DAYS 33-I've lost track: Finally

I’m back…I’m out of blog retirement for now. I’m coming out of retirement like MJ returning to the Wizards, not quite the same as before but still serviceable. Not like MJ figuring out he can’t hit a curveball and returning to win a couple more championships and destroy Pacer fans’ hearts along the way. Brett Favre (I couldn’t think of a joke but couldn’t do a paragraph on retirement without at least mentioning his name).

You see, my computer is still at the Apple store. Apparently, I need a new hard drive … from America. Convenient, right? For now, I will have to do all of my blogging, interneting, and facebook creeping from ACU (where we take classes). This means no pictures, no daily updates and therefore, probably no followers. I can’t blame you. I will do my best to keep things detailed, entertaining and up to date. I know you’re wondering how you’re going to survive right now. Again, I will do my best. Okay enough with the overview of my current situation. Let’s get down to blogging:

Oh where to begin, it’s been a while. Excuse me while I stretch my typing fingers. Okay, so we returned from Cairns late Monday night and we were all exhausted. I know I combined for about 12 hours of sleep in 3 nights – not what the dr. recommends. Not surprisingly, I woke up Tuesday morning feeling terrible. I assumed it was just from the exhaustion but I was wrong. More on that later (this will be a running theme to this entry, try to contain your excitement). I really considered calling in sick but I need to get my hours and I already missed half a day Friday and a full day Monday. Begrudgingly, I went into work. Mistake numero uno. Email me if you want all the exciting details but the moral of the story is I left work feeling worse than when I went into work. I got home, still exhausted, fixed a fast dinner and went straight to bed thinking I just needed a good night’s rest to feel better.

So I woke up Wednesday morning even worse. Again, I wanted to call in but I didn’t and by the end of the day, I wished I had. Oh well, you win some, you lose some. Thursday, I woke up feeling a little bit better, thinking I had turned the corner – not the case. Anyway, we had class and then I made my way to a travel agent to figure out some post-program options. Found out quickly I wouldn’t have the time or money to do New Zealand properly and was given some other cheaper options that I now probably can’t afford due to some unexpected expenses. Again, more on that later. Wow, this entry really is boring. My computer crashing might have been the best thing to happen to you.

Okay, so the weekend. Hopefully, this will give my entry a pulse. Friday night we decided to have a “guys night”. It started off with a trip to our favourite sushi restaurant because nothing says “I’m a man” quite like eating an uncooked fish with chopsticks. Right? Wrong. You know what is manly though? Bombs. That’s exactly what we were faced with.

When we turned the corner of the street that Sushisuma is on, we were greeted with tons of police and flashing lights. The section of the street that Suma was on was roped off. We asked what was going on and apparently, there had been a bomb threat at the restaurant right next door. Being American men, we ran into the rescue cut all the right wires, re-wired the thing and saved Australia from the detonation of death with one second left on the clock. Okay, that’s a lie; we went to the bar down the street and enjoyed a drink while we waited. But hey, the first is more exciting and this entry needed some of that.

Dinner was delicious. Edamame and a California roll. I am man, hear me roar. Okay, so the first part of our night wasn’t the most manly thing in the world but the second was. Gambling (sorry mom and dad). It’s not a problem if you win, right? We headed to the casino at Darling Harbour. I spent four days in Vegas before this trip so I was expecting to be let down by the casino here in Oz but surprisingly, the casino was huge and very nice. We did some wandering around and finally settled down at a blackjack table. Three of us, were playing right next to each other. We started out pretty slow, the dealer (an Adam Lambert look-alike) was killing us. As soon as he left, we started getting hot and it was a good thing because we were running on fumes. Eventually, we all left the table “up”. I’m thinking I should just drop out of school and gamble professionally. Right, parents? On the way home, I found a $5 bill on the ground. I think the Aussie gods are trying to get me to stay here. Earlier in the trip I found a $20 bill on the ground. I now walk around just staring at the ground, looking for money.

