An Interview, a new episode of Heroes, and Anzac Day in the Rain

After a fairly uneventful weekend spent surfing, lounging and watching a few movies, the beginning of this week began with some serious rain. Sunday night the heavens let loose and it poured down all night. Monday morning we awoke to the storm still lingering around, raining heavily for 30-minute periods and slightly drizzling the rest of the time. The weather, combined with being slightly sick, and the fact I had my second interview the next day had me in a pretty antsy (cranky) mood. Not to mention that my beloved lunch place, Fish on Fire, had to raise their price on the chicken burger and chips special. Instead of being $5 the owner had to raise prices to $6 as the price of chicken and the chips had gone up for him this past month. Bummer.

Waking early on Tuesday morning the clouds and rain were still hanging around as I took a bus into North Sydney for my interview. The fact that this interview pretty much represents my only shot at gaining employment here in Sydney had me sweating bullets. Walking to the building in the rain I had to keep repeating in my mind “I am going to get this job”. I felt like Stuart Smalley, the old Saturday Night Live character who is “good enough, smart enough, and dog gone it, people like him.” It’s sad how much of a blow to my confidence not getting any job offers or interviews here in Sydney the last 3 months has been. I feel like my confident persona has now been replaced by an awkward, introverted personality. Not exactly the mindset one wants to go into an interview with. Somehow I pulled it together, the interview went well and I managed to impress the owner with the spreadsheet and powerpoint presentation I had created for him. At the end of the meeting he told me I had a job, but I wouldn’t be starting for a month. This is good news as I now have a job that is going to sponsor me. Veronica is excited as well. I don’t think she liked the idea of me getting to sit at home and go surfing whenever I liked while she worked to pay the bills.

Besides for the interview going well, Tuesday was a stupendous day because the new episode of Heroes came out on iTunes. Yeah, call me pathetic for spending $2 an episode for a free TV show, but Australia is behind by 10 episodes, and Veronica and I are hooked on the show! Watching the new episode on Tuesday night was pure bliss.

Wednesday was Anzac Day, the Australian version of Veterans Day, and the country shuts down for huge drinking festival. Everyone heads to a large hotel pub to drink themselves silly and play 2-Up, a betting game that the Anzacs used to play. The game is simple, a person holds up money, say $20, and says Heads. Another person then goes up to them with a $20 to bet on tails. A coin is then tossed in the air, whatever it lands on, heads or tails is the winner. The Aussies love this game, and it is only on Anzac Day that it is actually legal to play it. Needless to say it was a very interesting, and wet day. We headed to the Harbord Hotel at around noon and didn’t leave until 7. Actually, only Veronica and I left at 7, our friends stayed behind. Veronica and I went back to Manly to go get some pasta at the Bavarian Café at the wharf. A nice dinner and a lot of water had us feeling pretty good today when we woke up to sunny, clear skies.

In other news, my good buddy Mike Schmidtke just scored a job here in Sydney. Come June he will be here in Sydney with his family, living just up the way from us in Freshwater. Good times!

Red Hot Chili Peppers!

I still remember the first time I ever heard the Red Hot Chili Peppers. It was the summer of 1992, when everyday was spent playing volleyball on the side yard at my good friend Jim Menke’s house. On that now momentous day, our friend Greg brought over the tape of “BloodSugarSexMagik”, popped it in the cassette player and played “Give It Away”. The album blew my mind, and for the rest of the summer that album was the soundtrack for a couple of 15 year olds.

In 1999, the Peppers released “Californication”, famous for the single “Scar Tissue”. The summer of 99 I lived in Maui. Days spent cruising the island in our rented Jeep, going to Big Beach and various waterfalls, we played the Peppers new album religiously. Whenever I think back to those memories from my first encounter in Hawaii, certain RHCP songs inevitably start playing in my mind.

