Gif party!

Tea party with cucumbers...

I’m a little torn about blogging about holiday experiences (and in general really), but I also feel the need to write something down about different experiences. Some of this is because I’m not around the people I would usually talk to and tell these things and part of this is so that I remember things. 

So at the very least I’m going to get down a few things that I remember and lessons learned for next time around. 

San Francisco is awesome, but I feel like we only scratched the surface of it. Highlights included the cycle tour of town, cycling over the Golden Gate Bridge to Sausalito, the late night Exploratorium, Off the Grid street food festival and walking the streets with all the amazing old houses. It was also an experience walking (by accident) through the Tenderloin, where is seems to be a mecca for homeless people and some angry types. Things are real over that ways. Strangely enough, it was right near a very nice part of town, but the nice part is up a big hill. It was amazing to see the divide marked so clearly in altitude. 

Things to take away (apart from way too many photos):

1. Don’t get a hotel on the top of one of the biggest hills in town (and away from the action). This is one learned on the first day, but ultimately reinforced daily by aching calves and thighs. It turns out there is a reason this one is cheap. 
2. The most difficult thing about driving in the US is that the steering wheel is on the wrong side. My left feels exposed and my subconscious makes me want to sit in the wrong bit of the lane. I can deal with the rest of it, it mostly means thinking a bit at intersections, but the steering wheel position still gets me. Dana, on the other hand, seems like the’s going to have a coronary in the passenger seat the entire time.  
3. Bicycle tours are great!  The only drawback is that you can’t really take pictures from them. This, at least, forces you to experience things in the present, which I don’t always feel I’m doing behind a camera. We already have another one booked for Brooklyn.
4. I am a complete internet addict and free/cheap wifi in hotels will now be a deciding factor for me in choosing accommodation.  A similar criterion applies for me with for decent cup holders and car purchases. 
5. I’m old and I like to go to bed on time. This might just be the jet lag speaking (or the drinking at lunch time) but I have not been bothered going out after dinner yet. 
6. Home made simple food is great and I miss it.
7. Tipping is strange and I think I get it wrong a lot.

Photos on the way when I get round to it (and the wifi is free). 

Holiday...celebrate...

Ugh. Hung over. Still excited, but more subdued.

The Guile Theme from Streetfighter goes with everything.

LAST DAY OF WORK (for a little while) IS DRAGGING. I'm a trying very hard not to inflict too much of my enthusiasm on my work colleauges, but I pretty much feel like this guy:

Ahhhhh yeah.

Bonus Weezer!

U S A

T-minus three days till we fly out on the big trip. This will be the longest period of leave I've taken since starting work first time and I'm unbelievably excited about it. My manager at work has started calling my Smug Boy because I can't stop beaming at everyone as I walk the corridors at work.

It's a strange thing, I never expected it to be so long between holidays. If you'd told me when I was a teenager that it would be six years between overseas trips, I would have looked at you like a crazy person. But, as my capacity to earn and finance overseas trips increased, other expenses increased with them. Leave was taken up with going back home, not going on holiday. 

Work is another interaction - while working with long term unemployed people trying to help address their barriers to employment, getting away from work was a major priority. But after moving to Canberra and joining the public service, work became an interesting challenge rather than something to be avoided. While there were ups and downs and stresses, for the first five years it was engaging and somewhere that I wanted to be most (if not every day). Over the last year or two, as I've stretched myself going for more challenging work and taking on more responsibilities, it's started to feel more stressful again and something that I need to escape. Growth hurts!

That ended up being deeper than intended. That's what happens when you start writing too early in the morning.

What I actually set out to say is that I am goddamn super duper freaking uber excited!

I've been filling every spare moment of my days planning things to do and trying to remember how to be on holiday and the rhythms I like to find. Looks mainly like I'm going to be eating and drinking my way around the US. I might post about it here. I might not, depends how many free afternoons I get. Whhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!

Clouds

Looking forward to going to San Fran :)

Adrift from Simon Christen on Vimeo.

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Kitten versus lizard

nuff said.

Waiting for the sheets to dry before I can go to bed. Here's what's been occupying me for the last three minutes or so...

Neeeeeeerdcore.

Tilt shift moves can be freaking awesome.

Home alone tonight with the cat while Dana is interstate for work, so naturally I'm up late on the internet scouring all the tubes for interesting bits and pieces. The cat is ensconced in his box next to the screen. The bird noises in the above video drove him crazy.

Heh, silly cat.

Good night.

Mesmerising

Cornstarch solution on a speaker.

Edit: another fun physics youtube clip...

Spider rain

So apparently rains of spiders are a real thing, and not that uncommon.

http://boingboing.net/2013/02/20/spider-rain-wasnt-so-strange.html

All desire I ever had to visit South America has been completely extinguished.

Lightning strike

Must have sound for full effect.

(via Welcome to Double U - Ayyyy)

Morning tune

To any fans of drum and bass who haven't checked out Calyx & Teebee's All or nothing album, you need to get on it.