Monday, May 16, 2011

A Much Better Week :D

I forgot to mention last week that I got a package from my parents! Pretty much the best package ever: a sweater (orange cashmere! My brother is the best shopper to have found that), jewelry (who’ve thunk I’d have to go to Australia to get my first real Pueblo earrings?), popcorn (the REAL kind with enough butter to clog arteries), and a WHOLE CASE OF HATCH GREEN CHILI. :DDDD Perth readers, let me know if you want to try some legit stew or burritos, I’ll be happy to share. ^_^

Monday night I got to watch two Australian movies with D (double feature for just $10! Score). Wasted on the Young is a scary high school drugs/power/violence/shootings movie, and it was AWESOME. The actors were beautiful/visually engaging, the characters were all gripping, the violence was real and terrifying without being overdone, the plot had me on the edge of my seat, and the music was perfect. My favorite parts were the cinematography/editing (I LOVED the way they used a video lag effect) and the surreal “did that really happen??!? Oh wait, no, that was just a fantasy” sequences. AND it was filmed in Perth! You can recognize Cottesloe beach at the beginning. The second film was much happier; Griff the Invisible is basically an off-beat superhero movie, but it’s also about growing up, societal expectations, and the nature of reality, in that way that quirky movies manage to capture everything so beautifully. As you might guess, I’m utterly in love with this movie. Griff was filmed in Sydney, where D is from, and he said he recognized some of the buildings/places. 

Thursday night my friend Nich showed me a restaurant were I ate a roo burger. I'm sorry Maxie, but it was delicious! I couldn't tell if it tasted any different from a moo burger (yay bad puns :D), but that might be because it was covered in horseradish coleslaw and green chili jam...SO GOOD omg. 

Friday night I saw Burke and Hare with Harshil, a movie that basically is a comedy based on a 19th century murder-spree in Scotland. The defining bit of the movie for me was Andy Serkis: I will never be able to watch him without thinking of Smeagol and getting thoroughly creeped out. o.e
After the movie Harshil and I wandered through the cbd until we found a nice pub and shared a few rounds whilst talking about what it was like to be studying abroad, the dilemmas of guys buying girls drinks, and teenage shoplifting. Highlight: sitting on a bench waiting for the train tipsily describing dnd and larping. ^^;;

Saturday was a slow day at work, and I managed to read an entire novel whilst waiting for people on the sixth floor. Good thing Nic fixed the computer check-out system at Unisfa for me so I could steal more sci-fi/fantasy books on Friday! Afterward I met up with Dan again and we walked more or less a bazillion miles: from the Bell Tower to Kings Park, up the Kokoda Track, all around the park, then through Subiaco to Leederville. Too bad I was dumb and forgot my camera; I promise I'll go back at some point and take a million awesome pictures of the city. Highlight: playing board games in a coffee shop after drawing maps of geographical maps of Australia and America (our map of Australia was much better than our version of the states.... Turns out I've got a pretty okay idea of the states on the coasts/borders, but who knows where all those states in the middle are....).

Sunday I finally visited the zoo! :D Harshil and I have been talking about getting to the zoo for forever (it's on the "Must Do While In WA" List). We even took the ferry across the Swan River to get there. YAY for kyoot aminals!

A Cormorant at the jetty in South Perth. I see cormorants every day on the bus to UWA standing next to the river with their wings open like this because they're drying out their feathers. WHOEVER HEARD OF A COASTAL BIRD THAT'S NOT WATERPROOF. So silly.
I have never seen such an enormous python in my life. I swear, it's as thick around as one of my thighs, which most of you should know is not Twiggy-sized.... The zoo keeper said they feed this guy "euthanized" chooks, but I figure that's where the unclaimed lost toddlers get put at the end of the day. The sign says these guys normally eat DEER. Good lord.
Most of the animals were pretty unphotogenic, but this gorgeous creature got up and walked right in front of the window for me to take a picture of her. Yay!
ZOMFG LITTLE PENGUINS. :DDDDD They're like 6" tall and REALLY REALLY ADORABLE. :3
Here's one of a bunch of Little penguins swimming while the zoo keeper feeds them. D'AWWWW.

The best picture I've taken of the lorikeets, which no one else likes because they're not native to WA and are rather annoying birds, but I can't help but think they're pretty.
My favorite animal that day was the cassowary which was freaking out while we were there, running around it's pen and attacking the palm trees in the background. I have about 6 other blurry pictures because it wouldn't stay still. The coolest part about cassowaries is the silly horn/helmet thing on their head which supposedly protects them from knocking themselves out as they run through the rainforest at full tilt. ^_^

And here's two pictures taken especially my hippie readers (that's you, Sunny and Liz!):
Notice the bit at the bottom left corner....
They're ads for recycled toilet paper! Teeheehee :3

7 comments:

  1. Those are the best signs ever! And all three movies look super exciting. Also, not to be a jerk, but I think the bird you identified as a cormorant is actually a darter (also called an anhinga). They are in the same order as cormorants but have much longer necks and beaks. Curse you, ornithology class that made me memorize every family of birds!
    I'm so glad you are having a better time than last week. I am leaving for India tomorrow, and one of the things I am going to miss most while I'm there is the internet (webcomics and your blog and youtube and everything else that I can spend hours wasting time on). <3 ~Liz

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  2. Perty Pictures! Hope all the movies were fun :) Miss you Honey-Pie! Enjoy!

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  3. whilst? methinks thou hast gone native

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  4. @Leonore: jumper, arvo, esky, wanker -gasp! I practically speak a foreign language! :P

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  5. When I hear you say "No worries" I feel like an entire continent has developed and spread that phrase just so it would be eventually be there for you to learn and say.

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  6. @Liz-kins, I actually wondered about that as I read up on them on the internet, but I assumed that my envi sci friend knew better than me+Wiki as regards bird identification. Darters also do the goofy "waiting for my wings to dry" thing, so I wasn't too far off. :p Thanks for clarifying!

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  7. If you are looking for some more slang to add to your Perth Vocabulary, we call those Cormorants Shags. :) I have no idea why.

    Btw, hi! We met at the UniSFA welcome, but I had to leave before the afters because my cat ate a lacky band and I had to go home and rescue him! :)

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