All Hallows Eve

And so it is now Halloween weekend, but I hadn't planned anything so I didn't bother getting a costume prepared or anything. On Friday night I had a few quiet ones with Zoe, Michael, Wiebke and Fredirika (Still don't know how to spell her name) at Zoe's apartment at which I was informed about a place called Argyle that was on the Rocks and they were having a Halloween party on Saturday. Now, I had work on Saturday and it was a pretty rubbish day. First of all just getting to work was an expensive nightmare, the trains were buggered to the point that I was 30 minutes late and had to pay $15 for a taxi. Then a few guys didn't turn up so the job itself was a pain in the arse and we didn't finish until 6. So chances of getting a proper costume were slim and I had to revert to my back-up costume idea that has never had to be use before... Buy some bandages and bog roll and mummify myself! Unfortunately that costume idea is really difficult to actually implement (even with the help of Matteo) so I opted for a back-up back-up plan!

Tadaaa... Kevin Bacon!

So that was that sorted, then it was a long queue at the Argyle as I was a little bit later than I'd hoped (Thanks again, work!) Zoe popped outside to 'see' me in the queue. I was surrounded by various people in various costumes including Charmander, a builder, a cat, Minnie Mouse, a pirate and a guy with a box on his head.... I later saw most of these guys inside so here's...

Box guy, who happened to be sexy, but he already knew that.

And I also found this guy.

Zoe herself had actually left by the time I got in, so I spent the remainder of the evening with Fredirika and her room/house/flat mates. The costume itself was a mild success with a few people wanting photos with me and in amongst the 'slutty <insert public service here>' and devil horns (not really a 'costume') it did look quite unique and caught the attention of a few people (one girl's breasts said it 'looked really creepy, oh wow I can't even see your eyes!') There were a few Dark Knight Jokers and a lot of vampires but only one Dark Man/Hollowman/Invisible Man/Man Without a Face (that I could see at least, maybe somebody had gone the extra mile with the idea)

Still, Batgirl seemed impressed

So in becoming anonymous I became slightly more interesting, which is interesting. On the way home I decided to take off my face as it was falling apart anyway, but it did last the night and it didn't need explaining as 'the invisible man' is a rarely used but easy to recognise costume, if it doesn't work you can just throw some fake blood on it and call yourself a 'burns victim'. But be prepared for people to bump into you and say 'oh sorry, I DIDN'T SEE YOU THERE! LOL!' which is a nice way to say 'I like that your costume has awoken my inner comedian and I acknowledge that I 'get' your costume'. So for those who are panicking over costume ideas next year, consider this an easy back up plan.

It's dangerous to go alone, take this...

Nights Out Can Be Contagious

Last night I was mildly peer pressured into going out for Sjerai's birthday, resulting in me being mildly hung over at work today. We all trotted of to World Bar after a few cheeky goons at the hostel and... well, my memory gets hazy soon after that, there was beer, dancing and I met some Aussie girl called 'Matilda' (She wasn't waltzing) who decided she 'really' liked me based on my accent alone, which was nice. But, as is customary with nights out, a camera or two were hovering around and so here are some of the less embarrassing moments captured on mine.

Spot the birthday girl...

All good fun, unlike the previous evening in which I (and a few hostellers) went to see Contagion. Those who have seen my Facebook status will know my opinion of the movie and all of the others in attendance were in agreement that Contagion was not the dramatic ride we were hoping for. Here's my review for those that didn't see it, also spoilers, not that that matters seeing as nothing much happens so there isn't much to spoil.

Just got back from Contagion, Plus points: Paltrow dies early on. Cons: IT'S SO BLOODY BORING! You remember how swine flu was boring and SARS didn't amount to anything? Well this movie is a dull as watching a documentary about how vaccines are made, because that's exactly what it is most of the time. After an hour or so it teases you into thinking something interesting will happen by showing some looting, military road blocks and fighting, but that dies down pretty quickly. Matt Damon sees flashes from gunshots being fired in a house, but that scene is only there to show that the 911 service doesn't work properly any more. When a main character died it provided as much impact as a grain of sand on a beach. And at the end of it all America saves the world and nothing happens for 20 minutes and roll credits. No twist, no thought provocation, just a message for chefs to wash their hands after touching raw meat.

Next week we're hoping to see 'In Time' in which Justin Timberlake pretends to be 25 and tries not to die because his watch runs out of battery power, or something?

I Walk Around In The Summertime Saying "How About This Heat?"

 Phew, it's been hot these last two days. Sunday I went to Coogee beach with Zoe and Michael and tested out my camera underwater...

Results were... murky.

I definitely need some practice.

It was a really nice day, and after a few hours of baking (yes I went a little bit pink) I headed back to the hostel and then went to a bar on William Street to watch the rugby final. France lost, so nothing new there, although many Aussies wanted the frogs to win, maybe they took advantage of the $9 odds being offered. Not exactly a good match for the neutral but the radio today seemed to be happy with the result as France are apparently 'the worst team to ever make it to a final'.

