Entries this day: Bustle Wedding keyboard milo reception zzzzz

Bustle

8:45am Saturday 17 February 2001 (3:45pm Friday 16 February 2001 CST)

6am began wakeup and breakfast noises, and two women arrived to apply make-up to all the bride's maids. I got up, not for make-up, but to get caught up on all my email! Yay!!

Bryn slept until 8am or so and emerged squinty eyed and wobbly from her room.

I'm about to take a shower and then we'll be leaving in a couple of hours for the church! It's a big church too.

Here is apparently the official site: www.melb.catholic.aust.com

But this user site has better pictures: rogerbrown.tripod.com/Melbourne.html

Wedding

2:19 pm Saturday 17 February 2001

Wedding was long and lovely; Bryn and I sat together and I took lots of pictures.

Now Bryn and I are gettng fish and chips before we go play at Luna Park!

I exceptionally appreciate having Bryn as a tour guide.

The Bridal Party has embarked on 4 or 5 hours (hours, wearing their dresses and suits) of having pictures taken around the city.

keyboard

9:01 am Sunday 18 February 2001

The batteries I've got in here are the ones I put in before the flight. They are still 7/8ths full, or maybe 13/16ths full.

Here is the story of the keyboard at Luna Park:

After the wedding, Bryn and I were dropped off at Luna Park by Roxy, Carlos and Kate, while they went to look at a possible new place for Roxy to live, or maybe Kate. I don't know; Bryn probably does.

Anyway, Bryn and I wanted some foodage, so she helped us find a fish and chips place. She said that every restaurant serves fish and chips, and they're really good and really cheap. I had her order first, cause I'm still a bit nervous about knowing customs, etc. She ordered fish and chips and a coke. I ordered "the same thing and orange juice."

Like in a US grocery store seafood counter, they had fillets of fish layed out behind the glass counter. They were fresh, not frozen.

He grabbed two fillets and flopped them in a batter and then into the deep fryer. He dumped in a large portion of what we would call french fries, except they were cut larger than ours - really fat french fries.

(To be clear, I didn't actually watch all this process, but I saw the before and after fish; I can pretty much guess what happened. I did not see the chips before they were cooked, but they were hot as, so I believe he cooked them there.)

(I have just successfully used Aussie slang, "hot as." Instead of actually finishing the phrase, Aussies may describe something: "easy as" or "old as" or anything like that.)

We paid and went outside to the park (about an acre of grass with a few palm trees on it, and street performers and picnickers) to eat while a flock of seagulls and pigeons eagerly waited for some munchies.

The fish and the chips were still hot as; I could barely eat them. The brilliant blue sky smiled over us and bright sun smiled even more. We sat in a slightly worn area of grass because we were still wearing dress up wedding clothes. (Though I had taken off my shirt and tie - just had on a white undershirt.)

Ate chips and fish by ripping it apart as finger food and had ketchup ("tomato sauce"?) and tartare sauce which was like our tartar sauce, but with no bits of pickle (is that what it is?)

By the end of the meal, I decided I pretty much don't like fish and chips. The fish part was fine, but the french fries were really fat and therefore quite mushy on the inside. If I want that, then I'll get mashed potatoes.

When finished, we flung the remaining chips to the birds and watched them pounce on all the delicious morsels. They were finished faster than I could pull out my camera and take a picture. Really.

- - -

Luna Park is free to get in, and then costs money to ride each ride, or one can get an all day pass for $19.95 AUS. A single ticket for a single ride was like $3 AUS.

We just wanted to ride the two bigger roller coasters and the Gravitron (spinning thing where people are accelerated against the outer wall)

Rode the big roller coaster first, which was not hugely big, but circled the entire park twice (the park was about 10 acres - nothing like the size of a Six Flags, but a tad bigger than a traveling carnival that will set up rides in a large parking lot (and much more permanent - this park has been around for at least 30 years, according to a story that Bryn told about a woman she knows who rode the roller coaster when she was 7 or so and closed her eyes the entire ride. She rode it again this year at age 30 something so that she could ride it with her eyes open.))

So the point is, we rode this coaster, whice was not too big, and not too small, but had a brakeman standing in the middle of the train on every ride! He just stood there and pulled a brake at the parts of the track that needed the train to slow down. Amazing! And certainly something not very common in US.

He wore earplugs ("why are we not wearing earplugs?") and no expression as he spent his day going around and around and around the track. Bryn and I decided his job must be pretty boring.

This coaster was particularly lumpy (not bumpy like dehdhehdeh, but lumpy like whuhwhuhwhuhwhuh) and certainly felt weird on my spine.

