Mardi Gras, Osama Bin Laden and come to think of it I don't even think this is the first time OBL has made it into a post title

It's raining again in Sydney and I was going to write you a post about Big Macs and how I have on average had 3 per week for the last two weeks. But then I thought that might be a little bit embarrassing and also I didn't want to alarm you causing you, possibly, to stage an intervention. Because that would never work, I am too far gone.

So instead of Big Macs I write to you some of my more pleasant musings if not pleasant they are at least completely random. So it's raining here and the rain washed away the evidence of Mardi Gras that we celebrated in full form last night here in Sydney. Normally I am not big on crowds and parade watching but since my house - I mean hostel - was right in the thick of it and I didn't have to walk more than two blocks to see it I went and it was well worth it. Among the fake tans, buff bods, booty shorts, glitter and angel wings; a gay loving Osama Bin Laden made an appearance and the Village People were there too, and well there was a lot of other good stuff to feast your eyes on. I took a few photos none of which really turned out because I was using my point and shoot but I am sure the Asian woman behind me got some good ones with her telephoto lens and me as her tripod. She literally had her 18 inch long lens resting on my shoulder. It was really awkward as in I didn't want to be violent or confrontational, I also didn't want to intentionally ruin her photos but I did want to rip it out of her hands, tell her to get a press pass and then run away with it because I am pretty sure it was a wide angle lens and I want one of those. A result of the photography class I took a few weeks ago where I also discovered I could never be a serious photographer with my "entry level cannon rebel unless I outfit it with seven grand worth of lenses, filters a tripod and even then he says I will probably want to adjust some of the colors in Adobe. For this I will need to take his class and buy the program. Joking aside the class was good and I am venturing out with my telephoto lens a little more these days but it does limit me to taking far away shots, close ups of flowers and food. So if you thought I had become mildly obessed with either of these things now you know it's the lens not the flowers. And don't be alarmed I haven't even clicked a Big Mac yet.

So that's that and there's this too I have temporarily abandoned Open to read The Historian, I am trying to finish it before I leave for Perth because it is a big pain in the ass to carry around - oh kindle how I love thee! -. But also because I can't put it down. It's appropriate that I am reading this so soon after I read Dracula because it is a vampire story but I swear to you it is no Twilight so if you haven't read it yet please do so immediately I don't think you'll regret it but if you do then go read Eat Pray Love or something.

Hopefully I see you before I leave for Perth but in the meantime one more plug go and see Shutter Island. I was forced to go see it - you know me and scary - but anyway it was fantastic and whatever happened to Leo? The weight of age has really set in on his jaw line. He is no more the Leo we fell so in love with in Titanic is he?

*I hated the movie Titanic, was forced to go see it with an avid fan in Junior High and haven't seen it in it's entirety since. The only good thing about it was that song that we requested incessantly to be played on the radio. Oh and of course the photo op no one can resist when at the front of a boat.

Among Other Things Steve Martin The Man & Legend, Also Kurt Learns to Swordfight and I am Driven Out of the Hostel Lounge Area by A Small Indian Woman

I was just reading about Steve Jobs newest toy, the IPad, already being criticized for not having a USB port, and it got me thinking about my brother. As you know Kurt gave me (possibly the most thoughtful gift I have ever received) the Kindle which I believe lives up to the short lived hype it had pre Ipad release for several reasons but namely, for myself, because in Australia a book never costs less than $25 - even paperback - and I enjoy reading so while there is the convienence of not having to carry around a weighty book I also get to pay a third as much, For example Andre Agassi's book Open which is still in hardcover and costs like $40 here was $9.99 in Kindle edition. So there's that. And also some old books are free, like Dracula, Around the World in 80 Days and Pride and Prejudice which I have downloaded so that I can read it for the 100th time! While Kurt gave me the gift of the Kindle he has not managed the gift of email updates.

As in I have been here (whoa 5 months) and I haven’t received one since the first and last that he sent me on October 8^th (3 days after I got here) So when I finally did get to talk to him for 30 minutes yesterday there was a lot to hear about. And every bit of it reminded me how much I admire him for so many reasons but mainly at this juncture in his life for his conviction and ability to carve his own path where he has not taken the typical path. School, internships, job out of college. He announced his first real opera role, as a swordfighter in San Francisco Opera’s Cryano De Bergerac to me about a month and a half ago. But actually while this in itself is awesome he learned last week that Plácido Domingo, one of the four tenors, will be playing Cyrano which means Kurt will truly be performing in the company of greatness even I can appreciate.

