I ate a red crayon...

Step It Up

2007-06-18T13:32:00.000+10:00

Unfortunately for me, I haven't really seen any live music since my last post. Hopefully I can get out to The Espy this week to see The Bamboos again, who have a new album.
But at the rate I'm going with work, I'm thinking I'll be hideously tired by then...yes, speaking of work. Well, it's busy. This'll probably be my last day off for a couple of weeks. We open in 5 days...dayum. We had our first event on the weekend, a fairy birthday party. Kids are really funny...tiring, but funny. My body is still paying for it, but maybe that's good because over the next few weeks, I might be able to gather enough muscle strain to constitute exercise!

A few other happenings here and there, funnily enough, you'll only get to hear about the ones I took photos at :P

Yvette's birthday lunch (wayyy back in May)

As you can see, Nathaniel's hair is getting out of control.

Andy & Em's Cocktail Party

I could only stay for a short while, but as you can see, Al made full use of liquid facilities!

Dinner with Krystin & Ed

I know, it looks like Krystin is a celebrity, and we the adoring fans...

Adele is a DJ at Monash University...

I made her say, "sweet tunes"

A night of chatter, Shakira/Beyonce recognition and Articulate...

...we couldn't find the game pieces, so the teams were
Red Grape, Green Grape, Mini Toast and Mini Tape.

May Yen's baby shower

Goes to show how out of date my blog has become; May Yen gave birth two days ago!
Photos of little Grace to come...

P.S. I went to the States more than a year ago...woah.

Decipher Me

2007-05-09T17:09:00.000+10:00

I'm the kind of person that never likes spending money on frivolous things; but when it comes to live music I am weak every time. Thankfully what I've seen recently has been as cheap as a really expensive bag of chips. ($18 and $30 respectively)

First off, Brooke Fraser @ Manchester Lane.

She signed my CD and was super patient even when my camera ran out of battery (at which point I told the piece of equipment "I hate you!") and I scrambled to get Seki to use her swanky mobile phone instead. She is INCREDIBLE...i'd like to marry her voice. See her if you ever get the chance.
"Can you sign my child please?!"

Ewnice's birthday drinks @ 3 Degrees, QV

1. sid, ewnice, me, beer.
2. bday girl, me, darrell, jonno and his mouse face, scott.

Fungus Kung Fu Rally @ DSC

1. The Starlight Express shot
2, 3. Karate MCs Amanda and Wudok
4. Mini Sumo wrestler Nathaniel
5. Everybody

An arvo with friends we met in Canada

1. Leigh, Pegs, Cathy, me, Andy, lunch @ Blue Train
2. The girls testing out EVERY massage chair in Myer
Cathy and Andy were in M-Town for a few days from Tassie...it was like no time at all had passed since we last waved them farewell at the Montreal, Canada bus station at 4am on that crazy night so many months ago :D

Something For Kate @ The Corner Hotel, Richmond

1. Pegs & I with my permanent awesome-gig buddy, Al
2. Pegs & I with SFK concert newbie Leigh
3. The legends themselves on stage

They were amazing; played lots of old stuff and served as a reminder as to why I was so obsessed with them in school. My love's been reignited.

Evaporated

2007-04-23T11:35:00.000+10:00

I think part of the reason I haven't posted anything in a while is due to the fact that my parents are currently overseas and have taken the camera with them. Who wants to hear about life unless it's in full colour?!
I'll do what I can with the few images I have from the dodgy camera (which no longer works at all) and perhaps even insert some text. Here are my highlights since the last post...in point form because I can't deal with prose right now.

Working at the tie store is DUNZO :)
I went to a gelati appreciation course and tried every flavour
(plus it was free!)
I worked a couple days at a school holiday program.
Prep kids are awesome.
I'm now officially working for Day Dreamers...a kids' indoor play centre opening in June
My parents are away, so I'm basically living alone til the end of the month. It ain't half bad.
The discovery that it really does only take 10 mintues from Annabelle's house to mine (minus traffic of course)
Saw The Bamboos and Alice Russell live, and was so glad I wore my dancing shoes. Especially for the marching band version of 'Sexual Healing' that play between sets.
Totally wiped myself out by going to the Point Nepean Music Festival the next day for the Easter weekend. But it was awesome. Ben Harper, John Mayer, Missy Higgins, Ben Kweller, Ozomatli, The Waifs, Sierra Leone's Refugee All Stars, Taj Mahal
Considering the empty house and big TV, I hosted a bum nite ol' school style. Props to Eddie for her incredible apple crumble, and Ros...for wearing trackies and her year 12 rugby top! Keeping it real.
And, just last week I did dumplings followed by Ross Noble at the Melbourne Town Hall. "F***in TIM TAMS!!!" "Go get me two shaven wombats." Some seriously funny stuff.
I went to Shaun's 16th birthday party. Yes, 16. I am old. But there were two lambs on spits...meat galore. My kind of party!

Here are the few photos I have.

Alice Russell/The Bamboos @ The Espy with Al and Adele

Point Nepean Music Festival

Post dumplings, pre Noble

If you look really hard, it's Joel, Pegs, Ed, Al and Andy.
Yes, that's right, my camera's screwed.

Little Mr Sunshine

2007-03-24T16:15:00.000+11:00

NuDok's photo of the week

Billy Zane: When you gonna drop Magnum on us, buddy?
Derek Zoolander: Not yet. You gotta tame the beast before you let it out of its cage.

Bryan is back from his year in Japan, yay!
Also, Andrew (Theo) and Joel are in M-town for a few days.

The Andrews

Bryan, Joel, me

Everyone at Koko Black

My boyfriend and I are still going strong...so many photos of his hotness

Baby looking cute...just moments before taking a massive dump (while sitting on my lap!)...

...the overflow onto the outfit...

Joel's (actual) reaction to the sight of the explosion

Bryan, Baby looking very content after his release, Yvette, Joel

Sydney for Colour - Hillsong Ladies' Conference

1. On the plane 2. Waiting for the rental car

Team shot

1, 3, 5. Cool stuff inside the packed arena
2. Ridiculously expensive Coca-Cola, but oh so worth it!
4. Jen being interviewed by the scary (wo)man

The food apartment/car

Farewell Fi pizza @ Lucky Coq

Sarah (Dr. Camembert), Fi, me

Joel pimpin' it up with Adele and Ed

The chicken face (which looks a little more duck-billed platypus at times)

Labour Day Eve BBQ @ The House of Ed
Sausages, Bourbon & Coke bread soaking, Articulate, Pavlova two ways, good friends; heaven.

1. Adele, Fi
2. Sear, Soph
3. Al, Ed

1. Bels, Nuhn, Jay
2. Andy, me
3. Adele, Bel, Pegs

Joel was there, I promise! The camera ran out of battery....

mmmmm.....baby

2007-03-09T13:30:00.000+11:00

Since my last post, a whole bunch of cool people have re-entered this great country. This includes Adele - back from The Netherlands, Annabelle - back from France, Jay - back from...the various countries he was in, and Andrew (& Yvette) back from Singapore.
This last fact is important because Andrew bought a new digital camera, and thus launched a new era of my undercover Japanese tourist stint.

Here's a small selection.

Lunch with Steph and Kate

"The MEAT of the conversation...!"

Dinner with the fam after Andrew & Yvette's return

Yum Cha

Bella eats jelly

Golden Draaaaaagon

Southbank/City for Fi's birthday

Blue Train

Toilet Exit Surprise

Adele / Ed / Fi

The dappled lighting shot

Look at the cool thing I can do with the camera!

