Surprise Song Sunday: The Christmas Waltz - She & Him

A pre-Christmas day Merry Christmas to you all.

Word of the Day: Christmas

Surprise Song Sunday: Fire We Make - Alicia Keys feat. Maxwell

Word of the Day: Fire

Surprise Song Sunday: The Good Rebel - Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds

Like raaaain.

I was looking for uni-results-related song, but I couldn't be bothered after thirty seconds of thinking I didn't manage to do so in the end. Thus, this completely unrelated but great little gem. A little more on results in the near future perhaps. 

Word of the Day: Rain 

Surprise Song Sunday: Walk - Foo Fighters

Learning to walk again

I believe I've waited long enough

Where do I begin?

Yes, I realise this is late. I attribute responsibility for lateness either to my forgetfulness, or my pre-occupation with being excited at being able to walk hobble again. The former is probably closer to the truth.

Word of the Day: Walk

Surprise Song Sunday: Charlie Brown - Coldplay

Great moment when this song was played on Tuesday night. Despite being in a cripple seat, by myself, in the cold, and initially feeling a little down in the dumps, the gig was awesome, with the centrepiece being this amazing song. A contradiction of emotions, fitting when I consider how Coldplay songs generally make me feel. A truly magical moment.

Word of the Day: Coldplay

Surprise Song Sunday: I Knew You Were Trouble - Taylor Swift

Some new dubstep from Taylor Swift.

Word of the Day: Trouble

Once again, crippled.

You'd think that after being crippled this many times, I'd be pretty good at working out what to do while crippled. 

And you'd be right. Let's do it in list form. 

1. Make a list. Glad we got that one out of the way.

2. Find a nice place to rest. Sort of done that. I'm sure there's nicer, but I can't really be bothered hobbling in a quest to find one. 

3. Write a blog post about being crippled. We're definitely going places now. 

4. Start assembling my 1000 piece jigsaw puzzle that I bought specifically for the purposes of occupying my time spent being a cripple. 

5. Read stuff. 

6. Invent and construct a Batman-style knee brace. 

7. Chat to people. 

8. Finish assembling my 1000 piece jigsaw puzzle that I blah blah blah.

I think that'll do. I have things to be getting on with (har har).

Word of the Day: List 

Surprise Song Sunday: U.N.I. - Ed Sheeran

And I said that's fine,

But you're the only one that knows I lie.

Word of the Day: Uni

THESES!

I somehow managed to hand in my thesis on time, and not be a loser. That is to say, I handed it in on Monday.

What a relief, more than anything. I'm just glad I'm done with it, and I somehow managed to get it down to a respectable word count of 19, 032.

So, a question that I naturally get asked by people is: what are you doing now that you have so much free time.

Well, on the night after handing the aforementioned document in, I went drinking with white people, being my Honours friends. It's not something I do very often, but it's fun in small doses. The funnest part is watching how people behave when they've had a bit to drink.

The not so fun part is having to contend with creepers that are out at 2 a.m. on a Monday night.

Next morning, after having slept about 3 and a half hours, we watched Cool Runnings at my friend Nonie's house (as you do). We then left for Brighton Beach, which was conveniently located a stone's throw away from Nonie's house.

Once there, we tanned, and Anna and I started ruminating about the future, life, the Holocaust, and humanity. (Yeah, Arts kids fo real, man.)

A good night, and an excellent morning. I've grown quite fond of a few of these Honours types, and I hope I keep in touch with them.

Afterwards, on the way home, I rear-ended a car. He ended up with a few scratches, while I was left with a towbar-shaped hole in my front.

I have no idea how it happened. I must've taken my eyes off the road at the vital moment, and he braked suddenly or something. It was pretty much at snail's pace.

Amazingly, he decided he didn't want to claim insurance for it, despite his initial rage. So I guess I'll just live with the towbar-shaped hole in the front of my car.

Oh, during all this time, my mum got sick, and the neighbour managed to run their car through our fence because they forgot to put the handbrake on.

Yesterday, my grandmother got hospitalised, so I've been in and out at couple of times visiting her, and picking up a little bit of the slack that mum leaves when she visits her.

And next week, it's my turn. My knee is undergoing surgery, which puts me out of action for the Coldplay gig and the annual roadtrip with my mates. Both frustrating. Extremely so, in the case of Coldplay. I hope I get a couple of visitors when I'm maimed. 9th of November. Mark it in your diaries, start visiting me from that date onwards. Please.

Today, I got a haircut, went to uni, ran into Meng, and gave my supervisor a bottle of the red wine in gratitude. Not a bad bottle either. For some reason, we always get into this philosophical discussions when we sit down together. Top supervisor, that Natalie Doyle.

So yeah. Despite being all done with uni, I've been fairly flat out doing this and that. Some of it good, some not so much.

Tomorrow, I'm off to buy stuff. Wish me luck.

Word of the Day: Theses

 

Surprise Song Sunday: 22 - Taylor Swift

Because I'm 22, and because I've finished my thesis.

Word of the Day: Finished

Surprise Song Sunday: I'm Yours - Jason Mraz

Because:
1. Friday night was good fun;
2. We've had a few days of sunshine after an absolute eternity of not having any;
3. I've been reminiscing about my European summer, and only just realised how good a time I had; and
4. I'm dreaming about the holidays. My second summer of the year.

Word of the Day: Summer

Surprise Song Sunday: Concerning Hobbits - Howard Shore

Saw a screening of The Fellowship of the Ring with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra playing the soundtrack live Friday before last. Did not realise how long it's been since the release of that film.

It's 11 years old. Back when I was ending Year 6, and going into high school. For some bizarre reason, I was in to that kind of stuff at that age. I was so in to it, I watched it twice.

I also remember getting The Two Towers book from Santa for Christmas that year. For some strange reason, I read it anyway, and I thought Aragorn was a girl. Despite the book referring to Aragorn as 'he' many times. I don't know how I missed that, and I don't know when I realised he was in fact a man.

Awesome film, and awesome memories.

Word of the Day: He

Surprise Song Sunday: Sweet Life - Frank Ocean

From a place that I'd rather be.

Word of the Day: Sweet

How do I remember stuff from a unit I did almost five years ago?

It's irks me when a conversation shifts from talking with someone to talking to someone.

At that point, it's no longer a conversation.


At that point, I don't know what it's become. I can't put a name to it.

At that point, it seems like I'm being annoying. Which I probably am.

But I know it's become something that I no longer want to be a part of. Who wants to be deliberately annoying? Not me. Unless it's someone that I despise.

And there you have it. A scenario that's randomly jogged a memory of mine retained from first-year Linguistics. Something about the rules of conversation.

But yeah, like, whatevor. I'm fairly over it. If you don't want to converse, I'm not going to force you to. Not that I would be able to anyway.

Word of the Day: Conversation

They look so curiously happy.

Is there a better sight known to the human race than a car driving by with a dog hanging its head of a window, with its eyes squinted against the inevitable wind?

It's best when the dog in question has lots of long fur about the face. (Credit: here)

Yeah, I didn't think there was. 

Word of the Day: Dog

Surprise Song Sunday: Eight Days a Week - The Beatles

Always on my mind. 

-------------------------------

Which begs the (slight irrelevant and random) question: what would this hypothetical day be called?

Loveday. Because the world needs more love. And less Thors and Friedas and Weds. Or something. 

Word of the Day: Eight

Surprise Song Sunday: Talking to the Moon - Bruno Mars

Talking to the moon

Trying to get to you

In hopes you're on the other side

Talking to me too.

Word of the Day: Moon

Irrational.

Irrationality is a peculiar word.

You can attach the word 'irrational' to so many contrasting and different verbs and nouns.

Allow me to canvas two such pairings that have recently affected me.

Let's start with this one: 'irrational actions'. 

I have a friend. She's broken up with her boyfriend a number of times. It may have been twice. It may have been three times. I'm not even sure what you, I or she would count as breaking up anymore.

