home sweet home

well, im finally back in the grand old US of A and definitely not loving it. sorry to say to whom ever may be here in this country who enjoys the place. well i reckon everyone who knows about this is in the states right now. anyways… i conlcuded my days in burleigh with some more surfing and skating, and this sweet trek through the bush.  the day of my flight, mark and i drove up this windy road for a few miles that he and some other kids cruised down on longboards under the moonlight one time. the stories he told about that night were epic. cars driving up the road and all of a sudden a dude on a skater comes ripping around the corner just missing the headlights. a bit dodgey, but sounds pretty fun if you ask me. and this ride down would last about an hour which was the best part. i dont know of anywhere else where you can catch an hour ride down a mellow winding road on a longboard. mmm  aside from that, we make it to the top of the hill/mountain and end up in this small town of spring brook. i guess you cant even call it a town really. but its nestled up in the bush amongst rain forest and cliffs that reveal beautiful waterfalls. apparently the lookout was spectacular, but we had come on a day where it was down pouring in the bush, leaving a thick fog- hindering our vision. but it was still fun running around the bush in the rain, taking cover inside the huge hollow trunk of a tree and under small sheds. after that, i took my last swim in the ocean, and a few of us headed to the aeroport. of course my flight was delayed a bit, tiger airways is pretty crap- heads up to you all. may be cheap, but they aren’t too reliable or great, eh whatever.  then i spent the next two days in melbourne saying goodbye to a few people and getting all my stuff organized to get back home. i had to leave a bunch of my glass there, but managed to bring some home as a carry-on. My last night in town, steve, mike, his girlfriend, benny and myself ended up going to the croft institute, strangly enough, the first bar i ever went to when i got to melbourne. we sat down upstairs and had a few drinks, not really planning on staying out late, since i had to be at the aeroport early and benny had to drive us home. but we ended up dancing until about 2:30 in the morning, man that was fun. nice little crew of funny cats dancing around like hooligans. couldn’t have asked for much more. went back to benny’s, had a nice sleep, woke up with a shower and some crepe-style pancakes that we rolled up with strawberry jam and vanilla ice cream, like a burrito- a delicious, sweet burrito. then we headed to the aeroport- beautiful day out, made me bummed to leave. benny dropped me quick,. he was borrowing one fo his friends’ cars and had to get it back to him real soon. i went in, and let me tell you, my bags felt pretty freakin heavy, i had a whole 15 pound box of glass, a 30 pound backpack and my skateboard. i thought for sure i was headed for grief. i get to the check in and tell the lady i may have some problems going on. so she weighs my bags, and they are quite a bit over, but she was like, “well its just your lucky day, i wont charge you for them or your skateboard as extra baggage.” sweet! and she said the box of glass was fine. so everything worked out beautifully, i really couldn’t believe it. so i walked around and relaxed. so after about 20 hours of flying on 3 different planes, im finally here… in the cold. its been in the 30’s, some flurries. well over all its pretty nice to be back, im getting distracted right now, so ill write some more later. hope your all well, like usual.

.B

bowls of burleigh

well well well, ill be back in the states in just about 4 days.. pretty strange, aye? a bit sad about the situation of leaving but im way happier to get back to the reality of my life. actually im not too sure about that part. stoked to get back to friends and family and getting back into riding. i can feel just another good season coming around. the goodness just never ends, until school comes around and kicks you right in the ass.    

 aside from that, the times have been pretty rad, except for breaking my hip practically, huuuge bruise, busting my knees, again, and messed up my heel jumping into a puddle on some asphalt. good job brige. so i have a nice limp going on but that surely doesn’t stop me from skating my ass off in some of the sweetest bowls ive skated. probably not the best idea, but i figure i can relax off my foot when i get home. right before i get back to the mountains. that’s what im really getting stoked for, some nice mountains with cold fresh snow. well im on rio’s computer using his internet credit, so im going to get going. but things are still great over here in burleigh- sunny, 80’s and higher, warm water with some nice days of surf and of course the great skate parks. you know its a great day when you make a few stops at different skateparks. well ill try to get some photos up from today. well the photos got in, hope they work. there is a photo in there of jono throwing a double backflip off this bridge that we always cruise by and randomly jump off of. id say its about 20 feet or so. nice mellow height going on there.  and that park is a bit outside of burleigh, about 15 minutes and hasn’t been busy any of the times we’ve been there, pretty sweet aye? first time ive ever skated a full pipe before. a bit strange at first, since there isn’t any transition like ramps. fun stuff though, and you can get some great shots right when the sun is setting and hitting right through the pipe. we will try to get some more shots tomorrow or the next before i cruise off.  better get going, im reading the autobiography of malcolm x, kinda want to get back to it. well, can’t wait to see all of you folks sooner or later.

