1. Dreamed about Andrew's blog. I read it. He talks about being somewhere and seeing something (I forgot what); then he realized he was thirsty. He decided to go home and get a beer. He went home and found the fridge was empty. So he had to go to the store. I'm wondering how he managed to go on being thirsty like that, and whether or not he grabbed some tap water before leaving.
2. Found an old thing in my private journal about Sydney Harbour. It's from July 18, 2007 which is about a month before we bought our first plane tickets to Australia.
I wrote....
The pool dream wasn't great because Anthony Hopkins was in it. Although I do like the guy. But I have lots of celebrity cameos in my dreams. It's not that big of a deal. There was just a FEELING in the dream. And there was a FEELING in the other dream—the one that ended up reminding me of Sydney Harbour.
3. Started to read an editorial about the shark hunt. I like the title and probably agree with it. "Shark hunts a Hollywood Response".
Christopher Neff says:
There is no evidence that shark hunts reduce attacks. Research shows these responses are political, symbolically reducing public perceptions of risk rather than the actual risk.
Yeah. Exactly. That's my feelings.
It reminds me of places where security guards rummage through your bags before you enter. All it does really is slow the lines down. They open your bag, peak inside, maybe move one or two things around. But they don't really look. It would be easy to hide something.
I don't feel any safer with this happening. If they're not looking carefully through my bag; then I'm going to guess they're not looking carefully through the bag of the guy carrying a gun.
If one shark is killed, is that going to make the waters safer? Aren't there other sharks out there?
4. Continued to read the editorial.
Neff talks about the rogue shark theory. It was popularized by Jaws. The idea is a naughty shark will patrol the beaches looking for a human snack.
Neff says the theory has been discredited by science.
He says the best way to prevent shark attacks is to teach humans how to avoid them.
Don't swim after storms—or at dusk or dawn. Don't swim in areas that have animals sharks normally like to eat, like fish, dolphins, and seals. Don't go too far out. Don't wear shiny clothes.
I know another one, not listed in the article. Don't go swimming if you're bleeding.—like if you have your period.
I forgo swimming in Hawaii because of this.
5. Saw Christopher Neff's biography at the end of the editorial. He's a PhD candidate at the University of Sydney. He's doing his doctorate on policy responses after shark attacks.
So this guy has really done his research.
6. Went to the website of Christopher Neff. He's a consultant. His areas of interest are sharks, homosexuality, and support for twins who have lost their twin. Christopher lost his own twin.
That's very sad.
7. Learned from this page that Christopher is actually American. He's from New England. He got his first degree from the James Madison University in Virginia. Then he got a Masters Degree from the University of Sydney.
Now that I look more closely at his website....
I see he has a picture of an American capital type building.
I did notice there was something about Don't Ask Don't Tell, but I thought maybe he was an Australian who took in an interest in the subject. Or there was some Australian thing with the same name.
8. Read article about scientists thinking the venom of Funnel Web spiders might be useful in the treatment of breast cancer.
That's cool.
I hope it works.
9. Went to Tallygarunga.
It doesn't really look like there's anything new right now.
I'll try back later.
10. Saw that my Australian of the day is Alexander Mervyn Archdale.
He was a theater person.
11. Learned that Archdale was born in India in 1905. He wasn't Indian though. His parents were British.
Archdale and his mom returned to England. He spent his childhood there. He did his university studies in Canada. He didn't complete a degree, though, and he spent most of the time doing theater.
12. Learned that Archdale did theater stuff, and he also did military stuff.
He established a program in London called Services Sunday Society. It was a production company for returned servicemen.
That's neat.
13. Learned that Archdale came over to Sydney in his mid forties. He was visiting his sister, but it seems like he stayed quite awhile.
14. Learned that Archdale was the lead in a play by J.M Barrie called The Twelve Pound Look. I used to be sort of into J.M Barrie. I don't remember that play. Maybe I really wasn't that much into him. I had some book. What was the name? It was something about a bird. Maybe...the Little White Bird?
15. Googled. Yeah. There is a J.M Barrie novel called The Little White Bird. I can't really remember what it's about.
16. Saw that Archdale spent much of the 1950's in Australia. Then he moved back to the UK.
In 1960 he had a heart attack, and that prompted him to return to Australia.
17. Learned that Archdale had a role in a 1948 British ghost movie called House of Darkness.
18. Learned that Archdale founded the Marian Street Theatre Company in Sydney.
That became extinct in 2001, but now there's a Marian Street Theatre for Young People. It might have a connection to Archdale's thing.
19. Went to Radfordsdoor's YouTube channel.
20. Learned that Radfordsdoor doesn't like jazz.
21. Listened to Radfordsdoor's cover of Hallelujah.
The recording has a bit of static; but I think the singing is awesome. It has a country music feel to it.
