and didn't need, clothes stuffed into drawers that have a musty smell and are wrinkled like crazy. While pricing things for the sale, my mom made a very good point that seeing all the stuff you own that you don't want or need laid out in front of you sort of makes you think twice about being a consumer. Obviously there are some things you need, but just think of all the stuff you own that aren't necessities. I'm not trying to say everyone should become an ascetic monk, but it really does feel good to do some kind of cleansing of the extraneous every once in a while. Plus, you might even make some cash back!

Creepy guy...

Some guy came to the house today because he had seen the ad for our garage sale in the paper. Since my parents weren't home, he asked me what kind of furniture we were selling. When I said that we're selling 2 bedroom sets, he asked if he could come in and see them. I suddenly felt like I was in one of those after-school specials where they instruct kids not to talk to strangers, ie. Stop! Say no! Go and tell someone! LOL, obviously I said no thanks buddy, I don't need you alone in a bedroom with me. Well, I didn't say those exact words, but I did send him on his way. He seemed normal enough, but you never know. And then when I told my mom about it, she started mentioning some woman who got decapitated in Glen Cove or something. Man! Don't need to know, thank you.

I'm taking matters into my own hands

Last night I decided that I really need to move on...from the pain of leaving Australia, the inconvenience of this goddamn move (ok that's the last bit of bitterness you'll hear from me), the fact that I might have to live on Long Island for another year or so, my lack of money, debt, etc. That's it, I'm sick of the self-pity and I'm sure most people are sick of hearing me complain. From now on I am making a conscious effort to feel better about my current situation...no excuses. It could be so much worse and, really, I'm very fortunate to have what I have...parents who can support me, a house (it's not ideal, but I still will always have a roof over my head), I live in a relatively stable country (c'mon, think of Lebanon and Israel), etc.

I've turned a new leaf...hopefully. We'll see how I go...

So Much Shite

I feel like my brain keeps filling up with stuff I need to do and no matter what I do to deplete the list, the franticness never ends. I'm really happy I had the week in Vermont with my family, but I keep thinking about all the stuff I could have accomplished during that time. I know it will all get done in time but I hate this feeling, like I'll never get settled anywhere. I seriously hate this whole moving business and I wish I could just remove all the clutter in my life, but doesn't everyone? I'm relishing the idea of throwing away/selling half the stuff I own.

On the job front, I might hear back from Avalon on Monday, but I'm trying not to count on anything actually happening there. Frankly, I don't know if I can handle going back to work just yet, although I seriously need the money like it's nobody's business.

On a random tangent, T.V. just does not interest me at all since I've been back, except of course Gilmore Girls and Veronica Mars. I'm happy about that. Maybe I'll spend more time reading.

I really need to make a proper list.

I'm home...

...whatever that is. I'm trying to get a handle on it but I still can't figure it out. What is home anyway? This is something I've been pondering lately as I am about to move out of my childhood home, the one I've lived in for about 18 years. Is home just a place to hang your hat, somewhere to keep all your stuff? As the renowned Ed Brydon once said (actually it was earlier this evening over a couple of cervecas), "Home is wherever your loved ones are." But what if your loved ones are scattered, some in NY, some in Florida, some in Australia? Can one have several homes? I'm starting to feel slightly nomadic and unsettled. I know this is a normal reaction from being a backpacker for so long and that it will probably pass, but I'm not sure I really want to be settled. At least not for a while. I like having a home base, for sure, but what if it's not enough for me to simply live in one place? I don't want to have to leave my family and friends again, I really do want to have a career and build a life somewhere, but I'm afraid of the backlash if I choose to go somewhere else for an extended stay.

My last night in Sydney was both wonderful and awful. Major props to Matt and Adam for making it really fun and kind of zany...those two are ca-razy! Highlights included singing tunes from Showboat on the Balmain Wharf whilst looking over the nighttime Sydney skyline, pondering if Mikhail Gorbachev was really in a Pizza Hut commercial (it's true: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C9lvzzH0STw) and, of course, accents galore! So freakin' sad though as I was forced to say g'bye to my two Aussie mates.

So I completely lost it at immigration in L.A. when the officer said "Welcome home" (there goes that word again). I could not control myself. I was already emotional from seeing the city from the plane and being back in the States...also it did not help that I was in major pain because the pressure in my ears, like, refused to equalize. I really need to get a hold of myself because I have a feeling my little meltdown upon coming into Melbourne is related somehow. Right now I feel stable but I'd watch out if I were you...

P.S. So many things are strange being back but the thing I noticed straight away is flushing the toilet here because the handle is usually on the side as opposed to on top of the tank like in Oz and there's no half-flush, which, to be honest, I never liked anyway.

P.P.S. I missed the heat wave! Yay me!

Last Day in Melbourne

I forgot to mention that during my sight-seeing rounds, I came across another reason why Melbourne rocks. There is an art fair on right now where heaps of galleries from all around Australia and some from Europe and Asia show their artwork. Normally the price of admission is $22 but I saw most of for free! I came on the day before it opened officially when everyone was still setting up the artwork. So I just walked around and looked at the art and, in my opinion, got a better perspective because I got to see how most of it gets displayed. It was pretty cool to see how some pieces get put together like puzzle pieces or painted right onto the wall. Either way, free art is cool. Unfortunately, I still had to pay $20 for the Picasso/Dora Maar exhibit last night, but I'd say it was worth it. It showed how the two of them influenced each other's work and Dora Maar's photos of the process of creating Guernica, Picasso's most famous painting, were pretty exciting.

I also saw an amazing documentary yesterday, part of the Melbourne International Film Festival. It's called Shakespeare Behind Bars and follows an acting troupe of inmates at a Kentucky prison as they rehearse and eventually perform The Tempest. So good! If anyone gets a chance to see it, definitely check it out.

LOL, so basically at this point I'm just walking around the city using all my free internet vouchers...hooray for not paying for internet! Which also leads me to believe I am sort of ready to leave Melbourne. As cool as it's been, I think I've seen and done everything I wanted to and now it's starting to cost a bit of $$$. I'm also looking forward to returning to Sydney for a bit of a last hurrah, even though I officially have just two friends left in the city :-(

And I think I'm starting to look forward to coming home a bit more, although the heat wave I've been hearing about is worrying me a little. Just 4 more days...

Link

Treasures of Melbourne

I am like a sightseeing pro. Seriously, I should teach a course or something. The key is simply hit the pavement and walk everywhere. Or, if you're handicapped in any way, just buy a daily transport ticket and take the bus/tram everywhere. Also, spend as little time in your hotel/motel/hostel/cardboard box as possible. Honestly, I covered so much ground yesterday and I still managed to take an hour+ long coffee/tea break in a cozy little cafe.

