Song: "1901" by Phoenix
May 20th
Today was pretty typical. Grocery day, physics lecture in the morning. Oh, and I got to skip lab! WoOT! It actually became even more of a pain because I had to make it up, but at the time, it was great.
The Optics Society was sponsoring a field trip to a local commercial optics place. It was pretty fun. We got to see what they did and the guy told us stuff he was looking for in people he wanted to work for him and they gave us lots of cookies. It was just like tea time with Gina and our physics lab, except there were more chocolate biscuits.
Nem took us all around, and like always got really excited about showing us what was going on. I appreciate his enthusiasm. My whole optics class, well 4/5 of us, rode with Nem to the company and we had nice long chats about everything - optics, physics liaison meetings, grad school, etc.
On the way home, I jumped in a car with one of the other (post)grad students Alex and a crew of folks I'd never met. Somehow we thought driving from near Redfern to North Sydney would be quicker then dropping us off at Redfern during rush hour. Not so much. Anyway, it was raining, so I stopped caring. I missed my gym time, but I got over it. On the train I heard "1901" on my iPod and realized it was that song that I liked/everyone was going crazy over at Purple Sneakers. It's so damn catchy. I got home and worked more on homework with Jay.
Showing posts with label music. Show all posts
Showing posts with label music. Show all posts
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
I'm-a gonna show the way...18, balding, star...
Song: "The Bucket" by Kings of Leon
May 19th
I love days when I hear a song and realize I've heard it before. "The Bucket" was that song today. My favorite DJ played it Friday, and I knew it was KoL, but I couldn't figure out which song. Then I bought Aha Shake Heartbreak and while listening to it, it all clicked. Good day.
Today was full of not much. I listened to my philosophy lecture before my other philosophy lecture and tutorial, and quantum was same old, same old in the morning. I did take up re-learning morse code during aesthetics. I vented in Morse in my notebook about everything. It was crazy fun.
Jay and I met up to work on our homework again this evening.
May 19th
I love days when I hear a song and realize I've heard it before. "The Bucket" was that song today. My favorite DJ played it Friday, and I knew it was KoL, but I couldn't figure out which song. Then I bought Aha Shake Heartbreak and while listening to it, it all clicked. Good day.
Today was full of not much. I listened to my philosophy lecture before my other philosophy lecture and tutorial, and quantum was same old, same old in the morning. I did take up re-learning morse code during aesthetics. I vented in Morse in my notebook about everything. It was crazy fun.
Jay and I met up to work on our homework again this evening.
Don't wake me; I plan on sleeping in.
Song: "Sleeping In" by The Postal Service
May 17th
I did all sorts of sleeping in today. I got up crazy late. I then decided to go to Chatswood Mall and get some retail therapy in. I went to Borders and got When Harry Met Sally on Aussie DVD. Worth it, even though I can't take it home. I also bought the Dark Was The Night compilation, The Wedding Singer soundtrack and Kings of Leon's Aha Shake Heartbreak (definitely worth it). I also bought a pack of Australian sour patch straws and my tongue went completely numb eating them. Anything to procrastinate the lab report...
I'm also pretty sure I came home and watched When Harry Met Sally that night. Great stuff.
May 17th
I did all sorts of sleeping in today. I got up crazy late. I then decided to go to Chatswood Mall and get some retail therapy in. I went to Borders and got When Harry Met Sally on Aussie DVD. Worth it, even though I can't take it home. I also bought the Dark Was The Night compilation, The Wedding Singer soundtrack and Kings of Leon's Aha Shake Heartbreak (definitely worth it). I also bought a pack of Australian sour patch straws and my tongue went completely numb eating them. Anything to procrastinate the lab report...
I'm also pretty sure I came home and watched When Harry Met Sally that night. Great stuff.
Friday, March 20, 2009
You're the voice, try and understand it...
Song: "You're The Voice" by John Farnham
March 14th
(pi day)
I woke up this morning, got ready incredibly quickly and bolted out the door to meet Hilde at the bus stop for the Sound Relief concert held today at the Sydney Cricket Ground. We lucked out on our timing and we made all of the buses we needed to get there and didn't have to wait long at any stop. On the way, the Australian Navy was parading down George Street. I think a bunch of their ships had landed in the harbour.
