Remember how I said (maybe I didn't) that the hostel I'm staying in is a total hole and has no lockers to lock my things up in?
Well some fuckwit stole my laptop case (containing my laptop, ipod and my passport wallet [with passport]) from right off my bed.
Investigating it now-will let you know how it pans out.
Extremely pissed off.
-Lisha
Sunday, 2 December 2007
Friday, 30 November 2007
Anchorage, cont.
Day 2 of Anchorage.
(this will be long because I don't have much else to do other than write)
I have probably already said this but the hostel is a real hovel. The room I'm in stinks so bad-I think it is starting to get into my clothes and make me stink. In fact a lot of stuff stinks up here. Maybe the arctic air has just cleaned out my nose and made me smell it more.
For example, the place where I'm WiFi-ing from now, Kaladi Bros Cafe, has a very strong coffee smell. Kind of like a burnt coffee and something else I can't quite put my nose on. Maybe poo. Who knows, it's Alaska afterall so it could be.
The hostel seems to be run by a bunch of guys. Old guys with beards. They are nice enough but I can't quite tell who is working there and who is just hanging around/staying there. The only reason I know who the owner is, is because he is a cleanshaven asian man. The bulding is on a small street full of several similar buildings, but they are apartment blocks not hostels. So I can understand the strand set-up of Jason's. Instead of being a building with many rooms and one large common area/kitchen, he has converted the individual apartments into dorms. So there are about 4 or 5 apartment 'dorms' coming off the main set of stairs. I'm up in 5A and share a common balcony with the dorm on the other side of the stairs.
When you enter the main door you go into an area which would have been the apartment's living room. Instead this one has two bunks in it. Today there was an 80 or so yr old guy sleeping in one, other times there have been different people. Sometimes people sharing a bed. There is a small kitchenette off to the side of this with a TV and basic cooking facilities (I keep my poptarts in there!). So far, one of my two crazy roommates is slumped in the armchair in front of the TV in there. All...the...time...
It seems like they get up around 1pm, go in there and watch TV until 3am then go to sleep. I talked to one of them yesterday, she said her parents got good jobs up here so she had to come up from California with them. But where are they staying? Why are they making her pay to stay in a hostel if they have good jobs? Why couldn't she just stay in California? Too many questions...if I'm ever around her when she's sober or awake I might ask her if I'm bored enough. She must be around me age but she reminds me of a grizzly bear.
The other roommate could easily be mistaken for a man. I was a bit worried at first because I thought she was but...it's a woman. She's the same one that on my first night here, was running about until 3am either watching TV or going outside to smoke and then when I woke up around noon and was getting my stuff ready on my bed, was whingeing about me rocking the bed and to stop cos she's 'soooo dizzy' (I'm on the bunk above her).
Far out, woman, if you don't want the bed to move then sleep on the bloody floor!!! I'm not going to lie there like a mummy just because you got smashed last night and have a hangover. Especially not when you are rude to me.
The She-Male butch asked the California Grizzly for $10 last night and the Grizzly said she'd lend it to her if she went and bought her some booooooooze. Then I heard Grizzly talking on the phone this morning (as I was cooking my poptarts) to someone saying that she had $40 missing from her wallet this morning. I didn't say anything, I was just silently glad I slept with my wallet in my pillowcase last night.
Was California Grizzly too smashed to remember she told She-Male butch to go into her wallet to get the booze money? Or did She-Male butch steal her money?
I want to stay right out of it! I just wish there were somewhere to lock my bags up.
That's right-I was talking about the hostel set-up. So after the living room area and the kitchenette there is a dingy bathroom and then two rooms coming off the end of a tiny hall. 'Proper' bedrooms, I suppose. I'm in one of those. I don't know how long these crazies have been staying in here but by the looks of the shit that is in the room, I'm guessing a while. There is an open box of pregnancy tests on one of the little chest of drawers in the room. Classy!!! 'Glamour' photos in frames of a person I suppose is California Grizzly on a good day? Even still, calling them glamour photos is a gross misrepresentation. Then there's a photo of a woman in a military uniform smiling with the American flag as a backdrop. I wonder who this is...
