looks like i have some writing to do
will update with photos hopefully by tomorrow
DAY 21
day 21 is/was january 18th 2012. it is mrs. xanthopolous’s 28th birthday. We all gathered around the table for breakfast and had the hash browns, toasts, poached eggs combo. then we proceeded to give ms. x. her card followed by presenting her with presents. interesting how i can present her with a present in present tense. anyways. besides the confusing nature of english, i gave her a peeling knife and knife sharpener from a specialty cookware store. hopefully she genuinely liked the gift, but i did what i could. maybe i can try again on her 29th birthday.
after breakfast matt and i went to the mornington peninsula shopping center, kinda like a farmers market around some stores. we got some coffee and checked out some of the kiosks and i was able to find a couple gifts for some people. hooray.
soon after that escapade, we noticed the motorcycle dealership on the way home. i really needed a motorcycle jacket and gloves given my recent run in with thievery back in SD. they were having a kick butt sale and i almost bought a jacket but it was one size to small, and then i couldn’t fall in love with any gloves. you’d think i would be done, but i did something bad and bought something i didn’t need. Ill give you a hint, it rhymes with helmet. it was just such a good deal i couldn’t pass it up. augh.
we needed to make it back in time for dinner so after scoping out the surrounding car dealerships we booked it home with just one stop at the local produce store. tonights menu consisted of marinara (which is actually seafood and not tomato paste). funny though cause it was still served in a pasta. we took more pictures, and had some cake and ended the night by watching transformers 3 with everyone downstairs.
happy birthday ms. X!
the aussie family
DAY 22
Thursday i got to see more fancy animals. We went to go check out the Melbourne zoo. they’re enclosures were really nice. some of the animals were hard to take pictures off because of fences, glass, and hiding animals. However, I was able to crank out some decent photos of some cute little creatures and accompany them with funny captions.
[photos and captions go here jermaine]
the zoo was a big part of the day. I got some cool encounters with some of the animals. I also found some cool gifts for people too, but ill explain more when those people get their new toys.
On the way home we swung by Crown casino. I ended up playing roulette for a little bit. after falling in a small hole, i made it back to even with my finances and actually made a dollar fifty profit. horray! winner winner, chicken dinner. speaking of dinner, we walked along the river to find a restaurant, but everyone was fancy and i was wearing a canary yellow t-shirt and found my way to the food court instead. had some place called shark fin. nice portions, but thats about it.
when we eventually got back to matt’s house, it was determined that another pizza was in order. so after siting for a little we went back out and got a pie from stephs restaurant. when we got back home we ended the night with some billiards, the pizza, a few drinks, and a night time jog.
DAY 23
friday was started with the way thursday ended. with a run. that was the plan at least, but noon came all too soon after waking up. once we realized what time it was we had to get ready super quick because we had plans to eat lunch with matts friend, alex, in china town. we order a shmorgousbourg of plates and all kind of shared. there was some good noodles, veggies with oyster sauce, pipping hot dumplings, and a yummy desert called pumpkin cakes.
once we ate lunch we strolled over to the shopping center in that area. alex helped me pick out a new v-neck shirt and a retro kinda shirt that says “i wanna xxx myself” some awesome chick on it. it was legit because they were on sale, and i was also drinking bobah at the same time. unfortunately alex had to part ways and we said goodbye.
on the way back from walking alex to her car, an arcade was calling my name ever so gently. jermaine….. jermaine…. there were a couple racing games there. one of which was right hand drive, with a shift knob, and a clutch. pretty big deal. plus the car that i picked was a euro accord (thats a TSX for all u non hip to the JDM scene out there). there was also some crazee asian game that was like mario party, but more importantly there was a claw game. I know i claim to kick ass at the claw game, but thats only cause its true. and for all you disbelievers out there, below is proof.
gotta keep him safe too
after my accomplishment we started to head back to matts neighbor hood. we checked out one other giant mall on the way home though. nothing purchases or winnings there. but once we got back I’m pretty sure we went on that run that was supposed to happen earlier. it was nice because it wasn’t too hot out.
now lets think about what we did for dinner. ok. got it. we ended up having the left over marinara and what not for the other night. i was full to say the least. after learning some impromptu peanuts theme song on the keyboard we had to get ready to meet casey and jamile. we picked them up and went to a pub. it was pretty lively and saw some familiar faces. nothing too out the ordinary or extravagant for a night of drinking but it was chill. deep sleepy time once we got back.
DAY 24
10 o’clock seemed way to early. especially wen bars and stuff don’t close til around 3 or 4 here. but matt, myself, and matts younger brother nicky, had plans to go to the Australian open near the city. so i got my act together, ate a heavy breakfast, and prepped for the day.
after an hour trolly ride, or an hour nap in my case, we got to the gates. its about 2 at this point i think. much to our surprise, the grounds passes (cheap ones) were sold out for the rest of the day and even the expensive tickets weren’t guaranteed to be available until later that evening. soooo the three of us just bit our tongues and bought tickets for the following day. but we had just taken an hour train ride and were right next to the city.
the three of us ended up walking to the city from the tennis grounds. i saw a funny thing so i will present it below.
after some aimless strolling and munching on Boost (aka Jamba juice), i found some stores where i was able to nip almost the rest of my presents list in the but. we ended up killing a few hours before we headed home. once back we got some pizzas and matt saw 40 year old virgin for the first time. yes, i was just as surprised as you are. but hey, we can all congratulate him later.
i was full again, much to no surprise, and with some time to kill, we ended up cutting my hair.
we gave a shout out to casey but she had already left to go out. so with big plans again tomorrow we opted to just stay home for the night. still stayed up kidna late though swapping programs on each other’s computer. ended with some high school video projects and said peace out to saturday night
DAY 25
At least this time around i wasn’t hungover. but i was still pretty groggy from the lack of sleep. with only 5 hours of shut eye we had to be up and at ‘em in order to get the full experience of the day. so we didn’t waste any time, got ready, and hit the road. got some brekky at hackers (breakfast meal/sandwhiches at mcdonalds) and drove to the city this time.
We got in to the Australian Open this time with no problem. it was kinda like a car meet since there were a lot of different vendors there and you would play games in order to win prizes you don’t need. after that was accomplished we went to experience the real reason we were there. yes thats right, women’s doubles.
the matched we watched were hotties Panetta and Dulko against some scary russian girls. it was a good game, but unfortunately the girls lost in a tie breaker. once depressed, we checked out more to the Tennis Open Grounds. we got food, my camera, and water. but most of all, a tan line from sitting under the australian sun for a few hours. it was hotter than the dickens. nearly 36 Celsius which is almost 100 F, so excuse me for not looking my best.
Came back and snapped a few shots of the co ed doubles. dulko played again. and dulko lost again.
at that point it was time to go home. for dinner we swung by charcoal chicken. its a place that servers rotisserie chicken cook on charcoal. hence the name of the restaurant. quite delicious, but may not have been too nutritious since it was consumed with cole slaw and a giant box of chips (fries). once home we pounded through the food and after a brief moment of debate, decided on going to crown since they have a nightclub open on sunday nights.
for a sunday night Co, the name of the club, was pretty cool. it will be a nice place to remember to check out on a poppin night. thats busy night for any of you old people reading this. it was just a kick back time at the club and no binge drinking or flirting with girls was involved since it was just the two of us. had my chance to check out australians Hungry Jacks (burger king) on our journey home. pretty exhausted from the weekend and long day my head hit the pillow almost immediately. and by almost immediately i mean after spending nearly half an hour on omegle.com. but hey. i survived to make it to monday which will be in store for the next blog.
boom.
-jermz
