Wandering Newfie

School, round 2...I think?

2010-08-24T16:23:00.005-02:30

I'm going back to school everyone. Catch you later.

New Series

2010-05-16T14:20:00.001-02:30

Hi folks of the blogging world. I must apologize for my previous posting. Now that I read it myself, I realize it was extremely hard to read, and had a lot of unnecessary personal junk filler that you don't need to know. Over the next few postings, I'm going to attempt to keep it simple, short, and more interesting. Getting back to basics, as it were.

Keep your eyes peeled here!

Neal

It's Been A Long Time...

2010-05-13T09:07:00.010-02:30

...Since I Wrote A Blog Post!

Cue crazy rock music from my parents era.

Yeah, but it's definitely been a while. Whew! But a lot of things have happened since my last posting, so now at least I'll have a few good solid postings filled with interesting and compelling material with which to sink your literary teeth into. Such will be the words of my musings, that your brain will liken it to buttermilk tarts, venison smoked on an open fire, and the finest wines from the vineyards of Europe (complete with toe jam from those who trample the grapes). Your soul will be filled with longing for more, like an addiction, or lusting.

Or, instead, you'll just come back next time for another blog posting. Sound better? Good, then off we go!

Sitting down to this posting, I must first regale you with my most recent findings on the nature of the human body. Now, far be it from me to claim to be an expert on the human body. Far from it. I know very little about a veritable mountain of information available about the great machine that is the human body. But through recent experience and deprivation, i have discovered another two items about myself that I never thought possible.

Number one, I can safely and accurately function without proper sleep for days on end. While I am loathe to admit this, as my father will surely be reading this and be hearkening to awake me at ungodly hours once I get home, it is sadly true. No more can I use the excuse, I need my sleep. Frankly, sleep has now become a brief respite to the wonders and realities of the waking world; And undisturbed sleep, well, that is truly a dream without peer. I do not believe I can recall a time in recent history where I have attained a full night of undisturbed sleep, well, anything over 4 hours. Unfortunate, yes, but enlightening also. I've proven to myself that while uncomfortable and taxing, I can function quite well over the course of three to four days on minimal to know sleep, only rest. It's almost a meditative thing, though I wish i could make the time fly faster. At the writing of this blog it's actually 5:45AM, an ungodly hour if ever there was one. I would not have realized it existed save for the many ski trips I've taken over the years, as well as last night when I spent the entire night awake. At 4AM I simply could not take lying in bed and wide awake, so I marched down to the hotel lobby to finish my book. That nearly completed, I had to occupy my thoughts further with some typing, as my eyes were starting to grow blurry and the couch too comfortable. Considering I'm not supposed to be in this hotel, only at the behest of my friend here on business, I consider falling asleep in the lobby a bad thing.

Dad, if you wake me up at 5 when I get home, I will be forced to beat you, regardless of how fit you've become and how badly you will now be beating me at running.

That's another thing that I've found. Ok, so now make it three things. I'll be re-visiting the fact of my ever-changing demeanor towards life, stress, and what really matters. I touched on it briefly in the last blog post. But the other item that just caught my attention was my latent fitness. While my father has been training diligently during my absence as his running partner in crime, I've been wandering aimlessly around cities for hours on end. But with that, I've tried to get to a climbing gym once or twice, and I did go out for two runs. Funny thing, that even though I haven't done a lick of training for months, I've actually help up pretty well. Sure, my strength is a lot to be desired, but somehow it doesn't feel like I've lost too much in the process. In fact, it feels like I'm losing all the unnecessary, and keeping only what's needed for my activities. I mean, heck, if I can still run for over thirty minutes without breaking much of a sweat, I still think I'm doing alright. Although, with my new love of climbing, I may have to harass the YMCA to see where they put their climbing apparatus. Blasted move of location took away my climbing wall. Buggers. They should have set it up down in the park as a bouldering wall. It would have been a great move for the city, but of course, they'd never think of that. But in any case, it is rather interesting to still be able to do things that I could do before, albeit at a lesser extent. The more I learn about how the body operated, both through experience and through classical learning, the more I'm amazed at the biological machine we've been graced with. Maybe I'll get into the health industry one day, maybe not. That actually brings me to my final point.

I spoke last time about how I've been altering my thinking patterns as I go. The real crux of the matter, is that not one year ago, actually, less than a year ago, if I thought too much about the lack of obvious direction in my life, or comparing myself to my hitched, successful, or otherwise job-oriented peers, I would have gone into a hyperventilating fit. Well, maybe not quite as bad as I described, but certainly not far off it. I was a complete mess at times, and had to go with the reliable "Dad-on-the-other-end-of-a-phone" treatment to calm me down. It works, but I think that since I'm 24 now, I should be able to handle most things without too much guidance. Wait until I end up tying the knot. Whew, Dad's gonna need another mortgage for that phone bill. Ha ha ha. But in any case, I've found that circumstances and situations that would have caused me to freak out before, are just not fazing me as much any more. For example, I lost a 32 Gigabyte iPod touch within my first 12 hours of being in Australia. Of course it was fully loaded and I had bought songs and such from iTunes on the way. Gotta have some variety, right? Was I upset, oh yeah! But after the next day when I went searching for the expensive mini-jukebox, I didn't think about it much more than that. The same thing when arriving in town with no place to stay, like I did in Tokyo. Normally, a cause for distress; Now, a cause for a brief look around and a good walk to find where I'm going to lay my head for the evening. And the final one, the bastard of them all, is monetary! Normally, a lack of funds would cause my blood to freeze, my veins to run cold, and my heart beat in palpitations so fast a hummingbird's wings would seem slow by comparison. I think now, I'm finally fully coming to terms with not having money, and even being in debt. For the first time in my life, I actually owe serious amounts of cash to a cash-flow institution. Mastercard and Visa are gonna love me when I get back, as every waking moment will be spend tryin to pay off the blasted cards. But strangely, no panic! I've finally got some of the monetary maturity that people like my Mom, Dad, Aiden and Frank Coleman, and other successful people in my life have possessed for quite some time. It's a remarkable sensation, knowing that even though you owe money, I have the abilities and knowledge to get myself out of the situation and back into the black. Red's only a good color when we're talking about blood and shirts.

Well, enough about personal musings. Time for the stuff you've been waiting for. You didn't come to this website to read my personal growth entries, otherwise I label thee stalkers of the first degree! I jest. But no, you came here to read my musings and observations on what I've seen, heard, smelt, tasted, and touched. Well, I've got plenty of info to update you on, and lots to talk about. Unfortunately, I just realized (now that my brain has activated after eating some of the hotel breakfast that I'm not supposed to eat, or even be staying at. Shhhhhh,) that I have packed my previous Moleskin notepad in my travel bag which is upstairs in the room, that I probably shouldn't go up to until later. Gah! Alright, well, maybe I can update you in a less than chronological order then. Sound good? Ok, to Japan it is, and we'll visit the rest of Australia and Taronga Zoo another day.

I started a new notepad when I headed to Tokyo, as the other one finally ran out. I tell ya, those notebooks Mike gave me are the best investment ever. Thanks Mike! Oh, which reminds me, I gotta call him and wish him happy birthday. He's 25 today! Wow, how time flies. Be right back, gotta make a phone call.

Ok, I'm back. Mike, you never picked up. Of course, that's understandable for a guy in your position. Crazy amount of work coming your way still I would surmise. I'll try calling after work. Got the timer on my watch set and everything.

As I was saying, I started my new notebook when I was getting ready to head to Tokyo for a 24 hour stopover, then up to Vancouver. yes, I'm back in Canada. Gotta get some visa stuff ready to jobs in South Korea. Me's gonna be un English teacher, hyuk! Or so I hope. I'll jsut keep firing off resumes, and since they don't start till August, well, most of them, I should be able to get in with a Public School of my choosing. No Hagwons for me, uh uh. Not with the horror stories I've read and heard about them. But yeah, the notebook, right. I took the liberty of writing down everything I wanted to see in the time I was there. It included the following:

Akihabara (Tech District)
Asakusa(Temples, tourist shops)
Imperial Palace (Royalty, duh!)
Kokusaitenjojijo (Toyko Big Sight, some famous architectural building I read about online.)
Roppongi (Cosmopolitan at its finest, more tourists than locals. Hard to fathom that.)
Ryogoku/Kokugikan (Sumos!)
Shinjuku (Neon and nightlife. Partay!)
Kabuki-cho (Red light district. What? I haven't hit Amsterdam yet.)
Yoyogi park (Veritable freakish fashion show by the locals every day, not on purpose.)
Tusikiji (Fish market. Just don't eat anything.)
Harajuku (Meiji Jingu Temple)

Well, that's the full list as of my one hour online in Australia's City Hunter Internet and Gaming Cafe's. Great company, look them up, they actually do the gaming and internet business properly. Right, first off there was the flight over with Japan Air. Now there's a company that I really gotta commend and berate at the same time. Truthfully, I'm not quite sure if anyone in the orient (Asia) knows what allergies are. At least, I do know, that the airlines don't. Why? If they did, they would at least print the ingredients on the packages of their meals like British Airways does. I couldn't eat a thing on that flight, or on the flight to Vancouver. Bugger. I lived off juice and water on the second flight, and for the first, at least I had packed some apples, oranges, grapes, and a loaf of bread. Kept me satiated until I could find something safe in the airport. Hooray for spicy mustard and American Hot Dogs being a universal food these days.

As a separate note, I think that all airlines should be forced to install cameras down by the landing gear. It was so cool to watch on the TV screens int he jet as the plane taxied down the runway and then lifted off. It was especially cool when they turned on the downward facing camera as well, so you could see the ground getting smaller and smaller. I only wish that they would leave that downward camera, or even the front-facing one, on while they landed. Now that would be a rush to see. Although, I suppose it would cause a smattering of discomfort to some of the more flight-sensitive clientele. Bah on them! Still, cool feature, get it!

Right, landing in Tokyo was another experience altogether. I don't even remember if there was a customs department going in or out of the country. Couldn't tell you at all. I've completely forgotten. Ha ha ha. I do, however, remember the lady who helped me at the customer service desk. For the life of me, I can't remember her name (still haven't got much better with that task) but I do remember her service. She was, by far, the best customer service representative I've ever had, in any country, in any business area. Hands down. She was just so, cheery, helpful and took care of everything I needed. She's definitely the benchmark for all customer service agents. And what's more, she spoke English better than I did! Bonus! Still, this young lady gave me four or five different maps, set up my lodgings for the night, showed me where to store my baggage at the airport, and even gave me suggestions on where to go and what to do based on kind of night-life I wanted to have. Kudos!

So, I ended up staying in the Asakusa district, near the temples and gates that surround the more traditional-styled area. There was this little place, and even now I don't have my camera on me so I can't tell you the name, but it was of a more traditional style room. About $60 buck or so for a one person room, but done with tatami floors and low tea tables and the like. Now, while the futon was thin, the floors hard-ish, the tea pot amazing and the noise outside the window rather quiet for a busy area, I have to comment mostly on the bathroom. While I've heard of space-saving endeavors, I believe the Japanese have it figured out better than anyone else in the world. I believe the dimensions of the room were 6 ft high (maybe), 5-6 ft deep (to the back of the tub from the door), and about 4 feet wide (If that. From one shoulder to my fingers on my other arm outstretched.) Basically, anyone taller or wider than me, and they ain't gonna fit! The tap system was quite ingenious though, running both the shower and sink on one tap. Great way of saving space and money. Oh, and you know how if we put water in thermos' back in Canada, 9 chances out of 10 if you check it the next day it won't be hot? Well, save for very expensive tea kettles and water bottles at least. Well, the one that was in my room was already filled with water when i got there, piping hot, and when I checked it the next morning in order to have some green tea (I'm in japan, gotta do it) it was still hot enough for tea! Fantastic!

Then it was off to wander. I started my day quite early, somewhere in the viscinity of 6 and 7, and headed out the door to the Hozomon and Kaminarimon gates leading to the Sensoji temple. The area has been turned into a great tourist attraction, what with the long walkway leading through the two gates up to the temple being lined off with whatever shops you can imagine. I only caught a glimpse of what was there, as when I arrived all the shops were pretty much closed down, and when I got up the next morning I was already moved on to another district by the time they opened up around 10. I did get to say a prayer at Sensoji temple though, and watch the monks do pieces of their ceremonies and chants. Quite cool! They now have a few of my previous yen in the temple coffers. No pictures though, uot of respect, and the big glaring sign of a camera with a cross through it.

The night before, I have wandered around the area, trying not to get lost too often, and began to notice things. First off, I got drawn in to try one of the video game arcades they had. Hey, I'm in Japan, pretty much the birthplace of all things cool and technological, so sue me! But yeah, they had some crazy games like a full 3D Mech Game, a full-Sized DJ game that puts DJ Hero to shame, and even a Japanese drumming game that was waaaay more fun than any DDR or Band Hero game ever invented. I want one...of everything! Next door there was even a batting cage and caged-in mini soccer field for 5 or five or three on three games. Quite great ideas, and definitely something I'll be partaking of when I visit next time. Oh yes, there will be a next time, have no fear. I have a list of some of the stuff I could make a killing off in arcades back home. But, I digress in my geek-ness.

After the temple district, and my breakfast at McDonalds in one of the alleyways next tot he temple, it was off to find the legendary Akihabara, mecca of all things Geekery. From machines to Manga, it was all there. Anything you could possibly want to own, view, or even just stare at could be found, but not if you weren't looking for it. For example, more of the signs outside shops were in Japanese, of course, while some had English subtexts posted on them as well. They all look pretty simple from the outside...until you realize that each one has 7 to 8 floors, plus a floor or two underground, and all are filled with different wares. Oh yeah, now we're talking Space Savers R Us on an entirely different level. I ended up in one of the major arcades there, where they had an Anime expo/info area as well, just under all the offices that towered above in the same building. Again, since it wasn't open at the time, I never got to see that part of the builsing. But that's not the point. The point is, I found God's Toilet!

Oh yes, do not be fooled by imitators people. I have found God's Toilet, for if any god or diety or supernatural being ever owned a toilet, it would be Japanese in make. The think had a heated seat. A heat seat! Let me rephrase that again...no, that just about does it. A heated seat! Holy crap that was cool! And then there were heated water jets to clear out your bottom, and differing pressure controls depending on if you wanted to be dampened, cleaned out from 'arse' to ears, or jettisoned off the seat into the stratosphere...or the office above. But yeah, enough on the toilet. Five or six lines of text on something you crap in is enough.

Then I wandered off to hit up downtown Shinjuku, but on the way, I stopped off at the Imperial Palace area. Bloody hell, that place is big, and I mean properly big. You could walk for an hour and not circumvent it. And of course, I didn't. Once I found out that it was closed on Mondays (curse it all), I immediately toddled off towards Shinjuku. On the way, I privately mused about three items. The first being, how safe I felt in Japan. There's a police box pretty much on every street corner, and they're all so bloody professional and friendly. More than once during my arrival night I asked them to point me in the right direction, which they did with a bow and a smile. Quite great blokes them. And ladies too, I did get directions from one of the female cops as well. She was pretty! Ahem, right them, second item of thought provocation was the cleanliness of the city. While there were cleaners everwhere, I wouldhave thought a place with millions upon millions of people in such a packed area would have been a little bit dirty. Au Contraire, the whole city was cleaner than back home...or anywhere for that matter. Probably the cleanest city I've seen in a long time. Number three! I have to say, this struck me the hardest. Anywhere I've gone so far, there's been at least a good share of foreigners and Caucasian people. So honestly, I kinda blended in. However, after stepping off the plane in Tokyo, I had to say,

"Neal, we are not in Kansas anymore!"

It's the first time I've truly felt like a foreigner in a strange land. But still, best damn experience I've had in a long time. And the shopkeepers, my god! They're all so polite, even if they don't want to be. Everyone working there welcomes you as you enter, says goodbye when you leave, and are smiling all the time. Well, except for one poor white girl working in a tourist-themed gift shop on the 7th floor, she looked like she had not woken up yet. She's forgiven!

Unfortunately, this was the end of my tour around Tokyo, as once I got to Shinjuku, I had to get back on the train headed for the airport for being late for an international flight is a definite no no. Though, I don't know what I was worrying for. The Japanese airport was more efficient than a McDonald lineup. Actually, I think I got signed in and through security faster than i usually get served at any fast food joint, including drive-through services. Every airport service personnel who's reading this, I want you to get on a plight to Tokyo and see for yourself. Now go!

Ya know, for as much of a pain as it is to have to head back home, even if it is to get paperwork done in hopes of heading to Korea soon, it's good to have people put it in perspective for you. If you're reading this, you know who you are. They pointed out that I've circumvented the world, almost. Once I hit home, I will have. Crazy stuff eh? When you put it in that kind of perspective, not 100 years ago that would have been a huge undertaking. Today it merely requires money, patience, and a really comfortable seat. And really, it's not even that much money. I travelled to a hell of a lot of places, covering Toronto, Cuba, Barcelona, Venice, Frankfurt, Berlin, London, Singapore, Perth, Sydney, Tokyo, Vancouver, and Regina all for about $10,000. And I didn't even try and save too much money. I bought gifts to bring or send home, I stayed in proper bug-free lodgings (most of the time) and ate very well. I was entertained, traveled when I wanted, and never quibbled too much about costs of transport. It really makes a lot more sense, when you put it that way. Thanks for the sagely advice. Once again, you're still the wiser one of us two.

Right then, before I go, I have a comment for you to ponder over. You've probably all heard of the 9 circles of hell, or was it 7. In any case, I believe I've found the lowest circle of hell. It involves extended length, non-stop flights, with no food to eat, and crying children all around.

Later days,

Neal

Show me the Money!

2010-04-24T23:37:00.001-02:30

Hey dudes and dudettes, I just got paid! Yep, money, paper, paid son!

Alright, enough with my gangsta rap, yo! I got ta keep this thing nice and real, ya dig.

