A few days drunk

Went out a few nights ago with Jess to her professor's art show. Free booze!  Crappy art.  Went to the bar for a bit for a few drinks.  More housemates showed up and we held a good chunk of the patio.  Back to the house for more munting and finally passed out.  Woke up and took a bike to the nearest squat where I asked to stay for a bit, they said no problem and drove me to get my gear.   We made another stop for a juicer and came back to make hard cider from two bushels of apples that had been dumpstered.

After some time working on making booze, I strolled down to Newtown, Sydney's "alternative" capital, to check out the anarchist bookstore Black Rose, a rented building that shares space with an art gallery. The gallery was between shows, just a huge empty white room; I thought I was somewhere I wasn't supposed to be for a while but kept exploring until I found a doorway in the back that led to the bookstore. chatted for a while with the person behind the counter then kept up my meandering around town, eventually I dropped into the piercing shop to talked about doing a suspension while I'm here.     
 
As it started getting dark, I went back to the squat. Met up with Jack, an Aussie squatter who has been to the US and lived in Europe for four years.  We started off, back to Newtown looking for art openings and free booze. Had a bit of a problem finding the show we were after so bought some beer and just kept walking.  Finally found the show went in, it sucked, so we left immediatly.  Went to a pub with cheap jugs (pitchers) and free pool to hangout for a bit and pregame before we went to a punk show.  The pub was excellent, queer friendly and quite diverse. A great crowd.  Gigantic gay somoans singing karaoke of "circle of life", lesbian skinhead pool sharks, and us, the friendly neighborhood radicals.  Men bought me drinks.    
 


A handful of both games and pitchers later, we made our way back to Marrickville to check out a show at a local punk warehouse.  I never even made it to the band, we stopped in the front room where the proprietors and friends were hanging out and we joined them in revelry.  Partied hard until at 3:30 am when we started the long stumble home.  I tried to stumble quickly to stay warm.

Finally made it back and found a ln empty couch to crash on... Too tired to even get out my sleeping bag, I huddled up against the cushins and got some sleep.

Woke up today and realized I had offered to shuttle a friends gear to a burlesque show he was hosting.   I borrowed a car and started my first real Australian city driving.  It wasn't as bad as I thought it would have been.  My driving on the open roads out in the country deffinently prepped me for right-side driving in the city.  I made a few mistakes and drew a couple angry honks to which I'd yell out the window; "I'm American, we have the best funded military on the planet!"

Made my way into the city with the help of two locals, Morgan and Herbie, but I had to find my way out on my own.     A couple of wrong turns, quite a few curses at the "no right turn" signs and a short scenic view of the city later, and I was back to the squat.

I watched Jack put the finishing touches on the newly made Keg-o-rator and enjoyed the second glass of beer from the beautiful contraption.  It had been a 6month dream, I was glad to be there when it was realized.



Speant the rest of the night smoking bowls and watching tv... My first real night just hanging out and relaxing in weeks. I needed it.