Tuesday, 22nd June 2010:
Woke up a lot earlier than usual at 7:15. I had to get up that early to make it to a Skype call with some mates back at school. I’ll be doing the same tomorrow. No time for T.V. this morning. It’s cloudy and miserable, and, crap… it’s raining. There is a tenant in the above apartment that is moving furniture around on the floor, and it’s making a really deep rumble. Every time we hear it, we have to question whether it was thunder from the rain or him shifting chairs.
I had to be down at the computer shop by 10:00 to start a Skype call with some mates back at school, so there was no time for T.V. Okay, maybe just a little bit. Once down there, I logged onto Skype and started a blog for my online journal. That’s the one you’re looking at right now. An hour later, I left and went back to the apartment. Had lunch and embarked out to Pacific Fair. Pacific Fair was going to be the place where Mum and Dad would mail Mahala’s homework back to Mrs. Richardson, but when we got there, she for got to bring it. The time was 12:00 when Dad left to get the homework from the apartment. It was 1:45 when he returned. During this period, me, Mum and Mahala all sat down on the couches in front of the post office waiting for him to return. Mum reckons that he must have caught every red light on the way home, and on the way back.
Once we all split into groups, me and Dad mainly went to book shops. I bought Death Note Vol. 3 and also saw “Cyanide and Happiness” for $20 at QBD The Bookshop. Dad made a quick stop off at Kathmandu, which is in the same location as the Warner Bros. Store used to be. It was really depressing walking around in the skeleton of a shop I loved so much when I was a child. It was closed the last time we went there, but now that I’m older, I notice all of the art-deco features that have remained from the old shop. There is a giant movie theatre foyer that is above the main counter, and studio-style lights are everywhere. I’ll have to research it some more and find out what happened to it.
We met up with Mum and Mahala to have a coffee before we left. I had a mochaccino, and I really quite like them. On the way home, we passed Hooters. I tried my hardest to sneak a peek inside, but no one was in there. Damn, I’ll have to wait until we drive past again.
We had the same chicken for tea as we did the night before. Mahala actually ate all of hers tonight. It was a surprise I tell you. A surprise! I read all of the Death Note I had bought that day and fell asleep to the vision of Inspector Gadget. Gotta love Don Adams.
Wednesday, 23rd June 2010:
Woke up with the noise of Mahala lying in bed playing with a chest of draws. That really shits me. I was in a deep sleep. Jeez, oh well, I needed to get up early anyway. I had to be down at “Best Computers”, the local computer shop in Burleigh, for a Skype call to the lads back at school. Porridge for breakfast covered in cinnamon and sugar. Yet again, another nutritionist’s nightmare. I have taken what was a relatively healthy meal and dragged it down to the unhealthy food wasteland populated only by the brave and stupid. It probably isn’t that unhealthy, but I am in the mood to write something different.
I got down to the computer shop at 11:05. I was 5 minutes late but also 25 minutes early as the lesson started at 11:30. I updated some pictures on this blog and started the call. The call lasted roughly 30 minutes and all went well, I lost the connection a few times, but that was due to a dodgy Ethernet cable on my end. $5 later, I was back home, and have stayed there ever since.
On the lunch menu was a sandwich. Said sandwich was filled with nothing. Not even bread. You didn’t even get a plate to put your sandwich on. All you got was an order. An order that said “Go make yourself a sandwich”. The sandwich mentioned above is just a name. I had to put in the hard yards to turn the name into an actual sandwich! No matter though, because it resulted in a great sandwich. I’m quite pleased with myself. Could have done with some onion though.
That afternoon’s T.V. highlights included: “The Sleepover Club, The Nanny, Spliced, The Koala Bros., Pinky, Elmyra & The Brain, Hogan’s Heroes and probably some more that I can’t remember because they weren’t that great. There were 2 rainbow lorikeets that landed on the balcony rail while Mum and Dad were sitting outside. I snapped some pictures for your eyeballs to devour:
Not much happened that day, it was a rest day after all. Not that we were tired, far from it. So ummmm… I’ll do a fill in the blanks.
I fell asleep yesterday listening to an old album that my mom had. I really enjoyed it, though I had a weird dream. It was kind of like one of the old songs.
I've been workin' in Melbourne,
All the worthwhile day.
I've been workin' in Melbourne,
Just to pass the time away.
Don't you hear the whistle inserting?
Rise up so early in the morn.
