Dying Babies

I'm really glad I spent the night at home last night. Apparently I missed out on an extravagant outing, everyone seemed like they had a really good time, but I feel much much better this morning. I'm still a bit stuffed up but the sore throat has almost disappeared. I still feel a bit weak, but a beach day should cure that!

So, two days ago I awoke in a panic to this sound:

http://birdsinbackyards.net/images/audio/corvus-coronoides.mp3

There was only one, and I swear to god I thought someone was murdering an infant. When another bird joined in, I realized that they were bird calls, and I went back to sleep after my adrenaline levels dropped a bit. The same god damn thing happened this morning, but it took me a little less time to figure out it was a bird. It is impossible to sleep in here unless you have a sound proof room, or are heavily dosed on narcotics.

Sickness Sucks

Spending the night in tonight to try and fight off the sickness. I took a three hour nap yesterday in the afternoon and then took an advil pm a couple hours later so that I could sleep through the night. I got about 12 hours of sleep (plus the three hour nap) but I still woke up with swollen lymph nodes and a viciously sore throat.

Everyone is in high spirits this evening, heading out to a bar and then to a pub with a dance floor which closes somewhere in the 3am-6am range.

I really wanted to go, but I would probably be dead tomorrow if I tried. We head out to Aboriginal camp on Sunday and it should be a crazy experience. Not going to have internet for a week so I will try and journal as much as possible, but from the sounds of it, it doesn't seem like we are going to have any free time at all (That might have been Nat just trying to scare us, but it will certainly be a tough--and hopefully rewarding--experience).

Mom, don't read this until you've had your coffee.

Seriously mom, at least a cup. Ok so here is the story:

Kelsey C has been debating whether or not to get an eyebrow pierced for approximately 3 years. She told a group of us this fact one night while we were drinking. I asked her why she hadn't ever gotten it done, and she said that everytime she goes to do it, she chickens out, then feels really relieved that she didn't do it for about two weeks or so, then thinks that she wants it again. Additionally, at the end of freshman year, one of her close friends got an eyebrow piercing and Kelsey didn't want to look like a copycat.

As we were walking home from the Museum on monday I asked her when she was going to go get it pierced (as in, whether it would be in Sydney or after we got to Brisbane. I could tell that she wanted to, but she is rather conservative so she needed a little shove in the right direction). She looked incredibly taken aback and said she didn't know, so I told her we would go look at places on tuesday. She agreed with a big smile. "So what are you getting pierced?" She asked, quite innocently.

"I dunno, I've always wanted a fang earing," I said jokingly, "But I never really thought about it too much."

"Well, you can't just go with me and watch. You have to get something pierced too!" which, sounds so convincing when it is coming from a well-mannered sweet young lady. I started to think about it.

"Maybe I'll get a really small hoop on my earlobe. One that doesn't dangle."

Fast-forward to two days later and a half-hour of wandering around questioning the authority of google map's directions, and we found ourselves at "Totally Pierced" A really swanky looking piercing parlor in the cleaned up, upscale (stereotypically homosexual) part of town.

We walked in and the gentleman who greeted us was very amicable and I explained the situation. He said that they were actually closing down on friday after 10 years of piercing, and so all of their jewelry was on sale and piercing was half price. We talked with him for a bit, and then I mentioned to Kelsey that since they were closing down on friday we should take advantage of a sale and get pierced right now.

Kelsey smiled at me. "You gonna get pierced then?"

"Of course!"

It took them about 15 minutes to sterilize everything and get it set up, then another 10 or so to go over aftercare instructions, but then we did it. Kelsey went first and it looked super intense, (I'm just glad needles don't make me squeemish) but she handled it so well I assumed that mine wouldn't hurt at all. She didn't even make a sound! It also looked REALLY good on her. It was a super small bar and the angle complemented her facial structure really well.

