Final Melbourne Post

Alas, the night has come. Melbourne has officially come to an end.

I've promised to make this blog available to future Occidental students, so that they might have an idea of what Melbourne was like for a male Politics major. I'll forever remind you that I originally wrote this for my parents, with the combined intention of having it serve as an electronic diary of my encounters, thoughts, and general experiences while in Southern Victoria.

Having said that, I am going to first reflect on my experiences in general and list my favorite things I did while in Melbourne, and then I will follow with the usual posts consisting of thoughts, events, and things that make me happy or provoke some sort of profound feeling.

The Melbourne Welcome:

Absolutely worth it. Also required by Occidental. Oxy pays for it and it serves as an orientation week. Oxy did a more mellow version of it when we first came. For 2011ers the theme was Oxywood, and they took us to a Dodgers Game, organized events and helped us find things near/around Pasadena, organize public transport, etc blah blah blah we all remember at least some parts of orientation...not much, though. O Week at Oxy also consists of getting extraordinarily drunk for an entire week, but in Melbourne you do the same but in a very different manner. The first thing I noticed is that you can go out and drink legally here. That changes everything, as if you are going abroad your Junior year you likely aren't 21 in the states. House parties are few and far between, private kegs and hard liquor (Spirits here) fall out of the picture, and bars, clubs, and goon come into the picture. Goon is the cheap shitty box wine and you'll encounter it. Enough said about that. Watch out as well-beer and spirits are expensive in Aussieland. I'm looking forward to paying $13USD in LA for 30 beers. The Melbourne Welcome also makes you a ton of friends. The first girl I met the morning we began orientation was a strangely tall but very naturally pretty Dutch girl named Fleur. In Holland, the majority of the people are tall, but elsewhere the Dutch stand out as extraordinarily tall people. Fleur was my friend until the end, and I've made plans to visit her in Amsterdam soon. The welcome takes you to a ton of places, introduces you to your University, and gets you drunk with international kids. You'll have a great time.


Melbourne Gym:
During the winter you need a gym, although the Melbourne Gym on campus is very pricey and not extraordinarily nice. At home you can pay the same amount for a full on gym complete with a sauna, hot tub, steam room, etc. Here you get everything you need to lift weights, run, swim, and you can take classes (included in the cost as I understand it, though I never made it to a class despite my friend Miranda's constant attempts to coax me into joining her). Once it's warm, you find yourself going there less, running, and swimming outside-if you are anything like me. I took up surfing very hardcore when I came here, and bought a secondhand board which I eventually sold back (sadly and tragically).

*If you live at the RMIT Village (which I recommend).

Do the second welcome week. It is available to all the members of the RMIT VIllage, and consists of another week of drinking at pubs, playing games, BBQs, and themed parties. Do it, dress up big time for all the events, put yourself out there, and make a ton of friends early on. Keep on good terms-you'll periodically see different people around the Village and if you keep friendly with them it will work out for both of you in the end.

MUSEX:
Borderline. It really depends on your scene. I did the party camp and had a phenomenal time, and nowhere else could I participate in such an event. For that, MUSEX was a lot of fun and I'd highly recommend it to anyone that enjoys drinking on retreat weekends. I've done it before and I'll do it again, and the trip they took us on to West Gippsland was amazing. The events they throw are basically cheap college versions of things you should do on your own time otherwise. I did the booze cruise with them, and had an okay time floating down the polluted Yarra river on a small boat floating with a bunch of drunk college students. The booze cruise I went on in Sydney was ten times more amazing, during Halloween, and completely supersedes the memory I have of the MUSEX booze cruise. MUSEX will basically provide a synthetic organized drinking scene with the same crew of international kids. At the RMIT Village you meet a ton of internationals from the RMIT University as well, and quickly you find yourself choosing your favorite international kids to party with. At one point my friend Carly made the criticism that, "MUSEX is always the same scene, same party, just with different costumes and at different places." The girl hit the nail on the head. Anyway, check it out, see what you think of the events, and if you want to go to a few buy the $5 membership. They'll give you a card saying you get a special for $7 on jugs at Turf if you show the card, but you get $7 jugs anyway. A sleazy marketing scheme, and one I haven't forgotten. That's about how MUSEX rolls, though.

Places to go:

Queen Vic Market. I'll let you discover this one on your own-it will be your source of food and so much more. Extraordinarily cheap. Look deep into it-I found an amazing Hindu store where I bought a prayer candle holder and a magic lamp. Amazing.

BRUNSWICK STREET. There is a place called Bimbo's that has $4.00 pizza specials and an amazing beer called the Blonde Bimbo. I tried all the pizzas on the menu and then some, and really enjoyed my time there. Go to the clubs as well, including a place called Little Creatures. I had a group of friends living in a house there, so we would party on Brunswick from time to time.

The CBD, Elizabeth St, Swanston, etc:
Great clubs. Hit Croft Institute, Billboards, Sorry Grandmas, Q Bar, the Crown Casino (also has clubs), Lyons, Ed Hardy Rockstar Bowling, and the list really goes on.

Lygon St:
Great food. Good movie theatre. Pretty walks and a lively scene. A lover's dream.

Chapel St: Only went once, had a great time. Too far to go out to with the public transportation system. If you have a late night out, you end up spending a ton of cash on your way back, making things problematic. Check it out, though. Go to Lucky Cock. Good pizza deals there, along with cheap drinks.

Places to visit:
To let you know, I missed the East Coast, Center, and Tasmania. Otherwise I'll have done everything that I've heard of doing while in Australia-save the Whitsundays, the one major part of the East I'm sad I didn't visit.

The Great Ocean Road.
This is a majestic place. Enormous rock cliffs, forests, waterfalls, small seaside surf towns, and good surfing. Very close to Melbourne. I suggest you see it at a warm time, and take three to four days to do it. Otherwise you'll see it but won't really experience it-if you catch my drift. If you are wanting to rent a surfboard, go to the Anglesea Surf Centre. It is 111 Great Ocean Road, and you can't miss it. I stored the owner of the shop's number in my phone and became good friends with the man. He gave us a killer deal on boards and wetsuits. Tell him Dan sent you and I'm sure he will treat you nicely as well.

Sydney.
Expensive, but completely worth it. Go to the Blue Mountains, Lowenbrau, Darling Harbor and Circular Quay. Visit the aquarium, eat in Chinatown, and go out at night. King's Cross if you are daring-the Red Light District of Sydney. Take a ferry to Manly Beach and catch the train to Bondi. Buy a souvenir at the little beachside shops in Bondi. Most of all, go with good friends. Sounds like simple advice, but the company really made my trip amazing and the experience all the more special.