.B

jono throwing a double backfip off the good old bridge

skating the Elanora full pipe, man that park is fun and…. empty!

another wild ride in burleigh

so im back up in burleigh. its definitely been a pretty few crazy past 6 days and nights, thats for sure. just got back from a nice mellow swim in the ocean under the sunny sky throwing down some heavy drops of rain. such a great feeling of floating in the ocean. the water is pretty warm too and the air is about 85. pretty perfecto. we’ve all been getting up rather early, everyone works around 7, and somehow manage to get up around 6 or so. its pretty nice getting up all early- gives you a nice long day ahead of yourself. for instance, we woke up the other morning to go for a skate around 5:30- but the ground was wet, so we held off, the boys went to work and came back an hour later to pick me up. so i went to work with them for a bit-man those kids have such a mellow job. they are all surveyors and work for the same company and get to drive this wicked 4wheeling trucks all around some sights, taking measurements and jamming stakes into the ground. so we did that for a bit and then stopped by two parks on the way home, had some mellow skate sessions- no one at either park too. pretty awesome. there are so many parks around these areas as well, its grand. every town should have a skate park i reckon, good way to keep the kids off the streets and focused on something fun. but anyways yea we’ve just been doing heaps of skating here and there, had a halloween party where i was a hillbilly, some dude was dressed as a chick, good stuff. we also took a nice camping trip this past weekend, down to this small town of yamba. ate some of the best pizza ive ever had. the chefs really knew what they were doing- put some rosemary sprigs on the pizza- man it was tasty. and to finish up the great camping outing, on the way home we stopped by this skatepark that was right on the water looking out on this bridge and the bay- beautiful spot. real mellow bowls- fun to cruise around. but there was this real young kid- probably 9 or so and was just kiiiling it- i mean i dont think ive ever seen a better bowl rider than this kid and he was way young. we all stood there with our jaws dropped, wondering why we were even trying to skate after that. might as well just quite and move onto something like figure skating. ha.  but we had such and awesome skate session that day. there was barely anyone there and we skated until it just got too dark. gotta love days like that. aw its starting to rain again, pretty strange day so far rain, sun, rain, clouds. swimming in the rain is pretty fun though.  sorry, i must sound pretty scattered right now. im  just trying to do a few things at once here. making hash browns, talking on the phone, checking out the rain, reading a book. actually the book is a pretty good one. the autobiography of malcolm X. good stuff. i dont read much as most of you probably know, but when you find a good book, its kind of hard to put it down.  well im going to focus on one thing now, and thats eating my hashbrowns whilst they are still hot. but hope you’re all doing excellent. ill be home in 9 days i think it is. pretty stoked on that! alrighty, so long for now.

 .B

another weekend in torquay

its 9:30 in the morning on monday the 27th of october and my last assessment is in about half an hour or so. i dont ahve to take any tests or anything, just talk about my work and get some hopefully positive feedback. we shall see. but its a nice feeling being done. im pretty much all packed and well, just ready to get out of here. real glad i got that flight to burleigh tomorrow. the city has tired me and im ready to get my feet dirty with sand and not piss and beer from a pub floor. aside from that, this past weekend was pretty glorious indeed. i worked one last night in the kitchen at M.O.O- made 90 bucks in 4 hours, cooking. it was awesome. the next day i pasked up my room and then that night, my buddy benny drove the two of us over to Torquay for the weekend to stay with katey and tyler. got in a bit late, and then steve came after work, so he got in about 12. and then we called it a night to get some rest for the next day to come. saturday’s weather couldn’t have been compromised. the sun would peek out from the clouds here and there, but the temperature was just perfect, no wind or rain and we even got to take some boards out for some surfing. it was awesome. ive only been surfing twice and that was at the jersey shore, so im not positive if that counts or not. but being out there with a crew of your mates was awesome. made me realize why people love surfing. your having a blast trying to catch waves and at the same time can just chill out in the water and have a chat and a laugh. its the type of sport where you could sit there for a few hours having a great time, not catch a good wave all day, and well quite frankly not be bummed about it. it doesnt put that pressure of an audience or people trying to one up each other. nice feeling. im sure some of you know what im talking about, atleast i hope so.  but after our surf, we went for a little skate, hung out at the beach amd just had a relaxing day and night. dont think i saw a shadow all day, but it was nicer than there being sun, that would have been a bit too hot. sunday brought on the same weather, excpet for the addition of a really warm breeze, making our beach volleyball toss around and out swimming situation quite delightful. after that we grilled up some little burgers and chicken skewers. man that word does not look right.. skewers.. hmph. but it was a nice feed, well satisfying and ended withs oem dark chocolate timtams. we dont have them in the states, but they are these nice chocolate biscuit cookies with a bit of chocolate cream, covered in a dark chocolate coat. delicious i must say. if any of you have had them, you know where im coming from. ill bring some home if i remember.  well after the feast, we all headed back to melbourne, me and benny headed to our frined micheal’s radio show at RRR. you can actually check out the website at RRR.org.au. i have yet to check it out, but will most certainly do so when i finish writting this post. he played a great number of tunes, making for a lovely ending and beginning of the week and week to come.  good times here in the suburbs.   also a great night, 65 or 70 degrees im guessing, a bit humid, causing for a lack of sleep last night, which is leaving me feeling a bit seedy this morning. ill get through it though. well im going to get some brekky- only way to get your day going.  see you all soon