So yeah, those are the digs I'm in. Downstairs is 'reception' (a desk with a computer) and two internet terminals then on the other side of the stairs is a lounge room of sorts and a little kitchen. There is a big screen TV but no DVD player. Which was annoying cos I went to Wal*Mart last night (looking for Yak Trax) and saw 'Anchorman:The Legend of Ron Burgundy' for $9.50 so I bought it (along with season 3 box set of McGyver!). But I just watched it on my laptop instead.
The only other people in the hostel apart from the crazies in my room and the old guys are a bunch of Brazillian kids. I have no idea what their story is though because they are always running around talking to each other in Portuguese (?). There's about 5 or 6 of them, I think?
Like I said, I went to Wal*Mart last night-it's just like Big W back home but it's freaking massive. I can't spend too long in there because it's all a bit overwhelming. I found my Yak Trax (things to wear on the bottom of my shoes so I don't fall over on the ice) and a few other bits and pieces. I went again to get a towel (couldn't be arsed asking where the one they gave me went...just as long as my one stays put!!!) and some OJ and it's been in my face for a while but the obsession with sugar over here is crazy. Jane from work told me weeks ago how her kids don't like eating Mini-Wheats anymore because the recipe has been changed to include sugar. Well, the Mini-Wheats over here are glazed with frosting. They have breakfast cereals so high in sugar it makes Froot Loops/Coco Pops from back home look like the 'healthy' option. Other weird things I've seen have been liquid butter, and in a similar vein-popcorn butter oil. I don't know if that's the exact name (I'll try to find a picture) but basically it's butter-flavoured oil that you pour over your popcorn. They have every imaginable type of beef jerky and not in those tiny little baggies that you get in Australia-they sell them by the pound. I bought a bag back in San Francisco and ate one piece and now I have to lug this big bag of jerky around with me. It's nuts.
I went into the Safeway, too. Just as nuts. Why are Americans so obsessed with sugar? They make a massive deal about their food not having Trans fats in them but it's like they can't live without sugar. You can also get Red Bull in 500mL cans here!!! They have about 10 different brands of energy drink, each with 3 or 4 different flavours. You could conceivably live off energy drinks and frosted breakfast cereals here if you really wanted to. And jerky-don't forget that all important protein!
I took a bus into Downtown today and had a walk around, went into a few different cafes. Anchorage actually isn't so bad, it's just the shithole where I'm staying that is breaking my spirit. Just wish I had a friend or something here to talk to.
Tonight is the start of the Anchorage Film Festival and there are some good looking movies I might go along and see. Tonight is the kick off at two places and one is nearby to here so I'm thinking about going. There's actually quite a bit to do in this little town (pop 225,000 approx) I just wish I didn't have to do it all solo.
I'm also carrying a large shopping bag full of kites (and my laptop) so it might be a wise idea to drop it off back at the hostel first.
There is a Barnes & Nobel that closes at 11pm nearby to the hostel too, so in effect if I got up and out early enough I could spend the day out of the hostel and only come back to sleep-therefore minimising the soul-destroying effects of the place. The sun gets up around 9am here, but the last few days I've slept til after noon. Really need to get up and going earlier. Especially if I want to get to the zoo-I should go in the next few days before the days get too short. The solstice is 3 weeks away now and the days are getting shorter by about 4min per day. Today the sun set at around 4pm? Dusk started around 3.30pm. It's weird, going outside at 1pm and seeing the sun only a few degrees up off the horizon. I haven't checked yet but I'm pretty sure it's not rising from the east (proper), too. I don't think it does a full arc of the sky, either. Just sort of slips up and over the horizon then back down around the corner.
Here are some photos from yesterday/today:
View from the hostel balcony
Let's see a close up!
Oops they are closing the cafe up. I should go soon...
One last thing I wanted to mention, when I was in the other cafe (Midnight Sun Cafe, I think?), they were playing a CD of a kind of folky band (kind of a cross between Beth Williams and The Panics?) and there was a song that came on that I really really liked, I can't say I was listening to the lyrics but something about the song just moved me. So I asked the guy who was working what the band was and he bought out a CD-it's a guy called Leeroy Stagger. I looked on the back and found the song that was just playing, it was called Saskatoon. I shit you not. I can't make this sort of stuff up! So I'll try to find the CD and buy it because I really like this guy's music.
