In Which John Eats a Kangaroo and Role-Plays

Yesterday was a most magical day. Team America spent the afternoon and evening around Sydney, culminating in a dinner at Darling Harbo(u)r. There, I ate kangaroo. And it was delicious.

"What?!" perked up baby Roo, paws covered with chocolate from Tim Tams. "You found a kangaroo and you ate it?!"

Um, no, it was just called kangaroo.

"Okay, you had me worried for a bit there."

*phew*

On the ride home, I realized that I was experiencing one of the most perfect moments of my life.

There was this commercial from a few years back in which four young friends, having just completed a day of fun, rest on a train ride back home at night. They are filled with excitement from their adventure, but they are all exhausted, so they just rest and smile in peaceful bliss. I've always wanted that to happen in real life. And it did last night, with just the four of us. Everyone was satsified with the day. I happened to be listening to Sufjan Stevens at the time. It was a perfect moment.

That night, I listened to a rock cover of Zombie. That song is perfect in any form.

Today, I got my New Zealand travel package ready, with airline tickets and everything. It's hard to believe that "Spring" Break is coming so soon. I've barely done anything for my classes yet.

Tonight, I did something I never thought I'd do: I played Dungeons and Dragons. It was actually a fan-made game loosely based on the rules of Dungeons and Dragons, but it was role-playing nonetheless. The theater group here is really big on the game. We started a new game tonight, and it will last the semester. It was difficult to get started, but after a while, I began to have fun.

It was a lot like creating an epic movie on the spot. Everyone has their character and the gamemaster decides what happens in the plot, but you are free to react in any way. There were 8 players plus the gamemaster.

Our story was set in a sci-fi space world. Our characters started on a planet that was about to be hit by 8 meteors. Most of the spaceships had left the planet evacuating citizens or trying to destroy the asteriods. By the end, there was one egotistical diplomat who managed to get his pilot and medic onto an evacuation ship and do with it as he pleased, ignoring the civilians on board. A smarmy crime boss and a rogue psychic eventually snuck onto a military vessel, after receiving a lot of flack from the Gamemaster. I was an orphaned soldier (like the Artful Dodger, if he were drafted) who happened to get into the personal ship of a Jar-Jar like pilot and his engineer, and we took out two of the asteroids (although the diplomat took all the credit). Two other asteroids were destroyed by other ships, two crashed into major cities and one crashed into the ocean, resulting in a tsunami...wait, that only makes for 7 asteroids. The Gamemaster messed up somewhere.

In Which John Meets Two Amazing Girls

Allie and Amy arrived in the afternoon. They were just as awesome as I had expected them to be. I showed them around the mall and campus and even though we didn't get to go ice skating, it was still very enjoyable. We lounged in the grass and played in the playground (which is much cooler than any American playground). They got to meet Australians, which was a little more scary than they were expecting.

I had to go get ready for the Friday night show, and they came beforehand to bring me dinner and flowers. This was the first time anyone had brought me flowers for being in a show.

They really enjoyed the show and were shocked by the twist. Afterward, I walked them to the bus stop and bid them farewell. Is it possible to have favorite people that you've only seen for less than a day?

On Saturday, we had two shows. The matinee performance was very blah, but after the show, one of the girls who also pitched a script the other day (which also didn't get in) proposed an idea where she and I go through Dramac and run our shows separately from the department during a period when the theater was free. It sounded like a good idea (seeing as how her play was another really good one that didn't make it in), so we exchanged information.

The final show was a lot better than the day. My director encouraged improvisation, so I improvized the hell out of the play. It was a lot of fun.

At the cast party, we ate an ice cream cake.

In Which John's Day Goes From Wonderful to Terrible In 10 Easy Steps

10) After the past few days of excitement and intrigue at various malls, I woke up bright and early (for me, anyway) to meet with Abby and print out our scripts. We were going to pitch them after class for the upcoming short play revue.

