Planes suck

Okay, so I got up at 4:10am this morning to get to the airport, only to find out that the flight was cancelled. We're leaving tomorrow instead (another early morning - it's the same flight). We're also back at the same hotel.

Woot.

Andy

Andy Warhol did Marilyn Monroe. I just remembered.

Did a painting of her, I mean. 

It'd be a racist stereotype if it wasn't completely true

Oh yeah, at the first Mexican place we stayed at (Merida) there was a small luggage porter called, no kidding, Pepito. Pepito came and struggled to move all our luggage. Hah. Hahaha.

Now we're in Cancun, lazing by the poolside, eating nachos, and gazing at the Carribbean. The same Carribbean that Johnny Depp has pirated in. Yep. I'm slightly famous. There's spas and drinks and saunas and sunlight and stuff. All the mod cons. (PS I know what the mod stands for, but what are the cons? And how come the cons are all good things?? That's just confusing).

Um.

Where was I?

Oh yeah, relaxing and stuff. Reading. Nachos. The good life. I've also written an Ode to Listerine.

An ode to Listerine
(sung to the tune of 'hey there, blimpy boy' twice, because that's the only line Homer sings)

Hey there, Listerine
Freshening my mouth so sparkly clean
Listerine, teeth defense
The flavour is minty, and the burn's intense

This is clearly my best blog post yet.

Mexico etc.

Stupid f&ckng- mexican keyboard´{s with keys in the 7swrong places. Itnersetngliy, I reenclty dcsoivred taht the hmaun biarn can dicepehr stneeecns wrhee the lterets are mxied up so lnog as the frsit and lsat lttrees are in tiher rgiht sopts.

Yeah.

I went to New York. Which included Nintendo World. I gots me some profits. I bought a few things, and will peddle them back home to sucke.... willing recipients, at a price. I also went to some pointless stores. Why have an M&Ms store on Times Square where you can barely buy actual chocolate M&Ms? Sure, you can buy M&Ms t-shirts and golfing equipment and dental hygiene products, but why is it so hard to get some actual chocolate? Sigh.

On a better note, Nintendo World was cool. I played Excite Truck, which was fun, and made me wonder why the hell we didn't get it, Elebits and Trauma Center and all that stuff on Wii launch back home. Spotted some component cables but the people were unsure whether it would work on PAL systems, and wouldn't say either way. Bastards. I did get me a Mr Resetti doll, though. With my profitses.

I also went to the Apple store...you know, the glass cube one. It was loud, and I think most of the people there were just on the demo computers so they could use Safari to check their email for free. That's what I was there for, anyway. I did watch fifteen minutes of The Office on an iPod, though. And ride Willy Wonka's great glass elevator (no seriously, and it's not a euphamism). Georgie wants a new iPod, so dad was running around comparing prices and converting to Australian dollars and forgetting to carry the three and whatnot. There was an 8 gig nano at another store for US$219, but then the guy was all shifty and would only do it if we bought all this other shit like adapters and headsets and stuff. Fucker. So maybe we'll get one in Japan. Or wait and see what's announced next week at the Apple conference.

Incidentally, we got an iPod for dad for christmas, but he took it back the next day because he thought he could get one, or some other type of player, for cheaper when overseas. Except it's all been more expensive. So...yeah.

Mexican mexican food is great. Then it gets progressively less cool the more you eat of it. That's why you only have tacos every few months. It's nice occassionally, but it's sickening when you eat it constantly. We're going to Cancun tomorrow for some resort time (woot)...which also means it's nearing the end of the trip. Damn, I'd better write some Switchling fast...

We went to Chinchen-Itza today, which are some ancient Incan ruins. I was appalled to see they let everyone clamber all over them. I watched one american idiot knock a 3000 year old incan fireplace slightly akilter (sp?). Meanwhile I was walking on a pyramid. Hey, when in Rome. I have some cool pictures of me doing the whole Inca experience. You know, sitting on columns, climbing steps, eating fajitas in dodgy cafes, driving home on motorways, listening to an iPod, haggling, squirrels...the whole kit and even some kaboodle (sp?) too. More kaboodle than I expected, really. There was almost too much kaboodling going on. It was like, kaboodle city over there. Crazy.

I didn't realise squirrels moved so fast.

New York was rocking. We caught up with some family friends. We distracted the young (7 and 10) kids while the adults chatted, which was tiring in the end but still enjoyable. They get distracted and are so full of energy. You know how it is. Hard work. We went to MoMA (the Museum of Modern Art), saw some Manet and stuff. And that Marilyn Monroe guy. There was some really cool stuff, to be honest. I felt sorry for the kids though. And they were being converted to vegetarianism, I think too.