Needless to say, I am pretty big fan of this band. Horribly, I had never seen them in concert. Incidentally, back in April 2000, (right before I was going to spend 2 years in Micronesia as a smelly Peace Corps Volunteer) my good buddy Brad Smith called me up to tell me he could get us tickets to that nights RHCP concert at Starplex. Like a complete douche bag I responded that as cool as it sounded, since it was a Wednesday night, I didn’t want to be tired at work the next day. (To this day I am flabbergasted that as a 22-year old such a despicably lame comment ever came out of my trap!) For the past few years I have often thought about what a big mistake that was. This was only further compounded by the last 2 albums that RHCP have released, “By The Way” in 2003 (which again was the soundtrack to my life during the 6 months I lived in LA) and “Stadium Arcadium” in 2006. “Stadium Arcadium” practically never left the CD player in Veronica and I’s Ford Explorer (aka Black Beauty) for a full month from initially putting it in.

So what does this all mean, these 3 paragraphs of recalling my love of the Red Hot Chili Peppers music? What it means is that finally, after waiting like Moses wandering the desert for 40 years, the stars fell into place, the planets aligned, and miraculously Veronica and I went and saw one of our favorite bands play a glorious, funk induced, gospel of good times music! Is it pathetic that damn near cried like a 13-year old school girl when the Peppers sauntered onto the stage and busted out “Can’t Stop” to begin the show? Frankly, I don’t care what anyone thinks, because the show ruled! Emphatically RULED! Writing this I am still practically getting goose bumps just thinking about the melodic utopia of sounds emanating from the stage last night. And did I mention that we were sitting in the nose bleeds? We were so high up I thought it probable someone could base jump onto the stage from our seats if only they had a parachute. But it didn’t matter, all that mattered is that Veronica and I got to see one of our favorite bands play a kick ass show in Sydney. Highlights of the show were when they played "BloodSugarMagik", and their encore of "Give It Away" was absolutely marvelous. A one word summation of the show would be, GLORIOUS!

P.S. The photos of Veronica and I on the bench, and of Veronica standing on the bench were taken at Sparks Park, quite possibly the world’s smallest park. Sparks Park is located on the North side of our building, and while it is an enjoyable little spot to sit around and let the sun wash over you in the late afternoon, it is not exactly a place to go walk your dog.

A Rainy Easter

After promising that we would be more diligent with our weekly blogging, we are back again, a full week later. Pathetic indeed.

Easter weekend here was indeed full of activity and extremely crappy weather. The weekend began Thursday night at the Ben Harper concert. Senor Harper was only playing two shows here in Sydney, and the venue was at the Enmore Theatre. The Enmore is a small 2-storey building that might hold 500 people; so getting tickets to the show was a miracle in and of itself. Veronica and I went to the concert with our friends Andy, Morgan, Charlotte and Annie. Even though Ben didn’t play my favorite song it was still an absolutely kick a** show. Good times were had by all, maybe too good of a time. J

Friday morning we awoke, quite groggy, to a cold, gray and wet Manly. Being in a delicate state, the bad weather actually didn’t bother us all that much. The day was spent lounging, napping and watching movies at our place. Speaking our place, it is so nice having a decent place to live again. A nice couch to lay on, a decent fridge to put milk and groceries in, oh, it is so nice. The only bummer to our place it the amount of cockroaches that live in our building. It is insane. I have not seen so many cockroaches since I lived in Chuuk!

Saturday was still grey, but not as rainy. Morgan, Andy and myself went for a surf around mid-morning at Warriewood (a beach north of Narrabeen). It was cold there in the water, and the waves were sub par, but it was still a fun time. Afterwards we came back and decided to go see the new movie “300” at the Warringah Mall theater. While the film will most certainly not win an Oscar it was still an entertaining movie nonetheless.

