yay seattle!

that's where i am right now... seattle, but earlier i was in minneapolis (lets call it MI since i still haven't learned how to spell it).

so i caught the train from new york to MI (36 hours) where i had 24 hours to explore the "twin cities" before i got back on the train to seattle. the twin cities is what they call MI and St Paul. MI is the kinda modern city and St Paul has a lot more history, St P. has a really pretty cathedral towering over it. so i got there at about 11pm and immediately found a really cool irish pub just down the road from the station with live irish music. it was full of young people and the all knew each other cos they are all involved in some kinda festival where they play medievil games and pretend they are 20th century english (with an irish band playing???) but it was a lot of fun. and they did some REALLY funny covers of tenacious D and the asshole song (think of it with an irish twist). after that i caught the bus to St Paul and on the way met this interesting guy named Ben. you guys probably aren't aware but i have a mild obsession with guys named ben. it all started when i was 12 and never went away (ohh ben.. sigh). anyway he was kind enough to show me where the all night Mickey's diner was (litterally a st car on the side of the road, like in the old movies). he was being my "knight in blue armour" (his words, he had a blue tracksuit thing on) he did magic tricks and was funny and said he was good peoples (which he was) and when he asked me why i was going to Mickeys i told him it was because i just needed to sit indoors till the sun came up because i didnt intend on getting a hotel (i couldnt find a hostel). he offered to let me sleep on floor in his spare room and so i ended up saying yes. very interesting experience but he was a perfect gentlemen. the things you do when you travel hey... can you imagine telling your parents that you slept in some guys apartment that you met on the bus for 5 minutes (if that).

so the next day i went to 'mall of america' the place is just a massive mall. the biggest in the country actually, but you could live in there. it has EVERY shop imaginable, and a lot of them twice. it has bars and clubs inside and also a theme park. i kid you not, its called camp snoopy and has a massive roller coaster, a ferris wheel, a water log ride thing like in QLD... its massive and not on the shabby side for a theme park. and its only about $25 for unlimited rides. i didn't go on any because i spent too much money getting a few new items to add to my tiny tiny travel wardrobe. i spent the rest of the day cramming in a couple of sites and then went to another irish pub for dinner (not that great) and then my last hour watching a drag show (interestng but i think there are better out there).

on the train to seattle (which is another 40 hour ride), i met some interesting people. a guy claiming to be a U.S marshall and another claiming to have a platinum cd out at the moment. i listened to the alleged cd it was good but i dont believe it was him. anyway he was trying to buy me drinks and puting his arm around me and i was calling him on every move. he wanted to go 'to a little spot we can have some privacy' i told him the only thing i wanted was a shower. i swear i felt so disgusting. i hadnt had a shower since i left NY which was 4 days earlier. this is the glamorous life of travelling. the train trip itself was amazing, we went through the rocky mountains. it was night but you could see the moon reflecting off the snow and it was an amazing sight. the morning before i had woken up just intime to see the sun rise over dry fields and i thought that was pretty. then just before we got to seattle we could see mt everest. thats what people were saying it was anyway and we were in a town called everet so i believe them. the view from seattle is beautiful. you cans still see the mountains over the waterfront and i watched the sun set this afternoon from the pier. the city is pretty cool aswell, people are nice and they throw fish around in the pike markets. always a bonus. they sell other stuff too and i bought a ring for $3. there are a lot of 'native americans' ie, indians around but they are kinda on the homeless side. and tonight i dragged some random chick i met at dinner to an improv night downtown. basically actors get up and do skits without a script and its all made up as you go. it was incredibly funny and if you ever have the oportunity to see one i recommend it.

you are now completely up to date. i am having fun and all is good.

oh d d d deeeaaarrr

it seems i have missed a looooooooot of blogging... where to start.

ok so last you heard i was in montreal in jer and sebs dirty homestead. just before i left jer took me to quebec city for the winter festival. but just before the festival, we were at jer's place and he decided to pull out the old snow shoes (by snow shoes i mean tennis rackets you strap on your feet) and go walking through the forest (which is 3 feet of snow). SO... needless to say i ended up in the snow on my ass... twice. and once i was actually stuck there. my entire arm was vertically stuck in the snow and my cheek was resting on the top, my feet/"shoes" were tangled and were underneath me and about a foot of snow, it was so unbelievably funny though. it took about 10 minutes to try and get me on my feet because you just keep sinking if the snow shoes aren't flat on top of the snow. i had snow EVERYWHERE and decided it was time to go back to the house, which was a good idea since we were getting picked up by jer's friend simon in 2 mins and i was sopping wet. so i'm standing in jer's living room wearing a rug while all my clothes are in the drier and simon turns up (nice intro) and once i'm all clothed and dry we head off to the festival.

