A bit of luck

Though my life has been fairly un-blog-worthy for the past few weeks, the weekend brought a wonderful story.  My friend Gabby had her boyfriend in town and recruited me to be their travel guide up Mt. Kierra. I had hiked it twice so I was the American expert.  The walk up went smoothly, and a good workout was achieved.  As we were cascading down the mountain, I took a step and heard a shrill.  Mike, the boyfriend, grabbed his girlfriend and jumped backward.  I looked down and saw a pissed off snake, standing straight up.  This thing was mean.  It charged at us and struck left and right.  We grabbed some sticks and poked at it a bit as we went around at a good distance.  Given its dark color and extreme aggressiveness, I'm pretty sure it was a brown snake.  Now a brown snake will kill you in 30 minutes if you don't get anti-venom.  That means that I'm one lucky son of a bitch.  I tip my hat off to Mike for grabbing Gabby, and I look down upon myself for being a dumb ass and not seeing the thing myself.  Well I guess Australia really does have poisonous creatures.  Can't wait to hike Kierra again!

Bad Luck/Dream

Sunday I decided to go for a hike up Mt. Kierra.  It's the local "mountain" but is more of a hill.  After getting to the top I decided to meander around for a bit, seeing if I could find anything cool.  As I was climbing down a slanted rock wall, I slipped on some wet moss that covered the slab.  I lashed out for the nearest tree.  Wrong tree.  I removed my hand to find it covered in thorns.  Now my hand has chicken pox and 20 splinters.  Lucky Day.

Dead asleep I laid, dreaming of something horrible.  I can't tell you what it was about , but this must have been the first nightmare I have had in years.  My eyes shot open.  Wide awake my heart pounded, no it was more than that.  It felt like there was a jackhammer in my chest, hammering away at my rib cage.  My hands lurched toward the excruciating pain.  Back and forth I rolled waiting for this pseudo-heart attack to end.  "Breath slowly, deep breaths," I thought.  I have to lower my heart rate.  "In and out, in and out."  Then nothing.  From fears of death, to frustration for being up at 3:30 in the fucking morning, and back to sleep in an instant.  The morning came and I asked myself if that really happened, or if the whole thing was all a dream.  A pain lingered in my chest.  Confirmed.  Nightmares suck.

Bus Stop Blues

Everyday around 5:30 endless crowds form at the Uni bus stop.  The majority of them are looking for the C bus, including myself.  As soon as one of those babies comes into sight, the race is on.  The hordes move like crashing waves towards the approaching vessel.  Here all personal boundaries are broken.  Feet are stepped on, girls are pushed, and backpacks are used as blunt objects in second degree assaults.  I bet this is the best part of the day for the bus drivers.  They get to choose whatever spot they please, only to watch the ensuing battle.  Often times they will pull over 25 meters short of the stop and enjoy the mad dash for the door.  Of course things change when people get on the bus.  It's as if they're on vacation.  They sit wherever they want, making sure not to be too close to everyone else.  As soon as the seats are taken, instead of pushing to the back, the aisle will fill about half way from the back.  The front gets jammed with people, while the back stays cool and open with space for a hammock and a bar.  The bus often pulls away when no inch of space is left in the front, leaving dozens of long faces in the dust, while the people in the back stretch their legs and relax for the upcoming ride.  It's a cruel world we live in, but that's how the bus stop works.  Sad but true.  Those people just better hope I'm not that long face left behind.  Otherwise....Oh it's on.

PG Language dedicated to Pattie Danford.

The Movies

Well, as the breaks have finally come to an end I have been continuously reminded of why I am here. My education.  It seems that my assignments, as well as everyone else's, are all due very soon.  This is becoming a big problem since my motivational tank is on E.  I have receiving a few grades so far and I find myself not looking at the overall percent, but how far above the 50% mark I am.  All I have to say is if it wasn't pass fail down here, I would be in a very bad place.  Really though, with classes like Dreams in Literature, what do you expect?

