Day Twenty Nine

They have a saying in Oz, "Never chase a 'roo into a desert-fox hole without leaving a trail of vegemite to follow on your way out". Basically it means you shouldn't induldge in something good for too long without considering what might happen to you down the road. I feel like I've had a really great trip. I've gotten drunk pretty much every night except 3 times adn I've got to see a lot of places that I've wanted to see for a long time. I've made some lifelong friends and some great business contacts for when I'm finished my thesis to get in touch with when I'm on the market. Best of all I've been exposed to some new sports and I've been exposed to another culture that inriches my knowledge of my culture. I've also got a killer tan:)!!

But I'm glad that I'm leaving now, it's time to come home. It feels like I've been gone for months so it's hard to believe taht it's only been 29 days. Seems only appropriate that the length of my trip equals that of the days in a leap year February - since just like that quadrennial correction, this trip feels as if it has provided a slight check to my design, if you will. Today for me is your tomorrow, and technically I'm already home (you should hear a Kiwi pronounce 'technically', it's a riot). It's as if I've been given a discount of 17 hours, a bona fide coupon, as it were, or is, or whatever - that is to say, in my opinion, upon arrival at PET International Airport I will be in possession of a redeemable voucher for 17 hours saved during travel, that I can choose to spend as I see fit. The whole notion is dizzying to consider, since, by definition, the time I decide upon will then be retroactively awarded to me. That is to say, I could pick up heroin for the day, if I saw fit - and so long as I cleaned up within 17 hrs, the whole thing could be written off, so to speak. Which is not to say that I would dream of wasting this gift on something so sordid, so indolent, so weak - just that it is my privilege to do so, if I see fit.

So that's all for me for now - I've had a great trip here and I cant wait to come back. But I'd be lying if I said I wasnt' tired of keeping up this blog. It's been great, but it's tough too. Let's just say I'll be glad when I can tell everyone about my trip face to face, rather than over the internet.

Conor

Day Twenty-Eight in Australia

Having a great time in NZee but I got a couple of really weird emails today that kind of put a damper on my super mood. First one was from Jono. It was really weird, he was very angry with me and accused me of using him while I was in Oz and he said I was selfish and actually mean. I was taken aback. We sort of had a falling out my last week there but I never knew I hurt his feelings. He said that even though I was only there for a short time he thought we bonded and were going to be lifelong friends but he said that obviously I didn't feel the same and that I was using him for his SUV and splifeys and just taking advantage of his good times. I mean I kind of was doing all that, Jono is a bit of a turd but we had great times together and even though Ill never see him again (or even respond to his little girl email) but I still feel awkward about it. The last thing he said was that it's the Queen's birthday but that I was the real bitch...
Speaking of awkward the second bizzare email was from Nicole. Wow, I havent heard from her in a long time, like 8 months or something. She didnt say much she just said that we need to talk when I get back. I dont even know how she knew I was in Australia. I am really looking forward to being home again but not looking forward to dealing with her.
Well Im off to a sheep farm to see how it all works. See you all soon ':()

Day Twenty-Seven

I wish that the mining company had an office in Kiwiland because it is way better than Oz in my opinion. Not just because this was where they made LOTR but I feel like the Kiwis (New Zealanders) are better people overall. I think that they can drink more and that they are better at sports. They're also way more accepting of different races. In Kiwiland they treat the aboriginals way better than the way they do in Oz. For instance in Kiwiland the Maori dance called the "haka" is that officail dance of the national rugby team. Everytime they play a game the rugby team does this dance which reminds them of their roots and how important it is to understand the indian culture of your country (I think Canada could learn a thing or two!!). Teh "haka" is traditionally a war dance but now they do it for all sorts of events that have nothing to do with war. Usually it was a dance for only men but since the wonderful Maori movie "Whale Riders" where a little girl fought for her right to do the "haka". So now whenever the women Kiwis do the "haka" they're called Whale Riders. So today I went to see a rugby game by myself:( Don't worry though, everybody si so friendly in Kiwiland, its like living in a small town). At the beginning of the game the players started doing the "haka" and everybody joined in. These guys (I can't remember their names) showed me all the moves. You're supposed to stick your tongue out in order to be fierce to scare away your enemies (my tongue looked extra fierce because I had a bunch of red wine with breakfast so it was really purple). There's a bunch of words but you can just make a bunch of grunting noises if you don't know them.

