http://www.waynekrause.com/
Just in case you guys are interested. This is the website for the Uncle who ran our camp.
Monday, February 15, 2010
Work in progress: Title suggestions appreciated.
As I watched Zeus’s blowtorch
Ignite the night sky,
Planted on that deck where
Sweat dripped from my neck
To my bare, bony, feet,
I could feel the sweet aching of a
Snaking memory floating up,
Coating my throat
As I choked myself with tears,
In remembrance
Of those years
We spent together.
I remembered one such night
When you held me out of fright
And I told you the light and sound crashing down
Around us was just
A celebration of the spirits.
You cried softly for your mother.
I thought then that I had lied
To quell the rising tide
Of a child’s wild imagination
And the fear it brings,
But as my old eucalypt chair creaks
And swings with the spiraling wind
That wrestles its way through the trees,
I can hear your spirit sing.
And I see you dance and twirl among the clouds
As you prance and swirl
Across a pitch-dark summer sky.
Ignite the night sky,
Planted on that deck where
Sweat dripped from my neck
To my bare, bony, feet,
I could feel the sweet aching of a
Snaking memory floating up,
Coating my throat
As I choked myself with tears,
In remembrance
Of those years
We spent together.
I remembered one such night
When you held me out of fright
And I told you the light and sound crashing down
Around us was just
A celebration of the spirits.
You cried softly for your mother.
I thought then that I had lied
To quell the rising tide
Of a child’s wild imagination
And the fear it brings,
But as my old eucalypt chair creaks
And swings with the spiraling wind
That wrestles its way through the trees,
I can hear your spirit sing.
And I see you dance and twirl among the clouds
As you prance and swirl
Across a pitch-dark summer sky.
Sunday, February 14, 2010
Dirty Jokes
I love my little homestay brother. We just spent an hour before bed just telling jokes to one another. His uncle has told him a bunch of dirty jokes that made me burst out laughing and when we went off to bed he was singing "tik tok" by Ke$ha. This has been the "American Jam" that we request at all of the clubs we go dancing at. The first time this happened the dj said "I hate you bloody American's, this ones for you:"
(in case you don't know what it sounds like here is a link):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vP_nlrfxpfM&feature=PlayList&p=4A3CAFA298B58DBD&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=13
Basically the little dude rocks.
(in case you don't know what it sounds like here is a link):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vP_nlrfxpfM&feature=PlayList&p=4A3CAFA298B58DBD&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=13
Basically the little dude rocks.
Saturday, February 13, 2010
Homestay
Ok. My family is AWESOME. I’ve got two brothers, Tommy and Sam. Sam is 11 and super athletic. Tommy is 13, sulky and very much a 7th grader. Last night Tom was reluctant to show me anything, to talk with me, or generally connect in any way. I went to a debate that his school (k-12) was in with another school. They are rivals. I have never seen anyone get so heated over a debate. Every grade 8+ was debating, with two or three different teams per grade. I watched his friends debate (he’s on the team but wasn’t debating that night) and they were quite articulate for 12-13 year olds. They didn’t really synch their ideas together that well, but they were articulate and presented some complex ideas for kids that age. The subject of their debate was: “Would we be better off as a society without reality television?” It was funny to hear pre-pubescent 12 year olds talking, in grown up language but incredibly childlike voices, about what the youth of Australia should and shouldn’t be exposed to. One kid who was 4’9’’ at best was infuriated that television would expose such levels of drugs and sex to the countries youth. Despicable I believe he called it.
The senior debate was crazy. It was in, I kid you not, “The Great Hall” which was a medium chapel-sized hall. It held about 300 people, and about 500 managed to pack in and around it. The pre-game ceremonies included flag-waving, war cries, chanting, stomping an all around ruckus. I can deal with that on a soccer pitch, but if I had to get up and talk in front of people after that I would probably piss myself on stage.
Tommy continued to sulk throughout the night, but in the morning we began to bond. I started giving him a hard time, and I sat and farted on Sam after breakfast. Tom thought that was great fun. P.S., Sam and I bonded immediately. He’s a live wire with a foul mouth and an incredibly mischievous smile.
Tom then unveiled his talents to me. He can build anything. Well, anything that blows up or destroys stuff. He created a marble-launching gun out of a 20 oz coke bottle, a meter of pvc pipe, a bike pump, and a metal tube with a lever that opens and closes it. Pictures will come later. We shot shit. For about an hour and a half we just destroyed boxes and trees and whatever we could shoot without Matthew and Donna or the neighbors hearing. It was great. He also made a crossbow out of Knex. It will give you a giant welt if you get hit by it and it can puncture a cardboard box.
