Terra Incognita

2007-06-10T11:34:00.000-07:00

hah. oh hey.

jalapeno ferret

2007-05-24T04:40:00.000-07:00

hi. i don't have to go to class anymore. i have a lot of papers to write.

also, ahem:

for the record, existential crisis concerning the previous post has been had. i am pulling myself back from the edge! i love it when i can take note of a change in myself exactly as it happens. yeeha.

blogs are weird.

It's going to be an interesting year

2007-05-17T04:29:00.001-07:00

Before I left home, my dad insisted that I read up on Congressman Ron Paul's weblog (thanks, Dad!). Paul, a Libertarian, is vying for presidential candidacy on the Republican ticket. Three months ago, after reading what he has to say--after hearing the way he thinks (logically! honestly! imagine!), I thought no way will he ever make real waves before he's silenced in some way or another. However, Congressman Paul is sure as hell proving me wrong. The Republicans are awfully uncomfortable with him hanging around, and it would be comical if it weren't so sickening what lengths the Fox news allegiance and co. will do to deceive, inveigle, and obfuscate:

http://www.prisonplanet.com/articles/may2007/160507rigsdebate.htm

the entire debates are available here:http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,272672,00.html

oh yeah and recent news says that members of the GOP actually want to ban Paul from further debates. I'll be honest, I don't agree with a lot of what he says (not so keen on his views about abortion), but at this point i think he's just the person to shake things up in the right way.

[disclaimer: i usually ignore politics so i apologise for any grave lapses of reason in terms of my supporting this guy.]

Just so long as I'm being all "hey go look at this", i've been poking around this site again after years of neglect: http://www.survivalafterdeath.org/

it's weird... last week i wrote a paper arguing as a hard-liner materialist about human consciousness. i handed the paper in feeling that i had really made a good point against Merlin Donald's semi-dualistic view of the mind. talking about it with someone a few hours later, it hit me that, "oh. wait. that's not necessarily what i really think about the mind at all!" I'll explain: I don't know what's the truth about consciousness/minds/souls/spirits/freedom. no one does! and yet, science relentlessly scorns "spooky" or "paranormal" properties, just as religion and much of philosophy react in abject horror to the idea that materialism might mean we are utterly mortal and without free will. I don't profess to know who's right, but I think it is beyond shameful--ESPECIALLY for the so-called scientists (neurologists/cognitivists/psychologists/biologists/etc)--that ideas and opinions are smothered for fear of their upending the way the world has been thought of up to this point (god forbid they have to toss out their personal crusades and admit they are wrong!). I'm aware that for all neurobiology can say up to this point, that every belief i have and everything i choose are bound to causal events that my experience of consciousness cannot access--and therefore when i die, that's it. When that's proven, fine, but we don't have the tools. So basically, I'm revisiting this website with intent to write about the possiblity that physics can prove that human minds continue on from the physical realm after death. I've already been given "that look" by my teacher for suggesting i might be looking into arguing for dualism, and got something along the lines of "don't write about the paranormal". I've found out this semester that it's really contentious to make claims about our lack of free will; apparently, it's even more dangerous to go the other way. Sweet.

Nothing happens in contradiction to nature, only in contradiction to what we know of it.

sleep?

2007-05-08T09:54:00.000-07:00

oh no i have 2 hours to sleep before i have to get up and pack for tasmania. also i just ate two zucchini (no lemon involved). also i mostly give up on blogging, and i'll be back in a week maybe.

damn me. daaaaamn me!

here's an unrelated photo of a fennec fox:

One Tequila, Two Tequila, Three Tequila, FEED DINGOES

2007-04-13T13:00:00.000-07:00

The past week kind of goes way beyond what I could write about it here. I went to Fraser Island with 8 friends in a giant 4WD that we christened Roxanne. The quick rundown is this:

We traveled for hours by plane/bus/shuttle to get to the hostel that organizes and runs our trip to the island. We purchase alcohol from a bottle shop and play kings until we gradually fade off into bed. I sleep in a room with Sammy, and wake up feeling pretty much refreshed. We figure out our accomodation for the next night and then troupe towards the beach at Hervey Bay for a much needed breakfast stop. After pancakes or omlette or idle chatter, it's the beach for the day. We spend our time weathering blinding sunshine and cool squalls as the tide ebbs out, watching the rain fade in and out of the distance

