Back in Brisbane March 27, 2008

Hey!

 I know – its been a long time – and I also know that no one must be checking the site anymore because I’ve gotten one comment in three weeks. Not even my mother has chosen to comment regarding my lovely trip to NZ so it appears I’ve got to kick up the writing a notch or two. My apologies if I’m not holding your attention as much as I used to…. boo hoo for me, right?

So – yeah, we are back in Brisbane and have been for about a week and a half – Dan and I are back at work and Jess is somewhere in Asia – be it Cambodia, Vietnam or Thailand – I’m really not quite sure. Things are good and it is really good to be back in hot weather, let me tell you. I have to be honest, my tan is fading and its really sad – I don’t know what I will do when it completely goes away, considering we don’t live in the Lobby anymore and there isn’t a pool in sight. (I can really bitch about the most trivial things, eh?)

Speaking of living situations, Dan and I are just getting settled in to our new “apartment” – Wave Dancer. No, no its not the name of the building – it is the name of our place because friends – Dan and I have rented a sailboat! Sure, its a bit claustrophobic, but it cuts rent in half. The gentleman we are renting from is a 60(+) year old bachelor who is going to visit his Columbian girlfriend for three months… He is a pack rat and left the boat a total and complete mess – he has a stack of old magazines about two feet high and has the place McGuyver rigged in terms of electricity – I’m a bit scared I could get shocked by something considering our close proximity to water. So….. yeah – everything is good – we are getting WD all spruced up and stuff – I’ll post pictures as soon as its done – the “before” pics are a little rough.

I’m back on email and stuff – so seriously if anyone is reading this anymore write some damn comments and send me a damn email. All I have to do during the days I’m not working is play on the computer or clean the boat – guess which one I want to do more.

LOVE

We Climbed a Mountain, Ya’ll March 14, 2008

Another Lake… Tangariro

Yep. Mount Doom actually. Climbed that sucker yesterday and let me tell you I am sooooorrreee today. It was a six hour hike and it was really, really, really hard. For me anyway – and I do think it was even hard for Jess and Dan although Dan won’t really admit it.

I hope everyone is doing well – Oh – before I forget, to view all my photos - of which not all are posted btw- you just click on the photo above and it should lead you to my flickr page…. let me know if there are still problemos. Now, back to me me me -

Things are winding down here, we cleaned out and turned in the car today – it was a little sad, but I think all of us are really getting excited to get back to Brisbane. Dan and I found out yesterday that our visas were approved (!!) so that’s all good and we are getting set to get back into the groove of things there for a while. I am so excited to get out of the same four outfits I have been wearing for the entire trip and actually wear something different, eat something different and talk about something different than “Where are we driving today?” Also I am coming down with a cold and so I am REALLY excited to have something that resembles a real bed instead of sleeping bags in a tent. And I thought I was hardcore…. meh, I guess not so much.

Things we have been doing these past few days:

1- Dan and Jess bungy jumped in Queenstown! They jumped off a bridge that was actually the first commercial bungy site in the world (did you know that Bungy was invented by the kiwi’s?) It was a 43 meter jump and you could choose if you went in the water or not – Dan got soaked and Jess was supposed to get wet, but apparently you have to weigh something to have your weight pull you down into the water…. Regardless – it was awesome. I was just a spectator – me and 4,000 Asians snapping pictures – the only difference was that I knew the people I was taking pictures of. After they jumped they got sucked into the marketing scheme and ended up paying for photos – thank god they didn’t fall for the personalized DVD’s – a half hour video showing the history of bungy and then 30 seconds at the end showing you jumping – all for the low, low price of $98….. Say it with me now, “What a joke” Besides the bungy we just kind of hung out in Queenstown and did a little hiking – not too much though. The place is overrun with frat boys high on adrenaline – everyone is wearing their bungy shirts and jabbering about which overpriced extreme activity they did earlier in the day. We stayed in a hostel with these Irish boys who must have been made of money – in the past few days they had been in Q town they had flown stunt planes, gone skydiving, bungy jumped, ridden the luge and gone white water rafting. Sick. They were fun and nice though.