PLUS I got the Anchorage Weekly paper and my stars said:
"When love is not madness, it is not love," said Spanish dramatist Pedro Calderon de la Barca. But according to my analysis of the astrological omens, you will dramatically disprove that notion in the coming weeks, Leo. In fact, I'm betting that love will make you stark, raving, sane. It will calm you down, heal a wound or two, improve your eyesight, help you understand yourself better, improve your digestion, and stimulate you to become more tolerant and forgiving towards the entire world."
Like I said, I can't make this sort of stuff up. That's what it said, and I was reading it while I was listening to that song I said I liked.
Leeroy Stagger-Depression River (2006)
Everything happens for a reason. It's working out that reason that makes it all worth it.
Take care,
-Lisha
(this will be long because I don't have much else to do other than write)
I have probably already said this but the hostel is a real hovel. The room I'm in stinks so bad-I think it is starting to get into my clothes and make me stink. In fact a lot of stuff stinks up here. Maybe the arctic air has just cleaned out my nose and made me smell it more.
For example, the place where I'm WiFi-ing from now, Kaladi Bros Cafe, has a very strong coffee smell. Kind of like a burnt coffee and something else I can't quite put my nose on. Maybe poo. Who knows, it's Alaska afterall so it could be.
The hostel seems to be run by a bunch of guys. Old guys with beards. They are nice enough but I can't quite tell who is working there and who is just hanging around/staying there. The only reason I know who the owner is, is because he is a cleanshaven asian man. The bulding is on a small street full of several similar buildings, but they are apartment blocks not hostels. So I can understand the strand set-up of Jason's. Instead of being a building with many rooms and one large common area/kitchen, he has converted the individual apartments into dorms. So there are about 4 or 5 apartment 'dorms' coming off the main set of stairs. I'm up in 5A and share a common balcony with the dorm on the other side of the stairs.
When you enter the main door you go into an area which would have been the apartment's living room. Instead this one has two bunks in it. Today there was an 80 or so yr old guy sleeping in one, other times there have been different people. Sometimes people sharing a bed. There is a small kitchenette off to the side of this with a TV and basic cooking facilities (I keep my poptarts in there!). So far, one of my two crazy roommates is slumped in the armchair in front of the TV in there. All...the...time...
It seems like they get up around 1pm, go in there and watch TV until 3am then go to sleep. I talked to one of them yesterday, she said her parents got good jobs up here so she had to come up from California with them. But where are they staying? Why are they making her pay to stay in a hostel if they have good jobs? Why couldn't she just stay in California? Too many questions...if I'm ever around her when she's sober or awake I might ask her if I'm bored enough. She must be around me age but she reminds me of a grizzly bear.
The other roommate could easily be mistaken for a man. I was a bit worried at first because I thought she was but...it's a woman. She's the same one that on my first night here, was running about until 3am either watching TV or going outside to smoke and then when I woke up around noon and was getting my stuff ready on my bed, was whingeing about me rocking the bed and to stop cos she's 'soooo dizzy' (I'm on the bunk above her).
Far out, woman, if you don't want the bed to move then sleep on the bloody floor!!! I'm not going to lie there like a mummy just because you got smashed last night and have a hangover. Especially not when you are rude to me.
The She-Male butch asked the California Grizzly for $10 last night and the Grizzly said she'd lend it to her if she went and bought her some booooooooze. Then I heard Grizzly talking on the phone this morning (as I was cooking my poptarts) to someone saying that she had $40 missing from her wallet this morning. I didn't say anything, I was just silently glad I slept with my wallet in my pillowcase last night.
Was California Grizzly too smashed to remember she told She-Male butch to go into her wallet to get the booze money? Or did She-Male butch steal her money?
I want to stay right out of it! I just wish there were somewhere to lock my bags up.
That's right-I was talking about the hostel set-up. So after the living room area and the kitchenette there is a dingy bathroom and then two rooms coming off the end of a tiny hall. 'Proper' bedrooms, I suppose. I'm in one of those. I don't know how long these crazies have been staying in here but by the looks of the shit that is in the room, I'm guessing a while. There is an open box of pregnancy tests on one of the little chest of drawers in the room. Classy!!! 'Glamour' photos in frames of a person I suppose is California Grizzly on a good day? Even still, calling them glamour photos is a gross misrepresentation. Then there's a photo of a woman in a military uniform smiling with the American flag as a backdrop. I wonder who this is...
