Phew! I'm exhausted! Let's see... when was the last time I posted? Since I posted last, I've been really busy. Actually, that's a damn dirty lie, but I've been incapacitated, I'll say. I don't know what caused it exactly, but for over a week, I've been really sick. Like a stomache virus or something along those lines, which isn't surprising, since our place was a total shithole. I just thought it was funny how the morning that I woke up sick was right after the night when I took the dare to eat a cotton ball for $4. Hopefully it's just a coincidence, cause that was a lot of pain to go through for $4.
The worst part about it, thought was that a couple days into my sickness, my girlfriend of 2 days and her friend decided that they wanted to come back and visit us again before they went off to England. I wasn't going to say no, just because I felt bad, so they made their way down here from Brisbane, and I picked them up at the bus stop feeling like hell. It was probably about an 80 degree, overcast day out and here I was greeting them with jeans and a long sleeve shirt, sunglasses, tousled hair and a cup of coffee. I'm surprised they didn't get back on the bus when they saw me. But either way, I got them back with me, and we all spent the rest of the day napping.
The next day, I still felt terrible, maybe even worse, but I walked the girls down to the beach. It was nice, though, and I decided to get over myself for a while, and have fun, and once I got into the water, I started to feel better. I even jumped into a couple waves, until one crashed into my stomache and put me out of commission for a while. We walked around town, and I was having so much fun that I almost forgot that I had class. With only 20 minutes before class was ready to start, I had to hop in a cab back to school, where I strolled into class, beach towel in hand, hair stuck straight up and a box of seafood in hand (and no, seafood ended up being a terrible thing to eat with a bad stomache).
The next few days, we sat around, taking it easy, as I had class still and some deadlines for my projects were coming up. As the week started to wind down, and I started to get thing done, I started feeling better and better, so when Friday night rolled around, I felt good enough to come to campus and help all the Mexican cook some mexican food for us all. We made everything from scratch, even the tortillas, which was the funnest part since we rolled them out using cricket "stumps" or the sticks that you try to hit when you play the game. They worked just fine, though. Then we had some good guacamole and salsa, beef, chicken, everything to make a stellar meal. My stomache was feeling great, so I ate mostly what I wanted, and had a few beers to wash everything down.
Then we started into a game of foosball, where if you get scored on, you have to drink this beer that has chili powder IN it, just just around the rim like I'd had before. It was really spicy and was a really dark, cloudy brown, so I called it Mexican Tap Water. I started out just watching, but when people started dropping out because they were starting to sweat from the drink, they made me step in. Right off, I started scoring a lot of goals for my team and making them look like fools, but when they started dropping out, then a bunch of jackasses came in that kept spinning the players as hard as they could. I wanted to kick them all in the nuts, especially since they almost tipped the table over a couple times they were spinning so hard. So we started giving up a couple cheap goals, and I had to drink some of this drink from hell.
Even as I was going back home that night, I still felt good. I woke up in the middle of the night, and I was done for. I stayed in the bathroom for about an hour straight, and seriously, 5 minutes before I was ready to go to the hospital, I started feeling better, but I still slept on the floor, just in case. The next morning, I went to the doctor, and told me I just had a stomache virus. The entire time I was sitting in his office, I wasn't even thinking about what he was saying because my mind was just stuck on the bathroom. I was almost sweating, I was clenching my muscles so hard. I snap back to reality when he says "But you don't look like a guy that's in too much pain, you know?" He looks at me, and I laugh and smile. "Yeah."
I go back home and let my stomache settle. I snuggle up next to Livi and don't move from the couch for the rest of the day. Rain pours down outside, and everyone is stuck. People start congregating at our house to play video games. We play Mario Kart all day, and for dinner, Melisa made a nice meal. I couldn't eat it. Luckily Livi helped nurse me back to health, but the next morning, she had to leave already, and I was sad that I was finally getting better now that she was leaving, and I hadn't been able to show her a good time like I had wanted to. But she was understanding. So now my girlfriend of 6 1/2 days is gone again, probably never to return, and my life has started to slow back down. My assignments are all turned in and the house is quiet. I'm finally getting my health back, since I hadn't eaten a full meal in over a week. Things are back to normal, but what's ever challenging about that?
Dec 18, 2006
Dec 5, 2006
Borat
How can I be so torn? I saw Borat tonight, and I think it's the first movie that I've ever seen where I walked out not knowing how I truly felt about it. Let me walk through it. I'll try not to give too much away for those who haven't seen it yet.
Good: Borat is hilarious. It's well made and well thought out, and the fact of the matter is: I couldn't stop laughing. Until I cried.