I took the bus downtown (about 3 miles from my homestay) and did a dry run to the GED office. It’s a 20 minute busride and about a 30 minute walk (the GED office is only a mile away from my bus stop, but it’s across a busy part of town so 15 of those minutes are spent waiting at traffic lights).
I went to the city market/shopping centers (they closed an old street and just lined it with shops), and bought myself a new pair of shorts as well as a couple souvenirs for people. I came back home for dinner at five, and then I went down to the Rugby stadium with Matthew (my dad) to buy tickets for me a Sam for the night’s match (Matt and Tom have season tickets). I was going to sit with same, but Tommy wanted to sit with me when we got there, a point of pride for me. So we sat and talked about life an such for 20 min or so, then I grabbed a beer and Tom grabbed some fries, and we snuck into the 70 dollar seats next to Sam and Matthew. I had three beers for 6.30 each (a good deal in Australia, and even better at a stadium) and got drunk and watched rugby. It was another good night.
I feel a lot better now that I am with a homestay. Donna and Matt are both very nice people, and I think they appreciate my level of independence (I told them I would figure out the buses and such on my own, and I do my own dishes) but also appreciate how much I interact with the kids.
P.S. they own an xbox and have a giant-ass flatscreen plasma. How could I not interact with the kids?
Whew. I think that is a pretty good update of my travels so far. I will upload pictures/video when I can. There are some really good ones.
The senior debate was crazy. It was in, I kid you not, “The Great Hall” which was a medium chapel-sized hall. It held about 300 people, and about 500 managed to pack in and around it. The pre-game ceremonies included flag-waving, war cries, chanting, stomping an all around ruckus. I can deal with that on a soccer pitch, but if I had to get up and talk in front of people after that I would probably piss myself on stage.
Tommy continued to sulk throughout the night, but in the morning we began to bond. I started giving him a hard time, and I sat and farted on Sam after breakfast. Tom thought that was great fun. P.S., Sam and I bonded immediately. He’s a live wire with a foul mouth and an incredibly mischievous smile.
Tom then unveiled his talents to me. He can build anything. Well, anything that blows up or destroys stuff. He created a marble-launching gun out of a 20 oz coke bottle, a meter of pvc pipe, a bike pump, and a metal tube with a lever that opens and closes it. Pictures will come later. We shot shit. For about an hour and a half we just destroyed boxes and trees and whatever we could shoot without Matthew and Donna or the neighbors hearing. It was great. He also made a crossbow out of Knex. It will give you a giant welt if you get hit by it and it can puncture a cardboard box.
I took the bus downtown (about 3 miles from my homestay) and did a dry run to the GED office. It’s a 20 minute busride and about a 30 minute walk (the GED office is only a mile away from my bus stop, but it’s across a busy part of town so 15 of those minutes are spent waiting at traffic lights).
I went to the city market/shopping centers (they closed an old street and just lined it with shops), and bought myself a new pair of shorts as well as a couple souvenirs for people. I came back home for dinner at five, and then I went down to the Rugby stadium with Matthew (my dad) to buy tickets for me a Sam for the night’s match (Matt and Tom have season tickets). I was going to sit with same, but Tommy wanted to sit with me when we got there, a point of pride for me. So we sat and talked about life an such for 20 min or so, then I grabbed a beer and Tom grabbed some fries, and we snuck into the 70 dollar seats next to Sam and Matthew. I had three beers for 6.30 each (a good deal in Australia, and even better at a stadium) and got drunk and watched rugby. It was another good night.
I feel a lot better now that I am with a homestay. Donna and Matt are both very nice people, and I think they appreciate my level of independence (I told them I would figure out the buses and such on my own, and I do my own dishes) but also appreciate how much I interact with the kids.
P.S. they own an xbox and have a giant-ass flatscreen plasma. How could I not interact with the kids?
Whew. I think that is a pretty good update of my travels so far. I will upload pictures/video when I can. There are some really good ones.
Brisbane
2/12/10
Took a 4 hour bus ride at the buttrack of dawn to get to Brisbane. Took a tour of the city. It was nice to reconnect with everyone. Met our homestay families. Mine was about 20 min late. It was just like getting picked up at Mother’s Place when I was little. Always one of the last ones to leave. I’ll put up photo’s later when I can get the internet speed for it.
Took a 4 hour bus ride at the buttrack of dawn to get to Brisbane. Took a tour of the city. It was nice to reconnect with everyone. Met our homestay families. Mine was about 20 min late. It was just like getting picked up at Mother’s Place when I was little. Always one of the last ones to leave. I’ll put up photo’s later when I can get the internet speed for it.