Byron Bay.
GO THERE. It is amazing. Try to go before Australia goes on its summer holiday, or it will be overrun with 18 year-olds partying. I went during September, and spent two weeks there. See a sunrise at the most easterly lighthouse. Stay at the Arts Factory, a hostel just outside Byron Bay, and go surfing and fishing if you're into it. Tallow beach. Great place. One day I saw hang-gliders, an eagle, and whale spouts. Not to mention caught a fish with two Frenchmen and a Belgian. Your time in Byron will be special no matter what.





Enough of the PR bullshit. Time to talk about my final hours in Melbourne.

Thursday (second to last day, yesterday) I went to a large foam party. I don't know if you've ever been to one...I certainly hadn't. Anyway, they spray foam into a dancing crowd at a selected bar, play music, and provide a lightshow. It is a mess. I swear things got really rowdy and personal. Beforehand, I wound up drinking Sangria all afternoon with Gregg and her coworker. Scarlet and Abbey later joined, then Tom and some other friends showed up. We left the foam party just after 3 AM and had a long walk home with no shirt on, covered in foam, sore from dancing and sliding around in the foam. To top it off, we went swimming at the RMIT pool when we got back. We all agreed it might have been our best night out in Melbourne. Quite the way to end it.

I woke up this morning feeling like death. My eyes were bloodshot and sore from the foam and drinking, my body and head hurt from the beating it took combining red wine and diving onto a floor covered in foam, and I had to drag myself out of bed to make it to the Queen Vic market to finish the souvenir shopping. Not to mention I was feeling completely antisocial given my climactic night before. I spent the entire afternoon either in bed asleep, cleaning for my final room inspection, or buying last minute things, all with an extremely splitting headache. Completely worth it, given that this will all pass. Abbey didn't make it out of bed at all today, and Scarlet was limping earlier. It really was a rough night.




I've always dealt with loss and separation differently than most people. I tend to avoid goodbyes and rather prefer to tell people I'll see them again at some point until I just don't. That way, things are left open and aren't deliberate or forced. Tonight Tom Dixon called me and offered to drink some Coronas on my porch with me for the last time. I obliged, and had three beers, a large social feet given my condition. While I was out there I was bombarded with goodbyes and chatty people, which was hard to deal with at some points but refreshing at others. I don't know. I still listen to what Nietzsche says about what he calls 'rapture' and try to apply it to my life. He says you have to accept that the world is enormously and infinitely complex to the point where inevitably you will lose. Everything you love, and know will come to an end, including your very bodily existence. The world is constantly chaotic, and the best thing you can do is embrace the chaos, question every known truth you know, and take the plunge into unknowingness. If you are brilliant, you will emerge with some form of new truth or understanding, and spread that to your fellow man. This is how society progresses, and how men should live their lives. Sadly, that path is a lonely one that doesn't look back and lets go of the past easily, pursuing the search of a brighter, better future.

That's about where I'm at as my travels continue. Tomorrow I start the Coral Bleaching Research project I've undertaken at the Great Barrier Reef. I'll land in Cairns and start doing some research and preparing for a 3 day 2 night liveaboard dive cruise going to the outer reefs. From there, New Zealand. I'll keep you updated every chance I get, but this is my last post concerning Melbourne. It's been sealed in a large, hazy, drawn out fond memory that I'll never forget.

Until next time I'll be where the lights won't burn my eyes, beyond the electric fuzz where nobody knows my name or face.

End.

The days wind down, but we don't

I want to preface this by saying that as it gets hotter I can't be more happy that I'm home for Christmas. I used to fantasize about Hawaii and Australia during the holidays when I was young and the image of a surfing santa seemed so amazing to me. Now I have no desire to be in the sun and away from my family during January 25th.



Yesterday I started off the day by going to the Queen Vic Market with Old Gregg (Camille). We bought souvenirs, and the ingredients to make a final Pad Thai together at some point in the near future...maybe even for lunch today..? Not sure, really. We are doing the Great Barrier Reef next week, which is going to be amazing. I seriously can't wait. Then, I received a text from Abbey, my friend from North Carolina (North Care-ah-line-ah, as she says with her amazing slightly southern accent). She's my girl. Here's a picture of her doing her thing at the Shrine of Remembrance.

She wanted to go to the large Christmas tree in Melbourne and take pictures in front of it wearing swimming suits. Of course I was in. So I rounded up Odoyle, and we set off. Oh yeah Odoyle is a girl from Reno who goes to school in Washington DC. Her actual name is Scarlet, but lets just call her Odoyle. Odoyle claims she is visiting me in LA soon. We'll see. Here's the only picture of her alone that Abbey had on her camera. Somehow Abbey's photos ended up on my mac...not exactly sure why but it works.




Here is the first picture of us three in front of the tree, but the day only got better from there.

Our walk took us further down Swanston to the river, where we took another picture in front of the buildings. Typical touristy thing to do. The river is actually really dirty and gross, but let's pretend it's pristine and blue.
On the way back we went to Taco Bills, where we bought margaritas and food and got sombreros. Apparently Carly and Kate got colored sombreros which admittedly is more cool, but sometimes you just take what you can get I guess.
After that, we went back to the village and drank a little bit. Before long, Carly and Kate called and stopped by to join the party. I wound up going back to the colleges with them and kicking it with Carly in her room for a bit. Kate went to bed, tired from raging I assume. I said goodbye to Carly and walked home, stopping by 7-11 and getting a Slurpee on the way. On the way out of the store I high fived the guy. When I got back to the village I couldn't sleep so I went on a run. It was this run that made me really feel like I'd meshed with the city. Looking for cars on the left side of the road is like second nature now. I danced through the traffic as I crossed streets and cut through alleys on one of my favorite run routes.

When I got back I skyped my high school friend who is in Spain. He sent me the link to a video from our past. In it, we are 15/16, and idiots. Here is the link. Watch it, it's pretty ridiculous.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MqFDetqz4ZQ&feature=related



Big things today as well with the last minute village crew.

Cryst4l B4ll3rs

Just pictures this time, and their appropriate captions


This is me in front of the 12 Apostles. Yippee.



Zander, Chris, Thibaud, and myself in the Australian rainforest.
The London Bridge...half fell downHere is a koala in a tree that we saw along the road we drove. I'll bring you one home, mom.


Here Zander and I sit on Johanna beach. The surf was extremely treacherous, meaning no surf for us, and tons of sea spray. The mist in the air made my hair frizzy. It's cool, ladies love it.
So you get the idea. I'll show you the rest upon my return, which is in one month and one day now that I check my calendar.

