Sam vs. McChicken (the McChicken won!)

Got up this morning a little late, recovering from Gabrielle's party last night. I love sangria! Had a coffee and a toasted tomato sandwich. Showered and read a few chapters of Long Way Round. Gavin called so I went with Greg to Deus to meet him, hung out there for a bit and then decided to ride to Crown St. for a coffee. Riding along Paramatta Rd, enjoying the day and WHAM, I get beaned with a McChicken - ya that's right, A &*#! MCCHICKEN. I actually had no idea what it was when it hit me, but Gav was behind and looked up from his GPS just in time to see it and the wrapper bouncing off me. OMG I got hit with a McChicken. I cannot stop laughing. Must stop laughing, stomach hurts from too much laughing. :D

HALF EATEN BREAD AND 2 BOTTLES OF WINE!

Hangover Friday!!!! Great night last night, I went out with one of the ladies from work. Gabrielle - Dutch, from Amsterdam. Very sweet, very European. She even has a pair of rubber clogs that smell like tulips! She moved into Bondi last weekend so we decided to go for wine at this great wine bar that Vanessa told us about called "The Shop", drank a couple of bottles of a fabulous Barossa (can't remember the name but it was something Murray or Murray something) Must have again. Yum yum. Second bottle in a little drunk, ok a lot drunk! and then of course, (those of you that know me, know me) where to next? Round the corner to the Pub and more wine. Maybe not such a good idea. Gabrielle pretty much passed out there. It was sooo cute. Her boyfriend Billy kept touching her on the knee and she didn't react, so he would go back to his conversation and this went on a few times till finally it was decided to end the night. Stumble, stumble, off I went and I obviously made it home cause I woke up in my bed with a half eaten piece of bread. Always taking care of my self trying to soak up the wine. They say that wine and bread go well together, no?

Zack was at the studio today, ran into him going between buildings, he tried to follow Gabrielle and I to the shop when we went to buy ice cream. Had to send him on his way, he has work to do! Truly though, it was 36 Celsius/97 Fahrenheit. It was blistering. and with my hangover phew it was hot. Hmmm, suddenly I think to myself. "This blog is all over the place, maybe it's the hangover. But I am writing much more than usually so maybe this hangover thing is working. Maybe I will try this drunk next time and see what I can get out!!!"

It's Halloween today and booooo no one here really celebrates it. Wanted to have a party but thought I would be too busy with Zack being here. Alas not so much the case, will plan a sweet party next year though, no costume, no entry!!! I saw a few kids dressed up on my way home but it was pretty sad. There is a party down the street at the Flying Squirrel and it's my kind of party - no costume, no entry!!! Still have my Bloody Red Riding Hood costume from Denise's party last year. You can recycle a costume in a different country can't you? Oooh, they have Caesars and what goes better with a Caesar than a hangover. Oh my God. I just remembered it's Steph's Birthday, must send my favorite ecard from bust.com - i wonder if people are getting tired of getting the same card over and over.

Oh and the kangaroo picture... ya, well I don't have any shots from last night!

RIDING THE KANGAROO!!!

oooo ooo oo!!! Long weekend starts tomorrow. VERY VERY excited! Going to get on the bike and do a ride down the coast to South Durras which is just outside of Batemans Bay, which is on the east coast of NSW. What is probably the most exciting thing is the place I'm going is on the beach :D and has kangaroos that you can pet :P so so so cool. Who'da thought I would ever be petting a kangaroo? Not me that is for sure. Maybe I can ride one? Promise to get a picture if I can!!! There are also dolphins there and wallabies and possums. Long way from Black Bears and Raccoons I can tell you that!

Also need to say it's HOT here. Right now 11:18pm it is about 26 Celsius/68 farenheight and tomorrow it is going to be up around 29/84. I missed summer, I really did and to think this is spring!

Last weekend Gav, Greg and I went to check out an Italian Bike Show and then drove out to Picton (which is inland), the temp got up around 33/91. Fortunately, I spents some of my hard earned $$s on a new vented jacket but poor Gavin wore his leathers and no sunscreen and got heat stroke. Soooo crappy. The bike show however was pretty good and the ride to Picton to. (ok what was that commercial ... worth the ride to Picton) HAHAHAHA

and now some more pictures of friends, riding and nothing in particular!!!

One Shot, Two Shot, Three Shot, Four!!!

