sydney the wonderful

what a bummer. i had this nice, long, well thought out posting all done and i was hitting the "post" button and somehow it got deleted. ill try and make another run while things are still fresh in my head.

things have been really swell these past couple days.

we checked in the casa de cooper and are now staying with some other friends of mine from last time. the cooper sisters bec and ilana, and then bec's boyfriend dan. we all hung out a lot when i was here last time.

dan picked us up from damians on wednesday to take us over their place. i had showered up and got myself all cleaned up to see mr. and mrs. cooper-- this was a big day. we pull in to the house, im sitting on the couch and ask ilana "wheres the rest of the fam?"

dan pipes in, "haha mate, their gone. the bottom half of the house is yours. we went shopping, their is plenty of food in the cupboards. beer in the fridge-- lots of it. welcome back to sydney boys"

so we had just checked in to the ritz carlton. i am reasonably sure the looks on me, bryan and nate's face at that point would make for a humorous photograph.

we have been partying a bit more than normal on the trip which has been nice. i guess a few funny stories come to mind when i think of drinking and the past few days..

1) our drunken mess landed me a new haircut. nate carved out a mohawk in my head with his beard trimmer. haha, now that is some skill. it took just under two hours, but who was counting?

2) we managed to drink like champions on australia day (aussie 4th of july). we went to damo and adrian's place for a bbq. we ended picking up a case of beer and getting to work. this event slowly evolved in to meeting up with others in coogee for the nighttime activities. thngs were getting silly. and by silly i guess i mean trying to get home and walking hells half acre trying to get back to the coopers house. i think we ended up taking 2 different cabs, and walked for about a cumulative of 2 hours. at one point after the second cab and a lot of walking, i suggested to nate that we should just cut our losses and jsut sleep outside on the sidewalk. seemed a brilliant idea at the time. so we did for a little while until we found the rose bay police station. they werent much of any help there in getting the drunken americans home, but it was kind of funny to see the looks on their faces when we just walked in and yelled "where the hell are we?" we ended up eventually finding the place.

i met up with an old friend alissa which was excellent. we had met 9 or so years ago when i was on exchange through the rotary club in japan. back in "those days" we had kept in contact via standard snail mail-- and look at us now, still making time for a beer or two to catch up. real cool. she came with her boyfriend and some other friends that i had met previously, so it was nice to see all them.

we made it to the MCA in sydney (museum of contemporary art). real neat stuff. it was a very unique museum-- it didnt carry the standard modern art museum feel (ala tate modern, national gallery in victoria, etc) with white walls, minimalist design, etc. it was just a more dynamic place-- the exhibits and space changed drastically as you travelled through. the edward keinholz exhibit was the most stunning and impressive. he's an american artist (i had never heard of him) who creates these diorama-like scenes, full scale-- old dolls, army figures, toy cars, all kinds of crap just mashed together to create a big giant scene. they centered primarily around political stuff with the war effort, centering on the usa, australia and france. it was abstract "models" (literally just a hodge podge of old crap mooshed together to create interesting figures) that were accessible enough for me to conjure in my head what i thought the guy was trying to convey. very cool. i am reasonably sure i am doing the exhibit no justice by my spotty description, but i guess this will do.

we took a driving tour with dan around sydney which was great. took in the good stuff-- watsons bay, lady macs chair, the north shore, circular quay. it was great. it was nice to get some good footage with the video camera and then also get some good still photographs.

i have to say one thing i distinctively miss from home would be a giant burrito from qdoba. i cant get that thought out of my head.

speaking of food.. i am real high on this whole cafe scene here. nice beach suburbs with little cafes... coffees, drinks, etc with a simple but very stunning menu for food. i mean, i could sit at these places all day with a sandwich just sitting and watching all the people go by and having some conversation. now, naturally i cant stop thinking about owning one myself. certainly enough you would need a very distinct demographic back home to be successful, but it seems so accessible to me. have a nice selection of various styles of coffee-- turkish blend, flat white, espresso, etc with a very simple but unique menu. maybe throw in some craft beers and a few wines and you are rocking. have a patio and some good tunes, bring it on. throw in some personal touches in the way of design and style-- golden. so i have been thinking about that a lot... it would be a very happy way to live life i think.. meeting people all the time, have some regulars-- it would be a fun business.

so naturally im getting a little tender about leaving sydney in a few days for bangkok, but the excitement of a new adventure is tugging at me a bit.

i recall my little brother alex asking me not too long ago something to the effect of "now that you are out of school, what is the number one place you would want to live?"

and well.. i told him i couldnt quite answer that as i didnt feel my heart was with one city in particular. chicago is great, but the cold and lack of sunshine in the winter months bothers me. out west, i just have no idea. east (mainly nyc) seems a bit large for me, maybe too much going on. midwest in michigan is nice, but i need a tiny bit more action (at least for now).

but sydney... sydney. ahhhh, sydney.

despite any surprise attack that adelaide put on me, or the artistic glam that melbourne threw my way-- sydney is the absolute best place, hands down. it amazes me how much my love for this place is renewed every day that i am here. there is something new and dynamic about it with every moment. it has style, it has influence from all over the world, it has all types of demographics-- families, young professionals, bums, punks, rich mofo's, etc.

so, alex... i cant give you my final answer just yet. i love sydney for what it is and what it has been for the past 5 years or so of my life. i think that perhaps my perception of this city is slightly skewed by the state of mind that i am always in when i travel through-- study abroad (academic vacation) or backpacking (extended vacation). so i will take that in to consideration.

so to say this is "the place" -- maybe its a bit early, alex. but i can tell you that the one question that persistently tugs at my sleeve is this...

"so when am i coming back next?"