Free Surf Lesson
2/11/10
Have you ever been stung in the balls by a jellyfish? I wish I could say that I haven’t. It was not a bad sting. The jellyfish at Byron feel itchy and annoying more than anything else. We had a beach day today (which was amazing by the way, so much sun and fun in the water and I didn’t get burned, but got nice and tan [4 applications of sunscreen within a 4 hour period]), and while we were all playing in the surf the girls started complaining about getting stung. I got a few stings on my side and it felt kind of like an itchy mosquito bite. I told them to stop being such babies and to man up. I even mocked their fits of surprise when they got stung.
Then karma set it. I felt a warm tingling sensation on my upper left thigh. Like….really upper, as in, divot between the unspeakables and leg region. Then it spread. Most uncomfortable feeling I’ve had on this trip. And that includes the morning after we had unbearably spicy Thai food.
I got quiet and started to walk out of the ocean slowly. Anna asked me if I was ok. I told her the situation and she offered me her firstborn child in case I became infertile. She’s a sweet girl. I asked her if she wanted to kiss it and make it better. She told me she would prefer to give up her firstborn.
About an hour before we left, a group of girls from…..somewhere….Eastern Europe? decided that the breast quota for the beach wasn’t quite high enough, and that the beach needed to become a topless beach. We were all quite appreciative. They were right behind our group, so some of us made a few excuses to walk up the beach and take a drink of water, or throw a bottle out, or make a trip to the bathroom…..3 times.
The rest of the day was great. Kat, Laruen, and I had incredibly expensive and incredibly delicious sushi. We had a few margaritas at the cheeky monkey. I was selected for a competition even though I was minding my own business at the front table, and I was told to select a partner. I tried to decide whether Kat or Lauren would be more embarrassed if I chose them. I decided on Kat.
“I….HATE you” met me as she climbed on stage. The dj asked on member of the team to put their hands on their head. Kat did so. He then brought out the rubber hoses and balloons. I got a free surf lesson in about 20 seconds. I didn’t respond to the hostess’s comment that it “looks like you’d done that before.” Original, lady…original.
We headed back to camp and had a few beers at the pub across from our hostel. We met up with Katie and Annie and Keith and Robin, and Robin was lucky enough to FIND FIFTY DOLLARS IN THE GOD DAMN ASHTRAY. He bought us all drinks. It was a good night.
I packed up a bit and fell asleep in my clothes. I woke up at three and heard Kat and Jack and Catlin still chatting away on the hammock outside out tee-pee. I don’t know when they came to bed, but we had to get up @ 6:30 to catch our bus. None of us were pleased.
Have you ever been stung in the balls by a jellyfish? I wish I could say that I haven’t. It was not a bad sting. The jellyfish at Byron feel itchy and annoying more than anything else. We had a beach day today (which was amazing by the way, so much sun and fun in the water and I didn’t get burned, but got nice and tan [4 applications of sunscreen within a 4 hour period]), and while we were all playing in the surf the girls started complaining about getting stung. I got a few stings on my side and it felt kind of like an itchy mosquito bite. I told them to stop being such babies and to man up. I even mocked their fits of surprise when they got stung.
Then karma set it. I felt a warm tingling sensation on my upper left thigh. Like….really upper, as in, divot between the unspeakables and leg region. Then it spread. Most uncomfortable feeling I’ve had on this trip. And that includes the morning after we had unbearably spicy Thai food.
I got quiet and started to walk out of the ocean slowly. Anna asked me if I was ok. I told her the situation and she offered me her firstborn child in case I became infertile. She’s a sweet girl. I asked her if she wanted to kiss it and make it better. She told me she would prefer to give up her firstborn.
About an hour before we left, a group of girls from…..somewhere….Eastern Europe? decided that the breast quota for the beach wasn’t quite high enough, and that the beach needed to become a topless beach. We were all quite appreciative. They were right behind our group, so some of us made a few excuses to walk up the beach and take a drink of water, or throw a bottle out, or make a trip to the bathroom…..3 times.
The rest of the day was great. Kat, Laruen, and I had incredibly expensive and incredibly delicious sushi. We had a few margaritas at the cheeky monkey. I was selected for a competition even though I was minding my own business at the front table, and I was told to select a partner. I tried to decide whether Kat or Lauren would be more embarrassed if I chose them. I decided on Kat.
“I….HATE you” met me as she climbed on stage. The dj asked on member of the team to put their hands on their head. Kat did so. He then brought out the rubber hoses and balloons. I got a free surf lesson in about 20 seconds. I didn’t respond to the hostess’s comment that it “looks like you’d done that before.” Original, lady…original.
