i'm the laziest at updating this even though i always have something to talk about! sydney yeaaahhh i'm leaving in a week, booked my flight with virgin blue monday at 0645 i'll be up up up for an hour and a half maybe the shortest plane ride i've ever taken? that means i have to be prepped and awake enough to whip out the right printed confirmation of an e-ticket and mi pasapuerta at about oh five hundred hours on the 15th of march. melbourne here i come ovaaa
accion reaccion repercusion - ojos de brujo
i've been staying with alicia mintzes an old friendioso of mine and her boyfriend daniel who i always want to call nathan, and their now 8 month old babe isobel. we live in stanmore near newtown which is fist pumpppinnngg. always happy people and delicious food, tasty bakeries all ova but may we suggest black star on australia street? word. real real good real pies, yum coffees, good outdoor seating for ideal voyeurism: peaceful protestors, popo on bikes, so so many lesbionds!! such cutiesss, bikers, yogis, students 'cause we're near sydney uni, and a fair bit of babies in prams.
mmm spent my first week here hanging out in the homestead, baking banana bread and lemon loaf, drinking tea, cooking gourmet meals, making espressos, reading haruki murakami and lobsang rampa, getting take away from enmore road--thai usually--,sleeping in and listening to this american life: no reason to leave the house.
then, it hit me that i had spent a good amount of time lounging and chilling with alicia so i played faggy lil tourist for a week straight. i hit up the ridiculously expensive transit system and copped a free three-hour guided walking tour of sydney. precisely what i need, a long walk, some education, to save money and to open my eyes to this place. our tour was wicked. the tour guide evan was a journalism and law student with a drama background. i feel like i've written this before.. anyway, learnt a lot of sneaky things about sydney from him none of which i am going to unveil to you. convicts that built the earliest architecture, whole neighbourhoods carved out of the sandstone headland, best places to eat shop people watch, galleries to go to, etc. he was like a personally teacher and motivator. that night i went to a systainable eating workshop at the watershed which was heaappscool. felt like going to nightschool. got some sweet resources and links regarding that and am so soskdokslososos excited to get dirty and backaches in the garden when i get home. truly the best way to eat locally, seasonally and eco-friendlilyyy.
went to some flea markets where alicia looks for kitchen and diningware, silverware and hats, estate sale steals basically. i found new sunnies, a dress and a bunch of things i couldn't afford or carry with me. i went to the nsw art gallery by the domain and saw a whole collection called art express of art students' work that inspired me and of which there is a possibility i saved photos.
that first week of productivity started off with my joining synergy yoga newtown! anyone or any yogi checking out sydney should go to at least one of simon's safe balanced challenging sweat inducing intelligent and new style of yoga. i got a two-week unlimited $25 pass which after seven uses in the first week, rendered each class three or four dollars each brooouuhhhhh and for truly the best most beneficial full body workout relaxing effective kind of yoga ever. going to yoga brought a little routine into my life which is weird. AT YOGA I MET THIS GUY NAMED JONATHAN WHO HAS THE SAME IRREGULAR SPASTIC LIL HICCUPS AS ME! I'VE NEVER MET ANYONE ELSE WHO GETS THEM!
one day i got on the wrong bus and had a gorgeous little indian lunch in surry hills by accident, but what is there that i'm doing these days that is really purposeful or right? events come and go and grab my attention in passing so i go fleeting along too!
one day i went on a free! guided! walking! tour! of the royal botanic gardens your majesty. it was sweet we had the greateast guide named i forget with a wide brimmed hat like good ausis are born n bred to wear. he knew so much about all the native and introduced species and genuses and latin names and aboriginal interpretaions and had a full on bag of tricks in his bag of seed pods and paper tree bark (the coolest- it feels foamy to the touch like a soft fabric-like mille-feuilles). there i met a tall german med student visiting his girlfriend at uni here named sebastian. hahhaa his girlfriends name wasn't sebastian. we walked around sydney for another two hours wandering on the hunt for delectable food but we just ended up walking in big loops for hours and settling for shitty sushi and a rubbery dry teriyaki chicken wrap. m. i went on a shoe search too and found my birthday shoes--thanks mama love them love you-- at the qvb, the queen victoria building, which is an old beautiful shopping mall queen vicky figured should get named after her and get a queen-plopped-in-a-throne replica parked outfront with a talking wishing dog.