I went next and, surprisingly, it actually hurt a lot. But it looked even better than it had in my mind and it was half price! I couldn't get an angle on my camera that showed what it looks like straight on (the flash washes out anything in my mirror) but I got some side-angles to show you all. If anyone takes any close-up pictures where you can see it well, i will be sure to post them.

Cheers!

The Rainbow Serpent

A graffitied wall from a block near our house. Forget what the actual inscription said but something close to:

The Rainbow Serpent is the creator of all living things. Show respect.

The American's Gettin Down

Here are the photos from the club "Cargo" that we went to last weekend along with some other random nights out. They uploaded really quickly which makes me feel like you won't be able to view them on the web, so just right click and save it somewhere if you want a larger view. Thanks to Tali Morrison for all the great photos!

Kelsey C getting down with her Australian man (these are the tame ones ;-)

The ratio is a little skewed in these two. Normally there are more girls.

These are my boys. Spencer and Jack from the left. They are hillarious.

Alarm Set vs Alarm On

Yeah. Should be in class right now. Just woke up 45 minutes into the first lecture. My alarm clock has two buttons, one called alarm set--which is used to manipulate the time you want the alarm to go off--and one called alarm on. I switched "alarm set" on last night instead of "alarm on" hmmmmm. Attendence is about 50 percent of our grade here, as we don't really have any homework and only one set of tests. I'm going to wait until the first lecture finishes, and then try and sneak into the class during the break and apologize to Peter. He probably won't be too happy about it.

P.S.
Woke up with a stuffy nose and a sore throat. Who knew you could get sick in a place so warm and nice?

If Only It was Just a Dream

If only it was just a dream,
A horrible nightmare that would fade into oblivion
With the dawn of a new day.
This maze portrays a sinister chapter in the history of
Indigenous Australians. For our people it is definitely
The most feared adversary since the arrival of Captain Cook.

THE ABORIGINAL PROTECTION BOARD

Many generations of stolen babies and children unwittingly
Became pawns in a ruthless Game of life, with rules
That were based on lies and deception.

As you wander through the confines of this labyrinth,
You shall witness the atrocities our people suffered
As a result of separation.

An act classified as one of the greatest Australian
Crimes of the 20th century.

-Kevin Butler
Aboriginal artist

Today Was a Good Day

1/24/10
Today was an amazing day. It started off terrible though. I was sound asleep and this thing kept beeping. I was like..."where is that goddamn beeping noise coming from? It is so freaking annoying. Can somebody please help my find whatever is making the racket and--Oh. That's my alarm clock. It's 8 in the morning and I have to get up. fuck."

Walked into the bathroom in my usual state of morning joy and two people shot a chipper GOODMORNING at me. I didn't even hazard a death stare at them in case I accidentally set them ablaze. I heard someone laughing over the calming sound of running water leaving my body--which Katlin has so eloquently likened to an "exploding firehose" in one of our many nights of mildly intoxicated candidness. The chuckling stopped and I heard Kat explaining to my unwary foes that morning communication was oftentimes hit or miss (meaning I either hit you for being to chipper or I miss).

I realized that we didn't have lectures, but had a 2 hour self-guided tour of the Australian Museum, followed by a lunch break and then a two hour guided tour of the New South Whales Art Gallery. I was not happy about this as I figured I would be bored after an hour and my feet would hurt the entire day, but at least it meant we didn't have to leave Arundel until 9:30 as opposed to the usual 8:45.

I did my yoga and woke up and felt better, and even did some push-ups and ab work to finish off. Someone had stolen my eggs (the second time it's happened) and I was pretty frustrated, but then Kelsi V gave me her last three and I thanked her profusely. I stole someone else's egg too so I ate 4 scrambled eggs w/ cheddar and two pieces of toast. It was delicious. I then made a grilled cheese and PB n J for lunch, grabbed my $100 stipend for the next week, and jumped on the bus with food in my belly and a smile on my face.

