Take the Money and Run

My Australian birthday, my first away from home was great. Despite having to work all day it was a lot more than I expected, and, as it fell on a Friday, it left the whole weekend free to party. I got an array of presents which were fantastic! I never fail to be amazed at how awesome my friends are back home. This time they sent me some great gifts but the fact that so much forethought and effort was put in. Special thanks to Luke and Lauren; Fischer; Mum and Dad; Annie; Josef and Lina, Lisa; Karl; Mama Medby; Papa Medby; Leon and Priya; the rest of the Aussie crew and, of course, Ingrid! Although I didn’t get to see a lot of people it was extra-special because I got to spend it with Ingrid.

On Friday night we went for a few drinks and ended up in a pool hall. We got fairly toasted and ended up spilling kebab all over the back of the taxi, while Brandon bragged (rather loudly) about successfully putting his testicles on the pool table without getting thrown out. Nice!

On Saturday - complete with an immense hangover - Ingrid and I travelled north to Bendigo, which takes a couple of hours on the train. We headed up there for Sach and Kate’s engagement party where we got to meet the family, who, I have to say, are a great laugh! They were all so kind and welcoming, sharing their food and drink, their house and their town with us. They even bought me a cake, complete with mini footballs. Thank you SO MUCH! You can’t comprehend how lovely it was to be so far away and feel right at home with just one gesture. We had a royal piss-up on the Saturday and then got to see the town on Sunday before we headed back. It was extra-special for us because it was a very important event for our friends, but also our first time out of Melbourne. We were definitely ready and barely took our eyes off of the window of the train the entire way there. Good luck to Sach and Kate - hip hip hurrah!

I finished work yesterday. The last couple of weeks have been long and dull. It’s partly been because the end has finally been in sight and it has been quite hard for me to pick-up the pace there. Part of it has been because of how quiet the store is in general. We recently got our new season of stock that is very expensive and very hard to sell when it’s $200 just for a flimsy t-shirt. It’s also a lot tougher to sell anything when there is a lack of sizes. The mood has been fairly down at the moment but hopefully it’ll pick-up in there. In general it’s been a really positive experience. They’re all great people in that place and - whether they realise it or not - they’ve done so much to ease me in to being here. Thanks guys, I’ll miss you but I’ll see you soon enough!

Ingrid’s Pa and his girlfriend, Mona got here last Monday and it’s been really cool to hang out with them and see some friendly faces from the outside. I really enjoy spending time with them as we have great conversations, plenty of booze, and generally, just a really relaxed time and a good laugh. I feel we’ve done our best to show them around Melbourne, and oddly, I’ve surprised myself at how much it has felt like I’ve been advertising my own city. I guess it’s a sure sign that I’ve really settled in here. However, it’s time to leave for a little while now and go on holiday to Queensland. We’re flying out to Brisbane today and after a couple of days we’re thinking of driving up the Sunshine Coast to Fraser Island. We haven’t booked anything past Brisbane yet so we’ll how it goes. We’re going out for 10 days and then Ingrid and I will be back in Melbourne for probably another 10 as well before we go to the west coast for a month or so.

Thinking back over the past few months here has really got me thinking about how much (and how little) has been done. I’ve managed to get and hold a job down, make some great friends and make some money. We’ve seen Ingrid through her first year at uni (all but for one exam - I’m really proud) and I’ve managed to settle in to life across the other side of the world. However, now it’s time to uproot all that and put this time and money into travelling with my girl! It’s true that you have to make the most out of life. It’s also true that in order to get the most out of life you need to (for the best part) try hard and work hard. So my advice is to get off your arse and make sure you’re doing something with it! If you have to sit tight for the moment, then make sure when you get a chance, break free, make a choice, and enjoy it.

Listening: The Dodoz, The Grates, Frou Frou.
Reading: 'A History of Norway'.