Easter Sunday Veronica and I decided to spend the day together, without our friends. After enjoying a hot beverage at Candy’s, we walked through the market that sets up every weekend in the Corso perusing through multiple arts and crafts. I had my eye on a painting, but let’s be honest, I probably should get a job before I start buying artwork. After a small sandwich Veronica and I caught a bus and headed into North Sydney to do some research. (After my interview with the commercial real estate developer, he sent me a packet of papers detailing a bunch of buildings in the North Sydney area.) Veronica and I walked around and I took photos of all 110 buildings while taking notes on some of the buildings. While out taking photos we got rained on, but Veronica was a trooper throughout, keeping me company and making me laugh as we walked the deserted streets. That night we went to eat at the Bavarian Tavern, a bar/restaurant that serves a pasta dish that Veronica had seen while walking past the restaurant on her way from the ferry to our house. Veronica’s pasta was delicious, while my roasted pork was good, but not nearly as delicious as her pasta. The place also has a mango beer that is just heavenly. If you have the means, I highly recommend it. Afterwards we went back and watched a movie, “Reign of Fire”. (Yeah, I know it’s a movie about dragons, but it actually wasn’t that bad)

Monday morning was great because we did not have to work again. 4-day weekends are truly the way to go! Instead I woke up and went surfing. Even though the weather wasn’t perfect it was still much warmer than Saturday, so that was good news. After a surf we loaded up on some of America’s delicious grinds, the always-reliable Kentucky Fried Chicken. Yep, the Colonel (with his wee beady eyes) delivered some tasty chicken strips. The rest of the day was spent lazing on the couch, watching movies, and taking a nice stroll along the beach at Manly.

Waking on Tuesday was hard, but since my friends and I are working the late shift at work this week (10:30 to 7) we went out for a morning surf. The weather was perfect with not a cloud in the sky. When we arrived at Long Reef we were greeted by the most beautiful sight; perfect 3 foot turquoise waves barreling along the sandbar. The best part was sharing the peak with just my two mates. The day was truly a surfer’s idea of Nirvana.

The rest of this week we have enjoyed great weather. With sunshine but a cool breeze the fall seems to be a great time to be living in Sydney.

There is a swell on the way this weekend and Tuesday Veronica and I are headed to see the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Life is good.

The Weekend

Well, Veronica successfully navigated her way to and from work on her first day driving on the wrong side of the road. All without a map, I was quite impressed. Later in the week Veronica was even working late one night. It seems her new company likes to get their money worth from their employees.

Friday night Veronica and I went and ate at Baja Cantina, a Mexican food joint in Glebe. We had previously tried to eat there but due to it being full or closed had yet to try Mexican food in Australia. We started off with some chips, salsa, queso and guacamole, al of which was quite good. The $4 Tecates tasted excellent as well but unfortunately Veronica’s taco and my enchilada left something to be desired. Word to the wise; don’t travel to Australia for good Mexican food. Go figure.

Saturday was a beautiful day that we spent relaxing and walking around Manly. That night we went to a birthday party (our flat mate Morgan’s girlfriend Charlotte, it was her 20th birthday) and had a very enjoyable evening. We ended up at a club in Manly at the end of the night. The Shore Club, apparently a quasi-classy establishment was jam packed with some pathetic individuals. Veronica and I had one drink and then went home.

Sunday morning reminded me that I am indeed almost 30 years old. Ouch. Luckily we recuperated with a nice breakfast at our favorite place, Candi’s. After doing 3 weeks worth of laundry I went and had a refreshing surf out at Long Reef.

The pics are some funny photos from the night of Charlotte’s birthday party, btw.

A Good Day of Surf and Veronica Dressed for Safety

I thought I would share two new photos today. The first photo is from last night, Veronica is showing off her new field gear with our roommate Morgan (in the black t-shirt) and our buddy Andy (who is staying in the living room right now since he got kicked out of the old place as well). Andy and Morgan were cooking and obviously Veronica and myself were just trying to amuse ourselves.

The second photo is of the surf this morning in Manly. Andy, Morgs and myself went and had a brilliant session. The waves were glassy and hollow (so fun), definitely the best I have seen the waves look at Manly during our time here in Sydney. Andy got a SICK backside barrel, Morgs and I were extremely jealous! This picture does not really even do justice to how good the waves were this morning, but I only had 30 seconds to snap this pic as I was on my way to work after the surf.