Yeah. But this is what I was talking about the other day.
I think this guy is good enough to be a music celebrity; yet this video has only 132 views. I'm seen very mediocre singers that have much more views than that. It's crazy.
22. Got a feeling that Radfordsdoor doesn't like America when I saw his shirt in this video.
The word evil is written with what looks to be the American flag.
Well, fine. I don't like him back.
I do like his singing, though. In that video he sings "Songbird" by Bernard Fanning.
He pronounces Bernard totally different than I do.
23. Figured I could be wrong about the guy's t-shirt. I probably shouldn't jump to conclusions.
24. Decided I won't do a lot of blogging while at Disney World. It's too hard because we have to share the internet. I don't want to spend too much time in the hotel room.
25. Started to look at more of John Lampard's Budgewoi photos.
26. Reminded of The Girl Who Chased the Moon when I saw this photo.
27. Liked this lake-pelican-tree photo.
28. Heard Gabriella Cilmi's "Sweet About Me" on my iTunes DJ, and decided to see if she has anything new out there.
I glanced at her website a bit; then rushed off to Lord Wiki.
He says Cilmi came out with a new album in 2010. It's called Ten.
One of the popular songs on the album is called "On A Mission".
29. Started to listen to "On a Mission"
It kind of sounds 1980's to me.
There's a part that reminds me of "Hey Mickey"
30. Looked at the Australian Monopoly Board.
Today my street is Bourke Street.
Lord Wiki has a Tom Roberts painting of Bourke Street in the 1800's.
31. Found Bourke Street on Google Maps. It goes east to west, but it's kind of diagonal.
Lord Wiki mentioned David Jones and then jogged my memory a bit. I remember reading about Bourke Street. I probably did it a few months ago.
32. Saw Bourke Street starts around the Docklands. The first cross street seems to be Spencer Street.
It ends at Parliament buildings.
33. Saw there is a school on Bourke Street called Whitehouse Institute of Design. It's for people who want to pursue careers in interior design and fashion.
I have an acquaintance who's an interior decorator. She has a blog called Dallas Design Girl.
34. Saw that there's a restaurant on Bourke Street called Langley's Cafe.
They say they provide quality food at affordable prices.
I'll be the judge of that...the prices at least. I can't really judge the food from here.
Their website has some photos of the decor. It kind of reminds me of a museum cafe.
35. Looked at the Langley menu.
They have a Greek salad for $8.50. That's not bad if it's a meal salad rather than a side salad.
We went to a Fort Worth Mediterranean restaurant recently. Their Greek salad is $8.
So it's about the same.
The salad was really good, but big. Everything there was a bit too big. I definitely think these huge restaurant portions are partly to blame for the whole obesity thing.
I guess the problem is it's easier to make a large quantity of something; then a small one.
36. Saw that there are accommodations on Bourke Street called Alto Hotel.
It's a boutique hotel.
37. Saw from the Alto Hotel website that the Melbourne Cup is in a few days.
I should have probably known that.
38. Learned that the Alto Hotel is carbon neutral. They say they were Australia's first carbon neutral hotel. I'll take their word for it.
One of the things they do is offer free parking to people driving electric or hybrid cars.
That's pretty cool.
39. Looked a the Alto Hotel prices. They're somewhat reasonable, but we'd probably want something a little lower.
40. Saw that the Royal Melbourne Hotel is on Bourke Street. It's promoted as a place to hold functions. People can have work parties, and stuff like that.
41. Saw another school on Bourke Street.
It's called Australian Human Resources Institute.
At one time, Tim had a job in human resources.
42. Saw that there's a Spanish restaurant on Bourke Street called MoVida Aqui.
43. Looked at the menu, and decided I'd definitely get the rich drinking chocolate.
I really want to have some Spanish drinking chocolate.
I don't know if I've ever had it before; but it sounds really good to me.
The other thing that sounds good to me is the menu item with sheep cheese and quince paste. I think I'd like that.
44. Saw there's a used music store on Bourke Street. It's called Records Collector's Corner. It reminds me of a store in NYC.
45. Found the part of Bourke Street that has David Jones. It's to the west; and right near it is Myer and the Royal Arcade.
46. Saw that Bicycle Network Victoria is on Bourke Street.
Google tells me I linked to it before.
That's a new nifty trick of Google. It tells when you linked to something.
Tim likes to ride bikes, but hasn't been able to do it for awhile.
Hopefully he can get back to that, and then he can ride in Melbourne.
47. Saw a bunch of Chinese restaurants on Bourke Street.
That's not Chinatown. Is it?
48. Consulted Lord Wiki.
He says Chinatown isn't on Bourke Street. It's on LITTLE Bourke Street.
Maybe this bit on Bourke Street though is a kind of extension?
There's a movie theater there called Chinatown Cinema.