Aw Yeah

There have been a couple of amazing nights out here over the last two weeks. Most nights out here have so far have been pretty average; enjoyable in their own way but occasionally I’m used to a manic, bender of a night, something that I’ve been missing. The first of these was a week last Monday. Sach and Kate had booked a room in the city for their own romantic evening. That afternoon they came into work to see me where I informed them of my day-off the next day. As soon as I uttered these words it was game-over: the framework was set in place and if all went well a messy, manic, drinking-bender of a night was to ensue - this was to prove the case! We met up in the city later on and hit some bars for a few casual beers. The problem was that it was TOO casual. It got to about 1am (fairly late by most peoples’ standards) and after wandering around looking for any essence of a watering-hole, we realised it was a Monday night. ‘Shit, why don’t more people want to drink on a Monday night!?’. Kate’s answer, and indeed Melbourne’s answer to this crisis was the Crown Casino! Woooo! The casino is the biggest in Australasia, and, like many casinos, pretty much as you would imagine: gambling, drinking and flashing lights. The casino floor is crazy - it was just what our night needed. I’m not a gambler myself so I didn’t bother, but the very nature of the casino means that you lose all track of time. With drinks offers on mojitos, martinis, cocktails and nothing to do but die the next day, it proved to be the craziest night I’ve had since I left home. Fantastic.

looking progressively worse as the night wore on.

The second of these nights was on Saturday. It was our work’s night out. We had accumulated a little over $1000 over the previous few weeks from making and exceeding our sales target. For a quite a while we’d debating what to do with the money. We were originally planning to go on a boat cruise on the Yarra river with some ‘fine dining’ to go along with it - free booze and an unlimited bar tab of all kinds of magical, boozey treasure, enough to give yourself a haemorrhage. This, unfortunately, didn’t work out as the waiting-list was too long so we opted to keep the fine-dining and free booze. We went to a fancy Italian restaurant with a 6 course meal (most of what I can’t remember). The night was amazing from start to finish, but I’m especially proud of having five different alcoholic beverages on the table at the same time. The one downside to the night - I had work the next morning…ouch.

In other news - I’ve taken to the idea of writing some fiction even more. My housemate Ken has put me on to a quarterly-issued young writers’ journal called ‘Voiceworks’ where - hopefully - I may be able to get published. I think the prospect of having something to write for, or at least something in mind is good encouragement to start. I’ve had a few ideas floating around up there for a while but I’ve never really put anything down on paper. I’ve jotted down a few, scattered words and ideas so hopefully I can pluck-up the nerve (and have the ability) to put something worthwhile together.

Last weekend was a little crazy to say the least. It was Leon’s birthday on Friday and it’s been a good chance to have a back-to-back piss-up into the early hours. We’ve jammed in the basement, accosted the neighbours into an impromptu street party and drank everything that’s come our way. OH, and we’ve also got a cat. She’s called ‘Fugee’ and has come to us via Ken’s friend who needed to pass her onto a nice home.

The cat; me doing...something.

The prospect of getting out of Melbourne and actually seeing Australia is growing ever nearer. Papa Medby is coming over this month and we’re definitely going travelling with him. Me and Ingrid are also going to get out of the city to the west coast for a while when she finishes in November. It’s something we’ve been discussing for a while, but only recently it’s come to my attention that it WILL happen. I’m excited at the prospect of putting on my backpack, dragging along my girlfriend and going on a drunken adventure. The way it’s worked out means that I finish work in next week. It all happened quite fast (over the course of a day or two) when I realised that my availability will suffer due to travelling. I’ve decided that it’s the right choice to make - I came here to be with Ingrid and to travel; and besides, there will always be other jobs (I hope!). I’ve worked there for three months and feel that now the opportunity to travel has come, it’s time to take it. Thanks to all the guys and gals at Miss Sixty: they’re all fantastic individuals who really have made my time here so much better and more enjoyable than I had initially thought was possible. I’ve made some great friends there, as I always hope to do along the way and I’m sure this won’t be the last we’ll see of each other.

P.S. It’s my birthday this Friday.
　
Reading: Peter Handke, ‘Short Letter, Long Farewell’.
William Burroughs, ‘Naked Lunch’.
‘Voiceworks’.
Various history books :)

Writing: short stories.

Listening: ‘The Grates’ - absolutely fantastic.