OZ: 4

Thursday, November 25, 2004

weird dream. it was like i was playing a video game, but i was in it. and i met up with this guy character, who ended up being a bad guy. and my dad was in it, too… he was telling me what my next missions were. there was the save point downstairs that i had to get to, but i had to battle all these monsters (scarier versions of the monsters in paper mario) and i had to protect my brother who was locked in the front seat of a car. when i got to him, i stuck him in the back seat under the front seat.

the fighting wasn’t turn-based, unfortunately. and i had to fight with axes and swords and i had all this slime and blood all over my hands and i could barely grip my weapons because they were all slippery. i finally got to the save point and the guy (that i thought was a good guy, but was really bad) took me to this other level. and then i had to fight him. i chopped off his head and the people on my team are yelling at me to burn it before it regenerates a new head on his body, but i don’t know how to start a fire… and he grows a new head and he says to me, “i could do this all day.”

steve comes in and fights the guy in another room. i’m fighting other creatures and it’s all i could do to stay alive. he comes back in just a few minutes and all the creatures vanish. and he says, “there was nothing to it.”
“you killed him? already?”
“what, you thought i couldn’t kill him?”
“no, it’s not that! i just didn’t know you’d kill him so fast! did you burn his head?”
“no, why?”
“awww, crap!”
and then the fighting starts again. steve goes back in to fight the bad guy. as long as steve is with me, it’s pretty calm. but the fighting gets really rough once he leaves me to fight the other guy. yeah... this trip's been filled with weird ass dreams.

sometimes when steve leaves me (i’m in the car and he runs off to take a scenic pic… or like when he dropped me off at the airport to take the rental car back) i imagine that something horrible happens. like a car runs him over or something. not that i want that to happen. but all sorts of awful scenes play through my mind. i guess i’m afraid that he won’t be here with me forever. i always get scared and i can’t help it. but when he’s not around, my brain always wanders in that direction. it’s frightening. i can’t even imagine what i would do…

we went to the gym (i know! i can’t believe i went either!) and it was sad how out of shape i am. then we spent some time in the hot tub. it was really nice because it wasn’t blazing hot like hot tubs tend to be.


(ahhhh...)

i’m in love with this lotion here at peppers… i just love it. i am going to need to take that when i leave. mmm…kinda smells like chocolate mint. mmm…i just want to lick myself! all over!

here we are at bondi beach. hotel is called ravesi’s. hip little joint. unfortunately, i’m moody tonight. i just feel like crying and i’m whiney. damn! stupid fucking hormones!

it’s been a very long day. i’m exhausted. before we drove down to sydney, we stopped by echo point and saw “the 3 sisters.” apparently, the other 4 sisters have eroded away. no, really. that’s what the sign said. there used to be 7 rock formations, called the 7 sisters…. and there’s this huge aboriginal folklore story thing that goes along with it… but, they say that unless you’ve been “initiated” it is forbidden for non-aborigines to know the full story. yeah, right! they probably don’t know it either! yeah! :P at any rate, it was a really pretty view. breathtaking, awe-inspiring and all of that.


(us at echo point)


(steve with the 3 sisters. hussies.)

oh, and we also found out why the road peppers is on is called “sublime point road.” it’s too bad we didn’t find out last night for sunset. oh well…

after echo point, we went to wentworth falls. i’ll bet that’s quite a sight when it’s been raining. seemed like it’s been kind of a dry winter in australia. that waterfall just kept on going down, down, down… i couldn’t even see the bottom. it was insane.


(don't quote me on this, but i don't think that's the bottom of the falls at the bottom of the picture... it might be... i dunno... i couldn't see that far down. i'm short.)

drove back down the great western highway to sydney. found our way to bondi beach and our hotel there. it was approximately 3pm by that time, but the sun was still pretty hot, so we laid out for a bit. but i’m still super pale. (does anyone know how to pronounce bondi? is it bond-eye? or bond-ee?)


