31 a Life Aquatic, and Ray Brower...You Know, the Dead Kid in Stand By Me!

31!!! What can I say?!? It feels wierd to say "I'm 31."  You know how a few months before your Birthday you always so your a year older? For example when you are 29 you say "i'm almost 30`` or when you are 21 you say ``I`m turning 22`` you always add a year, you can never say what age you are because adding that extra year makes you feel that much more mature!!! You just have to convince yourself that you are that much more mature, that the bigger number makes a difference.  Well let me tell you something dear friends...this was the first year I didn`t add on...I was 30 up until the last second.  I didn`t feel the need to add on this year...infact I think I am not going to add on for a few years,  I`m not going to add anything at all...I`m just going to stay at this number for as long as possible.  Though according to Dallas (who just turned 31 himself) he thinks it`s great.  ``Emmie 31 is awesome because you get to start at the begining of a decade, you are in your earlies again not in the lates.  It`s like a reboot``  It`s a great concept, plus with more knowledge and experience then I had at 21 this could really work well for me ;)

My Birthday wasn't a big celebration.  It started with me getting my Birthday package from my mom a few days before which contained my Uggs, a ton of socks, Mac n Cheese, Tea, my favourrite candy - Cherry Blasters - and a few other little things.  I had been waiting weeks for the package, I was so excited when it finally arrived.  It was 10lbs lol...i thought it was going to be a mission to carry back to my place but it was easy peasy.   I - of course - cried when I opened it.  I had been getting a little emotional around my Birthday...no no not because of my age just because I was missing people and new that it was not gonnna be like my Vegas Bday last year with Pauly and Ryan...I was missing my closest friends.   
When I got home from work I went around the back to he neighbours ( I moved into a shared house) and knocked on the door.  My neighbour Dan (who is from the UK)  unlocks the door and says "whats wrong? do you need a hug?"  and I started crying! Through my sobs I replied "do you-sob-have-sob-any wine-sob?"  So Dan and I sat up till 4am drinking wine - which I found out later that he ran out of wine and fed me Goon!!!  Can you believe him!  He said I didn't ask what it was, that he just said he had more drink and I said ok!  He knows I have banished goone from my life...no wonder I felt sick when I went to bed and had a killer headache all day the next day! 
The next day some friends from the hostel came over.  It wasn't anything wild and crazy.  Bonnie was the first to show up and she bought me a Birthday cupcake.  "I didn't have any candles, and I don't think I could fit 31 candles on it anyways!!!"  Gotta love her.  My roommate bought me a bottle of Red.  "It's French" she said "That's ok, your French!"  Lily came by, Harisson, Sue, Adrien, Bihn and Dan my neighbour.  We just sat around for a few hours listening to music, talking and having a few drinks.  It was really nice. My roommate Chloe even cooked up some pasta for us for dinner, she is a rockstar that one.  It really meant a lot to me...I have met some really sound people since I have been here and I appreciated them showing up for a little while.
At about midnight I hoped in a cab and went into the city to meet up with Dallas.  We went to the Exford for a quick drink and then grabbed some travellers and the headed back to his place and drank till about 4am.  We curled up in the tv room witha movie and went to sleep.  We woke up at a decent time the next day as our plan was suppossed to be the Zoo!  We have been trying to go since the week I have gotten to Melbourne.  It was beautiful outside! Yay finally a day at the Zoo!  But Dallas said it the weather was going to change by midday. - Melbourne, 4 seasons in one day, it's so true.- and by midday the weather was shitty; so Dallas cooked and we watched movies until he had to leave for work but made plans for the next day for the Zoo but if it was shitty weather again we would head to the Melbourne Aquarium.
That night Nik came by.  He brought me a box of -Red- wine with a bow on it and said "I know how much you love boxed wine" lol...he knows my issue with goone.  We had a few drinks and then headed to Base.  Yup I know BASE.  Of all places to head out to for my Bday but it was a Tuesday and nothing else was really open. 
Bonnie and a couple of my little chicks were there. Nik thought it was funny being in a backpacker bar but had fun - he can have fun anywhere.  After about 10 minutes of being there this guy walks up to us and starts doing these coin tricks which led into him doing card tricks.  I was trying to watch his hands more then the trick.  I wasn't overly surprised or impressed because I had seen everything he was doing so I really was just paying attention to his hands to see if I could figure anything out, but he got me.  He got us all to sign the 6 of clubs and -once again- started doing tricks I had seen.  He told me to put my hands out and tell him when to stop...this time I was going to find the card myself.  I started putting cards in my hand and when I said stop he turned over the wrong card.  "ok" I was thinking he is going to keep going and my card is meraculously going to show up in his hand.  like i haven't seen that before." "How long did that take me?" he asked "what?"  "how long did that take me?"  "I dont know maybe about 10 seconds."  "Check your watch."  I look at my watch and there folded up under  watch is the card with our names on it!!! WTF!!!  How did I not feel that?!? You would think you would notice something like that....we should all have probably checked our bags to make sure everything was still in there lol
The next day was a grey day so it was off to the Aquarium with Dallas.  I met him down on De Greaves street.  De Greaves is my favourite street in Melbourne CBD.  It's this alley allie way just off of Flinders Rd which is lined with cafes, restaurants and asian food.  Down the middle of the street you have tables where Melburnians enjoy there coffees and drinks.  It's noisy and crowded, all the cafes and restaurants are open concept and it's never quiet! It's got a cozy feel to it and has an awesome vibe (I mentioned it in one of my first Oz blogs. I ate a burger there on one of the alleyway tables).   I had a tea, Dallas had a coffee and we shared a tuna sandwhich and then made our way over to the aquarium.

