Melbourne

Had a nice, short trip to Melbourne this past weekend. The VA Xmas party was Friday night, so Jamie and I flew down for that. Fun night that featured a long walk from the office in Port Melbourne to the Crown Casino in town. Cabs don't go around that neighborhood since there isn't much business, so I had a nice 90 minute walking tour of the burbs of Melbourne.

Veronica flew in early Saturday morning. Went to Pellegrinis for coffee, a famous Italian cafe/diner situated in the CBD of Melbourne. Very tasty. Did some shopping and walked around the city center taking in the sites. For lunch we headed to the State Library to eat at the cafe. Tasty. Hung out on the grass in front of the library, watching the trams and street traffic hustle along. Loved the murals painted on random alley walls that seemed to be everywhere.

We met up with Jamie's ex-girlfriend who took us to a few bars. The first bar was right on the river and pretty chill. The second bar was a 'Pop Up Bar', which means it is not a permanent bar, but rather a bar that is thrown together for a few months and is made of all recycled materials. No pictures of this bar because the stupid camera batteries died on the way there. Bollocks! Then headed over to Section 8, a bar set in the middle of an alley in Chinatown. Super cool and the bar is actually constructed from a shipping crate. And yeah, no pictures again. Perhaps the coolest thing we did was that night when we headed to the Rooftop Cinema. As the name implies, you actually watch a movie on the roof of a 7 story building in downtown Melbourne. Super cool layout up there with a bar, astroturf flooring and comfy chairs to viddy the movie. What wasn't cool was the movie we saw, 'Funny Games' with Tim Roth and Naomi Watts. Trust me, don't watch that pile of German directed brown doodoo. And no pictures of the rooftop cinema.

Sunday, after getting batteries for the camera, we headed on a tram out to St. Kilda beach. St. Kilda's reminded me of Venice Beach in LA. Very trendy, cool restaurants and shops, and tons of choppers. Amazing bikes looking like they came straight out of West Coast Choppers. Walked around the market, had lunch at a place called Big Mouth (tasty), and then perused the stores in the area.

Was quite impressed with Melbourne. It's definitely a cooler city than Sydney, with innovative businesses, shops and cafes with style and substance. If it wasn't for surfing I could see living there. But who am I kidding, I probably couldn't get a job in that city either.

Which brings me to the final note concerning 2008. Yesterday I received another rejection email for a job I applied for a couple weeks back. Like a complete jackass I had thought I would give it a go since the company was a client of ours, plus I had people there at the company that could vouch for me, and I was actually qualified for the position. I had told Veronica all I wanted was the opportunity to at least have an interview and I would be happy. Moral of the story, it looks like I should search for happiness elsewhere. And to add insult to injury, I still have not received the surfboard I ordered back in August!

So, as you sit down and have a delightful Christmas dinner with you and your loved ones, you will no doubt give thanks for all you have. Inevitably you will think about the less fortunate amongst us; those who don't have a home, a job, or food to eat. I implore you to please think about me as well. The fact that I haven't got my new surfboard yet surely puts me into the less fortunate category, right? :)

Merry Christmas. See you in 2009.