The museum was amazing. Period. I basically spent my two hours solely in the Indigenous Australian's exhibit, which had some really cool artifacts and AMAZING artwork. I will post some of that later. It really struck me to my core. As I was taking a corner around the exhibit two double doors burst open in front of me and the sight that met my eyes produced some pretty immediate physical and emotional responses, i.e. I nearly yelled "FUCK!" and I had one foot turned to the nearest exit before my brain could comprehend and analyze the image in front of me.

Standing approximately 7 feet from me was a 12 foot dinosaur (it was a brontosaurus if my childhood obsession serves me correctly). It had the body about the size of a small cow and an 7-8 foot neck. It was moving it's head very realistically, attempting to size me up by turning sideways and moving up and down. There were a group of school children laughing their asses off at me in the other room (behind the dino) hence, why I didn't immediately scream a mouthful of profanities.

The "instructor" came running out after the dino (which I then noticed had a pair of human legs tucked into the sheath of it's hind legs) and put a hand on its chest as it started advancing towards me.

"No, no. Come back here you!" the "instructor" said into his microphone, "Back inside back inside. Sorry mate, where are you from?"

Moment of silence as my brain still tries to work out what just happened.

"Portland OR, United States."

"Ah," he says, turning around to close the doors. Then, after the door is closed I hear the mic sound above the continued laughter of the demon children, "Bloody foreigners can't handle the Australian wildlife. Typical."

I failed to see the humor in the situation. That is, until they brought the incredibly life-like dinosaur downstairs to the lobby right before we left and spent 10 minutes sneaking up on old ladies and scaring the crap out of them. That was hilarious.

We then walked over to the edge of hyde park and ate our lunches. I bought a chocolate cupcake from the very nice lady at the cafe stand nearby (I asked her for a biscuit, read:cookie, and she was about to get one for me and then said, "Wait. These aren't chocolate. You know that right. They are fruit." I was appalled. I thanked her for saving me and bought the chocolate chocolate chip cupcake with chocolate frosting, read: butter).

I then took this delicacy over to Kelsey C so that I could bribe her into telling me the details of her "Australian man" situation (if you want the details you're not going to find them here. Ask her. It took my half of a 5 dollar cupcake to learn them).

We then went to the NSW Art Gallery and had a pretty poorly done tour of colonial art. I didn't care because I know a lot about art and art history and I took my own things away from the paintings and ignored the hour of opinions she gave us in place of any sort of facts. Other people were not so happy though. (I will say the one good thing that came out of the first tour was the discussion of what makes something an artifact and what makes it art. As Brian would say: "THINK ABOUT IT."

The second half of the tour, the part about aboriginal art, was amazing. This was obviously her forte (as she was indigenous) and she told us some really great things and I really got a bigger sense of connection to the different cultures and beliefs of the different aboriginal communities around Australia.

After that I came home, went for a swim in the pool (thats three days in a row I've gone now. It is just so much easier to swim than to run, because it just too hot to run. Especially for a Seattle boy. 85 degrees with 95 percent humidity at 5 in the afternoon just doesn't do it for me) and made dinner. Dinner was delicious, and I convinced Emily (a rather shy but incredible adorable Young woman on the trip) to come have a beer with a few of us in the evening. Half the group went to a very touristy pub and apparently had an amazing time (I think most of them got home at about 5:00 this morning). But we all got a little tipsy together on a balcony before we left for our different destinations. I headed out with four of the shy girls on the trip (which are the most fun when drunk...duh) to a bar down the road which has jugs of decent beer for ten dollars. The cheapest you are going to find anywhere. They all got cocktails and I bought a pitcher for myself and we sat and talked for a couple hours until the bar closed. I got to hear lots of things from Emily! Apparently she has many many opinions on things, she just likes to never tell anyone what they are. I think the most amusing point was when I asked who the most attractive male on the trip was, and the three girls gave their opinion before Emily bursted out with "WHAT!? Uh, NO! It's obviously ... (you wanted that name didn't you? too bad).

