It's always the way - you have a badazz weekend, and on Monday the fallout begins. You start having to tell the stories, confirm the details, justify the expenses - and explain exactly why you have an enormous bruise in the shape of TEETH on your arm. And funnily enough, that's exactly what I've been doing for the last two days. That's right, ladies and gentlemen, in a first for even this battle-scarred party veteran, I am currently sporting highly-identifiable teeth marks in an easy-to-spot location, right below the arm of my tshirt, there for all the world to see. There I was, enjoying a stein at the German Club and chatting to some friends, when... *CHOMP* - bitten HARD on the arm by a tipsy swing dancer. I am assured that it was a random 'love nip', but GOD DAMN it hurt! I think I'm getting too old for this shite. :D

Anyhoo, thar she blows

Oh, and apparently I taste just like chicken. *shrug*

It's been a while since my last Hulk Smash, so there's a pantsload of pent-up rage just waiting to bust out! GRRRRRRRRRR!!!!

There's this dude, right. So we're hanging out, shooting the shit, and I'm thinking he's a pretty cool guy - might actually be decent friend material (and I'm not even hiring new friends right now :D). So we're chatting away about 'Unleashed' (Jet Li flick), and I make a faux pas about a detail in the movie. Okay, so it was pretty big, and I felt like a total idiot (yes, I concede, I am a total freakin' idiot on a regular basis). There I am, feeling totally embarrassed and wishing the earth would swallow me up, when all of a sudden he BURNS me with this huge flame comment. It was SO RUDE!! I haven't been burned like that in AGES, and it stings like a beeatch. I know it was just a foot-in-mouth thing, but seriously - think before you speak, dude! Fuck! Next time I'll wear my flame retardant undies. GAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! HULK SMAAAAASH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ok, now I'm over it. :D

The uber-geeky guilty pleasure, Penny Arcade. One of my favourites, and personally recommended by some of my finest nerds.

You know, I'm really missing my geek posse right now. You don't really notice how much you need them until you realise that noone around you understands just how important it is to have a copy of Final Fantasy: Advent Children that is pure and unsullied by dubbing into english, someone to nod earnestly whilst hearing a lament on the difficulty of procuring CAD merch in Australia, that special someone who understands why Ranma is both a boy AND a girl - not that there's anything wrong with that. I met a guy the other night who was like a geekly kindred spirit, and it really made me miss having someone to call up and say "Get over here - it's time for Crimson Empire, baby. And bring the bubble tea.". What a sad state of affairs.

Well, it's been a while, but I've finally gotten off my fat can and onto my laptop (which is finally, albeit tenuously, alive again!) to update this sorry excuse for a blog. Rather than dwell on the yuckeries of having to leave my home of 2 1/2 years, I'll give you a happy little rundown of the last few weeks -

After leaving Montreal I spent a big twelve hours in London, where I had a chance to head into town for a pretty sweet afternoon shopping on Oxford, tooling around Soho and lunching on Carnaby Street. Luvverly bunch of coconuts, that. I’m still trying to forget the horrible 30 hours of cramped flights and frantic transfers that ensued, so we’ll cut to a few days later – there I was in Perth, Western Australia, with a glorious shower and 12 hours sleep under my belt, and all was right with the world. I stayed with my friend Cheryl Glasgow, Perth swing pioneer and Herrang junkie, and was made supremely welcome by her and the rest of the Perth scene. I took some classes as a lead, checked out Fremantle and had a brilliant night’s social dancing and catching up with friends at the Mustang Bar. Before I knew it, it was time to head home to Adelaide, and reality.

I've been back home for about 3 week now, and it's been a bit of a bizarre alternate-reality experience. It's like I dropped off to sleep, just for a moment, and even though everything and everyone is exactly the same as before there are now huge and random glaring differences that have grown up out of the ground in the blink of an eye. It's just that sort of town.:D

I’m sharing a tiny three-bedroom house with my brother, his housemate Corissa, two dogs and, would you believe it, a kangaroo named Hoppy. That’s right, we have a kangaroo in our midst – a foul, grumpy animal who eats peanut butter and growls at you in a highly disconcerting fashion whenever it wants something. It was cool at first, but novelty is definitely wearing thin. Anyway, I’ll attach some photos for your viewing (dis?)pleasure.

As far as swing dancing here goes, the scene is still in its infancy but there are some super keen newbies, a bunch o' up-and-comers and a handful of advanced dancers. So it’s not quite Montreal, but it should still be a lot of fun watching the scene grow. In other news, I had my highly un-anticipated DJing debut on Friday night at a new monthly dance here called ‘Little Shop of Swing’. It was a mammoth 3 ½ hour set, and I learned a pretty big lesson from it – even if you think the song sucks a major nut, you still have to play it if it gets them up and dancing. I managed to sneak in some of my Fletcher Henderson and Slim Gaillard, but it was mostly ‘Potato Chips’ and ‘Fly Me To The Moon’. *sigh * Still, it went pretty well, and was a bunch o' fun – I think I’m really going to enjoy working on my leet DJ Madskillz™! :D

Anyway, for the next few months I’ll be doing temp office work (lame but phat ca$h ensues) and getting my resume together for my application to grad school next year (the Australian academic year starts in February). And trying, in the words of a wise man, to "just live every day" - and that means making time for a beer on a Tuesday night. Cheers!