Ahem, as I was saying, I got paid, finally. Real income, after so many days of searching and sorting through the job ads and applications of unfathomable complexity. Why companies choose to make their job applications so crazy hard to complete, I'll never know. It's as if they don't want people applying for their positions. Or maybe, it's to whittle down the applicants into the more serious ones. Dunno, and don't really care, because at least I'm on the right track.

I'm not sure if you're gone through this sort of thing before, but when applying for jobs, after the first 100, you begin to get a bit disillusioned. I figure I've put out about 120 resumes so far, with little success. But that's okay, because the feeling you get when you finally get some results is worth more than anything. I mean, getting the detailing job was the first step. Then it was getting paid. Finally there was a gentleman I met at a festival I went to after I was paid this past Friday. Gil his name was, working one of the food stands at this festival. He was selling mini dutch pancakes and I tell ya, damn good! In any case, we got to talking, and he offered me a job working the festivals with his company. I still don't know exactly where I'll be, or what's going on, but bloody hell, I'm going to give him a call today just like he asked. Never look a gift horse in the mouth eh?

Speaking of this festival, it was quite neat. A little open-air grassy area down by the harbor front in Manly. The whole place was lit up with lights, the kind you would see at a garden party, nothing really fancy at all. There were live performers playing, two groups of which I had the chance to take in. One was a trio of a drummer, guitarist, and singer. They performed jazzy style songs, kinda like Diana Krall except a little more mainstream. The singer, now her voice was really good. Kinda funny too how different people can look when they take their glasses off as well. She put her glasses on after the show, and I scarcely recognized her, except for the dress she was wearing and that she was damn hot. Ha ha ha. But yeah, the other crew was like a modern Simon and Garfunkel. Both guys sang, one played guitar, and the other only harmonica. But boy could this dude wail on that harmonica. He made that thing dance, I tell you. All the food stalls were quite something else as well. There was everything from the mini Dutch pancakes, to Gozlemes, French crepes, Dimsum, Paella, Mexican food, Oktoberfest Bratwurst, and other various Asian foods. It seems to me, that Asian food is where its at around Australia. Everywhere I go is Asian food, Mexican, and other styles of food from all over the world. It's actually more difficult than I thought to find traditional Australian food fare. Meat pies are good though...mmmmmm. Nice and hearty, just like we would have made. Proper on ya!

Ya know how I mentioned the ABC (Another Bloody Castle) syndrome back when I visited Scotland? Well, now I have a new disease from Australia, it's called TPS (Triple Plate Service Syndrome). I swear, I'm not cut out to work the hospitality industry in Australia, given that you have to be able to carry three plates. And it's not just the three plates, it's how precicely they need to be carried. They can't be pressed to the body in any way, and you pretty much have to be able to move your arms around like a bird and not have the plates drop off or tilt even a fraction of a degree. Bah, I say, there's more to service than carrying plates. Trust me, I've seen a lot of the servers here and aside from the control over the plates they have, there's no actual good points to their service. They don't smile, don't laugh, and don't look like they even care about the service. Bah, foolish people. Well, that's that.

Funny point though, grocery store clerks here get paid more than restaurateurs. Figure that one out, eh?

Hostels are funny places too. What happens there, you could definitely do another reality TV show about. I mean, on one floor alone, someone was assaulted, there were people bleeding, and then there's projectile vomiting all over their own gear. Foolish travelers. Ya know, as an aside, I think the British, as a generalization, are the worst travelers ever. I know this doesn't go for all, because I've met some good travelers from Britain as well, but they're rare. They're noisy, uncouth, filthy, and of course bad drunks. They all drink this boxed wine, 'goon' they call it, because of how cheap it is. Oh, I think I can throw a few Germans in there as well, since I've had some dealings with them as well. My next step is to find a spot of my own to stay in. I hope that happens soon, as I'm gonna go insane otherwise. He he he, not that I'm not already completely gone off the deep end. :P

Alright, I think that will cover most of what I had to say this time. Next time I might talk about the spiders that hide in cars. Until then, catcha later,

Neal

Trees, and bushes, and high grass...

2010-04-20T04:49:00.002-02:30

...And go wacking away in the sand with a tire iron. Oh, yeah! Great fun!

If you don't know where that's from, go check out Robin Williams' skit on Golf. Best skit ever!

Speaking of trees and bushes and high grass though, since my camera card seems to not be woking as such, and some of my pictures and videos of the botanical gardens are now missing in action until I can get another opinion from some data recovery specialists, I will have to attempt to describe what it is I saw through my meander into the jungle in the middle of suburbia, or urbia, as it was downtown.

Ahem!

Well, to start off I guess would be the general overlay. These are the Royal Botanical Gardens, if I'm not completely mistaken with the name. They're actually right next to the opera house. Well, that would actually be lying, somewhat. The gardens actually run a really long distance, but one of the main entrances to the gardens is down by the far side of the opera house, coming from the city. The gardens are really quite a bit bigger than I originally had thought. When we refer to botanical gardens in Canada, the biggest I've seen might be an acre or two, maybe three if you're lucky. But this place, well, I bet you could fit a minimum of 10 football fields in there. It's really more like a national park, including special greenhouse areas, outdoor jungles, copious amounts of wildlife, and open areas more like parks.

In the very center, or what I percieved to be the center, there were three buildings each shaped slightly different and made almost entirely of glass. Greenhouses, to be precise, parts of which were underground and parts above ground. Even just walking around outside was quite the experience, looking in on all the varieties of plants. The architecture alone fascinated me, as one of the greenhouses was shaped like a great pyramid of Egypt. Quite astonishing, really, and even more so from the inside. If you get the chance while you're down here, definitely go to the botanical gardens greenhouses in Sydney. They only cost $5 to get in, but the experience is definitely worth it. Once you're inside the greenhouses, they have each building turned into a specialized climate; one for high altitude, one for tropical, and one for native Australian. Alright, so I'm not that sure about the last one, since my pictures and documentation are currently in a state of limbo, but I know the first two are right.

And of course, this foliage is from all over the world. There's giant picture (pitcher?) plants like the ones back home, except these hang from vines and are at least twice the size. Then there are Venus fly traps, creeping vines, high-altitude moss (whoopie), and even tropical plants with broad leaves the length of my arm or even longer, and wider than my body. I think some of the plants might have been poisonous, I don't know, but at least I didn't try and find out. But each area was climate controlled, irrigated, and designed with regards to the specific climate. The high-altitude one was smaller, but steeply terraced, which the tropical one was mainly flat, lots of water, and plenty of tall leafy trees. Quite the spot to play hide and seek in, if it weren't for the damn spiders and all that. I swear, if it weren't for the fact that almost anything around here can kill you, Australia would be paradise on earth.

Oh, then there were the bats. If I ever get my data back from the SD card, we'll be all set because I even took videos to show you where I was walking and all that. But for now, we'll deal with the Flying Foxes through prose and literary means. I'm pretty sure I just made a big boo boo there in terms of grammatical structure and context, but frankly, I don't care at the moment. Take our local bats, then put them on steroids, and picture something out of an Indiana Jones or a vampire movie, and yeah, you're got the size of these things. And they were everywhere! One of the attendants of the park said there were about 20,000 of them. Unfortunately, as much as it's rather cool to look at them, they are causing a lot of damage to the trees and surrounding area, so now they're trying to get rid of them. Apparently, they even put sprinklers in the trees. Unfortunately, that didn't work. Resilient little buggers, aren't they? Still, quite cool looking, all red and fuzzy. Definitely cooler than our local bats which just look too small to be of any real interest.

And of course, there's the birds of the area. Cockatoos, and, well, a huge amount of other local birds I don't know the name of. They're everywhere! But, the real stars of the bird kingdom in that area have to be the Cockatoos. On top of being very tame, well, tame enough to be fed, they would even sit on people's arms and allow people to pick them up for a time. Some of the other birds would do this too, but not with as much frequency. They're really like giant, colorful Grey jays back home. Very intelligent, but very calm as well.

Oh, as I side note before I clue up, I went to see the Book of Eli last night...but I changed my mind and went to see date night instead. To be honest, it was kinda contrived, and definitely only a one-time viewing. It's not something to own, that's for sure.

Right then, I'm off to plan my day for tomorrow. Working, following up on leads, all that jazz.

Later days,

Neal

P.S. If you have an interesting topic you want written on, just let me know, and I'll see what I can do. Always looking to flex my linguistic muscles, that's for sure. This piece was rushed, definitely. No flow. Blah!

Musicals Revisited!

2010-04-18T05:17:00.000-02:30

Yeah, sorry about that, looks like I forgot to put in about musicals. I did get to see Wicked, the one about the wicked witch of the west and her life before Dorothy came to town. Wel, turns out she has a name, it's Elphaba. I know, rockin' name, eh? But yeah, definitely another must-see musical. I got the tickets thought the Wicked Lottery, and have the button to prove it so pbbbtt. Yeah, for 30 bucks, front row center, and able to see all the action. Me likey very much! RIght, so get down here and see the musical!

Just do it!

Neal

Job Hunting, Musicals, and City-Slickers

2010-04-15T05:20:00.007-02:30

Well, it's been a great run so far, but if I don't get some income soon, I'll be up a small trickling body of water with an absence of any form of locomotion. It's a pain, really. Definitely not as easy to get a position here in Sydney than I would have thought, being a big city and all that. But I guess it is their low season, though I also didn't think bigger cities had low seasons. Ah well, minor stuff. Heck, at least I'm applying for a bit of everything now. I even went to a casting call for actors and all that.

Me! A casting call? Yeah, that's right, you heard me. Ha ha ha. Still, it turned out to be a bit of a scam as they wanted $160 to put me in the computer system. It would pay for itself in one shot, don't get me wrong, but the chances are probably pretty slim. So maybe another time, after I get some cash flow. Look out Hugh Jackman, Neal Oram's on the rise!

Riiiigggghhhhttttt!

Speaking of scams, there's definitely plenty of them out there, or at least, worse deals than usual. Even some recruiting agencies here charge you for being able to apply for their job boards. I ha a call today from some group in the city that sends people off for paid internships in the USA. Not bad, they bring you right up through the hotel and hospitality business in order to get up to manager level. Medical care, flights, all that is arranged. And of course, they want $6000 to pay for all this. Doesn't that defeat the purpose of being offered the working position. Or am I old-fashioned? I mean, I could have sworn that if someone wanted your talents to work for them, then they would foot the bill to get you over to their side of the fence. Or maybe this is just me getting used to seeing great promises but low expectations and even lower reality? Whatever. In truth there seems to be a lot of these get rich quick offers out there. "Full commission, make great pay" seems to be all the rage now. Trust me, I've paid my dues. It's definitely not all it's cracked up to be. At least there's plenty of needy backpackers to fill the supply lines of these corporations. I've spoken to a lot of the ones running these pyramid-esque schemes on the sides of the road, and they all seem to be backpackers, students, or were one or the other at one time. Doesn't $1000 a week seem great though? Hmmmm, would be nice, but still, as I've told myself many times now over the last few days and weeks really, I need the steady cash, not the dream of big cash with nothing to show for it.

Well, at least I do have something to help cover some of my living expenses, depending on how many hours I end up getting. I took a position as a car detailer up in the Brookvale area, north of Manly beach. So far, each of the shifts is only 6 hours, but the boss is excellent and the work is nothing to bother me about. It's just wash, wax, clean, polish, lather , rinse, repeat as necessary. Typically, I've got to be able to prepare a basic car for delivery or sale within 30 minutes. Right now, on the first day there, I was able to match that pretty good. Now, I definitely want to get that time down, because I've been told that the faster I am, the more hours I get, and that means the better chance at getting some cash flow. Case in point, I need the cash, fast! Damn funds are running so low that if this lack of monetary income continues for too much longer, I'll definitely be on a flight home in no time to either re-group or maybe head back to school. The thought has occurred to me, but I'll figure that out later on. For now, it's take it one day at a time and see if it all works out in the end. Hey Andre, looks like I'm doing your job for a while now eh? You did some detailing work back in University for a while, if I'm not mistaken. Any tips for me?

Here's something funny, rather, it's more of an observation. People in this day and age have an enviable amount of transport solutions available to them. Why, just look at the everyday commuter in a big city. There's walking, running, cycling, riding (motorcycle), car, bus, train, tram, ferry, scooter, skateboard, scooter, roller-skates, car-pooling, and perhaps even flights. But, while all of these types of transportation are not really odd or unique in their own rights, they can become rather interesting if you pair them up with different classes of people. This is what I am alluding to when I say 'an observation.' Now, I've seen plenty of odd ways of getting around, and to be honest, I've used some of them. But to see a business-man, dressed in full suit, tie, and even vest from what I could tell, riding a push scooter down the busiest street in Sydney during the height of the traffic, was really just the oddest thing I've seen in quite some time. I mean, can you picture it? Take someone like, well, any CEO of the Fortune 500 companies and put him on a scooter, not even a motorized one. Now, aside from Steve Jobs, who would really look alright on that scooter? Anyone? Yeah, that's my thoughts too.

Oh, but I did have an interesting occurrence with my camera the other day. Unfortunately, because of it, I may have to re-take all of my pictures concerning Sydney, and you may never get to see any of the videos I took that I haven't uploaded yet. Of course, there's quite a few I haven't uploaded. But, that being said, this is only the worst-case scenario. It seems as if the data is still on the SD card, as the space is still used up, but somehow it's hidden. I can't get access to it through computers, the camera itself, or even if I gnaw on it a little bit. That was a joke people, laugh a little, it's good for you. Honestly, if I didn't laugh at my situations over the last few months, I'd be in a real state right now. I mean, two of the biggest ones were losing my iPod within 12 hours of arriving in Australia, and the other is now my pictures might be gone for good. But, I think I'm finally starting to get the way a few really important people in my life think. They just seem to let everything roll off them, as if nothing is too big to handle with a little patience and time. Nothing is irreplaceable, and certainly everything can be dealt with in time. I know that this thought process seems a little 'Zen Buddhist' for most, but I know and continue to hold close a few people that exemplify this way of life and they seem to have all the answers. Well, if not all the answers, they're definitely some of the happiest and most content people I've ever had the chance of interacting with. So I feel like I've only scratched the surface, with worldly possessions taking a slightly lower rung on the ladder in recent times, but at least now I might be on a path to understanding myself, and what makes me tick.

Because let's be honest with ourselves, which one of us really knows what we truly want. And I'm not talking about simple wants, like gifts or some such nonsense, but what you want on a grand scale. To know which direction your life is going, to be determined to reach your desired path, and to do anything to get it. But the key to doing this without becoming disgruntled or self-destructive, I feel, is to combine that drive, that desire, with temperance. The flexibility to change your goals, or adapt to a new situation or set of circumstances is truly the most desirable trait in one who knows what they want in life. Unfortunately, at the moment, I can say that I don't know what I want or where I want to be in life. Sure, I've find out a few clues to guide me along the path.

I know I don't want to be stuck behind a desk all day, crunching numbers or having to answer to someones whims. That's just not me. I thought it might be, what with me taking the whole five years of business training and all that, but I guess I'll have to use those acquired skills in another arena. Maybe my own business or something. Don't know at the moment, and while it does cause me some worry, it's not all that concerning that I'll be losing sleep over it. No, leave me losing sleep to the blasted snoring and noisy individuals that take up most of the hostels in the world. They must really practice hard to be that rambunctious and unaware of their own cacophony levels.

Also, I know I love to travel. Sure, I've got some worries with eating different foods, and not understanding languages, and a low tolerance to heat and sun. But really, all this can be solved with copious application of common sense, enthusiasm, and SPF 45, not necessarily in that order and some may be combined from time to time. Just visiting new cultures has me pumped up. Sadly, this brings me to another realization.

I need cash. Now, there are many ways I could go about this. The avenues include everything from shining shoes, all the way up to robbery and extortion. I won't go into the logistics of each one, as that would take me writing a book and since I've already got my thoughts set on another two novels, I'll leave this topic along.Suffice it to say, money doesn't make the world go round...but it sure as hell helps when you want to explore it! Well, at least, fro my chosen lifestyle, I don't need to be ostentatiously rich (I can't believe I got ostentatiously right on the first try, no spell check! A-Booyah!) or even wildly rich, which is a comfort.

The issue remains with one of my final points...I need to be happy. Yep, unfortunately that's one of the prerequisites to my ideal lifestyle. Can't help it. It includes having close friends and family, and being healthy, wealthy, and wise in the manners of mind, body, and spirit. THis is where the conundrum comes into play. It's a real mind-bender, not unlike the puzzle I bought last week. I swear, that thing is going to be the death of me, or at least the cause of much frustration until I solve it. Blasted pride, causing me to choose a good and difficult one. Bah! Well, I needed something that won't cost me any more money to occupy my time. I spend enough as it is searching for jobs, eating, and just keeping my sanity in check for the time being.

All right, I'm done, now go back to your lives and wait for the next time around. Hopefully there will be good news about my pictures and videos, and I'll have them uploaded, or at least stored better.

Later days,

Neal

Sickness on the Road...Again!

2010-04-04T04:41:00.003-02:30

Ok, so the first time I got sick on the road I had to return back home due to a perceived illness. That was rather unpleasant, to be rather mild about my description of the experience. Fortunately, it turned out to be something very simple, easily rectified, and therefore I was able to return to traveling within relatively short order.

Unfortunately for me, it seems to be happening again.

Of course, I only mean the sickness part of it, not the returning home part. I'll be damned if I let another non-life threatening medical situation take me away from my travels again. But of course, it couldn't have happened at a worse time, regardless of how seriously uncomfortable it is. I refer to the bane of hostels, dirty lodgings, and beds alike...

Bed-bugs!

Yes, those nasty little buggers chewed me to pieces nearly six days ago now, and of course, I have to pay the price for it. I guess that's what I get when I didn't research my lodgings well enough. I even had places vacant where I had stayed before with no ill effects. But oh no, I had to go with my manly gut and say "Bah, this will be fine for a few days. Uh huh, yeah, right. First night and second night, I was chewed to pieces, or so I figure, as I didn't change rooms till the third night I think. Regardless, the buggers did one hell of a job on me.