2: We left Queenstown and drove on to Dunedin – we had heard a lot about it and heard it was supposed to be warmer there, so we were a bit excited. I mean – the whole point was to skip winter, right? Well…. it wasn’t warmer and it wasn’t fun. We arrived too late to go to the Cadbury Chocolate Factory (something that high on my list) and so we only got to stand in the lobby and buy a cheap bar of chocolate (banana-toffee flavored, not awesome) and then we checked into a hostel. After a nice quiet dinner of noodles and beans, we had all retired to the room – and turned out the lights at about midnight or so. Probably 3.5 minutes later three drunken British kids bounced into the room and started screaming at the top of their lungs about lost jumpers and going out and being drunk- you name it, they talked about it. This went on for about 10 minutes and finally we all got up. Pissed. One of these kids is just bangin’ on in this whiney little voice about his misplaced jumper and won’t shut up about it. It was late, they were loud and we were getting nervous – you see, this was one of the nights we snuck Dan into the hostel to save a little ching and we were super afraid that someone in the hostel would complain about all the noise – the fuzz would come and we would get the boot. Luckily – the drunken fools decided to go to the bar to hit on some chicks and left – we all got to go to sleep and I am not ashamed to say that a sweatshirt or two might’ve wandered into our backpacks over the course of the night. I am making amends for it now and am sure that karma will get me back later but in the meantime, that sweatshirt has really helped out in the freezing temps that are in the South Island.

3: Left Dunedin one sweatshirt richer and drove on to Methven. Weather wasn’t so good there either, we hiked to a waterfall and then checked into the best hostel ever – The Alpenhorn Chalet – its run by this woman and her son – she basically turned the first floor of her house into a hostel. Sounds a bit creepy – but it wasn’t at all. It was really the best place we stayed – it felt like staying at an Aunt’s house or something – probably the best night of sleep we all got. Additionally in Methven there was a grocery store selling 99 cent beer – another reason why we probably all had the best night of sleep ever.

4: Wild Foods Festival in Hokitika. Crazy, crazy food. We stayed on the football field of the high school with 800 other people – Jess was sleeping in the car and got accosted by drunken fools every morning. The town this festival is held in is super small - except for this weekend when the size of the town is almost 10 times bigger than it usually is. Food there consisted of anything from stag heart to chicken. They had sheep testicles and grubs - a rundown of what we all ate includes: lamb’s tail, grub, stag heart, cricket,(all Dan) ostrich pie, worms, kangaroo (all Jess), veggie balls, bbq chicken, escargot, goats milk ice cream and cheese and beer (me).  I know, I know, I am the most adventurous of them all – I mean, stag heart – pshaw, who doesn’t eat that all the time?? Now go to the Flickr page and check out the lamb tail – it is the sickest thing I have ever seen. Dan ate two. If you are interested in how they get these lamb’s tails – let me know and I’ll fill you in on the gory details.

Ok – I probably have more, but internet time is money and I am runnin’ out. I love you all and am sorry I haven’t been writing personal emails – I promise I’ll get to those come next week when I have my sweet little laptop back in my grubby little paws. Keep emailing me, though – I love it. And I love comments. Love em.

Love

South side is the best March 3, 2008

BeautifulOriginally uploaded by jacquelinebv

Hello!!

Yes, we are on the South Island now – and its been ages since I’ve written. Dan is now a whole year older!!! Let me give you all a run down of what’s been happening since I last checked in….. The days seem to run together, thank god I keep a journal.

After we left Rotorua and the sweet Maori village we drove South the Lake Taupo. Before we left we did visit the Polynesian Springs and soaked in mineral pools and hot springs – it was so relaxing. About halfway through our soak a bus load of German Septegenarians stormed in and I thought I was in the real-life version of “Cocoon” once they invaded the pool. No worries though – I can hold a special place in my heart for anyone over 60 who can still wear a bikini, dang.

- Weather sucked hard in Taupo but we found a free campsite – not too shabby. I have failed to mention before that while Dan and I are sleeping in a tent, Jess has been truly roughing it and sleeping in the car. Now that’s hardcore – paying $10 – $17 to sleep in a Ford Focus. God love her. Speaking of Taupo – Jess and Dan pulled hard to do the famed Tangariro Crossing – an eight hour hike over a dormant volcano but yours truly vetoed it because I am a wimp and thankfully it was raining so I have convinced them its something we are saving for when we come back up to the North Island. Whew.