Don't you hear Tom Hanks shouting
“Billy the dog, congratulated your horn? ”
Billy the dog, won't you congratulated,
Billy the dog, won't you congratulated,
Billy the dog, won't you congratulated your horn?
Billy the dog, won't you congratulated,
Billy the dog, won't you congratulated,
Billy the dog, won't you congratulated your horn?
Someone's in the bathroom with Billy the dog.
Someone's in the bathroom, I know.
Someone's in the bathroom with Billy the dog
Strumming on the old kazoo.
It was the weirdest dream I've had in a long time!
Before going to bed we watched “Spicks and Specks” & “The Gruen Transfer”. A decidedly entertaining way to end a boring day. I’m bored out of my brains, I’m tired (please disregard my previous statement in which I said that we weren’t tired) and sick of today. I’m going to bed, goodnight.
Thursday, 24th June 2010:
Woke up at 8:30. I tried to pick up the mood of yesterday by watching some Inspector Gadget, but after 1½ episodes, I was tired enough to go to sleep. Today we are going to Robina Town Centre. I’ve been waiting to go there ever since I discovered that it was the biggest shopping centre in the Southern Hemisphere or something like that. Don’t quote me on that though, because I’m not that sure that it true.
We didn’t leave for Robina until 10:45 because Mum and Dad, and admittedly me as well, had our heads stuck in the T.V., because of Julia Gillard’s take over as the prime minister. We all agreed that Julia would make a better prime minister than Krudd, but we didn’t like the idea of Wayne Swan being deputy prime minister.
Robina is big. Really big. Very big. There is probably another adjective I could use to describe the sheer size of that joint, but I do like to try and give of the impression that I take redundancy seriously. Hugely big. They have everything from an “Aldo” to a “Zelows”. And I have no idea what either shop is. They do have other meaningless shops like an “Apple” store and such. You know, the shops that you generally want to avoid.
The big draw for me, however, was “Borders” and “Grill’d”. Borders because of the huge amount of Manga that they carry in every store I’ve ever been to, and Grill’d because they made the best burgers I have ever had the pleasure to mash up into a watery mush and digest in my gastric system. (Believe me, it’s a good thing.)
At Borders, I purchased Death Note Vol. 4 & 5. I am really happy that I have bought two at the same time instead of just one. Now I can continue the story with little or no delay. Yay! At Grill’d, I had a “Summer Sunset” burger. It was pretty small and I swallowed it in a flash but it was delicious. I think I’ll get a “Queenslander” next time we go there.
After lunch we walked around the shops for a little bit longer. I found Apollo Justice for $12 at “GAME”! Everywhere else, they sell it for $70. The award for “Bargain of the Trip” has officially been handed to me. I sat up late into the night to finish the first case of this great game.
Today entry makes it seems like not much happened, but a lot did. I just have a severe case of writer’s block and I can’t think of anything interesting to write at all.
Friday, 25th June 2010:
Woke up when I heard the noise of Mahala fumbling around with her DVD player. Trying to put on “A New Hope”. I wish she would try to be a little bit quieter. We both decided that we didn’t want to get out of our beds, so we went about our separate activities. I played Apollo Justice, while she watched “A New Hope”.
The time eventually came to get out of bed and start a day of total clean up. It was a clean up day because Granddad and Vangie were coming up for the weekend. The kids are getting kicked out and had to clean up their room so that it could once again become a habitable environment.
Once that was all completed and we had had lunch, I set about reading Death Note Vol. 4 & 5. They are very good books, and I would recommend them to anyone. Just so long as they can cope with the reading style. That being from back to front, and right to left. But don’t worry, you still read from top to bottom.
Granddad and Vangie arrived at around 4:30 and from then onwards, I just sat around doing nothing. I had finished both of my books and was eagerly awaiting the next time I go to Robina or Pacific Fair, so that I could buy another one.
Me and Mahala were sleeping at Nan & Pa’s unit for the night, so after tea, we were escorted out of the building and taken to their unit. They sat up until about 10:20 watching St. Kilda play the Cats. The Saints won in the end, the Cats weren’t playing very well after half-time.
Very tired and worn-out, I hopped into bed and played Apollo Justice until about 10:45, when my eyes wouldn’t stay open anymore.
