Not an update at all.

It's been raining for the past four days or so. I wish it would stop so I can go explore the city some more rather than sit inside and do nothing. Monday and Tuesday seem to be better, and then Wednesday through Saturday it's apparently raining again.


I didn't spend all this money for it to rain all the time. Melbourne, get your shit together. It's summer, act like summer. Okay?

The Past Five Days

This is all over the place, bear with me or skip over it.

It’s my very first weekend in Melbourne. It’s Saturday to be exact. I am currently sitting in my room putting off watching another episode of Arrested Development (I should have brought my Simpsons DVD’s too, shit). Tonight is turning out to be much like last night. I’m listening to Black Flag’s “Nervous Breakdown” and feeling like the lyrics “I’m about to have a nervous breakdown. My head really hurts. If I don’t find a way out of here, I’m going to go berserk” to be insanely appropriate at this instance in time. I’m overwhelmed in the sense that maybe I’ve taken on too much without thinking completely of the situation, that maybe it wasn’t all such a great idea in the grand scheme of things. I’m sure this will pass eventually, or rather very soon after I write these words out and definitely once I find some of my own friends and am able to hold a conversation with someone who holds the same ideals and/or beliefs as me. I need to find my way to a show or a job and network that way – the only way I know how it seems. Hopefully I’m able to find someone to talk to in person soon, not even about anything emotionally important or whatever, but just about stupid shit to make me feel at ease and like I’m “home”. The fact that Melbourne is almost essentially exactly like Toronto in every conceivable way – only with an accent and a bay that leads into the ocean and beaches, neither of which I’ve seen yet – is the only thing keeping me from feeling insanely homesick. There was more to this but I decided to take it out because it sounded too pathetic, hahahaha.

Sunday: I was invited out to the Spanish street festival that was happening in Fitzroy which is the trendy indie suburb, which is also the suburb east of Brunswick. Anyways, I went out with Randy, Courtney and all of her friends – one of which I’ve met, Candice, who seems to be really nice. It was really, really, really hot that day. We ended up spending the majority of the day in a bar that opened at like 12PM it seems. It was packed in the mid afternoon, and insanely loud. Sunday was alright, I suppose.

I saw my first Toyota Kluger the same day (Monday) I bought my phone on my way down to the Yarra River, past Flinders Street Station. I should have brought my camera, not to snag a picture of the Kluger, but for Flinders Street Station and the Yarra. I was contemplating heading down to St. Kilda for its beaches but I got blisters on my heals so I decided to cut my stay gazing at the Yarra River short. 

Phone search: I ended up getting an HTC Wildfire which is pretty fun. The only reason I wanted a Blackberry was to be able to BBM you kids back home. I downloaded the WhatsApp app, but I'm not sure if it'll eat all of my data usage so I'm afraid of installing it. At least I've got internet and games on the thing though.

Tuesday: I waited all day to receive my internet modem. Come 6PM, it hadn't arrived so I called and they told me it was waiting at the Brunswick Post Office because I missed the delivery. Fuckers.

Wednesday: I headed out at 10AM and met Sarah - who I initially met online who gave me travel advice, then I found out we liked the same music - for coffee and hung out for about 45minutes before she went off to work. She seems really nice, and invited me over to her place to have a BBQ with her and her boyfriend, and the two couchsurfers she's got staying over from New Zealand. I also bought groceries again, and a fan because it is way too fucking hot upstairs in my room. Even with the door open to outside.

I’m currently applying to two jobs. One of them is for a “gigs listing” position with The Beat, which is essentially like NOW Magazine, or Eye Weekly. A free music magazine distributed city wide through Melbourne. I’d apparently just be listing out the shows and artists coming through Melbourne along with heading to shows to do some live reviews or something. It could be A) a good start off gig with a decent income, and B) a great way to meet some interesting people. The second is with Triple J radio as an Australian Music Producer in Southbank, starting in January. I’m assuming from what I’ve heard that Triple J is like a more legit and more rad version of The Edge or z103.5, in that they don’t play artists that are just constant shit and relevant 15 years previous. My potential job here would be to find good up and coming Australian artists, sort of like an A&R gig, which would be fucking fantastic and something I would absolutely love to do wholeheartedly. Obviously, if I got this job (fingers crossed) I would be staying in Melbourne longer than the 3 months I had initially planned to stay. Essentially, I’d be here in Melbourne for a full year. I’m getting ahead of myself, but whatever. I really want this job.

Australian word of the day:
Today’s word comes in two parts, none of which are really interesting or relevant to anything but two that I have heard recently that kind of made me think “Uh, what?”

1. “What are you making? Are those ‘toasties’ there?” Apparently, “toasties” are Grilled Cheese Sandwiches. For a second, I thought Courtney thought I was making toast using a pan and stove.

2. “Where is your ‘dunny’?” I would have never guessed the actual meaning behind this if I wasn’t told, but apparently it means toilet or washroom.