49. Saw that there's an Indian chain restaurant on Bourke Street called Funky Curry.
It looks kind of fun.
50. Looked at their restaurant locations. They seem to be all in Melbourne.
51. Looked at the Funky Curry menu. They don't seem to have a lot of vegetarian food.
I mean they do have SOME options, but Indian restaurants usually have a lot of options.
This one doesn't.
52. Saw that there are apartment accommodations on Bourke Street. They're called Quest Serviced Apartments.
I guess it's a chain. They seem to have apartments all over the place.
53. Saw that there's a bookstore on Bourke Street.
It's called The Paperback Bookshop.
Maybe we'll go there, but I probably won't buy anything. Books are so expensive in Australia.
They have Sorry for $23.95. I got it for $4.50 at Powells.
What I have to do is wait for wealthy Australians with huge libraries to move to the United States. Then they clean out their bookshelves and send their stuff to Powells.
Actually, many of my Australian books were printed in the US, including Sorry.
The original price listed on the book is $15.95.
54. Consulted Lord Wiki about the Japanese attack on Broome.
It's talked about in Sorry.
It happened on March 3, 1942.
The attack on Darwin happened a few weeks before.
I actually never realized Broome was attacked.
Sorry talks about Dutch refugees being killed. Lord Wiki talks about it too.
55. Found a government site about the Dutch causalities.
It's very sad.
They list the names and the ages of some who died.
Seven of them were children.
The Dutch victims were buried in Broome, but later moved to the Perth War Cemetery. There's a special section there for them.
56. Watched a short video about the cemetery.
It's making me really sad. I don't know why. TONS of people died in World War II. People die all the time.
Maybe it's because I read it in a novel? It might have made it more personal.
It could also be that I spent so much time stalking those Dutch people on Flickr.
Maybe now I have a soft spot in my heart for the Dutch.
57. Went back to Tallygarunga.
Someone wrote something!
So today I'm going to read Insert Quality Family Time Here.
It's a story with the vampire family.
It takes place in the western suburbs of Melbourne
58. Started to read.
It's the evening of Friday, September 23.
Ivan Valentin the vampire music teacher is happy.
Why is he happy?
I don't know. I'm confused.
It's something about Viktor and his girl, Jezabel. I'm thinking maybe Jezabel is pregnant.
Ivan's post says:
He remembered hearing the news from Viktor of what had happened last October, so after hearing the whole story a month ago, Ivan couldn't be happier for the two of them, already saying, just as he had with young Vladimir and the baby twins, he and Valentina would be there to help whenever they could.
But then it says, Just the thought that he had another grandchild made him crack out a smile, which would then form a grin where his fangs would show clearly to the world
It sounds like the grandchild is already there.
What's going on?
Jezabel lost a baby.
Maybe she didn't really lose it?
That would be very soap-operish.
59. Had a burst of intelligence.
Maybe there was no pregnancy because the baby was ADOPTED!!!!!!!
How could I not think of that?
I'm feeling really stupid.
There's talk of the child. Her name is Lorelei.
Firefox didn't correct me when I wrote that name, so now I'm thinking I've written about Lorelei before.
60. Searched through my blog. I found nothing on Lorelei.
I must have written it somewhere else...for some reason.
61. Figured maybe Lorelei is NOT adopted.
Valentina Valentin (Ivan's wife) says, Oh, little Lei is simply gorgeous, and you're right she's almost a spitting image of Jezebel. And such blue eyes.
62. Read Jezebel's post. Lorelei is her biological child, but she didn't give birth to her. She also missed the child's first year.
Is this the child she lost? Maybe she was sneaked off into another womb?
63. Started to read the biography of Valentina Valentin.
She's the wife of Ivan.
I think maybe she had an affair with his twin? Igor?
I'm having vague memories from reading other Valentin biographies.
64. Saw that Valentina's face claim is Catherine Zeta Jones.
Catherine Zeta Jones is three years older than me.
I like seeing beautiful women who are older than me.
It makes me feel better about aging.
Not that beauty is everything, but I'm vain and superficial....sometimes.
Actually, even though Catherine Zeta Jones is pretty, I think Queen Elizabeth is much prettier. And Queen Elizabeth is REALLY old.
65. Went back to reading about Valentina Valentin.
She stays thin because she's a vampire. She doesn't have to work on it anymore.
What if you become a vampire when you're a bit pudgy? Does the vampirism make you lose the weight? Or are you stuck at the weight you were at when bitten?
66. Saw that Valentina was born in Transylvania.
She fits the vampire stereotype.
67. Learned that Valentina went to Hogwarts. She was in Ravenclaw.
68. Saw that Valentina was married to Igor.
I'm confused.
I think I remembered things incorrectly.
I thought it was Ivan that went missing and was presumed dead. But now I'm seeing it was Igor.
