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Monday May 05, 2003 |
      
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Star Date 01-04-02 Today I woke at 6:50 even though I didn't sleep much because the girl next to me snored all night! The bathrooms at this hut were the worst smelling I have ever experienced. I went to the bathroom in the bushes after eating breakie which consisted of, once again, powdered milk and oat cereal. We had the tent down and everything cleaned and ready to go by 9:15, quite an improvement from yesterday. From the time we left we hiked till 2:20 in the after noon. It was one of the longest, and mentally the most difficult hike of the trip. The first hour of the hike was quite great though! It was through a plain and after about 45 minutes there was a side trip of about 2 minutes to a valley over look. Once back on the trail my left back pack shoulder strap broke. We rigged it with a robe and hoped it would hold. Once heading down one side of the plain we noticed something on the side of a forest quite a ways away. Jared took out his binoculars and we thought it might be the huts where we were headed. We thought that it couldn't be to far. This was not true, instead of climbing down and back up, we went around a valley which took hours. We didn't stop for lunch opting to head to the hut right away and then eat. Once we arrived we found that there were two sets of huts, New Pelion and Old Pelion. Once all our things were set at New Pelion we heard there was a creek near Old Pelion which was a 15 minute walk. I desperately needed to wash off a little, and so Emily, Aaron and I headed there. Once there we got ready and tested the water temperature. I remember back in high school when I used to have to ice my chins before games. The water here was about the same temperature as that bucket full of ice. I jumped in and washed off before I went into hypothermia. I exaggerate at the temperature of the water because Emily actually swam for a little in it. I washed off and headed back to the hut to relax. When I arrived at the hut, I realized that the cold water did my feet a world of good. I ate dinner which consisted of Chicken soup and noodles. This is where I ran into four lovely ladies who had lent us the frisbee the night before. They were cooking stir fry and I mentioned that they shouldn't throw any away, I would eat whatever they had left. They were really nice and let me have a bowl of it. After 3 days of bland food, this stir fry was the greatest thing I've ever tasted. It had everything that I missed in my meals. We sat on the Helicopter pad where we had dinner and watched the sun set. Then we stayed even longer and looked at the stars once again. This time we saw even more shooting stars. The most amazing of the evening lasted about 7 seconds and looked more like fireworks than a shooting star. I'm not even sure if it was a shooting star or a meteor burning up in our atmosphere. It left a green streak in the sky which looked amazing and for those seven seconds I forgot about everything that was going on. That night I slept in the hut. My feet were a little cold that night, but otherwise I was comfortable.
Today I woke to Jared grabbing my feet through my sleeping bag. It took some effort to find where the top of my sleeping bag was, but finally I peered out through the hole and saw Jared. Shortly after that I got up and proceeded to eat breakie. Last night I took some Tylonal PM and apparently I snored last night according to the "Tassie Chicks" that gave me food last night. While gathering my things and cleaning our bowls from breakie I started talking to some of the other hikers who told me about Mt. Ossa, which was on the agenda for today. They told me amazing things like it was the tallest point in Tasmania and that you could almost see coast to coast on a clear day. They said that 2/3 of Tasmania was visible from the top. I started to get excited to see this great mountain and climb it. The next hut, where we would set up camp next, was a 3 hour hike. That didn't include the time it would take to climb Mt. Ossa and return. It took about an hour and 15 minutes to arrive at the turn off for Mt. Ossa. Once there we dropped our packs and rested for a bit since it was quite a climb just to get to the path to climb Mt. Ossa. After drinking some water and having some muesli bars we decided to start our climb. The height of where we took our break was about 1200 meters and the summit was about 1600 meters. It took about 1 hour and 30 minutes to climb because I was a bit out of shape. Once we arrived at the near top the last half hour was quite fun climbing since we had to use our hands to climb. The climb was quite difficult near the end since you had to go over one part of the summit and then follow the climbing path which continued up towards the top. None of us brought water with us, and so once upon the top I was very relieved to see a small pool of water for which I kneeled down next to and drank from. The water was very good, but the view was so much better. We relaxed up on top of this for about 30 minutes to an hour. We soon became hungry and decided we would head down to have lunch and then continue on the the hut. I took my sweet time climbing down, not only because I am a big wuss, but also because this is where my knee started to hurt and hurt a lot. Finally at the bottom, we had our picture taken in front of the sign and then ate lunch. For lunch we once again had mountain bread, peanut butter and honey. We then continued our hike to Kia Ora huts, and upon arriving Aaron decided he wanted to head on to the next hut which was one hour away. I was in a lot of pain because of my boots and my knees and wanted to stay. While resting for a bit at the hut, the girls that we had been talking with the past two nights had told us there was a little creek nearby. I said I would like to soak my feet just for a little bit. Aaron said that would be alright for me to soak them for 5 minutes and then we could move on. Jared said that if we stopped it would take 30 minutes and that would be too long. So he said that either we leave now or we don't go on. Aaron started to get mad and threw his bag on the ground. The girls that had been talking to us witnessed this and started commenting. That probably wasn't the best thing for the situation, but to make a long story short, we stayed at Kia Ora. About an hour later everyone was cool and joking about the situation. This was the first time I've seen Aaron get a little pissed, but it definitely wasn't the last time either. That night we cooked and I got more leftovers from our "Tassie Chicks." Outside we looked at stars and then went to bed. Tonight again we saw shooting stars, which seems like it happens a lot here. I'm not sure if it's just because I didn't take the time back home to watch or because I can see a different part of the heavens here. I slept in the tent just to say that I slept in a tent while on the trip. With all four of us in a tent for two it was quite cozy and we generated enough heat for me to sweat and have to take off some of my layers before I could get comfortable.
Today I woke around 7 with Emily, Jared and Aaron. Well all stuffed ourselves inside a tent for two people. We were huddled together though for the heat, which it was easily the warmest night I had on the whole trip because of this. It was really cold out during that night though and I was surprised at how much heat we could put together. This was probably my most painful day for blisters and knees. It all came together to give me a serious amount of pain, but hopefully we were looking at the end of everything. Trying to keep my optimistic mind set and humor I took a picture of my blister and the stain on my sock. I also took a picture of Aaron trying to help Jared put his contacts in without a mirror. We finished off what was left of our breakfast food and then we hiked about an hour before we came to the Ducane Huts where Aaron wanted to stay the night before. He wanted to continue hiking, but we didn't and thank goodness. This hut looked in worse shape than the cabin Abraham Lincoln was born in. The cabin itself had been made in the teen's and was added onto in the 30's. It was in sorry shape, but was really interesting to go into and look at. The next hut, Windy Ridge, was about 2 to 3 hours away, but about 30 minutes away were some water falls which we had planned on seeing. Once we found the side path to the falls we set down our packs and walked the 15 minutes to the falls. While walking to the falls it started to rain, and so once at the falls we spent about 20 minutes just watching it rain while we took pictures. We hiked back up and gabbed our packs and then came up with the idea to hike the rest of the trip till we go to Narcissus hut where the ferry would pick us up on and take us to a visitors center which was on the other side of a lake nearby. About 20 minutes later we hiked to the next set of falls which was Hartnett Falls. The trail took us to the top of the falls where we spent another 20 to 30 minutes relaxing and taking it all in. Aaron and Jared crossed the stream and looked around on the other side while Emily and I just sat at the top of the falls. We hiked to Windy Ridge by around 1 o'clock where we ate lunch. We ate what was left of our peanut butter. I had taken my rain coat off before starting lunch to find that my shirt was completely wet from sweat. Now that I had my rain coat off I had no insulation and started to get very cold! After lunch I changed into a dry shirt and through my rain coat back on. We finished off the rest of the hike that after noon to arrive at Narcissus hut around 4:45. Narcissus hut consisted of a wood burning stove, a radio, and bunks. We called base from the radio and reserved 4 seats on the ferry ride to the visitors center. After words we made ourselves some dinner and relaxed. Aaron and Jared played cards while Emily and I read by candle light. I bummed a tea bag off someone and had tea with Emily and Aaron while reading my book. It seemed like we had taken a step back in time, no electricity, no running water, wood burning stove, and a little tea. It was a nice way to spend my last night in wilderness. I went to bed grateful that it was over, but also glad that I had done it!
