I made my mom proud today.
It didn't take much. I went around and took pictures of the scenery. Look at me.
It's a pretty big deal because mostly I don't like sightseeing. I figure why walk around and take pictures of stuff that I could just look up on the Internet, when I could be watching a baseball game or touring a stadium? Luckily, there was none of that to be done today, so I brought out the camera. The pictures I took today can all be found here:
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10100729205084242.2927580.28135725&type=1&l=dde0cd447a
When I woke up at 7 a.m., after having been awake for a couple hours somewhere in the middle of the night (this 15-hour time change really is harder than they tell you), I figured I should probably try to be productive with my day. And to me, productive really means going for a run. So that is exactly what I did.
I was aiming to run back to South Bank and around the paths that they have there, and I was pretty confident I could make it, since I had just been there last night. I was only slightly wrong with that assumption though. I guess I took the wrong street and I overshot it a little bit. I ended up at the Kurilpa Bridge instead of the Victoria Bridge. But the Kurilpa was a new and exciting adventure for me. It's a really weird looking structure, as can be seen in the photos, but I enjoyed both the view on it and from it. I figured at that point that I was going to have to come back at some point and take some pictures.
So I ran from Kurilpa down to South Bank and around and back the way I came for a solid hour-and-a-half run. I made a pitstop before I got home for chocolate milk, water and bananas, the essentials. Also, at one point, I almost ran over a giant lizard (by giant I mean medium-sized), and it surprised me enough to almost give me a heart attack. I will not say it scared me, because I don't think it wanted to hurt me or anything, but it did give me a huge surprise. The lizards here are super huge (medium at best).
Then I really didn't know what to do with my day. The doubleheader between the Bandits and the Melbourne Aces was to be played at 10 a.m. and 1 p.m., or so I thought, so I had an hour-and-a-half before that even got started and I could listen to the games.
And so I did what I think any good Canadian escaping winter would do. I went to the pool. I was there for almost an hour before I got a text from Carl asking if I could do the game recaps for the website. I was reluctant, and he probably just thought it was because I was lazy, but really it's because they've been putting so much emphasis on those things that I was a little nervous about handling the pressure. It seems like the people from the league are never satisfied, or we can never get it right or they're just not happy. So I wasn't jumping out of my chair with excitement at the chance to write the game stories. I do love writing though, and seeing my name on things. Don't think you wouldn't enjoy that too.
When I turned on my computer to try and start the radio feed of the games I discovered two things. One, I could not get or find the radio feed. I don't think they were broadcasting it, and if they were, all I could listen to was golf. No thanks. Two, thanks to a time difference between here and Melbourne, the first game was already through three innings. My bad.
As bad as the radio commentary can be sometimes, I really missed not having it when I had to watch the games on Gamecast. For those of you who don't know what it is, it's a feed of each play in the game. It's great if you have other resources to supplement what you're dealing with, but entirely boring altogether if it's the only thing you've got. I'm pretty sure I nodded off for a few minutes during the second of the two games.
It didn't help matters that the games were not good games for the Bandits. Here, the first game of a doubleheader is seven innings in length. Keep that in mind when I tell you that Brisbane was no-hit for 6 2/3 of those innings. I mean, at least they broke it up and gave me something to write about, but they still lost 5-1 and notched only two hits in the entire game.
What was even more frustrating for me was that on the Melbourne Facebook page there was a comment saying that Nic Ungs (the Aces starting pitcher) came only two strikes away from a perfect game. That might have been true if Melbourne's shortstop hadn't made an error in the top of the sixth inning. I know baseball isn't everyone's forte around here, but I would think knowing what differentiates a perfect game from a no-hitter might be an essential piece of baseball knowledge. So for those of you reading this who aren't into baseball, to save me from future frustration in any conversations we may have on this topic, look it up. Feel free to reference Roy Halladay's 2010 season in which he had both a perfect game in May and a no-hitter in the playoffs. He is my hero.