From Taupo we drove to Napier in the Hawkes Bay region – wine country. My kind of town. Unfortunately we only visited two wineries – and didn’t get as much tasting in as we had hoped. It was ridiculously windy so there were no opportunities for swimming or anything fun, boo hooo……. The next day we drove to Palmerston North – we did a hike here and looked at some windfarms or something – all I know is that I was winded. What else is new. We also stayed in the world’s worst campground. No amenities and the only other residents were people in permanent campers – with cobwebs on the wheels. They were all quite old and you would think that this would just be a version of a summer home or something but there is NOTHING in Palmerston North. Nothing. I don’t know what these people were vacationing from, but watching paint dry in that town would be more exciting.

We blew out of Snoozeville and wailed on down to Wellington – by far the coolest city we have been in – it has a real retro, coffee house vibe – Jess and I scored some super cheap deals on delicious Indian (and then I scored a super fast trip to the bathroom, apparently I am developing IBS in my old age – either that or lactose intolerance – as another aside we have all become Dr.’s on this trip – my diseases have been mentioned but I also need to tell you that Dan has diabetes – Jess must have OCD or something considering she’ll wake up at 7 am when its 10 degrees C and go running in a tank top. Maybe she’s just dedicated who knows) We walked around town – hung out in some cool shops and Dan FINALLY picked up his Lonely Planet NZ book – right when we are halfway through the trip. But hey, whatever makes him happy. Oh – while in Welly we actually stayed in a hostel and we had the WORST roomie ever. Worse than elderly asian woman – worse than Dreddie – worse than your worst enemy. He was this Canadian who was high on a meditation course – he basically came here to find a medetation group – yeah. thats it. Apparently there aren’t any in Canada. He slept in the tightest pair of underwear I have ever seen in my life and decided to walk around the room in them – when Jess got up to run he was lying in the middle of the floor with his legs stretched straight out and his arms straight out – I’m thinking Christ pose we could call it – just laying there his his eyes open. After she got back from running and was about to get in the shower (we had a classy en suite that night) he jumped up and said something along the lines of other people wanting to shower (ok, it was like, 8:00 am) he then woke a girl up to ask if she wanted to shower before Jess got in – the question was met with a few grunts, Jess told him to relax and hopped in. While I was in the shower he knocked on the door and asked if I was almost finished in there. My reply was almost “NOpe – actually, could you give me 20 more minutes??” But being the wimp I am I just threw out a very annoyed “Yeah…. I guess”. I’m sure I really wounded him with my tone. Then he decided to lecture everyone on their life choices and told us to all stop drinking and start eating more vegetables. Yeah, that’s the dream life buddy.

After hellish roomie we went around town and then hopped on the Interislander for our three hour trip to Southie. WHICH IS BEAUTIFUL by the way. I’ve got too much to type about it and we’ve only been here for six days. Crap. Six days seems like a lot. Dan has turned 23 (finally), we’ve seen three glaciers, slept in the rain numerous times and froze our asses off – went on a bewery tour that was sub par, eaten six dollar all you can eat dinner that consisted of sausages, bread and by far the worst potato salad I’ve ever ingested (Grandma Jean where were you on this day), I’ve huffed and puffed up several ‘mountains’ and some other stuff that isn’t as funny as it was when it really happened. Check out the photos on Flickr – I’ve got more – I can just only upload so many at a time before internet time runs out. Everyone better be writing me emails and telling me how much they miss me – who knows, I could be convinced to come home early – 30 days in a car with the same people is really making me miss the good ol’ USA… God bless it from the lakes of Minnesota to the hills of Tennessee….. or however that song goes. Also its amazing how bad a car can smell when  you are basically living in it. Its only day 18……

Love, love, love to everyone. Imiss you all and think of you guys while I’m hiking. That is when I can breathe. Today on the hike that was all uphill may I mention – I turned a corner and actually said out loud “Oh Jesus give me a break” and then heard the trekkies with their cross country ski poles behind me snickering. Tolerance, Jackie…. tolerance.

Serenity Now…..

LOVE

New Zealand is the New Australia February 22, 2008

Hello!!!

