San Fran to Portland, and a Stereo Total concert!

The fun continues - it's really been rather non-stop lately!
Leaving San Francisco felt good - back on the road, and heading north, back to Canada, eventually. I'm not in a great hurry. The funds aren't quite depleted yet, the weather is warm, the sun is shining, my Beast of a Van still goes, and I seem to have things to do and people to visit all up the west coast of north America, so why race back!

SF to Portland was a whole lot faster than the southbound trip - Antonia (who also wants to get back to Vancouver) chose to travel with me, and we decided to go straight up the I-5, the big, fast interstate freeway. It's less exciting than the coast road we took to come down, but a lot faster. We were two nights on the road, staying at a couple of well-appointed (and free) highway rest stops. The weather was hot and sunny almost the whole way - the temp rose about 10 degrees the moment we crossed the Golden Gate Bridge. It's the first time I've wanted air conditioning here, I think. We passed through the volcanic country near the California/Oregon border, and considered a detour, but the good things to see were all a bit far off, and the idea of spending more time in Portland and Seattle appealed more. We did stop at a lake just near the border for a swim, though, which was very pleasant in the heat of the day.
A bit of car trouble (inexplicable flat battery - have to look into that...) meant we were a bit later than expected arriving in Portland yesterday - but that didn't matter. Like I said, there's no hurry!
Portland is one of the most comfortable places I've been. It helps that Shea, whose house I park outside here, is a wonderfully welcoming, generous person. But so are all her flatmates. And everyone else we've met here, pretty much! And there seems lots to do - last night we went to a Stereo Total concert - I've heard a bit of their music before, and had them pointed out to me in a Berlin bar (they hang out in the same sorts of places as everyone I know in Berlin) so the opportunity to go to a concert for half price (we were given one free ticket between two of us, and live music is cheap to begin with here!) was fantastic. And the concert itself was wonderful. It was like a little bit of Europe in the middle of the USA, which felt odd, but also rather good. And now I have to find a copy of one or two of their CDs, as I don't seem to have any of their music. I'll have to start combing second-hand record shops - I need the Pump up the Volume sound track too! Anyway, they put on a highly entertaining show, and I notice they are touring practically everywhere that people I know live in the next few months, so look here to find out when they are in a cool venue near you.
(Click the picture to see more!)
And today has been rather pleasant too. Antonia and I met up with Pike, another currently travelling queeruptor, and followed Shea's directions to a vegan cafe, where we had tofu, vegan sausages and vegan french toast for breakfast, and then went to a hotel/restaurant/art kind of place that is in an old elementary school. They also happen to have a large hot spa, which was a rather nice place to hang out in for an hour or so, followed by mojitos in the garden... All highly civilized, really. And extremely relaxing. So much so, that when the other two decided to ride the bikes to a anarchist collective bookstore and bike co-op, I chose to return to Alberta street (which is an interesting bit of Portland that is fast becoming very familiar...) and hangout in the cafe that has wireless access next to Shea's work (she's a piercer, which may be convenient. But more on that later... maybe...)
So life continues to be mostly idyllic. The only thing currently causing me any stress is the possibility of expensive things going wrong with the van, and even that, I know I can deal with. I just might need to find some work earlier than I'd otherwise like. So I shouldn't let even that stress me!
The unemployed travelling lifestyle is definitely agreeing with me, anyway!

More San Fran and random observations on Thrift Stores.

The thrift shops on this continent are amazing. I first went to one in Vancouver, and almost instantly found a shirt and some trousers that a)fit, and b) were affordable, and c) looked decent. I nearly fell over. And in Portland, I spent $17 at the local Goodwill store on almost-everything I needed to live in my van. Another $2 in some tiny town on the Oregon Coast bought me 3 mugs (the plastic ones I bought in Portland tasted funny), 3 matching face/dish cloths, a couple of teaspoons and two teatowels. They're fast becoming my favourite shops.
And here's a photo of Mission in SF - the area I spent most time, and site of some rather good thrift stores. It's very multicultural - an interesting blend of latino and asian. Click the pic for more photos.