So yeah, those are the digs I'm in. Downstairs is 'reception' (a desk with a computer) and two internet terminals then on the other side of the stairs is a lounge room of sorts and a little kitchen. There is a big screen TV but no DVD player. Which was annoying cos I went to Wal*Mart last night (looking for Yak Trax) and saw 'Anchorman:The Legend of Ron Burgundy' for $9.50 so I bought it (along with season 3 box set of McGyver!). But I just watched it on my laptop instead.
The only other people in the hostel apart from the crazies in my room and the old guys are a bunch of Brazillian kids. I have no idea what their story is though because they are always running around talking to each other in Portuguese (?). There's about 5 or 6 of them, I think?
Like I said, I went to Wal*Mart last night-it's just like Big W back home but it's freaking massive. I can't spend too long in there because it's all a bit overwhelming. I found my Yak Trax (things to wear on the bottom of my shoes so I don't fall over on the ice) and a few other bits and pieces. I went again to get a towel (couldn't be arsed asking where the one they gave me went...just as long as my one stays put!!!) and some OJ and it's been in my face for a while but the obsession with sugar over here is crazy. Jane from work told me weeks ago how her kids don't like eating Mini-Wheats anymore because the recipe has been changed to include sugar. Well, the Mini-Wheats over here are glazed with frosting. They have breakfast cereals so high in sugar it makes Froot Loops/Coco Pops from back home look like the 'healthy' option. Other weird things I've seen have been liquid butter, and in a similar vein-popcorn butter oil. I don't know if that's the exact name (I'll try to find a picture) but basically it's butter-flavoured oil that you pour over your popcorn. They have every imaginable type of beef jerky and not in those tiny little baggies that you get in Australia-they sell them by the pound. I bought a bag back in San Francisco and ate one piece and now I have to lug this big bag of jerky around with me. It's nuts.
I went into the Safeway, too. Just as nuts. Why are Americans so obsessed with sugar? They make a massive deal about their food not having Trans fats in them but it's like they can't live without sugar. You can also get Red Bull in 500mL cans here!!! They have about 10 different brands of energy drink, each with 3 or 4 different flavours. You could conceivably live off energy drinks and frosted breakfast cereals here if you really wanted to. And jerky-don't forget that all important protein!
I took a bus into Downtown today and had a walk around, went into a few different cafes. Anchorage actually isn't so bad, it's just the shithole where I'm staying that is breaking my spirit. Just wish I had a friend or something here to talk to.
Tonight is the start of the Anchorage Film Festival and there are some good looking movies I might go along and see. Tonight is the kick off at two places and one is nearby to here so I'm thinking about going. There's actually quite a bit to do in this little town (pop 225,000 approx) I just wish I didn't have to do it all solo.
I'm also carrying a large shopping bag full of kites (and my laptop) so it might be a wise idea to drop it off back at the hostel first.
There is a Barnes & Nobel that closes at 11pm nearby to the hostel too, so in effect if I got up and out early enough I could spend the day out of the hostel and only come back to sleep-therefore minimising the soul-destroying effects of the place. The sun gets up around 9am here, but the last few days I've slept til after noon. Really need to get up and going earlier. Especially if I want to get to the zoo-I should go in the next few days before the days get too short. The solstice is 3 weeks away now and the days are getting shorter by about 4min per day. Today the sun set at around 4pm? Dusk started around 3.30pm. It's weird, going outside at 1pm and seeing the sun only a few degrees up off the horizon. I haven't checked yet but I'm pretty sure it's not rising from the east (proper), too. I don't think it does a full arc of the sky, either. Just sort of slips up and over the horizon then back down around the corner.
Here are some photos from yesterday/today:
View from the hostel balcony
Let's see a close up!
Oops they are closing the cafe up. I should go soon...
One last thing I wanted to mention, when I was in the other cafe (Midnight Sun Cafe, I think?), they were playing a CD of a kind of folky band (kind of a cross between Beth Williams and The Panics?) and there was a song that came on that I really really liked, I can't say I was listening to the lyrics but something about the song just moved me. So I asked the guy who was working what the band was and he bought out a CD-it's a guy called Leeroy Stagger. I looked on the back and found the song that was just playing, it was called Saskatoon. I shit you not. I can't make this sort of stuff up! So I'll try to find the CD and buy it because I really like this guy's music.