(bondi beach. if you look REALLY carefully, you might be able to see nekkid boobs :P hehe. just kidding. i don't know. but knowing steve, i'm sure he got one or two in there... hehehe...)

at the beach, i finally got around to reading “a grief observed” by c.s. lewis. an acquaintance gave it to me when joe died. she was a good friend of his… she said it helped her a lot. i have been unable to open that book since that time. in a way, i felt like, “wow. c.s. lewis really just fucking understands me!” other times it just pissed me off. ultimately, i ended up throwing the book out when i was done. just a load of christian silliness that just pissed me the fuck off when it was over. i don't know why.

ate, then took a shower for our date to the sydney opera house. we thought the show started at 8. oops. it was 7:30. we almost made it on time… heh. it’s okay. it’s good we missed the first act. steve took some nice pics of the building while there was still a little bit of light left.


(the opera house and the opera house bar)

the building’s a lot nicer from farther away. from close up, you can see every blemish. it is a marvelous building, though.


(all i need is a cigarette! i'd look so fucking cool!!! well, except for the flyaway baby hairs...)

we saw a ballet… i can’t remember the name right now. i think it was girls gone wild. :P no… it was in french…. i think it was "the girl runs wild." it was a very cute love story… and it was fabulous… ballerinas (and ballerinos :P what do they call male ballet performers?) sure are flexible. i could never be a ballerina. first of all, i’m not flexible. second of all, you have to smile the whole fucking time you’re performing. don’t their faces just HURT? damn. my face hurts when i have to smile more than 5 times a day at work.

steve said he’s sorry for not having “ballet booty.” hehehe…those guys have these butts that are just cut. their legs, too. you can see the muscles rippling under the spandex… anyway, i prefer steve’s buttcake… :D

and then, the whining started. i was tired and hungry and we had spent so much money on the tickets and the parking ($25!) so i was feeling guilty about spending more money on food. especially when i felt like a lard ass… all the good eatin’. so then i was moody and upset… poor steve :( and then i thought maybe i wanted to have a drink, but then i realized i’m just moody and i should probably go to sleep… we ended up opening a bottle of beer at our mini-bar. neither one of us had ever opened anything from a mini-bar before. are we losers????

anyway, it was a crown lager and it was terrible. steve didn’t think it was THAT terrible… i could barely drink it. i made steve drink it. blech. i wanted to open the champagne, but i was pretty sure it was kind of not so good champagne. that’s a guaranteed headache.

oh, speaking of mini-bars, every single hotel in AUS and NZ seems to have a damned mini-bar. damn them, with their evil temptations!!! like chocolates and nobby’s nuts… hehe… nobby's nuts... and alcohol… lots of alcohol…

but, good god i’m out of shape. we ran up 4 flights of stairs out of the parking garage, then across the way and up more steps into the opera house. goddamn, there were a lot of stairs. and goddamn, i’m out of shape. i could barely breathe by the time we got to the top.

our hotel room was really cool… very cute, very hip place. but… the carpet. the carpet was just filthy! i don’t even want to know what kind of debauchery goes on in there! hehehe. speaking of debauchery, i just remembered my dream had something to do with e… but what? i don’t remember.


(i know... it doesn't look like it would be a room where people would be having orgies... all over the place... but i know it happened! i know it!)

we walked up and down campbell parade (which appears to be the main drag along the beach and where our hotel is located)… everything looked like it was closing up shop around 11 or 11:30PM. but the lobby at our hotel was just hopping! i should’ve just sucked it up and partied. i’m such a goddamned baby. goddamn those fucking hormones!!!

the first floor is a bar, the second floor is a restaurant and has a corridor to 4 rooms and the third floor has some other rooms and some suites. anyway, there’s this soundproof door to our rooms. and as soon as that door shuts, you can’t really hear anything that’s going on. but it’s loud out there.