I seriously hit the jackpot last night in free entertainment. I had signed up for this free comedy show held at a pub in a really cool, funky neighborhood called Fitzroy. The comedienne was doing a trial run before she goes to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, which is why it was free, but she ended up being really funny! I was delighted and thought I'd stay out after the show and see what else I could stumble upon. I ended up finding this little pub on a side street that was doing an open mic night. OMG, every performer was amazing, not a dud in the lot! I probably would have paid to see half of them on stage. It's definitely not an exaggeration to say that Melbourne is the culture capital of Australia and that there's an abundance of talent. I couldn't believe how talented some of these people were, and they were all pretty much amatuers! I spoke to one of the girls who performed and she told me that one of the guys there was actually a well-established musician in Melbourne and she was surprised to see him there, which goes to show how unpretentious the music scene is in the city. This guy was extremely good. He played a cool bluesy brand of funk and his voice was unbelieveable, just so rich...he sort of sounded like a cross between Ray Charles and Steve Winwood. Then, the host of the open mic went on (who btw was really cute but that's besides the point) and he totally blew me away as well. His lyrics were so good and he sang with such intensity.

Bottom line: Melbourne=really good music/arts scene. Yay for free entertainment! Now I gotta go spend some $$$

Melbourne Day 3

Marga left last night leaving me all by my lonesome. I'm actually feeling okay about it. I think I've gotten used to people leaving by now and know how to deal with it better. Is that sad? I reckon it's a good thing to get used to, but bad at the same time... Maybe it also has to do with my upcoming flight home. I'm looking forward to it and not at the same time. I keep thinking about it and it makes me really sad, like the same way you feel after a break-up, like a part of you is about to be ripped out never to be returned. But I know it will get better with time, as is always the case with break-ups. Okay, enough with the cliches. I've got to enjoy my time in Melbourne, the poorer and uglier but funkier and cooler cousin of Sydney.

Melbourne

The last leg of the Great Ocean Road is really twisty and for some reason I was feeling a bit nauseous, which is weird because I never get motion sickness. Anyway, Marga gave me some of her motion sickness pills and I don't know what happened to me but as soon as we pulled into Melbourne I started feeling SO strange, like really drowsy and then I felt my heart beat quicken, so I started getting freaked out. Then we got to the bus drop off and I started to feel even more strange and when they asked me if I was okay, I couldn't speak and started to feel really emotional. I jumped off the bus and just started crying, but almost a half-crying, half-laughing thing. It was so weird. So bottom line: don't take any pills from Holland! Haha, j/k. But seriously, I'm still wondering what the hell that was.

Great Ocean Road

Adelaide was brilliant. Great weather...it's almost unfair how lovely it was, considering how crap it had been previously. Did some cool things like visit the art gallery (lots of Rodin sculptures), got a $1 veggie burger at the Uni (one of my favorite parts of the day), and met an American couple from NY at the Wine Institute (sampled some good wines as well). The next day was the huge market in town and I bought sooooo much fruit and veg for $5! The hostel we stayed at was really nice as well and called Shakespeare's! Each room was named after a character from a WS play...ours was the Lorenzo Room after the dude from Merchant of Venice. The manager was really friendly as well, if not a teensy bit creepy since he kept talking about how he needs a young woman to travel with. But he was very attentive (perhaps because we were young female travellers) and the hostel was so cozy. It was sad to leave, even after just 3 nights, but the place we stayed the next night was AMAZING! It's this gorgeous old mansion with huge wood paneled rooms with Oriental rugs and beautiful light fixtures. The bext backpacker hostel I've ever seen.

So far the Great Ocean Road is good. Not spectacular, but fun since there are about five of us youngsters on the bus and we're having a good time chatting and hanging out. Tomorrow we visit the famous 12 Apostles and London Bridge. The weather's been good, sunny and clear, so hopefully it will stay that way until Melbourne, but probably not considering my luck with weather.

The Red Center

Oh wow, I don't really know how to describe such a thing as the trip from which I just returned. Truly amazing, I suppose, but that doesn't even come close. I can't believe some of the things my eyes have seen. Kings Canyon, Uluru, Kata Tjuta...these are merely places but they are so much more.

I survived camping in the Outback. In fact, it was downright comfy! The facilities at the campsites are five-star quality. I have never woken up so early in several consecutive days before in my life. Nor have I ever experienced such a memorable sunrise.

Anyway, there are very few words, so I'll just shut up.

Nudity on the Reef!

I had an amazing, mind-blowingly awesome snorkel on the reef yesterday. Saw lots of beautiful fish and coral and some Loggerhead turtles which I even got to touch! Simply unbelievable. It's amazing how much perspective changes when you're in nature. I even got to try a five minute scuba demo for free and it was cool. I always thought I'd be freaked out doing a dive and while I didn't actually go on a dive, I did spend five whole minutes underwater without coming up. It was surprisingly easy but I don't know if I could handle a half hour dive deep underwater. My horrible ear pressure issues might make it difficult.

Anyway, after the snorkelling was over and we were heading back to the marina, they allowed some people to do what they call boom-netting where you sit in a rope net tied to the back of the boat while it pulls you along. Sounds fun, right? Not so. At first it's going along slowly and it's pretty amusing. Then they start to go a bit faster and this is where the nudity part comes in. I almost lost my bikini! My straps were slipping off my shoulders and I was definitely exposed. But wait, there's more. I felt my bottoms start to slide off and by now the boat was going pretty fast. Water was cascading towards me and it was really hard to hold on to the rope. Not to mention I could hardly breathe and swallowed at least a liter of water. So my bottoms kept slipping further off until they were literally hanging onto my toes. I gripped them so tight which is not easy considering I was thrown off the net. Finally the boat slowed down. Relief? Not so much. Now I had to find a way to put my bottoms on while still holding onto the net and maintaining my modesty all while people on the top deck looked down at me snapping pictures! Unbelievable. Finally I managed to pull them on but they were backwards. So one of the crew gave me a towel to wrap around me and I went up to the deck to change. I asked some girl to hold up the towel while I turned my bikini around, but she didn't really do a good job at that so everybody saw my bare ass once again. Yay for me. Ugh! How humiliating. I spent the rest of the boat ride avoiding eye contact and counting doen the minutes until it was over. Up until then it was a fabulous trip.

So I said goodbye to my travel companion, J, this morning, which was pretty sad because we had a really good time together. He's flying back to Sydney and then home to New Orleans while I headed off to Alice Springs and my Uluru tour. So now I'm in Alice Springs and it's cold! Go figure that today is the second day of rain they've had all year and it's the day I arrive. Ugh, I am not enjoying my bad luck with weather. I've barely seen the sun in a week. And this is the desert...it's supposed to be hot and dry, right? Anyway, tomorrow I leave for my 3 night camping trek in the red center. I really hope my tour is good and the people are cool. Wish me luck in the Outback amongst the snakes and mozzies.