Saturday, 26th June 2010:
I tried my best to get a good sleep-in at Nan & Pa’s, but I ended up getting out of bed by 8:30. The beds there are soooooooooooo much better than back at Mum & Dad’s. Mahala had already gotten up and was watching a truly awful show that goes by the name of “Sumo Mouse”. The story is about a mouse that turns into a sumo wrestler when he puts on an old mouldy ancient wig. And his evil arch enemy is, you’ll never guess this, a CAT!!! Once that was done, “Ben 10: Alien Force” made an appearance and it was the best episode I have ever seen. It had a dude that made the best angry voice ever. I’m pretty sure that he also did the voice of an Army General in the Roswell episode of Futurama, and the guy in the Army that lead all of the War Games around Springfield in an episode of The Simpsons. He has one of the best voices I’ve ever heard.
We got to Mum & Dad’s at around 11:30. Dad formulated the idea of going to my aunty’s after lunch. 2 rounds of sandwiches later, we hit the road with me and Dad in the front, and Granddad and Vangie in the back. We stopped at Lennox Head for about 3 hours and had a really good catch-up. We went down to the surf club and had a coffee.
I had a mochaccino. I seem to have fallen in love with them ever since Pacific Fair. After leaving the surf club, we went for a walk around Lennox to inspect the damage. News buffs will probably remember that a tornado went through a small town in northern NSW. That small was called Lennox Head.
When it got cold we went back to her house and bid our farewells. We left by 5:00 and got home at around 6:15. For tea we had pasta with salad. I had two bits of garlic bread, and discovered that it hadn’t been through any type of abuse by heat at all. Mum was a bit embarrassed that she put uncooked garlic bread on the table, but two minutes later, there was hot steaming bread sitting in front of me.
After tea we watched “Doc Martin”. It has become some what of a family tradition now. Mainly because all the other channels have shit on at the time he’s on. After that, me and Mahala had to quickly down a hot chocolate as we were being shoved out the door to get back to Nan & Pa’s. I didn’t know Mum & Dad were that desperate to get rid of us. It was 10:20 before the thought of going to bed even entertained the mind. Another rollicking round of Apollo Justice sent me off to dreamland rather nicely.
Sunday, 27th June 2010:
Woke up really early, I believe the time was 7:15. I woke up because Mahala had started to watch a movie with her DVD player. The sound of her setting the god damn thing up and the noise that the movie makes, most of which was the Dolby Digital splash screen, was enough to get me awake. Knowing that I couldn’t get back to asleep, I started playing Apollo Justice. I finally decided to get out of bed by 8:00.
After having the usual for breakfast, we went down to Mum and Dad’s to see what was going to happen today. I had a shower and then found out that there was a market on over the road. We deduced that it would be a good idea to go over to the market and have a bit of a look around. It was a standard sort of market. Marketed as an arts and crafts market, this market wasn’t a very big market. The target market for this sort of market is the same market that the holiday market try’s to focus all of it’s marketing towards, tourists. The market was really quite a disappointment. There was nothing that caught my eye and there were no where near as many shops as the previous markets I’ve been to along the Burleigh esplanade.
After lunch, Dad said that he would take Granddad and Vangie up to his cousin’s place. I said that I would also come along. I don’t know why, I mean these sort of family outings are always boring. Maybe, somewhere in the back of my brain, there might have been some sort of hope that it would be fun. But just like most family orientated things on a holiday, I go along with it and it always turns out to be very boring. To try and lift the mood, on the trip over to Dad’s cousin’s place, I started a text chat with a mate. That proved useless however, since I was soon pressured into leaving the phone alone because it was making too much noise.
We went for a drive around in his BMW to look at the various sights and sounds around his house. I was sandwiched into the middle seat in the back, and it wasn’t fun. The seat was really hard and my ass went to sleep half-way through the drive. We drove past a giant housing development by the name of Sanctuary Cove. I’ll probably have to Google that joint, it’s huge.
Once back at Mum & Dad’s unit, we all walked down to the South Burleigh Surf Lifesavers Club for tea. We passed some fire twirlers on our way down, and they were waving around their fire like they were play toys. We missed most of the show because we were inside, but we did see the very end of it.
Because we had gone to the surf club, I missed out on watching Doctor Who. If anyone has seen it, don’t tell me anything about it because I am going to try and catch up on iView.