PLUS I got the Anchorage Weekly paper and my stars said:
"When love is not madness, it is not love," said Spanish dramatist Pedro Calderon de la Barca. But according to my analysis of the astrological omens, you will dramatically disprove that notion in the coming weeks, Leo. In fact, I'm betting that love will make you stark, raving, sane. It will calm you down, heal a wound or two, improve your eyesight, help you understand yourself better, improve your digestion, and stimulate you to become more tolerant and forgiving towards the entire world."
Like I said, I can't make this sort of stuff up. That's what it said, and I was reading it while I was listening to that song I said I liked.
Leeroy Stagger-Depression River (2006)
Everything happens for a reason. It's working out that reason that makes it all worth it.
Take care,
-Lisha
Thursday, 29 November 2007
ALASKA
Ok...well I am finally here.
Alaska.
The place I have been planning for the last 4 months or so to get to.
Can somebody please remind me why I'm here?
I don't mind the ice and the cold and the darkness...it's the overwhelming nothing that is here that I mind. It doesn't help the hostel is a dive. I'm craving somebody cool and close to my age to talk to-even just so I can know for sure it's not just me who feels so weird here.
I walked like half an hour to get to downtown today-half an hour through a lot of nothing. The mountains make a beautiful backdrop for the city but when a geological feature is the best part of a city then you know there are problems. I see people around my age that look alright walking about but where are they walking to??? Where does everyone hang out?
I'm thinking about going to the Moose's Tooth/Bear's Tooth tonight or in the ext few days to see what it's like there. It comes recommended by people I've talked to who have been to Anchorage. Seriously I'll start a conversation with a brick wall right now if I knew it wasn't creepy...
I can't believe I'm here for a whole week (times three, basically). I'll go to the Zoo sometime soon, and the botanical gardens...but other than that there is nothing.
Maybe I'll take a flight out somewhere for a few days. Somewhere that has locks on the doors and a not-crazy roommate. So much for this being a youth hostel, too. Ther are more people 40+ here than there are people <30yrs old.
If there wasn't so much ice on the roads I would try and hire a car so I can at least get myself around-everything is really spread out here!
I just really need to find a nice local who I can talk to and find out the ins and outs of the city from.
Fairbanks will probably be worse than this, although I am counting on it being friendlier because it's a smaller town? But the hostel will have the same problems as this one I reckon, because it is a bit out from the downtown area. But at least that one is run by a woman. The guys over here remind me of grizzly bears. So do most of the women too though...
Seriously what have I gotten myself into?!?!?
-Lisha
Alaska.
The place I have been planning for the last 4 months or so to get to.
Can somebody please remind me why I'm here?
I don't mind the ice and the cold and the darkness...it's the overwhelming nothing that is here that I mind. It doesn't help the hostel is a dive. I'm craving somebody cool and close to my age to talk to-even just so I can know for sure it's not just me who feels so weird here.
I walked like half an hour to get to downtown today-half an hour through a lot of nothing. The mountains make a beautiful backdrop for the city but when a geological feature is the best part of a city then you know there are problems. I see people around my age that look alright walking about but where are they walking to??? Where does everyone hang out?
I'm thinking about going to the Moose's Tooth/Bear's Tooth tonight or in the ext few days to see what it's like there. It comes recommended by people I've talked to who have been to Anchorage. Seriously I'll start a conversation with a brick wall right now if I knew it wasn't creepy...
I can't believe I'm here for a whole week (times three, basically). I'll go to the Zoo sometime soon, and the botanical gardens...but other than that there is nothing.
Maybe I'll take a flight out somewhere for a few days. Somewhere that has locks on the doors and a not-crazy roommate. So much for this being a youth hostel, too. Ther are more people 40+ here than there are people <30yrs old.
If there wasn't so much ice on the roads I would try and hire a car so I can at least get myself around-everything is really spread out here!
I just really need to find a nice local who I can talk to and find out the ins and outs of the city from.
Fairbanks will probably be worse than this, although I am counting on it being friendlier because it's a smaller town? But the hostel will have the same problems as this one I reckon, because it is a bit out from the downtown area. But at least that one is run by a woman. The guys over here remind me of grizzly bears. So do most of the women too though...