that night i was SUPPOSED to go watch fantasia and cafe bagdad and i <3 huckabees after yoga at a new little gallery opening up on enmore called plump gallery but it was a hoax! such a glorious cheap movie showing couldn't be true. the doors were very locked during and between showtimes. puta madree.
plump djs - shifting gears
let's seee what else i been doing! alicia and isobelnecessary and i did the coogee too bondi beach walk. its on cliff pathways and through bays where people go for ambitious runs with their rat dogs and perfume and make up on. oh and we saw an obese australian actress named magda who apparently is the face of heaps of weight loss programs.there's a gorrrrgeeous cemetary overlooking the way, in bronte! or no, it wouldbe in waverly since it's the waverly cemetary. anyway, the tombstones and graves are literally lying above the beach. the pathway ont he walk used to go directly through it so you'd ahve to tiptoe over people on your way through but they changed that... the day before i had a soliid beach day. i haven't had one of those in..a month! sicne i left WA. i do miss it there...the slow life and the most perfect beaches in the whole world with not a soul on them. there's nothing. noothinng like jumping int he ocean everyday. hungover? jump int he water. tired? jump in the sea. bored? jump in the sea. hot? jump in the sea. overweight? jump in the seeaa. it was about 35 degrees out and sunny, and its been really overcast lately so that was a loovely greatly appreciated change. i fought the massive swell for a good twenty minutes coming back in - there are strong rips at bondi and they section off this tiny swimming area with flags. body surfing was so good! everyyone was doing it. get amongst it.
nextttt i went to the bluemountains!!!! wawawwwwa it was sooo beautiful. i went with a little international multiculti group of ladies:bianca the ausi, orlagh the irish, emisha the kiwi and la canadienseeee. we took a lil rollercoaster down that nearly made orlagh pee and then did the 12km hike to the ruined castle which took us 4 horus there and back. you walk along the base of huge cliffs and through ferncrazy woods and up and up and up and 600m of 80degree incline bushwalking and along a ridge till you get to the most amazing impresseuive 360 of the blue mountains, valleys, rock formations and complete wide blue sky. so worht the sweat and i finally trod right through my favourite shoes. but they needed a reason to finally die, hanging on by a thread for way too long. after our mega burn of a hike we stopped at a steakhosue so orlagh could get a steak in aus-checkkk off the tourista lista. i had been dreaming abotu caeser salad all day so i ordered a massive grilled chicken caeser salad and it took atleast 10 mintues after the two steaks and the chicken parma came out. i guess its my fault for ordering somehtign they probably don't even know how to make. whats salad? (whats facebook?)
that niiiiigghhhtt after dying and reincarnating a bunch of us hung otu at leigh's in newtown aand had soem drinks and headed to surry hills to see lorn play at tone. it was a fun shooow and leigh's friend was working the bar so we got cheap drinks all night. then we went to hermann's and saw the lowsociety djs play and dz i think? honeslty cant remember. i met another canadian that night. he was flaunting it wearing a montreal canadiens jersey and his name was sean. i also met a french character named sebastien (again, weird) who i literally spoke at for about 5 straight minutes. i was so stoked to meet another french speaker so i just went bolistic and probably recited every french word i know and told my life story. he said my french was good. the next morning leaving leigh's place bede and andrew and i saw a gorgeouuuss sunrise tunneling through king street. it was so inviting and ..yellow. really really sunny and golden and warm. then alicia and i didn't do much but watch rake all day wchich is an ausi show set in sydney. its sweet to recognize streets and intersections and bars and neighbourhoods. its about this lawyer cleve and each episode revolves around a new case, his relationships with an exprostitute now lawstudent, his son and psychotherapist ex wife, and his best friend and wife. its funny: cleve's a witty charming seedy gambling gruff-voiced guy who associates with interesting people.
