The Blog

   *bouncing off the walls*...

It’s morning it’s morning it’s morning!

Or so my body keeps telling me. In reality, it’s morning, but it’s way too early to be up. I suppose this is what happens when you’re 12 hours out from where you were last week. It was only exhaustion that had me sleep the night through last night, I suspect. And getting up two hours early isn’t that bad...

Aiya...

So anyway, here we are, me tired but unable to sleep, and you reading this because it happens to be there. How are you anyway?

Okay, so where was I up to in my stories from Germany? I don’t have the ineternet here, so I can’t check. So I’ll pick up with a rant about German food, since that is always fun.

I like German food in principle. Goulash is nice and frankfurts are yummy, and I actually like the idea of having a big lunch and a small dinner, but for every meal it is a bit much. I would have liked some variation in the dishes. And maybe a nice vegi green curry.

The vegetarians seemed to have some trouble too, which makes sense when the main ingrediant of any dish is sausage.

Meh, that rant didn’t go anywhere, I guess I’m still tired, even if I am awake. I hope I don’t fall asleep in the lectures again today. It was very funny when that happened yesterday although it was a pity as I had wanted to listen to that particular talk, but I just couldn’t go on any longer, I guess. Anyway, I will do better today, I promise!

What else do I have to tell about? I saw the most gorgeous jacket ever in Heathrow airport on my way to L.A. It was black suede with a a butterfly embroidered on the back and decorated with pretty gemstones, and it was only 400pounds, which is only a little less than my quarterly income... *sighs*

I stayed in the red light district in Frankfurt, which was a lot of fun, ooh, and I had the yummiest chocolate icecream! Ooh, and I decided that since I don’t have time to shop, I’m not giving out individual presents, but rather things that can be shared between everyone. Now all I have to do is figure out when I can get everyone together again.

Then I had the longest weekend in history as I had to get up at 3am to make it to the airport in time for my 7am flight. Well, I probably got there a little too early, given that the check-in desk was not even open yet, but it was all for the best. I made it on the plane, and we got safely to London, which is a beautiful city from the air. I saw all sorts of recognisable landmarks, which was good fun, and then I did a little shopping in the airport. I ought to have bought the Doctor Who DVDs, but I decided against it as the price was much the same as in Sydney, once you worked out the conversion rate.

Then I caught the plane to L.A., which was the worst flight ever in terms of customer service. If you have a choice, don’t ever fly American airlines. They offered crappy food, made you pay for drinks other than water or juice, and the sound on the in-flight movie cracked and popped like the worst of bad mp3s. Oh, and the next day I flew with them to Hawaii, and you had to pay for all food on that flight.

However, I did meet a very nice teacher at a community college, who talked to me and kept me sane. We had a nice whinge about the way education is going and how the universities are more after money than intelligence in their students. And that made up for a few things. She also warned me about the security measures that I would have to endure visiting the united states, which were a pain. I really don’t like that the fbi now has my fingerprints and photo on record.

Hey, the sun is coming up. This has been a good way to kill time after all. Well, actually, I’ve been watching anime too, which has been fun. I was about ten episodes behind with Kyou Kara Maou, so it’s been good catching up. I love this series.

Okay, so where was I? Oh yeah. After security in Los Angeles, I caught a shuttle bus to the youth hostel in Hollywood, which has all my recommendations and will be properly linked when I have a chance to look up the url. The people there were the nicest, and the facilities were great. And it was just off Hollywood Boulevard, which was so much fun!

Hollywood was nothing like I’d expected. It was a bigger tourist trap than Surfer’s Paradise, which is saying something. Every second shop was selling tacky souveniers, and the others were selling expensive clothes and costumes, and these were doing a roaring trade this close to Halloween. I bought something, but I’ll keep that as a surprise. Heh, it didn’t fit in my suitcase either, so it became my other carry on luggage. *grins*

Let’s see, I visited Garumann’s Chinese Theatre and found out that my hands are very much smaller than Arnold Swartzenegger’s, and I found Kermit the Frog’s star on the walk of fame. I had a yummy fruitsalad at the disney soda fountain, and I had breakfast at Hollywood and Vine! (ten points for the cultural reference, I even gave a hint above.)

So now I’m in Hawaii, which is beautiful, and the sky here is so dark, despite all the people about here. This is another tourist trap, albeit a much more classy one than Hollywood, which just seems to rest on the laurels of fame past and tradition. Our condo (though I’d rather call it a flat - *grins*) is very nice, and so cheap for what it is. Sure, I’m not sleeping, and it is rather stuffy in the lot where Beth and I are sleeping, but but aside from that, I could happily live in a place like this. The golf decor would have to go, but that is what you get for staying in a place called “Fairway Villas”. And the golf course outside is very nice, and there are lots of birds about, which is so cool.

I like all the volcanic soil too. There is something very cool about such things. We might be going to the volcano park on friday, but apparently the road degraded recently, so we might not be able to see the lava flows, which would make it an expensive trip for so little. I don’t know, I still want to go, kinda. I also want to hear the final talks on planet formation though, so I have no idea. I guess we’ll wait and see.

Tomorrow we’re going snorkling during our one afternoon off. I’m looking forward to it, a bit, but I wish we didn’t have to rush back to the conference dinner. I wonder if we get to dress up here, or if it will be like germany and everyone will just wear what they did all day. I’d find it a shame if that were the case, as I have the cutest little dress to wear.

Anyway, time to get dressed and all that. Talk to you soon!

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