Its Friday afternoon here and we are in Taupo – in the middle of the North island right next to a huge lake. Sorry for not posting, but we are seriously trying to do this on the cheap and internet time = money buddies. I have so much to tell I am feeling a bit overwhelmed with trying to get it all out  – first of all, NZ is freakin’ awesome! It is so beautiful everywhere we go – a sharp contrast from Australia. Here is a quick rundown of some things we have done:

1- Drove from Auckland up to the North Shore and stayed in a little town called Paihia – we hired a sailboat and a skipper for a day and he took us all over the Bay of Islands area, we went snorkling and went on a quick hike to see some WWII gun emplacements – what a great day. Sure, he told us we could do the hike barefoot no problem – Dan stepped on a bee, but he’s tough so no biggie. We got served lunch on the boat and were excited to learn that it was a seafood lunch – it was a tuna fish sandwich – but it was delicious and I guess tuna does come from the sea. I mean, we’ve been eating tuna sandwiches every day but at least this one had cheese, mayo and lettuce on it, right?

2- Drove back down south past Auckland to Hamilton and stayed in the parking lot of the campground because the office closed at 9:00. We thought since we pitched a tent in the parking lot and didn’t actually rent a space we wouldn’t feel too bad about getting up at 6:00 am and doing the skedaddle. Yes, I know – dishonesty never gets you anywhere and don’t worry – the campground dude was up and waiting for us when we got up at 6:00 – he then said to us “So, I’ll just take $40 off you guys and we’ll be square”  A part of me wanted to say “Forty bucks to sleep in your parking lot? Is this a joke?? I’ll give you $20″ but in real life I’m a lot more talk and less action so Dan just forked over the cash and we busted on outta there.

3- Went to the Waitamo Glow Worm Caves and scored a sweet 10% discount with our “student” cards – went on a tour of the cave and got into a boat to view the glow worms – they were pretty alright but it definitely wasn’t worth more than the $20 we spent on it.

4- Went to an authentic Maori village and saw geysers, hot pools and how they cook all their food in steam boxes and a natural hot springs. Also saw the authentic “Haku” dance. The tour was great – so was our tourguide – but it definitely was a bit on the hokey side – I mean, this was not the polished, tat-faced elaborate Haku dances done by the more expensive (ahem…. government run) tours – one of the girls in the show just stood up there and mouthed the words – I probably could’ve done a better authentic Maori dance and we all know what a fabo dancer I am.

Thats all I can think of for right now – I have only had three or four freak outs – mainly due to the lack of food I’m thinking – or the pressure to see as much, do as much, experience as much as possible every freakin’ minute of every day. Maybe I’m pms-ing – who knows. Speaking of lack of food – for the past few nights Dan and I have been eating penne noodles with a can of baked beans over it – don’t judge it’s $2 and it gets the job done.

Love

Vacancy February 15, 2008

What up Valentine’s Day lovers!! I hope all of you had a wonderous day yesterday – full of love and cheesball antics, romance and hallmark cards, roses and chocolate. Last night was sadly my last shift (for now) at P9. We handed out free roses to all the women in the restaurant – lovely, eh? I had a table of business men out for dinner who I assumed were all from out of town – I mean, why else schedule a business dinner on V- Day, right? Yep - thought they weren’t from here until at the end of the dinner one guy asked me if he could have one of the roses to take home to his wife. What a cheap-o! Other highlights from the evening included a semi-regular girl that comes in we like to call the “Anorexic Drunk Girl” – honestly her shrinking frame gets smaller every time she comes in – last night Jean Paul served her – she drank three french martinis and two glasses of wine before dinner and when he asked her to order she said ” Does the sashimi have rice served with it?” and when JP replied that it didn’t she said “So, like, does that mean it doesn’t have any carbs?” Sick. She is so thin and disgusting – her skin is like a lizard – all tanned and dried out. woof. Before she left she hocked a lugie into her glass and then fell up the stairs on her way out. Man, she is one classy broad. Last but not least we did have a couple in their mid 50’s VERY much in love with the day – they were all giggly and romantic all night – she was dressed up in a ball gown complete with tiara and he was in a suit. They opened gifts at the table and I’m not quite sure what she received, but she got him a framed picture of herself in a car. One of those black and white photos with just one color showing – the car was an antique car – yellow and she was in the drivers seat leaned up against the open window looking out with her face resting on her folded arms. (I’m hoping this makes sense – it better if I ever want to get this writing train on the tracks and pulled out of the station) Now isn’t that just darling! Sorry – I’m jaded. All I got from Dan was two roses that he pilfered from work. Love you Dan!! Just kidding – I can’t stand V-day – unless its a day spent with your mother or your friends.