I hadn't been to the Moore Park area before so it was neat to check it out. Hilde and I found our seats, which were up in the bleachers. It was kind of a missed blessing. On one hand, we wanted to be close to the artists; on the other hand, we were incredibly glad to be under the protection when it was raining. We grabbed a kebab, which is becoming one of my favorite foods that is sold frequently in Australia. Writing this blog makes me realize how much I eat them.
The concert itself was fantastic. Coldplay opened with a few songs, including "Life in Technicolor," "Yellow," "Lost!," "Clocks," and "Viva la Vida." On "Yellow" they let out these giant yellow balloons with confetti in them. Super cool.
Then they did a duet with John Farnham of his song "You're The Voice" which I know because of the epic scene in Hot Rod. Australians love John Farnham and they really love this song. Here's Chris Martin and John Farnham singing:
That was pretty great, but my favorite part of Coldplay's performance was when, on their last song of "Fix You" which I adore anyway, Chris Martin just started running into the crowd. That's him in the blue outfit wearing the pants.
While running, one of the security guards thought he was a regular person trying to jump the fence and tried to stop him, but Chris Martin is a very fast man. Afterward, the crowd came to the general consensus that Mr. Chris Martin is a solid BAMF.
Wolfmother played next and I only knew a few of their songs, but they put on a good show. The lead singer's hair is crazy:
Also, I love Kings of Leon, and so does Australia. They were playing at the same Sound Relief festival in Melbourne and I was glad they broadcast it to us at Sydney too. They did not play "Sex on Fire" out of respect for the bushfire victims. Here's Caleb and that awesome drum:
After Wolfmother, there was a slew of bands I didn't know. Little Birdy was one of them and I thought they were pretty good. I knew Architecture in Helsinki already and their performance was a lot of fun.
I hadn't heard of You Am I before, and their performance was okay. I also hadn't heard of Josh Pyke before, but I did enjoy his set.
And for a brief interlude I present to you the story of "High Five Guy." "High Five Guy" was drunk off his mind probably from 11am until 11pm, or at least the entire time we saw him. He went around giving everyone high fives and hugs and just being incredibly jovial toward all. Hilde and I found him very entertaining.
We stopped and got some snacks toward the end of Josh Pyke's set. Hilde got a "Golden Gaytime" bar. We were incredibly unsure of what this was and thought it was a ridiculous name. Here's an ad:
It started raining pretty bad soon afterward and we were really lucky to be under the pavilion area. It worked out very well. Hilde and I stayed dry. :)
These people sort of did too.
Another interlude: People jumping over the wall to get closer to the stage.
Everyone in the bleachers with their assigned seats sitting comfortably found great joy and entertainment from watching the dumb/drunk people try to jump over the fence and escape closer to the stage. There were times when everyone around me was making noise and pointing like something incredibly exciting was going on, and then I realized they were cheering for someone who made it over the fence and then ran away fast enough from the security guards. You couldn't pay me enough to be a security guard on a day like this.
The sun came out and I think one of the judges from Australian Idol performed and then there was Taylor Swift. She was particularly good. Also, she had a costume change that blew my mind mid-performance. She went from black t-shirt and jeans to gold sparkling dress in the blink of an eye. This defies science for me. Regardless, she was an excellent performer.
I tried to take as many pictures of her performance as I could for my cousins at home who love her work.
Also drunk High Five guy went around collecting cups for the concerts largest stack of cups that he was putting together. There was no reason; there didn't have to be.
We were all very entertained. By the time it got to the bottom section of the bleachers, it was huge:
They showed us some more of the Melbourne show including Jack Johnson between sets. Here's Jack:
I desire Banana Pancakes right now.
Eskimo Joe played in there too. Again, another band I hadn't heard of which were still good. And then there was Jet! I really like Jet and I think they are a great band and their set did not disappoint.
After that, Toni Collette came out and made an announcement on behalf of the festival. I think she's an amazing actress, especially because her American accent is so good in the movies I've seen her in that I didn't even know she was Australian.
The announcement was essentially that Prince William and Prince Harry were going to make a remark via satellite. This was exciting.