 .B

just one left

so i finished my sculpture installation today and its set for assessment tomorrow. Just one left, my hot glass assessmentm, which isn’t until monday and today is only wednesday. but im pretty set for that one, just need to finish up my sketch book and set up my pieces. im getting pretty excited to finish. i cant beleive the year is already over, well their school year here is over, i just get a few months off and head back to DU for winter term. which is probably going to kill me. riding and school work that isnt straight up studio work. aaaahhh. oh well im almost done. its only a year and half more of my life. well who knows. ill have to see if i get accepted into the BFA program or not. if i dont, im not too sure i want to stay in school- sorry to break it to ya mum and dad. but its the truth. i couldn’t bare taking some bullshit classes that im really not interested in. just couldn’t do it. but there are plenty of better alternatives… art school, culinary school.. no school… hah. anyways, ill stop talking nonsense. but im headed back to Torquay this weekend, its supposed to be 30 C on saturday, so im guessing thats in the high 80’s and there is a hole in the ozone over melbourne, so its pretty damn hot. today was pretty chilly- pants and hoodie and jacket. windy as well. weird weather here. not bad though, keeps things interesting. well im going to leave you guys with that, i need some dinner and a shower.  sianara… no idea how to spell that one

6 bucks and im in Torquay

So after glass class on wednesday, my teacher Ben, asked if i could assist him do some production work on thrusday afternoon. and he offered to pay me, which was rad, so of course i agreed. i told him he didn’t have to pay me, but if he really wanted to then, well that was fine. no complaints. so we blew about 7 pieces that day, he and some other chick sell them to stores. pretty good deal on his part, he gets to blow the glass and she does all the cold working. cold working is kind of a pain in the ass, if any of you know. tedious and not exciting. so i only helped him for a few hours and he ended up giving me 60 bucks! i was pretty stoked on that. its not everyday you get paid to do something you love right. oh and then later that night, i ended up in st. kilda meeting up with a buddy for drinks, and while im waiting in line, i get talking to this older guy, probably in his 30’s and i told him i was blowing glass and whatnot and he got real excited and wants to buy some for his mum. and i actually just got off the phone with him now and he said some of his buddies want to buy some as well! pretty sweet. but im just not sure how much to charge them.. ill have to ask my teachers or something. that would be rad to make a few hundred bucks form selling my work. should do it more often. well aside from that..

