Monday, 31 October 2011
Sunday, 30 October 2011
Friday, 28 October 2011
CAMDEN CRAWL 2011
I've decided it's high-time for a post about Camden Crawl.
Camden Crawl was an adventure of a lifetime. It took place the 30 April - 1 May, 2011 and was one of the most fun weekends of my life, thus far. I love London, I love everything about it, especially Camden. If I could afford to live there, I would. A festival in Camden (Camden Crawl) therefore, could only be awesome.
The lovely Misch visited me in Paris for a week this past March. Michelle's flight home left from London so we decided to spend the weekend there with 2 guys we had met in Santa Barbara the year before. Dan and Ant! We had a blast with them in SB, but they weren't there for very long so I can't say we were the best of friends yet. But we would be soon! After a little fiasco where Dan and Ant both managed to give us the wrong phone numbers to call and meet up with them :p we finally found them at the bus station in London. They took us to their friend's place (Tom) where we'd be staying for the weekend.
Needless to say we had an epic weekend!
Tom lived with three other other guys and everyone was so amazing. It doesn't happen too often (although more than I would expect), but sometimes when you meet people, you immediately click. This was one of those times. Such an amazing weekend. Dan walked around in a Scooby outfit for most it. He was famous. Throughout the weekend our hosts kept mentioning this Camden Crawl festival that they would be attending in a month. I decided I would definitely be back for it. It was right after my teaching contract ended in Paris, perfect timing. Misch was bummed she wouldn't be able to make it, but 2 weeks later she decided she would fly back again so she could make it as well. Best decision ever!!
Camden Crawl included stumbling around from venue to venue, drinking beers and lots and lots of dancing. The line-up:
Saturday 30th April:
Ahab, Alice Gold, Ange Boxall & The Bandwagon, Bear Driver, Bears Den, Becoming Real, Benjamin Folke Thomas Band, Benjamin Francis Leftwich, Big Deal, Bo Ningen, Bones, Cerebral Ballzy, Civil Civic, Cloud Control, Comanechi, Creep, Crowns, D/R/U/G/S, Dananananaykroyd, Dels, Divorce, Dry The River, Eagulls, Engine-earz Experiment, Fever, Fever, Fiction, Flats, Frankie And The Heartstrings , Gallops, Ghostpoet , Hawk Eyes, High Rankin, Holy State, Japanese Voyeurs, John & Jehn, King Charles, Kong, Little Comets, Lu Lu And The Lampshades, Marques Toliver, Martyna Baker, Maverick Sabre, Mercedes, Miles Kane, MNDR, Mountains & The Trees, Mums Of Death, Mz Bratt, Rainbow Arabia, Random Impulse, RD, S.C.U.M., Saint Etienne, Sarabeth Tucek, SBTRKT , Spectrals , Team Ghost , Teeth, The Agitator, The Good Natured, The King Blues, The Phantom Band, The Qemists, The Russian Futurists, The View, The Staves, Those Dancing Days, Toddla T, Tom Farrer And The Pharaohs, Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs, Transfer, Turbogeist, Turbowolf, Two Wounded Birds, Ultrasound, Various Cruelties, Veronica Falls, Villagers, Visions Of Trees, Warrior One, Wild Palms, Young Empires
Sunday 1st May:
Banjo Or Freakout, Becoming Real, Benjamin Francis Leftwich, Beth Jeans Houghton, Bright Light Bright Light, British Sea Power, Cate Le Bon, Cerebral Ballzy, City Shanty Band, Cloud Control, CocknBullKid, Dam Mantle, Dels, Dinosaur Pile-up, Divorce, Django Django, Dry The River, Dutch Uncles, Fever Fever, Fiction, Films Of Colour, Flats, Foreign Office, Graham Coxon, Giggs, Guillemots, Hadouken!, Hedoniacs, Holy State, Housse de Racket, Hudson Mohawke, Japanese Voyeurs , John & Jehn, Johnny Foreigner, Jonquil, Killing, Joke, Kong, Let’s Buy Happiness, Lethal Bizzle, Little Comets, Lu Lu And The, Lampshades, Marques Toliver, Maverick Sabre, Mazes, Mirrors, MNDR, Moss, Odd Future, P Money, Paris Suit Yourself, Peggy Sue, Pete And The Pirates, Piney Gir, Polarbear, PVT, Razorlight, RD, S.C.U.M., Simian Mobile Disco, Sissy And The Blisters, Sound of Rum, Spectrals , Star Slinger, Team Ghost , The Chapman Family, The Computers, The History Of Apple Pie, The Lemonheads, The Lines, The Phantom Band, The Staves, The, Valentines, Tinchy Stryder, Tom Williams And The Boat, Treetop Flyers, Vaults, Visions Of Trees, Voxhaul Broadcast, We Are Animal, Wolf Gang, Yasmin, Young Dreams,Young Legionnaire
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s2-GYHc7TUE
(you can see Ant's afro up at the front :)
Camden Crawl was an adventure of a lifetime. It took place the 30 April - 1 May, 2011 and was one of the most fun weekends of my life, thus far. I love London, I love everything about it, especially Camden. If I could afford to live there, I would. A festival in Camden (Camden Crawl) therefore, could only be awesome.