Later she met Igor's twin, Ivan.
69. Read about Viktor's heart problem, and how the family thought it was hopeless.
I remember that.
70. Saw that Ivan disappeared too.
What is the deal with this family?
It gets crazier and crazier.
At one point, Valentina became possessed by Igor. She/he went around attacking her family. To put a stop to it, Valentina gave herself fatal injuries. Ivan saved the day by turning her into a vampire.
Someone needs to make a Tallygarunga TV show. Seriously.
They'd probably have to downplay the Harry Potter connection.
71. Thought about how the family has a huge history of thinking someone's dead, but then they end up being just missing.
There's Ivan, Igor, Viktor, and now this little Lorelei.
72. Skimmed through the biography of Igor Drakov, Ivan's twin. I'm not sure I've read it before.
73. Decided to take a Funtrivia quiz about Melbourne.
Hopefully I'll get a few things right.
74. Failed the first question.
It was a British Royalty thing.
William Lamb was known as the Viscount Melbourne. The City of Melbourne was named in honor of him.
The question asked which king or queen was friends with him.
The answer was Victoria.
I sadly got it wrong.
Lord Wiki say that William Lamb was Prime Minister when Victoria became queen. She was only eighteen. The two of them became friends. Lamb was like a father to Victoria. She lost her own when she was a child, and he had lost a daughter.
75. Got another question wrong.
It was about Buckley and Nunn.
I now know it was a department store.
Lord Wiki says it was bought out by David Jones in 1982.
The quiz says there's a saying based on the department store. It's something like you have two choices, Buckley and Nunn. But Lord Wiki says the saying predates the department store.
Other people believe it's related to William Buckley, the convict who escaped and lived with Aboriginal people.
There's a saying...Buckley's chance.
I've heard of that.
76. Got another question wrong, and learned there was a painting in Australia called "Chloe".
The painting came from Paris, and Chloe was naked. People were shocked when they saw it hanging at the National Gallery of Victoria, so the gallery took it down.
This question seems a bit obscure.
Never mind.
This website says it's an Aussie icon. The paintings now hanging at the Young and Jackson Hotel.
77. Saw the Young and Jackson Hotel has lots of cider.
People can sip their cider while looking at the naked Chloe.
78. Looked at Chloe.
She has a lovely body.
She has no pubic hair whatsoever.
Do men prefer that?
I'm wanting to google to figure that out, but I'm afraid I'll be bombarded with porno sites.
79. Got another question wrong and learned there is no Australian Hurling Championship in Melbourne.
There is however a hurling game.
Lord Wiki says it's an Irish thing.
80. Finished the quiz.
I got 6/10 right. My score was lower than the average which is 7/10.
I guess other people aren't so ignorant about Chloe and hurling.
81. Thought about our upcoming Australia holiday, and about the possibility of us not being able to do a road trip.
I'm not bothered by the possible change. Maybe it's because I'm scared of Tim driving in Australia...whether he's healthy or not. He's a REALLY good driver, but it's still scary to me. What if he gets confused about the left-side-of-the-road thing?
Automobile transportation in itself makes me nervous.
I would regret not seeing certain things around Victoria. But it's not a huge deal for me because there's a zillion things I want to see in Australia. It's so overwhelming sometimes I'd rather just see nothing. It's a bit easier to say, let's not see anything rather than say let's see this and that; but we'll skip this other stuff.
I'm not saying this right.
I don't want to see nothing.
I guess what I mean is being in Australia-any part of Australia-is more important to me than seeing specific famous sites.
Traveling around the continent sounds great to me, but I'd also be happy to spend a lot of time in one city.
I like staying in one place for a long time, because it makes me feel like I live there.
82. Talked to Jack about Melbourne.
I wanted to show him that video Tim and I like. It's about walking in Melbourne. It's a great promotional video, because it makes me want to live there.
But I couldn't find it.
83. Realized my take-a-train-somewhere plan might not be so great after all.
I was thinking....
What are we going to do once we get there?
It will be hard to get around without a car.
We'd have to go to a place that's fairly walkable.
Or I guess we could rent a car at the place. I doubt we'll get to the point where Tim can't do ANY driving.
He drives fine now.
I'm just worried about long distances.
84. Predicted Tim will insist he's fine enough to do the driving trip. And he probably will be.
I'm probably just using Tim's health problem as an excuse to indulge my fears.
85. Liked Jack's idea for Australia.
He suggested we fly from city to city and visit every state and territory.
I told him it was a great idea, but not very affordable.
86. Excited because I looked up air passes and saw there IS one that's sort of affordable. Virgin Blue has it.
We can go to Sydney, Melbourne, and Adelaide for $861. That's not too awful.
So, yeah. That's another option.
