Shout outs

I want to say thanks to everyone who has or still reads this and puts up with my bitching and moaning and long-winded posts! Thanks especially for the comments, too-I love comments!
Big hellos to Dad (who I know reads this and tries to comment but they don't show up-even though they are still sent to me!), the guys from work (DES crew)-especially Tony who put in a marathon 3 days into reading this from start to finish. I'm surprised he didn't get bored of my whinging halfway through! Mum and Mark and Shane and Squishy-thanks for all the comments. The Atzrotts for not only reading but remembering what I've said and surprising me later on with things like a bottle of Disaronno (because I said how much I liked it) or a trip to Niagara! Thanks to Melly for your advice and being a kind of aus-merican go between, thanks to Meg and Matt and James and Bob also for your comments.
If there is anybody I missed I'm sorry I forgot you-you should probably comment more ;-)

Rochester!

yayayayaya!!

I'm in Rochester now and it's great! The Atzrotts are so nice and welcoming, and they *totally* spoiled me by giving me lots of gifts. I feel a bit bad though because I only really had what I could carry and had bought over with me from Aus.

Saw the RIT campus (very nice-kind of like UTS Kuringai but nicer), and this supermarket called Wegmans. Far out if there were Wegmans in Sydney I would be blowing all my money on food let me tell you! First Whole Foods, now Wegmans...Coles and Woolies will seem very inferior to me when I go back!

Speaking of going home...change of plans I have actually booked a plane ticket to Dublin on the 20th of Jan, with a tentative return date of the 4th of Feb. Will sort out funds and visas next week and then be on my way. With a bit of luck I will pick up a job when I'm over there and then I can stay for a bit longer. We'll see though. Either way, I'm going to Ireland!

Whilst on the subject of international travel, whilst not as far away (although from NYC it is further than Dublin!) we are going across the border to Niagara Falls (Ontario) tomorrow. That's so sweet/thoughtful of the Atzrotts because I had to cancel my original trip there earlier this week because of timing and funds clashes. So that'll be fun :D Maybe I'll get the VISA waiver slip to put in my passport. It's looking a bit bare at the moment. Also looking a bit beat up because I have been keeping it on me at all times so it's a little bent looking.

So-plan of attack when I get back to New York City is to go sort out a Visa for the EU/Ireland, go to Montauk on the Long Island Railroad, check out Coney Island and the aquarium, go up to the Botanic Gardens in the Bronx, and check out the Central Park Zoo. Hopefully there will be nicer/friendlier travellers at the next hostel I stay at so I can drag one of them along to go ice skating in Central Park with me. OH and also I need to go up the Empire State Building and also walk across the Brooklyn Bridge. The other day I was in Central Park and they were filming what looked to be a commercial for pads/adult diapers on the ice skating rink. Too strange-people in costumes looking like packs of poise/depends/kotex skating around on the ice.

Gotta go-we're going out for mexican. Yum!

Take care and stay cool-
leash

Just a quickie...

Went to the Museum of Natural History today....WOW it was the most fantastic museum I've ever been to! I could have spent days in there! I haven't seen 'Night at the Museum' but I'll have to now to see what he gets up to in there. They had actual dinosaur fossils on display and the best collection of stuffed and mounted animals from all over the world I had ever seen. I would love to be a curator in a place like that.
The history of humans and human evolution was also great-they had exhibits on world religions and a good section on the history of the african people. I never really learnt about that stuff before so it was all very interesting for me.

I'm going to Rochester tomorrow which will be good :-) Then I have to sort myself out for what I'm doing when I get back to NY. I've started applying for jobs online but without a work visa they probably will bin them straightaway. Fingers crossed though!

Oh one weird thing that happened today-I met the guy who designed the t-shirt I was wearing! I'm wearing the one with the cupcake saying 'AH MUNNA EAT CHOO!' and he called out to me 'I designed your t-shirt!' and I thought he said 'who?' so I was like 'umm...I got it from threadless.com' and then he's like 'No I mean ME, I did!' so I talked to him for a little while...that was pretty cool. He seemed happy to see one out and about being worn :-P

Took a long walk through Central Park yesterday. I know I said before it wasn't very beautiful but that's being too superficial to say that. Inside it really is quite pretty even though all the trees have dropped their leaves. Bethesda (sp?) fountain and terrace was especially beautiful. Of course my camera decided not to work so I don't have pictures of it. I'll have to go back. The Mall was very beautiful-it's one of those 'New York Scenes'. Reminded me a little of the walkway up to Archibald Fountain in Hyde Park (Sydney).

