I decided I would post the emails I’ve been sending home, so that I can disseminate information and witty comments easily.

Each post from something emailed will have “Email” at the start of the title line. I’ll also post the original sent date. I’m not backdating the posts, because I don’t want to.

Hi everyone!
 
This is just a quick email (we’ll see if it remains just a quick email by the end… my vote so far is for unnecessarily long and tedious) to let everyone know that we have arrived safe and sound in San Francisco. I don’t have flowers in my hair, but there do seem to be a lot of flower stalls on street corners. Very pretty, my pretties.
 
Here some things about our trip that have been interesting:
 
* There are less fast-food chain stores here than in Brisbane. I have seen one McDonalds, one Burger King, and one Jack in the Box. Tim assures me this is a purely a West Coast phenomenon, apparently the further east you go, the more chains start popping up.
 
* Tim spewed on the plane, when we were on our descent into San Francisco airport. He said it was the holding pattern that threw him.
 
* American toilets are weird. Quite apart from the fact that the water goes down the drain the opposite way, the shape of the bowl is odd. It seems to require a lot more water than our toilet bowls.
 
* A homeless man on the street asked Tim and I if we were Canadian.
 
* A lot of people have road rage and bip bip bip. Also, there are cars way bigger than the landcruiser types at home, and they’re driving around in the city and they look like monster trucks, and their drivers apparently own the entire road.
 
So anyway, I’m heaps tired right now and I can’t really think of any of the other funny, interesting things that happened. Apart from being given the wrong room number and key about five times when we finally got checked into the hostel (they’re upgrading their booking system, AND re-numbering their rooms. Clever.). I’ll write more when I have more time and energy.
 
Tim and I walked for ages looking for somewhere to have an early dinner. It is hard to know what places might be ok, or even where all the restaurants be at. We finally ended up settling for a restaurant next door to our Hostel, and by this stage it wasn’t an early dinner any more. The food was really good. Tim had a burger and I had tortellini. We’re now back in our room at the hostel, and Tim is asleep on the bunk above me. I’ll be going to sleep soon too, but I wanted to let everyone know that we are safe and well.
 
I’d best be off so that I can get ready for bed. Tomorrow we are going to visit Alcatraz, and the day after that probably the zoo.
 
More later, also photos when i get the chance…

Love Cass xoxo

When we were coming into San Francisco in the taxi from the airport, I saw little boxy houses on a hillside and it made me think of that song (in the title). I said to Tim, “I wonder if this is what the song was written about?” but I didn’t tell him what song, and he didn’t have the same Encarta CD as we did when we were younger, so he probably didn’t know what I was talking about.

Anyways, I was just looking at a page that had songs about San Francisco, and that was one of the songs in the list! I rule. Plus that guy is really good at describing things. Little boxes on the hillside made of ticky-tacky! Genius. That’s exactly what they are. All the hills here look like fake backdrops for a movie, with the houses and stuff… they just look like they are painted onto a big sheet. It’s weird, it’s like they lack depth and dimension until you get right up close, and I’m not at all sure what it is that causes them to look like that.

Actually just in our hostel, by this one old American dude

“I’ve been awake for 36 hours straight!”

“Well, your memory doesn’t work too well when you’ve been up for 36 hours straight.”

“I need to sit down before I collapse from being up for 36 hours straight”

“I’ve been up for 36 hours!”

“I’m offering you my services for the right price, and the right price is free.”

“This is out of date. This says there’s a hostel in Lincoln Tennessee. That hostel doesn’t exist any more. It didn’t exist a year ago!”

(To a random guy behind him in the line at the front desk) “I’ve been awake for 36 hours!”

Sacrifice our honesty
To slay the dying beast
Light the pyre
I will mourn
Before this ends
And hold the funeral
For my conscience
And that which I’ll never get back
I’ll never get back
From here.

There were Stormtroopers in the mall yesterday, and Darth Vader, and also tomorrow is Star Wars Day. Not that I’m big on promoting something which so doesn’t need any more promotion, and not that I’m a complete nerd, despite what those at work might think. What, just because I know that LOL and OMG mean? And IMO and that I have accidentally used these abbreviations in RL?

Plus, Chris’ birthday/housewarming is on tonight. I’m looking forward to it! Chris and Doon live in the Valley now. Tim and I are going to pick Noelle up on the way. I love my Noelle.

And also, I forgot to post pictures of the teatree creek! OMG how could i forget something so awesomes?

I’ve wiki-ed this, and googled it etc., but I haven’t been able to find a scientifc explanation for the colour of the water. It has something to do with the teatrees (obviously), I just don’t know the official, technical explanation.