The rugby game was crazy! The guys are so big and they hit each other so hard! I wish I was that muscular. My goal when I get home is to do more body-building cause I think that Montreal is full of really scrawny guys. I also want to start up a rugby team when I get home. If anyone is interested just let me know and I'll email you once I have more info.

Conor

Day Twentysix in Australia

This blog is dumb now. It doesnt make any sense. I mean, I'm not even in Australia now cause I am in New Fucking Zealand home of the RINGS.>>>>>> its been so great to be here. I left all my insecurities at the airport. Today I was having some breakfast snogs (sausages made with eggnog and cabbage) and I got chatting to this local chap (what they call a dude here) about LOTR and it turns out he did makeup for the film. Although he wasnt lucky enough to do Orlando's or McKellens he did touch Billy Boyds face and hair as well as my favorite Lost member. It was great to meet Glen, he showed me all his makeup and showed me how he works and makeup tricks. It was really cool. The best part though was he had one of the hobbit's prostetic feet. I could not believe it. I even tried it on. He had the afternoon off (he is working on a movie that he is not allowed to talk to anybody about-even me) so we hopped in his Ute (its like a dinkey car pickup truck-I was worried Glen was gay because he likes makeup and touching guys faces but the Ute was proof he is not). So we drove out to this community near Punaikaki to see a modern day hobbit shire. It was nuts. People dug their houses in the ground and lived there and had great gardens. It was really special. Glen had a friend who actually lived in one of these house so we visited him and smoked a spliffey, they call them that here too. I'm not sure if it was the spliffey or not but I really felt like I was in LOTR. I was a fucking hobbit man. It was so great. Oh man Glen and I had a great time, I think he enjoyed seeing me so happy with what he took for granted. I had to thank him for all he did for me so I took him out to a nice dinner at a nice pasta restaurant and said he could order anything he wanted. I wont ever forget today.

Day Twenty-Five in Australia

Bye bye Oz! Hello Kiwiland (that's what they call New Zealand)! I wanted to get to this beautiful country before I headed back to Montreal, because this is where my favorite movies of all time were filmed, The Lord of The Rings!!! I can't believe I'm in the Land of Gandalf. It's as magical as the movies are - there are waterfalls everywhere and beautiful views of valleys and mountains and fjiords. Basically I'm going to spend the weekend going to all the famous spots from the LOTR movies - tomorrow morning I'm going to where they shot the battle for Helm's Deep and in the afternoon I'm going to visit site they used for Bag's End - I guess some of the hobbit houses are still standing. Everyone is Kiwiland (or Middle Earth:)) is great and I even made a friend on my way from the airport. Two guys noticed how I was dressed (I'm going to wear my Gandalf outfit for the whole weekend so you guys at home probably wouldn't recognize me because I'm wearing a white robe with a white beard and I'm carrying a large twisted piece of wood with me wherever I go) and they were so blown away because it was the best Gandalf costume they had ever seen. They took me to a bar that is designed to look exactly like the bar that the hobbits drink at in The Fellowship of The Ring. While I was at the pub there was this girl there that said I looked like a cross between Vigo Mortinsen and Sean Been. Don't worry though Sarah, she looked more like a Orc than an Elf:). We ended up getting pretty drunk off 'grog' and I kind of puked all over my Gandalf beard so I'll need to get it cleaned when I get home, but for now I just rinsed it out and it should be fine.

Conor

Day Twentyfourth in Australia

Luckily I had the day off today because the minerds had some big shot Japanese clients in and they didnt need or want me around for some reason (maybe its the impersonations I do of my Korean university friends) . I was glad to have the time off, its been so hectic lately trying to cram in all the stuff in Oz that I wanted to do before i go. Instead of doing a bunch of crazy running around today I decided to just go spend some time on the beach with a sixa of Tooheys and the sun. It was great to get some alone time to do some thinking. Not many people on the beach today so I was left with my thoughts and the seagulls. I guess after some thinking I reallized I wasnt being true to myself while I was here. Dont get me wrong, I have been having a tons of fun but not really being honest. Like Jono will ask me how I'm doing and Ill say 'great' but really Im kind of sad or lonely but I dont feel like I can tell him or anybody else here. I kind of feel guilty because I am in God Damned Australia and I should be having the time of my life but all I can think of is being back home. I kind of shrug it off and over compensate by being loud and joking and drinking alot. I dont know how to be myself and I wish I could. It was a relief to think of this because I really didnt know what was bothering-it just knew it was something. I sort of tried to comunicate this to Sara over the phone but its so awkward on the phone. I need to be face to face with somebody to have a meaningful talk. But I am going to do the best with my last week here to enjoy this beautiful, great country and do it by being the real Conor. I think Australia deserves that and its the least I can do.
Thanks for listening, you may not know it, but it helps.
Conor