Today I woke a little bit later than usual only because the ferry didn't pick us up till 9:30 and we didn't have any breakie to eat. I awoke to Aaron farting very loudly. The night before I snored for about the first hour and then after that I was awake for bits of the night where at one time there were about 3 or 4 people snoring at the same time. Aaron kept me entertained while the moments I was awake by farting very loudly, sometimes at 3 or 4 in the morning. I think I was the only one besides himself that heard him though because we were the only ones laughing. When he farted again in the morning I rolled close to Emily and said "lets hit him." She agreed and we both got a couple of good punches in before he could ask what the heck we were doing. I got dressed and climbed down and decided that I would have tomato soup for breakie instead of nothing. We also had two apples in which we could split between the four of us. For an extra special treat we had honey for which we could put on top of that apple. After our huge breakie we got ready and headed out to the pier by 9:15 just incase the ferry came early. The walk to the pier took only 5 minutes, but it was also a very nice walk with all boardwalk and the view was good. It could have been better though, because of cloud cover we couldn't see the tops of mountains. Out by the ferry there was another group of about 5 guys who had come together on the trail, some were from Canada with a strong accent. The Ferry arrived about 15 minutes late and we all joked that it must be on Tasmania time. The ferry ride was quite expensive I must say for about a 15 minute ride it cost me $20. Once at the visitors center I hobbled up to drop my bag on a bench and was so relieved that I had made it. My knees and blisters hurt a lot. I went into the center and saw paradise. There was a fire, store, restaurant, and bar. The bar was quite expensive though, and so I stuck with food. The first meal I got was a cheeseburger with chips (French fries) and that didn't fill me up, but I thought I might get sick if I ate two meals at the same time so I held back for a couple of hours. The burger tasted great and was everything I thought it would be. The chips were also excellent, with tons of salt over every single one of them. After my first meal I went around and looked at all the souvenirs that were on sale and then decided to call home. The first phone card I used lasted about 5 minutes, so I bought another one and called home quick to finish the conversation. After that I walked around the wildlife center for a bit, and placed my hat on the side of another fire they had going in there to dry it off. We had arrived at the visitors centre around 10:15 and had to wait until 4:10 or so to catch a but that would take us to Hobart. Around 1 I got my second meal which once again was a cheeseburger and chips. This filled me up all the way and I was good to go for a while now. After eating I took a little walk down to the beach front and took some pictures. Finally came 4:10 and no bus. I wonder if this Tasmania time thing is really true? Finally the bus arrived around 4:40 and we boarded. The bus took us through some of the country which was beautiful, and I would have loved to stop and take pictures, but wasn't able to. We stopped quick to pick up some passengers and so I ran out quick and took a picture of the sunset which was amazing. The one thing these people have a monopoly of is amazing sunset's. I don't know if it's because of the ozone hole or what, but the clouds seem to make it even more spectacular. I've got two pictures so far that turned out excellent as for showing off how great the sunsets are. It took about 3 or 4 hours to get to Hobart. Once in Hobart we headed to our hostel which was called "The Pickled Frog." While walking the block to get to our hostel Aaron couldn't hold it anymore and just took a leak right there in the alley. Of course, since I'm so quick with my camera, I took his picture, just to get back at him for taking a picture of me on the Menzies pub crawl in the toilet. I'm going to talk for a bit about "The Pickled Frog" now because it deserves it's own paragraph. While on the trail, we exchanged stories with backpackers from everywhere. One group had told us about a great place in Hobart to stay which was called "The Pickled Frog." How could we forget a place like this with a name like that. They said that the first has a bar that gives the guests of the place $1 off all bottled beer. They said it was the first non-smoking bar in Hobart and still remained so today. Once we arrived we also found out that they have a laundro-mat, pool, internet, TV, and kitchen. It cost us $19 a night for a four person room. The four person room was about the size of a normal dorm room with two bunks consisting of 2 beds per bunk. There was also a sink in the room which had ants on it. We really didn't care, it was much better than anything we'd had in the past 6 days. That night we ordered pizza and drank beer down at the bar. It was really quite inexpensive to drink down there, and the pizza was also pretty cheap. I did Aaron and my laundry that night and got to sleep around 2.
Today I woke at around 7 or 8 I really can't remember. Once up I finally took a shower! Ohh, this was a great feeling. To have warm water cover my body for the first time in a week. Then I could finally put clean clothes on! Oh, wow I thought I was in heaven. I went down stairs after all of this excitement to eat a complimentary breakie. After eating I went off to look into a discount rental car for all of us to get around the city in. It took some work, but around 10 we had someone pick us up and take us to the rental car office. We got an excellent deal, $66 for Friday, Saturday, and then to return it Sunday Morning. That's $66 Australian mind you, not US dollars. This was for an old Holden with a four speed manual. It really wasn't a bad car, besides the fact that there was no way you could get cool air to come out of the register and that the radio had dials on it and there was no power stearing. It kind of reminded me of my parent's old Chevete. I thought it was a little challenging driving on the wrong side of the road with a new van, but this was even a little more mentally challenging because the stick position was on my left, but all the gears were in the same positions. I only killed it once on the way to Cadbury though. Once we had the car we drove out to The Cadbury Factory which took about 30 minutes. While driving there we took some pictures of the town and of my excellent driving. We arrived at the Cadbury Factory which had limited tours today because they were cleaning or something like that. It cost us $6.50 to get a limited tour which we did. On the tour we got free samples and got to go into the factory area to see how they made the different kinds of chocolate and how they packaged it. Once at the end we went to the gift shop and all of us together came out with a disgusting amount of chocolate. We drove back and decided to walk around downtown for a bit. It wasn't too far a walk from our hostel because we were right downtown in the first place. We looked around for a bit in some shops and things and I went to the post and mailed off some things home. My knees were hurting really badly and decided that I would like to take some pictures of the city during dusk and left the others there. I drove across the Tasman bridge and got some shots of it. Then I noticed that I put the wrong batteries in the camera and so I rushed to Woolworth's and bought some more. I quick got some shots and then drove back to the hostel. While on the way back to the hostel I saw Jared and Aaron on the side of the road and honked at them. They said it was quite an experience to be in a city, where they didn't know anyone and be honked at by someone driving by that they actually knew. I can't say I disagree, it felt good to honk at someone for the first time in like months. We met up around 6:30 back at the hostel and started drinking around 8. We were supposed to head to a pub called "Irish Murphy's" where the "Tassie Chicks" had told us they would be that night. Once there, smart Jared had forgotten his license and only had his Uni ID with him. The guy at the door wouldn't let him in and so Aaron decided to give the guy a little lip. That kind of made me feel uncomfortable, since I really didn't want people looking bad upon people from the U.S. any more than they already do. The Tassie Chicks saw us outside and heard our story and tried to get us into the pub anyway. That didn't fly because of what Aaron did and so we all headed to a different pub. We drank a while at the different pub and then they closed. We then went outside to try to decide what to do. The Tassie Chicks thought that all the pubs would close at the same time, but the guy at the hostel gave me a map with ticks where other pubs were. So I said we should go to the other pubs, and they followed. It paid off because this pub was open for quite a while, in fact we stayed until we felt like leaving. While walking home I was stopped by a kid who looked about 14 or 13 who was with his brother. He was crying and bleeding from his mouth and asked what time it was. I told him and asked what happened to him. He said that he and his brother were walking and some guys in a white car jumped out and beat him up. I gave him $.40 to call the police, but he said he would just walk there. I told him he should call, but he refused. I gave him the money anyway just in case he couldn't get into the office. We then stopped to get some food. We ate and talked to the gentleman who owned the shop about the street we were on. It was the same street that the hostel was on also. We asked him if this was a sketchy part of town or not, because there were teenagers all around hanging out and cruising. He said that at some times you might see people in fights, but it was a lot better than it used to be. Then we headed the rest of the way home and while crossing the street a gentleman asked us if we smoked and had a light. We all said no except Aaron who said "no, I believe in my lungs." This made the stranger angry and said "What?" Aaron backed off and said "nothing." We all kept walking and so did the stranger, but once again the stranger said "No, you said something after you said no, what was it?" Aaron started to smart off to some guy for no reason. That's when Jared and I started to get angry with him. He was being stupid and said that we were being his "parents". I don't think that's true at all, I think he should've though about how he makes us feel when he does stupid things like that. Aaron then started getting physical toward me and so I decided I would go to bed and talk about it in the morning. I left Jared and Aaron out there talking crap to each other. Even though that had ruined the night, I didn't let it ruin my day. I thought it was still a fun and good day.
Today I woke at up, showered and ate within an hour. We were all excited to go to Salamanca Market, which we were told about by many people, including some on the trails. The market was on the same street where the pubs were last night. We headed down there and decided that if we got separated we would meet up at around 12:30 back at the hostel. After about 15 minutes sure enough we were all separated and I was off on my own. I must say it felt good to get a little alone time for a bit. I think it did the group good also. I walked around and talked with people about different things. At one shop I talked with a man who was selling rare records about AC/DC. His prices were a bit high though and I walked away with out any thing physically new, but he did answer my questions about a very old 45 record that I have been curious about for a long time. It was about a single that AC/DC had put out with a singer named Dave Evans that sounded more like 50's rock than anything else. Something your or my parents might listen to. He told me that, that particular single went for about $175. Well, I guess I won't be owning that anytime soon. At the market I bought this huge apple for $1.50, that took away most of my hunger. I started looking at other shops for old car things that might be interesting for dad. I talked with some store owners, and they said they didn't have anything. Most of the tools that were for specific cars only said "English Made" and nothing else. I would have liked to gotten a wrench or something with "Holden" on it, but couldn't find anything and none of the shop owner's had ever seen anything either. Once at the end of the street where the shops ended I took some pictures of the market and then walked back. Once at the other side of the market I walked through a park and took a picture of that. Upon reading a sign I found that this park used to be a graveyard back in the 19th century. When the city grew in around it, the cemetery became neglected and some fugitives fled to hide in some of the graves. Then in the 20th century many of the people buried there were moved to another grave yard, but around 80 of the graves with no stones left were left behind. This park had somewhere around 80 to 90 people buried in it from the 19th century. I thought that would make a cool story and so I remembered it. I would have liked to come back at night and played stupid hiding games like I did a kid. There was no time for that though and so I went back to the hostel. Once near the hostel I had thought about the country side that surrounds Hobart and wondered if there were actual look outs for which we could drive to. The person at the counter of our hostel told me we'd be quite mad if we came to Hobart and didn't go to Mt. Wellington which was a 20 minute drive to the summit. We got directions and headed up their. The drive itself did take quite a long time, but the scenery to the top was amazing. Once at the top the view was excellent. The lady behind the counter wasn't lying at all. We took pictures and all had a great time. For a brief moment I was the tallest man in Hobart! After we spent a little time there we headed out to Port Arthur to see a historic jail, where British Convicts were sent. Also at this place there was a massacre in 1996, where an insane man gunned down 36 people. This massacre led to the strictest gun laws in the world being here in Australia. While at the jail we took pictures and relaxed. We all went our separate ways and looked around until it became dark. On the ride home we decided to stop and get some food. I started to not feel well, I think it was that apple I had, and didn't eat anything. The restaurant we stopped at just reminded me of something we might find in Wisconsin. They had a fish menu and everything made me think I was in Wisconsin. That wasn't entirely a bad thing though. After words we continued our drive home. At one point I hadn't turned where I needed to and pulled a 'U'-turn. Upon completing the U-Turn I started to drive when Aaron said "Uhh... wrong side of the road." I was driving on the right side of the road which was incorrect. I then pulled onto the left side and made the turn. We got home around 10 and I went to bed soon after that.
