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We spent our last day in Budapest taking a long lazy breakfast, trying to contact our airline to make sure we actually had another flight once ours had been cancelled, and then wandering about and shopping. We eventually did sort out the airline issue – though it was a bit of a hassle.
Carpatair, the airline we booked with, didn’t have a local number listed – they’re a Romanian-based company. Eventually through some clever internet sleuthery by me, we found their local airport number – which was operated by some other company – and confirmed we had seats on the later flight. Once we arrived at the airport, the front desk was run Malev airlines (a different company listed than what I found online with that phone number earlier) who are Hungarian, and then our plane was a Saab-2000 painted with “Moldovian Airlines”. No wonder it was so hard to just confirm we actually were flying with them!
All was fine, however, with no hiccups other than us just not being certain of what was going on. We arrived in Venice around 7:30 pm, and hopped on the water-bus… and arrived at our hotel at around 9 pm. If you have the funds, I highly recommend getting the water-taxi if you come to Venice. It would have taken us about 20 minutes as opposed to 1.5 hrs.
Then, as we were checking in, to my severe happiness, my sisters Anni and Kelly stroll through the door!
I was giddy (true) but it wasn’t strictly a surprise: when Mom was checking her email on my computer my eyes caught a line (entirely on accident! damn my fast reading skills!) in a reply that said “we’re missing you ladies in Venice by about 8 hours.” I asked Mom if we were meeting someone in Venice, and she said, “No that was just to my travel agent,”… or something not very plausible. I put the rest together on my own because I am a clever man. The surprise perhaps wasn’t such a surprise (though I wasn’t 100% sure) but it really didn’t matter much to me – because I was just so damn happy to have them here and coming with us to Lignano! I will now have my 3 closest family members and women in my life on the sidelines at Beach Worlds, and get to spend a few days travelling with them. I pretty much did nothing for my 30th birthday in late July, so this was a sort of ‘month-late’ birthday present, and I told Mom I couldn’t have asked for anything better and this was the best present I’ve gotten in my whole life of all the presents combined, particularly because I likely won’t have time to go home for Christmas this year and see the rest of my family. Point being: it’s great!
Today we hopped on a Gondola for a short ride, and then wandered around Venice. Pretty accurate phrase, that. We basically just picked a direction and walked. We ended up getting lost a little, but it was good times and thankfully we avoided the crowds. We’ve all been here before so it’s a nice place to visit but none of us felt the need to deal with the copious amounts of tourists. After a stop at the Rialto Bridge, we headed to the Gallery of the Academy where we looked at a bunch of art. I didn’t know any of it or the artists, so I can’t tell you much. What I can tell you is that most of the paintings were about 600 years old, and Jesus featured prominently.
Tonight, off to a dinner at a recommended joint – supposedly very good but not too touristy – and tomorrow a long ride to Lignano for the opening ceremony of Beach Worlds!
Today Mom and I headed out to Memento Park – a collection of communist statues, plaques, and memorials used as propaganda by the Soviet occupiers of Hungary. Out in a field about 30 minutes outside of the city, it has pretty much the exact stuff you would expect: giant statues of Lenin, pictures of people happily greeting the soldiers, red flags and 5 pointed stars, etc.
If you’re anything like me, you don’t know crap about Budapest/Hungary’s history, so the ‘propaganda’ aspect might not have much context for you as it didn’t for me. Let me lay down the Hungarian history in a highly over simplified manner filled with interesting facts*:
896 – What is now Hungary is occupied/claimed by the Magyars, a nomadic people from Asia. This is why the Hungarians refer to themselves, not as Hungarians, but as Magyar!
1896 – Hungary builds a bunch of stuff in honor of their 1000 year anniversary. That building? Built in 1896. That statue? Built in 1896. That park/renovation/square? 1896. It’s either that or, “That was built after the War, but not well/complete because they ran out of money.”
[Some Time Not Necessarily Before the Next Points] – The Austro-Hungarian empire happens. It later collapses like a flan in a cupboard.
[Another Non-specific Period in Time] - The Ottomans invade and mess things around. Some fella named Dobo in a town called Eger holds the fortress there against a siege of 40,000 Ottomans with only ~2,000 people. Later, the Ottomans take over anyway.