All I know is that they keep getting back together.

(As an aside, he's a bit of a mega-jerk. Not that that really concerns me at all. I never see him, and nor do I want to. Ever. And he'd probably best not see me. If you know what I mean).

While I too repeat mistakes, often with full knowledge that it will not all end well, it just seems a bit dumb to keep going back to the guy if you have to do it SEVERAL TIMES right? Something must be fundamentally flawed if you have to break up and make up that many times.

And something, or somethings, are fundamentally flawed. I just don't have the heart to tell her. I'm sure she would know, if she opened her eyes and stopped kidding herself. But you know, love makes us blind, and all that.

So that's 'irrational actions' covered so far.

That leads me seamlessly on to my next 'irrational' pairing. 'Irrational annoyance'.

I experience this a lot. I'm by no means a genius, but often this annoyance stems from fools. I just don't suffer fools very well. You know, people that don't make sense, or are just generally bad people, irk me quite easily.

Which, I think, is not so irrational.

Irrational annoyance would be me despising the overuse of the phrase 'like a boss/baws/bors'.

Picture of man sitting on a motorbike. "Like a baws!!!!111!!!"

Picture of girl with face paint. "Like a baws!!!!!111!"

Status update of a guy at a hotel. "Like a baws!!!!111!!"

Someone walking their dog. "Like a baws!!!!111!!"

Far out. Overused, inappropriate, thus, not funny or amusing.

Or 'swag'. I'm not even going to go into that one, because pretty much everybody already has.

Back to my story. Well, all of this is my story. Or at least, my re-telling/telling of it. But back to the story that we were halfway through.

When said friend related her story about her nth breakup with same boyfriend, I listened. Literally, for hours. Literally listened too, because I have no idea what to say to someone in that situation, especially over the phone. "There there"? "He was a jerk anyway, you'll get over it. You did with the other four boyfriends"? "Let's go smash his face in"?

She clearly still liked him at that point, so obviously the "Let's go smash his face in" or "He was a jerk anyway" doesn't really work.

It works even less when they eventually get back together. Which is what happened.

So thank goodness I didn't go bashing her (momentarily) ex-boyfriend, verbally or otherwise. My father taught me well, at least with this trick. He always says to me (because, for some reason, I always get calls about people having problems with their supposed better halves):

Son, don't go bad-mouthing their (what could very well turn out to be temporary) ex-boyfriend/ex-girlfriend. If (and most likely when) they get back together, your name will get bandied about, and in no nice way either.*

*Obviously in Cantonese. With a bit of embellishment by me. But the general gist is the same. 

Anyway, I'm annoyed by the whole business. I can think of a few reasons why, none of which may be correct.

1. Time was wasted. It wasn't a ball of fun either. I don't mind people calling me. In fact, I often welcome it. But it just seems so dumb, for some reason, when I get called for, not exactly advice, but opinion I guess you would call it, and then it just kind of all gets ignored.

2. She knows that there's something fundamentally wrong with this whole saga. That's why she wouldn't tell me they'd gotten back together before I kind of prompted it. This also annoys me because I also like good news. Sometimes (or often) more so than bad news. If you can call this good news. It is for her anyway. Why in such a rush to tell me about supposed doom and gloom, and so tardy to tell me about what's supposed to be good news? Do I seem like a person that thrives on pessimism and sadness? If I do seem like that, for the record, I'm not. I like good news. And good stuff in general.

3. As canvassed above, her (now current, as of this moment, as far as I know) boyfriend is a bit of a mega-jerk. What's more, she left a perfectly nice guy that I got along with a few boyfriends ago because of a reason that I don't find to be a reason at all.

So there you have it. Irrational. We all are, to a certain extent, and at certain moments. I can think of at least roughly five irrational things that I've done this week. I just don't like it very much when I'm on the receiving end of irrationality. Not sure if that's rational or irrational, and at this stage, I don't very much care.

Word of the Day: Irrational

Surprise Song Sunday: If I Had a Gun - Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds.

Let me fly you to the moon

My eyes have always

Followed you across the room

Cos you're the only God that I

Will ever need.

-----------------

Just a few words on Arsenal's thumping 6-1 win against Southampton.

What a fantastic win. A weird/hopeful part of me was kind of expecting it, as Soton had seemed extremely shaky in their previous games. Marred a bit by the conceded goal, especially how stupid it was, and how keeping a clean sheet would've set a record, but one can't have everything in life. Just ask Liverpool fans. (I'm not entirely sure that dig at Liverpool made sense).

Podolski levitating in celebration following his thumping free kick and subsequent goal. Bonus Jenks in the background (Credit: goal.com)

More of the same please.

Word of the Day: Thumping

Coolest story ever told.

Amazing how little it takes to brighten up one's outlook on life.

Small, seemingly trivial little things can have such an impact on how happy (or not, as the case may be) I am. It's kind of weird.

Obviously their not so trivial if they're so important.

Mmmmm. Cool story.

Word of the Day: Trivial

Surprise Song Sunday: Shiver - Coldplay.

So I look in your direction

But you pay me no attention

Do you?

Word of the Day: You

Once again.

Once again, I tire of initiating conversation.

Once again, I lose the will to pursue.

Once again, what promised so much has turned to nothing.

Once again, a void of emptiness where longing used to be.

Once again, I become apathetic.

Once again, I wonder how many times I can go through this.

Word of the Day: Again

A win! A real, live, actual win!

And goals! Actual, sweet, sweet goals.

By scoring their first two goals of the season, and keeping their third clean sheet, Arsenal finally secured their first win. Some of the passing was excellent, and I was particularly impressed with the midfield trio. I think the defensive midfielder is overhyped. Having one would be good, but if you've got Arteta and Diaby, both of whom showed great defensive awareness, screening the back four, then having one isn't essential. Besides, you've got the added advantage of Arteta acting as a deep-lying playmaker.

While I was similarly impressed with Podolski's goal, I also found his work rate incredible. I think he made more tackles than Gibbs on the left hand side, and I almost always saw him pop up when needed at the back.

Podolski!

Credit: The Telegraph

Santi Cazorla looks more and more a bargain. Pace, passing, shooting, intelligence, two-footedness. Can't ask for much more.

It's pleasing to see the whole team look much more cohesive and organised, especially defensively.

Our lack of a back up striker is a bit of a worry though. I think Giroud will come good - his movement is exceptional - but should anything, touch wood, happen to him, we're relying on Podolski being drafted into the centre, or Chamakh. With the latter, 'relying' is used in the loosest sense of the word.

Anyway, good stuff. More of the same after the international break please.

Word of the Day: Pop

Surprise Song Sunday: Something Like Olivia - John Mayer

But if Olivia herself were at my door,

I'd have to say I'd let her in.

Not the best or most meaningful song on the new-ish album, Born and Raised, but hilarious. Don't know why I find it funny, I just do.

More about the album later I guess.

Word of the Day: Olivia

Surprise Song Sunday: Rocket Man - Elton John

A rocket man.

Neil Armstrong. Truly inspiring to a child in primary school, a long, long time ago, a child who wanted more than anything to be an astronaut. As that child grew older, somewhere along the line, he came to realise that not very many people could become astronauts. Although that child no longer holds any illusion that he can become an astronaut, he still harbours a fascination for space, and a dream of one day being able to see the Earth from the outside. And he thanks Neil Armstrong for keeping this dream alive. 

RIP Neil Armstrong. I hope you're now resting amongst the stars, where you belong.

Word of the Day: Armstrong 

The Death of Personal Responsibility.

I just read this:

Travellers charged thousands for using mobiles overseas.

and I think you should too, just for lols.

If you can't be bothered, I'll summarise for you. It's about people complaining about two things at a parliamentary level. First, that overseas roaming costs are too high. Second, there should be greater transparency with regards to roaming costs.