Day Twenty-Three in Australia

Oh my god! You guys have to check out the Australian Pink Floyd show. Since Pink Floyd is my all-time favorite band I was a little skeptical about going to see a cover band perform but I was very pleasantly surprised. They do it exactly the way that Floyd would do it - in fact Dave Gilmore has seen the show a couple times and apparantly he thought it was great. I was front row and centre for the Division Bell tour in '96 and again last year when Roger Water's was in Montreal to perform the Dark Side of the Moon so I know what I'm talking about when I say that the Australian Pink Floyd show is exactly like the real thing. You can't even tell a difference because you're so busy looking at all the lights and video show and all the band members are pretty shadowed out on stage so you don't even notice that it isn't Dave Gilmore wailing out the solo on Division Bell's 'Why won't you talk to me' (one of my all time Floyd faves). Jono, Darce and I met at the 'Slug and Lettuce' for a few pints and then I pre-rolled a bunch of spliffys and hid them in my socks, which it turned out that I didn't even have to since there was pretty much zero security. Our seats were amazing - Jono got them from one of the big mine guys which was awesome because they otherwise they would've cost us 50 bucks. Everybody was smoking spliffys so we lit one up as soon as we got to our seats and then right on cue the show started with - you guessed it! - Money! We went crazy! The music was so loud and the bass line was killer! I was so pumped I lit another spliffy right after we finished the first one. After Money they kicked into a wicked version of Another Brick in the Wall which was so amazing, it sounded exactly like it does on the CD! The rest of the concert was like one big high. They just kept on playing one hit after another and the light show was awesome! You can actually see beams of light right over your head and there was screens everywhere so no matter where you were sitting you had a great view of all the video. By the end of the show I was completely knackered (that's what they call tired here) and Jono and I got in a bit of a tiffy (that's what they call bare-knuckle boxing here) over who had to pay for the cab. I got two rounds at the Slug and Lettuce and he only got one so I don't see why I should have to pitch in for the cab. I've included the set list below:

Money, Another Brick in the Wall, Dark Side of the Moon (in its entirety)(20:00 intermission)Shine on You Crazy Diamond Learning to Fly Take it Back Pigs (Three Different Ones) Set Your Controls for the Heart of the Sun The Gunner's Dream Wish You Were Here Not Now John Another Brick in the Wall Part 2 Comfortably Numb Encore: Mother Run Like Hell Why won't you talk to me?

Unbelieveable huh? They're going to be playing Montreal in October so I already got tickets for me and Sarah and I picked up some extras in case anybody else wanted to come. Shine on you Crazy Diamonds!
Conor

Day Twenty and Two in Australia

Boy howdy Raves are awesome. I went to my first rave ever last night with Darce and did we ever have a great time. The theme of the rave was jungle fever so all these people were dressed up as wild animals and trees and stuff. Darce and I just wore khaki button up shirts and said we were zoologists. Took our shirts off after a few songs anyway. I never really thought I liked rave music before but I guess I never really listened to good stuff before because really it was some of the greatest music I have heard before. The music, and the people, made it a special night. One girl had her face painted like a tiger and she had this long tiger tail coming out the back of her bikini bottoms with a soother on it that she would suck on. Darce wanted to do E but I wasnt sure. I though it would be better to wait and do it with Sara some time so that it would be special. I was really tempted though. I got drunk enough though to think I was on drugs. My legs are as tired from the danceing as after a soccer match today. We danced there until 5 or 6 then went to McBabbyFucker's (McDonalds) for some double eighth pounders (really, really good). I was pretty drunk there when I drew this picture of Teenage Mutant Ninja Mike, I guess I was missing my buds and wishing they could be here having a great time with me. Life isnt fair sometimes...
Conor

Day 21 in Australia

Wow, I had a crazy dream last night. We were all taking a bath in a big vat of caramel and I was the last one in. Then my dad showed up and said that we weren't supposed to swim for a half hour after eating. I told him that I hadn't eaten anything all day, and he said that's not really true is it Conor? and then I started to cry.
I don't know what it means but I'm a big believer in the power of dreams so if anybody has any ideas feel free to pass them along.
Conor

