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last.fm records
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Monthly Archives for November 2006
things that tasted good today
a duck!
I just noticed Swampy’s comment. He wins the competition, some floating volcanic rocks are on their way to him right now.
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wotam
On Friday night I got a flight to Hobart, Tasmania, for a weekend away. I flew JetStar, the plane was an A320 (we like Airbus). Inside it was comfortable and shiny.
I stayed at the Hotel Grand Chancellor, a midrange hotel on the water, not far from the touristy Salamanca area. I liked my room, it was on the corner so I had windows on two sides, one facing towards the sea and the other looking across the Derwent River via the bridge. Looked really good at night. I had a king-size bed, as requested and it was luxury to sleep without either curling into a fetal position or hanging my feet over the edge. There is something that always pisses me off about hotels, and it is this: they never have an extractor fan in the bathroom. In this bathroom, they did. Ten points just for that.
I had paella for dinner. I guess Tasmanian scallops aren’t so expensive in Tasmania because my meal was full of them. I love scallops.
After dinner it was time to go to the pub, and I found myself in a room full of ferals watching a peculiar performer wearing a leopard-print fez perched atop a mexican wrester’s mask. An unusual show. Being Tasmania, they of course had Cascade on tap. So, naturally, Cascade was what I drank. Oh, and also vodka. Once I had finished with drinking it was off to the next stop, a bar not far from my hotel. Only one drink in they turned on the fuckoff lights so back to the hotel it was.
On Saturday I had a cup of coffee for lunch at a café/laundromat called Machine. I wasn’t feeling the best after that so I went back to my hotel room and slept until almost dark. It was time to go out!
I started at Isobar, only because I had heard of it and knew where it was. There was a hen’s night on and I was targetted to help the hen complete her checklist. She now has my number and the dollar she earned by selling me a kiss. My next stop was an “Irish” pub. It was a sausagefest and my beer was served in a plastic glass. I didn’t even bother to finish my drink. I finished up at some other nearby sandstone pub, where some guy told me that it had been snowing on Mt Wellington (the mountain over Hobart) that day. For my Northern readers, in Australia it will be Summer in eight days. Right now in Sydney it is 39°C.
Sunday I got up for a noontime breakfast of eggs benedict, once again at Machine. This was the first thing I had eaten since the paella, as I had forgotten to eat on Saturday. Afterwards I went to the Parliament Lawns (? or something) for a live music festival thing. They had wine for sale, packaged in small thin cans like Red Bull. The music wasn’t thrilling me, although I did get up for a bit of a dance to a reggae band.
Something I noticed in Hobart, possibly related to the freezing temperatures: there were a lot of people coughing everywhere. The pubs are all non-smoking, so that was not it. [update: it is because of germs, I now have a Hobart cold]
All too soon it was time to go home. When I arrived in Sydney I was hit by a wave of hot and humid air. It was like the experience of getting off a plane in a tropical country, what I felt in PNG or Malaysia. In two days I had acclimatised tot he cold of Tassie and my own city seemed tropical. I got over that pretty quickly.
I shouldn’t have gone.
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my invention
A few months ago I was at the slounge with Bek, Dan and the other no-longer-randoms. It came my time to buy a round so I decided to get something interesting. After consultation with the barman I developed a very tasty drink:
- 1 shot vodka
- 1/2 shot gin
- 1/2 shot absinthe
- apple juice
- ice
- splash of sprite
I mostly forgot about this until yesterday afternoon. I was out with my sister Michelle and some of her friends, celebrating her birthday with drinks in the sun. I decided that she would need a special birthday drink and this immediately sprang to mind.
Someone suggested that we need a name for the drink, so I put it to the group. After some heated discussion there were two clear favourites: Yoda’s Piss or Yodameister. I am not completely happy with either name, but the herd has spoken.
Yoda’s Piss.
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innocent like a sweet little lamb
What a day! What a night!
Regular readers will no doubt be aware that I am a massive fan of fun, and likewise am significantly pro-adventure. Lucky me: I got them both in abundance over the last 20 or so hours, and an exciting time I had. I love missions, and I love cool people and dancing.
I am not going to go through a blow-by-blow because, frankly, I have to think of my fanbase. I don’t want to corrupt your poor innocent minds. I had a fucking fun time. Ha! Now you ARE corrupted because I used a bad word.
If you are inner circle you can ask me about what happened, and I will tell you. If you aren’t, well why not get on myspace and add me? If we become friends then I might tell you. I am buypresentsfordarryn.
JohnBoy tell me not to overthink things, but thinking is my specialty. I got some new stuff to think about last night, I met new people. I love my life, it is never boring. Something cool always happens.