9) Abby was having a down day, but I (hopefully) helped raise her spirits. I moved to Tier 1.

8) In ABST, neither Abby or I had done the reading, but at least I correctly identified the aboriginal painting as that of a white settler.

7) We pitched our plays. I could've been more energetic in my pitching, but I was one of the first ones to go, so I wasn't exactly sure how to sell it.

6) Abby's play got in, mine didn't. I worked for weeks on that play. I know other people did too, but still, I felt it would be the one thing I might actually get to succeed in accomplishing while here in Australia. At this point our days switched (hers went from bad to good, mine from good to bad).

5) I left the theater to go prepare the security guards for the arrival of my friends from off campus who would be coming to see the show tonight. (During some point, my leaving of the theater caused me to miss out on the fun of the theater's new ambulance.)

4) I went on Facebook and the first status update I saw was about the big twist at the end of last night's Lost which I was just about to watch.

3) I received a call from my off-campus friends saying they wouldn't be able to visit me tonight.

2) I was completely drained emotionally and had no desire to do the show, but I did it anyway. Hopefully no one noticed. (During some point, people threw away my dinner and drink that I had put in the theater fridge, so I was tired from hunger as well.)

1) After the show let out, I hoped to see my friends from on campus, who had also told me they'd be coming tonight. No one showed. Everyone else's friends came and went to hang out with them at U-Bar. I decided today was bad enough to not get U-Bar involved.

I picked the worst/best day to wear my "it sucks to be me" shirt.

In Which Eeyore Finds the Wolery

During a very blustery storm, Owl's house crashes to the ground. Eeyore takes it upon himself to find a new house for Owl. After searching and searching, he finds a house. He leads everyone to a house that is very familiar.

A house that has a sign outside saying "TRESPASSERS WILL" which we all know is short for "Tresspassers William," Piglet's ancestor.

Eeyore turns to the group and asks, don't they agree? Is this not just the house for Owl to live in?

"And then Piglet did a Noble Thing...
"Yes, it's just the house for Owl," he said grandly. "And I hope he'll be very happy in it." And then he gulped twice, because he had been very happy in it himself." - A.A. Milne

In Which John Goes to the Beach and Everyone Has a Great Day

Who cares about what happened on Wednesday and Thursday? This story is about Friday, baby!

I woke up bright and early to get fully ready for the day at the beach. The sky was completely overcast.

But then it went away! There was absolutely no reason for that part of the story.

6 of us left campus at 11:00 for Avalon Beach. It's a nice small beach that was not very populated, considering it was a Friday during school hours.

We started with a small "breakfast" at a bakery where they have sweet bread and Australian Andrew insisted that "frosting" was a weird word and should be called "icing."

We had to coax our friend who was deathly afraid of fish to go into the water past her ankles. After we succeeded, we did everything that makes the beach fun (like you see in movies):

- Body surfing
- Girls getting on guys shoulders and playing "Chicken"
- Playing catch in the ocean
- Building a sand castle
- Burying someone in the sand
- Reading on the beach (in this case it was a dramatic reading of Twilight)
- Making...uh, sand angels?
- Getting sunburnt
- Spinning high-fives in the water...we made it a thing

After the ocean portion of the beach trip was over, it was time to head to a NINJA-THEMED RESTAURANT for lunch. Unfortunately, they were closed a half-hour before the sign said they'd close, so we just sat at the table where there were presumably many ninjas around.

So instead we ate at a seafood place that was recommended by a "friend." We got the seafood platter (fish, calamari, scallops, chips (fries), and prawns (shrimp)). This was actually just five varieties of "chewy, flavorless, white stuff deep fried in a thick layer of batter." We probably each had 3 heart attacks during that meal.

Then we decided to be healthy and got gelato. Mine was nougat flavored. It was interesting, but the Peach-Mango-Cheesecake was probably the wiser choice.

We headed home after that. Australians love to say "fail" and "win." Remember when that was popular in America? ...Yeah.

