Heads up y’all: I will be in London from September 4th to October 27th. I’ll probably go on a trip through Europe right after, but because it’d be nearly winter I’m thinking to keep it shorter than I was originally thinking, and then pop back in Melbourne for a few days or a week, which hopefully will be after everyone’s finished exams. The reason being, of course, that starting on the 4th means… my 21st will be on the other side of the world to where I’ve lived my whole life. Kinda scary to say the least, but muchos excitement too. Then when I get back I’ll have my much-delayed party, about halfway or near the end of November, before running back to work up here. Still, that whole deal is more than half a year away, so I can put it at the back of my mind until it springs sideways at me somewhere in August. ...

Visited the MCA today during lunchtime, to see the Kienholz exhibit - drawn in particularly by the promo pic of the Statute of Liberty holding up a neon sign saying “It’s not my fault” - great image. For the rest of the exhibit however, I realised I’m not much suited to the appreciation of contempary art. Or most art for that matter.

Having my nose blocked, all the time - Melbourne has a class of pollen that go above and beyond the call of duty, making my life bloody miserable. Being able to breathe freely is a vastly underestimated privilege The bloody weather - I think there’s only been one day here in the last 3 weeks (gods, has it been that long already?) that I’d say was sub-par weather, and we’ve had a range of weather here. Don’t have to carry a jacket with me at all times on the risk of a cold snap. ...

No-one ever tells you, up front, that the first few weeks on the job are going to be boring. That you’ll get given no work, and you’ll have to sit there and fill the tedious hours, trying to make it look like you’re actually doing something while all you’re really doing is twiddling your thumbs. Computers are useful for acheiving this, and having three screens doubly - indeed, tripley - so. ...

Good cafes and restaurants - living in Knox spoilt me as much as going to school in the city. It may not seem like much, but the quality and number of cafes & restaurants in Melbourne is far and above what is here in Sydney. Maybe I just live in the wrong place, but there is a glaring lack of anything that passes for a restaurant of the quality I was used to in Melbourne. They’re cheaper, sure, but there’s a depressing lack of choice (Italian or Chinese is pretty much the whole list within 20 min of my place). Monday night the streets were dead and so were the restaurants. So what I want to know is: where are the people? Surely they can’t all be home on this gorgeous a night. Plus the number of cars parked by the side of the road indicates the people are somewhere around after all the other shops have closed; they just don’t happen to be on the streets. ...