I'm quite well chewed from head to foot. In fact, to completely precise about the whole thing I have bites on my toes, feet, ankles, shins, calves, quads, knees, hamstrings, lower back, chest, shoulders, arms, hands and fingers. Frankly, the only spots not bitten, itching, and driving me insane are my mid-torso, butt and head. Ya know, when I first got bit I figured, 'Alright, it won't be so bad. Just some bug bites, nothing to it.'

Yeah, right!

To put it in perspective, I've had hives before, and these bites definitely rank right up there or even worse than the hives and shingles. I think I'd rather have one of my fingers bitten off by a rabid monkey than go through this. Why? Well, because it's one of those pains and annoyances that you can't ignore, no matter how hard you try. You can't work around it, you can't remove it, and you can't cure it. Being actually sick with the flu is preferable to this! At least then you feel run-down enough to lie in bed, drink copious amounts of fluids and get some much deserved rest. But no, I have to have something that bothers me when I sleep, when I put on clothes, shoes, etc, and even when I eat. When I move in any way, shape, or form the blasted things hurt and grate like nothing else on my nerves.

Normally, see, fly bites go away in a day or two. No harm done, right? But these...welts I guess I should call them, have been sticking around for the last six days now. And the antihistamines and creams I have been applying and consuming don't seem to be doing any good either. Well, if you deem putting me to sleep rather quickly at night, making me groggier during the day, and making me feel all greasy all over, then yes, they are doing some good.

Bah!

Oh, but wait, there's more! For a limited time offer with your bed bug bites, you too can have your very own Easter Weekend! That's right folks, for the entire weekend, including Monday, you too can have no access to doctors of any sort to seek further council and advice. And all this comes at the low, low price of a one night stay at your local dingy hostel. Just call 555-BITE to order this package now!

How's that for sarcastic marketing humor! Hah!

Alright, I'm good for now. Catch you guys later.

Neal

P.S. If you have any advice of how to clear these up quicker, let me know now and I will forever be indebted to you! Seriously! It's that bad! :P

Surfs Up Dudes and Dudettes!

2010-03-28T08:28:00.005-02:30

Alright, now we're getting somewhere!

Yes, yes, I know I haven't caught up on some of the blogs yet, but you can all kiss my pasty white bottom! I'll get to it over the next few days, as I've laid out to do. Frankly, I think I might only have the energy for that for the next few days anyhow.

The reason? Why do I need a reason? I don't need a reason to be tired. Heck, it's not like I'm extremely energetic all the time and put most ADHD sufferers to shame...

...Ok, so I guess a reason might allay your fear the world as you know it is going to end in a blaze of glory. Actually, the reason is quite simple, but extremely exciting.

I went Surfing! And of course, I couldn't leave it at just surfing, so I signed up for a camp over two days! 5 hours a day in the water for two days, BBQ, and crazy amounts of sun and trying to scrub salt out of my non-existent hair.

Right then, to business. Day one started off as any other day really, except for a few tiny facts:

The bus left at 6:40AM.
This meant I had to get the train at 5:40AM.
This meant I had to walk 25 minutes to get to the train station.
This meant I had to leave the house at about 5:00AM.
This resulted in me having to be awake at 4:30AM...on a SATURDAY MORNING!

Good grief, to be completely honest, it feels like I've been away for 4 or five days, not just the two I've been gone. Actually, considering the time, its really only been about 36 hours from departure to arrival back in Perth. Strange, the whole time frame thing, isn't it?

I mean, haven't you had days or weeks like that where time just goes by either faster or slower than what you originally deemed possible? One of those rare Saturdays or Sundays where you just have nothing to, lying back on a bean bag chair, naked, eating Cheetos. No? Then you just haven't lived! Kudos to Ron White for that joke. Or how about long school days where time just oozes on excruciatingly slow no matter what you do to try and amuse yourself. So I pose the question again, what is it that makes these types of days appear to move so much slower or faster? And I know its just not me, more people experience days similar to ourselves. I've asked friends on those slow days,

"Does this day feel slow to you?"

And the answer is very often yes! So what can we establish here due to these conditions? Well, we already know that time moves at a uniform rate, or maybe not, depending on what experts in the field would tell you, but for now we'll keep it simple. And we also know that...ummmmmm...that I've lost my train of thought and will be abandoning this temporal subject with all due haste. See how logical that was?

A-heh heh!

Ahem!

How about something that makes a little more sense, a description of what went on during the two days of sun, sand, and surf. The group I went with was called simply Surf School. They're based out of Perth, and if you can believe it, their website is www.surfschool.com. Fascinating, eh? In any case, showing up a the bus stop was relatively easy enough, jsut had to wake up earlier than I would have liked for any amount of money or other incentives. After that, it was the waiting game until our coach and transporter, Raphael, arrived in the big 'ol van we would be riding in. There were five of us total, excluding Raph, and so off we went, watching a great surfing video all the while. I think it was a bit dated, but still a great video showing off not only some great surfers but also some great surf spots across the world.

After a good hour and a half or so, we all arrived at the beach in Lancelin. Now, it should be noted that, while the surf is definitely good, with while sandy beaches, no rocks, no creepy critters around, and of course, plenty of sun, Lancelin beach is known for something slightly different than surfing. Apparently, according to our instructor/driver/chef, Raphael, Lancelin beach is know the world over for wind surfing; and I would hazard a guess that it's known for kite boarding as well, given we saw a good few of them out on the water both days we were learning. The wind was reminicient of something you would get back home in Newfoundland, always blowing and always strong enough to screw with whatever else you were trying to do at the time, like hanging out laundry, or painting, or trying to run your surf board out to the deeper parts of the waves. I'll be damned if I didn't look like a complete fool sometimes trying to flip the board around without having it flip over or flip me around in the process. That is, until I got the swing of things. Then it just came naturally, as naturally as flipping an eight foot piece of foam around in the wind and waves can be.

Skipping all the boring instruction stuff, it was amazing though how relatively easy the concept was, and yet how entirely copmlex it is. I can really only liken it to running. On the surface, running is not all that complex. Put one foot in front of the other, repeat as necessary, then pick up the pace until your start leaving the ground with both feet at one time. Congratulations, you're running. But to run well, now that is definitely a different matter, and so is surfing well. To get up and stand on the board, almost anyone can do that, and even ride a decent wave into shore, that can be accomplished in two of three days. Turning slightly can even be accomplished if you've got the pre-requisite balance and concentration. But to really surf well, to read the waves, take your chances with one of your choosing, and ride the wave so you're parallel to the surf and beach, now that really takes some skills.

It was pretty cool when we got there. There was actually an under 18 surf competition going on during our first day of surinfg. Not only was it really impressive to see these kids a lot younger than us surfing really well, but it was cool to see that it could be done, and surf even of such relatively small sizes could be surfed properly. I'm not sure who won each category, but it looked like they were having a blast. Running out into the surf, trying to catch the best waves in the time limit, and then racing back out of the water to see who won each round, and of course repeating as necessary. I think they even had a bit of a barbeque area set up for the surfers. God, about half way through the day when we were given some sandwiches to munch on, what I wouldn't have given to have had access to a barbeque. I did find out two things though, during that point. One, is that salt water takes more fluids out of you than I ever thought possible. I must have went through well over three litres of water that first 4 hours on the beach. Of course, you're supposed to drink more than that normally, but I never do so that was really a record for me. And to top it all off, I still wanted more! Fancy that, eh? The second bit, is that I don't like beets in sandwiches. For our first meal on the beach, Raphael had picked us up some random sandwiches made at one of the local gas stations. Unfortunately for me, they were all the same, and all had beets in them. The first bite made me realize that some vegetables just aren't meant to go together. I hope the gulls could eat them when covered in sand.

But I gotta say, as much as the next day was full of progress and great times and sleep on the way back on the bus (and much better sandwiches), the point that sticks out was our party/barbeque the night before. Raphael brought us down to some little bar or community building in Lancelin whiere we played a few games of darts (which I have found out I such at), and mini pool (also much suckiness by me). But the real noteworthy piece to this evening had to be the meal at the end. Raphael cooked up a vertible feast of sausages, steak, salad, breads, drinks, and of course some condiments. A lot of the cutlery and sauces were proveided by the bar we were at, so that was cool. I tell ya though, for such a small group of pretty small people, we put away some serious grub that night. I think I must have gone through two and a half steaks, and abobut 6 sausages int he meat department. Then there was probably four or five slives of bread, probably a liter of water to drink, and of course some of the salad. My good gracious was that ever good after basically starving that day. I swear, next time I go surfing, I'm bringing a lot more food and a hell of a lot more water, and zinc cream, definitely zinc cream. Although I got burned, the zinc cream helped loads in saving my ass from eternal peely-ness.

Whew, alright then, that's the surf adventure. Not much else to it. As a side note though, everyone who reads this is hereby decreed by order of Neal Oram then First to go see How to Train Your Dragon in 3D this very instant! Great movie, lots of fun, and definitely one you can just turn your mind off during.

Alright, I'm off again, later days.

Neal

Backtracking Just A Little

2010-03-21T00:41:00.002-02:30

So it looks like I forgot to put in my blog posting for Barcelona, Spain. A pity that! I was doing so well so far with keeping the chronological order of my blogs. I guess screwing up once or twice is alright. God it's hot in Australia this time of year. Maybe I should ship off to the South East coast where they actually get snow? Ha ha ha, but then I wouldn't be able to catch up with Elise, so I think I'll be staying here for a while. Oh, and I must remind myself to print off some resume's in the next little while. I think I'll wait till at least monday to take care of all that jazz, so I can be better shaved, dressed, and all that before I start dropping in on people.

Right then, well, as I said, Barcelona! Great city! Cold as all heck! Didn't try the food. End of story!

Would you guys really let me get away with that?

I didn't think so either. So, let's get down to business then, shall we?

Observations are usually a good place to start off, so I think traffic laws should be a logical place to begin. Have you ever noticed that the bigger the city, the less traffic laws there appear to be? Yeah, I noticed that too. It was especially prevalent in barcelona. While cars and vehicles of all shapes and sizes did go t he correct directions on the roads, that's about the extent of order in Barcelona. There are cars, bikes, scooters, and all sorts of motorized vehicular creations basically going where they want, when they want. There's just no order to it. In a couple of cases, it seemed to me that four or five people just cruised on through the red lights, no problem there. And of course, where are the police at these times? Of course, they're reigning in the drunks at night and are invisible during the day. Maybe they're night cops only? Hmmmm, go figure.

Of course, I kid. But in all seriousness, check that out next time you go toa big city center. The larger it is, chances are the more offenders you'll get. I can't even imagine what the drinving is like in Thailand or even India for that matter. And I just thought of something else as well? Maybe it's the two extremes that cause this phenomena; the very large and the very small. In smaller towns, and being from Newfoundland I've seen my share, the same condition applys. Of course, at least in the small towns there are lower speeds and so the chances of serious accidents are lower as well. But what is really safer? In Stephenville, or almost any small town in Newfoundland, if you even stand on the side of the road, someone will stop for you. End of story, no questions asked. Now go with that, and flip it 180 degrees to a large city where no one stops for you unless you're at the cross walk and have pressed the button. On the one hand, you have courteous people driving so slowly that they'll probably not get into an accident anyways. On the other, you have the crazy speeds most large city drivers attempt to keep up with, but it forces pedestrians to follow the road laws. So I pose this question again, which is the better option?

I'm probably a bit biased, but I personally like the way the big cities operate. The reason? That's because it's predictable. If you think about it logically, you can see my reasoning. In a small city, you never know what cars are going to do. They might stop for you, they might not, and there might be Joe Redneck hurtling along and crash into the car that stopped. Frankly, ending up as another statistic is not on my list of things to do. But in a larger city, you can rely on a bunch of things. First, you will be run over if you step out into the road away from a crosswalk. End of story, well, unless you cross when the road is completely empty. Everyone is moving at such a pace to keep up with the fast pace-setters and speed demons, that most of the time they wouldn't be able to stop anyways. As well, the roadways, traffic lights, and stopping areas are well marked. In smaller cities, the roads are not as well maintained and cross-walks and stop signs sometimes don't exist. At the wrong time, you could get a non-local who doesn't know the signs or even a local who just forgets. Trust me, I've done it sometimes myself. Finally, there are just so many people that most drivers are going to stop anyhow. Unless, of course, they're going for the high score in the driving game. Then, you're pretty much screwed and you all end up on the evening national news. Fun times!

So there, that's my thoughts on the subject. Take it, leave it, or reply to it, pick one!

Right then, what I saw in Barcelona. I guess that's probably what you'd be looking for now in a travel blog. I know I would. Okay, so I guess I'll start with one of the more interesting areas, and of course touristy, of La Ramblas (LR). LR is the main shopping/market street in Barcelona. At any given time you can take in street performers, living statues, trinket shopping, as well as live animal purchases. Yeah, I said it. Live animals. Basically, they have stalls, out on the sidewalk, and sell everything from chickens, to hamsters, and right on back up to parakeets and rabbits. It's quite the show, actually. If you go out earlier in the morning, you can watch them all set up. I think I heard a goat at one point, but I could be wrong. At least they're not butchering them on the spot and all that jazz. That would just be, well, not wrong, I guess. Just different I suppose. Maybe when I go to China I'll see that in some of the outskirt areas. But, not so much in Barcelona. In any case, bottom line is, the LR strip is a real cool place to start off with.

Cut. Paste. Moving on!

Oh, I did get to see the FC Barcelona Football Stadium. The outside of it anyways. It cost money to get the tour, and I figured, I've already seen the Manchester United stadium so there can't be that much difference. Um, yeah, that's really about all I have to say on that topic.

The Magic Fountain!

Sound like a good name for a book doesn't it? And no, I didn't discover the fountain of youth or anything like that. It's actually just a big fountain with motorized jets that get set to music almost every night of the week. I think it might even happen every night. In any case, it's definitely something everyone needs to see once...and only once. Frankly, there's a lot more hype to it as a tourist attraction than there should be, but at least then it gets people in to see it. It's free, and set right below a really cool looking museum on top of a hill. I never went in though. Brent, you're probably cursing on me now for not visiting all the museums and such stuff. But come on man, those things take ages to get through, and of course, money I don't have! Maybe I'll get to the one here in Perth. I think it's free, so I'll take a day sometimes int he next week or so and get there. But back to the point at hand, the fountain is really quite a piece of engineering and colors, even if the music is all crap and not syncronized at all. The hues they manage to get from the jets of water and mist are fantastic when mised with the lighting. On a warm night, I can see why so many people pack ther area. Actually, as cold as it was, the place was still packed. I guess it's a must-see for tourists.

The Aquarium in Barcelona, unfortunately, I didn't get to see. But, as it was over 20 Euro to get in, I think I have a valid point as a backpacker. Apparently it's quite the spot to see, according to some other travel and blog sites I looked at. Maybe next time. Oh, but while I was down on the waterfront area, I did see something rather remarkable regarding to water. Ships, sailing ships to be precise. Hundreds, maybe even thousands of them all lined up in rows upon rows along the marinas. There were also yahts, rowboats, replica sailing ships (the big ones), and even the occassional tourist fishing vessel type thingy. A tour boat, I guess, is the words I'm looking for. There was even a nice beach in the area. Unfortunately, being so cold, I definitely wouldn't have been able to go swimming and all that jazz. There were some surfers out though. Man, I can't figure out how cold that would've been.

Now, ther was also this really cool church. Apparently, it's been on the build for a long time, and it's not going to be completed for another 30 to 50 years of something ridiculous like that. The pictures will be able to show you what it's all about.

But there was one really random moment when I was around, I think Poble Espanyol or Sagrada Familia, I can't remember which. In any case, I was trying to find the landmark I had travelled there to go see, when lowe and behold there was an escalator, right there between two buildings. To top it all off, it was in a residential district, with no shops or major attractions nearby, and it spanned over 150 steps that ran along side it up the hill. It was really, really weird. I mean, that's like having an escalator going up from O'Connel Drive to the Arts and Culture Center back home. It's just plain weird. And there were no covers or anything. So what happend when it rains? Wouldn't the mechanics inside get all messed up? Meh, in any case, I got pictures, so check it out!

Oh, and here's something else. Down on the waterfront, there's a little mall built on a pier or small island of land or something like that. In any case, inside this little shopping strip there's actually a Native American store. Seriously! There's pictures of guys in the feather headdresses and the works. There's even 'tribal' or 'native' jewelry. Yeah, right! Maybe loosely inspired, but certainly not Native. Trust me, I've seen Native back home. But I guess, maybe this is considered foreign and exotic to Spaniards. Kinda weird, though, to see stuff from our own history being used in a retail shop like that. Maybe that's what the Japanses feel like when they go to shops in America that are supposedly Japanese Themed? Another thought.

I'll finish off with a description of the concert I went to and the lovely Helen Miller that went with me. I should introduce her first, right? Ms Helen Miller, from the Lake of Constance area in southern Germany. I met Helen at the hostel I stayed at in Barcelona, the Albareda Youth Hostel. Actually, as a side note, this spot is really great. Even the owners would come down and chill out with the guests. The old man there was really funny too. As soon as he found out some of us could play guitar he would ask for us to play and he would sit and listen. Huh, fancy that? I wish he had his instrument there with him, apparently is some kind of Spanish traditional instrument, but much like a guitar of sorts. It would have been cool to hear him play as well. In any case, back Helen. Yeah, she's a sailor, runner, hiker, climber, and basically all-round crazy chick! Awesomely cool, though. But yeah, we went off to the Spanish Guitar concert that was advertised. I foget the performer's name, but damn was he ever good. Apparently he studied at some super-prestegious music school and is now a nationally and internationally known performed. I bought his CD afterwards as well. The venue was quite cool as well, set in a tiny old church with everyone just packed in. I gotta say though, the coolest part was getting to hear what a true classical guitar player can do. he actually gave out a history lesson while he went and played songs from the different eras, baroque, rennaisance, modern, and one other. But the truly astonishing part of it was the projection of sound. There were no microphones, no amps, nothing to get in the way. And yet, he projected both the guitars sound, and the sound of his voice in one piece, through the whole church. Mind you , it was small, but the ceilings were cathedral style and the walls all stone. Truly a marvel of both the player and the makers of the different guitars he played. Check out the song Granada, if you can, as its now my new favorite piece. (Since I found out that its the name of a piece I heard before but just never knew what to look for.)