Two weeks later I finally recovered from Liv's Birthday drinks. Started out innocently enough with Vanessa, Magali, Greg and I hooking up for pre party drinks before heading to Velvet in Paddington at the Beauchamps Hotel (apparently the Aussies pronounce it Beech-amps!). A few priming Vodka/Tonics and off we went, hitting the bar straight with the shots. Not sure that I remember that much of the evening but I do remember feeling like crap the next day and of course the shared stories on Monday with Vanessa "I don't remember leaving!?!?". Will somethings never change?
Fear not friends, I keep up the good work of keeping the bars in business!
Here are some pics from the evening as it wore one.

My heart stopped for what felt like an eternity. I couldn't see straight, couldn't stand, couldn't understand what was going on. Then I realized, It was LIFE. Gets me every time!

Here are some shots of an afternoon ride with Magali, Gavin and Greg to The Pie in the Sky up The Princess Hwy. The ride was great with awesome twisties, unfortunately it was raining earlier so the roads were wet but still good fun. Things got a little sketchy when we realized that the loaner Bonneville that Magali has while waiting for her Street Triple had a flat and of course the nozzles on the air pumps mostly don't fit the bikes. A few stops at petrol stations finally found us with one we needed and we got Miss Magali home safe.

Here are the pics.

Watchdogs

I picked up the most beautiful Jonathan Weiner print today. I actually bought it a few months back when I went to the Outre Gallery in Darlinghurst for a Shag Opening courtesy of my friends Mark and Sandra. Is it a sacrilege to buy art from someone other than the opening artists? I guess not cause Shag didn't seem to mind. I think Outre is one of my favorite Galleries I have been to. It just got so much really great stuff - Glenn Barr, Jeff Soto and Angelique Houtkamp who does awesome traditional tattoo prints. I really could buy up the whole store. LOVE IT! http://www.outregallery.com

It's a small picture, but check it out, I love it, love it, love it!!!

When you wake up and you aren't sure who you are, you have to wonder how you got there. Did you subconsciously bring yourself to this place or is only by the fates that you ended up there. Once you realize there is no answer to really answer how it became, you wonder what to do. You need some kind of coordinates to find your way back. You ask for directions, look for signs and familiarity in your surroundings. If you find them does it make you feel whole again or will you forever wonder what part of you brought you there and what you left behind.

long time, no blog...

Had my birthday this week. It was really good. My new and old friends took me to dinner at the BBQ King in Chinatown. The food was sooooo yummy. Got lots of "love" notes from my friends from far away places and that made me really happy. It was a REALLY good birthday! Got the quintessential picture of Caroline which I am happy to share with you.

Here is it and some more pictures.

Lost Days - If found please return!!!

I have been getting a lot of flack for not updating my post.... I don't know where my days are going to but if you see them could you send them back. I could use them.

Sydney, not an easy place to relocate to. So far the number of hurdles have been, well... countless.

Problem #1 The working hours for banks 9:30 till 4pm Monday to Friday.

Problem #2 housing rentals don't come with appliances outside of a fridge.

Problem #3 landlords don't take personal cheques. Only bank drafts or cash... have to get to bank... oh wait it's closed.

Problem #4 everything costs twice what it does in North America.

Problem #9 Paying people exorbitant amounts of money to clear your bike through customs and quarantine so you can just pick the thing up and bring it home although you have already paid a ton to ship it there and get all the appropriate paperwork required just to find out that you have to go down in person to sign the documents and set up the appointments to clear it yourself, leaving you wondering what the $#@! you just paid these people the exorbitant amount of money to do.

Problem #10 Finding out the company you paid to ship your furniture etc held your shipment for 1 month before sending leaving you waiting till mid June to get your furniture.

Problem #11 Not having a TV to zone out and ignore all of the other problems above.

Problem#12 The amount of money you spend buying alcohol to numb the pain of the problem since you have nothing else to do!

CRAP

I think I left my camera at the hotel! :(

I have to track it down or start using my mobile for photo blogging and yes after much bitching (those of you who heard it, you know who you are) about getting my mobile sorted out here.... I FINALLY DID. I will not post the number here but I will give it to you via email.

I went to Big John's Pizza tonight on my way home and made the error of being slightly flirty with the guy working there. Well not really flirty more cute, he asked me if I had $2 on top of the $20 that I had given him (so he didn 't have to give me all the change he had) and I said "oh, anything for you". Oops, next thing you know he said "then can I have your number". BOLD!!! Guess I learned a lesson... the men here a little bolder than in the 'Couve.

