9.22.2010
spring breaaaak.
one fish, two fish--let the craziness begin. <----click on that link to see what i'll be up to for the next 10 days!
9.15.2010
energy.
I really want to dance all over my room singing and dancing right now, but I think I've done enough to scare my dorm room neighbors.
There's a lot of pent up energy running through my body after being a drooling, sleepy zombie for the last 5 days.
Probably some adrenaline from left over anger and annoyance from a conversation with the toxic one earlier as well.
Got some of the tingling in my limbs out earlier by belting out some Biebs while cleaning, but I think it's time to jammm out to my new-found angsty girl music, The Pretty Reckless.
Ever since Tragic Kingdom was first put on for me circa 1996, I've just had a thing for angry girl rock bands.
I wish I could say I followed in Miss Stefaini's footsteps singing powerful and edgy songs of my own, but instead my lyrical genius swayed more towards the hatred of onions. I believe the "I Hate Onions" tape recording is still saved somewhere in the depths of my childhood memory boxes.
To be released as an EP later this year ;)
In any event (tell me if I am overusing this phrase...seems to be coming out a lot lately), I am feeling much better and am hopefully going to make it out to the Tim Burton exhibition this weekend. Maybe take a pole dancing class as well. Just for fun...no worries family. At least go to normal dance class on Friday night for sure! And ZUUUUMBA tomorrow. Gotta get this body a bit more in shape for spring break in t-minus 8 days! So excited for Queensland. Bungee jumping, exploring the Great Barrier Reef, sky swinging, laxing it out on the beach and pAArtying hard. <---yes, I did just do that.
Sweet skype sesh with the sibs and Gram put a smile on my face. Plus this status that my Grandma posted: Mertle DeCoursey: coming home from school today Braden asked how Sissy was doing and he knew how she felt. Because when you can't breathe it's scary and he knows 'cause he has been there many times. He thought if she had a "neb" that would help her breathe better. You have to love the wisdom of 7 year olds and his concern for his big sister who is doing much better.
Man do I love that little boy. Dancinnn time.
xxxxxxxxx, Amanda.
There's a lot of pent up energy running through my body after being a drooling, sleepy zombie for the last 5 days.
Probably some adrenaline from left over anger and annoyance from a conversation with the toxic one earlier as well.
Got some of the tingling in my limbs out earlier by belting out some Biebs while cleaning, but I think it's time to jammm out to my new-found angsty girl music, The Pretty Reckless.
Ever since Tragic Kingdom was first put on for me circa 1996, I've just had a thing for angry girl rock bands.
I wish I could say I followed in Miss Stefaini's footsteps singing powerful and edgy songs of my own, but instead my lyrical genius swayed more towards the hatred of onions. I believe the "I Hate Onions" tape recording is still saved somewhere in the depths of my childhood memory boxes.To be released as an EP later this year ;)
In any event (tell me if I am overusing this phrase...seems to be coming out a lot lately), I am feeling much better and am hopefully going to make it out to the Tim Burton exhibition this weekend. Maybe take a pole dancing class as well. Just for fun...no worries family. At least go to normal dance class on Friday night for sure! And ZUUUUMBA tomorrow. Gotta get this body a bit more in shape for spring break in t-minus 8 days! So excited for Queensland. Bungee jumping, exploring the Great Barrier Reef, sky swinging, laxing it out on the beach and pAArtying hard. <---yes, I did just do that.
Sweet skype sesh with the sibs and Gram put a smile on my face. Plus this status that my Grandma posted: Mertle DeCoursey: coming home from school today Braden asked how Sissy was doing and he knew how she felt. Because when you can't breathe it's scary and he knows 'cause he has been there many times. He thought if she had a "neb" that would help her breathe better. You have to love the wisdom of 7 year olds and his concern for his big sister who is doing much better.
Man do I love that little boy. Dancinnn time.
xxxxxxxxx, Amanda.
9.14.2010
darwin.
Major catching-ups to do.Lucky for all of you, I have come down with a respiratory infection and am sentenced to rest in my room for the next 5 days. I figured I could catch up on blog entries seeing as how I am no longer feeling like the world is spinning around me nor that I will suffocate in my sleep due to unmeasurable amounts of snot giving me a lack of oxygen.
If you think it's disgusting, imagine how I feel.
Moving on, we head back to the last weekend of August (25-29).
Early Wednesday evening, Kevin, Miguel and I packed up our bags and said goodbye to the miserable cold and rain of Melbourne and a big HELLLOOOO to the gorgeous 90 degree weather of the Northern Territory of Darwin.
While it was all sunshine being there, getting there was not.