Back at the hostel, we shower and head to a bottle shop, where we purchase a total of 11 casks of boxed wine for our upcoming 3 days camping on the Island. (aside: in oz, boxed wine is referred to exclusively as "goon") Our takeout chinese food takes an hour longer than we expect for delivery. We finish out the night with another resoundingly ridiculous game of kings, and turn in early in anticipation of our 6am wakeup. The morning finds us delerious and hungry with nothing to comfort us (especially not the goon we're about to carry around for three days). We get briefings, we get our vehicles, we get our equiptment, we get our food. We are off to board the ferry.

{{{{and now, since i'm sick of talking in the present tense, i'm switching it up.}}}}

Zach saved our lives pretty much via his skillz at the manual-shift 4wd. We travel to Fraser on a 45-minute ferry ride, and trundle off the barge onto the sandy roadways with newly depressed tires and hopes into the sky. I won't forget that first moment when we saw the paths leading into the island; it looked like someone had turned a small steep wooden themepark rollercoaster into something that was supposed to be a road. Thankfully, it proved to be amongst the more challenging parts of maneuvering (right up there with the beach washouts and really, really deep sand to get stuck in). That first day of travel was filled with-- us, seated 4 against 4 in the back of the station-wagon-like boot of Roxanne, yelling and laughing and wincing over the ridiculous terrain of the rough road and the ridiculous lack of suspension in Roxanne's chassis (I mean, we named her Roxanne for a reason). After an apprehensive and amusing hour, we found ourselves on the shores of Lake Mackenzie. I swear to god i can still taste how the water of the lake tasted, warm and rainy as I splashed and exalted in the endless blue filtered by black carbon and white silicon. As we left, we watched a perfect rainbow creep towards us across the lake up to the beach until we were soaked by a downpour.

The ride was pretty bumpy, and we were seriously packed in, with backpacks supplementally hanging down from the storage compartment flaps above and whacking us in the face. It didn't work to capture it wish flash...

(there we go. trial and error is key.)

After Mackenzie, we happened upon this absurdly steep path up a sand dune, and ran around on the top for a while. The view of the ocean from the highest part of the dune (essentially a mountain) was beautiful. The dune stretched on forever.

Our drive on that first day on the Island ended on the highway of 75 Mile Beach. I sat in the back of the back...and that was alright with me

Roxanne's headlights lit us up at the campsite while we cooked hot dogs, chicken dogs, and grilled cheeeeeez

and the beach at night, letting the allegedly very dangerous ocean hit our feet. after an hour of watching the clouds drift in like black sentinels beneath a glowing starry sky, there wasn't much that could spook us, really.

i woke up all achy in our pitch-black tent, damp and sandy and needing to pee. i had no idea that it wasn't even 6am yet, but once i saw the sky there was no way i was crawling back into the cavelike tent. those of you who have seen me in the morning will understand best how beautiful it must have been in order to keep me from sleep.

after everyone got up and drank naaasty instant coffee, we were driving again. we stopped to see the wreck of the ship Maheno, which has been sitting on the beach since it washed ashore in 1935. It was incredible-- juxtaposed against the shiny bright beach and sky, all guts and iron bones jutting defiantly from the silty sand.

this photo was an accident:

this next was taken from the top of an outcrop called Indian Head, a tall rock that is part of the reason that the island was able to form; volcanic rock outcrops caught sand drifting down from the northern coasts of Australia. over the course of about 1,000,000 years, parabolic dunes overlapped each other down and down to the south. This particular very narrow cliff that the following picture was taken from was dizzyingly high, dropping off sharply to crashing waves on either side

(maybe this will help to show how goddam beautiful/expansive this beach was)

(a video in which kangaroo meat is discussed, sammy imitates some girl, and rachael spills her wine (surprise surprise) )

i give corinne credit...