Today I woke up around 7 because we needed to get going early if we were going to drive from Hobart to Launceston. I woke up and took a shower and then ate. I packed my things up and we had left the frog by 8:45, just on time. We drove around a little more than necessary because we got a little lost on the way to the car rental place. We made it though about 3 minutes late. The guy inside took a couple of phone calls before driving us to Budget car rental so that we could pick up our next rental car for the drive up to Launceston. We arrived at Budget about 5 minutes late and we went in and started getting our new car. The lady behind the counter wasn't too outgoing, I don't think she was in a good mood. Our new car was a Honda four door, but it had power steering and a CD Player. This was luxury compared to our Holden piece of crap! We all pilled in and drove for about an hour and a half until we got hungry. We stopped in this little town called Ross, which was a really interesting small town with a lot of charm. I would have liked to spend more time there, but we didn't have any as it was. After eating quickly, we were off again for an hour and then arrived at Launceston. With Jared on the map, we got a little lost once again. After driving aimlessly for about 10 minutes he finally found our way to Redline, which was the bus company that would drive us from Launceston to Georgetown, where the Devil cat would leave from. We had about 25 minutes until the bus left, so I was in a little panic about getting the car back and back to the station. Jared and I left right away and once again Jared messed up the map and got us turned around again. It took about 10 minutes for us to find the drop off point for the car, but we finally did. I had forgot to fill it up with gas though, so I hope they don't charge me. I didn't have time to do it anyway. Jared and I ran from the drop off point to the bus station and arrived just as they started boarding. I was the second person on the bus and reserved four of the five back seats for us. The bus wasn't full though and so we had all the seats to ourselves, which was nice. The ride to the Devil Cat took about 30 minutes and wasn't very long at all. Once at the port we noticed cameras and lots of people, since this was a special day. This was the Devil Cat's last ride across the Bass Straight. The ship had been sold back to the owner and would never run this ride again. The crew were all getting photos and news cameras were getting shots of the ship. We boarded and waited on top of the deck. When I came to the top of the deck I noticed Jared and Aaron sitting up on a ledge where a sign said "Danger No Climbing." After taking there picture I joined them. Aaron and I pointed at people on the shore and started waving at them to see if they would wave back. Only a few of them responded with questioned looks. On board there were only two decks, the upper having a bar, the lower having food. The ship had seats everywhere along with tables and televisions. While on deck we talked and waited, the weather was beautiful. Sun shining down on us, with the fresh sea air in our mouths. The ship set sail and we were off, going back to Melbourne for what seemed like an eternity of being away. Although I was sad break was over, I missed my Aussie home town. I looked forward to seeing it again. Once underway we waited to see what our little ship was capable of. We had heard it goes really fast, but the pace we were at didn't seem like much. We joked about knocking on the glass to the captains room and then signaling for them to drop the hammer. When Jared actually knocked on the glass, both Aaron and I got out of sight leaving Jared looking stupid. The only thing was nobody responded to his knock on the glass and so we gave up and decided to go inside and see what movies were playing. The first movie was "Bedazzled" which is a really bad movie. After it was over I wandered around until I saw Aaron sitting in the children's section watching Poke man the movie. I was really tired at this point so I took Emily's sleeping bag and laid it out on the floor and went to sleep. I really didn't sleep much though, I just laid and closed my eyes for a little nap. Once I couldn't sleep I got up and went and hung out with the the girls we met from the Overland track. They were playing cards, and that's when the next movie came on. It was "Coyote Ugly", which is a very cheesy movie. I watched it anyway and then went down and watched "Antz" with Aaron in the children's section. After that we walked around and then Star Wars Episode One came on TV. By about 15 minutes into it we had docked and it was time to go. We got outside and waited for our bags for about 10 minutes. Once I got my bag I went to see if the tram was there yet. It was and I yelled back for Aaron, Jared, and Emily to run and catch it, but they just walked. I let it go because I couldn't leave them behind. They decided they were going to walk to town and get something to eat. I decided to wait for the next tram because my knee hurt to much for that walk, which would have been really long. I sat there thinking about break, reading my philosophy of religion book, and relaxing. The tram showed up about 25 minutes later and I hoped on it. It took me to Crown Casino where I hoped on a different tram after waiting another 20 minutes. While waiting in front of the hotel, some kid walked up and I noticed he started to undo his zipper as he walked by, so I moved because I knew he was going to piss. He did, but it wouldn't have gotten on me, but I moved anyway just because that was disgusting. Once aboard the next tram I waited for my stop and got off, just one more tram to catch and then I would be on my way home for what seemed like an eternity. I waited just 20 more minutes and my Tram came. Finally, the last leg of my trip was here and I would soon see my home! I walked back from the tram stop and threw my stuff down on my floor. I went and called home to tell the parents I was home ok. I learned that since the time change for Autumn/Spring, we are now 15 hours apart instead of 17. Shortly after talking with my mum, I came back to my room and went to bed.
Today I woke up at 11 and ate some breakfast. Mmmm. Left over powder skim milk with some fibre biscuts! Gotta love living on a budget. Then I played around on my computer, took a shower and relaxed for a bit until around 12:40 and then I decided to walk to class. I wasn't looking forward to classes after break. I made it through class and then went to my next one, through each of them I was lost in thought. My mind was in Tasmania, e-mails, and thinking about sleep. My knee was bothering me and was a little tender to touch. I finished my 2 o'clock class and went to the International Programs Office where I asked about doctors and my medical coverage. I have to pay first and then take my bill to an office at the shopping centre. I limped back home to think about going to the doctor. I ran into some people from my college and we walked over to a poster sale. I looked through the posters, but found no really interesting AC/DC ones. I ran into Emily and she said that Aaron and her were going to Northland Shopping Centre. I gave her $3 to get me some bread and butter, since I really don't have any food. As they left, I did too. I went to the doctors office after calling them just to see if I needed an appointment. They said that I didn't need an appointment, just to come in. So I did just that and when I arrived a filled out a form. When finished filling out the form they asked if I had an appointment and I said that I called and asked if I needed an appointment and that the lady on the phone said I didn't. They said the doctor was leaving in 15 minutes, but I could wait there till 7 when the new doctor comes in. I said, I'll come back at 7. I was really pissed off, but self control got the better of me. I don't know why I was so pissed, maybe it was because my knee really hurt and I walked all the way over just to walk back. I picked up some Band-Aids for a blister on my foot and walked back. I arrived back at the college and edited some pictures from Tasmania and then went to class at 6. When class got out I went to the doctors office again. I arrived around 7:15 and waited till around 8:45 to get to see the doctor. He was of Indian ethnicity and followed everything he said with "ok?" It wasn't very comforting when he would say something and then say "ok?" I wasn't sure if he was asking me or telling me. Anyway he gave me a prescription for a lotion and drug which I plan on picking up tomorrow. When I arrived back at the college I ran into Aaron who got together Emily, Jared, and Parini so we could watch a slide show of the pictures I took on our break. Scott, who is from Tasmania, also stayed around and we watched the show that took somewhere around 30 minutes for all the pictures. After words I decided I would like to watch a movie so I went to my room and watched "Swordfish." I went to bed shortly after that! Today I woke up around 11:30 because of the cleaning lady vacuuming. I think we've got a new one once again since the other one doesn't show up now. After showering and working on the web site I decided I needed to go to Northland Shopping Centre to get the drugs the doctor prescribed to me. I rang Aaron and Jared, but neither was home so I went on my own. Once at the bus stop I noticed Jared walking towards the stop. When he saw me he came and sat next to me. He apparently had no idea that I called him wanting to go to Northland, but he was going to Northland to get a hair cut. Heck maybe he'd get lots of hairs cut! Ha-ha! We made it to Northland no problems and went off our separate ways. I went to the chemist and then to Medibank