I have met so many wonderful people already! Very friendly and open
and generous! I have had some really good conversations and I haven't
even been here a week yet! I feel so lucky...
This city is all about cafes. It is absolutely insane how many cafes
there are here. And it is absolutely wonderful too because back home a
favorite activity of mine was going to cafes with friends to chat... After
England (with its pitiful lack of cafes, though abundance of pubs) it
is such a wonderful change! So many neat cafe areas all over the
place! So many neat shops too! I love it. Lots of buskers as well,
though I have not gotten any work done on my project since I have
arrived because I am still collecting myself. :)
Melbourne: "5 seasons in 5 minutes"... yeah it is pretty
schizophrenic here. check out the latest at accuweather. One moment it is really hot and the
next moment I am putting on my jacket. And then the next day it
pours. Go figure.
So... generally speaking, I am still adjusting to this new place. I
can tell that my sense of direction is really off, and I think this may
have to do with the sun and the hemisphere and all that. I am
currently looking for a room in the city... and have some pretty
promising prospects (I hope!). :) And at this point I am really
looking forward to making this city a home for me for the next few
months... Whenever I hop on a tram I think of my summer in Vienna.
:) Anyways... that's all for now.
Oh, and if anyone is curious as to what time it is out here, I am now
19 hours ahead of Los Angeles, and 11 hours ahead of Cambridge. That's
all for now... bye bye! :)
I have been travelling for 4 months now... I am one third of the way through this year. How crazy is that! I feel like I have been travelling forever... It has been so long since I was home. And I have to spend twice more the time I have been travelling on the road... That sentence came out really strangely! Oh, well...
I just keep on keeping on. :) I do like it out here! :)
So if you want to write to me, please try sage@ugcs.caltech.edu . Thanks!
Since I last wrote, some of the interesting things I have done include a couple of open-mike night performances and a daytrip to some fairly local coastline. :) Tomorrow I am attending an all-day national forum on Street Performance. I hope it will be interesting and will Agive me the chance to make some good contacts.
Generally, I am learning a great deal... and I am doing well (in spite of the unpredictability of hotalil!) :) .
Yesterday I went with a friend to Ballarat... a country town of maybe 100,000 people... what a dump, though! I was so happy to leave the place, even though before I went I had been hoping to spend the night... I had a good time with Luzita, though (the girl I went with), and it was good to learn about how although Melbourne is way cool, perhaps not all of Australia is that great...
On the whole music front, I have written a few tunes... it is coming along (if a little slowly at the moment, but it always goes in waves).
Altough we have had quite a bit of heat lately... today and yesterday have been quite mucky... rain? Oy, yes, today I am reminded of one of the things buskers tend to complain about the most: weather... and being at the mercy of it. I was so set to go out singing when I saw the misty sky. :(
Just now I was busking for a bit in a shady spot... it was a good time. I got some good feedback... which is always refreshing with all the people who just pretend I am not there as they pass by. hehe...
I got a bunch of photos from England printed and it was so strange to see pictures of my friends back there... it all seems so very far away now. So yesterday I wrote a tune about TIME. Urg, time... goes by unbelievably fast out here. It has been just about 5 months now since I was last at home. Another month and I am halfway through my travels. Crazy.
Tonight I will most likely do another open-mike night performance, which is fun... I hope everyone out there is doing really well... cheerio! :)
As back home, everywhere here is getting crazy over the approach of Christmas. But here on the children's tv programs (such as "The Wiggles") they have tunes like "It's Christmas, Let's Go to the Beach", or something like that... very interesting... :)
I am in the process now of getting prepared for another set of copyrighting of tunes... which means that lyrics should be coming soon (but not necessarily this century! :) )...
One comment about America from the point of view of being in Another country: did you konw that the rest of the world thinks it is a really big deal that we have guns? It comes up almost every time I talk to someone different.... "But aren't you scared, living in the States, with all those GUNS?" Really it comes up a lot. I never really thought about it in this way before... I mean, back home I thought that the controls should be stricter and stronger, BUT I never really considered that there just shouldn't be any guns at all. I guess that was a bit naive of me, but there are loads of places where possession of guns isn't a basic right... and people there don't complain. As I think they oughtn't to.