2. Found an old thing in my private journal about Sydney Harbour. It's from July 18, 2007 which is about a month before we bought our first plane tickets to Australia.
I wrote....
Obsessed with swimming lately.
In pool. Thought about my past water dreams. The best dreams I ever had--such as Anthony Hopkins in the pool.
And the famous dream that now I think has something to do with Sydney Harbor.
I feel I'm getting a slightly stronger hold on the memory. I sort of remember being in a kitchen. Maybe eating breakfast.
As for the water, something like being in it...standing on something? As if about to race?
I wish I knew what this dream was!!!!!!!
The pool dream wasn't great because Anthony Hopkins was in it. Although I do like the guy. But I have lots of celebrity cameos in my dreams. It's not that big of a deal. There was just a FEELING in the dream. And there was a FEELING in the other dream—the one that ended up reminding me of Sydney Harbour.
3. Started to read an editorial about the shark hunt. I like the title and probably agree with it. "Shark hunts a Hollywood Response".
Christopher Neff says:
There is no evidence that shark hunts reduce attacks. Research shows these responses are political, symbolically reducing public perceptions of risk rather than the actual risk.
Yeah. Exactly. That's my feelings.
It reminds me of places where security guards rummage through your bags before you enter. All it does really is slow the lines down. They open your bag, peak inside, maybe move one or two things around. But they don't really look. It would be easy to hide something.
I don't feel any safer with this happening. If they're not looking carefully through my bag; then I'm going to guess they're not looking carefully through the bag of the guy carrying a gun.
If one shark is killed, is that going to make the waters safer? Aren't there other sharks out there?
4. Continued to read the editorial.
Neff talks about the rogue shark theory. It was popularized by Jaws. The idea is a naughty shark will patrol the beaches looking for a human snack.
Neff says the theory has been discredited by science.
He says the best way to prevent shark attacks is to teach humans how to avoid them.
Don't swim after storms—or at dusk or dawn. Don't swim in areas that have animals sharks normally like to eat, like fish, dolphins, and seals. Don't go too far out. Don't wear shiny clothes.
I know another one, not listed in the article. Don't go swimming if you're bleeding.—like if you have your period.
I forgo swimming in Hawaii because of this.
5. Saw Christopher Neff's biography at the end of the editorial. He's a PhD candidate at the University of Sydney. He's doing his doctorate on policy responses after shark attacks.
So this guy has really done his research.
6. Went to the website of Christopher Neff. He's a consultant. His areas of interest are sharks, homosexuality, and support for twins who have lost their twin. Christopher lost his own twin.
That's very sad.
7. Learned from this page that Christopher is actually American. He's from New England. He got his first degree from the James Madison University in Virginia. Then he got a Masters Degree from the University of Sydney.
Now that I look more closely at his website....
I see he has a picture of an American capital type building.
I did notice there was something about Don't Ask Don't Tell, but I thought maybe he was an Australian who took in an interest in the subject. Or there was some Australian thing with the same name.
8. Read article about scientists thinking the venom of Funnel Web spiders might be useful in the treatment of breast cancer.
That's cool.
I hope it works.
9. Went to Tallygarunga.
It doesn't really look like there's anything new right now.
I'll try back later.
10. Saw that my Australian of the day is Alexander Mervyn Archdale.
He was a theater person.
11. Learned that Archdale was born in India in 1905. He wasn't Indian though. His parents were British.
Archdale and his mom returned to England. He spent his childhood there. He did his university studies in Canada. He didn't complete a degree, though, and he spent most of the time doing theater.
12. Learned that Archdale did theater stuff, and he also did military stuff.
He established a program in London called Services Sunday Society. It was a production company for returned servicemen.
That's neat.
13. Learned that Archdale came over to Sydney in his mid forties. He was visiting his sister, but it seems like he stayed quite awhile.
14. Learned that Archdale was the lead in a play by J.M Barrie called The Twelve Pound Look. I used to be sort of into J.M Barrie. I don't remember that play. Maybe I really wasn't that much into him. I had some book. What was the name? It was something about a bird. Maybe...the Little White Bird?
15. Googled. Yeah. There is a J.M Barrie novel called The Little White Bird. I can't really remember what it's about.
16. Saw that Archdale spent much of the 1950's in Australia. Then he moved back to the UK.
In 1960 he had a heart attack, and that prompted him to return to Australia.
17. Learned that Archdale had a role in a 1948 British ghost movie called House of Darkness.
18. Learned that Archdale founded the Marian Street Theatre Company in Sydney.
That became extinct in 2001, but now there's a Marian Street Theatre for Young People. It might have a connection to Archdale's thing.
19. Went to Radfordsdoor's YouTube channel.
20. Learned that Radfordsdoor doesn't like jazz.
21. Listened to Radfordsdoor's cover of Hallelujah.
The recording has a bit of static; but I think the singing is awesome. It has a country music feel to it.