Nathaniel...my new boyfriend

In completely unrelated news, I highly recommend the new Australian mockumentary Razzle Dazzle. It might sound ridiculous, but Australian cinema really thrives on taking the mickey out of its own culture. It's all in good fun and made very well...I'd suggest not waiting til it comes out on DVD because - in addition Australian film needing all the support it can get - there's nothing quite like laughing out loud with a group of total strangers.

"If I had guidance from a visionary like Mr Jonathon, I could've been a Spice Girl..."

-Tenille's mum

Cry me a drought

2007-02-21T17:42:00.000+11:00

Me brain don't wanna write anything right now. Here be some piccies. Garrr.

cranberry juice (!) at Robot

Yum Cha followed by...

the St. Kilda Festival...and a newly formed addiction to The Bamboos

Nathaniel! (aka Nu-Dok)

Tropfest. 1. picnic outside before the rain. 2. picnic inside the car

A trip to the Rialto where shenanigans continued, while we enjoyed the view.

OK, computer

2007-02-08T22:46:00.000+11:00

I've been slack...a whole month without an entry? Apologies.
Usually it would be because I have nothing interesting to write. (Ok, maybe I don't. Interesting is subjective.) But here goes the most brief summary of a month I can muster.

Coffee/lunch/dinner with dozens of people, dozens of times. Work. Party times in the city and St.Kilda with my camp girls and school girls respectively. Emma's baby shower. Two surprise parties - one birthday, one farewell. Filming 'Fungus Kung Fu' at Studley Park and Melbourne Uni. Video editing. Australian Open tennis. A BBQ. A friend's EP launch. The movies. Having a MASSIVE Australia Day eve at Bootleg. An awesome weekend in Phillip Island. Organising and being in charge of the new video team. Visiting Emma, Wudok and their newborn son, Nathaniel. A lot of ridiculous laughter.

Well, I guess that pretty much sums it up. Seems like a lot and nothing at the same time.

I finally remembered to bring my camera with me the last couple of days, so I'll let them...or, their captions speak for themselves.

Lunch with the cutest baby ever, Eli, and his gorgeous mum Chez

Janice's surprise farewell

The girls squat (!) in the bush, awaiting Janice's arrival

Covert operations...

...formally covert.

Four chicks...

...three stooges.

Germaine & I...and Tim the lurker.

Myself and the Main Event in normal mode

Our classic pose.

Sid (Prof. HSL), Will (Uncle-ah!), Me (2nd gear), Jon (Green Hamsom), Tim (Mr Linear Line).
The all new Feng Shui Gang!!!

'06 kicks

2007-01-05T17:21:00.000+11:00

It's wayyyyyy too hot for me to think of anything even mildly witting or entertaining to write, so I'll just stick with my photos from New Year's Eve.
We had dinner in the city, then caught the fireworks near Federation Square, before drinks at Cookie to round out the night. A night of random guys coming up and asking for photos and kisses, plus more Indians on the street than I've ever seen in my life. Really.

Farewell 2006...for everything and everyone you gave and took away, I'll never be the same.

Dinner in Chinatown

Randoms we met on the street

Good friends and fireworks

Flinders Street Station by night; Melbourne, the greatest city in the world

Feliz Navidad!

2006-12-28T15:46:00.000+11:00

Merry Christmas everyone! Hope you all had a fantabulous day!

My festive celebrations began last week; the non-stop eating began Thursday night with my work Christmas party at Cookie on Swanston St. A whole bunch of food, drink and chats, which followed on with a boogie at good ol' Cherry Bar...the last time we'd dance to "Sex Machine" before the godfather of soul finally packed it in. We also managed to fit in a few egg custard buns at 1:30am.
The next day, a cuppa with Rach and then a 'raw stuff' overload at Shoya in the city with Janice and her visiting parents. It was incredible...two words: LOBSTER SASHIMI.

Only a couple of days before Christmas, and Andrew and I were out in the city looking for all those last minute Chrissy pressies, along with a million other Melbournians. We had a massive lunch at the Pancake Parlour before helping Janice take her parents and their 12 pieces of luggage to the airport...which was followed by a $10.80 e-Tag bill to get to Chadstone (it only took half an hour to get all the way there!). We destroyed any chance we had of keeping the waistline in check over the holiday period by visiting Koko Black...chocolate mousse martini..mmmm. As if we hadn't eaten enough, we then went to Sonja's place where she had provided about 11 food dishes for 9 people. Safe to say we only got through one of the four sticks of garlic bread, and she's probably still eating leftovers!

I worked on Xmas eve, so I managed to put the brakes on the eating ever so slightly, but Christmas Day was riddick. It started off with a day at Chris and May Yen's place, where the boys played Dota (of course) and the girls chatted and played Scattergories. We came up with some great stuff. For example (the letter was E);
Q: Things you find in the ocean
A: Eggs...of fish.

Those that hung around also engaged in a stressful 9-hole game of golf, via Nintendo Wii...Andrew and I lost by one stroke...damn the water hazards! After the narrow defeat, we comforted ourselves by going home and eating the most non-Christmas dinner ever; steamboat. I rounded out the night by falling asleep on the couch. Class.

Boxing Day, like Christmas Day was cold and wet, but finished up with a great celebration of my dad's 60th birthday...and again, WAY too much food.
From a very Chinese 60th to a 21st where I was the token Asian, it's been an interesting last few days! I made the mammoth drive to Flinders yesterday for Chelsea's 21st...getting lost and running into terrible traffic along the way. Somehow the sun came out for the garden party, and I couldn't have been dressed more inappropriately, or looked more out of place, but it was still a great day. A selection of my photos from both these events can be found after the jump.
I returned to civilisation and clear road signs in the night and ended up at Soph's aunty's mansion in Balwyn (which she's currently housesitting) for a hilarious trip down MLC memory lane, brought on by the realisation that we have our 5 year reunion in a matter of months! Does this mean I'm getting old? whyyyyyyyyyyyy......?!?!?!

Dad's 60th

The boys of the "kids' table"

The girls of the "kid's table"

Family and the cake

Chelsea's 21st

Cait, Chelsea, Manda, Jess = retards

Silliness and good times

The birthday girl and I, and Cait being...special.

Kenwood girls.

Hot Hot Heat

2006-12-19T17:34:00.000+11:00

I can't believe how quickly this year has flown by; it's been memorable, to say the least.
Recently I've been pretty busy. I've been working a reasonable amount, but quite not as much as I'd like, so the job hunt continues.
Two Thursdays ago I attended the premiere of a short film/advertisement my friend Luci made. Hers was one of two films that won the TAC "Make a Film, Make a Difference" competition. It's pretty incredible to see peers succeeding on such a high level. After the screening, Steph, Haley and I made the mistake of hanging back (but we made it up to ourselves with glorious bread, dips and lattes afterwards) to watch "The Guardian". Granted, we didn't have to pay, but...well, the film should have ended 7 times before it actually did. And yes, we counted...
Friday night was dinner on Victoria St. (don't ever go to Van Van, it sucks), followed by gelato and Taboo at May Yen's house and me arguing that durian really does smell like rotting poo.

The state's bushfires continued to intensify, and I...went to the beach. It was the much planned Christmas weekend getaway with my MLCers; good times all round. We headed up to Anglesea after lunch (the car trip involved a very loud Rage Against the Machine singalong) and went straight to the beach to catch some rays before dinner and a crazy night of exploding fondue kits (we ended up eating the chocolate off the table!), singing and dancing (nothing like a bit of James Brown to get the blood pumping), great chats (love you girls) and me sleeping in a crack (aka three people on two single beds pushed together). I also ate some of the greatest chips of my life the next day. You can check out my photos after the jump.