We came back to the house and were going to watch a movie, but then Nat came down and she had a little drunk conversation with us (she is so much fun when she has had a half bottle of wine or two...or four). Kelsey fell asleep on the beanbag chair and so we woke her up and went to bed.

In the immortal words of Ice Cube: Today was a good day.

One Thousand Bursting Suns

I've had a weird day. I suppose I'm just feeling some level of homesickness, but its hard to put a finger on. I tried to write today but I just wasn't feeling prose, and my composition of poetry felt like I was trying to learn how to drive stick all over again. I managed to get one good line out of about 3 hours of work.

"I have seen the sadness of one thousand bursting suns"

Not sure what will come of it, but hopefully something better than the consipated thoughts that came of of my brain tonight.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J_sEtNrYlC4

I went for a walk and I heard this song coming out of a car as it turned the corner in front of me. It struck me because I hadn't heard it in about a year, but it brought back a weird mixture of memories and thoughts of the future to my mind. It meant so much to me in that moment that I had to go home and listen to it a few times. It was less of a cognitive realization and more of a physical connection with my emotive state. If that makes any sense to anyone.

Isn't it weird how all those chaotic little things that happen in your life just seem to make some awkward form of sense and logic sometimes? Some people call it God, some label it as chance or coincidence. Some psychologists might argue that the reason that fortuitous or deeply meaningful occurrences happen to us "randomly" is because we are emotionally predisposed to read into the meaning of things.

I'm not really sure. Probably the last one for me. I wonder if there are any heavily religious statisticians?

Two guys 10 girls and a alcohol shop

The club was amazing last night. A group of us called three taxis and all headed over there around 10:30. We weren't the center of attention, but the fact that Aukeem and I were dancing with 10 pretty ladies (and actually dancing, not just standing and moving our shoulders around) was an area of great interest and wonder by the surrounding crowd. I was soaked with sweat by the end of it, which was nice, because I worked off all the alcohol, but was bad because I essentially had a hang over at around 3 am when we got back.

We heard that Jack (the birthday boy) wasn't able to get in because they didn't accept international student ID's (I had to show my driver's licence as well, but about half the people who came in the earlier group got it with just Student ID's) and so he had a shitty night because his buddies didn't want to go to another club with him. When we heard this I (only somewhat tipsily) retrived 11 x 13 printing paper from the printing office and stole Lilia's colored pencils that she bought so we could make cards for Howard out trip leader from the Blue Mountains. We made him a big sign that covered the majority of the wall across from his door. Hopefully he'll have a better night tonight. Time for me to eat breakfast and drink some water.

Never Trust the Quiet Ones

Spent yesterday in the library doing research for my project. More on that to come. Went to a play with the group in the evening. It was really good. New phrase: "[to get] frocked up," meaning to get in fancy attire and put on make up. Improper usage (as given by our trip leader Peter) "Man I got frocked up last night. That was some frocked up shit!"

Spent the rest of last night in a bar (after a stop to the gellato place en route) with 3 or 4 people who I haven't really gotten to know to well yet. Damn. I know them well now. You should never trust the quiet ones. They always have the best stories. Meeting with Peter this afternoon to discuss my project, then going out to the shady side of town to a dance club for Jack's 21st B-day. We're gonna own the dance floor, seeing as how Aussie's dance just about as much as a group of stone cold sober 8th grade males.

Things to do this weekend:

1.) Recover from double hangover
2.) Finish researching my project
3.) Find out who I need to interview for my project
4.) Find out where the hell i'm going for my independent travel in a week and a half
5.) Have a beer on the porch at sunset

(3) Recovering Her Ring

The lunar clock floats onward,
Patiently traversing the night sky,
Like it has done for a thousand generations,
Like it will do for a thousand more.

I feel its gaze upon me
Through my open bedroom window,
The pale white reflection of a cratered sphere
Two hundred thousand miles above me
Falls
Onto my bed, and I stir
From a dream

Where you and I were together again.