2007-04-01T05:10:00.001-07:00

...for posting a bunch of pictures on facebook and then MORE on blogger. or the other way around. anyway, here's this for you non-facebook types: http://cornell.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2092629&l=535c2&id=412083

it's annoying cause the resolution is bad, but ah well.

Saints and Demons

2007-03-31T16:59:00.000-07:00

I went to my first footy game... opening night, Melbourne Demons ( yeah D's!!) vs. St. Kilda Saints. And, I wore a dress, got to sit in fancy box seating, had an amazing time. Grazie mille agli Signori Donazzan!! ('spesh matthew!)

Melbournians worship their footy; the MCG is the largest stadium in the world:

and some more fotos:

(brand release party at Mofo: )

(surfing, saturday night, healesville animal sanctuary, pig-dog, killer graffiti)

(the black-breasted buzzard is one of two avian species known to have an innate releasing mechanism for tool use; "see emu egg + see rock = pick up rock in mouth and slam down on emu egg to break open" sweeeeeet.)

p.s. if you read my blog, give a shout. checking my blog and discovering comments is like interweb-communication-christmas!

Garden View

2007-03-19T22:28:00.000-07:00

Hey again, blog. I have to write an essay today, so naturally I am procrastinating.

My day:

This morning saw me up at 8, running across the gardens half-asleep, to arrive 7 minutes late at my new job at a place called Garden View Cafe on Nicholson Street. 8-1 was a blur of stuff that I know will come to be second nature by about next week: sandwich-making, barista-ing, cashing on the fancy touch-screen register, squeezing through the narrow galley, trying to field orders/suggestions/jokes from my quirky coworkers. Since I am the third Rachael to be in employment there, I must now learn to respond to the calls "Upstate!" and "hey, America!" and "Grrrraahtz-ee-oh-playyy-nayy". The owner and most of the employees are Italian, so they act like a big family and yell at each other a lot. It's pretty funny. I didn't exactly get trained, so I screwed up some really interesting things, like dissembling an entire platter of carefully crafted fruit slices on it's way out for catering. Oops. In my defense, I had no food until 1pm, and not much memory of the end of my night at the bar. Needless to say, when i stumbled onto the street at 1:00 with a veggie focaccia and 70 bucks cash in tow, I was not about to trek to campus for my lecture. (OH NO. hell, i've just remembered that i washed my clothes and left all that money in them. must go investigate the state of the washing machine........... sure enough, a fifty plastered to the door. Looks alright though... yay for my brain. )

last night:

my new Australian friend Matt, who is in my cognitive psych class, took me out with him and introduced me his girlfriend and their group of friends. Success! The friends are awesome, and i had a great time. And... they HAZED me. In Australia, chugging is strictly called "skulling" (no idea why), and when someone throws a coin into your beer, you must skull immediately. Enter blackout-klepto Rachael. Today on my floor there is an ashtray with green sharpie all over it, and a plastic beer cup, presumably from the bar. For the record, I do mostly remember drawing all over that ashtray. And on my camera, i found about 15 blurry off-center pictures of my eye, really close up. Whyyyyy. (p.s. Dear Mom, Don't worry... I swear this doesn't usually happen!) But see, look, i saved one:

The days are passing quickly here, mostly because I'm happy and busy. Here are some pictures from over the last week or so:

Ashley Dancing at the Marquee Club

This possum climbed onto my shoulder that night, and it was awesome.

Our Australia Now professor, Michael Cathcart, draws australia on the board a lot. Our tattoos are very good approximations of what it looks like when he does this... and only badasses like us could sport green Michael Cathcart tats.

Pub crawl sunset (this is for sarah, even though i'm not sure if she reads my blog! )

japanese cookie snacks, "yan yans", have things like this written on them in english. other examples include: "fox: beware of lies", "rhinoceros: think big" and "panda: go for more!" i don't get it, but i'm down for pretty much anything that's delicous AND hilarious.

Big stuff coming up: thursday kayaking, saturday surfing, and yep, i am totally writing this essay tonight. temporal lobe epilepsy, memory, neuropathology, right now. yeah!

Video, Baby.

