The joys of Easter break

Trip Start Feb 15, 2004
1
15
34
Trip End Dec 18, 2004


Loading Map
Map your own trip!
Map Options
Show trip route
Hide lines
shadow

Flag of Australia  ,
Sunday, April 18, 2004

I've had a whole week of no classes, and I've managed to barely make a dent in my mountain of work. This is not surprising, being the procrastinator that I am, but I'm mad at myself because I wanted to get as much done as possible before my life gets really crazy and the visitors start pouring in. Oh well, I'll get it all done somehow. In my defense, I have been busy working at the Easter horse races. The first day was crazy busy, but the second day was excruciatingly slow and boring. It was Family Day, so we didn't have the usual drunken mobs to entertain us. Yeah, they like to start the kids gambling early here. The most excitement that day was when this little girl started freaking out when she saw one of the Cadbury chocolate characters. She stopped in her tracks and screamed out "Freddo Frog!" about 25 times in a row at the top of her lungs. Then she broke into a sprint and headed straight for Freddo. I've never seen anyone get so excited by a guy in a frog costume. Little kids are great. The day was so slow though that they ended up dispersing us lawn party stampers, so I got sent to one of the bars to clear glasses. Wow, that sucked. My third day at the races wasn't too bad though. It was the University Lawn Party, so lots of uni students trying to get their money's worth in free alcohol. The highlight of that day was that I met Jamie Foxx! He waltzed into the lawn party with a whole bling bling posse of scantily clad women. They made such a scene, because you don't see many black people in Australia. Everyone stopped to stare at them, but I don't think most of the Aussies knew who he was. I was like, "Oh my God, it's Jamie Foxx!" And everyone was like, "Who? Oh, some American film star." I made sure I got to stamp his hand as he left (about 5 seconds after he arrived). I made some lame attempt at small talk with him, but he just sort of laughed it off. Then I stamped this other familiar-looking guy who was with him, who I think was Ving Rhames but I'm not completely sure. He said, "Thanks Virginia!" (I was wearing a name tag.) And I said, "I'm from the States too!" So I got an enthusiastic "What up girl?" and a pat on the arm. It was all very exciting. And now I can add that to my list of interactions with celebrities, along with meeting Sloane from Alias in London and having snowboarder Danny Kass sing to me in Breckenridge.

I went to the Maroon 5 concert on Thursday night with Kristin, Christina, and this guy Simon who bears more than a passing resemblance to Harry Potter. Maybe it's just that he wears glasses and has a British accent. But anyway, we got dinner at the Tasty Thai restaurant (the name sold us) and I provided a dessert of marshmallow Peeps that my mom had sent me for Easter. I was surprised that Kristin and Simon actually liked them, because I figured you had to grow up eating them to enjoy something that sugary. Then we got to the venue about half an hour before the show began, and had to wait in the enormous queue for over an hour! By the time we got in, the first opening act had already begun playing. But oh wait, there was another opening band! The second one, Thirsty Merc, came out rocking but then they lost everyone after they played their one song that's on the radio (Emancipate Myself). I had a bizarre moment when first I saw that one of the members of Funkstar was standing right behind my friends and me, and then they played What is Hip? by Tower of Power in between bands (I actually played that song in marching band in high school... yes, I was a band geek). Finally, around 11 PM, Maroon 5 came on! Honestly, it was not their best performance. I think they're getting bored of playing the same songs for the past 2 years, so they played around with them and there was lots of jamming. But the encore was awesome!!! Instead of doing Closer by Nine Inch Nails (which I was looking forward to hearing) they played Highway to Hell by AC/DC as a tribute to Australia. It rocked! The drummer sang the lead vocals and did a surprisingly awesome job. The girls at the show weren't quite as annoying as the ones at the Maroon 5 concert in Denver that Karen and I went to, but there was one particularly annoying girl who pushed her way in front of Christina (who's not all that tall) and bounced through the whole concert. I tried to talk to her and get her to move, but she just continued to bounce and display her complete lack of rhythm, so we all elbowed her for the rest of the night.

Other than that, one night I was invited to my classmate's apartment for authentic Japanese curry and another night I introduced some international students to Scruffy Murphy's. That was fun, until it all somehow went horribly wrong and we ended up getting kicked out of the pub. Plus, I lost my favorite black sweater! But now my break is over and it's back to work. I'm trying not to get too freaked out about starting my teaching practicum tomorrow!
Print this entry Sydney hotels