Day Twenty in Australia

My father told me once, he said Conor dreamers make their dreams. And he is right. Today I made a dream I always had and that is to sky jump out of a plane. Clint, Jono and Darce (another minerd who I didnt know real well but now I know is rad) and I decided last night at the pool party to do it this morning. Jono backed out though, he is begining to be a big pussy and I kind of dont like him that much even though I liked him best when I first got here but anyway he said he was too hungover. I drank like 7 more beer than him. After the quick 20 minute lesson we were up in the plane. Clint wanted to go tandem but I told him I didnt want his bird that close to me. It was so great I can hardly explain it . We were so high up in this little world war 2 spitfire that we could see the ocean and the rain forrest and even the outback all at once. After Sarah and J-Lo's bouty its the prettiest thing I have ever seen. Darce had done it 3 times before but he said it was the best. I landed closest to the landing circle though and there were kangaroos in the field watching us come down. We got a DVD of it made and I cant wait to show it to all my friends when I get back. Can you say ski diving DVD watching party at my place. SKI DIVING RULEZ!!!! The only shitty thing about the day was that I forgot the t-shirt that i bought there in the bar afterwards. Sometimes I can be so forgetful that I hate myselfs.

Day Nineteen in Australia

Well, I'm sure you guys all know by now what happened with Sara. I guess I freaked out a bit there. But it's weird when you're so far away from home. You know what I mean? It's like sometimes it's weird but I get this feeling that I've been away for a really long time. Sometimes I even feel like I can't remember anything from home. It's like in Back to the Future when Michael J. Fox has that photo and his family keeps fading away. I know that sounds ridiculous but taht's how it feels. That's all I'm saying. Like yesterday I totally forgot what Tucker's middle name was. I can't remember what I was thinking about but anyway I was trying to think of his middle name and I couldnt' remember it. I was driving me crazy. Anyway it's liek that. It's weird but when you think about it life is only really the memories that you have. I'm not trying to be deep I'm just saying that when you think about it if you got amnesia you'd be a completely different person. Anyway sorry for getting all philosophical. I've been working all day at the lab and my mind kind of wanders after a while and I like to get this stuff down. Sometimes I feel like I can't talk to anyone here. I'm having a good time but it's like you're never relaxed. The only time I'm really relaxed is when I'm watching Neighbors - which is a kick ass show and I'm totally getting the box set before I leave. Anyway, I better get back to work. TGIF!!!
Conor
Conor

Day E8teen in Australia

I'm really tired today. I couldnt sleep. I tried to call Sara last night after the math celebration for me but she wasnt home and it must have been 3 am her time. I kept Skyping her every hour after that and she still didnt answer. She probably didnt sleep with any guy-it would be like going from driving a F18 Hornet to driving one of Tucker's shitty bikes-but I just hope she is okay. Chloe or Sacha or Kim or anybody who sees her please ask her to Skype me right away. I just need to know she/we are okay. Needless to say I didnt do much good math today.

Day Sixteen in Australia

Man, what a let down! I was super excited today becuase there was supposed to be a big women's football game (soccer) between Australia and Canada today but it was postponed until tomorrow because of typhoon 'Wipha'. The World Cup for Women's Football is taking place in China and I guess they were worried that the typhoon might mess with the game. Me and all the minerds were totally psyched and had a big breakfast of 'pints and prawns' (that's what they call beer and breakfast here - you don't have to eat shrimp if you don't want to but they really recommend it - I don't really get why they're so crazy about shrimp, but you know what they say! when in Rome:)) at our local pub, 'Blinky's Fags and Foxholes (that's what they call cigarettes and pint glasses here). All the guys were teasing me because I was wearing red and white in support of the ladies from the great white north. I must admit taht I've never really payed much attention to women's sports. Guy's sports are always so much faster and harder that I kind of thought to myself 'why would I care about the girls when teh guys are so much better?' Of course, I never would've said this out loud because it wouldn't be PC. But I'm starting to like girl's sports since I've been in Oz - everybody gets totally into it and not just because the girls are hot but also because they are really good athletes. so obviously we were all super bummed-out when the announcement was made that the game was postponed. I felt like killing myself.
Conor