What's it called?

There must be a name for the feeling you get after being on a boat for a long time and then once you get off, you feel like you're still on the boat. It also sometimes happens after you ride an elevator all day and then once you get onto solid ground, you feel like you're still going up and down. Well, if there's no name for it, it should be called something like Holy Shit because I'm experiencing it at this very moment and it is not pleasant.

Just got off the boat (and when I say just got off, I mean got off almost three hours ago!) from a 2 night/2 day sailing trip in the Whitsundays. Really cool experience, if not really grimy and cold because the sun refused to come out most of the trip. I feel somewhat cheated out of some amazing scenery because most of the islands were masked by fog and clouds, but it was still awesome. Especially snorkelling in the reef. I finally got over my apprehension...remember when I was really little, Dad, and you tried to get me to snorkel in some lake and I didn't know how to breathe right and got freaked out and never tried it again after that. Well, I did it! I finally got the mask back on and saw some really cool fish and coral. Too bad the underwater camera I had wasn't working, but there's still the Great Barrier Reef trip to take some pictures.

Oh boy, I'd better go now or I might get seasick...haha j/k, I couldn't be THAT unlucky this week.

An Island Called Fraser

So I think I'm having separation anxiety from Fraser. Even though I hated sleeping on that damn island as well as breaking my 15 year no-vomit record (yes I survived 4 years of college without spewing once), I also had an amazing time. There's something about getting sand in every crevice of your being that bonds you to a place. I will never look at sand the same way. I think once I get home I'll try setting up a tent on Lido and sleeping the night. On second thought, maybe not.

By the way, "Kings" is evil, especially when you pull the fourth King!

Maybe the dingo ate your baby

Yes I did indeed see heaps of dingoes on Fraser Island where they habitate. They are quite unusual looking dogs but actually pretty cute. Sort of a cross between a greyhound and a deer. However I was seriously paranoid they were going to come in my tent and eat me while I was sleeping. Actually, one did come up to our tent (I wasn't in it at the time) and the two British girls we were sharing with were inside with the door unzipped and they just yelled "Dingo!" really loud and it went away. Apparently they are conditioned to associate the word with danger and are scared away by it.

In other wildlife news: I saw my first kangaroo! Actually there were two of them and we saw them in a field as we were driving off the ferry from Fraser. Granted they were a bit far away and I only caught a glimpse, but still it was exciting. I know I'll see heaps of them while I travel around the country so I'm not disappointed.

Byron Bay

It is so time for an update. This time around I'm going to try to avoid doing a detailed day-by-day account of my trip around Oz like I did for NZ because I realize that it probably wasn't too interesting to most people. It's not really too fun to write either. Those who would like something of the sort can wait until my pics come out and I will be more than happy to explain what and where everything is. Instead, I'll try to update with some random and hopefully interesting facts about the trip.

To start, I'm in Byron Bay (not an interesting fact, but a necessary starting point). I did indeed see some humpback whales today on my walk up to the Cape Byron lighthouse. These guys migrate up north past the Cape in the winter. There were two of them swimming together and every now and then they'd pop up and blow some water through their blowholes. Too awesome!

Tomorrow I cross state lines to Queensland and stop in the capital, Brisbane. Brisvegas here I come!

In Auckland

Here 'tis, the end of our Kiwi Adventure draws to a close. The whole thing was just unbelievable. I had no idea one small country could be so beautiful...and friendly!

As I suspected, the dinner in Paraparaumu was delicious. Chicken stew, kumara (sweet potato), yams, steamed brussel sprouts (which I actually sorta liked), and sauteed broccoli. Not to mention the apple crumble, custard, and ice cream for dessert. Wow, I haven't eaten like that in ages. Mary proved to be excellent company and she just loved having us over. The following morning she took us and the dogs to the beach for a walk and from the beach we saw Kapiti Island, a bird sanctuary.

We drove on to Tongariro National Park, in the middle of the North Island. We stopped in Ohakune, where the cast and crew of LOTR stayed while filming. Most of the scenes of Mordor were filmed at Tongariro. Mount Doom is actually one of the three volcanoes that comprise the Park. They are still active--the last one, Mt. Ruapehu, erupted exactly 10 years ago. Nath and I drove into the park and did a short bush walk through the snow (literally, it was up to my knees) and got an amazing view of Mt. Ngauruhoe (aka Mt. Doom). That night we chilled at the hostel in Ohakune and chatted with some British folk. Awesome conversation that night. Probably my favorite part of travelling is meeting all kinds of different people.

The next day we went skiing at Turoa Skifield on Mt. Ruapehu! That's right folks, we skiied on a volcano. It had snowed right before we arrived and it was packed powder on every trail! However, every trail meant exactly two, maybe three. They didn't get enough snow at the top of the mountain so it wasn't open. So we skiied a half day and it was so weird being back on skis after five years. I really enjoyed it until my fingers and toes started going numb and that's when I remembered why I've stayed away all those years.

After skiing, we drove to Taupo where we spent a quiet night in and soaked in the free spa. The next day, we went on a walk to Huka Falls, saw the Craters of the Moon (a thermal park), and went to the Honey Hive where we tasted lots of different kinds of honey...mmmmm. Then we drove on to Rotorua, the Sulphur City.

Ah Rotorua, how can I properly describe ye? Just imagine a rotten egg and pretend nobody ever cleaned it up. That's Rotorua...really smelly. It has thermal springs, hot pools, and natural mud baths throughout the city, and apparently that's what makes it smell like that. But good lord, it was not fun walking around. And we stayed two nights! But nothing compared to what awaited us at Wai-o-Tapu, the Thermal Wonderland. Oh man, I actually paid money to subject myself to acres of sulphur lakes, streams, and pools. I'm sure it's pretty awesome, but I almost passed out from the smell, so I barely noticed.

Rotorua is not only the thermal capital of NZ, it's also the Maori cultural capital, so every night several companies do these Maori cultural events with a concert in a simulated Maori village and a hangi (a traditional dinner cooked in the earth all day). We went on Friday night to the Tamaki Maori Village and were treated to one of these Maori experiences. So, it was pretty cool and definitely great seeing the different dances (especially the haka) and songs and the food was really yummy, but it was all really touristy. Plus, some of the performers looked like they were really sick of singing and dancing and acting for all these bloody tourists, even though I'm sure they're glad to share their culture with everyone. It all just seemed a little contrived to me. It was an enjoyable evening, nonetheless. On the way back from the village on the bus, the driver had everyone sing a song from their country, so I sang "American Pie." What a laugh.