We headed back to camp and had a few beers at the pub across from our hostel. We met up with Katie and Annie and Keith and Robin, and Robin was lucky enough to FIND FIFTY DOLLARS IN THE GOD DAMN ASHTRAY. He bought us all drinks. It was a good night.
I packed up a bit and fell asleep in my clothes. I woke up at three and heard Kat and Jack and Catlin still chatting away on the hammock outside out tee-pee. I don’t know when they came to bed, but we had to get up @ 6:30 to catch our bus. None of us were pleased.
Epic Night
2/9/10
My journal got soaked today. It was on the outer perimeter of the Tee-Pee when it started to dump rain on us. I had forgotten that Catlin had lifted the rain-fly around the edge of the tp up so that we could get more airflow, and about 20 minutes into the downpour I realized that my journal, three pairs of shorts, and a couple tee-shirts got completely soaked.
I moved the wet clothes into areas where they could drip dry and I took my towel to the pages of my journal. Fortunately all the pages where I had used water-soluble ink had already been recorded on my computer.
Last night was ridiculous.
For serious.
I was planning on having mmmmm maybe two beers. 1/2 of a pitcher and then call it a night. We went to this place called cheeky monkey’s (8 dollars pitchers, best deal so far in Australia) and I bought a pitcher for me and Anna to share. Then, Kat discovered the margaritas. They came out of a slushie machine and they were 5 dollars. And they tasted great. And they had a lot of Tequila in them. And so the night began.
Cheeky monkeys was a pub/restaurant that had a two-level stage at the end of it. There were a number of booths around the side, and then three long cafeteria-style tables up front—with the stage in front of that.
We sat at one of the metal tables (the place was packed) and ate our 7 dollar meals—amazing bargains again (Anna and I split a giant bowl of fries w/ chicken tenders on top). We got intoxicated to a minor degree and laughed ourselves silly at the contests and events that occurred on the stage.
The first one involved three sets of two partners, one male one female. All of the males were given a small length of plastic hose, with a balloon attached to one end. They were instructed to place it inbetween their legs, while the female partners got to their knees. The first female to “make her man pop” (meaning to explode the balloon behind their partner) won a free surf lesson. The woman who won did it in about 30 seconds. The other two women had their balloons about 1/3 full.
The next contest was the fake orgasm contest. There were three males and three females. The girls sucked. A lot of screaming. One of the males was boring and not too into it. The first and last males were amazing.
The first one who, mind you, did not want to be selected for the challenge at all, took it to the limit. His charade involved gesticulations of the arms, legs, pelvis, and feet. His voice was evenly tempered and his chosen words were comedic, yet oddly inspiring.
The last male, Jackson, (out group had made friends with him earlier) should have won. His orgasm went something along the lines of:
“Oh yeah baby I’m gonna, wait— hold on just a second—don’t move, I’m gonna. Crap. Hold it. Just stay. AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH. Fuck. Sorry. That doesn’t normally— Do you want me too—ok yeah I know where the door is…”
Brilliant.
What was even funnier was the group of males next to our group who felt a big enough connection to Jackson to yell out “HEY! YEAH! GO DUDE!! THAT”S ME RIGHT THERE!”
Priceless.
The second to last competition was a scavenger hunt. This was not announced. They just asked for 3 males and 3 females to get to the stage. They had been announcing that there would be a dance competition in a bit, but they had been asking people to sign up. I was pretty sure that this was not the dance comp, but I wasn’t entirely sure. They needed another male. What was I going to do but volunteer?
It was pretty fun. We had to get flyers from around the bar, an empty glass, a straw, a condom to put over our hands—y’know, the basic drill. The last person back each time got eliminated. On my way down for a….straw? maybe? I dunno. On my way down from the stage for something I took the rim of a glass to the head (just above my right eye). I didn’t notice it until afterward, but it swelled up and I got a nice clean cut, about 1.5 cm long on the outside of right eye socket. I was actually kind of proud of it the next day, as Robin commented that is was “more than a little BA” (That’s ‘bad ass’ for all you old people).
The last contest of the night was a dance competition. The first round had 8 people. They danced to three or four different types of music, then four were eliminated. Same deal for the second round, and two got knocked off.
For the final round, the two finalists had to choose a partner from the audience. That partner became their stripping pole, and they had to strip for the win. The gentleman competitor was quite agile, and performed some incredible moves. He got down to his boxer briefs, and made his “pole” cry with laugher.
The female competitor, well, what happens at the cheeky monkey stays at the cheeky monkey.
