Day 22....in which we lose the first camera

In my notes, I say that Jack watched The Simpsons in the morning. I'm guessing he watched it on our computer. I can't imagine that being on television in the morning.

At some point, during our time in Sydney, Jack became a fan of a show called Lazytown. He's seen it before in America, but never had much passion for it. In Australia, he loved it for some reason. He proclaimed that 8:00 am was his TV time. He watched it religiously. The funny thing is he's watched it only once since we've returned.

I also wrote in my notes that the soda I had bought the night before tastes like the free soda in Epcot. Jack noticed it first. The free soda thing is one of his favorite exhibits there. You go into a building where you get to try sodas from around the world.

We had tentative plans with my cousins for the afternoon; but I wasn't sure when they'd be available, or when they'd call. I figured we'd just go about our day, and when they called, we would get together.

We walked over to Paddy's Market. That place is awesome, but overwhelming. It's a great place to find bargains; especially in terms of souvenirs. We bought t-shirts. We looked at other stuff. I think Jack had run out of allowance and had no money to spend. He seemed okay with this. We didn't have any fits, and he didn't beg for advances in his allowance. Whenever he seemed somewhat interested in something, I reminded him we'd go back there with Tracey's family and hopefully he'd have money then.

I did let him buy his cousin Ellie a birthday present; or part of her present. This task kept him happily occupied. He picked out some Aussie pens. But now that I think of it, we forgot to give it to her at her birthday party! I have no idea where those pens are. Oh well. Ellie's sister's birthday is coming soon. Maybe if we find the pens, we'll give them to her.

Tim went to buy some fruit and vegetables for all of us. Jack and I walked around while he did that. We bought some dried Kiwis and papayas. Then we got tired. We went outside and listened to one of the street performers. I think he was playing a didgeridoo. I sent Tim a text telling him we were near the music. I hoped that would be enough information for him.

It was.

He found us.

We decided to eat some Yum Cha although we had no idea what it was. We figured it was like Dim Sum, but we didn't understand what the difference might be. Was there a difference? Someone (I forgot who) said Yum Cha involved tea. Maybe it was Tracey who said that? Anyway, we didn't have tea, so maybe technically we ate Dim Sum.

I was a bit lost regarding which restaurant to eat at. There seems to be a lot. I checked my self-made information packet to see if any of the restaurant recommendations were for places in Chinatown. No luck there.

I thought of sending a text to Mim because I remember her saying her family eats Dim Sum/Yum Cha. But I figured this was a little too last minute. We wanted to eat now. Who knows when she'd get the text and give us an answer.

I'm wondering why we didn't look in the Time Out Sydney book.  Maybe we had forgotten to take it with us.

Anyway, I had this sense that Tim would keep walking and walking trying to find the perfect place. I wasn't in the mood for that. When we were approached by one of those pushy restaurant people, I accepted their offer. We sat down. I felt a little worried though. What if I had picked an awful place? Maybe I should have let Tim look a little longer.

We ordered drinks. Jack got this beautiful bright pink thing. I took some photographs, but the pink looked more impressive when it was live.

Lucky for me, Tim seemed to love the food. He was pleased with it. I wouldn't have to feel guilty for my hasty choice. Dim Sum choices are often limited when you're vegetarian. I had some kind of fried veggie roll and egg tarts. They were fairly okay.

After we ate, we returned to the apartment so we could put away the fruits and vegetables.

Our next plan was to walk to Circular Quay and take a random ferry.  A serendipitous thing. Tim put together a little box of fruit for us: grapes and sugar plums. We ate it while we walked through Hyde Park.

We left Hyde Park at some point and ended up at the Cook + Phillip pool. The pool is under ground and you can see it from the sidewalk. For some reason, it looked incredibly fun and inviting to us. We decided to go down and check it out. The staff was very friendly and told us we were welcome to walk in and check the place out. It looked fun and the prices seemed very reasonable.

I suggested maybe we skip the ferry ride and go swimming instead.

I guess at least one of us (probably me) still wanted to go to the Royal Botanical Gardens. We figured we'd go there and then walk back to get our swimming suits. The pool would be open until 8 so we could do an evening swim. Oh! You know....I think maybe we had planned to eat at the chocolate restaurant we had seen at Circular Quay. I'm very intrigued by these chocolate places. I shouldn't be because, they're not fair trade chocolate. What can I say for myself? I don't know....not much.

Anyway, so I think that's why we were continuing to walk. It wasn't some noble thing about wanting more exercise or hugging trees. It was about chocolate.

We went into the gardens. We had a jolly good time. Sort of.