2007-03-10T23:41:00.000-08:00

Over the weekend, Sam, Zach, Ryan and I went and saw a length of the Great Ocean Road in Victoria. It was amazing. I put a bunch of photos up on facebook, but I didn't feel like figuring out facebook movie stuff, so here are a couple of short videos from the road...

Awkward Wild Koala

(I wish i had done a better job of capturing how close this dude came to falling. It was ridiculous. As we almost hear zach finishing explaining, he was braving the spindly branches cause koalas only like the young leaves (perverts!). Anyway, he was supposed to be asleep at that time of day, so maybe he was all dazed and sleepwalking. I posted a couple of pictures of him on facebook. He is my first real live koala (i think. zoo as a kindergardener? ...maybe?).)

Drive On The Left

(Oh man, this was crazy. And delightful, once i had dramamine in my system. Yay for our car! Yay for us not crashing him!)

The Lion Who Shot Back

2007-03-05T21:46:00.000-08:00

this post is going up kind of later than i intended, but i only just finally uploaded pictures after a week. As Tall As Lions played a show in Melbourne last week, and they got a night off beforehand, so we went to the final Melbourne Night Market of the summer, split a bottle of wine, and investigated the overwhelming amount of wares. The pictures don't really do justice to how vast the building that housed the market really was; it was totally packed and chaotic and awesome.

(disclaimer: the more beautiful photos are not mine, they are taken by cliff. thanks, cliff!)

after the market, we went to a couple bars and i, for one, got happily inebriated and had a great time. I went and saw the set the next day with Sammy, but unfortunately we were not allowed to bring cameras into the venue. The set was amazing, ATAL looked and sounded all perfect and luminous, and I was completely satisfied. Interested parties can refer here for audio and a long list of spring tour dates: www.myspace.com/astallaslions

In the days since, I've gone to class and stuff, I went to a new beach, and joined some friends parading around the city on a sweet pub crawl... and other than that things have been generally uneventful. Last night I went and saw a pre-screening of THE HOST, which is this unbelievable korean monster-thriller. Go see it, it's totally worth it for the monster alone.

Cheers, all!

Photo highlights, chronologically ordered

2007-02-26T23:42:00.000-08:00

Ok! Some photos at last. Here I go.

When you first arrive in a new country and don't know anyone, the following are the kind of things you might take pictures of. These are all from my first day, walking around in a jet-lagged daze: "oooooh, fern gully tree"......"omg hey does that sign say FLESH PRODUCE?" ....and then my bad-ass keycard for the Nunnery and some australian coins. Yep.

Here is the entrance to the Nunnery, the coolest hostel evar...

... and that was my top bunk, and i kept all my stuff in that alcove near the window... it was very cozy up in that corner, i kind of miss the company

look, sarah, they have my antennae here!!

I love these trees... this one really reminds me of an elephant--look at the trunk!

...and it's really big.

(yes this is blatantly taken on timer don't make fun of me i didn't have any friends yet)

Example of a tram line; this is how we get around in Melbourne without cars. Don't worry, i was very safe taking this picture; the trams don't come very often and i looked both ways.

This is the quad and the Old Arts building at Melbourne... the Uni is way beautiful. and look, it's raining! that's right, drought, goway!

Here is Sam imitating this strange statue that lives on Swanston St...

...and, "The Greatest Picture That I Have Ever Taken":

Palm trees at St. Kilda

Here is what the Nunnery did for us every weekday... the detail on that parrot was amazing for chalk, and the advice was good; ice cream at trampoline is quite yummy.

And at last, my new pad... all it has is a mattress and those flowers. Luckily, i don't require much more than that.

VB and Puggs and beaches

2007-02-22T17:24:00.000-08:00

Fun discovery of the week: when i drunk dial here, i am rambling incoherently to some unfortunate (amused?) soul back on the east coast as they are just getting up at 9 or 9:30AM. Nothing like a wasted rachael to start your day off on the right foot!

So I have a place to live now! It's pretty baller, and the girls who live there are great so far. i move in on sunday, and then, THEN i will have GLORIOUS broadband connection at my bedside always. Hooray, I will be connected to the world again! I promise lots of pictures as soon as I'm settled.

i had a really great night last night, just hanging out at this irish pub on elgin st and talking to friends and locals. it's weird, though, when all my outings end in me walking back alone across carlton gardens (save for the possums). It makes me really thankful for my ipod!