my friend katey who works at extreme in CO, she’s staying out here for a few months and lives over in a small beach town called Torquay, right on the great ocean road. its a nice place. but she came up for the night and i ended up taking the train back to hers the next day, which only cost 6 bones and included a bus trip from the geelong train station over to Torquay. cheap as! all together it was about an hour and 45 ride. nice views on the way too. It was soo nice to get out of the city, i cant take all the crowded busy paved building filled streets anymore. the small town brigette doesn’t belong in the city. its going to be real nice coming home. pretty stoked about thanksgiving too. it real weird being out and about in shorts and teeshirt in the middle of october, and its getting hotter. i couldn’t handle a warm christmas. strange. anyways, so she is renting this little summer condo with her friend tyler who is also from the states. the place is awesome! its right on the beach and is just like going to someone’s grandparents house with all the old boardgames, vintage furniture, a nice record collection, vhs collection, strange drawing and pictures hanging on the walls. it was grand. another great thing were the 2 sets of bunk beds in katey’s room. such a cozy little place. katey had to work, so i went and checked out this surf premier, not knowing anything about it, i walked in and it was about these 2 dudes from OZ who traveled to every state and attempted to surf. “Surfing 50 States”. it was hiarious. the guys ended up getting an ice cream truck from quicksilver or some other surf company. it kept breaking down, delaying their trip, but they ended up meeting all these great people in every state and surfing down stairs and potato fields, on dams, in freezing cold water. it was awesome. good humored kids as well. so after that, katey and i roamed the warm streets, met some randoms, went to a going away party. good night. next day was freezing though, well compared to the night and day before. it sucked. overcast, windy, and only about 60 or somsthing. but there was this market going on with food and music and crafts. pretty cool.  then we drove down the great ocean road for a bit, stopped at some beaches, ran in the water at one point. cold as, but a nice refreshing wake up. i really wanted to stay, but sunday was that DJ Spooky gig, which was rad. it was called Terra Nova Sinfonia Antarctica. he composed this music for a pianist, a violinist and a cellist. and in the background were these two huge screens showing this  film of antarctica, russians taking over the place, penguins, glaciers, charts of global warming and whatnot, and some random stuff. but it was all pretty amazing. i cant really explain it too well and my battery is about to die. so i better get going. sorry for the short ending here. you were probably getting a bit fed up with my typing at the moment.  ill write some more tomorrow… good night

.B

trip up to the gold coast

Im going to make this short, im feeling real tired and a bit of a sickness coming on. sore throat and muscles. not so good. but my trip up to the gold coast -or shall i say the little town of burleigh, was pretty awesome and out of control. i stayed with my buddy jono, the kiwi kid who i worked with about 6 years ago at club getaway. hadnt seen or heard from him since then, but he was the same awesome dude. his house was a street away from the beach and he lived with some  rad kids- on from NZ, well two including his girlfriend, some kid from virginia who i didnt meet because he left, they didnt like him very much, and another kid who is from NZ and cali. good mixture. oh and some other chick i think she was from Oz. cool cats for sure. but i got to go swimming numerous times everyday all around the place too. one day we went to a national park and jumped of cliffs and went down this natural water slide, another day we skated along this winding path through the bush, dodging trees and weaving corners coming out onto a little beach with a good current. that was pretty awesome. when i go back ill put up a video of us riding along that path. the whole place was great, jsut being able to walk and ride around town in your shorts and bathing suit top, not needing shoes, randomly jumping off bridges, hopping fences into hotel swimming pools. yea it was awesome. sunny freedom.  but the whole weekend wore me out pretty bad. maybe thats why im so sore and tired. anyways, i think im headed back up there for the remainder of my stay when school gets out in a few weeks. should be a good time. get some summer in before i head home to the snowy hills of winter. well my wrists are getting tired from typing and im starved. ill write again soon, and try to get some photos up right now. lets see how that works out.

.

B

late nights

so here i am writing at 1:45 in the morning, just got off work, well people are still cleaning and closing up, but im pretty tired. need to go home and sleep, but that doesn’t look like it will happen. these people party waaay too much and too late. unhealthy. work was pretty busy, got some time behind the bar and then in the kitchen. i have a new job of doing tapas late night after the kitchen closes. so im in there alone making  random finger foods like cheese plates, risotto balls , potatoes, chickpeas and zucchini fritters. shit like that. pretty busy tonight due to the finals footy game eve. everyone goes out and parties the night before the last game, but im assuming it will be jsut as busy tomorrow night seeing how its saturday and someone is going to win.