The next few days involved work and several dinners, with Nandos Nicole (can you please quit already?!), then May Yen, almost-exploded Emma, Janice, Sonja & Seki-Selina, followed by an extremely long and dissappointing meal with my parents and brother (word to the wise: never randomly pick a restaurant out of the entertainment book...it will end in you waiting over an hour in Wantirna for crappy food), curry with Rach & Pegs, with the weekend being rounded out by Wendy & Lyndon's housewarming and eventually an evening of talking about boobs, apricots and camp memories with Cait & Chelsea, who came up to visit me in 'the big smoke'.
I'm sad to report that Jeremy's finally left Melbourne for good, and I went to say farewell last night...good luck in Singapore mate, I'm sure I'll see you soon.

Oh yeah, can you guys leave some comments via the chatbox...say hello or something funny, I love a bit of interaction! Ok, that's all I have for the moment. I am aware that I've used entirely too many brackets in this entry, apologies, but I can't be bothered editing so just...deal. :P

"long live the weekend!"

Chickies at the Anglesea beach

Pegs and I. Quite possibly the worst (yet equally entertaining) photo EVER.

Eating chocolate fondue off the table

Drinking Baileys from ridiculous glasses.
"who knew milk could be this exciting on a Saturday night?"

Girlies after the beach

Fush n Chups

Team shot!

Shakira Shakira

2006-12-06T16:37:00.000+11:00

It's cool having stuff to blog about that doesn't involve a foreign country.
I've so far done 3 shifts selling ties and cufflinks, which occasionally gets boring (because I mostly work alone) but the concept of working and actually earning money is a good one, indeed. Last Friday and Saturday night was the "Fungus Fairy Tale Ball"; the place looked incredible, the program went off with reletively few hitches and the kids really seemed to enjoy themselves so it's been declared a success. The amount of food we had leftover at the end of each night, however, was what I would describe as riddick. And enough to feed a small nation.

Sunday was spent watching "Ella Enchanted" and gossiping at Sonja's place with her and Janice, in the night, dinner in Camberwell (I had the greatest green tea ice cream of my life) followed by board games - like back in the old days - at Emma & Wudok's new house. Well, it's new for me anyway. If you've never played the game Articulate, I highly recommend it...in fact, I IMPLORE you. (if you were there on the night, you'd get it.)

Monday was lunch at a Thai restaurant on Lygon, served by a potential 'lady man' and some seriously good chicken Pad Thai. It was then off to the airport to say goodbye to Yvette for 3 months for another year...hope you're having fun and eating lots!
By chance I actually managed to get hold of Kate (you are in the top 5, i swear!) and spontaneously have coffee with her on Chapel Street before fighting the traffic back into the city to see the PS school of music World Vision concert at the Athenaeum Theatre. The guy that completely trashed all those good songs with his complete lack of singing ability is a disgrace to beetroots everywhere!
I calmed myself down with gelati from the original place on Lygon, before having a slumber party with Jan and Jen (we like, totally had pillowfights in our underwear!) and heading off to work the next morning before meeting up with the aforementioned gals for shopping around the city in a heat so dry you could launder your entire wardrobe in a heartbeat. All that and I still managed to get home in time to watch The OC. phew!

Ok, more photos...firstly a shot of the wedding I attended last week and the final leg of my crazy holiday; San Fransisco and Los Angeles...westside, y'all!

My family and the bride's (my cousin) family...minus, um...the groom.

The view of Alcatraz from Pier 39

Pegs & Lacey

A tower thingy

Bringing the banana to San Francisco!

Seals lazing around

The fog of San Fran

Waaaaaallmac....

"Welcome to The Rockkkk"

Hanging out with Lian and Barnaby

Raul roughs it on the M Tram

I left my heart in San Francisco...

Happy Halloween!

Raggety Ann and Super Mario peruse the juice selection

The water comes out of the ceiling into the bath tub!

Urban Outfitters...where all your dreams come true :P

Johnny Rockets on Melrose Ave...the last day of my trip :(

Oh, one more thing. I feel compelled to share something hilarious my aunty wrote in an email recently. She's just gotten to Singapore after spending some time in Italy and she went to visit a famous volcano.

We then walked to a distance and from there we could see the flow of the lava from Mt Etna. It was really spectacular.
I asked why we could not get closer and was told
if you get any closer we will melt.

Jagshemash...high five!

2006-11-29T23:55:00.000+11:00

Things have recently actually been pretty crazy for me; it all started with a big night at the Belgian Beer Garden in the city for Kate & Jess' birthday drinks...where Kate & I had randoms from the country come up and start talking to us about horseracing, and possibly other stuff, but I'm not sure because I kinda tuned out part way through the conversation.
Then, Sunday. After 4 hours waiting around outside, then another 3 hours inside Telstra Dome, (and a poorly received set by Kanye West...I think I was quite possibly 1 of around 20 fans in the whole stadium) I experienced one of the greatest big concerts EVER.

U2.

Here's the setlist. City of Blinding Lights, Vertigo, Elevation, Until The End of the World, I Still Haven’t Found What I'm Looking For, Beautiful Day, Angel of Harlem, The First Time, Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own, Love and Peace, Sunday Bloody Sunday, Bullet The Blue Sky, Miss Sarajevo, Pride in the Name of Love, Where the Streets Have No Name, One, (encore 1) The Fly, Mysterious Ways, With or Without You, (encore 2) The Saints are Coming, Party Girl, Kite, Bad

We were only a few metres away from the platform part of the stage. By the end of the night we were half deaf and could barely stand, but it was A-W-E-S-O-M-E. I have no idea how to transfer the photos of Bono from my phone, so you'll just have to take my word for it.

Since then, I've continued my job hunt, gone for an interview, saw some stand up comedy, went shopping, realised I'm probably allergic to alcohol, attended my cousin's wedding, voted in the state election, kicked it at The Black Cat on Brunswick St. with uni peeps, eaten a purely vegeterian meal (it was good, but the carb-overload reinforced why I like meat so much) hung out with a friend I hadn't seen in over 15 months, watched Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan, and run around like a crazy person organising and buying stuff for the Fungus rally coming up this weekend. This has also meant my room looks like it's been hit by a bomb of clothes, paper, cameras and bags, but at least I'm keeping myself busy. I also received my camp memories DVD in the mail; some of which I watched today and found myself getting extremely emotional when they played the "I'll Be" song over the cabin photos at the end. I miss camp! :(
But I finally am working, as of tomorrow...w00t! Which also means I have to get up early, so here is my sign off, and a few more photos, as promised.

The snorkelling gang in Caye Caulker, Belize

Paul and the 'double banana'...hardcorrrre

We love snooooookling.

Team shot! In front of our big yellow bus

The amazing hotel in Caye Caulker...right on the water

The beach at the Tulum ruins, Mexico

Party pool! Bacalar, Mexico

Tequila in Cancun, Mexico

The legend of the banana lives on!

Hola!

Those who kicked on

The last group meal...I miss you.

You give me job now, yes...please?

2006-11-16T17:56:00.000+11:00

As much as I initially enjoyed unemployment, the next phase has now kicked in, and I'm officially over doing nothing. It also doesn't help that I'm broke. Stay in school, kids. Really.

On the few days I haven't stayed in my pyjamas til at least midday, I've managed to slot in ice cream on Lygon on a freezing night, a hair cut, Grace's birthday spa-beque, a very late night tea session with Fi & Ed, a trip to the Mornington Peninsula to hang out with Chelsea, Cait and Claire (our trip down memory lane made me wish I were still at camp), a lot of chocolate eating and even more job hunting.