The lovely Misch visited me in Paris for a week this past March. Michelle's flight home left from London so we decided to spend the weekend there with 2 guys we had met in Santa Barbara the year before. Dan and Ant! We had a blast with them in SB, but they weren't there for very long so I can't say we were the best of friends yet. But we would be soon! After a little fiasco where Dan and Ant both managed to give us the wrong phone numbers to call and meet up with them :p we finally found them at the bus station in London. They took us to their friend's place (Tom) where we'd be staying for the weekend.
Needless to say we had an epic weekend!
Tom lived with three other other guys and everyone was so amazing. It doesn't happen too often (although more than I would expect), but sometimes when you meet people, you immediately click. This was one of those times. Such an amazing weekend. Dan walked around in a Scooby outfit for most it. He was famous. Throughout the weekend our hosts kept mentioning this Camden Crawl festival that they would be attending in a month. I decided I would definitely be back for it. It was right after my teaching contract ended in Paris, perfect timing. Misch was bummed she wouldn't be able to make it, but 2 weeks later she decided she would fly back again so she could make it as well. Best decision ever!!
Camden Crawl included stumbling around from venue to venue, drinking beers and lots and lots of dancing. The line-up:
Saturday 30th April:
Ahab, Alice Gold, Ange Boxall & The Bandwagon, Bear Driver, Bears Den, Becoming Real, Benjamin Folke Thomas Band, Benjamin Francis Leftwich, Big Deal, Bo Ningen, Bones, Cerebral Ballzy, Civil Civic, Cloud Control, Comanechi, Creep, Crowns, D/R/U/G/S, Dananananaykroyd, Dels, Divorce, Dry The River, Eagulls, Engine-earz Experiment, Fever, Fever, Fiction, Flats, Frankie And The Heartstrings , Gallops, Ghostpoet , Hawk Eyes, High Rankin, Holy State, Japanese Voyeurs, John & Jehn, King Charles, Kong, Little Comets, Lu Lu And The Lampshades, Marques Toliver, Martyna Baker, Maverick Sabre, Mercedes, Miles Kane, MNDR, Mountains & The Trees, Mums Of Death, Mz Bratt, Rainbow Arabia, Random Impulse, RD, S.C.U.M., Saint Etienne, Sarabeth Tucek, SBTRKT , Spectrals , Team Ghost , Teeth, The Agitator, The Good Natured, The King Blues, The Phantom Band, The Qemists, The Russian Futurists, The View, The Staves, Those Dancing Days, Toddla T, Tom Farrer And The Pharaohs, Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs, Transfer, Turbogeist, Turbowolf, Two Wounded Birds, Ultrasound, Various Cruelties, Veronica Falls, Villagers, Visions Of Trees, Warrior One, Wild Palms, Young Empires
Sunday 1st May:
Banjo Or Freakout, Becoming Real, Benjamin Francis Leftwich, Beth Jeans Houghton, Bright Light Bright Light, British Sea Power, Cate Le Bon, Cerebral Ballzy, City Shanty Band, Cloud Control, CocknBullKid, Dam Mantle, Dels, Dinosaur Pile-up, Divorce, Django Django, Dry The River, Dutch Uncles, Fever Fever, Fiction, Films Of Colour, Flats, Foreign Office, Graham Coxon, Giggs, Guillemots, Hadouken!, Hedoniacs, Holy State, Housse de Racket, Hudson Mohawke, Japanese Voyeurs , John & Jehn, Johnny Foreigner, Jonquil, Killing, Joke, Kong, Let’s Buy Happiness, Lethal Bizzle, Little Comets, Lu Lu And The, Lampshades, Marques Toliver, Maverick Sabre, Mazes, Mirrors, MNDR, Moss, Odd Future, P Money, Paris Suit Yourself, Peggy Sue, Pete And The Pirates, Piney Gir, Polarbear, PVT, Razorlight, RD, S.C.U.M., Simian Mobile Disco, Sissy And The Blisters, Sound of Rum, Spectrals , Star Slinger, Team Ghost , The Chapman Family, The Computers, The History Of Apple Pie, The Lemonheads, The Lines, The Phantom Band, The Staves, The, Valentines, Tinchy Stryder, Tom Williams And The Boat, Treetop Flyers, Vaults, Visions Of Trees, Voxhaul Broadcast, We Are Animal, Wolf Gang, Yasmin, Young Dreams,Young Legionnaire
Obviously we didn't get see all of these bands, but I'll put them here to remember them in the future. My favourite shows were TOTALLY ENORMOUS EXTINCT DINOSAURS, Peggy Sue, Wolf Gang, Beth Jeans Houghton, Cate Le Bon and Ghostpoet. Besides dancing around to great music, which at the time was mostly new to me, (Ant was our music guide) there were random activities set up. For example: taking pictures in the Ray Ban car, crawling through some creepy haunted rooms and what I think was Shakespeare rap?
