Now that my brain isn’t so foggy, I’m going to attempt a real update here.
I had a beautiful going-away party at my Dad’s house last Saturday (Sept.5th). I had invited tons of family, and some close friends to come by my Dad’s house, at any time that suited them, for some BBQ and hangouts. I had no idea how many people I should expect, but thought somewhere between 30 and 60 would be about accurate. I’m not sure exactly how many were in attendance, but it was a really great turnout. The party went from 2pm until 3am. There was tons of good food, I had an awesome iTunes playlist going for most of the party, which was turned off after dark for a fire-side acoustic jam that went for about 5 hours on and off. I went to sleep with the biggest smile on my face. I didn’t have a single drink all day and had the best fucking time.
Then the next day I had to finish packing up everything, double-check that I wasn’t forgetting anything, and pack up my guitar. Packing my guitar involved 3 whole rolls of bubblewrap and tons of patience to get it just right. Luckily my buddy Whittley was there to help me make sure I wasn’t putting too much pressure on the neck. Bubblewrap in the case, around the case, and then a box around the whole thing (big thanks to Billy T for the packing advice). It was a lot to fit in the car when all was ready. My Mom, Dad and sister Lauren came with me to the airport. The trunk just barely fit my two suitcases, so the guitar had to come in the backseat with me and my Dad. It wasn’t too bad.
Once we got to the airport we still had plenty of time so we had dinner and sat around talking and laughing lots. The goodbye was hard.
Dad said he wasn’t going to cry, that Mom would do the crying. He also said he was jealous of the adventures I was bound to have. I could tell he was proud of me. Mom cried a ton and hugged me a billion times. She said she was sad I was leaving, but that I had to go make my mark on the world. I don’t think my younger sister Lauren really understood that I was leaving for a long time. She gave me a hug and told me she loved me, and then I was off. I walked through security and kept looking back over my shoulder. My family stayed and watched me walk through the metal detector and gather my belongings. As I walked away from the security checkpoint, my family was jumping and waving, getting their last glimpses of me before I left. I waved back, and headed down the escalator.
I had been fine up until this point, but I felt something strange while riding down the escalator. I had a lump in my throat, but I was ecstatic at the same time. Sad to leave my family behind, but so excited about the prospects ahead of me in a new country.
I still had lots of time to kill, so I cruised the airport book store. I wanted a book for the plane, and bought “On The Road” by Jack Kerouac. I settled in at my departure gate and started reading.
When the time came, I boarded the plane. I was flying with Air Canada, and it was a really new plane. I could tell because first class had those “pods” where you can recline until your chair becomes a bed, and they had everything you could imagine at their fingertips. It looked pretty sweet. I don’t think it’d be worth the $10,000 I was quoted for a first class ticket to Australia, but it was sweet nonetheless.
We were taking off at 8:30pm from Toronto, and landing in Vancouver for a short while. I was planning on staying awake for this leg of the trip, but when no one sat down in the other two seats beside my window seat, I decided to take full advantage. I raised the two armrests and lay down on my side and slept all the way to Vancouver without any trouble. I thought I would be able to just hangout on the plane when we got there but they made us leave so the plane could be cleaned.
I walked around the Vancouver airport for a bit, then sat down and took advantage of the free WiFi and chatted with a couple people and my buddy Ivan. The next leg of the trip was about to start, and I had got some sleeping pills. Can’t remember the name.
We got on the plane and they fed us as soon as we were in the air. I’d asked for a vegetarian meal so that I wouldn’t have to deal with rubbery chicken. It was edible. Then I took two of the four pills. I turned on my iPod and tried to get comfortable in my window seat. I had someone sitting next to me now, but I still had some elbow room. I drifted off and woke up about 5 hours later as best I could tell. I asked when the next meal was, and read my book until it came. Then I took the other two pills and slept for about another 4 hours, then I was wide awake again. These pills didn’t have any grogginess afterward which was cool.
About 3 hours later I was in Sydney, needing to catch my connecting flight. However, they made me pick up my baggage, and re-check it, and I didn’t really have enough time. When the luggage carousel started up my baggage was some of the first to arrive, and when I went to the area for fragile baggage to grab my guitar, it came quickly too. I even cut in the line for checking in baggage but still didn’t make it. There was a shuttle bus to take me to another terminal and I only had 25 minutes until liftoff. Apparently this is not enough time. So I got bumped. Ninety minutes later I was in the air again, and about an hour after that I landed in Brisbane, where my family was there to greet me.
My Aunt Denise and Uncle Barry drove me to their house and I got settled in. The house is really nice and I have a pretty big bedroom, with a huge closet. I don’t have a lot of stuff so I’m not cramped by any means. My family down here is really cool, very chill, and I’m stoked to be living with them. My 11 year old cousin Luka showed up not long after and he was pretty excited to see me. The little dude is a violin ninja and he showed me some classical stuff he’s been working on. The kid is amazing.
Later in the day, after some food, we all took a nice long walk down the beach so their dog, Kai, could run. He’s a sheepdog and is really attentive and “on the ball.” Very cool doggie. The beaches here are incredible. The sand is packed down really hard where the tide comes in, and my feet barely make footprints. When we got home, I crashed. Hard.
I got up at 4:30am and got to work. My company bought me a Windows PC, and I wanted to erase Windows and install Ubuntu, which I did promptly. The rest of the day was spent installing all the software I need to do my job. It wasn’t too bad. I didn’t notice the jetlag until later in the day, when I started feeling dizzy and so tired I could barely lift my head up. I had a short nap, and then went to watch my cousin Luka’s orchestra rehearsal. These kids are frigging amazing for their age. I got some good video footage that I’ll juxtapose with their concert performance later. They perform about a month from now, and right now they need some more practice. It’ll be cool to cut it all together later and flip back and forth between rough/rusty and a nicely polished concert performance.
After we got home, I crashed. Hard. The kind of sleep I’ve been having since I got here is the kind where you wake up with your blankets undisturbed.
Today I did a bit of work in the morning, then headed downtown with my Aunt to open a bank account. We walked. It took about an hour and we walked along an oceanside path the entire way. We passed Dicky Beach, Moffat Beach, Shelly Beach, and Kings Beach before ending up in the city centre. We did the bank thing, then got some lunch. I tried to find a place to buy a longboard, but the only surf shop that had them only had three boards and I didn’t like any of them.
The bank system is cool here. You can go to Woolworth’s (a grocery store) or other stores, go to the counter, and just take out cash, without fees. You don’t even have to buy something, you can just use them like an ATM. They also have debit Visa cards. So you can do things that you can only use credit cards for, like buy plane tickets or concert tickets online, but you’re using your actual money, not credit. We don’t have that in Canada. It’s pretty awesome. I think I’m going to get one and cancel my Visa card.
When we got home I was pretty tired from all the walking, but my uncle wanted to go shopping for office chairs, so we headed out. Our home office was in desperate need of good chairs, but no longer. We got some. They’ve got all the nifty adjustments to make them good for my back and my posture. Awesomeness.
After that, we took the dog, Kai, for a long walk down the beach, and I left Barry and Kai to go look for longboards. I found one I was happy with at a local surf shop and plunked down my cash and rode home. It’s a Sector Nine board, with a bamboo deck. I like it.
Tonight I cooked up stirfry for the family and now I’m just chilling. I’m gonna pass out soon. This jetlag shit is tiring.
So overall, Australia has been amazing so far. It’s always 25C and sunny, which is a welcome switch from the constantly changing weather of Calgary, Alberta. That place has meteorological A.D.D.
Now I am tired. Bed!
