Sweet, sweet blues.

Mmm... I acquired some new Black Keys, and let me tell you, if you have any respect for the beauty of a blues riff, do yourself a favor and czech them out. They'll unwind your problems and put you in a mellow mood. BUT... lots to report on; tis been a busy past week for this traveler, so I'll skip any further pleasantries and jump right in to things.

Rewinding back to my last post, let's discuss spring break (CHYEAAH!). I can't tell you how excited I am for this. Also, how strange it is for it to be the beginning of August, and I'm talking about spring break. But more so excited than anything... mostly because on Wednesday I booked everything. Trains and flights are accounted for, and I spent quite a few hours researching and planning an itinerary for our trek, aptly titled "best trip EVER." Well, it is. I mean, we're going to Sydney, Brisbane, and Cairns for ten days. Also, bonus points are merited for the fact that I just today found out that Ben Lee and Spearhead are playing a festival in Sydney together while we're going to be there. I'll go ahead and file that one under "things I'd really like to do," right next to... oh, I'm not going to finish that sentence. It'll only get me into trouble.

Anywho (does anyone else remember Stick Stickley saying "anywho" all the time? I use it constantly when I write, although I'm relatively sure it isn't actually a word...), that's all booked and taken care of. Janis's stuff is done too (I think), and Rach is waiting to get her visa because apparently debit cards are completely unacceptable. Whatevs, as long as the Musketeers remain united for our trek. I'm so completely stoked for it. Fifty days until I'm in the Australia Zoo. I really hope I see Wes or Bindi or someone. Either way, it's pretty certain that I'm going to a) hyperventilate, b) revert to my fourteen year old self who was completely, head over heels enamored with Steve, c) cry, or d) all of the above while there. But enough about that... I've got plenty of other adventures to inform you of.

If Tuesday was trip planning day, then Wednesday was let's procrastinate day. I didn't have all that much schoolwork to do, but it took me nearly forever to get it done. I was still pretty pumped about getting everything set for the trip, so all I wanted to do was research things and even start to plan my post-semester trip. Right now, I'm thinking either New Zealand or Fiji for about a week, but I recently found out that November 15th is Steve Irwin Day at the Australia Zoo, and well, that may just take precedent over anything else. We'll see. Either way, Wednesday was pretty uneventful due to my inability to concentrate, but Thursday more than made up for it. Had the regular day full of classes, including a field trip for Australia Today. We went to check out some houses in a local neighborhood. Walking through model homes totally reminded me of Arrested Development. It was great. The houses were pretty excellent, though. All of them are one-story. No basement, no attic, no second floor, just one level, and with very little yard space. After a full assessment of middle-class Aussie living, I've decided I could officially live here for, oh, ever? Sure. I should make it my quest to bring ice hockey to Australia... then that, along with moving my closest friends and relatives, would make my life pretty much complete. Baby steps, though. Must continue my explorations here before I start displacing people.

Post-class Thursday was when the fun really started, though. After a workout and an interesting caf, we decided a night out was in order. Rach and I made a triumphant return to Irish Murphy's, this time bringing the whole herd with us. It was quite an evening. Lots of good conversation, stories, and laughs. Oh, and did I mention the cider on tap? Just like at home. We spent the better part of the evening there, and actually ended up closing the place. Cabbed back (what a ride), and finished the night with splendid (if not mildly inappropriate) conversation and some more AussieRamen. The evening's pictures can be found on facebook... quite entertaining. My vote for best picture goes to Austin's retort to the large, angry man's scowl, with Rachel's failed pole-dance attempt coming in a close second. I like these kids, they aren't afraid to be ridiculous.

Onto Friday. A day off! I slept pretty soundly after Thursday night's adventures. Did some reading and some televisioning... Erin got me into this show, Russel Coight's Celebrity Challenge. It's basically like The Office, except in the Outback. Pretty amazing and hilarious. Friday night was an entirely new sort of adventure, though. It was... a date with an Aussie! Yes, yours truly has achieved yet another milestone... dating a guy with an accent. His name is John, and he's a fisherman (that's what I call him, hah) and he's unbelievably nice and cute and well-rounded and we get along fabulously. We went to the Bended Elbow and had a few drinks, then hopped over to Lamby's after a stint out in the cold. Sidenote: Aussie weather is completely ridiculous and unpredictable. We stayed at Lamby's for a little while, where we met up with a few of his friends (also hilarious and awesome). One of them, Jarrod, was completely enamored with the fact that I was American, and kept asking me all sorts of ridiculous questions about America. He had a relatively convincing Texan accent that he'd been working on, too. We ended up hanging out at Jarrod's house until super late, just talking about America and Australia and how awesome each of our respective countries are. It was a fantastic evening, definitely something I'll be doing again in the near future.

Yesterday was a looong day. After being out super late with fisherman, I was still pretty tired by the time we got on the bus at four thirty to head to Melbourne. I don't care how much sleep you do or don't get, staying out until six in the morning leaves you walking around with one eye open the next day. But, the adventures must continue, so I joined up with Jens, Heather, Jess, Diane, Justin, Janis and Rachel to head to Melbourne to see OK Go. We had a fun train ride there, sitting with a New Zealander who was totally playing the 'I have my iPod on, but I can still hear what you're saying' card. We dined at a little sidewalk cafe down the street from the venue. Rach and I split dessert, because we love dessert, and it was pretty excellent.

We got into the venue at about 8:45 or so, only to find out the warm-up band wasn't even starting until 10. Various picture takings, drink purchases, and overall tiredness ate up the next hour, but when the music started, all was good. The first band was Australian-- The Dirty Secrets-- they weren't bad. Not my kind of music, really, but at times they had some pretty crazy synthesizer solos that were very much of a Journey/Europe nature. OK Go was a whole 'nother story though. I didn't know many of their songs, but those guys know how to put on a show. The lead singer threw his guitar during the first song because it wasn't working right. He had a bit of a rockstar complex. But, the show itself was pretty amazing. In the middle of the set, they came out into the crowd and played two acoustic songs about five feet from where I was standing. Also, the bass player and lead singer did their own rendition of Les Miserables. I think I'm going to have to acquire some of their jams in the near future... they were good stuff. The show ended at 12:40 or so, and we made our way back to the train station. I slept the whole way back, but then had to stand in the insufferable taxi queue line for about forty five minutes waiting for a damn cab. We spent our time verbally abusing people who were taking cabs by themselves. For good reason, too. We had a party of ten after we found the Austrians, so you can see how one person getting in a cab that can fit twelve people would be more than a bit frustrating. Ended up back at Waurn Ponds by 3:30, and I fell asleep immediately after walking in the door. Woke up about eleven hours later, made some breakfast, and here I am now. There's probably a long list of things I should be doing, and this entry has been more than long-winded, so I'm calling it quits here. The upcoming week looks promising-- nothing too crazy for classes, then a trip to Warrnambool (for real this time) over the weekend. I'll update accordingly. If you made it this far, thanks and kudos. Until next time...

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