I'm all for both things. What I don't like is the shirking of any sense of personal responsibility, which seems to be a trend in society today.

Yes, the costs could afford to be more transparent, if you'll pardon the pun. Insofar as they're not RIGHT IN YOUR FACE EVERY SECOND THAT YOU'RE AWAKE.

I'm fairly certain that when you want to roam overseas from Australia, you have to phone up and everything to get it enabled. I mean, I haven't done it, because I knew right from the off that it's a ridiculous rip-off. $20 for a MB of data or something stupid like that.

I mean, it's not screaming IN YOUR FACE EVERY SECOND THAT YOU'RE AWAKE, like your personal assistant would, but it wouldn't be too far a stretch to know, or at least think about the possibility, that roaming overseas would maybe cost a bit more than using your phone at home.

Then again, maybe it's not as common-sense as I think it is. I thought that it was fairly evident that peanuts would possibly contain traces of nuts, but obviously some people don't realise that, so there you are, warning labels. Telling you that there may be FREAKING TRACES OF NUTS IN PEANUTS.

Like peanuts containing traces of nuts, roaming isn't exactly a really new phenomenon either.

Again, I wouldn't know, because I haven't done it before, but I'm inclined to think that when calling up to enable roaming, the operator or whatever would let you know how much it would cost. Or (here we go with personal responsibility again) you could ask. Yes, I know it's not your responsibility to ask, they should tell you, but I just thought it'd be a logical thing to do to avoid any future disputes or surprises. The article and parliament thing makes it sound like the costs are hidden deep in the bowels of the secret files vault of telephone companies. I'm fairly certain that the information is accessible on most phone company websites.

Senator Conroy says: "One of the most common complaints that I hear is from people who return from overseas and are confronted by a mobile phone bill that runs into the hundreds or even thousands of dollars". That's not really a valid complaint. It's like buying a Ferrari, and then complaining that it costs a lot.

Yes, roaming is a monumental rip-off. Yes, increase transparency by sending messages to people when they're overseas how much it's going to cost them if they're not astute enough to realise that it could cost them a bit. But don't go around blaming all and sundry about your failure to exercise a little bit of personal responsibility.

Word of the Day: Responsibility

Surprise Song Sunday: Why Do You Let Me Stay Here - She & Him feat. Gordon Levitt-Joseph

I'm just sitting on the shelf.

Some semi-random, juxtaposing happy music feat. Joseph Gordon-Levitt. 

So how about that Arsenal last night ey? We didn't score, and of course it's because we're van Persieless, and not because Sunderland locked down with two banks of five. 

I don't really understand the whole van Persie thing. None of what he did makes much sense at all, but there you go. Footballers are strange beasts at the best of times, and when you flash some money at them, they just become downright weird. All I know is he's a jerk, and I believe that we can cope without him. 

Anyway, the game. Despite the draw, I like what I saw, Obviously I'd be a bit happier if we'd won, but I thought the team played well. Santi Cazorla looks the real deal, Gervinho looks a lot better than last season, and Podolski and Giroud provided good movement and could have scored a couple of times. 

What pleased me the most was a) how well we coped defensively without Alex Song and b) on a related note, how well the team pressed and tracked back. It was noticeable how many times we won the ball in the Sunderland half, which came from everyone pressing. It was particularly pleasing to see Arteta and Gervinho tracking back. Revolutionary idea, but I think if we can get two central midfielders tracking back when the opposition attack, we may not even need to buy an out-and-out defensive midfielder to replace Song. I mean, it's not like he was even that defensive to begin with, it's just he could defend a little bit when he could be bothered. 

However, despite the team looking alright, before the transfer window closes, you'd hope that the manager signs another midfielder and/or another striker. Especially a striker. We've essentially only got 1.5 strikers that are actually any good. 

Anyway, have yourselves a good Sunday. 

Word of the Day: Tracking

London 2012 Closing Ceremony.

Or as I like to call it, the Greatest Gig That Ever Was, And Ever Will Be.

Yeah, almost as catchy as the Olympic Anthem.

As I was saying, best gig ever.

At which other gig would you get most-of-Oasis, most-of-Queen, The Spice Girls, Taio Cruz, Jessie J, The Who, David Bowie, George Michael, Take That, One Direction, Beatles songs, Russell Brand singing a Beatles song, and more besides?

None other, that's right.

I don't even like half those guys that I just listed, but other people might. And thus, it adds to a cumulative awesome. If you know what I mean.

And yes, they only had three-quarters of Oasis. They were only missing THEIR BEST QUARTER. And yes, Liam's voice is incredibly nasally now. But whatever. They sang Wonderwall, and if I'm not very much mistaken, it got the biggest cheer/singalong of the night bar Spice Girls. Or at least, the biggest singalong. Such a stadium song.

Obviously, the spectacle wasn't as OMG amazeballs at the Opening Ceremony, but whatever. I'm in it for the music, man.

Seriously. I actually watched 0 minutes of sporting activities.

But Opening and Closing Ceremonies, I'm there. Especially if they're British.

Brazil 2016 should also be a riot. I don't know what it is about samba music, but it makes me want to move.

So goodbye London. I liked you. You have a certain charm about you that I can't quite attribute to one particular feature about you. I'm gonna be deep and say it's your soul and personality that I'm attracted to.

Back to news from Andrewland.

As usual, nothing overly exciting to report. Just finished off my major essay for the Holocaust unit that I went to Europe for. Yes, there was work involved for that.

Also, I'm kind of starting to make a mini-breakthrough with my thesis. Don't tell anyone, but I think how breakthroughy I get with my thesis, and work in general, may be positively correlated with me actually working on it/talking to people that know more stuff about it about it (yeah, repeated words no typo!)

PS. What's with people calling it the 'Closing Ceremonies'? I noticed it with the Opening Ceremony as well. They were trending on Twitter and all as well. It drives me mad. It's almost as annoying as 'Daylight savings'. Urgh.

There are many things that I would like to say to you, but I don't know how.

Word of the Day: Andrewland

Surprise Song Sunday: As Long As You Love Me - Backstreet Boys

Every little thing that you have said and done

Feels like it's deep within me.

Boy bands ten years ago were so much cooler. 

Word of the Day: Boys

Banana rant.

So someone threw a banana at Gael Clichy while he was playing football a few days ago.

I thought people were over that by now. If you're going to be racist, at least be original or innovative about it. That's only about the 1,309,392,909.45th time that somebody's thrown a banana at a black football player.

In all seriousness though, I don't understand how people can do that sort of thing and not be disgusted with themselves. It's so small-minded and idiotic, and, as canvassed before, doesn't even get lols from people that are into that kind of stuff. Grow up, and stop acting like a five-year-old who has never seen someone with skin that is differently coloured to yours, and find some better hobbies.

Another not particularly incisive rant from Andrew Huang.

Word of the Day: Skin

Surprise Song Sunday: Adore - Prince

I truly adore you.

Going through a bit of a Prince phase at the moment. I think it started on Friday night at IKEA, when they were playing 'Kiss'. I think the positive feeling from the song was subsequently reinforced by the cheap ice-cream I had afterwards. Cool story bro.

Word of the Day: Prince 

Herald Sun Shmerald Sun.

Allow me a moment to be outraged at a Herald Sun headline again.

BONUS HUMBLE PIE

the headline cleverly screams. See how the first letter of each word make up the word BHP?

First issue with this: a CEO forgoing $7 million in profit has nothing to do with being humble.

I'm not going to look in the dictionary, but to me, humble means being understated, not going around telling people you have loads of money or whatever just because you do.

Second issue: if we take the phrase as a whole - that is, 'humble pie' as it's supposed to be used in context - it still makes no sense.

Is not the phrase 'eating humble pie' used when somebody makes an error, and is forced to apologise or atone for such an error? To me, the headline implies that Marius Kloppers has made a grave error in judgement, and is now atoning for it.