during this city dwelling week i also went to the mca, museum of contemporary arts and saw an annie leibovitz photography exhibition. it was amaazing. it was a combination of her personal life, travel documentation and family life, as well as her professional work with vogue, vanity fair, and with famous peeps in general. she has such an impressive collection and it was really special to see both aspects of her life so casually brought together. i mean she toured with the rolling stones and lived their life for a while, there're pictures of brad pitt sprawled across a vegas motel bed and demi moore nude and preggo with bruce willis' baby, and then there are shots of annie's practically disintegrating jolly dad and a sequence of her woman susan sontag showing her a)think something is wrong b)go to the doctor c)get diasgnosed with cancer d)go through chemo e)lose her hair and eventually die. there's a picture of her late partner! dressed in her burial ..apparel! check out her photos in jordan and of sarajevo they're really good.
lamplight - bombay bicycle club
bianca and i decided that i should have twenty days of twenty. so i started my birthday bender last tuesday, the 1st. alicia and i rented season 5 of weeds and had a marathon all arvo, then i went for thai with b. well, i had eaten not long before we went out so i jsut had an appy and she had a stirfry. she was driving so i was drinking our bottle of rose (most restaurants here are byo btw! so sick) which with only the help of one glass by bianca, i had to tackle on my own before we went elsewhere! b and i were supposed to see lanie lane play at daniel's friend's pub called the shady pines saloon. i thought dan called it shitty pints and couldn't see why he wanted me to go there. we got there at 8.30 and she played at 8 but only had a half hour set so by the time we sat and got settled with drinks we realized she wasn't 20 minutes late starting but way finished aready. so we just hung out and enjoyed the heat and peanuts in their shells and blonde wood panelling and wall mounted elk heads and two way swinging doors! oh and the strangest most alcoholic delicious mix ever. in a massive metal camping cup. covered with shaved ice, garnished with an orange slice and a cherry. etrange!
wednesday i went to see some bands play at the annandale with bayan. the annandale is the classic grungy, feet-stick-to-the-carpet sorta dive bar where all the up and coming asui bands play before they get big! pretty sweet. we saw pikelet, the holidays and missed another band whose name has escaped me. the holidays were sewww gooda and pikelet was too but the lead singer made a bit of a booboo. no one was dancing so she advertised the last song as a dance song lala and then took it back and said she didn't mean to put the pressure on or anything and int he end no one danced to the last song.. it wasn't bad or anything i just was jiving to it and i s'psoe it wasn't making anybody elses hips gyrate either. after the musica andrew and i went to the cross and went to a teaparty at world bar! they sell drinks in teapots with shotglasses and all the drinks are day glo colorus. he knew one of the dubstep djs stacey and we chilled behind the djbooth and made a ruckus dance party!
thrusday bayan, bede and his girlfriend nicolein and i went to diplo's baile funk movie in the favelas at goodgod, this late night dance club. with outdoor indoor plants. marissa will appreciate this. it was so sweet. he pretty much had a green card into these ghettos built up on top of eachother like a beehive with tiny walkways and stairs and gorgeous views and so much heart. its dangerous but the big drum beats of baile funk have become a nonviolent resource and outlet for young people who buy second hand computers and mixing boards and whip up an mc name. they sing about the frog frog frog do the frog position and about screw you screw you i'll screw you you stinky bitch! and they dance. aowoiuhuh they dance haha. olele olala olele their bootatays be bouncinn. it! was a good movie.