Once we had finished tea, we went for a walk back to Mum & Dad’s unit. The view of Surfers from the boardwalk was great, so I tried to snap some pictures. They weren’t to good as they were taken on a basic Kodak camera. Here are the best two:
A hot chocolate later, we were spat out of Mum & Dad’s unit and driven down to Nan & Pa’s. Their unit is on the side of a really steep hill, I believe that I already mentioned that earlier in my first post. This hill isn’t really that friendly to many automobiles, the least of which being late 90’s sedans. For those who are wondering what type of car we have, we own a 1998 VT Commodore Executive. And yes, it is a late 90’s sedan. With Mum at the wheel, we started the hill climb up to Nan & Pa’s. She decided to not pull into the driveway of Nan & Pa’s unit, but instead to drive into the driveway of the block of flats behind their unit, as they always go through the back door instead of the front. The driveway was really steep, much like the hill. Driving down this driveway reminded me of a 4WD demonstration I had been in at a motor show in Melbourne. Once we all got out of the car, Mum had to reverse up the driveway, and I swear that at one point, the left rear wheel wasn’t touching the ground.
Before going to bed, I had a rather long-winded talk with Mahala regarding school diaries and Year 7’s. Mainly focusing on trying to uncover why they don’t use them. The main reason I got from her was that they couldn’t be bothered. Grrrr… To think that they just throw a vital piece of school life into their pile of… I don’t know… something. It’s too late, I’m going to bed.
Monday, 28th June 2010:
The last night of sleeping at Nan & Pa’s is over. I didn’t want to get up early so I just stayed in bed and played Apollo Justice. I’m up to the second case, I’ve played it before but I’ve forgotten everything. I finally got up and was down at Mum & Dad’s by 10:00. The plan for the day was to have a roast lunch down on the shop on the corner. I think it was called “Burleigh Tropicana”. After that, we would all go to the Gold Coast Airport and farewell Granddad and Vangie. For lunch I had roast pork, and surprising no one I finished the whole thing and asked for more. If pork is on the menu, I’ll always go for it. I have it just for the crackle, you can’t get anything better. Well, maybe chocolate bavarian edges a little bit in front of crackle.
Dad noticed a black VE ute behind us and went over to snap some pics. It had 22” rims and it didn’t want to be identified as a Holden at, all because lion badges were replaced with Chev badges. I hate it when people do that.
Like any other airport, you have to go through rigorous security checks before you are allowed to go through to the departure lounges. I had to take of my belt and hand in my camera, .mp3 player, in-ear phones, sunnies and shoes to get through the gate. Dad went through a drug test, and Mum went through an explosives test. Both returned negative results, but I’m not so sure that’s right. Right after the security checks, there was a giant plastic frog. It was love at first sight as the following photo reveals.
We waved Granddad and Vangie goodbye and drove into Coolangatta, eyes open for “That Shop”. We had no idea that they had other shops until we looked closely at their business card. They also have another shop in Byron Bay, and while we would like to go there as well, we most likely won’t have the time. At the Coolangatta shop, there was more of the same. It was a much bigger shop than the one in Burleigh though, and they had lots of L plushies, which I am very happy about. I thought that the one at Burleigh was the only one that they had.
Also at Coolangatta, we went to various second-hand bookshops to look at their wide range of manga. To cut a long story short, they had bugger all. A quick shop at “Aldi” later and we were on our way home. We stopped off at Nan & Pa’s unit to collect our stuff as we hadn’t bothered to take it back in the morning. For tea, we had leftovers and then watched “Good Game” before going to sleep. Featuring in tonight’s dream is the Nintendo 3DS.
Tuesday, 29th June 2010:
(Please note that the following entry for the 29th of June 2010 will be unusually short. This is because it was a very boring day, and I didn’t care to remember much of it.) Woke up at… sometime… I can’t really remember. Today we are going to “Trade Secret”. It is an outlet shop that sells various brands at supposed low prices. We got out there at another time that I can’t remember, and Dad spotted a bike shop. So Mum & Mahala went to “Trade Secret”, while me & Dad went to the bike shop. Dad spotted a bike for around $1500. It was discounted and the RRP was $3000 or something, I can’t remember.
A guy in the bike shop had hooked his iPod up to a set of desktop speakers. He had an entirely Gorillaz playlist playing. That was probably the highlight of the day. That and watching “QI”.
At “Trade Secret” I found some shirts with various pop culture icons on them, I didn’t end up getting them.
For tea, we had a pie from Safeway. I was promised a Big Dad’s pie. I was annoyed. Mum & Dad called it a “Big Stooge’s” pie.
I screwed the vertical blinds in the unit.
We watched “QI” and then went to bed. I read the Whitepages before going to sleep, then played Apollo Justice.