They further somehow make the link from his salary and bonus - which is a minute amount, when compared to the profits of BHP - to super funds taking a hit. What.

If anything, the man should be lauded, rather than made out to be in the wrong for making so much money.

I'm not sure whether the Herald Sun is supposed to be left wing or right wing, and it never really struck me as being particularly left or right (not that I ever bothered to really look into it), but I think it's fairly obvious that even if it's not left wing, it's definitely anti-right. Most of their stuff can be summarised as reading:

"How dare he make so much money when so many of us don't? Why don't all of us make millions of dollars? What did he ever do to deserve higher pay than us? It's not like he does anything anyway. Where's our free money?"

I don't really know what my point is, but it just really annoys me.

Word of the Day: Humble

It was a jolly good show, wot.

The Opening Ceremony for the London 2012 Olympic Games was fairly amazing.

Yes, I realise it was almost a week ago. What of it?

It was just an epic bombardment of English cultcha. Which I love.

English music, English people, English history, English literature, English language, James Bond and David Beckham (yeah, that's right, separate category for them). Love it all. And most of it was there. Except for the medievalness and stuff.

The pyrotechnics were also pretty amazing. The Olympic Rings dripping gold, the genius of the cauldron lighting, the fireworks spray. The lighting of the cauldron was a bit anti-climatic, however. I kind of didn't realise it was happening until the cauldron caught on fire.

Dripping fiah.

The only part that was really bad was the absence of any reference to Oasis. Like, what. At least they atoned by putting Paul McCartney and Arctic Monkeys in.

I also did really like the literary references though. Dickens, J. M. Barry, J. K. Rowling.

Conclusion: did not feel like a drag, creative, fresh, and full of stuff that I love. Good stuff.

So what of the Olympics themselves?

I'm kind of in the non-caring boat, uncaring away. I've taken a morbid curiosity in the controversies - you know, the alleged drug taking by Chinese swimmer, badminton game throwing - but apart from that, not much interest.

The whole Chinese swimmer thing is a farce. I think she's taken drug tests, etc. There's no need for all this slander and accusation. The Americans and the British should never have started it, the Chinese should never have responded in the way that they did.

The badminton involves the Chinese as well. This time, deservedly so. If you're going to throw the game, at least make it subtle. The manner in which they did it just smacks of sheer arrogance.

Not only do they want to throw the game, but they want to throw it in such a way that everybody knows that they're not trying. So they want the practical advantages of throwing a game, without losing any face. That's not the way it works. People pay and give up time to watch these games.

It's also arrogant because of the fact that they assume that both Chinese teams are a shoe-in for the final.

In sum, it's disrespectful to everyone. The paying public, the game, the Olympic spirit (not that I'm a big believer in that anyway).

So what am I actually going to watch? Maybe the football final. Not predictable at all, me.

Word of the Day: Jolly.

Surprise Song Sunday: Don't Look Back In Anger - Oasis.

To make up for the lack of Oasis at the Opening Ceremony. 60 years of English music history, and no Oasis. I ask you.

Word of the Day: English

These could be the best days of our liiiiives.

The more astute of you would have realised that I have been back home for a while now. Up until now, I haven't really found the effort to write about it. But here I am, backstory and all explaining why I've taken so long to do what I'm about to do.

Right into it then.

Hong Kong was fun. Saw some relos, which is always a good experience, given that I see them about once every half a century. Or something. I also bought far, far more than I should have, mostly because stuff is so cheap there, but also mostly because stuff is a lot more cooler over there.

By stuff, I mean clothes and stuff. Hey, I never claimed to be a wordsmith.

The trip as a whole was absolutely amazing. Yes, there were difficult moments. Yes, it was a long time to be away from home. Yes, it did cost me a fair bit. But you know, it was all in the name of learning and having fun. And all of the experiences I had, all the stuff I learnt, all the places I visited, all the sights I saw, all the fantastic people I met, all the tan I got, made all the minute difficulties worth it.

I am, however, glad to be home. There's nothing quite like going overseas to strange countries (I'm looking at you, Poland and Lithuania) to make you realise how great Australia really is. I also got a bit sick of living in hotel rooms, not driving myself around, and just generally being semi-beholden to what fate/mischance had in store for me.

I also missed people back home. Friends, family, etc.

And Melbourne water. That stuff is heavenly. They should export that stuff. Especially to Poland, where the water is acidic and filled with mercury. Or something.

Coming back home, however, means dealing with all the homie stuff. You know, assessments, thesis, losing my tan, readjusting to actually having to do work, remembering to not start speaking Polish to people (I'm pretty much fluent in Polish now, it's kind of like my mother tongue, except my mother isn't from Poland), readjusting to the fact that people aren't surprised at the fact that I speak English, and reverting back to not enunciating clearly when speaking with strangers. Not all of that is necessarily bad, but I'll let you sort out which is which.

Thesis is killing me a little bit. I'm still trying to figure out which direction I'm going to take it in. Urgh.

And because I didn't get enough of England (or lack of sleepness) on my trip, I'm going to do a pre-dawn wake-up to watch the Opening Ceremony of the Olympic Games, which, for my friends who dwell under rocks, is in England this time around. I'll see you online tomorrow morning then.

Word of the Day: Back

Surprise Song Sunday: Coming Home - John Legend

It feels like I've been everywhere,

But someday I'll be coming home.

In case you didn't know, I'm back! 

More on that later.

Word of the Day: Home

Hong Storm.

This place is contriving to give me zero sleep today.

I try to go to bed at 1:30, but I think a combination of the heat and anticipation of being home kept me up for about an hour.

Then, around half an hour ago, I awoke to the sound of thunder clapping and the pitter patter of rain. Actually, more PITTER PATTER. And THUNDERRRRR CLAPPING. The sound more like canon shots. I'm not even kidding.

So now I can't sleep. Won't stop me from popping on The Beatles and trying though.

There were birds

In the sky

But I never

Saw them winging

No, I never saw them winging

Til there was you.

Word of the Day: Pitter

Honky Town + more substantial summary/reflections on the tour.

Good morning from Hong Kong. I've only spent a night here, but I've already managed to have dinner with my aunty and most of her family, which was full of happy times. 

So what's there to look forward to in this place? Mostly shopping and eating, I imagine. Wooooo.

That's enough about the future. On to the past. Namely reflections on the tour.

The tour was amazing. I particularly liked the mix of mostly depressing days, and almost always fun nights. I don't know about everyone else, but the mix kept me from being overwhelmed by all the death and destruction that we were reliving in the death camps and mass graves. 

These fun nights only came about because of the people on the tour though. And most of these people were absolutely amazing. For the most part, kind-hearted, generous, fun, and funny, and I'm glad to have met them. I'm already starting to miss them, and I think I'm getting withdrawal symptoms because of it. The symptoms manifest themselves in things like thinking that Scarlett and Sarah were shouting for me from the back of the plane I was on, hearing what I thought was Flick being outraged at something, thinking Sam was shouting 'oi' at me at the airport, and thinking that I heard Louise laugh on the plane. It's not happening anymore, so don't call a doctor or anything. 

A substantial part of the goodness of the tour was due to the people on it, and it wouldn't have been half as awesome without them. Thanks guys. 

My favourite part of the tour is a toss-up between Chopin in the park and the random jam session in Sejny. Chopin in the park because Chopin's music is beautiful, the setting was beautiful, and it contrasted wonderfully with what we'd been seeing and visiting on the tour up until that point. Chopin played again while we watched The Pianist on the bus on the last day of the tour, and I thought it was a coincidentally amazing conclusion because of that. Both Chopin in the park and The Pianist almost made me cry. The jam session because of the awesome randomness of it all, and the mad clarinet solo. 

My least favourite part was probably the (mostly self-inflicted) chronic lack of sleep. Most days were something like 2 o' clock sleep, 7 o' clock wake up. But yeah, even this was a consequence of having fun most of the time, so really, it's not a complaint. 

