Australia: Week 2

All right, let’s recap my second week in Australia!

On Thursday Emma and I went to the art museum. Most of the time I was there she seemed to understand what it was we were looking at when I had no idea. I had to point out that when people call me an ‘artist’ I like to qualify that with ‘cartoonist.’ Can I tell you why a Monet is a Monet and why it’s important? No. Can I tell you that Garfield hates Mondays? Yes. Do I know why Piccaso painted women with their heads on sideways? No. Can I tell you Marmaduke is juts a big dog? Yes. But we had fun, we even inadvertently wondered into a portion of the gallery that we were supposed to pay to get in. And I got yelled at, by a tiny gremlin-lady, not to take pictures.

Then we met up with her brother Ben. We had burritos that were really good but incredibly messy. Well, Neither of them had trouble with them. I made a mess… Then we went to another gallery that was for ‘abstract furniture’ and while it was weird-looking, sure, I wouldn’t really call it abstract. Then behind it was a bunch of washrags that were being sold for $2000, not kidding.

For some reason Friday’s activities escape me…I remember I got to meet Bob’s family that night. His Dad decided to fly in and we all had dinner.

On Saturday Bob took me to the War memorial. The WWI stuff was kinda boring. Dioramas with a paragraph of what was happening in it. WWII section was closed off. Then we went down stairs to the Vietnam-present section and suddenly it got a lot more fun. There’s lights and noises and they had helicopters and tanks and replica foxholes and submarine living quarters. It gave you a bit more of a feel to what the wars were like. Then we went to the history museum that Emma and I went to last week and saw the stuff her and I missed. They have this thing where you can build a 3d house and car ‘of the future’ and it is actually super lame. You build your things, go into a cinema with your ‘$1000 electronic 3D glasses’ (Pretty sure the old fart running the thing didn’t know what he was talking about here…) and watch as you fly through a futuristic Australia with everyone else’s cars and buildings..and a koala with a jetpack. And that night Emma, Matt and Ben came over with an Aussie-made zombie/alien crap-fest of a film called 'Undead' It was fun hanging out with everyone, but what a terrible film...

Sunday we had brunch at Emma’s with a lot of her friends. We were going to go bushwalking but it was rainy and windy, not really weather for wondering the wilderness. So we played card games and board games. I had fun, though Bob didn’t want to play along with the zombie card game. Then we went to comic meet-up where I met Katie Ryan, this super talented artist/animator. After seeing her stuff I was horrified when she wanted to see mine, but she didn’t completely tear me apart over it. She was actually nice about my stuff not looking even a fraction as good as her’s. Then we went to dinner again with Bob’s family as his Dad was headed off on Monday.

On Monday I went over to Emma’s and she was frantically cleaning her place as the owners were going to come by and inspect it. So I helped in any way that I could. Pretty much just squeegying windows and helping pack cardboard up to take to recycling. Then we grabbed some Indian food and headed over to her friend Liz’s place. We got to play with Liz’s baby, Asher, who I about kidnapped. That kid is so rad. And her and Emma discussed things I had little to no actual knowledge about or anything interesting to add. So I sat quietly as they talked. That night Bob and I met up with Sam and did another Pub sketch. We also decided that on Thursday, Sam was going to have the pair of us over for dinner.

Tuesday was a bit of a mess. I was supposed to meet Bob, when he got off work, at the mall where he was getting his phone fixed. The screen had gotten pretty busted up. Problem here is that there are 30 malls in this place and I assumed it was another one and couldn’t contact him to confirm since his only form of communication was in the shop. Emma came over and we hung out for a bit as she had a game and I had to meet Bob. She dropped me off at the bus stop and I took it out to the city…then past the city because, as I previously stated, there’s some law in Canberra against visible signs! I go back to the city find the mall I THINK I’m supposed to meet him at, and wonder around for an hour looking for him. I finally give up and come back home. On the way I get a call from him saying he was back at home and we sorted out the whole fiasco. So I got to have an adventure. At least now I know where the Canberra centre is. That night he exposed me to “Red Dwarf” a British sci-fi sitcom. He told me I should watch it a few years ago and I just never did. It’s actually a pretty funny show once you get into it. The first couple episodes were good but I wasn’t getting that into it. Then it started to pick up.

On Wednesday Emma came by and took me out to the Pancake parlor. Which is pretty much what it sounds like. A pancake restaurant, a really good one though. We had these pancakes topped with ice cream and a malt shake. About went into a sugar coma. Then came back to Bob’s and he decided to attempt to make a cheese steak. He didn’t know what they were, and I knew, a bit, about how to make them. So we picked up some ingredients and I kinda told him what went where as he cooked it. And they were AWESOME! We each had 2 sandwitches and I ended up eating the leftover insides for breakfast Thursday morning.

On Thursday I tried to do laundry again. And Bob’s machine died. I don’t know what happened. Emma figures it’s the pump. And she let me take some clothes to her place and use her new dryer while she helped me make a pudding for dessert. Pudding here is more of a cake than the goo we eat in the states. For those unaware of what US pudding is, it’s like custard. Are you confused by this too? Good! Then Bob and I went to Sam’s for dinner and I made the comment that he’s even an artist with food. He’s dishing everything up so perfectly. Bob and I were afraid to eat it because it just looked so nice we didn’t want to screw it up. But again, an excellent meal. Sam is a great host too.

And that brings us to today. Bob and I are planning to go see a movie (We got free tickets with the pancakes on Wed) and go bowling with his sister and her friend later tonight. Don’t know what else is in store for us.

We’ll see.

I don’t want to leave…

- Mike