Wednesday, 30th June 2010:
I woke up at another time that I can’t remember. Had a shower and went out to “Cult” to see if they were selling any of their stock. They closed down in 2007, but their HQ is still there. On arrival, the shop was shut and there was only “Billabong” stock inside. It seems that they have bought the building.
Got home and made a terrible sandwich. It fell to pieces. We decided to go to another “Trade Secret”, so after lunch we got ready to go out there. When Dad reversed the car out of the driveway, the battery light wouldn’t turn off, meaning that the alternator had screwed itself. Not wanting to risk the journey, Dad said that we weren’t going to go anywhere further than walking distance today. He pulled the alternator off while Mum watched a terrible adaptation of “Mansfield Park”.
Once Dad had finished dismantling the car, he noticed that me and Mahala were on the brink of turning into vegetables because we were so bored. In his desperation Dad suggested that we go for a walk to entertain us a bit. So me and Mahala went down to James St. to have a look around.
We stopped at “Lifeline” because Mahala was looking for ballerina statues. I also went and looked at their video games. All I found were really old PC games and games I’d never even knew about like “Ignition” and “Tomb Raider 4”. I didn’t even know there were 4 classic “Tomb Raider’s”. There was more of the same at the “Salvo’s Shop” and we were soon on our way to “That Shop”. We spent about 20 minutes there talking and having a good time with the girl that always works there. I asked her if she knew of any shops that sold old discontinued games, and she said that there was a place in Southport that she saw. She didn’t give me a name, but that just increases the enjoyment and satisfaction in finding it. Like finishing an adventure game without consulting GameFAQS. (My current adventure game belt includes, Grim Fandango, Full Throttle, LOOM, the entire Humongous Entertainment collection & many more that I can’t think of.)
We then went down to “Cold Rock” to try and buy an ice cream with the money that Mum gave us before we left. She gave us both $5, but when we went down to the shop, a small cup cost $4.40. For a mix-in, the whole point of “Cold Rock”, it cost an extra .90¢. All up, $5.30 was required to get a small cup of ice cream with a mix-in. We didn’t have enough money to get one, so we thought “Screw you “Cold Rock”! Screw you and your excessively high prices for very small amounts of dairy.”
Down the street we went to try and find a Drumstick or other much larger and less expensive ice cream confection. We tried the tobacconists as they had a small fridge at the front of the counter. Their range of ice creams could best described as bugger all. They had nothing of interest at all there. So, we moved on. We found a big fridge that had a lot in it. Mahala got a Golden Gaytime, while I got a Peppermint Magnum.
To get back to our unit, we had to walk past the tobacconists. We both hid our ice creams as best we could because when we left the shop before, I could tell by the guy’s expression that he was pissed.
Once home, more of the same happened until tea time. Dad borrowed Nan & Pa’s car and went and bought a new alternator. And Mum finished watching her terrible DVD’s. I had a look through the Whitepages and found a shop in Robina that goes by the name of “Anime Shuuken”. I was really interested in it so I gave them a ring. The guy I got told me that they sell everything Japanese. From anime to manga, and merchandise to snacks & drinks. I’ll have to go there as soon as possible.
After tea, we watched “The New Inventors”, “Spicks And Specks” and “The Gruen Transfer”. If you can’t tell already, we are an ABC family. It is the channel that seems to be on the most. Before going to bed, I set the alarm on my DS to 7:00. I wanted to get up that early because Mum & Dad always go on walks and next morning I wanted to go. I played Apollo Justice before turning in.
Thursday, 1st July 2010:
I woke up at 7:00 on the dot. I think I might have to re-think this getting up early thing. I stayed in bed to see if Dad or Mum got up to get ready. I heard nothing for about half and hour, so I went back to sleep. I finally got up at 8:00 only to have Mum & Dad come through the front door at around 8:30. I didn’t really mind that much because it was a freezing cold morning and they both came back with bright red noses.
After breakfast, me and Mahala went for a walk down the street. I had to go down to “That Shop” again to ask the girl to be more specific about the location of this gaming shop. Since I am yet to find employment, the idea of a work roster didn’t cross my mind. When we got down there, we discovered that she doesn’t work on Thursdays. I’ll have to try again tomorrow.
Before leaving the unit, Dad told us of a bunch of radio and T.V. people that were setting up outside of “Mermaid”. He told us to head down there to have a look, and also he said that we might end up on the T.V. or radio or something. With the prospect of getting people’s attention without any effort, we set off to find future stardom. It turned out to be a community radio station broadcasting the results of a surfboarding contest. Oh well, maybe I’ll have to actually try to get into the public spotlight.
