Matts Meanderings

Headed up to the good ol' Edinburgh Fringe this weekend with Luch - was great!

Ended up seeing:

An Air Balloon Across Antarctica

This was the play that Charlie and her theatre company put on. Slightly mad, but definitely very good. Apparently they're getting offers to go traveling with it, so its going really well. Definitely worth seeing...

 

Josie Long - Trying is Good

An amusing hour, not brilliant, but fairly good. Best bit of it was that she's allergic to wheat (well, that bit sucks), and she managed to find a really really nice rye bread, made by the strangely named "Alex's Wupertaler & Rye Bakery". Apparently, its only available in Melbourne, which sucks, but then again, it will be good when I eventually get back there. (Oh, and to clarify, rye bread usually tastes pretty horrible, so puts a dint in avoiding the whole wheat thing...)

A pic (of a pic) from one of the fringe mags (mainly as a prompt to my memory in the future):

 

Jerry Sadowitz - Comedian, Magician, Psychopath

One of those comedians whose 'appeal' is the fact that every second word is a swear word. I can handle swearing, but if that's they're main appeal, well, it sucks. Did some quite clever magic tricks, and had the occasional good joke/comment/whatever, but generally, a waste of time and money. 

 

Potted Potter: The Unauthorised Harry Experience - A Parody by Dan and Jeff

Very funny - all 6 books, plus a book 7 teaser, in an hour. Mad, funny, and good. Even included a quidditch match!

 

The Oxford Imps

Improvisation troupe. Fairly good, but not brilliant.

 

Tripod

The old favourite musical comedy trio from Melbourne... Funny but not as good as some of their previous material.

 

Meow Meow in Beyond Glamour: The Absinthe Tour

A very mad burlesque/cabaret/performance art thing... Only managed to get tickets by buying them off some random guy who couldn't make it. Probably the best show I saw. She ended up singing some of the songs in french, and got some random guy who knew a bit of french to translate - rather unsuccessfully, but very amusingly... Definitely worth seeing...

Also ended up going out quite late on the Friday, and to a mates place for a burlesque party on the Saturday. Some interesting pictures from that, but here's me trying to look suave and failing:

And yes, that is a pole dancing pole in the background....

But, all in all, had a great time, even though it rained almost continuously on Saturday, and wasn't a lot of fun. Didn't get to catch up with Charlie properly - in between her performing and flyering, and me catching as many shows as I could, it didn't quite work out as well as I wanted... But managed to have a few beers with Greg, and caught up on stuff there.

Now, just gotta make sure I organise the fringe a heck of a lot earlier next time, and get a place in town... Possibly even move up in the world and don't do the hostel thing - the globetrotter was a bit crap, really.

But, all in all, definitely a good weekend, and definitely gonna go again next year!

Finished up at UBS last week, after a four month stint there. Was quite a good place to work, though getting to know the team was hard work though. 'Bout half the work was interesting and enjoyable, but the other half ranged from passable to downright mind-numbingly boring.

But, the project I was on finished up (well, the budget did at least), so that was me out of there. There was talk of getting an extension (one department (in Sydney!) really liked me and how much i was helping them out, so they were trying to see if they could 'sponsor' me to continue working on their stuff), but it would've been more of the boring stuff, rather than the interesting stuff, so I politely declined...

Learnt some good stuff there, but the important bit was getting my foot in the door of an investment bank - once in, it opens a whole lot more doors for more contracts, so looking good. And, really, the money wasn't bad either :)

But, I'm still working for the consulting company that I worked through - up until Thursday at least. Doing some pretty boring stuff that's really not motivating me. But, hey, they're paying me for it... :)

The best thing is on Saturday morning, I head off to that place that's full of sand and pointy things and the giant *** cat (aka Egypt). Definitely looking forward to the time off, and the travel. We (Paul, Lyds, Hannah and me) are doing a tour there - we couldn't be bothered with the hassle of organising things ourselves. Means we get a decent guide as well who can tell us cool and (hopefully) interesting things about what we're looking at. Also includes 4 days in Dahab, so we get a good relax as well, and some diving as well. Definitely looking forward to it - I think the cameras are definitely going to get a workout! Also good to catch up with Paul and Lyds - been a while since I've seen them (well, excluding the last 2 days where they crashed in my lounge...).

After the holiday, its back to look for a new contract. Not that I want to, but things like that making things like eating and living easier. Hopefully I'll find one that scores higher on the interestingness scale. Fingers crossed at least.

