Saturday, October 28, 2006

Tonight, Starlight

We stood around the fire underneath the magnificent stars. I wanted to kick the deep glowing red of the steel drum. Listening to Black Holes and Revelations under the open sky with a beer in hand just made it perfect.

Wednesday, October 25, 2006

My Liver Hates Me, I Quash Its Protests



My blog has been all boring text for ages, so here's a pretty picture of Southbank at night to celebrate the fact that I returned home to Melbourne for the weekend. Yes? Yes.

As you may have come to expect from me, I did go out drinking at least two of the nights that I was in town, and it was damn good. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

Saturday: I arrived in Melbourne on the train, (1.5 hours) which finally replaced the bus (4.2 hours) and is now all fast and shiny. I had a little squeee as we went past Festi Hall, as it is the future site of the Muse concert in January. I jumped on a tram (which I got excited about) and headed back to Brunswick Road. It was so perfectly the same that I bounced all the way there, and when I arrived, I was immediately hugged by everyone. Well, James and Erika and Kate, who were home. I gave them their I heart NY t-shirts, and we amused ourselves by 'accidently' putting Erika's onto Sean's bed for him to come home to. When he later put it on, he refused to show anyone, and put on an ugly jacket to hide it. Mwahaha.

So, Shane and Age (Shage! Yay!) came over! It was so bloody fantastic to see them! I was jumping around like mad at this stage. Literally bouncing. By god, was it good to be home. And the funny thing is, there are still magnets on the fridge from when I left, random postcards from me and odd items like the big purple pasta strainer thing that are just home.

We went and grabbed pizza for dinner when Sean turned up and the boys went to fetch vodka and tequila. See? We lined our stomachs, good us. We had pizza on the loungroom floor in true Brunny Road style, and knocked back a few Tequila 'Bus Crashes'. Oh, that just made me think of Veronica Mars. Anyway, Shane has thesis duties and Age had work to do, so they left fairly early. So very good to see them, though.

We then decided that heading into the city would be a bad idea with the races on (impossible to get a cab home in the rush) so we jumped into a cab to Brunswick Street. We went to some random bar near Barry's and had a drink, and froze. Oh yes, and Alex was with us, but he left to go to someone's party. We then tried Caz Reitops's (where we had Eck and my 21st) but there was a private party, so we gave in to cover charges and hit Barry's. (The link makes it look worse than it is.) I was lagging at this point, so we had some Red Bull. I perked up in about a second. That'll teach me for not drinking coffee. It was filled with pissed 30-year-olds (not that that's a bad thing, Rian, before you say anything) who were still in Fascinators and Heels and bopping around with their ocker blokes. I think Q&A night is better, actually. But, anyway, we had a great time drinking and dancing and having fun. Eventually we headed home around 3 and crashed.

Sunday: I woke up fairly late and ended up having a movie day with James. We stole the Fantastic Four from Kate's Amazing DVD Library and had a cup of tea. Then I thought I might test out VM2 on their DVD player, and whaddya know, it worked. So James got thrown into S2 and I happily watched everything unfold with rapid commentary. ('He's her ex-boyfriend, but now he's seeing that blonde chick whose father... yeah, anyway, he's creamy goodness inside but covered in bullshit chocolate... or something... damn, I wish I could message the UK at this hour...') We ended up watching a good eight or ten episodes. Bloody good effort. James is now hooked. I promised him S1 even though the whole thing has been well and truly spoiled.

Fish and chips for dinner and dagging around with Erika and Alex followed, and then I once more crashed in Leigh's bed, but not before finishing off Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman. Damn, he's good. Oh, I had a whole lot of writing inspiration bubbling around in my head while I was in Melbourne. It felt good.

Monday, Monday: Oho, that was a big one. What did we do during the day? I can't remember... Oh yes, I was supposedly organising myself, but I just ended up wandering the city and buying comic books in Minotaur (they have that Orson Scott Card Iron Man series... me wanty). I really didn't need the latest Wolverine, but I couldn't resist Front Line 7. Ah, so good. Love it. I ran into Aggie from work in HMV and I hung out with her for a bit before making my way to James's lab. I know he's a scientist, but I never see him in there, so it was sort of weird. Lots of things that could potentially go boom. I wore safety glasses and looked like teh hotness.

James and I swung by Darrel Lea and picked up Eck and then we walked to Auto... where the crowd went wild. That was my rock star moment. So many people lit up with excitement and gave me huge hugs and bounced like mad. Ah, it was great. Josh said 'Welcome home!' and you know, Auto is like another home. I seem to collect them, actually. But it's people, not places, and by bob, was it good to see Auto people. Stan went nuts and I got the best hugs ever from Iggy. Ah, Auto.

