| Beneath every princess in an ill-fitting pink dress is a lonely librarian... |
[Jul. 24th, 2007|05:21 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| |  calm | ] |
| [ | music |
| | Danielle Steel, The Lucksmiths | ] |
Bullet point essays on my trip.
Tuesday:
* Left house at 7am. Got into Perth around 1 o'clock local time. As we were leaving the plane, Dad told me to wiggle my ears at some toddler that was staring at me. I yes dear'd him. One of the flight attendant who were thanking the passengers for flying had to stop talking for a good two minutes while he tried to stop his laughter. I don't think he'd ever heard anyone say "Yes dear".
* Lunch at a little Art Deco cafe on Hay Street mall.
* Wandered through London Arcade.
* Meandered through the city to the museum - saw the "treasures", and then the gaol. We grabbed some afternoon tea at the cafe.
* Headed back to the room for a quiet collapse. Discovered the TV doesn't have ABC, and threatened to request a room change because of this fact.
* Went looking for dinner, and wound up at the only place that seemed open: Streeton's Cafe, a little restaurant that looked more like a milk bar from outside, apparently manned by a single Asian guy with fairly broken English. We were close to the only customers.
* As we walked back to the hotel from the restaurant, there was a guy busking with his violin in the essentially empty street. I don't think you're going to get too many coins that way, sir.
Wednesday:
* Were going to go check my marks, except that we left the hotel at around 8 o'clock, and the cheap Internet places didn't open till nine at the earliest (the hotel had twenty four hour 'net access, as long as you were willing to pay a mild five dollars per half hour).
* Went to wait for the bus - only to discover that the next one wasn't due for another twenty three minutes or something. Which is odd, because it's supposed to be fifteen minute frequency on weekdays.
* Instead, decided to walk over to the Swan Bells. There were a couple being filmed as they slowdanced in front of the building that looks like a cocoon. They continued to practice their dancing as the film crew shifted to a different angle of the building.
* We caught the bus back, and went to the library across the street from the hotel to use the 'net to check my marks. The woman told us the PCs were for "Internet searching only", which we eventually clarified meant "No email". Oddly, while Dad's SquirrelMail was blocked, GMail worked - though I spent as little time as possible doing so, since we weren't supposed to be using email.
* Caught a bus to King's Park. On the way, realised that I'd lost my camera. When we got there, we borrowed the cafe's phone book, dug out the library's phone number, and called them.
Mm: Hi. I've lost my camera; I think I left it in the library. I was using PC 4.
Her: Yes, you did. I can see it from here. ...I guess I'd better take down some details?
It sounded like she'd never fielded a lost property call before.
* Walked over to the Botanical Cafe, near the War Memorial(s). Morning tea there. When I ordered chips, I didn't expect it to be enough to feed a family of four for a major meal without any accompaniment.
* Wandered through the Aspects Gift Shop. Most of the items were overpriced, though some of them were kind of fun. I rather liked the "How to Kill Slugs" book.
* Walked to the War Memorials. If ever I've seen a lawn that deserved the term "manicured", it was that - I literally had to touch it to verify that it wasn't Astroturf.
* Followed one of the paths across the "Federation Walkway".
* Caught a 37 bus back into town. Dad'd spent quite some time telling us you need to pay, then didn't do so when we finally got on, much to our confusion. Apparently you only need to pay if you go outside of a designated area, or something.
* Picked up my camera.
* Bought some lunch from the "lunch bar" opposite the hotel, then took it up to our room to eat it. Had another quiet collapse. I used the time to compile the assorted photos taken into a single set.
* Went book shopping. Tried an el cheapo and two secondhand shops, but nothing really grabbed me. Then discovered Boffins bookshop, a few doors along from where we were. In quick succession, I'd managed to find about six books that I wanted - eventually narrowing it down to a PHP textbook and a book of Engrish. Unfortunately, I can't test the PHP stuff till I get access to a webserver - probably when we get home.
* As we were walking between bookshops, I saw a literal flood of little girls filling the pavement. I eventually decided, from the sheer amount of merchandise, that they'd been to a presentation of The Fairies. I think there must have been a competition for "Dress like your favourite fairy" or something, since most of them seemed to be dressed in costume; generally pink with a few minor purple exceptions. Mum's comment was "You can wear any colour so long as it's pink."