Veronica is doing her first day of field work today, and it is also her first day to drive a car here in Sydney. We will give you an update of how it went tomorrow so stay tuned.

Veronica's First Week and a new apartment

Veronica has completed her first week of work, and as of Saturday we are now living in a new apartment. Life in Sydney is good.

(Veronica – So I have just finished my first week at work. My job title is still Environmental Scientist, but now I am working for a much larger consulting firm compared to the Hawaii firm. The people are nice and I take the ferry and a train to get to work. It’s nice because I can read my books or listen to my I-Pod. Matt and I are getting a car, but its use will be for weekend trips only.

I had a physical this past week and wow what a difference in the medical care from the US. First off, a physical is standard in my job. When I had my Hawaii physical last summer I was not impressed with the clinics facilities. A bit snobbish I know but what can I say? Here in Australia, medical care is provided to everyone, which I am pretty skeptical about. The clinic I visited not only looked run down but the technology was straight from the 70’s era. They had huge, loud machines that reminded me of silent films when people had to crank their engine up to start their car. And it got worse. The doctor was unable to get blood from either my left or right arm. He told me he had no choice but to go through the painful way of taking blood from the top of my hand. I nearly fainted. Out of the two tubes he needed to fill, he only filled half of one tube. Because of the pain and the slow drips of blood, the doctor told me he had enough to run all the tests. Whew! Looking back now, the Hawaii clinic was undoubtedly first class all the way. After telling Matt about my experience, we both decided we were not going anywhere near a hospital here unless it was an emergency.

Perhaps the scariest part of my physical was where the hospital was located, Bankstown. From what I can tell, this part of Sydney reminded me of Kalihi, or South Dallas. Yikes! )

Matt - It wasn’t all good news though as I got into my first accident driving in Sydney on Thursday night. Luckily I reversed into a telephone pole and didn’t actually hit anyone, but regardless I still feel like a first class moron. It wouldn’t be so bad if I had only dinged the car, but it actually shattered the back windshield! Yowsers!

Friday I had an interview with the owner of a commercial real estate firm in Sydney. I don’t have an offer, yet, but it is looking pretty good so far. I will be meeting with him again in 3 to 4 weeks when he gets back from a few business trips. We shall see.

Saturday was an insanely hot and humid day to move, but nonetheless everything of ours, and our roommate Morgan’s was moved in to the new place without a hitch. Our new place is pretty nice, and from the back balcony we have a view of the Harbour (very nice, I like! We will post more pics of the place later this week, once it is all set up). After finishing around 8 pm a storm moved in and brought strong winds and rain. We went and walked down to the Wharf to get some dinner from a place called Chat Thai. After a few beers at a Bavarian Brewery, right next door, we headed home for the night.

Morgan knocked on my door at 8 this morning to go surf. It was tough dragging myself out of bed because when I looked out the window it was still cold, grey and rainy. Surprisingly the surf wasn’t too bad, and after driving around checking a few spots we surfed a spot North of Narrabeen. It was cold, but the waves were decent. Still, I found myself dreaming of the warm surf of Hawaii.

Today marks 3 years from the day that I first took Veronica on our first date to Emilio’s. Unfortunately with the move and the bad weather I don’t have an awesome day planned for our anniversary. Horrible I know, but I have vowed to make up for my pathetic lack of planning. If anyone has any good ideas, please email those over to me pronto!

Before we sign off though, we went and saw a movie with our friends on Sunday night, Hot Fuzz. Oh man, the movie was hilarious, and it featured major homage to one of the greatest movies of all time, Point Break. But that’s actually not the point. Here in Australia movie tickets are $15. The reason for these outrageous prices is because everyone, no matter how brainless and easy their job, gets paid a living wage here. This is a great thing, except that the ticket lady tonight was practically brain dead. Same thing at fast food chains here, the workers make $36,000 a year, and yet they are completely worthless at their job. Seeing this crap almost makes my liberal rhetoric seem a tad hollow. Dear God I hope I am not turning into Dick Cheney!