Alright, I'm done now. Enough typing for the day. Time to chill out and wait for Elise to call me o I can set up shop in her place.

Later days,

Neal

Oh, and I'm actually looking at some ideas to write a book now. It's fleshing out rather well, actually. I'll let you know when I have a test chapter written up. Adios!

Right then, that's really about it.

Guitar concert, Granada, Tango in the sky.

Helen Miller.

Va Bene, Italia!

2010-03-19T23:48:00.003-02:30

Right then, well I'm sure you're all wondering if I've dropped off the face of the earth by now. If you haven't been wondering, well, then poo on you!

But in all seriousness, I've just been real busy travelling around and all that jazz. I haven't had as much access to computers as I may have liked, but at least now I can try and update as much as I can while I'm in Australia. But of course, tat's another story, for a later date. Right now, It's time to go back a few weeks to Italy.

Venice, to be precice.

Arriving at the airport outside of Venice is a rather interesting experience. It reminds me of Deer Lake back home. It's quite a small airport, but fairly modern, with little to no security on entering the airport. I know I'm coming from one of the European Union countries, but still, I figured at least there'd be passport or customs control. Instead it was simply walk off the plane, pick up your bags, and walk out the front door. Even Cuba had more thorough procedures, and that airport was even smaller again. Unfortunately for me, my arrival in Venice was during the dark hours of night, and finding my Bed and Breakfast was rather...daunting, to say the least.

Do you all remember the story in greek mythology of the Minotaur, of how it was trapped in a Labyrinth in Crete and slain by Theseus. Well, ignore the part about Teseus and the big-ass bull, and just focus on the labyrinth. Right, got the picture in your head? Good, now whatever you've imagined, make the walls come closer and tighter around you, and make then two or three stories high, and then take away the light, and add freezing cold temperatures to boot. To go one step further, add hundreds of bridges to the mix. Ok, once you've done that, you'll have some idea of what navigating Venice in the middle of the night was like.

I kid you not! This place was quite the literal labyrinth to behold even at the best of times. Even during the day it was difficult to get my bearings, even with a good map. Yes, the night before was far more difficult than it should have been due to the fact that I had a crap map showing only about two percent of the roads in Venice, but still, crazy. After a good two hours wandering around in the cold, stopping in at shops along the way to get directioins (and have one of the best sandwiches I've ever had at some mariner-themed cafe) I did find my way...

...only to think it was the wrong spot and have to ask for more directions until someone called for me and physically walked me to the location I needed. It wasn't my fault that the sign for 'Happy Venice Hostel' was on a tiny brass plate next to a series of door bells. Heh heh, though I am rather impressed with myself that I found the place on my own with a few minor directions. Even the gentleman who eventually called and navigated me there said that it would be impossible to find do to the numbers on the streets and houses not following any order whatsoever. He was right, but he never counted on me being from Newfoundland where we have some pretty confusing streets and numbering systems as well sometimes.

I was greeted by this wonderful older lady by the name of Gina. Of course, Gina spoke not a word of English, so my entire tour of her home and my room for the night was done completely in Italian and accompanied by a lot of hand gestures. Yeah, I looked like quite the fool I guess, but it is rather incredible what can be accomplished with a few hand gestures and lots of smiles and laughter. When left to take a look around my room, it was really a culture experience that I've not had for quite some time. The whole room was done up in an Italian style, and I hope unique to Venice itself. Stone floors, long blinds (Venitian, or course, but since I'm in venice then they're just blinds, right?), and of course a single hot water heater in the corner next to the bed. You can see in my pictures that even the pictures on the walls are or Italian scenes. And to top it off I even had slippers and a housecoat. There are hotels that don't do such things unless you pay for the presidential suite. A very warm and inviting atmosphere, to be sure.

Over the next few days I explored Venice to the best of my abilities, this time with a far more detailed map that Gina was able to provide for me. Bless her! In any case, I did come across some rather interesting instances. Now for the grocery store lovers reading this (Dad) this first bit will apply directly to you. When picking up some fresh fruit at one of the local shops, I not only had issues with the self-weighing and tagging system, but I was awestruck with the number of styles of Olive oil there was available to buy. Sure, I expected there to be some, bring in Italy and all, but not this many, In such a small shop, I counted 41 different types of olive oil. 41! That's unheard of in any North American shop. Of course, it all made sernce once I started eating some traditional Italian food, Pizza and Pasta. Olive oil adds such a nice flavor to the sauces used. Mmmmm mmmm mmmmmm! I will be attempting to replicate such sauces once I settle in one spot.

Aside from the delicious food, the fairly friendly people, and the convoluted roadways, (Aiden was accurate with the whole spaggeti imagery) the most incredible experience I had was walking around the San Marco Basillica. Now that is a truly collosal structure, and so artful. Every surface has a carving, and every carving is different. Paintings adorn the walls, while spires jut from the domed rooftops. And the square was just as open as I had imagined it. Now Joel, this one's for you, buddy! When you go play assassins creed, pay attention in Venice when you get to the square of San Marco and have to infiltrate the basillica. The reason being, is that ist appears to be completely accurate right down to the bridges leading away from the square. It is really unbelievable how accurate those game designers were. If only I could get up on the roof to look around, I'd really have an idea then as to the accuracy. But of course, I'd probably be arrested as well.

When you go to Venice to eat, I have one piece of advice for you...

...Be patient!

The reason I bring this up is due to a tip I was given on one of my tourist documents. It advised that Italians make an event out of eating, so eveything is drawn out and a host who presents you the bill right away will be considered rude. And frankly, it was right! After each meal I had the bill did not arrive until I requested it, and even then it usually took a good few minutes regardless of whether the restaurant was empty or full. It was refreshing, not to be pushed out the door as quickly as possible by the wait staff. Having said this, I now have some new ideas for foods when I get home, particularly in the bread department. I won't talk about the Spaghetti Bolognese, or even the Pizza I had. No, those are best saved for a question and answer period in person. What i will talk about is the unique way they did Bruchette. It was one slice of bread, very thinly sliced, but nearly the size of the dinner plate it was presented on. Toasted, topped with fresh tomatoes, spices, huge pieces of garlic, and of course copious amounts of olive oil. To be honest, I've never had anything like it. Not quite filling, but tastier than most appetizers I've ever had the chance to consume in my lifetime.

Actually, screw it, I'll get to the masks later. For now, I'll do a little more writing on the food portion. As I mentioned before, I also partook in the ritual consuming of a Spicy Sausage Pizza, as well as Spaghetti Bolognese. The Pizza, I might add, was again, probably the best pizza I've had in a long time, perhaps ever. Pizza Delight, Louis Gee's, Domino's, eat your heart out because this is true Pizza. The sauce was olive oil based, but very simple; Tasty as all hell though despite or perhaps because of the simplicity. Then it was just mozzarella cheese and italian sausage. That's it, aside from the fact that the crust was thin and crispy. It wwas one of the more simply pizzas I've had the pleasure of eating, but surprisingly the most tasty. I guess nothing beats fresh ingredients, a fire-kissed crust, and piping hot serving temperatures to increase the flavor of a food. Oh, this was at Mamo restaurant. It's close to the Basillica I mentioned earlier, so go there if you can. You may have troubles finding it though, as its off in a small series of back alleys away from the main tourist path.

The other item of nourishment I had was the Spaghetti Bolognese. It, again, had less ingredients, less meat, and even less sauce than I would normally have on a pasta back home. But of course, fresh ingredients have won out yet again. The small amounts of meat in the dish tasted like sheep, or some other type of gamey meat. I'm sure it wasn't moose, but it was tougher like what ground moose sometimes is. Maybe they have weird cattle ther, I don't know. In any case, it was done in the tradition of Aldo, who stayed with my mom and dad for a time, and tossed in the sauce before served. I think I'll do this with all of my dishes from now on. It limits the overuse of sauce, while enhancing the taste to the highest extreme. Well done, Italia! This was also where I had the Bruchette, as well as a unique experience with drinking glasses. Normally, water glasses are tall, large glasses filled to the brim. Strangely, the glass served to me here, and come to think of it, at most of the restaurants, was rather small. Almost the side of an expresso coffee cup back home. Strangely, this filling and filling and filling some more caused me to drink more fluids than if I had one glass filled to the brim. Hmmmmmm, maybe they're on to something here. Perhaps this is a method of prolonging the meal, as they are noted to do. Bah, whatever, though I am slowly but surely outlining my dream kitchen as I go to these different places. Heh, heh, heh. It's gonna be weird that's for sure. Global house and kitchen, here I come!

Now, I just need to make a whole heap of money and I'm set. Riiiigggghhhhtttttt! Talk to me again in another few years.

Asie from the food, the Italian carnival masks are noteworthy. Made of either cheap plastic, paper mache (the most common and popular), or leather (used for theatre, apparently), the carnival masks are each unique pieces of art. Unfortuately, it's kinda like the kilt shops in Scotland, there's just so many of them! Seriously, on certain strips, almost every shop sold masks of some sort or another. And the ranger in price, holy crap. Barring the really cheap, mass produced, plastic ones, the prices went from 20 euro, all the way up past 300 euro for really fancy ones. Surprisingly, some of the most expensive ones were of paper mache, not leather. But of course, the decorations on them were absolutely amazing. Real crystals, hand-painted designs, and glitter coming out the wah-zoo! Really, it was one of those things you just have to own. It reminded me or the Renaissance era, full of balls, costume parties, all completed in regal fashion. To be honest, I think I would fit in better with the era of chivalry and calligraphy, rather than the current era. Maybe one day I'll hold a ball of my own, as formal as they come with tails and dresses fit for royalty. Or, maybe I'll just find some rich dude to work for and end up serving at one! Heh, heh, that sounds more believable.

Alright, that's another posting done. Next time, it's on to Germany, and then Down to my first days in Perth.

Later days,

Neal Oram

Aside from the food

Updates Finally

2010-03-12T14:45:00.001-03:30

Hey Bloggers,

While I am not caught up in terms of my actual postings, I have now updated several hundred pictures to my facebook page. Check it out sportsfans, and i will catch you later on.

Neal Oram

2010-03-04T15:32:00.008-03:30

Are you seated comfortably?

Have you used the washroom?

Do you have a cold drink in hand? Possibly even a snack?

Excellent! Then you´re ready to start in on this blog posting. It´s sure to be a lengthy one so bear with me, and be prepared for marathon levels of text, pictures, and the like.

Now then, let´s get a start on the next installment of the Wandering Newfie´s blog. So I will be covering Toronto when I get my pictures in order. Honestly, I can´t recall what I did there, as I didn´t have access to a computer at the time so my notes are a little off. I´ll be sure to update when I get to the pictures. So then, I must move on to the land of reasonable rum, great cigars, skinny people, the Royal Palm tree, and of course, Che Guevara himself. If you haven´t figured it out by now, I was visiting the Spanish-speaking island of Cuba. Now, I´ve got about five pages of scratch notes to get through courtesy of Mike Walsh´s amazing moleskin notebooks he gave me, so sit tight and enjoy the ride.

Arriving in Cuba is not what you would expect from any other major port. You would think, based on the levels of tourists and the like that travel to Cuba each year that the airport would be rather large to accommodate such an influx. Unfortunately for travelers, especially those leaving the country, this is not the case at all. To give you an idea, I will compare both when I arrived and when I left. The arrival was the usual, get off the plane, go through security, pick up the bags, and walk out to get your bus. Well, when I say usual, I mean that all of this was within 100m of each other, so it was rather cramped. On the plus side, there was definitely less walking to be done between gates and security and the like, so there´s a positive to everything. Now, on the exit, there was a similar experience. Everything was closely packed together, including the people to be found in the waiting area for the gates. Now, I will remind you that there are only two gates, and the people are packed in like cattle, both standing and sitting. Probably the worst part was the smoking, as it´s legal there, but I won´t dwell on that much. Most of you know already about my disdain for smoking and the like. Needless to say, it was quite an uncomfortable spot to be stationed in either waiting for a flight or coming in from a flight. But, of course, those details are minor when you consider the reasons for coming to Cuba in the first place.

So at the airport, we were picked up by our driver which Mr. Chaffey had arranged. While our driver never spoke much, our short-term tour guide was quite the talker and actually had some pretty good jokes. One concerned two lighted oil rigs which looked surprisingly like the Eiffel Tower in France. He basically said, "This is why we´re a better destination than France, we have two and they only have one!" He kept us well informed and entertained while we rode the bus to our Five Star Hotel on Tryp Peninsula.

I pose a question to the readers now. What comes to mind when you hear the term Five Star Hotel?

Personally, I think of Boca Raton in Florida, a resort for millionaires build by millionares. Or perhaps even a nice Hilton series of hotels. Marble floors, candlelight dinners, bell hops at your beck and call, nothing requested is unavailable.

Well, Tryp Peninsula Hotel did give us some of that. There were some candlelight dinners, and well-dressed servers and staff. The rooms and facilities were immaculately clean all the time, which is definitely a plus. Even the lobby floors were marble, though they do get rather slick when it comes time to actually walk on them. The humidity made it so we Canadians could have a virtual hockey rink in the middle of the lobby from time to time. Just take two steps, slide, and you´ll end up over the stairs and into the dining hall if yuo have enough momentum. Quite fun for those of us with some balance in our toes, but flightfully challenging for the poor lady who fell when we first got there. Even the beach was raked every morning.

Raked, for Pete´s sake! A tractor, with a rake not unlike the ones used for packing snow on the ski hills back home, would tour our section of the beach every morning. I think either they had multiple tractors, or the gentleman had one long night because most of the resorts were done the same way. This made for some beautful soft sand until you hit the firmer, water-swept portion of the beach. Crystal blue water, hammocks underneath the Royal Palm trees, huge conch shells being sold on the beach every morning, and plenty of activities to partake in.

So what, praytell, am I nattering on with about the "Five Star" comment I made earlier. The point I make, is that not everything you see advertised is considered true, or even on a comparible basis. While the facilities were definitely among the four and five star hotels, the rooms among threes and fours, the service, for the majority of services requested, was maybe a three star at best. Unfortunately, the food was also of an attempted five star quality, but was brought up short at about three and a half. But of course, you don´t go to Cuba for the food, or so I now know. Bland would be one way of putting most of the food. I believe I gorged myself on pancakes every day to ensure I wouldn´t be too hungry by the time lunch came to call. And as for desserts, they definitely need to learn how to use more sugar and butter. Oh, of course I wouldn´t have any, due to my incessant and ever present allergies, but my travelling entourage certainly commented on them. And getting back to the service aspect, there were definitely instances where the service was lacking. For my parents in particular, they had a rough time acquiring towels, linens, and some other items I will not go into detail on. It also did not help that one or two of the staff would try and sell you cigars and even Rum on the side. The lifeguard tried to get me on the cigars.

But, while I state that the service was not quite as expected, it certainly wasn´t bad in all aspects. The entertainment commitee, as they shall now be known, were very upbeat and cheery all the time. They organized everything from dance lessons and kids events, all the way to organizing cabaret style dance shows every night with a different theme each time. They even had a Miss Try Peninsula contest later on. Guys, calm down, it wasn´t what you´re thinking. If you wanted to see that kind of scantily clad scenes, you need only to go to one of two places; the beach or the stage. The beach is self-explanatory, and the stage deals with the shows that were put off every night regarless of weather. I should note, that they did an excellent job having the shows inside the lobby when the weather did not cooperate.

Personally, I had no problems at all with the service during my stay. Unfortunately, it was my travelling companions who took the brunt of that blow.

I must mention two individuals in-particular who made the visit to Cuba completely worthwhile. One is Jose, and the other Carlos. I will touch on Carlos first, as he was directly associated with the hotel experience. Two or three nights we had reservations at one of the more fancy restaurants on the resort. The first of which, was rather dissapointing in both service and food content for all. We´ll not dwell on this, as it was the black sheep of my experiences with the fancy restaurants. Dining reservation number two proved far more enjoyable. The food was indeed more palatable, even going so far as being delicious. I believe it was here I had my first dessert at a restaurant in who know how long. The chocolate mousse I was given was certainly the tastiest part of my meal, and finished off a great dinner with a flare of simple style. The atmosphere also helped the dinner along.

In each culture there are various talented individuals and of which Cuba has no shortage. I won´t mention the dancers just yet, as you just need to take in the pictures I have in order to truly appreciate their...ahem...expertise. I´ll actually write about them later, as they do deserve a blog posting all to their own. In fact, I´ll mentin the rest of the shows I took in during my time in Cuba at that point. For now, I´ll metion that both of my dinners were accompanied by live music. The first was a trio, two violins and one guitar. Any piece you could have named, Pachelbel´s Canon, Midnight Sonata, even some showtunes from movies anda the like, and they could play it. One of our party wanted to see if they could play Flight of the Bumblebee, even though we said that it was not appropriate for dinner music. The trio graciously waived it off stating they did not have the sheet music. It was a rather polite way of saying, Screw off, or so we joked later. The second group was a singer and two other musicians of a discipline I cannot recall at the moment, but they wer also quite good. In fact, while the dining hall we were seated in was not overly large, this singer did not need a microphone had the place been twice the size, her vioce was just so powerful. For those of you who know me, you´ll be wondering if I picked up any of their music. Well, yes...yes I did. Both, to be exact. I´ll try playing them when I get home, as the CD players in the room, in my room, did not work as well as I would have liked.