Mm: Oh Gods...
Mum: What?
Mm: You know that TV show I have on DVD? The one I terrorised Dedney with? The one with the guy with the massive codpiece?
Mum: ...Yes...?
Mm: ...These kids have just been to a presentation of that show.
Mum: Ah.
* Mum spent the evening at a school reunion, leaving Dad and I to our own devices.
* We headed to a 'net cafe nearby, and spent some time catching up on email and stuff. I wanted to download The Chaser (to get my ABC fix), but decided that almost ninety megabytes was bigger that we could be bothered waiting for.
* We had dinner at some Italian place. All of the employees seemed to be Asian.
* We headed back to the room and watched Shrek 3, since I had it on my hard disk. I'd taken it off someone's computer at the E.G.G LAN the other weekend.
Thursday:
* Packed up the stuff we wanted to take to Busselton. I did tapestry while parents showered; this design's annoying the Hell out of me, and I can't work out why.
* While they went to collect the car, I sat in the lobby continuing my tapestry. A middle aged woman came over to stickybeak, only to turn her nose up at the design when she thoguht it was of teddy bears. It's actually very stylised dogs, but oh well.
* Lots of driving. Stopped at Dôme Mandurah for morning tea. Parents decided that they wanted to go to some "water walk", only to discover it was closed.
* Parents went on some bushwalk in the rain. I stayed in the car.
* Stopped at Cape Bouvard winery. Parents tasted the options, I patted the dogs. Pretty stained glass windows, cute dogs - who needs the alcohol?
* Got a kilometre away or something then received a phone call saying I'd forgotten my wallet. Oops. Went back to pick it up.
* Lunch at a roadside bakery/petrol station.
* Arrived at Busselton around three o'clock. Afternoon tea with Christine, a school friend of my mother's.
* Accompanied Christine as she went grocery shopping. Wandered around the shops, looking for inspiration. Got into a discussion with a bookshop owner about whether changing the cover artwork destroyed Tamora Pierce's novels.
Friday:
* Ngilgi Caves. It was uncomfortable. I don't know whether I'm unfit, claustrophobic, or just don't like things where the ground's uneven (my judge of distance in situations like that is pitiable), but I was panting heavily by the end of it. The low air quality probably didn't help.
* We had lunch at some winery with Christine and two friends of hers: Bernie and Carolina. I was a litttle bit fidgety, because I went terrified of missing my train.
* Drove to the Bunbury Station; the train ended up being half an hour late, having broken down. And since they were paranoid about it breaking down again, they refused to go faster than sixty kilometres per hour.
Dad: You'll be going through Yarloop!
Mm: ...That's nice.
Mum: At least you're only passing through. Knowing my luck, he'll probably want to go there.
Dad: We can go 'round and 'round! Make it the Yarloop Loop! ...Yarr!
* Got picked up from the train station by Nick, despite being an hour or something later than the original time of arrival. Mark was travelling with him. They were apparently on pizza duty, because we headed to pick up the order when it was ready.
* Went to UCC, and re-met a bunch of people, along with being introduced to a heap of others. I let Susie (sp?) have some of my pizza, and she asked me what my UCC account was, so she could pay me back; if I'd been thirsty, I probably would have asked for a drink instead, but as it was? *shrugs*
* I 'ooh'ed and 'aah'ed at the appropriate moments as they showed off their vending machines that are hooked up to their network, even if the technical details bypassed me somewhat. The server lockup was overheating, so they removed the cover for one of the air conditioners - I was bemused when pellets of ice came flying out onto whatever machines happened to be underneath, and they just shrugged and said something to the effect of "Eh, it does that".
* I gave them a little gift that I'd found at the Powerhouse: a mouse mat with the Opera House and Harbour Bridge on it. I bought one of the UCC tshirts; in January, we all admired them; now I have one. Mine!
* They got into a discussion about various old stories, half involving people that I'd never heard of - that were entertaining nonetheless. The revenge on the treasurer: take in a hundred $1 coins, and remove two $50 notes - then they get the fun of having to count them. Quote of the evening, from the med student David; upon being asked what the design on his shirt was, "It's a pancreas! ...It's not a turd with a lightning bolt through it, which is what I thought at first."
