whew...all in one breath!
Ok…so, we’re going to do this bullet point style…
--had the MOST amazing night last night…what could be more unbelievably perfect than going to a free jazz concert in the park…surrounded by thousands upon thousands of smiling and dancing people…hearing fan-fucking-tastic New Orleans jazz…being outside, under the stars…working your way to the front of the masses, being inches away from the stage…seeing the sweaty smiles of the musicians…dancing like no one is watching…seeing yourself up on the big screen since you had no idea that you were being filmed…incidentally being on Australian TV…getting all hot and sweaty from too much dancing and smiling, and then having it rain…getting soaked to the skin…having soaked conversations with complete strangers…getting the chills when everyone started singing together…watching everyone around me, not a sad face in the crowd (you can’t stay sad while listening to that kind of toe-taping goodness)…feeling so insanely happy to be alive!!!! I actually started to tear up, b/c I was so happy, and in that moment there was nowhere else I would have rather been.
It was amazing…I know I say that about a lot of things, since amazement is my metaphysical nourishment….but god…it was all so fucking PERFECT!!!!
We all walked back in the drizzling Australian rain…
A brief recap of the past few days:
Tried kangaroo….umm…yeah…was interesting. Wouldn’t make a habit of it.
--worst pickup line…while you are in the ocean, guy approaches you and asks “so, aren’t you afraid of sharks?” your response: “no, they don’t come in this close to shore…” his witty response: “I meant me.” Horribly terrible, but laughable, nonetheless.
---accidentally insulted one of the aussies that lives with us (a really shy, sweet bloke named Aaron)…he went to a dancing club with a bunch of us, but I could tell he was feeling really awkward, and didn’t really know what to do…he was extremely self-conscious, and was just leaning against the wall…so I pulled him with me onto the dancefloor and made a fool out of myself so he wouldn’t feel as awkward…was a total goofball…my friends started pointing at us, and when he noticed, he got all self-conscious again, and to try to reassure him, I told him they were just pointing b/c they thought he was cute…later, I learned that here in Australia, if you tell someone that he or she is “cute”, what you are actually saying is that they are “interesting but bad looking”…..oy. Had to do some major damage control once I learned what I had actually said to him…we had a laugh though…the slang here is hilarious…so far I think my favorite would be the term “bum fluff” which is defined as “the beginnings of facial hair on an adolescent”….ah, language is such a beautiful thing. :-)
…saw another car accident (the drivers here are ABSOLUTEY insane)…it was terrible….we were walking down the sidewalk, and saw this man get hit by a car (everyone here jaywalks, and it is nerve-wracking to watch, especially the kids, b/c they think it is a game, and the drivers NEVER stop for jaywalker, they just expect them to get out of the way in time…)…I hope he was ok (fingers-crossed), but all of us were shaken and almost in tears (b/c this man’s wife was crying and shaking him to try to wake him up b/c he was unconscious, and it was simply terrifying), and this skeezy guy came up to us and actually tried to hit on us (I could not believe it!!!!)…he asked us what pretty girls like ourselves were doing here…I asked him what the hell was he thinking, this man just got hit by a car, and was not moving, he possibly was dead, and he had the fucking audacity to try and hit on us….he said the guy was probably just faking it, ignored our looks of horror, and then just went on to ask me if I had a boyfriend and if I’d be interested in going out to dinner with him…I was so appalled and disgusted, I did something that I tend not to do…told him to “fuck off” and “grow a heart”…if you know me, you know I would NEVER say anything like this to anyone…but I was so so sooo furious at his insensitivity, and he was absolutely unbelievable…and this was one time that I didn’t give a shit if I hurt his feelings or not (pardon the language)…but, for fuck’s sake!? WHO does that?! Ahhrrrh! Ok, trying to let it go…but sometimes people just completely unhinge me with their callousness. Difficult for me to handle it gracefully.