I think that my actual least favourite part was leaving everyone, and having to adjust to being without the mob. Oh, and Louise getting hospitalised. That was kind of a worrying episode.  

Most random/fun thing was probably going clubbing in Lithuania. What. 

Or the random gay guy in said club who was hitting on Sam and telling him that his drink was spiked, while he was drinking from said drink. Or the ensuing talk about life and stuff that Sam and I had in my hotel room bathroom. 

Or having about five run-ins with the police. Street cred level 100 right here. Don't mess with me, cos I'm a real G. 

Or that time we broke into a concentration camp. Irony level 100. 

Or raving to 'Call Me Maybe' on an open-air minibus to and from dinner in Krakow. 

Or going on random H&M raids in various countries. 

Or going for a highly impulsive and unnecessary walk in a thunderstorm in Warsaw with Sam, Sarah, and Jamie.

Or finding that amazing rooftop bar in Berlin.

The random moments were numerous, and probably the most fun. 

Despite all the amazingly fun times had, I did manage to get a bit of learning and reflection in regarding the Holocaust. I still don't understand how people could have done such a thing, and I've kind of learned that there is no explanation. The entire Second World War was a horrible aberration that can't be explained. The destruction, the death, the Holocaust, the horrors in Asia, the atomic bomb. I did find it incredible that Germany seemed to have confronted and more or less dealt with its role in the War, whereas Poland has more or less not. 

A warmer part of the education was found in learning more about Jewish culture, which I did not have much of an idea about before the trip. Very interesting stuff.

Anyway, that's enough about the past now. Time to engage my brain again and start doing actual stuff soon. 

But man, they were fun times.

These could be the best days of our lives.

Word of the Day: Fun

   

Brief thought/s on tour end.

Tonight was the last night of the tour, and it was, not unexpectedly, quite bittersweet.

It was actually mostly quite a downer of a night, because of various reasons, which I'll probably discuss at length a bit later when I'm not in a state of half-sleep. 

But yeah, overall, good tour, mostly great people, good times, and extremely educational. Shall write something more substantial when the fancy takes me. 

Word of the Day: Bittersweet

Villainous Vilnius.

Yesterday, we travelled for hours upon hours upon hours to get to Vilnius, Lithuania.

Which is pretty much the entire tour in a nutshell.

Anyway, on the way there, I managed to get myself lost for half an hour in the smallest town on Earth.

Vilnius is a nice enough city. Not much that's really special about it that I've found so far.

That's all there is to report in so far.

Word of the Day: Nutshell

Hits and misses.

I thought the following post had accidentally been deleted, and that it was for the better, as it was a bit emo and not very good. However, owing to the fact that I can't be bothered retyping/editing, and also to the fact that it's ok, I'm going to post anyway. So I'm going back on my decision to go back. Yeah. It starts now!
_____________________

Doing stuff in Warsaw, having deepish chats at the hotel bar, going for a walk in the Warsaw thunderstorm, it's all been good fun.

For some reason, right now, I just want to go home. Or at least, Hong Kong.

I think it has something to do with the fact that doing the same thing every day, with the same people, brings out all the nuts from the bolts. Some people I'm starting to get sick of, although they're quite few and far between.

I'm also starting to miss seeing old friends. People that understand me, I understand them, etc. Same goes with family. Meeting new people has been amazing. Some of these people are fantastic individuals, and I'm glad and grateful to have met them, and will definitely keep in touch with after the trip. However, some people have started to grate on my nerves a little on a part-time basis. But whatever. It's just a couple of weeks, and it's almost over anyway. It's also good for practicing patience and diplomacy.

So in a sense, because of this duality, the good people and the getting on my nerves people, I'll be both sad and relieved when this trip ends.

Anyway, it's not all been doom and gloom. In between breakfast yesterday morning and walking in the thunderstorm last night (craziest thing I've done in a while - not that I really do a lot of crazy things), we managed to fit in a Chopin concert in a Warsaw park.

It was the most beautiful moment on this trip so far. Amazing how we visit death camps etc, and the thing that makes me most emotional is some Chopin in the park.

Right at the start, I actually semi-cried. I believe it was this piece:

The piece that almost made me cry.

Just everything together - the park, learning about the Holocaust, the thinking about relationships, missing home, the beauty of the music. It had a wonderful ability to speak about both yearning, hope, and sadness.

It sounds cheesy, but it just made me wish I had a special someone to share the moment with, and really highlighted for me the major thing lacking in my life right now.

It also highlighted how despite man's propensity for killing each other, we are also capable of indescribable beauty. Music speaks, and when it does, it's in a universal language.

After that piece, I just settled into a sort of melancholy, reflective torpor, rather than acute sadness and yearning.

A break from all that faux-deep stuff now. Warsaw city is pretty ugly to be honest. However, the heart of the city, where the Old City is, is quite nice. Reminded me of Venice a little bit.

Anyway, should be ok by tomorrow. Just need to get some alone time for a few minutes at the bar or something.
__________

So after typing that load of drivel, Sam subsequently picked me up from sitting in the lobby by myself like a loser, and semi-conscripted me into shopping with him, tall Meg, and Scarlett. It was kind of what I really needed at that moment, despite my desire to not talk to anyone for a bit. Cheers Sam.

So right now, I'm in Bialystock, which apparently is in Poland. I pretty much know nothing about it apart from that.

And as predicted yesterday, I'm pretty much ok now. I no longer have a burning desire to get away. I've decided not to let people who are attempting to grate on my nerves to actually do it, which has pretty much solved that particular issue.

So off to Lithuania tomorrow. I almost have no idea what that country involves, which should be interesting.

Word of the Day: Faux

The cow finally cracked.

Yesterday was completely insane and off the hook. Stick with me through my rollercoaster of a narrative, my sine graph of a story, my turbulent tale.

So I woke up in the morning, as I do on most days, when I'm being bombarded for Louise's number. I don't have it, so I'm all 'What's going on?' What was going on was that she had been hospitalised during the night. Naturally, I was a tad worried.

My worry eased somewhat an hour or so later when we were told she was more or less all good. My anxiety didn't fully abate however, and where should we be going but to two of the most depressing places on Earth: Auschwitz and Birkenau.

Auschwitz and Birkenau were both quite sad. Auschwitz focused quite heavily on volume: masses of people, masses of shoes, masses of hair. I thought it was a lot more museum-y than Birkenau, and thus wasn't as effective.

Birkenau was hot, big, and more or less in its original state. I think it was quite fitting that the weather was physically draining, as we got a taste of how it must have felt to labour there. I thought it was much more evocative and emotional.

To more or less cap off quite a turbulent day, we were reunited with Louise prior to dinner, which made me simultaneously relieved and glad.

On the way to the restaurant, I spontaneously jumped on an open top bus/taxi/golf cart in the middle of the road that the girls had hired at the hotel. As one does in Poland. Fun times.

At dinner, I was on a table with Louise, Sam and Scarlett. Quite top people all. Had some good chats and stuff.

Following dinner, street magic with Sam, and talks with Karen and Louise, we of course caught one of the kamikaze karts back to the hotel. My favourite part of sitting on the back of those things (I'm pretty much a back-sitting veteran) is the awkward eye contact you get with the people in the cars behind us. Greatest experience of my life.

Afterwards (hey, we have really short and boring days here), we played a bit of cheat with a mass of people, which is always fun.

After that (yeah, it goes on), Sam and I had a good chat-fest. I love those. He's also quite a good bloke.

So absolutely atrocious and slightly distressing morning, depressing and reflective arvo, more or less brilliant night.

And that's Krakow wrapped up.

Word of the Day: Distressing

Krakow/Cracow/Crack Cow + van Persie.

Last night, I went drinking in Krakow. It sounds intense, and it probably was. Had a good beery, and went back home. Yeah, intense.