So the first game was unspectacular for Bandits fans. The second game...not much better. They did manage 13 hits, but they still lost 8-5. I had hope for the first few innings because they kept mounting comebacks and making me think they were in the game. Twice they came back from a two-run deficit to tie the game up. But when the Aces made it 8-4, it was pretty much the end, despite that extra run Brisbane squeezed out. Bandits pitching for the first six innings wasn't super, and in the end they suffered for it.
Sending in the game recaps made me pretty nervous and I really wanted to ask Carl to put someone else's name on them. In the end, I did not. So I guess we'll see tomorrow how I did, or at least, what I did wrong. Can't wait for that phone call. If you're interested in the finer details of the game, or reading what I put out there in anticipation of much criticism, this is where you can find the story of the Sunday doubleheader:
http://web.theabl.com.au/news/article.jsp?ymd=20111120&content_id=26012722&vkey=news_t4065&fext=.jsp&sid=t4065
When the games were finally over and I vowed to never solely watch a baseball game on Gamecast ever again, I decided to fulfill my plans for the day of heading over to South Bank in the daylight with a camera. I needed evidence that I am actually in Australia, for all you doubters. Mom.
The walk seemed so much longer than the run I'd taken this morning. I felt like I was never going to get there. And once again, I took the wrong street, but it was an entirely different street than I'd stumbled upon in the morning. I overshot again, but this time I turned back around to get to Victoria Bridge. I took pictures of the bridge, from the bridge, on one side, on the other side. You name it. I was a true touristical-picture-taking machine. I got to South Bank and took even more.
Much to my surprise and delight, when I went by the Suncorps Piazza, the crazy 'dancers' were back, doing their arm flailing and stomping around! I took a couple of pictures but they don't really capture the essence of what was truly mesmerizing. I stayed there far too long again, but at least I got a picture this time. I wasn't just hallucinating these flailing people dancing to the tune of someone's vocal chords. I really wish someone were with me either time this was happening, but picture evidence and descriptions will have to suffice.
With my camera in hand, I just had to find back the tree that I have become a little too obsessed about. I wandered around everywhere I could think that I might have been before when finally I stopped and sent Carl a text message asking if he remembered where it was. Poor guy, just can't escape me for even a day. He didn't get back to me though, so I guess he was trying his hardest.
But I found it! I took too many pictures of the tree and spent a little too much time trying to figure it out, but I found it. I even figured out how to take a picture of it on my crazy phone and now it's the background of everything. I hope you enjoy the many pictures of the tree. It needs a name I think, but after naming Lance my standards are pretty high for good names. I'll work on it.
Once I found the tree, I figured I could also find the movie theatre that I failed to seek out last night. And I definitely did. It was a solid day of finding things on my own for sure. Who needs Carl? Haha I still probably do. But don't tell him.
Elated about my ability to seek out things, I ventured back home, stopping only for more chocolate milk and water. My calcium intake must be better than ever before. No broken bones like when I was in North Carolina, that's for sure. You know I'm aiming high when that's my goal. And again, I will stress that my travel insurance is in the picture pocket of my wallet. Just in case.
Also, I will note that I have backposted all of my journals from my time in North Carolina at Baseball America. If you want to read about more of my embarrassing moments or what I did with my time there, feel free. They can be found at http://www.livingthedugoutdream.blogspot.com/.
I actually did make a couple pitstops for picture-taking purposes though now that I think about it. I got some snapshots of some weird little metal kangaroos in the middle of the sidewalk and of random silver hands. I don't know what any of it means, but I'm sure it's art, right? I made an attempt at taking pictures of the sunset and the Story Bridge all lit up at night, but those weren't the best since my camera doesn't work so well beyond dusk.
By the time I made it back to the apartment I was pretty exhausted. And so far I have decided that any time I am tired and I can act on it, I should. Sleep is definitely not my forte here.