One other thing is...I was looking at the paper yesterday when I saw this article about the assassination attempt on the Sri Lankan president, who is a woman. And then I started to think (and this doesn't really have anything to do with my Watson travels, but...) about how ridiculous it is that in America we are on a sorta moral high horse, thinking we are an advanced culture... when we still haven't even come close to electing a woman president. And that is just one example. Just like guns, racism in America comes up a lot... And while I am rambling, it is interesting to compare the graffiti here (and other countries) to that of L.A. Whereas in L.A. you see lots of gang related graffiti, in Melbourne you see things like: "Satan drives a car"
Well, I have rambled long enough... hope that was at least a little entertaining. I would appreciate any comments you might have. :)
Is it really Christmas? Cause it sure doesn't feel like Christmas out here... barbeques galore. That is just too weird. Even back home in L.A. when it is sunny and warm on Christmas, we at least pretend that maybe it is really cozy inside the house... and we sit down to a sorta traditional meal. Yeah, I have kinda missed the tradition of the whole holiday this year... Australia just doesn't seem very big on traditions to me.
On the bright side... I met a fellow (who I actually met a couple of years ago in Spokane, Washington) who plays flute and we are going to busk together this week. I am very much looking forward to it. :)
Happy Holidays, everyone!
You may be wondering what I did for New Year's... How did I pass that moment? Well... I was on top of a beach hut, watching a panorama of fireworks all across the bay... It was quiet and calm for me... a nice event. :)
As for wisdom, I am finally over the most painful part... Yesterday I started to feel alive again after having felt quite down for a while... Today the sun is shining (hoorah, at last!) and life is pretty good.
As the new year tends to be a time of reflection for me, I have been thinking lots about what this year will bring... Of course, there is still the other half of my travels during which I will see a lot, go many places, meet many people, and learn and grow. That is a continuation of where I am at now. But then I think about my eventual return to Los Angeles... and that will be time for me to start moving forward in a sense... Not that I am not moving forward now, just that in a way this is a time-off for me and when I get back home it will be time for me to focus, with deciding how I want to earn money and all that jazz.... I do look forward to eventually being somewhat settled... That will be a bit of a relief! :)
I think that is enough for now... So Happy New Year! Happy New Century! Happy New Millenium! (even though I can never forget that these sign posts are a bit arbitrary....)
I am very much looking forward to the Busker's Festival, which is starting the day after tomorrow.
Life is pretty good, and I am learning quite a lot.
I am generally doing pretty well... enjoyed the sunshine as I went on a short hike this morning before the festival... just up in the hills above the city, with a view of the Pacific Ocean (which before Christchurch, I hadn't seen in 6 months!)... Oh, yes, and to fill you in on other things, I went swimming yesterday, which was great, cause I did a bit of freestyle swimming and treading water, two things I am just now learning and enjoying. At Caltech I learned how to ride a bicycle (age 20) and now in the southern hemisphere I am learning how to swim properly (age 22)... and these things can be really hard to learn when you are no longer a little kid, cause you get really scared of things like being underwater, or just generally not having control.
BUT... (and here I am getting philosophical again) that is what life is all about really, well, maybe not ALL, but in life I think it is important to learn taht we don't really have control... and if we are abeing too controlling that we should just let go a little and enjoy the ride! Well, that is what I feel I am meant to learn about right now... (And I can see that there might be times when the opposite could be said!)
I also was spending the day wandering about with a friend I have made here and that was pretty fun... it is always neat to connect with people all over the world. :)
I am thankful that today was not as hot as yesterday, and yet, we could have done without the occasional spitting down of rain.
It was a really neat experience, not to scary and not too expensive. I had never done the snorkeling thing before... nor the swimming in the middle of the ocean thing... And while I was out there I found that every now and then I would get kind of panicky (no worries, the wetsuit keeps ya afloat) and I would realize I was doing so and I would just decide to calm down and all of a sudden everything became much easier. I think that is something that can be applied to life in general: DON'T PANIC. STAY RELAXED and it will all be ok. :) I need to tell myself that A LOT. :)
Oh, yes, and hopefully theweather is better there, but not TOO hot! :)
I suppose I shouldn't be complaining, but I can't really help feeling a little bit homesick. Yeah, I think I am at that point in my travels... been on the road for 6 1/2 months and I am a bit homesick, feeling ready to be somewhat more settled again. But not yet, i have many adventures still ahead of me.
