Beating a dead horse burns 550 calories, not to mention the windfall you get after selling it to the glue factory

Allegedly I’ve been in Melbourne for nearly two months now, though I’m not sure I believe it.  I certainly don’t feel two months’ distance from my old life in Seattle.  And I haven’t done anything too stupid or gotten seriously injured yet, even though certain IMDb-ers have in their possession a voodoo doll-me!  Perhaps Australia has turned me into a nice, caring, thoughtful, safe person?  (Not likely!)

The Southern hemisphere time-warp has given me plenty of time for fun stuff, at least.  Last Saturday I finally did a typical Melbourne tourist activity: I took a day tour to Phillip Island to see the penguin parade, a sunset extravaganza in which little penguins come in from the sea to their nests and attempt to cross the beach without getting eaten by seagulls.  It’s sort of like a game of frogger, with predatory birds instead of cars.  The trip also included a visit to a “wildlife sanctuary” (read: petting zoo) which was home to the saddest koala in the world.  So of course this had to happen:

facedown, saddest koala in the world, originally uploaded by lynnith.

I came home from the trip around 11pm to find my housemates getting ready to go to a house party down the road.  This is where my planning obsession comes in handy – I’d picked up a couple bottles of emergency wine for exactly this sort of situation!  One emergency beer later, we headed for the party, stopping only for glamour shots with a large piece of construction equipment.  (I think there are pictures somewhere of this on Facebook)  Inexplicably, the party had quite a few people dressed in costume, which left my Kiwi housemate and I feeling rather unexciting in our normal outfits.  So we decided to pretend as if we were dressed up as divas – I chose Patti LaBelle, naturally.  The next day we discovered we’d taken quite a few clothespins and festive bits of ribbon from the party, so perhaps we should have gone as crows instead.

The week was pretty standard, as far as work-weeks go.  Monday I cooked lamb for the first time, braising it in a tomato-fig-spice sauce, which was just as delicious as it sounds.  Tuesday was basketball; we lost, but I played reasonably well.  On Thursday the housemates & I ventured out to find a good local pub, and ended up at a spot with a nice courtyard and low-key crowd.  The previous week we’d gone to a student dive, complete with a creepy cover band that kinda seemed like an incestuous family, and a pair of snow leopards on the prowl.  So the discovery of a decent local was a welcome one!

On Friday I went for drinks with one of my work friends, and met a bunch of her friends.  A lot of them work for one of the major ad networks here in Australia; it was cool to hang out with some younger ad folks for a change.  Her brother, an avid cyclist, was also there, and told me of a mystical place north of here where bikes cost $40.  I walked up there on Saturday afternoon and discovered what I can only describe as the North Pole for bike hobos.  There’s a giant bike workshop/co-op in the middle of an educational environmental park and/or hippie village; people donate functioning or broken bikes and the folks who volunteer there help you get yours into riding shape once you buy it.  It’s a great deal – I’ve got one sitting there with no brakes, and if there aren’t any nicer ones next week they’re going to help me fix it up!  So in a week I’ll have a sweet ride for cheaper than a slab of beer!!

Today I went on a day hike with the YHA Bushwalking club, which ended up being lots and lots of fun.  We went to a place called the “You Yangs”, which is basically a few hills plopped down in the middle of an endless expanse of flat farmland.  The folks on the hike today were mostly in their 20s and 30s, and all really interesting.  So I’ll definitely be going on more hikes; they meet every Sunday morning at the same time so I don’t have to actually commit to going until the day of… definitely my kind of club!  I mostly hiked with the same group of girls, who were all pretty sarcastic, especially about my American tourist-ness.  I started giving them a hard time on the way back about not having seen any kangaroos in the wild, when all of a sudden we saw one by the side of the road!  So now I’ve seen kangaroos in their natural setting, which is basically like seeing deer at home, except a billion times more awesome.

So all in all, things are still going really well here!  I think this about covers my life in Melbourne at the moment; I’m having a great time, and the city really suits me.  And next week I should have a bike, as well as a really interesting (and potentially excellent) story about work that hasn’t quite played out.  So stay tuned…

Americans should be seen and not heard

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!

It’s impossible for demon on phone to say “Jesus Christ came in the flesh”

Seattle had a “heat wave” this week, which means I picked the best week ever to be unemployed (or funemployed as the SF Weekly would have it).  I decided against a list of things to do before I leave – instead, I’m just taking a bunch of walks.  So far, I’ve walked to the International District, Madison Park, Sculpture Park (via a pint at Kells), Eastlake, and Pike Place.  On the list: U Village (today!), the waterfront/West Seattle water taxi, and most ambitiously, Green Lake.  And I’m not just getting some nice walks in – I’m also learning important Life Lessons!

bible test works!!, originally uploaded by lynnith.

In other news, my 4 month Australia visa finally came thru yesterday.  It’s amazing how much easier it is to get all the admin stuff done this time around – I’ve already applied for my tax number online, and in the next couple weeks I’ll have my local bank account and mobile phone all squared away too.  Not much left to do!