Today, we did a walking tour of Krakow, which I enjoyed immensely. It's a pretty, lively, and small city, full of stuff to see, do, and buy, all at immensely reasonable prices. So we wandered around, did a few mosques, Schindler's factory, and ended the day by buying a heap of stuff.

Today also made me realise that most people on this tour are essentially pretty cool people.

As of yet, I haven't had a massive Holocaust horror moment, which I guess is good and bad. I do, however, fully expect Auschwitz tomorrow to be pretty full on, both positively and negatively.

Looking forward to it.

Also, van Persie.

I cannot believe it. That's pretty much the zillionth captain to leave Arsenal now. I was always a bit doubtful about his character, as everything he said seemed a bit too PR, but now it's plain for all to see it's all about money.

The club has signed two quality players already, with more probably set to follow. What else could he want in the club's future except for higher wages?

Whatever. We'll move on. Cesc was much more fundamental to the whole functioning of the team, and we managed to cope without him (albeit labouriously at times). We've already signed two quality strikers who are now looking like van Persie's replacements. We're much more on the ball, so to speak, than the last transfer window.

I say sell him. To Man City, whatever. It doesn't even matter. He's a couple of seasons away from being on the decline. If they're willing to pay a zillion pounds for him, go for it I say.

However, I won't pretend I'm not very disappointed, and a little bit sad. He was a good player, a good captain, and scintillating to watch last season. Yes, he pretty much only performed for one full season, but the technique and beauty was always there. When all is said and done, it's still a shame that we couldn't hang on to him. But in Arsene we trust.

Word of the Day: Cow

Eine kleine Berliner gutentag.

I really liked Berlin. It was a smooth, smooth city.

The greatest thing about the city is that basically everything important in the 20th century happened there. The more astute of you would know that I really dig 20th century history. So yeah, good city.

Last night, we managed to find an awesome rooftop bar called Solar.

It was fair good, in that you could talk, and you had an amazing view of Berlin at night. Had a few rums and cokes, and whatnot.

I left slightly earlier than intended, as Caitlin wanted to leave, and one does not simply let a girl walk home by herself, especially in a foreign city. Kind of wanted to go anyway, so no worries.

On a slightly related note, I've rediscovered that I get jealous exceedingly easily.

So I'm now in Cracow/Krakow, chilling with my food and people in stuff.

Word of the Day: Exceedingly

Florence again + Berlan.

On Saturday, I re-visited Florence with uni.

Walking around a foreign city with three friends is actually quite a fun experience. Despite my tone of surprise, I wasn't surprised, if that makes sense.

When I began writing this post, I was on about 2 hours of sleep, so pardon any ridiculousness that I wrote/write. Or don't. I really couldn't care less.

I think, out of all the Italian cities, Florence is the one I like the most. If you want to go to touristy places, you can do so. If you choose not to, you can also just wander the streets for a few hours, and find a myriad of interesting things to see/do/not do.

After getting "lost" and catching the later train than everyone else, us four (being Louise, Jamie, Lucy, and surprisingly, I) got back to the hotel about half an hour after everyone else.

I headed to bed, and couldn't sleep for what I think was three hours. Then had really stoppy starty sleep.

The next morning (being yesterday morning), I thought it was because of the heat and the early sleep time/wake time. In hindsight, I think it may have been me thinking about things and not being able to sleep my brain.

Same thing happened this morning, but you don't really care about that.

Anyway, back to yesterday.

We broke into a concentration camp in Fossoli (as one does), then continued bussing our way to Milano.

Milano was fairly boring, especially as I had been there before, but having a guided tour by the architect of the memorial he was building at the train station was excellent. It would have been cool even if I wasn't doing this unit, because we gained an insight into his thinking and planning processes.

After dinner, we jetted off to Berlin, from whence I am slightly tiredly typing this.

It's a lovely city, from what I've seen so far, and I'm looking forward to exploring it further.

Word of the Day: Pardon

Of idiocy and beauty in Florence, and travelling with uni.

This morning, I did something that was simultaneously fun and ridiculously stupid in Florence.

In the words of Boromir, it was folly.

I was going to have a nice quiet one, visiting the statue of David, and not visit the Duomo, because I figured it would be much the same as every other Duomo. Also, I had slept about four hours because the Italian people partake in traditional car honking celebrations after their team wins a football match.

Of course, I ended up at the Duomo, and not seeing David.

Why?

The line for David was just not moving. Because I am an ultra-patient person, I left after 10 minutes of queue inaction.

I went to the Duomo, expecting maybe just to walk around inside, take a few good photos of stained glass and whatnot, and go home.

What I ended up doing was scaling a bazillion stairs, not knowing where it would stop, because I had no idea what people generally did at that place.

What people generally did was climb to the top of the place. By climbing the aforementioned one zillion steps.

The view at the top, however, made the trip almost worth it.

(I'll upload a pic a bit later maybe)

Truly breathtaking.

The way down wasn't as bad as expected either.

So after that, long story short, I more or less stumbled towards Prato and uni people.

So we haven't done much so far, except for wandering around Prato. The two people I was wandering with, Jamie (Melbourne High old boy - saw it from a mile away - seriously) and Louise, were quite swell, and the wandering was fairly good bonding time. Met a few more cool people at dinner, which was all good, and I look forward to doing more of the same over the next few days. Off to a good start already. Not that I expected anything less.

Word of the Day: Folly

Thank-you, KIG.

So of course, my last train ride (I think/hope) of this journey is delayed by an hour-and-a-half or something. And, of course, no announcements in English to tell me, or any non-Italian speakers (because I’m not selfish and all that) what’s going on. Thankfully, a nice girl who spoke both Italian and English fairly well (well, I assume she spoke Italian fluently – I’d obviously have no idea) kept me up to date and stuff. Thank-you, kindly Italian girl, even though you’ll probably never read this. Without you, I might still be stuck on Platform 10 or whatever it was, trying to figure out how to say “I don’t know what the hell’s going on, please help” in Italian.  

While on said train, I watched/listened to the football with a whole trainload of Italians (obviously). Absolutely hilarious and enlightening experience (the only positive to come out of the whole delay). From 20 years old to 80, the people were equally passionate, crowding around the few streaming iPads, exalting in the two goals at staggered intervals (one of the streams were about 2 minutes behind the other). They were absolutely loving it, especially the aforementioned kind Italian girl, who kept calling someone and asking for the score. Made me think that the only reason they were upset at the delayed train was because they were missing out on the game.

One of those weird, impromptu, interesting, money-can't-buy experiences. Some of the best experiences. I love them. More so when they happen not because of a delayed train.

Now, because Italy's thrashed Germany at the Euros, they are partaking in their traditional post-football-match-victory celebration, which sounds suspiciously like the honking of car horns. This is at midnight. About three hours after the victory. And it seems to get louder and louder.

Anyway, tomorrow afternoon, I'll join up with uni. On the one hand, I'm very, very relieved to have someone else look after the planning and talking and stuff. I'm so far over all that it's not even funny. On the other hand, I'll have to meet new people.

Actually, that's quite good. What am I even talking about?

Also, I wish Germany would've won. I like Germany. Most in-depth football commentary ever.

Word of the Day: Honking  

Venetian decadence + Rome-ing

So yeah, Milan, didn’t manage to do a whole lot there. Basically saw the Duomo, got lost on the way back, found my way back to the hotel eventually, then left the next morning for Venice.

Venice was quite nice. The architecture, the wateriness, and music, and all that was lovely.

The prices of things, however, were definitely not nice. Certainly not for the faint-hearted/poor. Patrick  shouted me, to repay my shouting of the Bordeaux dinner, what is, if not the most expensive coffee in the world, the most expensive coffee I've ever had. 5,80 euro (they use commas instead of decimal points over there, dontcha know - culcha) for the live music charge (there was live music played - it worked out to be about a euro a song), plus about 9 euro for the coffee itself. It did, however, come with complimentary chips and water. And they did play 'La Vie En Rose'. You know, that song by Rachael Leachar (lololol I just mocked mX readers). Yippee. Cheers Paddy.