I'm working on it though.
It didn't take much. I went around and took pictures of the scenery. Look at me.
It's a pretty big deal because mostly I don't like sightseeing. I figure why walk around and take pictures of stuff that I could just look up on the Internet, when I could be watching a baseball game or touring a stadium? Luckily, there was none of that to be done today, so I brought out the camera. The pictures I took today can all be found here:
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10100729205084242.2927580.28135725&type=1&l=dde0cd447a
When I woke up at 7 a.m., after having been awake for a couple hours somewhere in the middle of the night (this 15-hour time change really is harder than they tell you), I figured I should probably try to be productive with my day. And to me, productive really means going for a run. So that is exactly what I did.
I was aiming to run back to South Bank and around the paths that they have there, and I was pretty confident I could make it, since I had just been there last night. I was only slightly wrong with that assumption though. I guess I took the wrong street and I overshot it a little bit. I ended up at the Kurilpa Bridge instead of the Victoria Bridge. But the Kurilpa was a new and exciting adventure for me. It's a really weird looking structure, as can be seen in the photos, but I enjoyed both the view on it and from it. I figured at that point that I was going to have to come back at some point and take some pictures.
So I ran from Kurilpa down to South Bank and around and back the way I came for a solid hour-and-a-half run. I made a pitstop before I got home for chocolate milk, water and bananas, the essentials. Also, at one point, I almost ran over a giant lizard (by giant I mean medium-sized), and it surprised me enough to almost give me a heart attack. I will not say it scared me, because I don't think it wanted to hurt me or anything, but it did give me a huge surprise. The lizards here are super huge (medium at best).
Then I really didn't know what to do with my day. The doubleheader between the Bandits and the Melbourne Aces was to be played at 10 a.m. and 1 p.m., or so I thought, so I had an hour-and-a-half before that even got started and I could listen to the games.
And so I did what I think any good Canadian escaping winter would do. I went to the pool. I was there for almost an hour before I got a text from Carl asking if I could do the game recaps for the website. I was reluctant, and he probably just thought it was because I was lazy, but really it's because they've been putting so much emphasis on those things that I was a little nervous about handling the pressure. It seems like the people from the league are never satisfied, or we can never get it right or they're just not happy. So I wasn't jumping out of my chair with excitement at the chance to write the game stories. I do love writing though, and seeing my name on things. Don't think you wouldn't enjoy that too.
When I turned on my computer to try and start the radio feed of the games I discovered two things. One, I could not get or find the radio feed. I don't think they were broadcasting it, and if they were, all I could listen to was golf. No thanks. Two, thanks to a time difference between here and Melbourne, the first game was already through three innings. My bad.
As bad as the radio commentary can be sometimes, I really missed not having it when I had to watch the games on Gamecast. For those of you who don't know what it is, it's a feed of each play in the game. It's great if you have other resources to supplement what you're dealing with, but entirely boring altogether if it's the only thing you've got. I'm pretty sure I nodded off for a few minutes during the second of the two games.
It didn't help matters that the games were not good games for the Bandits. Here, the first game of a doubleheader is seven innings in length. Keep that in mind when I tell you that Brisbane was no-hit for 6 2/3 of those innings. I mean, at least they broke it up and gave me something to write about, but they still lost 5-1 and notched only two hits in the entire game.
What was even more frustrating for me was that on the Melbourne Facebook page there was a comment saying that Nic Ungs (the Aces starting pitcher) came only two strikes away from a perfect game. That might have been true if Melbourne's shortstop hadn't made an error in the top of the sixth inning. I know baseball isn't everyone's forte around here, but I would think knowing what differentiates a perfect game from a no-hitter might be an essential piece of baseball knowledge. So for those of you reading this who aren't into baseball, to save me from future frustration in any conversations we may have on this topic, look it up. Feel free to reference Roy Halladay's 2010 season in which he had both a perfect game in May and a no-hitter in the playoffs. He is my hero.