friday was ma actual birthday yeoowowowowwww no more kidding around its big girl time. it was a glorrrious day and i made a delish capuccino to start off the day. b and i met up and got janet's pies and went for a walk through newtown before hitting up paddy's markets and chinatown. i made myself a royal blackforest cake for my birthday! i'm SO proud. hollyyyy. swartzwalderkirschtorte has always been soemthing my mama specializes in and makes for scrumptious occasions so i figured i should take it on. theres still some in the fridge. not like it isn't the best thing in the world its just massive and creamy andi can't justify having two slices a day anymore. it seems wrong after a week. that night i went to a SUPERTOPSECRETUNDERCOVERHIDDEN WAREHOUSE DUBSTPE SHOW SHHHHHHHHHHHHH. andrew the basshead and i saw brokennote and the lowsociety djs. i met some sweet guys who live in the suburb over from stanmore and we hung out at tom's place who has a huge room full of dj gear its like any of my bros form home's dream room. too much technology to even comprehend. buttons an lights and knobs and tables and switches and a massive set of headphones.
day five big saturday was the mardi gras parade! i met up with b and her friend barbara and we went to her pilot friend mtich's place on crown street right by oxford streert righhhtt near where the parade goes. he just happens to live on the wrong side of hte building to get a view at all but we had drinsk and dressed up like gay bunnies and ran around and borrowed milkcrates attempting to catch a glimpse of the rockin bods and dancers and sponsors and floats and the carnival band. daddy i tried to get a picture of them for you but there were too many heads in my space and cameras in my face and then there's the problem of beign 5'2".
by your side - cocorosie
we walked through the shitshow that was the aftermath of a massive parade in a city of 4 millie who don't sleep to get to chinese laundry. bianca's faavviie club. its got three different stages, a couple bars and a massive courtyard veranda patio outdoor space. spent the night saving bianca from two extremely persistant stalkerboizz. she's jsut way too nice to figure it out and make them leave so i'd let her run off and chat to them and then steal away myself and reconvene haha it was a silly game. spent the remainder of the night dancing with the happiest danciest group of pommies that were so energetic and stylish and i coudln't really understand their accents. they all live in a share house in bondi, besides a couple from manly, so we cabbed out to bondi for the rest of night and hung out in a heavy smoke filled living room with big windows with the bay in the distance. stayed up to see a gorgeous sunrise from the rooftop and woke up to dominos pizza and a breeze stirring up the morn chron gyyeeaaa. had a yuumymym vego breaky of cauliflower and potato korma, roasted vegetables and salad in bondi at a wee cooperative owned and run restaurant and then slept aaaaaaaaaaaaaalllll arvvvvvooo.
i played domestic housewife and baked some more and sewed a few shirts and hemmed my birthday skirt the next day, ooh and i bought myself a new tooyyyy! i hit up office works which is a really nice walk through newtown and then through sydney uni which is very old and has big trees and the nicest sandstone res buildings! its also right by the hospital so people blind after going to manning bar can make it home safe evvvery night. be it on foot or by ambulance. i bought myself an acer netbookkoookk! its sucha great little light suave laptop travel companion! now i can finally access all the music and movies i've been hoarding on my harddrive and have a resevoir for my photos.
mmm it smells so good alicia is cooking chicken and pesto pasta w tomatoes and mucho garlic and its wafting. speaking of delicious food, i went on a date last night! haha dane and i hit up baja cantina and had such an unbelievably good mexican meal and sorta shit sangria holy. i had chimichangas and he had fajitas with prawns. mmm camarones te amo te quiero te extrano! den gat sum beers at the lansdowne and called it a night. but that mexican food. it was so good i got a burrito from guzman and gomez today just to keep the mexi alive. and then ate a bunch more food and watched weeds all night. primmeee holiday life.
the children - yeasayer
my condolences go out to leigh tonight who lost his guardian angel this morning, his nan who raised him to be the funny charismatic guy he is...and i'm sure was a beautiful person. rest in peace, love you bro xx.
gotta jet, i have to be up and aware and awake in order to watch over little coughing radish girl tomorrow. (she has a radish shirt). might go stay in a backpackers in bondi over the weekend but theres also chasing shadows at tone which is really.. tempting..and a reason to stay in the city.. aieaieieieaie
wish me good decisions and boldness in this 21st year of my life
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxn.lov
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