I rode across the Golden Gate bridge yesterday - after riding there all along the Embarcadero past the piers and fisherman's wharf and all that. It was lovely, although my bum is regretting it today. I really need a new bike seat... And then I was crossing the bridge back just at sunset, which was also nice. Pics on flickr, as per usual.



And in about half an hour, I plan to leave San Francisco. It's been fun, but it's time to head north. I'm *supposed* to be in Canada, you know.

MOMA SF and I Love the Castro Cinema

I like hanging around with Micha and Tobi. They know people. Specifically, in this case, they knew someone who knew someone who works at the modern art museum here - MOMA SF, and got us three complimentary tickets. Useful when it's usually between 12 and 15$. So we went on Thursday, and I spent about 5 hours wandering around there, I think. We did a bit of a tour about 'what is art' and some of the pieces that have challenged this in the last century or so - matisse's colours, that so shocked everyone, and found art, and whole canvasses of one colour (it's *which* colour that is important...). There was also an amazing installation that involved a huge vaguely coffin shaped pile of 18000 used blue cotton shirts and pants, all neatly folded. In front of it, a volunteer 'attendant' sits for 4 hours each day erasing a book (a naval code of practice, I believe) from back to front using a pink eraser and his/her own spit. The human element becoming art was quite amazing really.
The other piece that I loved was this one by Anthony McCall (I even remember the artist's name - it must have made an impression!). It was a very dark room - kind of scary to walk into because you really couldn't see a thing at first - and a projector projecting a pattern of gradually changing white lines - a circle that breaks to become a lines that become a cross etc... Doesn't sound much, until you add the fog machine, and then stand in the middle of the screen looking at the projector. When the projection was of a circle, it was like standing in a tunnel of watered-silk-patterned light. Quite amazing, really. The fog makes the light seem solid. It was also amusing to stand back and watch others in there. And be completely un-seen until their eyes adjusted enough to get a fright that there was someone lurking in the darkness the whole time! I didn't mean to lurk - I was just admiring the art, really!

(I don't know these people - the pic is from google, as you weren't supposed to take photos in the musem)
The other wonderful thing I've done recently is go to the Castro cinema. This is a fabulous grand old cinema, with the red plush seats and gilded ceiling, gold velvet curtains and what appears to be the original organ! And organist! (not the original, though. He wasn't *that* old). And last night I went to a regular themed marathon thing where they screen three related movies in a row. I have to admit that I didn't stay for the last one, which started a midnight, but the first two more more than enough! The theme was 'switching schools sucks' and they showed: Pump up the Volume (1990), Footloose (1984), and Massacre at Central High (1974) (now maybe you see why I didn't stay for the last one.
And I think Pump Up the Volume is my New Favourite Movie. I can't believe I had never seen it before. And I can't believe I hadn't seen Footloose, either, but I knew I would get to one day, and this was probably the best way - with the organist before it started, previews for upcoming films there (I now REALLY want to see The Incredible Shrinking Woman which is on here in two weeks!) and a crowd of people willing to laugh in all the right moments, and respond amusingly to the film ('You can't just yell Fire in a crowded theatre and then walk out!' said the film. 'FIRE' yelled someone in the audience....).


And today, which seems to be starting very slowly, I plan to ride my bike (I haven't blogged about my bike, but I have one - it was free, it fits in the back of the van and it's cool) to the golden gate bridge and ride across that, which is apparently a Very Good Thing to do. I might ride the longish way too, which goes along the embarcadero and past Fisherman's Wharf. And then I might check out some of the beaches near the bridge before putting my bike on a bus and taking the easier way home!
And then tomorrow, or maybe Monday, though I think I would prefer tomorrow, I'm heading north again - back to Portland for a few days on my gradual way back to Vancouver.