Then Kylie Minogue sang "I Still Call Australia Home" from Melbourne.
Then The Presets! I didn't know much of their music before I came here, but their single "Talk Like That" is on the radio a lot here so I hear it while getting around. They were fantastic and I really should get more of their music.
Then Icehouse, who the only song I knew of theirs was "Great Southern Land" because it was on the Bushfire Relief CD I bought a while back, performed. I made it through the performance.
Then there was Barry Gibb. Most of his performance I was singing the theme song from the SNL sketch involving "talking it up on The Barry Gibb Talk show" which was one of my favorites where Jimmy Fallon plays Barry Gibb and Justin Timberlake plays Robin Gibb. Anyway, the real Barry Gibb was pretty great.
I know this is a very strange thing to say, but I think Dave Grohl might look like an old Barry Gibb when he gets older.
Then Olivia Newton-John came out and joined Barry Gibb for "Islands in the Stream" and a few others. I didn't know the Bee Gees wrote that; I'm familiar with the Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton version and the bit that was sampled for "Ghetto Supastar" back in 1998, when I was 10. Thanks Wikipedia!
The show finally ended and we got back ok. The bus actually was incredibly convenient yet again. Hooray!
March 14th
(pi day)
I woke up this morning, got ready incredibly quickly and bolted out the door to meet Hilde at the bus stop for the Sound Relief concert held today at the Sydney Cricket Ground. We lucked out on our timing and we made all of the buses we needed to get there and didn't have to wait long at any stop. On the way, the Australian Navy was parading down George Street. I think a bunch of their ships had landed in the harbour.
 |
| From Sound Relief Festival |
I hadn't been to the Moore Park area before so it was neat to check it out. Hilde and I found our seats, which were up in the bleachers. It was kind of a missed blessing. On one hand, we wanted to be close to the artists; on the other hand, we were incredibly glad to be under the protection when it was raining. We grabbed a kebab, which is becoming one of my favorite foods that is sold frequently in Australia. Writing this blog makes me realize how much I eat them.
The concert itself was fantastic. Coldplay opened with a few songs, including "Life in Technicolor," "Yellow," "Lost!," "Clocks," and "Viva la Vida." On "Yellow" they let out these giant yellow balloons with confetti in them. Super cool.
 |
| From Sound Relief Festival |
Then they did a duet with John Farnham of his song "You're The Voice" which I know because of the epic scene in Hot Rod. Australians love John Farnham and they really love this song. Here's Chris Martin and John Farnham singing:
 |
| From Sound Relief Festival |
That was pretty great, but my favorite part of Coldplay's performance was when, on their last song of "Fix You" which I adore anyway, Chris Martin just started running into the crowd. That's him in the blue outfit wearing the pants.
 |
| From Sound Relief Festival |
While running, one of the security guards thought he was a regular person trying to jump the fence and tried to stop him, but Chris Martin is a very fast man. Afterward, the crowd came to the general consensus that Mr. Chris Martin is a solid BAMF.
Wolfmother played next and I only knew a few of their songs, but they put on a good show. The lead singer's hair is crazy:
 |
| From Sound Relief Festival |
Also, I love Kings of Leon, and so does Australia. They were playing at the same Sound Relief festival in Melbourne and I was glad they broadcast it to us at Sydney too. They did not play "Sex on Fire" out of respect for the bushfire victims. Here's Caleb and that awesome drum:
 |
| From Sound Relief Festival |
After Wolfmother, there was a slew of bands I didn't know. Little Birdy was one of them and I thought they were pretty good. I knew Architecture in Helsinki already and their performance was a lot of fun.
 |
| From Sound Relief Festival |
I hadn't heard of You Am I before, and their performance was okay. I also hadn't heard of Josh Pyke before, but I did enjoy his set.