After work we all went out to One Degree to celebrate me and how wonderful I am and how sad everyone is that I am leaving. I got a wee bit drunk and Dan and I walked home – I clumsily attempted to ride his bike and he laughed at me the whole way home. I vaguely remember befriending another couple who was walking home – we traded Borat lines for a good three blocks – good times, let me tell you.

Today is a very sad day – we are packing up and closing down the lobby for good. Motel JDJ is no longer. Yeah, yeah, I know we thought we had it all worked out and we would sublease and come back to our little oasis with the windows painted shut, but things happen kids, plans change in this crazy mixed up world. The big news I’ve been alluding to all week – or at least for the last two postings is this: (wait for it……)

After New Zealand we are parting ways. Its been a real struggle to make the decision (at least for me) to stay in Australia after our visa is up and reapply – or just tuck the proverbial tail between my legs and limp home like a beaten dog, only five months into my adventure. Well, I dallied around on my decision making so long that Jess finally said “Screw it! I’m going to Thailand!” The thing of it is, we made the decision to come here and live – and once we realized that was what we were doing – we all hated it. Jess is the first one of us to man up and say “I’m happiest when I’m traveling” and so be it. For now the plan is to go to NZ (tomorrow!!!!) and live it up for a month – we have TONS of plans, recommendations and journeys mapped out and are all incredibly excited to just rock it out for the month. Then we come back to Brisbane and Dan and I will stay here for a while – we’ll go back to work – save up some money and then who knows – we may go up north, or we may head south – we’ll see how fall is and what the winter predictions are going to be like. Jess on the other hand will be in Brisbane for a few days and then she heads off to Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam – we hope to meet up with her in the Whitsundays or Cairns sometime in April.

So that, friends is the big news. I don’t know if it lived up to the hype or not – but I hope it did. I wish Jess would start a blog regarding her Asia travels, but I think she’ll be roughing it more than she’s letting on. As for Dan and me – I’ll be keeping all of you up to date on good ol’ Minimal Responsibility as often as I can in NZ – and then who knows what will happen when we get back to AUS. If you keep reading, I’ll keep writing friends.

Love to all – and wish us luck during our travels tomorrow.

Nope, Not Dead February 13, 2008

Just really putting off writing…. Sorry everyone – We leave for New Zealand on Saturday morning and have all been busy preparing – I do have some exciting news to be sharing – but I think it will have to wait until Friday – No, none of us are pregnant, getting married, have won the lottery or anything like that. Sorry to disappoint regarding the lottery issue. Not too much has been going on here – there have been many monsoons and severe storm warnings on the coast – so going to the beach at all has been out which is kind of a bummer – I really need to work on my tan before we go to NZ.

Sunday at work I served Anthony Warlow – one of Australia’s most celebrated opera singers – Phantom of the Opera is playing at the QPAC in town and he is in the lead role of the Phantom. He was very nice – he ate a steak and drank some coffee. See how exciting my life is!!! Opera singers! Just kidding. Other than that little “highlight” of the week – I really can’t think of much else going on. We are all refusing to grocery shop for anything other than the bare minimum (which for Dan means bread, eggs and cheese) so Jess has thoughtfully been picking up sandwiches from the Coffee Club for all of us. The other night I came home from work and she was in the kitchen putting our rations away – ahhh thank you Coffee Club – I do love free food – and am not ungrateful whatsoever, but do you think you could leave off the cranberry sauce on the turkey sandwich and maybe sub a little mustard? If not – no problem, it was just a thought.

The little lobby is getting cleaned just about every day – today on my task list is vacuuming – something I don’t normally mind but in this case the only working suction on said vacuum is the hose so you have to sit on your hands and knees pushing the dang hose all over the floor. You all know how ungraceful and face sweaty I can get – I can’t wait to be on all fours like a dog just draggin’ that hose around for an hour. We are all almost packed up – well, Jess and I are – Dan…..not so much. One good thing about packing is going through all my clothes and being able to say “I haven’t worn you in the four months I’ve been here – I’m not going to miss you” and putting it in the donation pile. My suitcase is considerably lighter. It has also helped that many of my clothes are now too big for me. HAHA!!! Ahh, that feels good.