So the first game was unspectacular for Bandits fans. The second game...not much better. They did manage 13 hits, but they still lost 8-5. I had hope for the first few innings because they kept mounting comebacks and making me think they were in the game. Twice they came back from a two-run deficit to tie the game up. But when the Aces made it 8-4, it was pretty much the end, despite that extra run Brisbane squeezed out. Bandits pitching for the first six innings wasn't super, and in the end they suffered for it.
Sending in the game recaps made me pretty nervous and I really wanted to ask Carl to put someone else's name on them. In the end, I did not. So I guess we'll see tomorrow how I did, or at least, what I did wrong. Can't wait for that phone call. If you're interested in the finer details of the game, or reading what I put out there in anticipation of much criticism, this is where you can find the story of the Sunday doubleheader:
http://web.theabl.com.au/news/article.jsp?ymd=20111120&content_id=26012722&vkey=news_t4065&fext=.jsp&sid=t4065
When the games were finally over and I vowed to never solely watch a baseball game on Gamecast ever again, I decided to fulfill my plans for the day of heading over to South Bank in the daylight with a camera. I needed evidence that I am actually in Australia, for all you doubters. Mom.
The walk seemed so much longer than the run I'd taken this morning. I felt like I was never going to get there. And once again, I took the wrong street, but it was an entirely different street than I'd stumbled upon in the morning. I overshot again, but this time I turned back around to get to Victoria Bridge. I took pictures of the bridge, from the bridge, on one side, on the other side. You name it. I was a true touristical-picture-taking machine. I got to South Bank and took even more.
Much to my surprise and delight, when I went by the Suncorps Piazza, the crazy 'dancers' were back, doing their arm flailing and stomping around! I took a couple of pictures but they don't really capture the essence of what was truly mesmerizing. I stayed there far too long again, but at least I got a picture this time. I wasn't just hallucinating these flailing people dancing to the tune of someone's vocal chords. I really wish someone were with me either time this was happening, but picture evidence and descriptions will have to suffice.
With my camera in hand, I just had to find back the tree that I have become a little too obsessed about. I wandered around everywhere I could think that I might have been before when finally I stopped and sent Carl a text message asking if he remembered where it was. Poor guy, just can't escape me for even a day. He didn't get back to me though, so I guess he was trying his hardest.
But I found it! I took too many pictures of the tree and spent a little too much time trying to figure it out, but I found it. I even figured out how to take a picture of it on my crazy phone and now it's the background of everything. I hope you enjoy the many pictures of the tree. It needs a name I think, but after naming Lance my standards are pretty high for good names. I'll work on it.
Once I found the tree, I figured I could also find the movie theatre that I failed to seek out last night. And I definitely did. It was a solid day of finding things on my own for sure. Who needs Carl? Haha I still probably do. But don't tell him.
Elated about my ability to seek out things, I ventured back home, stopping only for more chocolate milk and water. My calcium intake must be better than ever before. No broken bones like when I was in North Carolina, that's for sure. You know I'm aiming high when that's my goal. And again, I will stress that my travel insurance is in the picture pocket of my wallet. Just in case.
Also, I will note that I have backposted all of my journals from my time in North Carolina at Baseball America. If you want to read about more of my embarrassing moments or what I did with my time there, feel free. They can be found at http://www.livingthedugoutdream.blogspot.com/.
I actually did make a couple pitstops for picture-taking purposes though now that I think about it. I got some snapshots of some weird little metal kangaroos in the middle of the sidewalk and of random silver hands. I don't know what any of it means, but I'm sure it's art, right? I made an attempt at taking pictures of the sunset and the Story Bridge all lit up at night, but those weren't the best since my camera doesn't work so well beyond dusk.
By the time I made it back to the apartment I was pretty exhausted. And so far I have decided that any time I am tired and I can act on it, I should. Sleep is definitely not my forte here.
I'm working on it though.
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