Day Fiveteen in Australia

So the minerds really had me working this week-that is until I solved a huge math problem. They had been working on this mining math problem for a long time trying to figure out how to best move the dirt around mathematically. I sat down with it and boom, I figured it out right away. They were super impressed but I find of felt guilty because it was so easy. After I solved it and we patented it we quit early and went the Jose's House of Mexican Magik. Its a great bbq restaurant with a little hispanic flair. The boss of the company who hasnt really been out with us was super happy with me and he had a few beers and loosened up. He said that if I ever wanted to come work full time for them I could. He would even by me a SUV like Jono's. I wouldnt drunk drive in it though. It could be great to live here but really the craft scene is almost non-existant and since its a beach country I dont even know how many t-shirts Sara could sell to make a living here. I guess I could support her with my genius math money but I would miss hockey too much. It was reallly great of him to offer though. Hoof, lots of cervezas again last night. I might have to clean myself out when I get back home-half way there.
I miss you guys and wish you could have been here to celebrate my math skillzz.
Conor

Day Fourteen in Australia

I'm having a crazy time today so I can't write much right now, all of a sudden the mine guys that paid for my trip want me to do a bunch of work for them. I guess I can understand but it's just that there's so much to do here I don't want to spend it inside doing math on my supercomputer. Anyway, if anyone feels like chatting I'll be on msn all day.
Conor

Day Thirteen in Australia

Holly krikeys... am I ever hungover. I have not been so hung over since last weekend. That road trip was so great though. I had a blast with the minerds and the spliffeys an the great Aussie outback. Everybody was feeling a little 'spanked' as they say here so we went out for a big breakfast. Jono kept talking about how hungry he was and how much he was going to eat and it was kind of pissing me off because I bet he cant even eat that much, so I told him I was more hungry than him so we got into a little bet about how much we could eat. I know I can eat way more than him without even trying and did I ever show him. I ate 5 eggs, two pancakes, 14 pieces of bacon, 5 sausages (tube snakes here), a bunch of hashbrowns, half a pinneapple and 3 cups of coffee and a pastry. He ate maybe half of that. I called him a pussy. I kind of felt sick afterwards and I wanted to show you guys a picture of all the food I ate but I have been having problems with my camera again. I had it fixed for a few days, as you saw, but someting is wrong again. I am usually really good with electronics, my friends back home know i am the best at fixing them but this damn camera has a weird battery or memory package things that I cant figure out. I will figure it out soon though because Im great at fixing problems like these. Anyway, you cant see how much food it was but trust me it was a lot and Jono lost the bet so he had to spend the rest of the day with his shirt off. It was really funny to see him in the car driving with no shirt and going into the movie rental place without a shirt. Most people around didnt seem to notice but I thought it was really a great joke.
Time to catch up on some sleep. Good night.
Conor

Day Twelve in Australia

Last night while we were all getting really drunk with this Ozzy drinking game called 'bob-tingly' - which is kind of like a cross between quarters, slap fighting and blind man's bluff - and Jono all of a sudden says why don't we go to ayers rock. its this massive rock that's more like a mountain almost way on teh other side of australia (which is like a 4 hour drive from my hotel). jono's got this huge SUV liek they use on CSI so we all piled in which was great. Drinking and driving is one of my favorite things to do. Alot of people don't know this about me but i used to drink adn drive all the time and basically the only reason i don't do it anymore is because i'm more mature now. But we were all pretty drunk so we weren't thinking straight and nobody really said anything, except Jono wanted me to drive so he could roll spliffys (that's what they call joints here) and sleep. the drive was great. we basically just crused and listened to Midnight Oil and I told the minerds all about Canada and about the difference between maritimers and acadians and I spoke some French for them which realy cracked them up and impressed Clint. He said that he always wanted to learn another language. We stopped at this really cool fast food restaurant called Ned's (which is the name of some really famous Ozzy who was kind of like their Billy the Kid) and I had a Cactus burger which was really delisious. Finally we got to Ayers rock and we all got out of the SUV adn just stood there because it was so beutiful that nobody wanted to spoil it. Then we ran to the top and I was the first one up by like a 100 meters. Jono was the second one up and once he got up we smoked a huge spliffy. Here's a picture of Jono:

Anyway after that we ran back down which was super fun and really fast. I think I could've gone faster if I had my sneakers with me instead of my loafers. I'm pretty exhausted now so I'm going to hit the hay. G'day mates!
Conor