But, back to the matter at hand, Mr. Carlos. He was, honestly, one of the most delightful servers I´ve ever had the chance to have attend me during a meal. Brent, who is normally unmatched in terms of quick wit in our group or travellers, had found an equal, and dare I say, even a better. Carlos could think up retorts and jibes to any of our comments, and of course, Brent certainly had a few of his own to try and stump the gentleman. We were definitely the noisiest table throughout the evening, but by far the most satisfifed. I belive Carlos left with a smile on his face too, after he recieved our gratuities for the evening. If I could, honestly, I would remove him from the country and hire him as head waiter in any restaurant I could think of. He was certainly a high point of my trip to Cuba.

As for our second individual, Jose took on a different role. Half of our party had previous dealings with Jose, as they have been to Cuba before. He graciously acted as our official tour guide on any outings we had, and even cleared up some problems at the hotel when we needed a local tongue to add some color and urgency to our requests. He explained many of the local sights in Havana (or Habana, for those of you reading from the mother country) as well as every spot along the way. He even helped organize a deep see fishing exhibition some of our party went on. I´m not quite sure if Jose organized the Jet-ski outing, but I´ll leave that story for another time. My most memorable experience with Jose was when we were invited to his house for dinner with his family. I cannot express my deepest gratitude to Jose and his family for allowing us to come into their home and partake in a meal with them. While grandpa and grandma were quieter, not having much exposure to English, if any, the rest of the family were certainly animated enough for all of us. You know, if I were to compare it to anywhere in the world, it would have to be both Ireland and Newfoundland. Jose´s family were just, well, inviting and happy. There´s no other way to put it. They were honestly just a great and joyous group of individuals. The family unit that day consisted of:

Jose
Alina (Jose´s Wife)
Harold (Son)
Lisbey (Girlfriend of Harold)
Harley(Son)
Liliana (Girlfriend of harley)
Lucila (The cheery Grandmother)
Jose Ramon (The quiet Grandfather)
Richard (Jose´s Brother)

and

Enya (The fuzzy black dog)

With the six of our party also in the abode, it made for some rather unique seating arrangements, but we were graciously given the seats of honor at the dinner table. And the food! Oh, I´ve not eaten such food in quite some time! There were craquelins (fried pork fat and skin until crispy), white rice, black beans (beautifully salted I might add), fresh squeezed orange and papaya juices (I would have taken it all with me if I could), pineapple slices (ripened to perfection), grated carrots, cabbage, lettuce, cristal beer, tropicola (local coke), water, chocolate cake, flan (blast my new milk intolerance), and of course, the roast pork. Aside from the beer, water, and cola, everything was home made. It really brought me back to Nan´s home cooking from back home. Even my mind was screaming at me to "Eat more", while my stomach was blatantly crying out "We can´t handle any more, back off you goof!" It´s times like those, that I wish I could either take some food with me, or have multiple stomachs like certain bovine critters. If I had to give the meal, experience, and the dinner company a rating out of ten, it would most certainly ber a resounding eleven! The mean was fit for any king, queen, or discerning conniseur, and the company was very inviting in all areas. Even the home felt like a home, properly lived in and surrounded by loving individuals. Jose and Family, if any of you get a chance to come visit in Canada, I will definitely have you at my home, wherever I may be, and I know I speak for the rest of our travelling party. This includes those who could not be with us due to illness, unfortunately. I promise nothing on the cooking scene, however. I will, perhaps, need to get some lesson from Alina on that matter.

Well, aside from a few other odds and ends, this was my experience in Cuba. I will touch on the shows and sights to be seen in a later posting, as I´m sure that this blog has gone on long enough for most readers. I hope it did not feel too rushed or with a lack of flow, but I´ll try to up the standard next posting, as I should have more time and the memories will be clearer when the pictures are available for vewing.

Catch you all later,

Neal Oram

Title Shot, Round Two, Fight!

2010-02-18T22:10:00.004-03:30

...and in the orange corner...weighing in at 156lbs...standing 5 foot 7 and one-half inches...the goof from Newf...the rook of Corner Brook...doctor 'NO' himself...NEAL ORAM!

Yes folks I'm back, large and in charge! This is officially the first post of the second round of the Wandering Newfie saga. Pretty cool, eh? And I'm starting things off right. First off, I'm in the most remote and exotic place anyone could hope to be. There are wildlife around me you wouldn't even get to see in the Amazon Rain forest. The sounds are all odd and foreign, where multiple languages seem to blossom on every street corner. They even have tunnels which allow them to traverse hills and obstacles from one part of the village to another. Yep, you guessed it, I'm in...

...Toronto!

Not quite what you were expecting, if I were to hazard a guess. But you knew I wasn't completely sane to begin with. Ha ha ha ha. Bring it on world, this is the first stop. But in all seriousness, this is not where I'll be making my first foray into the world unknown. Varadero, Cuba, will be my first choice in stomping grounds. Beaches, babes, and booze. Well, subtract the booze, and you're got my interests down pat. :P Seriously, this whole not drinking thing has its advantages sometimes, especially with a backpacker's budget. I've been eating rather well here in Toronto, during day 1.5. I had breakfast at Sora's, Lunch at A&W, and supper at a lovely Greek restaurant by the name of Penelope.

Okay, so the second one doesn't exactly go with the good food theme, but dammit I was hungry and that was the only one around that wasn't some oriental fare that I didn't know what was in it. In any case, let me describe the dining fare of Penelope for you, my dear readers, who, if hungry, will all be shaking their collective appendages at their computer screens in rather rude gestures, once they have read this next bit.

Ahem...the pre-appetizer was a delightful fresh roll of whole wheat bread with pats of butter on the side. Warmed, and moist, this went over rather well while awaiting for Dimitri, my Italian speaking 6'4 waiter, to attend on me with my next course. Fortunately, I was not to be kept waiting long. While a cold dish, the roasted red peppers, olive oil, tomatoes, cucumber, and spicy olives created a rather intriguing palate when topped with feta cheese. I swear, this dish could have been hot and it still would have gone over well. Tasty, yet not overly filling, and without a hint of lactose.

Booyah for Greek fare, I say. Booyah!

Then came the main course, a beef souvlaki kebab with tzatziki yogurt sauce. This was seared to a medium rare, served with seasoned potatoes, what appeared to be rice pilaf, and garden vegetables consisting of green and yellow beans, and a few baby carrots. The vegetables were of course tossed in olive oil, adding to their natural flavors. For those of you who have had the chance to try the Totally Greek version of souvlaki, then I must insist you do not use this as your benchmark for all greek fare. The beef was flavorful, the vegetables crisp, the rice filling, and the potatoes seasoned to perfection. And to top it all off, the dish came out piping hot! A refreshing experience to have the meals come out as they were advertised on the menu. Truly a work of a set of professionals who I simply must take my hat off too...

...and I would have if it wasn't so damn cold up here and I had more hair. Pbbbbbt!

Well then, how to recap my first two days. I've been to the Eaton Center, quite the mall if I must say so myself, and also to the CN Tower. Not a bad spot, but only a one time deal. Once you've seen it, you're seen it, if that makes any sense at all. The glass floor was nice, but they could use to replace it I figure, just to get all the scratches off it so you can really get that "Oh crap I'm over 300ft in the air and there's nothing below me" feeling. As for the rest of my times, well I spent that as most travelers of any merit do...

...wandering listlessly taking in the sights and sounds of the area, and of course gathering bearings for potential future times out. Oh, I did find out there's a movie theater nearby, and they have an iMax, and they have Avatar still playing, and its in 3D, and I'm definitely, definitely, definitely, definitely gotta go, go , go, GO , GO, GO!

This bloody spell check is driving me crazy, with its americanized spelling of er versus the re of Canada. Foolishness. And the keyboard I'm working with seems to be some international version that like to throw in accents and such ever time I try to use the quotation mark key. Hmmm, intriguing. But, moving on!

Honestly, that movie even in our dingy theaters back home in Corner Brook was amazing beyond all expectations. The realism, the story, and even the characters was just great. I can't wait to see what the spin off of this will be with regards to 3D television and 3D computer monitors and gaming. Look out Xbox and gaming fans, there might be some new systems out real soon, much to our chagrin. Frankly though, I think they'll wait a while, if they're smart, at least to get the technology to the level where they can safely replicate the effects of Avatar on a personal interactive level. The processing power would have to be monstrous. Maybe the new next-gen computers with their chaos-theory processors or organic thought processes will be able to handle the demands. Who know, I certainly don't, but at least its worth dreaming about. I'd pay $200 for a game with that kind of 3D interactivity and graphics level, no problem, It'd be a ridiculous sensations beyond anything in the last ten years.

Whew, well, then, looks like I'm back in action again. It's been a long road on the mend and getting all kinds of testing done back home, but the feeling of being back on the road is worth it. I'm actually looking at some more flights right now, for after Cuba. Perth, Australia is looking really tempting at the moment, and there's Elise to go see there and stay with, and all the creepy crawlies to flick off and shake out of my boots...

Yeah...let's think about that one a bit more.

Anyhow folks, I'm off. Catcha on the flipside, and I'll be back soon with another adventure.

Neal Oram

Sucking Air Filled With Purple Haze

2009-10-01T21:12:00.002-02:30

Well, that would be a nice reprieve at the moment, but alas, that is not the case. Sorry 'E', no purple cloud of smoke sharing going on for you buddy. Ha ha ha.

In any case, I figured it was about time to update my blog once again, this way everyone knows that I'm not dead, incapacitated, or otherwise moved from my current hold that is Corner Brook, NL. I'll tell ya folks, the desire to just say 'To hell and back with this upcoming testing with the "butt-doctor"' and 'hello sunny skies of Barcelona', is nearing its breaking point. Luckily, I'm trying to keep myself occupied in other ways.

The fiddle is coming along. I'm about two-thirds of the way through it, but it is getting progressively more difficult as I go along. At least now I'm not killing small animals out of the air with notes coming from the 'E' string. I tell ya, getting consistent notes from that string on a cheap fiddle is an art unto itself. At least I'm re-visiting my childhood through this new instrument. Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, Old MacDonald, and Mary Had A Little Lamb are bringing back gobs of memories from days gone past. Star, Old Mac, and Mary Jane and I have been sitting down to some long remembrance sessions lately...of course Mary Jane is kept out of the loop for toxicity reasons.

Ya know, that's another thing. Here I am spouting all of these credos and battle-cry's stating I'm willing to try anything, and yet MJ and I have not been acquainted as of yet. Huh, I guess I'm a bit of a contradictory specimen then, aren't I? I guess me and 'Mister-e' may have to sit down one of these days and contemplate the meanings of the human psyche and how I have deviated from the path of supreme 'experientialism'. I think that last word doesn't exist, but, I don't really care now do I. It accurately describes my current state of being and probably will for some time now. I'm hoping I'll be staying in that state for the next upcoming trip I have planned.

January Baby!

That's the date I'll be getting prepped to kick up my heels and take the long trans-Atlantic flight to other borders and peoples...And you know what, I can't wait for the life of me. But here's a challange for those of you who are currently saying 'Man, I wish I could go do something like that.' I'm currently opening spots for people to join me on my journeys. That's right, for only $9,999.99 you too can join me in the riches of the world.

Ha ha ha, I kid about the $10k thing. That just brought back good memories of Bugs Bunny and Tweety cartoons. "You too can own this for only ninety-nine, ninety-nine, ninety-ninnneeeeeee!' Ah the fun it was on Saturday mornings. Did you know they have all that set up on Sunday Mornings now? I was shocked and appalled at the matter. How dare they effect sacrilege on the holy day that was Saturday Morning cartoons! The audacity! The horror of it all!

Ahem, back to the matters at hand.

As I said, I am opening up slots to join me for my journey upcoming in January of 2010. I currently have one maybe from miss Jillian Philpott. And the best part is, it's flexible. You can go for a week, a month, or even a year. The choice is yours. Just pick a time, find out where I am, and get your butt on a plane. In fact, just let me know where you'll be within a month prior to your departure and I'll even meet you there! how's that for a deal. Travel Buddy For Hire! Actually, it's be more accurate to say 'For Rent', as I'm basically free. But there are conditions! Oh yes, conditions there are many, hmmmmmmmm. (Put on your best Yoda voice and read that last sentence again.)

Number One, though shalt have an amazing time! No ifs, ands, or butts. Well, butts there will be a-plenty, but we'll deal with that when we get there. Spanish butts, French butts, Swedish butts...gah! Ok, no more daydreaming for me!

Number Two, though shalt not bring any more than you have two. As outlined in the backpackers code, and it is written: 'Thou shalt take half as many clothes as thy might think thy needs and twice as much money.' So states the code, so shall it be!

Number Three, bring no preconcieved notions. Notice how I didn't say plans there. You can have plans, but no notions. Be open to the experience, and you'll have an amazing time. This being said, it also leads to some less than desirable situations so that brings us to...

Number Four, be flexible! Change with the days, the availability of transportation, and even events that are going on. Roll with the punches, baby, and we'll get along famously!

Right, that's about it for my rules, well, at least the top four. I really do wish though that anyone reading this blog would get in touch, plan a trip, and meet me somewhere. Imagine the stories you could tell later! What would your NL or Canada bound friends and family look like when they found out what you had gone and done? I'm pretty sure they'd look like a really big goldfish out of water...with very human features of course. :P So come on, join the fun!

Alright, now back to how I've been keeping myself sane. I've bought an XBOX 360 Elite. Yep, I did, I went and got it. Am I regretting it...sometimes the money is hard to deal without. But on the plus side, my sanity is more intact than it would have been at this time without it. Oh how I missed gaming. Ah, it is nice. Kind of a weird combination though, eh? I run for 12k and then come back and hit the games. Hah! Who says gamers can't be fit! Pbbbbbbbttttttttt! I've also bought a few great CD's.The new CD's by Three Days Grace, Billy Talent, Nickelback, and one by Jeff Healey. Well, if you know your blind guitar players, Jeff Healey is long gone by now, but his music is still amazing. The rest of the albums are currently getting lots of play time on the computer, XBOX, car, stereo, etc.

On that note, I washed, waked, and detailed my car today! I'm so proud, but if it wasn't for Mom's nagging I wouldn't have done it. Thank you Mommy! ;)

Also, I'm churning through the third book in the Shadows of the Apt series by Adrian Tchaichovsky. Amazing series, amazing writer, amazing concepts. Go get it! If you're a fantasy lover at all, you have to own these books. I think it's set up for another book after this one, and I'm hoping for another TEN THOUSAND!...but I digress, cough, excuse me. Ha ha ha. If you do get to read the series, you'll know what I mean when I say Mantis Kinden Rock my Cotton Socks! Kudos goes out to Dot Gardner for the Cotton Socks. Loves ya Dot!

My final piece of business goes to something only one week old. I am taking a course from i-to-i learning (http://www.onlinetefl.com/) for TEFL, or Teaching English as a Foreign Language. Once I'm done, I should be able to teach the bastard language that is English anywhere in the world. I'll tell ya, I could spend an entire blog just talking about how messed up our language is. I mean, I thought French was hard, at least they have forms and ways of writing and speaking. We've got nothing, or so it seems. I really do take for granted being an English speaking native. For all of those I have met that took up English as a second language later in life and have mastered it, my hat comes off to you! You deserve all the praise in the world. A week I've been at it, and I'm still not through the grammar section. Gah!. What the hell! Shouldn't a native speaker and writer be able to understand all of this (or so I thought)? NO! Of course not!. If I pass this, I promise to be ever so patient with anyone I have the honor to teach. I'll make the Dalai Lama look like one of the jacked up angry soldiers from Gears of War. Did you know he has a website, the Dalai Lama? I didn't know that either until I checked the spelling just now. Huh, fancy that. (http://www.dalailama.com/) Who says spiritual leaders can't be up on the technology. Way to go DL! Yes, he gets a nickname now, since he's cool!

Later days blog fans, I'm outta here for now. Keep me posted on what's on the go.

Neal

Homeward bound...by bugs and such.

2009-08-16T18:52:00.002-02:30

Ladies and gentlemen, I apologize for the long delay in my blog posting. I do, however, now have some more news for you.

I am back home in Corner Brook, Newfoundland, for the time being. Why? Well, the reason is in the title...

Bugs!

Well, at least we think it's a bug. While I was travelling I spent six weeks with constant movements of the bowels. Quite the opposite of constipation, and rather frequent as well. So, luckily, my medical insurance provider saw fit to send me home to get it all checked out before I continue my journeys. I'm now glad I bought that insurance. Whew, saved me a lot of fuss in the end. But there is a downside to all of this wonderful doctoring I'm about to recieve. The reason is also in the title...

Home!

As much as I love my home in Newfoundland, well, let me put it this way. Have you ever come off the highway at 110 kmph into a sudden city zone where you're forced to go 50kmph or less? Right, well that feeling of impatience, lethargy, and utter disinterest, is exactly what I'm feeling. I've even gone so far as to buy a fiddle and sign up for boxing lessons, just to keep me occupied. I think tomorrow I will have to be checking with the golks down at Colemans to maybe get some work. No time like the present to top up the coffers.

Still, after being on the road, sdoing my own thing, and finally getting my life back in check, it's a shame to stuck again. But this will not be settling me for very long. As soon as the doctors give me the go-ahead, I'll be on the next plane to...well...wherever I want actually! Ha ha ha.

Well, at least now I have some time to re-group, re-pack, and actually do some writing for enjoyment. And maybe even go through my pictures and videos and label them...as much as it pains me to do so. Ugh!

I leave you for now, but when I have some more news, especially news of my returning to the travel scene, I will let you all know, right here.

Later days,

Ultimatum Made

2009-08-03T13:01:00.006-02:30

Alright, you know you've got a fan, albeit your mother, when SHE makes an ultimatum regarding your blog. And when your mother speaks, you listen...or at least pretend to listen and...ah he he he, shutting up now Mom. I'm sure I'm getting her to glare at the screen now. :P Whew. Well, mom, here ya go. Oh, and by the time this is up there should be some pictures, and maybe videos up as well. Enjoy!

