10:16am
Amy thinks it's good that she can count the number of days til I get home on two hands.
Yesternight, we went to Aileen's friend's nephew's 18th birthday party. I didn't bring my camera so I'm going to have to try to describe it all in words. It was a pretty typical rural drinking party, the kind I'm used to having grown up where I did. The major differences being...well, the fact that everyone was Australian, and the interesting mix of people there. There was everyone from farm boys, to trendy punks (a contradiction in terms if I ever heard one), lots of musicians including some rockabilly types, girls wearing plastic showing off their ass or their breasts, a boy with dread locks, one guy who made me giggle when I realized he looked exactly like Josh McKenzie, and then people who just didn't quite fit into the mix, like me (but I never fit in at those kinds of parties). Aileen said all the young people and hard angsty music (Korn and Limp Bizkit were the most prominently played) made her feel old, but the sad thing is, it made *me* feel old and I'm only a couple years older than the birthday boy.
Speaking of the birthday boy, Aaron was his name and one of his bands played at the party. He is apparently a prodigy along the lines of the S.J. Kardash standard, only with drumming. His band was called Scayla and they only played covers. As I listened, I concluded that if you're going to be a band covering the popular music of today, the songs better sound exactly like they're supposed to. Few bands can get away with making them sound completely different and original, but that is possible. However, you absolutely cannot go middle ground, it can't sort of sound like the covered song or have slight differences from the original. Most of the people there were too drunk to notice this though, and were happy as long as they knew the words and could sing along.
All in all, it was the kind of party I would've preferred to have been invisible at so I could observe human nature.
On the way home we drove through some little town til we found the elaborate xmas lights of a co-worker of Steve and Aileen's. Everyone had a good chuckle at its extravagance and Alex was concerned with the electricity bill. It was very strange indeed doing a Christmas light tour without snow piled on front lawns or ice covering the roads.
Shaughn says it is very cold at home today. Too cold for sledding and dangerous for driving. Bev says it was -44 today. (I still can't wait to get home.) 11:06am
12:32pm
I want to start a rant about the evils of our modern commercial Christmas (Pikachu as the
Little Drummer Boy, Santa Clause pushing Coca-Cola Classic), but I don't really think I feel it
acutely enough to be coherent. There are people whose well thought out opinions could
assist me, but I have a feeling that could go on for a long time and I only have 42 pages left
in this book to last me til I get home.
10:06pm
Robert's supposed to be home tonight, but I haven't seen him yet. Angela's home from
Arron's 21st birthday club tour that resulted in fights with bouncers and hospitalization. That's
not how I'll be spending my 21st.
I did a lot of glorious nothing today. I had a swim, did laps until my body got mad at me. I won't tell you how many laps that was, because it's an embarrassing number. But one that I was quite content with. I wrote postcards to Steph and Farideh which I will take home with me because I don't have their addresses. I ate good food (not good for me, but good tasting). I stared at the Christmas tree. I talked to Shaughn and Amy and Wilson. I did some ironing. I got offerred a job upon my return. I learned a little about tantra. I wrote in the sun. I had a shower. I ate a cookie before bed. A lot of glorious nothing. 10:14pm
to Monday, December 11, 2000
to australian tour diary
oz = can
back to main
