LAKSA

Oh my god.

I miss Mexican food (like really cheesy, bad Mexican) so much. I miss Taco Bell, too, but we won't talk about that.  I've had some mexican food here.  Look, it's better than what I had in the UK, where they don't even sell Black Beans. But, it's not the same!!

So, every time I crave mexican, I make up for it by eating copious amounts of sushi. Or, you know, other things that aren't so abundant in Ohio. I've been loading up on Vietnamese and Malaysian and Indonesian. I can never order something that I am use to having at home because, well, we don't have these things. 

Everyone kept talking about Laksa. My friend Rachel ordered one the other night when we were out and it is my new obsession. Coconut curry soup!!!  Filled with vegetables and tofu--I order it vegetarian because the idea of fish cakes is still weird to me. It tastes like sweet heaven and I want to live in a land of LAKSA.

The thing that I find myself missing are foods and smells. Things that you don't realize you miss. You know you will miss your friends and family. But, I miss the smell of the farm. For real. And the wonder bread factory. And snow.

And what's weird, is that one day I will miss the smells and tastes of Melbourne. And it's not like home, where I will always come back to it. Leaving to come back to Ohio is making me realize that one day, I will leave this place for good.

And then, I will miss Laksa.

The Best Little Whore House

Madame Brussles.

Apparently, this place got it's name from, you guessed it, a madame. She ran brothels. She took care of her ladies.

Looks nothing like a brothel. It looks like a 50's patio. And I'm told in the summer, they have a pool.

Right now, they offer you hot water bottles and blankets.

They serve punch in glass pitchers. And when I walked in they were playing the soundtrack to Dirty Dancing. And all the boys that worked there were wearing white pants, sailors caps and polo shirts.

I felt pretty fancy so I ordered and Old Fashioned.

Old Fashioned is a really gross drink.

And the show goes on...

You all know I am working on a show, right? For Melbourne Fringe festival.  Which is quickly approaching. And, sort of scaring the hell out of me. I have two weeks until I leave and 9 weeks until festival and, whoa, is there a lot of work left to do. But, it's getting there. And thank God, most of it's over. Like there are posters now, and working out the tech  and some rewrites. But press things are done. Photos are done. The mass of re-writes are done, though I will continue to change this bitch until I am on stage. 

Anyway, writing all that is just making me nervous. The whole reason why I am on here is to share some images that my flatmate took for me. He is a really ace photographer. Matt Solomon. <Just for reference, that's the link to his page there, just click on his name.  Oh, and there are some boobs on there, so just be aware of that. So, he took these for me. Which was really nice of him. 

 

Anyone For Tennis?

So, like 90% of my friends here are comedians. I laugh a lot. They are all very clever.

As comedy if performed in front of an audience, there is not great oppurtunity for my far away American friends to see all of my new Australian friends and what they do.

But, one comedic duo just released what I think is maybe the best youtube video of all time...

Doody and Jase make up Anyone For Tennis? Besides being funny, they are heaps nice! 
They have made several other video clips that are smart and creative, but I've never seen anything like this on the interwebs before.

Trams

I live on a tram line-- the 86 tram. It can get a little loud at night but I have learned how to sleep through it. And, I love walking less than a block when I need to catch the tram. I might have taken less great Australian road trips since I've been here, but I can definitely manage this city with out a car. Between 8am-7pm, a tram comes every 8 minutes or so. It takes less than 10 minutes to get to the city and from there, I can go anywhere by train.

The trams here lack the certain, adorableness factor that the buses in Edinburgh had. Last week while riding the tram, I witnessed 2 physical assaults. Then again, the trams here are taking a few more people around. And while public transportation in America that isn't in New York or Chicago frightens me, here, even when people are a little crazy on the tram, I still feel pretty safe.

During comedy festival, there was a show here called Stories from the 86 Tram. This guy, called the Bedroom Philosopher did 12 different characters from the tram line that lives on my street. This one is about the suburb just north of me:  Northcote--So Hungover.

Coming Home

Hello. I will be back in America in a little over a month. I leave here on Sunday the 15th and arrive in New York the morning of the 16th...early. I am coming home on the 19th I think...Mindy's hen doo is the 21st. The wedding is the 28th. I leave on the 7th from Columbus.

Things I look forward to seeing, besides all of you....
1. corn
2. beer, like proper beer (do you know that it's like impossible to get a decent IPA here?)
3. taco bell
4. proper mexican food
5. my summer clothes...sandals and dresses
6. cheap pop, i don't even like pop, I just think it's crazy that it's $3 a can here
7. people who call it pop
8. driving
9. 24 hour things
10. corn


Things I will hate about home before I get off the plane...
1. boys who don't wear skinny jeans
2. bad music, they really do play less of it here
3. avocados
4. lack of public transport
5. american accents
6. that my apartment in melbourne doesn't live there

My flatmate is a photographer. And he has directed a few video clips. And he was hired on to direct for Big Scary, this amazing band from Melbourne. And he asked me to choreograph. So, today we went to a huge mansion in the suburbs...like properly huge....and we had a few kids and the band. I choreographed a little waltz. It was heaps fun. I'll let you know when the video is done and there should be a link so you can watch it.