OYO Australia Tour 2004 Memoir, Part II
As promised, here we have Sydney and Canberra from my awesome trip to Australia. Coming up soon will be the New Zealand part of the trip. I don't know how soon, don't ask me. But anyway, here we go...
Sunday, June 26
Sydney, Australia. Awesome. It was an early morning, lots of hectic stuff going on. But we got to the hotel. It took many days for our group check-in to work. Tim and I just went over to the “Oversize Baggage” place where we had put our cellos on the belt, and we chilled with the guys that were “working” there. Yea…it was Euro Cup going on again, Dutch versus some other team - Sweden, I believe. Boring match. Went into overtime, then into a PK fest. My team, the Dutch, won 5-4. Ruud Van Nistelroy is awesome. My dad liked the Dutch, and thus I like the Netherlands. They’re a good nation with some good soccer skills.
Well, anyway, after we finally managed to check-in, and get on the plane, it was just a lax ride over there. Sat next to Amanda Sims and T-Lo. It was alphabetical, so yah - that’s how it went down. Logan switched w/ Nico. Worked out okay. Short flight, caught an episode of “Two and a Half Men.” And then it was Sydney.
Sydney, being farther north of Melbourne, and closer to the equator, was quite a bit warmer than expected. That was nice - a chance to shed the clothing, yo. Anyway, had a good lunch upon arriving at the Sydney Riverside Theatre. It was pizza, and my group and I totally took helluvit. O yea, and T-Lo put into public the rap he made about Jessica. Sooo hilarious. His best work yet. And so he got all the ladies with that. And then I don’t really remember what happened. But yea, rehearsal started, and we were playing our light program, so “Porgy and Bess” got people all pissed again - especially Emily (“We need bowings!”… “We need bowings!”) Rawr, lol - I love you Emily. Anyway, so after rehearsal Bryan and I go down to argue about some bowings, and I transferred them to Emily. Finally, some peace in the cello section. Actually, not really - cuz we always make fun of Bridget and her solos, and her screwing up. Haha - that’s the only downside of being first chair I guess.
So anyway, then it was, I think, time for some joint rehearsals, and then a concert. Fun times. We really didn’t care too much about the concert. I just kept messing up. Tim was shaking his head at me, but hell - he messed like whoa in Melbourne, so wutever, dude, lol. The bowings really helped, I guess. I don’t think I really followed them in the end, but hell - it was just a light concert. Suppose I was still drained from MYO the night before. Anyway though, we made through it just fine. Played our encores like we always do, even though no one probably wants to hear them. The Sydney Philharmonic was a young orchestra. At Sydney, they have a lot and a lot of people in orchestras. There’s this SYP, then there’s Sydney Youth, then there’s World Youth, and that’s how it goes. So these guys were younger. It was kinda our turn to play MYO, I guess. They were decent.
Then it was the unexpected. We had host families!!! We were going to dinner with some host families, and I didn’t even know. Oh, but first the funniness. Brian Walsh decides it’d be smart to leave his passport down, inadvertently, of course. Some relative of his was there that he knew, so he dropped everything. And then Tim picks it up, and decides to make a fool out of him. So at the courtyard where we were going to meet our hosts, at the perfect moment of silence, Tim says to Brian - “Brian, you are an idiot.” And then there’s a chorus of people going “OOOOOO.” Brian gives Tim a fat hug, not aware that his passport was missing. And then, the details are hazy, but Tim takes off the passport bag he had around his neck, and strung it around Brian. And Walsh had this look on his face like - holy shit… Good times good times.
And then it turned out that Walsh, Tim, Me, and Jo Jung were headed off to the same host family! Actually - two host families that were going to party at one house. Awesomeness, dudes, awesomeness. Toby and Jack, and Jack’s brothers. T and J were in SYP, and Jack’s brother - forget his name - was in Sydney Youth Orchestra. It was great. Dinner was a bit small, we had links on bread. And no one wanted to get up for seconds. We sat outside, and just chilled. Some funny moments…Bwalsh going, “So, you guys are quite the musical family.” (then an awkward silence). And Walsh and Tim picking fights with each other, one after another. That was pretty hilarious. And me being stupid, “Yea, he (referring to Tim) likes to talk - he went into the 7-Eleven to ask where the heck the Seven-11 was. Dubya Tea Eff, Mate?” And it went on like that. Dessert was awesome. Pavlova, and some other stuff. Yummy.