Since everyone is doing work nothing much has been going on.  Next weekend I plan to go to Sydney for a night on the town and I am looking into taking a trip down to Melbourne for the study recess (God knows I wouldn't actually use the break to study).

One thing I can comment on is my recent trip to the movies.  Last night I went to go see the movie Thor with some friends.  In my opinion, crap movie.  Skip it.  The real experience came in the movie theatre.  We entered the movie theatre looking to buy our tickets, however there was no booth or sales desk that you usually buy your tickets at.  Instead we bought them at the concession stand....for $15.50, ouch.  Jacob made the mistake of purchasing a medium drink and a small bag of skittles....26.50.  We then made our way to the screening room.  In the distance, past a 12 foot blank space of carpet, there was a small theatre screen.  As usual, we made our way higher up to avoid neck damage (plus the seats up close smelled like crap).  As I plopped down in my sticky, cracked pleather, covered in popcorn seat I peered at the screen in the distance.  Good thing I wore my glasses.  That bitch was far.  All around the place was littered with food and candy bags.  At least these seats smelled better.  I soon settled in to what would be a typical hero film.  At least Natalie Portman is gorgeous.  I left the theatre in need of a shower, but at least I was in good company.  I'll be skipping the next trip to that shit hole.  AMC 24, I took you for advantage.  You are the grey goose of movie theaters, and I just had a taste Mcormick's.  How I miss you.

ANZAC Day

April 25th is Anzac Day in Australia.  This is where they celebrate their alliance with New Zealand, but it has turned into celebrating and remembering everyone that has served in the military.  Its just like Veterans Day, but way more intense.  There is a parade all day in Sydney and services everywhere.  Our plan was to wake up for the dawn service.  My alarm rang at 4:30 am and I rolled out of bed.  Outside it was pouring rain.  I bundled up in a bunch of layers, headed for the door, got a text saying no way (Australians are soft), and reversed right back to bed.  I awoke again at 9 and headed to meet up with everyone.  We made a big breakfast and then.....started drinking.  See people here like to remember those who have served while they get hammered and forget their day.  It's a beautiful thing.  By noon everyone was drunk and ready to go.  I neglected to mention the best part about Anzac day.  That is 2-up.  A gambling game that is legal one day of the year.  Off to North Gong Pub we went.  Through the rain and cold we trekked.  Upon arrival hordes of people surrounded a 8' by 8' piece of carpet taped to the ground in the outside portion of the pub.  Everyone was holding up money, shouting, shaking hands, cursing, and drinking.  It was fucking intense.  I wanted in.  The game is simple.  Three coins are placed on a paddle.  Bets are made between two people, one choosing heads and the other tails.  One of them holds the money.  That's some serious trust.  Australia at its finest.  The flipper throws the coins up and the winner is the one who guessed if there would be more heads or tails.  The money is then given to the winner and a hand shake is made (in most cases).  50-50 odds.  Doesn't get much better than that.  I jumped right in.  There is no strategy to the game.  With nothing but luck people were making giant bets.  The highest I heard was $200. Are you kidding?! $200!!!  These people weren't messing around.  I watched for a bit then made my move.  I went up and down for a bit but came out $15 on top.  Solid.  Now I have nothing bad to say about the game.  Some of my friends weren't so lucky.  Take Wado for example.  $75....down.  Ouch.  Solid playing mate.  By the time we left the pub it felt like we had been there for hours.  I got home and was ready for bed...It was 7 p.m.  What a day.

Big Red

 A horrible idea

The five

Big Red - 45 feet or so

Gainer

 It didn't end well

All four!

Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sj-sv19Jo88

Again I must apologize for slacking on my blog.  This week has gone been a blur.

Tuesday.  Tuesday was yet another successful family dinner.  We have had steak, chicken roll-ups, mexican, breakfast, and chicken salad.  This week was pizza.  Delicious.  We had about eight pizzas of different toppings along with pigs in a blanket.  Every one was again stuffed to the brim and happy.  Great for our minds and harsh on our waist lines.