but aside from work, i think i got a 3rd degree burn on my hand yesterday from blowing glass. id explain what i was doing but they are weird glass terms that probbaly sound strange, but incase anyone who blows glass reads this, they might understand. soo i was jacking in someone else’s piece and it was rather large and straight out of the glory hole-meaning it was super hot. and no one was boarding my hand, which was above the piece, and heat rises, so it jsut burnt the shit out of the side of my hand. about and hour later, i was left with a huuuuuge blister. its was nasty. its looking alright today, i let the puss out and now its jsut weird looking skin and burn. mmmm. and i keep getting gnarly charley horses in my calves in the mornings. this morning i think i got three. theres something wrong with my legs. maybe they are just too long. ill blame my parents for that one.   oh and sorry about the photos still, my computer doesnt get the greatest internet connection, so it takes forever to upload photos and i always get cut off in the middle of doing it, so yea… ill try again later. well im going to get going. hope your all having a nice evening or morning. schlaggles…

love B

chef hands

so things are still going brilliantly, which is awesome. except i have been feeling pretty anxious and down a bit. i think im a bit homesick here and there. but ill get over it, only have about 2 months and 6 days left and im back in the united states of america…. woo hoo. yea, that didnt sound too exciting in my head while i typed it. but things are getting better at M.O.O- the place where i work. im still doing a lot of line and prep work in the kitchen, its awesome! i made this mint and walnut paste or the fresh ocean trout dish, which is also served with a beetroot puree, yea nice stuff right there. mum and dad, maybe ill be cooking thanksgiving dinner this year with a bit of spice.. that would be pretty awesome. anwyays, mike, head chef, was needing some inspiration and a nice meal after all the shit thats been going down and not happening in the kitchen- lack of a proper team, so we decided to go out for a really nice dinner. went to this italian place in st. kilda called cafe di stazio- real nice place, except for the creepy bathroom that made me feel like i should be commiting suicide or doing drugs- not a good feeling at all. straight out of trainspotting or something. anyways. we ordered some panfried eggplant with tomato, basil, and parmesan, some fresh ocean trout, with creme fresch- and no joke, i actually ate it and enjoyed it. it was pretty weird, but exciting. and then mike got some suckling pig, which was incredibly tender and i got some veal with sage and some gnocchi. they make the ebst gnocchi to exist. well i havent eaten much, but mike was thinking  the same thing.  it was pretty funny, because the waiters just thought we were everyday kids, trying to have a good meal. mike asks where the pork is from, and the guy was like, yea this isnt something you would have at home or get from your IGA, its from.. somewhere. so now we know where to get some real nice pork. the kind we get is a bit larger and not as expensive, but this stuff was money. funny how little secrets get out.   and its different eating out for me now, i think about the food a lot more and look how it is served and so on. its pretty cool having this different mind set. and what i meant by chef hands- ugh. for some reason my nails are real dirty and my hands smell like food, even a few days after not being in the kitchen. its pretty strange. and i have a bunch of cuts on my fingers, from knives and glass. yea, my hands are looking real pretty. well i havent eaten for hours and my stomache is starting to get a bit pissed off about it. hope everyone is eating well and is staying in good health. hope to hear from any of you at any time. i love all your faces

 .B

man my eyes hurt

so another long day of blowing glass has left me blind. well not really, but my eyes are feeling pretty shit and blurry. but i began my new project today, blowing some vase-like pieces that kind of look like sea urchins. pretty cool though and real fun to make. ooh and i finally have some pictures i can put up on this

once again, sorry about the long times wait of me not writing, but that might be happening. ive just been soo ridiculously busy with both work and class. i’ve gotten pretty tied up into this job, but i love it so much. and i think i want to become a chef. i ended up doing a lot of prep and line work and some easy dishes. spending hours at a time in the kitchen, learning and cooking. pretty rad. and the time goes b really fast, compared to being a glassy. but i think gary is going to start me off serving drinks soon. we had a bit of a wine tasting last week so ill be able to give suggestions and whatnot. so the job is great, i actually get more excited t go to work than class, its a bit bad. not much i can do about that though.

so the two kids i went riding with last weekend, mike and lisey, we’ve become this incredible little trio, its great. i think we’ve boosted the moral and bonding at the restaurant. but we do pretty much everything together and have been staying over at mike’s in saint kilda. the area is  awesome. its a little beach town near the ocean filled with little streets of great shops, bars, and restaurants, and just carries a great vibe. it has one of those local and comfortable feels going on. i think all of you who read this, that i know of, would absolutely love the place. i guess imagine a bit of lock Island, Portland Oregon, and a touch of  somewhere else. but its pretty rad.  oooh yea, so i saw the movie wolf creek the other night, i dont think ive seen anything that gruesome and scary as that. its pretty terrifying, but definitely a scary movie worth seeing, but not alone.  well off of that subject, i think im going to end right here. i can smell myself from a long hot day of glass and i need to shower and get some dinner and relax. ill catch you all later. here are some photos

.B

by beach in st. kilda

beach at st. kilda

also beach at st. kilda