We ate so much pizza and drank so much cheap beer. Hey, $2 pots of Kirin is a sweet, sweet deal. Leigh rocked up and had a few and then left early with Eck to go and do homework, leaving James and I to our own sordid devices. We moved onto the bar to free the table and had a whole lot of free drinks. Eventually we moved to the staff table and continued to drink and meet cool new people until the restaurant was well and truly closed and Josh shooed us out of there. James and I went home via a dodgy backpacker's and we sat on the letterbox talking crap for about an hour and a half. Then I crashed on James and Sean's couch. A bloody cold night, too. Brrr.

Tuesday: Sick as a dog. I slept late accidently and hauled myself into the city at about 1 to meet Cherry with Leigh. That was great! So fantastic seeing her again! Pity we couldn't stay long, but I had to meet Shane. I did detour for some Teriyaki Chicken Sushi Handrolls (thank bob) which I've been craving for the last six months. I met Shane and Jade and we organised ourselves for the show.

The radio was great, actually, even though I was dying of nerves at being back on after so long. No mistakes, and we seem to work well as a team. I also met the newsreader (Lisa?) who was cool. So, looking forward to next week! (4-6 Tuesdays, for those of you playing at home.) Following radio, Shane and I caught the train and I had dinner with the boys. They make awesome stir-fry, oh yes. I then went and worked on the application for the publishing job. Bed soon followed.

Wednesday: Got up hellishly early and had a cuppa with the boys before they all left for various workplaces and labs and left me to my own devices. I showered and cleaned up and had some toast... well, that's boring... Anyway, I met Erika in the city and had lunch and then caught the train home.

And now I'm back in the country again, and I realise that I really need a job. To Seek, to apply for things! Mush!

Saturday, October 21, 2006

She's Not Dead

I say that I'm not dead, but we shall see... this weekend has been set aside to catch up with Erika and Sean and James! So yes, I may actually party so much that my body cannot take the strain...

I've been extremely slack with writing on here, mostly because I've been sleeping, walking around looking vague and being well and truly looked after by Mum. I swear, every five minutes, she's making me a cuppa or asking me what I want for dinner, or organising things that I've left around the house... Being home is the best thing ever! I have my Mum back!

So, yesterday I went to Bendigo to jump through a Centrelink hoop, which may actually be better than I thought. Seems like there are plenty of jobs out there that I can do, actually... Which would be excellent, because I don't really want to spend the entire summer in Automatic. As much as I love the people, it killed me last summer.

Ah yes! And I found the Muse DVD! So very stoked about that. Yay. And my brother built me the most amazing pretty bookshelf! It's so utterly lovely! What a perfect birthday present.

So! This weekend is a being back in Melbourne weekend. Hooray! (Melbourne people, do email me or message me if you want to do something? Yes? You could even ring my old home number, and Erika will probably pick up. I shouldn't be far away, however!)

I'm back! Hooray! And even, you know, getting over the lag! Yay.

Wednesday, October 18, 2006

Home!

The first thing I saw when I walked through the gates at the airport was Mum snorting coffee out of her nose as she saw me. That, and the hand-painted pillowcase reading 'Welcome Home Emma!'

I love my Mum. *beams*

I've been walking around all day on a complete high. I'm home and I'm safe and I have my own room and clean clothes and home cooking and...

I think I've hit a wall, though. I'm going to go and get into my very own bed and crash.

I'll update on the flight adventure tomorrow.

*falls asleep at the computer*

Sunday, October 15, 2006

Northies

So last night I was dragged out on the hostel Pub Crawl and got very, very drunk. Hooray! The three cool girls in my room convinced me to have some fun, so we walked around to 5 or so bars in Hollywood. Alas, no Drew Barrymore to stalk, but we did have a bloody good (and cheap!) time. And then came back to the bar in the hostel and had dollar Coronas.

Also, they accidently played Muse for about an hour. Woo!

(I'm really hung over, though... Urk...)

Friday, October 13, 2006

Yet More America Stuff

I've been a terrible blogger. I actually even had an email telling me off for not recording any adventure... Sorry!

What's new, then? I'm in a hostel in LA, with two days to fill before I fly all the way home by the most complicated route possible. Q has just been shuttled to the airport, and I'm using computer minutes that someone left at the front desk. Nice.

Tell you what, it's amazing how many emails I'm getting. They're really rather astounding. Aren't I the popular one?