I am not gonna give shout outs because there are well over twenty people who made my day rock, and the list would get boring and dangerously exclusive. If you were a part of it, then you are almost certainly reading this anyway. Thanks.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY MICHELLE AND JOHNBOY!!! Two fucking Scorpios. As Shell always told me, beware the sting! JB, as if you have a sting.
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we like the moon
for SpongBo
We like the moon
coz it is close to us
we like the moooon!
but not as much as a spoon
cuz that’s more use for eating soup
and a fork isn’t very useful for that
unless it has got many vegetables
and then you might be better off with a
chop-stick
unlike the moon
it is up in the sky
it’s up there very high
but not as high
as maybe
digibles or zeppelins
or lightbulbs
and maybe clouds
and puffins also I think maybe
they go quite high too
maybe not as high as the moon
coz the moon is very high
we like the moon
the moon is very useful everyone
everybody like the moon
because it light up the sky at night
and it lovely
and it makes the tide go and we like it
but not as much as cheese
we really like cheese
we like zeppelins
we really like them
and we like kelp and we like moose
and we like deer and we like marmots
and we like all the fluffy animals
we really like the moon
from Rather Good
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kava
Tonight I went to a kava ceremony, kava is an intoxicating drink made from the roots of a local plant and its consumption is a sacred part of Fijian culture. As the Alpha, I was nominated to be the acting chief. I had a special bowl, whilst the others had to share a bowl. No-one could drink until after me, and everyone had to clap three times whenever I drank. I am now a member of the village.
The immediate effect of the drug was a numb mouth (and taste of dirty soapy water). After a little while I began to feel a bit more relaxed but that’s all. Tristan claimed to be able to see jellyfish behind his eyelids, but he might have been fooling himself.
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coup
One of the other guests was called by her family in Australia, apparently Aussie TV is full of talk of political unrest here in Fiji. They say that there is to be a military coup. We have seen none of that here on Beqa Island and, regardless of what happens, we are safe here. Don’t worry. I know a few of you probably are worrying (Michelle, Phil). Just remember that everything always works out for me, and I get to have cool adventures along the way.
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cider, gravy, churches
Bula from Fiji! I am sitting in a comfy chair on Beqa Island, overlooking the calm waters of Beqa Lagoon. The birds are chirping, the wind is rustling through the coconut palms, and Tristan is luring a poor kitten to its doom. Small floating volcanic stones are bobbing up and down in the few gentle wavelets.
They tell me that the flight over took four hours, so I guess I must have slept for three. After all the flights to and from Europe in the last eighteen months, I was surprised that the flight to Fiji was only four hours. Perceptions change.
There are some small mammals that come out here at night, which the locals call mongoose but are about the size of a squirrel/ferret. They live in the bushes near the koi pond, I saw one during the day yesterday. I have spoken to the owner and he tells me that the mongoose were introduced in order to rid the island of snakes, and they have almost completed their mission. When asked what kind of snakes live on the island, he reassured me that there are no dangerous snakes, just tree snakes and carpet snakes. If the snakes aren’t a threat, why exterminate them?
I am on this trip with grownups, divers all, so the holiday is atypical in that we are not getting drunk every night. When we drink, we drink cocktails, and a maximum of two.
Tristan and I spent yesterday swimming. We both ended up red, myself more so (on the neck). I was not concerned, and this morning my nonchalance was proved justified: Tristan is massively burned and I am a bit more tanned. Thanks to Mum for my alleged Spanish genes.
Yesterday afternoon I had a massage. The lady came into my bure with the table, oil etc. I was not expecting her. The booking had been made by my roommate, Sirwin, but as he was away diving I kindly took one for the team. The massage was competent but it felt like she was running through a checklist. There was no love.
This morning I was woken by Tristan, who came to my bure to fetch me for breakfast. After breakfast I returned and went back to sleep. I was again woken by Tristan, who came to fetch me for lunch. The food is excellent, and the service comes with a broad smile. Hooray for holidays.
They have a single computer here, made of stone and twigs, which is connected to teh intarwebs via a microwave link to the mainland. I don’t think the link is very powerful as the trees in line-of-sight seem quite healthy and are not on fire. Use of the internet costs $2 flagfall and $1 per minute thereafter. I won’t be using it - this post is being typed on Tristan’s notebook, which I will plug in just to send the post, and a few emails. It turns out that I only miss the internet as a means of communication with friends and loved ones. So Rohani wins, although that was obvious from the start.
Don’t be expecting a lot of/any posts from me whilst here. I have swimming to do. In fact, I haven’t even taken any photos.
* Beqa is pronounced “benga”
** A special Fiji present for the first one to comment with reference to the title of this post. That probably means you, Chris
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