I would have gone up the Empire State building this afternoon for dusk but it was already too dark by the time I left the museum (I was there for over 5 hours). Oh well. Another thing to do when I get back.

Went to Madam Tussauds yesterday night. That was creepy. Some of the figures looked very wrong but some of them were so lifelike and just standing around you weren't sure if the people around you were real or not without specifically looking at them.

Sorry my thoughts are all over the place...I have a lot on my mind at the moment.

Without getting too far into my inner workings, it feels like I'm out of place here. I'm not living here or part of the city, just sort of resting on it's surface. I don't belong here and it isn't a very welcoming city...in one way it's nice to slip back into obscurity but I have this want/need to feel *part* of something and this city can't do that for me. I'm not part of anything here-I'm just another face in the crowd and all they want from me is my money. Only one person has actually talked to me as if they were interested in what I was saying and that was a stranger on the subway. It's incredibly lonely here, despite beind surrounded by millions of people. I wish I didn't always look like I was pissed off or whatever but THAT'S JUST HOW MY FACE LOOKS!!! Especially when I'm not thinking about anything or making an effort to look 'happy'. I'm worried it makes me look unapproachable (actually I have been told a couple of times already on this adventure that that's the case) but really I don't know what to do to avoid that?!? I can't go around with a goofy smile on my face all day because a) it's fake and b) it would hurt after a while. I'm enjoying the things that I am seeing in New York but deep down I miss Anchorage. It felt like home to me...
I don't think I can go back though until I work my head out. It's a situation that hurts me because I am at the same time so happy but also crushed because I have unrealistic expectations and my head in the clouds. Need to come back down to earth and see things for how they are and accept it and move on. Too cryptic and I'm rambling...SORRY!

Take care back in Aus (as the mercury gets closer and closer to 30C) and keep your fingers crossed for me. I have to go pack!
xxx lisha

Foxy Lady

What should I do tonight, do you think? It's almost 8pm on a Tuesday night here.

*p.s. thanks to everyone who has been leaving comments-especially Dad!!! Nice work :-)

CONAN!!!!!

Seems like a long time since I last posted here!

I've been doing quite a bit around here in Manhattan. It's a really easy city to get around as the focus really is on moving from one place to another. It gets a bit annoying when you just want to sit down and have a coffee or something and watch the world go by or read a paper or whatever. It's always go go go.
But, briefly, here are some of the things I've been doing and seeing (in no particular order):

-WTC ground zero site
-Wall St and the NYSE
-Staten Island Ferry (good views to the Statue of Liberty)
-Times Square
-The diner from Seinfeld
-The apartment building from Ghostbusters (opposite Central Park...where Rick Moranis' character gets turned into a hell dog or Sigourney Weaver or something)
-Rockefeller Centre+Top of the Rock observation deck
-CONAN O'BRIEN
-Central Park+Strawberry Fields (monument to John Lennon) and the Dakota Building, where he was shot
-Madison Square Garden
-SoHo/that area
-Broadway and theatre district
-Grand Central Station

There is probably more but they've slipped my mind right now.

Unfortunately, I've also been eating more junk food than usual. For one it is cheap, for two it is everywhere and for three they are open almost all the time. Today I had 'White Castle' (as in from Harold and Kumar go to White Castle) and I go in and the board says White Castle (burger) for 53c. Fifty Three Cents??? Score! Then I see that you can buy a 'crate' of 30 for $15, and various 'crate' sizes (up to 100 burgers). I supposed it was for catering or something. I mean, seriously, 100 burgers is alot! But then the two guys in front of me ordered a 30 crate. Hmmm maybe they have a party to go to? Then I order and get my White Castle burger. It's like a dinner roll with a meat patty about the same thickness as stiff cardboard in the middle of it. It was so cute! Totally 53c worth. I can see now why there would be demand to buy 30 of them. Don't get me wrong, eating 30 burgers in one sitting is a whole new level of gluttony but they are so tiny that it wouldn't be too fat of you to split it with 2 friends. White Castle is my new fave. Previously it was the Third-Pounder Angus steak with swiss cheese and mushrooms from Maccas (only the second time I'd gone to Maccas in the almost 2 months I've been in the US! Gimme a break!) but 53c beats $3.99 anyday.

I think things on the Visa front are out of my control and I will have to come home. Out of control as in, it's going to cost US$430 to lodge my application for a working visa to the UK. Stiff shit, I guess? It's really a massive shame but everything happens for a reason. Getting an American working visa is a hassle and a half. I hate beaurocracy (sp?) as it is, but the red tape involved in getting a visa to work over here is something out of this world. A real shame...this country is very lovable (so are the people) and there is so much to see and do here.
BUT the fat lady hasn't sung yet so we'll see how it goes. If Covermore get off their fat arses and complete my insurance claim and give me my money back then we might be in business.