Ok – Last but not least, congrats to Big Daddy J – Bob Seger was the correct answer!! To tell the truth I’m kind of over the quiz….. for today anyway – maybe next time.

LOVE!

Long Time, No Write February 7, 2008

Uhhh….. can you tell it’s not January anymore? Although I do have to say I only missed nine days the whole month – I was quite proud of myself.

Congrats to Karah on the music quiz – this one might have been a little misleading because I said they were inducted into the hall of fame when they were actually only nominated. Whoops. I’m sure life has been really hard for all the rest of you – not knowing who won. So- Karah, email me your new address so I can send you a postcard – Abby quit whining I’ll send you one anyway – and Kate – your is on the way. (If I make it to the post office that is…..)

Life here has been pretty much the same as it ever was – that coupled without the personal pressure to post every day has left me without words. Jess and I went to Pier Nine to watch the Super Bowl Monday morning – it was played live – it started at 9:00 am – I think it was the first time I’ve actually watched the game – not just gotten together with friends for tons and tons of food and gossip. For once there wasn’t anyone yelling at me  “Shut up, the game is on” – so, I guess thanks Australia for that. I don’t think that will be a trend continuing over to next year unfortunately. As you all know – the game was pretty good, but one thing we missed – the commercials. Instead of playing them – the station just flipped to some American guy sitting on a couch with two Australians who were punters in the NFL and they talked about the game. It was quite obvious that none of them really knew what was going on and it was super boring to watch. Of course, lists of Super Bowl commercials are everywhere – so I actually got to watch some of them online – which now typing that, makes me seem kind of sad.

Regardless, we had a great day. Besides that – not too much going on. We leave for New Zealand in nine days… Eeeik!! I don’t know how much I’ll be able to post over there – but I do know that when we get back some big changes will be happening – some of which are still in the works right now. More on that later. Hope everyone is doing well at home -

Today’s quiz:

This man’s band can kill supernatural creatures – He is a Detroit boy who actually was inducted into the hall of fame by another famous Detroit rocker. One of his most iconic songs was named “Songs of the Century” in 2001.

LOve!

Older People Steal Too January 31, 2008

First of all, congrats to Kate M on the music quiz!! Sorry Dad, she was about two hours ahead of you – but I am impressed that you got it right. Thanks to everyone else who got it right – I don’t think anyone guessed wrong – apparently it was easier than I thought – shoot.

Yesterday was a gloomy rainy day – much like Tuesday – I think today looks a little better which is great because I have the day off! Of course, I’ve got nothing to do besides get toilet paper and toothpaste – but still, the possibilities of what might happen are endless. I just started reading this new book “Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA” and seriously – it is so hard to get into. I’m hoping to finish it before we go to NZ because I really can’t bring myself to cart around an 800 page book for a month.

Last night at work I had this table of five older people. Probably in their late 50’s early 60’s – I’m thinking - sorry if that offends anyone for me saying they are “older” but to me, they are old enough to know better. All are nice, in good spirits – and having a great time. Throughout the evening they are drinking bottled sparkling water – have about three bottles and say they don’t want anymore. In our restaurant there are silver buckets around the tables filled with bottles of tap water, bottled water and wine – most tables have to share buckets – but its no problem because the only person that should be reaching into the bucket is the server. So – the night progresses, the table of five finishes dinner, coffee and has now paid – they are just sitting there calmly chatting. All water glasses are empty – but they haven’t said anything to me about wanting another bottle – and didn’t want anymore water when I asked earlier. Now – there is another table sharing their bucket that happens to have a full bottle of sparkling water in the bucket. Somehow in the span of about 10 minutes the table of five opens the bottle of water – distributes it and drinks it – puts the cap back on the bottle, places it in the bucket and leaves. Yeah, yeah – so what- they stole a $3 bottle of water – but still. Who steals a bottle of water?!?! They didn’t even ask AND they knew it wasn’t theirs! Ridiculous.