Click here to support Kurt and go to the Opera!

Cyrano is an accessible opera. And what I mean by that is, unlike the opera I went to last September where I pretty much fell asleep Cryano is sure to be more entertaining. Also I love a good underdog story and also Steve Martin played Cyrano in the movie Roxanne, which in my world is a pretty sure endorsement that the show should be good. In addition to reading the book I will also be watching Roxanne before I go to the opera as a pre-game warm-up. Kurt may want to kill me for that but I know my Dad will be up for the screening.

Speaking of Steve Martin going downhill what's with his new type cast as the quiet older man love interest? I am speaking of the less known Shopgirl (he wrote the book then played his own character) and also It's Complicated where he plays the quiet architect who is barely funny (the movie was good anyway). He gave us so much in his prime, Father of the Bride - hello the hot dog bun scene is by far one of the most epic comedy moments of all time - My Blue Heaven,Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Sargent Bilko and of course The Three Amigos. It will be hard to remember him as the genius he is if he keeps playing this awkward older man. Then again maybe he is trying, in his maturing age, to redefine his career. In which case I would say quit now. You're ruining it for all of us.

Well anyway there I go again.

The little Indian woman is back at the hostel doing more flower arrangements - such is the repetitive nature of life in a hostel - Anyway I better get out of here before her creative energy makes me start another rant.

It's 11pm And I Would Sell My Soul For One Of These

Remember my first post ever. The days when I actually wrote about what a Hot Mess I was: disheveled hair, nose sweat and the constant riding up of the yoga tank. Maybe you don't, after all that was long before I had any followers. And now I have 6 (we can talk about this, and my other hurt feelings later). I can't imagine you read back to the early days but nevertheless and I had to reread it myself and it took me straight back to the early yoga days. Sherman was certainly a force to be reckoned with. Luckily now, as I venture into yoga in another country - okay it isn't exactly an Ashram in India, but we won't start in on Elizabeth Gilbert...again...yet - I am happy to report my Australian yoga experience was anything but embarrassing. If you don't count the wispys' that stuck out on either side of my forehead and looked like devil horns. I actually knew what the shit I was doing and even better, after leaving the class I decided I need the level up!! Um whether I still feel that way tomorrow when the pain sets in remains to be determined. I will keep you posted or maybe lie and tell you I went to the harder class anyway...It all depends on how I feel.

So yoga was good, I bought a 2 week intro pass for $25 so this next week should be jam packed with yoga because what else am I doing anyway?

I went and bought half of a roasted chicken for dinner at my favorite market in Surry Hills where the chicken costs $1 more but the guys at the register are always nice to me. Small price to pay for a smile and a bounce in my step.

Andre Agassi's book Open FINALLY came out in kindle edition so I bought it and thank god he has made me want to read again! I took a brief break after finally finishing the last chapter in E. Gilbert's prefabricated and prepaid for journey through 3 countries to find herself where she ends up finding the third love of her life - but only after finding herself first - ok sorry it's just that...well never-mind go ahead don't trust me and torture yourself anyway and read it damn it but don't say I didn't tell you so.

Open on the other-hand is genius so far. Agassi (with a little help I imagine) has mastered stream of consciousness, at least to my mind. And I am enthralled even though I know little to nothing about tennis. Hello I haven't even gotten to the good stuff yet (the wig, the drugs and Brooke Shields) Well I will keep you posted on that in the unlikely event it takes a turn for the worst.

Well it's about my bedtime. There are enough denim shorts to cloth a small country sitting in this hostel right now but what can I say, these days I am looking the other way. Just don't tell the boys back home. Missing you and polo shirts.

PS Any thoughts on the wispys', headbands won't stay in my freakishly small head - we've discussed this before - and they are too short for bobby pins and I don't do hairspray. Oh to be a Hot Mess!!

On My Cheese Roll Chase in Australia, And Being 19 Again

About three months ago I met these two English guys. 19 years old with the world at their feet (is that the saying, or at their heels or???) Well anyway they were traveling the world. After a few glasses of goon* they let me in on their pipe dream, the kind you have when you are 19, the kind I am trying to rediscover at 25. They want to own a record store in Camden, London and while I can't remember the details it sounded like a great idea in the way that an offbeat idea with a lot of passion behind it can sound great. Since being in Australia I have had many pipe dreams of sorts, sometimes fleeting but still they are there or did they just come back? Governess on a cattle farm in the outback was new, fleeting and already long gone but have you read Pioneer Woman's blog? Hello it could have happened to me too! I want to learn to sail, get my advanced and maybe rescue diver certification, own a clothing boutique and maybe a cafe too oh and marry a wealthy English property developer who I meet in Australia who has property in Sydney, London and San Francisco, did I just say that outloud? Well pipe dreams are allowed to be off the wall as long as there is passion and conviction behind them.