Well then, where to begin. I've seen a lot, experienced much, and now I get to use my (heavily practiced these days) liguistics skills pertaining to the written word. I have even found the time to do some writing for myself, fiction, as it were. If you haven't heard of it, it's called fanfiction. In essence it involved using an existing universe of characters and places in order to write your own story, thereby allowing the writer to focus on the story and play with their creativity. If you have the talent and wherewithal, try looking for my stories. If you can find them, you get $50 of my own hard-earned money. If you like them, I'll buy you a beer too. If you hate them, well, who asked you anyway! Oh, I did, well then...bugger off you! Here's a start for finding them, FanFiction.net.

Down to the task at hand, the dirty business, the reason why I'm spending £2 an hour to stare at a screen and listen to awesome music. Speaking of which, if you get the chance to come over here and you have access to a computer, get online with Spotify. It's gotta be the latest and greatest thing I've ever seen. It's basically like itunes, except completely free and great quality for streaming music. Amazing! Unfortunately it's not yet legal in Canada, but I'm told there are ways around that. I won't be trying it, as I'm in the legal zone now. Ha ha ha ha ha. Bogger on you all. I hear natterings that they're trying to move to Canada now, but we'll see how that goes. As well, it might be available for the google version of the iphone soon, as itunes rejected it. He he he, wonder why? Thousand Foot Krutch is the band of the minute for me on Spotify. Their new Album and Single, absolutely awesome! In any case, time to consult the almighty journal and picture albums and see what I've missed.

Okay, so we've gone past Wild and Sexy Scotland tours and Hairy Coo's, what next. Well, I did spend some more time in Edinburgh, then it was off to Glasgow for a few days. Glasgow, Glasgow, Glasgow. Backing up for a moment, Tony, the tour guide from Haggis Tours and Wild and Sexy Scotland is from Glasgow, so he may not want to read this. Unfortunately, I don't have much good to say about Glasgow, other than its people are friendly, just like the majority of Scotland I experiencd. The city was, definitely a city. Dirty, smelly, and generally crowded is the definite word. I won't dwell on that though, and I will spin some tales of my 2 or 3 days in the city center. The first tale is that of a set of buskers. Now, these lads were probably close to my age, not much more, and definitely not much less. They were dressed very smartly in Kilts, traditional white shirts, and some skate sneakers. Okay, so they weren't comletely traditional, but you get the idea. In any case, they were kitted out to play some good marching music. Sanre, bass, and a set of pipes. In their credit, they were excellent. I actually gave them a half pound piece I had in my pcket at the time, one of the few times I actually had some coin on me. So, the first time I saw them was earlier in the morning when they were first getting set up and moving along. So I trolled along through the day, touring the dirrrrrty (roll your r's like Sean Connery) city and generally getting a feel for what Glasgow is all about. Ooh, as another aside, I got some new shoes. North face, bright toxic yellow and green. Awesome! They're wicket trail runners, and a bit slick on polished wet surfaces, but then again, what shoe isn't. Back to the story. I made my way back to that street full of buskers later in the day, and I heard the lads at it in full force. The bass drummer was swinging away, doing those little acrobatics with the sticks you see in marching bands. His sticks were covered in huge fuzzy puffs, I'm guessing to dull the noise. The snare was doing his thing too, a kevlar top creating that distinct marching snare sound. It's one of those sounds that can penetrate anything, anywhere, at any time, 'nuff said. Then there was the middleman, the highland piper. This lad was not slowing down for nothin' and no one. His fingers were a blur as he made his way through several pieces of music, though finishing rather abruptly as I sat down on a step from where the crowd had gathered in order to fix my pack and maybe do some journal writing. Strangely, I heard a commotion coming from within the crowd, so I scooped up my bag and headed for a look. Well, i must have gotten there late, because all I saw was two blokes walking off, jeering to each other, and the drummer (snare) and piper putting down their stuff saying stuff like "Real funny there guys." I have no idea what the two guys in their track suits did to piss these Scottish buskers off, but they certainly made a mistake by picking these three, well, two in particular, but that will be explained in due time. So, the antagonist chaps walked off around a corner, still jeering, and the two that had put down their instruments walked back and forth between looking around the corner and gestulating at the two and back to where their mate and teh crowd was. Eventually, they must have come to a decision and they went off after the two guys. I was then treated to a Scotland brawl. Long story short, the guys in Kilts beat the hell out of the two buggers causing the trouble. They definitely lived up to their name of the Ladies from Hell (I'll touch on this after). Though I didn't see the whole fight, you may wonder why I can safely say the two in Kilts beat the piss out of the two in track suits. The reason is two fold. One, the guys in track suits fled after about 30 seconds into the scrum. Two, the guys in Kilts came back with minimal bruising, and no blood. Now there's a lesson to be learned from this, ladies and gentlemen. The fact is, don't mess with the Ladies from Hell.

Now I referenced that I would touch on the Ladies from Hell comment I made, and so I will. Back in the days of Scotland when battles were still fought with broadswords and you only owned one Kilt for all your duties, there were battles upon battles, countless scrums if you will. I won't try to recall the exact story Tony gave us, but it went along these lines. A group of Spaniards, if I'm not mistaken, were moving into a territory in the Highlands. Now, the highlands of Scotland had been left to their own devices for hundreds if now thousands of years prior to missionaries and the like moving in and trying to take over, often by force. English, Spaniards, and other forces were at work in these battles of supremavy. In any case, during one of these battles, the Spaniards were at the bottom of this ravine, preparing to do battle with whoever, or perhaps they were marching. The key to remember here is that the Highlanders were one of the first in their era to use Guerilla Warfare. So the Highlanders come running down through the trees, yelling and screaming, weilding weapons of mass destruction (two-handed broadswords), ready to send anyone to meet their chosen Gods. Here's some pieces of into to make the picture more vivid. The broadswords were weilded above their heads, twirled around and around in a maelstrom of fury. They were so long that they were only good for the first incursion of troops and then were dropped for favor of shorter weapons or other tactics involving the broadswords. Also, these highlanders came through the trees, so they were not only hard to see, but hard to target until the last minute as they burst out and kicked your pasty white butt back to where you came from. just to top it all off, they were half naked from the waist up, and tattooed everywhere. So your picture now includes several hundred hairy, smelly, screaming, half-naked, kilted, tattooed men weilding weapons of mass-destruction running through the trees down over a hill towards you to cut you down. Oh, and need I mention that they were hopped up on some ancient drink they called the Elixir of Life (alchohol, home brewed) and more than likely some drugs, probably mushrooms if I remember correctly. Now that is definitely a reason to be called Ladies from Hell, and if it isn't, I don't know what is.

Here's a pause in the running commentary we call my blog. Go grab a drink, stretch out the kinks, and download or stream the song Jingle Bell Rock by Thousand Foot Krutch. This is an awesome version of the song, and definitely one I could see being used in a remake of the Muppet Family Christmas. Picture Animal and the rest of the band rocking out to this tune. Booyah! Ha ha ha ha, ahem, right, onwards we move.

Well then, next bit I suppose. While still in Glasgow, I spent my last night out touring around to see what kind of clubs I experience. I visited one area of town with some student bards, and me without my student ID, couldn't get in. But, unfazed, I moved on up and down the roads in search of the ultimate party. There were a few promising prospects, though they turned to dust when I reached them. Live bands that night sucked (at least in the areas I was haunting) and other clubs I was just, well, dissapointed with the clintele, and thus decided not to stay. But, there were two experiences that saved my night in and of themselves. The first being between myself and two lovely, long-legged ladies outside a haunt they wisely advised me not to attend. They represented a tobbacco company, of whos name I will not mention as I abhore smoking and I won't market it without some form of significant payment. Sorry guys, ha ha ha. In any case, they were standing in these form-fitted three piece suits and fancy hats, think really hot mobsters, with white umbrellas in hand. Now, that being curious enough, the umbrellas had written on them "We will keep you warm and dry." Well, at first I was thinking, this could be some rather questionable company, but there's no harm in striking up a conversation. besides, what did I have to lose? So I approached the two ladies with a smile on my face (how could you do anything but) and proceeded to ask them in very eloquent terms, 'What the hell are you two doing out here?' They were only too happy to fill me in about what they were doing and that it was some sort of marketing campaign for this tobbacco company they represented. I think they were also thankful for some more intelligent conversation, as judging by the patrons outside the bar and walking by that night, intelligence may have been somewhat lacking in large quantities. Now, they recommended me to two other bars, one of which I tried and was dissapointed with, the other didn't open until much later and had a different feel to it, so I didn't bother. So, excusing myself from their presence and bidding them a goodnight, I proceeded to see what other trouble I could get myself into in Glasgow at night. Aside from seeing a series of Police vans patrolling, and arresting some poor sould in some cases, there was not much that struck my eye. Of course, that is ignoring the fact that my head was on a swivel with most of the women around wearing not much more than most should wear to bed. Florescent colors assaulted my vision left and right, so who was I not to be drawn to the...um...colors.

So, I did say I had an amazing time that night, and thusfar I have not delivered with a satisfactory explanation. So here's the explanation, and it comes in the form of a bar by the name of Jumpin Jaks. Now, the thing to remember is that this place has got to be the wildest multi-theme bar I've yet to have been privy to attending. The open floor was enormous, a large projection screen for showing music videos as songs were played, a dedicated DJ and MC for the night, a stage for events and live performances by the bar's local girl squad, and a bar that could take any number of drink orders at any given time. Oh, and an interesting point, they had this cool little contraption rigged up, fake of course, above the bar. It was an ACME distillery, and if definitely looked like something Wile E. Coyote would have used in the Roadrunner cartoons. Definitely, a place to go if you're in glasgow. Oh, and they even had singalongs to songs, with lyrics put up on the screen. Absolutely rediculous place. I've got some videos, but I'll have to upload those another time, or maybe if I get time now I will. We'll see.

Okay, now that I have some videos and pictures uploading, I can now concentrate more on the blog. But actually, I'm done for today at the moment, so I will leave you with this piece of a Irish poem. Funny I should be doing that considering I'm in Scotland eh? I'm sure you've all heard it before, but it is really a great piece:

"May the road rise up to meet you,
May the wind be always at your back.
May the sun shine warm upon your face
and the rain fall softly on your fields.
And until we meet again,
May God hold you in the palm of his hand."

Substitute what you will for God; Buddah, Allah, or even Loki will do. :P I'll catch you all on the flipside bloggers. Later days,

Neal, the Wandering Newfie Himself

Last minute quiz, for 2,000 points: What tv show is 'Later Days' coined from. A tip, it's a cartoon.

Further Notes On Scotland

2009-07-27T08:37:00.004-02:30

Right then, time to go through my load of experiences over the last week or so and sum them up in one ginormous blog post. As far as photos and videos go, that'll have to wait until tomorrow or something, as I forgot my transfer cable back at the hostel. As for the rest of it, I'm working off memories and pictures from the phone so I may be jumping from thought to thought en masse. Well, then, off to the races, giddyapp!

Evan, the bro with the 'fro, you'll definitely like this one. Now be patient, because there's a story behind it as well. While I was in Scotland, I decided to do a 3 day guided tour around Scotland and the Isle of Skye. The company was called Haggis Tours, and boasted a trip featuring Wild and Sexy Scotland. With marketing like that, how could I go wrong? Well, luckily this story does not follow the general pattern of prose in the world today. There is no downturn, no unfortunate circumstances, no events leading to the catastrophic failure of my vacation. Simply put, the trip was phenomenal. But, there will be more on that later, for I have a point to reach considering Heirey Coos.

Heirey Coos, you know, Heirey Coos, right? What do you mean you don't know what a Heirey Coo is? You've never heard of a Heirey Coo? Bah, then we, and by we I mean I, need to explain what a Heirey Coo. So considering this might be some form of code, you need to follow my simple steps to decipher what I mean:

Remove the first 'e'.
Replace 'e' with the ancient heiroglyph for 'sun'.
Flip 'Coo' around so you get 'Ooc', leaving the 's' on the end.
Change 'y' to 'v'.
Mark the word with an asterisk.
Stand on your head.
Spit nickels.
Go talk to Corey Conrad in produce while hopping on one foot.
Run around the town naked.
Disregard everything you have read (and possibly done) and simply replace both words with the phrase 'Hairy Cows'.

Give yourself a pat on the back, you're done with the translation. If you've followed all of these steps to the letter I will certainly hear about it on the news tonight and will then contact you in order to congratulate you on being one of the most obedient 'sheep' I've ever met. Of course, I'm kidding, so then on with what I mean by Heirey Coos, Hairy Coos, or Hairy Cows.

Hairy Cows are more commonly known as Highland Cows. They stand about as tall as a regular cow, maybe somewhat shorter than a beef cow, but not by much. They are usually covered in a shade of long brown hair all over their bodies, much of it covering their faces. Since i don't have pictures up yet, have you ever seen those little dogs with the crazy long hair? The ones that look like you could make them run around the house and complete all of your sweeping for you. Right, with that in mind, give them a bigger muzzle, increase their size about two-hundred times, add hooves, give them an 'emo' haircut, and add long horns on either sid eof their head. Now you have a Heirey Coo, or Highland Cow, to be more precise. The critters are rather cool, and they're everywhere in Scotland. We stopped to see some first on the side of the road in the Isle of Skye, and got quite close to them actually. They seem to be very tolerant, not moving too much, and very groovy in general. There was a going challenge to see who could run up and mount one to ride back to town, but of course, the horns were quite the deterrant. This was especially so after one of the Aussies on the tour mentioned he had just been to the Running of the Bulls in Pamplona (I think that's right) and someone was killed and another badly trampled. Needless to say, sprouting off chorouses of 'Here Hairy Coo!' were about as close as we got. I heard later that another tour got to actually pet one, but thein one was enclosed, and therefore more predictable.

Now, why did I just tell you about the Hairy Highland Cows, Evan? The answer, is in the horns. All over the world, there are strange aphrodesiacs, love potions, stimulants, downers, perception-altering drugs, and generally something to enhance every sensation you might want. Now, I have no idea if this is true or not, but our tour guide, Tony, gave us this information. he said that if you grind down the horn of a Heirey Coo and snort it, not only would you have 'coo-caine', but you would also have a very powerful aphrodesiac. Needless to say, he was definitely joking about getting us some and all that, and I'm pretty sure he's lying about the actual resultant effect. however, for a few moments there, I was seriously looking at wrestling a few Heirey Coos to divest them of their cranial fixtures. So Even, when you travel the world, I expect to head about strange dissappearances of Hairy Coo Horns in Scotland at some point. Ha ha ha.

Right then, to the next point of business, namely, Loch Ness. Actually, I'd like to start with some weird names once again. We dicussed on the bus what all the names actually mean translated into English. Loch simply means Lake, and Ness is the area where the lake is, so 'Lake of Ness'. Pretty simple, right? Well then, translate for me Loch Lochie. Have you got it yet, if not, it goes to the tune of 'Lake Lakie'. And we thought Newfoundland was bad at naming places sometimes, sheesh! Also, if you seen something called Eilean m that means Island of . But now I'm getting ahead of myself. Back to Loch Ness. Amazing place, superb, spectacular, breathtaking, and could do with some excitement from time to time. There's not much going on around there, though it is definitely 'the' tourist attraction around the area of Inverness. It brings in Millions of dollars a year in tourism, which is nothing to sneeze at. But honestly, I would rather have just rented a Kayak and gone out on the water paddling. It was clear as glass one time we passed, though the others were less than optimal as the lovely 100% humidity Scotland is known for kicked in and kicked our soaking wet butts. So, I didn't see Nessie, and no, I didn't see anything unusual happening around the area. Cut, paste, moving on to Eilean Donan, among other things.

The tour itself was filled with jokes, laughter, limerics, music from all eras, and general tom-foolery all around. Our 'Clan' mates and guide bonded together well considering we had people from China, Hong Kong, Venzuela, Italy (noisy buggers they were, always yelling and drunk), Aussies, and of course, one lonely Canadian and two Americans, if I counted correctly on my mental tally. There were hikes involved, which had me and my water-proof hiking boots helping a few people out as we made our way around an ovean area into a cave were Bonnie Prince Charlie hid out. If you want his story, you'll have to ask me later, as that could take up a blog post into itself. Oh, another story to remind me of is Saucy Mary. I now have a new term of endearment for the monarchy, the Queen. She will now and forever more be known on Haggis tours and in my heart as 'Sweaty Betty'. Yes, I thought that amazingly funny as well. Now quit yer laughin' boy and keep readin' the wee words laid down here. Eilean Donan was one of the Castles we visited over on the Isle of Skye. Really neat, it was built by a Monk who came over to convert people. Apparently there was better money then in Monkhood, or some guy just built a castle after he was there. In any case, it wasn't the original castle unfortunately, but definitely a great reproduction. You'll get the pictures later, now quit wining!

If you end up over here at a later date though, you definitely have to try and find a certain beer. There's a story with this one too, that comes from Tony's perspective. He said that one time he was speaking to some Mexicans and he mentioned they had a beer called Sheep Shagger's Beer. The two Mexicans looked perplexed for a while, then asked him what he meant. Tony said, 'You know, like...' and made some rather suggestive movements with his hands and hips. The look of dawning struck the Mexicans, and they said ... you're gonna have to ask me to send you the rest of this story, as I'm still trying to keep this PG rated material. Needless to say, it involved poultry, and a favorite four letter word of Robin Williams when doing his 'Golf' skit. I nearly pissed myself at that point, and I hope you won't hold that against me. Actually, why would you, I'm sure you've almost pissed yourself by now as well. Here's another terminology for you, dealing with Castles in Scotland. There are over 1200 castles in Scotland, ranging from small and simple to large and ominous, and other recreations that look like castles but aren't because they now have windows in them. Not exactly what you want to put in a building to keep invaders out, eh? But if you go around to see the castles, eventually you'll get the ABC syndrome. Most times this syndrome is accompanied by copious amounts of cursing, but directly translated, it means 'Another Bloody Castle' Syndrome. All of these terms I give credit to Tony, one of the funniest guys I've ever met in my entire life, and probably the best Sean Connery impersonator I've had the chance to listen to.