Yesterday, after leaving Rotorua, we drove around the Coromandel Peninsula...just spectacular. And the weather was perfect, sunny and warm. However, the road is insanely curvy and narrow. We stopped at Hot Water Beach for lunch, which was so cool. There are thermal waters underneath the sand on the beach, so you can dig yourself your own hot tub. And the water is really hot...something like 60 degrees Celsius! Really bizarre. From there we drove all the way around, stopping in Coromandel Town for a stroll, and stopped in Thames for the night. This morning we left Thames and drove to Auckland where we dropped the car off. We walked around and went to the harbour. The weather has been holding up beautifully. So tonight is our last official night in NZ. Tomorrow night I fly to Christchurch and both Nathalie and I will be sleeping at the airport (she in Auckland) before our flights at the ass-crack of dawn the following morning. Then it's back to Sydney...

Lake Wanaka was brilliant! So beautiful. We decided it was way too cold for kayaking, so we went for a hike up Mt. Iron for some spectacular views of the lake and mountains and then back down to flat ground to visit Puzzling World! LOL, Puzzling World is this bizarre sort of museum/fun house that has an outdoor labyrinth. First, we went through the museum, which had all these optical illusion tricks and holograms and the like. Then we did the maze, which was a real laugh. Well, it was half a laugh and half a frustrating mess, as I would assume most mazes would be. I ccompleted it in 45 minutes but it took Nathalie an hour and a half!

The next day we drove along the West Coast to Fox Glacier, where we had booked a guided tour of the glacier. It was so cool walking on the ice. We had to hike up about 2 hours before reaching the glacier. Then we walked on the ice with things called crampons on our boots for another hour or so. The crampons made sure you didn't slip on the ice cause, man, would that hurt! Such a cool experience.

The following day, we zipped through the rest of the West Coast, stopping at Hokitika for some Pounamu or greenstone (also known as jade). It's really valued by the Maoris. We also stopped at Punakaiki (the Pancake Rocks), also very cool. There are these holes in the rocks that create blowholes that look like geysers. And because it was raining and the sea was rough, the blowholes were really spewing the water far. We continued North all the way until Motueka, which is a gateway to the Abel Tasman National Park. The next day, we were driven to Kaiteriteri Beach where we took a water taxi up to some of the furthest beaches up into the park. Then the taxi dropped us off and we took a dazzling walk through the park where it picked us up again 4 hours later. Truly gorgeous. The weather held off for us again! We totally thought it would rain but it was nothing but blue skies. Then we departed for our drive to Picton to spend the night before our ferry to the North Island.

We spent today and last night in Wellington, where the weather was absolute crap! It seems we left all the nice weather behind on the South Island. It's been rainy and windy and cold, not to mention the little hailstorm I got caught in this morning. I'm sure Wellington is a really nice city, but the weather really ruined it for us. We spent most of the time in the national museum, Te Papa. It's this immense sort of natural history/cultural history museum. There's a Lord of the Rings exhibit on now so we went last night after we'd checked into the hostel. It was really interesting. It had all the costumes and props from the films and lots of interviews with the actors and plenty of behind the scenes interviews with Peter Jackson. We spent almost 3 hours in there! We also went back today because the museum closed before we got to see everything else. Great way to spend a rainy day.

So right now we are in Paraparaumu, a suburb of Wellington, where the couple that Nathalie stayed with and worked for the two weeks before I arrived lives. Mary is cooking us an amazing dinner...it smells so good right now! We have real beds to sleep in (instead of bunks) and clean showers. I'm very excited. We're only staying the night, though, cause it's off to Lake Taupo tomorrow morning. Hopefully the weather improves by the time we get there because there's been a lot of snow up there. Maybe we'll do some skiing. I can't believe we're nearing the end of our adventure. Just one more week to go and then it's back to Oz...

More Magnificence

Dunedin was cool, but we felt the need to leave the city and get back to nature (take THAT Thoreau/Emerson!). Before we left Dunedin, however, we went to a local pub with an American couple from the hostel to watch the rugby. So not only did I find out that it doesn't cost ANYTHING to do a working holiday in New Zealand (apparently NZ Immigration grants you a visa the day you apply), I also found out that the female half of the American couple went to the same school as me in London and was there during the same semester! Which means we very likely passed each other in the halls...too weird.

The following morning we drove the Southern Scenic Route to Te Anau. It took almost eight hours, but it was raining a lot so that added much time. It was pretty spectacular so I'm glad we did it. The alternative was to drive straight through the middle, which is just a lot of farmland and not that interesting we were told. We stayed two nights in Te Anau, which is at the base of Lake Te Anau and close to Milford Sound. We wanted to do some kayaking on Milford Sound, but found out it wasn't possible without booking ahead. Instead we took a cruise on the Sound. Unbelievably beautiful. The weather was impeccable, which is funny because it rains there about 150 days out of the year. We were expecting a lot of snow too because the woman at the hostel said she heard from several authorities that there would be, but there was not a flake on the road.

This morning we set out for Queenstown and arrived just before noon. Queenstown is a quaint little town with a kind of alternative/ski bum atmosphere. We weren't sure if we were going to stay because, basically, it costs a lot if you want to do anything in Queenstown, not to mention you have to have balls of steel--it's the adventure sport capital of NZ. We would have been down for skiing but the mountains weren't opening until Thursday. Instead we took a nice walk through the park around the lake and took the gondola up to the summit of a mountain that overlooks the town. We decided to continue to Lake Wanaka, our next destination, because there was more for us to do there that's affordable (hiking/kayaking). So here we are in a hostel in Lake Wanaka called, you'll love this Mom, The Purple Cow! There's also a resident cat named Smokey (the name of one of my childhood cats) and (s)he's a tabby as well!

So tomorrow we might do kayaking if it's available this time of year, or maybe horseback riding. Definitely some hiking and then it's off to Franz Josef Fox Glacier.

There Are No Words...

To describe New Zealand as "spectacular" would be a gross understatament. The place is unbelievable! It's just so interesting and every corner yields a new kind of landscape.

After arriving on Wednesday in Christchurch, I met Nathalie at the hostel and we walked around the city, which is really pretty and very England-esque. There's even a river running through it called the Avon River and a lot of England-inspired architecture, such as Tudor and Gothic. That night we went to a restaurant/bar and listened to a really good jazz singer who sounded a lot like Diana Krall and sang a bunch of Joni Mitchell, all whilst drinking awesome New Zealand pinot noir. The next morning we met our rental car, a '98 Toyota Corolla. I drove first, on the SH1 toward the lakes region, our destination Lake Tekapo. The drive up was breathtaking...we passed the small town of Geraldine, where a lot of the scenes of Rohan in The Lord of the Rings were filmed. Once we got to the lake I took about eleventy-billion photos of the mountains surrounding the lake. We took a bush walk up to the top of Mt. John, a pretty arduous hike for me, not being used to inclines of any kind, not to mention steep ones. At the top, Nathalie sprinted up...she's in much better shape than me, needless to say. The view was worth it, though, and the whole setting was very peaceful. Since it was getting dark by the time we got down, we decided to stay in a hostel on Lake Tekapo. It was a very clean and cosy lodge-type backpackers. Nathalie and I had our own dorm room, a plus after the noisy night we had previously in Christchurch. We had a quiet night in, cooked dinner and watched a couple of videos with the rest of the backpackers, mostly from the Magic Bus tour, a hop-on, hop-off bus company. I also mapped out my road trip in Oz a bit more. I decided to start going up the coast rather than down to Melbourne because after the cold NZ weather, I'm going to be jonesing for some warmth.