So many of the traveler's I have met over the last 4 months and 1o days have this sense of whatever it takes I can do anything "ness" which for me, who worked towards my former job in construction since I was a Sophomore in highschool, almost 8 years, almost a decade... holy shit... it is a refreshing reminder that there are other paths that lead to "growing up" I'm just not sure what my path is yet, Whether a pipe dream can actually be pursued and what happened to the conviction I had when I was 19 years old?

Are you having a cathartic moment now? Rehashing your old pipe dreams, rethinking life choices etc? Well that is good. Now stop and consider the stupidity of this. Click Here.

My two English friends will be doing this in May. Awesome? Stupid? Still to be determined.

Well anyway I will leave it at that. And also I have no doubt they will, if they want to, open a record store. These are the guys who decided over a beer that they would ride their bikes - not motorcycles - down the coast of California. They ended up hitchhiking after 4 days, but anyway they got there didn't they?

*Goon is Australian for boxed wine. It is also instigator of deep and sometimes incoherent conversations, fleeting love, and containing "traces of milk, fish egg and nut products" is considered by some a full meal. It costs $10 for a 4 litre box, also included in the price is a two day hangover. Also in France they call it Chateau Cardboard.

Pyrmont, Persian Tea and My First Religious Experience...Ginger Brulee Tarts

Yesterday I discovered the most delicious Persian Restaurant in Pyrmont, home blended tea served in Istacons and lamb kebabs marinated in heaven - A fully family run business Miriam, the owners wife a built woman impeccably made up as most middle eastern woman usually are, told me to call her if I need a job. She tells me "I find you job, I find you apartment and I find you boyfriend, you call me honey." which made me feel both totally at home and a little pathetic. I wish I had the guts to call her and see what would have happened.

Pyrmont is a neighborhood full of cafes, bars and some pretty good shopping including one boutique located in a house, the dressing room was the bathroom and I am pretty sure someone was actually living there. But anyway they were hand-making the jewelry in the place and it was stunning, mainly statement necklaces. Excellent gifts, so get excited ladies. Also I found the cheapest happy hour in Sydney at BarTino (I met Tino a little cuban man who I am pretty sure was flirting with me) Prymont is great but it doesn't top Surry Hills in my book.

Surry Hills is a mix of overpriced home furnishing stores, overpriced clothing stores, overpriced stationary stores, regular priced cafes - ok true it is a little pretentious - and the most delicious bakery ever. Bourke Street Bakery where at anytime of the day there is a line out the door. They have thin crusted pizzas, gourmet panini's and without a doubt the most amazing creation a ginger brulee tart, half tart half creme brulee it comes with a ginger custard filling, or if you prefer a strawberry custard filling or vanilla. To die for I tell you. If it wasn't pouring rain here I would be trekking my fat ass out there right now. But it is raining, buckets and unlike the rain the Cairns it isn't a stifling hot rain which makes it, to my homesick mind, a little slice of heaven. A little slice of home.

Because there is nothing better than seeing a movie in the rain, except ginger brulee tarts at 3pm in the afternoon, I went to see Avatar in 3D last night. A masterpiece I can't decide who wouldn't like this movie. It has it all action, romance, fantasy and I might - for the first time in my life, other than the time I tried to get my Mom to take me to see Now and Then a second time - consider a second visit to the land of Pandora. But maybe in 2D because I still feel queasy from the 3D.

I am munching on carrots and hummus (an obvious effort to justify a ginger brulee tart later) at the hostel watching this little Indian Lady put together a flower arrangement. Nothing has ever looked so painfully tedious. She can't quite reach the top of the vase so each time she gets up on her tip toes to remove and reinstall a leaf in a new location (likely to only move it back again) I think the whole thing is just going get knocked over. Also she is creating another arrangement in the reception room but instead of making the arrangements and then putting one of the vases in reception she is working from both rooms, shuffling back and forth. Standing back to admire and judge, move a leaf or flower here to there. I have no doubt this is a creative nessecity that I simple don't understand.

Thinking of you, and the ginger brulee tart I will be having later - don't be jealous, you have access to good Mexican food. Go see Avatar if you haven't, it won't be the same on your TV at home. Just maybe not in 3D.