I was on TV, in the background of a bad cable tv sports panel which looked onto a square at 10pm at night. The laptops the people had on their desks weren't on. Don't trust the bastards, they'll act like they're doing something on them, but they're not.

My bag is really heavy. I have so many pressies and souvenirs and Nintendo World jackets (well, that's not really true, but I do have one). It's like 29 kilos.

Hooray for abrupt and unsatisfying endings.

Last night in Europe

In both senses. We leave tomorrow. And last night was New Year's.

Slightly sad to be leaving Europe, since it's been fun here, but I'm looking forward to the next phase.

The Americas! After a flight to London (where I have high expectations that we'll be delayed for some indeterminant amount of time), we fly to New York. In New York, we meet with some family friends, which should be fun. They've just moved from Australia. I mean, Austria. Same diff. Also on my agenda is a visit to Nintendo World. It's just like a theme park, except with less 'theme park' and more 'Nintendo museum and memorabilia'. Should be good.

Went to Milan the other day, which is supposedly the fashion capital of Italy. Since we went on New Year's Eve's Day most of the shops were closed, make it more a 'crapital' of Italy. Poo. And I so wanted those 700 euro Armani jeans.

I'm so spoilt from these business class flights that I'm really really not looking forward to the FPS trip to the US later this year, because it's certainly not going to be business class. Did I mention that we're flying first class for a 13 hour leg!?! Dudeee......Dallas to Tokyo is gonna rock.

New Year's Eve is crazy in Italy. They don't have much concern for public safety. People were throwing firecrackers off the top of the hotel roof into the parking lot. And they were let of in the streets too, with people walking past shielding their heads and stuff. So anyhow, we had a big dinner at a fancy hotel, all the usual crap - truffle sauces, rare and/or smoked meat. Well, I guess you can't really have 'and' there. Not very filling. Then at midnight we went out to the lake just across the road (Lake Como - go look it up) and watched the fireworks from all angles. Behind us they were in the street, and the main attraction was in the middle of the lack (off a jetty). It went for about half an hour, and put Skyshow so much to shame that Skyshow decided not compete and won't happen this year. True story. It was awesome.

Then we returned and ate raw pork with lentils. Well, stared at it and pushed it around on the plate.

Luckily, the night was saved by assorted celebratory presents on the table, like these pea shooter things which started wars between tables as we fired paper balls at each other (provided with the tube, not improvised - it was clearly intended for a West Side Story-like feud).

My cold, which swapped from a dripping nose to a headcold and cough, has now reswapped back to a dripping nose from a head cold. But the cough remains. Oh crap, reserve battery power. Why am I always racing to write these things?

Also, Italian is stuck in some weird 20th century musical time zone. People were dancing to Love Is In The Air and doing The Twist. There was something in the air, but I don't think it was Love. Pot, probably.

That pretty much sums up the EU, really. Raw meat, crowded places, heavy smoking and reckless endangerment of life.

Italy

Dude, Italy's awesome.

Food here is great. Pizza is delicious.

Calimari is so well cooked. They bring you out huge plates, which you think you'll never be able to finish, but it's so good that it would be criminal to leave it all there.

I hope to gain weight here. This is my best shot. That, and the four hour drives supplemented with chips and other crap.

Kristian, I gave The Killers (I think) a listen in virgin the other day. It sounded good, worthy of a purchase, methinks. Is that the album called 'Sam's Town'? Yeah, the killers. What's the band you want me to here?

Oh, and thanks for all your sympathy for my runny nose etc.... :( It's horrible.

The (temporary) end.

Nick's Blogtastic, Sniffle-filled Ramblings

Right now, I'm in a town called...well, I can't actually remember. It's in Italy though. Don't blame me if that sounds all blasé. I've got a hold. I mean cold. It's sniffly. It's turning from sniffles to a head cold right now. I can feel it. That's why this blog post won't make sense, and some words or phrases may be about the mark but not quite on it. If you get what I mean.

We got to Edinburgh, after running to make a connection from London. They lost our bags. We gradually got three of our four bags back at Edinburgh, but now we've just given up, and will be charging British Airlines for all the purchases we've had to make. If an Armani suit slipped in, well, screw them. It was cold and it was all we could find. Or something.

We flew business class. Movies on demand rock. Seats which rotate flat rock. Noise-cancelling Sony headphones rock. It was generally a rockin' flight. During the three days we spent there, the novelty of English/Scottish accents never wore off. It's freaking hilarious. I want one. They weren't selling them at the souvenir stores. Damn. Oh, and if that joke falls flat, blame this cold. You'd probably laugh if you had a disease of such horrendous magnitude as this one that I has.