"We are such stuff as dreams are made on"

I suggest you do your best to live your life as if it is a work of art. Try to find beauty in everything you do and the harmony that can be achieved with everything that you interact with and experience in the world.

While you're at it, if (for whatever reason) you are reading this, I'll go ahead and ask you to take some time to really think about your life. Think about what really matters to you. Is it being the talk of the town, having money and keeping money, getting drunk in Melbourne and living a cyclical lifestyle there, finding that beautiful someone that-whenever you look at them-the music plays and everything seems okay-even when it isn't...or is it something completely different? Find that and give chase, and when you catch it (if you are ever so lucky) never forget how fortunate you really are, because it is going to hurt more than you'd imagine when you lose it. I know I'm certainly guilty of forgetting when I have a good thing and I lose it, but being young and resilent and an American male certainly helps things. Even so, you can't endure these losses forever, and as you get older I'm certain that what really matters makes itself apparent through the hang ups, the evil stares, the 'fuck you toos' and 'I don't cares.'


Now back to reality...

Final papers and exams came to a close and I spent no time in Melbourne thereafter. I organized the trip I'd been wanting to take since the beginning of the semester along Victoria's Southern Coast to the Great Ocean Road.

Four of us made the epic journey. Zander and Chris, the two I bought my boards with from the beginning, and Thibaud, Chris' French friend from long ago.

I'm going to cut it short there because I haven't sorted through all the Great Ocean Road pictures I want to show for the trip we made, which was probably my favorite yet. Just four guys and the open road and surfing, a dream come true in the Australian Spring. Here's a shot of us and the man that sold us our boards and was more generous than any normal man, Bruce Little. The man, the myth, the legend. We are all outside his shop in Anglesea just along the Great Ocean Road, a place I will never forget and will tell my kids about if I tell them about ANYTHING in Australia. Rock on, Bruce, you've returned my faith in the generosity of strangers and to me you are larger than life. Click the picture if you want to do it justice. See Chris, Bruce, myself, and Thibaud. Thanks to Zander for taking the picture.

In Reverie

I will forever contemplate what my life would be like if I'd never gone to Australia. If I was still the same boy in college in Southern California, going to house parties on weekends, spending entirely too much time studying, and taking every moment I could to see the beach, mountains, desert, and surrounding areas of Los Angeles.

I'll never really know that boy anymore. He is lost and gone forever and has been replaced by a shadowy version of the same boy that has seen an extraordinarily large influence from a larger world upon visiting Melbourne.

I've had mixed opinions on Melbourne. I have to say, it isn't a glamorous city. It isn't clean, upscale, or professional like other major cities, but for a college student the lifestyle is pretty amazing. I took a trip to the fifth floor roof with my friend Mike Hawkins and we took a few shots of the CBD. Comparatively small, but charming nonetheless.I've taken some time to really appreciate the life I live right now. Since I've been here, I've met a miscellany of different people, made good connections and mutually offered my home to friends while abroad, dated a foreign woman, surfed some of the most world renowned breaks, kept a higher grade point average than I would have at home, and shared some of the most memorable nights of my life in between all of this. What is more is that I still have the Great Barrier Reef and New Zealand to look forward to, the two largest and most exciting trips yet, and I simply can't wait. I'm going to swim with one of the seven species of remaining sea turtles (six of the seven inhabit the reef), which will undoubtedly be my most fulfilling experience during this trip.

As friends around the village head off in their separate paths in life, things slow down, and the days lose their golden tinge. Even so, spending my last few weeks writing papers and lazily watching the minutes titter by under the warm Australian sun with my friends is something I'll certainly never forget, and can never take for granted.




Tonight I'm in at 12:57 on a Saturday night/Sunday morning for the first time in a long time. It is Mike Hawkins' last weekend here, and second to last night here. We hit it pretty hard and he wound up collapsing a few times in the hallway of the village. I managed to carry the guy back to my room and he is sleeping in my roommate Ben's bed as Ben is gone for the weekend. I met Mike the first night here, because he was on the same flight in and lived at the same place. He is going back to the states and to Jersey for Thanksgiving, which is something many Americans are making the choice to do. Part of me envies them but part of me knows that my six months abroad weren't meant to come to an end just yet. Tomorrow I will write 1000 words on my last essay, have a BBQ with Matteo, and then head for the Great Ocean Road Surf Expedition. If this isn't living then I've never been alive.

Upcoming dates and plans

This is your life, and it's ending one second at a time. I suggest you act accordingly. Take some time to tell your mom, dad, family and loved ones you love them. It's one of those funny things that you can never do too much and somehow never seem to do enough. I don't know, maybe it's just me.

I re-read that book Siddhartha by Herman Hesse in between writing papers. There's a part of the character's life called Sansara, where he is young and sinful, and believes that temporal and physical pleasures are supreme. I don't want to get into a tangential discussion on it but I think that's kind of where my life is. It will end soon enough, I'm sure, but I'm not even 21 yet so I think now is the time to live it up, for if I don't now I never will.



Friday the 13th: Australia Now paper due, Terrorism Final, French party
Monday the 16th: Global Movements paper due, depart for Great Ocean Road
16th-19th: Great Ocean Road Surf Trip Extravaganza, complete with a beach house and our own car.
20th-28th: Keep it real/say bye to Melbourne, and various day surfing trips
28th Nov-Dec 4th-Cairns and the Great Barrier Reef
Dec 5th-18th SOUTH NEW ZEALAND!!!
Dec 18th (yes I go back in time)-Dec 23rd-Los Angeles, Santa Monica and friends
Dec 23-??? Home for the Holidays, like a good boy. I'll be gaining weight, playing video games, and playing in the snow.
Jan 26-Turn 21, head straight for Las Vegas, NV

Last week I made remarkable progress on my APBP paper, meaning I had some time to enjoy one of my last weekend in Melbourne. Friday night I went out to the Swedish party, but missed the pre party because I fell asleep, dreaming in the Springtime heat of a wonderful Friday afternoon. Swedish party was awesome. I met Matteo and Benoit there and at some point we all made the decision to take off our shirts while dancing, which was a choice I'm guessing I suggested, seeing as I still think it was a great idea.

That night I checked something off of my list of things to do before I die. Great success.

Saturday was free Slurpee day at 7-11 so I spent the day going back and forth and indulging, and even took a trip with some friends to get some pizza. I got my own large and it was my lunch and dinner.