After dinner we just kicked it by the TV. Us OYOers were sooooo tired from the lack of sleep the night before. We fell asleep watching some “Undercover Brother.” Yikes. Then we headed to the hotel. And yea - they were trying to make conversation with us in the car, and Tim just dropped out like a light, I was nodding off, and Brian was sitting there like he was numb and in shock. Jo I didn’t see, but it looked like he was a tad bit drained as well. He didn’t move. Anyway, then it was hotel time.
Hotel was awesome. My floor had this “common” area with couches. That was were you could just chill. So yea, that night was pretty mellow. Just walked around, laid around. Well, Sarah Lee came into my room, saying that her roommate was out, so she couldn’t get in or something. And she wouldn’t get off my bed. I wanted to sleep. But no, she was on it. I couldn’t do anything. So Jo and I dragged her out. Haha, it was awesome. And then - we finally got some sleep. Ahhh, bliss.
Monday, June 28
I promised myself I’d run. So I did. Woke up a bit earlier, and ran. Like, I set a freaking alarm for myself, and got up when it rang. It was about 7:20am, so I got my stuff on, and took off. Actually, I stopped at the concierge, and asked if there was any place to run. Since we had arrived so late last night, I really didn’t know which part of the city we were in. Turned out that we were in the center of downtown, which meant that there was really no place to run. But the guy there was cool, and told me about some Victoria Park a ways down Broadway, and also there was Sydney University next to the park. And so I was like, great - get to see the city.
Thus, off I went. It felt so good to run. And the first stretch was a downhill slope, so I was just flying. I loved it. Got to the park, and just ran all over it. Then after a while I ran back to the hotel as fast as I could. Greatness. The university looked pretty nice - I figured I’d check it out the next day or something.
Anyway, got back into the room all nasty and sweaty. Took care of that - cleaned up, and then ate breakfast and set off for a day of sightseeing. This was a part that really sucked. We had spent like four days in Melbourne, and we have basically one day to take care of Sydney.
First stop was The Rocks of Sydney. In other words, it was Old Downtown Sydney. Hmm, Tim, Logan, and I just walked around. We took a few pictures, wandered in some shops, and then found ourselves at a giftshop owned by these Cantonese speaking people. It was great - I knew they were from HK, but I didn’t say anything. Hmm, I bought a couple of things - a pin and a lighter. Never knew I’d buy a lighter, but those were just so cool. They lit up when the cap was popped, and then it burned green. Engraved was the Sydney Opera House. So I couldn’t resist.
Well anyway, time to go to Sydney Tower to eat some yummy lunch. Ended up at a table with Ruthie and Aga and T-Lo. So it was a tad awkward, lol. But wutever. Good food, they serve you quite nicely there u know…quite nicely. Ate a little camel, some emu which was awesome, and a bit of kangaroo, which was some tough meat yo. Haha, great view, fun times there. Good music in the bathroom too. I remember that because I think either Walsh or Tim or Logan dragged me into the men’s room to listen to music while we were just waiting in line to get food. Haha, awesomeness.
Next was a cruise around Sydney Harbor. It was quite interesting. Took good pictures with cool people. Chilled all around the pretty boat and all. Sat with Bridget, who gets seasick easily. We had quite a good talk. It was very interesting. Me and her just have the greatest conversations, I love it. I make fun of her a lot, but she’s one of the things I’m going to miss the most next year at OYO.
Well, the cruise took us near the wonderful Sydney Opera House. First stop was the giftshop, where I bought a whole lot of everything. I got postcards, keychain, and some other stuff. Then Jimmy talked me into getting a shirt also - because if we got two shirts under the same transaction, we could like - get a free mug. And we wanted to get the mug for Vidya, cuz we love her like whoa, lol. So - got a shirt. It was great, I spent like 50 bucks at the SOH giftshop.
Time for the guided tour. The guy had lots of good stories. The whole complex is a marvelous wonder. We walked inside the concert hall. It was humongous, and there was some dude like - working on the organ. The sound was crazy nice. So great, so great. Brian Nies was in our group. He let out the news that we were going to PLAY at SOH as part of the youth orchestra festival that they were having that week. But no. Smart fucks we all are - and we TURN IT DOWN. Omg. Yea, it almost felt like the tour was about to end for me right there. We TURNED DOWN playing at the Sydney Opera House. Holy sweet mother. It’s the SYDNEY OPERA HOUSE. Ayyyyy.
So that was it for the tour. It was a good one. Anyway, I thought it was time for some dinner, but first we had to go check out opals. Yes - this was quite a sad piece. See, this company does decide that it would be good publicity to get us into this opal selling place, show us what opals were all about, and then try to sell them to us. Genius, and I’m not even being sarcastic. They made so much money off of us, it was like wow. So yea - that was that. Nothing worth talking about really, we just went to a freakin opal place, lol.