Tiger Airways has to be the worst airline EVER and we had a mess of a time figuring out where to check in at the cast-off and dingy terminal that is the home of Tiger. Well, you get what you pay for. At least the less than decent reputation of the company got me through security without having to check my AT LEAST 5-kilo-overweight baggage. "I don't get paid enough to be bothered with this right now," replied the hard-working Tiger representative. Score one for me.
Loaded up with candy, snacks and magazines, we took to the 5 hour flight and passed out most of the way. We landed at the Darwin airport around midnight and could immediately feel the humidity creeping in from outside. None of us were feeling very tired from the long naps we took on the flight, and after we got all checked in at the hostel, we decided the only sensible thing to do would be to go out.
The lovely man from South Carolina working the desk at our hostel gave us his Monsoons member card and told it was the place to be. And seeing as how we went back every day of our
trip, it certainly proved to be. Dressed in our summer bests of cotton dresses and man
capris, we had a few drinks and shared a few laughs. The boys seemed to have a few more drinks than I did and I was left with the last laugh of taking care of their asses around our new town. At around 4 am, we decided we were hungry and went on a search for food. Again, asking for advice from our hostel, we got pointed in the direction of where an open food joint may be. Miguel decided to try to be the leader and took us around on a goose chase around the block. We ended up passing our hostel again and crept by in the shadows on the other side of the street to hide our American embarrassment. That's when I took the reigns and got us to Uncle Sam's which presented a fine display of nastily fried everything. The crowd was looking pretty sketch so we hastily ate our yiros (I guess this makes a bit more sense than spelling it gyros...) and split and knocked off for bed around 5.
The next day kicked off with a nice jog for the three of us, which was probably quite a sight to see since none of us had done much physical activity in Australia leading up to this event. Through the huffing and puffing, we got to see a ton of the city and hit the tourist centre to figure out what we should do for the next few days.
Maleleuca on Mitchell was an awesome hostel located right on Mitchell Street, the main stretch in Darwin. We enjoyed laying out on the pool deck for a few hours and eventually hit the streets to do some exploring. On DAY ONE we encountered:
1. The douchebag photographer Paul Arnold. He had beautiful artwork of the outback in his gallery, but his "pure modesty" really brought down our opinion of him. Nevertheless, I contributed 50 cents to the ass for a pretty bookmark with frangipanis.
2. Amazing Italian Cafe--cannot, for the life of me, remember the name of it. But it was sooo good! Ended up dropping my camera on the ground and cracking the touch screen. So yep, we are now awaiting the arrival of camera #4. Great times.
3. Bus ride--This was quite interesting. We saw some girls being put in the back of a police caravan, got our first real dose of the indigenous life in Australia and randomly got off on a stop that lead us to a FABULOUS day.
4. Botanical Gardens; The scenery at this place was absolutely stunning. We had a great time taking photos and relaxing to the sounds of the garden. I even tried to swing from a vine Tarzan and Jane style, but the vine ended up falling on me and giving me a nasty scratch on my back. Never again. Sorry nature.
5. Medill Sunset Market
This baby requires its own paragraph. The market was possibly the most incredible thing I've been to in Australia thus far and I really felt the roots of the country here. There was a sense of community among everyone and it was just all about enjoying the music, weather
and craft of everyone who contributed. Set up directly next to the beach, we were able to see the sunset over the ocean and soak our feet in the salty water. Booths lined the strip bursting with food, artwork, jewelery, clothing and miscellaneous other treasures. I kept getting lost from the boys because I just wanted to take everything in and see everything that I could. We met up in time to hear this incredible man playing what looked to be 4 or 5 didgeridoos hooked up to a sound system. Another m
an accompanied him on the drums and together they made a crazy beat that had the entire crowd clapping and dancing along. The rough sounds coming from the wooden didgeridoo mixed with the electronica and created an intense energy that gave me chills. Everyone was entranced by their show and it wasn't long before the locals were dancing along, swinging their hips every which way to keep up with the increasingly fast rhythm. We stayed the entire 5 hours that the market lasted for and I came back with a few unique items! (Of course, making my suitcase heavier...what did you expect from me?) I got a gorgeous maxi dress with swirls of red and blue, a red crochet bikini, and a hand-painted, glass-blown necklace that apparently represents fertility. I chose it because it had the prettiest design, but upon looking at it closely, you can see that some of the paintwork on it resemble little sperms. Let's just say, I'm not hoping for 
my own fertility at this point, but wearing it for the many women out there and I'll use it for myself when the time comes...ha. I also got a few tank tops that are called "Second Skin" and legit feel like you're wearing nothing (which we all know is something I'm very fond of). I'm wearing one of them right now actually...what a coincidence. ;) We ended our market trip with some delicious Asian food and treated ourselves to Thai massages. Probably the most relaxing 10 minutes of my life. I have no idea what that man did with his hands, but it was pure magic and released every knot I had. Could really use that again right now...