So, to consolidate the boring-ness of my life at this moment, here's some more photos from my trip. These are just from San Ignacio, Belize, where the party crew was birthed.
I miss you guys so much...."harrrrdcore!!!"

San Ignacio, Belize

Rowdy...

Cute? yes. Innocent? Me thinks not...

Foozeball; a serious sport.

The lads

The chicks

Amy, come back here!

THE party crew. Friends forever

Unemployment can be fun...?

2006-11-07T19:15:00.000+11:00

After 5 months of constant excitement, being home is kinda...boring.
Even worse than boredom is the knowledge that you must now find a job! Which is how I've spent the last couple of days; job hunting. (uuugh.) And daydreaming about the next time I'm going to travel again.
But it hasn't been all dull thankfully. In the week that I've been home I've managed to do like 11 sets of dinner or coffee catch ups with various people, drop in on my favourite bar Purple Emerald, crazy dance at Cherry Bar, watch three movies, clean out my room, order prints of my digital photos and listen to a whole lot of music. Who knew doing basically nothing could feel so productive?!

Anyways, as promised, I continue to attempt to be interesting by posting more photos of my trip. Here's the second week of the Central American tour...still in Guatemala plus two days in Honduras.

The hotel pool in Rio Dulce

Traditional dance in Livingston Town

Me and an ostrich...at a petrol station. No, I'm not joking.

Some of the kids at the orphanage in Copan, Honduras

Some of the blokes at a random look out in Florres

Me driving the boat around the lake in Florres

The cow seemed nervous...

Tikal ruins

Pegs, Pol and I at 85% humidity, 35 degrees...tasty.

Bloody ripper...bloody unreal.

2006-11-01T18:39:00.000+11:00

I am home.

I spent an amazing 4 days in LA with Simone; talking crap and falling in love with Sushi Dan. (sadly enough it's a restaurant, not a man.)
My 5 month journey ended where it began - LAX...which is "so ghetto if not for the tubes"! - and a 14 hour plane ride on the crappest airline to Sydney before touching down in M-town and immediately going to eat yum cha in the city. Bliss.

As if everything I've experienced recently were not blessing enough, I come home to my own bed, toast and tea for breakfast, and non-stop catch ups with friends who simply could not be cooler. I'm a walking cliche right now, because my life is awesome.

I'm also realistic in the fact that I know from this point on my blog will be distinctively boring, so I'm stretching out posting travel photos for as long as possible. I love the milking process. So let's rewind a few weeks to the first leg of my tour in Guatemala...

Antigua, Guatemala

Lake Atitlan

With Maria, Sarah & Melanie at a market I can't remember the name of...

Me looking like a geek with my money pouch under my clothes (I took it off after this day) at the Chichi market

Final drinks with the group in Antigua

Brilliant banana sundae...and my ridiculously large head.

Hogan knows best...

2006-10-27T21:14:00.000+10:00

San Francisco came and went; it's an incredible city with an amazing spectrum of people...somewhere I actually wouldn't mind living someday, that is, of course, if I can ever drag myself away from Melbourne. After 5 months of being cautious of spending money and having to carry ridiculous amounts of luggage, I unleashed myself on the shops of the west coast. Turns out I'm more of a girly-girl than I realised, because shopping is rather fun :P
We also hung out with Pegs' mate from camp, Lacey (who we were staying with) at the various parts of San Fran; Pier 39, Chinatown, Union Square, Alcatraz (Walllllmac...why am I not surprised...?!?!).

The world really is a small place. At the LA greyhound bus station, we ran into an English guy, Barnaby, who we met whilst in Miami and just so happened to be on the same bus as us upstate. So we spent some time with him and also a crazy gay guy that wouldn't stop talking, who had been living at Barnaby's hostel for the past 5 months.

Then, it was back to Los Angeles for the home stretch of my trip...I can't believe it's almost over. I'm staying with my mate Simone and we've spent the last few days talking about food, crazy people and how much we both miss Melbourne. To be honest, I don't really like LA all that much, but I will always be grateful to the city for giving me my first proper celebrity citing. Yesterday, we were shopping at The Grove, and saw none other than HULK HOGAN!
Unfortunately I didn't have the guts to ask him for a photo, but I promise I was standing like 3 metres away from him and his wife in some shop. It was rather bizarre actually, he really looks like a weird, boiled, hunk of meat, and he walks funny. A total freak of nature, but what a legendary throwback to my years of being a wrestling fan.

I'm home next Tuesday (Oct 31) morning, people. Call me and we can do coffee or something...I'm in desperate need of something non-Starbucks!

see you bye.

Raul's North American tour: Part 3 - Quebec City, Montreal, Miami

2006-10-22T12:17:00.000+10:00

My Central American tour is over :(

I had such an awesome time but I guess all things must come to an end. The last week was spent climbing the Tikal ruins, partying to ridculous music until ridiculous hours in San Ignacio, Belize, snorkelling in Caye Caulker's barrier reef, relaxing in Bacalar, Mexico, finishing up the tour with tequila in Cancun. In two short weeks we made some incredible friends, forming 'the party crew' and also talked about poo a lot. Class.
Right now I'm in the home of Full House - yeah Uncle Jesse! - San Francisco!

Not long til I'm home! Until then, here's some more photos!

Quebec party times

Le waffle!

The Chateau thingy

Montmorency Falls

Some of the gang at Montmorency

The view from Mont Royal

Oscar!

People dancing on the bar

South Beach

The giant yacht

Hola!

2006-10-12T14:01:00.000+10:00

I´ve been in Central America for almost 2 weeks now, and it´s just incredible. The last days in Miami were spent by the pool, at South Beach, (window) shopping, meeting plenty of interesting and good looking people at the hostel and hanging out with my buddy Oscar and his fantastic family.

Anyways, this has to be brief and no time for photos, sorry! We arrived in Guatemala City and took a taxi to Antigua, where we met up with our tour group...only small, but there were some really cool people who we used for their Spanish speaking abilities. Ok, not just that...but mostly. haha! anyways, we did a bunch of stuff, went to a bunch of places, many of which I can´t remember the names of so here´s a guess. Chichi market, Lake Atilan (Panajachel), San Pedro, Xela before returning to Antigua and saying goodbye to the majority of our group before meeting up with a new one. The second leg of the trip has so far been better; we visted Copan, Honduras where we went to some hot springs and ate one of the best barbeques ever, the ancient Copan Mayan ruins, and also a local orphanage where the kids are just SOOOOO cute!

The next day we re-entered Guatemala and stayed on a little island in Rio Dulce, relaxing in the pool and also playing some pretty vicious water polo! The hotel there was like paradise, pool bar and all. We took a boat ride to Livingston Town, which is much more Carribean and saw some traditional dance, drank some regional soup. All goodness. Today, I´m in Florres and I simply have NOT stopped sweating. It´s ridiculously hot here. I´m pretty gross, really. Somehow I still manage to get a lot of toots, 'hola!'s and general attention from the locals. Haha!!!

Tomorrow, we´re off to Belize...white sand beaches, the 2nd biggest coral reef in the world and some major party times!

Raul's North American tour: Part 2 - Boston, Toronto, Niagara Falls, Kingston

2006-10-07T16:44:00.000+10:00

Checking out the Freedom trail

Raul meets a squirrel

Raul meets John Harvard

Quality accomodation in Toronto

CN Tower

CN Tower's glass floor

Casa Loma

Niagara Falls

Sexy rain ponchos

The world's largest whirlpool

Our awesome Toronto roomate, Nelson and a yellow school bus

Spadina Ave...home to all that is good in Toronto

The old, old ship we stayed on in Kingston

Raul's North American tour: Part 1 - New York, Washington DC

2006-09-29T12:46:00.000+10:00

I forgot to mention earlier that I got sent a little teddy bear for my birthday from my aunty, and he was soon to be named Raul (with the accent over the u) and become a travel companion. He showed me the sights with the help of Tony (Chelsea's tiger) and Steve (Cait's elephant).