FINALLY, time for dinner. Went to this place called the Little Snail Restaurant. It was a formal restaurant; high tech too, lol. They took our orders with a freaking pda that marked where we sat and everything. Oooh lala. Hahaha. But what was cooler than the food (which was classy, but tasted like cardboard shit), was the waitress we tried to get the attention of. Tim tried like 10 times to talk to her, cuz he thought she was cute. Logan tried desperately. They all like - moved their chairs out in the aisleway to block her and all that, lol. She never even looked at us. So great. Ooh man.
Welps, back to the hotel. We had completed the tour of Sydney in one day, yet I felt that we hadn’t really seen anything at all. Weird. Next day would be Canberra, but I promised myself that night that I would get up and run to Sydney University also - just to get a taste of what it was like. I already forget what we did that night…I think I did a small workout up in the little gym, then just chilled in the common room or whatever. I only did that workout just cuz I was uber-bored. Tim was gonna come up and join me, but he didn’t. Rawr, pansy, lol.
Tuesday, June 29
Yes, I got up to run. I realized that I saw more of Sydney by running than I did with the whole tour. So I did what I planned on doing - I ran to Sydney University, and looked around there. It’s a tight campus, renaissance architecture. Not too large, but pretty okay. Not thinking about going there, haha - but it was interesting to run around there. Alright, then I got back to the hotel. I kind of have to sneak and slip into the hotel, so that the chaperones wouldn’t see that I was alone. Didn’t want to run into any trouble breaking those rules about having to hang in groups of three. Wutever.
Hotel, shower, pack, eat, load, yea the same routine. We were headed for Canberra, the capital of the country. Sitting in a bus for three hours is something that I had to learn to get used to - because that’s what we did. We stopped after two hours to get food at a trucking stop. After that, it was the rest of the way down to Canberra.
Upon arrival, it was quite interesting. We went up to this huge hill where we could look down on the whole city, and the layout is pretty cool. It’s all symmetrical. Pretty tite. Anyway, Canberra is really barren. Nice buildings, but really nothing to see. The hotel was only three stories tall.
So it was time to check in. Let me take this opportunity to introduce a participant of the tour that we did not exactly ask for. Her name is Margot. She’s really weird. Annoying like no other, and her disgusting attitude manages to help her get everything she wants, because no one wants to deal with her. So the manager of the hotel was talking to us about the hotel, and at the end, Margot calls out, “Are there any other amenities?” Everyone pauses, and the manager starts to say something, when she interrupts again with, “Manicures? Pedicures? Bubble baths? (stuff like that)…” And then Jimmy calls out, “A personal manservant?” Yes, it was a good laugh.
Upon arrival to the room…I got shafted. I was rooming with Andrew and Bryan. So, two white boys and an Asian. Now, in the room, there are two double beds, and a roll-in. Guess who got the roll-in? Yea, yea - WTF, mate? Lol. Actually it was also cuz the roll-in was shorter than the other two beds, and I was shorter than the whities. Still, bleh. Lol.
So anyway, after settling in for a while, we just kind of chilled. T-Lo and I walked to “downtown” and got Starbucks. Tried to get Emily and Kate to come with us; they were looking just as bored as we were, but they turned us down. Lol.
Anyways, after a while of just sitting around doing nothing important, it was time to hang out with the Canberra Youth Orchestra. The way it worked out was that some people would go home with host families, while the rest would sight-read with the Winds section rehearsal, or at the Baroque rehearsal. Being a string player, I went to the Baroque rehearsal with just about everyone else. It was just gig stuff, sight-reading and all.
We arrived with our instruments, and got right to it. I was the “principal” of our section, because Bridget and Bryan were off with host families. So I sat inside, second stand next to this girl named Rachel. Let me take this time to point out how they talk. I said hey, and she responded with, “How you goin’?” And that took me back for a second. I understand “How you doing?” but “How you going?” was a little out of my league. Haha, I started using that here in America, and people looked at me funny. Anyway, we got started with some of the music. So I suck massively at sight-reading. And it was funny when I kept messing up. Their first chair player who looked like she was 25 at least kept looking back at me and smiling. So condescending, sheesh. And the kid in third stand, whose name was Vin, I think. He started hitting on Emily. It was funny; I mean, he was cool, but it was still funny. Cute funny maybe, lol.