to get my reimbursement for seeing the doctor. Once at Medibank I waited in line for about 10 minutes and then started to talk with someone. She told me that they would only be able to pay 85% of my bill, which made me very angry since at the doctors office they charged me $35 when they told me it would only be $25. When I asked what happened to $25 they said it was $35 because it was at night. They also said it wouldn't matter to me because I would get it back from Medibank. That's the second time they've screwed me in 2 days. After getting screwed I went to find Jared at the hair cutters, but he wasn't there. So I went to Safeway to do some grocery shopping, and he was already there. I picked up $40 in food, and we are talking about a lot of food. Upon arriving back at the University I put all my food away and then went up to the office to see if I had any mail. I did, it was a card from mum and dad! They also sent some magazines that I had gotten in the mail. I worked on the web site, edited pictures, and did laundry the rest of the night. Around 10 I started making some mashed potatoes that I bought today. Once I had made them I put them in one of the two Tupperware containers that I bought. Then I opened the corn I bought and put that in a container also. Then I cooked this steak I bought and also some carrots which I bought and cut up. When Aaron stopped by before going to do his paper, I decided I would eat all these things with him tomorrow before his basketball game. It was about 12 when I started watching "Battlefield Earth." Aaron knocked on my door at around 1 and he used AIM, while I took a shower. I went to bed at 4 and fell asleep very quickly. Today I woke up at 11 to our new cleaning lady wanting to vacuum my room. I let her because I haven't had it vacuumed in over 3 weeks. The old cleaning lady would do it on Thursdays while I was at class, so I was a little disappointed to see her go. I got up and checked my e-mail and then went to eat some breakie. I had bought a different kind of Rice Krispies while at the store yesterday and was anxious to try them out. So with my powdered milk I mixed some together. It was the worst thing in the world! I saw that they have a quality and value guarantee on the box. I wonder if I contact the company I can get my money back. That's how bad this stuff was! After I got rid of my hideous bowl of crap, I ate some grapes and came back to work on the web site. I started to watch "Bad Boys" the movie, but was interrupted a couple of times. Finally at 5:10 Aaron came by and I reheated steak, mashed potatoes, corn, and carrots which I had cooked last night so we could have some dinner. He had a basketball game he had to leave for by 10 to 6 so after words he left and I cleaned the dishes. I continued to work on the web page and watched another movie. I quickly became really sick to my stomach and made many trips to the bathroom, if you know what I mean. I took the medicine for my knee and fell asleep by 9:30 Today I woke at 11:30 forgetting I had taken a shower. So I went to the bathroom and turned right back around. I then puttzed around for about an hour until finally getting ready to go to class. At 12 I went to my Philosophy of Religion class where we talked about what makes a miracle a miracle and then at 3 in the tutorial for the class we continued that discussion. After that class I told Jeremy I would call him and so I did. It was 1:15 there and he says that in the e-mail I sent him I would call around 1, he then said he e-mailed me saying I was 10 minutes late. I'm almost positive though in e-mail I sent him I told him I was at class till 1 and then would call around 1:15. I talked to Jeremy for about 35 minutes and then went back to my room where I worked on a paper which was due at 8pm. I handed it in only 15 minutes late! After words I headed home to start work on another paper when I started talking to Rebecca on our floor. We were talking about the show "Big Brother", she wanted to know if the theme music here was the same as in the states. I didn't know because I'm a guy and don't watch that crap. Then she wanted me to look up online what the legal consenting age in Australia was. She's the Australian, she should know. I didn't think to ask her WHY she wanted to know. I told her that I would look it up, if and only if she agreed to watch the movie "Tommy Boy." She agreed, but why, you ask would I say that? These bloody people have never even heard of the movie Tommy Boy. I tell them it's a classic, and very funny, and they smile and nod. Well this time I can make someone watch it. This is when I saw Aaron and he told me that in 15 minutes we are going over to Jared's to eat. So, Aaron left to go get ready, while I stayed and talked with Rebecca and her friend. 15 minutes later Aaron shows up and I give him my excuses for not wanting to go with him, but he persuades me otherwise. I change while he looks at his friends web site. A little pre-story... Aaron goes to school in LaCrosse, where John Palmer was a Hall Director for quite a while. John is now a Hall Director at my school in Whitewater. I always ask him if he knows Palmer. His answer is no. Aaron starts looking at his web site, while I'm changing behind him I'm watching what he is doing. He is looking at lots of pictures on this website until he clicks on a random picture and says "now this guy is a chauch bag!" I laugh at my surprise when I see it's John Palmer in the picture. I say "Hey, I thought you said you didn't know him, that's Palmer." He says, "I was just kidding, I don't even know this guy. I guess he was the Hall Director before I got there." After a little thought he says "Hey, I think I do know about this guy, my friends said he was pretty cool." Well I guess it doesn't matter, but somehow we know the same person now. Once we arrived at Jared's he had made some food for tea for Aaron. No plate for me and once again Aaron screws me. He said that Jared was making food for us. Oh well, now we get to the really messed up part of the story. The Resident Assistants put on this program in the bar for the college. (This is at Menzies where Jared lives) We have the same game in the states it's called the Century Club. The basic rule is every time you hear the whistle, which goes off once a minute every minute for 100 minutes, you have to drink a shot of beer. Once finished you have drank about 10 beers in the matter of about an hour and a half. The RAs are putting this on!!! I'm surprised no one has died from alcohol poisoning yet. Apparently the people here either hold their alcohol better or they don't drink like people from Wisconsin. After finishing watching that we ran into Katie, Parini, and Emily. Katie and Parini and I somehow got separated from everyone else and they decided to head to the Eagle Bar. I decided I would go in for a few minutes and see what was going on. Once inside I talked with a lot of people, and ran into Ceci who was really drunk. I also ran into Nacho who was completely sober. Apparently, he also hurt his knee playing footy. Well after talking for a bit, I'd had enough, since I myself wasn't drinking. I went home and played around on my computer till around 1 and then went to bed. Today I woke at 11:30 and made myself breakie which consisted of scrambled eggs and toast. While finishing off my breakie I talked with a man on my floor from Botswana which is on the continent of Africa. We talked about the weather and about playing guitar. After checking the mail I ran into Parini who was headed to the Agora. I decided I would join her and all the others who went to hang out and hear their stories from last night. We stayed their till about 3 and then walked back. I worked on the web site and chatted online till about 5, that's when I got ready to go to my first Australian Rules Football game. It was a big match up with Carlton vs. Carlsberg. The two teams are big rivals and the crowd was supposed to be around 80,000 to 90,000. We met at 5:15 in the common room and then headed upstairs to watch a game that had been taped so they could explain the rules to us. Once we had finished they drove us to the train depot. On the car ride there, I broke Australia's seat belt law for the first time only because we didn't have enough cars to get all of us there. Once safely at the train depot the train took us to the stadium in southern Melbourne. The train ride seemed to take a while, but Aaron and I entertained ourselves by reading the news papers that were on board. We then started to play some of the word games in there and I beat Aaron. He tried to cheat with a word that doesn't exist, but that didn't fly. Once at the game Aaron and I walked down to where the seats ran into the field. The circular shape of the stadium and the roar of the crowd reminded me of the Coliseum in Rome must have been like. The attendance for the game was a bit small with only 60,000+ there. The game was pretty much over before it started and didn't provide much excitement except for a couple of fights that almost broke out. There was more excitement in the crowd where more fights broke out. Aaron and I were sitting in an area where we didn't have tickets, but no one seemed to care, but the fans were really raunchy at this area. They would chant to anyone who would walk by including the food person who was selling food and pop. They would chant at the players of the opposing team, the referees, and anyone on the field. The game finished at 10:15, and by that time I was really tired. We headed home and didn't get home until 12 because the crowd was so large. Once home I made some easy Mac n' Cheese, took my pill, and watched a little of "Antitrust" the movie. After words I worked on my website and then went to bed around 1:30.