The biggest Maccas in NYC

Waiting to see John Mayer at the Rockerfeller Centre

Brekkie in the diner...Cait looking...special

Times Square
Brooklyn Bridge

Statue of Liberty

Raul in Chelsea's top...driving around NYC
Washington Monument

White House

My cousin June and I in DC's Chinatown

Party in the city where the heat is on...

2006-09-26T17:15:00.000+10:00

I'm in Miami. I still can't really believe it...it's just like the movies. Perfect blue skies, bright sun, people walking the streets in bikinis and the such. We awoke at 3am this morning to catch the 6:30am flight from wintery Montreal, arriving to a beautiful cloudless Miami morning. We were greeted at the airport by a local friend of mine whom I met whilst in Hawaii last year, and he drove us around, showed us some cool areas...the most astounding thing was definitely the waterfront properties, one of which has a yacht parked outside it that is longer than the house itself. Some of the wealth here is re-donk-ulous. We had lunch at a Latino themed bar/restaurant where the waitresses dress in skimpy, skin tight leopard print outfits and dance on the bar and a guy walks around with dancing parrots on his shoulders. Crazy.

The next 4 days here are sure to be incredible, but I'm also going to miss Canada so much because the last week there was so much fun. On our first full day in Quebec City, we joined an informal tour of old town organised by the hostel, and met a bunch of really cool people (we would later be known as 7 Aussies + 1 German!). We cruised the city together, visited the Montmorency Falls and (minus the German) successfully disgraced Australia on an all night pub crawl. We outdanced and outsang all the other foreigners til 5am...which Pegs and I payed for the next day by not waking up til 3pm. It was cool...the places ranged from small, typical Quebec pubs, to ones that looked like a cave, to a castle. The party ended with a bag of chips in the hostel's TV room.

The groove train continued on into Montreal, where the original gang plus a Swiss guy met up for a civilised dinner before dancing the night away, the 3am pizza run and walking the streets of Montreal to the bus station. We managed to wake up at a reasonable time the next day, thankfully, and also get some sight seeing done over the next few. Downtown, The Montreal Olympic Statium & Biodome, Botanic Gardens, Old Montreal, Hotel de Ville, Mont Royal, were visited via a lot of walking. We also went to watch an ice hockey match! Toronto Maple Leafs vs Montreal Canadiens...it was so fun and I also managed to finish like a litre of coca-cola. Well done on the skinny campaign, Manda. :P

Well, that's all for now, not sure when I'll be able to write again soon (but I should be able to still check email so keep them coming), because we start the 3-week Central American tour in 4 days time...craft markets here I come! And by the way, I'll be home on October 31. Can't wait!

see you bye.

Bonsoir!

2006-09-17T23:10:00.000+10:00

It's very humbling being so far from home and in a completely foreign place...it makes you all the more grateful for the kindhearted and those that speak English.

Yes, that's right, I've entered into the French part of Canada, Quebec City, and literally EVERYTHING is in French. It's quite daunting but also rather cool. Unfortunately I can't tell you much about the place because we just got here and went straight from the train station to the hostel, and we're in desperate need of a shower!

After a fun few days of eating real Asian food, the CN tower (tallest building in the world), Niagara Falls and drinking really, really big cans of beer in Toronto, we moved onto Kingston, the former capital of Canada.

Apparently the weekend we decided to go it was also Queen's University's homecoming which meant every hostel and hotel had been booked out by the 40, 000 visitors into the city. So, we slept on a ship. Literally. A bed and breakfast in an old, old, ship. It was...character building, to say the least.

Thankfully we're now practically staying in luxury here in Quebec and the good times and great classic hits are sure to roll on into our time in Montreal in a few days before we head on down to Miami!! Yes, that's right, we're running away from the cold, Canadian weather in search of bot-bot tanning solutions in Florida and subsequently, Central America. Woot woot!

see you bye.

Photomania

2006-09-14T13:21:00.000+10:00

Ok so I have over 400 photos, but here is a small selection of highlights of my time at camp...

Hanging out with Simone in LA before camp

Kenwood Miss Ugly Pageant -session 1

A typical photo shoot with Chelsea and Cait

One of many nights out in New Milford

Me and my tiara on my 22nd birthday

Kent Falls and the ski dock

The best Frosh counselors...and Vanessa (who wished she were Frosh!)

Ridin' the Walmart horse....yyiiieaahhh!

Getting rowdy on the last night ever...

Ok, that's all I can handle right now, I'll upload some post-camp photos soon!

Canadia, eh??

2006-09-10T11:06:00.000+10:00

I apologise for the lack of updates, but finding an internet cafe these days is more difficult than you'd think. Anyways, a lot has happened since my last post...I hardly know where to begin. Oh, the beginning, right...

My last few days in DC were spent lazing around, being sick, shopping, and spending time with my cousin. It was really nice, just chilling out after all the craziness that had just happened and would soon occur. I eventually left DC and, after having some run-ins with idiot bus drivers, and a cricket crazy Indian taxi driver offered me cake, I ended up in New York City for the 4th time to meet up with one of my mates from back home, Bec (better known as Pegs).

We spent the next 2 nights there, chilling out in Central Park on Labour Day and then jumping on a bus to Boston the next day. Boston is a really cool place; very old and English...which I've decided is more my cup of tea than the craziness of NYC. We did the touristy things - Harvard, downtown, Freedom Trail, Beacon Hill, as well as go into three different Urban Outfitters stores in search of a top I became obsessed with! We also did some serious damage to our digestive systems by chowing down on really inexpensive but good (but greasy and American) breakfast at a place called Dempseys near the hostel. SFK fans would be so proud!

Three days later, we up and left for Toronto, Canada, where I am right now. It's really nice here, a lot like Melbourne, with trams and a lot more normal people around town. We had to endure a 16 hour overnight bus ride, however, and I must say it was torturous and I officially hate Greyhound! Because the first bus was running so late, we almost missed our transfer and as a result had to sit seperately and next to insane people. The guy next to me was bringing back kilos and kilos of dried fish to his pregnant wife, and seemed really paranoid that someone was going to steal the stinky crap! Pegs had to sit next to a woman that just would not stop talking...really incoherently.

We've had a rocky start to the Toronto leg of our trip; it was raining and miserable when we got here, we were knackered, and our hostel is rather grotty and unorganised...we booked a 6 bed female dorm but have ended up in a 4 bed mixed dorm...but on the upside, one of our roommates is hot! And really nice too :P

So yeah, that's the goss of the minute...I'll try to get my photos onto a CD at some point in Toronto, but I'll see how I go. And I promise I'll try to update more often, but I love your messages and emails, so let love flow babies!

see you bye.

Taxation without representation

2006-08-28T17:53:00.000+10:00

Phase 3 of my travels has well and truly begun...I am currently kickin' it in my cousin's apartment in Washington, DC and it's all breezy goodness baby.

Rewind. I've been here since Friday afternoon, arriving by bus to the amazing news that a friend of my cousin had just moved out of DC that morning and has a swanky rent-paid empty apartment with cable TV, just waiting for me to occupy. So I basically have my own place for the week, only a 5 minute walk from my cousin's and an awesome pizza place around the corner. Catching up on sleep is a luxury I haven't been afforded in the last 3 months, so that's what I've spent a lot of the last few days doing, and it's just bliss. We also went to the Eastern Market fare, Georgetown, drove up to West Virginia (getting extremely lost on the way) to go tubing down the river, but got there too late so ended up just hanging out around the river.

