Above And Below...

Last night a crazy homeless man inadvertently brought something interesting to my attention. He was tucked in a doorway, screaming madly at passerby's - and I realized that, and I'm not sure if this was the Australian accent at work or annunciation was problematic for this gentleman, but the phrase "fucking terrorists" and "fucking tourists" kind of sound the same. I'm not sure which he was yelling, and ergo I'm not sure if he was yelling at me as I belong to only one of those two groups...

Soundtrack: In Motion #1 / The Gathering.

I visited the Circular Quay for the annual VIVID festival, which is a huge thing here each year that involves: a) several really expensive shows and workshops at the Opera House and other venues around town; and b) a wild array of sound and light performances along with street performers. Obviously I took in the latter, as I would like to continue being able to afford to eat. Music pumps out of the speakers set up around the quay and dazzling projections of really, really cool animation is projected onto various buildings - including the Opera House. Unfortunately, the video camera that I had takes lousy nighttime stills so, although I have plenty of great video (including 30 minutes of some guy from Minnesota and his 12 ft unicycle act...don't ask me why) I have only one good picture to share.

Tip to those coming to Australia - if you spend the couple of weeks preceding your departure slowly nudging your bed time later and later until you aren't going to bed until about 4am - it bloody works, better than I expected.

Today was absolutely gorgeous (seems to be rare for Sydney winter) - spent the morning at the Sydney Tower, which was the one 'touristy' thing I wanted to do, and it was pretty amazing. It starts with a cool 4D movie with rumbling floors, spraying water, bubbles, and smoke. This, I guess, is what 4D means - no time travel was involved (boo!). Great shots of the whole city in all directions. A sample:

Profile: Common Sydney Man: suit pants and suit or leisure jacket (dark coloured); collared shirt (light coloured - white, pink, or light blue); *important* you MUST NOT be wearing a tie, regardless of your occupation, and the shirt must have the first top 2 buttons undone. Keep the hair short, and keep the 5 o'clock shadow 1 day old - no more, no less. You must always look like you just got off work, and it doesn't matter it's 8am or if you are actually still working. Did I mention you cannot be wearing a tie?

Profile: Common Sydney Woman: you are wearing either dark tights with a mid-length to short skirt (also dark but may have patterns) with high-heels or flat shoes OR you are wearing tight jeans with boots. The top doesn't matter because it is covered in a jacket - because it's winter and only, what, 17 celsius? Chances are you are blonde or almost blonde. You must be talking on your cellular phone at all times, through your white earbud headset with a microphone. And many of you are the woman of my dreams. Kidding. Not really. But yes really, kidding. But not really.

Soundtrack: Band Aid Covers The Bullet Hole / Scarling

Spent the afternoon (after a pathetic homemade soup and wrap combo to save $$, because I'm a cheap ass son-of-a-bitch) sitting in Hyde Park reading a book (Survivor by Chuck Palahniuk, which by some coincidence is about a guy intentionally crashing a trans-Pacific flight into the Australian Outback...). I did this to rebel against the notion that, as a tourist (or terrorist according to our crazy friend), I don't think you need to be actively touristing all the time. Headed up to the Quay just in time for the sunset - yep, timed it perfectly, thank you very much - and that was that.

Tonight, after some grub, I'll be heading to King's Cross - the red light district - to see a totally different side of the city. I wonder if the men wear ties there? I know the women don't - unless, well, never mind...

Later!