Americans in Melbourne

 After being in Melbourne just two weeks, I ventured back to say my final farewells to Melbourne friends and welcome the arrival of my good friend Thea. Thea is down here on at working-holiday visa for the year with hopes of either staying longer or perhaps switching to a student visa to study .

Of all my friends to say they would come visit or want to travel and get out of the rut known as the ‘United States’, Thea has been the only one to do it so far. After a bit of procrastination I booked my Thursday flight the night before and was stuck with Tiger Airways yet again. While I don’t dislike them, because I feel domestic travel should be at it’s cheapest, the staff are typically rude, they issue receipts NOT actual boarding passes and the Tiger Airways terminal at Melbourne International is a good 10-minute walk from the main airport and another 5 minute walk just to get to the aircraft on the tarmac. Not to mention when booking, they make it seem like you HAVE to choose your seat, but if you do, you pay between $5-$20 for it. Instead, save yourself the money and ask for a window/exit row seat when you check-in. Boom $20 saved So far, my best would have to be Virgin Australia. Richard Branson knows what’s up!

I had Marc drop me off at Gold Coast airport and I arrived in beautiful cloudy and rainy Melbourne at noon. Thea had already landed and passed through customs and quarantine so we called the hostel and they came to pick us up. At first, I was sceptical of Thea’s hostel choice because it was located in St. Kilda but it proved to be an excellent location. Anyone traveling to Melbourne, I encourage you to either stay at the Space Hotel in the CBD area (where Craig and I stayed in January) or at the Habitat HQ (where I stayed with Thea). The trams were located right outside the hostel and was only a 20 minute ride to the city and was also a 5 minute ride to Chapel Street where all the nightlife can be found.

We briefly took a nap before heading out to get her a working phone number and show her the city. Overall, we were in bed about 10ish as she was jet-lagged and I barely got any sleep the night before (I never sleep well the day before a flight). Friday, we headed to China Town to meet up with Claire for some Chinese and bubble tea before saying goodbye to her and heading ANZ to get Thea a bank account. We ended up scratching that idea as the wait time was way too long, so ventured to Big W so she could get some flip flops, the river walk, Crown Casino (where I lost $20 on red, haha) and then finally Max Brenners.

We ended up back at the hostel before relaxing a bit once again (the sun takes it out of you). Ended up getting up around 10pm before heading to Electric Ladyland for a few drinks and to say goodbye to friends there. One of them, being Bridie, I will always love and cherish. There are not many women out there that I can tolerate let alone would not mind dating and Bridie is definitely one of them. Words cannot describe my love for this woman, but I’ll save my lovey-dovey Bridie blog for another day.

After quite a few gin and tonics, headed back to the hostel and up at 0930 for 1000 check-out. I said my goodbyes to Thea and headed back to Melbourne airport to fly to Brisbane in time for Future Music Festival. Overall, I love Melbourne but don’t know if I could ever live there. I think the hipster/’culture’ scene is a bit much for me. But definitely a far better place than Brisbane and of course, the Gold Coast. Next stop is Future Music Festival, final week of work and then wrapping up last minute affairs before my flight to Sydney on March 15^th followed by flight back to Seattle March 17^th.

Until then…

Cheers

-H

March 17th, 2013

In 2007, I flew to Australia…. Sadly it was only for 6 months. I came back, graduated and then decided it was time for me to return.

2 ½ years and we saw the creation of ‘Traveling Sucobe’, the expansion of my music hobby, the creation AND development of Sucobe Productions and last but not least the start of my acting, modelling and crazy antics. From goatees, to moustaches, to clean shave. From Japan to New Caledonia and New Zealand. It has been an amazing ride.

And sadly, this ends the final chapter of my life down here in Australia. 3 years of this amazing country and I’ve grown to love and appreciate it as my home away from home. The friends I have met, the girlfriends I’ve had, the goon I’ve consumed, and the vegemite I’ve spit out. It has been a great time down here and although Julia Gillard no longer wants me. I’ll be back. Whether it’s for business, pleasure or on a boat with a bunch Sri Lankans seeking asylum.

I love you all. I’ll miss you all. And if you’re ever in the Pacific Northwest or land of Starbucks, legal marijuana and gay marriage, don’t hesitate to call me. Well text me, because I won’t pick up.

Cheers.

-H

This Christmas.

About 1:30 in the morning. Just got home from an evening of Family Guy, the Newsroom (great show!) and filling out PhD applications and briefs. And the weird thing is, it felt like any other night. Except it’s Christmas Eve. But with the absence of two key factors because these last three Christmases haven’t really felt like ‘Christmas’: weather and family.