Anyway, that's probably enough for now - I'm gonna try and blog a bit more, but, really, no promises... Just depends what state of mind I'm in (yeah, yeah, that's enough from the peanut gallery!). I've got at least one more post on the tip of my tongue (fingers?), so I might get that out next...

Unemployed, lazing around the house all week, and now I'm off to Barcelona for the weekend.

Can life get any worse???

Well, its official, its final, and I'm not worried about it at all.

I resigned on Wednesday from company I was contracting at^[1]. Finally.

I've got no new job, but judging by the fact that I uploaded my CV to a few job sites last night, and got 8 phone calls today, it doesn't seem like it'll be a problem.

If all else fails, well, I can survive till around mid December anyway. But, I'm positive I'll have something sorted, maybe with a week or so off in between.

Learnt some great stuff, had some great opportunities, but also didn't get the key opportunities I wanted, and well, politics reared its ugly head once too often.

Its a relief, and very freeing. Who knows what the next door will bring .

^[1] If you know me, or have been reading this for a while, you'll know which company...

Just before I left Melbourne, back in 2004, I had a bit of a family dinner, just to say bye to everyone.

One of my younger cousins (Georgia, I think), said I had to take a photo of Platform 9 ^3/4 at Kings Cross Station, as in the Harry Potter books and movies.

So, a little late, but here it is:

And yes, I felt like an idiot posing for that one...

Just listening to The Waifs this morning, and I'm still loving 'London Still':

Wonder if you can pick up my Accent on the phone When I call across the country When I call across the world I see you in my kitchen I can picture you now As you toast to your small town When you drink the happy hour I’m in London still I’m in London still I'm in London still I took the tube over to Camden To wander around I bought some funky records With that old Motown sound And I miss you like my left arm That's been lost in a war Today I dream of home and not of London anymore I'm in London still I'm in London still Yeah I'm in London still You know it’s okay I’m kinda happy here for now I think I've finally grown up And got myself a lover now And if I ever come home And I, I think I will I hope you're gonna wanna hang at my place on Sunday still Oh yeah I hope you will Cause I'm in London still You know we got it sorted, yeah We really got it down To a fine art on Sunday In a sleepy Sunday town I wonder what I'm missing I think of songs I've never heard I'm dreaming of your voices And I'm dreaming of your herb I'm in London still I'm in London still I'm in London still Oh I'm in London still la-la-la-la-la London still I'm in London

Really liking this one. Kinda meloncholy, but in a good way.

... I'm now back in London.

Arrived back last Thursday from my 3 week backpacking jaunt round Eastern Europe. Ended up visiting:

• Berlin, Germany
• Krakow, Poland
• Praha (Prague), Czech Republic
• Kutná Hora, Czech Republic
• Ceský Krumlov, Czech Republic
• Ceské Budejovice, Czech Republic
• Budapest, Hungary
• Split, Croatia

Seems like we did more than that, but I suppose we did visit Prague 3 times (don't ask!). Also got to go to Hungary, which wasn't planned, but our bus from Ceský Krumlov to Praha broke down, which meant we missed our flight to Croatia... We ended up at the main train station in Prague at 7pm, and went “which night train looks like fun?”. Was a good way of doing it, but I think we would've all preferred to go to Croatia instead. Also meant that I only got two days in Split, rather than 5 or 6 days... I could've visited the islands and Dubrovnik, which is apparently amazing. Oh well...

Was very interesting to go to Berlin - got to hear a lot about the cold war, and communism and the like. We even went on a walking tour done by an ex-army major, Nigel, who lived and breathed the cold war - was amazing. Also learnt a lot just travelling through former communist countries - really opened my eyes up about it all.

A lot of the cities were amazing - so old, and beautiful. Granted, Budapest wasn't so crash hot - it was a little grotty, but it was in the process of getting cleaned up.

Split, even though it was completely bagged by the Lonely Planet, was quite nice. Not a lot there, but by that point, we didn't care. A nice city to kick back and relax in. Had a very Venetian feel to it, combined with a bit of Greece. Nice place. Apparently Dubrovnik is much nicer, so I would've loved to have gone there.

Kutná Hora was a bit freaky - there's an ossuary there, which has the bones of 40,000 people arranged as a chandelier, a huge coat of arms, and various other ornaments - very freaky.

All in all, planning on going back to Prague - didn't get a chance to do any cultural type things there, and also Ceský Krumlov - extremely beautiful town. Both a bit touristy, but you can overlook that. Also want to go back to Croatia - a week or so sailing round the islands off Croatia, sounds good to me .