The days are kind of blurry here so far, and I guess I've spent the last few afternoons exploring the city or going to St. Kilda's beach, which gets a bad rap for the locals but which i think it very pretty. Today, though, Sam and Zach and I might try the pool, where there is much less chance of jellyfish sting. Also it's closer, and ginormous. If blogger didn't suck so much (maybe safari is the problem?) i would show you a picture of it.

108 again, dang

2007-02-17T17:55:00.000-08:00

Happy Chinese New Year! For you people at home, light incense at midnight and pray to a budda--it's good luck! So today I'm going to take kind of a break from home-hunting and go to the beach. I look like a tourist with this skin of mine, anyway.

blogger won't let me post photos for some reason. i'll try again soon. there'll be a photo extravaganza. it will be epic.

a really funny/embarrassing thing happened to me today that is kind of too good of a story not to tell. i was talking to my mom on skype and i was like hey, let's see if i can send a text message to your phone. i put in her number and sent a message, but five minutes later she still hadn't gotten it. i picked up my phone, horror rising, to see if i had sent it to the right number. and... sure enough, i got one number wrong. which means someone in the greater rochester area got a message from a random australian number, and what the message said was,

"Poop!"

as i looked at my phone, i received a message back. It said "toilet!" thank got that person has a sense of humor. so if anyone knows who 585 356 0967 is, tell them i'm really sorry.

at least my mom and i got a really good laugh out of it!

oh! possums!

2007-02-17T12:30:00.000-08:00

yep, that's spelled correctly. opossums are from somewhere else(south africa, i think). possums are australian. and CUTE. they live in Carlton Gardens across from the Nunnery, and they come out at night and hang out in the trees to eat. Here is what they look like:

...these little buggers are also my last-minute inspiration for my new url. they are called Trichosurus Vulpecula. doesn't that sound like a dinosaur name? when sam(antha) and zach and i were at the bar last night after dinner, the bartender told us that sometimes you see the possums, but that they are kind of mean and squeal at you. on the contrary, as we crossed the park, lo and behold--possums everywhere! adorable! unafraid! sam and i have decided to adopt them all and give them names, naturally. when i walked home through the park, the possums followed me and let me pet them even. it's pure superficial cupboard love, but quite delightful nonetheless.

last night i finally mangaged to sleep all the way through (thank you, beer). i still don't have a permanent place to stay, but i'm ok with that for now. all the australian students come back next week for orientation, so i bet i'll find a room with people then. either way, i'm sick of walking around searching in vain for rooms that have already been let out by the time i get there/call. i'll try harder on monday when the heat breaks. nobody likes to walk around forever in 108 degree weather (not kidding, kids. 108.)

i have to go and deal with my phone and find some water. cheers mates!

day 2

2007-02-15T09:02:00.000-08:00

I gave up the fight and collapsed into bed around 9:30 last night. Unfortunately, going to bed that early in a dorm of 12 people means lights on and off a lot, banging, talking, general disturbances.

Here is what my room looks like:

My brain, being how it is, remained in limbo between wake and sleep for a good two hours. Still, I couldn't go back to sleep after 6:30am, so i got up and found some breakfast downstairs (which is included in my $22USD nightly boarding fare), read for a little while, and headed out find coffee.

Lappy dying, off I go. I have my first meeting in about an hour at the Uni, where I will hopefully see Jess!

over the sea, tossing and turning, cast upon new shores

2007-02-14T17:27:00.000-08:00

(i wrote this yesterday, couldn't post til now)

Ok! First legit blogging session commence. First off, I'm safe and sound in Melbourne, and it is 5:45PM on Wednesday the 14th. Which means I am 16 hours ahead of all you sluggish souls back in the chilly northeast. It also means that my body thinks it is nearly 2AM. Forgive me in advance for spelling and grammar, and Happy Valentine's Day!

I am writing from a little cafe on Elizabeth St that I was directed toward for free wireless. They sort of have it; they want to charge/rob me for access. But, I'm sick of walking for now so I'm going to sit here and write until I get hungry.