And for a brief interlude I present to you the story of "High Five Guy." "High Five Guy" was drunk off his mind probably from 11am until 11pm, or at least the entire time we saw him. He went around giving everyone high fives and hugs and just being incredibly jovial toward all. Hilde and I found him very entertaining.
 |
| From Sound Relief Festival |
We stopped and got some snacks toward the end of Josh Pyke's set. Hilde got a "Golden Gaytime" bar. We were incredibly unsure of what this was and thought it was a ridiculous name. Here's an ad:
 |
| From Sound Relief Festival |
It started raining pretty bad soon afterward and we were really lucky to be under the pavilion area. It worked out very well. Hilde and I stayed dry. :)
 |
| From Sound Relief Festival |
These people sort of did too.
 |
| From Sound Relief Festival |
Another interlude: People jumping over the wall to get closer to the stage.
Everyone in the bleachers with their assigned seats sitting comfortably found great joy and entertainment from watching the dumb/drunk people try to jump over the fence and escape closer to the stage. There were times when everyone around me was making noise and pointing like something incredibly exciting was going on, and then I realized they were cheering for someone who made it over the fence and then ran away fast enough from the security guards. You couldn't pay me enough to be a security guard on a day like this.
 |
| From Sound Relief Festival |
The sun came out and I think one of the judges from Australian Idol performed and then there was Taylor Swift. She was particularly good. Also, she had a costume change that blew my mind mid-performance. She went from black t-shirt and jeans to gold sparkling dress in the blink of an eye. This defies science for me. Regardless, she was an excellent performer.
 |
| From Sound Relief Festival |
 |
| From Sound Relief Festival |
I tried to take as many pictures of her performance as I could for my cousins at home who love her work.
Also drunk High Five guy went around collecting cups for the concerts largest stack of cups that he was putting together. There was no reason; there didn't have to be.
 |
| From Sound Relief Festival |
 |
| From Sound Relief Festival |
 |
| From Sound Relief Festival |
We were all very entertained. By the time it got to the bottom section of the bleachers, it was huge:
 |
| From Sound Relief Festival |
They showed us some more of the Melbourne show including Jack Johnson between sets. Here's Jack:
 |
| From Sound Relief Festival |
I desire Banana Pancakes right now.
Eskimo Joe played in there too. Again, another band I hadn't heard of which were still good. And then there was Jet! I really like Jet and I think they are a great band and their set did not disappoint.
 |
| From Sound Relief Festival |
After that, Toni Collette came out and made an announcement on behalf of the festival. I think she's an amazing actress, especially because her American accent is so good in the movies I've seen her in that I didn't even know she was Australian.
 |
| From Sound Relief Festival |
The announcement was essentially that Prince William and Prince Harry were going to make a remark via satellite. This was exciting.
 |
| From Sound Relief Festival |
Then Kylie Minogue sang "I Still Call Australia Home" from Melbourne.
 |
| From Sound Relief Festival |
Then The Presets! I didn't know much of their music before I came here, but their single "Talk Like That" is on the radio a lot here so I hear it while getting around. They were fantastic and I really should get more of their music.
 |
| From Sound Relief Festival |
Then Icehouse, who the only song I knew of theirs was "Great Southern Land" because it was on the Bushfire Relief CD I bought a while back, performed. I made it through the performance.
Then there was Barry Gibb. Most of his performance I was singing the theme song from the SNL sketch involving "talking it up on The Barry Gibb Talk show" which was one of my favorites where Jimmy Fallon plays Barry Gibb and Justin Timberlake plays Robin Gibb. Anyway, the real Barry Gibb was pretty great.
 |
| From Sound Relief Festival |
I know this is a very strange thing to say, but I think Dave Grohl might look like an old Barry Gibb when he gets older.
Then Olivia Newton-John came out and joined Barry Gibb for "Islands in the Stream" and a few others. I didn't know the Bee Gees wrote that; I'm familiar with the Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton version and the bit that was sampled for "Ghetto Supastar" back in 1998, when I was 10. Thanks Wikipedia!
 |
| From Sound Relief Festival |
The show finally ended and we got back ok. The bus actually was incredibly convenient yet again. Hooray!
Monday, March 16, 2009
It's one for the Dagger and another for the one you believe
Song: "Chelsea Dagger" by The Fratellis
March 11th
Late last night after we got home from our shenanigans, I started thinking that my roommate Andy's birthday was coming up. I checked and it was Thursday. I made the decision that I was going to bake a cake. In case you weren't aware, I gave up sweets for Lent. This was certainly my biggest challenge yet.