Photos to come soon!

Oh well, just looked at the countries I've visited, and doesn't seem I've made that one yet...

1. Australia
2. India
3. Malaysia
4. England
5. Scotland
6. Wales
7. Italy
8. Vatican City
9. Austria
10. Germany
11. The Netherlands
12. Greece
13. France
14. Monaco
15. Ireland
16. Turkey
17. Belgium
18. New Zealand
19. USA
20. Poland
21. Czech Repulic
22. Hungary
23. Croatia

That said, I'm excluding countries that I've just stopped over in briefly... ie, Switzerland and Singapore. But still, that only takes me to 25.

Oh well, thats another 11 months to visit 7 countries. Spain in early November, which puts me well on my way . 

Bugger, life's hard sometimes...

Oh, btw, just updated my visited countries map - just added #20 to #23 to it!

Airports, that is... Pretty good, seeing the first time I left the country was two and a half years ago...

1. Melbourne, Australia (Tullamarine)
2. Adelaide, Australia
3. Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
4. Bangalore, India
5. Goa, India
6. Mumbai, India
7. Chennai, India
8. Dubai, UAE
9. London, England (Gatwick)
10. Singapore, Singapore (Changi)
11. London, England (Heathrow)
12. Edinburgh, Scotland
13. Shannon, Ireland
14. Istanbul, Turkey
15. Rome, Italy
16. Nice, France
17. Berlin, Germany (Schoenefeld)
18. Amsterdam, The Netherlands (Schipol)
19. London, England (Standsted)
20. Rotterdam, The Netherlands
21. London, England (Luton)
22. Glasgow, Scotland
23. Athens, Greece
24. Brisbane, Australia
25. Cairns, Australia
26. Christchurch, New Zealand
27. Nelson, New Zealand
28. Los Angeles, USA
29. New York, USA (JFK)
30. Prague, Czech Repulic
31. Split, Croatia

And thats nearly a year before I hit the dreaded three-oh. Now, to figure out if I've managed to hit 30 countries by 30...

Oh well, Taggs, I beat ya! 

Great quote from Charlie the other day:

Matt: “Where are we again?”

Charile: “Its Tuesday, so it must be Prague.”

And it wasn't even meant as tongue in cheek .

I'm back in travel mode. currently in Berlin, after a week off work, where I bummed around, visited Cambridge with Rob and Dan, and dropped by Liverpool for Andrew and Caths wedding, which was quite good. Will post a photo or two when I can.

Now on the road with Matt and Charlie for three weeks, heading south from Berlin, aiming to drop by Prague, Krakow, Vienna, and end up in Croatia.

Should be fun! :)

This weekend, going to head up for a nice weekend away in the Lakes District (north west corner of England). So, a weekend of relaxing and hikes - should be good.

Then, the following week, Dan, Rob & Matt arrive, and I'm starting my holidays.

The vague plan is: start of with a slow drive up to Liverpool, stopping off at a few places on the way (so Dan can get his England fix). Then staying few days around Liverpool for many commiseration drinks before Andrew slips on the ceremonial shackles, and marries Cath... (love ya, Cath ).

On the 3rd of Sept, going to fly to Berlin with Charlie and Matt, for a few days there, then heading south. Hopefully going to hit Prague, Budapest, Bratislava, Chesky Krumlov, and a few other cool places round there. Hopefully make it as far as Croatia, but not counting on it. Only traveling for 3 weeks, so don't want to rush it too much.

Should be fun!

In four days, I hit the 2 years of being in the UK. Damn, that time's gone fast.

But, the thing that's gonna make it interesting is that Andrew is buggering off. He's getting married (to the loverly (cough) Cath) on the 1st of Sept, and then heading to South America (for three months) and Australia (for a minimum of six months).

So, that leaves me pretty much on my own here. There's still Andrea, but pretty much everyone else is friends that I've made here. Was easy when I came over, as I had two really good mates here, but Paul left a while back, and now Andrew's out of here.

Add to the fact that I just found out that Shawn is leaving too - damn.

So, from here on in, its really down to seeing if I can survive without those anchors. Yep, the next 6 months is going to be interesting.

In the last week, I've been to 3 gigs/concerts:

Ben & Jerry's Sundae in the Park Concert:

Paperadio Gig:

The Cat Empire Gig:

Life's hard sometimes

Oh, and in terms of how good they were - well, in order they were, okay, good, and ace. The Cat Empire were really good - would've been better if I'd known more of the songs, but still really really good.

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