Prior to DC I was in the crazy city known as New York with friends from camp. First night involved 9 people in a 4 person room...good times indeed. I also did the touristy thing; Statue of Liberty, Soho, Greenwich Village (the best part of NYC), Brooklyn Bridge, Central Park, watched a Broadway show (Rent is incredible), saw John Mayer perform on the Today Show at Rockerfeller Centre, free Maccas on 42nd Street...I heart NY.

It's incredible that almost a week and a half has flown by since I finished at camp...my last night was spent partying and looking at the beautiful Connecticut sky one last time...I even saw a shooting star for the first time. A fitting end to an incredible summer.

Early Monday morning everyone got up at the crack of dawn to finish packing and hug and cry their amazing friends goodbye. A bus/train ride into Grand Central station began and finished with me shedding tears like an absolute nutter, but it made me realise how ridiculously grateful I am for the friendships and experiences I've gained this summer (and the ones I already have back home and all around the world)...I'm blessed beyond belief, and who knows if I deserve it, but I'm holding onto these beautiful people for as long as I can.

And yes, I mean you. And you. And you.

New York trippin'

2006-08-13T23:20:00.000+10:00

Wow...another week flies by...and only another to go before the end of camp, and an incredible summer. I was thinking earlier today how much my view of myself has changed over the course of the last 8 weeks; with the whole getting fired and relocated saga. I'm aware that it sounds conceited, but I think that I've earned some bragging rights for managing to pull through disaster to become a stronger, independant and grateful person from an experience that i'll not soon forget.
A conversation with some friends the other day about first impressions revealed to me that people saw me as a 'sad person' upon initially meeting me. And if you know me (which you should if you are reading this), then you know that I'm anything but sad. But that's how miserable I was when I got shoved into Kenwood camp...and 8 weeks later I've formed such close friendships here that I almost don't want to leave. Almost.

Anyway, enough of the DnM stuff. Life is good here...I went to New York on Tuesday night; a bunch of us tried to find some cool bar on recommendation of a random local on the street, and we ended up on some street in the meat packing district that has like 5 clubs on it. We were unsuccessful on our attempt to get into the only one that didn't charge $20 to get in, because it was extremely exclusive (and we were some of the only non African-American people there!). After much debate we went to Bleecker St and found a manky-yet-cool little bar with live music. It wasn't quite the party-hearty night we'd hoped for, but was still a good time.

The next day was spent shopping...all day. There's not a lot to write about, because that's literally all we did. Times Square, uptown, Chinatown. I got some good bargains, and I plan to get even more when I go to an outlet place tomorrow on my half-day off...it seems like I'm always shopping haha!

My next entry will probably be on the road, away from camp...woah.

See you bye.

Ya face...

2006-08-06T23:26:00.000+10:00

Only two more weeks left at camp and then I step into the world of unknown travel and some serious monetary debt. Obviously I'm stoked to be so close to getting out into the real world, but I've also become so used to the lifestyle and people of camp. Oh well, I'm sure I'll figure something out hehe!

I had a day off today, and a bunch of us went to Kent Falls, a beautiful waterfall/picnic ground just outside of the town of Kent, about 15 minutes from camp. We maxed, relaxed and took a lot of photos until returning to camp to do much of the same by the camp's lake. It was an awesome day and tomorrow will be spent at Lake Compounce, an amusement/waterpark. Yeah baby!!! Ok, I know it sounds like I'm not really working, but trust me, the amusement park thing is stressful, we have to watch the kids all day and make sure nothing happens to them. If we let them out of our sight we also lose our job. DRAINER!

The kids and general vibe of this session is so different to the first, everyone seems much more mellow. It could be due to the fact that the numbers second half have dropped dramatically. In my bunk alone I went from have 13 kids to just 9 this session. I think I'm quite enjoying camp at the moment, because in addition to it being the home stretch, I received a 'Shining Counselor' award a few days ago, so I guess I must be doing something right. Woo hoo!

I think I may be going to New York again in a few days, and I plan to shop shop shop. Yih!

I'll update again when I have something more interesting to write.

see you bye.

El Mariachi's = good times!

2006-07-25T16:09:00.000+10:00

The kids left two days ago; it was a bizarre feeling. I was actually somewhat sad to see some of the kids leave, cos I had grown attached to a few of them, but also thoroughly relieved too!!! Sunday night was the massive inter-session Hawaiian themed party at New Milford's premier (and only) bar, El Mariachi's. The drinks were flowing freely and it got pretty messy but it was an awesome night. Basically every staff member from camp was there and it was all lovin'.

The next day was a half-day off with a wicked special staff dinner, where we ate 'real' food and then back to work once more, sorting out stuff in the cabins. Today has been spent carrying campers' bags and unpacking all their stuff. Yes, that's right, the counselors have to unpack and pack for the kids. We're definitely not getting paid enough for that junk!

Unfortunately this fairly lazy afternoon will be rudely interupted by having to rehearse for the arrival night's counselor show - where we basically get up on stage and make complete idiots of ourselves - and the kids arriving tomorrow for yet another three and a half weeks of screaming children. The break is NOWHERE near long enough, but I guess we all just have to suck it up and do it. It'll fly by I'm sure, just as the first session has, and before I know it I'll be on a giant holiday. Woot woot!

I'm going to see if there's any way I can post photos although I think it'll be difficult considering tomorrow morning starts another round of essentially being 'on call' 24 hours a day. Drainer!
Don't get me wrong though, I'm having a great time...I've met some friends that I'll have for life and I'm so grateful.

See you bye.

1, 2, 3, 4 we want colour war!

2006-07-20T14:06:00.000+10:00

Thank God for geeks. Why? Because they fix things. Like computers.
We now have a massive SIX computers working in the staff lounge which means there aren't a million people waiting which means I can actually write this entry without people breathing down my neck! Woo!

But on the downside I only have ten minutes of my break left, so this still has to be short.
Um well life at camp here is all goodness. There's only 4 days left of the first session...meaning that the kids are going home soon! I thought I was absolutely over the moon at this fact, but in the last few days the girls have actually been really cute and attached to me...they were all shattered when I told them that I'm not coming back next year...awww

It's also colour war, which basically means the campers and staff get split into two teams and play lots of games and do cheers and dress up and do lots of campy type stuff. I'm on the Circus Blue team...yeah blue!
Anyways, I gotta fly, but thank you all for your various birthday cards/emails/packet tea/cds/bears/underwear etc. Fill me in on what's going on in your part of the world!

see you bye.

Happy Birthday to me...

2006-07-15T14:00:00.000+10:00

Hi all,

I really don't have time to write, but just wanted to say hi and that I am alive! Thank you for your birthday wishes; it's strange being away from home on this day, but I think I'll be going out tonight for some Connecticut good times....and great classic hits.

I went to New York City last weekend, which was awesome but tiring...went up the Empire State building and saw Ground Zero, as well as shopping around Times Square. We also squished 7 people into 2 double beds...hmmmm

Anyways, I hope you're all doing well, sorry I haven't replied to emails, the internet keeps breaking here and there's literally 2 computers for 200 staff members. boo!

I'll try to write again soon! Miss you all soooo much

see you bye.

Lights will guide you home...

