dude, where’s my friday?

G’day from down under! Sleep-addled, but made it safe and sound. A few notes…

• A 14 hour flight is a long time. And it’s even worse due to the magic of time zones, your hero spent about 24 hours of actual travel, but on the calendar, I basically lost an entire day, skipping straight from Thursday to Saturday. I feel ripped off.
• DId I mention that a 14 hour flight is a really long time? Your hero spent about half the time sleeping and the other half catching up on popular culture. Mini-reviews: John Butler Trio’s new album is ok, a few hits, but more misses; for some reason Superbad seemed funnier the first time around; I still have a hard time feeling empathy for Chris McCandless, the protagonist from Into the Wild; and while I agree that the United States healthcare system is a mess, Michael Moore’s Sicko is wholly uninspiring.
• Among the things that Qantas airlines does not want you to operate on their airplanes, other than HAM radios and the like, includes the Furby toy. This is depicted with both a picture of a Furby slashed out with the international NO signal AND some text that says “NO FURBIES”.
• Spent about 45 minutes waiting for a taxi after landing at SYD, as apparently, no one told the cabbies that the giant 747-400 from LAX was delayed by an hour and there were absolutely NO taxis at the airport at midnight-thirty. After a bit, apparently someone told dispatch that there was a line about half a block long and all of a sudden they arrived en masse, as if controlled by a giant hive collective mind.
• Maybe stuff in Sydney just closes early in general because the reception at my hostel was closed. Luckily, some guests answered the doorbell, and after some confusion, we decided I should just crash with them — on the couch in the common area TV room. I love Germans.
• I am a mega-nerd. Before leaving the States, I paid $25 to unlock my cell phone for the express purpose that I thought that having an Australian phone number would be fun. Note that it is not useful at all — just fun. So for the next month, if you want to text me, you may do so at: +61 44 98 90 651.

Today is Australia day. I’m going to celebrate by trying to stay awake.