Ok. I'll begin at what I think is the beginning. This is going to be a long one. I will add pictures later, which may elicit a closer read to what is probably going to be a lengthy entry. So the day before I left was Sunday. Sunday was weird... I got up early to pack and go get a bunch of last-minute stuffs, largely from the travel bins and snack aisles at kmart/tops. I LOVE THOSE TRAVEL BINS ETERNALLY. I love that traveling allows me to guiltlessly give in into my strong urge to buy all those killer tiny versions of shit I don't really need. Highlight purchases from my excursion include:

mini bodywash: caress "glowing touch"
a plastic watch with smiling, waving penguins on it (cost: $6)
mini intensive therapy lotion
those crunch asian wasabi-flavored bulk snacks

After I was mostly done packing (waiting on laundry), I did my taxes online. I include this because TurboTax is often unintentionally hilarious. See, they have you go from page to page answering Yes/No or checking boxes. Usually these pages have a theme--sometimes they don't. My favorite example is the page that asks you to check which things apply to you, and the things are(paraphrased):
- can you be claimed as a dependant last year?
- did you serve in the military last year?
-did you go blind last year?
-did you die last year?

hahaha.

I stayed up last organizing and downloading podcasts, watched an ep of x-files with Jessa, then went to sleep around 1AM.

Next morning, up early to shower and put my stuff in the car. The transition from home to rochester to JFK was pretty uneventful. I was pretty sad to leave my mom, but happy to be embarking at last. At JFK, I ate clam chowder and chatted with a kid named Alex who had just gotten off work at the McDonalds. Listened to a podcast about quantum mechanics. Grabbed a water. Boarded my plane at 4:20.

Journal entry interlude:
"It took us over an hour to leave JFK due to some repair thingy, but now we're taxiing. The air smells like burnt rubber and there was smoke around the plane a minute ago, which is disconcerting from a plane that is flying us across the country. My new friend and seatmate Chanah is reading her prayers quietly in Hebrew to calm down, so I thought I would write as some calming therapy, me style. --I just saw the most amazing airplane out my window. Bright red, covered in graffiti-style art... Quantas rocks. Chanah is also bound for Australia, cause she studies at a Jewish seminary in Sydney. Neat fact: her family practices homeopathy; we have a lot to talk about (if only I spoke Yiddish! Hah.)
It's misty out, and the sun has set now, and the shores of the City and Island look like some kind of colossal glittery sensorimotor homunculus stretching out away from my window. Parking lots, empty, lamp-lit, are eerie from high above with their spotted patterns of pooled light. I love taking off. It kind of feels like going home. You know, until I remember that Twilight Zone with John Lithgow and the creature that walks on the plane's wing and rips off the engines. eek.

Anyway, we're totally chasing the sunset, which is cool. I just took half a sleeping pill, hoping that it will keep my dreamy and so the flight will be quick."

I watched the pretty colors of the in-flight movie, marie antoinette and read a magazine, then presto, the lights of shangri-L.A. beneath me. Yay for drugs.

When I "woke up" part way through my flight from LA to Sydney, grumpy and delerious, this is what I wrote:

"Airplane Food

Ok. Let me put a disclaimer on this and say that I love airplane food, I really do. Ask Julia... that awesome dinner we had on the way to rome?...happiness! And furthermore, it's great as a little project to pass the time on a long flight. So when I was handed one of those neatly squared little boxes at 3:30AM eastern time, I thought, ok, sure, i'll wake up for this. Alas, United Airlines has a strange conception of what a vegetarian might want as a "snack" in the middle of the night: cold, unseasoned brown rice mixed with cilantro, golden raisins, green peas, and tangerine slices, all on a bed of iceberg lettuce. So now here I am sitting stuck in the middle of the middle aisle between two older women who find it hard to get up so i can go pee, miserable and sore from (barely) sleeping upright for six hours, a really annoying chant about ethiopia stuck in my head that i must have dreamed up--and I am ready to throw this tin of animal-friendly "snack" of "pilaf salad" (?!?!?!) at the nearest flight attendant's head. Whatever. Fuck. iPod in, eye mask down, I will attempt to sleep until breakfast.