2006-07-01T13:36:00.000+10:00

I like it here. Quite honestly, I do. I'm in the middle of nowhere, 20 hours from home, small American children running around all day and night, but despite the surreal nature of my life at the moment, I really am glad to be here and I've met some incredible people in the week that I've been here so far. It's challenging both mentally, emotionally and physically but I'm also learning and growing a lot more than I probably would have if I'd stayed at IGC. (and there's WAY more cute boys here!)

I don't have time to write anything lengthy, but I do want to say THANK YOU. To all of you. The amount of support I've received during this difficult time has been nothing short of incredible. Unfortunately it's impossible to find the time to reply to you individually, but believe me when I say I have read every word of every email/message and I do believe that I have the greatest friends in the world. Please keep emailing me and letting me know what's going on in your lives too...being in the camp bubble literally means I have no clue what is happening in the real world. Oooh, and send me mail, I love mail!

P.O. Box 548
65 Kenmont Road
Kent, CT 06757

Having this many kids around 24/7 means you have to keep a sense of humour, or else you go insane! And I'm getting it back I think...even to the point that I can quote Zoolander;

"What do we do when we fall off the horse, Derek?"

"I'm not a gymnast, Maury..."

see you bye.

2006-06-26T12:37:00.000+10:00

I've contemplating heavily whether or not I should make public the latest crisis in my life. And I decided that yes, I will, simply because it will make everything easier to explain in the future. And it's incredibly painful but it's something I need to get out there and deal with in its entirety so that I can move on.

I got fired. Yep, there it is. In black and white.

The long story short is basically that on Saturday morning, after most the first week campers had gone home and we were all gearing up for what was going to be an awesome day off, Travis (the head counselor) and Sharon (the horrible photography woman - with a disgusting smug look on her face the whole time) took me aside and basically said they thought my work was crap and there was no room for me in the photo lab any longer. And that was that. They hadn't gone through my work with me and told me that I wasn't doing what they wanted, they weren't going to give me a second chance, I was just...out. The only way I could stay at International Gymnastics Camp (IGC) would be if I were to take the night gate watch duty, which means sitting at the gate from 11pm - 8am. Of course I thought about this for a while and I figured that I would go insane doing that job and would probably end up resenting the place.

I was actually really fortunate in that a placement for me at another camp was found within an hour or so of me getting fired, so that's where I am now. At Kenwood Kenmont camp in Kent, Connecticut. I had to pack up my stuff within 45 minutes (only getting to say tearful goodbyes to a handful of people) and catch a bus to New York then a subway then drag all my stuff through Grand Central station to find a train to get to Connecticut and a connecting bus to Harlem-Valley Wingdale where the new camp people picked me up. I cried on and off for about 5 hours after being fired and during my commute to the new camp.

When I first started this blog it wasn't meant to be about baring my soul and being all emo, but this is a special situation. This has quite likely been one of the most horrible and difficult experiences I've ever gone through in my life. I was at IGC for 2 full weeks and I'd gotten used to and comfortable with everything there, I'd made some amazing friends, truthfully appreciated the privaledges of being at that camp at the time I was there, and I honestly thought that if I followed the rules and put all my effort into my job that I would have an incredible summer. Apparently hard work and obedience is not enough for some people.

I'm a general counselor with 10 year old girls, and the campers arrive here in 2 days. Don't get me wrong, this new camp that I'm at is cool, and I'm grateful to be here...I've met some awesome people, the senior staff do seem to treat the regular staff much better than IGC does and I do believe that time will eventually heal, but I guess I just ask that if you are reading this or hear about this from someone else, please keep me in your thoughts and prayers, because I really need them right now.

Keepin it real for Box Hill

2006-06-20T21:43:00.000+10:00

It's a strange feeling, having been in America for just under 2 weeks but feeling like I've been here for AGES. Not to say that means I'm not enjoying myself here, but being constantly around the same place and people almost makes time stand still. I have absolutely no sense of what day it is anymore either....it just goes by what night time activity is occuring.

If I don't cross paths with someone for a day it feels like we haven't seen each other in forever. It's a bizarre, but I really have made some rad friends since I've been here....but it doesn't make me miss home and you guys any less. I had my first real wave of homesickness 2 days ago, and boy, it hit hard. What sucked even more was that I couldn't even disappear somewhere and go have a cry about it cos there's just people EVERYWHERE.

There's not a whole heap to report, because it would take a long time to explain what happens every day, and camp is not what you expect it to be. Well, it's not what I expected it to be anyway. Um, the food here has gotten pretty old pretty quickly....I'm completely dying from the lack of Asian food, but I guess I'll have to hold on for another 10 weeks; aiyo!!! On the work side of things, I'm now mostly doing video work rather than photography...long story short, I have a crappy supervisor whose criticism is rarely constructive and who refuses to offer any real advice or training. When she 'moved' me to video, I completely gunned filming and editing a short piece to 'prove' myself...basically I kicked butt. W00t!!!

Ok, well, for my finishing I request that you send me mail. As in, SNAIL MAIL! I know, it's lame, but it's really exciting when it comes, and makes me feel like the cool kid on the block (oh, come on, let me dream, let me dream!) So here is my address until August 26. Do it!

9020 Bartonsville Woods Road

Stroudsburg, PA

18360

USA

Hope you're all doing well in the various parts of the world you are in; things on this side are not too shabby!

see you bye.

Yo dawwwwgggg.....

2006-06-13T08:13:00.000+10:00

I made it to camp and have been here for 2 days so far...it's a surreal experience; at the moment there aren't any kids here, but almost 200 staff members doing pre-camp training and bonding and stuff. A lot of them are Australian, but there's also people from all around the world (there's stacks of Americans of course) It's been all really weird, and things have been happening so fast that I've barely had time to take anything in, although I have managed to get really really SICK! My nose was so blocked last night I had to sleep sitting up. Yeah, awesome. But apart from that, everything's been pretty cool, people are really friendly, and the camp itself is just beautiful.

Prior to camp, I left Melbourne Friday morning and arrived in LA Friday morning (!). We went from the airport to the hotel, where we did orientation and stuff. I met a girl called Maddison, who, scarily has EXACTLY the same sense of humour as me, and we spent a lot of time quoting stupid movies and laughing.

Saturday was one of the greatest days ever cos I got to spend it with Simone!!! (yes, people, be jealous...be very jealous). We cruised around LA -which I found out has more cars than Australia has people - did Santa Monica (i saw my first squirrel), Hollywood (where there are HEAPS of freaks) and various places around LA and then ended up kickin it at her awesome pad. The day went so quickly, and before I knew it I had to get on a plane and fly to Newark, NJ to get to camp. We caught the bus from the New York port authority and I got my first glimpse of a crazy New York street...yellow cabs EVERYWHERE!

Anyways, I've got a time limit on the computer and I have another activity to get to so I better scoot. I don't know if I'll be able to post up photos but I'll give it a go. Hope you're all awesome!!

see you bye.

P.S. I met a girl from California who actually says "gnarly" in normal conversation!!

The world's greatest friends

2006-06-08T10:40:00.000+10:00

The good thing about having lots of friends and leaving the country is you get lots of hugs. The only bad thing is that you have to say goodbye that many times. It's a very bizarre feeling; being so excited to see people and catch up with them, yet knowing that this will be the last time for at least 5 months, sometimes more, sometimes indefinitely.

so THANK YOU...from the deepest parts of my soul to EVERYONE that made the effort to come out to my drinks last night; I'm really sorry I didn't get to talk to all of you in depth, but to even get to see you was an incredible blessing. Thank you also to those that couldn't make it, but that called, messaged, emailed me to say goodbye and good luck.

Wow, this is really soppy and I sound like I'm winning an award...maybe The Collection should give me something for bringing in that much business on a Wednesday night!
Catch ya on the flipside, homies!!!

see you bye.