Dinner was like the dinner at the host family in Sydney. Sausage and bread and salad, etc. Nothing too exciting there. Until the younger cellists - Josh mainly - started hitting Apocalyptica on his cello. So I got my cello out, and then Jimmy taught me and Jo how to play Skylife. It was great. Lots of fun. They wanted me to stay and skip the sight-reading, but I figured I might as well finish it off.
And it was during this section of rehearsal when I bloopered like no other. This section of some piece was in 8. And I started off counting in 4. So, when I came in, it was quite slient. And ummm, when I yelled “F***” it got a lot more silent. The conductor, who was a scary woman (too much nail polish), gave me this fat stare. Whooo - I was done for the night. Hahaha. I told Bwest later on, we had a good laugh. It was actually pretty damn funny.
Oh yea, then after rehearsal we had to wait for a bus to come pick us up, so we just hung around with the people there. I think that’s when Daniel and Josh tried to teach me how to C-Walk, and Jo too. And then T-Lo was macking on some girls, one whose name was Emily (more about her the next day). And so yea…that’s how it was.
So, bus ride back to the hotel. I guess this is the part where Ale would most enjoy reading. Logan and I were sitting together, with Ale next to us across the aisle. And then we started talking about…things…I decided it would be prudent to go across the aisle and hit on Ale. And then I guess Ale was drunk or whatever, lol (not really), and got into it. So after I pull this one move, she says, “Okay, I guess I’ll just spread out over here.” While saying that, she crosses her leg over mine, and, and…Logan got into it too, trying to pull her leg farther down so she would be on top of me. And all the while I was like - “Ale, I never knew!” Ooooh man it was classic. It took a while for Ale to realize what she was doing. Lol, Ale - you are so sexy. Hahaha. We be giving her a hard time about that from now on.
Back at the hotel, we huddled in Jimmy’s room and watched Alias, season finale, until a Chaperone kicked us out. Then it was time to sleep. Yay.
Wednesday, June 30
I had to debate with myself whether or not to run. Thing was, there was nothing to see. It was all barren countryside and all that. And it was kind of settled, since I woke up at a time when I could run, and then I fell back asleep. So, no chance.
This day was our one day to really experience Canberra. First we arrived at the Playhouse, where we dropped off our instruments and went to lunch. I totally forget where we ate. It was just a whole lot of walking around. Nice mall, though. Quite nice.
Okay, so then we gathered back at the Playhouse to await our next departure. While waiting, we played with the football that Josh had bought earlier. Tim tried to tackle me, missed, and just hit me hard on the mouth. I got pissed, but hell, it was all in good fun. Played some two-hand-touch. I scored a few touchdowns, got juked like whoa by Jimmy, stuff like that. It was fun.
Next stop was the US Embassy. Security checks…hardcore! While waiting for that to happen, Jo did his signature “Leprechaun” dance move for us. Awesome, it looks so great and hilarious. So the quartet with Sam, Danielle, Rachel, and Bridget plays for the embassy. They played some gig music, nothing crazy…until Sam totally missed a shift up, and it sounded like a rock guitar for about half a second. Classic. I took some pictures with the Ambassador, we made speeches, did visiting, asked them questions, all pretty boring. But still an honor to be there, u know how it is.
Back at the Playhouse. It was time for rehearsal and stuff. Same old routine. Nothing too crazy this time either, just another preparation for a concert. After the rehearsal we had dinner with the members of CYO. But before that, there was supposedly some drama in the orchestra. I’m not sure as to what it was all about. Something about Ale and Rachel maybe? Sarah wouldn’t tell me. Nothing else really happened. Emily told me stuff about her stand partner, but that was irrelevant. Hmmm, and Bridget started slapping my ass incessantly. And then this ass-slapping thing just started spreading throughout the orchestra. All of that was just beyond me, whoosh right over my head.
Dinner with them. Remember Emily from CYO? We were trying to get Logan to ask her over to our hotel and stuff, playing Telephone or Chinese Whisper. Funniness, it was great. I think she liked Andrew more though, because while Logan was trying to get her contact information later, Emily was asking for Andrew’s. LolZ.
Concert was nothing spectacular. CYO was not great at all. They played Beethoven’s Symphony No. 6, “Pastorale.” It was a piece that Bryan and I were going to play at Mendocino. They played it quite poorly, and it wasn’t even hard. Blech. I don’t even remember what we sounded like, but it didn’t matter. We’d been through this program so many times that it was like straight muscle memory.
Back at the hotel. It was a late night. I went over to Sarah’s room, and I watched Wimbledon there before I fell asleep on their bed. Me and Sam both. And then I went back to my room to sleep. Ayyy it was going to be an early morning. We were going to head back to Sydney so we could fly to New Zealand. Adios to Canberra.