So that was Sunday, a nice easy day in the sun. Today it was back to work and in 34 degree heat, lifting boxes and filing cabinets isn't the best way to spend your time. Fortunately we were finished by about 1:30 so it wasn't too gruelling. And now I'm relaxing all cool, gotta do some laundry at some point, but that's boring so I'm instead looking at cars on Gumtree and listening to some Seasick Steve.

That's about it for now, hopefully I'll be cashing in my bowling birthday present this week!

Also a quick note to Dookie, keep your chin up and don't stop being awesome!

From Birthday To Barbecue

Wednesday was my (and Heidi Kovalinen's) birthday. I turned 26 and after work went to Moose in Newtown for some Sapporo and then onto Kelly's for karaoke. A small affair, but being 10,000 miles away from your buddies back home makes asking them to come to Newtown for a night out seem a bit silly. Still, Matteo, Zoe, Weibke and Frederica (I have no idea how that's spelt and spell-check seems to have a problem with most of these names) were in attendance as I kept with the tradition of getting slightly rat arsed on one's birthday. I would like to take a moment to thank the lovelly Scottish bar maid in Moose for the free 'birthday sambucca', t'was much appreciated and the next morning was on the receiving end of being blamed for my hangover...

My hangover had nothing to do with the gallon of Sopporo, as Sopporo is delicious and  wonderful and can do no wrong!

Even Wiebke loved it!

As Moose closed for the night we were on our way and off to grace Kelly's with our presence (see what I did there?). Karaoke was on, as was the beer and after I put my name down for a rocking classic by a rocking band we kept the beer a'flowing.

3 guesses as to which rocking band it was...

Sadly I didn't get to sing about Rosie as the dick with the laptop decided he'd let his tone deaf friends go before anybody else. Of course it was an annoyance, but we still had a laugh regardless thanks to some interesting song choices. Matteo had to leave a little earlier as he was working the next day and the rest of us were only a few hours behind him... I think?

Copy/Paste is a wonderful tool for the modern lyricist.

'Carry On Rasputin' wasn't the funniest of the series.

And that was about it, a rather nice time with some rather nice people and a desire to definitely get up and belt out 'Whole Lotta Rosie' when the opportunity arises, I also have to pick a day to go bowling as my buddies organised a special birthday bowling thingy, but left the date open for me to decide, which is nice.

Thursday I was properly hung over (That one sambucca! Curse that Scottish temptress!) and did nothing until about 4PM at which point I walked downstairs to cook something... Nah... off to Hungry Jacks for a Whopper meal! I then returned to the hostel, got reminded by a bunch of other hostel dwellers that I was now 26, which means I'm I'm only 4 away from 30 yakedy yakedy blah blah blah, I then stumbled up to bed and stayed there until work the next morning.

Yep, worked on Friday, but I have also come to the conclusion that I am not really saving enough for a car quickly enough, so a new plan may be in order. I figured the best option was to work more and save more so I took Saturday off to have some fun at a barbecue, because work sucks and the car can wait! I went to Zoe's do at her apartment building, met a few familiar faces that I hadn't seen for a little while, had some kangaroo burgers and drank some XXXX which had a nice name for all those back home...

It's pretty much summer here, which season is it back home? I forget...

I also got to meet Michael, Zoe's boyfriend, from Germany for the first time since his arrival,

Aww, aint they sweet?

It was a really chilled out gathering, plus we got some free entertainment in the form of some Taiwanese folks singing with a guitar...

Maybe 'singing' isn't the most accurate word?

We ate, dozed in the sun, played with a helium balloon and before too long we said farewell, not a bad way to spend a day off work.

Have fun with your jumpers and heavy coats!

Here's a few more pics taken during my walk back to Woolloomooloo this afternoon as I continued to test my fancy pants underwater camera on land. Maybe I should go to the beach tomorrow to test it underwater for a change...?

St. Mary's is looking rather splendid

A shot of Town Hall

And Zoe's apartment, or at least the building it is in, as viewed from the barbecue area.

Foreign Chants and Summer Starts

Yep, it appears Summer is poking her shiny little face from behind the tail of Winter, at least she did on Sunday, but it wouldn’t be right to start a blog post without having a giggle at the French.

Saturday Matteo and I went to Darling Harbour to watch the Wales France game with a bunch of others from the hostel. There was quite a crowd there which was good, until some girls in bright yellow ‘DHL’ shirts started handing out those awful inflatable tubes that are supposed to replace the simple act of ‘clapping’. The plastic tubes made an awful racket at first, but the crowd soon grew tired of the barrage of what sounded like a cheap plastic drum kit and in the moments that passed soon after it became apparent that the crowd was mostly made up of French types!

Now, I don’t mind French people, in fact most of the French people I have met so far have been a good laugh, however I cannot help but feel like I’ve been cheated into believing French is somehow a romantic language. You haven’t heard French until you’ve heard a large gathering of French people watching an international match, if you are struggling to imagine what it must sound like I have made up a little pictorial example of the image that came to mind on Saturday...