Day Ten in Australia

Well I am not even going to talk about the cricket lessons last night. Im not even going to talk about what happened after with the minerds on the car ride home. Needless to say, guy guy chomraderie after sports here is a little different than it is back home. It was good to have a day off today. Great to wake up to a sunny day all to myself. After a nice breakfast of slap jackys (pancakes) and some 'roo juice I headed off to the beach for some sun. Its not super hot out, only 20 but still warm enough for me to take my shirt off and feel the sand underneath my skin and go for a swim and walk on the beach and buy an ice-lolly (popsicle). I was lucky enough to see a kangaroo on the beach which is rare and super great. I was amazed when I saw it. I thought about chasing it but I remember my brother telling me that they can rip your guts out with your claws so I only chased it with my eyes. Lots of people have picknicks on the beach today and I was hoping one of the Minogue sisters would be out to help remind me of Sara. I am starting to forget what she looks like. It will help to speak with her tomorrow on our weekly Sunday chat. I got a little sunburnt today so I am going to the chemist-weird but appropriate-name for the pharmacy. I am supposed to meat up with the minerd tonight to play an Aussie drinking game but Im still a little weirded out by yesterday night. Well I just get super drunk and it should be okay.
If anyone speaks to my mother tell her Im okay and having a great time.
Conor

Well I have a bit of a confession to make. I'm starting to really like Australia. Don't get me wrong I still get really homesick and miss Sarah and all my buds but there's alot here taht really suits me. For instance everybody here is really athletic. Even teh fat people here still play alot of sports and get outside in their free time. Everybody is really competitive and everywehre you go someone is playing rugby or football (that's what they call soccer here) or tennis. This morning I went to these great courts with a bunch of the minerds and we played tennis for three hours. And these guys play HARD! They don't take breaks they just keep playing as long as they can until we have to give up the courts. They're pretty good too. I beat two of them a couple times but obviously they play more than I do so they ended up winning. Tennis isn't realy my sport. I like it it's just I'm better at games that you play on a field. I'm also pretty good at volleyball. Beach volleyball is pretty big ehre too obviously. There's courts everywehre and you'll see people playing in the morning before work. The women here are pretty fit (I don't mean that in a sexy way but it's true:P. Everybody here takes really good care of themselves and they obviously think it's important to be really athletic adn that's something taht I think is really important too. And I think I'm getting used to their accents. At first I thought I was going to punch everybody that opened their mouths but even after a week it doesn't sound as bad. I was watching this show called Flight of the Conchords before I went away which is about two Kiwis (that's what they call people from New Zealand) in a band in New York and they have really bad accents and I remember when I was watching how annoying I thought their accents were but I think that Ozzies accents are different.
Anyway I better go cause I'm meeting some of the minerds to learn how to play cricket. Wish me luck!
Conor

Day Nine in Australia

Well its been a really interesting few days around here. My prime minister Paul Harper is here and he is ruffling some Aussie feathers (probably emu feathers). I dont know much about politics and am pretty dumb on the subject so Im not sure what he has done to get them sort of upset. I think it has to do with Irak. But that is besides the point, my point is that its weird to be in another country hearing them talk badly about your country. I thought everyone loved us because we are great. I guess not everybody does. In Brazil nobody knew where Canada was but here everone does and they generally like us but think we are bad, overdressers, talk funny and dont know how to cook or do laundry. I guess it just hurt my feelings a little bit. Nothing like getting drunk on great beer to fix that though. So Phillipe, one of the minerds, picked me up and we went to watch the women's soccer world cup at some pub. It was probably my greatest afternoon in Australia yet. Women's soccer is huge here, bigger than man's soccer. Most of the country took 3 hours off work today to watch the women's opening game-that is how huge it is. Image our ice hockey but played by beach volleyball babes and you would understand why its so huge. Needless to say the fine pub-Bonnie's Beak-was packed to the tits as they say here. Luckily our ladies beat Gambia pretty easily 4-1. Everybody went crazy each time we scored and cheersed everyone with their drink and some girls even flashed after the first two goals. I didnt look though but I was going to for the 3rd goal but they stopped doing it. Me and Phillipe had a great time and we didnt even go back to work after the game. We just kept drinking and kept saying "Aw good times Mate aint it". Awesome rad day to make me realize how truly lucky I am to be here doing this. Thanks.
Conor