A cute bug crawled on us. Jack and I took turns holding him. He was our pet for a few minutes. We took photographs.

Every so often, we'd sit by a tree and relax. I'd check my phone for messages. I think Jack looked at his joke book. I have no idea what Tim did. I think he tried taking mini-naps.

Jack wanted to find the place where the cockatoos had been. I tried to explain that this wasn't a zoo. There's not an official cockatoo area. They just fly around. I guess he wanted another bird to land on my head. I told him we should just have fun and not try to repeat our experience from yesterday. Each day needs to be new. Trying to repeat the joys of the past rarely works.

At some point, I got a message from my cousin asking if we were still planning to get together. I wrote her back and said yes. I mean I said more than just yes. I forgot what I said, though.

At another point, I took a photograph of Tim near this water area.

Then we headed to the chocolate while keeping our ears on alert for my phone message beep.

We ate at Guylian Belgian Chocolate Cafe. This is the same people who are responsible for our Valentine's Day chocolates.

Jack wanted a milk shake.

I wanted a hot chocolate.

We ended up getting some overindulgent combo plate instead. It came with ice-cream. I guess Jack accepted that as an alternative to his shake.

While we waited for our food, Tim decided to take a picture.

I unzipped the part of my backpack which usually holds the camera.

It wasn't there.

No big deal.

I had probably just stuck it in the wrong pocket. It happens sometimes.

I looked.

Tim looked.

The waitress came over and put way too much chocolate in front of us.

We were panicking by this point.

The waitress was a bit too cheerful for our current emotional state.

She started giving us a tour of our plate. I didn't pay attention to a word she was saying. I just wanted her to go away and leave us alone. We smiled politely. We pretended to care.

Despite my fear that I had lost our camera, I still managed to enjoy some of the chocolate. My favorite is what I had wanted in the first place. Hot chocolate. That was divine. Everything else was okay. I probably would have liked it more if I hadn't had that awful knot in my stomach.

Tim ate a little and then said he was done. He can't eat too much chocolate in one sitting. It bothers him. He offered to go into the park and start looking for the camera.

Jack and I sat there a little longer and ate a little more chocolate. The waitress came over. I explained that we were sort of in a rush. I told her about the camera. She acted very sympathetic and concerned. She brought us our requested bill. We paid with cash so we could get out fast.

We met Tim in the park.

We searched.

I was much more upset then Tim. Tim was pretty calm. We had uploaded all our photos the night before so there was not a huge loss. We'd be missing only the few random photos we had taken on this day. There hadn't been anything that beautiful or profound.

I think Tim wanted to give up searching before I did. I think I had this idea we should stay in the damn park until we found the thing. Tim's attitude was we should just accept our loss and buy a new camera. He did go to the park office, though, and asked if they found anything. They were very nice to him and took down his phone number in case anything was turned in.

We then ended up walking to the Opera House.

It felt weird not having a camera.

They were having some kind of event to raise money for the bushfires. Prior to that there was a cocktail benefit inside. We've never been inside the Opera House before. I thought that it wasn't usually open to the general public and this was just a unique occasion. But later someone told us it was often open.

We bought drinks knowing our money would be going to a good cause.

While we drank, my cousin's husband called us. We had a nice chat. He cheered me up a bit about the camera. He made me realize that since we hadn't lost many photos, it wasn't a big deal. Yeah, I know. Tim had said the same thing. I guess it just helped hearing it from someone else.

It was already getting fairly late in the afternoon, but we still attempted to figure a way for us to get together. Unfortunately, it didn't work out.

Failed plans.
Lost Camera.
And.....

I started to feel a little sick.

I didn't think much of it. For me, feeling sick towards the evening isn't rare. I often feel I'm going to come down with something. I take some immunity medicine and the next day I'm fine.

We went back to the apartment to get our swimming suits. I put a Vitamin C/Zinc tablet in my water bottle and took that with.

I didn't feel too bad at first.

We had fun in the pool. It's a really awesome place.

Then I started to feel a little worse.

I decided to head back. I felt swimming was probably not the best thing for me now. Also, I wanted to go to the supermarket and the Internet Cafe.

We had tentative plans with my friend Michelle the next day. But now I was feeling pretty damn awful. I figured it was best I tell her this now instead of waiting until the morning. I emailed her and said I was feeling sick and probably wouldn't be able to do anything. If that changed, I would send her a message the next day.

What would our world be like if we

 knew for sure there 

was life after death, and 

we could easily talk to our 

dearly-departed on the Internet?

The Dead are Online a novel by Dina Roberts