Anywho it was one of the best weekends with some of the best people I've ever met.
Here are some of the photos:
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| The crew! |
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| The bobbies were so nice there |
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| At this point, we couldn't stand and couldn't stop smiling |
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| Dancing around the redbull tent |
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| Jumping on Tom's bed! |
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| Falling on Tom's bed |
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| Broken bed! |
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| There's a Waldo at every festival. |
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| Koko's (where we wound up at the end of every day) |
And here are some of my favourite songs from the weekend:
Day by day - Beth Jean Houghton (which I can't find on youtube)
Lions in Cages - Wolf Gang (which I've already posted in the music section of this blog)
I also already posted Garden - Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs so I'll post Household Goods
Miss me when I'm Gone - Lulu and the Lampshades
Ghostpoet ft ROX. You should definitely check out more ROX, she is fabulous.
(you can see Ant's afro up at the front :)
Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs was the most anticipated performance by our group and they exceeded our expectations. The guy looks like this
and this
at different times in the show. He is Indian Chief meets Stegosaurus.
I would fail if I tried to describe how high everyone felt when they played Gardens so I won't. But, try to think of a moment where something you have been so looking forward to is finally realized. And then multiply that by sex.
Monday, 24 October 2011
I'm rereading Lord of the Rings =)
All that is gold does not glitter,
Not all those who wander are lost;
The old that is strong does not wither,
Deep roots are not reached by the frost.
From the ashes a fire shall be woken,
A light from the shadows shall spring;
Renewed shall be blade that was broken,
The crownless again shall be king.
Not all those who wander are lost;
The old that is strong does not wither,
Deep roots are not reached by the frost.
From the ashes a fire shall be woken,
A light from the shadows shall spring;
Renewed shall be blade that was broken,
The crownless again shall be king.
Monday, 17 October 2011
Wakeboarding
I have been quite the productive human these past few weeks in Aus. I've been exercising, making money, mailing letters, reading books, using an iphone :p
It feels good to be a functioning, contributing member of society...or maybe just to have a clear head.
ANYWAYS, this past weekend I went wakeboarding and it was awesome!! Also tubing, which is crazy. I hope to do a lot more of it this summer (why yes it will be summer here soon :). I am sore all over and it feels great. I managed to get up for all of 1.5second my first try, but by the 4th try I managed to get a real ride in. Suhweeet! To get the full experience you need to listen to the song posted above, which we were playing on the boat. So good on a boat.
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| The boat |
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| Me (holy shit my hair) and Katrina |
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| Ready? |
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| Woooo! |
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| Wooo!!! |
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| Woooo!!!! |
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| And splash |
Sunday, 16 October 2011
Aussie Aussie Aussie
So I've been in Australia for 3 weeks now, I figure I should probably post something.
Thoughts so far: Australia is a great country.
For starters, I've experienced very little of the hassle I had to deal with to get settled in France. My visa, for example, was approved 12 hours after I applied online and somehow works electronically. No paperwork! So when I entered the country they just scanned my passport and I was in. Crazy convenient, 10 points Australia.