At home, I got to manage the house for yet another performance of the musical. It was a lot of fun, and I found myself being less bored at this one than I did the first time, even though very few cast members hung out in the lobby this time.

And now I'm looking forward to this epic weekend to continue with the cast party, which is sure to end in great memories and huge regrets.

In Which John Wears Green

I mailed the Sisterhood book today. It was a lot less stressful than originally thought.

Places I Want to Go: The Safe House in M'wakee. It's a spy-themed restaurant. It sounds like a Disneyland attraction.

It has been decided that something must be done about boring lectures.

Adverb Update: Having skipped the previous night's lecture, I was unsure whether another adverb incident would crop up in the discussion. But have no fear, we once again went over what an adverb was for the 6th (and it appears final) time.

After class, I had Dr. Horrible rehearsal. Everyone already knew all of the songs by heart, but I'd only seen the show once, so a lot of it struck me as new and funny, though it was a bit embarrassing when it came time for me to sing and I didn't know my words.

Afterwards it was dark, so I walked my friend Taylor back to her apartment. She is also American. There, she invited me in and a hung out with her and Abby for the rest of the night. We went grocery shopping and I finally got to try the other Australian delicacy: Tim Tams. They are the opposite of Vegemite. They are chocolate sandwich cookies with chocolate filling and covered in chocolate. I'd bring some back with me, but I'll probably eat them all first.

When we returned from shopping, we just hung around and Facebook chatted with multiple people. It sounds boring, but was actually a lot of fun. Since I'm in Dr. Horrible with Taylor, and in Cabaret with Abby, I'm sure tonight marked the beginning of an American comraderie, with many Tim Tams in the months to come.

In Which John Turns In a Paper

Turning in a paper is quite an ordeal when you don't have a printer. To do it properly, you must follow these steps:

1) Put your assignment on a flash drive

2) Walk from your apartment to the library

3) Ask the library information desk how to print a paper

4) Walk from the library to the student services building

5) Learn that your student ID counts as a printing card

6) Walk back to the library

7) Put money on your ID card to cover the cost of printing

8) Walk back to the student services building

9) Ask where you are actually supposed to go to print

10) Go to one of the computer labs

11) Sit at an empty computer

12) Insert your flash drive

13) Open up your assignment and press "Print"

14) Wait for the printer to print, notice nothing happening, and hit "Print" again

15) Try a different computer

16) Try a different computer lab

17) Get in line behind a bunch of people printing documents and observe what their doing

18) Realize that they somehow got their documents on the adjacent computer without the aid of a flash drive

19) Ask the only other student in the room that you personally know how to print

20) Insert the flash drive into their computer, open the file, press print, then go over to the computer near the printer, find your document on the screen, swipe your ID card, and print the paper

21) Leave to turn in your paper

22) Return to pick up the flash drive that you left in your friend's computer

23) Walk to the building with the Linguistics office

24) Take the elevator to the 5th floor, riding with your Linguistics teacher who does not acknowledge you on the whole ride, despite holding your assignment where she can see it

25) Search for room 508 (Hint: It's the poorly marked door near rooms 566 and 593)

26) Fill out an extensive form describing who you are and what class this assignment is for

27) Realize you don't remember the name of your tutor

28) Finally find the tutor's name written in your journal, write it on the form

29) Staple the form to your paper

30) Insert the paper into the assignment box

See? It only takes 30 easy steps to successfully turn in a paper.

After that fun day, I eventually found myself at the part of the day I looked forward to and equally dreaded: The Cabaret rehearsal. I finally would learn if I was in the cast or not. Turns out I was, and I did not have to go home in shame. It also turns out that there is a cast of about 30. There are five guys, four of which are leads. I am the only male chorus member at the moment. That might be fun.

After rehearsal, my American friend Abby and I planned the first of "Things John Wants to Do In Australia." This Friday we have organized a beach trip, since we've yet to go to the beach and we have to go while the weather is still warm. I finally feel like I'm going to start enjoying the Australia part of Australia.