Also, everything there seemed really manufactured. Even the skies the next morning when we were leaving looked manufactured, and they were to a certain extent. They had those planes spraying white lines in the perfectly clear blue skies.

Everything seemed to exist purely to suck money away from tourists. There were very few, if any, organic sort of businesses that exist to serve the needs of everyday citizens. This may be because there are very few ordinary everyday citizens. I don’t think I saw any locals apart from those sucking money from tourists. A very nice place on the surface, but quite cynical underneath I think.

So as I write this up, I’m sitting in the hotel lobby of my hotel in Rome. A very nice hotel, but a relative age away from anything worthwhile.

I don’t want to sound like I’m Rome-bashing, but there doesn’t seem to be a whole lot here, despite its size. It’s much the same as everywhere else, except less good. The tourist attractions (Colosseum, Trevi Fountain, Spanish Steps) were nice, but the city itself, by and large, is not very beautiful. It’s a bit run-down and old, crowded and busy (especially the trains. Can you believe they have two train lines to service the entire city? Bizarre).

The highlight for me was probably Vatican City. A very nice place, and it had a great ambience to it.

The weather was also really hot. It’s only 30-odd degrees, but it’s sweltering from about 9am in the morning, right through to God knows when at night. I think it seems hotter because during the Melbourne summer, it usually only starts to really heat up at around midday, rather than pre-breakfast.

So now I am a nice shade of brown, and I travel to Florence in the few hours. Kind of wish I’d made the train earlier.

Word of the Day: Organic

Leaving Paris + Bordeaux good times.

As I write this, we are in a car in Bordeaux, rocketing towards the biggest sand dune in Europe, and apparently a beach as well.

While I enjoyed my time in Paris, especially towards when we left the place, Bordeaux has been nothing short of amazing.

First, the Boyé family, with whom I have been staying, have welcomed me with, quite literally, hugs and kisses, and, somewhat contradictingly, with open arms. They have been amazing tour guides, hosts, and friends, and I could not have asked more of my stay in Bordeaux.

The Boyé family minus Marie and Simon. Great people (including the missing ones).

Second, the city itself is amazing. The architecture is beautiful, and amazingly unified, kind of like Bath in England. Matthieu has been kind enough to give me a tour of the place by both night and day. Very charming city.

By day.

By night.

The people also seem to be quite a bit friendlier than those in Paris, despite me being a minor minority here.

Visiting the countryside was interesting, despite it being more or less as expected - that is, full of wineries.

-------

So a bit of time-lapse magic, and I'm now on the train from Milan to Venice. A bit about that later.

Back to where we started, and then a bit after.

We scaled the epic sand dune, known as the Dune de Pilat. Going up was ok, because there were stairs. Going down to the other side was also ok, because it was just sliding down sand.

Coming back up the sandy side was absolute hell. Walking up a steep mountain of loose sand for what I think was 1km was just slightly exhausting. I was extremely pleasantly surprised when my legs didn't hurt one bit the day after. Must be the magic in the water.

The water that I fell into after wading in and tripping on a submerged rock.

Despite the physical pain of both the climb and the fall, a fun time was had, and it was beautiful there. An amazing experience that money probably can't buy.

Me on the top of Dune du Pilat.

While Matthieu and I trekked back up the dune, he imparted some of his many fun facts on me, which he had been doing during the whole stay, some of which include:
- French people enjoy breaking rules, and Germans will hate you for it;
- the two important elements in how good a wine is are the earth, and the year in which it was made;
- life without coffee is not really a life a all;
- people in Madagascar are very resourceful;
- the wealth of Bordeaux is built on both slavery and wine;
- colonialism was bad;
- despite his frequent disregard for timeliness, his children are puzzlingly continually concerned about the issue of punctuality.

Anyway. Enough of that. After trekking back up and down, we proceeded to Arcachon (driving, thankfully), a nice beachside town. We had dinner while watching the sunset, which was quite a perfect last night in Bordeaux.

So now I'm on the train to Venice, still missing Bordeaux.

I did pretty much nothing in Milano except visit the duomo, and managing to get myself lost. The duomo was nice, as was the hotel. Yeah, end commentary.

So Paris, my favourite places were the Louvre, and the Luxembourg Gardens. The Louvre was amazing for what was in it as well as the architecture. The Gardens were very serene, beautiful, and relatively people-free. I also quite liked Versailles, although I thought it would be bigger.

In Bordeaux, I'm fairly certain my favourite part was everything. Just sitting around and eating, shooting the breeze, sightseeing with The Best Tour Guides Ever, and experiencing how people actually lived in a non-Paris part of France.

I don't mind Paris, but I definitely love Bordeaux.

Word of the day: Dune

What she order, fish fillet?

The more astute of you will have picked up from the title that I am blogging from Paris.

Paris, the city of romance, beauty, art, fashion, French, and incredible rudeness.

To be sure, it is a nice city (no idea why I'm coming over all Irish and stuff). It's beautiful, in fact. Well, the good parts are anyway.

But it's like kind of like a gorgeous girl who knows she's gorgeous, and acts accordingly. Externally, architecturally, and artistically, it is probably close to being without compare. It has a kind of beauty that cannot be matched by anything made by modern man. The level of care, meticulous attention to detail, and scale of many things in this city are amazing.

For this reason, it would be one of the greatest cities ever. However, there's one thing that severely, severely lets it down.

Yes, the people. I know, I know, people say it's exaggerated, and they're not that bad.

From what I have seen and experienced, it is that bad.

First day I got there, I ordered a fillet o fish at Maccas. The attitude of the guy, who knew very clearly that I was speaking English, was one of "Oh my god, this guy speaks English. Why do people have to speak English?". He sighed, and proceeded to speak in French with sign language. He was about 16 or 17 years of age. Surely he knows rudimentary English?

The next day, at the Eiffel Tower, the security dude started speaking to me in Chinese. Bad Chinese, because he wasn't actually Chinese. Not that I would have understood. Which is my point exactly.

However, although it was unnecessary, as the question I was being asked was not being asked of anyone else there, it was sort of understandable, so we'll let that one slide.

Other stuff happened in between, but I've forgotten now. Anyway, that night, we went to buy something at the supermarket. Assistant was all friendly and chummy with her French mate, then threw our stuff on the counter and got us to bag it ourselves. The difference is quite startling.

Today, I tried to put credit on my phone. The woman could speak English, knew full well that I spoke English, and still spoke very angry and frustrated French with me.

A bit later, I got laughed at the bakery because I spoke English. Once again, they knew I spoke English, and still insisted on speaking French with me.

I hate to stereotype, but most of the positive experiences with French customer service has come from black people. The taxi driver who drove us on the first day, very well spoken and very happy. The guy in the phone store today, who explained things to me in English after ascertaining that I didn't speak French. Another phone store guy today, who after not understanding me initially, got me to speak slower, and gave me directions.

The worst seem to be guys and middle-aged women. Most of them act as though you go into their store asking for money or something.

Anyway, I don't want to turn this into a Paris hate-fest. Again, it is a very nice city. While public transport is quite old and in need of sprucing up, it is very efficient and convenient.

While we did the Eiffel Tower, the Musee D'Orsay, the Arc de Triomphe and Notre Dame yesterday, I enjoyed today much more. We went to the Louvre and the Luxembourg Gardens, and I went to Sacre-Coeur by myself today.

The Louvre has been my favourite so far. Absolutely amazing place. The building itself is a work of art comparable to the masterpieces that it contains. While waiting in line for an hour (because we got there at 8 in the morning), we started talking to these Canadians who were quite cool and nice. In hindsight, a good start to the day, and pretty much set the tone.

The Luxembourg Gardens come a close second. Beautifully natural, and lacking in massive crowds.