During the evening I met an interesting fellow named Sebastian. Sebastian is from Singapore, is extremely obsessed with Americana, Manhattan, Wall Street, and yuppie culture. He constantly told me he thought I was very intelligent, met the American-created standard of tall, dark, handsome, and said that he wanted to be my friend. I was glad to talk to the guy for free, and I offered him a puff of my hookah that I was smoking on my patio at the RMIT. He obliged, then insisted that I let him buy me beer so he could "pick my brain." Admittedly, I had nothing else to do, so I in turn obliged him, and he picked up a six pack of Heineken and a six pack of Guinness, a beer I haven't had since back home.

The night carried on with us talking Politics, Economics, and American society. I have to say out of all the people I've met here Sebastian (Seabass, as we've taken to calling him), is the most interesting. He wants to smoke hookah again next week, and I can't wait to see where his strange conversation takes me next.


Sunday I put the wraps on my first paper and started my pubs essay for Australia Now, which is due Friday. It is now Monday and I have 5 of 10 sources and 1011 of 2500 words. Easy stuff.

On Sunday I was fortunate enough to see the Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus. I won't bore you with the plot or what I thought of it, but SEE IT. Seriously. Go see it now.

I'm sorry I have no pictures right now. Next week I'm hitting the Great Ocean Road with the guys and I'll have plenty of show and tell for that post. This is my most work intensive week, so give me a break.



You wanna know who I really am? Yeah, so do I...

Sydney Update with pictures

I'm painting the world with a silver lining.


Yesterday's headline in the Surf Coast Times was talking about a woman that was brutally murdered, chopped up, and washed up piece by piece on Wilson's Prom. What the hell, Australia?


Okay, so I said I would do Sydney justice once I was able to take some pictures from my lovely travel mates and friends Carly and Kate. The pictures are in and the update is here to follow.

This was a photo of us Friday night at a place called Lowenbrau (I think). We ordered German dishes and drank extraordinarily good beer there. The good beer was pricey but completely worth it, a much needed break from the goon. The waiters/waitresses wore lederhosen and German dresses, which was awesome. Despite our flip flops, Carly got us in by saying we came all the way from the states to come to Oktoberfest. Carly's a quick thinker and a keeper for sure, GREAT thinking. Wonderful to travel with good people. The waitress also helped us out by giving us a table without a reservation, apparently something unheard of at the restaurant we were at, so I guess it was just our lucky night.
This is a shot of us in front of the world famous Sydney Opera House. It's on most of the postcards I sent out, and it really looks better from a distance, like Mel Gibson. On the real, though, it is covered in tiles and is somewhat off-white close up. A cool monument to see, as long as we were waiting for a ferry to Manly beach. From left you see Eliott, me, Carly, and Kate. Eliott is an Australian Engineer we met in Sydney. He is a friend of a friend from (interestingly enough) Oxy. Small world, eh? Eliott wasn't like the typical strange nerdy Engineers you work with, mom, so stop stereotyping them. He was a solid dude and is coming to the states and to Los Angeles sometime in the next few months.
This is the bridge, apparently a big deal. I dunno. There were people walking on top of it on tours but they seemed kind of like tools and I wasn't really that into it. Whatever, there's a picture of us in front of it.


This is Carly and I at the Blue Mountains, looking down at the waterfalls and the forests thousands of feet below us. The Blue Mountains are a big deal here, but honestly just go to Colorado where the mountains are infinitely larger and more majestic. Still, good to see mountains in Australia.



That brings us to the Halloween booze cruise. Here I am with my beautiful reindeer companions, all of us a few drinks in. The ship departed from Darling Harbour, had an open bar and pizza, and went around the CBD, took us right by the Opera House, and under the bridge. It was one of the rowdiest times ever, dancing on the bottom floor and a bar on the top. Seriously one of the most memorable nights in Australia, and a phenomenal Halloween experience. We did the Christmas thing as you can see. They were reindeer and I was an elf, but an elf that doesn't like to make toys.



Enough about Sydney, I'm missing it already. I've spent the week writing papers, getting a start on the 7000 words I have due. I took a mental health day yesterday and went surfing. We met a pretty cool dog on the beach. I don't know much about breeds but it looks like some sort of small terrier to me. It was feisty and liked playing tug of war with sticks that washed up on the beach, something that Jack loves doing as well. Not quite my dog, but still fun to be around the little guy.


This week I am finishing my first paper and then going to the last Swedish House party. The weekend is consumed by work again, and I'll be laying low other than Friday afternoon/night. After the 16th we are taking a surf trip to the Great Ocean Road and living the dream for a few days. Then I'm on borrowed time, saying goodbye to Melbourne, and making my way to the Great Barrier Reef to get back into Marine Biology research. Then it's off to New Zealand, which I've been most excited for since the beginning. After that, I'll surf couches around friends' houses near Oxy until the 23rd, then it's home for Christmas. Life is good, and I don't know how any year after 20 just on the cusp of turning 21 can get better, but I'll figure something out.

I KNEW I had to spend Halloween with Americans, and I knew Australia simply wouldn't get it. Even so, I have to say that I had no idea what I was getting into joining Carly and Kate on a trip to Sydney. We had such a legendary time I have to say it was one of my best weekends I've spent since I've been here. Sydney is expensive, but worth every penny.

012411 views when I post this at 1:40 AM on Monday

This is a test.

What can I say?

After Halloween, everything starts fading, and I go down like the sun.


I KNEW I had to spend Halloween with Americans, and I knew Australia simply wouldn't get it. Even so, I have to say that I had no idea what I was getting into joining Carly and Kate on a trip to Sydney. We had such a legendary time I have to say it was one of my best weekends I've spent since I've been here. Sydney is expensive, but worth every penny.

Sydney was a charm....and then some. I went with Kate and Carly from Oxy, two very pretty very lively very fun girls if you don't know them. Can I just say I forgot how much I love American women at times? I made it a point to meet international people for the longest time and to really go out and meet different people, but sometimes a trip with two people from your same school that agree with you and can relate on so many levels is just refreshing and fun. I'll get into that more in a bit.

When we first got to the hostel we booked, Carly wasn't amused. She made it clear, and convinced us to leave, get a refund, and find a better hostel in a better location (originally we were in Kings Cross down a sketch alley in a dirty place). Rather than show indifference and settle for shit, she made it a point to find something better...something I admire. Not only that, but our new hostel was only a bit more expensive, across the street from Central Station, and infinitely better.

The first day we hit the Sydney aquarium, and got food at an Indonesian restaurant. I'll apologize in advance because Carly and Kate took most of the photos, so once I steal some of theirs off of Fbook I'll post them and do the trip justice. The few pictures I took are somewhat disappointing, but I'll show you the ones that are acceptable. We fell asleep early that night, due to the fact that we woke up at 5AM to make an early flight out.