Day Eight in Australia

So far there isn't too much I can say about Ozzies - they're alot liek Canadians cause they like to drink and they were really cruel to the Indians that lived here before it became a colony. But one thing I've noticed that I really like is the way they dress here. Everybody dresses real casual and they wear as little clothes as possible. Guys usually just were shorts and a t-shirt and girls usually wear the same thing. Sometimes they wear skirts. Alot of the guys dont' even wear shirts if its warm enough which is really great cause nobody makes a big deal out of it. Like whenever I go to a MacDonalds in Canada they're always like 'Hey, put a shirt on!' but here everybody just walks around without them. Like when I was in line at MacDonalds this morning the three guys in front of me didn't have shirts on. And most guys have really good bodies here so its not gross when they don't ahve shirts on. Anyway I'm getting a whole lot of Billabong clothes while I'm here so I can bring some Ozzie fashion back to Montreal. Look out hipsters! Here I come!
Conor

Day Seven in Australia

The mining company stuff is going ok, go in sort of 9 till 5, pretty great. But today I had a 'day off' so I was jokingly going to go try and go hang with the Crowster but while I was asking people where I could find him I found some other news that sunk my soul. Did you hear that the crocodile hunter died? I could not, and still cannot, understand this. How can someone so great and so close to God get taken by one of his own creatures? How can God of let this happen? Steve Irwin was the closest human to God that we have ever known. Never mind the horse whisperer, he spoke to all animals. Its a true loss for all of humanity as well as all of animanity. Head down, thoughts adrift I wandered around Melbourne until I happened upon the Melbourne Cricket Club where the home team Demons were going to haunt their rival other team in the aft finals elimination game in front of 64 thousand people. It was pretty great. I'm pretty sure the Demons won but even though I am pretty sporty (Moncton High Athlete of the Year 1996) I couldnt understand the rules or score or the drunk hoards around me. I was worn out after the game and the news of Crocs death and I fell asleep on the floor of my hotel in my geans watching Neighbors again.

Day Six in Oz

So the homesickness hit me hard today. I knew it was going to happen but I guess I didnt’ think it was going to be this bad. I’ve been talking to Sarah all the time but I guess that sometimes that only makes it worse cause after I hang up I feel real lonely. It’s probably from hearing her voice and not being able to see her – that’s what my mom said when I talked to her aobut it. Anyways I wanted to do something that would make me feel like I was at home so I went to the grocery store to see if they had something similar to the Delicioso Rising Crust pizza. I had to go to a couple places unitl I found something that was kind of like what we have at home. It sucked though because the only kind they had was prawn (that’s what they call shrimp here) and mango, or vegemite (vegemite is this really tasty spread that they put on anything here. It’s really strong so you only need a little bit). I got one of each kind and then went back to me hotel. I had to cut the pizza in half because I couldn’t fit the whole thing in the toaster oven in my room. They turned out to be all right but still not as good as the ones at home. Then I watched a bunch of episodes of this show called ‘Neighbors’ – its super popular here and everybody watches it (kind of like the OC except Neighbors has been around for a real long time). Guy Pearse and Russell Crowe started out on the show and so did a bunch of other famouse Ozzies. I went out to see if there was a movie theatre close by but nothing was showing that I wanted to watch so I just came back to the hotel. Today was kind of a nothing day.
Conor
PS. The concert last night sucked – the band was nothing like Slayer. They were more like Good Charlotte.

Day Five in Australia

The minerd took me out to the site today for the first time. I had just been playing solitaire in their offices until now. It was pretty cool to see the big pit. Its pretty crazy how big and pit like it is. It made me feel weird and kind of empty or shallow. I tried to call Sara when I got home to talk about it but she was out. Probably out having fun and not missing me. I hope not. First tinges of home sickness today so I watched some Friends episode at the hotel. Ross helped me forget for awhile how far away from home I am. Not much time to mope though, the minerds are picking me up to go see some Aussie concert that is supposed to rock. The Slayer of this country or something. Should be good, I need a good drink. The weather was great today finally.
TGIF