On a funnier and lighter note…
---we got really realllllly drunk on Friday night (not belligerent, just goofy), had a fantastic time partying it up and club-hopping (most clubs here don’t have a cover charge, which is nice)…Yarrow and I started skipping down the sidewalk and waving at random people on the street as we were walking to Oxford street (which is the gay club mecca)…we all had an insane time…dancing the night away…being around tons and tons of people who were all decked out…at this one club, this one guy pulled Yarrow, Dain, Aly and I up on stage with him…so we all danced with everyone watching and cheering…good times! Everyone is unbelievably friendly…very safe street…tons of smiles and “g’days”…it’s open until the wee wee hours…and it is a ridiculously fun place…we all got back extremely late…and Yarrow and I (she and I have gotten to be really close, and we have very similar senses of humor…bizarre, as it were! We crack each other up all the time…)..so we came back and started trying to communicate with the bats from her balcony (we were still quite drunk, as they make their Long Island Ice teas VERRRRY strong here)…we must have looked insane, but ah well…so it goes! All of us had a blast…and I absolutely adore each and every person in our group…the friendships are very fluid…and I feel comfortable with everyone, and it is an amazing combination of minds and craziness! Never a boring moment…and funnily enough, drama has already taken hold. Figures. Oy! :-)
Then, on Saturday, a bunch of us took the ferry to Manly…and that was brilliant! I love ferries…it was a boo-tiful day…we went swimming and walked around and got dive-bombed by a bunch of seagulls…my wrists (of all places) got sunburned….the water was perfect…..but towards the end the lifeguards had to make the announcement that the wind had shifted and was starting t blow in the jellyfish…so, we got out of the water in a hurry, since I know how fabulous it feels to get stung. Ow. But it was a great tiring day….we do TONS of walking, here! Very healthy town….and we all find that we are starving ALL the time (literally)….and it gets to be so hot I take showers 3 times a day just to cool off, and I have to go to bed wet and in only underwear in order to get any sleep….the heat has also given me crazily intense dreams…and I have a much harder time sleeping in…those lovely vocal birdies!
I’ve spent the entire day doing research on Aboriginal writing, contemporary vs traditional oral methods….fascinating stuff…been looking at the concepts of identity and the creation and socialization of the element of the “Other” in Australian culture, and how that comes through in writing and poetry…the circularity of movement in the written word, the discourse and questions that arise from it, etc…it’s what I’m going to be doing my big research project on….so I'm all excited about it! Pumped, really!
Whew, boy!
Anywhoo…gotta get back to me work!
Peace!
--had the MOST amazing night last night…what could be more unbelievably perfect than going to a free jazz concert in the park…surrounded by thousands upon thousands of smiling and dancing people…hearing fan-fucking-tastic New Orleans jazz…being outside, under the stars…working your way to the front of the masses, being inches away from the stage…seeing the sweaty smiles of the musicians…dancing like no one is watching…seeing yourself up on the big screen since you had no idea that you were being filmed…incidentally being on Australian TV…getting all hot and sweaty from too much dancing and smiling, and then having it rain…getting soaked to the skin…having soaked conversations with complete strangers…getting the chills when everyone started singing together…watching everyone around me, not a sad face in the crowd (you can’t stay sad while listening to that kind of toe-taping goodness)…feeling so insanely happy to be alive!!!! I actually started to tear up, b/c I was so happy, and in that moment there was nowhere else I would have rather been.
It was amazing…I know I say that about a lot of things, since amazement is my metaphysical nourishment….but god…it was all so fucking PERFECT!!!!
We all walked back in the drizzling Australian rain…
A brief recap of the past few days:
Tried kangaroo….umm…yeah…was interesting. Wouldn’t make a habit of it.
--worst pickup line…while you are in the ocean, guy approaches you and asks “so, aren’t you afraid of sharks?” your response: “no, they don’t come in this close to shore…” his witty response: “I meant me.” Horribly terrible, but laughable, nonetheless.