I'm not going to Niagara Falls anymore (even though I did get my new passport- finally) instead just going as far as Rochester. Money and time contstraints mean I can't go all the way but I'm ok with that.

Oops got <1min left and I haven't even talked about Conan!

I went to the taping of Late Night with Conan O'Brien (watch it tonight!!!!!) and it was FANTASTIC! I'm so happy I went I had great seats and it was so much fun. Crap 10sec left I gotta go!

Hottest 100!

triple j Hottest 100

I voted for my top 10 songs of 2007.
Architecture In Helsinki - Heart It Races
Bumblebeez - Dr Love
Fratellis - Chelsea Dagger
M.I.A - Paper Planes
Mickey Avalon - Jane Fonda
Midnight Juggernauts - Road To Recovery
New Young Pony Club - The Bomb
Panics, The - Don't Fight It
Samim - Heater
Soko - I'll Kill Her

These lists annoy me though because I just know there are songs I liked more than some of these but I don't remember the names of them or need my memory jogged. Anyway this is the best of what I can remember without hearing them.

Who did you vote for?

Pics!

I have been going crazy taking pictures-but I've been seeing so much already!






Soup Nazi of Seinfeld fame. Was closed today so it goes without saying there was no soup for me.


Strawberry Fields memorial to John Lennon.


(some of) Central Park south


More Times Sq


I love this...it's right outside the IRS building. I watched it go up a couple of hundred dollars in about 15 seconds.


Great....the stupid fucking mouse on this computer has stopped working.
Will have to finish this later.

*ok back to it!*

View from Top of the Rock. Spectacular...utterly breathtaking.


Christmas Tree and Rockefeller Center


One last pic of Times Sq, around W 45th St and 7th Ave, looking north.

It's just such a photogenic place!

It's raining and 40F, which makes it feel more like spring than close to the middle of winter...tomorrow I think I might take the subway down to the ferry and take a trip past the Statue of Liberty. I hope the weather clears up for it.

Take care and keep your fingers crossed for me getting my VISA, and now my travel insurance. Stupid Covermore being tightwads. LISHA ANGRY, LISHA SMASH!!!

xxx lisha

HOLY CRAP NEW YORK NEW YORK

Sorry for shouting but....HOLY CRAP!!!

I've only walked a short way around Broadway and Times Square but hot damn is New York busy and jam packed with stuff. I already enjoy being able to walk fast and dart through the traffic. Anchorage has no traffic to speak of and it's not a wise move to run across the road between the cars because a) you'll slip on the ice and b) they all drive 4x4s up there so chances are they won't stop and they'll run you over.
Times Square is nuts. Completely nuts. I think I'm culture shocked. Alaska was so sleepy and comfy, here it's like...nothing else I've ever seen before.

Leaving Anchorage wasn't as heart-wrenching as I thought it would be. Mercifully I was kept distracted right up until I got out at the airport so I didn't have time to sit and stew about it. I am so grateful I met the people I did there, they made my time in Alaska worthwhile. I wish I could say more but...you never know who reads these things! Last thing I need is to get somebody in trouble or start off more gossip or anything like that. Anyway, I do hope I get to go back to work there...it would be very fun I think. I got to take photos with the friends I made there though which was good, but the bad part is the computer I'm on won't take my canon so I only have one pic of me and a friend (Aaron). We had a 'normal' photo before this but he thought he had a gut in it so we mucked around in this one.



Times Square! Seriously like, 50m from the hostel.


Hersheys Building




Oh oh red eye! I'm in front of the ice skating rink at Rockefeller Plaza. It was freezing.


I don't know what building this is but it's damn tall. The Rockefeller Plaza Christmas tree is right in the bottom of the pic (NYC equivalent to the Martin Place tree in Sydney, I guess).


Tomorrow I've got a tour, and then need to go to the consulate/embassy to work out my passport and VISA. There are flights to Dublin for $230 if I can only get an EU VISA. Also want to try and get some cheap theatre tickets (there is a way) because there are so many shows around here...Spamalot, Avenue Q, Chicago, Phantom, one with Bob Saget, Mary Poppins, etc etc. Tomorrow night I will walk around again with my canon (and try not to get rolled for it) and get some good quality pics of Times Square, Broadway and Rockefeller Plaza.