Seriously what have I gotten myself into?!?!?
-Lisha
Tuesday, 27 November 2007
Lisha the lostie.
Well-I rushed around at the post office and checked out today and thought I was going to be late to the airport for my 12.30 flight so I got a $33 taxi to SEA-TAC.
Turns out my flight is tomorrow, not today.
AAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!!!!!
BUT it was actually not such a bad thing because I put my two big bags in storage so tomorrow I can get the bus ($1.50) with ease. My pack alone weighs over 50lbs so I am glad to be rid of it for now!
I went to the zoo in the afternoon and spent a little time there. Was weird to go into the Budgie house and see kookaburras and emus and kangaroos. Poor things looked so cold-the emus were so fuzzy compared to the ones back home! That's adaptation for you ;-)
But because I had put my canon in my bag, I didn't have it to take photos with which was a bit disappointing but I got some on my pentax...
Bald Eagles
Arctic Fox
Here are some photos from Vancouver, too:
View from the top of their observation tower thingy
I really should have smiled for this one...
That's all for now, I guess.
Will update tomorrow when I'm in Alaska for real!
Take care-
Lisher
p.s. I have enabled anonymous comments for those of you who don't want to have to sign up just to leave a comment (rightfully so). Please play nice and let me know who it is who is leaving the comment if you use the 'anonymous' option.
Turns out my flight is tomorrow, not today.
AAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!!!!!
BUT it was actually not such a bad thing because I put my two big bags in storage so tomorrow I can get the bus ($1.50) with ease. My pack alone weighs over 50lbs so I am glad to be rid of it for now!
I went to the zoo in the afternoon and spent a little time there. Was weird to go into the Budgie house and see kookaburras and emus and kangaroos. Poor things looked so cold-the emus were so fuzzy compared to the ones back home! That's adaptation for you ;-)
But because I had put my canon in my bag, I didn't have it to take photos with which was a bit disappointing but I got some on my pentax...
Bald Eagles
Arctic Fox
Here are some photos from Vancouver, too:
View from the top of their observation tower thingy
I really should have smiled for this one...
That's all for now, I guess.
Will update tomorrow when I'm in Alaska for real!
Take care-
Lisher
p.s. I have enabled anonymous comments for those of you who don't want to have to sign up just to leave a comment (rightfully so). Please play nice and let me know who it is who is leaving the comment if you use the 'anonymous' option.
Monday, 26 November 2007
Canadia, eh?
Just got back from Vancouver. Had an absolute blast-it makes all the difference having somebody else there who can show you around and keep you company :-)
It's like the last fews days haven't been real...I'm worried it will be hard for anything else on my trip to live up to it.
I can't say much else here except I'm so thankful I was in the place I was and wasn't chickenshit and said yes. Even though I'm sad it's over I am so happy that I got to have such a great few days.
On the bus on the way back to Seattle it was raining, and then after a little while I noticed it wasn't falling like rain usually does-it was kind of floating around? Then I realised-it was snowing!!!
After a little while all the trees and cars outside where covered in snow-it was so beautiful to watch. It's funny how something so simple can make you feel much better when you are down. It kind of made me remember that there are always still opportunities and experiences out there to live and if I spend all my time thinking about what I don't have anymore-well then I will miss out on other things that could be just as great.
Alaska tomorrow, and I am excited but also a bit nervous...I don't mind that it will be cold but I do have a problem with having nothing to do. Really need to make a friend or something so I don't go crazy.
That's about all I have the (mental) energy to post tonight.
Take care!
-Lisha
It's like the last fews days haven't been real...I'm worried it will be hard for anything else on my trip to live up to it.
I can't say much else here except I'm so thankful I was in the place I was and wasn't chickenshit and said yes. Even though I'm sad it's over I am so happy that I got to have such a great few days.
On the bus on the way back to Seattle it was raining, and then after a little while I noticed it wasn't falling like rain usually does-it was kind of floating around? Then I realised-it was snowing!!!
After a little while all the trees and cars outside where covered in snow-it was so beautiful to watch. It's funny how something so simple can make you feel much better when you are down. It kind of made me remember that there are always still opportunities and experiences out there to live and if I spend all my time thinking about what I don't have anymore-well then I will miss out on other things that could be just as great.