In Which John Gets a Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Theater Program

On Friday night, I watched a really crappy 80's horror movie on Aussie TV called "The Cold" (although IMDB calls it "The Game"). This movie is begging for an MST3K'ing. We should find this movie and riff it when I come back to America.

On Saturday, I "rehearsed" for the upcoming play. It was very informal, and not all of the actors were there, so hopefully future rehearsals will be more productive.

Afterward, I stayed at the theater so I could help manage the candy booth during the musical. I burned my hand with the hot water machine. That's it. I was basically in the lobby during the whole show, but fortunately the cast uses the lobby as a backstage area, so I was not bored.

I really learned a lot about the dynamics of this group of people. When I first met everyone at the welcome picnic, they all seemed like a close family. And I suppose they still are. But as with every group, there is always talking behind the backs of others. That night I learned who the socially awkward members are, who is jealous of who, and, conversely, who the nicest people are. I had seen most of these people only at during the show, so learning that they aren't like their characters was quite a shock. For example, one of the main domineering villains is actually a meek, quiet person.

Once the show was over, the cast stuck around because they had to come in the next day for filming all day (a lot of Australians commute to campus, so it made sense to sleep over in the theater). I stuck around for the huge dance session, where the pit band just continued playing songs. Then, we were preparing to watch a movie, but we got caught up in one guys never-ending guitar jam/storytelling session. It was made up on the spot, and I was surprised that he managed to hold our attention for over an hour.

Then, I decided to go home, and in some weird twist of fate, I ended up having an epic online conversation with some girl that I had never met. See, I still keep in touch with Allison, and her friend from school is also studying abroad in Australia. I haven't met her friend face to face, but we've been keeping in touch during our time in Australia. Then last night, her roommate was using her computer, so when I started talking, she just kept the conversation going. Turns out neither of us like to end conversations. So we got really deep and philosophical about our life views. That was a weird once-in-a-lifetime experience. We're probably going to get married.

Today, after a lot of procrastination, I finally did my first two homework assignments. Everyone here loves using Blackboard. I was having trouble keeping track of everything, and had no luck finding the actual rules for one of the assignments. I ended up posting something that I'm sure is viewable by my whole class as opposed to just the teacher.

Since the DDK cast was filming all day, I decided to stop by the theater and see how things were going. I'm not sure exactly what they all think of me at the moment, seeing as how I'm always around yet not involved in the show. But fortuantely, I've made enough friends to justify my existance.

While there, I heard that the first Cabaret rehearsal was on Monday night. Again, I've heard from multiple sources that I am in the cast, but nothing official yet. I didn't not receive notice about this rehearsal. It conflicts with my LING lecture, and originally I was going to go to class because I had told my other play's director that I would not be free for that play's rehearsal due to class. But, Cabaret weighs more importantly than the other play in my mind. And it definitely weighs more than LING lecture, which should just be called "What An Adverb Is 101." I can afford to miss one lecture, right?

In Which John Does Some Things for a Few Days

Things I have done in the past few days:

- Written a short play that combines elements of The Little Prince and Calvin and Hobbes

- Purchased a cell phone

- Eaten at the Australian version of Chipotle (Mad Mex, it doesn't come close to the majesty of Chipotle)

- Sworn to never go to a bar ever again (the excursions always end poorly)

Wow, that's not at all much. I need to remedy this situation.

In Which John Does Not Watch "Watchmen" Again

My Linguistics class has started to take its toll on me. I've become snarky with the fellow students, who fortunately haven't noticed yet.

Number of Linguistics Class Periods I've Had: 5
Number of Linguistics Class Periods We've Gone Over What An Adverb Is: 5

3 times was funny. 4 times was scary. 5 times means the end is near.