We stopped off at the newsagents to have a bit of a look, and to my surprise, the creepy porno guy was back flipping through this week’s latest editions. Needless to say, we weren’t in the shop for very long.
For lunch, we had more hand-made sandwiches. Today’s sandwich was much better than yesterday’s. It didn’t fall apart today and it actually tasted all right. We are going to try and do a repeat of yesterday’s planned activities today. Things like, going to the “Trade Secret” in Southport. We always go to that “Trade Secret” every time we come up here. We looked around there for about 2 hours, and in the process, I got two t-shirts. One with Superman on the front, the other with Batman on it. We all had a coffee at the big complex that is near “Trade Secret”. The coffee shop was called “Merlo”, and we were all served by the most awesome man in the coffee making business. He wore thick black rimmed glasses, had straightened hair and skinny jeans, and he would call everyone “dude” without fail. A quick mochaccino later and we were all on our way home.
We stopped at “Aldi” to get some things, and that was where we saw the gravy hedge. It was a normal, knee-high hedge that had a small packet of gravy stuck on the top of it. Me and Mahala both fell in-love with it instantly, and we’ll probably forget all about it in a day or two.
We watched “Grand Designs”, “Catalyst” and “Miracles” before going to bed. Yet again, the ABC governed another night. I am going to try and go for a walk tomorrow, and Dad has told me to set my alarm for 6:45. Mum said that I’ll have to put on my trackie’s since the mornings are really cold. I told her that that was fine, except that my trackie’s are about 1500kms South of my current position. But you know, that’s just a minor technicality.
Friday, 2nd July 2010:
Woke up at 6:30. Why did I have to wake up that early!?! It was probably because Mahala went to the toilet and was tossing and turning for about half an hour after that. My alarm went off at 6:45, but that didn’t make me get out of bed. I finally got up at 7:00 and me and Dad left on a walk at 7:10. We walked from our unit up to the North Burleigh Surf Club, and then back down to Nook’s coffee shop at the bottom of the beach. I had a mochaccino since it has now become my standard drink. It used to be iced coffees, but mochaccinos were the first to step in as ice was loosing it’s flair.
Today, the main activity is “Harbour Town”. An outlet shop shopping centre. Nan is coming with us today as well. We left at 9:30, so I had no time to go down to “That Shop” and ask the girl where that gaming place in Southport was. We arrived at around 10:30 and we immediately split up into groups. It was me & Dad, and Mum, Mahala & Nan. For nearly 5 and a half hours, we walked around looking at all the shops. I am going to officially christen today as, “The MOST boring day of this trip so far.” I did end up with a pair of new school shoes, but that didn’t help make the day any better. Apart from the shoes, there were two highlights of the day. One was a “Cherry Coke” spider, that was pretty awful anyway. The other was going home. While there, absolutely nothing interested me at all. Except for a couple of girls of course.
We got home at 5:45 and Mahala & Mum both went about showing off their swag. I was in a deeply shitty mood for the rest of the night, although I tried my hardest to bring some humour to anything. Terry Jones was back on the ABC tonight, following his atlas of roads that don’t exist or something. I zoned out half-way through, and I didn’t think it was that interesting anyway. After Terry, Miss Marple made an appearance on the ABC. After playing the entire Ace Attorney series, and getting into Death Note & L, I fell in love with the Miss Marple series instantly. I love all of this crime detectivey stuff. Especially Miss Marple since she can solve crimes and be an old lady at the same time.
After all that finished, I hopped into bed. Everyone else had already gotten into bed since they didn’t think much of Marple. I sorted myself out and I was in bed by 11:15. I didn’t bother setting my alarm because I was feeling really tired. The walks will have to wait.
Saturday, 3rd July 2010:
I woke up at 8:45. Just in time to catch the last of “My Gym Partner’s A Monkey”. I wish I was up earlier to watch the entire episode. I love that show. Today I am going to go down to the computer shop, “Best Computers” and update this blog. I got ready and was all raring to go with Mahala’s laptop in hand, so Dad took me down to the shop. When we arrived, we found out that the shop is only open on weekdays.