San Francisco

So after a week on the road with a bunch of queers in my van, we arrived in SF on Friday night. We arrived in proper style at dusk over the Golden Gate Bridge. Unfortunately, my camera had run out of batteries earlier that day (5 days without AC power and with about 200 pictures - not too bad!). And of course, I was driving - and having slight culture shock after a week on little country roads and highways, which very very suddenly turned into a huge 4 lane freeway. We then found the house where the others are sleeping (I'm still sleeping in my van, but it's nice to have somewhere to come that has electricity...) and then spent 40 minutes driving around looking for a park within walking distance. I found a great one in the end - quiet street, unlimited free parking, but overall I was just grateful for any park!
Since then, I've wandered or biked around town to see things, went to the De Young museum of Fine arts in Golden Gate park yesterday, have been to a few interesting gallery events (seems to be the Thing To Do here) and hung out with lots of interesting people.
The plan for the rest of the week is to get a 'tune-up' for my van, and continue the sightseeing. And find people who want to head back north this next weekend or so. I want to be back in portland and seattle and then vancouver in the next two weeks, maybe. We'll see.
The whole story of our drive down the coast is on travelpost - I find it easier to organise my thoughts there, when travelling. So I suggest you start here, and read them in order! Also, there are a heap more photos on flickr to amuse you all.

New photos etc

Check out my flickr page for more photos! The set is called 'seattle to portland', which is where I currently am. Also, I've written a few quick posts on travelpost.

Dodge! Van!

I am the proud owner of a 1979 Dodge van. I had it inspected, they said it wasn't too dodgy, so I bought it. for $3000. Plus $600 tax and insurance. And I need to buy one tire (the spare is dead) and get a 'tune up' and oil change. All these things I can do on the way.
Cos I'm leaving for Seattle. Now.
Better go!

Oh, and there are some photos of the van being inspected on my flickr account! More will follow, but I don't know when I'll next have net access.

What a little net time can do...

I've started a flickr account. Finally. I've been meaning to for a while. You can see all the pics I've uploaded so far (Vancouver, UK, Singapore etc) here. I'll add a link to the sidebar too so you can always find it. If I'm really clever, I might also be able to add a slideshow of recent pics to the sidebar, but not today, I'm afraid. For now, I offer an embedded slideshow, instead. Which, when I think about it, would go quite well in the sidebar anyway. But I want one that automatically shows recently added pics, while this one is just the vancouver ones, at the moment. I'll sort it all out soon. Pretty though, isn't it!




You might also notice I've added Nathaniel's new blog, psychopompous, to the sidebar as well. He has promised to be extremely irregular in his updates, but it's nice to see him finally join the blogosphere.
I've also added a link to the Lines 07 blog I created for the UK summer school I just did. It's got a lot of useful 'how-to' pages on it, if you want to know how to do things with blogger or other programs we used. All written out in easy step-step guides designed for teenagers who aren't entirely fluent in English.
And in other news, I think I've found my campervan. I'll get it inspected tomorrow, just to check it's not going to be a complete lemon, and then hand over the cash and deal with the paperwork. And then leave. Possibly tomorrow afternoon. Heading south. In a car the same age as me. With a working fridge, stove, sink and TWO double beds. Just in case I want to have a slumber party...

Another typical day in Vancouver

So I don't think I'm exactly doing the typical tourist thing in Vancouver, but I'm finding lots of interesting things. I know a great vegetarian/Vegan restaurant on Commercial Drive, I know where to go for a $2.95 breakfast, I know the location of about half the alternative queer sharehouses in the city (and the names of a a whole lot more) and run into people I vaguely know at least once a day. And all after less than a week! Ok, so it's the post-queeruption week when everyone from out of town is still hanging around the few places that we out-of-towners know, but still, it's a nice feeling. I'm not going to get sucked in, though. I Will Go To Montreal!