Happy Reading, yo. I myself have to get going on some English Honors reading. Haha, peace.
Sunday, June 26
Sydney, Australia. Awesome. It was an early morning, lots of hectic stuff going on. But we got to the hotel. It took many days for our group check-in to work. Tim and I just went over to the “Oversize Baggage” place where we had put our cellos on the belt, and we chilled with the guys that were “working” there. Yea…it was Euro Cup going on again, Dutch versus some other team - Sweden, I believe. Boring match. Went into overtime, then into a PK fest. My team, the Dutch, won 5-4. Ruud Van Nistelroy is awesome. My dad liked the Dutch, and thus I like the Netherlands. They’re a good nation with some good soccer skills.
Well, anyway, after we finally managed to check-in, and get on the plane, it was just a lax ride over there. Sat next to Amanda Sims and T-Lo. It was alphabetical, so yah - that’s how it went down. Logan switched w/ Nico. Worked out okay. Short flight, caught an episode of “Two and a Half Men.” And then it was Sydney.
Sydney, being farther north of Melbourne, and closer to the equator, was quite a bit warmer than expected. That was nice - a chance to shed the clothing, yo. Anyway, had a good lunch upon arriving at the Sydney Riverside Theatre. It was pizza, and my group and I totally took helluvit. O yea, and T-Lo put into public the rap he made about Jessica. Sooo hilarious. His best work yet. And so he got all the ladies with that. And then I don’t really remember what happened. But yea, rehearsal started, and we were playing our light program, so “Porgy and Bess” got people all pissed again - especially Emily (“We need bowings!”… “We need bowings!”) Rawr, lol - I love you Emily. Anyway, so after rehearsal Bryan and I go down to argue about some bowings, and I transferred them to Emily. Finally, some peace in the cello section. Actually, not really - cuz we always make fun of Bridget and her solos, and her screwing up. Haha - that’s the only downside of being first chair I guess.
So anyway, then it was, I think, time for some joint rehearsals, and then a concert. Fun times. We really didn’t care too much about the concert. I just kept messing up. Tim was shaking his head at me, but hell - he messed like whoa in Melbourne, so wutever, dude, lol. The bowings really helped, I guess. I don’t think I really followed them in the end, but hell - it was just a light concert. Suppose I was still drained from MYO the night before. Anyway though, we made through it just fine. Played our encores like we always do, even though no one probably wants to hear them. The Sydney Philharmonic was a young orchestra. At Sydney, they have a lot and a lot of people in orchestras. There’s this SYP, then there’s Sydney Youth, then there’s World Youth, and that’s how it goes. So these guys were younger. It was kinda our turn to play MYO, I guess. They were decent.
Then it was the unexpected. We had host families!!! We were going to dinner with some host families, and I didn’t even know. Oh, but first the funniness. Brian Walsh decides it’d be smart to leave his passport down, inadvertently, of course. Some relative of his was there that he knew, so he dropped everything. And then Tim picks it up, and decides to make a fool out of him. So at the courtyard where we were going to meet our hosts, at the perfect moment of silence, Tim says to Brian - “Brian, you are an idiot.” And then there’s a chorus of people going “OOOOOO.” Brian gives Tim a fat hug, not aware that his passport was missing. And then, the details are hazy, but Tim takes off the passport bag he had around his neck, and strung it around Brian. And Walsh had this look on his face like - holy shit… Good times good times.
And then it turned out that Walsh, Tim, Me, and Jo Jung were headed off to the same host family! Actually - two host families that were going to party at one house. Awesomeness, dudes, awesomeness. Toby and Jack, and Jack’s brothers. T and J were in SYP, and Jack’s brother - forget his name - was in Sydney Youth Orchestra. It was great. Dinner was a bit small, we had links on bread. And no one wanted to get up for seconds. We sat outside, and just chilled. Some funny moments…Bwalsh going, “So, you guys are quite the musical family.” (then an awkward silence). And Walsh and Tim picking fights with each other, one after another. That was pretty hilarious. And me being stupid, “Yea, he (referring to Tim) likes to talk - he went into the 7-Eleven to ask where the heck the Seven-11 was. Dubya Tea Eff, Mate?” And it went on like that. Dessert was awesome. Pavlova, and some other stuff. Yummy.
After dinner we just kicked it by the TV. Us OYOers were sooooo tired from the lack of sleep the night before. We fell asleep watching some “Undercover Brother.” Yikes. Then we headed to the hotel. And yea - they were trying to make conversation with us in the car, and Tim just dropped out like a light, I was nodding off, and Brian was sitting there like he was numb and in shock. Jo I didn’t see, but it looked like he was a tad bit drained as well. He didn’t move. Anyway, then it was hotel time.