[World War I] Hungary allies with Germany. Loses. Then, in the Treaty of Trianon loses 72% of its territory to neighboring countries.
[World War II] Bad with pattern recognition, Hungary allies with Germany again. Soon realizes this mistake, and makes secret negotiations to try to get out of it. Eventually liberated by the Soviets in…
1945 – The Soviets occupy Hungary. “Liberation? LOL. Here- have some communism. No no, we promise it’s actually quite nice, and not at all oppressive, boring, and gray. It’s red! A happy color!”
1956 - The Hungarians revolt, and fight the Reds. The Magyars get pissed off and destroy a bunch of statues, including a big one of Mr. Lenin – cutting him off at the knees, pulling him down, and leaving only his boots. The communists quash the rebellion, kill a bunch of people, and find an excuse to rebuild a bunch of the statues, as well as some more to commemorate the ‘martyrs killed in the rebellion.’
1989 – The Communists get bored, and leave Hungary.
The statues at Memento Park mainly had 2 purposes – first, to convince the Hungarian people that they Soviets were their friends and that Communism was super-awesome and inspiring, and second, to remind them that the rebellion against it was an evil, terrible thing they did and that they were better off back under Soviet rule.
It was all pretty iconic and exactly what I had thought about Communist imagery. Hell, about a kilometer off in the distance there was even a Soviet-era looking concrete satellite tower!
We then headed to the world famous Szechenyi baths in the city, for an experience we heard ‘was not to be missed!’
… and we left about 2 hrs later, quite underwhelmed. It was 3 pools filled with people: One hot and ringed with old people, one cool and for serious swimmers only (laps and caps), and the last warm and filled with people. This was the ‘play pool’ that had a ring in the middle where the water was propelled by jets in a circle, followed by a further inner ring that had a place to sit and bubbled like a hot tub. Sometimes. This pool provided the most entertainment, but moreso from the people-watching rather than the environs. We had booked massages, and 60 minutes later we asked each other how it went, and each responded with a rather ambivalent, “Meh.” We both agreed, it wasn’t a ‘bad’ experience and it was nice to have a bit of a dunk, but there would have been better ways to spend a couple of hours in what was really just a public pool with a unique heating source.
Tonight, a dinner cruise on the Danube, and tomorrow to Venice! (though our 8 am flight has been cancelled and we now leave at 5:30 PM. Darn.)
*The claim of ‘fact’ is subject to misinformation, mis-hearings, misinterpretations, and probable misunderstandings. However, if you’re like me, it’s more than you knew before!
Ugggh. It’s been SO LONG! Apologies to all two of you who come looking for updates. Your tenacity is appreciated… if a tad in questionable taste.
My life has been hecticly busy with the Australian World’s Beach team organization, work, and rehab on my stupid unhappy achilles tendon. I’ve been doing anywhere form 3-6 hrs a week spent getting to/at/going home from the physio, had 2 nights sleeping under my desk at work because I’ve had so much to do, and all the regular stuff of 2-3 nights a week of Ultimate/fitness stuff plus work, and trying to be social. It’s been madness!
Now, thank goodness, my trip to Europe has started!! Ready or not, in a few short days I’ll be competing at the World Championships of Beach Ultimate on Australia’s Mixed team. Eek! For those of you interested in following us – here’s a couple ways how:
Team Blog:http://auswcbu2011.blogspot.com/
Team Twitter feed:@auswcbu2011
Live scores: http://www.wcbu2011.org/scores
Live broadcast of our game vs GER:
Thu Aug 25, 21:15 CET: Germany vs Australia – http://live.iamultimate.com/
Which is the following foreign times:
- Melbourne – Friday, 26 August 2011, 05:15
- Minneapolis – Thursday, 25 August 2011, 14:15 (2:15 pm)
As for this humble little blog, I’ll be posting during my travels. Currently I’m in Budapest with Mom, and we’ve spent the day trying to stay awake and walking around. Not too many pictures yet, but we’ve not even been here a whole day. After Budapest, it’s on to Venice, and then from Venice to Lignano! After that, I’m not sure yet, but I’ll be checking in here throughout the trip!
I promise to be less boring in further posts. Hopefully my interest-level will increase as my jet-lag decreases.
