Hicksville: The Return

I’m back! It feels like I never even left. It’s funny to notice the minor changes, but really it’s just the same. Due to other things, the time I am spending has been cut much shorter than I’d like so I’ve had to compromise a lot on what I get done, but there are some things that were not compromised.

The Lake
Enough time to walk it. Still as beautiful as ever.

Wal Mart
I still know it like the back of my hand.

Waynesville
Is it wrong that I love small town America so much?

Asheville
Still weird in a cool way.

Anyway, here's the photos.

It was a weird feeling being back, like I was home.


In Waynesville I went to Whitman's Bakery. This is a Napoleon which I believe contains all the energy and fat you're allowed in a week.


I couldn't believe my eyes as I was leaving - there was a protest downtown. With placards and everything. That never happened when I lived there! I had to circle around to get a photo. The protest was about the war in Iraq. Quick off the mark with that one eh?


My car was a serious disappointment after the Highlander in Colorado. Wind down windows and only one cup holder. I didn't think they even made cars with only one cup holder!


I love adopting statue poses! This me doing my best Chief Junaluska.

At the weekend Jose, Lindy and Matt came up for the weekend and we skied just down the road from the lake, staying at Lindy's cabin again.


How Aspen do I look?!

Check out this video of Jose on the 'elements'.


It was all I could do not to laugh on the video.

On the way back south, Jose and I stopped at Chimney Rock, a local tourist site that I never made it to.

The Last of the Mohicans was filmed here so they told me.


Apparently I thought there was a danger I wouldn't be in the photo.

So now I'm in New York City, staying with my cool friend Michelle. Good times.

Continuing the movie theme

A lot of things had changed in Hicksville. Mostly for the good I'd say and this is definitely one of the coolest:


The cinema has a restaurant in it! I think this could well be the coolest thing I have ever seen.

Film 2008

Since arriving in the States, I have seen twice as many films as I did all the time in Singapore. And lucky you, I thought I would review them for you because, you know, my opinion matters.

Juno

Synopis: Teenage girl gets pregnant and decides to give up the baby for adoption rather than having an abortion.

Verdict: Actually very good. My synopsis probably makes it sound very dull and dramatic but it is funny. Ellen Page is brilliant and there’s a really good soundtrack. And not to get too serious, I hope it highlights to teenagers having sex what they are doing and the risks they are taking.

See it.

PS I Love You

Synopsis: Dead husband writes letters to his wife from the great beyond.

Verdict: Hmm…I didn’t read the book (and to be honest never will) so I cannot join the people who say ‘it’s not as good as the book’. Hillary Swank is good, fantastic wardrobe, very Holly Golightly-esque. But it kind of left me cold.

Don’t see it, there are far better movies to spend your money on. But I’m probably too late because you have already.

The Great Debaters

Synopsis: A black university professor trains his university debate team. But can they take on the white kids?

Verdict: Predictable but still good. The film was made by Oprah and it really does show the injustice in American society that existed at that time. There’s a little confusion with a farmers union storyline that falls between two stools for me. It should have been included more, or not at all.

Worth a look.

The Bucket List

Synopsis: Two cancer patients come up with a list of things to do before they kick the bucket.

Verdict: One of those films where you think you’ve seen it all in the trailer, and you have. Except for the actually funny parts. Made me think about death a lot and how getting old is just no fun. I still don’t like Jack Nicholson even though he had the best line in the film, where after having chemo he’s throwing up and looks at himself in the mirror and says ‘somewhere some lucky guy is having a heart attack.’

See it.

Charlie Wilson’s War

Synopsis: Charlie Wilson, a congressman, gains funding for the covert war in Afghanistan when the USSR invades in 1980.

Verdict: Brilliant. A serious topic, and one that I don’t really know a whole lot about. It has some brilliant lines in it. – you can tell it was written by Aaron Sorkin (West Wing man). Make sure you take note of the last scene…now there’s another fine mess you’ve got us into.

See it, especially to help understand Afghanistan now.

27 Dresses

Synopsis: Always a bridesmaid girl has been one 27 times, but will she ever walk down the aisle herself?

Verdict: Another film where you think you’ve seen it all in the trailer, but you have not. This film is laugh out loud funny and for a chick flick is not that predictable. One of those films you know you will own.

See it. Boys, I would even say it’s funny enough for you.

Blogs I really wanted to post last week

I thought I would make the effort to post this otherwise it'll be old news and you won't care (I making myself believe that you care already).

No time to tell you about Stop 11: North Carolina

I've been and am back from North Carolina. The Lake was as beautiful as ever and the people as lovely. I really wanted to blog, but there wasn't time so I have a lot to put on here.

But it'll have to wait. I have a flight to New York, my last stop, to get.

Hopefully I'll be able to write from there.