Today I start with a French lesson, to prepare me for my travels in France. :)
Oh, yes, and tonight I am going to go to an Ani Difranco concert becuase everyone keeps raving about her performance quality and so I thought I would try to watch and learn (I am actually not a fan of hers, not very familiar with her music... at least not yet...). But it should be fun!
On the Ani Di Franco Concert... it was ok. I couldn't get that into it somehow. To me, so many of the songs sounded the same: full of angst. But I learned a lot. I tried to look at what she did that was really good and that I might aspire to do as well... she played the guitar really well, she had lots of energy, she got into the songs, she had fun and was playful on stage, and she seemed to give the audience what it wanted.... but I also looked at some of the things I would like to do differently. But that is good because it would not be good to have an imitation Ani Difranco here, now would it? :)
I think it is amazing that when it rains most of the tourists are disappointed because they can't see the rock in its usual redness... when in reality it is something to be thankful for: a break from the heat, less of a crowd on the trails, and a different view from all the postcards... quite gorgeous. I think too often in life people are disappointed over rain, without realizing that everything is an opportunity (of course in L.A. right now they are celebrating the rain because fo the dry winter!).
The weather here is definitely better than it was back in Uluru! :)
On Saturday as I was just singing my heart out on a busy corner (just outside the permit boundaries), I was feeling that I am really being tested, or maybe just testing myself, as to my dedication to music. Because the thing is that response while busking is just not the same as having a big audience clap after every tune. Even though people sometimes stop and listen and maybe smile or even approach me to tell me they like what I am doing, most of the time I feel like I am being ignored. And so all those times when I don't have people's attentions and don't have positive feedback, I have to really find it within myself to be strong and want to do the music for music's sake and not for approval. And at the same time, for me the whole point of performing is that I want to have an affect on other people. I want to touch them, stir something up within them, bring something to life... and this can be especially challenging when on the street, where people aren't as open to letting that happen. :)
But I have never been one to turn down a challenge! :) And I am also very thankful for the opportunity to test myself in this way. Because if I pass this one, then it really means something big as far as my life is concerned. :)
I am looking forward to my next destination: Byron Bay along the Gold Coast.
Byron Bay... is a neat place. They actually have managed to keep McDonald's out of this backpackers' heaven, an amazing feat. The town is beautiful, on the coast, at the easternmost part of the continent of Australia. There are loads of artists. I managed to have a couple of really good interviews as well as do some performing, which seemed to be received really well. People there were generally relaxed and open, seeming to enjoy life.
As for Sydney... it feels really big to me. For some reason it reminds me of London... I am slightly overwhelmed by it, but I think I will get into the swing of things soon enough. :) I am looking forward to seeing some good talent in this city. :)
Oh, yes, and there are a lot of BUGS here.
OH... and here is a website with info on busking in Sydney, in case you are interested...
Cane toads are these ugly pests in northern Australia that were brought over from Africa in order to eat the bugs that eat the sugar canes. This move was not so smart because the frogs ended up eating just about everything EXCEPT for the bugs eating the sugar canes... AND, to make it even worse, they are poisonous and have no real predators (aside from Australian humans) out here... so the cane toads have spread all over the place. GREAT. At the house I was staying at in Brisbane there were loads of cane toads (possibly attracted by the pool). In the evening they would all come out. Apparently one of the ways that Australians have dealt with these critters is to encourage the children to hunt and catch them. So, there I was, being introduced to another aspect of Australian culture: three kids out to capture cane toads... armed with a flashlight and plastic bags. Upon seeing a toad, they would immediately shine the light in its eyes, in order to stun it. Then the oldest girl would creep up on it and suddenly place the bag over the animal. She would slip it into the bag and deliver it to her father. He then tied it up and put it in the freezer where the wretched cane toad would have a "humane" death over night (in its sleep supposedly).
In case you were wondering, there are two useful applications for cane toads: 1) tourism has once again capitalized... by selling various items made out of them (e.g. coin purses); 2)apparently if you lick them you get hallucinogenic effects... Oh, yes and I found an on-line game that lets you squash cane toads...
Just a little bit of interesting Australian culture for you... :)
Sometimes the hardest step can somehow be the first one... as there seems to be an inertia that keeps us in stasis... unable to venture forth to do what we want... and once you can get over that the rest just kind of follows actually... :)
So, my days in Australia are numbered... two more full days here and then I am off to Europe again... I feel ... I am looking forward to Europe, but I am not looking forward to leaving people here behind. Well, that's life though isn't it? Always moving forward... :)