Happy Easter!

Happy Easter everyone! Hope the Easter bunny left you good chocolaty treats and very few rabbit nuggets in your houses.

So I'm working in an Irish pub right now. It's actually pretty fun, since I'm the only non-Irish guy working there, and only 1 of 2 Canadians in the whole place, so I'm starting to sound a little more Irish when I talk. "Yer man" tumbles out of my mouth every once in a while (as in, "I was talking to yer man the other day" which just means "I was talking to some guy". I know, Irish are cool!). It's also hilariously fun when I get to cut people off at the bar because they've been drinking too much (side note: In Australia, if a bar serves a person too many drinks, and the police come in and see he's intoxicated, the barman who served the customer personally gets a fine of $5500, and the bar itself gets a fine of $55000, so it's in my best interests not to serve people who are really drunk).

The other night, I told some dude he was cut off (keep in mind this was 4am), and he seemed to joke about it, "Give me 2 vodka lemonades now" type of thing. So I just told him, "No mate, you're cut off. You've had too much, I'll give you some water." He then actually started swearing at me, and I was concerned that he was gonna come over the bar at me. Luckily, the bouncers jumped on him soon enough and tossed him out, but it was still somewhat surreal. Moral: Don't cut off the Irish when they're on a big bender.

The good thing about the job is it pays well, and I work pretty much every day. The bad news is, because it's a 24 hour bar, and I'm the new guy, I work the 11pm-8am shift, shift means I have to clean up after everyone leaves. How many of you have seen an empty bar with the lights on after people have been drinking all night? Yeah, imagine the scene. It's rough. Plus, since I work all night, I rarely get to see the sun, since I sleep pretty much all day. But I'll just be doing this for a couple months to save up money (since I work all the time, and sleep the rest of the time, I spend very little money) then I'm off to parts unknown to have some more fun.

I'd also like to point out that I started there on St Patrick's Day. In an Irish Pub. In a city that has one of the largest concentrations of Irish outside of Ireland. It was messy. Fun, but terribly, terribly messy.

What else is going on in the world? How was your Easter? How was your St. Patrick's Day? I demand answers! :)

No, I'm Not Commando

OK, now that I've sort of settled in again and not going crazy from the train trip, I'll do a proper post. I know both of you are thrilled.

So I stayed up in Halliday's Point, which was really cool. It is very much a sleepy little beach town of, perhaps, 200 people. It's very remote though, and I found it to be a little... well, boring to be honest. There was no internet cafe for 50km, there wasn't even a petrol station in town. There was only a Coles (supermarket), a butcher, a baker (and no, there was no candlestick maker. I know you're all thinking it. Because I thought the same thing), a post office, a pub an a golf course. An of course, the beach. It was great seeing my friends Jaryd and Monique again (I met them up in Airlie Beach an hadn't seen them for 6 months) but I found myself getting restless. There wasn't much to do around there, except go to the pub and drink, and I coulnd't even do that since there was no place for me to work. So I decided to head back to Sydney to find work, save up my money and head either to Perth (which I hear is amazing) or back to Brisbane (which I actually really miss. Mostly it's the people I met while out there. The city I could take or leave). I've got heaps of time to decide though so I'm not too stressed.

So my trip own to Sydney was relatively uneventful (except for the terrorists who wanted to hijack to train and use it as a control center in orer to take control of a top-secret government outer space super-weapon. This stuff happens all the time in Australia, an, to a lesser extent, really bad Steven Segal movies). What happened after I got into Sydney however, was the part that makes me sad. After I got off the train, I realizze that I left a plastic bag of various clothing in the overhead compartment of the train. So I went to report it, and the lady called ahead to the other stations, and said I could go pick it up at Sydney Central station, about 5 stops further down the track. Wonderful. Of course, I went there, and lo and behold, no bag. So I though to myself, "Well, it's only a few shirts I could live without, no big deal."

As I got up this morning to get dressed, I realize that the bag I had actually contained my 2 souvenir shirts (the Canada shirt from the time I broke the Sidebar Passport challenge record and my Staff shirt from the time I worked as the Activities Coordinator for Footprints hostel) all but 2 pairs of underwear, my only 2 pairs of boardie shorts, and a pair of jeans. So I've basically got all the clothes I usually don't keep in my rotation and I'm missing all my good clothes. Yarrgh! (By the way, that is the official Aussie mating call. Try it next time you're at the club. You'll get results! Fair Dinkum!)

But on the bright side, I found work today, and I'll be able to stay for free in a hostel (not legally of course. I'm totally flying under their radar. At least until they cotton on the fact that I'm not paying for the bed in which I sleep). So I've got that going for me.

I'm Not Quite Dead Yet!

Yeah. I'm still around. But man, what a month it's been. I made millions in seashell recycling, then lost it all on pocket Kings. Eh... c'est la vie.

Really quick update, but I just got back into Sydney after spending a month in a place called Halliday's Point. (WARNING: Manitoba-centric analogy coming up) Imagine living in Camp Arnes (if Camp Arnes had really expensive homes) and having the nearest big town be Gimli. Yeah, it was remote. Nice and relaxing, but not much to do except lie on the beach. It's a rough life, I know, but you'd be surprised how crazy a person can get with nothing *NOTHING* to do.

Anyhow, I'll update more after I've gotten a place to stay and a job etc, but for now, please be content in knowing that I haven't perished at the claws and teeth of any rabid wombats.