There was a point in my life, quite recent actually, where I would have scoffed at the idea of enjoying eating soft, lukewarm tofu. The idea of a main ingredient that is largely protein but can still be ‘chewed’ simply by mashing the bits around with your tongue doesn’t exactly have a appealing sensibility to it.
Yet, here I am, dinner in hand: a yellow tofu and mushroom curry with stir-fried ginger veggies on the side. Not only am I eating it quite happily, I’m having to slow myself down.
I got back from work at about 9:30, did a small workout (abs, and I enjoy it…the night is full of surprises it seems), and picked up the now lukewarm meal. That workout may have something to do with why I enjoyed the meal so much…
…but then again, that’s my third time this week getting something tofuey from the vego place down the road. It might just be that it’s tasty.
Compare this post to my last. lulz.
It’s the 3rd Saturday since I’ve moved to Melbourne. The two friends from Ultimate that I’m staying with have gone for the night – Liz to a post-season party for the Honey girls ( a women’s club team), and Koen to some sort of party where they celebrate some Dutch royalty’s birthday by wearing orange. There may be more to his party than that, but… probably not.
Me, I’ve had nothing to do. I did some laundry…
Oooh, wait… that’s been done for about 2 hours now. I’d better go hang it up. Be right back…
Ok. I’m back. It’s like magic!
Anyway – laundry and… really not much else. Of course the internet played a role in my evening. In my perusal I found a post on Reddit about Oreo stuffed cookies. Yeah, that’s right, Oreos inside other cookies.
Things like that don’t typically pique my interest, mostly because I’m never that jazzed about deserts. This time, however, I was right in. I’ve been on a break from any sort of fitness or training commitment because I injured my achilles at Nationals April 1st weekend, but this Monday I get back into it, to make sure I’m good and fit for the World Beach Championships. I’ve started rounding out a little, so I committed to myself that come Monday I’m going to get back on a training diet… which means until then I’d better go whole hog. Cookie-in-a-cookie was right up my alley.
I walked to the local supermarket, grabbed a box of Oreos and two pre-made cookie sausages, and headed home to make these beasts.
I made a cookie dough/Oreo sandwich,
…Sealed it up,
…And baked ‘em. Voila! Delicious heart attacks.
I had 3… and I was ill afterwards. I suppose that’s what happens when your esophagus and stomach get coated in a thick (but yummy!) scunge of saturated fats and processed sugars. Tomorrow, hopefully, my hosts eat the rest – 2 whole rolls of pre-made cookie dough were only enough for 14 cookies.
In other news: “We Like to Party!” by the Vengaboys has just come on over the in-house stereo, and I’m here all alone with no one to rollerskate dance with. For shame!
…Ugh.
That is a seriously terrible video.
My time in Melbourne has seemingly been defined by frequent moments of over-eating. The sort of eating where, during the moment, I feel like I can’t possibly eat enough and every bite seems delicious though unsatisfying. A short 15-30 minutes later, the belly is visibly gorged, I feel lethargic, fat, and hours past satiated.
It interestingly alludes to both positive and negative sides of my not-quite-a-fortnight experience in Melbourne at the same time. On the one hand, it reflects my immediate acceptance of a side of Melbourne I have been more than happy to embrace: delicious food!
Last night my co-workers invited me out to a bar called “Naked for Satan” where they served up delicious appetizers at 50 cents a pop. You walk along a barside dotted with signs pleading for you to have a drink as they openly admit the appetizers are a done at a loss. Here they have two long areas double-stacked with at least 25+ offerings of delicious compositions typically (though not exclusively) served on slices of baguette. My two favorites of the night: almond-crusted, fried mushrooms with roast capsicum, and pistachios on goats cheese with fig chutney.
You save the toothpicks from each you eat, and bring them up to the counter when you are done where they are counted to determine your bill. I can’t comment on how honest people are with this scheme, or how many people actually buy the drinks at their pleading, but I can attest to it being packed. They must be doing something right.
A house cider (Naked Cider, a tasty house cider made for them by Bulmers) and 16 toothpicks later I made my way home on the bike – fat and happy.