Yesterday was a rest day - probably my first in about 2 months, I think. I only left the house for about half an hour in the evening to have a turn around the lake. I spent the rest of the day either asleep or on the internet, or sorting things on my computer when someone else wanted the internet cable. It was great. And then today, I saw two vans, that are parked near here - one was a milk truck with solar panels, which was kind of cool and quirky, but rather huge and in need of quite a bit of work to make it livable. I wandered past another one parked just two blocks from here, but the guy wasn't answering his phone, so I didn't get to see inside properly. It looked really nice though, and I have made an appointment to see it tomorrow afternoon, and maybe test drive it. It's very promising. I also have an appointment to see an even better looking and cheaper one in Langley tomorrow evening. Unfortunately Langley is about an hour away, so I'm hoping it's worth it. I want to see if I can line up one or two more to see out that way, as there seem to be several. I'm really hoping that one of the two I already have appointments for will be good though, cos then I can just buy it tomorrow and hopefully be ready to leave vancouver in the next few days. Tobi and Micha - the guys I know from Berlin with whom I have been hanging out all week, leave for Seattle tomorrow morning. I was hoping to be able to drive them, but it wasn't to be. If I can sort out a van in time, however, I will see if I can catch up!

The other thing I have to think about seriously is work. I worked out today that I have been working pretty much solidly since september last year, with only a couple of weeks holiday over christmas, and a couple of weeks in which I didn't work, but travelled instead, which isn't exactly restful, though fun. While I'm glad of this, as it is the reason I can afford to buy a van and consider not working for a while, I am sort of feeling like I'm not in a great hurry to race over to Montreal and work. I would rather take my time getting there, use the network of Queeruption friends I have developed all over north america, and live and travel in my hypothetical van for a while. I mean, how often will I have the time and opportunity to discover a new country this way! I want to see as much as I can - of Canada and bits of the USA while I can. And then when I get Montreal, I know I will find work, even if it isn't the best work that is there.

Apart from seeing the vans, I also went to a festival today. Under the Volcano an alternative musical festival accompanied by an info fair that has been running for 17 years. I saw three acts while I was there, and loved all three of them, particularly NaR, whose cd I purchased, and Pura Fe. I also got a festival t-shirt, as I accidentally left three t-shirts at Queenswood in the UK, and the cleaners there aparently took no lost property, but just tossed EVERYTHING into the bin. So I'm on the look out for cool and/or cheap t-shirts.
All in all, it's been another seriously successful day!

Oh? Canada?

Wow. Well. So much has happened in the last week, I'm at a loss as to how to start, and I don't have time right now anyway, as it's 2.30 in the morning and I have to get up tomorrow to either climb a mountain (Grouse!) or buy a car - I haven't decided yet.
Leaving the UK was sudden and stressful, Queeruption 10 was a phenomenal 4 days (was it only 4 days? Others got 7 days, but I arrived late - it still felt like much longer!) of freedom, workshops, radical politics and vegan food out in the woods outside Vancouver, having a hot shower afterwards was quite amazing, and now I'm trying to buy a van to live and travel in for the next few months. I'm staying in a house called 'The Library' along with what seems like dozens of others, which is fun (queeruption continues!) but I'm really looking forward to having my own space and vehicle. Plans then include seattle, portland, maybe even San Fran while people I know are still floating around these places, then I have some crazy idea about driving up to the yukon, and then heading east to Montreal. I really should start looking for a job there. Ah well, Car first, Job later...
I have a dozen blog posts floating about in my head, so I hope I have time to write them soon, before I forget. No time now - I have to be up in about 6 hours, if I want to achieve things!

England

So I've been back in England about 10 days now, and I'm adjusting. It's funny how I keep returning to this country that I not particularly fond of. It's a good place to earn pounds, though.
Life has been interesting here, but very much work oriented - this means that for the rest of this month I'll probably be posting more to there than here. When I have time... I also have a New Blog, but don't worry - you don't have to add it to your links. It's only for my students this month in England - I use it to tell them what to do each day!
Off to the pub now... It Friday!

50 Countries!

Macau is the 50th country I have visited! I've written a travel post - go look.

Travel blog

I know this is my NON travel blog, but I'm on dialup internet, and this loads quicker! I'll fix up travelpost later.