Yeah. But this is what I was talking about the other day.
I think this guy is good enough to be a music celebrity; yet this video has only 132 views. I'm seen very mediocre singers that have much more views than that. It's crazy.
22. Got a feeling that Radfordsdoor doesn't like America when I saw his shirt in this video.
The word evil is written with what looks to be the American flag.
Well, fine. I don't like him back.
I do like his singing, though. In that video he sings "Songbird" by Bernard Fanning.
He pronounces Bernard totally different than I do.
23. Figured I could be wrong about the guy's t-shirt. I probably shouldn't jump to conclusions.
24. Decided I won't do a lot of blogging while at Disney World. It's too hard because we have to share the internet. I don't want to spend too much time in the hotel room.
25. Started to look at more of John Lampard's Budgewoi photos.
26. Reminded of The Girl Who Chased the Moon when I saw this photo.
27. Liked this lake-pelican-tree photo.
28. Heard Gabriella Cilmi's "Sweet About Me" on my iTunes DJ, and decided to see if she has anything new out there.
I glanced at her website a bit; then rushed off to Lord Wiki.
He says Cilmi came out with a new album in 2010. It's called Ten.
One of the popular songs on the album is called "On A Mission".
29. Started to listen to "On a Mission"
It kind of sounds 1980's to me.
There's a part that reminds me of "Hey Mickey"
30. Looked at the Australian Monopoly Board.
Today my street is Bourke Street.
Lord Wiki has a Tom Roberts painting of Bourke Street in the 1800's.
31. Found Bourke Street on Google Maps. It goes east to west, but it's kind of diagonal.
Lord Wiki mentioned David Jones and then jogged my memory a bit. I remember reading about Bourke Street. I probably did it a few months ago.
32. Saw Bourke Street starts around the Docklands. The first cross street seems to be Spencer Street.
It ends at Parliament buildings.
33. Saw there is a school on Bourke Street called Whitehouse Institute of Design. It's for people who want to pursue careers in interior design and fashion.
I have an acquaintance who's an interior decorator. She has a blog called Dallas Design Girl.
34. Saw that there's a restaurant on Bourke Street called Langley's Cafe.
They say they provide quality food at affordable prices.
I'll be the judge of that...the prices at least. I can't really judge the food from here.
Their website has some photos of the decor. It kind of reminds me of a museum cafe.
35. Looked at the Langley menu.
They have a Greek salad for $8.50. That's not bad if it's a meal salad rather than a side salad.
We went to a Fort Worth Mediterranean restaurant recently. Their Greek salad is $8.
So it's about the same.
The salad was really good, but big. Everything there was a bit too big. I definitely think these huge restaurant portions are partly to blame for the whole obesity thing.
I guess the problem is it's easier to make a large quantity of something; then a small one.
36. Saw that there are accommodations on Bourke Street called Alto Hotel.
It's a boutique hotel.
37. Saw from the Alto Hotel website that the Melbourne Cup is in a few days.
I should have probably known that.
38. Learned that the Alto Hotel is carbon neutral. They say they were Australia's first carbon neutral hotel. I'll take their word for it.
One of the things they do is offer free parking to people driving electric or hybrid cars.
That's pretty cool.
39. Looked a the Alto Hotel prices. They're somewhat reasonable, but we'd probably want something a little lower.
40. Saw that the Royal Melbourne Hotel is on Bourke Street. It's promoted as a place to hold functions. People can have work parties, and stuff like that.
41. Saw another school on Bourke Street.
It's called Australian Human Resources Institute.
At one time, Tim had a job in human resources.
42. Saw that there's a Spanish restaurant on Bourke Street called MoVida Aqui.
43. Looked at the menu, and decided I'd definitely get the rich drinking chocolate.
I really want to have some Spanish drinking chocolate.
I don't know if I've ever had it before; but it sounds really good to me.
The other thing that sounds good to me is the menu item with sheep cheese and quince paste. I think I'd like that.
44. Saw there's a used music store on Bourke Street. It's called Records Collector's Corner. It reminds me of a store in NYC.
45. Found the part of Bourke Street that has David Jones. It's to the west; and right near it is Myer and the Royal Arcade.
46. Saw that Bicycle Network Victoria is on Bourke Street.
Google tells me I linked to it before.
That's a new nifty trick of Google. It tells when you linked to something.
Tim likes to ride bikes, but hasn't been able to do it for awhile.
Hopefully he can get back to that, and then he can ride in Melbourne.
47. Saw a bunch of Chinese restaurants on Bourke Street.
That's not Chinatown. Is it?
48. Consulted Lord Wiki.
He says Chinatown isn't on Bourke Street. It's on LITTLE Bourke Street.
Maybe this bit on Bourke Street though is a kind of extension?