The other side, I fear, may be subconsciously fueled by the lonliness of moving to a new city. Despite knowing a lot of people here, I still feel unconnected. While I have connections here to people I know and like from Ultimate, that is still my only real connection with them – through playing Ultimate. This works well when playing Ultimate, but when it’s a Wednesday night and you’re just bored and want to hang out, the connections aren’t really strong enough to invite your self to people’s places or contact them out of the blue to ask them to do something you don’t even know them well enough to guess if they’ll like it.
Just the other night, I went to a celebration of a friend’s birthday. The theme was ‘Trashy 80′s’, so I did my best. I somehow decided that white pants so tight they required a third sock fit the concept of ‘trashy’ and therefore was a ‘good idea.’ I ended up looking like an athletic Elton John wearing David Bowie’s pants in white from the movie Labyrinth. It sort of fit the bill for the evening, but as they are the only regretful pictures I have ever managed to show on Facebook, and without alcohol to blame, I don’t think they quite qualify as ‘a good idea.’ Also, why there are no pictures linked here.
Anyhoo – back to the point. At said party there were a lot of frisbee folks that I’ve known from Ultimate. I knew people, but still not well enough to feel ‘at home’ or safe enough to let loose, and the music was atrocious (I don’t care what you say, the late 80s and early 90s had terrible music – especially when drunk people keep playing songs 3-4 times through the night) so I didn’t really feel like dancing. However, this party had another theme – cheese! There was lots of cheese as well as other nibbles – and boy did I gorge. “Hrm, no one really to talk to. Too loud to chat, or they’re too drunk to be interesting… ooh, look, cheese/wedges/dips/more cheese that’s not been eaten!”
Repeat ad nauseam… literally.
This bit, I think, is the ‘I’m bored and out of place and lonely’ side shining through, because after all – eating is good entertainment and doesn’t require being in a good mood, or awake, or interested, or, it would seem, being legitimately hungry.
Am I worried about it? No, not really. I’ll manage, soon enough. I have some down moments, but that’s to be expected. So far, I’m loving the job (currently working on sorting out how to effectively share files and information between offices in Oz, Canada, Senegal, Laos, and China – it’s fantastic!) and about every 2nd or 3rd night I pass something or go somewhere cool in the city just by accident. It’s great, and totally why I was excited to move here.
While I’m waiting, I guess my hope is that if I’m gaining weight I’d better be gaining friends too.
This whole ‘Australia’ thing just got very real.
I’m in Melbourne today, having been flown out by the company I have been interviewing with on Skype. I left in the morning, and by the time I had arrived I was feeling a bit nervous and excited for the meeting. I wasn’t sure what was going to happen, but I figured that a company who is willing to buy a plane ticket for you isn’t doing it just to tell you no.
My time with them today has come and passed, almost 5 hours later. I’m now sitting outside a café down the street trying to let reality work its way through my recently overloaded psyche with the help of a toasted ham, cheese, and tomato croissant.
Today they made me feel proud, eager, anxious, and a bit overwhelmed, because they told me that tomorrow they will be sending me a job offer. I’m glad I’m sitting down, because I ‘m feeling a little lightheaded.
I’m not really writing to talk too much about the job – but I might as well take the opportunity to tell you a bit about it. The position is with a small company called Earth Systems, who does what is essentially environmental conservation consulting. I will be working in a role doing about 40% internal IT systems analysis, 40% external project IT consultation, and 20% IT support. I will be, in all essence, a junior Business Analyst – the exact job I have been trying for since last year.
That’s not really why I’m writing, though.
I haven’t been able to fully process this yet, and on my way to croissant deliciousness I realized it was because all of a sudden my whole adventure here has come to a point – the point where I will really start to need to deal with what ‘living in Australia’ means from a real standpoint. I finally will have a job, one that I will, in theory, want to spend years doing. To do so, I will need to apply for some sort of permanent residency in Australia.
…A country not of my own … A place where my mother doesn’t live …A place where all my friends and family are nearly literally on the other side of the world …
Permanent.
Residency.
Citizenship?
It’s a bit daunting, really. I’ve followed my dreams, and they are here at my doorstep. What no one tells you about following your dreams is how hard it can be to accept the consequences of doing so even if the dream is attainable.
This isn’t about a loss of options – I could always move back if I needed to. It’s about the first legitimate step towards leaving Minnesota permanently, and everything within it. That’s a scary thought! To be honest, I don’t think I’ve properly dealt with it yet – because all I have been dealing with is theoreticals and ‘what-ifs’ because no one has actually offered me a decent job.