* At around ten thirty, Nick gave me a lift back to the hotel; took a detour through King's Park, trying to see the DNA Tower, only to discover that the road was closed.
Saturday:
* Alexander State Library - the Treasured Possessions exhibition was good for a half-hour out of the rain.
* Art Gallery of Western Australia - The exhibition of Ancient Egyptian artifacts was good. Though I stopped reading the labels when I realised I already knew what canopic jars were, and they had begun to repeat the information. Exploring the other exhibitions didn't turn up too much of interest; I've seen dot paintings before, and the very traditional European landscape painting style bores me. However, I did like the paintings by Christopher Pease (though the one that they had postcards of, not as much as the others), and the Michael Riley photographs (but, again, the ones that I liked weren't really represented on anything take-home-able). We had some morning tea in the cafe, then headed back to the room for a collapse.
* Subiaco Markets. Lunch in the food court, then wandering around the shops. I ran out of inspiration in them, I started wandering up the main street. And just kept walking, until I hit the town hall. By that point, I was due back to meet my parents, so I headed back. We picked up a couple of gifts for assorted people.
* Afternoon tea at a cafe across the road from the markets. Were bemused by the sheer number of people wearing football colours.
* Headed back to the room again. At dinner time, we went on a circuit looking for places that were open, ending up back at the hotel restaurant in the end.
Sunday:
* Train to Fremantle.
* Walked around the E-Shed markets. I was bemused by the Coin-Op "Lan Games" computers. Apparently LAN is no longer an acronym, in the same way the radar is no longer an acronym. Dad showed me a sign I wanted - "The Monty Python Black Knight Security Services: NONE SHALL PASS". If it hadn't been thirty bucks, I probably would have bought it.
* Parents wanted to go to the Maritime Museum, but it didn't really interest me, so I wandered over to the other markets, taking various photos. I walked around the Fremantle Markets in a series of spirals. Parents called me to say they were about to leave the museum as I had one aisle left to look through.
* We had lunch at an apparently permanent cafe in the market (though the rest of it looked fairly permanent as well, so...). Then I dragged Mum to the highlights of the stalls, while Dad wandered off somewhere.
* On the way back to the train station, I came across a music shop. I took a quick squiz inside, and discovered they had What Bird Is That? by The Lucksmiths. Shiny! It took me about a listen and a half to get the hang of, but after that, it's good. I particularly like Twenty Two, Danielle Steel, and Frisbee.
Monday:
* Caught a ferry to South Perth, and walked over to the Old Mill. I took photos of the birds drying their wings in the morning sun. There were some massive houses, including some that were large enough to be divided into flats but only had one mailbox.
* We bussed back to the city. Parents went coffee-hunting, I went searching for books to read on the plane. I ended up buying Wil Anderson's Survival Of The Dumbest, since I've wanted to read it for a while (and I got a discount as well, because the copy I chose was damaged), along with The Funniest Thing You Never Said - which seems to misattribute some of its quotations (though I may just know of other people saying the same thing), but they're amusing regardless.
* Caught a bus over to the Mint. Parents went on a tour, I just wandered around. Watched gold being poured into a mold.
* Bought some lunch from the supermarket near the hotel, and ate it. Then collected our bags and headed out to the airport. We were so early, there was only about five people in front of us in the baggage queue.
* The plane trip was uneventful. Though I forgot to pick up the Twix bars I'd stashed :'(. ...I probably couldn't have taken them anyway; knowing my luck, they would have qualified under quarantine. *shrugs* Oh well.
* The taxi driver had no idea where he was going, and had to be directed turn by turn. *eyeroll*
...Bloody Hell. Even doing that incrementally took far too long. *shakes head* ...Especially the links.
-Mmaster |
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tired
cheerful![[info]](http://piktures.deadjournal.com/openid-profile.gif){kind=small}
busy
thirsty
bored
The time between classes was again spent tinkering. Possibly on the DSPP labwork, though I don't think I got any where if I did. ...And taking photos of myself in hats. I told Liz about the icon I made yesterday, of the Sinfest Peace Dove stealing the WarHawk's helmet. Then I rushed off to RE.