This is a shot of Carly and Kate on the train riding to the Blue Mountains. We played countless rounds of "would you rather...", made fun of the way Australians say "No," and "Don't." They have this terrible accent where they add an R to their vowels, making it sound more like "Norr" and "Dorrrnt." Plus we went on for hours about Oxy, South Park, and food and cheap alcohol that we missed.

Friday we went to the Blue Mountains and saw the three sisters. Here they are. Nothing spectacular, but one of the monuments worth seeing in Sydney.







After the Blue Mountains, we came back and went out to a really cool German restaurant called Lowenbrau. Mispelled that one without a doubt, but it was Oktoberfest there and we tried a bunch of the German Beers, served by waitresses in traditional German garb. Kate and or Carly got some shots of it, so I'll throw some up later.


Saturday, Halloween, we went to Bondi Beach and enjoyed the weather. One thing Sydney beats the shit out of Melbourne for are the beaches. My god they made me jealous. Sydney is also much more metropolitan, larger, and more expensive. It's kind of like Melbourne's gold plated older brother. Here's a shot I snuck of the girls at the beach, enjoying the weather and preparing for a legendary booze cruise that night aboard a ship that left from Darling Harbour, circled the Opera House, went under the Sydney Harbor Bridge, and didn't disappoint in the least. I warned you, these are some hot American women.



Pictures of the booze cruise, our trio Christmas costume, and the Opera House and bridge will come when the ladies post the pictures and I can steal them. I know, my pictures are lame, but I do what I can.

At the end of the booze cruise, Kate went so hard she was passed out on the ship. Carly was extremely worried, holding her and petting her, and couldn't find her pulse and started weeping. Being a lifeguard for 4 or 5 odd years...who counts anymore...I found her pulse in a second and tried to calm Carly down a bit. Kate was fine, just very very drunk. I've been drinking with Kate since early college, the first week or so literally, and I know that she's a champion. Still, we had to carry her home and Kate got extremely surly, in a very funny cute way, which just made me laugh. We made our way back and I carried Kate up the steps to our hostel, with her mumbling, "I can do it myself!" I love Kate McCallum.


Sunday we checked out of our hostel and went to the opera house, the bridge, and caught a ferry to Manly Beach. I'll fill in more details but right now it is 1:30 AM on Monday and I'm extremely tired. Tomorrow I start my Art/Pornography/Blasphemy/Propaganda final paper and I'm going to need eight solid to make it happen.


Again, the love life remains a silent issue for the sake of saving face and avoiding the fall from grace, but I'll remind you that November never stays this warm to me.

Peace and much love from a very happy Daniel.

The weekend was lovely.


More importantly, I have two days of class remaining in this semester. On Thursday morning I am flying to Sydney and starting what will certainly be a great Halloween weekend.

So I have: 1 week of class, four days in Sydney, then two weeks of writing papers, two more weeks when I'll likely surf and say goodbye to the surrounding areas, then three weeks of traveling. NZ is just around the corner. I can't wait to climb some more mountains. After that, it's home for the holidays and I'll likely take a ski or some trip with the parents and then head back to LA for what will certainly be a rowdy semester back. Third weekend in January we're going to Las Vegas, so anyone interested that might care to join heads up. It'll be in honor of my 21st, so it's going to have to be legendary.


Take it sleazy my people.

Can I just say...

...how annoying it is when someone comes up to you and mentions your previous romantic engagement, and says, "OH I hear you dated such and such and blah blah blah." Now before I run away with slanderous rage and lose my initial point I want to clarify. I'm not mad at the girl, nor am I mad at myself. And I'm certainly not mad with the way things ended, for I've learned to treat even the harshest splits as a blessing in disguise (early college taught me that). Also, it's not a particular girl or a particular time. This has happened since my first serious girlfriend in highschool and I split and I don't really see people acting like this stopping...unfortunately. In any case, I'm simply mad at the fuckass that suddenly thinks he/she has something to say to me when I really don't know this person at all. Whatever happens between me and a girl is OUR business and not yours, so I'd appreciate it if you stopped thinking you knew what went on between us and while you're at it stop thinking anything in my life has any resonance with your pitiful existence. If we weren't friends, the fact that you suddenly know that I was involved with someone and it ended does not change a fucking thing between us. Seriously, it's inappropriate and immature. It's something I abstain from and it's a common courtesy that SHOULD BE understood within the mores of social grace, yet somehow people still don't get it. Or maybe they just need to get a fucking life of their own?

And its really fucked up because the primordial human response is to grind that person's face into the ground. Unfortunately, I can never do that. Now I'm a nice guy and a person that tries really hard to keep his cool, but sometimes idiots really set me off. Sometimes I wish I was a Roman Centurion and I could run someone through with a sword in the name of the Republic, or at least knock their teeth out so they think about what they say/do.

Instead, the best thing you can do is describe how you've moved on, be it to another girl, to finding another form of happiness, or to whatever it is that sets you apart from those mother fucking blood suckers. In my case, I've found a new infatuation with a girls that look a certain way, with dark hair, tan skin, and light eyes (surprise, surprise). Not another word on that, though. Yet still, that doesn't quite satisfy the urge to physically shut someones fucking mouth.


If y'all don't like me you can suck my dick till you numb it.

Bright Skies and Sunshine

I'm in love with everything again.


This morning I called 555 on my phone and I have $27 worth of call credit and $479 worth of prepaid SMS text credit.


It's been a good day. Yesterday my presentation went well, and I felt a huge weight had been lifted. Walking home my feet felt lighter and it was almost as if I was floating on the ground from Grattan to Royal Parade then home across the treacherous roundabout where Flemington Rd meets Elizabeth and Peel St. I felt like I was moving like a surefooted apparition.

Miranda cooked for me again, and her room was full of women. Bianca, her pretty Australian roommate was there (incidentally I bought my board from her dad's surf shop), Bianca's friend was there, and our Canadian friend Caitlin was there, too! Caitlin is one of the funniest girls I've met here and she's extraordinarily well traveled. She is coming surfing with me on Friday. I chatted up the girls a bit and got the attention of Alex, Kenny, Andy, and John directly above her room to gain a recess of man time with them. As I was standing on the balcony, I looked in and saw Miranda sitting on her bed. Reading her body language-cross legged, back straight, eyes patiently fixed on me, I sensed that she wanted me closer. I hadn't REALLY spent time with Miranda in a while, and I felt it too, so I went to her. I laid my head in her lap and talked with her a bit. She ran her hand through my hair once, which I wish she had done more, but the caress of a female friend's hand is a feeling that I feel will never get old. Looking back, head still in her lap, I reached my hand up and felt her small jaw line and where her hair meets her ear. I hadn't noticed until then but her figure is extraordinarily feminine. I can't explain why I did it, but it felt ever so sweet. There is something absolutely unarmingly pure about a close affectionate friendship that remains and endures, untainted by selfishness and sexual pleasures of the body.