All that is for later though, really. This job is perfect for me. It’s exciting, challenging, interesting, meaningful, and I am completely suited to it. I’m eager beyond belief to finally do something useful with my life, particularly in a way so right I would have been hard pressed to imagine something better! Worries, fears, anxieties aside, this is it, and I can’t wait to get started.
In other news: I look damn good in this suit.
Is it irony that I’m about to take time to post about how busy I am? Perhaps. But then again, from my perspective it might not be ironic – it might just be necessary.
I’m BUSY. I like it, but it’s a bit hectic! Every weekday I (try to) get up at 5:30am to prep and then bike to be into work at 7:30. I work until 1:30 and then I get home around 2:30-4:00, depending on how much time I take after work working on various emails, job applications, etc. I try to get to bed around 9:30 (ideally) but it’s usually closer to midnight in reality. In between then I have:
Mondays:
6:30 – Ultimate league.
Note: That just ended – and I ended up 2nd in Fantasy points! We get 3 points for a D, 2 points for an assist, and 1 point for a score. -1 point for a drop or throwaway. I led the league of scores… and drops. I like to think its because I try for crappy throws from the handlers, laying out hard, putting fingertips on an otherwise terrible throw. Not my fault, but gets counted as a drop none-the-less. However, I can think of at least 4 terrible drops that were simply due to lack of sleep and focus, so I can’t excuse myself too much.
Tuesdays:
5:45 pm – Bike to 6:30 Ultimate fitness training. Home by… 8:30 or 9:00pm
Wednesdays:
6:30pm – Beach Ultimate – I miss it sometimes, but important as I AM going to Italy to represent Australia in the World Beach Ultimate Championships! Can’t miss it TOO much!
Thursdays:
6:00 pm – Informal Fitness or otherwise training, typically at the beach again.
Fridays and Saturdays I have free, but they tend to be social events, and in theory we’ve got trainings for those of us trying out for the Worlds squad at 9:30 am on Saturdays. I’ve yet to make a single one. Sleep is dear.
Sundays:
2:00-4:00 – Karma skills trainings.
So, it’s pretty much filled with Ultimate. No surprise there! On top of that, I’m the team manager and captain for Karma, and Vice President for SAFDA, though that has taken a backseat for a short while.
Add into that the fact that I try to cook often, and need to do laundry (with no dryer), attempt to keep my room clean (and fail horribly), apply for jobs, and see my friends… these days get busy! I am not complaining, however. I’ve brought it all on myself, and I like having the money that I didn’t have before. It’s a good challenge to see if I can do it, and it keeps me moving. I don’t play many video games anymore, but that’s not such a terrible thing. I don’t get much time for movies, and that makes me sad once in a while. Sometimes these things get in and blow my plans to get to sleep on time.
Just like right now. Hah! It’s 11:30 pm. I probably should post this and get to bed. Buona notte!
The internet, lets be honest, is pretty stupid most of the time.
It does, at times, provide us with convenience, and sometimes convenience in such abundance it is changing our worlds. Rarely – but importantly – its provided a paradigm shift in the way that we interact as humans, across distances and across cultures. Case in point, Facebook’s pivotal role in sparking the revolution in Egypt. I met an Egyptian guy on Saturday night named Abdul who confirmed this very thing. Talking with him confirmed the utter necessity and value of keeping the internet open and free as a policy.
But, continuing in the vein of honesty, we know it’s a whole lot of rubbish too. Pictures of funny cats, silly videos of babies laughing, stupid games that take up all your time; these are what it is day to day at its best. In the dark corners of the web, there is porn, violence, hatred, paranoia, and worse… and often those corners are not nearly as dark and uninhabited as they should be. The list of things I wish I had not seen or known is populated nearly entirely of things brought to my attention on the internet.
Today, unexpectedly, I found a bright little corner of the net. A place where ‘community’ wasn’t just a buzz word used by marketers. Another place were one persons real life interacted with the virtual, and the impact was positive and valuable. One person had a profound impact on the lives of those online, and those online managed to give back a little, too.