Alaska tomorrow, and I am excited but also a bit nervous...I don't mind that it will be cold but I do have a problem with having nothing to do. Really need to make a friend or something so I don't go crazy.
That's about all I have the (mental) energy to post tonight.
Take care!
-Lisha
Sunday, 25 November 2007
Pics!
I got some shots of the fireworks on the top of Macy's yesterday-I'm impressed at how the canon handled them!
Ok take care!
It's midnight here I need some sleep-got a 7.30am train tomorrow.
-Leash
Ok take care!
It's midnight here I need some sleep-got a 7.30am train tomorrow.
-Leash
Saturday, 24 November 2007
Brainsucked
I wrote a very long entry but I don't think I'll post it just yet.
Let me just say that the last 24hrs has felt...unreal, in the literal sense of the word. In some ways though it's felt more real than anything else I've seen or done this year.
I'm sad, but I'm also very happy, and I've doing a lot of thinking today-about me, my situation, and how fortuitous coincidences can be.
-Leash
*edit*
Plus I bought a pen today (5, infact) and already I have lost it. Nice work, dipshit!
It was purple, too...
Going to Vancouver tomorrow, ey, I hope it's lots of fun!
Let me just say that the last 24hrs has felt...unreal, in the literal sense of the word. In some ways though it's felt more real than anything else I've seen or done this year.
I'm sad, but I'm also very happy, and I've doing a lot of thinking today-about me, my situation, and how fortuitous coincidences can be.
-Leash
*edit*
Plus I bought a pen today (5, infact) and already I have lost it. Nice work, dipshit!
It was purple, too...
Going to Vancouver tomorrow, ey, I hope it's lots of fun!
Friday, 23 November 2007
Best dinner ever!
And I made it all myself!
Let me elaborate:
Seared Alaskan salmon fillet
Braised chantelle mushrooms
Blanched broccolini
Mashed purple potatoes (like, purple flesh too)
Seared jumbo scallops
Delicious!!!!
More photos
Mostly Seattle, this time:
Kerry Park:
Otter!!! So cute!
Mountains like this are all around Seattle. It's beautiful.
This is just outside my hostel:
Me and the Golden Gate Bridge. Believe me, it's back there under all that fog.
At Lombard St, San Francisco. It's crazy bendy.
More to come later!
-Lisha
Kerry Park:
Otter!!! So cute!
Mountains like this are all around Seattle. It's beautiful.
This is just outside my hostel:
Me and the Golden Gate Bridge. Believe me, it's back there under all that fog.
At Lombard St, San Francisco. It's crazy bendy.
More to come later!
-Lisha
Well, in this city on Black Friday it's easier to buy a new laptop than buy a ballpoint pen. So I bought a laptop.
That's not really why I bought one but with a laptop I can burn my own photo CDs, use the wireless so I don't have to wait ages to use the stupid crappy communal computers. Seriously-is anything communal ever nice?
Plus it was $550 and I get $150 of that back with a rebate. That's right...$400 laptop!
It's an Acer Aspire, has 1.73GHz CPU, 14" screen (perfect portable size), 512MB DDR2 ram (will get it upgraded), 80GB HD etc.
Can watch DVDs on it too-I wonder if that will be a problem with region-coded DVDs?
I also bought a memory card reader for really cheap so I'll be loading all my photos onto here too...
I'm very happy with it, I need to get a bag/case for it next so I can take it around with me and be all uber cool drinking coffee and 'working' on my laptop in a cafe. That is another good point though-now I may actually be able to get some 'work' done so I don't bomb out this semester as badly as I am at the moment.
I really need to stop spending money now!!!!!!
There were some Aussie guys in the kitchen this morning that were very impressed with my tube of Vegemite :-P I'm so glad I bought it-I love it!
This afternoon I need to get out and try to get a replacement charger for my pentax or get that one fixed. I tried in Radio Shack but they didn't have any anymore. There's a camera place near here so I might go there. Thinking about going to the Safeway (need to take a bus) but it's cheaper to buy food here instead of buying all the bits to make it! I still need a pen though so I should head out soon and get all that sorted. Also have more stuff to send back home so I need a post office.
Still waiting on my stupid tracfone replacement to arrive here-will call them tomorrow and see where the hell it is! I need it to call the airline and stuff on so I'm not using my roaming to make calls that I could make for cheaper with the tracfone.