When I arrived September 22nd I was lucky enough to have my awesome friend Dan (who incidentally had just been visiting me and Michelle with his friend Ant in California a week earlier) pick me up from the airport and take me to our friend Locky's house in Wollongong (it is also Jacob and Ben's house who I didn't know were living there and I had previously met in SB and Vegas, respectively. Awesome). I stayed there for the weekend which was cool.
On Sunday, Anne came to pick me up from Sydney and drove me up to Newcastle to my new place. It was POURING rain. Props to Anne's driving skills, I probably would have crashed. So, minus the rain there was no hassle with finding housing because I already had a place to live with the lovely Miss Anne and her good friend Callan.
Newcastle is a very industrial town. There are coal refineries everywhere and lots of small businesses. Everyone I've met has a job. It's very refreshing. On my way to work I cross the train tracks and I love the view at sunset.
We three live on Darby Street, which is the 'down town' street of Newcastle. It's full of adorable cafes and shops. Visa, flight, housing...everything has been going really smoothly. This is mostly because of Anne, but also helped by the fact that I am pretty much fluent in the language.
Alex's Favorite Aussie Expression to date:
"tear me a new one..." - From the Latin derivative, Rippitus Aholus, literally meaning to rip one a new asshole, according to Urbandictionary.com
How quaint.
I also like that they call stupid people 'peanuts'.
Some background: I was very sad to leave California this summer for obvious reasons. It was a beautiful summer. I was able to see all the amazing people I had missed so much while I was abroad in France. I was working at Native Foods making money, sleeping in the cloud every night! Drinking Irish Car Bombs with the Mikes. Visiting Katie and John and going to gay bars in San Diego. Going out in LA at Lila's new 'west-side story apartment'. Being in my sister's wedding! Visiting Becca and Kirsten in SB. Going to Gio's with Lindsay! Sushi. Waking up in the cloud every morning. Yum, what an awesome summer. I would be much more upset about leaving if I didn't know that our friendship (love just sounds trite here) doesn't weaken even when we are apart. I know everything will be just as awesome the next time we are together again. Look at how mushy this is getting. Gross! It's also great that I can still talk to people every day.
Anyways, Australia has been great so far, minus missing the loves of my life. I have Anne here who is amazing. I've also had 2 'blog-worthy' adventures so far. Last Sunday, Callan, my other flatmate, took me out in his work car to the sand dunes with his friends (biggest dunes in the southern hemisphere). Basically you get a permit to visit the reserve and then drive around in huge cars, flying dangerously down steep dunes. It was awesome! 4-wheel drive was meant for this, not the suburbs of Orange County.
The second event was Oakdale Farm! Anne and I went there on the 13th to feed the kangaroos and pet koalas. I got to pet a koala! They are the cutest, furriest cuddle-balls ever and half the reason I came to Australia. We also got to see 149 other species. Such as: goats, yaks, emus and huge, poisonous snakes.
It was totally worth the $18. Especially seeing Anne being chased up the playground castle by a goat.
In regards to work, which remember is the reason I wound up living in Newcastle, it has been a bit of a roller-coaster. It was really exciting to get my first paycheck of $365 for working 17.5 hours! Win. It's great to actually make money after working a few hours. I make the same amount in 3 hours here that I made for working 8 hours in the states. Hey hey!
However, work is way more stressful than I would like it to be ie the boss is a screamer and I hate that. Don't yell at me, hey! (Australians say 'hey' after everything. I think it's cute, hey). He just likes to assert his authority and put people down and I don't like that. Not really my style, but hopefully I'll become immune soon. As long as I can save up money, which it's looking like I will, it will be worth it. I really like most of my co-workers which is nice and the restaurant is beautiful, right on the water. It's just too stressful.
Lol that picture makes my last paragraph look extremely ironic.
But that isn't a picture I took! I couldn't have because the weather has been shit so far. I keep reminding myself that it's only Spring! It'll be summer soon! But, despite the weather I have been pretty active. Everyone is a power-walker here (very few runners), including myself and Anne recently.
And to keep things in perspective, the weather is nowhere near as awful as the weather was in Paris. (For as much as I talk shit on Paris, I do miss it: I miss my friends there, I miss speaking French, I miss throwing things on the ground with Danny and I miss picnics!) But when I really think about it, I am so much happier that I am in Australia this year :) And I'm pretty sure things are only going to get better.
