Here's Brucie!
As you can see from the pictures I went to the Melbourne Aquarium on Monday. It was very cool and I took some nice pictures. No platypuses, plushy or real though.
After the Aquarium I headed across the river to check out if "Rare Exports" was playing there. No such luck, but using google I was able to find a theater on Lygon Street with a showing in an hour. The theater was a 51 minute walk away.
On my way I got a call from Boaz. He asked me if I'd want to go to the movies with him to see "Due Date". I thought it was a good idea, but I didn't want to go back to Lilydale before doing something else in Melbourne. I went shopping but as I was standing in line at JB Hi-Fi I realized I didn't have enough cash. As I walked out I saw I'd gotten an SMS from Boaz who wanted to reschedule. I looked at the time and realized that I could make the showing of "Rare Exports" if I'd take a tram.
I didn't look at my map and went a block in the wrong direction before realizing I was going away from the tram route. Pissed off and hungry I almost ran in the heat with time running out. Without a second to spare I arrived at the theater. Fortunately there were enough previews so I was able to relax before the movie started.
I thought there might be other Finnish people in the theater bit I ended being the only person to laugh at someone saying "paska". The movie was good, it looked very good and it was very funny. It was weird seeing a Finnish language movie in Australia though. The local audience was pretty smart and surprisingly "old". But they liked it and some people kept chuckling well into the credits.
After the movie I took the tram back to Central Station where I arrived just minutes after a possible train to Lilydale. The next one would leave an hour later but fortunately I could use another line into Ringwood every fifteen minutes.
Before I did though, I grabbed some cash, bought a footlong sub, visited a still open Borders for something to read on the train -- I got "Non-Fiction" by Chuck Palahniuk -- and headed for the platform. I decided to use my tram ticket to get on the train even though it was only a zone 1 ticket. I'd never seen a ticket inspector on the train and I thought that I could get away without paying a penalty fee anyway.
Wouldn't you know it, just as we went from zone 1 to zone 2, three ticket inspectors entered the train. I showed my zone 1 ticket and the gentleman asked for my other ticket. I told him I only have this one. He took a look at me and realized I wasn't a local. He asked me how long had I been here. I told him it was only a couple of weeks. Then he asked me to get up and showed me the map and the zones 1 + 2. I looked at the map and then I looked at the legend like I'd never seen it before and let out a good old Finnish "a-haa". He told me to buy the right ticket next time or I'd probably get a big fine.
When I sat back down, the guy behind me asked where I was from and told me I was very lucky that the inspector had been such a nice fellow. I'm just glad I looked touristy enough not to get a fine. I decided I would buy the proper tickets from now on because I felt a little guilty.
Tuesday was a lazy day at home. I did my laundry as soon as I woke up. I watched Coraline on Blu-Ray and then I played Super Mario Galaxy for a while since it was a possible I wouldn't be able to do that later. Sascha called Alex and told him that I would be switching apartments with Eva. Sascha told about Eva's attack and that she didn't feel safe.
I was home alone when it started to rain and I had to rush to get my clothes, which were getting dry outside, back in. The rain let down a little so I headed to McDonald's for lunch.
Without a warning the rain started pouring and once I got to McDonald's I was soaked. I ate my food and decided I was so wet that I could walk back without getting any wetter.
I was folding my laundry when Sascha and Eva came and Sascha told me they were going to go pick up Ana from the station and after that he would take me to Alex's. I hadn't even started packing. I felt pretty sad that I had to leave but it had to be done. As I got my stuff together I felt a little better about moving on.
We drove to Alex's and Eva packed up her stuff while I, Sascha and Ana waited outside. Alex and Eva were away working. When they left I knew I wouldn't want to stay in the house all alone so I called Boaz and we went to the movies to see Due Date. I got back "home" and went to sleep almost right away.
I felt pretty good about going to work today. Right away Helmut told me that I would be helping John pack and mail the wine for the three days this week. It sounded good. I never got that far though. First John wanted me to take down the big Blondie sign next to Maroondah highway and to move around a couple of the other ones before it started to rain. It took me ages and did rain before I was finished. For the rest of the day I pretty much moved wine boxes from one place to another and again and again. I did do a little forklift driving too...
I felt pretty tired and there were only restaurant people around at around four p.m. so I decided to ask Gwen about my staff wines. She recommended I take it right away. So I got seven wines for my mother. As I was carrying the wines to the Ute I ran into Helmut. Just the person I wanted to talk to.
"Maybe the Universe can give me a signal...?"
He asked about my mom and I explained the current situation as well as I could. Then he asked me about my plans for Christmas and New Years. I said I'd thought about working until January. Then he told me that, well, I didn't need to work that long. I could work one more week. He explained to me that he really had no work left for me. The vineyards only need spraying by the regular workers and he got a new kitchen hand and a new person for Cellar Door too.
So, The Universe, disguised as Helmut, showed me a building-sized neon sign with the letters Q - U - I - T blinking like crazy. My last day at Rochford Wines is actually this Sunday. It is kind of ironic that only two days after I had considered quitting and one day after looking for jobs I was let go and in need of a new job. Had this come up before I and Eva changed apartments I would've been closer to the train station when I leave. Plus Eva could've moved in anyway, just a week later. Well, I'm pretty sure Sascha can give me a lift next Monday or Tuesday.
I plan to enjoy some of my wages doing touristy stuff in Melbourne before I find a new job. I will go see some wild penguins, I will see Melbourne from a river cruise ship, I will go back up to Eureka SkyDeck at sunset and I will check out the famous buildings and parks. For my next job I'd love to go to Tasmania. Melbourne, Sydney or even Adelaide are other possible destinations. But if I found a job in Tasmania I could explore it well before moving on to Sydney. If I have enough money and my mom's arrival gets postponed I'd love to take a trip to Singapore where my friend Wall-Terr-E will be an exchange student for the first four months of 2011.
Whatever the future brings I know one thing for sure. I will not buy anyone any Christmas gifts. Where I will be spending Christmas, or New Years, is a lot more uncertain. But I do remember dreaming about Christmas in Tasmania and New Years in Sydney way back in Finland before I had even bought my plain tickets. So I hope Tasmania it is.
Now I have four more working days and a company Christmas party tomorrow evening before I pack up and move on to bigger and better things. In a way it's pretty cool and I should be able to better get jobs from three, or four states now that I was in Queensland back in September.
Now all I have to do is just go and do it.
Till infinity and beyond!
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