I've got my spine, I've got my orange crush...

Song: "Orange Crush" covered by Editors originally by R.E.M.

Date: May 26th

Today was an interesting evening. Class was not worth writing about exactly.

But in the evening, I was invited to go to my new friend Kait's birthday celebration at Pancakes on the Rocks, which I was super excited about because I hadn't been there before. I had some sort of delicious chocolate strawberry pancake thing. It was so good. I got there early and waited for the rest of the party. Two other guests also went to Macquarie (the rest were at UNSW) and we all were headed to Scruffy Murphy's after the dinner so we decided to walk together.

It also was the kickoff to Luminous festival in Sydney and the harbor was all lit up as we walked out of Pancakes. The modern art building and the opera house were all sorts of colorful. My opera house pictures were terrible, but these turned out ok.

From Pancakes on the Rocks, Eskimo Joe and Scruffy's

From Pancakes on the Rocks, Eskimo Joe and Scruffy's

From Pancakes on the Rocks, Eskimo Joe and Scruffy's

Also in the harbour were lights that you could turn on by riding on a stationary bicycle. The group rode them and it was fun. The people organizing the event gave us glow stick bracelets for doing it. They were sweet.

From Pancakes on the Rocks, Eskimo Joe and Scruffy's

The two girls from Macquarie, Yu-Han and Pang, and I split up with the group at the train station and started walking toward Scruffy's. On the way, we passed the Apple building and saw that something was going on. The three of us asked what was going on and found out that Eskimo Joe was playing a free concert in 20 minutes and we were able to go watch it. Great timing. They also gave us a cool lanyard.

From Pancakes on the Rocks, Eskimo Joe and Scruffy's

We were up on a balcony, but it was still decent. Here's a shot of the stage from our first spot:

From Pancakes on the Rocks, Eskimo Joe and Scruffy's

Here's me all excited about the free concert:

From Pancakes on the Rocks, Eskimo Joe and Scruffy's

From Pancakes on the Rocks, Eskimo Joe and Scruffy's

Eskimo Joe!:

From Pancakes on the Rocks, Eskimo Joe and Scruffy's

From Pancakes on the Rocks, Eskimo Joe and Scruffy's

The concert was awesome considering it cost no money and we just happened across it. But we did finally make it to Scruffy's where we had a great time.

Oh the band. I miss them and their early 90's and Kings of Leon covers.

From Pancakes on the Rocks, Eskimo Joe and Scruffy's

Yu-Han, Pang and I met up with Tara and Tara and a whole bunch of others, Bobby and his brother, other visiting friends, and it was amazing.

My face looks weird, but this is a great picture:

From Pancakes on the Rocks, Eskimo Joe and Scruffy's

No clue who those guys are in the back...

From Pancakes on the Rocks, Eskimo Joe and Scruffy's

It was a great time. You know it's a good night when you get into your bedroom with the help of your glow stick bracelet. Free glow stick bracelet...even better.

Some English MC's get it twisted, start saying cookies, instead of biscuits!

Song: "Friday Night" by Girl Talk (specifically "Random" by Lady Sovereign)

May 22nd

Note: I had no idea Lady Sovereign sang that line. I just used another one of her songs earlier this week. WEIRD.

Class happened. Sean and Jon were thinking about playing guitar today on the street to get money, but yet again Sydney was raining like crazy, and they had to postpone. I was all sorts of excited about going to it, even in the rain, but I got over it and headed home. I was going to have to go, then come back for the gym, get showered, and then go out again, so I guess it worked out.

I was going out tonight. I thought with other people. I bought cool fishnets and I was psyched about them.

From Another Sydney Weekend

I wanted to visit the We Love Indie night at Madam de Bier's in Kings Cross before I left forever, so I did. I called Hayley to see what she was up to, and she was with Ryan, so I decided I'd meet up with her after I checked out this place. I went at 10pm, and I should have known it'd be dead (apparently indie kids don't dance until AT LEAST 11pm), but I got some water and swayed awkwardly to some Vampire Weekend. Three nice men from the Australian navy invited me over to sit with them, and I talked with them for a bit, made up a fake name and major, and had a reasonably fun time. They tried to convince me to stay instead of go meet up with Hayley. Apparently fake me can pick up men way more easily than real me. Good to know. I left them and caught the train to Central, where I met up with Hayley and Ryan. I got to see Ryan's place and we had a good old time bonding. Ryan's friend Ryan (I know, not confusing at all) was also there.
Ryan and Hayley:

From Another Sydney Weekend

Me ("what is this 'wine' you speak of?" haha I love this one):

From Another Sydney Weekend

After I left hanging out with those kids, which was super fun (peanut butter sandwiches and wine equals great night) I tried to meet up with Shanil and Steven who I'd met earlier in Australia who both told me they'd be around Ivy tonight. So I went to Ivy. No luck finding either.
Ivy:

From Another Sydney Weekend

Shanil told me he was at 3 Wise Monkeys, which I also had yet to go to, so I went there looking for him. It was kind of like Scruffy Murphy's, but just not. Again, no luck, and by this time I was dead, so I took the bus home.