So France won and seemed quite happy about it. After the match I was très fatigue but was convinced by Nils, Matteo and Pauline to go to a quite spot and drink beer. Needless to say I was easily convinced. So we went and had a few sneaky ones before walking all the way back to the hostel because we were all off to the beach on Sunday!

I can do art I can!

The view from the 'quiet spot'

And it’s here that I felt that summer was well and truly on the way as the 30oC sun beat down onto Manly without a single cloud materialising. I don’t need to tell you what it’s like to be on a beach in the blazing sunshine, as I’m sure many of you readers have fond memories of those few days of sun you had a couple of months ago, so here’s some photos, each worth 1000 words apparently.

Shelly Beach

'Matteo' is Italian for 'messiah'

After the beach a few of us went for something to eat and drink and we were massively entertained by the brutal onslaught laid on the Aussies by the Kiwis. Seriously, the whole bar was up for an even match up between the world’s top union teams and then... silence... New Zealand came on stronger than a girl suffering a ‘heavy flow’, but without the mood swings.

New Zealand had one mood : Kill! 

Back to the hostel via the ferry and work on Monday, oh joy of joys.

After a relatively easy day at work I was still very tired, but got convinced (peer pressure is a bitch) to go to a boat party! Oh yeah! I’m on a boat.... oh... nope, didn’t exist as it was the day before. Oh well, I still went out to Shady Pines (only a 45 minute walk from Circular Quay) for a few brews and peanuts.

I only had a few ales...

The cow was not impressed...

Then I went back to the hostel, as staying sensible was the only option when another day of work loomed, but I need to rack up those dollars if I want to get a car, which seems like an impossible dream.

An impossible dream can also be an awesome dream!

And now it’s Tuesday, tomorrow is Wednesday 19th October, which is significant in some way... I think it has something to do with a birthday...? Yep, it’s Heikki Kovalainen’s birthday tomorrow!

Happy Forehead to yooooooooou!

Adios Jose, Hola New Camera and a Challenge Appears!

Today I took my waterproof camera out for a spin (on dry land), bought some socks and that was about it. So here's a few snaps from the camera that will eventually film sharks, bungee jumps, sky dives and off road action (maybe).

I also set myself a small ongoing challenge to find as many popular cartoon characters as possible in the wilds of Australia, so here's a run down of what I'm looking for...

Nutsy is into some weird stuff... (Koala)










Kanga and Roo discuss Royston Vasey (Kangaroo and Joey)

Does wumpa fruit exist? (Bandicoot)

One of the crime busters of the sea, as I'm not sure what a 'George' is (Pink Deformed Shark With A Yellow Hat)

Taz! To think I almost forgot about him! No doubt the real thing looks exactly like this. (Tazmanian Devil)

That ought to do for now.











Also a quick note to bid farewell to Jose, who leaves for Melbourne today, plus a big sarcastic 'thank you' for introducing me to an awful song, seriously, people like this?

Take it easy in Melbourne and don't play too much ping pong, because you suck at it, haa!

A Night at the Cross and Car Shopping

Yes the title says 'car shopping'. I went to look at a car today, but more about that later.
Last night was Saturday night, so after a 10 hour day at work I saw England let the French win something because they realised it must suck being French all the time, so we let them have a little confidence booster. Later the 311 (eventually) walked up to Kings Cross to go to The Cross Hotel. I hadn't been there before, which is odd because it's actually kind of good. Balconies and dance floors spread out over 5 floors and $6 Heinekens. One thing that did seem odd was when the DJ played 'Bonkers' the floor seemed to empty, very strange. So we drank and danced, walked around the street of sin and after not finding anything better we returned to the Cross Hotel (after ice cream) to see out the evening.

Nothing like 'The Cross' on a Saturday, much like how there is nothing like a herpes diagnosis on your birthday.

Jose 'really' likes ice cream

The 311's current line up

A drunken evening results in a morning of hang overs and hazy memories, but that didn't stop me going to a certain bar on Darling Harbour to hand in a CV (or resume, depending on where you live) thanks to a tip off from Jena, who will receive a cupcake if I get the job and not one of those lame 'mini' cupcakes from Starbucks, I'm talking a full on cupcake at least two times as big as a mini cupcake!

This woman has really tiny hands.

After handing in my CV I strolled over to Broadway to meet Zoe and Wiebke. Zoe was buying stuff for the room she's just moved to and Wiebke had to leave after about 10 minutes because she's a student and apparently students have to do work, it seems a lot has changed since I was a student.

Pictured: Studying

Zoe's new place is pretty cool, the view alone is interesting enough.

But of course you have been reading this whole time thinking about 'cars'. I looked at one and I took it for a test drive. It was a Toyota Landcruiser with a short wheel base, snorkel and personalised plate but it was a bit smaller than I had hoped, plus it barely moved, not a good example...

I'll have to keep looking but at least I know that GumTree ads are not very honest...

The ad said it was red!