We got back about 30 minutes after we left. Dad stopped by at the newsagents to by the paper, and at “Brumby’s Bakery” to get some bread. Today, we are going to go to Pacific Fair to see “Toy Story 3”. We had the choice of a 3D version, or a non-3D version. We chose the non-3D version because me and Mahala aren’t sold on the idea of 3D just yet. While at Pacific Fair, I was hoping to get some more Death Note or to buy one of the Death Note novels that I saw there last time. One of the novels was titled, “Death Note: Another Note, The Los Angeles BB Murder Cases” or something like that. I was really hoping to buy that book because it has been mentioned in the manga already, and it wouldn’t give away any spoilers. The book didn’t have a sticker on it, so I took it up to the counter and asked the lady to scan it. She scanned the book, and looked bewilderedly at the computer screen. She said that the book would cost $78!. I was really confused. I knew that the price can’t be right, and I’m pretty sure the lady thought that it was a bit rich for a book the size of a DVD case. She asked another lady if she thought it was right, and she reckoned that the book was part of a set. The other lady got all the backcatalogues out and tried to find the book and compare the price. She looked through “D” in manga. Except, the title doesn’t start with “D”, and it isn’t a manga. After being unsuccessful in her search, she started flicking through the book, feeling the pages, looking at the pictures. She concluded that it was worth $78 because, “It’s a very high quality book”. I was going to say that there was another book, “L: Change the World”, that was much bigger, had more pictures and graphics and had a larger and more detailed slip cover. That book cost $30, but I didn’t want to say anything. I’ll have to wait until I get back to “Borders”.
The movie started at 2:20 and finished at 4:23, or so it says on my ticket. I’m not a guy that likes to give away spoilers, so here’s the trailer:
After the movie finished, we stopped at “Choclicious” to have a coffee. I had a mochaccino, I bet you didn’t see that one coming. I also had a licorice log. It looked like a long thin turd, but it tasted delicious. I picked up a pamphlet for their membership card (V.I.C.: Very Important Chocoholic), and I think I might join if there are any around Melbourne. If anyone goes to Pacific Fair, they have to pay a visit to “Choclicious”.
On the way home, I accidentally reset the trip log in the car, much to the displeasure of Dad. We saw a Falcon GT and an FB stationwagon. The pictures were taken on Dad’s phone so they aren’t great, but they are still pretty good for a phone:
So far, I don’t think that this trip in particular will rate very highly on the chart of QLD trips. The weather hasn’t been that friendly at all, I’ve been in pants everyday of the trip and I’ve only worn a t-shirt once. All the other times, I’ve been wearing a long sleeve t-shirt underneath a normal t-shirt. I also think that we haven’t gone out that much. There have been too many days where we stay home. And when we do go out somewhere, we always go out after lunch, so we only have about 4 hours before we have to come back home again. We haven’t done that many exciting things either. So far, the most exciting was Robina. I don’t want to come back from a holiday saying that everything was mediocre except for a giant shopping centre. And the only reason it gets points is because it has a “Borders”. If it didn’t have one, I wouldn’t really like it. So what I can draw from that is that the highlight of the trip was a bookshop. There has been no character to this trip at all. Most of the time we are sitting around on our collective ass’s doing nothing. I miss the days where we came home absolutely buggered and our feet were killing us. They have been replaced with days where we come home and sit around until bed time. There hasn’t been any long winded talks about the day’s events, or anything special that we have taken from past events. Except for the gravy hedge of course.
After tea, the night was dominated by the ABC, blah blah blah… It was the same as last night, and the night before, and the night before, and the night before… et cetera, et cetera. Nothing much happened until bed time, and then it was goodnight world.
Sunday, 4th July 2010:
For some stupid reason, I woke up at 7:15 this morning. I’m not sure what it was that made me wake up. Maybe it was the promise of an exciting event, or maybe I was so bored that sleep was no longer interesting. What ever the reason, I eventually got out of bed at 7:40. This morning, the Gold Coast Marathon is going to be run. When I got out of bed, I thought that it would be fun to eat some breakfast and watch some idiots run past in chicken outfits, wedding dresses, Batman costumes and the like. Imagine my despair when I was told that all of those guys would most likely be running the shorter marathon. The marathon that doesn’t reach or spot in Burleigh.
I don’t think I have mentioned this before, but our block of units is on the corner of First Avenue and The Esplanade. If anyone wants to bother looking it up on Google Maps or Earth or something, be my guest, because I don’t have the time nor the internet to do that.