Bad: I cried. Almost. Seriously. Not from laughter either. I know this isn't the first movie ever made where people use hidden cameras and try to draw out the most explicit reaction they can from individuals, but it's certainly one of the most in-your-face. It catches people giving their open and honest opinions about gays, jews, gypsies, blacks; none of which are good, as you might guess.
Good: Maybe this will open some eyes. Some of the things said in this movie are so bad that, as an American, you can't help but hold your head in shame. Example: A discussion on homosexuals brings this up "In my home country, we take them out back and finish them." "That's what we've been trying to do here." At that point, everyone in the theater stopped laughing. A collective gasp resounded in the theater. These are real people saying this. Borat is just there to help out. But when something like that comes up, that one man, whether he knew he was being filmed or not defined an entire country.
Bad: This movie sets Americans back. No. Americans set themselves back in this movie. Big time. The fact is: I would be a lot more comfortable watching this movie in America. Being here in a foreign country, I couldn't help but hide my face in my hands as some of the situations unfolded. I actually felt embarassed to be an American at points, and that's why I have the lump sitting in the bottom of my stomache even now. But that's exactly how people in other countries view Americans. Up until tonight, I thought everyone just thought that we were greedy SOBs, but now they have this to add. We're racists. Sexists. Alcoholics. ABSOLUTE Jesus FREAKS!!! We're total assholes.
It's just... ah... man... I don't even know how I feel about it. I want so badly for the world to think differently about us, but we're not even helping ourselves out by trying to change our actions and thoughts. This is one of those posts where I'm absolutely torn. I guess I'll leave it with this: if you've seen the movie, go ahead and write in and let me know what you thought. And then let me know if you thought that the movie set Americans back. That's really the only thing I can think of.
Good: Borat is hilarious. It's well made and well thought out, and the fact of the matter is: I couldn't stop laughing. Until I cried.
Bad: I cried. Almost. Seriously. Not from laughter either. I know this isn't the first movie ever made where people use hidden cameras and try to draw out the most explicit reaction they can from individuals, but it's certainly one of the most in-your-face. It catches people giving their open and honest opinions about gays, jews, gypsies, blacks; none of which are good, as you might guess.
Good: Maybe this will open some eyes. Some of the things said in this movie are so bad that, as an American, you can't help but hold your head in shame. Example: A discussion on homosexuals brings this up "In my home country, we take them out back and finish them." "That's what we've been trying to do here." At that point, everyone in the theater stopped laughing. A collective gasp resounded in the theater. These are real people saying this. Borat is just there to help out. But when something like that comes up, that one man, whether he knew he was being filmed or not defined an entire country.
Bad: This movie sets Americans back. No. Americans set themselves back in this movie. Big time. The fact is: I would be a lot more comfortable watching this movie in America. Being here in a foreign country, I couldn't help but hide my face in my hands as some of the situations unfolded. I actually felt embarassed to be an American at points, and that's why I have the lump sitting in the bottom of my stomache even now. But that's exactly how people in other countries view Americans. Up until tonight, I thought everyone just thought that we were greedy SOBs, but now they have this to add. We're racists. Sexists. Alcoholics. ABSOLUTE Jesus FREAKS!!! We're total assholes.
It's just... ah... man... I don't even know how I feel about it. I want so badly for the world to think differently about us, but we're not even helping ourselves out by trying to change our actions and thoughts. This is one of those posts where I'm absolutely torn. I guess I'll leave it with this: if you've seen the movie, go ahead and write in and let me know what you thought. And then let me know if you thought that the movie set Americans back. That's really the only thing I can think of.
Dec 1, 2006
Goodbye November
Well, Movember has come and gone, and I'm now clean-shaven again, but I did manage to capture a few pictures before it all got the chop.
Hm... now that I look at it, it looks like a bad piece of art.
And since snapshots of my erratically-grown facial hair can hardly fill up an entire post, I also have this for you. I was involved in a fight last night. I'm not going to say that I was IN one. I don't think there's ever been a single fight in my young adult life that I was in on my own accord, even though I've been INVOLVED in many. That's why I saw everything coming.
But long before I even got down here to Byron, I'd heard from a lot of different sources that the locals are a bunch of tossers, but once I got down here, there was so many people from everywhere, I didn't even think that there were any real locals. Last night, being the end of the school week, we went out to the bars. Everywhere was packed, mostly because this is Schoolies week: as I understand it, it's the week right after high schoolers graduate, which doesn't mean much for me, except there's just A LOT more girls walking around a town where the guys were already outnumbered 3:1. So Play had a $15 cover charge, and Cocomangas was giving away free drinks of some sort, so the line was backed up halfway down the street. So we decided to start out at the Hotel Great Northern; a place that has it all: live bands, pool tables, slot machines, even a breathalizer in the lobby. That's all class.