So I’m looking to buy a Blackberry, and everywhere I go they seem to only have the Bold 9700 – I’m not complaining about that, but I want an older model since they’d probably be cheaper. Optus told me that it was $299 for the phone itself, and $30-$40 prepaid per month. Vodafone told me it’s $900 for the same phone, and on a postpaid plan it’d be $29 per month plus $19.95 for 12 months for internet. Yeah…

And I just realized I forgot to check out Crazy John (?) about their prices. Shit.

After finding this out I wandered into a McDonalds, or a Maccas as Australians tend to call them, to access their free WiFi which was sadly faster than the State Library’s connection. Seriously, Victoria State Library, step your game up. How is a McDonalds internet connection going to be better than a place of learning? Anyways, I snuck in through the back entrance and sat in a corner where I could use the internet without buying anything. What was missing from this experience was having Deryn yell obscene things into the orderspeaker or whatever they’re called as Lenny attempts to order his meal, which then ends in Lenny’s meal being covered in spit, other bodily fluids and yumminess. I contemplated ruining someone’s order at the counter by doing just that, but I decided against it. 

Anyways, Rachel then reminded me to check eBay for cheaper Blackberrys, which was a great idea because I didn’t think of it at all, which then led me to also thinking of checking Gumtree which is Australia’s Craigslist. I should probably check both eBay Canada and eBay Australia. And then my computer died. So I’ll look into that next time I’m at a library or McDonald’s, unless Steph researched some stuff for me.

I took pictures of a “walking tour” of sorts through my Hope Street place. The street should not be called Hope, by the way, and instead something like “Decomposing Street”, or “Disparaging Street”, or “Decay Street”, or “Lost Hope Street”, or “Sketch Street”. I mean, it’s a great street and all because there are tons of young adults and young family’s and such, but seriously walking through it every day – past the railroad tracks, past the autobody shops, past the disintegrating building – it kind of makes you look over your shoulder from time to time.

Excuse the blurry ones, I was too lazy to retake them you ungrateful assholes. Here are the pictures (I’m sure these will load insanely slow…):

Between the gate and the door:

The hallway form the door, and Randy’s room to the left:

Randy’s room (his door was open):

Next to Randy’s room is the “laundry room” which, again, is essentially just a closet:

Next to the laundry room is Randy’s bathroom:

Again:

The kitchen (not viewed here) and the living room:

The actual kitchen:

Kind of the kitchen, plus living room:

The living room with Randy’s broken TV, plus (actually, I’m not even sure if it’s broken. I’ve never tried it, maybe I’m just being lied to and it really works):

Up the stairs:

Courtney’s room to the left (her door was closed, so that’s all I’ve ever seen of it really), and the bathroom to the right:

The sink:

The toilet (the water sadly doesn’t flush the opposite way, but rather straight down like it’s fucking angry):

The shower:

My room to the right of the washroom:

My bed:

My “desk”:

The backyard from my window/balcony/terrace:

The gate that keeps me from actually being outside on a balcony:

Also, I went grocery shopping for the first time in Melbourne, or rather ever for my own needs. I mean, I’ve gone shopping before but that was either for the whole family with my mom, or for a camping trip, or cottage weekend or whatever, but never for myself really. I ended up spending something like $70.35. I think I got everything I need and enough food to survive for the next week or so, but I’m not sure if that’s a lot for one person, or if it’s just enough. How much do you spend for one person? How much should I be spending on food for myself?

Anyways, I bought some eggs. Of course, I forgot to open and check the actual eggs before buying them, and the cashier was concerned about making sure they didn’t break on me on my 5-10 minute walk home. When I get home I put all the groceries away and put the carton of eggs on the table. I look at the best before date since I forgot to do that too when I was at Safeway/Woolsworth:

Awesome, I have a month almost exactly. Then I opened it:

Someone forgot to shave this one. I kind of want to crack it open to see how developed the egg is. Or I guess it would be a chick, wouldn’t it? I’m not a vegetarian or vegan by any means, and I love eating eggs, but when I saw this I felt so bad that the egg began to develop into a living creature rather than just an embryo – which is kind of strange if you think about it, because I mean, I eat chicken. But still! It’s a baby chicken. Poor chicken.

I’m going to try and return the eggs tomorrow, because I think the grocery store may be closed right now at 6PM. Yeah, almost everything closes at 6PM in Australia – or at least Melbourne. Except I believe the buses/trams/trains run until 3AM, and the bars and clubs and venues and late night entertainment, obviously. Everything else though is done at 5PM or 6PM. Maybe I should have gone to that organic shop on Sydney Road, I’m sure they don’t have any young chicks in their egg cartons.

Damnit.

Australian word of the day: I asked Courtney yesterday if there was any saran wrap so that my food wouldn’t explode all over the microwave. She looked at me like I was stupid since she didn’t know what I was asking for. After a few seconds and me saying it three times over, she clued in and said, “Oh! You mean a PLAID sheet!”