If you want to sound like 'Sir' Sean Connery, here's how to do it:

Pinch an invisible ball, about the size of a large marble, between your thumb and first finger in front of you.
Pop that ball into your mouth, leaving it open slightly.
Slide your lower jaw forward.
Anunciate your S and X in Sexy as an 'sh' shound, lowering your voice to the desired level.
For the pronunciation of 'dirty', roll your R and 'ty' should be pronounced 'tay'.
Have fun with it!

Oh, and I've got plenty more saying and such for those of you over the age of PG-13 ratings when I get home. As for now, I'm going to clue this one up and get out of here. Time to drop off some stool samples to the doctor for processing. Okay, so you didn't need to know that, but tough cookies. My blog, my rules. Ha ha ha.

Later gators, and the invitation is still open to join me when you can.

Neal

Cabers Tossed and Haggis Squashed...

2009-07-23T15:10:00.003-02:30

...While Kilts abound when ladies sound!

Alright, so not all of that makes sense, but it rhymes, so deal with it. Man it's been a long time since I dabbled in the realm of poetry and prose. I'll have to get back to writing some fictional stories when I set my feet down in one place for a while. Flex my mental muscles once again, becoming a titan of gray-matter and all the airy-space in between! Ahem.

Right then, as you may have guessed, I'm in Scotland, specifically in Edinburgh at the moment. I'll be leaving to go on a tour tomorrow morning around the isle of Skye, so I'll definitely have some better pictures and all that for you by the end of the three days. Then, I have to decide whether to suffer, or to head home and get some treatment. But that will be touched on later if the need should arise. As alluded to before, there are kilts everywhere. Not as many worn by the men, but just the sheer number of shops is astonishing to say the least. I counted over 12 on one road alone. And the prices, Christ, I know you only buy one in your lifetime, but it's a damn good thing you only do that once. The shirt, kilt, and tie combo starts at about £500 and goes up from there. I did see some rather interesting endeavors called Utilikilts, or kilts for everyday wear. http://www.utilikilts.com/ That would be an interesting way to walk off the plane in Deer Lake when I get home again.

But I gotta jet at the moment, as time is running out and I have no more money for extra time this time around. Lots of time in that sentence though. :P

Catcha later bloggers,

Neal

Leprechauns and Red-Haired Maidens Ahoy!

2009-07-20T08:16:00.001-02:30

Ah, Saints Begorah! 'Tis a fine day ta be Irish, don't ya know it.

Ha ha ha ha. So, how do ya like my Irish accent. Well, for those of you in the produce department reading this, you now what I'm like with the Irish and Scottish linguistics. I hope you've all looked up Tommy Tiernan and the skit he does on Mass. Priceless, though not for younger ears. As you can probably gather, I'm in Ireland, Dublin to be exact about the matter. I arrived a few days ago, and I've been getting settled in, seeing the sights and all that jazz. I'm uploading photos as I type, so by the time you read this post I'm sure you'll be able to go online to my Facebook acount (my photos link) and see some of the photos I have up.

So far in Dublin, I've been absolutely at home with the world around me. We always say that Newfoundland is much like te Ireland of Canada, but now I can safely say that we're right about that, one hundred percent! I feel more at home here than I did when travelling most of Canada and the U.S.A. over the years. The music, the people, and even the food all ring true of back home in Newfoundland. For those of you tuning in from the West Coast, you have to come over. There are live sessions and kitchen parties here almost every night of the week tat rival anything we have ever organized at home. Aldonna and Sean, have you ever been to O'Shea's or O'Donoghue's? Both great spots in their own rights. The former has Irish set dancing on Tuesday nights, though I haven't seen that yet, and the latter has some of the best freeform music sessions and traditional Irish pub 'feel' I've come across so far. I'll be writing about my experiences at O'Donoghue's actually and when I get my photos uploaded, I'll be able to show you all what the sessions were like. Ah, the wonders of youtube.

Here are some passages from my personal journal for your reading pleasure. Be warned, to step inside the mind of an Oram is to tangle with possible insanity, laughter, music, theatre, and adventure all joined into one congealed mess of consciousness. So, with the disclaimed out of the way, do enjoy:

"I stand, or sit as it is at the moment, in Dublin Ireland. It is currently day two in the lovely island of Ireland, and I feel healthy and wise, but not so wealthy any more as my budget is decreasing rather quickly. Ha ha ha. Oh, how quickly money does disappear when having adventures. I went for a run before 7AM this morning, not bad for a guy who normally wouldn't stir out of bed before he had to back in the school days not much over 1 year ago. That is one thing I have noticed changing for the better is that of my physiological constitution, minus some gastrointestinal issues I am currently dealing with. Firstly, let me say that a great business idea has come to mind in my travels. Why not go with the new dieting trend and combine it with travelling? Send people off on a tightly budgeted trip, make them walk everywhere, and watch the pounds just slip away. As lean as I was, I've already lost another 7 or 8 pounds (10 currently), and I'm not 1 month into the trip. I'm as lean as I've ever been and if I can keep up with a little strength work twice a week, I will be going after the body Brad Pitt had in the movie Fight Club. A-Booyah! Secondly, my sleep habits are changing as I mentioned before. I find myself awake at close to dawn, especially if the window is open. But here's the real kickers: A) I don't have to use an alarm clock, and B) I have no loss of energy! Fancy that, eh? I can now see the benefit of the forager and hunter-gatherer lifestyles I studied briefly in my Anthropology course. Walking all day from place to place, eating only what you have to, and sleeping only what the body needs does wonders! Unfortunately, I'm still trying to refine my diet enough with the gastro-intestinal issues I mentioned earlier. Some tests have been done and back, so apparently there's nothing wrong in the stool, a great sign, but there may be something going on. I'll be getting checking out again if this keeps up or gets much worse. (Went there today actually, and we'll see how it goes, otherwise, I be coming home for some treatment briefly before setting off again. Nothing can stop me now.) It could be the change in climates, foods, or even stress-related (I haven't felt this relaxed in years though, ha ha ha.) No worries though, as I believe I'm narrowing down the food issues. No heavy creams based sauces, high fatty foods, or anything rich! And as for the gas, whew! I think I killed a pigeon the other day. I walked past, farted, and the little critter ruffled up his feather, teetered a little on his feet, and promptly flew away into a wall to drop unceremoniously into a pile at my fell. Okay, so that didn't actually happen, but it could! :P"

"I did meet a rather interesting individual yesterday, Mr. Patrick Slaney. He's a fellow Newfoundlander from down in the Southern coast area, if I'm not mistaken. Unusually her does not have a Newfoundland accent at all, but I will ask that question of him later. (I asked, and it turns out he moved to the mainland for University and has been away ever since for over 23 years. That would explain it.) He approached me due to the Canada running shirt I had on at the time when I was leaving the public library in Dublin. If I had been just a little bit slower or faster I would not have met him or had the chance to talk to him. he's an entertained on a cruise ship actually, (as well as a practicing psychologist, but I found that out later) and has been for a long time from the way he speaks of it. Piano is his tool, though I have yet to hear him play. Maybe I will try to sneak that in somewhere today. In short, I'll have more to say about Dublin after today as Patrick offered to show me around the city, as he has been here many times before. I should point out that this gentleman is probably old enough to be my father. ha ha ha h a, yes Dad, this is my way of calling you an old man. Deal with it! Ugh, I still have half an hour before I head into the Library, time to see if my hand is up to the task of even more writing."

"I performed a good deed already today. Rachael, as I found out he name when we parted ways, was having trouble with her rather large bag this morning due to the stairs. So, I offered to help, and promptly carried her bag down over the steps. For someone of her slight build I was not surprised to see she had trouble with the bag. it was heavier than mine even! Sheesh. But before I parted ways with her, I did find out she's from Toronto, and her and her group are headed for Galway for a day or two and then back home to Canada. As a side note, and a rather unfortunate one at that, I failed to acquire her contact information. Foolish Neal, gotta remember, always get the pretty girls' digits. Maybe the next one eh? I've got a long way left to go on this journey, and with any luck, a lot more people to meet. Ciao baby, for now anyways."

"Note, buying fruit from stand vendors around O'Connell street is an adventure you should not have. I believe the food, while of great prices, are of questionable quality. Perhaps they are seconds from other stores. I'll be sticking to the shops from now on."

Whew, well there you have it, one journal entry down. I may enter another today, as I wrote about my experience at O'Donoghue's and another pub. Strangely enough, there's been no cover charged in any of the pubs and bars I've seen and been to around Ireland. Maybe we should take a page out of their books for George Street, eh?

Later days everyone, until next time,

Neal

Heading For New Shores

2009-07-13T12:55:00.002-02:30

Ladies and gentlemen, next stop, Manchester!

Alright, so not quite the blog entry you were hoping for eh? Ha ha ha. Well, I do have some good news, that is not what I meant by New Shores. I will be heading across some water to the lovely island of Ireland, specifically Dublin. After 5 days there, it's up to Edinburgh, Scotland, for an indeterminate amount of time at the moment. I haven't booked my hostels yet. Maybe I'll book a few, some in different areas, and get to see some of the coasts of Scotland and some outlying areas I wouldn't normally see.

At present though, I may be cutting this short, as I have been surrounded by a bunch of teenaged Italians. At least, I belive that's the language. Italian or Spanish, one of the two. They're rather nosy as well, peeking over my shoulder to look at what I'm doing. Buggers the lot of them.

Alright, adios amigos,

Neal

Interesting Facts Previously Not Mentioned

2009-07-12T12:17:00.004-02:30

The following post may be considered PG-13 rated. If you are not over the age of 13, do not read this post. Ladies, if you are lying this badly about your age to believe you are 13 once again, you definitely need not read this post and seek professional medical help. Men, well, there's only a few people in my family under the age of 13, and one I know can't read yet, while the other two should beletting their parents read this first. Now then, enough with this random disclaimer/warning, and on to the blogging at hand.

Good Day men, women, and beasts alike. Your host is back with another installment of the Wandering Newfie blog. Y'know, I was doing some writing in my journal the other day, and I came across some pages I had scribbled random notes on for use later in a previous blog entry. Well, needless to say, I had not included these findings and tidbits of information into the blogs in retrospect. So here it is, the blog to bring to the forefront some of these thigs I saw, encountered, heard, touched, tasted, smelled, and otherwise interacted with on some level or another. Each paragraph is its own separate thought process, so you can read in bits and pieces at your leisure.

The first one was a street sign. You and I know that in Newfoundland, we have some odd town names, and even more surprising business names from time to time. Well, this one really took the cake. I will remind you, that this may be PG-13 rated, so parents, please remove your children from the computer screen until you have passed this piece. On the bus heading out of bath, this road sign for a hotel read, and I kid you not, 'Limpley Stroke Hotel'. Not only was this sign presented on the side of the road for all to see, but it was placed strategically around the turn we were taking in three different places, just to make sure all passers-by recieved the message implicitly that this hotel was there. I nearly jumped off the bus at that moment, though if the hotel had lived up to the connotations of its name, I would very quickly not qualify to stay at said hotel.

A pice of information I found at Stonehenge was what they referred to as Burroughs (my spelling may be off slightly, pronounced Bur-uh's). These reminded me of the Viking houses and grave sights at Lanse-aux Meadows on the Northern Penninsula...and I hope my geography is right otherwise Dad and Mom will never let me live this down. Well, Mom might because her sense of direction is sometimes worse than my own. I love you too Mom! The mounds in the ground, which look like shrunken versions of our own Norse invaders' graves, dotted the landscape around the Henge. It would have made one hell of a challenging golf course though, let me tell you. Corey, I'll see if I can make it to St. Andrews, where they invented the sport, and piss off some poor waspy old men by acting out Robin Williams. If the video is shaky, it'll be because I was running away from the golf carts. But, I have digressed. As it is, these Burroughs are the grave sites of ancient Chieftans who lived in the area surrounding Stonehenge hundreds if not thousands of years ago. But they aren't pushing up daisies, so to speak, as there wasn't a blasted flower, shrub, or plant to be seen save for the long grass and local small plants that seem to be everywhere anyways. They're certainly doing their blastedness in the afterlife not be disturbed or found. Fortunatley, out tour guide knew where they were, and he filled us in. I will say this though, if I get the chance again, I'm taking my running shoes and running over all of those Burroughs I can find, just to say I 'ran over' a historic figure, if not royalty for some I'm sure.

York is certainly an interesting place, if you're into older-style architecture and very, very quiet places to think and ponder about the myseries of the universe while being bothered by countless amounts of geese, pigeons, finches, and other fowls and feathered fiendish fauna hiding in the flora. I will explain myself in short order. Firstly, the architecture is really quite spectacular, as you can see by going to my facebook page. (Yes, I still haven't figured out a good site to dump mass amounts of pictures onto, so if you have any good ideas, let me know!) The walls around central York are the original walls and walkways and towers used to gate and guard the city in its earlier years against travellers, warring bands, and wild animals of all sorts, shapes, and sizes. It is quite interesting to walk on them, but I did that once and it didn't take me very long, so enough said about that. Oh, come on, it's a wall! It's not that impressive. Still, there are pictures in the facebook gallery. You can check it out there. Some of the buildings look old enough to belong in a movie set back in the days of Shakespeare. The roofs are bowed with age, clay-fired tiles cracked from the weather, paint fading off the walls, and people manning them that look like they've been strung out on the timeline too long. Alleyways dot the streets as you walk by, some so small you'd miss them if you blinked as you walked. My friend Jessica showed me a book she had about where all of the alleys were and where they went, and also said it's a great way during festivals and busy times of the year to get around the crowds. I looked at them and thought 'What a great place to get away in a chase!' and 'I wonder if I can climb those walls?' That was another thing, all of the drain pipes and such running down the sides of the buidlings had this 'Climb Proof' paint on it. Well, it certainly didn't feel climb-proof to me when I briefly tested that theory. Did I go to the top, nope, as the building was 3 stories high, but it did give me a really cool vantage point to look down on the alley from. It'd be a cool spot to run around for a day and see where I could get, well, minus the police and jails and all that jazz that would undoubtedly ruin my fun. Pffft. As for the quiet of York, it's too much like home in some ways. Every major shopping area save the market in Central York is set far outside the city proper. There aren't a lot of travellers either, not like London anyways, or I would suspect some of the other places I will be visiting in the near future. That's what bugs me about some of these places, great scenery, but lousy amounts of things to do and people to meet. Still, for what it is, a great place to wind down and relax for a few days, until you go completely mad! Finally though, there are the birds. Pigeons are in your face and around your feet quite literally 24-7 and they are everywhere. They even wake me up in the morning. I didn't know pigeons could be that annoying, honestly, I didn't! I guess in the bigger cities, they get drowned out by the engine and gunshot noises. But that craziest thing was the geese. I have pictures of hordes of geese, just walking, or rather waddling if you prefer, in the main pathways. They're not exactly the nicest sort either, well, the gray ones aren't anyways. There were two main types, black and gray. While the black ones stayed to the water and flights mostly, the gray ones acted like we were on their turf. One even blocked my path as I was biking towards it, raised up, and hissed at me like a bloody-snake! Needless to say, I was so shocked by the maneuver, I promptly stopped the bike and waited for it to get the hell out of my way. In retrospect, it would have interesting to see how far a goose could fly if powered by a kick moving at speeds accelerated through the use of a bicycle, or 'push-bike', as the locals like to call them.

'Bicycle Policeman With Siren Blaring Looks Ridiculous As He Weaves Through Traffic!' That definitely could have been the highlight of my blog post. The dude just threw a siren on and cars started somewhat moving out of his way. I have to give the dude some credit though, as it takes dedication to do your job all day on a bicycle wearing a bright yellow vest. However, he did look rather ridiculous, and I believe I even saw some of the locals look and laugh as he passed by. I mean, how intimidating is a guy on a bike coming up behind you in a car? You almost want to open your door abruptly and see how far he flies. But of course, I would never do that, no...not having a car throws a monkey-wrench into things now doesn't it? At least on horse-back you have to look up at the officer as they come up on you or pass you by. Imagine if the poor guy got a flat, or got into a bike chase with a theif on a really nice racing bike? He's not only be exhausted in the second situation, but also embarassed in both of them. Not my first choice for a position with lots of respect flowing my way.

I believe that's about it for today folks. I have to go dbook some more flights. Next stops, Manchester, Dublin, and then most likely somewhere in Scotland. Time to have a linguistic adventure! If you can tell me where that line is taken from, you get a shout out and I'll send you back somethinf in the mail.

Neal

Most Pictures Uploaded

2009-07-09T09:33:00.002-02:30

Hey eveyone, this will be short and sweet.

I'm still having some troubles uploading my london pictures, but all the other ones are up now. The london ones should be up soon. The party ones are up as well, so you can check those out. You have to access my facebook page, and I let eveyone see those, so you should be able to get access to them through your facebook account. Let me know if its not working there.

Cheers,

Neal Oram

Apology Needed

2009-07-06T11:12:00.002-02:30

Right then, as you all may notice, I have squat-all for pictures posted on my blog and website. This is because, finding computers and the necessary time with which to post them is rather difficult. However, I will be solving that problem in the near future, either by purchasing a computer or coming back to this Library I am currently seated in and posting up some more. I need a better site to upload to though, as my current one is crap! If anyone has any suggestions for websites where I can mass-upload pictures and the like, even for a small membership fee, please let me know.

Sorry again for the pictures, but I'll do the best I can soon,

Neal

Veni, Vidi, Vici Camden Town...Stonewhat?

2009-06-30T17:49:00.003-02:30

Actually, it's more like I came, I saw, and Camden Town kicked my pasty white Newfie butt all over the tarmac. Holy sweet mother of pearl that place is cool.

Ahem, let me rephrase that last statement. Camden Town is the best place on the planet at the moment for a cross-cultural market experience in my books. Anyone into alternative lifestyles, punk, rock, somewhat questionable uses of what looks to be lamps with hoses attached to them (Evan, you know what I mean), and anything else you may wish to get and/or imagine, this is your Mecca!