We sat at the Northern, watching the band (a trio of guys, most likely a couple years younger than myself) do their thing. I thought they were pretty good, but my neighbor Harry was sitting next to me and telling me about how much they sucked, all while he was sipping on his drinks and getting louder and louder. But that's Harry. When the set ended, we gathered everyone up and were going to try Play again, to see if our SAE IDs would get a discount. We walked down the main street, past a group of people standing out in front of our favorite bakery. I was in the middle of the group, and when I looked back I saw my friend Lang talking to someone. Things looked like they were getting heated, but then he started walking away to catch up to us again.
When he catches up he starts saying "If that little **** comes up here, I'm gonna...", so I look down into the street, and this little man is following us. He's not more than 5 foot 3, so I thought he was a little Schoolie that Lang had started up with, but when the light hit his face, I saw that he was a short, lanky black man. Nothing against them, but more on that later. So the little guy gets up onto the sidewalk behind us and starts yelling at Lang, trying to lead him into the small town park that we were walking past. The park isn't well lit, so it'd be absolutely ridiculous for us to go over there. So Lang is yelling back at this guy, and then Harry starts up with him too, the three of them yelling at each other across this park.
Then, like a freaking magic trick, all these people start coming out of the woodwork in the park, popping out from behind trees and bathrooms, including this 6 foot 5, shirtless bald guy. He comes running out and jumps over some bushes to get up in Harry's face. Harry sizes up to the guy (but not even close) and when he tries to walk away, the guy spins him around and punches him in the face. Harry could hardly stand to begin with, but the force knocks him to the ground, and he hits the back of his head on a metal rail. He sits there and curls up on the ground, holding his face in his hands when the little guy that started it all runs up and kicks him square in the right eye while he's totally defenseless.
When all this started, I was staying back, just letting them work things out, but when they started throwing punches, I started running back to where they were. The big guy was still standing over Harry, saying all kinds of shit, so (being a little out of my mind myself) I run up and push the big guy out of the way and tell him to "F*** off" then bend down to try and help Harry up. From behind me, an arm swings around my face and catches me across my eyes with a forearm. I push Harry out of the way, back up the street towards our friends, and try to get out of there myself. The guy grabs on to my shirt collar, and for a split second, all I can think is "Damn, this is a good shirt, he better not rip it." So I punch his arm and he pushes me away and starts yelling at all of us not to come back around. Don't worry about that.
The night was a rush, us trying to get Harry back home in a cab, trying to tell a security officer what had happened only to hear him say "That's not my job", and still trying to have a good night, it being no later than 10 o'clock and all. So we finally get back to Play, and as we're standing in line, the guys are loving getting the chance to tell all the little high school girls about the fight that they'd just been in.
So back to the comment about the little man being black. As you all know, just like Native Americans in the States, down in Australia, before the land was ever settled by the Europeans, there were Aboriginies around here, and just like Native Americans, most Aboriginies were forced off their land or killed. And Australia is an even younger country than America, so all this is still fresh in their minds, and most of them are pretty violent towards foreigners because of it. And as opposed to America where most Native Americans are given land by the government, and given posh jobs in casinos, most Aboriginies were left with nothing, and a lot of them feel that they don't need to get jobs or blend back into the new society. But I don't think it means that they (in all their 5 foot glory) should provoke people into fights, and then when people start up, they grab their UFC fighter of a friend to kick ass either.
So the night ended when we were walking out of the Beach Hotel around 1 o'clock and here comes our little friend walking up the street, and he starts to talk to Lang. "Hey buddy, you got a cigarette?" Lang looks at the man in disbelief. "Do you not remember 2 hours ago when you kicked the shit out of my friend?" "Hey man, you got me wrong, I'm a good guy." He obviously didn't remember. "Man, you got 2 seconds to f*** off out of my face." The little guy looked insulted, but he slinked off down the street.
Hm... now that I look at it, it looks like a bad piece of art.
And since snapshots of my erratically-grown facial hair can hardly fill up an entire post, I also have this for you. I was involved in a fight last night. I'm not going to say that I was IN one. I don't think there's ever been a single fight in my young adult life that I was in on my own accord, even though I've been INVOLVED in many. That's why I saw everything coming.