But I'm stubborn, and once I decide I'm going to bake a cake, there isn't much anyone can do to stop me.
I went to class in the morning and spent half of it plotting the necessary ingredients to buy at the grocery store during my weekly trip and the other half trying to stay awake. I also had "Chelsea Dagger" by The Fratellis in my head. This will be relevant later.
Anyway, I left class, went to the store, got my goods and was on my way out when I decided to take a different route home. I knew that the route led me to my apartment, I just didn't know how roundabout it was. The sky was a bit cloudy, but I'm stubborn, and once I decide I'm going to walk home a different way, there isn't much anyone can do to stop me.
I was about halfway there when the sky opened and dumped water. There's no poetic way to say that. I was drenched; my books and folders were wet, the groceries were mostly guarded by the plastic bags they were in, but I came home dripping. I was however incredibly satisfied that I knew where that road went. Now if someone asks me where that road goes, I can tell them.
Anyway, I went to lab after dropping of my groceries. All of my folders had colored all the papers inside them when they got wet. Oh well. Shaheen and I had a great time with our non-functioning lab. I took a picture of my favorite poster in the physics lab, and a few others.
Our least favorite piece of equipment. It likes to just change the reading drastically whenever you hit the table:
The oscilloscope or CRO:
Anyway, after lab I went to my class at the gym. Then I decided that I was going to go see A Dark Day's Knight at the Lighthouse Theater on campus. I had seen signs for the show with classy taglines like "Murder. Lust. Betrayal. Jedi." and I had heard they were using reworded indie songs throughout the musical. I had to see this.
I couldn't find anyone else to tag along with me, but it ended up not mattering at all. I met Shadé at the theater while waiting to get in and we had a lot of fun talking and I sat with her and two other people we met that day (Cat and Kate). Everyone is so friendly here. We watched the show and I was completely enthralled with the production and well, essentially it blew my mind.
The songs reworked included songs by Massive Attack, Placebo, Arctic Monkeys, The Zutons, Kaiser Chiefs, Nirvana, No Doubt, Bloc Party, The Dandy Warhols, Franz Ferdinand, Muse, etc. Oh, and "Chelsea Dagger" by The Fratellis. I told you it'd be relevant later. That same song that I had stuck in my head this morning came back around to me at A Dark Day's Knight. It was one of those "meant to be" moments. I showed Shadé where I had written the song down in my "list of songs that will become blog post titles" page of my mini-notebook. Crazy stuff.
Seriously though, I really think that all fights with lightsabers should be accompanied by Muse and/or Bloc Party. The choreography of the fight scenes was phenomenal and the blacklight lightsaber battle to Muse's "Hysteria" was probably the best thing that I've ever seen done on stage.
Excellent music aside, I really did enjoy the play and I thought it was incredible considering it was student written, directed and produced. I was incredibly impressed. One of the girls from my surf camp trip Taylor was in the show and I stuck around with Shadé to tell her and the rest of the cast that they were amazing.
I went home up the hill and found Andy and a crowd of people in his room. They were waiting for midnight to come around for Andy's birthday and I joined. We celebrated at midnight and then I went to sleep.
March 11th
Late last night after we got home from our shenanigans, I started thinking that my roommate Andy's birthday was coming up. I checked and it was Thursday. I made the decision that I was going to bake a cake. In case you weren't aware, I gave up sweets for Lent. This was certainly my biggest challenge yet.
But I'm stubborn, and once I decide I'm going to bake a cake, there isn't much anyone can do to stop me.
I went to class in the morning and spent half of it plotting the necessary ingredients to buy at the grocery store during my weekly trip and the other half trying to stay awake. I also had "Chelsea Dagger" by The Fratellis in my head. This will be relevant later.
Anyway, I left class, went to the store, got my goods and was on my way out when I decided to take a different route home. I knew that the route led me to my apartment, I just didn't know how roundabout it was. The sky was a bit cloudy, but I'm stubborn, and once I decide I'm going to walk home a different way, there isn't much anyone can do to stop me.