The aquarium was awesome.  The first exhibit is a Hammerhead Shark, that is in a frozen exhibit.  It was accidentally caught by an Australian fisherman and is now on display at the aquarium for educational purposes...it's kind of sad when you think about it.  The second exhibit was the penguins which was probably my favourite.  The penguins were so cute and full of personality...like humans they are very social.  They had to types of penguins there and the one I recognized instantly was the Emporer Penguin.  I would say they are about four feet tall, stout, and have beautiful orange and yellow around it's breast.  Two were loooking right out at us and stretched up tall and expanded their wings...they didn't seem to mind that we were there.  another penguin stood on the scale as if waitng to see if you stood on it long enough he might shed some pounds.  Watching them swim was awesome, they move so fast and are so agile and when they swim they have a stream of tiny little bubbles shoot off there fur, and then with no effort at all they would just shoot out of the water like a ball out of a canon, land on their feet and be on their merry way. At one point there were two girls in wet suits cleaning the glass and the penguins would swim up all around their legs and start nipping at them...it was so cute.  We saw Nemo fish-a little kid said "mummy where is Nemo?" "You have to find him!"  I started laughing "Oh, haha I didn't even realize what I said" it was too cute. We saw huge crabs that looked like giant spiders, jelly fish, long necked turtles, eels, a snake, sharks...there was so much.  One of my favourites was the Sea Dragons.  They were so peacful to watch.  I dont even know how they moved around...sometimes they would just float in one spot and others they would just move around effortlessly.  And the Leafy Sea Dragon didn't even look real..it looked like a little yellow plant almost cartoon like but not.  It was probably one of the most beautiful creatures I have ever seen, I was mesmerised by it.  We saw sharks which completely scare the shit out of me but I still cant seem to take my eyes off them.  There were little crawl spaces under some of the exhibits where you could sit underneath and look up into the aquarium.  They weren't that interesting to look up into but we thought they were fun to crawl in and out of though my body is not as agile as the penguins and it was a bit of a mission to get in and out of.  I ended up loosing my phone in one of them but thankfully someone returend it to the front.   The last bit was a huge massive aqaurium where you are surrounded all around by water fish, sharks and the biggest stingrays I have ever seen, I swear they could wrap around two of me and still have room  another half person it was insane. 
Our last little bit was fish feeding! I paid an extra $10 for us so we could feed the fish and I was really excited for this one. We finally get to the spot to feed the fish and it was over for the day.  The girl at the front never told us it didnt go all day so we had to get our money back.  I was a little disappointed but it was still an awesome day; except...I kind of feel that as amazing the Aquarium is and how educational it is as well,  it's kind of horrible at the same time.  These animals are basically held in captivity for us to go and look at.  I know the zoo is the same way but it just kind of made me a little sad :(.