We warmed up the night around the village with the usual, then made our way to Eurotrash.


Surprisingly, I saw a number of people I knew at Eurotrash. A good number of the American girls from the RMIT village were there, many of the Europeans I met during the Melbourne Welcome and honestly haven't seen since were there, and I went with a good number of people in my group as well. My old friend, Matteo, was there, and he and I spent the night together dancing and enjoying ourselves. Matteo has a certain indescribable energy to his personality that mine plays off of. Our characters seem to feed off each other, fueling intensity and keeping things interesting. He more than anyone makes me anxious for my visit to Europe, for I feel places like Spain and Italy will suit me well, thanks to people like him. I really need to start making time for the people that I enjoy more, for the extra effort will pay off in the end.

At any rate, he and I went up to the higher floor in Eurotrash for some air and met some nice Aussie girls. Upon talking to them, we quickly realized they were 18 and 17. Both of us cutting one year off our actual ages, we told them we were 19 and 21. After a bit of a chat, they pulled us on to the dance floor, with the 17 year old taking me by the hand and leading the way. So high school. Before I knew it, against my will, this girl was grinding on me like a rabbit in heat. Not wanting anything of that sort, and thinking that it's actually quite illegal, (I'm no expert on the Australian legal system but it is illegal in most states) I broke up that noise pretty quickly. The night went on more or less uneventfully from there, but man it was good to see Matteo again and be out raging with him. At one point it was he and I and a harem of these young random Aussie girls we met dancing and he and I were having a blast just laughing at how funny life can be sometimes.


Today I had a tutorial at 10 AM. Somehow I was fine, despite getting home around 4:00 AM last night. I went to my second tutorial around 1:15 and by 1:30 I'd made the decision to tell the tutor that I had to leave in order to catch a flight. A white lie, but I've spoken enough (as I normally do) and I hadn't read the assigned reading nor had I made the lecture due to my first two days of intense work this week.

Skipping out on that, I went to a really cool park with Chris. It's full of statues and monuments and shrines.
Above is a picture in a women's shrine in a pool with water trickling down it. The atmosphere was so pleasant that Chris and I just sat there in silence for a delayed moment, deep in spiritual reverie.



Below I've attached a photo of the Sidney Myer statue. Sydney Myer was a pretty cool dude. Sometimes I wonder if I'll ever be made into a statue. Then I wonder what age I'd be in the statue. Then I stop wondering.


Here is the Perpetual Flame of the Shrine of Remembrance, donated by Queen Elizabeth II herself. Something about the idea of a perpetual flame is deeply spiritual to me, though I am too dull, or perhaps too naive, or perhaps a combination of both, to synthesize what I mean by that into words that satisfy me.
Tonight Camille is cooking me dinner. Lately I find myself thanking my lucky stars. Catch up with you in a bit.

No pictures this time. Just words. Red, Gold. I told. Never stand too close.

I must be the luckiest motherfucker on the planet.


Can I just say how grateful I am to live in room 2? Every time the Red Bull girls roll through the RMIT village they park their little modified mini cooper right in front of my patio. This most recent time I convinced a really cute brunette girl to come up to my balcony and hand me a Red Bull. I might have a tiny crush on her, but its likely just Springtime lust that will never become anything more than a silly chase. Still, next time she comes to my balcony if she remembers my name I'm asking for her number. I have a month and two weeks left in Melbourne, gotta live it up. Not to mention my patio has inadvertently become the social hub for my friends and myself. A roommate that is gone during weekends, sick speaker system, and a great location for assembling large crews of cool kids also helps.


Last weekend I went bowling and kicked it Friday night. Then Saturday I meant to only play a few games of goon pong and keep it real so I could study hard Sunday, like I had Saturday and Friday. My downfall began right around when the spirits entered my life. Somehow I blacked out, lost to a team of girls in goon pong, got completely shut out and had to run the naked lap around the RMIT, made it home and threw up and scattered bread all over my floor, which gave quite the charming wake up the following morning. God that was funny.


For now I'm going to keep my romantic life slightly more secretive-more people than I expected to seem to read this and I think it will keep things better grounded in reality if I'm slightly more personal about them. If you like, mom, I'll fill you in later. Speaking of, I know you might already be in Seattle with dad but I sent you an email and asked a friend of what you should do while in Seattle. Seems like you have a friend there from what you told me on the phone but let's face it; my friends are cooler than yours.


On another note I think my Global Movements class test went extremely well. I ran out of time with my second essay, but was able to tack on a three sentence conclusion at the end that might have saved it. Keep those H1's coming. By the way, I'm going to show dad the paper I wrote for my Terrorism class. My tutor really liked it and as a member of the US Department of Energy super duper official and important I think you might enjoy some of the stuff I said. I had to assume a new perspective and do my best to shed my American bias-instead of speaking in terms of American National Security suddenly I'm speaking in terms of Freud's death drive, identity politics, biopolitical consciousness, and other strange theories discussed in the course. I got a high mark on it, and really had a lot of fun writing it.


Tonight I had a really great political debate with my Pakistani friend Aized. He has a completely different world perspective and system of beliefs, and its really good to get the other side of the story. He would accuse America of imperialistic tendencies, fighting too many wars, and other issues, and I would do my best to explain why America needs to continue to fight wars. Simply put, look at the Macro Economy. C+I+G+N=GDP. That is, consumption (small ticket items-you buy a sandwich)+Investment (large ticket items-houses, cars, etc)+Government Spending (self explanatory)+Net Exports-Net Imports=GDP. From World War II on America has relied on large government spending and funding of operations abroad, development of new technologies, fighting internal wars such as the war on drugs-which is a sheer act of folly and entirely different issue, in order to keep its Macro Economy going. Throw in outsourcing and the Neoliberal movement hurting the domestic workforce and its no wonder we still need to fight an extraordinarily expensive War on Terrorism. Starting in 2003 with the invasion of Iraq the US spent 380 billion dollars alone on the war effort. That matches the expenditures of the 14 other highest countries on military affairs for that same year.


This last push through finals has awakened my academic mind from a deep slumber. I'm thinking in terms of NGOs and global movements that transcend the traditional nation-state framework.

God I can't wait to get back into a Biology classroom.


After my presentation tomorrow I'm celebrating by going to Eurotrash.

Be careful of what you do, because the lie becomes the truth

At last I've hit catharsis. My hands are clean, and my heart is quiet and calm.