You can take your job....and re-staff it!

2006-06-05T20:58:00.000+10:00

Only four days until I leave and somehow I keep discovering things that make me want to stay. (Like sexy mesh boy-leg undies, perhaps?!) I made it a point to bring my camera to stuff these past few days, so here is some of what I've been up to recently.

Jen and all her randomness....and the amazing Napoleon Dynamite singlet she made for me;
Reasons to Believe #4: Killer Dance Moves

I have many leather-bound books and my apartment smells of rich mahogany...

2006-05-29T20:54:00.000+10:00

In my previous entries I attempted to be witty by having the titles relate to the entry - obscure, but apparent nonetheless. I have now, however, run out of brain power to do so, and so the titles will simply be things I find amusing. In case you were wondering, the above quote is from Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy.

I unfortunately don't have a lot to write about this week because I spent much of last week at home (trying to save money) and in immense pain (because the wound from my wisdom tooth extraction got infected...ewww!). But I did manage to get out a bit, but without a camera, unfortunately.
Tuesday: I went to see "Crazy for You", the musical Jasen was in (who was awesome). Cherie set Carrie, Chris and I the challenge of trying to pick the only straight guy of the 10 dancing cowboys/chorus line. And we were all wrong. In all fairness, the straight one seemed VERY gay when performing; I decided he was over-compensating in order to fit in haha! Still, my gaydar is faulty.
Thursday: I got my first taste of America....at the US consulate general in St Kilda. I had to go there for stuff to do with my US visa. I heard a guy talking about a "ham and cheese sandwich", and in addition to making me feel hungry, I realised that it will probably be pretty easy to spot the Aussies in America once they open their mouths and complete ocker accents present themselves. "Throw another shrimp on the barbie mate!"
Friday: After battling the minimum charge at SukaRamai (Sid took one for Team Manda and had 2 dishes - thanks mate!), the crazy Flow kids kicked on to a dessert place in Box Hill, that I initially heard described as CRAPOLA. "That's not a very good name for a business", I thought. But no, the 'crap' part of the name was actually 'crepe', and crepes we did eat. Well, to be honest I had pancakes and other people had waffles and milkshakes. Oh well, close enough.
Saturday: Yet another long day at work, and then a big night out on the town for Pegs' farewell drinks at Bambu. After sitting around and being civilised for a few hours, we hit the dancefloor at what is now my favourite bar in Melbourne - The Purple Emerald. Let me just say, with free entry, a live band and a good crowd, Icon Bar can take it's $10 cover charge, dodgy music and trashbag teeny boppers and get stuffed! Interestingly enough, a dance-off occurred and a car got locked in a carpark, but it was a great night.
Sunday: A day of good food. I had lunch on Bridge Rd with Emma & Wudok, where I had a foccacia with turkey AND bacon. Double meat never fails to satisfy... :P
And in the night, an extremely awesome injection of Mexican food with Lucy in Parkdale, where I also got to check out her new digs...very cool!

It's only a week and half until I leave on my big adventure...I'm freaking out! Packing begins in the next couple of days, and I think that's when it will REALLY hit me.
I feel like this page will be boring without pictures, but I don't really have any except one that Bella took of us on Saturday night, so you'll have to put up with looking at my mug....again.

See you bye.

I glued my head to my shoulder...

2006-05-21T19:49:00.000+10:00

Last week was an extremely good week for me.
The week just past, however, decidedly...less...good.
Um, yeah. Ok, reasons;
1. In the last 10 days I've HAD to spend over $1000.
A lot of the mula went to the US consulate to pay for crappy visa issuance fees, as well as new tyres for my car, and $13 on stupid passport photos? it takes me almost an hour to earn that! damn you, kodak!!! Admitedly it's all stuff that I need in order to go on what is essentially a massive holiday, but still...it hurts to see my bank balance like that...
2. I went to a recording of Comedy Inc. at Channel 9, and sadly, it's not very funny. I recommend old school episodes of Full Frontal any day.
3. I got my lower right wisdom tooth extracted on Friday...
and now I'm Diddy. aka P. Diddy aka Puff Daddy aka Puffy. (I have a swollen cheek...if you didn't get the joke.) I also can't chew so eating is no longer enjoyable (shock horror) and laughing/smiling hurts. It's actually a pity I'm not very 'emo' at the moment - though it may seem it from this post, but I promise I've generally been in a good mood lately. Or else I could just frown and brood in silence.
4. The goodbyes have started for me.
Wednesday night was Katie and Jo's goodbye shindig at Bimbo's. (Definitely go try a $4 pizza there!) Hunnies I hope you're having an incredible time over in Japan...Nuhna, I'll miss your infectious laughter over the next 6 months, but I'll see you soon!

I'm pretty sure there's more to life than being really, really, ridiculously good looking

2006-05-14T22:36:00.000+10:00

I've spent the last few days catching up with some of the most awesome people ever. I also realised I have some really hot friends. This is not very helpful when I need a 'wingman', but gosh, darn, it makes my photos look rather nice.

Tuesday: Dinner with Krystin and Bec

Krystin took me cruising in her sexy new Jazz....aka Sherrin Snr.
MYAHOOOO!!!
Wednesday: Day Trip to Daylesford

Katie, Annabelle, Eddie & I indulged in some seriously good scones...
and also got a little batty during the car ride home.
Thursday: A mini vocal training session

May Yen, Emma, Anita & I spent more time laughing and attempting to breathe than we did singing...
Friday: Shopping in the city...unfortunately my Japanese tourist instinct was switched off that night.

Saturday: the big par-tay day.

Katie's 21st at the Melbourne Museum with fantastic food (meat!) ridiculous amounts of booze, lollies, cute waiters and my hot-ass MLCers
Next stop, Rissa's 21st, where the film nerds ran amuck with crazy dancing, posing and excessive photo taking...

The night ended with Ruth & I doing a 2:30am Maccas run, where she accused me of trying to pick up the guy at the drive-thru because I asked for sweet curry sauce with my nuggets. (Make of it what you will...)
Junk food at that stage of the night was McAwesome...until the grease settled and we had a meltdown

Sunday: A mad cap Fungus session, where I got unofficially adopted by the ultra cute Beatbouncr girls...

...and Jenny and I spent time posing like a certain someone that loves a certain someone... hahaha like it's not completely obvious anyway!

It was a good week.

I'm still getting used to blogging, and this post has taken me longer than expected.

Thanks for your comments, tags and emails, keep them coming!
See you bye.

Do you have a dorsal fin?

2006-05-09T23:24:00.001+10:00

Well, no. But apparently now I have a blog.

I never thought it would happen, but I am now the ultimate cybernerd, recently having fallen victim to both blogging and myspace! Despite losing some serious street cred (uh, with myself) I figure it's an easy way to keep everybody back home in the know of my antics over the other side of the world.

"Where are you going?" you ask. Well, you probably didn't ask but let's be hypothetical for a moment. I leave Melbourne on June 9 for Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania (On the eastern side of the United States, about 1.5 hours from New York) where I will work at the International Gymnastics Camp for 11 weeks as a camp photographer.
...AND THEN?!? (no and then! - wait, that's not true)
ok, actually, then I will spend roughly 2 months travelling around the US, Canada, Mexico and other parts of Central America. So here's to hoping I won't get any diseases or end up completely broke. But the latter is highly unlikely.

There's a possibility that I might have a goodbye event of some description, but it's all just rumblings for the moment. Watch this space for arrangements though, because I'd love to catch up with as many of you as possible. In the mean time, leave me a message, send me an email, text me, call me...say hello!

see you bye.