Fight Club

Today was a wasted day. I was done with Melbourne yesterday but my car won't be ready until tomorrow so I just hung around today. I rode the subway. I just took it until it ended and came back. I picked up some chocolates from a local chocolate place.
I got chocolate covered mango and ginger just to try them. You would figure most things covered in chocolate would be good. Mango, ok. Ginger. Not so much.

So I got back to the hostel. Bumped around and thought, "What the hell am I going to do tonight?"

Well, what do you think I did?

I get to the crap table and it's full. Really full. Both sides open and loud. I muscled in between two guys at the end and waited my turn. Asian guy was there but I didn't pay him any mind.

The guy next to me was a russian guy. He and his wife rolled, but nothing big happend.

Until I got the dice. I picked two dice with one dot up. My point was a ten. I rolled, 5, 6, 4, 8, 8,....they kept coming....then 10. I hit six back to back.

I felt good.

My point was 4 and I shit you not. I rolled for 40 minutes. The russian guy, Sal...had good money on the table, 300 $AU on the 6 and 8 and the rest covered, and I was hitting them. Sal bet the horn for me and I hit it! 40 minutes.....until the end.

I pounded the table and threw the dice. 4 came up hard and the whole table roared. Two guys opposite me yelled and threw their arms up. Sal shook my hand and smiled. For that minute I was a rock star.

I rolled a couple of times after that then crapped out, but when I left the table everyone said good bye.

I got back to the hostel and watched the end of "Fight Club".

Not a bad way to end the day.

My car will be ready in the morning.

Now I'm done with Melbourne.

melbourne day 2

Not a lot of homeless people here. Some crazy people but they seem to have places to stay.

Melbourne has a free tram that goes around the center of the city. I was waiting for the tram outside the casino and a guy came off, yammering, "and to hell with you and your coke!". He looked at a guy sitting down the stand from me and yelled at him, "Don't drink coke!" and shuffled away.

I went to an art fair, two art musuems and wrapped up at the casino.

Art fair, ok.

Museums, ok.

Casino. They had a crap table! Yea!
So I get to the table and half of it is closed! What the hell is that! There was no place to get in. I had to lean in and spread these two guys out so I could get to the rail.
So this young asian guy is rolling, and boom! He craps out. He's betting 300, 400 per point, so I don't like him already.
I next to him so the dice come to me. I love seeing the dice come off the stick. Six dice slide up. I pick the two with six up. I pound the table and there I go. 7. Winner. Asian guy wins. He has 125 on the line.

I roll a ten, I bet the inside and the numbers are coming, 6, 9, 10, 8, 9, 6, 6.....Asian guy is betting and making a lot of money, but we don't even look at each other, thats the way you do it.

10 comes easy. Nice. I feel good.

I crapped out and this guy comes up with his girlfriend and she rolls. She rolls two sevens and makes a six right off. I'm making money asian guy makes handfulls of black chips, then she has to make a ten. Asian guy says "I don't think she can make that ten."

I don't know if she heard it or not but the next roll the dice hit the felt crashed into each other in the air in an odd way...and 7.

I should have left right there. This guy is making money and he turns on her.

The table got cold after that. I rolled and nothing was coming so I left.

I pulled the strap off of my backpack, so I spent about fifteen minutes on the bank of the Yarra river watching the sun and birds and sewing my strap. Not too bad.

I took some pics but the hostel doesn't have a usb port on this computer, so pics will come in a couple of days.

Later.

long long ride

I had to wait 3+ hours in LA to get on the plane. When I got to the terminal it turns out my flight was not direct, we stopped in Auckland for 2 hours. There was an 11:00 PM flight that was direct, which turns out landed at the same time as my plane.

Anyway, Qantas did a pretty good job. The plane was nice and the entertainment system had individual movie choices, with ff and rew and music. Pretty damn good.

I ended up in the air between LA and Melbourne 16 hours. 3 Hours for customs and immigration and boom I'm on the street.

Melbourne is pretty much like any other big city. It feels alot like LA to me.

The people here say "no worries" instead of thank you, which I think is cool.

I got on the tram to my hotel and there was a drunk guy sleeping in the first seat. A girl sat across from him and he snarled. She was horrified and got up.
I'm from LA. Unless he's projectile vomiting, I've seen it before.

I got to my hotel and napped.

Now I'm out to see what's around.

more later-

eclipse video

this is the video I shot in Saluum during the eclipse.
I am basically and stuttering idiot but what I was seeing was unbelievable.

february

This year has been tough. A lot of stuff changing....good and a lot of bad but that's life.
I haven't really been excited about my trip this year but as time gets short I'm really looking forward to just getting the hell out of town and changing my head a bit.
I'm making the last few changes to my schedule.

journal writing

Yesterday, I waited for my sister to pick me up from he bus stop. It had rained all day and I stood in the bus shelter trying to say dry. I looked down in a puddle and found a wad of paper with writing on it.

It looked like composition writing from a high school girl's keeping journal. I normally would not read someone elses journal but pages face down in a puddle on the sidewalk, I condsider public domain.

I'm transcribing them here word for word. The pages turn out to be a vaguely interesting find:

Well I felt torn after the Lord kept telling me to, and this young girl came to My tarler with an older man and I ask if she was her daughter and he sayed no and they life and a wall they were there the Lord spoke to me and sayd the he did terible harm to her and he was in grate trouble and I prayed and did not see her again and she sayd in a dream hle me and the Lord came to me a few days latter and someone, told me that they man was doing a lot of bad things and ask what I would do and she was hurtin young pople and this man asked what I wood do and he lord spoke throu me and sad that I wood hurt but not kill him and he sayd (this part of the page was torn out) and the Lord says (page torn out) me to go to Oregon by (page torn out) I had to pray (page torn out) it and he sayd (page torn out) it was his will so I left everything and went on a grayhound bus to Medford and when you think you know Christ but relay don’t you lit people walk all over you so that happen until I was taken to call and the potral tried to kill me and the lord started working in my life agen and know I know that he works throu me and some earle trys to spot you but cant as long as you day in his will he has spoke and rom now on I’ll only do his will fore as long as I am on thiss earth till I can go home to my eternal home in his present I will do his will and then as he leads me through this wicket unsete (page torn out) I will do his will and (page torn out) ---ve life as a lot of Believe (page torn out) --re who lose his life will (page torn out) life but he who finds (page torn out) will lose it but some say that but will not come out of there comfort zone. Well I was doing a lot of Meth and fell out of the Well of Christ and that was when I went under and overpass in Grants Pass Oregon.

The use of capitals I thought were particully interesting. I'm guessing this was written by a 30 or 40 year old man but I can't really be sure.

I thought it was interesting.

sleepy

I'm in Seattle this week. I was out and about and it being Seattle it started raining. Then rained some more. I got soaked so I went into a Starbucks. I sat down on a cushioned bench and started looking at a map trying to find a museum I wanted to see. When out of the corner of my eye I saw a cookie headed toward my knee. I looked next to me and a man was holding a cookie in his right and and a small coffee in this left hand. Now this guy was not homeless. He smelled a little, it may have been me but I'm pretty sure it was him but he was wearing North Face Shoes and Jacket and he had a climing pack and other stuff that must have cost some cash. This guy was exhausted. He looked the way I did in college when I had 7am classes on a monday. He would tilt, then catch himself. Take a swig of coffee then fade again. I watched him for about 15 minutes while I checked my route to the museum. Poor guy dropped his cookie before I left, and here he sat and I walked down the street.