I was about halfway there when the sky opened and dumped water. There's no poetic way to say that. I was drenched; my books and folders were wet, the groceries were mostly guarded by the plastic bags they were in, but I came home dripping. I was however incredibly satisfied that I knew where that road went. Now if someone asks me where that road goes, I can tell them.
Anyway, I went to lab after dropping of my groceries. All of my folders had colored all the papers inside them when they got wet. Oh well. Shaheen and I had a great time with our non-functioning lab. I took a picture of my favorite poster in the physics lab, and a few others.
 |
| From Shots around Macquarie |
 |
| From Shots around Macquarie |
Our least favorite piece of equipment. It likes to just change the reading drastically whenever you hit the table:
 |
| From Shots around Macquarie |
The oscilloscope or CRO:
 |
| From Shots around Macquarie |
Anyway, after lab I went to my class at the gym. Then I decided that I was going to go see A Dark Day's Knight at the Lighthouse Theater on campus. I had seen signs for the show with classy taglines like "Murder. Lust. Betrayal. Jedi." and I had heard they were using reworded indie songs throughout the musical. I had to see this.
I couldn't find anyone else to tag along with me, but it ended up not mattering at all. I met Shadé at the theater while waiting to get in and we had a lot of fun talking and I sat with her and two other people we met that day (Cat and Kate). Everyone is so friendly here. We watched the show and I was completely enthralled with the production and well, essentially it blew my mind.
The songs reworked included songs by Massive Attack, Placebo, Arctic Monkeys, The Zutons, Kaiser Chiefs, Nirvana, No Doubt, Bloc Party, The Dandy Warhols, Franz Ferdinand, Muse, etc. Oh, and "Chelsea Dagger" by The Fratellis. I told you it'd be relevant later. That same song that I had stuck in my head this morning came back around to me at A Dark Day's Knight. It was one of those "meant to be" moments. I showed Shadé where I had written the song down in my "list of songs that will become blog post titles" page of my mini-notebook. Crazy stuff.
Seriously though, I really think that all fights with lightsabers should be accompanied by Muse and/or Bloc Party. The choreography of the fight scenes was phenomenal and the blacklight lightsaber battle to Muse's "Hysteria" was probably the best thing that I've ever seen done on stage.
Excellent music aside, I really did enjoy the play and I thought it was incredible considering it was student written, directed and produced. I was incredibly impressed. One of the girls from my surf camp trip Taylor was in the show and I stuck around with Shadé to tell her and the rest of the cast that they were amazing.
I went home up the hill and found Andy and a crowd of people in his room. They were waiting for midnight to come around for Andy's birthday and I joined. We celebrated at midnight and then I went to sleep.
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
I just can't describe it, oh no no...
Song: "Finally" by CeCe Peniston
March 2nd
Ugh, this morning was awful. I finished my optics lab report before class, ran over to the Village center to get it printed; there were too many people in line so I ran to class, ran back to the village printing center, ran back to lab, turned it in. Yuck.
In between I tried to stop by the Macquarie Musical Society's picnic, but I wasn't sure what was going on. I feel like it was a group gathering with MacMS and the drama group and possibly the improv group. Either way, I had to go to my lab so I left after peeking my head in. I got wedges with sour cream and sweet chili sauce instead to kill some time, which I had because I am very productive while running around with my head cut off.
Lab was entertaining. We shot lasers into mirror like things and took recordings. We also broke the device and had to start over. Whee!
After lab, I went home. On the way, John scared me while walking to my apartment. My current state of sleep deprivation did not help, but it definitely worked. :)
I then went to the gym. Some remix of CeCe Peniston's "Finally" was on when I was running and it for some reason has been following me around this week.
On a side note, I am seriously convinced there is a higher power responsible for my music listening habits, either on shuffle on my iPod or songs on the radio or at the mall or on TV. I'm also convinced that there is a demon in my iPod that won't let me select the proper song for On-The-Go playlists, but that's for another time. I could talk for several hours about this, so let me know if you're interested some other time.
Also, my roommate Sean received the guitar he ordered today. This was amazing. I miss my guitar so much. He let me play it and it was probably the best part of my day.