So! LA. We've been to Universal Studios two days in a row (Shane, if you're reading this, yes, I went into mostly-lame Van Helsing castle and was scared by the werewolf) and have managed to hit pretty much all of the rides twice. Favourites were the Back to the Future ride (massive curved screen, motion simulators and tiny Asians screaming next to you) and the Mummy ride (coaster in the dark and then backwards again). I had my picture taken with Spidey (thwipp!) as well as the Green Goblin, Captain America, Wolverine (Marvel standard version, not film version, sad to say) and Storm, who ran in at the last minute.

The hostel is pretty good so far, aside from weird people in my room who won't even respond to friendly little smiles and nods when I walk into the room. They just sit there, pretending I don't exist... But there's a lounge (dollar Coronas, hell yes) with a huge TV and a free comedy show last night. Plus accents. Oh, the accents. Irish is still my favourite. I was heartily embarrassed by an idiot from Adelaide and Q yelled 'Sandgropers!' at a trio of Perthians who, I swear to bob, sounded exactly like Jes. I told you that you have an accent, missy.

What else? Q has just left, so I'm fending for myself. I had a photo taken of me crouching next to Drew Barrymore's star on the Walk of Fame. Hollywood Boulevard (literally half a block north) is full of tourists looking faintly baffled and homeless people leering at them. Oh, and t-shirt shops. And churches of Scientology. Hmmm.

Oh! There is a guy who works here who looks EXACTLY like the lovechild of Jack Sparrow (Captain Jack Sparrow) and Will Turner. It's like they finally had all that manlove, and he was the result. He has tatts and dreads, and oh, we have a photo. I will post as soon as I can. Seriously, put a red bandana on him and some eye-liner, and he's the lovechild of so very many fantasies...

Right. I'm home soon! And I miss everyone! There will be a piss-up when I get home, no doubt about it. I'm thinking the Saturday after I get home, and will be staying with Sean and James. So yes, put on your drinking shoes and I'll see you soon!

Sunday, October 08, 2006

America and Stuff

It's about bloody time I wrote an update. For those of you not stalking me obsessively, I'm currently in Spokane (which I discovered is pronounced 'Spo-can') staying with the wonderful Rian. Hooray! Q and I have been spoiled ever so much since we arrived all sleepy and grumpy and sick of planes on Wednesday night.

She's put us up in the in-law's place a couple of streets down, as they are away on holiday, and don't mind weird people from the internet staying over. The place is bloody massive. Q and I have AN ENTIRE FLOOR each. I'm upstairs with my own bathroom and a couple of TVs (they have one in pretty much every single room) and Q is downstairs with the kitchen etc. King-sized bed for her. Oh my, are we going to weep when we have to go back to skinny hostel matresses again. (Seriously, the hostel in Boston had such rickety frames that we thought we were going to shift in our sleep and collapse the fucker and kill each other.)

Last night we got rather drunk and ate the stir-fry that Q and I made (Rian has been taking us out for food because she canna cook, so we owe her) and watched a certain episode of Buffy. Rian didn't flee in horror, I was shocked. After that, I went upstairs and watched Veronica Mars (S2) while Q drooled over the new season of Battlestar Galactica that just came out here.

Today we went to Idaho, quite randomly. We had lunch in a spiffy hotel and then walked around the lake. What lake? No idea. One that is in Idaho, obviously. I gave Aidan a shoulder-ride when he got tired and grumpy, and he kept twisting my head around to steer me. I've always wanted to be a pack donkey... Nah, it was cool. The kids are adorable.

Oh yes, I forgot to mention the dessert at the fancy restaurant. The dessert menu had a massive chalice (yeah, that's about the right word, seriously) on the front of it filled with whipped cream and chocolate cake mixture ice-cream and nuts and everything. It looked delicious until I saw that the text saying 'Actual size.' It was AS BIG AS MY HEAD. I know everything is bigger in America, but come on, people!

Tonight we're heading to the very pretend Australian themed 'Outback Steakhouse.' I wonder if they'll try to do our accents?

Wednesday, October 04, 2006

From Heather's Place

Not much to say, just wanted everyone to know that I'm still alive... We're in Youngstown, of course, having left Boston on Monday morning. Onto Spokane tomorrow! Hoorah!

I should really go downstairs and stop being an anti-social slag... but Heather just came upstairs with a plate of food and stuff. So I shall possibly stay here for a moment.

I will post photos when I get the chance, but I'm not sure if I can... I just got given a proscuitto-wrapped sundried tomato thingy and went mmmmmm. More food! (Heather cooks like a champion.) Oh yeah, and did you know that Youngstown is a mob town? No pissing off people called Fat Tony or Legs.

I wrote a little poem last night, and I think I like it... What do you think?

heave a fever
manipulate my
honey tongue