Wednesday.  Oh Wednesday.  The plan: Go to the ABC (Anything But Clothes for the older audiences) held at Ivory.  We dressed up as picnic baskets and did the usual pre-drinking.  Wild Card:  A beer bong was also constructed since we were out getting costumes and drove by the hardware store.  This, in combination of a strong bucket of punch, led to the obliteration of our livers.  One by one beer bongs were done and the bucket o' punch (4 bottles of champagne, bottle of vodka, goon, and juice) soon dwindled down to nothing.  Onto the bus.  First we lost Bee Bee and Connie.  The punch was too much.  Understandable.  We saw them off in a cab and then continued our voyage to Ivory.  Destination reached.  A peek into the window yielded some horrifying news.  The place was dead.  We glanced into each others eyes, shed the costumes ($10 down the drain), and headed to the always reliable Grand.  There the night went on as planned with no need for the purchase of additional drinks.  Anthea can vouch for this comment.  Later on we decided to go to McDonalds.  Gross I know.  However, they have 50 cent ice cream cones.  On the way Izzy cut her foot on some glass (Girls and their heels, they look for any chance to take them off).  What came out of this was probably the longest piggy back ride of all time.  No easy feat when the girl on your back is literally dead weight because she is hammered and not helping out at all.  We made it and the rest of the night was great.

Thursday.  I was hungover and I didn't want to do anything.  This didn't last.  Everyone was forced to go out.  When we got to town my jaw dropped.  Every single bar had about an hour long line out the front.  Apparently everyone in the city of Wollongong decided to go out that night.  We skipped the bars and got kebabs instead, stopped at a house party (where a kid ate the scorpion at the bottom of a tequila bottle), and headed home.  Nothing exciting.

Saturday.  Saturday we again headed to Nowra for a stay with the Jirgens family.  I love that place.  The exact house I want to live in when I'm older with its victorian design and huge garden.  We received the gift of another amazing home made meal, warm bed, and love.

Today I awoke the the best coffee I have had in Australia.  Thanks Margie.  We chilled for a bit then, after some convincing from me, headed to big red.  Its about a 50 foot cliff jump into the big river.  It's about five minutes from their house.  God I want to live there.  The jumps were great.  We did a 27 foot or so jump (little red) and the big red jump.  I over rotated a back flip off the little one and am currently watching the bruise form on my ribs.  I wasn't about to try that off that big one.  I'll post some pictures and a video soon.  It was the perfect end to another good weekend.

Oh wait, I still have two days off (making it a five day weekend).  Didn't I just have a week off?  That's right..... I love Australia.

Ouch

I figured it would be a nice little Sunday.  Most everyone had returned from vacation so the plan was to head to Abbey's Pub for the night.  Everything was going smoothly.  Typical evening: drinking, dancing, spending money.  The usual.  As I headed to the bathroom I witnessed a dude being thrown out of the bar.  Hilarious.  This guy was doing his best to get away but he was in a vice grip consisting of four huge dudes.  Sorry Charlie.  After a quick laugh I continued my voyage to the bathroom.  I stepped through the door and fumes of sweat and piss crawled up my nostrils.  I did what I had come to do and then went to wash my hands.  There I ran into a buddy, Cal, that I hadn't seen in a while.  We chatted for a sec then another buddy, Mitch, stepped into the room.  Now Mitch was a little more intoxicated than the rest of us.  He was unaware of the thin film of dirt and water that covered the tile floor.  All the sudden he was horizontal in the air and face planted onto the tile.  Cal and I looked at each other with a look of astonishment.  Mitch then sprang back up but he was holding his mouth.  A move of his hand revealed a large chip out of his two front teeth.  Holy Shit that had to hurt.  He went on to ask us what he should do.  I told him to quit looking for his teeth, have a fun night, and go see the dentist tomorrow.  I have learned from experience that there is really nothing else you can do.  The night was pretty bland after this.  Well kids what did we learn today?  Alcohol has an effect on your coordination and can often result in falling.  Be careful out there.