Decided to hit up our number one spot, MONSOOOOONS, again that night and got pretty wild. Between the 3 of us, we split 7 jugs, had tequila shots and probably a few mixed drinks. Needless to say, things got silly and we all got down on the dance floor. Or the stage? Definitely one of the top days/nights I've had in Australia. Perhaps the top. We babysat each other back home and hit the sack around 5 again.
DAY TWO started off with showers...which was a good thing because we starting to have shame. (Although no shame in topping off jug #7 the night before...)
Next we traveled down to the Aboriginal Art History Museum. We saw some really cool artwork, a real dead crocodile named Sweetheart and a very interesting exhibit on the cyclone that nearly wiped away the city of Darwin back in 1974. It was a mass tragedy and many people lost their homes and their lives. Obviously the city has been rebuilt, but it took many years to clean up the mess left behind by Cyclone Tracy.
After the museum, we walked along the beach and took in the beautiful scenery. I swear I saw crocodile tracks, but I'm pretty sure they just belonged to some type of bird.
Next we attempted to go to some type of indoor marina, but it was already closed by the time we got there. Instead we found ourselves by the Wharf Precinct so we explored around there and came across a stretch of condos with a little beach area. We laid out in the sun for a bit and went for a dip.
On our way back to the hotel, we wound up being invited to tour the Queen's house. So
random. It is an event that happens once a year and we so happened to stumble across it. Had scrumptious tea and scones and scoped out the house. Very lovely indeed. Unfortunately my cracked camera died halfway through the Queen's 5th garden (or was it the 4th?) so my photos stopped there.
Headed back to the hotel to rest up for the night and get ready for the rest of our friends to join us!
Stopped off to get some Vodka Cruisers and enjoy some grub at The Duck's Nuts. Kevin seems to think this is like the Australian version of the bee's knees, but I'm just not seeing it.
Hit up the pool bar for some more jugs and went to the Vic so I could get some free champagne for ladies' night. And get the free champagne I did. Served by shirtless men in bow-ties. Niiiice. We then were entertained by a male stripper who even flashed us a nice view of his package. I don' t think I'll ever be the same. I was having a great time dancing with some girls from the hostel and new-found New Zealanders, but the boys had had quite enough and told me the others would be to the hostel soon.
We got back to Maleleuca just in time to greet the new-comers, Liz, Sarah, Dan, Victoria, Sam, Paul, and Mary. Settled them in and brought them out to Monsoons. Weird.
"Oh Mister Torres, welcome back..." The bouncer knew Miguel by name. Fabulousss.
Got to steppin, learned how to do the Melbourne shuffle a bit although I still look like a bumbling idiot and don't understand how anyone can move their feet like that. Had a good time, but everyone was kinda sleepy so we headed back. Hung out with some Australian army men out by the pool deck till the sun came up. I think bed time was 7 am that night. Not much time for sleep in Darwin.
DAY THREE with everyone was fun! Family breakfast at The Coffee Club and went to the main event we had all been looking forward too....CROCODYLUS COVE. What a bust. This is the home to the Cage of Death where one is inserted into a crocodile's tank in a glass tank and the croc is meant to snap and swarm around you. Terrifying, right? Well the damn 80 year-old crocodile sat and stared at the man in the cage and didn't even move. None of the crocs in the whole park seemed to want to move. We watched the feeding which was semi-cool, but peaced out of there pretty fast.
I decided I wanted my last day to be nothing but relaxing so all of us girls took to the pool for the rest of the day. Hung out with our new army friends, made more new friends who gave us floaties, had a few drinks and soaked up the sun. Great last day.
Ended off on a high note with a fancy dinner at a charming little tapas restaurant. The food was amazing, and the conversation--even better ;). Even if the boys hated us.
Kevin, Miguel and I bid our farewells and headed back to the great city of Melbourne where we took in a footy game the next day. Not sure how we made it as we were all so tired, but I'm super glad I did! The Melbourne team's mascot is actually the Demons and their colors are red and blue (WOOO DEPAUL!). I got myself a scarf to representtt. Enjoyed some ciders and went home to crash out hard.
Yup, that about sums it up! Broken Hill to come hopefully sooner than this one did. Byeeee. x
If you think it's disgusting, imagine how I feel.
Moving on, we head back to the last weekend of August (25-29).