Hotel was awesome. My floor had this “common” area with couches. That was were you could just chill. So yea, that night was pretty mellow. Just walked around, laid around. Well, Sarah Lee came into my room, saying that her roommate was out, so she couldn’t get in or something. And she wouldn’t get off my bed. I wanted to sleep. But no, she was on it. I couldn’t do anything. So Jo and I dragged her out. Haha, it was awesome. And then - we finally got some sleep. Ahhh, bliss.
Monday, June 28
I promised myself I’d run. So I did. Woke up a bit earlier, and ran. Like, I set a freaking alarm for myself, and got up when it rang. It was about 7:20am, so I got my stuff on, and took off. Actually, I stopped at the concierge, and asked if there was any place to run. Since we had arrived so late last night, I really didn’t know which part of the city we were in. Turned out that we were in the center of downtown, which meant that there was really no place to run. But the guy there was cool, and told me about some Victoria Park a ways down Broadway, and also there was Sydney University next to the park. And so I was like, great - get to see the city.
Thus, off I went. It felt so good to run. And the first stretch was a downhill slope, so I was just flying. I loved it. Got to the park, and just ran all over it. Then after a while I ran back to the hotel as fast as I could. Greatness. The university looked pretty nice - I figured I’d check it out the next day or something.
Anyway, got back into the room all nasty and sweaty. Took care of that - cleaned up, and then ate breakfast and set off for a day of sightseeing. This was a part that really sucked. We had spent like four days in Melbourne, and we have basically one day to take care of Sydney.
First stop was The Rocks of Sydney. In other words, it was Old Downtown Sydney. Hmm, Tim, Logan, and I just walked around. We took a few pictures, wandered in some shops, and then found ourselves at a giftshop owned by these Cantonese speaking people. It was great - I knew they were from HK, but I didn’t say anything. Hmm, I bought a couple of things - a pin and a lighter. Never knew I’d buy a lighter, but those were just so cool. They lit up when the cap was popped, and then it burned green. Engraved was the Sydney Opera House. So I couldn’t resist.
Well anyway, time to go to Sydney Tower to eat some yummy lunch. Ended up at a table with Ruthie and Aga and T-Lo. So it was a tad awkward, lol. But wutever. Good food, they serve you quite nicely there u know…quite nicely. Ate a little camel, some emu which was awesome, and a bit of kangaroo, which was some tough meat yo. Haha, great view, fun times there. Good music in the bathroom too. I remember that because I think either Walsh or Tim or Logan dragged me into the men’s room to listen to music while we were just waiting in line to get food. Haha, awesomeness.
Next was a cruise around Sydney Harbor. It was quite interesting. Took good pictures with cool people. Chilled all around the pretty boat and all. Sat with Bridget, who gets seasick easily. We had quite a good talk. It was very interesting. Me and her just have the greatest conversations, I love it. I make fun of her a lot, but she’s one of the things I’m going to miss the most next year at OYO.
Well, the cruise took us near the wonderful Sydney Opera House. First stop was the giftshop, where I bought a whole lot of everything. I got postcards, keychain, and some other stuff. Then Jimmy talked me into getting a shirt also - because if we got two shirts under the same transaction, we could like - get a free mug. And we wanted to get the mug for Vidya, cuz we love her like whoa, lol. So - got a shirt. It was great, I spent like 50 bucks at the SOH giftshop.
Time for the guided tour. The guy had lots of good stories. The whole complex is a marvelous wonder. We walked inside the concert hall. It was humongous, and there was some dude like - working on the organ. The sound was crazy nice. So great, so great. Brian Nies was in our group. He let out the news that we were going to PLAY at SOH as part of the youth orchestra festival that they were having that week. But no. Smart fucks we all are - and we TURN IT DOWN. Omg. Yea, it almost felt like the tour was about to end for me right there. We TURNED DOWN playing at the Sydney Opera House. Holy sweet mother. It’s the SYDNEY OPERA HOUSE. Ayyyyy.
So that was it for the tour. It was a good one. Anyway, I thought it was time for some dinner, but first we had to go check out opals. Yes - this was quite a sad piece. See, this company does decide that it would be good publicity to get us into this opal selling place, show us what opals were all about, and then try to sell them to us. Genius, and I’m not even being sarcastic. They made so much money off of us, it was like wow. So yea - that was that. Nothing worth talking about really, we just went to a freakin opal place, lol.