Long Time

Well, it has been a while since we last gave an update on the recent events here in Sydney. First and foremost, Veronica finally got the official contract this past Friday for her job. Three weeks after her interview, Veronica is now employed and has completed her first day of work as of yesterday. Very exciting stuff to say the least!

A little recap: The previous weekend we met up with a friend from my Peace Corps days in Chuuk. Bill Jeffries is a maritime archaeologist that lives on Magnetic Island, right off of Townsville (which is in the Northern part of the State of Queensland). Much of Bill’s work in Chuuk is concerned with the preservation of the wrecks in the Lagoon. Needless to say Bill is quite the optimist. Since the expat community was small, and also because Bill lived right next door to Schmidtke, I became quick friends with Bill. Being a great guy, Bill would let me tag along on some of his dives when they had extra room on the boat. This meant the world to a poor, smelly Peace Corps Volunteer back in the day. Excited by the prospect of catching up with Bill after 5 years, Veronica and I took the train out to the airport hotel where he was staying. It was a great night to relive the the glory days of Chuuk. Unfortunately we forgot our camera that night, so no pics of Bill, and even worse, we missed the last ferry of the night by 3 minutes!

That was last Saturday. After sleeping in on Sunday, we awoke to a nice, sunny day. Veronica and I decided to head back to the secluded beach we had passed on our hike from a few weeks ago. Taking the bus back to the beach, we still had quite a hike in, but once we got to the beach we went for a nice swim in the cold water. Unfortunately the beach was much more crowded this day than it had been a few weeks prior. Still, it was a fun time.

This week at work was tough. I’ve really gotten depressed about my inability to find a job. This was amplified on Thursday morning when I found out I didn’t even get a 2nd interview with Google. On Friday, I delivered a camera lens to a downtown office that reminded me of OREXCO’s (the company I worked for in Hawaii) because of it's panoramic view of the water. Fresh from the Google let down, being back in that kind of office now as a delivery boy was disheartening. To top it off, later that afternoon I scratched and nearly broke my sunglasses. I snapped and had a nice 10-minute meltdown. The real kicker of the situation is that I really enjoy getting to drive around Sydney, and I am extremely thankful to have this job. Perhaps I am hung up on my perception of how other people see me? Whatever the case, it is quite pathetic.

That night Veronica and I hung out with our friends in Freshwater (Jase, Brenda and Guynes). It was a mellow evening and it made me feel much better. Saturday we awoke to rain, so we slept in again. After having lunch at one of our favorite places (Fresh) we came back to our room and watched a movie. Afterwards we headed over to Charlotte’s house (Morgan’s girlfriend) where we enjoyed a nice barbecue. Sunday was another gloomy day, so Veronica and I headed over to Candy’s for our "usual" chai and mocha to start the day. Then in the afternoon we headed into the city to watch a movie. The city was packed as it was the Harbour Bridge’s 75th birthday. We had tried to register to walk over it with the masses, but alas had tried a tad bit late and all the spots were already reserved. I guess that's why you don't try to do things the week of. Incidently, everyone who walked over the bridge for it's birthday was wearing a hideous lime green Bridge hat. Which makes me wonder, when did lime green make a comeback? Shouldn’t the color be burned or buried, or perhaps banished to a thrift store?

Last night I got back home from work to find our psycho landlord Jimmy hammering on the kitchen door. It seems he was putting a new door handle and lock on the door. When I asked him why we were being locked out of the kitchen for our last week Jimmy told me it was for security reasons. After explaining to him that what he was doing was illegal since we had paid rent, he told me to grab my food and get the f*** out. Ah, the joys of living in a place with a certified psycho. Thank God we move out on Saturday.

Sorry again for the delay in posting, I would love to give a good excuse but the real reason is that I am a slacker!