Bleh

Yeah, that's about how I feel: bleh.

I had these visions of grandeur for the blog while I was in the US, that I'd write many updates of a paragraph or two every day or so. Almost like a running diary. And then, well, stuff happened. A lot of stuff. Not that that's a bad thing, so I'm not exactly overwhelmed with regret. Yet my last entry on this thing was on my first day in the US. And now I'm back in Sydney, over three weeks later. Bit of a gap there.

It's strange, as the trip came to an end, I found myself really not looking forward to coming back. I mean, it was the end of my vacation! And unless you're in Vegas, Amsterdam or Trona, CA, you can never have too much of a vacation. But then I thought, I'm going back to freaking Sydney! How is that a bad thing? But as someone astutely pointed out, Sydney for me is not the Sydney for most Americans; for me, it no longer holds the mystique of some sort of exotic locale. Now it's just home, and that's never very exciting.

Anyway. Back to the trip. It was great. Or pick your own favorite synonym. That's what it was. Some highlights, with potentially more detail to follow in later posts:

LA, Part I - Spent an impossibly long day on August 1 (41 hours with the time change) helping Vern shop for a dress. Then her pseudo 30th birthday on Saturday. Gian Paolo said my name about 18 times.

New York - Started off with a miserable day of travel. (Yeah, definitely a separate post on this.) Much, much good food. Many good nights. A ridiculous Thursday that included a Mets game, pitch and putt, and the Astoria beer garden, with far too many beers at each stop. Paid for this consumption on Friday morning. Great night on Saturday. (Yeah, there will also be another post on this.) And a great night of wine tasting and feasting with the one, the only, Bubbles.

Martha's Vineyard - A week that should have been full of relaxing turned into many nights of alcohol. (Again, not that I'm overwhelmed with regret.) Highlighted by Friday night, when the 20 somethings got into a raucous game of flip cup... with my 70 year old uncle. Sailing the sunfish. Eating lobster and clams. Getting some relaxing in on the beach. And the biggest birthday cake you've ever seen.

LA, Part II - A quintessentially American dinner of hot dogs, coleslaw and baked beans. And a final day with Bay Cities and Father's Office. Oh ma gourd.

A 14-hour flight later, and I'm back in Sydney. At least physically. Mentally, my brain is nowhere to be found, for the jet lag is killing me. Killing me. Hence the "bleh". Just finished my second day of work and I'm not sure I could be more useless.

But despite all the "bleh", it still is good to be back. For I'm back to some normalcy and am in my new apartment, and I'm loving it.

For all those who I saw back in the States, it was great to see you. Wish I could have spent more time seeing and talking to everyone, but I guess that's the way it is. So whenever I'm back again, whether that's in April (maybe) or next August (at the latest), we'll just have to do it again.

The Kleingaroo has landed

It was a beast of a flight, my back was killing me the whole way and I hardly got any sleep, but I've made it to LA!

I've only been here for 9 hours so far, but I have to say it's already been absolutely fantastic. Great weather, and great to spend the day with Hannah and Vern, even if they essentially dragged me around to shop for a dress for Vern's 30th birthday party tomorrow night. I guess that's just the price of admission for the party, which oddly has a Ja-Mexican theme. Yeah, that's right -- part Jamaican, part Mexican. I don't know.

I'm currently on what's probably my eighth wind of the day, and that's sure to fade in an hour or so. Gonna be fantastic to get some quality sleep.

Pumped for this weekend, pumped for next week in New York, pumped for the following week on Martha's Vineyard. Yeah, it's fair to say I'm pumped.

It's a beast outside

When I describe the weather in LA to other people, the term "dry heat" is generally discussed. Because as far as the various types of heat go, you can't trump the dry heat.

And yet, I'm finding this heat not so dry. It is beastly outside right now.

Anyway. On Saturday, despite a smorgasbord of connections across a variety of modes of transportation -- a boat, three buses and two planes -- I made it from Martha's Vineyard to LA in an expeditious 16 hours, without any problems. And now I'm here, dealing with this heat.

Beast.

Last day on Martha's

Wait, sorry. That was pathetic. This is for Sarah Ralph: LAST DAY ON MARTHA'S!

No, sorry. Still piss poor. One more time:

LAST DAY ON MARTHA'S!!!

Okay, much better. Let's proceed.

As I continue my detox from New York, I've spent most of the last three weeks at the Klein Family Compound on Martha's Vineyard. Which, needless to say, has been nice. Very nice. My days have basically been a hodgepodge of sleeping in, eating, seeing the family, dissecting the newspaper, eating, going to the beach, watching the sunsets and more eating. So much good food! Lobster, clams, scallops, swordfish... you could say that I'm on a bit of a seafood diet these days. When I see food, I eat it!!! Har har har. (Hmmm, works better when I'm telling it, not writing it. And even then, not so funny.)

But as time moves on, so must I. And today is my last day on the island. Fortunately, the three weeks here have done me well, as I'm leaving much more relaxed than when I arrived, with a crazy farmer's tan to boot. (For those I saw in Austin earlier in the month, the farmer's tan is actually even better now. Or worse, depending on your point of view. You may be wondering how that's possible, but believe me, it's real good. I can't wait to see how Australia accepts my White Trashiness.) Honestly, it's hard not to get relaxed here. Just take a look at this video below, which I filmed earlier today. This is what I've been looking at every day for the last three weeks. The horror.

So I leave on the 7:00 am boat tomorrow morning (fantastic) and slowly begin my trek west. And as you can see from this signpost that's outside of a store in town, I have a long way to go to get to Sydney. Ten thousand and ninety seven miles, to be exact.

On the way to Sydney, I stop in LA for about a week and a half. Should be good and should provide a little more relaxation and time to get my life in order. It should also be quite entertaining as the nerves start to build. I guess this is what happens when you move halfway around the world without any definitive plan. Gooooood times.