FINALLY, time for dinner. Went to this place called the Little Snail Restaurant. It was a formal restaurant; high tech too, lol. They took our orders with a freaking pda that marked where we sat and everything. Oooh lala. Hahaha. But what was cooler than the food (which was classy, but tasted like cardboard shit), was the waitress we tried to get the attention of. Tim tried like 10 times to talk to her, cuz he thought she was cute. Logan tried desperately. They all like - moved their chairs out in the aisleway to block her and all that, lol. She never even looked at us. So great. Ooh man.
Welps, back to the hotel. We had completed the tour of Sydney in one day, yet I felt that we hadn’t really seen anything at all. Weird. Next day would be Canberra, but I promised myself that night that I would get up and run to Sydney University also - just to get a taste of what it was like. I already forget what we did that night…I think I did a small workout up in the little gym, then just chilled in the common room or whatever. I only did that workout just cuz I was uber-bored. Tim was gonna come up and join me, but he didn’t. Rawr, pansy, lol.
Tuesday, June 29
Yes, I got up to run. I realized that I saw more of Sydney by running than I did with the whole tour. So I did what I planned on doing - I ran to Sydney University, and looked around there. It’s a tight campus, renaissance architecture. Not too large, but pretty okay. Not thinking about going there, haha - but it was interesting to run around there. Alright, then I got back to the hotel. I kind of have to sneak and slip into the hotel, so that the chaperones wouldn’t see that I was alone. Didn’t want to run into any trouble breaking those rules about having to hang in groups of three. Wutever.
Hotel, shower, pack, eat, load, yea the same routine. We were headed for Canberra, the capital of the country. Sitting in a bus for three hours is something that I had to learn to get used to - because that’s what we did. We stopped after two hours to get food at a trucking stop. After that, it was the rest of the way down to Canberra.
Upon arrival, it was quite interesting. We went up to this huge hill where we could look down on the whole city, and the layout is pretty cool. It’s all symmetrical. Pretty tite. Anyway, Canberra is really barren. Nice buildings, but really nothing to see. The hotel was only three stories tall.
So it was time to check in. Let me take this opportunity to introduce a participant of the tour that we did not exactly ask for. Her name is Margot. She’s really weird. Annoying like no other, and her disgusting attitude manages to help her get everything she wants, because no one wants to deal with her. So the manager of the hotel was talking to us about the hotel, and at the end, Margot calls out, “Are there any other amenities?” Everyone pauses, and the manager starts to say something, when she interrupts again with, “Manicures? Pedicures? Bubble baths? (stuff like that)…” And then Jimmy calls out, “A personal manservant?” Yes, it was a good laugh.
Upon arrival to the room…I got shafted. I was rooming with Andrew and Bryan. So, two white boys and an Asian. Now, in the room, there are two double beds, and a roll-in. Guess who got the roll-in? Yea, yea - WTF, mate? Lol. Actually it was also cuz the roll-in was shorter than the other two beds, and I was shorter than the whities. Still, bleh. Lol.
So anyway, after settling in for a while, we just kind of chilled. T-Lo and I walked to “downtown” and got Starbucks. Tried to get Emily and Kate to come with us; they were looking just as bored as we were, but they turned us down. Lol.
Anyways, after a while of just sitting around doing nothing important, it was time to hang out with the Canberra Youth Orchestra. The way it worked out was that some people would go home with host families, while the rest would sight-read with the Winds section rehearsal, or at the Baroque rehearsal. Being a string player, I went to the Baroque rehearsal with just about everyone else. It was just gig stuff, sight-reading and all.
We arrived with our instruments, and got right to it. I was the “principal” of our section, because Bridget and Bryan were off with host families. So I sat inside, second stand next to this girl named Rachel. Let me take this time to point out how they talk. I said hey, and she responded with, “How you goin’?” And that took me back for a second. I understand “How you doing?” but “How you going?” was a little out of my league. Haha, I started using that here in America, and people looked at me funny. Anyway, we got started with some of the music. So I suck massively at sight-reading. And it was funny when I kept messing up. Their first chair player who looked like she was 25 at least kept looking back at me and smiling. So condescending, sheesh. And the kid in third stand, whose name was Vin, I think. He started hitting on Emily. It was funny; I mean, he was cool, but it was still funny. Cute funny maybe, lol.
Dinner was like the dinner at the host family in Sydney. Sausage and bread and salad, etc. Nothing too exciting there. Until the younger cellists - Josh mainly - started hitting Apocalyptica on his cello. So I got my cello out, and then Jimmy taught me and Jo how to play Skylife. It was great. Lots of fun. They wanted me to stay and skip the sight-reading, but I figured I might as well finish it off.