I left Brisbane 10 days ago, and I've been in Darwin, Kakadu National park (the famous remote, crocodile infested north of australia), and now I'm staying at my parent's place in Galliwinku, the township and remote aboriginal community on Elcho Island off the north of the northern territory. It's another world, really. We went four-wheel driving yesterday. Can't go swimming cos of the crocodiles, of course, but the beaches are nice to walk along, and we only got bogged once. Didn't see another soul all afternoon. And this morning the barge came in - it only comes every fortnight - which means that my parents' supermarket order arrived and we had to go down to unload it. It also means the local shop has fruit and vegetables, until they run out in a day or two.
This afternoon I'm going to visit my parents at the clinic, and then walk along a beach (watching for crocodiles... keeping the psychotic poodle from being eaten by crocodiles...), and I think we're having my adopted 'sister' to dinner. She's 60-something, but adopted my parents as her parents. I don't know why, but it works in the local culture, it seems! Probably something to do with respect, I guess. We were supposed to have a gay couple for dinner, but they couldn't come. I met one of them yesterday anyway, and will go to the local art centre where the other works tomorrow. Apparently some dutch people have arrived and may or may not buy all the art from the art centre, so they couldn't come to dinner, as they were entertaining them.
___
I had to run at that point - Mum arrived and said "quick! come to a clapping!", which I discovered was when they followed the ambulance down to the airport to load a body into the plane to be taken to the morgue, probably in Gove, the nearest city on the mainland. Lots of ululating and rolling in the dirt, and clapping and didgeridoo playing. And then this evening we had the woman who has adopted my parents as her parents, which means she's my sister. I learnt that I am Duwa (though I'm still working out what that means) and that my totems are snake, shark, turtle and dolphin.

So tomorrow I leave here, fly to Darwin, where I have about 12 hours before I have to check in for my flight to Singapore. I'll be in London by the 3rd, and at Downe House two days later. At the moment it seems about as far from here as you can possibly get! We have a couple of days there before the Queenswood people (including me) go to the other school campus. It will be good to see everyone at downe house first. I hope I'm still running the IT program I half developed last year. I haven't really heard. If I'm not, I'd rather be back at downe house with the smaller kids!

Days left....

Only 12 days left until the non-travel-blog gets put on hold, and travelpost starts getting more use.
Only 7 days left until I can stop complaining about assignments on the serious blog.

Chicken chicken chicken...

Chicken chicken chicken, chicken chicken chickens chicken. Chicken. Chicken, chicken chicken chicken chicken chicken chicken chicken!

Chicken chicken chicken chicken's chicken, chicken chicken chicken chicken chicken chicken chicken chicken chicken. Chicken chicken chicken chickens chicken chicken chicken chicken. Chicken! Chicken chicken chicken! Chicken chicken chicken chicken chicken chicken. (Clicken chicken .PDF) Chicken chicken chicken chicken chicken chicken, chicken chicken chicken!

Chicken chicken chicken chicken chicken, chicken chicken. Chicken chicken!

(Chicken Chicken, chicken ChickenChicken chicken chicken)

Nick's thoughts on Eurovsion...

More vicarious posting. Check out what Nick has written on his blog about Eurovision. This WILL be the last Eurovision-related post. Really it will. It's over. We have to stop dissecting it on a daily basis. At least until next year...
But it's hard when Sean plays the songs everyday. Usually starting with the most annoying ones...

Eurovision

Another year of Eurovision has come and gone, accompanied by the usual parties, trash, and crappy music. The winners were Serbia with a dykey woman in a suit singing while surrounded by femmes in suits standing very close and occasionally stroking her. It was interesting for a country still struggling for real GLBT rights!

Other noteworthy entries:

• The Bulgarians had a pint-sized amazonian woman with amazing vocals (without words, I think) and cool drumming - very powerful act.

• The Ukrainians came second with "Dancing" sung by a drag queen going for the traditionally built eastern european woman look, complete with house coat. Except it was all made of tinfoil. Including the futuristic hat with a star that he wore on his head. It was really quite extraordinary, but I can't find a picture to include, so I'll just have to post the Youtube clip. This will also allow you to hear the incredibly complex lyrics, which seem to be in terrible broken English, French, German. The recurring refrain is "seven seven, one two, seven seven, ai lyu lyu". In any language. Full lyrics here.