I look at the space next to me, remembering,
On nights when the sky was as clear
And still as glass, how the pale blue light
Used to caress your softly freckled face,
And, sparkling like ripples in shallow water
It would cascade down your sleek hair,
Before it disappeared as shadow into
The curves of your naked body.

I truth, I know not whether I will see you
Before I wake in Dawn’s first light,
But I do know this small metal band
Cradled in my palm
As if yours were in mine
And we were one again

Will keep me close to you in mind and heart.

(2) Name: not given

Abortions will not let you forget*
Time can’t heal any wounds,
Really,
He only gives you the distance
To see yourself objectively.

Your uterus has stopped bleeding,
You’re in the kitchen rinsing dishes,
They clink, slosh, and clatter in time,
But your soft voice somehow manages
To carry itself, one soft note
Over another, into my ear,
Which lies exhausted,
On top of my pillow.

Smiles have started to creep back onto your face
Before you realize that they are there.
A supernova with its brilliant flash
Before immediate extinction.

That night when I held you,
Rocking you slowly
Until your body
Gently unfurled
From its defensive ball,

I became something bigger than I have ever been.

Writers speak of love, devotion, infatuation.
You did not teach me any of these.
You taught me how to live,
By walking with me
In the hands of Death.



*Gwendolyn Brooks, the mother 1945

(1) Words

Where do my words go when they die?
Leaving my lips do they rise,
Bubbling upward to far away places,
Before gently floating down,
In new and foreign spaces,
Settling softly on the ground
Where some unknown traveler
Might snag themselves on an unraveled
Half-completed thought or phrase,
Which I let slip from tired lips
When I was counting all the days
Left, until your ship
Comes sailing back to me.
Does this stranger suddenly
Find themselves distracted
From their extraneous life?
Are their thoughts blackened
Inexplicably by the strife
Between you and me
And the ocean in-between
Filled with fears and tears and lies?
Or is the opposite true?
Do my words immediately dive
From my mouth to their doom,
Sinking to the Earth in decay
Stagnant, unmoving, unable to sway
Anyone in anything?
Is there no one but me
That can feel the sweet sting
Of my love for you glean
The last bit of happiness from my day?

Ah, but either way,
Whether they float or fall away
It does not matter, for I
Commit them to this page each night
With the hope that one day you just might
See them, hear them, feel them despite
The fact that I have taken flight.

Submissions to the Lit Review

I am submitting three poems to the lit review--maybe four once I edit The City Walker a bit. I'll put them up after this post. Feel free to comment on them or just email me and tell me what you think.

Today is my free day. I am supposed to be working on my independent project, but everyone else is going to the beach, and I have more important things to take care of. I have to skype my parents because I haven't talked with them yet (every time I get done with classes and dinner its about 1-2 am their time), I have to go get some groceries because I have been mooching off other people for the past week now, and I'm finally going to go get my hair cut. A few people have told me over the years that they would stop being my friend if I ever cut my hair short. Time to put it to the test I guess.

The Choice Pictures

The fridge the night before the day hike. That's about half.

Myspacin' it

Look at the pleasure on Kat's face.

And again!

Kat w/ her kangaroo ears on.

My badass sunglasses (courtesy of Aukeem).

Kelsey made a new friend. His name was Rex. He didn't like anyone but her.

Sydney sunset (courtesy of Aukeem)

Muh boies

The view from the lookout at the eco lodge

The three sisters

These are the bastards that wake me up every morning. They are pretty though.

I don't remember taking this picture....surprising.

These are in a surprisingly high number of places.

Feeding the birds at the eco lodge

Zoo Day

Ok, so I took like...30 pictures of snakes because they have about 50 tanks in the zoo. I didn't upload any so I would ease my mother's heart, but this is the type that we saw on the trail to the water hole at the caves. Just to give you guys an idea of what we saw.

This is what these guys do most of the day.