And it was during this section of rehearsal when I bloopered like no other. This section of some piece was in 8. And I started off counting in 4. So, when I came in, it was quite slient. And ummm, when I yelled “F***” it got a lot more silent. The conductor, who was a scary woman (too much nail polish), gave me this fat stare. Whooo - I was done for the night. Hahaha. I told Bwest later on, we had a good laugh. It was actually pretty damn funny.
Oh yea, then after rehearsal we had to wait for a bus to come pick us up, so we just hung around with the people there. I think that’s when Daniel and Josh tried to teach me how to C-Walk, and Jo too. And then T-Lo was macking on some girls, one whose name was Emily (more about her the next day). And so yea…that’s how it was.
So, bus ride back to the hotel. I guess this is the part where Ale would most enjoy reading. Logan and I were sitting together, with Ale next to us across the aisle. And then we started talking about…things…I decided it would be prudent to go across the aisle and hit on Ale. And then I guess Ale was drunk or whatever, lol (not really), and got into it. So after I pull this one move, she says, “Okay, I guess I’ll just spread out over here.” While saying that, she crosses her leg over mine, and, and…Logan got into it too, trying to pull her leg farther down so she would be on top of me. And all the while I was like - “Ale, I never knew!” Ooooh man it was classic. It took a while for Ale to realize what she was doing. Lol, Ale - you are so sexy. Hahaha. We be giving her a hard time about that from now on.
Back at the hotel, we huddled in Jimmy’s room and watched Alias, season finale, until a Chaperone kicked us out. Then it was time to sleep. Yay.
Wednesday, June 30
I had to debate with myself whether or not to run. Thing was, there was nothing to see. It was all barren countryside and all that. And it was kind of settled, since I woke up at a time when I could run, and then I fell back asleep. So, no chance.
This day was our one day to really experience Canberra. First we arrived at the Playhouse, where we dropped off our instruments and went to lunch. I totally forget where we ate. It was just a whole lot of walking around. Nice mall, though. Quite nice.
Okay, so then we gathered back at the Playhouse to await our next departure. While waiting, we played with the football that Josh had bought earlier. Tim tried to tackle me, missed, and just hit me hard on the mouth. I got pissed, but hell, it was all in good fun. Played some two-hand-touch. I scored a few touchdowns, got juked like whoa by Jimmy, stuff like that. It was fun.
Next stop was the US Embassy. Security checks…hardcore! While waiting for that to happen, Jo did his signature “Leprechaun” dance move for us. Awesome, it looks so great and hilarious. So the quartet with Sam, Danielle, Rachel, and Bridget plays for the embassy. They played some gig music, nothing crazy…until Sam totally missed a shift up, and it sounded like a rock guitar for about half a second. Classic. I took some pictures with the Ambassador, we made speeches, did visiting, asked them questions, all pretty boring. But still an honor to be there, u know how it is.
Back at the Playhouse. It was time for rehearsal and stuff. Same old routine. Nothing too crazy this time either, just another preparation for a concert. After the rehearsal we had dinner with the members of CYO. But before that, there was supposedly some drama in the orchestra. I’m not sure as to what it was all about. Something about Ale and Rachel maybe? Sarah wouldn’t tell me. Nothing else really happened. Emily told me stuff about her stand partner, but that was irrelevant. Hmmm, and Bridget started slapping my ass incessantly. And then this ass-slapping thing just started spreading throughout the orchestra. All of that was just beyond me, whoosh right over my head.
Dinner with them. Remember Emily from CYO? We were trying to get Logan to ask her over to our hotel and stuff, playing Telephone or Chinese Whisper. Funniness, it was great. I think she liked Andrew more though, because while Logan was trying to get her contact information later, Emily was asking for Andrew’s. LolZ.
Concert was nothing spectacular. CYO was not great at all. They played Beethoven’s Symphony No. 6, “Pastorale.” It was a piece that Bryan and I were going to play at Mendocino. They played it quite poorly, and it wasn’t even hard. Blech. I don’t even remember what we sounded like, but it didn’t matter. We’d been through this program so many times that it was like straight muscle memory.
Back at the hotel. It was a late night. I went over to Sarah’s room, and I watched Wimbledon there before I fell asleep on their bed. Me and Sam both. And then I went back to my room to sleep. Ayyy it was going to be an early morning. We were going to head back to Sydney so we could fly to New Zealand. Adios to Canberra.
Happy Reading, yo. I myself have to get going on some English Honors reading. Haha, peace.