8 hours from this writing, a user named LucidEnding on Reddit.com posted a story called “51 hours to Live.” in a story sub-directory called “AMA” – Ask me Anything. In it, he writes a few simple sentences explaining that he’s had cancer for some time, and on Tuesday will be ending his life thanks to Oregon’s ‘Death with Dignity’ act. He opens the comments to people, saying he is tired and in a lot of pain, but that Reddit readers can feel free to ask him anything.
Rather than try to express what’s going on, I’ll ask you just to click the link and read the comments and take from it what you will. Look for his responses: they’re highlighted in blue.
Keep in mind that these people do not know LucidEnding. His name is what he calls an ‘aloha account . Hello and goodbye.’ The comments you read are from strangers online, whose only known connection to LucidEnding is a penchant for Reddit and mortality, posted in an essentially open forum where the majority of regulation is done by users upvoting and downvoting each other’s comments.
Until now, I would not have bet that you would find some of the best, most important parts of humanity on a website of strangers. Rest in peace, LucidEnding, and thank you very much.
http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/fy6yz/51_hours_left_to_live/
It was a good day, though I’m sure things are going to catch up to me quite soon.
If you didn’t know already, I work on the helpdesk for a little company that does hosting and support of Learning Management Software in Adelaide. It’s a reasonably good job: I make about $26 an hour, and I’ve been working 30 hrs a week – and that is ‘casual’ hours. The work isn’t tough – I quite often get to tell people to call someone else, which is always fun. The people are nice, the process isn’t too flawed, and it’s been nice to get up early and bike into work most every day.
Today, like most others, work ended at 1:30 – I headed home and got ready for an interview over Skype with a pretty cool company in Melbourne that does a lot of environmental consultation, and is looking for a business/office manager to be in charge of doing all sorts of things but with a focus on IT management. It really sounded like a perfect fit for me, and I got in pretty quickly: I applied on Friday, and the interview was today, Tuesday.
I think I nailed it. I actually think they were just as excited about me in the position as I was, which I think is a pretty good sign. They said I’d hear by Thursday if I was on to the 2nd interview, this time with the director, but they seemed to say that it was all but guaranteed. I’ve learned not to get my hopes up, but it all went well and I admittedly have to tell myself to turn down the volume of my confidence lest I wake the neighbors.
A couple hours after the interview I headed to Karma fitness training – where we ran 3 sets of 5×100 meter sprints with 3 minute rests in between, the middle of which had us sharply cutting back and returning at the 50 (and thereby a helluva lot more work). This was followed by 3 sets of 10-10-20-20s, a drill where you are basically doing 10 and 20 meter shuttle runs, interrupted by catching and throwing a disc after every other turn. If you weren’t aware, shuttle runs wear you down, but interrupting your momentum to establish a strong pivot foot makes them even harder. This meant we sprinted nearly 2 kilometers (1.2 miles) during training tonight. I had a headache and swollen lymph nodes – and I only puked once. The rush and pride in finishing something like that makes me feel like a conqueror.
It’s been a great day. Hell, it’s been a great week – some good Ultimate victories (check out http://http://www.superleaguefantasy.x10.mx/ to see how I’ve been playing in league, at least fantasy stats wise), making plenty of money, the Fringe Festival is on and I’ve seen 2 shows already, and numerous other good things.
I’m fairly certain tomorrow or Thursday I’m gonna get hit full bore with fatigue though. Today was day 8 of 11 straight at work, getting up at around 5:30-6 am to bike into work, with Ultimate competition, training or other fitness work on Sunday, Monday, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, and sometimes the odd workout on Friday or Saturday. The problem isn’t the physical workload, it’s the lack of sleep I can get when I have to get up that early. Tonight I spent 2 hours trying to fix my bike tire (failed, by the way… grrr) and most nights I’m lucky if I can get to sleep by 11:30 for whatever reason. Today I slept through nearly 45 minutes of ‘The Final Countdown’ as my alarm. I may just need to learn how to nap well or something.
It’s now 12:30 am Wednesday morning – about 5 hrs until my next alarm needs to wake me. I have been thinking of things to write all day, and couldn’t miss the opportunity to share, even if it cost me a bit of bedtime. I have been vowing to try to use this more and my Facebook status less, though admittedly this is a lot more work. We’ll see if I get here more, but if you’re still checking in – I applaud your tenacity.
And now to sleep.
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