Zombies, sunsets and flying solo
Sydney, Australia: adjusting to life back in Sydney by screaming at strangers and drinking, but what else is new?
I’m back at work, and it’s like my time away has made me better at my job, which is nice. I’m still struggling with my energy levels, so I have two-hour naps as soon as I come home from work, which is usually the only time during the day I have enough motivation to go to the gym. Oh well. My body’s not dealing too well with my long runs, so I take extended breaks from physical activities anyway. At least I’m getting closer to my saving goals, which means I’m a lot closer to figuring out what adventure I will be going on next.
My good friend and also manager, Aitor is a homebrewer and actually a quite awesome one at that. He’s won a few awards for his beers, specifically his Saison, and he’s invited me to a People’s Choice event during Craft Beer Week, where he has two beers up for winning. I bring fellow alcohol—enthusiasts Sharon and Craig to Newtown, where we have burgers and fries at Mary’s that we consume in less than ten minutes, because we’re in a hurry to go get free beer before everyone else. We practically run to Uncle Hops to get in before the place gets packed. Too late. I am so disappointed that we came all this way, so I suggest we have a drink outside of the event, and one drink turns into many and I am drunk on a Wednesday. Goals.
I have never really celebrated Halloween before, but I really like costumes and scary movies, so why haven’t I? I randomly hear about a Zombie Walk on the weekend of Halloween, so I force Craig to come to my place to get made up like a dead person and bring me ciders. While I take my time with my own make-up, which I end up being kinda proud of, my standard paintjob on Craig’s face takes the cake once we arrive at Belmore park.
I accidentally ended up looking like I was trying to be Harley Quinn.
We cover ourselves in fake blood – which doesn’t taste very nice, by the way – and start limping and growling around the park. While there are some seriously impressive costumes and make-up jobs around to keep the shutterbugs happy, we get paparazzied a lot as well, especially Craig. I lose him several times because he’s getting stopped by people who wants pictures with him. Sigh. It’s like Mardi Gras all over again. I mean, I get some attention too, but probably because I spontaneously decide to be a screaming zombie.
We do the walk on a hot day with what seems like a million people, so it’s super crowded and hard to walk like a proper zombie at first. The roads are blocked, so we get to walk on the actual road. After a while, the crowd of zombies thin out to a point where it’s basically just me and Craig, and occasionally some Walking Dead characters. The sidewalk is lined with curious people taking pictures and filming the whole thing, and a few pro photographers jump out on the street right in front of us to get some pictures that we will never see.
After the walk we go to Macca’s, still in costume, and then get back to mine for beer and some awesome 80’s music. After my 5th performance of Toto’s Africa, I pass out on the couch.
On what is my dad’s 50th birthday, Tinder guy takes me to Manly, which has been on my bucket list for ages. We watch the sunset with some beers and some of his friends, and then have dinner at their house.
I get back home way too late for someone who has to get up 4.30 am the following day, but I have a good time and get to talk to my dad on the bus home from Circular Quay. I miss my parents a lot these days. Probably because of the quarter life crisis that really hits me when I start to seriously think about the future. For a brief moment I believe I have the option to consider staying in Sydney somewhat permanently to study and trying for a proper relationship for once. Unfortunately both turn out to be impossible, and it’s always tough, sad and humbling when you can’t get what you want. So I start seriously looking for schools in Denmark, and Tinder guy and I stop seeing each other. Back to long walks on the weekends, I guess.
Fortunately, I have a guy that never fails to cheer me up. You too, Dad, but little baby Harri is getting cuter by the day. No, really. He is smiling a lot, even though his little pout is adorable too, and he seems to like it when I sing him Phoebe Buffay songs and dance with him to Careless Whipser. Darren and Rhi proves that they really trust us (or Sharon) by letting us babysit him while they go to the movies for a couple of hours. As we sit on the floor and swoon over the little guy, Henry knocks on the door and Justin joins us not much later. Harri’s not in the best mood that evening, but we manage to keep him alive and somewhat happy, and we are loving every minute of it, although we are absolutely exhausted by the end of the night.
Craig’s birthday has come and gone, and this year we actually got him the present we’ve secretly talked about since we started travelling with him. We get a calendar made, full of funny pictures of him, and it arrives super late, so he doesn’t end up receiving it until we’re closer to Christmas than his birthday. He randomly contacts me one sunny Saturday where Sharon happens to have the day off, and I decide that we should all meet up at Coogee Bay Hotel for a day session. Craig brings along Robyn, and we have a nice chat and a lot of wine. And some food. I honestly think I spend like $90 that day, but it’s worth the company. And the wine.
Sharon and I stop to get ice cream and cheese for dinner, and drunkenly stuff our faces while watching Parks and Rec for the 100th time. It’s seriously the only thing that cheers me up these days, poor me. I pass out right after and wake up on the couch 3 whole hours later. I don’t know what I’d do without Sharon. And Parks and Rec.
…aaaand also this view, dammn.