Day Four in Australia

I had a pretty crazy night last night. though its not true that ozzys are big drinkers because i was the only one who didn't puke. we drank at the pub until it closed and then went to this afterhours club where we started doing rounds of shots. everybody here buys rounds and the way it worked out before we left the pub was that everybody had got 3 rounds and i only got two (and during one of them dave and jono (2 of the minerds) went to get food so i only had to get 3 drinks) then wehn we ended up at the club jono imediately got everybody two shots and then this girl we met up with bought a round and then dave started another round so by the tiem it got to me i had had 20 drinks and i had only bought 2. this one guy on the dance floor kept on talking about montreal and asking me questions and i might have told this guy that i thought he was a huge pussy or something cause he pussed me from behind. the dancefloor was really packed so once i turned around this guy took off but blake and jono (blake's pretty cool) followed him off the dancefloor and then we got kicked out or something cause we were all outside and i think we ended getting a ride back to jono's with that guy cause he ended up sleeping over. we got pizza but i couldnt' eat most of mine and we started throwing it around the car but the guy started freeking out and then dave started puking all over the place. jono lives with his girlfriend but she's actually really cool and stayed up and had a drink with us. we started wathcing this movie chopper but i passed out, but i totally want to watch it because the little bit i saw looked pretty cool.
anyway i'm super hung over today. i'm typing this on jono's laptop and everybody's giving me a hard time right now so i better go. their taking me to the beach today!!! i miss everybody real bad though (especially you:)) and i'll ttyl.
conor
ps. chris hasn't been responding to my emails so could somebody tell him i'm trying to get ahold of him

Day Three in Australia

Woke up in my nice hotel bed to another great day in Australia. I'm a little hungover from drinks with the minerds but we had a good time 'rinking beeaz' as they say here. I think there lingo is great and Im trying to pick up as much of it as I can. I realized once I got here that I forgot my socks at home and only had the pair I flew here with so it gave me a great excuse to see some sightseeing of Melbourne. A little colder out today that I would have hoped (17C) but nice for walking around the beautiful streets. Lots of artsy stuff and cafes and lots of students and lots of nice buildings and a nice river in the city and lots of great atmosphere. I had a cool lunch at a little niche cafe called The Walleye and really enjoyed it there. My waitress was really cool, an arts student with a neck tattoo of a platypus who kept laughing at my 'accent'. I found my sox eventually in a Walmart-like store but this is weird-Australian tube sox are way different then ours. They have no toe, just the end of the sock. Its hard to explain but I dont like their sox here. They are really uncomfortable. I may ask Sara to send me my old sox. Its the first bad thing about this place. I was a little tired in the afternoon so I watched some Aussie tv. Its pretty funny, lots of asian stuff and Japanese programs. I fell asleep watching Bonzai and woke up just in time to meet the minerds for some more Vic Bitter at the pub. Ill fill you all in tomorrow on how the night went. Miss you guys. Conor

Day Two in Australia

Well, it's my second day in oz - or at least i think it is. i'm so screwed up by the time change which might sound ridiculous since i'm so good at math but i just can't get used to it. my schedual is all messed up as a result (for instance right now normaly i would be finishing diner with sarah and settling down in front of the tv with my girl and a brewski but instead i just finished my morning 6k and had a nice hot relaxing shower. you'd think that i would be taking a cold shower cause it's oz and its hot but it's not hot actuallly - it was probly hotter in montreal which totally sucks becuase i was hopping to get a tan while i was here. oh well:(

last night i went out for diner and drinks with a couple guys from the mining company. we went to this great restaurant that looked out onto the beach and they got so much food that even i couldn't eat it all (dont laugh sarah!). the guys told me all about the local beers and we ended up trying them all (which is a lot!) and everyboddy at the bar was chanting and saying like conor conor conor! so i ended up doing a few pushups with someone on my back.

anyway gotta go - i'm going for some breakfast at a zoo:)

conor

Day One in Australia

Well here I go again, jet-setting around the world. This time I'll be showing Australia what Conor is all about. I can't wait to show those Ozzies (that's what the locals are called around here) how to drink some beer and do some math. The flights were long as hell and in fact this first post is from the Melbourne airport still waiting for my luggage. It was hard leaving Sara at the airport but I was excited, especially since I had the new Transformers movie and Fractured on my lap top to help me through the flights. Transformers was 8/10, Fractured 10/10, Last Vacation 5/10 (but Queen L deserved an 8/10) and the Quantas flight attendants get a 12/10. Non stop peanuts for me. That was great. I sat next to an american student studying in Sydney on the first part of the flight and we had some interesting conversations but I was sat alone on the next leg so nobody to talk with unfortunately. Pretty tired/excited/nervous about being here and I'm sure the month will fly by but it will be great to keep in touch with all my buds and fam with this blog. Please send me emails though, even if they speak english here (sort of, it took a minute to understand the lady at the airport McDonals) you can still get homesick. Bye everyone.