Friday, November 26, 2004

it’s already Friday. i guess i was just really tired yesterday. today’s shaping up to be another gorgeous day. so yeah… yesterday i was just such a whinger! no more! i’m still tired…. i hope i can recuperate in melbourne.

and what is it about this place??? i have to take a shit 2-3 times daily. DAILY. it’s just not right. i’m not sure if it’s the copious amounts of food i’m eating, or if i’m just highly irregular because i’m off my schedule… it’s getting ridiculous, though.

it’s so gorgeous out… and i started singing that mr. rogers theme song. “it’s a beautiful day in the neighborhood, a beautiful day for a neighbor… would you be mine? could you be mine?” do they sell those shows on dvd? i would so buy them.

there’s this door in our room to our own private balcony. unfortunately, we can’t figure out how to open it. it’s not that the view’s particularly nice or anything, it’s just the principle. why can’t we enjoy our balcony, goddamnit????

i wonder what the baby bunny’s up to… getting spoiled by grandma, probably…

listened to mix master mike’s album: bangzilla. great mix CD. makes me want to jump up and shake my booty. except i’m in the car… and there’s limited range of motion…

gwen stefani’s solo album is a lot of fun. wholly unoriginal and not exactly inspiring or anything… lyrics are trite, beats are trite, melodies are trite… yet, it’s still a lot of fun, bubblegum pop. i wasn’t expecting more than that from her.

peanut butter wolf on one world… that was a great mix. hrm… but i can’t remember much of it right now. i’m not sure if it’s because i slept in the car for most of it or because it was unmemorable… what i do remember, though, i enjoyed.

had a listen to boards of canada. not sure which album. normally, listening to a whole BoC album makes me fall asleep, and this album was only slightly different. i like them, but in measured doses. it had its moments when i really listened, other times, it was just there. it’s not that i’m opposed to “ambient” music, but it’s not really something i can typically get into.

today’s day one of our 2 days of lots of driving. not really looking forward to it.

right now, i feel like there’s a lot of noise in my brain. shouldn’t it be quiet in there??? shouldn’t i be all relaxed??? i feel uneasy right now and i don’t know why. my brain is going nuts. maybe i should get up and shower. maybe i should stop writing and just cuddle up to steve. maybe i should not be so clingy and just leave him alone to sleep. poor guy’s done all the driving and does all he can to make me happy. he’s going to be sick of me after this trip.

i thought i’d be sore today after all the exercise from yesterday…. i guess the worst is yet to come tomorrow. i hope not, though… this tiny bit of calf soreness is tolerable. almost even enjoyable. yes, pain! give it to me! :P i got more exercise yesterday in one day than i have in the last month or two. we did a helluva lot of walking (and running).

hey, look! we got the thanksgiving game live. i like the bears’ throwback uniforms. it’s orange. i love orange. actually, to be honest, i don’t know what the current one looks like… but i definitely like the old ones.

ooh. just saw a commercial for “the best beer songs” cd collection. they have a lot of compilation cds for sale on tv. anyway, this one is funny… it’s got “unbelievable” by emf, “right here, right now” by jesus jones, “red, red wine” hey… wait a second…that's not a beer song! oooh. and “turning japanese.” uhm…okay. i’m not sure what makes this a great beer song album…

we’re driving to canberra right now. it’s australia’s capital. we’re listening to masters at work. kenny “dope” gonzalez… “back when he used to spin hip-hop,” according to steve.

holy shit. i just found out that KRS-ONE isn’t KRS-1. now i get it… steve said it stands for “knowledge reigns supreme over nearly everyone.” i didn’t get it before… i just asked him why it’s “nearly everyone” instead of just “everyone” and he said, “knowledge doesn’t reign supreme over bush.” that was funny…. i guess it’s not “knowledge SHOULD reign supreme over everyone,” is it? :P

before we left bondi beach, we went to this CD store “dirt cheap cds.” all cds and dvds were $10. crazy! we bought 3 different cd sets. one of the sets we got is a 6-cd set! yowza! we scored! and the other 2 are 2-cd sets. one is masters at work and the other is an old ministry of sound set. one disc is pete tong, the other is boy george. it’s old, from ’97 or something like that. there were a lot of cds we wanted to get, but we don’t really have a whole lot of room to bring shit back.

steve was all pissed leaving sydney because it took us like 45 minutes to get out of sydney and its environs. what the hell? and the maps i had just weren’t that good. they’re not consistent. and they don’t all have the number of the highway on the map… and on the signs, they don’t always have the same names as the ones on the maps. it was ugly. *sigh* maybe i’m just a bad navigatrix. :(

CHRIST, but there are a lot of fucking flies here! i guess they have nowhere to go or something, but STILL!!!! FUCK! I HATE FLIES!!!! they’re fucking everywhere. everywhere, i tell you!