No photos of the bold man though... CRAP, must find my camera!

Last Day, First Day!!!

k, so I am here. No surprise to any of you since I got on the plane but just to confirm. I did not end up somewhere else, though there were moments at the airport (like when they told me my ETA Visa wasn't valid and i couldn't get on the plane) that I thought perhaps I wouldn't end up here. But I did! Yay me!

I must send my great big thank you to Sandra and Steve for taking me to the airport and of course putting up with my insane nervousness prior to dropping me at the gate. It's funny, I was calm for a long time, then as the days got closer for my departure I started to freak, then when I got the furniture and the bikes to the shippers I calmed down, then the few hours before and the time at the airport I went insane again! Rollercoaster!!! and again thank you to everyone (steve, sandra, aliki, ken diamond, kevin, greg, monica and alex) for not making too much fun of me (ok maybe not steve, but as previously mentioned they got the highest point of insanity I think). Thinking back; maybe the hangover that I gave myself from the night before may have been an added bonus!

Fortunately the flight itself seemed like it was about 5 hours and I did get to watch some good movies and lay in my super lux pod drinking hoity toity champagne!!! The highlight of course was the quarantine spraying they did on the plane before they let us deplane and to add insult to injury the flight attendants covered there faces when the spraying happened leaving us to suck in the fumes (I covered and took photos. Hee hee)

The full enjoyment of my bags kicked in when I had to try and get them on the luggage cart myself. I, of course, found myself a nice gentleman to help out though ;D but had no one to help me coming down the ramp with my 210 pounds of luggage.... can you say runaway cart????

Imke picked me up and we went down to Bondi for a bit of breakfast (10am-ish) had some fantastic ricotta hotcakes with blueberries and checked out the most famous beach in Australia (I think), and of course we went surfing that day too! Couldn't not. Got the shit kicked out of myself by the waves but it was glorious! Warm(ish) water - but warm compared to Vancouver and just a beautiful day in all.

So all in all i have nothing but good things to say so far. The jetlag is almost gone (i hope) and I am settling in already.

What's to come next? Stay tuned....


The Chestnut I had to leave behind :(









Sandra & I in "Rock Mode"









What the?!?!?!?












the first shot of my last night...









the last shot of my last night (so not drunk)









coming in for a landing... hello Bondi Beach!!!!









spraying the dirty dirty passengers!!!









the first surf!!!

This old draft, deserved to be posted!

I wrote this post on the 14th of March but didn't post it thinking I wanted to edit it so it wasn't so sappy. I guess it's just meant to be a little sappy. I love Vancouver.

This morning I took my bike to John Valk to get some work done on it, and after dropping it off I took the skytrain back to Commercial Drive. I got a little melancholy looking at the skyline as the train sped along. Seeing Mainspace and that ugly school next door, just knowing that I wasn't going to see it for a while and wondering with all the construction what Vancouver would be like in a few years, when I hopefully get to venture back (after the Olympics though!!!)

Even walking along Commercial and thinking "I just moved in this neighborhood and didn't really get to fully appreciate it", knowing how much I'm going to miss the great restaurants and cute little shops, especially Mintage, one of my favorite places to browse on the weekend after brunch.

I know Sydney is going to be GREAT, but I am still very sad to be leaving. :(

See you later Vancouver!

New Eyes, New Adventure!!

So to start the post I just want to say "I got new eyes!!!". I am sure you have seen the great pic of me in my blue blockers but just in case I posted it below (thanks Aliki for taking such a great shot!!!!).

It's pretty cool being able to wake up and see right away. Makes me think, I can now fight off any intruders that stroll in (yes, stroll - I was blind and they somehow would know it) into my place in the middle of the night! Throwing things when you can't see is hard! And hitting the object you are throwing at is even harder. But with my new eyes... look out Mr. Robber!!!

So I continue to purge and pack in hopes of actually getting it all done by the time I leave for Sydney. Seems like I have been doing it forever with very little result but today I feel like I made some serious headway. I'm off to the "Panel Doctor" for my visa x-ray tomorrow, (they don't want to let any sickies in) and then back to more packing. Wahoo!!! Anyone need any small appliances? I got a table piling up with stuff to go to Sally Anne!