In audition news, I was told that I got the role of the newscaster in Dr. Horrible. So, considering the number of people who auditioned for the 12-person cast, I'm pretty lucky just to be a part of it. I also heard through the grapevine that I'll be in the chorus for Cabaret. Since I had not heard this officially yet, my conclusion is that I was second in line for one of the main parts, but one guy had to choose between a lead in Cabaret and Dr. Horrible. He chose Cabaret today. I wish he chose Dr. Horrible just so I could see if my prediction was right.

After the improv workshop, a bunch of theater people were going to see the Watchmen. I had already seen it, but I tagged along for the journey to the shopping center so I could get dinner. When the movie was about to start, I went to leave, and my friend asked why. Earlier in the day, I had pulled a similar act, when I joined her and her friends in between classes to kill time, then left right before they went to the mall. So, as a joking reference to the earlier time, I said "I live for the journey, not the destination."

Although I was joking, I started thinking about what I said. I find that I do really enjoy the journeys of life, rather than the end results. Whether they be literal (such as car trips and plane rides) or not, I love the space in between action. This is when I usually can listen to music and think about...everything. I love walking to class. I love rehearsing for shows. I even love the pursuit of romance, having a crush. I usually live in this constant state of waiting for things to happen, so I've learned to embrace it, and actually find comfort in it. When you focus on the moment, you find so many small details that you would often overlook. People often asked me if I was excited to go to Australia. No, I was not. I knew it would happen. I was more excited to live during the days leading up to it. Just as I was excited to not watch Watchmen again.

Instead I sat in a huge empty field and watched the sky.

Did you know that the moon in Australia has the same face as in America but is rotated 90 degrees to the left?

In Which John Goes to Mardi Gras

Friday - I watched the Dark Knight for the second time as a part of FilmSoc. Since I'd already seen it once, I just decided that I'd stay until I got bored and then leave. But I never got bored. I liked it just as much as I did the first time. Why was this not nominated for Best Picture?

I also found out that I got the role of the villain in the upcoming play. So, woo!

Saturday - My roommates and I went to Australian Mardi Gras. Unlike actual Mardi Gras, this was held on a Saturday, and was essentially a glorified gay pride parade. I had never been to a gay pride parade before, but I'm not a big fan of crowds, nor parades for that matter. And whereas Mardi Gras invokes images of everyone drunk and dancing amongst the parade, everyone was just drunk and standing tightly packed to the side to watch the parade. I got very sore from standing in the same spot for 4 hours straight.

Afterwards, as we were leaving to catch a bus back to campus, some small fight broke out across the street. As people ran across the street to observe, I noticed that a bus was driving around the corner at full speed, just as two people ran right in front of it. I had never witnessed anyone coming so close to injury before in my life, so my body involuntarily shouted "Watch out!" as if that would do any good. Even if they had heard me, they would've stopped and turned around and gotten hit anyway. Fortunately, the bus stopped in time, with neither of the people any the wiser that their lives almost ended.

My heart was in my throat the rest of the night.

Sunday - I had a read through of the script for the play. There's a girl who also made it in the cast and plays the female villain. We auditioned together, and she was the first person who made me feel comfortable acting in this new land, so I'm glad she also made it. Everything is big and over-the-top (it's written that way). I get an eyepatch.

Sorry there isn't as much interesting stuff going on quite yet.

In Which John is Entertained

So, the other night, I saw "A Dark Day's Knight" which is a musical based on the world of Star Wars. It was produced and written by students here. The story is basically a tragic love story between a young Jedi sent to investigate the murder of a Galactic Counsel member and a worker girl at a brothel. All of the songs are actually popular songs with new lyrics based on the story. This included parodies of Bohemian Like You, Come As You Are, and Killing Me Softly With His Song. It was pretty fun.

Of course there were impressive lightsaber battles, for what Star Wars musical wouldn't have them? I really enjoyed the story because it wasn't trying to weasel it's way into the pre-existing Star Wars canon, but rather happened to be set in the Star Wars era, like a medieval play or a western. The story came first and the Star Wars came second.