Today I woke at 11:30 and made myself breakie again. It consisted this time of scrambled eggs and tea. I used the last of my eggs and so now I will have to go back to powdered skim milk and biscuits. I worked all day on my web page, paper, and cleaning my room. I stopped to fix myself dinner which was rice mixed with Home brand's Steak and Vegetables for a quick mix cheap stir fry. This was when I was interrupted in my work by Emily and Aaron who had just finished making Rice Krispies treats with the awful Rice Krispies that I had bought earlier this week. They had nothing to do and were looking for entertainment. It was about 3 hours later and Caleb and Scott stopped by before they were motivated to head out. I stayed behind to work on my paper. The meal I made was was really good and only cost me about $1.75 Around 9 I ate a carrot and took my pill which puts me to sleep. I couldn't though and started reading my Philosophy of Religion book which gave me some ideas to put to my paper. Now it is 12:30 and I'm thinking about going to bed. I know what your saying, what a horrible way to spend a Saturday, but I'm a Leo. Leo's like to create things and for me today I've created a paper, cleaned my room, and improved my website lots. My paper by the way is in it's rough draft stage and needs to be edited a bit. Today I woke at 11:30 extremely tired because I couldn't sleep very well at all last night. I practically finished my 2,000 word paper last night/this morning. I had to force myself out of bed, I don't know if it's the medication or what, but it's messing up my sleep schedule. I forced myself out of bed so that I could maybe get to sleep at a different hour tonight. For morning tea I had four slices of toast and some water. Then I went back to my room to do a little work. I then decided to go lie outside my window in the grass and read a little of my philosophy book. I didn't lay out very long, probably only 20 to 30 minutes. I then came back in and worked on a rough itinerary for my parents. I also putzed around the college for a little bit and then Parini and Katie came over. They had just been out at the soccer fields where our college (Chisholm) was taking on the other two colleges (Menzies and Glenn). Aaron and Emily were playing for the boys and girls teams and Katie wanted to go back out there. Probably because Mambo was out there, and so I decided to head out there with her. I had a quick Carrot for lunch because that's all I had to eat that didn't require some cooking. Once on our way out to the fields we ran into Aaron who was on his way to grab some food before returning for the last game. He told me that they still had free food and beer. I went out and had 3 hot dogs before quitting. I didn't drink any though because of the medication I'm on. While walking out there I noticed that the pain in my knee was still there. This was the first time I had truly walked on it in the past 2 days and was hoping it would be a little better. I hung out and talked trash to the opposing teams while they played Chisholm. I left after the first half of the men's game because I was cold and my knee hurt. I walked back with Emily and Katie. Once back Emily and I fixed some food and before I was finished making corn on the cob, Jared and Aaron arrived. Aaron lost his game with the Chisholm men against Menzies. We hung out and decided that Aaron, Jared and I would dress up for our trip over to Heidi and Veronica's new place. It was about 5:30 and so I shaved and cleaned up my boots. My boots were still dirty from our trip on the overland track during Easter Break. Before I put the finish on my boots I took a before and after picture. I wish I had thought of it before I washed off the mud, but it still is a remarkable difference. I didn't have a tie and so I borrowed one from Jay. Aaron, Emily, Parini and I met Jared and Katie at the David Myer's building and then we all walked to the tram stop. The house was only about a 3 minute tram ride and so we all didn't buy tickets. Once at the house, which is very nice, and very inexpensive we were a little hungry and so Aaron and I walked to a local pizza place. We got two large pizzas for only $11. Everything for us these days revolves around how many McDonald's meals something costs. So for the price of two meals we got two large pizzas which is a good deal. The rest of the night we spent talking and hanging out. At around 11 we left and walked back to the tram. Jared, Emily, and Aaron decided to walk back rather than wait 20 minutes for the next tram, but my knee hurt too much for that walk. I waited with Parini and Katie. Once back to the Uni (University) and while walking to the college, my knee started to hurt really bad. I think, I hope that it was because of the cold outside that it hurt like it did. I went back to my room and typed out an itinerary for Mum, Dad, Bill, and my Aunt Mary. Then I checked my e-mail and worked a bit on the web site. After that I went to bed.
Today I woke up to my parents ringing me at 11:48. I think they call just before they know when I'm supposed to get up so that they can let me have the most possible sleep and still be in my diary entries. I talked with them till 12:15 or so. We talked about them traveling to see me, Bill traveling to see me, my friends, and the fact that I'm too lazy to go to the store and buy real milk instead of using the powdered stuff from our Tassie trip. They let me go, and I quickly showered, ate (powdered skim milk and biscuits) and then went to class. When I arrived at class I remembered that last week they talked about going out and looking through a telescope at the stars if we would like. The class is Astronomy and Philosophy and I had hoped we would do this sort of thing more instead of concentrating on the history of Astronomy and philosophy. So I got excited about that, especially since the lecturer who told us that we needed to be there at 6:15, which was during my other class with him. After that class I went to my Philosophy of Religion class. While walking to where I thought it was I saw Andrew, who asked if I was going to class. I told him I thought I was, I just can't remember which bloody building it is. He showed me and we walked to the room together. When we walked in the room was almost full and so I sat down next to a girl who always sits with her friend. Except her friend wasn't here today for some reason. About 15 minutes into the lecture the friend walked in and I felt bad for making them not sit next to each other. Oh well! I walked back from class and noticed that Aaron wrote a note on my board for me to meet him and Shawn out by the moat to play catch. I haven't been able to throw a baseball very well since before high school and so they helped me relearn. It went ok, but my arm is a little sore which surprises me for the small amount of throws I made today. After words I came back and ate some lunch, and then relaxed in my room for a bit. When 6 rolled around I left and was looking at stars by 6:30. First we looked at the moon which was quite impressive through the telescope. Then we checked Venus which was almost full, but I couldn't tell any difference cause I never look at it. Jupiter was interesting too see, having 4 different moons, but I only saw 3 of them. Then we looked at Mars which wasn't too impressive, but the real winner was Saturn. You could see the rings around it which made it the best. In all of these it looked as if we were looking at a photograph. Then we checked out different stars in the sky, one of which you will know. On Orion's sword which is between his legs, there are three stars. The one in the middle is the one we looked at, which is really 3 different stars, but from our distance you can't tell. So, if in the northern hemisphere you can still see Orion at this time of the year, look up and look for his sword. The star in the middle of the three is really three stars very close to each other (relatively close). We also looked at different stars in the southern hemisphere including one which makes up the southern cross. I also met a girl who lives a floor above me. Well I met her for the second time, because I really didn't know who she was. I started getting cold and hungry and so around 8:15 I left to go home and eat some dinner. I had rice and tuna which wasn't too bad, but tasted a little bland. After words I made Rebecca and her friends sit down and watch "Tommy Boy" because no one has ever seen it here. I want to be able to quote a movie and have her understand what I'm talking about. We finished the movie and I made some Mac 'n Cheese and then went to sleep. Today I woke at 8:30 to go to the bathroom. I wasn't sure if I should get up or go back to bed. Of course it was the later of the two because I am the definition of lazy. In fact if you looked up lazy in the dictionary, yep, there it is, my picture. There really is no end to my laziness, even the kids here are starting to pick up on it. I can't go anywhere without getting picked on about it. I mean really, it's not like I'm three hundred pounds overweight. I am productive, it's just when I don't feel like doing anything, nothing gets done. I can now say that I've been picked on for my procrastination in three different continents. Hey, only 4 more to go, right? Every where I turn it's another crack about how I don't do anything. It's a little tiring and all it makes me want to do is crawl into bed. Speaking of crawling into bed, I didn't feel like getting up and so I slept in till 11:30. Oh wait, no I looked at the clock wrong, it was 1:30 when I got up. Even then did I still feel like staying in bed. I think when I go back to the states I won't have a problem a gusting to there time at all because I'll already be on it. After I got up I decided that I wasn't very hungry, nor did I feel like showering and so I didn't do that either. I sat down at my computer and checked my e-mail. Then I decided to get to work on finding myself a way to get to Sydney for the 24 through the 28th. I walked up to the main office to check my mail. I got a package from Mum and Dad today! Inside my package was four Newsweek magazines and a calendar that they made me of family photos. What an excellent gift it was too. I think I've been homesick lately because of my dreams. Last nights was weird, I was with Jeremy and his family out in their driveway just hanging out. When someone got in a fight and another person drove off all angry. I have been having a lot of "American" dreams. One of which was where I was lying in my bed at home and thinking, "hey, I've got to get up and go see my friends because I have to go back to Australia." I don't remember the rest of the dream though. That reminds me, I reapplied to UW-Whitewater and I haven't gotten anything back yet. I wonder if they'll let me back in? I was never told I'd have to reapply to the school once I left for Australia. You'd think an advisor or someone might tell me that important piece of information. You can bet I'll be a little more than angry if I don't get back in. I guess I could join my new friends up at LaCrosse for a semester, but that wouldn't help my plans for graduation. I wish UW-Whitewater would get off their lazy butts and reaccept me. I switched around the diary entries so that they would reflect the months in which I wrote them. I then took the month of March and copied it into Microsoft Word. It took 40 pages up, which would be the longest thing I have ever written. Of course this is probably the longest time I've stayed committed to doing something like this or even close to a diary. I wonder if maybe someday I could make a book out of all my entries here. I'd probably have to lay off the brain killing liquids for a few years and let myself gain back some of that creativeness I've lost. Maybe that would help me when I'm trying to talk with someone also. I notice that either I don't listen or that I just can't remember what they've said. It's difficult to carry a conversation when you've got attention deficit disorder. I think my old/new flat mate has it also though. I don't think they should call it ADD, I think they should call it "in one ear and out the other disorder." That's really what it is isn't it? It's not that I don't hear them, it's just I don't care. If I'm talking to someone outside, for example, I'll hear what they are saying and listen to the first 3 words, but as soon as something starts to happen else where I start looking in that direction and off goes my mind. When they look at me for a response I just "smile and nod." I am trying to work on it though, like I'm really bad with names, but I will say the name over and over in my head for the 20 seconds after they tell me. Of course after they say their name they start talking and as I repeat their name I really don't listen to them. I can't do two things at once! So even if I do remember their name, they don't want to talk with me because I don't listen. Then if I do listen, I'll completely forget their name. How the heck did I get off on that tangent anyway. Oh yes, my laziness. Now, what was my point with that? Well, I don't know because sometimes I don't even listen to myself. Now that's over we can get back to my calendar that I just got! It's awesome, it's got photos of me when I was really young so that every girl that sees it will think I'm cute. Just kidding! It's really weird to see how much things have changed. I used to curl my bottom lip when I was upset with anything and there are about 3 photos with me like that. Thanks for taking photos of me like that Mum and Dad! Well, if I have kids I'll probably do worse to them. While getting my mail I asked the person behind the desk if they knew of any places to get cheap rental cars. I wanted to see if we could rent a car to drive up to Sydney, because that would be cheaper than taking the bus or train. After about a 4 hour search I found that there were no companies that would trust their cars outside of the state. The ones that would were charging an arm and a leg for their cars. Well then I decided to look at the tickets for bus and trains. Right now I think the cheapest is for a bus at $104, but then a train could be around $120 and allow us to get up and walk around while we traveled there. It would also be a little quicker with less stops. The trip we planned is perfect because I wouldn't miss any school because of some holiday down here called "Anzac Day." Don't' ask me what it is all about because I don't have a clue. I'm hoping that I can find out sometime. Well that all took quite a while out of my day. I decided that I would go to the shopping centre tomorrow with Emily after my alcohol test. I hope I'm not to messed up, because I'll be drinking on an empty stomach. It's also our 2 month anniversary here in the land down under tomorrow. Another reason to drink, oh yeah! I was thinking today, what a great job it would be to have to be in alcohol tests all the time. Somehow I feel like Homer Simpson, he always seems so lazy and yet still everything works out for him. I get $15 and 3 free drinks! I didn't spend all day on my computer or on the phone though! No, no, no. I read almost an entire Newsweek. How sad is that? I read an entire Newsweek and I feel productive. I think this whole diary entry is me trying to come to grips with being productive or lazy. Makes for some pretty darn uninteresting reading. I try to make it funny, but it really doesn't work out. I thought I used to be funny. What the heck happened? In high school I would write these absurd things in creative writing and people would laugh to them. Maybe I was more cynical then? Maybe that's when I even knew how to spell cynical? Apart from reading and playing around I also send out quite a bit of post cards to people back home. So, you are asking, did you go out at all today? Yeah baby! I went to Taco Bills! I guess the guy who owns the joint is from Wisconsin. Gee I wonder where he got the name from? Apart from that it doesn't taste like Taco Bell that's for sure. Boy, could I go for some Taco Bell. On the phone with my Mum the other day and she asks "Can we send you anything?" I said "sure can I'll take some Taco Bell and Ketchup." Nope! Damn customs! Katie, Jared, Aaron, Parini and I went to Taco Bills and I had a Burrito Supreme, which didn't taste very good, but was filling. While at the restaurant we all chatted it up and looked at the magazines I brought. I also brought my Australia travel book and asked Katie about Sydney and what we could do. She told me some of the things she has done while there. She's been there quite a few times and that's why I was asking her. I guess there is a bridge there that you can climb, but to climb it costs over $100. I'll have to check it out and see what I can do about not paying that. After diner we went and waited for the tram to take us back to the uni. Aaron and I talked about baseball, and we talked about me learning to throw again. I want to go to a thrift shop and find a cheap glove so that I can play catch. Once on the tram I felt quite tired, but looked forward to getting home. While getting close to the stop we talked about calling security for them to come pick us up. They have that service available if you want because they don't want people walking around on their own at night for safety reasons. Parini said that they supposedly get mad if you call them with so many people though. We don't even know how to do it and so we just walked. I arrived back sometime around 12 and then e-mailed Parini and Jared some photos which I want them to enter into the photo contest. I could really use that $10,000, but I told them I'd split it with them and so I will if I win. After that I put up a new page for the web site consisting of all of my favorite photos from which I picked to submit some to the contest. I put them up at full quality, so they will take quite a long time to download if you have a modem over a phone line. With all of my work on this web page I'm starting to contemplate maybe going into web development for a career. Creating something is very rewarding for me, maybe even more so then Network Administration. I really don't know much about web development, but I'm starting to get interested. Don't worry Mum and Dad, Web Development is under the same major as I'm currently going to graduate under. I used to think that programming would be a bad job because you don't get to see anyone or talk with anyone, but really it's kind of nice to go off on your own. It's more like meditation for me because I'm very relaxed when I'm doing it. I think this is a very good thing for me, kind of like when people go off and sit for hours meditating. Except I have something to show for it and they really don't. I thought I would want to go into Network Administration because then I would be able to help people and teach them about their computers if they had problems with them. I'm torn because I like to show people what the technology can do for them, but I also like to be off on my own and creating new things. One of the articles I read was about Bill Clinton and what he has been up to now since he isn't President anymore. The article is in the April 8th edition of Newsweek. As I read I began to notice things about his personality that came out in the article. I don't know how to explain it because it's hard to put so that anyone would understand it or for that matter with out making anyone angry. Well now that I've said that I'd better just go ahead and get in trouble. I was going to say that the way his personality comes out he seems like he's got some baggage just like a chick who thinks she's hot stuff when they really aren't. Of course Bill Clinton is Hot stuff, but I was referring to how girls act when they thing they're hot stuff. Most of the time they are messed up. They say one thing, but then go and do something totally different. Like they think they will gain respect for themselves by saying something. I think it would gain more respect if you actually acted the way you were instead of trying to look a certain way through what you say. It's really stupid because it's going to come out anyway if someone spends enough time with you. If that makes any sense at all, then you must be a "chick with baggage." This is my site and I don't have to be politically correct! You don't like it? Go hug a tree then! Have you ever hugged a tree? A teacher of mine used to ask us that. Mr. Stuckey, my freshman year social studies teacher would ask us a lot of things. I think that guy knew everything about everything. He would always be able to say something interesting if you had a conversation with him. I think my last conversation with him was in the hall way after school one night. He was done lifting the same as me, and I was wearing silver covered sun glasses and he asked to see them. Of course I let him and he asked how he looked. I told him that he looked like the officer from "Cool Hand Luke." He understood what I was talking about. He passed away a few years later. I think read in the paper he had a heart attack while playing Basketball. I think he really liked Basketball too and so I think he went they way he would have wanted to. I also remember that his wife had passed away before him and so he wouldn't leave a widow which is a good thing. Course it's never a good thing when someone dies, but as Forrest Gump's mother said "dying is a part of living." By the way I have hugged a tree. I always come back to you the reader and think what you must be thinking now. What the heck does this have to do with Australia? I don't really know, this is my diary. I've never really had a diary and so I don't know what I'm supposed to put in here and not supposed to put in here. Maybe I can just ramble on and see where it goes and that doesn't break any "diary rules." If it does please let me know because I don't think I can afford any fines right about now. Basically though any writing teacher will tell you that just writing about anything is a good thing. Maybe I'm building back up my creative skills, so that one day I can have really good, funny, and interesting diary entries. It's all preparing, or as in Space Balls: "Stop preparing, you're always preparing, just go!" That movie still gives me the spontaneous giggles. Just those laughs that come from no where when your sitting in class. They are sometimes embarrassing, but always stress relieving. When ever I would write papers for anything in high school I would always have trouble with transitioning from one idea to another. I think I still do because this thing jumps all over the place. It's like freedom though, because those transitions to me hold me back. I want to go directly to what I want to say next and not explain how I got there. During all of this, it's been entirely hard to keep from putting something controversial in here. I even edit out as much of the swear words as I can. You'll notice that at least I try to keep from saying H-e double hockey sticks. I did this because I have friends who are very strict in their faith and I want them to be able to feel comfortable reading this. It's a little controversial though since I totally rip apart "chicks with baggage", but try and keep it clean. Speaking of "chicks with baggage", doesn't that sound like a good name for a band. Even if they aren't chick's, that would still be a cool name. Another thing about that Clinton article I read was that I think the magazine tried to stay on both sides, by ripping on him for some things he does and then praising him for others. They didn't seem to take a bash/praise side all together which made the article good. I even walked away thinking that the GOP was "out to get him." Maybe you've read this far and wonder what is going on? Maybe no one will read this and one day I'll come back to this and think, hey I could have put something here that no one but I will read. I could totally test the patience of you the reader right now by putting something really personal down. I will defiantly think about doing something like that in future diaries though. This is just a test... maybe I'll do this more in the future. I wonder how many will read this, or how many will just go straight to the pictures. I don't think I would have stayed here this long. One thought that goes through my mind as I'm here in Australia. I think that I am trying to learn patience. I think of the times I've spent with my friends and got angry with them, all over what? Nothing that really matters now, does it? When I return I want to be able to not argue with them over things that are truly trivial. Of course this all comes to me when I'm half a world away from them, missing them a lot and worried if something would happen to them, I wouldn't be able to return. How can I take that and end in on a good note? Trying once again to be a good writer, I think I should just leave it on that. Something really seems like art to me if it is real, raw, and unedited. Maybe that's why I prefer the sound of an acoustic performance, or live performance over that of recorded. It's