• The French entry included costumes by Gaultier, apparently, though I have to say they were bloody awful, and a lovely set of Frenglish/Franglais lyrics

I remember jolie demoiselle
The last Summer comme tu e'tais belle
I remember nous la Tour Eiffel
So beautiful with your sac Chanel

• The Irish had a pretty song - and very very Irish, but the woman who sang it looked utterly terrified on stage, so it wasn't too surprising that they came absolutely last, with 5 points (thanks Latvia).

• The Brits were second last, and managed to get a total of 19 points, with a song that was definitely in the novelty category. My British friend who lives in Finland has an interesting discussion of British and Finnish attitudes to the whole contest. And a fuller description of the British entry!

Enough trash talk. Back to something real. Like the translations I'm trying to get done this week. Sigh.

Bored Now.

I realised the other day that I've just past my previous record for time spent in Brisbane since 2002. My previous record was 4 months - last year when I was here for a Whole Semester of uni.

On a wholly unrelated note, I've been dissatisfied in a completely non-specific way the last few days. I decided tonight it's because I'm bored. Sure, I have work, which is interesting (and which started again today - I'm doing two days a week), and assignments and translations that need doing, and a small but dedicated group of friends, but I'm still bored somehow.

However, my stars for tomorrow, according to the cut&paste marvel that is mX, say "You are trapped in a rut of your own making, yet feel powerless to change things. Fortunately ... destiny could soon push you in an entirely different direction".
So maybe that will help the boredom?

The Last of the Japanalia

I promise this is the end of the Japanalia.
This is the entrance to what is known as "restaurant street". The place to go for all your restaurant and plastic sushi needs.
The whole street has a certain resauranty feel to it, as evidenced by these innovative balconies:
This is a pet shop. Well, a stuffed pet shop, but still. This was one small part of the window display.

And this is the famous Golden Turd of Asakusa. No, I don't know why either. (Although apparently it's supposed to be flame or beer foam on the top of the Asahi breweries headquarters)

Leftover Engrish

I was just doing some photo sorting and discovered a whole heap of Engrish I never posted. Obviously, by the time I left Japan, I was failing to keep up with the number of examples I was finding. Here they are. All in just a couple of enormous posts. Enjoy.

First: The Smoking Signs. It's not a "Don't Smoke" campaign. More a "Smoke Considerately" campaign. This is only a few of them that I managed to photograph, mostly from a montage that seemed to be portable-ashtray themed. There were also "where does your smoke go" type ones, and others. None of them seemed to mention health, really. I find them hilarious. Many of them are just so Zen!















And now everything else:
There was another sign for the same pub just near this one that said "Marry Jane". I tried to get a photo, but a drunk idiot saw the camera and wouldn't stop posing in front of it. Typical Japanese...

This was on a soft case I bought for my computer:
My favourite icecream!
You'd think this would be one word they could spell... This was at the airport too. It's possible the shop people were from some other part of asia, but I still think it's no excuse:

I seriously considered these glasses. Afterall, I don't want any flame around my eyes, do I?
The hotel I stayed in in Hakone provided such lovely shampoo and body soap. They made me feel like a sentimental snow crystal...





These two are from Korea. I think this one is a great idea, and we should all be as mild as we can, really. Or as this can:

I didn't eat at this restaurant. I just couldn't get past the menu on the door...

And this is a skipping rope I bought in Sydney, would you believe!

Ellen quote

I just read this quote from everyone's favourite lesbian, and it tickled my fancy:

In the beginning there was nothing. God said, 'Let there be light!' And there was light. There was still nothing, but you could see it a whole lot better.
- Ellen DeGeneres


It also gives me an excuse to do some lazy linking posting. As Sean is now my flatmate, and will soon be travelling with me as well, his blog and my blog will often mention the same things, so
I plan to use this to my own advantage, and tell everyone about my life by linking to his. So. Here are some photos of our weekend away in the Bunya Mountains. I also have photos, so I'll see if I can find one of me and post it sometime in the next decade. Of course, if Sean was being thoughtful, he would have included one of me to save me this trouble. He also wrote this post about the weekend.