the festival was so cool. there were the most amazing ice sculptures everywhere and ice castles you could walk through. they had made rides out of the snow by building slides that you go down on blow up rafts and tubes. you can buy a walking cane full of caribou (hot wine) and we did... 2 of them. i got to go ice fishing. it was amazing. and the boys were so cute pulling me by an arm each every time they saw something they wanted me to try, whether it was a ride or some maple syrup lolly thing. and they'd try and give me the history of things while i stood there with a blank look on my face wondering if now would be a good time to scream i want to go on the ride again. they even had human fuse ball. i can't spell it (hehe, like i can spell anything) but its that game where the little men are on the metal tube and you move them back and forth to play soccer and kick the little plastic ball. anyway the human version involves tying people to a metal pole and you all have to move in unison one way to be able to play soccer and kick the ball. the 'oval' is even set up to look like the fuse ball table. so funny. after that i went back to montreal and caught the train the next day to new york.

once in new york i called my brothers friend maria and her roommate karen again to see if they wanted to go out (and as a bonus, a place to stay). so we get all dressed up and hit manhattan. there were 16 of us once we met up with maria's friends and went to about 4 different bars ranging from the top floor of a hotel to a retro hangout with a waterfall and pool of plastic bubbles (i still dont know what the deal was). it was a really good night but anyone who has been out with me for a night drinking KNOWS that somewhere in the evening i decide it would be a great idea to go get tattoos. thankfully my friends at home squash the idea before it goes any further but here we were, walking around manhattan at 4am looking for a tattoo parlor. at this stage there were 5 of the 16 left and everyone was going "i think its this way" and each pointing in a different direction. anyway i didnt end up with a tattoo, but we ate breakfast in a trendy all night place at 5:30 am before i jumped on a train to new orleans a few hours later for mardi gra.

so on the train i'm seated next to an slightly strange girl with an obsession with the phantom of the opera. she proudly showed me her 20 something cds ALL from phantom but some were the stage production, different singers from the stage productions, some in french, spanish, the movie soundtrack, 3 whole cds of just the song 'music of the night' sung by different people.... it was strange. but anyway i had no where to stay in new orleans and i knew i needed somewhere to sleep at least a couple of hours a night so when she offered to share her hotel room since her bestfriend ended up in hospital and couldnt make it i ended up saying ok... especially since it was all paid for already and she didnt want any money. she was harmless, just weird. so anyway mardi gra itself... only one word for it... CRAZY. now i'm a big believer in the 'what happens at mardi gra stays at mardi gra' concept so i'm not going to give you ALL the details of what i got up too... just a general run down and maybe an example here or there...

1... i drank A LOT...
2... yes i ended up flashing for beads. i went there with a firm belief my top would stay on and in its standard upright position, but after a few hurricanes and 'big arse beers' (its written on the cup) you actually start believing that a plastic set of beads that flash are worth showing your breasts to a stranger. the jokes a lot of you made about me showing up on a 'girls gone wild' clip may not be so far fetched...
3... i was propositioned by everyone ranging from a 63 yr old man and his girlfriend (at the same time... and he felt the need to flash me) to hot 20 yr old guys in the street.

**** example time****

i'm sitting at popeyes which is the souths version of KFC (and SO much better) and i'm eating my chicken wearing a hamburger hat (it was funny) and this tall black guy is walking down the aisle towards me. i think to myself, cute but DEFINITELY gay. he walked like a gay man. anyway he puts his tray down on my table which was next to a bin so i thought nothing of it. but he doesn't say a word and just leans over and sticks his tongue down my throat. i was stunned. he pulls away and all i could say was "and here i was thinking you were gay"... he kisses me again and then pulls away and he says "so what do you think" with a smug smile on his face and i just turn to him and say "eh". he was like.. "WHAT??? let me try again" i said that was all he was getting but he ended up kissing me and because i was sitting down i couldnt really move away. i got rid of him eventually but basically, that is what is supposedly "ok" at mardi gra.