The past few days cooled off...for a bit. Monday and Tuesday I dedicated myself to reading up and becoming a master of Radical Islam and the Islamist movement as a Global Trend. I am to present in class on it and then write a paper on it for my Global Movements class. The entire week has been gloomy and rainy, so I guess I couldn't ask for better weather if I have to remain indoors anyway. I got the chance to skype with Robb finally, and we talked about the finer things in life. Women, home, operation Eurotrashed 2010, parties, crazy people we've met, and odds and ends and ins and outs. Apparently our last night in town he and I got thrown out of a bar, although neither of us seem to remember this happening. Who knows.

By Wednesday I was so studied out that after class I texted Zander to see if he wanted to practice some goon pong with me. He obliged, and we complied a playlist of good music to play to for the next weekends to come, which are sure to be full of goon pong when while we all still have time. Here's a shot of Zander and Damo, an RA, drinking goon and enoying the rainy Wednesday afternoon.


The day continued and the sun fell. Before I knew it, we were going to Etihad Stadium to watch the Socceroos play Oman. On the way, we picked up Subway for dinner and grabbed a tram. I hadn't validated and the tram security came on, threatening me with a very expensive ticket. I validated, and spoke very quickly and kept making excuses and somehow got off. I think one of my excuses literally was, "we JUST got Subway."

We were in the third row in behind a goal amidst a sea of yellow and green Socceroos fans. We got free flags and towels with our admission, which was pretty fucking great. Our team won 1-0. We went back and finished the night with more goon pong



Today I've continued my studies and I'll be going to my last tutorial of the week in Terrorism at 5:15. This weekend is going to be a study weekend as I have a class test, a presentation, and a paper that I'll need to complete for next week, along with my normal reading. I am debating taking one day off to surf on Friday or Saturday just to keep my sanity, but I'm not sure if I really can justify that after taking Wednesday afternoon/night off.


Did I mention Chris is coming with me to Cairns? We'll have sold our surf boards by then but we will still enjoy the wilderness and the sights in Cairns. In Byron all the travelers said that a ton of hostels have free dinners in Cairns, so I'm looking forward to finding the free food. My flight changed so I'll be flying out a few days before the live aboard diving ship I'm doing my research from departs, so we're gonna explore the jungle and see what we can find in and around Cairns. Chris is the man. Can't wait.



And Christina and Camille will be joining me in New Zealand! So much for traveling alone. Meh, the more the merrier. Below is Camille "Old Gregg" Hunter. She's awesome, and she goes to Oxy! I hadn't met her before I came down here but now she makes me laugh unlike anyone else.



And here's a shot of me and Christina the original frumpus penis goon Brown. Oldschool pic from the RMIT O week the second week I was out here. This is when things were first heating up and we were raging super hard....Oh wait nothing's changed. Christina and I both enjoy dirty dancing, strange youtube and internet videos, and continuing ridiculous tangential nonsensical conversations. She's as sunny and funny as the California sun.




Still trying to squeeze in trips to Sydney and maybe spend a week in November on the Great Ocean Road, camping and hitting surf spots if that's possible. If anyone actually reads this and wants to make one of those happen let me know. Hopefully I can make it all happen before 2010 hits. I guess we'll see.

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Torquay Surf Slideshow

I have become a never-ending swirl of American Sin.


The past week has been a complete blur. I've done huge things every night, let go of all inhibitions or worries, and begun to really just enjoy my life again. Last I updated was Tuesday, but Wednesday we kept things goin and Chris and I headed out to our friend Dom's house near Brunsick street where we got up to the usual, I passed out from being so tired, and called it a night. Thursday I went larger than life, wound up dancing with my friend then somehow switching to another girl...think I kissed her for a bit, but not sure how long. She asked me to walk her home, which I obliged, and during the long walk I sobered up a bit and realized what she was up to. Not knowing her name and not particularly interested I left her on the porch in front of her house-which was by the way completely out of my way, meaning I had to walk for a good 35 minutes alone to get home....whatever, though.

Friday was even more insane. I woke up, curled up in my bed and brought my laptop up to catch up on the 3rd Season of Deadwood, my current favorite HBO series-more so than the Sopranos or Entourage (call me crazy, I know), and suddenly Zander and Chris show up on my patio. Before I knew it, Zander and I were playing 1 on 1 goon pong to practice for the tournament. One thing lead to another and we played for a good two hours, at which point we took an intermission to head to the Royal Park and play some dizzy bat, where you fill a bat (in this case a cricket bat) up with a beer, chug it, and then spin for however long you took to drink the bat. After the spin, the pitcher pitches the now empty beer can to you and you do your best (with a 90% fail rate) to hit the can. So much fun. Dizzy bat shown below.

We went back, had dinner, and got ready for the night. We went to Club 118, Alex and Sam (two solid dudes from Tufts in Boston live there) and continued the goon pong and the moustache game. Oh and we made party hats for the night.


That's Zander and I (the unstoppable goon pong duo) looking tough and training for the goon pong tournament, soon to be held at RMIT.



After that we went out for Sarah's birthday. First to a place where the guys couldn't get in. Likely because we were belligerent but with them saying we were underdressed. When I'm wearing $200 le coq sportif shoes, $150 A&F jeans (I know I need to leave it in high school but a good pair of jeans is hard to find), $50 Tommy Hilfiger boxers, a $75 Ralph Lauren Polo, my nicer Nixon watch, and a peacoat my father bought me as a gift I hardly think they can justify not letting me in. Sorry for the materialistic bullshit but anyone that has read American Psycho can appreciate it.


Picture break! Below see me, Kara, Francesca and Laura in my room during goon pong Sat night...I'll get to Sat in a bit.





So we went to another club...called the joint on Elizabeth. We spent the better part of the night there, dancing and drinking beer and finding full beers people left behind.

The rest of the night will remain a private matter

But seriously enough of that. I haven't even told you about Saturday or today (when I went surfing and got some homework done) and I'm going to have to get back to you on that.


Just so you know that I'm not completely wasting my time on partying I'll post a slideshow of Toquay surfing.

This has been a strange week back. Today I went to St Kilda with Zander and grabbed lunch at a nice, cheap restaurant. I realized that I only have three more Wednesdays of classes, and only seven weeks here for the remainder of the semester. That really upsets me, because I've been very bad about going out and exploring new parts of the city, despite how small it is compared to Los Angeles. I realized that instead I've been going out with the same group of people, to the same bars, and drinking. Early in the semester I remember telling myself that this is exactly what I didn't want to happen, so I'm vowing to start seeing more of the city and trying new things. A SoCal kid coming from parties in college to Melbourne, where everyone mostly seems interested in partying lately finds himself questioning whether or not he's spending his time the best way possible and moreover whether he is really happy.