Tennessee Ink

Today we were in Tennessee. Jose's brother, Luis, starts college there this week so off we trotted to leave him off.

Luis had decided some time ago, well last week, that he wanted to get a piercing in his ear. Not anything ordinary, that little bit at the front (which I have since learnt is called a daith piercing. Who knew?!)


Well you've got to check yourself out afterwards.

Jose, on the other hand, had a tattoo in mind.


The woman scared me more.


And me?

Well, you'll just have to wait and see won't you.

Stop 10: Greenville

Well it finally happened. Eleventh flight in to the big trip and I had a flight cancelled. There I was at the gate in Detroit and my short flight to Cleveland was no more. But on the upside I did get to run through Detroit airport like those crazy people you see on 'Airline' to get my new flight. The airline attendant even shouted 'Newark? I need you NOW!'. While getting my seat on the plane I felt the need to call people to tell them of my new flight details just so the people sitting around me wouldn't think I was an irresponsible passenger who carelessly spent time having lunch clueless that the flight was about to leave. I think it worked.


I did not expect my bags to make it, but I was pleasantly surprised in Greenville when my suitcase and pretty skis were there. The rerouting meant I got to spend four hours too long in Newark for anybody where I guess they had the chance to catch up.


At Newark I got to have my favourite airport vegetarian pizza again. Still with brocolli. Still without sweetcorn.

One of the nice things since arriving in Greenville has been seeing familiar places and faces. But there have been changes. People have got married, moved away, moved in. There are new places to eat, new roads, new shops. But it's still good old South Carolina deep down. I love it.

Jose has a new girl on the scene. But it's ok, Lindy knows about her and they get on well.


Gizzy and I get on quite well. I was not keen on her licking me and now that we've established that she doesn't we're cool. She's very little and very personable. I think she looks a bit like our dog, Bruno (he went to 'the farm'. My mum promises that story is true but after seeing that episode of 'Friends' I'm just not sure anymore.)

I finally finished the 2lbs of Belly Flops. My last one was the tiniest one ever, so of course I took a photo, along with a regular sized one to make comparison easier.


Itty bitty Jelly Belly.

My computer may well have come back to life. Nine lives I tell you. Although still no wireless which means I am teathered to the the router in Jose's 'Man Room' (TV, computer games, foosball table and the likes). I feel distinctly uncomfortable in it, I think it's my oestrogen reacting to it.

Next week I'll be heading North and back to Hicksville. I'm very excited. And then, before you know it I'll be home.

Reviewing (again)

I'm back from Colorado. It was amazing! I loved it! The skis went down a storm on the slopes, everyone was in awe of them! And of course my skill (more on that later).

Stop 8: Michigan
Actually, I've done a decent job of keeping up to date here with stuff. You know about my new skis, Christmas and New Year but in an effort to keep up the number of stops I've added it in!

Stop 9: Colorado
The people on the plane should warn you on the plane that it is seriously beautiful in Colorado. We could have driven off the road manys a time looking at the mountains!


Told you it was beautiful.


Our car! We decided in light of the mountains, snow and amount of luggage a four wheel drive was the way forward. Poor Megann hardly got a chance to drive it because I always wanted to! I loved it! Aside from anything else it had 6 cup holders in the front alone!!


Check out my technique. We skied five out of six possible days which was a fairly decent effort!


On our off day we went to Denver, the mile high city. The thirteenth step of the Colorado State Capitol is exactly one mile above sea level. We also went to the US Mint, where the coins are made. You shouldn't be surprised that I was excited by this.

One of our favourite things to do was take videos of us skiing:



Of course didn't always go to plan:



This, I promise, was the only time I fell while recording and if you watch it again you can see the branch that was my undoing. There's not a lot you can do but fall when your ski comes off. I think I deserve some credit for not swearing though!

Of course this wasn't the only time I fell. One time I landed in deep snow (at preference to hitting a tree). My ski came off leaving me no option to take off the other and go back and dig (yes dig) for the other. Once I had found it, I couldn't walk back to the trail because the snow was so deep (the snow was up to my thigh), so instead I threw my skis ahead of me and rolled down!

Other falls were mostly stationary. Yeah, I don't know how either.

But the stupidest fall I did was this one.

Skiing along I decided that maybe I should take my goggles off, so I stopped (key word there is stopped) and put them on my forehead. But I needed my goggles on again so this time rather than stopping I reached up and pulled them down. The goggles came down but brought with them my fleecey headband ear warmer thing.

That's right folks, I blindfolded myself skiing. But apparently I am smart enough to teach your children.

Right, got to go. Off to South Carolina.

Seriously, what rhymes with 'pandas'?