There's a movie theater there called Chinatown Cinema.
49. Saw that there's an Indian chain restaurant on Bourke Street called Funky Curry.
It looks kind of fun.
50. Looked at their restaurant locations. They seem to be all in Melbourne.
51. Looked at the Funky Curry menu. They don't seem to have a lot of vegetarian food.
I mean they do have SOME options, but Indian restaurants usually have a lot of options.
This one doesn't.
52. Saw that there are apartment accommodations on Bourke Street. They're called Quest Serviced Apartments.
I guess it's a chain. They seem to have apartments all over the place.
53. Saw that there's a bookstore on Bourke Street.
It's called The Paperback Bookshop.
Maybe we'll go there, but I probably won't buy anything. Books are so expensive in Australia.
They have Sorry for $23.95. I got it for $4.50 at Powells.
What I have to do is wait for wealthy Australians with huge libraries to move to the United States. Then they clean out their bookshelves and send their stuff to Powells.
Actually, many of my Australian books were printed in the US, including Sorry.
The original price listed on the book is $15.95.
54. Consulted Lord Wiki about the Japanese attack on Broome.
It's talked about in Sorry.
It happened on March 3, 1942.
The attack on Darwin happened a few weeks before.
I actually never realized Broome was attacked.
Sorry talks about Dutch refugees being killed. Lord Wiki talks about it too.
55. Found a government site about the Dutch causalities.
It's very sad.
They list the names and the ages of some who died.
Seven of them were children.
The Dutch victims were buried in Broome, but later moved to the Perth War Cemetery. There's a special section there for them.
56. Watched a short video about the cemetery.
It's making me really sad. I don't know why. TONS of people died in World War II. People die all the time.
Maybe it's because I read it in a novel? It might have made it more personal.
It could also be that I spent so much time stalking those Dutch people on Flickr.
Maybe now I have a soft spot in my heart for the Dutch.
57. Went back to Tallygarunga.
Someone wrote something!
So today I'm going to read Insert Quality Family Time Here.
It's a story with the vampire family.
It takes place in the western suburbs of Melbourne
58. Started to read.
It's the evening of Friday, September 23.
Ivan Valentin the vampire music teacher is happy.
Why is he happy?
I don't know. I'm confused.
It's something about Viktor and his girl, Jezabel. I'm thinking maybe Jezabel is pregnant.
Ivan's post says:
He remembered hearing the news from Viktor of what had happened last October, so after hearing the whole story a month ago, Ivan couldn't be happier for the two of them, already saying, just as he had with young Vladimir and the baby twins, he and Valentina would be there to help whenever they could.
But then it says, Just the thought that he had another grandchild made him crack out a smile, which would then form a grin where his fangs would show clearly to the world
It sounds like the grandchild is already there.
What's going on?
Jezabel lost a baby.
Maybe she didn't really lose it?
That would be very soap-operish.
59. Had a burst of intelligence.
Maybe there was no pregnancy because the baby was ADOPTED!!!!!!!
How could I not think of that?
I'm feeling really stupid.
There's talk of the child. Her name is Lorelei.
Firefox didn't correct me when I wrote that name, so now I'm thinking I've written about Lorelei before.
60. Searched through my blog. I found nothing on Lorelei.
I must have written it somewhere else...for some reason.
61. Figured maybe Lorelei is NOT adopted.
Valentina Valentin (Ivan's wife) says, Oh, little Lei is simply gorgeous, and you're right she's almost a spitting image of Jezebel. And such blue eyes.
62. Read Jezebel's post. Lorelei is her biological child, but she didn't give birth to her. She also missed the child's first year.
Is this the child she lost? Maybe she was sneaked off into another womb?
63. Started to read the biography of Valentina Valentin.
She's the wife of Ivan.
I think maybe she had an affair with his twin? Igor?
I'm having vague memories from reading other Valentin biographies.
64. Saw that Valentina's face claim is Catherine Zeta Jones.
Catherine Zeta Jones is three years older than me.
I like seeing beautiful women who are older than me.
It makes me feel better about aging.
Not that beauty is everything, but I'm vain and superficial....sometimes.
Actually, even though Catherine Zeta Jones is pretty, I think Queen Elizabeth is much prettier. And Queen Elizabeth is REALLY old.
65. Went back to reading about Valentina Valentin.
She stays thin because she's a vampire. She doesn't have to work on it anymore.
What if you become a vampire when you're a bit pudgy? Does the vampirism make you lose the weight? Or are you stuck at the weight you were at when bitten?
66. Saw that Valentina was born in Transylvania.
She fits the vampire stereotype.
67. Learned that Valentina went to Hogwarts. She was in Ravenclaw.
68. Saw that Valentina was married to Igor.
I'm confused.
I think I remembered things incorrectly.