Then later: After dozing for about an hour, I am shocked awake by what is unmistakenly the feel of fingers around my ankle. I'm not kidding. I wanted to believe it was just someone stretching out their feet behind me, but no, those are hands. Sweet. I squealed into my pillow and jerked my feet up. A few seconds later, a tap on my shoulder behooves me to "look under my feet, please, for a lost pair of eyeglasses." Way to go, lady, that probably should have been your first move in the search. My adrenalin is unwelcome here. I hate you right now.

The monitor on the ceiling says that it's -47 degrees celcius outside. That makes me a little happier. I love that this Boeing is a tiny little encasing of heat and oxygen and safety in a sea of icy, lifeless atmosphere. Four hundred hearts pumping away in a cocoon 35000 miles up. I wonder if I'm closer to or farther from the moon right now than I ever could be on earth? According to my baller new penguin watch, we have exactly three hours to go... I started out for australia 28 hours ago, and i've got 8 left."

Ok. I'm just going to keep transcribing from my journal. It is keeping me awake rather nicely without demanding that I actively remember.

"Hey, journal, it's Wednesday the 14th. Guess what? It was never the 13th for me! I never could have written in you on the 13th! Aiieee!! Happy Valentine's!

I'm at the departure gate in Sydney right now, about to embark on the last leg of my journey. The 14hr flight wasn't that bad, overall. Sleeping wasn't awesome, but nobody bothered me (save for ankle-lady) and the one woman I talked to was really nice. When we were getting off the plane, I talked to her sister, and she told me that her late husband was a Cornell alum! And was in DU! Crazy! Then, when I was in line for the next flight, the couple behind me asked if I was going back to the US at some point and would like their five bucks USD, as they wouldn't need it again. Why yes, thank you, delighted to take it off your hands (they refused to let me give them Australian money for it). So I talked with them for a little while, and it turns out their home is a block from the hostel I am staying at... hey, would I like a ride from them back to Melbourne? Why yes, I would love one! Hopefully you nice people are not a predacious pair of sex offenders or something!

Me right now:
window seat
legs curled up
socks, white
sweatpants, black
tshirt, grey
ipod,in
watch, on
sunglasses perched on head
hair piled on head
sun shining on me
cabin air across my skin
dirty dirty dirty
happyhappyhappy"

So that flight was quick, and I got my ride to the Nunnery, my hostel. My new friends still refused to take money from me. They gave me their address in case I needed anything. I love them! It's 30 degrees C here, so that's about 85-90F. And sunny. Yeeha!!

The Nunnery is awesome. It really used to be a nunnery, and it is beautiful, and very clean. I am staying in a dorm-style key-lock room with 11 other travelers. It's cool and dim and breezy in there. Everyone seemed really friendly in the brief minutes I talked to them before fleeing for the shower. Scrubbing off that flight felt like heaven, but I had to make it short. There is a draught in Victoria, we must conserve water! I then walked to Joe's Garage because they have wireless, and got a salad and a beer and called my mom and sent messages to people. And wrote:

"Oh my God. It smells so good here. It smells like Italy did in Tivoli or Ostia, only maybe even better! The waiter I befriended seems to have gifted me an extra Peroni, so i'm hanging out a while longer here even though my lappy died (haven't bought a plug converter thingy yet).
My life feel perfect right now. I wish i could put this day in the freezer and come back to it always. It's almost 90 here today, a warm-cozy-shiny February 14th. Lupe is on in the cafe, and they are playing the whole album. I need to buy more tank tops, a bathing suit, a dress, and sandals.

Fuck i love this album.

I want some cigarettes.

I'm totally tipsy right now. Haha. That damn salad was not enough to waylay the effects of two beers + jet lag. I am totally brave to finish this one. Go me. Hey you know what? You can't say cell phone here. It gets disdain/confusion. It's mobile. so you know.

Life is hazy right now. I feel like i'm on some kind of waystation plane of reality. Which I guess I am. It's floaty here. It aaaaall floats."

I've spent the rest of today walking around dazedly. Heading off to find some food now. Cheers!