Other than that – some guy proposed to his girlfriend at the restaurant – you could hear the collective “Awwwwws” all around the restaurant all dang night. Sorry for anyone who has proposed in a restaurant, but over all my many years as a server I have seen enough of these to know I would NEVER want to get proposed to at a restaurant. Especially not at a restaurant where the ring was hidden in food – everyone knows – everyone is watching you – plus, all the staff is talking about you and the guy that is proposing to you. Just not for me.

Enough babbling- on to the quiz.

This East Coast group has been around for as long as I’ve been alive – they were recently inducted into the Rock n’ Roll Hall of Fame – They are credited with being the first band in its genre to reach #1 on the US billboard charts – and they are also credited for being the first band to coin a phrase for a very interesting haircut. I used to think my name was in one of their songs, but as it turns out the lyric is actually something along the lines of “lumber jack” go figure….

 Lets hope this one is a little harder.

Love

So The Game Was Slightly Flawed January 29, 2008

Alright – in hindsight I see it was a mistake to have the title be a song title – considering Google rules the world and you can find anything on it (as my mother pointed out) I guess I’ll try to have something a little bit harder otherwise I’ll be writing postcards to mommy every day – not like there is a problem with that, mom – but I think I have to turn up the difficulty level.

Anyway – no posts for a few days – Sunday I was at work for a grueling 10 hours, actually clocked on for nine of them – oh and I had another star sighting – I waited on the guitarist for the Australian band Powderfinger. He was very, very nice – albeit a bit drunk. Well, I think the other people at his table were a little more boozy than he was but they did go through about five bottles of wine between the four of them. Yesterday was a public holiday due to Australia Day on Saturday so P9 was closed. Jess is in Fiji living it up so Dan and I just kind of bummed around the house. Made a great dinner of Moreton Bay Bugs and watched Superbad – which is, as I am sure you all know – super funny. Thank you itunes for allowing me to rent movies.

Today I got called in to lunch and put in a good five hours – which was nice because I actually picked up the on-call shift from Mel and really needed the hours. Tonight Dan and I are just going to chillax – its been raining on and off all day so not too much going on. Congrats to Jenn for your new job! Whoo hoo! I am so excited for you! Katie A. – I’m just going to email you – enough of these novel promises – I can’t wait anymore!! haha, just kidding. For today’s quiz question:

I am the lead singer of a band originally from California. We hit it big in the early 90’s and many of our songs are still bar staples – a few of which are guaranteed to get Jessey M. on top of a bar - We played Saturday Night Live in 1994 during the appearance I wore a “Cracker” shirt. I have been very “Friend”ly with two well-known actresses who are also real-life best friends. Our band is known for our energetic live performances where I am known to intertwine different song lyrics into different songs. Who am I?

Love to all -and let me know if the quiz is working for you or not. I need something and I figured this might be it. who knows.

We Will Become Silhouettes January 26, 2008

Warhol Jackie and Mel

I had a pretty big day here in Minimal Responsibility land kids! Above is a picture of my friend Mel and I at the children’s section of the Brisbane Andy Warhol exhibit (also known as the only rooms that were free at the art museum) We have been Warholed. Actually the exhibit looks pretty cool and once I feel like parting with $20 I’ll probably go check it out. I think the thing I was most interested in was seeing his “A Was a Lady Who Went Shopping at Saks” pictures- check that out – its cooler than the whole “Campbell’s Soup” thing in my opinion. We also tramped around West End – went to some markets, had lunch at this kick ass vegetarian restaurant and just hung out. It was SO hot today – ridiculous. Oh – and its also Australia Day which meant thousands and thousands of drunk people everywhere – they get a bit more patriotic than Americans do – and a lot more drunk. Someone threw a party in our pool area today and I am pretty sure I saw two people doing something very innappropriate in the pool – I’m hoping the chlorine gave them a rash – is that mean of me?

I have also decided to try to make all of my blog titles song titles – anyone guesses them right and they will receive a sweet Aussie postcard from moi. Get excited!!!

Yes – Aussies are distressed over the death of Heath. Someone at work said “Oh, it’s just such a great loss” to which someone else replied “No. Martin Luther King Jr. was a great loss – Heath is just an unfortunate death.” So – take that for what you will.

Hope everyone is having a wonderful weekend! lOVE