Edinburgh's cold and windy. Mostly cold. Well, I guess it's cold because of the wind. So it's mostly windy too. Still, that's refreshing after the stifling dry Australian heat. I'd insert some photos here but I have limited internet credit and OMFG so little time and I'm still in Edinburgh. Talking about Edinburgh, I mean. I should really stop explaining. And get on with it. We looked in cathedrals and castles and closes and stuff (go look up 'close', you'll get it). We went to an old close that was 6 storeys underground. This tourguide was talking all Ye Olde Englishy...it was lame but kinda enjoyable.

So we flew to Madrid. That's in Spain. Edinburgh was cool, in more than one sense. My initial feelings about Spain was...urgh. It was really quite dirty. Everyone smokes in Europe - they just do. They grow up smoking. That's gross. Our first lunch was in this dirty taverny thing, and all these serviettes and cigarettes littered the floor. It wasn't very nice. Oh, and tapas kinda sucks. It's their only food, I swear. That, and paella (a rice-y) thing. Tapas is rolls with weird ham...prosciutto or whatever. And tomatoes. And oil. Sounds nice...but isn't really. They eat it for breakfast. I didn't like Madrid.

Then we drove to Barcelona. That's also in Spain. I liked Barcelona better than Madrid. We stopped overnight in a town called Zaragoza. By the way, if it's not an overnight stop, we're generally chilling in each town for about three nights. I liked Barcelona a lot more. It had animals - dogs, mostly - everywhere. It was a lot less crowded too. You should see how crazy the shopping is in Spain. People shop till like...10pm. Then eat dinner. It's chaotic...and it was also pre-xmas too. Absolutely nuts. Kinda scary. Barcelona was more spaceous...(spelling?). Anyways, we went to the last cathedral that will probably ever be built - designed by Gaudi, called some funny name I can't remember. San Familiaza or something? Began building in 1880 or something, and still going. It's crazy, but will rock in about 20-40 years when it's finished.

Oh, speaking of names, I just remembered this Italian town is called Santa Margherita. I love margherita pizza, so dinner tonight should rock. Assuming my tastebuds still work.

Then we drove to France. It was nice to be in a country with a language I understood a bit of it. You know what I mean. We stayed in a place called Villeneuve Lez Avignon. That was a chilled country town. We saw the Palace de Papes (Papal palace) and some Pont (bridge) d'Avignon which has a song about it. The two villages...villeneuve and avignon are like...across the river from each other. That was kinda nice.

Then we went to another place...Nice, I think it was. Yeah, Nice. Stayed in an apartment there. Argh, shit. 7 minutes left.
Nice was nice. It's said 'neece' by the way. Double bed with sister sucks. I caught this cold off of her. After that I slept on the couch.

Today we drove into Italy. Looking forward to some pizza and pasta. Had a look around the town - it's a port and we look out of our hotel window (and balcony) right onto the water. Awesome. So that's that so far.

A few odds and ends - read about four books. Suddenly realised that I enjoyed reading - didn't do much this year. Crosswords are neat. Clubhouse Games for DS is fun. Bought 'It's Mr Pants' for GBA since it didn't come out in Australia. I think. Maybe. I never saw it. That's good, anyway, love Rare's humour. Wii is nutso popular, but you can't buy anything other than games. Keeping an eye on nexgenwars.com. Looks good. Saw electroplankton, but didn't buy it (50 euros). Seeing stacks of Phoenix Wright - would have bought, but it's finally coming out next year. Saw a trauma center, but after much debate decided the wii one was superior. So Pants is the only purchase so far.

Shit, 4 minutes.

iPod is finally worth its money. Noise-cancelling earphones makes drives disappear. IGN, Diggnation, Vooks, G4 all very useful. Radiohead getting a bash, Kashmir too. Coldplay less so, but that's on CD and playing in car for dad anyways. Bought OK Go - Oh No - because it came with bonus dvd in Virgin the other day.

2 and counting.

98.25 TER is great and probably about right for the effort I put in. Congrats to everyone in our year. We all seem happy with what we've got...no disappointments. Good luck Becky in Africa. Have fun on all your trips peeps. Merry xmas, happy 2007, stay tuned to this blog and Sliced Gaming. Redesign coming. Pressies for a few of you. Congrats on the 99.95 Kristian. Little Miss Sunshine is a great movie. Posiedon isn't really that bad. Got bored with The Break-Up. Flying FIRST CLASS on one leg!!!!!!

1 minute OMG must post.

Bye guys, catchya next year!

The Hanging

I realised I had one other entry backed up, and I figured I might as well put it up. It's a better defined cliffhanger - not really that infuriating, I don't think. Basically, can Joel escape these men when he can't Shift?, what are they going to do now that he's drunk the LXR?, and what actually is this LXR thing anyway? Nice and neat.

Anyhow, I've drawn a few accompanying pictures to, you know, heighten the tension.




Expected return to writing should be about November 20th. That's really not so far away.