Thoughts so far: Australia is a great country.
For starters, I've experienced very little of the hassle I had to deal with to get settled in France. My visa, for example, was approved 12 hours after I applied online and somehow works electronically. No paperwork! So when I entered the country they just scanned my passport and I was in. Crazy convenient, 10 points Australia.
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| Reread Slaughterhouse-Five for my in-flight entertainment |
 |
| Check out Fiji Australians aren't that impressed with it apparently. Fiji : Australia as Mexico : California |
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| Also finished this hilarious book during my layover. You should read it. |
When I arrived September 22nd I was lucky enough to have my awesome friend Dan (who incidentally had just been visiting me and Michelle with his friend Ant in California a week earlier) pick me up from the airport and take me to our friend Locky's house in Wollongong (it is also Jacob and Ben's house who I didn't know were living there and I had previously met in SB and Vegas, respectively. Awesome). I stayed there for the weekend which was cool.
On Sunday, Anne came to pick me up from Sydney and drove me up to Newcastle to my new place. It was POURING rain. Props to Anne's driving skills, I probably would have crashed. So, minus the rain there was no hassle with finding housing because I already had a place to live with the lovely Miss Anne and her good friend Callan.
Newcastle is a very industrial town. There are coal refineries everywhere and lots of small businesses. Everyone I've met has a job. It's very refreshing. On my way to work I cross the train tracks and I love the view at sunset.
We three live on Darby Street, which is the 'down town' street of Newcastle. It's full of adorable cafes and shops. Visa, flight, housing...everything has been going really smoothly. This is mostly because of Anne, but also helped by the fact that I am pretty much fluent in the language.
 |
| This is Anne's favorite cafe that we had 'breky' at the other morning. Australians abbreviate everything. |
"tear me a new one..." - From the Latin derivative, Rippitus Aholus, literally meaning to rip one a new asshole, according to Urbandictionary.com
How quaint.
I also like that they call stupid people 'peanuts'.
Some background: I was very sad to leave California this summer for obvious reasons. It was a beautiful summer. I was able to see all the amazing people I had missed so much while I was abroad in France. I was working at Native Foods making money, sleeping in the cloud every night! Drinking Irish Car Bombs with the Mikes. Visiting Katie and John and going to gay bars in San Diego. Going out in LA at Lila's new 'west-side story apartment'. Being in my sister's wedding! Visiting Becca and Kirsten in SB. Going to Gio's with Lindsay! Sushi. Waking up in the cloud every morning. Yum, what an awesome summer. I would be much more upset about leaving if I didn't know that our friendship (love just sounds trite here) doesn't weaken even when we are apart. I know everything will be just as awesome the next time we are together again. Look at how mushy this is getting. Gross! It's also great that I can still talk to people every day.
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| I heart technology. And I look forward to future teleportation :p |
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| And time travel. I'd love to go back to this 4th :) |
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| LA ladies |
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| Mimosa breakfasts |
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| SBeezys |
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| SD...I think |
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| ♥ |
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| Callan |
The second event was Oakdale Farm! Anne and I went there on the 13th to feed the kangaroos and pet koalas. I got to pet a koala! They are the cutest, furriest cuddle-balls ever and half the reason I came to Australia. We also got to see 149 other species. Such as: goats, yaks, emus and huge, poisonous snakes.
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| KOALA! |
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| Peacock |
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| Woah Peacock |
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| ALBINO PEACOCK! |
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| lol |
However, work is way more stressful than I would like it to be ie the boss is a screamer and I hate that. Don't yell at me, hey! (Australians say 'hey' after everything. I think it's cute, hey). He just likes to assert his authority and put people down and I don't like that. Not really my style, but hopefully I'll become immune soon. As long as I can save up money, which it's looking like I will, it will be worth it. I really like most of my co-workers which is nice and the restaurant is beautiful, right on the water. It's just too stressful.
Lol that picture makes my last paragraph look extremely ironic.
But that isn't a picture I took! I couldn't have because the weather has been shit so far. I keep reminding myself that it's only Spring! It'll be summer soon! But, despite the weather I have been pretty active. Everyone is a power-walker here (very few runners), including myself and Anne recently.
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| View from our walks |
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| Quite lovely |
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| Even without the sun |
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