Yesterday morning, we set out for Mt. Cook, the tallest peak in all Australasia. Although we couldn't see the damn thing because the clouds were surrounding it. I guess they call it Aoraki ("The Cloud Piercer") for a reason. We did a couple of small bush walks to see the mountain better and to see the Tasman Glacier. After that, we drove to Dunedin, about 3.5 hours Southeast on the coast. Dunedin is the second city of the Southern Island (the first being Christchurch) and home of the first university in NZ. So there are plenty of students everywhere and all the typical chatacteristics of a college town. Dunedin is also Gaelic for Edinburgh and they call it the "Edinburgh of the South." I can't say that it really reminds me of Edinburgh, but I suppose it has a very UK feel to it, just like Christchurch. It has plenty of cool cafes and music shops, so I instantly liked it. Especially after I saw a "Bronx Bagel" shop and a cafe called "Tull," which was Jethro Tull themed. The hostel we're staying at is really nice and homey, sort of like the hostel Alli and I stayed at in Liverpool. It's just a renovated house and pretty small, so everyone cooks and eats together. We got in around dinnertime last night and just walked around the main streets a bit. This morning, we walked to a small market where they were selling hand-crafted jewellry, knitted hats and other crafts. Then we visited the train station, the first one in NZ, the botanic gardens (saw some great birds in the aviary) and the University of Otago. We then took a tour of the Speight's Brewery, "The Pride of the South." The tour was very informational, but a bit on the boring side. I was expecting something like the Heineken Brewery tour or the Guinness Factory, where you get to do fun things. We did get to sample 6 beers at the end and watched a bunch of different advertisements for the beer, pretty funny stuff especially since they are all about these meat-headed cowboy types who epitomize the "Southern Man."

So that's the news to date. Tonight is the first rugby match of the season between the All Blacks (the NZ national team) and Ireland, so it should be interesting to witness some of the antics. Tomorrow we leave Dunedin for the scenic route along the South coast of the island toward Te Anau. Then Milford Sound, Queenstown and the West coast toward Fransz Josef Glacier. And maybe if we have time Kaikoura. Then on Sunday it's off to Nelson and Picton for the ferry to the North Island. Man, time is really flying...

Off to the Land of the Long White Cloud

I so did not expect to be this sad about leaving Sydney. Sophie was really upset, crying and everything, and I think that was it for me. I'm trying to keep thinking about my travels and how exciting they'll be, but I can't help but feel a huge sense of loss. I know I'll be back, but it just won't be the same...

I forgot to mention that I finally got a reaction from Jack about me leaving. When I asked him if he is going to miss me, he replied, "I won't miss you, but I'll remember you." How precious is that!?

Tomorrow is my very last day of being a nanny! I am supremely happy about this. Granted, I enjoyed it most of the time and I'm still happy I did it--I would never have been able to stay in Sydney as long as I have, perhaps even in the country. But I'm looking forward to being independent from a family unit...and travelling, of course.

Last Friday was the last time at the Mercantile with Kate and Shaylee. It was good times and everyone I know who is still left in Sydney (not too many) was there. It was pretty empty, however, due to the shocking weather (hehe, "shocking" is my new favorite Aussie word for bad). Lord it's cold. Good thing I bought a winter coat. And it was only $49 at a boutique in Newtown! Man, Newtown rocks for cheap clothes...cheap everything really. Sarah helped me pick it out so some credit goes to her.

Speaking of Sarah, Saturday night we went to see "The Lord of the Flies" as a stage play. It was excellent! All the boys were played by men, but it was really believable. The acting was fantastic. It was such an intense and disturbing experience, but in a good way. It really worked well as a play. I recommend it to anyone who is still in Sydney if they want a great theatre experience. Not for the faint of heart, though.

Yesterday, Matt and I took the train to the central coast to visit the Hunter Valley (the wine region of New South Wales) and stayed overnight in his hometown of Wamberal. We drove from Gosford to Wollombi, which is in the lower Hunter Valley, and had lunch at this amazing restaurant that looked like it was straight out of Provence, France and where we made our own gourmet pizzas. I felt like Kramer in that Seinfeld episode where he proposes the idea of a pizzeria where people make their own pizzas. Except we didn't really make it--they prepare the crust for you and you just put the toppings on yourself, then you give it back to the chefs to wood-fire it for you. But still, it was fun and it tasted amazing! After lunch, we drove around some more--some great scenery--and visited a winery where I tasted a few wines and bought a bottle of 2003 Semillon. We drove back to Matt's house and had a nice dinner while chatting with his mother and brother. They are really nice people, I felt very welcome in their home. That night we watched "Help!" one of The Beatles' movies. What a terrible film that is. It's pretty much the most ridiculous thing I've ever seen. But it's great fun and if you're a fan of The Beatles, you'll get a kick out of seeing them run around like idiots. Today, Matt showed me a bit of Wamberal and we walked to the beach. Gorgeous beach! Although, the weather was shocking again and a bit rainy.

I said goodbye to a few people this weekend. Sarah went back to Liverpool today, Angie leaves for Central America tomorrow and I probably won't see J until this December when he visits New York. I'm super excited for New Zealand but unfortunately I don't get any mobile reception in Middle Earth. So e-mail and LJ will have to suffice in terms of communication. I'll be back in Australia (and have phone service) on June 27.

R.I.P. Buddy

On May 30, 2006 at 10:30pm, Butterscotch Caramel Shaloum passed away. The white and beige Maine Coon was 18 years old and had resided at the Shaloum's for almost his entire life. Mother, Eileen, brought Butterscotch home just a kitten after discovering some boys picking on him outside the tennis courts. He lived in the garage while the family discussed what to do with him and before he got his shots. For a short while, Butterscotch enjoyed the company of Smokey Robinson Shaloum, a dark and short-haired Tabby, before Smokey chose to run away from the comforts of home. Buddy, as he was so lovingly nick-named, became the hero that day as he chose to remain loyal to the family who loved and supported him. Months turned into years and Buddy became rather large. He had grown to a full-sized cat and the Shaloums could not have a more cuddly pet. During his long life, Buddy was loved and doted upon and never wanted for anything...except, of course, his favorite treat, Pounce! From 2004-2005, the Shaloums anticipated the passing of Buddy several times, but he always bounced back, earning him the title of Wonder Cat! Butterscotch is survived by "mother" Eileen, "father" Al, and "sisters" Tami and Allison.