I thought it was Ivan that went missing and was presumed dead. But now I'm seeing it was Igor.
Later she met Igor's twin, Ivan.
69. Read about Viktor's heart problem, and how the family thought it was hopeless.
I remember that.
70. Saw that Ivan disappeared too.
What is the deal with this family?
It gets crazier and crazier.
At one point, Valentina became possessed by Igor. She/he went around attacking her family. To put a stop to it, Valentina gave herself fatal injuries. Ivan saved the day by turning her into a vampire.
Someone needs to make a Tallygarunga TV show. Seriously.
They'd probably have to downplay the Harry Potter connection.
71. Thought about how the family has a huge history of thinking someone's dead, but then they end up being just missing.
There's Ivan, Igor, Viktor, and now this little Lorelei.
72. Skimmed through the biography of Igor Drakov, Ivan's twin. I'm not sure I've read it before.
73. Decided to take a Funtrivia quiz about Melbourne.
Hopefully I'll get a few things right.
74. Failed the first question.
It was a British Royalty thing.
William Lamb was known as the Viscount Melbourne. The City of Melbourne was named in honor of him.
The question asked which king or queen was friends with him.
The answer was Victoria.
I sadly got it wrong.
Lord Wiki say that William Lamb was Prime Minister when Victoria became queen. She was only eighteen. The two of them became friends. Lamb was like a father to Victoria. She lost her own when she was a child, and he had lost a daughter.
75. Got another question wrong.
It was about Buckley and Nunn.
I now know it was a department store.
Lord Wiki says it was bought out by David Jones in 1982.
The quiz says there's a saying based on the department store. It's something like you have two choices, Buckley and Nunn. But Lord Wiki says the saying predates the department store.
Other people believe it's related to William Buckley, the convict who escaped and lived with Aboriginal people.
There's a saying...Buckley's chance.
I've heard of that.
76. Got another question wrong, and learned there was a painting in Australia called "Chloe".
The painting came from Paris, and Chloe was naked. People were shocked when they saw it hanging at the National Gallery of Victoria, so the gallery took it down.
This question seems a bit obscure.
Never mind.
This website says it's an Aussie icon. The paintings now hanging at the Young and Jackson Hotel.
77. Saw the Young and Jackson Hotel has lots of cider.
People can sip their cider while looking at the naked Chloe.
78. Looked at Chloe.
She has a lovely body.
She has no pubic hair whatsoever.
Do men prefer that?
I'm wanting to google to figure that out, but I'm afraid I'll be bombarded with porno sites.
79. Got another question wrong and learned there is no Australian Hurling Championship in Melbourne.
There is however a hurling game.
Lord Wiki says it's an Irish thing.
80. Finished the quiz.
I got 6/10 right. My score was lower than the average which is 7/10.
I guess other people aren't so ignorant about Chloe and hurling.
81. Thought about our upcoming Australia holiday, and about the possibility of us not being able to do a road trip.
I'm not bothered by the possible change. Maybe it's because I'm scared of Tim driving in Australia...whether he's healthy or not. He's a REALLY good driver, but it's still scary to me. What if he gets confused about the left-side-of-the-road thing?
Automobile transportation in itself makes me nervous.
I would regret not seeing certain things around Victoria. But it's not a huge deal for me because there's a zillion things I want to see in Australia. It's so overwhelming sometimes I'd rather just see nothing. It's a bit easier to say, let's not see anything rather than say let's see this and that; but we'll skip this other stuff.
I'm not saying this right.
I don't want to see nothing.
I guess what I mean is being in Australia-any part of Australia-is more important to me than seeing specific famous sites.
Traveling around the continent sounds great to me, but I'd also be happy to spend a lot of time in one city.
I like staying in one place for a long time, because it makes me feel like I live there.
82. Talked to Jack about Melbourne.
I wanted to show him that video Tim and I like. It's about walking in Melbourne. It's a great promotional video, because it makes me want to live there.
But I couldn't find it.
83. Realized my take-a-train-somewhere plan might not be so great after all.
I was thinking....
What are we going to do once we get there?
It will be hard to get around without a car.
We'd have to go to a place that's fairly walkable.
Or I guess we could rent a car at the place. I doubt we'll get to the point where Tim can't do ANY driving.
He drives fine now.
I'm just worried about long distances.
84. Predicted Tim will insist he's fine enough to do the driving trip. And he probably will be.
I'm probably just using Tim's health problem as an excuse to indulge my fears.
85. Liked Jack's idea for Australia.
He suggested we fly from city to city and visit every state and territory.
I told him it was a great idea, but not very affordable.
86. Excited because I looked up air passes and saw there IS one that's sort of affordable. Virgin Blue has it.
We can go to Sydney, Melbourne, and Adelaide for $861. That's not too awful.
So, yeah. That's another option.