Today I feel like I’m losing my voice. It sounds like I’m losing my voice. I’ve got a sore throat, and it’s an effort to talk (which is a weird feeling for me).

I realised that I haven’t written about our weekend at Yamba yet, and I also haven’t posted any pictures from it either. It’s not that I’m lazy (well, at least not entirely), it’s more that I’ve just had other things on my mind. Like the fact that Tim and I are flying out of here in FOUR DAYS!

Ok. So, here are some pictures:

This is the backyard. Seems like this boat is having a lot of fun on the trampoline.

We had to wait at the Harwood Bridge FOREVER, so that two ships could pass in the night. I mean, the day. And they were actually yachts. Because this bridge is one of those bridges that cantilevers up to let tall boats through.

The blue pools, being gorgeous as usual (except for when they have blue-green algae in them when it’s too hot and too many people have been swimming in them and peeing in the water because they’re grot)

The Valley, as seen from the lookout at the top of Wharf Street in Maclean.

***

A few pictures of the house, which mum has beautified:

*****

More photos later.

I read the lyrics to “Nine in the Afternoon”, and it still doesn’t make any sense. 

It’s late and I’m tired, but I was reminded that I have been neglecting my blog lately.

So, guess what? As of tomorrow, it’s only 7 DAYS until Tim and I depart Australian shores for the land of the free (apparently that’s what America is sometimes called). I would like to remind everyone that there are no cats in America, and the streets are paved with cheese. Therefore, if anyone would like some dirty, moldy, vomit-smelling cheese, lemme know. Lucky I wrote this title in French (zing!).

Yeah. I’m tired. Gimme a break.

I’m psyched about this weekend, because it’s Chris’ birthday and we’ll be going to his birthday/house warming. It’s going to be awesomes. Chris came to my birthday dinner at Wagamamas last week, where we witnessed the opening of the first krispy kreme store in Brisbane. Elvis was there, along with a huge line of people (or a line of huge people…) desperate to get their hands on some doughnuts.

Tim has brought home krispy kremes before from when he’s had to go to Sydney for work, and though they were nice, I didn’t find them that amazing. Maybe it’s just because I don’t find doughnuts awe-inspiring anyway, so why should I be super impressed or even be able to tell the difference between Donut King and Krispy Kreme?

Oh and also, we should be going to Yum Cha on the Sunday morning after Chris’ party, because that’s something Chris and I talked about doing, and we haven’t been in aaaages. So, if you’re up for Yum Cha on Sunday morning (perfect hangover food! The green tea has many antioxidants, and the tablecloths have secret healing properties) then just come on up to golden palace! King of Kings can take their nasty shit elsewhere. I only say that because king of kings has been disappointing in the past, whereas golden palace consistently provides an atmosphere I have to describe as “quirky” if not “fun”.

My eyes hurt and I am too tired. I’ll post more later, especially if this keyboard stops being so annoying. GOSH.

COUNTDOWN!

Today it is 18 DAYS until Tim and I fly out of Brisbane for San Francisco (via Sydney)!!! How exciting?! That wasn’t really a question, more of a hint that this is very exciting.

We’ve amended our original plan, and now we’re going to be driving from San Francisco to Vancouver up along the coast. ROAD TRIP! yay.

I’m looking forward to:

• No work for two weeks!!!!!
• The amazing feeling you get from being in another country
• Seeing all the things that I’ve seen in movies, only in real life!
• Hearing the ‘Mericaaan accent
• Meeting Anthony, if time and fate allow
• Watching the sun set over the ocean, not just on the opposite side of the country, but the opposite side of the world!
• Spending some time in the Northern Hemisphere
• Visiting American supermarkets and seeing the weird stuff they sell there, like bullets and alcohol
• Watching Tim drive on the opposite side of the road
• Swimming in a different ocean (as long as I don’t freeze to death in the process)
• See squirrels and, in Canada, black squirrels (awwwweeesome!)

Anyways, as soon as I can figure out how to get my countdown timer to work, that’ll be much better.

I think this picture is funny. Tim doesn’t agree.

C’mon! it’s so stupid! What reason could there be for that cat to be slaloming in a gutter?

Imagine if you only had thumbs, no fingers. That would be just as bad as having no thumbs at all. It would not be as bad as having six fingers on your right hand. Just my opinion, but Inigo Montoya is a badass, and you’re totally done if he’s after you.

Thanks Anthony, for keeping me company while I was sick this past week.

Also, there’s a secret launch party going on this Monday! Such a busy week… Monday-Launch, Wednesday-Birthday (dinner), Friday-go to Yamba.

So, Tuesday and Thursday are still sort of free… Anyone want to add anything?

More on this later.