Day 34 - Drinks with Canadiens, Germans, and a Dutch Guy

Aboriginal Art from yesterday

May 12th, 2015

I awoke to a phone call from a recruiting agency for an interview the next day. Well, it’s something. That aside, it was a rather slow start for no particular reason. I kept putting off leaving for the gym, going over job applications and sorting out my RSA instead. I had got it for $20 (regular ~$45) with a scoopon, but the coupon had screwed up when it came to putting it in. That sorted, I procrastinated a little bit, then headed to the gym. The energy from my small breakfast was largely over, but an energyless workout is my punishment for procrastinating. Wooh, drained deadlifts!

Day 33 - Wandering Perth; Canadiens

The Big Green Thing I keep mentioning

May 11th, 2015

Back to the Gym morning ritual, though I actually threw in meditation today. It’s been a long time since I had actually sat down to do it. As I’ve told people, the hardest part of doing meditation is actually sitting down and doing it. I’ve been meaning to throw it onto the ritual of working out, but something else distracts me by the time I get home and it is forcibly shoved out of conscious thought.

Laurens and I agreed to go into town to wander. We check out a number of stores, I show him the star trek toilets, and we meet a few people. The most notable would be a Canadien girl who was trying to sell her van. Audrey was her name, and she's pretty cool. She invited us to get drinks with her friends that night, and since we happened to be free, we agreed. Didn’t buy the van, though.

Day 32 - Mother's day, ft Bali

May 10th, 2015

First off - Happy Day to all you Mothers out there! Especially Mine!

My day, on the other hand, was anything but happy. It was a lot of pain and a little bit of yelling into my porcelain friend. Hey, at least I caught up on some sleep. I finally dragged myself into mobility by 5pm and did some work. Last night was not worth this. Not at all.

I spoke with French Alexander a bit about this and that. We ate together, and I watched him consume quite a bit of food. It seems like every guy around me has trouble keeping weight on. I’ve been hitting the gym pretty hard lately, so we’ll see what shakes out from that. Not today though. N-not... today....

Day 31 - Work hard; Party Hard

Just a parked car

May 9th, 2015

Usual routine progresses: Wake at 10:45, eat, gym at noon after doing a little work. Return, shower, then into the scheduled unknown. Today I did a lot of work, whittling down the resume a bit more, refining it and targeting it more, applying to lots of jobs, writing and editing blog posts, and finally getting my stupid RSA (Aus Smart Serve). Since we didn’t go out last night and tonight is Rhys’ last night before he heads to Bali (and may not be back to Perth), it’s going to be a bigger night. I work until around 7:30 when I realize I have very little time to drink a lot of beer. 

Drinking at the Hostel

I throw back 5 in 45 minutes and head on over with 2 more. I had eaten relatively recently, so it was slower to process than expected. They were drinking Goon, which they allowed me to partake in after the 2 roadies were struck down in their prime. After that, there’s no real keeping track. Cup after cup of cheap wine. The French were drinking as well, so I got to bust out my terrible french and learn a bit here and there. Oh, hey, I met my first Canadian since arriving here, but she was Quebecois and didn’t speak much English.

Day 30 - Goodbye, Yuzu!

May 8th, 2015

Boo. Today is the day that Yuzu is leaving town. Sure it’s only 2.5 hours away, but I don’t even have money to go there and back. I’m happy that she got a job on a farm, like she wanted, but it still sucks. The deal is only for a week, though, so I’m not entirely sure what she’s going to do during that week, or even after it. Because I want to meet up with her and it’s a half hour walk away, I get up an hour earlier, head to the gym, shower, and head out.

Walking through a city is funny, particularly when it’s not your country. I play a game of seeing if I can recognize their accents from the brief clips you get. Sometimes you heard something interesting that you wish you could follow up on, and other times you get something as inane as “The festival was really festive” - I literally heard that on my way to the bus station.

Day 29 - Deadlifts, Coffee, and Beer

May 7th, 2015

Today started by me helping English Rhys with his deadlift form. We have a more extended conversation about social dynamics and psychology. Head home, blah, shower, blah.

