Xmas 2008 part 1/4

This Christmas was fantastic. I spent it at a friend's mother's public-housing-house in the city of Orange. Great food, super nice fun people, plus a sprinking of Grade A semi-functional-family drama. It was certainly in my top ten Christmases. Photos follow, split between four posts becaus Picasa doesn't let me include more than four photos per blog post



We picked up some very nice cherries on the way. They had three different types from which to choose! (We went with large, firm, and less sweet.)

Stocking up on liquid courage.

Assorted traditional Christmas paraphernalia.

Xmas 2008 part 2/4

Sisters preparing food. Mother and boyfriend enjoying the finer things.

Cooking and smoking.

Person shows person shocking video on mobile phone.

Xmas 2008 part 3/4

The presentation of the Christmas fauxhawk.

Waiting for food.

A sister.

Here you can see some shrimp ("prawn") coctails. This is the only food picture I've got, as by the time the rest of the food (sooo good!) came I was too hungry to take pictures. ALSO NOTE: the erotic cigarette lighter.

Xmas 2008 part 4/4

The neighbours' house. Note the two cars parked on the lawn.

We all briefly wore traditional Christmas hats, as is the tradition down here.

Here my friend shines an actual class 2 laser directly into his eye.

The aftermath.

Amazing Aborigines cover the land

This video documents my first attempt to play the didgeridoo. I am a classical wind musician with ten years' training. I am also drunk.

I've lived in Australia for about six and a half months and it was bound to happen eventually. Here I am drunk on Aussie beer (the tastefully trashy Pure Blonde) and Aussie wine (a very strong shiraz) and one of my flatmates had purchased a didgeridoo as a gift for someone (not me). I think this is what scientists of the heart call a perfect storm.

Things are looking up. I'm employed again, I narrowly avoided having to use a credit card cash advance to pay my rent, (though I still needed to use my credit card, if that makes sense), and yadda yadda yadda. Christmas is coming.

My roomies are going to America for six weeks or something though, and I'm going to miss them.

That is all for now. It's 2 AMish and I'm watching my roommate pack. I have to be at work at 8:30 AM.

i wish that today were Stuesday :(

BOX #2 OF FOODS FROM AMERICA ARRIVED TODAY!!



The Hot Wings/Blue Cheese Doritos bag came open a bit during inspection so of course I had to eat that right away. Had to.

Best food of my life I think.


Unfortunately not everything made it here safely:

Oh pork crackle, I weep for you.


:'(



I also got a nice package from my mother, but it is less photogenic.



That pound of Red Vines will probably kill me.

I think that Smonday counts as an S day

Today was a good day for getting things in the mail.

I love America.

America!

edit: I just ate a box of Gushers and am at a total loss as to how I used to be able to eat four boxes+ in one sitting. Damnit. Well, I guess this is growing up.

colorful australians

Behold the third-scariest spider that I've ever seen outside of a zoo. (Number 1 is the previously photographed brown huntsman that lives by the bathroom, number 2 is the smaller-but-still-enormous spider in our living room with which our cat fought to the death (go cat!), and number 4 is the unidentified spider who lives on my ceiling and whose presence I've chosen to accept rather than vacuum. Maybe I just hate vacuuming.

Anyway, this little lady lives on a web that extends off of the top of the hedge in front of the house. She's apparently a harmless St. Andrew's Cross spider, but in Australia all unidentified spiders take on a certain menace, so I was worried at first. (Sydney is full of spiders that can put you into comas.)

Nothing else is new.

my face is like a baby!

Mustache gone. I feel kind of naked. Also I pledge to stop posting these embarassing emo MySpace photos, 4 serious. I've just been trying to document my mustache and this is the only flattering (well, not flattering in the sense that it makes me look like a wanker) form of self-portraiture I know!

And yeah that "after" photo is hella blown out.

- - -

I'm unemployed, which means I am back to trying to appreciate the game of cricket. I watched a fair amount of the Australia/New Zealand test match this past weekend. I think I'm starting to get it, though I'm still a ways off.

- Some of the catches made by the defense can be pretty spectacular.

- The innings are much longer than baseball's. The last time I watched, Australia was leading New Zealand by about 200 points and I started getting excited, thinking, "Boy, I can't wait for New Zealand's turn at bat to try and fight through that crazy deficit." Then I watched for another half an hour, during which time Australia dragged on as they scored more and more runs. Then I got frustrated and turned off the TV.

I did get to watch the Patriots/Steelers game on live-unemployed-television today. Embarassing loss but boy do American sports telecasts have slick production values. God I miss that dancing Fox football robot.