The place was crawling with people, even in the 31 degree heat of the day with little cover. Money changed hands, food was consumed, and music was played loud and proud over the speaker systems of each and every shop. In just the clothing shops alone there had to be a ludacris amount of choices. Let me see if I can remember and list what I saw there:

Punks, everywhere.
Goths, also everywhere. All that black must be hot.
Psychadelic Pants
Piercings Where no Piercings Should Go.
Mass amounts of shoppers.
A hemp shop.
Bongs.
Juggling Supplies.
Bondage Pants.
Bars and coffee shops.
Alternative lifestyle fairs.
Metal Horse Sculptures.
Masquerade Masks.
Lolicon Clothing (Quite cute on Asian girls.)
Carvings.
Motorcycle/Scooter Benches.
Free samples of all sorts of food.
Crazy t-shirts.
Freaky shoes.
Roller-ski style skates. Wicked expensive though.
Stockings.
Motorcycles.
A wine store called, well, look at the pictures.

Right, that's about all I can think of at the moment. Whew, it was wild though. It is definitely a must-see spot when travelling in the UK in general , let alone in London, where it's so close to everything. Take a look at the pictures for more stuff. Unfortunately, I couldn't take a picture inside some of the shops, being that they wouldn't allow it. They're a bit anal about that, but meh, it's their shops, so I gotta respect that.

Right then, after Camden town, the next stop was the city of Bath and Stonehenge. Let me cover Stonehenge first.

Pile of Rocks. Moving on! I might rant about this later, but I'm on a timeframe so I have to cover what I can when I can. Needless to say, just drive past it if you go to see it. Not worth any money to see.

The city of Bath, absolutely delightful! The city was gorgeous. Not real big, ust over 80,000 if I'm not mistaken, but the architecture made up for it. Crown mouldings, sculptures on every building, beautiful bath stone used on every area that you could see, and some of the most beautiful scenery around. There is actually a park there, nice and manicured lawns and the works. Unfortunately it costs a few pounds to get in. But, if there are lawn chairs available, you get one for free! Needless to say, I did not go in there. Ha ha ha.

The baths in Bath were deinitely a sight to behold. It is interesting to see how ingenious the Roman peoples were with architecture, plumbling, and artisan crafts alike, combining it all into one place. Did you know, that they actually allowed business to be conducted in the baths? Interesting thought really. Why not do business when you're comfortable and can get lots done, eh? Maybe that's a new business idea for Corner Brook? ... Nah! Since that covered most of my day, seeing both Stonehenge and Bath, I then promptly went home and fell to sleep, almost with my clothes on. The blasted sun was still pelting out a whopping 35 degrees that day. I swear, if I didn't get some rain soon, I was going to freak. Luckily, a few days later, I did, and it got cooled off. Whew! Word to the wise, if you don't like crazy warm weather, don't go to London or Bath in June.

Alright, I'm done for the session. Let's see if I can get another update started or completed. I think I have a party to tell about, or did I already cover that one? Hmmmm, well, I'll have to read my own posts and see.

Adios ladies, gentlemen, and creatures of all sorts,

Neal

Rock You, Sock You, Pick You Up and Drop You!

2009-06-30T08:05:00.002-02:30

Good Morning Blog Fanatics,

For those of you new to the loop, I am your host, Neal Oram, and this is where you can find out all about me, what's going on, where I'm travelling, and what things I've seen so far.

Right then, so this morning I've got to fill you in on what I did yesterday. Well, the morning was a usual day, walking around the city, meeting people from all over the place, sweating profusely, and generally drinking copious amounts of water to prove that I could still pee! Ahem. In any case, that pretty much drained me, so after a run, which i think was yesterday, I headed back to the hostel, cleaned up, and headed out to my first live musical show.

Yeah, yeah, ham it up. I went to a muscial. But, I'll bet that if you were here, you would have loved it. The musical was called 'We Will Rock You'. It was created by the remaining members of Queen a few years ago, and has been running ever since. Honestly, it has got to be one of the best shows, if not the best musical show I've ever seen. The theater felt more like a rock concert than a show, and of course the singers we ridiculously talented. Definitely professionals of some sort. Whew. Oh, and need I mention the little clothing some of the female dancers wore. Rawr! Cough cough, ahem!

Another thing, if you head over here, head to Leicaster (spelling may not be right) Square. That's where all the theatres are for the shows, and also where all of the discount ticket agents are. On the day of the show I got 60 pound top class seats for 35 pounds, not too shabby at all. Definitely a spot to check out though. Each theatre is dedicated mostly to one show or another, which makes the experience really special in each place. In this one, they even had in-floor hydraulics on stage to lift performers up and out over the audience. for over 2h30min of showtime, 35 pounds was worth it.

On another note, I just got back from a run with a German friend of mine. I just rackeed out on one of the trails too, and combined with the spots we both have from some plant when running through some thorn bushes (of course, my idea) I'm now spotted legs and scratced up forearms and shoulders. But hey, would it be a good run any other way. Ha ha ha.

RIght then, catcha later gators.

Neal Giggity-Giggity-Gone!

Catch Up Or Shut Up...

2009-06-28T09:33:00.010-02:30

Alright, so I've been lacking a bit in the online journal department lately. Time to catch up for the last few days I've been away. This could take some time so bear with me please as I gather my thoughts and develop them into this delightful piece of electronic literary work we call a blog.

Well then, I believe it is time to start at Thursday, the 25th...hmmmmmmmm. Ah, yes, now I recall. I had a race that night. But before that, the morning, as we will be moving in chronological order on this post. I slept rather poorly, but well enough I suppose considering even at night it has got to be up past 20 degrees outside and even warmer in the hostel basement where I'm located. Which reminds me that I must post up some more of the pictures and videos I took. But enough sidetracking. I wandered around a bit that day, got to see, if I'm no completely off my rocker, Oxford Circus. Now, this is not an actual circus with clowns, elephants, trapeze artists, fire eaters, and the like (I wish it was though), but rather a crazy shopping district just North of Hyde Park. Quite a nice spot actually, lots of shops, a university campus right in the middle of it (strange), and plenty of gorgeous people to meet. This one lovely lady by the name of Rosie Hudson sat down next to me at a coffee and sandwich shop on her way back to work. So, being the social person I am and not one to pass up a challenge, I proceeded to engage her in some conversation. She was awesome, rather enthralled by the idea of travelling the world solo, but quickly amended she likes her creature comforts too much. Well, to each their own. Mind you, she has already seen more of the world than I have and she won the ticket for free through a contest, or a friend, something like that. This is her picture, before I move on. Good luck Rosie I hope the job is going well and that you manage to get back to the countryside when you can. Keep in touch and drop in to Newfoundland one of these days and I'll show you around, well, when I get back there of course.

That night was the race, and what a race. It was the London Bridges Relay, right down by St. Thomas Hospital, the Millennium Eye, and MI5 and MI6. Probably about 200 runners or more. 4 Persons per team, 100 teams registered, wel, 3 people per team on all-female teams. So i showed up, and my impromptu team member Kevin, was about to go mark the course with some chalk, so I went along, running in my Tilley hat along the course, chalk in hand, chatting away to this fine runner. We were put together on this team by Mr. Stephens, great cat, not at the race though, but I'm sure we had the most global team there. Kevin from London, Elise from Australia, Alicia from Poland, and me from Newfoundland. The world is definitely a global place, and we just proved it. Kevin ran 12:57, Alicia 15:00, Elise I think 18:00 or thereabouts, and I ran 14:00. Not bad, but for an above 40 year old guy, Kevin can run! It was about 3.6k we figure, not real accurate, but a fun, flat course. The little headwind on the turnaround helped me catch a few people, he he he. After that we all, minus Alicia, headed north along the waterfront to hit one of the local watering holes. All the crowd inside the bar must have been flabbergasted when about 100 runners or more showed up to this pub and took over the joint. Ha ha ha. The looks on their face was priceless. Elise and I stayed for a bike to eat (burgers and fries, but salad instead of fries for me, damn deep frier and fish allergies). The food was excellent, though next time I'll get the burger well done, rather than medium. Our server was quite blond, and definitely lived up to all the jokes about her designated cranial coloring. Then it was time to head home on the tubes, and crash. What an amazing night's sleep I had that night. Whew!

Right then, on to Friday I suppose. Not so good this day. I spent the morning in bed sleeping in. God did I need that. I guess the mix of exhaustion from no good sleep for a few nights and racing and walking in the sun everyday and then finally utilizing my earplugs and sleep mask before the damn blokes from the bars got in and caused a ruckus may had inadvertently caused my cerebral cortex to shut down for the night entirely. 'Gasp' That was a run-on sentence, for all you grammatical freaks out there, but I had to get the point across how amazing it was to only wake up one during the night and immediately go back to sleep. So as I was saying, not a great day, but fun. I had picked up a book earlier the previous day at Oxford Circus, so I sat down to do some reading in the Hostel and in Hyde Park, just up the road. The reason being, I was feeling a bit ill, green around the gills, if you will. My bowels were not quite agreeing with me that morning, and still aren't quite at 100% now, but it's a work in progress. I tried to line up some stuff with my health insurer, but that story is better left alone. Grocery store at night, picked up some mangoes and such stuff, chatted with two lovely ladies from Norway and Poland, if I screwed up and you're readying this ladies, sorry! My name and country memory bank is getting a workout lately with all the travellers I'm meeting. Then it was off to bed to end another day.

Next day, late waking up and I had to check out of my hostel in about 10 minutes. No shower, no teeth brushed, nothing, just packed up and took off out the door. Ha ha ha. Only 15 minutes late, so the crew at Astor Hyde Park were really good about it. I had approached them before going mad at packing, and they basically said don't worry about it, just make sure you stay out of the way of the cleaners. So off I went to another hostel. I didn't quite realize how far away it was until I started walking with a pack I had packed quite badly. I also had a little too much food and water on me, so I opted for a cab. Never again! 18 pounds to get where I needed to go. Blah! Now I wish I had a bike to ride on and no training gear to lug around. I sear, if I had only packed for the summer season, I could get away with 10-15 pounds instead of 30-35. Whew, it's so hot here now and I'm so dehydrated I'm sucking back water like mad. Well, moving on then. Arriving at the Palmers Lodge, my new home until the 2nd of July, I took a look around, read a little bit, went for a walk, and then got settled in. Then it was out for another walk around the community to check out the local shops, where I could track down some grub, and grab the nearest tube. Once sorted, I got in tough with Elise who had went down to check out Wimbledon. She was there for hours and couldn't get in, so she took off and hung with some mates of hers. Mates as in friends, not mates as in a polygynous relationship between one woman and many men. That would just be weird, considering she's from Oz. So she invited me out with some of her friends to a pub that night, which was an adventure in itself I will outline below.

I started on the right tube, but once there, the damn thing was cancelled after me waiting for about 20 minutes, no service whatsoever. I had only missed the last good tube by about 10 seconds. Rubbish on me for re-checking the route. Ha ha ha. In any case, I took off walking/running to the next stop, saw a couple of buses and said, ah, to heck with it. I waited at the bus stop for the nearest bus, but lo and behold, three buses passes us all by because they were full. I guess they were filled by angry tube-goers further up the line. So, off I went to walking again. I did have a partner in crime though. This lovely young lady had been on her feet for the last two hours or more, and was doing the same as me, trying to get to another station due to the tube being down. She was off to meet her boyfriend, I think, who sounded quite upset on the phone. But, we had a good laugh at his expense. She kindly escorted me down to Baker Street station, and then proceeded on to Oxford Circus to meet her BF. Me, I hopped on the Bakerloo Tube and headed for Waterloo in short order. Quick, simple and made it in record time. Now, you know when you look at a map, and the distance doesn't seem that far to walk? Yeah, I was subject to that wonderful little fact of irony that night. Arriving at Waterloo I walked along the river Thames in a Northeasterly direction for a good 25 minutes. Now I'm only 1hr30min late to the bar. Ha ha ha. What can I do. Keeping Elise and her gang in place with multiple texts, I found the Globe Theatre, yes the Shakespeare one, and thus the Swan at The Globe, the bar we met at. Nice, swanky joint too.

Next comes the fun part of my night. Elise and her crew, a German and another UKer, decided to crash a runners party nearby. The Serpentine Road club, I forget the actual name they put on themselves, had 150 tickets sold on this gathering they had going on. Great times there. he three ladies were actually part of the club, but no tickets, and me, well, I'm just along for the ride. At the door, lo and behold, big black man. The kind of guy you look at in the night and the only thing you see and the two eyes and teeth smiling back at you. Luckily, very patient. The girls tried to work their magic, to no avail, but then produced some cards proving membership to the club. Well, two of them anyway. Elise was too new to the club and me, well, I'm not part of it. So the bouncer heads upstairs to check with the organizer of this thing, bringing him back downstairs to us. We explain what we want to do, mostly true, and he doesn't bat an eyelid and invites us up, after checking the occupancy limit of course. Ace! He must be part Newfie to pull that one off. So, we got in, ceiling within my arms reach, it was quite the jumping little club. Then the party really got going. We had to work as a team there for a while to get the dancers up on the floor, me being a little bit of an instigator. God, I haven't sweated that much in most races, let alone on a dance floor. But, after a while, got them all up there, and it was great. Absolutely crap music, but great crew. All gorgeous people. Check out the pictures and maybe a video or two on the links north of this post. You'll not be disappointed. Right then, so after wowing all the ladies with my light feet and camera work, and the fact I crashed the party, Elise and I took a cab to her place. Now guys, don't get any dirty thoughts here. i crashed there because the tubes, or most of them, were not running at that late hour and I had no idea how to get back there save for a 30 pound taxi ride. So I crashed at Elise's place. Awesome pad for being here on work. Extra bedroom and all. He shorts were comfy as I had to wash mine out to be able to put them on the next day without knocking out small animals from mid-flight. Of course, I cooked in the morning. Bacond and eggs baby, yeah! Definitely tasted awesome, though english back bacon, waaaaaay too salty for my tastes. Still, quite good after being dehydrated as bad as I did. When your urine looks like gatorade, we have a problem. Then it was on the tubes, navigating my way to the general viscinity of where my hostel was, picked up 2.5 litres of water, and then walked back here, where I'm typing this blog post.

Whew, well, that was quite the writing done for this morning. Hopefully I've kept you satisfied for the next little while. I'm going to chug back some more fluids now, check out my room, which I paid for yet never slept in so far (he he he), and maybe go check out london bridge and the buskers down at the milleniium eye today. Oh, and definitely gotta check out some of the shows and when they're playing. Maybe see a Shakespeare one, or maybe We Will Rock You, the one written as a musical of Queen. There's just so many to choose from. Right then, I'm outta her bloggers and bloggets. Have a good one and catch you next time.

Neal

Neal Has Arrived!

2009-06-24T13:50:00.002-02:30

Hey dudes and dudettes, I have arrived in London. This one will be short as I have 3 minutes left on my time on the computer here at the hostel. Damn pay thingies. Crazy day, got lost on the way back to the hostel, stuck on a tube (subway) and all that jazz. Ha ha ha. Blisters on my feet to prove the 6 hours of walking I did so far too. Funny thing today, some dude thought I was an Australian. I guess the Tilley hat did it.

Right, I'm outta here.

Neal 'The Crocodile Dundee of London' Oram

3, 2, 1...Takeoff!

2009-06-23T11:12:00.001-02:30

It's down to the wire now blogers. T-Minus 9hrs and counting until I get on that gorgeous big plane and head off to world apart. Mom of course is rather woried, but I'm quite fine, and dad is of course, well, dad. Still wondering how he can go with me and not freak out mom. Ha ha ha.

Alrigh, I'm off to clue up my banking and all that jazz, oh, and pick up my bags from the tailor. You can't have too many patches on your clothing eh?

Cheers,

Neal

Shoutout to the Colemans Produce Department!

2009-06-15T21:00:00.002-02:30

Good Night one and all, and welcome to the next installment of the Wandering Newfie.

I will lay out a little disclaimer at this point, as I have found out there is another blog titled The Wandering Newfies, but they are many and I am one and in no sense affliated with them. Oh, and I show up number one in google for 'wanderingnewfie'. A-Booyah baby!

This blog post is dedicated to all of my friends and adopted family in the produce department where I worked. We always thought of doing a breakdown of who it is that worked there and what they represent, but we just laughed about it and moved on. So here it is, my version of the produce family.

Corey - Stern and tough, yet just one of the guys, definitely the father of the group.

Dot - Knows when to put her foot down, definitely mommy material though.

Glen and Robert - What family would be complete without the crazy uncles.

Edith and Lisa - Two aunts with hearts of gold, tongues like vipers (when needed), and characters full of life.

Evan - My brother from another mother. Master and commander of all things psychadelic and mind-related.

Matt - The new baby on the block. He'll grow up just fine to fit in with the established crew.

Joey and Brandon - One's a crazy militant, the other one, well, just plain crazy. But these two make up the cousins of the group.

Greg - The ever 'agreeable' brother. Oh yes ya!

Brad - The second newest addition to our crew, he adds a lot of life and just a little more crazy. Pfft, like we need more!

K* - I've only met her once, and she hasn't been indoctrinated yet, but I'm sure the new little sister to the crew will put the boys in their place.

*Yes, I forgot your name. I'm sorry, sheesh, enough with the PDP. (Puppy-Dog-Pout, for those of you not up on your cartoon slang these days.)

I believe that's it. If I missed anyone, other than Dane who is now the estranged second-cousin twice removed, then you can come on over to Endland and kick my ass. Ha ha ha. Alrighty then, that's about all for me today, I'll catch ya on the flipside.

Neal

16 Days and Counting!

2009-06-07T14:33:00.000-02:30

Welcome to the first installment of the blog of Neal Oram, soon to be world traveller extrordinaire.

If you haven't guessed by now, I am heading across the pond to the UK to start my travels and see the world. This page you're on now, will be where I will be posting all of my thoughts dreams, some photos, and maybe the occassional cry for help...though I sincerely hope I will not have to.

Right then, I'm off to get some other affairs in order, and to rig up some new travel underwear and insurance...although underwear could be considered insurance depending on how you look at it. Ha ha ha. Hit me up at my email if you have it.

Cheers,

Neal