On Saturday, we all woke up early and got dressed in our finest attire to spend a day at the Randwick Horse Track. I swear I don’t have a problem – this trip was actually built into our program. Anyway, we were treated to a champagne breakfast at a restaurant that overlooked the track and the Sydney skyline. It was very nice. At about noon, we headed down to the track. We all looked the part. The men were in suits and the women were in dresses. We looked like we knew what we were doing and I would like to think I kind of did. Anyway, we made it in time for the second of 8 races. I placed a bet and lost that one but in the second race, I won $28 on a $3 bet. It was enough to cover the rest of my bets for the day. I ended up right around even. It was a great day. I’m really glad we decided at the last minute to do it. It was different and very entertaining. Afterwards, we received a dinner and then headed back to the apartments and to bed. We had an early, early morning on Sunday.

In the midst of the casino Friday night and the track Saturday afternoon I had started to lose my voice and I still wasn’t feeling a whole lot better. That’s the subplot now back to the plot.

I woke up at 1:30 a.m. (you read that properly) to get ready for Team USA’s match against Ghana at 4:30. A pretty good-sized group of us wanted to go to Darling Harbour for the game to watch it at the FIFA fanfest. I blogged about this earlier but it is a huge screen in the middle of the harbour and only one of six in the world. It’s a big deal. Anyway, we headed to a bar called Cheers at about two in the morning. A couple of screwdrivers (ask a Purdue student who has experienced Breakfast Club if you don’t know what this is) later and we were on our way to Darling Harbour. Well, you know how the game went. We lost. Soccer can go back to being irrelevant for the next three years now. Thank God.

The highlight of the morning: we went to a place called Pancakes on the Rocks for breakfast. I had the most delicious pancakes I think I have ever had. It was banana pancakes with butterscotch sauce and ice cream. Okay, so what if it sounds like a dessert? It was in the morning and there was fruit involved making it a breakfast. Get off my case. I plan on making on more trip back before I leave. It was delicious. I have a picture of my meal I will upload later.

With a full tummy and frozen toes, we headed back to the apartment complex. I got about four more hours of sleep before heading out for the day. Late in the week, my computer stopped working. It is the first time I have ever had an issue with it (there’s my mac shout-out) and it just figures I am on the complete opposite side of the planet. Anyway, I knew it was still under warranty so I headed to the Sydney Apple store to see what they could do. It’s actually a very cool building. It’s three stories with an all glass front. It was pretty neat but still I would have rather not been forced to make the trip. Well, you know how it went. Hard drive issue, shipping a new one, get it back in 3-5days. The crappy part is that I had to buy an external hard drive to transfer all of my information to. It set me back about $140. Investment good. Timing bad.

After that fiasco, I met up with the guys at the World’s Largest Imax. We had tickets to see Toy Story 3D. It. Was. Awesome. Go see it. Don’t ask questions, just do it. It ranks right up there with Finding Nemo, Shrek, the original Toy Story and Monsters Inc. The huge screen and 3D were awesome. It was the first 3D movie I have ever seen. Here’s my take. It’s cool for some movies but I can’t ever see it being anything more than a fad for television. There, I just saved you a $1000 on your new TV. And you thought this was a waste of your time.

So Monday was pretty boring. Went to work, ate and went to bed. That’s my new schedule because I am still not feeling real well. I had to spend $100 this morning on a trip to the dr. and some medication. It better work. For what it cost I think it is made up of ground diamonds. That and my computer have probably cost me any travelling after the program ends. Too bad. Well that’s the update for now. I will try to give another quick update this Thursday and then something at the start of next week. We are making a trip to Port Stephens this weekend. On the schedule: wine tasting, whale watching and sand surfing. Should be a good time. Hopefully, I will have my computer back by the start of next week and can upload a ton of pictures. Until then…

Cheers!

I promise, the skydiving entry is coming as soon as I get my computer back. Hey, I got to keep you guys coming back somehow.