Oh my God, I'm in Australia! It is gorgeous -- water and hills everywhere, very loud colorful birds, purple-flowered jacaranda trees all over the place.... Fantastic.

Yesterday was complete tourist day -- we went to a wildlife park where we could feed kangaroos and pet koalas. Sooooooo cool. Soooooo cheesy. I soooooooo didn't care.

This was Watarah National Park, "The home of Skippy." "What, the peanut butter?" Joe and I asked. "No," Paula said, very indignant, "Skippy the kangaroo, from the TV show! They named the peanut butter after him!"

So Paula is wrong about the kangaroo/peanut butter connection (as far as I know), but The Adventures of Skippy was a real TV show -- basically Lassie with a kangaroo. Who knew?

Today we'll be wandering around the city then going to a housewarming party. It's so great to see Paula again, and to finally meet James. They're both tremendously cool.

Other notes: The money here is SO COOL: very colorful, with a little cellophane window. Plus, you can't tear it or crumple it. Dude. The coins almost all have wacky Aussie animals on them. Dude. Excellent.

Right, I'm off to explore. Further updates when possible.

I talked to my friend Jeremy today, who is just back from Mali. Why did he go to Mali, you ask? Because he decided it was probably a bad time to go to Uzbekistan, and Mali was his second choice.

I like to think I'm all intrepid traveller woman, and then I talk to friends like Jeremy, and I realize I'm just a poser. I'm using a travel agent, for god's sake. Sigh. Whereas Jeremy just wandered around the wilds of Mali, treking from small village to small village, paying the village chief to stay in someone's house/on someone's roof (it's really hot) with a handful of cola nuts, which are, apparently, a mild narcotic. Because that's what you do in Mali -- you offer happy berries to random strangers in the middle of nowhere so you can sleep on their roof. He got around speaking French and a little Arabic, learning a bit of the indigenous language as he went along.

Mali is cheifly known for (1) Timbuktu and (2) being gradually swallowed by the Sahara. (It's in the middle of that big bulbous bit right under Algeria.) And most people think Timbuktu doesn't really exist. It does, it's just slowly succumbing to the the Sahara, as mentioned above.

So when Jeremy isn't wandering from village to village in the middle of nowhere, he's in Timbuktu going up to people who look like they speak Arabic and saying (in Arabic) "Hi, I'm an American. So what do you think of all this bombing and stuff?" Because that's what you do in Timbuktu, a Muslim city, when your home country is bombing the bejesus out of another Muslim country -- identify yourself as the enemy. People were amazed he spoke Arabic ("They let you learn Arabic in America?" was a typical reaction) and he said most folks supported the US actions. Whether they were sincere or being polite to the crazy guy, I don't know. Granted, Jeremy doesn't exactly exude threatening vibes, but I could imagine that people didn't want to hurt the feelings of the crazy American guy by slamming his country. Or maybe they're really supportive of the US. Who knows.

The one time sanity did grip Jeremy was when he declined to go introduce himself as an American to the guy who was pointed out as a recent arrival who was a member of the Taliban. I'm shocked.

Some background on Jeremy -- we met in middle school, when we both started at a private Quaker school at the same time. He was megamega geek, and had no problem with that, it seemed. I was also megamega geek, and wanted desperately not to be. So I tried to blend. Didn't work. Jeremy, on the other hand, just seemed to sort of go through life being exactly who he wanted to be, without shame or compromise, and by the time we graduated was probably one of the most popular people in school. Damn, he's good.

So, Jer, sorry if this embarasses you or anything, but you kick ass, and I'm very glad we're still friends (i.e., that we didn't actually kill each other in 7th grade.) It's an honor and a privilege.

I've got a lot to do before I leave, and yet, I don't seem to be doing any of it. Hmmm. This could be problematic.

This weekend was full of halloweeny fun. Costume party at Angie and Jordan's last night -- I was a Mongolian warrior. I'll have to see if I can scan the pictures. I'm a very odd person. Other notable costumes: Christine as Rosie the Riveter, Lotti as Johnny Depp playing George Jung in the trailer of Blow (as the movie itself was just too awful), John as Gene from Wet, Hot American Summer (see it!). And more, much more.

Today was Lotti's annual Horror Movie Party -- I was there for The Secret of Harvest Home (or something), Carrie (yipe!), Invasion of the Bee Girls (very silly, exceedingly pointless, but lots of semi-naked girl-on-girl action. Oh, and bee footage. Can't go wrong with bee footage.) and the ever-popular Lotti's Horror Movie Party Festival of Short Films: The original South Park Christmas episode ("Dude! Don't say pigfucker in front of Jesus!"), William Shatner's dramatic rendition of "Rocket Man," Lotti's death scene, Masoleum/American in Paris montage (i.e., Ben the Gardner and His Day), plus new addition of Notes on the Craft of Acting from Ice T (on the Three Kings DVD -- damn, they're funny), Steadman (cruel, but funny as hell), and Underage Bichon. A pleasant time was had by all.

I got sucked into a couple of tests that Wil Wheaton linked to. Here are my results, and my commentary thereon:

I AM 42% GEEK.	OK, This is way higher than it should be -- I don't pretend to half that degree of geekness. Tragically, my score is based on dating habits (or lack thereof) and personal hygiene issues (yes, I have, in the past, gone three or more days without a shower.) My reading material also played into my score, but on that matter, I am unrepentant.
I AM 28% PUNK.	I knew that "no piercing" policy would come back to bite me in the ass someday.
I AM 43% GOTH.	I remember Ren Faires. Yes, I went in costume. Heh. Never really dyed my hair though -- at least, not permanently. I did use those color wands for a while, and sprayed my hair different colors for Halloween. Doesn't count, I know.