(canberra: capital of australia.)


(the view from the top)

almost to thredbo. i swear, there’s something growing in my eye. it’s swollen … i think it’s the tear duct that’s swollen. fuck! i think those flies laid eggs in my eye! son of a bitch! goddamn those flies!

the road to thredbo from jindabyne is just so beautiful. the trees and rock formations, dramatic valleys. so gorgeous. right near thredbo, the trees are all clustered together… looks kinda like broccoli…. mmm… broccoli.


(right outside thredbo)

Saturday, November 27, 2004

3 dreams last night. this last one i’m still mad about. i don’t know why. it’s stupid. let’s just say that the dreams where steve acts like psycho are worse than the nightmares about psycho, himself. i don’t even know why i have those dreams. i think it’s because steve’s always doing stuff to make me happy… and i guess for some reason, i’m afraid that one day, he’s going to get tired of trying to make me happy and he’s going to become some kind of jerk. i know that’s not going to happen, but it doesn’t stop my dreams from happening.

before that, i had a dream about mel. she was trying to set up a mexico cruise with her and me, steve and stan. she wanted to show me how well he treats her or something… don't remember the first one right now.

we took the ski lift up at thredbo. there’s no snow there right now, but the lifts still operate for people who want to take in the mountain views. it seemed as though it was never going to end. it started getting really cold on the lift, closer to the top. the wind was crazy. when we finally got there, we walked up to the mt. kosciuszko lookout. i swear it was an 8km walk to the lookout and back to the lift. i can’t believe how much snow there would have to be during the winter to cover all the brush and bushes and trees and stuff.


(there's this mountain biking trail down the mountain. i have no idea how these guys get on and get their bike on so fast... those lift chairs come up on your butt fast!)

the walk up was covered in snow in one part. we built another “snowman.” by the time we came back down the hill, he was visibly melting.


(this is a big snowman compared to the last one we built!)

6:20PM. still driving to melbourne. i hope we get there soon. we just stopped for gas and food. there was a mcdonald’s there. steve had a mcoz. they put beets in their burgers. i’m not exactly a fan of the beet. psycho used to force me to eat them … and i already wasn’t fond of them. good thing steve likes the beets.

at the gas station, steve picked up this coffee drink called, “rush.” “rush” is more like a milk drink with a splash of coffee flavoring. it was so fucking nasty. i have never had such a disgusting drink. i hate milk. i detest it. steve loves milk. i saw him chug almost a full liter of milk during this trip. *shudder*

i didn’t wanna go to the mcdonald’s because i didn’t want the aussies to think, “stupid, fat americans, all they do is eat at mcdonald’s. they don’t even branch out and try new foods…” but there was nowhere else to eat… and i was about to get cranky… (i get seriously hangry when i don’t eat. that’s not a typo. when you’re so hungry you get angry? hangry. thanks for that word, johnny). i got this delightful chicken foldover thing. basically a chicken taco, but the taco shell is this rosemary flatbread. and the chicken was nicely seasoned. it was good. i was pleasantly surprised.

as we were driving down from thredbo, it was pretty warm. i fell asleep for a bit and i got the most fucked up sunburn ever. i was wearing a ¾ length t-shirt… so, half my forearm on both arms are burned. however, on my left arm, i was also wearing a watch. so around my wrist, i have an inch or an inch and a half thick white band where i didn’t get burned…. it’s awful. and it hurts. and it’s ugly. stupid, stupid sun.

and lord, it was warm. i had to change on the side of the road because i was sweating.