Yesterday’s word of the day was “Bubblies”, meaning water fountain. I just forgot to put it in. 

First two days.

I’m currently sitting in the Victoria State Library, and although the building itself is insanely nice and reminds me greatly of Toronto, it fucking sucks in terms of internet speed and connection. I’ve been here for one hour, maybe longer now, and I’ve been attempting to access two websites the entire time. This one that you’re currently probably not reading and Facebook. Facebook’s worked twice or so, and then reloaded for no apparent reason, and now I can’t access it again. It’s really frustrating. I should have just gone to the McDonald’s down the street, and camped out there for a few hours. Apparently every McDonald’s has free WiFi, plus I’m hungry as shit since I’ve only eaten Cheerios as I’m trying to ration out my money before I get funds into my new Aussie account next week. I could go for a disgusting Big Mac right now…

I eventually went out across the street to the Hungry Jacks, which is just a Burger King, and got a Double Whopper. I immediately regretted the decision. I also took my first tram from the Central Business District (CBD) – the 19 to North Coburg which goes through Brunswick. I did not pay for it because I don’t know how to do so, and so I kind of just walked on and sat down. You don’t have to put the fair in at the front of the tram like you do on the TTC streetcars, and also, every door opens up like that Queen St. streetcar. I hear I can get fined from my roommates if they catch you, obviously, but I was also reassured that I can probably plead ignorance and use my “accent” to get out of a ticket.

Anyways, this is day two. My flight from Hong Kong was the most exhausting thing ever, 15 hours straight with nothing to do really. The movies on the flight were all relatively lame, but I ended up watching Cyrus on the way to HK Airport. It was all right, I suppose – the movie I mean. I sat next to an old Asian couple in their at least mid-80’s, who smelled like decaying flesh and traditional Asian foods. Needless to say I began feeling sick at the 7 hour mark, which is about half way there accessing the washroom to either throw up or take a shit, neither of which happened. I took another 12 hour gravol and began to calm down drifting in and out of sleep, and sitting with nothing to do attempting to feel fine, staring blankly at the screen in front of me.  The Hong Kong Airport is kind of shitty itself, in the sense that it’s insanely large. Some old dude at Pearson told me, “it’s like the airport in Hong Kong was designed by a golf player and you have to walk to all 18 holes”. It was true. The internet there was actually better than in this library. The connection to Melbourne was actually a lot better some how. I was contemplating missing that flight while in Hong Kong to sleep on the benches there since I didn’t want to A) fly anymore and B) sit upright for 9 more hours. Turns out that there were only about 100 people on the flight, and I had 4 seats to myself so I got to lie down for the whole duration of the flight. Fuck yes.

This entry is all over the place it seems.

I arrived in Melbourne at around 10:30PM or so, and got to my “apartment” at around 11. When I pulled up to the house, or what I thought was the house, it turned out to be a pretty rundown apartment building that was apparently a factory. At this point my heart sank into my stomach, and I told the cabby that I think I’ve been scammed. For some reason there are two girls sitting in this factory in the lobby (?) with the lights on, so I get out of the cab and walk up to the factory door at 11 at night, and knock on the door. They see me through the glass door, and decide that I look sketchy and threatening so the decide to yell at me through the door. I can’t hear anything because my ears haven’t popped yet so we’re yelling back and forth like:

“IS THIS 50 HOPE STREET?!”
 “YEAH! BUT THIS IS A FACTORY!”
 “A WHAT?!”.
“A FACTORY!”
“SO THERE AREN’T APARTMENTS UPSTAIRS?!”
“NO! IT’S A FACTORY!”
“WHAT?!”
“NO!”
“Oh. Shit…”

I think they thought I was fucking insane and going to knife them.

Turns out the house is just a way down the road at 51 Hope Street and not #50.  Even though the area is kind of half residential, half industrial, it’s a really nice house. It’s two floors. The first is all hardwood, has Randy’s room, the “laundry room” which is essentially just a closet, Randy’s bathroom (or the main floor bathroom), and the kitchen/living room in that order. It’s pretty spacious, relatively empty but nice nonetheless. The second floor is all carpet, and holds Courtney’s room to the left of the staircase, the bathroom, and then my room (which is really Jen’s room). I think my room may be the biggest and has the best view, and also a terrace or balcony – though, it’s really just glass doors that open up like a giant window and has a gate right there so you can’t really walk out. I believe that I can catch a glimpse of the Eureka Tower through the trees, which is one of the largest buildings in the Southern Hemisphere, and a bunch of other buildings in the CBD. That may be wrong, but regardless, the Eureka Tower is pretty nice and hopefully I’ll get to see it and more of Melbourne soon. 

Send me mail and cookies (and presents and money for groceries):

Daniel Alcinii
51 Hope Street
3056
Brunswick, Victoria
Australia

Hopefully the next blog post will actually make sense and be enticing to read.