I thought I would have stacks to do here, but I am feeling a bit bored/low...:(
Maybe it's just not having anybody to talk to that does it. I feel like one of those nuns that don't speak-I only say maybe, 20 words a day now? And they are usually just stuff to the hostel desk staff, store clerks, or stuff like 'excuse me'/'sorry'.
The three french speaking girls in my room are, stereotypically, arrogant and don't talk to me at all. There are two german girls who only speak german and there are two/three scottish girls who aren't around much and even then they are mostly talking to each other. I'm just not a very outgoing person! There is a lady from Uganda across from me and she is nice, she said she was just in Alaska and it was beautiful-so that was good to hear. But she's much older and is in Seattle to buy a house so she's not really someone who I can 'hang out' with.
There are some Aussies here but half of them talk shit and the other half are in a group so it's hard to get conversations started...
I should stop whinging. I really want a coffee...I think I'm re-addicted to caffiene again. They have caffienated chocolate here too!!!
Aaaaaanyway-I hope everybody votes well and votes hard tomorrow-I'm so excited I hope Rudd wins! Mmmmm there is a pumpkin spice latte with my name on it and it's calling me (just need to find a Tully's), also had the nicest pumpkin cookie the other day-it was more like a mini-cake. So delicious!
Ok I'm off-
Take care
Lisha
That's not really why I bought one but with a laptop I can burn my own photo CDs, use the wireless so I don't have to wait ages to use the stupid crappy communal computers. Seriously-is anything communal ever nice?
Plus it was $550 and I get $150 of that back with a rebate. That's right...$400 laptop!
It's an Acer Aspire, has 1.73GHz CPU, 14" screen (perfect portable size), 512MB DDR2 ram (will get it upgraded), 80GB HD etc.
Can watch DVDs on it too-I wonder if that will be a problem with region-coded DVDs?
I also bought a memory card reader for really cheap so I'll be loading all my photos onto here too...
I'm very happy with it, I need to get a bag/case for it next so I can take it around with me and be all uber cool drinking coffee and 'working' on my laptop in a cafe. That is another good point though-now I may actually be able to get some 'work' done so I don't bomb out this semester as badly as I am at the moment.
I really need to stop spending money now!!!!!!
There were some Aussie guys in the kitchen this morning that were very impressed with my tube of Vegemite :-P I'm so glad I bought it-I love it!
This afternoon I need to get out and try to get a replacement charger for my pentax or get that one fixed. I tried in Radio Shack but they didn't have any anymore. There's a camera place near here so I might go there. Thinking about going to the Safeway (need to take a bus) but it's cheaper to buy food here instead of buying all the bits to make it! I still need a pen though so I should head out soon and get all that sorted. Also have more stuff to send back home so I need a post office.
Still waiting on my stupid tracfone replacement to arrive here-will call them tomorrow and see where the hell it is! I need it to call the airline and stuff on so I'm not using my roaming to make calls that I could make for cheaper with the tracfone.
I thought I would have stacks to do here, but I am feeling a bit bored/low...:(
Maybe it's just not having anybody to talk to that does it. I feel like one of those nuns that don't speak-I only say maybe, 20 words a day now? And they are usually just stuff to the hostel desk staff, store clerks, or stuff like 'excuse me'/'sorry'.
The three french speaking girls in my room are, stereotypically, arrogant and don't talk to me at all. There are two german girls who only speak german and there are two/three scottish girls who aren't around much and even then they are mostly talking to each other. I'm just not a very outgoing person! There is a lady from Uganda across from me and she is nice, she said she was just in Alaska and it was beautiful-so that was good to hear. But she's much older and is in Seattle to buy a house so she's not really someone who I can 'hang out' with.
There are some Aussies here but half of them talk shit and the other half are in a group so it's hard to get conversations started...
I should stop whinging. I really want a coffee...I think I'm re-addicted to caffiene again. They have caffienated chocolate here too!!!
Aaaaaanyway-I hope everybody votes well and votes hard tomorrow-I'm so excited I hope Rudd wins! Mmmmm there is a pumpkin spice latte with my name on it and it's calling me (just need to find a Tully's), also had the nicest pumpkin cookie the other day-it was more like a mini-cake. So delicious!
Ok I'm off-
Take care
Lisha
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