real, someone didn't spend months trying to make that sound perfect. They didn't give it "make-up" to look different from how it really is. On a childish note, I checked how long this thing is and it's just at the top of 6 pages in Microsoft Word. Which brings me to another point. Why do I judge the length of something in terms of pages in Microsoft Word? Perhaps it's because of school which is always preparing us. "Stop preparing, you're always preparing, just go!" I have been thinking of asking out this girl, but I never see her and so I'm leaning towards just forgetting about it. I met another girl that I was a little attracted to yesterday during the star watching, but I'm not sure if I'm really attracted to her or if I was just in a weird mood. Anyway the search continues! Today I got up at 12 and took a shower right after I checked my e-mail. I wanted to be fresh and ready for my alcohol test which was at 1. I got an e-mail from Beth who said she had been at a Brewer game recently. I thought this was interesting since Aaron is a huge Brewer fan and all I hear is Brewer this and Brewer that. Though the Brewers aren't doing to well lately, from what Aaron tells me, they aren't even above even and are almost the worst team in baseball. What's new right. I remember when they almost made the play-offs, when the play-offs were hard to get into. Not after they changed it around to look just like the football play-offs. Not after they added 37 new teams to try and keep fan support alive. All those things ruined baseball for me and so I never really got back on track with who's who. During the night I had a weird dream. First of all I was crawling around under a deck next door to my friend Mike Hessling's house. I was anxious to see him after all this time, but I never did see him because my dream moved on to a different thing. Next I was working a job and it was my first day. I was all pissed off because I really hated what I was doing and I thought my boss was giving me crap. Me not being in the mood at the moment to take crap or caring about the job at all, I smarted off to him. He was taken off guard because he didn't think I would snap back. He didn't like it too much, but I told him tough luck. Then I was working, I think I was either in front of a store working on the entrance or I was part of a stage crew. It would make more sense that I would be on a stage crew since there was a famous singer there and for some reason she went to my high school a long time ago. Anyway some of the guys were looking at this singer's daughter and gawking, and saying rumors that she was my daughter. So I asked my boss if I could quick run and ask the singer if she was my daughter. My boss was like "go right ahead." So I got up to where the famous singer was and I was like "Hi, do you remember me?" She said yes and said my name. I said "Can I talk with you for a second?" She said yes, and so I said "This is a little hard for me because I'm a big wuss and you're really famous, but... (there was a little pause because I lost my confidence) is that my daughter?" As I finished what I was asking she was saying that "she is your daughter" at the same time. Instead of that and she, we called her by her name, which I can't remember what it was now. I thought it was something like Carrie. Anyway when she told me it was my daughter I got really angry. I said "That's the most selfish thing I've ever seen from someone, you should be ashamed from keeping her from me for so long and you weren't going to even tell me." I was so angry that I woke up. Now there is no reason why I had this dream, I'm not going to have any babies soon and I know this for a fact. Maybe it's because I really do want to have kids someday. Maybe it has something to do with Kerri from high school? Why was Joe Carlisle incorporated in this? Maybe I need to get off the medication for my knee and I wont' have such weird dreams. Back to the rest of the day and back to my alcohol testing story... The basic test I had today was to see my eye movements before and after I was drinking. I was not able to eat 4 hours ahead of time, nor could I drink any caffeine. I hadn't ate in about 12 - 14 hours, so that contributed a lot later on. I left at 12:50 after looking on my campus map where to go. It wasn't to difficult to find and I went into the room that the lady said to go. She was real nice and we talked for a bit while I filled out various forms. We had corresponded over e-mails about the test and I had sent her my web site as I do pretty much anyone who e-mails me. Right after finishing the forms and filling out questions she hooked up this thing right over my eyes which would measure where my eyes were looking at a certain time. One of the forms stated what the study was about and if I didn't read it I might not have noticed that there was a chance that I might not get alcohol. This was because they needed to see if I thought that I was drunk or not. Right after finishing the forms she weighted me at 47.7 kg which is 163 lbs. I lost about 5 lbs. since I've come to Australia. After the thingy was over my eyes, my head was strapped in to a board where I would look straight onto another board which contained a lot of little green LED lights in a horizontal line. The strap that went over my eyes was very annoying and hard to put up with since I really have a little problem with things near my eyes. I even have problems watching movies where the camera goes through a bush or something. I remember running one day outside my house and I took a thorn right to the eye. It didn't do anything to my eye, but that could be one of the reasons I'm so paranoid. Or it could be that when I slept in the tree house my friends and I had built my head would be right under the television and I was always afraid that it might fall on me. So I would cover my head with a pillow just in case. That way if it did fall It wouldn't necessarily kill me. The tests were quite easy, but I really think I'm a little slow because she would tell me too look left and I would look right. She probably thought I was drunk before I even went in there. After the first series of tests which took about 45 minutes (I really don't know how long they took, but they seemed like forever), she gave me 2 glasses filled with a clear liquid. She said to drink the two drinks in two minutes. They weren't very big, but they tasted awful. I started to drink the first one and wanted to drink it all right away because it was so bad, but she told me I couldn't skull. So I finished the first one in the first minute even. Then she said that I had to finish the other one in the next minute. I thought she might give me a little second or two to relax before drinking again, but she didn't. I tried to finish the other one without it coming back up, but I couldn't finish it. I was 27 seconds late on finishing it though and she said it really didn't matter. I could defiantly tell there was alcohol in the drinks. She said that some people are really surprised to find that she didn't put any in theirs. After 20 minutes I went back to do the same tests, but before I did the tests she took my BAC which was .042. Before I did the tests thought I filled out a form which asked me how I thought I would do after I had been drinking. After the tests were done she took my BAC which was .047. I could feel the alcohol by now and was starting to get stupid. She then showed me that she gave me 3 three standard shots of vodka in a cup with tonic water. I guess three shots of vodka in a small glass with tonic water over a two minute period would mess me up a little. Especially since I hadn't eaten in about 14 hours. With the BAC tester I asked her if she ever tried to fool it. I told her about the rumors about trying to get away with underage drinking. Some like if you put a penny on your tongue before you take the test you'll be ok or if you brush your teeth. There are about a million rumors on how to get away with it. She hadn't heard any and nor did she really care. After the test was over she let me go. I walked home feeling a little funny because it was 3 in the afternoon and I was good to go. I ran into Aaron and Jared who had a good laugh after they realized where I had been. Once I got home I ate some spaghetti and toast and crackers for brunch. Emily wrote a note on my door about going to Northland to get groceries. She said she might not be able to go because she needed to be back by 6 for a class. When she arrived at the college at 3:30, she said she needed to eat and shower and then we could go.She made me a little angry because she said she might not have enough time to go and then she sat down and ate for 30 minutes. I went to STA Travel and back and she was still eating. She hadn't even showered yet and it hat been about 25 minutes. She is so putzy sometimes I get angry. I left her to eat while I went to STA Travel to investigate the price of taking the train to Sydney for next weekend. When I walked in there were two guys sitting the chairs by the counter with one open seat. There was another guy sitting along in a group of chairs a little further away from the counter. For some reason I sat next to the guy who was alone farther away from the counter. I pondered this as I waited for about 5 minutes before someone became available to help me. It only costs $110 and is more direct, it also takes less time on the train. I think Jared, Aaron and I will take the train so that we can get up and walk around when we want. When I arrived home, Emily told me that she didn't need to shower because her class was canceled. So we left and on the bus on the way out of La Trobe I saw Jared and waved to him. Once we arrived at the shopping centre I went to look at Rebel sports for a cheap baseball glove so that I could play catch with Aaron. I found one which only cost $44 and so I bought it. He said that he would pay for half of it and then keep it at the end of the year, but it was so nice that I decided that I want to keep it. Then I remembered later that it was his birthday and so I figured he could have half of the ownership for his birthday. Once at Northland I picked up the usual, but I also picked up 3 bottles of pancake mix so that I could make Rebecca on my floor pancakes. Her friends and her made pancakes when I made them watch "Tommy Boy" and they gave me some. I told them that those weren't pancakes, I'll show 'em pancakes. So I told them that Friday, after Rebecca's birthday party which is Thursday night, I would make them breakie. I told them about how my dad makes pancakes and I would also try to do the same for them. I also got frozen blueberries so that I could give them the true Russell pancake experience. "Riddled with blueberries." While checking out we saw a guy we knew from our college. We don't really know his name though, but he is from Ohio. After checking out we got outside to see that we missed the bus for La Trobe and the next one would arrive in an hour. That's when the guy from Ohio came out and got pissed because the ladies in front of him took forever to check out. They were buying a huge amount of flower and he joked that they were going to make a flower bomb. Him and his friends found a different bus that went to La Trobe and we hopped that after waiting only about 5 minutes. He was talking to me and I was a little afraid because I think he is gay. I have homophobia, I wish I didn't. Emily was attracted to one of his friends in tower 11. The ladies were Muslim and I said "oh you mean the Muslims?" Then I looked over to see a Muslim lady who looked quite nervous. I felt a little bad, but I don't know how to describe the ladies other than that. Once home I went back online while Emily baked a cake for Aaron. When she was finished I made myself some rice and tuna. It was alright, but it filled me up very well. After everything was cleaned I decided I would make some O.J. from some concentrate that I had purchased about a month ago. It was frozen solid and so remembering from what my parents used to do I put it in a sink full of hot water to let it defrost quickly. I went back into my room and was talking to Parini when Gill came over and asked what we were going to do for Aaron's birthday. For those plans we called Mackas (McDonalds) and reserved a room. They normal charge $6.50 a head, but since we only wanted the room, the let us have it for free. They even said they would give us some birthday hats for free also. Parini and Gill left after that and I sat around working on the web site until 