The next day I went to a couple classes, then remembered that Watchmen came out that day, so I went to see it. It was the middle of a school day, so the theater was virtually empty, although there was a guy dressed as Captain Jack Sparrow (according to the woman at the concession stand, this guy comes to every "nerdy fan movie" dressed as Sparrow).

I thought the movie was an overall success. I hadn't read the story in a long time, so it was nice to be familiar with the plot and still be effected emotionally by the twists and turns. I had gone in knowing that the ending had been altered from the story, but I didn't really remember the original ending, so when I checked it later, I was surprised at how the new ending fit in a lot better to the themes and emotions of the story. There were a few hokey moments that could've been tweaked (especially at the very end) and Nixon was a bit laughable. But I was pleased with the movie, and I think it did a very good job.

Afterwards, I had dinner with a few of the guys from the DDK cast. They are cool folk. One of them let me know that I got into the upcoming short play revue, but he didn't tell me which one (although apparently the directors were fighting over who got me for their play).

That night I went to the University Bar to celebrate my roommate Matt's birthday, but it was not as fun as last week, so I left early and chose to sit in a tree and admire the stars, which was much more beautiful.

In Which John Has Two Birthdays and Gets a Present

At midnight, my roommates and I were in the middle of bonding. We'd take turns asking questions and sharing stories. Vanessa (or "Ness," since Australians shorten everything) does not know what animal represents her. She was thus shamed from the discussion.

Before I went to bed, I noticed that my parents had wished me a Happy Birthday at Australian midnight.

Then came the actual day itself.

I was looking forward to the day, even though I knew it'd be long. After lunch, I had my first class, a 2-hour lecture about the First Australians. Of course it was boring, but at least I know someone in the class now, which always seems to make classes better.

Afterwards, I had to go straight to my next class about Australian Media for another hour. It was fine, we watched some Australian commercials, but I was anxious to get through the class because up next was...

Improv! I found the improv group, and finally got to feel at home, if only for 45 min. But since I had another class to go to, I could only stay for the warm-up portion and had to miss out on playing games.

Up next was my English discussion. Everyone in my section is majoring in Early Education. Everyone struggled with basic grammar. It seems so weird having grown up with this stuff in school, that you don't realize not everyone had the same upbringing as you. Still, I can sense that I'll go crazy when I'm 2 months in and people still haven't grasped the difference between an adverb and an adjective.

Afterwards I had to go to yet another audition. The day before I had done the dancing audition for Cabaret and today I had to do the singing portion. I think it went well. I had to do an American accent. I nailed it. I also had to do a German accent. I tried to imitate Beicken, but I ended up sounding more like my Polish Joke character. Oh well. We'll see what happens with that soon.

By this point, I was feeling a little bummed. It feels weird having gone most of your birthday without seeing anyone who knows you and can wish you a Happy Birthday. But fortunately, my roommates are my family, and they had ordered many pizzas for dinner. A couple of my roommates' friends came over. I don't know whether I can definitively call them my friends yet, even though I've seen them a lot. There's Adelle (the attractive, funny one), Sophie (the attractive, funny one), and Steff (the attractive, funny one...hmm, maybe all Aussie girls are the attractive, funny one). They made me a birthday card out of construction paper. It says "Have a whale of a time..." and there's a cutout of a whale. (I said it was a fish, because it's tail was vertical instead of horizontal, but Adelle pointed out that it had a blowhole, so she was right.)

For some reason, I really like this card, probably more than I should. If you haven't noticed, the title of this post (as well as all the others) is based on the way the chapters are titled in old novels, especially Winnie-the-Pooh. In the chapter "In Which Eeyore Has a Birthday and Gets Two Presents," Eeyore informs Pooh that it is his birthday, and Pooh tells Piglet, so they both decide to get him gifts. Pooh likes honey, so he thinks a pot of honey will be a good gift. But, being Pooh, he eats all the honey and is left with an empty jar. So he decides that should be the gift. Piglet gets an old balloon that he has leftover from his own birthday, put it pops before he reaches Eeyore. Nevertheless, Eeyore accepts both gifts (he uses the jar to store the popped balloon) and treasures them. I'm going to treasure this card.