Here's another song about a gender I'll never understand...

Song: "Kill The Director" by The Wombats

May 15th

Lab report was due today. I remember because I spent it running around, grabbing my notebooks left behind in my apartment, making copies, going crazy, etc.

I listened to "Kill the Director" on my iPod in my hurried running between buildings. This is relevant later.

Lyrics of this song that I enjoy:

Carrots help us see much better in the dark
Don't talk to girls; they'll break your heart
And this is my head and this is my spout
They work together; they can't figure anything out

So with the angst of a teenage band
Here's another song about a gender I'll never understand
Here's another song about a gender I'll never understand

After going to the gym today, I desperately wanted to go out, so I texted almost everyone I knew trying to find something to do. Didn't have much luck there, so I decided to go to this club called "Purple Sneakers" by myself. I had a most excellent time. The DJ that night, "DJ Johnny Segment" was probably my musical soulmate. Every song he played could have come from my iPod and half of them I played earlier that morning. Singing "Kill The Director" and jumping around like an indie punk was definitely a highlight. One awesome girl who was friends with Johnny Segment screamed the lyrics to "Love Will Tear Us Apart" with me. However, like most times I go to places alone, I get bored quickly, and when the next DJ started playing, I decided it was time to go.

Graffiti I saw before dancing in the bathroom:

From A Weekend in the City

DJ Johnny Segment:

From A Weekend in the City

I went to catch the next bus back and realized I had just missed it and had to wait 30 minutes or so, so I went to explore "that club in the sky" that Justin and Greg and I passed last Saturday while walking along George St. I found out that it was Ivy, the club I had heard a lot about before. It was crazy fancy and had an interesting vibe, but since I had to run back to catch the bus, I didn't stay. I love exploring. I caught the bus home and ran into Jon and Mike who had just came back from King's Cross. I was exhausted, and made it home fine.

The all too familiar QVB bus stop:

From A Weekend in the City

Something 'bout you caught my eye, something moved me deep inside

Song: "Ain't No Other Man (remix)" by Christina Aguilera

May 9th

I woke up in Bondi Junction and watched Disney's Alice in Wonderland and part of a Penguins vs. Capitals game. Great morning. Oh and I was still in my clothes from last night. As I sent thank you texts to my host on the way out the door, I wondered if it could still be called a "walk of shame" if nothing incredibly shameful happened. I decided it's pretty shameful that I was wearing the same outfit from last night, which looks fine in the evening and all, but not especially in the daylight. Regardless, I got home but not until about 2pm due to some lovely public transportation issues.

I decided I needed to go to Trafalgar to get salsa and god knows what else, and while talking with Justin online decided that I wanted to see Star Trek in IMAX in Darling Harbour. I'd walked past it last night in the course of the evening, and the idea was in my head, so I was going to see it. We tried to get more people to come with us, but weren't very successful, so the two of us went to see it around 7pm. I had heard earlier that people were going to Lowenbrau, the German pub in the rocks, and so had Justin, so we decided to meet them afterward.

The movie was mind-blowing. Oh, J.J. Abrams, I love you and everything you touch. Aside from the fairly blatant physics errors, the movie was incredibly entertaining. I knew enough about Star Trek (thanks to Dad) to know a bit about what was going on, so that was fun. The space fight scenes were brilliant in IMAX. Seeing Zachary Quinto and Chris Pine in IMAX wasn't so bad either...

Justin and I left the theater way before the rest of the folks from Macquarie made it into the city, so we went to KFC to kill some time and eat some dinner. The bathrooms were locked up due to vandalism, and there were a group of about 7 guys who came in wearing togas. So confused. Anyway, we left there and headed to Lowenbrau to wait for everyone else. Eventually they showed up, and we all danced and drank and had a good time. Oh and the bar above Lowenbrau is called Über Bar. Sweet, right?

Anyway, out of nowhere, Greg pulls me aside and asks if I want to go with him and Justin to Argyle. So we go. We stayed there for a bit, until we realized the bar was closed (not that I was buying anything there anyway, it's way too expensive) and headed back to go home.

We got back on the bus, and I wasn't sure if it went back to Culloden Rd. or not, so I convinced Justin to get off with me at Macquarie Centre and walk home from there. Greg stayed on the bus, which took him directly to Culloden, while Justin and I walked home freezing. Greg was right and I was cold.

You've got me feeling hella good so let's just keep on dancing

Song: "Hella Good" by No Doubt
Honorary Song: "First of May" by Jonathan Coulton

May 1st

Waking up for class was massively difficult. There is nothing like staying up late doing physics to zap all energy out of your body. We made it to class, I'm pretty sure I ate nachos from the student center (Becca, Bernie and Vilde were raving about them over break; I had to try them), and then I turned in my assignment, faked consciousness, then went home and passed out. I swore I set an alarm, but I slept through my class at the gym for the first time here. I managed to hear that people were going to Cargo bar this evening, so I told Tara M. that I'd meet up with her. I found her, and then we grabbed Chloe and met their friend Emily on the way to the bus. We didn't leave until about 10:45PM because we missed the 9:58 bus. This was lame, but no worries.