I am meeting up with a friend, Aussie Pamela at Dome. We talk about all sorts of stuff, but I talk a bit more than I probably should (not unusual for me, boo). She’s a chef, so we discuss cooking and the difference between coffee here and back home, as well as how a cappuccino, flat white, and latte are all quite similar here. Well, so it seems. Yet, people will still send them back if it’s not exactly what they envisioned. The biggest difference between a latte and a flat white appears to be the cups. Flat white gets a ceramic sort of tea cup, and a latte gets a taller glass. Whoopdidoo.

Day 28 - Chef Yuzu Making Curry

A Police Cruiser

May 6th, 2015

English Rhys and I both agreed that the days have been rather shapeless. We have both been waking up later and later because there’s no real reason to get up. I suggested that we start going everyday to the gym at noon to get the day started; he agrees. Dutch Laurens is still pretty sick - an infection and food poisoning don’t mix with drinking and exercising. We gym, chat a little, and then head our separate ways.

Day 27 - The Sweet Stuff

Park Art

May 5th, 2015

I’m slipping. I didn’t write this day and now I can’t remember exactly what happened. Gym, sure.. Oh right, it was Tuesday. Tuesday means CHEAP CHICKEN!!! Word around the hostel, see, is that KFC has this deal on Tuesdays. Check it out: $2 for a couple pieces of the good stuff... A friend of a friend told me. I decide that Liz deserves to be cut in on some of this sweet, tender action, and we scheme to get our hands on a bucket of the real deal. But, as you know, things don’t always go according to plan.

Day 26 - The Liquor Baron

May 4th, 2015

Keep it together, man!

Yet another day of dragging my feet, I decide to actually go to some of the shops to see what I can get for a decent rate. I have no alcohol, and I figure I’ll be in need of it at some point or another, so DAN MURPHY'S it is! Discount Baron of the Western State, he brings the liquor for those in need, post haste! “Dan Murphys” is the name of a discount liquor store. Yeah, they have those here. I know, right?

Day 25 - Spanish Hot Cocoa

Winter's Coming

May 3rd, 2015

Today is the type of day where it’s too hot in the sun, and too cold in the shade. The kind of day where you don’t know what to wear. It’s a fine line between melting and freezing. I'm a living heater; I hate these days. With all the writing and editing that I do everyday, it's gotten to the point where I’m automatically dictating things as they happen. I’m walking around deciding how I will write down events in a more entertaining or descriptive way. For example: the opening sentence.

Up at 11, arrive at work for 12. "Work" is used rather loosely for this day. We have nothing scheduled, and there are no walk-ins. I hang around, talking with my.. uh.. I think he’s my manager.. Simon. He makes me a flat white/latte and we shoot the shit after setting the place up and cleaning. I play around on my phone while Simon and the Cook chat about the games that are playing on the various flat screens. I get cut at 1:15pm and head on back home.

Day 24 - 10 Hours

I'm posting it again because it makes more sense here.
Cry if you hate reposts.

May 2nd, 2015

I woke up at 11 (yeah, back to the sleeping in) to my phone ringing. It was Simon, the guy who took my application for The Grid and eventually brought me in. He said he needed me to come in ASAP because someone didn’t show. Their loss! I jumped out of bed and rushed to get ready, making it there at around 11:45. I was nervous for the job, as I wasn’t sure how much help I would get, and most of it was done for me when I was being trained. Not the easiest to know how to do something when don't get to try your hand at it a few times, right?