9:30. At 9:30 I felt extremely tired and decided to go to bed. From then I didn't get much sleep as I woke at... well I'll save that story for tomorrow since It actually was tomorrow. Today I woke at 3:30 am totally awake. I felt like I could jog the Boston marathon, I mean really awake. I had the strangest dream. I was a train engineer and it was WWII, when I noticed there was the enemy's train right next to us. Two of the guys on my train used a propulsion pack strapped to their backs to hop over to the enemy train. When they did this I noticed one of the enemies also do this to my train. The guy that had hopped from my side gave hand signals as to where he was at, then I woke up. I decided I would get up for a bit so that I might lose some of this energy that I had. When I sat down at my computer I noticed it was only 1:30 and not 3:30. My clock was 2 hours ahead for some weird reason. I set my clock back and then continued to write some e-mails. Then I went to take a shower after trying to lie down again with no effect. While in the shower I remembered when I was a summer R.A. and someone on the floor had taken their special friend in the shower with them and my residents didn't tell me. I then remembered "hey, why don't I e-mail them" and so I did. After all of this I finally tried to sleep again around 6 and I fell asleep till 11. I got up at 11 because I had class at 12. My parents called not long after I got up, they thought they woke me up, but I surprised them. They said that I had been readmitted to UW-Whitewater. Now I don't have to worry about getting back in, once I have my classes I'll be set. After talking with them for a while I noticed that I needed to get off the phone and go to class so we said goodbye and I left for class after having a bowl of cereal. I really wanted to get off the phone with my parents because I started talking about a trip to Sydney and my dad said I can't go. I was a little upset probably because they plan to spend $2000 in 3 weeks and expect me to use the same amount over 6 months including food. Once I got to where my class was I noticed a note on the door saying that class was canceled. Normally I would be in a much better mood, but I was so pissed after they said shit about spending money on traveling. I walked around a bit to try and get a little anger out, once I got back near the college I decided I would look at doing some day trips. I got in a better mood when I started looking at the things to do, but I was still a little angry. I walked back to the college and started looking at some day trips that I could take from Melbourne with a rental car. Really I just didn't do anything once back at the college, I was waiting around for my next tutorial to start at 3. While I was waiting Laura came down and I decided I would ask her to go do something. I asked her what she had planned for the weekend and she told me about Friday night. I asked if she wanted to do something Saturday night then and she said she had to work. I pressed my luck and asked if she wanted to do something Sunday afternoon. She said she did and so I asked if she wanted to go see a movie or something and she agreed. She then had to leave for class. I left at 2:50 and started talking to Andrew in the classroom. We talked about the century club and the day trips I was going to take from Melbourne. He was interested also because he didn't even know about our little break coming up. While having this conversation with Andrew I really wanted to talk to a girl in our class who has strawberry blond hair. I find her attractive, but she looks a little questionable. She always wears these really fucked up bracelets. What is up with that? When the tutor came in we started a discussion about petitonary prayer. Which is prayer that asks for something. We asked different questions about when it's reasonable to ask for something in prayer. For example, is it reasonable to ask for an egg to become hard when you put it in boiling water? Some other questions that were raised was why doesn't god just give us what we need before we pray for it? If he is perfectly good then he should already know what we need. Then also along the same line, if he is perfectly good then why doesn't he answer our prayers sometimes? Maybe because the gain from not receiving something is greater than the initial gain from receiving that thing. Or in other words, the discipline we receive from going with out what we need at that particular time is a greater gift than getting what we need. After all of this in discussion our hour was up and we all left. After class I came back to the college and picked out photos for a local campus photo competition. The first prize is an $800 trip to Ayer's Rock. If I won, I would try to sell that trip to someone else for $700 and use the money to travel to other places. I need to edit down the photos to my favorite five though. It's tough because I have about 30 photos which are really nice. The categories I can enter are campus life, Melbourne life, travel, and fun. I'm leaning towards putting in the pictures with more students, than just the nature ones. I have to have them in by the 29th of April. I put the 30 some pictures that I'm thinking about entering on the web site so that I could ask people to tell me which ones they like. I ate quick at around 5:30 so that I could be where Aaron was getting his alcohol test by 5:45. I was there at 5:50 and he had just drank the two drinks about 10 minutes before I got there. I sat in the room while Suzy tested Aaron. I took pictures of the medieval torture device that actually tests your eyes. Aaron was pissed off because I took a picture of him with his new hair cut. While testing I sat outside and watched his results with Suzy. She knew that we were taking him on the tram and that he needed to be back by 8 for the century club and so she asked if we needed to hurry or not. I whispered to her that we were only going to Mackas and it didn't matter. After Aaron was done I told him that we had to go right now! His BAC was .037 which was .01 less than mine yesterday. He said he wanted to go back to Chisholm quick, but we couldn't do that because we were already 15 minutes late for when we were supposed to meet at Mackas. I told him "I had explicit instructions not to let you go back to Chisholm." I then told him that before we hopped on the tram we had to go get a $.40 cone from Mackas because I was starving. He didn't have a problem with that since he hadn't eaten in 4 hours. He asked if we were taking him to Taco Bills, and I said, "I don't know." When we came close to Mackas I could see everyone in the window and so I told him we had to hurry because I saw the tram. I did this so that he wouldn't see the people in the window because he would be running. He said "There's no way we'll make it." I told him to run, but he didn't and then he saw the people in the window. He was embarrassed right away it was great. I opened the door for him and he was so embarrassed he said "I'm just going to get food right away." Then started walking towards the counter. I went to the room where everyone was sitting and tried to open the door but I couldn't. It was a sliding door and I tried to push and pull. Then I slid it open and Aaron walked in. The turn out was excellent there must have been about 15 people there. The room was decorated with balloons and streamers. There was also a chocolate cake that Emily had made the night before. Aaron opened his gifts, then we lit the cake and he blew out all the candles. Then everyone went and got food, it was a big night since most of us were doing the century club we needed to get some food in us. I mistakenly ate three pieces of cake which I was afraid might do me in later. After everyone ate, Aaron, Emily and I went to the Mackas playground and played. The greatest thing was that there were no rules against such a thing. So we didn't have to worry about getting kicked out like in the states. In fact I think they wanted the parents to go in the equipment with their kids. It hurt my knee a little bit to be climbing around on the equipment so I stopped soon after I started. After I stopped it only took Aaron 10 minutes before he stopped also. Aaron got a VB shirt for his birthday, he also got a bottle of vodka which he opened and mixed with his Mackas meal. Jared and Aaron both mixed their drinks, and when the couldn't finish them I started to drink them on the walk back home. They were mixed pretty strong and so I stopped because I didn't want to mess up my chances at the century club. We arrived back at Chisholm around 7:50 which allowed us about 10 minutes to prepare for the century club which was held in one of the common rooms. At 8 we walked up with our beer to the common room which was full of tables, chairs, and shot glasses. On the stage two people sat with a microphone and a score board which showed what shot we would be on once we started. At 8:15 they told us the rules which were similar if not exactly the same as ours in the U.S.
We quickly started, and with Jared next to me we would share a can of beer. When one was finished we would switch off pouring each other the shots for each can of beer. We also took pictures of each beer we were on. At around 30 Andrew lost his Mackas and was out. He was the first one to puke, and also the first one to be out. Before that though, Emily started cheating. She wasn't drinking as many as she should be. By the time Aaron was on his third beer, Emily was still on her first. She was soon out after the judges saw that she was cheating. I'm not sure if it was her or Andrew who was out first. Andrew was the first to puke though. Soon after that some others started puking. I felt like puking many times, but after shaking my body so that I could burp I was good to go for another 20 before I had to shake again. Once past the power hour (60 shots in 60 minutes) I started to lose my strength and was worried that I wouldn't beat the century club, let alone my personal record of 77. When I noticed we were at 78 I was relieved to know that I had surpassed myself, but I knew then that I might not make it to the 100. I tried to shake more burps out of me, but my plan backfired. I even tried standing at this point, but the alcohol got to my head and I was starting to get sick. By the time I took 81, it was coming up and so I tried to hold it back, but it was all over. I puked 3 times in a matter of 15 seconds, and I noticed that the cake which I had ate at Mackas was missing, but the noodles I had for tea that night were still there. After I puked I stood up and yelled "Pukin' rally!" No one has seen the movie Varsity Blues here and so no one got my joke. I took a picture right after I puked for comparison with the before picture. After I washed down the vomit with another beer I decided to coach Jared, the only remaining American in the contest, to the end. He made it quite strong actually. I bet he could have done it again. No, I'm just kidding, but he did look good after words though. I felt almost completely sober after puking. I puked mostly beer and so I felt good except I had an empty stomach. We headed to the bar and I started drinking again and that's when I decided I should go back and get some food before I start again. Jared came with me and we had peanut butter and jam on toast. We then headed back and I must have talked with about 100 different people last night. I had so many conversations and met so many new people. I hope I can remember all of their names. I ran into Aaron who was showing me the kid who called him a "curly haired Wanker" at the soccer game last Sunday. He said he was going to go stand by him for some reason, I don't know if he wanted to just talk to the kid or fight him or what, but I lost Aaron after that. I looked over to where the kid was standing and Aaron had vanished. It quickly became bar time and Jared and I were looking for Aaron and so I decided we should wait until they start to kick us out and I bet Aaron will show up. He didn't though and I headed home. I was very tired by the time I got back to the college and so I decided it was time for bed. Before going to bed I made some hard boiled eggs and ate one. I got to sleep around 2 and didn't wake until morning. I kept getting into conversations with nerds! The only problem is that there would be one hot chick and then three uglies and so I couldn't just brush them off. That always happens where they'll be one hottie and the rest are just dogs. I think women do this on purpose! |