they’ve got all these public service announcements on the side of the road… they tell you to take a power nap if you’re sleepy. my favorite one was, “drowsy drivers die.”

by the time we get to melbourne, we’ll have driven about 1800km. unlimited mileage rules! although…. would it be mileage? or is it kilometerage? that’s kind of unwieldy, isn’t it?

just drove past a town named puckapunyal. and steve said, “i’d like to puck a poon, y’all.” i can’t stop giggling… and then he asked me if i had a pun he could puck… he’s the funniest! god! i love the australian town names! and yes! i’m immature! no, i don’t care.

goddamnit. my arms burn. a lot.

wow. we listened to all the cds we bought. guess it’s back to the cds we brought with us from home.

Sunday, November 28, 2004

we got to melbourne last night around 9PM. it’s actually st. kilda where we’re staying. it’s the prince hotel. it’s so cool! i love it! modern furnishings and it’s attached to a club which brings in some great talent. unfortunately, nothing great this weekend. we walked up and down the main drag. i feel bad… i mean, if steve had come with someone else, he would’ve had more fun. all he does is try to make me happy and we don’t do anything because i want to make him happy  i’m sure if he’d come here with his buddies, they would’ve gone barhopping and clubbing…


(our room at the prince)

we had dinner at a pizza place. i ordered one slice and he gave me two :) he must’ve felt bad for me because i wasn’t all dressed up or something. "poor girl. looks like a slob. she ain't gettin' laid tonight." hehe. steve said it was because the pizza guy thought i was cute. the guy told me it was because he had an extra slice. i believe the pizza dude.

on saturday nights, the kids get all dressed up… dressed to the nines! the girls looked like they were trying too hard to look pretty and/or classy. the boys look like they’re trying too hard to look like they don’t care. maybe i’m just used to the so. cal. people, but these people looked pretty haggard. the girls were definitely worse off than the guys. also, most of them looked like they didn’t know how to walk in heels. they were all wobbly. it was bizarre. hey, i'm not being catty. this is shit steve told me, too…

we went back to the room, drank some champagne and then watched part of this movie that was filmed in ’83. it was SO bad, that it was good. i must find that movie somehow… but how????

this morning, we went to the outdoor crafts market. saw some really cool art. melbourne has some great artists and photographers. we bought some art from this guy, george something or other…


(we bought a print of this piece. it's called "alice" after some movie (which is based on some novel). whatever. it's us... wandering around australia. :D hehe)

and i bought this wristband thing from this lady who makes little wallets and wristbands. her company’s called cybertart. i’m a cybertart :P


(posing like an asian schoolgirl :P with my new cybertart wrist wraparound thingie thing. all i need is the skirt and ... oh, fuck it. it's too much of a hassle.)

and GOOD GOD! why did no one tell us of this fly infestation problem they’ve got going on in australia? and now that the food’s gone, they’ve left us alone. normally, though, they don’t… they don’t ever leave us alone. christ. it’s awful. this fly problem, they’ve really got to fix this… i have never seen so many damned flies. except on a dairy farm. i wonder why all of those people who tried to give us friendly, helpful hints didn’t mention the goddamned flies? what, did they only fucking attack us? god! i hate flies.

so we just hung out all day. we thought we were going to run around and stuff, but i just wanted to relax. we’d been on the go the whole time, so i just wanted to vege out. i fell asleep on the beach. my back got pretty burned. my bikini top got all faded out. i don’t know if it’s the chlorine from the hot tub or the sun when i was drying it out in the back seat of the car. i had to trash it. good thing i didn’t bring my cute black bikini. i would’ve been depressed.

whoever did the interior design for the rooms at the prince needs to come over and do our home. they do so much with limited space. it’s great…

neither one of us is up to running around tonight. i’m a little anxious about going back to work… really not looking forward to it.


(sunset at st. kilda beach. our hotel was just across the street)

we had a really great time… steve planned everything so great… i tried to help him look for hotels and i got so many shitty ass hotels. he did a lot of research and it really paid off… thanks, baby :)

i don't want to stop writing... because when i stop writing, it means the vacation's over.....