Well doen Karen and Ali! A good attempt to rhyme with 'pandas'. I struggled long and hard with it and this is what I came up with:

There never will ever be pandas
Who can paint on a pure black canvas
When they pick up the pallet
They think it's a mallet
And hit themselves on their stupid panda
heads

Shut up.

A game for while I'm gone

Today we are off to Colorado for more skiing! Woo hoo! I'm slightly concerned though, as when I tested my pretty new skis, a lot of people seemed to fall around me so distracted they were by the beauty of them! Anyway, I don't think I'll be able to blog so while I'm away you can entertain yourselves with this.

I went to a Christmas gathering a couple of weeks ago where we played a limerick game. You know the drill, each person adds a line. This is the one that I had to complete. I thought it was hard but I thought you might like to play along while I'm away. If you're feeling brave, share it in the comments (or email me if you haven't got a Google account).

So your challenge is come up with a last line to this (it has to rhyme with the first):

There never will ever be pandas
Who can paint on a pure black canvas
When they pick up the pallet
They think it's a mallet
__________________________

Your turn! When I get back I'll tell you what I put.

Still more reviewing

Stop 6: San Francisco

After a year of never being in temperatures of below about 20 degrees Celsius, it ended. On 13th December at 9.08pm I thought I died when I left San Fancisco airport. It turned out it was only about 10 degrees C but it may as well have been -15 to my nicely tropical weather adjusted body. The winter coat, the hat, the gloves, and the layers all came out. You'll note the difference in wardrobe I'm sure.


Yet another 400 photos of a world famous landmark bridge.


I went (voluntartily I might add) to Alcatraz. This, I swear, is the coldest place on earth. Maybe that was part of the plan, 'not just a maximum security prison on an island, but let's make it a maximum security prison on a island with sub-zero temperatures! Muhahaha!'It is owned by the National Parks Service and has an excellent tour you can do, hearing all about the history of it, famous inmates like Al Capone and attempted breakouts. Apparently none were successful. I'm not surprised, if the cold outisde their cells didn't get them, surely the water would have.


Mrs. Doubtfire's house. Oh yes! There was even a Merc outside. I thought about ripping it off and muttering something under my breath but I didn't. Must have been the visit to Alcatraz that put me off any sort criminal activity.


I hired a bike and rode along Golden Gate Park, another National Parks triumph. I wore the wrong type of jeans though and carelessly forgot my bicycle clips. Tucking one legs of your jeans in though is how the cool kids wear them. I named my bike Silver Mist, following in the camp tradition.

This video is going around the first of the supports of the bridge. They're huge! But check out my skills at riding a bike and taking a video! I'm not even using stabilisers!




Let me just say this, should you ever go to San Francisco, be aware it has a lot of hills. If you've been to San Francisco thanks for not reminding me. I would look at a map and think 'ah it's only x blocks, I'll walk'. But along with the bicycle clips, I also carelessly forgot my mountaineering rope for the cliff face hills. This is Lombard Street, so steep they had to put bends in it.


Because of the hills, way back when someone decided cable cars would help out. They were right. Except for maybe the name. More a tram wouldn't you say?

I got to be the person to hang on the very front where I took this video. We nearly hit a car!

Stop 7: Lake Tahoe

You know I like a roadtrip so what better way to get to Detroit that to hire a car, ski for a bit, drive some more and fly the rest of the way? So that's what I did.

On the way was the Jelly Belly Factory in Fairfield, CA so I thought it would be rude not to stop. I went on the factory tour where I discovered that each Jelly Belly takes about 21 days to be made. Who knew?!

The Jelly Bellies go through a rigid qulaity control, but ever quick to make a buck they sell the rejects, or Belly Flops, if you will, onto to people like me. You get super sized ones like this cotton candy one (I put a regular one beside it so you could compare). It looked like a brain.

Interesting fact number 374: Lake Tahoe hosted the Winter Olympics in 1960.


Chair lift fun. It pretty much snowed all day. Brr. But I did get to ski in two states.


I drove to Reno (where part of Sister Act is set) airport. It was such a pretty drive. I stopped in Carson City and went to the Nevada State Museum which was surprisingly interesting. And of course I was stopped for this photo. Driving and taking photos is just stupid.

And two flights later and a delay in Chicago I was in Detroit.

More reviewing

Stop 5: Hawaii



I was so surprised at how many people wear Hawaiian shirts in Hawaii, even the weatherman wore one. I know the clue is in the name and all but I mean really?!


Panic not, I got a pedicure. I wasn't about to waste my last week of wearing flip flops. In this photo you can even see some Hawaii sand.



Travelling on your own makes photo taking hard. You have to pick your photographer carefully. Sometimes that can be difficult to judge (I have mentioned this before, remember the fiasco of Graceland?). I choose the wrong couple this time. He turned out to be blind so asked his wife, who, and I wish I was joking, was also blind in one eye. I think this photo was taken with her good eye, although you wouldn't know it. I just wanted a photo of me in shorts at a Christmas tree but I got suitcase girl in it too. Bonus.