Early Wednesday evening, Kevin, Miguel and I packed up our bags and said goodbye to the miserable cold and rain of Melbourne and a big HELLLOOOO to the gorgeous 90 degree weather of the Northern Territory of Darwin.
While it was all sunshine being there, getting there was not.
Tiger Airways has to be the worst airline EVER and we had a mess of a time figuring out where to check in at the cast-off and dingy terminal that is the home of Tiger. Well, you get what you pay for. At least the less than decent reputation of the company got me through security without having to check my AT LEAST 5-kilo-overweight baggage. "I don't get paid enough to be bothered with this right now," replied the hard-working Tiger representative. Score one for me.
Loaded up with candy, snacks and magazines, we took to the 5 hour flight and passed out most of the way. We landed at the Darwin airport around midnight and could immediately feel the humidity creeping in from outside. None of us were feeling very tired from the long naps we took on the flight, and after we got all checked in at the hostel, we decided the only sensible thing to do would be to go out.
The lovely man from South Carolina working the desk at our hostel gave us his Monsoons member card and told it was the place to be. And seeing as how we went back every day of our
trip, it certainly proved to be. Dressed in our summer bests of cotton dresses and man
capris, we had a few drinks and shared a few laughs. The boys seemed to have a few more drinks than I did and I was left with the last laugh of taking care of their asses around our new town. At around 4 am, we decided we were hungry and went on a search for food. Again, asking for advice from our hostel, we got pointed in the direction of where an open food joint may be. Miguel decided to try to be the leader and took us around on a goose chase around the block. We ended up passing our hostel again and crept by in the shadows on the other side of the street to hide our American embarrassment. That's when I took the reigns and got us to Uncle Sam's which presented a fine display of nastily fried everything. The crowd was looking pretty sketch so we hastily ate our yiros (I guess this makes a bit more sense than spelling it gyros...) and split and knocked off for bed around 5.The next day kicked off with a nice jog for the three of us, which was probably quite a sight to see since none of us had done much physical activity in Australia leading up to this event. Through the huffing and puffing, we got to see a ton of the city and hit the tourist centre to figure out what we should do for the next few days.
Maleleuca on Mitchell was an awesome hostel located right on Mitchell Street, the main stretch in Darwin. We enjoyed laying out on the pool deck for a few hours and eventually hit the streets to do some exploring. On DAY ONE we encountered:
1. The douchebag photographer Paul Arnold. He had beautiful artwork of the outback in his gallery, but his "pure modesty" really brought down our opinion of him. Nevertheless, I contributed 50 cents to the ass for a pretty bookmark with frangipanis.
2. Amazing Italian Cafe--cannot, for the life of me, remember the name of it. But it was sooo good! Ended up dropping my camera on the ground and cracking the touch screen. So yep, we are now awaiting the arrival of camera #4. Great times.
3. Bus ride--This was quite interesting. We saw some girls being put in the back of a police caravan, got our first real dose of the indigenous life in Australia and randomly got off on a stop that lead us to a FABULOUS day.
4. Botanical Gardens; The scenery at this place was absolutely stunning. We had a great time taking photos and relaxing to the sounds of the garden. I even tried to swing from a vine Tarzan and Jane style, but the vine ended up falling on me and giving me a nasty scratch on my back. Never again. Sorry nature.
This baby requires its own paragraph. The market was possibly the most incredible thing I've been to in Australia thus far and I really felt the roots of the country here. There was a sense of community among everyone and it was just all about enjoying the music, weather
and craft of everyone who contributed. Set up directly next to the beach, we were able to see the sunset over the ocean and soak our feet in the salty water. Booths lined the strip bursting with food, artwork, jewelery, clothing and miscellaneous other treasures. I kept getting lost from the boys because I just wanted to take everything in and see everything that I could. We met up in time to hear this incredible man playing what looked to be 4 or 5 didgeridoos hooked up to a sound system. Another m
an accompanied him on the drums and together they made a crazy beat that had the entire crowd clapping and dancing along. The rough sounds coming from the wooden didgeridoo mixed with the electronica and created an intense energy that gave me chills. Everyone was entranced by their show and it wasn't long before the locals were dancing along, swinging their hips every which way to keep up with the increasingly fast rhythm. We stayed the entire 5 hours that the market lasted for and I came back with a few unique items! (Of course, making my suitcase heavier...what did you expect from me?) I got a gorgeous maxi dress with swirls of red and blue, a red crochet bikini, and a hand-painted, glass-blown necklace that apparently represents fertility. I chose it because it had the prettiest design, but upon looking at it closely, you can see that some of the paintwork on it resemble little sperms. Let's just say, I'm not hoping for 
my own fertility at this point, but wearing it for the many women out there and I'll use it for myself when the time comes...ha. I also got a few tank tops that are called "Second Skin" and legit feel like you're wearing nothing (which we all know is something I'm very fond of). I'm wearing one of them right now actually...what a coincidence. ;) We ended our market trip with some delicious Asian food and treated ourselves to Thai massages. Probably the most relaxing 10 minutes of my life. I have no idea what that man did with his hands, but it was pure magic and released every knot I had. Could really use that again right now...Decided to hit up our number one spot, MONSOOOOONS, again that night and got pretty wild. Between the 3 of us, we split 7 jugs, had tequila shots and probably a few mixed drinks. Needless to say, things got silly and we all got down on the dance floor. Or the stage? Definitely one of the top days/nights I've had in Australia. Perhaps the top. We babysat each other back home and hit the sack around 5 again.
