Southern Weather

The weather in Melbourne is usually pretty crazy but there has been a noticeable trend over the last few days: it's gotten cooler. Yesterday was the first day of autumn, so logic would dictate that it's getting cooler here because of that. To be honest, I really don't want to get my hopes up. I feel like it's been one hell of a long summer for me, always feeling around 10-15c too warm, so I've been looking forward, for a long time, to getting some respite. Now don't get me wrong - I don't pine for 'good old British weather' by any stretch, but somewhere in the middle would be nice.

Soundwave on Friday, on the other hand, fell on a typical, baking hot Melbourne summer's day. It'd be quite fitting if that was the last day of summer. I still stand by my choice to have worn the tightest fitting jeans I own and had an awesome time. I don't think it would've felt right if and everyone else wasn't sweating their arses off and drinking too much booze despite the solid and immediate headache it gives you at those temperatures. After standing outside in the glaring heat I didn't even burn; somethings will never cease to amaze.

Doing what I do best.

It was my first (and probably only) festival in Australia, but not much is different to Europe. What was strange was being so far from home and seeing some of the bands I've grown up listening to and never got around to (or had the chance of) seeing live. Even though they're all American, I still associate them with a feeling of home. Nonetheless, it was good to tie-up those few loose ends, and to be smug in the satisfaction that they were all as good as I always knew they would be. In total I saw a little bit or all of 12 bands: Sunny Day Real Estate, Taking Back Sunday, Motion City Soundtrack, Glassjaw, Alexisonfire, Paramore, The Get Up Kids, Jimmy Eat World, Dance Gavin Dance, The Almost and HIM. The bands I was looking most forward to seeing were Glassjaw, The Get Up Kids and The Almost, and I'd love to replay every second over and over. I didn't get many decent photos but I'll put a couple up any. The problem is, they don't really capture the moment as I was too busy partying it up to give a damn about taking photos. One thing I didn't expect was to get to see my top 3 so easily. I hardly had to push or fight to get in the midst of it. I think it's because the festival was made-up of mostly young pop-punkers and older metal-heads. I'd say my bands were the niche of the day. The youngsters haven't grown up enough yet to know about decent music and the metal heads are so old and deaf that they don't have a clue, and never did. All in all it was great and better than I expected. I got to share some of my favourite bands with the hardcore fans who know their stuff without having to deal with the excess festival-dregs. All in all, with a few beers, a sweaty crotch and an attractive Scandinavian girlfriend to make the guys drool - it was a top day!

The Get Up Kids; The Almost.

I managed to recover enough for a full Saturday of work the next day and didn't make a mess of my hangover or broken bones in front of the boss. It was fairly uneventful but it's nice to finally get some shifts in and get to know my workmates a little more. Although my interview was 2-3 weeks ago I've only just started this weekend with some proper shifts. For the next couple of weeks I'm only in for 15-25 hours, but hopefully after that I can get in for a bit longer. The simple fact is that I'm a slave to the money economy and I need all the funds I can get (as we all do). We went out to a house-party at Ingrid's friends house that night. It was fairly standard but I took it easy as I had a working day ahead of me on Sunday as well.