Day 23 - Shimou's Insight into China

Belgian Bar

May 1st, 2015

Another slow day (“Sir, the page views are dropping every time you say that!”) and I spent most of it lying in bed. Yeah, I hit the gym and I did some work online, organized a few things, but I’m currently hooked on these daredevil comics (Goooo Bendis!) and I don’t have anywhere to be. I still don’t have many friends in the city, just a lot of acquaintances and it seems to be out of sight, out of mind. I’m supposed to meet up with Chinese Shimou [Shi-mo] at 8:30pm. One of my most present housemates, French Alexander, chatted with me for a bit about his experience in Perth. He’s been here for 3 months and seems to do something in the construction trades. something with concrete, doing the baseboards and crownings.. I think. He’s a amicable fellow, always friendly, and has a somewhat stereotypical French accent (“Zee door! Zat place!”). It's so strange, but pleasant, that he picked put he habit of calling people ‘mate.’ Just picture the word "mate" with a strong french accent every time you see him. He tells me that Canada is in high demand for french people, and backpackers in general, because our limit for visa application is 35 years old, and they last 2 years. Aus, in case you’re wondering, is under 30 for 1 year, and an option to renew if you work in the middle of nowhere for 3 months.

Day 22 - Laundry Adventures and the Cane Toad

A Paper Tree
(check the bark)

April 30th, 2015

Here’s where things are probably going to start getting boring. Yes, I’m forewarning you. There will probably be less to say about each day. Some of you may welcome this, as a lot of these are rather long-winded. I had finally run out of socks (still going strong on underwear) and have recycled my clothing enough to this point that I finally caved on doing laundry. Yeah, that’s right, 2/3 of a month and I have yet to actually do it. Eat me.

After hitting up the bank and Gym, I talked with my housemate, French Alexander, who informed me of how much the laundry was, gave me some detergent, and the directions to both the grocery store, and the free bus stop.  Yes, they actually have free busses.. but only in the business district; screw the bloody students! Here, Coles is not a book store or whatever it is in NA, but a grocery store chain. I wander down there, stopping at the discount chemist to buying some laundry detergent. As is usual, I crowd sourced people around for information. When you hear “tomato sauce” what do you think of? To me, it’s interchangeable with pasta sauce. Here, it’s ketchup. I asked a random Australian guy, who seemed rather amused at the question, where I could find what I needed and what it was called. He laughingly obliged. It's pasta sauce.

Day 21 - Gym and Job Lockdown

The Simulators I now run at The Grid

Wednesday, April 29th

Today started much better than yesterday. The usual sound of traffic in the background is all that can be heard, and I begin to wonder if there are actually 7 people living in this house. Then again, my door has typically been shut either due to attempting to do work, sleeping, or changing. I spent a good 3 hours editing a few different posts, figuring out the dates of each day (stupidly didn’t date them) and correlating backlogged pictures. I received a call from The Grid (new work place) and they ask me to work on sunday (yesssss) from noon until whenever they close. Hopefully it’s 6 hours, as that’s nearly rent for another week, mother f***ers. It’s now 2:40pm and I really should have been moving a while ago.

Day 20 - Pain; Goodbyes

When left to my own devices

April 28th, 2015

Wooziness and Pain. That's what the curtain drew back for today. I had made plans to help Ruby use my laptop to find a ride share, and go into town with Laurens, but both went out the window. I woke at 11am, plenty of time before I was supposed to meet up with Korean Mikaela in town at 3pm, I figured. I was going to try to meet up with Laurens, but even after eating a sandwich, drinking water, taking tylenol and pepto.. yeah, not happening. At 2:15, I was somehow feeling even worse than when I woke up. I shambled to the washroom, puked, and used the following reprieve (thank god for endocrine morphine) to shower, get dressed, and get the hell out of the house. I decided to pretend I was fine - to act and stand as if things were fine - to try and trick myself into being ok. It worked well enough to get me to a place of functionality.

Day 19 - Anzac Day; Kings Park Take 2

100 Day Anzac (Aus Rememberance Day)

April 27th, 2015

I awoke to find most of the beds empty of their occupants at 10am. Cassie and Vincent were packing up their stuff, having let it reach a state of entropy over the several weeks they had been there. My stuff was still pretty packed up since the private room in anticipation for moving out. Yuzu said she would be coming to the hostel to see me off, despite having moved out a couple days before. What a sweetheart! She will be very hard to say goodbye to when the time comes, which I’m trying not to think about, but keeps creeping back in.

