Update

G'day world.

The Top 5 aussie sayings will have to wait for a little while.

First off, I would like to apologize for my recent lack of posts. As a former room mate of mine says whenever he has a chance, "Excuses are like ass holes... everybody has one and they all stink." Alas, my excuse is that Riley and I have moved out of the Boogie Nights mansion and into an awesome beach town apartment. Everything about this apartment is better than the mansion. We are within minutes of the beach. There are 4 of us splitting 2 rooms as opposed to 14-16 of us splitting 5 rooms. The house is legal to live in. The landlord is a licensed real estate agent and not a 21 year-old Israeli who doesn't follow through on any promises.

The only problem is the lack of free internet. Until we get internet installed in our house, my posts will only occur when the rare combination of inspiration and internet access presents itself.

This post is being made possible by the Lyall Hotel of Melbourne. Currently, me entire family is here in Australia. Unfortunately, my dad is leaving tomorrow, but my mom, Cally, and I are taking a trip up North to Dunk Island near the Great Barrier Reef.

Be Jealous.



Be very jealous.

It seems a little odd to be taking a vacation, as I feel like I am technically still on vacation from the US, but I will take what I can get.

It has been great having the family here. It has been a long time since I have seen them, so it was nice to see some familiar faces, but the best part was having them here to do things that, on my limited budget, I have not been able to do. Luckily, they have changed that.

(Pre-Family)

Wes's Bucket List: Australia

Meet an Australian: Check
Get away with calling someone mate: Check
Visit a beach: Check
Get a job: $$
Start a sweet blog: Check
Get away with wearing a v-neck: Check plus, unfortunately
Jump off the pier of a crowded beach on X-Day in my skimpies: Check
Start a "U-S-A" Chant around zero Americans: Check
Rock the faces off a crowd as a DJ: Check
Entice a group of strangers to join me in the timeless Paul McCartney "Hey Baby": Hoo Ha
Snap some necks and cash some: Checks
See a Koala:
See a Kangaroo:
See a Boomerang:
Leave Melbourne:
Eat an outstanding meal:

Post-Family
Leave Melbourne: Awesome wildlife preserve and winery tours
Eat an outstanding meal: Every night
See a Koala:


See a Kangaroo:


See a Boomerang:



Now all I need to do is get up on a surf board. Anyone who has ever seen me attempt to ride a skateboard will attest to the loftiness of this goal.

Anyway, having the family here has been great, but I have been up to other things as well.

I am not sure if I have blogged about this, but Riley and I have finally found steady work. We work in a restaurant newly started by the catering company for whom we have been working. The restaurant is called Capital Kitchen and it is in the Chadstone Shopping Center, which is like the Mall of America, but its not located in Minnesota, it doesn't revolve around a pathetic roller coaster, it doesn't have a stupid lego display, and it doesn't look like an inner-city baltimore public school on the inside. As a matter of fact, it is quite stunningly beautiful. Like me. On my good days. Once a week. For an hour. At night.

I have recently perfected a new art form in the workplace. I have set myself above the rest (in my mind at least) as the best at my new artistic position. I am the man behind the salad bar. Do not be deceived by the name. The salad bar not only contains salads, but 40% of the sandwiches sold by the cafe. To be frank, the salads are a pain and they make my job way less masculine, but manning the Cooking Cadre (my three grilling machines) is my calling. Most people hate the stress of having all of the servers shove dockets with orders in their face and having to quickly cook and manage "heaps" of orders at once, but I love it. It allows me to not be a server and walk around pretending to do something and have my manager tell me to, in order to look busy, wipe down more tables or wash the cabinets (yes, I have been told to wash cabinets. ???) Plus, the time from 11am-2pm goes as quickly as a 16 year old boy. Off color? My blog. My rules. I rule. iRule? Maybe thinking up iPhone apps should be my new calling if I burn out on the whole Cooking Cadre thing. Ba dum CHI.

I figure I may as well keep writing as the Island probably won't have much internet availability seeing as the second largest city in the country is pretty weak in that category.

2010!

Guess what? I got to celebrate the new year before any of you did! And what a New Years it was.

For various reasons, not the least of which being laziness and dwindling account balances, Riley, my room mates OB and Craig, and I decided for forgo the standard New Years Eve. We did not want to spend $150 to be stuck in the same mediocre bar just to get some free champagne. Instead, we started at our rather rambunctious neighbors apartment and continued to celebrate at the beach. Unfortunately, as we were starting to bring in 2010 with our neighbors, a violent thunderstorm commenced. Not to be deterred, we let the local brew of choice do its job and convince us that the torrential downpour and lightning was a mere drizzle spell. Off to the beach!

Best decision ever.

Tons of people were down there having a great time and waiting for the fireworks at midnight over the city skyline. It was really nice to see the fireworks from the beach. They were shot from the tops of different sky scrapers which gave a great landscape view of the city. The fireworks got everyone really rowdy, way too rowdy for any other types of fireworks to be on anyone's mind.

The most fun part was, in the spirit of one Graham Townsend, getting as many people as we could the join us in singing this classic sing-a-long:



It worked beautifully. Unfortunately, I could not speak very well the next day. I still remember a group of 10-15 Africans coming a singing the song with us, but barely being able to communicate afterwards. Great Night.

I will leave you with a few pictures. Until next time, Cheers!

The New Apartment



The Master at Work



Family at the beach, duh



At the Beach NYE



Finally update blog: Check