---accidentally insulted one of the aussies that lives with us (a really shy, sweet bloke named Aaron)…he went to a dancing club with a bunch of us, but I could tell he was feeling really awkward, and didn’t really know what to do…he was extremely self-conscious, and was just leaning against the wall…so I pulled him with me onto the dancefloor and made a fool out of myself so he wouldn’t feel as awkward…was a total goofball…my friends started pointing at us, and when he noticed, he got all self-conscious again, and to try to reassure him, I told him they were just pointing b/c they thought he was cute…later, I learned that here in Australia, if you tell someone that he or she is “cute”, what you are actually saying is that they are “interesting but bad looking”…..oy. Had to do some major damage control once I learned what I had actually said to him…we had a laugh though…the slang here is hilarious…so far I think my favorite would be the term “bum fluff” which is defined as “the beginnings of facial hair on an adolescent”….ah, language is such a beautiful thing. :-)
…saw another car accident (the drivers here are ABSOLUTEY insane)…it was terrible….we were walking down the sidewalk, and saw this man get hit by a car (everyone here jaywalks, and it is nerve-wracking to watch, especially the kids, b/c they think it is a game, and the drivers NEVER stop for jaywalker, they just expect them to get out of the way in time…)…I hope he was ok (fingers-crossed), but all of us were shaken and almost in tears (b/c this man’s wife was crying and shaking him to try to wake him up b/c he was unconscious, and it was simply terrifying), and this skeezy guy came up to us and actually tried to hit on us (I could not believe it!!!!)…he asked us what pretty girls like ourselves were doing here…I asked him what the hell was he thinking, this man just got hit by a car, and was not moving, he possibly was dead, and he had the fucking audacity to try and hit on us….he said the guy was probably just faking it, ignored our looks of horror, and then just went on to ask me if I had a boyfriend and if I’d be interested in going out to dinner with him…I was so appalled and disgusted, I did something that I tend not to do…told him to “fuck off” and “grow a heart”…if you know me, you know I would NEVER say anything like this to anyone…but I was so so sooo furious at his insensitivity, and he was absolutely unbelievable…and this was one time that I didn’t give a shit if I hurt his feelings or not (pardon the language)…but, for fuck’s sake!? WHO does that?! Ahhrrrh! Ok, trying to let it go…but sometimes people just completely unhinge me with their callousness. Difficult for me to handle it gracefully.
On a funnier and lighter note…
---we got really realllllly drunk on Friday night (not belligerent, just goofy), had a fantastic time partying it up and club-hopping (most clubs here don’t have a cover charge, which is nice)…Yarrow and I started skipping down the sidewalk and waving at random people on the street as we were walking to Oxford street (which is the gay club mecca)…we all had an insane time…dancing the night away…being around tons and tons of people who were all decked out…at this one club, this one guy pulled Yarrow, Dain, Aly and I up on stage with him…so we all danced with everyone watching and cheering…good times! Everyone is unbelievably friendly…very safe street…tons of smiles and “g’days”…it’s open until the wee wee hours…and it is a ridiculously fun place…we all got back extremely late…and Yarrow and I (she and I have gotten to be really close, and we have very similar senses of humor…bizarre, as it were! We crack each other up all the time…)..so we came back and started trying to communicate with the bats from her balcony (we were still quite drunk, as they make their Long Island Ice teas VERRRRY strong here)…we must have looked insane, but ah well…so it goes! All of us had a blast…and I absolutely adore each and every person in our group…the friendships are very fluid…and I feel comfortable with everyone, and it is an amazing combination of minds and craziness! Never a boring moment…and funnily enough, drama has already taken hold. Figures. Oy! :-)
Then, on Saturday, a bunch of us took the ferry to Manly…and that was brilliant! I love ferries…it was a boo-tiful day…we went swimming and walked around and got dive-bombed by a bunch of seagulls…my wrists (of all places) got sunburned….the water was perfect…..but towards the end the lifeguards had to make the announcement that the wind had shifted and was starting t blow in the jellyfish…so, we got out of the water in a hurry, since I know how fabulous it feels to get stung. Ow. But it was a great tiring day….we do TONS of walking, here! Very healthy town….and we all find that we are starving ALL the time (literally)….and it gets to be so hot I take showers 3 times a day just to cool off, and I have to go to bed wet and in only underwear in order to get any sleep….the heat has also given me crazily intense dreams…and I have a much harder time sleeping in…those lovely vocal birdies!
I’ve spent the entire day doing research on Aboriginal writing, contemporary vs traditional oral methods….fascinating stuff…been looking at the concepts of identity and the creation and socialization of the element of the “Other” in Australian culture, and how that comes through in writing and poetry…the circularity of movement in the written word, the discourse and questions that arise from it, etc…it’s what I’m going to be doing my big research project on….so I'm all excited about it! Pumped, really!
Whew, boy!
Anywhoo…gotta get back to me work!
Peace!
posted by heather at 6:28 PM
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