March 2nd
Ugh, this morning was awful. I finished my optics lab report before class, ran over to the Village center to get it printed; there were too many people in line so I ran to class, ran back to the village printing center, ran back to lab, turned it in. Yuck.
In between I tried to stop by the Macquarie Musical Society's picnic, but I wasn't sure what was going on. I feel like it was a group gathering with MacMS and the drama group and possibly the improv group. Either way, I had to go to my lab so I left after peeking my head in. I got wedges with sour cream and sweet chili sauce instead to kill some time, which I had because I am very productive while running around with my head cut off.
Lab was entertaining. We shot lasers into mirror like things and took recordings. We also broke the device and had to start over. Whee!
After lab, I went home. On the way, John scared me while walking to my apartment. My current state of sleep deprivation did not help, but it definitely worked. :)
I then went to the gym. Some remix of CeCe Peniston's "Finally" was on when I was running and it for some reason has been following me around this week.
On a side note, I am seriously convinced there is a higher power responsible for my music listening habits, either on shuffle on my iPod or songs on the radio or at the mall or on TV. I'm also convinced that there is a demon in my iPod that won't let me select the proper song for On-The-Go playlists, but that's for another time. I could talk for several hours about this, so let me know if you're interested some other time.
Also, my roommate Sean received the guitar he ordered today. This was amazing. I miss my guitar so much. He let me play it and it was probably the best part of my day.
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
It's been so long since I've seen the ocean...I guess I should
Song: "A Long December" by Counting Crows
February 13th (Sydney time)
After the shuttle arrived, I got checked in and got to my room, which is one room and one bath in a 5 bedroom 5 bath apartment. These are the apartments built to house some of the Sydney 200 Olympians. It's quite spacious. I unpacked a little and then headed off to the international student welcome BBQ at U@MQ, the student union of sorts at Macquarie. I didn't exactly know where I was going, but I had a decent map and found my way there. I went to the UBar on the top floor to look for some other international students. I met some Macquarie students who helping out who were very nice and helpful, and after that I went searching for some free BBQ food. Unfortunately, by the time I got there, there was nothing left but cooked onions. I decided instead to peruse the international student information fair: I filled out a survey for a free coffee voucher, I tried vegemite (it's pretty much yeast and salt, and it's not my favorite), I picked up boatloads of papers about things around campus. It was definitely informative. After I left the main area, I decided to go explore the rest of U@MQ. I found the co-op bookshop and went and peeked in there. Also the little convenience store was fun to look around in. "Crack the Shutters" by Snow Patrol was playing on the radio and I kind of filled with glee. I'm not used to obscure Snow Patrol being played in public areas.
Note: After about a week here, I've decided that Snow Patrol and Kings of Leon are very popular. This makes my day regularly.
I went back to my apartment soon after and got ready to go to Surf Camp. I had a ton of time between finishing packing and having to leave, so I decided to go explore Macquarie Centre (the mall right off campus). I originally went searching for a cell (excuse me, mobile) phone and found a bunch of other stores in the mall. They even have an ice rink. I didn't have any cash at the time, so getting lunch was more difficult than I thought. I ended up going to Woolworth's (the grocery store) and getting some potato salad and an apple. The first time I tried to pay for it, it didn't work because I attempted to use debit, but I got it straightened out. They even had free yogurt samples in the store. There was a very helpful guy working there who could tell I wasn't from around here and he helped me out a lot.
After Woolworth's, I went on a crazy quest to find the Optus (mobile phone provider) store. I knew it was on level 4, but it took me forever to find it. Once I got there, I got my phone and brought it back to the waiting area for the bus to surf camp. While waiting for surf camp, I met up with Laura, Alyson and Joanne who all go to University of Maryland. Joanne and I sat together on the bus on the way there. I think I slept for most of it. During the trip we met Chaplin, Sean and Ema, all surf instructors at camp. They were a lot of fun. Joanne and I sat in the front, and Chaplin actually woke me up once I fell asleep. Scary, but hysterical.
We stopped to get burgers at this place known for burgers which I can't remember somewhere between Macquarie and Gerroa. It was delicious. I had the pineapple and cheese burger.
Note: Australia likes to put pineapples and beets on burgers. This is delicious.