It's hard for me to describe where I'm at right now. This is the part of the semester where everyone seems stuck in no-man's land. I am especially bothered by it given my current situation, along with my philosophical disposition that drives me to over-think everything. For the first time I really missed home today. I missed the cheap food, the cheap spirits and beer, the friends and family that make it the home that I yearn for, my dog, and (to be honest) the life I left behind. For the first time I really am appreciating everything I was born with, things I always took for granted, and my life as a young Californian. It's not a bad place to go back to, and it's a great place to call home. It certainly isn't perfect, but no place is. Australia has also highlighted some of LA's imperfections, but even so I felt the homesickness hit me pretty hard.

At the same time I know the second I go back I'll miss it here. I'll miss the friends, the RMIT village, the times, the people that I may never see again but will always remember, the school, and all the memories I've made. I really have a great group of guy friends here. With Zander, Chris, my roommate Ben, the Englishmen and John, Mike, Damo, Sam, Alex, Nick, and all the other blokes I've always got a drinking buddy if I look hard enough and I plan on visiting many of them in the future. Alas, here I am, stuck somewhere between myself and someone else, not quite me but also nobody but me at the same time. It's like I'm chasing an apparition of myself. Each time I get close to the fleeting spirit, however, I get a little bit further away from when I was younger, more pure, less tainted by the world, and more adventuresome and boyish. I currently have no way out, no release, no sense of belonging. THIS IS NOT AN EXIT.



As for the social/love life...things are looking grim. Sometimes I just wish I was the ugliest idiot on the planet, so that women would completely avoid me and stop complicating my life. Of course, I don't really mean that and if anything I should be thankful I've had the opportunities I've had. I'm not saying I'm brilliant or beautiful, but to say that women ignore me would be a lie. I'm only 20 years old and I already feel like I've loved so much, I've shared the company and friendship and everything in between with some amazing and beautiful girls. And yet, I still have no idea what any of them want. My head is sick of thinking about how to be friends after a falling out like the one I had, my mouth is sick of all the words that will never matter, and my spirit and soul ache from constant torment from everyone else's unwillingness to let me be and give me my space. The first few days were fine and I actually enjoyed just being a guy again and holding nothing back and going out with friends. I even made new friends around RMIT. I was happy being out again, meeting new people, and letting loose. Then the chat messages came. Seriously, it had been two days and I'm already getting bothered. Sometimes you need to let a person have their space, for the sake of social grace and common courtesy after an emotional separation. Last night I realized I can't even just drink with the guys and be happy anymore-before I know it someone's friend is talking to me, trying to convince me to feel a certain way or do a certain thing. I spent the better part of the night being questioned and quizzed until my head was full of all the thoughts I wanted to suppress and wanted to let time take the edge off of. It makes me wish I could drive back through time, into the sunset of what once was when I first got here when everything and everyone was new and I could drink and be merry and meet new friends in peace. If you poke at and irritate an already upset person, throw in being drunk to the point of blacking out, they will inevitably lash out. The worst part is these are things I regret and while I wish I could just detach, stop caring, and move on I can't.



I think it's your fault, mom. You brought me up with so much love and taught me to love and treat women a certain way, and while I stumble through trying to do the right thing and constantly fuck things up I always want to work things out in the end, which is a quality I've noticed not everyone possesses, but you certainly have it more so even than me. You always do your best to make things right. Unfortunately things might be damaged beyond repair, but I'm doing my best and the past two and a half months haven't made my life easy. At the worst I know I can look back knowing that as much as I fucked up I tried my best to the end to keep things friendly, because if I hadn't made that effort I surely would regret not letting it go and sucking it up in the last few months to have the girl that has made me feel every emotion I've ever known by my side as a friend until the end. I'm getting a lot better at forgiving, letting go, and realizing that life is never what you could hope it would be. Maybe you have moments of perfect, glorious idealized forms of what you take for real life, but it never lasts long.

Life is all about how well you loved, how well you forgave, and how well you learned to let go.


Now if you'll excuse me I'm going to throw on a sweatshirt; step out into the cold, dark night, and embrace the irreversible spiraling chaos of this emerald dream.

First and foremost, in my enlightening sobriety, I would like to apologize for my previous post and the way I portrayed my fling as some sort of cheap call girl. When I say that she said she'd call me she rather implied that, and I paraphased that sentence. The encounter really wasn't that skanky-I just used poor diction and had an altered perspective due to Deb's 21st and a night of dancing and drinking in a high class, top-floor suite at the Crown.


So let's take some time to tell you about my friends. Long overdue, but I wanted to really have something to say. Lately my closest female friend has been Miranda Emanuel, a sunny California girl proudly hailing from Santa Cruz. I remember visiting Santa Cruz and liking the carnival and arcade set up on the beach, and enjoying the UC's campus as well. That must have been 2005 I went there? My, my, how time does fly. At any rate, here is a picture of the little skankatropolis in all her glory



She's pretty lovely, I know. Miranda I never tell you how pretty you are, I know, but that's because we're friends and I think it might be inappropriate, but for once I'd like to take the chance to tell you how beautiful I think you are. The most remarkable thing is that she is CONSTANTLY assumed as my girlfriend. This has happened almost immediately from the beginning of the semester, as we became friends during the welcome and have remained tight throughout the duration of our Australian semester abroad, thanks to us living together and her strange enjoyment derived from cooking me meals. In Byron Bay all the guys I met also asked if she was my girlfriend, which I suppose I can understand as we were two young free spirits from California traveling together. I've been saved from fat girls hitting on me at Eurotrash (what did I expect at a place called Eurotrash, I know) by her playing my girlfriend, and I've been granted entry into Billboard's thanks to her posing as my girlfriend. While I"m not one to ever rule that out entirely I'm basically positive we're so far in the friend zone that the line separating friends from all else is a blur. In the beginning we toyed with the idea, and I think we both had open minds and thought something might be in the cards, but we quickly realized that we were better serving as close friends (maybe best friends?) and so friends we stayed.


Plus losing her as my gym buddy, female opinion, end of every joke, girl that feeds me, everything else in between, and foregoing my position where I hear all the juicy stories and gossip normally saved for the circle of girls isn't really worth throwing away....Did I mention she surfs? Quite the little woman, I know. Also she's my little bro.....she's gonna be mad about me posting this pic but I only ever promised to keep it off facebook. Her she and I are scoping the wreck during one of the off days in Byron Bay.

Love you Miranda, my little skankatropolis. I'm glad we're friends.

The weather today is shit. It's Spring it needs to be warm. I'm upset.

New Friend update soon!!