My comments are back, for some reason. Oh, well. T…
My comments are back, for some reason. Oh, well. They come and go as they please. If they get into trouble, guess who’ll come crawling back on their knees, begging for forgiveness? Yep.
I walked down to Darling Harbour today and toured the aquarium there. It was full of schoolkids being shepherded around by older women who (I hope) were seriously misprounouncing the kids’ names. “Come on, Jihad,” I heard one of the women call. “Keep up with the group, and remember to hold hands.” I managed to stay out of the children’s way for the most part, and I even saw a couple of fish during my time there. The tank full of jellyfish were the most interesting. The seafood restaurant right at the aquarium’s exit was the most disturbing part, however. It really makes one wonder just what they do with fish that get sick and die there.
Afterwards I walked around a bit, and as I did I accidently knocked over a stand to which was linked one of those divider ropes. In an almost domino-like fashion, the whole thing came crashing down while I dove to stop the reaction before my mistake became visible from space. Then I got pissed off at the whole affair and started another chain reaction on purpose. Nearby one of the professionals on his lunch break (you know the kind, the grey suit, blue tie, sunglasses, a look I like to call “Subtle Pimp”) snickered and sneered. That’s right, I thought, go ahead and laugh it up, you pompous ass. At least my city, while despicable in many ways, doesn’t have swarms of flies tormenting its residents. Actually I doubt flies could survive in such large numbers in Taipei.
Later on I took in a couple of 3D IMAX shows. The theatre claims to have the largest IMAX screen in the world, but it looked pretty much the same size as all of the other IMAX screens I’ve ever seen. The first feature wasn’t bad, but the second, which concerned a haunted house, was really good. Not good plotwise. Plotwise it sucked, but the 3D effect was quite nice, in a trying-to-grab-the-floating-thing-in-front-of-you sort of way.
Later on I called up Grant who, horror of horrors, actually had work to do today, so we arranged to meet at 6pm. I think he has been working on the Matrix sequels too long, because when arranged to meet, he said “Get on bus 372, and then call me. Come alone. No police.” We went out to his place in Randwick and had dinner at a new Greek restaurant there. The food wasn’t bad, and I had Lemon and Lime with Bitters for the first time. It was excellent. Plan on seeing this drink featured prominently in the journal in the future. Afterwards we retired to Grant’s humble abode where he drew a picture for me and then taught me how to say “Canberra” without sounding like a total fool. In the meantime, it started to storm outside, the first rain I’ve seen in Australia, I think, although it might have been raining the night I arrived in Perth. As I got on the bus back to George St., I was welcomed by the sound of drunken singing: As I was going home one night, as drunk as drunk can be… A bloke named Merve had apparently been deserted by his mates, and he was trying to get to New Town. Apparently he felt that singing would help in some fashion.
I’m hopefully going to meet Jeb tomorrow after he gets off work. I’m also thinking of trying to get to Melbourne again, now that the Cup is over and done with. It would mean a 12-hour bus trip, but it might not be so bad. We’ll see. And I could stop by in Canberra on the way back to Sydney to see Shauna as well, which would break the trip up nicely. What would be best would be if I could rent a motorcycle in Melbourne and ride to Canberra, and then take a train or bus back to Sydney. I have no idea if that’s possible, though. If it is raining tomorrow I don’t know what I’ll do. Probably go to a museum or something.