Day 18 - My Last Day at the Hostel

Money Tree down the street from the hostel

April 26th, 2015

You know how you feel waking up the next morning after working out for the first time in ages? This morning was similar to that, but not in the good ‘ah yeah, I worked hard’ way. More of a “I must have slept on concrete and had my pressure points attacked by gnomes” sort of way. As I get up, I notice that Kiwi Haydon is frantically packing his things in order to leave by the 11am deadline (it was 11:05am). He was one of the people they said had stayed too long and was not allowed to renew his stay. I got his contact details, along with Aussie Deans, while eating breakfast.

Day 17 - Behind The Vine; Brass Monkeys

Yuzu and Nicole saying goodbye

April 25th, 2015

I wanted to start this post by wishing my Uncle Wayne a very happy 70th birthday! I didn't get a chance to call him on the day, so I figured I would throw something on the blog post that his birthday landed on. Happy Birthday OB1!

I was woken by Yuzu calling me at 8:30 to tell me that Nicole was leaving. Nicole, herself, then made an appearance in my room to make sure she saw me before she left. I dragged myself out of bed to see her off, which was brief due to her impending bus. We exchanged promises of meeting up and she tried one last attempt to get us to go to Bali with her. 

Day 16 - Nicole's last day; My First Kangaroos

The River
(No one wanted to be in the picture)

April 24th, 2015

Today is Nicole’s last day. I roll out of bed (American/Staff Jesse came in to clean) and strip everything (Everything!) in preparation for having to move back to the man cave. Having taken care of that, I join Yuzu, Haydon, and Nicole in the main area to eat and look up share houses. The hostel has decided that some people have stayed here too long (2 weeks is the new cap), and has taken it upon themselves to give them the boot. *Stefano was forced to leave, and I hear a few have been disallowed to extend their stay, one of which is Haydon. I figured, as a business, you would want to have guaranteed bodies in beds for as long as possible, but I guess the logic is that people aren’t following the rules enough? Honestly, the people they picked seemed random to me, though some of the staff aren’t very reserved in their audible complaints about the tenants. It sometimes feels like a clique where we can only get so close, then they won’t let you go much past that. That makes sense when it comes to enforcing rules, but it could just be me. Others at the hostel have been less kind in their read of it, though I'm not so quick to condemn. My explanation for the social schism is that they got the softer landing, socially.

Day 15 - Friends Return, CPR, and a Private Room

April 23rd, 2015

After last night’s fiasco (not quite, but I want to use that word) with the quiz, I felt I had earned a good sleep in. I figure I’ll have a job soon, so what’s it going to hurt sleeping in? This is dangerous thinking and I need to stamp it out or I’ll end up to very late nights and very late starting days. It’s not as dangerous as when I lived at home, as everyone is in bed by around 1:30am, and most are up before 10.

Today is the day when I’m supposed to get a better room, so I head on down to the front desk and find Yuzu, Nicole (turns out she doesn’t have an H in her name - whoops!) and Tomo checking in. We exchanged warm greetings and it felt like today would be much better than the last. 

Day 14 - Language Barriers and Broken Cars

Left 2/3

Right 1/3

April 22nd 

2015

I wake up to most of the French guys shuffling about, getting ready for the day. Bags loudly zipping open and closed can be heard from occasion, and the semi-soft murmuring of undeciphered French. “Time for more sleep” I think, and get back to it. That's how I wish it went down. Instead, I threw myself over the edge of the top bunk and started my day. Things on the docket: buy a couple items the pharmacy chemist and some nice new thongs.  

Neeeerrrd!

Day 13 - Hunting Jobs; Japanese Girls

Asuka and Yuko at the Korean Restaurant

April 21st, 2015

My alarm went off to remind me to call my parents, which went well. We talked for an hour and. Though I had said I wouldn’t go back to sleep, I did so anyway. I got out of bed at 12ish when Asuka [Ask-uh] called to invite me on their trip to Busselton Jetty - this was not easy to decipher half-asleep on the phone with a thick Japanese accent. I had yet to really bother the hell out of the local shops for a job, or set up my bank account. The ol' wallet is starting to get light (and tattered), so I declined their offer (2.5 hour drive either way) to do the responsible thing. Dun dun dun.