They used a decibel meter to decide the winners for each round, and we had to cheer three times in order to determine a winner for the final round. The male won (50 bucks cash and a $50 bar tab) by .7 decibels (116.5 to 114.8).
Then they started the music and the LC crew did what it does best. We started a dance party. We rushed the stage and danced it out til 2 in the morning. It was a great night.
(photos to come)
My journal got soaked today. It was on the outer perimeter of the Tee-Pee when it started to dump rain on us. I had forgotten that Catlin had lifted the rain-fly around the edge of the tp up so that we could get more airflow, and about 20 minutes into the downpour I realized that my journal, three pairs of shorts, and a couple tee-shirts got completely soaked.
I moved the wet clothes into areas where they could drip dry and I took my towel to the pages of my journal. Fortunately all the pages where I had used water-soluble ink had already been recorded on my computer.
Last night was ridiculous.
For serious.
I was planning on having mmmmm maybe two beers. 1/2 of a pitcher and then call it a night. We went to this place called cheeky monkey’s (8 dollars pitchers, best deal so far in Australia) and I bought a pitcher for me and Anna to share. Then, Kat discovered the margaritas. They came out of a slushie machine and they were 5 dollars. And they tasted great. And they had a lot of Tequila in them. And so the night began.
Cheeky monkeys was a pub/restaurant that had a two-level stage at the end of it. There were a number of booths around the side, and then three long cafeteria-style tables up front—with the stage in front of that.
We sat at one of the metal tables (the place was packed) and ate our 7 dollar meals—amazing bargains again (Anna and I split a giant bowl of fries w/ chicken tenders on top). We got intoxicated to a minor degree and laughed ourselves silly at the contests and events that occurred on the stage.
The first one involved three sets of two partners, one male one female. All of the males were given a small length of plastic hose, with a balloon attached to one end. They were instructed to place it inbetween their legs, while the female partners got to their knees. The first female to “make her man pop” (meaning to explode the balloon behind their partner) won a free surf lesson. The woman who won did it in about 30 seconds. The other two women had their balloons about 1/3 full.
The next contest was the fake orgasm contest. There were three males and three females. The girls sucked. A lot of screaming. One of the males was boring and not too into it. The first and last males were amazing.
The first one who, mind you, did not want to be selected for the challenge at all, took it to the limit. His charade involved gesticulations of the arms, legs, pelvis, and feet. His voice was evenly tempered and his chosen words were comedic, yet oddly inspiring.
The last male, Jackson, (out group had made friends with him earlier) should have won. His orgasm went something along the lines of:
“Oh yeah baby I’m gonna, wait— hold on just a second—don’t move, I’m gonna. Crap. Hold it. Just stay. AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH. Fuck. Sorry. That doesn’t normally— Do you want me too—ok yeah I know where the door is…”
Brilliant.
What was even funnier was the group of males next to our group who felt a big enough connection to Jackson to yell out “HEY! YEAH! GO DUDE!! THAT”S ME RIGHT THERE!”
Priceless.
The second to last competition was a scavenger hunt. This was not announced. They just asked for 3 males and 3 females to get to the stage. They had been announcing that there would be a dance competition in a bit, but they had been asking people to sign up. I was pretty sure that this was not the dance comp, but I wasn’t entirely sure. They needed another male. What was I going to do but volunteer?
It was pretty fun. We had to get flyers from around the bar, an empty glass, a straw, a condom to put over our hands—y’know, the basic drill. The last person back each time got eliminated. On my way down for a….straw? maybe? I dunno. On my way down from the stage for something I took the rim of a glass to the head (just above my right eye). I didn’t notice it until afterward, but it swelled up and I got a nice clean cut, about 1.5 cm long on the outside of right eye socket. I was actually kind of proud of it the next day, as Robin commented that is was “more than a little BA” (That’s ‘bad ass’ for all you old people).
The last contest of the night was a dance competition. The first round had 8 people. They danced to three or four different types of music, then four were eliminated. Same deal for the second round, and two got knocked off.
For the final round, the two finalists had to choose a partner from the audience. That partner became their stripping pole, and they had to strip for the win. The gentleman competitor was quite agile, and performed some incredible moves. He got down to his boxer briefs, and made his “pole” cry with laugher.
The female competitor, well, what happens at the cheeky monkey stays at the cheeky monkey.
They used a decibel meter to decide the winners for each round, and we had to cheer three times in order to determine a winner for the final round. The male won (50 bucks cash and a $50 bar tab) by .7 decibels (116.5 to 114.8).
Then they started the music and the LC crew did what it does best. We started a dance party. We rushed the stage and danced it out til 2 in the morning. It was a great night.
(photos to come)
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