Dallas and I had worked up an appetite (he eats a lot like me) so he decided to take me to Pallegrinos, this little authentic Italian Restaurant where the menu only has 7 things to order from and its all pasta!!!  It was so yummy...not that I needed the carbs considering I have put on 10lbs but I couldn't resist the carbonara.  Yum yum yum.  After that we walked up Swanston Street and went in to the Club X shop for shits and giggles...haha it's a sex shop

After that we parted ways and I headed to work.  As soon as I walk in the door to Drax my phone rings.  It was Misty calling from the diner.  She called to fire me!!!  She said there were complaints about me and that I missed my shift that morning.  "I thought I worked tomorrow morning"  "nope it was today"  She calls me 7 fucking hours later to tell me I was late!!!  I honestly thought I was in the next morning.  Plus on top of that if there was an issue or any problems she could've talked to me about it, she was all happy with me on Saturday and then all of a sudden Your Fired!  So even if I hadn't of skipped my shift I would've gone in to get fired!  Get fucked!  Besides she had dicked me around since I started there, these are your shifts, no now we might not keep you, now we are keeping you and i want you to have the hours, no only two shifts this week oh and PS your fired.  You know what I say to that...CUNT!!!  When I went in to drop of my uniform and pick up my money she said "oh honey I am so sorry I feel so bad I can't even talk about it."  "Misty I would never not show up to a shift, it was an honest mistake, I got my days confused.  I just don't understand why you didnt call me to tell me, I would've come in right away."  She just looked at me shaking her head looking as if she was going to cry.  "You called me 7 hours! after the fact! I just don't get it"  "Some of the staff complained and said you were rude to them."  "So why didn't you sit me down and ask if there was an issue and what happened.  I'm an easy person to talk to Misty...we could've talked and worked it out."  "I just...I'm going away and I dont need this.  I'm sorry honey I feel horrible."  "I just don't understand that if there was an issue why you didnt approach me...and if I didn't show up why you didnt call."  She just shook her head.  "Honestly Misty don't worry about it...|I'm not overly fussed anyways.  See you later"  And that was that!  I was a little upset when she had first started but now I'm actually kind of happy I am not there...the place was a huge commitment with her leaving for the month of July and I need to be able to enjoy my time here in Melbourne because technially I am still traveling.  

Things are good.  I love being out of the hostel.  It is so nice having space and a clean kitchen, free wifi and laundry plus a hot shower lol.  The house is old but has two flats in it that fits six people each.  We have a little backyard that leads to the people next door so I usually go over with tea or wine...or head over for wine...and make my way into the kitchen and then the tv room where Dan is usually on the couch watching Master Chef or on the laptop.  

One of my friends, Benoit, from the hostel moved in today so that is pretty nice.  He is really happy to be out of the hostel and into the house.  It's way cheaper then the hostel and all inclusive which is awesome though it does have it's downsides.  There is no heat in the house so we have to keep on the electric fire place at all times...sometimes it gets so cold at night that no only do we have a small portable heater in our room but I sleep in track pants, wool socks, tank top, long sleeve shirt, hoodie with the hood on and a scarf...it was so cold when I moved in plus I had a horrible cold which made it worse....our landlord had to bring us extra blankets.   The bathroom door doesn't really close to well, we have mushrooms that sprout out of one of our walls about every two weeks,  a hole in our bathroom floor that stunk really bad until the landlords sealed it, a cocroach that lives in the cracks of our cupboard in the kitchen and a really wierd Kiwi guy that lives here.   He showers between an hour and a half to three hours...NO JOKE! Smokes up all the time, doesn't clean,  sleeps on the couch with his hand down his pants and when he sleeps his eyes are open a little bit.  You know in the movie Stand By Me where they find the body of the kid Ray Brower and it shows his face and his eyes are half open...thats what my housemate looks like when he sleeps....I swear to you, its so creepy.