But long before I even got down here to Byron, I'd heard from a lot of different sources that the locals are a bunch of tossers, but once I got down here, there was so many people from everywhere, I didn't even think that there were any real locals. Last night, being the end of the school week, we went out to the bars. Everywhere was packed, mostly because this is Schoolies week: as I understand it, it's the week right after high schoolers graduate, which doesn't mean much for me, except there's just A LOT more girls walking around a town where the guys were already outnumbered 3:1. So Play had a $15 cover charge, and Cocomangas was giving away free drinks of some sort, so the line was backed up halfway down the street. So we decided to start out at the Hotel Great Northern; a place that has it all: live bands, pool tables, slot machines, even a breathalizer in the lobby. That's all class.
We sat at the Northern, watching the band (a trio of guys, most likely a couple years younger than myself) do their thing. I thought they were pretty good, but my neighbor Harry was sitting next to me and telling me about how much they sucked, all while he was sipping on his drinks and getting louder and louder. But that's Harry. When the set ended, we gathered everyone up and were going to try Play again, to see if our SAE IDs would get a discount. We walked down the main street, past a group of people standing out in front of our favorite bakery. I was in the middle of the group, and when I looked back I saw my friend Lang talking to someone. Things looked like they were getting heated, but then he started walking away to catch up to us again.
When he catches up he starts saying "If that little **** comes up here, I'm gonna...", so I look down into the street, and this little man is following us. He's not more than 5 foot 3, so I thought he was a little Schoolie that Lang had started up with, but when the light hit his face, I saw that he was a short, lanky black man. Nothing against them, but more on that later. So the little guy gets up onto the sidewalk behind us and starts yelling at Lang, trying to lead him into the small town park that we were walking past. The park isn't well lit, so it'd be absolutely ridiculous for us to go over there. So Lang is yelling back at this guy, and then Harry starts up with him too, the three of them yelling at each other across this park.
Then, like a freaking magic trick, all these people start coming out of the woodwork in the park, popping out from behind trees and bathrooms, including this 6 foot 5, shirtless bald guy. He comes running out and jumps over some bushes to get up in Harry's face. Harry sizes up to the guy (but not even close) and when he tries to walk away, the guy spins him around and punches him in the face. Harry could hardly stand to begin with, but the force knocks him to the ground, and he hits the back of his head on a metal rail. He sits there and curls up on the ground, holding his face in his hands when the little guy that started it all runs up and kicks him square in the right eye while he's totally defenseless.
When all this started, I was staying back, just letting them work things out, but when they started throwing punches, I started running back to where they were. The big guy was still standing over Harry, saying all kinds of shit, so (being a little out of my mind myself) I run up and push the big guy out of the way and tell him to "F*** off" then bend down to try and help Harry up. From behind me, an arm swings around my face and catches me across my eyes with a forearm. I push Harry out of the way, back up the street towards our friends, and try to get out of there myself. The guy grabs on to my shirt collar, and for a split second, all I can think is "Damn, this is a good shirt, he better not rip it." So I punch his arm and he pushes me away and starts yelling at all of us not to come back around. Don't worry about that.
The night was a rush, us trying to get Harry back home in a cab, trying to tell a security officer what had happened only to hear him say "That's not my job", and still trying to have a good night, it being no later than 10 o'clock and all. So we finally get back to Play, and as we're standing in line, the guys are loving getting the chance to tell all the little high school girls about the fight that they'd just been in.
So back to the comment about the little man being black. As you all know, just like Native Americans in the States, down in Australia, before the land was ever settled by the Europeans, there were Aboriginies around here, and just like Native Americans, most Aboriginies were forced off their land or killed. And Australia is an even younger country than America, so all this is still fresh in their minds, and most of them are pretty violent towards foreigners because of it. And as opposed to America where most Native Americans are given land by the government, and given posh jobs in casinos, most Aboriginies were left with nothing, and a lot of them feel that they don't need to get jobs or blend back into the new society. But I don't think it means that they (in all their 5 foot glory) should provoke people into fights, and then when people start up, they grab their UFC fighter of a friend to kick ass either.
So the night ended when we were walking out of the Beach Hotel around 1 o'clock and here comes our little friend walking up the street, and he starts to talk to Lang. "Hey buddy, you got a cigarette?" Lang looks at the man in disbelief. "Do you not remember 2 hours ago when you kicked the shit out of my friend?" "Hey man, you got me wrong, I'm a good guy." He obviously didn't remember. "Man, you got 2 seconds to f*** off out of my face." The little guy looked insulted, but he slinked off down the street.
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