Almost Over!

One more week and I am KF (Kid Free)! Don't get me wrong, I love the little buggers. But, hallejulah! I'll be free... When Sophie asked me tonight if I was really leaving next week and I said yes, she got slightly upset and whined, "But you make the best toast!" Jack didn't even bat an eye. Folks, I'm touched, but all the emotion is just too much to handle ;-) That's cool though, makes it easier for me to leave knowing they don't really care that I'll be gone.

The Sydney Writers' Festival is on now and last night, Matt accompanied me to the Spotlight on Sherman Alexie, a Native American writer whose book, "The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven," I read in college. To be honest, he was the only writer I recognized on the program for the Festival. Except for Maya Angelou but she doesn't count because she only appeared via satellite. It was an enjoyable evening. Sherman was quite funny, it was almost like watching a stand-up comedy routine. He talked a lot about indigenous culture and the differences between the treatment of the Aborigines and the Native Americans--mainly that the Aborigines were treated to government-sponsored genocide whereas the Native Americans were just kind of pushed aside by the government and persecuted by everyone else. He was pretty interesting. During the Q&A, I asked him his opinion on the state of indigenous writing--is it progressing or remaining stagnant? He answered that it is definitely stagnating, that there are only about 20 Native American writers who are getting published and a lot of them have been around for 30 years or so. Crazy.

So the plan for the rest of the week is to try not to get irritated by the kids as much and not yell at them, take advantage of having my own bed, shower and computer as much as I can, and see as much of my remaining friends as I possibly can. Sarah goes back to Liverpool Monday week so we're going to hit Star City casino (god help me) on Saturday since neither of us have been yet. And of course, there is the last Friday with Kate at the Mercantile! Sadness... Then, on Sunday or Monday, I go up to the central coast with Matt to visit his hometown and possibly a side trip to the Hunter Valley. Oh boy, lots to look forward to. I just hope everything works out...

I'm laughing at clouds...

Oy! The kids are driving me up the wall! They've been getting sick a lot lately and throwing tantrums left and right. It has not been good. I wish I could say I'll be sorry to leave, but right now I'm ready to say au revoir. But in just two more weeks I'll be done! I will actually miss them (maybe). I will definitely miss the comforts of home. I'm not looking forward to living out of a backpack for 2 months, but c'est la vie. Nathalie is already in New Zealand, living and working on a farm just outside Wellington. She says the country is magnificent, so I'm getting really excited! She found a car rental company that will let us rent for $20/day as well as ditch the car in Picton before getting on the ferry (since it will cost us $210 to cross from the South Island to the North with a car and just $60 a person without) and getting another car when we get off the ferry. Sweet! I think we might also try to do some skiing. The other night, I had a dream that we were in Sydney when it started to snow these crazy huge, fluffy flakes. I was with Nathalie and we decided we wanted to go skiing. So we went shopping for the equipment, but by the time we got everything and got to the mountain (miraculously we ended up in NZ that same day), the day was almost over and we decided it wasn't worth it to buy a lift ticket, so we scrapped the idea. Ever since then I've had a yen to go skiing. I'm not sure if the mountains will be open that early in the winter, but there might be something.

On Friday, I had dinner with Matt in the always cheap, but tasty, Newtown at a Chinese/Vietnamese/Thai restaurant. We hit the jackpot that night for bizarre street entertainment. On our way to dinner, we saw some Hare Krishnas doing a little dancing and singing. On our way back we saw a preview for a burlesque show that's going to be on Oxford Street next week. There were 3 girls in the window of an alternative clothing boutique, wearing satin, Chinese print dresses. They would be absolutely still one moment and then all move to a different position simultaneously. Very creepy. Then, further down the street was a blues guitarist and a didgeradoo player. Very cool. Who needs to pay for entertainment when all you have to do is walk down the street?

More free entertainment today at the Art Gallery of NSW, which showed "Singin' in the Rain." Matt joined me as we are both fans of the movie. It's just such a feel-good, uplifting film. Really funny and clever. Afterwards, we walked through the Domain (the park just outside the Gallery) and came across "Speaker's Corner." I guess it was just like the one in Hyde Park in London (although I'd never been there)...there were a couple of guys on soapboxes, shouting out absolute nonsense. One of them, naturally, was talking about terrorists. But instead of the usual targeting of the Muslims, he was saying it's the Jews who need to be wiped out! I was so taken aback and horrified (not to mention a little frightened) that I started to walk away so I didn't really hear the rest of his "sermon." I think Matt was even more horrified than me though. He asked if I was ok and I really was after the initial shock because who the hell cares what a ranting lunatic has to say anyway? But man, it was pretty scary to hear that shit from someone just a couple of feet in front of you.

Yesterday, Angie had a farewell party at her house because she's entering the Peace Corps in June! She's going to El Salvador. The girl's got cajones, that's for sure. She has no idea what kind of situation she'll be in, whether she'll be living with other volunteers or not, what town she'll be in. All she knows is that she'll be working with local authorities to make the community more "transparent," whatever that means. She's probably the most open-minded individual I've ever met. She has such a breezy, go-with-it attitude that is so refreshing and that I wish everyone could adopt. Anyway, the party was fun even though I didn't know anyone there. One of her friends was visiting from Brisbane and we were talking about the drought here in Australia. I was saying how strange it is for me to come to a country that is so concerned with water conservation, coming from America where we use everything to excess. He said that, yeah we do and then once we run out of something, we start taking it from other countries. As soon as he said it, though, he had this expression like, "Shit! What did I just say?!" and apologized for it. But I laughed at his comment and said yeah, he was right. How can you take offense to something so true?

Meanwhile, I hear gas prices in the States have risen. WTF?!

Getcher freak on!

I've never been much of a sports fan, but I think since being here, I've attended/watched more sporting events than I have in my entire life. First, there was the Aussie Cup Tennis Finals on the steps of the Opera House, then the Rugby League match and finally last night I gave in to soccer (aka football in England). But I have a good excuse: I was out with Sarah, who is from Liverpool, and her team was playing against West Ham United. She was really into it and every bar we went to had the game on so there was no avoiding it really. Now, you know I'll always side with the Scousers 'cause, well, The Beatles (duh). But I wasn't prepared for how much I'd get into the game (of course I was fuelled by a few drinks). Eventually the Liverpudlians won and everyone was shouting and cheering and jumping up and down, hugging each other...including me! Far out!

La-di-da, la-di-da

I just booked my flight to Christchurch, NZ for June 7! Flying with Jetstar, which was by far the cheapest airline. I'll be meeting Nathalie there and we're going to rent a car and drive around the country. Then I return June 27 for the Coldplay show. Now I know it seems a bit crazy to clip short my NZ adventure just for a concert, but amidst the rumors that they won't be touring for a while, I figured I might as well see Coldplay as long as I have the chance. Plus, they rock! After the show, it's off to start my Australian adventure (or at least continue the one I'm having now, but with more traveling). Whoa excitement! However, I cannot help feeling the bittersweetness of all these plans....blah blah blah, you've heard all this before.