When we got to the later bus, we actually ran into a bunch of people we knew who were headed down there as well. It was nice to catch up with folks and see how their breaks went. Somehow during the evening someone mentioned the Sydney Comedy Festival, and I mentioned that I was bummed that I missed seeing Joel McHale and I found a few unexpected watchers of The Soup among my friends. That was excellent.

We made our way down to Darling Harbour with no problems. We didn't exactly know where we were going, but we found Cargo after asking a few people.

It might have been the exhaustion, the atmosphere, or my essentially sober state, but I wasn't loving Cargo bar. It was the first time I had been back since my afternoon visit after my Sydney bus tour way back in February. I expressed that I was interested in checking out this place up the street called Chinese Laundry that I had read about in some of the music magazines I pick up twice a week. The only person I could convince to come with me to check it out was Greg, so we went and had a good time. There was a $20 cover charge, but I'm trying to forget that I paid that. I'd probably do it again if in the same situation.



We stayed there until 2:30am, and then decided we should find the rest of the folks we came with and catch the last bus out of the city, which we found out left at 3:10am. I was a bit disoriented, so we briefly got a little lost trying to find the bus stop, but it was a scenic walk. Found a poster for The Soup with Joel McHale wearing an outfit full of bright green sequins. We thought everyone else was at McDonald's so we left the bus stop and went there. We debated walking around QVB, but instead decided to run through the obviously blockaded path through the middle of the building. I saw the security glance at us through my peripheral vision. We ate some food, then went and found everyone else back at the bus stop. We rode home, went to our respective houses, and I fell asleep.

Oh, and I booked a Hunter Valley Wine Tour for the next day that I had to be awake at 5:30am for. So I slept 1.5 hours. More on that next post...

This is the rhythm of my life...

Song: "Rhythm of the Night" by Corona

April 14th

After yesterday's dreary weather, we started off our Tuesday with fairly low expectations for the day. I was pleasantly surprised with how the day panned out.

We started at an overlook where you could see a typical "sand blow" which is like a sand dune which moves drastically based on the wind. It was early, but I managed to take a picture:

From Fraser Island

We couldn't go to the next part of our tour because we couldn't drive on the highway due to a cyclone hitting the island a month earlier. Now when people say "highway" on Fraser Island they mean this:

From Fraser Island

Yes, the beach. Seventy five mile beach actually. Yet again, Australia is calling beaches by their length in miles not kilometers, because 120.7 kilometer beach doesn't have a great ring to it. But the beach is their highway, and since the cyclone hit, part of their highway now looked like this:

From Fraser Island

No fun to drive on, not even for a giant 4WD buggy. Oh, and the highway was also an aircraft runway.

From Fraser Island

No worries.

We left the beach and went to our plan B tour spot of the day, which was a lovely sand blow area around Rainbow Gorge. In my opinion, it was pretty gorgeous, even with the weather. Our tour guide Jeff was a great sport all day. Here's Jeff doing typical tourist poses on the way to the gorge.

From Fraser Island

I was a bit ahead of the other girls I was traveling with, and I got this really cool picture of them walking up the hill. Look how tiny they are!

From Fraser Island

And then we got to the sand cliff (or maybe that was the gorge); anyway, it was awesome. It's hard to express how neat this was, but the sand had blown into the forest, so it was covering everything below the canopy of half of this section of trees. And it was really really steep. I jumped off of the cliff into the sand, and slid down it on a plastic bag. Super fun.

Here's me sitting on the edge.

From Fraser Island

Some people from our trip after jumping down:

From Fraser Island

Erik climbing up after sliding into the trees:

From Fraser Island

It was a really neat place.

On the way back to the bus, I took a picture of this awesome red mushroom that grows around here:

From Fraser Island

Here is a cool sand crab I found by the bus. He blends in really well:

From Fraser Island

Our next stop was another lake. I got out here, without the intention of swimming, and instead ventured on an exploration into the woods. It was good fun, and I ran into another tour group and followed them back to my own on my return. When we got back we had cookies and muffins, which were my favorite snack break on the trip.

We then made it back to camp, where we got cleaned up for dinner and the chaos of the Dingo Bar. I decided to take a picture of the inside of our freezer, where a million ants were falling into the crack and freezing to death:

From Fraser Island

Anyway, to the Dingo Bar.

From Fraser Island

Happy hour was amusing. Bernie and I got B-52s, which were pretty delicious. Look at the layers! Yay properties of liquids!

From Fraser Island

We had a great evening at the Dingo Bar, and Bernie and I stayed for awhile with our Austrian friends Olivia and Sabine. We out-danced the Dutch girl who was getting on our nerves, and danced with the bartenders, who had the dances down to the song "Rhythm of the Night." If you ever want to be entertained, get a group of people to watch that music video, and do every dance move in it.