We waited in a slightly shorter line for the next ride, a metal mousetrap type ride and tons smoother than the first. This mousetrap coaster didn't have the tight 180 degree turns of the one at Lagoon north of Salt Lake City, but this one was taller and faster.

While in line for the mousetrap ride, I noted a tire used to slow the train was super old and worn down. I said, "that tire is worn as" to Bryn.

She said "no, you can't say worn as, but I don't really know why."

She soon realized, "worn is too sophisticated a word."

"That tire is old as?"

"Yes!"

After the mousetrap, we went to the Gravitron, which did not have a line at all, so we actually had to wait several minutes inside the hot circular room. They don't care if people turn upside down or anything they want. Wow! I decided I would not try to turn upside down though, because I had all my stuff in my pockets. I patted them to assess that mykeyboard and Handspring Visor and camera were still there.

My keyboard was not.

"Bryn; I don't have my keyboard."

I didn't freak because I still had my Visor. ("The rest of this shit you could have set on fire...") I was just, "hmm. it must have fallen out on one of the roller coasters."

The gravitron started spinning and people started yelling or turning upside down. Please note that "or" is an exclusive or; no one was yelling and turning upside down.

I turned pretty effectively sideways, and then sat up to take a few pictures of this great photo op with people all happy and sideways or upside down in this crazy spinny artificial gravity world.

I was surprised that people were surprised that I was able to "sit up" during the ride. It didn't seem all that difficult to me. If I rode it a couple more times, I imagine I could get the hang of the gravity and kneel. It would take me a while to be able to stand up, but I could do that after a several tries I bet.

- - -

After the Gravitron, we walked back to the second roller coaster and had the guy look in each car. (Each car could hold 4 people only; there were two cars, but I couldn't remember what color car we were on.) He did not find it.

Over to the first roller coaster and asked the guy at the gate. Once the train arrived back in the station, he checked the train, and then walked up the first incline and down the first hill.

He came back with my keyboard unfolded but essentially still intact. "I'm not sure how good it will be," he consoled.

"It is great; thank you very much," I said, hoping it would still work.

I caught up with Beaner who was walking to the front of Luna Park to tell our ride why we were late. It was exactly four o'clock.

They were later than us, so I tested out the keyboard using Bryn's palms as a table.

Our ride arrived to this scene and we had them take a picture and then told them the story.

The keyboard works fine, but one of the hinges is broken so it's a bit less sturdy. Also, it doesn't latch shut on all four corners, but it stays mostly closed when it's folded up.

milo

4:00 pm Saturday 17 February 2001

This is me, typing on my keyboard and Handspring Visor after my keyboard fell off the roller coaster and we didn't find it until about 35 minutes later.

4:47 pm

We're at Roxy's house; super thanks to them for driving us to and from Luna Park. We're watching cricket, the most boring game.

4:58 pm

Now Bryn is fixing some Milo (chocolate drink) for me and we are watching a pirated copy of Charlie's Angels on DVD.

reception

7:27 pm Saturday 17 February 2001

We are at Nick and Irene's reception.

Chris says, "I'm troubled by that," when he saw my keyboard. "Your job doesn't happen to be in computers does it?"

8:22 pm

"You can eat everything on the table, Chris."

"Not a chance. But if you put a line of beers around, then I might give it a nudge."

Me: "Give it a nudge?"

Chris: "Yeah, write it down."

Me: "HAAhahahahaaaaa!! Okay."

8:31 pm

Mike says of my keyboard, "that's amazing."

10:15 pm

So hot. So sweaty. Dancing Rob's Crazy Dance for a while and then Bryn taught me The Brazilian Foot Dance (Hi Sally!), which is really fast and cool as shit when we got it going correctly.

Chris asked if I am writing about his amazing moves on the dance floor; he claims that I must have missed him on the dance floor. He's also not sweating.

now Chris just broke a wine glass setting it down heavily in front of Wende, encouraging her to have some fine Victoria Bitter, a beer which I think tastes like bark. Wende stuck her tongue out at the flavor. Bleah.

zzzzz

1:46am Sunday 18 February 2001

Everyone is asleep or super duper tired. I'm just writing to capture our short Silent Football game.

Bryn and I explained the rules to Michael, who did quite well in picking up how to play. It took him a bit to be comfortable with tattling on Bryn, but he did that a couple of times after we said stuff like, "Mr Michael may say something like quote Miss Bryn has said quote himself unquote unquote," but that was a bit too confusing for a new player that has very few role models to use.

The game ended at an arbitrary moment, and ironically just as Michael schrodemed a shrug when he meant to zoom. For the second time. We melted into a quiet bit of giggles and assured him that the game is much more interesting with more than 3 people.

Bedtime now.