now to finish the crazy 3 day drinking/kissing/flashing marathon, i end up at the amtrak station on the last night SO drunk i nearly got my arse thrown in jail. i was in the bathroom with my head in the toilet and had decided i just need to stay there for a few hours and i'll be fine. a nice woman who was also catching a train and said she was a paramedic would come in and check on me every now and then. i didnt realise what was going on because all the fuss was happening outside but she basically came in and said that if i didnt get up and go sit down in the waiting area (like a normal sober person) the cops were going to arrest me. i thought she was bullshitting but i got up and walked out and there was a woman on the phone to 911 saying "she's drunk and she's been in there a while"... there is a male nurse talking to the cops suggesting they go in and check on me, the cops are saying if they go in there they'll arrest me and the paramedic lady convincing them i was fine and surely they had better things to do tonight. i was like... 'damn, yeah i'm drunk but this is mardi gra, 10 000 people are drunk!!' however considering that 10 hours later on the train i had to get out of my seat and read the little ticket the conductor puts above your chair to say where you are going, purely to find out where i had bought a ticket too (NY by the way... i may have been a little TOO drunk. the whole 3 days were a party blur i tell you, only i wish they were a little more of a blur so i couldnt remember some of the stuff i did... but anyway, i remember it all and i survived so i couldnt have drunk THAT much... i didnt end up in jail (bonus) and i have about 10 e-mail addresses in my pocket in different stages of drunken squall. all in all a good time.

oh and in the middle of it all was my birthday, which i kinda missed. i remembered when it hit midnight and it was only just my birthday but forgot again until it was past midnight the following night and i had missed it all. but thanks to those who sent e-mails.

um... ewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww

i'm still at jer and seb's place and in the last few days i have been spent my time doing 1 of 4 things...
1. sleeping (oh yea sleeping is good)
2. cooking (oh yea food is good)
3. learning french (oh oui français est bon)
4. cleaning ... this is where the ewwwwwwwwwwwwww comes in

let me just paint you a picture of this apartment... when i told inga i was coming to stay here the first thing she said was:
(inga) its dirty
(nat) i'll clean it
(inga) no i mean its really dirty, its just caked with dirt and cat hair. there is no hope
(nat) oh...

so i get to the apartment and my god!!! nothing could prepare you for it. i'm talking the kind of place where you wonder if the soap is ok to touch. forget the 5 second rule if you drop something on the floor, i wouldn't eat anything if it was within 1m of the floor let alone touching it. so i figured if i was going to spend time here i at least had to get the kitchen clean so that i wouldn't die of food poisoning, under the pretence that i was trying to do something nice for staying there. so the first day i got the cupboards organised, disinfected the sink and re-washed all the cups, plates, utensils. cleaned the benches (by clean i mean disinfect) and then when it came to the floor i realised they didnt actually OWN a broom. go figure

the second day i cleaned the fridge. this is where the BIG EW comes in. i thought it was bad in the beginning, empty containers (like they had eaten all the food then put the container back in) and every inch was brown and dirty instead of white. so i pull everything out and throw away the empty/rotting stuff, mixed up a bucket of disinfectant (my new bestfriend) and detergent and proceeded to clean the interior of the fridge. when i got to the vegetable bins, i pulled them out completely and on the bottom of the fridge was a ses pool of green murky im-growing-organisms-scientists-didnt-know-existed-yet, slimy, smelly, at least an inch deep pool of bacteria infested water... with rotting bits of vege's floating in it. this is the point where i screamed and made jer come look at it, then walked around mumbling 'i dont think i can do this'. thankfully jer was just as disgusted and pulled on the rubber gloves and mopped it up knowing full well it wasnt my problem. then he said 'hey, dont touch the bathroom, i'll clean that'. damn straight im not touching the bathroom!!. anyway by the time i'd finished the fridge was white and shiny and jer brought his broom from the other apartment so the floor was clean too.

the funny thing about this is that seb and marie (jer has taken marie's place) are the kind of people that have 'organic' everything, from the milk to the pasta. they even have a special spray to wash fruit, like water isnt enough. so basically they have swapped preservatives for the natural kind of bacteria that can kill you
:) well done!