The Sacre-Coeur also had no lines. While inside, there was this moment that I would've loved to have captured on camera, but was forbidden by the no photography signs. Well, I could've, but disrespect and all that.


Anyway, it was the sun streaming in from the windows at the top, and it looked like sunlight that filters through a gap in the clouds sometimes. Beautiful. 


Speaking of lines, they're ridiculous. Everywhere. Which is also another annoying aspect. 


Backtracking a bit to London and England. 


People over there were more or less quite friendly and nice. Although quite a few of them started speaking Chinese and Japanese to me, or speaking English to me as if I were a three-year-old, it's not entirely unexpected when most of the Asians I saw (which were few and far between) were international students or tourists. 


The first day we got there, we pretty much only went to Emirate Stadium.

What an amazing stadium. Aesthetically beautiful, and so grand.

The coolest thing happened there as well. We were trying to get in an do the stadium tour, when the guy was like, "Sorry, the Legends Tour is about to start, so you'll have to come back at 1:30."

Charlie George, the legendary Charlie George, stood up for us, being all like "Oh, let them through." Then started conversing with us about where we came from, and how the football there was progressing. Apparently he'd played at some now-defunct Melbourne football club. Amazing.

What also amazed me was that the girl who sold me the Arsenal jersey actually knew about football. It's a feature that I've found with sales assistants in England. They're usually quite approachable and know what they're on about.

That night, I decided to go for a wander to London Bridge, because I thought it was the Millenium Bridge, because an alternate universe operates in my brain. Anyway, I got there, and was slightly disappointed, because there is essentially nothing there. It barely even resembles a bridge. However, it did give one a rather nice view of Tower Bridge (the good bridge). After taking some photos for a Swedish couple, I got them to do the same for me, and everyone was happy and stuff. (I later pulled this stunt off again at the Sacre-Coeur). Whilst there, I also saw the Monument, which is essentially a pole in the ground. And because London public transport is also quite efficient, I just jumped on the tube and went home.

So the next day, we went on a tour to Windsor Castle (cancelled because it was closed or something) Hampton Court Palace (because that's what they do when Windsor is closed), Bath (as distinct from bathing) and Stonehenge. Hampton Court Palace was massive and quite pretty inside and outside. Bath was stunning. The town planning restrictions - only limestone allowed in buildings - is pure genius. Stonehenge was what it is - a pile of rocks. It was absolutely freezing there too. While London was rainy, it wasn't as cold. Great tour.

We visited Buckingham Palace after the tour. Yeah, cool story.

The next day, Kenny and Cloris took us around London and efficiently and effectively took us to visit all the main London attractions. (We also visited the actual Millenium Bridge). We spent an inordinate, but very enjoyable, amount of time at Harrods, which is pretty much a museum of cool and expensive stuff.

I think Kenny worked it out to be roughly 6000 quid a pop. That's British Pounds. Not dollars. Not that 6000 dollars is exactly cheap.

Lol Harrods Wine.

A fun 'game', where we sniff different bottles (nothing suss), try and guess what we're smelling, and confirm our suspicions. Fun times.

Afterwards, Kenny and I headed to a bar to watch the football and catch up on various goings on. Overall, an awesome day. It was great having very amicable and knowledgable tour guides taking us around London town.

Tomorrow, we head to Versailles for a bit of opulent, decadent sightseeing. Should be good. 


Word of the Day: Paris

Camberwell Market + Jetting off.

Chronologically jumping all over the place here, but on Sunday, I went to Camberwell Market. I thought it'd be a good idea to share some reflections upon the event. Dunno why, but then again, do I ever?

First thing is: people there are really cool. Like, they dress, and look, cool. I guess you'd call it a little bit kooky, but it just works.

Second thing: People sell second-hand stuff for a lot there. Stupidest thing I saw there was a lady selling 2 Chinese dollars or however much it was for $180 AUD or something. Like, what the hell.

But yeah, interesting place. Might visit again one day after my trip to Europe.

Which brings me (seamlessly, I might add) to my next point.

I am leaving for Europe tomorrow. In case you're interested, I'll be trying to blog along the way, time/wi-fi/motivation permitting. Again, in case you're interested my itinerary is as follows (I'm not posting dates because a) I can't be bothered and b) you most likely don't care):

• London for three nights;
• Paris for four nights;
• Bordeaux for two nights;
• Milan for a night;
• Venice for a night;
• Rome for two nights;
• Florence for a night;
• Prato for two nights;
• Milan again for a day;
• Berlin for a night or two;
• Poland for the next week and a bit; 
• Lithuania for a night sometime during that period of time; and
• Hong Kong for three nights. 

I may have posted this previously, but whatever. Again, if you need/want anything from any of the above places, let me know soon. Like, before tomorrow afternoon.

Catch up after I get back and all that. xoxoxoxo

Word of the Day: Camberwell
 

Yeeeeeeeeah man.

Today, I acquired a copy of Usher's new album, the atrociously-titled 'Looking 4 Myself'. Somewhat more surprisingly, and despite the desecration of the English language, I duly listened to it.

It is better than his last effort. However, that means very, very little, given how poor I thought the last album was.

On this album, he's becoming progressively less Usher, and more electro-pop-trash. Despite me hoping otherwise, the sound is predominantly, and heavily electro. While at least he does it better than on the last album, I'm still not a massive fan of this new sound. They've also done this weird thing with his voice when it's in the lower register. I think they've really warped it with autotune or something. Sounds strange and not like him at all.

For some bizarre reason, and I don't know whether it's his fault, or the producers', or whoever, but two of the best songs are from the ones that aren't on the proper album - that is, the ones that are only found on the deluxe edition, or whatever it's called. Like this one:



How amazing is it?! So smoove and cool.

On the album proper, the two best songs are a toss up between this:


and this:



Leaning more towards the latter, because I think it's truly innovative, well-constructed, melodically pleasing, cool, and a little bit different. Sort of electro, but heavily RnB.

I'm putting money on him reverting to R&B next time out, because I think this predominantly electro mess - not just with respect to him, but to music in general - is going to get stale really quickly. While I wouldn't say everything sounds the same, many songs now sound very similar, and it's all getting a tad boring. I first started loving his music because of how cool it was, and how nice his voice was. The electro is starting to ruin both aspects. While I don't think it would be pragmatic or interesting at all to revert to exactly the same sound, 'Say the Words' illustrates how old and new can be melded together with very pleasing results. 

Maybe it's more wishful thinking than any true prediction. Sometimes, though, they can be one and the same thing. (So profound right?).

Word of the Day: Melodically

Surprise Song Sunday: London Calling - The Clash

London calling.

London is indeed calling. And it is a call that I have decided to answer. 

I'm off to London on Thursday. Paris follows soon after, as does Bordeaux, and various cities in Italy. After all that, I go to Berlin, Poland, and Lithuania with uni. On the way back, I visit the good old Hong Kong. 

A bit rushed, but should be great fun. 

If anybody wants anything, let me know. I shall grant it if it is in my power. If not, you could always cash me. Or we could work on a credit system. 

So yeah, I won't be here for four and a bit weeks from Thursday. So if you're looking for me then, yeah, tough. Swallow your disappointment. 

If any of you read this and feel like hanging out before Thursday, however, please buzz me. I would like to see friends before I leave for my long and arduous journey to the other side of the earth. I know most of you are in the midst of exams, but if you're not, or you don't care about exams, let me know. 

Word of the Day: Credit

  

Surprise Song Sunday: Snow (Hey Oh) - Red Hot Chili Peppers

Hey oh,

This is what I say, oh.

On a pretty irrelevant note, good luck to all those with exams. I'm sure you'll all do really well and stuff. 

Word of the Day: Snow

Surprise Song Sunday: Blame Game - Kanye West feat. John Legend

Let's play the blame game,

I love you, more.

Let's play the blame game,

for sure.

Let's call out names, names,

I hate you, more.

Let's call out names, names,

For sure. 

 Word of the Day: Blame