One of the things I really wanted to go to was to go to Pearl Harbor. The white thing you can see is the USS Arizona Memorial, one of only two battleships that was totally destroyed in the attack. It sank with the loss of over 1000 men (I think Cuba Gooding Jr. was of them in the film). They are still entombed on it so it is considered a war grave. The ship that I took the photo from is the USS Missori which is the 'last battleship' having seen action in WW2, the Korean War and then was refitted in the 80s so was in the Gulf War too. It faces the wrong way, not out to sea, as the battleships would have in 1941, but overlooks the Arizona which I think is sweet. The main reason why I wanted to go there is because it's where the instrument of surrender was signed by the Japanese and Allied Commanders ending WW2.


This is a copy of the surrender document. On the day, 2nd September 1945, the representatives of Japanese and Allied governments signed two documents, following the prescibed order. Somehow in the emotion of the event, the Canadian rep messed up and signed on the wrong line. D'oh but this was an important document and everything had to be right, so everyone who signed after had to have their bi-line scored out and corrected in writing. Oh die. Wouldn't you just feel special?! If you click on the photo you can see the blank line where Colonel Thicko should have signed and the corrections that had to follow.


I went snokelling here. Apparently the bay was formed 10,000 billion years ago or something. Something to do with a volcano. What do I know? I teach History. But I did appreciate the pretty tropical fish and coral reef.


I wathced the sun set. That means that I have seen the sun rise and set right across the country which I think is pretty cool. I mean, granted not the same day but still.

Some people need to blog

I was just moaning to Megann that no one has been blogging and she asked if I had. So to make sure you aren't moaning about me I will blog. Not really sure what about - today was a jammie day - but it's never really stopped me before. I know, we'll have a photo review.

Photo Review: Sydney

The Sydney Opera House. We got to see the Symphony Orchestra play some Schubert. Alas we were sitting behind them because we were kind of last minute but we did get to see the gusto of the conductor. He had a lot.

I spent the day at Olympic Park. I hope the 2012 people are aiming for something like this, it is fantastic! I hired a bike and cycled around the place and then had a tour of the stadium. Here I am practising my starts.

Then I went swimming in the Olympic pool which was very cool. And cold actually. It's kept to a lower temperature to help the swimmers apparently. It's supposed to be a fast pool for all sorts of techincal reasons I can't remember now but I don't think I broke any records. I definitely did not do this length in one breath like I could do my pool in Singapore.

I can't remember whose foot this was but seriously, look at the size of it compared to mine! It's a whole big toe bigger than mine! That's a paddle for crying out loud!

Oh yes I did! I have wanted to climb the Sydney Harbour Bridge forever! I saw Matthew Pinsent be interviewed at the top of the bridge during the Sydney Olympics and so I was for sure doing this in Sydney! I was headed there after Olympic Park, where it had been a beautiful day. Except that when I came out of the pool it was pishing down. Getting the train back to the city, it turned into a thunderstorm and I was not happy. That's the only weather they don't allow you up in. But by the time my turn came, the storm had passed and when I was up there was hardly even a breath of wind!

Coming back down was beautiful because the lights were on. This is not a fake photo, I promise!

The next day I took a tour to the Blue Mountains. On the way we stopped at a wildlife park where you got to feed kangeroos.

The Tasmanian Devil made me laugh, he just ran around in a circle the entire time. Look at him go!

The Three Sisters. There's some story relating to why they are the three sisters. Our tour guide told us one story while the information at the place told a different one. But they don't look like sisters to me at all, more like fingers really.


I swear this man is Jim Robinson! I took a million photos of him to prove it to you all but none of them look as much like Jim as he was. Seriously, if it wasn't for his German accent I would have asked him for an autograph!

Which reminds me of another look-a-likey in Brisbane. Captain Birdseye! (On the left people, on the left!)


In the Blue Mountains we got the steepest tram in the world down to the rainforest floor. It felt like a journey to the centre of the earth!

Through some good old NI six degrees of separation I met up with Jenny, who went to my school! She lives at Bondi Beach so we had lunch there. Then it started to rain.

One evening I went and took photos of the bridge and Opera House. It turns out when you take 500 photos of something, you can get a good one!

Ah the Delta fans. This is from after going to see her. Behold the signed poster! On the suitcase is the CD and some sweets one of the entourage gave to them. Apparently they were actually Delta's! Wowzer.

On my last day I went up the pylon of the bridge which allowed me to get yet another 100 photos of the bridge and Opera House.

So that completes the Sydney photos. Next up will be Hawaii.