Americans should be seen and not heard
Posted: August 15th, 2009 | Author: Lynn | No Comments »I’m sitting in my living room right now, willing it to stop raining so I can go to the market in peace. This will probably not happen, and anyway it’s sad that this ex-Seattleite is being so wimpy about rain. It’s just that one of the great things about Melbourne is that the rain never lasts very long, so you can usually just wait it out. By the looks of it though I think the weather is gonna win this round.
My life here is approaching some semblance of normalcy, now that the film festival (and my accompanying open bar-induced hangover) is over. I’m settling in to the office routine, and though my job requires no actual thinking – I think it could be done by a child, to be honest – it’s pretty easy to speed through the day and I get to leave on time no matter what. I actually rejected a call from a salesguy on Wednesday because he called at 5:30. Perhaps my co-workers were mortified, but working past then is not in my contract, so they can shove it! My goal for the job is to stay as un-ambitious as possible and just focus on two things: stockpiling cash for future adventures, and finding the most delicious Vietnamese food in Richmond. So far it’s working – I had great pho at lunch the other day, and I get paid on Monday!!
Otherwise I am starting to find my place in this city. Of course one of my more important tasks was finding a basketball team, and to that end I played three games last week. The first one was pretty meh, it was a co-ed social club with all the usual issues – showboating guys loath to pass to the girls. Fortunately, Melbourne has a HUGE sports centre in Albert Park, with all kinds of swimming pools, racquet sports, and about 12 basketball courts. I’ve joined a team playing in a Tuesday night league, just like at home; they’re all super nice and fun to play with. One of them also plays in a Thursday league, and for some reason I agreed to fill in since one of their players was out last week. That team was pretty cool too, so I’ve agreed to be a sometime-substitute for them as well, when I don’t have any other Thursday plans. It’s been nice to get back into that routine, even though I’m still feeling it…
My house & housemates continue to be pretty cool; we all still get along really well and often end up just hanging out in the living room after work. Last Saturday, the weather was amazing – 60+ and sunny – so we randomly decided to go to the beach. I even saw a Shiba Inu there, so, mission accomplished I guess! It was E’s birthday on Friday so we went out to a chill downtown bar called The Lounge, which has a few floors & a cool second-story balcony with some nice city views. Rooftop drinking & outdoor cinema are apparently Melbourne institutions so when the weather gets nicer I’m going to start exploring that a bit! Oh, and on a side note, the CSI-type-show’s production company never called us back, so we are all pretty disappointed but will not be playing junkies/dealers/dead bodies in our living room on nationwide television. So sad.
Yesterday I went over to Northcote to see a play my friend is stage managing. We all know I don’t really do the whole theatre thing, but free makes anything worthwhile. Also, the bio of one of the actors – who has a PhD in something medical – was very Tobias Funke-like! The suburb is up on a hill (I swear it’s the only hill in the city!) & has amazing views of Melbourne; I think it’s like being on Beacon Hill but further south. Northcote has some cool bars, as well, and after the play I ended up in the beer garden of one of them, playing bocce ball until about 1:30… and then I walked home, which takes about an hour, because I’m cheap! I really like walking across a city at night, though, there’s something cool about passing through empty, dark suburban streets and ending up outside happening bars & things and just observing it all.
Okay – I think it’s just raining now to spite me. I swear it has gotten windier and rainier since I started complaining about it. Curses!! I should probably just head over to the market, considering that if this rain never stops and we all get trapped in our houses for days I only have rice, peanut butter and eggs to keep me alive. Hopefully I won’t drown on the way!
Tags: apparently australia has turned me into a weather wimp, dogs, it's winter, melbourne, the dr. tobias funke of local thespians, walks, well excuuuuuse me! ...excuse me