After pizza, we had white chocolate cake. I'm not a fan of cake, but I loved this cake. Australian cake is better than your cake. My roommates put 21 sparklers on the cake. They went out before I had a chance to make a wish. The smoke alarm went off.

Then we watched a bunch of YouTube videos.

So that was my first 21st birthday.

Around this time, slow Americans started realizing it was my birthday, so I spent most of today reading Facebook birthday messages. It's always funny to see who leaves you those. Sometimes it's people you haven't spoken to in years or just don't really know who write only "happy birthday." No thought or effort, you kind of wonder why they bother. Sometimes you get people who try to start conversations, "Happy Birthday, tell me all about Australia!" I'm sorry, but you should've asked for that before I had to wade through this sea of wall posts. I like the ones with a little flair, or, if you're like Allie, ones that show up on Facebook, on AIM, and on Skype.

The best one wasn't a Facebook post though, it was an e-mail from Ness. Even though she already celebrated my birthday, she sent a message including pictures from the two nights previously mentioned and a link to the song that "Michael Jackson" and Bart wrote for Lisa's birthday. And since Vanessa loves reading this blog, I felt I should mention her a lot so she knows she's special.

So that was my second 21st birthday.

As for the actual events of today that happened after it stopped being my birthday in America? I helped paint the set for a show that opened tonight, then I went to a block party and learned that Aussies don't believe in napkins (especially Vanessa), and then I saw the show that opened tonight. But that was so amazing that I'm going to save it for the next post.

In Which There is This Girl

So, there is this girl...

In Which John Counts Down the Days

On Wednesday, I had no class, so I walked through the Botanical Gradens. It was cloudy.

On Thursday, I had Media discussion. There are only 9 people in it out of the 250 in the whole class. Rarely anyone talked, so I spearheaded the discussion.

Afterwards, I auditioned for the upcoming play. It's made for new students, and there is a 99.9% chance I'll get in. There are four short plays, and I had to audition for each. I got along well with the auditionees and the auditioners. It's a lot less formal than at UMD. We were all just standing outside and reading our pieces wherever we happened to be standing.

On Friday, there was a meeting for the theater group. I had a chance of getting a position on the board of executives, but I didn't get enough votes (probably because I'm only here for a semester and it'd be unwise to put me in the committee for a short time). I met two of the people in charge of the brand new improv group on campus. They were impressed with my background (since very few people do improv here) and I'm basically an automatic member/workshop leader. Hopefully the meeting and show times don't conflict with classes too much. We had a picnic, and I got to know the members better. I learned that the musical group (which is different but basically the same as the drama group) is doing an adaptation of Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog.

That night, I went out with my roommates and their friends and got to know them better. Australian girls talk about the weirdest stuff. I also realized that not only have I been rooming with a different nationality of people, but I think I've been placed into a different clique. Kind of like the girls on Bel Air 4. We're friends, but I don't really go out with them. But now, I have to go out with these kind of people. I'm slowly adjusting.

On Saturday, I spent a long time getting acquainted with the musical. I also saw Ghost Town. Did you know that in Australian movie theaters they have assigned seats?

On Sunday (today), I auditioned. For someone who sings poorly and rarely, I sang very well. Unfortunately, the director has made it quite clear that he thinks I'm perfect for a bit role as the newscaster. So, it's good that I have a high chance of getting into the show, but it would be a lot more epic to play Dr. Horrible (especially since I impressed myself with my audition song).

And now, a note about the bird noises I constantly hear:
- Some sound like velociraptors
- Some sound like Tickle-Me-Elmo
- Some sound like injured children or dying cats
- All of them terrify me