Oh Me, Oh My

Only one more month to go, then I'm outta here like a bat out of hell (well, more like a reluctant bat out of hell). This Friday will mark 4 months since I arrived in Australia. My does the time fly. On the other hand, it feels like I've been here for a year.

Much has happened lately. Because Becca, Jen and Nathalie all came back within the same week, it's back to having a life. On Thursday it was Skip's Trivia at Forrester's, where we were joined by two new suspects, Sarah and Matt. Team X hadn't made an appearance for some weeks, so it was a long overdue comeback. Unfortunately, we didn't win, but we didn't do too bad what with 5 people on the team. We did, however, manage to score a free bottle of wine during one of the rounds of "Guess Who I am?" where Skip reads clues about a famous person and whoever guesses it right first wins a bottle of wine. I don't remember who the person was, some Aussie dude. Who cares, free grog is always good. And there was more of it as most of the winning team left by the end of the night, so the two remaining guys asked if we wanted to share their $60 voucher. They bought us all a round of drinks! Even losers can be winners sometimes...

On Friday, I finally went to Minus 5, the ice bar in circular quay. It's in a room made almost entirely of ice. They serve the drinks in cups made of ice. Before you go in, they give you warm coats, gloves and boots to wear because it's so freakin' cold. However, you're only allowed to stay for 1/2 hour. It's definitely a touristy thing to do, but pretty cool (pardon the pun). There were beautiful ice sculptures all over the room. And I finally met Tricia, another au pair from the agency who I'd been trying to meet up with for weeks but it never worked out for us. She joined me, Becca, Jen and Anna at the bar. Afterward, we went to Bar 333 and Cargo Bar, where Tricia got kicked out for being intoxicated. Fun times! To be fair, she didn't seem more intoxicated than any other person there, and we have no idea what happened to get her kicked out. We may never find out because I don't think she remembers much from the night. Before that, we were having a grand time with a couple of guys we met outside the bar. One was a Canadian dude, pretty cool and a fun dancer. The other was this 6'6" Czech guy who said to call him Z because his name was too complicated to pronounce. Randomness ensued.

The following night was Kate's dinner party at Dennis' (and now her!) apartment in Ryde. Mmm, mmm, good. She made three awesome dishes: chicken parm, chicken curry, and prawns with bok choy and rice. Insanely delicious! It was a nice low-key night, a good change of pace.

On Sunday a bunch of us went to what was my first Rugby League match. It was the Manly Eagles vs. the Paramatta Eels. The Eagles won! I suppose I was cheering for them mainly because the eagle is sort of an emblematic bird for America. I was having a weird patriotic moment. The game was pretty exciting at times. I actually paid attention to what was going on from time to time.

After the game, Becca, Jen, Nathalie, J and I went for sushi at a nice Japanese restaurant (yum, real sushi, not the $1.60 hand rolls you get from take-away). Then it was off to the Three Wise Monkeys for some pool. At the bar, we made friends with a couple of guys, who may or may not have been on a date. They invited us to play pool with them and they turned out to be pretty interesting people. One was an Austrian nurse, the other was an Australian hotel manager for the Shangri-La (one of the top hotels in Sydney).

Last night was Comedy Night at Fringe Bar. The bar itself is really nice and a cool place to hang out in, but the comedy was seriously lacking. Some jokes were really funny, but none made me laugh like the way I do at the Comedy Cellar in NY. Maybe I just don't get Autralian humour, whatever that is.

Tonight I'm seeing American Dreamz with Becca, who shares my admiration for Mandy Moore...I know, it's a sickness. I'll let ya'll know how it goes.

ANZAC Day

Today was ANZAC Day, which commemorates the alliance between Australia/New Zealand and England in getting their asses whooped at the battle of Galipoli during World War I. Correct me if I'm wrong, however, cause I might not have the facts straight. Anyway, basically it's a big public holiday in the likeness of Memorial/Veterans Day in the States. The only good thing about it is the abundance of men (and women) in uniform a la Fleet Week in NYC. I started the day with Angie, her uncle, and cousins going book shopping in Glebe and then Border's in the city. Wrote down the names of a couple of books I want to buy, but would never get in Australia because books are so freakin' expensive down here! Then Angie and I bussed it up to Centennial Park to meet her friends for a BBQ/picnic. Only we hadn't brought any food with us so we ended up munching on the crackers and hummus that the other girls brought. It didn't matter, though, because it started raining about half an hour after we arrived, and we were meant to meet some of my friends in The Rocks anyway. We bussed back to Circular Quay and met Becca and Anna at Jackson's On George, which was insanely packed because of the holiday, mostly by uniformed persons. We were met there by Jen, whom I had not seen since January! She just got back from travelling the country and was back in Sydney for a week before going home to NY. The vibe at Jacksons was pretty interesting. What is it about men in uniform that is so sexy? We chatted with a bunch of navy guys and drank a bit. Nothing too exciting happened but after talking, first with Becca on Sunday and then with Jen about her travels, I'm starting to get pretty excited about my own travel plans. I'll be really sad to leave Sydney, the comforts of home, and the awesome people I've met here, but it will be a whole new adventure once I finally leave the city. Right now I think I still need to get used to the idea...I really don't want to leave certain people behind in Sydney. I hope once I've made my bookings and everything, I'll have grown accustomed to leaving. After all, it's still over a month away...

Weekend Update

I just had a pretty awesome weekend. Friday night I went to see Ten Part Invention, an amazing jazz band that has been around for 20 years, with Matt and his friend Lawrence at the Sound Lounge. It's a great jazz venue that is the closest thing you can get to the Village. The show was fantastic and afterwards we went to Badde Manors in Glebe for some coffee with Matt's roommate and her boyfriend. Then we went back to Newtown for some bar hopping and great conversation.

Saturday I met Kate and Dennis at the Merc to listen to that band (whose name I still don't know) that plays there every Saturday afternoon, the one with which I played the tambourine my first day in Sydney. We had a couple of drinks before I had to go into work at the Entertainment Centre for the David Gray concert. I worked one of the candy bars with this Aussie guy named Paul who has lived in America (NY and California) for the past several years. He made some joke about getting citizenship and actually proposed to me! Well, not actually, I think he might've been joking. It was fun to work beside him because, although he was a strange guy, he made the shift fun by just goofing around and chatting with me about NY and "Strong Island" (his term, not mine). After we closed the bar, I went in to watch the concert. I've never really been familiar with David Gray (although it turns out I have one of his songs on my DJ), but he was pretty good! He did that song "Babylon," which is about the only song I know besides the one on my MP3 player. He does this Bob Dylan song too, and a cover of The Cure's "Friday I'm In Love." After the show I met up with Matt (again!) since he was working the same shift and we went to Chinatown for a bite to eat. Interesting dining experience that was.