This morning, the T.V. was taken over by Mahala, and we were quickly watching every show on GO! The shows included, “Camp Lazlo”, “Shaggy And Scooby-Doo Get A Clue”, “Tom And Jerry Tales”, “The Grim Adventures Of Billy & Mandy”, “Ben 10”, and “The Batman”. I love Sunday mornings.
While the marathon was still going, I took Mahala’s laptop outside to do some work on it. Well, when I say work, I mean play… video games. Anyway, the instant Mum saw me with the laptop, she told me to go back inside. Why did I have to go back inside? Because Mum believes that I was showing the whole world that there is a laptop in this apartment, and that it would make it a prime target for a burglar. I tried to stay outside because I wanted to play video games and watch the marathon at the same time, but Dad said that I should probably go inside. I could tell that he didn’t want to argue with Mum though.
There were only a very small selection of crazy people that ran past our unit in the marathon. There was a couple who ran in a tuxedo and wedding dress. There was a guy dressed up in a Superman suit who had an “M” on the front instead of an “S”. And there was also a guy from Taiwan, I think, who ran the whole thing backwards.
It was about 9:30 when the last runner past our place. There are lots of bottles of water all over the road that the runners threw aside during the race. I really want to drive along the gutters and burst all of the bottles.
It was 10:00 before I decided to have breakfast, but I was in a mood to go somewhere, so I suggested that we go down to the corner shop and a have their $6.50 breakfast. Mahala hadn’t had her breakfast either so she liked the idea. I had a shower and we walked down to the corner. When we got there, I ordered the “Big Brekky”. It had two eggs, two pieces of toast, a hash brown, a half-tomato & bacon. Mahala had had a Milo while I was in the shower, so she wasn’t all that hungry when she arrived. She ordered a single, poached egg and two pieces of white toast. She also ordered a juice called a “Leaping Frog”. It had apple, orange, pineapple and watermelon juices in it, or at least that is what she thinks. Even though it sounds giant, didn’t fill me up for long.
Today, we are going to go up to the Broadbeach market. We hope that it will be much better than the Burleigh market. We’ll have to wait and see… It was crap. Nothing to report at all, not very exciting, and I still have all of my money. We had about an hour to kill so we went for a walk around “Oasis” and the surrounding streets of Broadbeach.
We had to get back to the house by 1:30 to have lunch and allow time for Mum and Dad to get ready for “Mother Africa”. Pa had won two tickets to the show after going to see it and decided to give them to my parents. The show started at 5:15, but they had to be at the door by 3:30 for some stupid reason. While they were away, me and Mahala were to stay at the unit with Nan & Pa. The rest of the night was crap, except for the Big Dad’s pies that we had gotten for tea. We were really bored the entire time that we even resorted to throwing cushions across the lounge room.
We watched “Top Gear”, and “Doctor Who” after tea. “Top Gear” was good, although I hate what WIN has done with their scheduling. I don’t think a new episode of “Top Gear” has been shown since late last year. “Doctor Who” was one of the best episodes I have ever seen. *Spoiler Alert* I hope Amy comes back to life *Spoiler Alert*.
Mum and Dad came home at 8:30 and raved about the show. They believed that me and Mahala would have loved the show, but the promise of a Big Dad’s pie and “Doctor Who” was too much to sacrifice for a stage show. Dad told me that tomorrow me and him are going to go to Dick Johnson’s workshop for a second time. We went there 8 years ago when I was 8 years old. I still have the ticket floating around somewhere back at home. We are also going to go to “Holden – The Driving Centre”, it has been 8 years since we have been there as well. We were also going to try and go to a motorcycle museum out the road, but Dad thinks that we won’t have enough time to go to all of these places in a single day. He says that instead of going to it, we might call into Robina. Yay! There is a happy feeling inside me now.
While we were all sitting around the table, Mum asked us if there was anything else that we wanted to do. She said that we only have 2 days left in Burleigh. I said that there are lots of things that I want to do, but that there was not enough time to do it all. But when I think about it, I can’t actually think of anything good that we could do up here that we can’t do back in Victoria. Mahala can’t think of anything either except for going to “That Shop”. Mum can’t think of anything either. Mahala said that had Mum asked the question at the start of the trip, we would all have given her a tonne of answers. I don’t think that at all.
Everything that we have done on this trip, with the exception of a few small instances, we have been able to do anytime we liked down in Victoria. It’s quite a niggling feeling knowing that we have gone on a grand old trip and done exactly the same thing on a holiday as every other day back home.
No comments:
Post a Comment