Right now I'm in the common room with 2 other Aussies and a kiwi. Ergh. I didn't go halfway around the world to hear strine and kiwi talk. Maybe it's just the impression I get but all the Aus/NZ travellers I meet are pretentious wankers. I'm the exception, of course! haha

I think that's about all I had to talk about for now...New York is so overwhelming. It really is a city for couples I think.

Oops 50seconds left!
Gotta goooooooo

hmmmm

I found out why people always know when I am sleeping hahahahaha

Leaving Anchorage today. So long, farewell, good bye, sayonara.
I want to come back here definately. But I want to come back here for the right reasons. The reason I loved it here so much was not because there was alot to do here, or anything like that (I mean come on, it's winter!) but because of the people I met. Of course *some* more than the others-but you know what-that is NOT the way to travel. People lie and they aren't always the people you think they are.
So coming back here to work will be the right thing to do I think. Focus on making money and seeing the land. Because the land is always beautiful and it doesn't keep secrets (but if it does they are ones you are glad to find out!) and generally it won't muck you around.
Sorry this is sounding a bit misanthropic but I've just been a bit cynical in the last few days.

Excited to go to New York now. It's not breaking my heart to leave here anymore. I'm ready to move on (run away?) and see what else there is to see. Bring my focus back on track-which is seeing America. Going to go to Montauk and try and get a weekend to Washington, DC. Seeing Allison and her family will be the highlight, as will be going to Niagara Falls. It's all looking up again. I have to be optimistic.
Another good thing about going to NYC will be the myriad of photo opportunities there will be. I've been so lazy lately just because there hasn't really been anything new to take photos of! But that will all change.

How was my NYE, you ask?
Well, in a nutshell it was boring. But I suppose it was better than last years?
Went out for drinks with some people from the hostel and we nicked an Alaska Aces pint glass, then I went with one of the guys to the Bush Company (a strip club) and saw a very lame 'Grease' theme show (like the movie Grease) and then went back to the hostel. Lame. I hope everyone else had a better time than I did. I got to see the youtube of the Sydney fireworks though which looked spectacular!!! (As always)

Wish me luck in getting a replacement passport and getting a VISA when I get to New York. Have a feeling I will need to go to Canada to get my VISA though. I've been told I can get a job in Dublin if I go there (connections from one of the staff at the hostel), which if he is being serious, would be pretty awesome. 2008 is here and the world is my oyster. What I will do with the opportunities in front of me and where I will take myself is a mystery right now. Isn't it exciting having the whole world in front of you and endless choices about where you can go and what you can do?

Everything happens for a reason, and I hope in 2008 I accept the things that happen and understand the reasons behind them. I think I'm off to a good start so far!

Next entry will be from New York City. Hopefully I will have lots of new pics, too :-)
Take care my Australian friends-enjoy the nice beach weather you guys are having.
xxx leash

Pics!!!

Got some more pics-yayayaya and a cheeky video clip or two, as well.

Heading out of Anchorage in a few days. Seriously it's going to break my heart to leave here. I really hope I can get a visa in New York so I can come back...I just know that if I go back to Australia I will fall back into a life of mediocrity and get a (crappy) job and probably go back to uni and get stuck back there. Plus it costs a bomb to get over here from Aus (and takes ages) so if I can just stay here then I would much rather do that. The Fur Rondy is on in February, there are ice sculpture contests/displays in March-plus the start of the Iditarod...then it goes to spring and all the snow melt and the flowers come back out. Jobs galore, too. Ones that pay fairly well, too.
It's making my upset just thinking about leaving all this.

Anyway enough of the emo-check out these:

First off the bat is a video from the hockey game I went to the other night. I was a bit too slow to catch the start of the brawl but I did the best I could.




Yay dogmushing! This was so much fun-the dogs love to run and it's pretty awesome being in the sled (and driving the sled, too, which I got to do!).


Look at his eyes!






Frozen car! Just down the road from my hostel in Anchorage.


Downtown Anchorage at 'night' (more like 5pm?)


View of Fairbanks


It was a warm day this day:




Arctic Circle:


Under the trans-alaska pipeline


Tundra (I guess). I love how vast areas in the country have no people in them...


Except for me!


Nothing but whiteness...


My camera battery just died so that will have to do for now...

Happy New Year, my antipodean friends!!!

It's a long-running 'in' joke that you come to Alaska if you are running away from something. Perhaps I am running away from my life back home...afterall, why even think about coming to Alaska? Subconsciously I bet it was because I knew it's far away and people go there to get lost. If you want to be really mushy about it I suppose you could say they also go to find themselves...