Today I worked at Aussie Stadium again for a footy match this time. It was a better shift than last week's, but only because I wasn't feeling like crap. I worked with Polly, who is this cool Aussie chick I've worked with a bunch of times and who's house I almost moved into back when I was looking for a place to live. The supervisor was kind of a jackass though and we started the shift working with this really odd guy who had some sort of tantrum soon after starting and was asked to leave. Bizarre. I'm glad he left because he was being really condescending. I hate that...some people think that just because they're permanent staff they can treat the agency staff like children.

After work I met Becca in Surry Hills! She's back in town after travelling up the coast for over a month. It was so much fun catching up with her. She had some great stories and good travel tips as well. Next week Nathalie comes back to Sydney too! Can't wait to hear all about her tour, for which she was the French translator.

I'm starting to formulate a travel plan in my head. I think I'm going to start off in New Zealand for about 3 weeks starting at the beginning of June. Then I'll be back in Sydney at the end of June for the Coldplay concert (Kate bought tickets before she left NY!). After spending a few days in Sydney, I'll start travelling the rest of Australia, probably starting in Melbourne and making my way over to Adelaide, up to Alice Springs and Uluru, then up to Cairns and down the coast. I hope I can fit it all in. I should have about 5 weeks to do all of the Australia stuff. We shall see...

Easter Weekend

I worked both the best and the worst shifts this weekend. The worst was last night at the Aussie Stadium where I sold beer after beer to rabid rugby fans whilst shivering in my t-shirt because it was about 50 degrees. Oh yeah, did I mention I have a bad cold? Hopefully the paycheck this week will make up for it. Saturday, I worked the big Easter races at the Randwick Racecourse, probably the biggest day for horse racing in Sydney. Everyone gets dolled up in suits and cocktail dresses and the women wear flowers and stupid little hats on their head. So it was a pretty cool shift, and busy...I got to work the bar in the Members' section right next to the racetrack (even though I saw bupkiss of the races). We sold soooooo much champagne (no Kristal, but some Moet and Dom for sure). It was pretty crazy because the bar area was so small and there were a lot of us behind the bar. So lots of tripping over each other and elbowing going on. It was fun because at my station I worked with this guy, Matt, whom I had worked with a couple of times at the Opera House a while ago. We got on really well back then and even went for a drink after work once, but I never saw him after that (except once I ran into him randomly on the street) and didn't think I would until, lo and behold, there he was working behind the very same bar. After our work shift was over, we ended up getting dinner at a Thai restaurant in Newtown, a hip, bohemian, Village-esque neighborhood in Sydney. The food was awesome and so cheap too! Afterwards, we met Adam and his friend Leah at Zanzibar, an ultra-cool Newtown haunt. Sarah and her friends met us there, then we left Adam and Leah to go the Marlborough, where we met J and his friends, and danced to a really good band. It would have been a perfect day had it not been for the cold that suddenly crept up on me. Personally, I blame Jesus (again). If I had been able to go out Friday night, I wouldn't have felt the need to stay out as late on Saturday and get sick like I did. Ah, who am I kidding?

Bad Friday

So let's talk about the fact that I was all set to go out tonight when I discovered that every bar in Sydney closes at 10pm on Good Friday! WTF!!! How dare Jesus ruin my night.

Today I was waiting at the bus stop down the block from the house but, of course because of this damned holiday AGAIN (or perhaps because Sydney buses are crap), I waited for a half hour and no bus came. An elderly man came to wait at the stop too and we exchanged a few pleasantries. He had huge sunglasses on, the kind that cover half your face, a dark suit, a cane, and some kind of cap on his head. He spoke with an unidentifiable (seemed Eastern European) accent. When I remarked on the late bus situation, he said all he had to do was go down the block to the pharmacy to get eye drops. He suggested that while we wait for the bus we get coffee. Imagine, I was actually being picked up by an octogenarian! I'm ashamed to say it, but I did not relish the idea of getting coffee with this strange man, although he seemed harmless. I thanked him kindly, but declined. Then I suggested I walk down to the pharmacy to pick up the eye drops for him. He thanked ME kindly this time, but said he could not let me do that. I insisted, but he said no, I would miss the bus. Rather than stay and keep him company while we both waited for the bus, I decided to walk to the main part of town (just 15 minutes away) and catch a bus there. I said goodbye to the man and went on my way. I was halfway down the street when I realized I really should have stayed with him. Not only out of good samaritanism (because that would have been the right thing to do), but for the prospect of talking with someone who had the potential to be really interesting. I started to feel really bad about leaving and really wished I had stayed, but it was too late. Then I passed the pharmacy and it was closed of course. Dammit Good Friday, you are so not! Now I started to really regret my decision and I realize this sounds kind of nutty, but I felt like a terrible person at that moment. I really hope I see this man again so I have a chance to redeem myself, ask HIM to go for coffee maybe. This seems a tad self-centered though, like who am I to assume this man even gives a shit that I left him there? Anyway, even though I missed out on a potentially interesting conversation (who knows, maybe this guy is a complete bore or maybe he is a terrible person), I'm thinking it would make a great basis for a novel. Sort of a what if situation...what if I had stayed at the bus stop and become friendly with this elderly man? After all, he lives just down the street from me. But how do I prevent a story about a friendship between a young woman and an old man from becoming overly sentimental?

You Can't Always Get What You Want

I just returned from a great evening at Angie's house. She cooked dinner for two friends and me. She made beer bread, which I had never heard of but apparently you use a can of beer in the dough. It was delicious, who would've thought? We also had eggplant lasagna and baked pumpkin. Man, was it good! The girl can cook. Anyway, I can't stress enough how cool her house is (which is really her aunt and uncle's house). There's even a pinball machine downstairs, which we played after dinner. For some reason I did terribly...guess I ain't no Tommy.

So I am super jealous of Angie because, not only did she get to work the Rolling Stones concert Tuesday night at Telstra Stadium, she catered to the actual band!!! No joke...she got to meet the Rolling Stones. Plus, Mick Jagger gave her his juicer (apparently he didn't want it anymore because it had a European plug...dude, ever hear of an adapter?) and she got to take home a bottle of leftover wine. I took pictures of both. But the best story of the evening is that they served kangaroo meat and after Mick went up to get some, he said, and I quote, "Try something new, eat some 'roo!" How amazing is that?! I'm just dying that I didn't get to work there too. Ah well, time to console myself by remembering I'm getting time and a half this weekend for working on a holiday. Maybe Mick'll be at the races...or Keith, I don't discriminate.