DAY TWO started off with showers...which was a good thing because we starting to have shame. (Although no shame in topping off jug #7 the night before...)Next we traveled down to the Aboriginal Art History Museum. We saw some really cool artwork, a real dead crocodile named Sweetheart and a very interesting exhibit on the cyclone that nearly wiped away the city of Darwin back in 1974. It was a mass tragedy and many people lost their homes and their lives. Obviously the city has been rebuilt, but it took many years to clean up the mess left behind by Cyclone Tracy.
After the museum, we walked along the beach and took in the beautiful scenery. I swear I saw crocodile tracks, but I'm pretty sure they just belonged to some type of bird.
Next we attempted to go to some type of indoor marina, but it was already closed by the time we got there. Instead we found ourselves by the Wharf Precinct so we explored around there and came across a stretch of condos with a little beach area. We laid out in the sun for a bit and went for a dip.
On our way back to the hotel, we wound up being invited to tour the Queen's house. So
random. It is an event that happens once a year and we so happened to stumble across it. Had scrumptious tea and scones and scoped out the house. Very lovely indeed. Unfortunately my cracked camera died halfway through the Queen's 5th garden (or was it the 4th?) so my photos stopped there.Headed back to the hotel to rest up for the night and get ready for the rest of our friends to join us!
Stopped off to get some Vodka Cruisers and enjoy some grub at The Duck's Nuts. Kevin seems to think this is like the Australian version of the bee's knees, but I'm just not seeing it.
Hit up the pool bar for some more jugs and went to the Vic so I could get some free champagne for ladies' night. And get the free champagne I did. Served by shirtless men in bow-ties. Niiiice. We then were entertained by a male stripper who even flashed us a nice view of his package. I don' t think I'll ever be the same. I was having a great time dancing with some girls from the hostel and new-found New Zealanders, but the boys had had quite enough and told me the others would be to the hostel soon.
We got back to Maleleuca just in time to greet the new-comers, Liz, Sarah, Dan, Victoria, Sam, Paul, and Mary. Settled them in and brought them out to Monsoons. Weird.
"Oh Mister Torres, welcome back..." The bouncer knew Miguel by name. Fabulousss.
Got to steppin, learned how to do the Melbourne shuffle a bit although I still look like a bumbling idiot and don't understand how anyone can move their feet like that. Had a good time, but everyone was kinda sleepy so we headed back. Hung out with some Australian army men out by the pool deck till the sun came up. I think bed time was 7 am that night. Not much time for sleep in Darwin.
DAY THREE with everyone was fun! Family breakfast at The Coffee Club and went to the main event we had all been looking forward too....CROCODYLUS COVE. What a bust. This is the home to the Cage of Death where one is inserted into a crocodile's tank in a glass tank and the croc is meant to snap and swarm around you. Terrifying, right? Well the damn 80 year-old crocodile sat and stared at the man in the cage and didn't even move. None of the crocs in the whole park seemed to want to move. We watched the feeding which was semi-cool, but peaced out of there pretty fast.
I decided I wanted my last day to be nothing but relaxing so all of us girls took to the pool for the rest of the day. Hung out with our new army friends, made more new friends who gave us floaties, had a few drinks and soaked up the sun. Great last day.
Ended off on a high note with a fancy dinner at a charming little tapas restaurant. The food was amazing, and the conversation--even better ;). Even if the boys hated us.
Kevin, Miguel and I bid our farewells and headed back to the great city of Melbourne where we took in a footy game the next day. Not sure how we made it as we were all so tired, but I'm super glad I did! The Melbourne team's mascot is actually the Demons and their colors are red and blue (WOOO DEPAUL!). I got myself a scarf to representtt. Enjoyed some ciders and went home to crash out hard.
Yup, that about sums it up! Broken Hill to come hopefully sooner than this one did. Byeeee. x
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