We left there soon after finishing our burgers (Thanks again Joanne for lending me that money. I swear I'll get it back to you in some form!) and headed down to Gerroa. Once we arrived, we split into huts, and I was with Heather and Alex. Alex is from the university and she was incredibly helpful. She also had a really cute kid.
There wasn't much of anything on the agenda Friday night so a group of us decided to go explore the ocean. It was beautiful and the sand was so soft I can't describe it. We stuck our feet in the ocean for a long time before we realized the sand was actually glowing under our feet. We were told that it was due to phosphorous in the sand. Regardless, it was the coolest thing ever and we played with it for a long time. After getting back to camp, we were exhausted and went to sleep.
Hello ocean, you are a magical beast.
February 13th (Sydney time)
After the shuttle arrived, I got checked in and got to my room, which is one room and one bath in a 5 bedroom 5 bath apartment. These are the apartments built to house some of the Sydney 200 Olympians. It's quite spacious. I unpacked a little and then headed off to the international student welcome BBQ at U@MQ, the student union of sorts at Macquarie. I didn't exactly know where I was going, but I had a decent map and found my way there. I went to the UBar on the top floor to look for some other international students. I met some Macquarie students who helping out who were very nice and helpful, and after that I went searching for some free BBQ food. Unfortunately, by the time I got there, there was nothing left but cooked onions. I decided instead to peruse the international student information fair: I filled out a survey for a free coffee voucher, I tried vegemite (it's pretty much yeast and salt, and it's not my favorite), I picked up boatloads of papers about things around campus. It was definitely informative. After I left the main area, I decided to go explore the rest of U@MQ. I found the co-op bookshop and went and peeked in there. Also the little convenience store was fun to look around in. "Crack the Shutters" by Snow Patrol was playing on the radio and I kind of filled with glee. I'm not used to obscure Snow Patrol being played in public areas.
Note: After about a week here, I've decided that Snow Patrol and Kings of Leon are very popular. This makes my day regularly.
I went back to my apartment soon after and got ready to go to Surf Camp. I had a ton of time between finishing packing and having to leave, so I decided to go explore Macquarie Centre (the mall right off campus). I originally went searching for a cell (excuse me, mobile) phone and found a bunch of other stores in the mall. They even have an ice rink. I didn't have any cash at the time, so getting lunch was more difficult than I thought. I ended up going to Woolworth's (the grocery store) and getting some potato salad and an apple. The first time I tried to pay for it, it didn't work because I attempted to use debit, but I got it straightened out. They even had free yogurt samples in the store. There was a very helpful guy working there who could tell I wasn't from around here and he helped me out a lot.
After Woolworth's, I went on a crazy quest to find the Optus (mobile phone provider) store. I knew it was on level 4, but it took me forever to find it. Once I got there, I got my phone and brought it back to the waiting area for the bus to surf camp. While waiting for surf camp, I met up with Laura, Alyson and Joanne who all go to University of Maryland. Joanne and I sat together on the bus on the way there. I think I slept for most of it. During the trip we met Chaplin, Sean and Ema, all surf instructors at camp. They were a lot of fun. Joanne and I sat in the front, and Chaplin actually woke me up once I fell asleep. Scary, but hysterical.
We stopped to get burgers at this place known for burgers which I can't remember somewhere between Macquarie and Gerroa. It was delicious. I had the pineapple and cheese burger.
Note: Australia likes to put pineapples and beets on burgers. This is delicious.
We left there soon after finishing our burgers (Thanks again Joanne for lending me that money. I swear I'll get it back to you in some form!) and headed down to Gerroa. Once we arrived, we split into huts, and I was with Heather and Alex. Alex is from the university and she was incredibly helpful. She also had a really cute kid.
There wasn't much of anything on the agenda Friday night so a group of us decided to go explore the ocean. It was beautiful and the sand was so soft I can't describe it. We stuck our feet in the ocean for a long time before we realized the sand was actually glowing under our feet. We were told that it was due to phosphorous in the sand. Regardless, it was the coolest thing ever and we played with it for a long time. After getting back to camp, we were exhausted and went to sleep.
Hello ocean, you are a magical beast.
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| From Surf Camp |
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