            I’ve spent all my life having a white Christmas. Even if it wasn’t snow, it was damn near close with slush or sleet. Some Decembers it being so worse that my car door was frozen shut or you had to start the car an hour before leaving just to make it bearable to drive in. And so with these last three seasons, celebrating the holidays in 90-degree weather, shorts and a BBQ just doesn’t feel the same. It’s just not Christmas. Christmas is about shovelling the snow out of the driveway to make room for the relatives to park, going out and having snowball fights and even showing off your new toys to your friends. That’s definitely one thing I look forward to upon returning home, a white Christmas.

            The other is family. To me, Christmas isn’t about religion but instead coming together of family and in some cases even friends to celebrate the love, camaraderie and affection of close ones. Some of my friends have the ease of this love as families live just down the street or interstate. And others even have the luxury to travel home to Canada, the US and Germany to be with family on Christmas. I don’t have that luxury.

            So with this, I say cherish every moment that you get to spend with your family, no matter how annoying they may be. Because at the end of the day, they will always be there for you. Because they will be waiting for you at the terminal with open arms. Because somewhere in the world are homeless citizens just trying to eat on a Tuesday, soldiers in war just trying to survive another day or myself typing this at two in the morning to take a break from PhD research and reflect off the good times this year has given me.

 

And with that, from myself down here in Australia, I say Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you and your family.

Now I’m going to go watch Love Actually.

-H

Stereosonic

After having an amazing time at Good Vibrations music festival featuring awesome acts such as Nas, Damian Marley, Sidney Samson, Faithless and so forth, I found myself wanting more live music from artists that I already listen to in my everyday life. Sadly, I had missed festivals between then and now such as Future music festival (headlined by LMFAO), Supafest (headlined by Snoop Dogg, Chris Brown, Bow Wow, Busta Rhymes, etc etc) and many more. In June, tickets went on sale for Stereosonic music festival happening in December. I immediately picked up two tickets for Varun and I not knowing what would happen in 6 months but knowing I was not going to miss Tiesto as well as Martin Solveig, Avicii and various others.

Sadly, Varun had left the country in November and I was forced to find a new festival buddy to head to Brisbane with and mosh out to the sounds of heavenly music. What was a bummer moment then turned into a glistening moment of hope as Marc won VIP tickets (lucky...). So we sold my general admission tickets to some friends of mine and went in on his VIP tickets.

We stayed the weekend in Brisbane as it would be far easier than attempting to take the train up in the morning to get to the festival by noon and then take the train back down to the Gold Coast after the festival at 10pm. Luckily we were able to book hostel beds before they had all sold out for the festival and it worked out for me anyway as I had filming for 'Murderous Minds' and 'The Formal' as well as a photo shoot for the Academy of Makeup. So it was a busy weekend for me (pics included).

We got up Sunday and had breakfast before heading to a pre-drinking party at 2. We analysed the lineup and realise there wasn't anyone really worth going to see from 12-3pm (small acts) but that Martin Solveig, the first major artists of the day, was starting at 3.

We hailed a cab and he took us as far as he could go before running into a crowd of a bout 3,000 other festival goers. We headed inside dreading the line but was most excited to see the VIP line of only 10 people. So we were inside the festival in about 2 1/2 minutes as compared to the massive long general admission line! Marc and I walked around a bit before heading to the VIP area to see what it consisted for us 'high priority' individuals.

Luckily, not only did we have a cash bar and not have to succumb to buying drink tickets but the VIP bar also had private bathrooms (with no lines) and was air conditioned! With temperatures in the mid 20s it was definitely a bonus. The VIP stands also had better seating and was not as crowded but to me, not really an issue as I wanted to spend most of my time front and center at the main stage.

The rest of our day consisted of the seeing the following:

Tommy Trash

Martin Solveig

Datsik

Adam Beyer

Carl Cox

Example

Calvin Harris
Avicii

Tiesto

The day/night overall was awesome and age was definitely showing as we were pretty tired and hurting come 10pm. With anticipation of spending over $200 in alcohol/food, I think I ended up only spending $100. Not to mention, I don't recall going to use the bathroom once during the 10 hours though... So great day! I'm already making plans to attend the next festival, pending on who the headliners and side acts will be. At this stage either looking to be Big Day Out (March) or Supafest (April). Miss you all

Cheers.

-H

The life?

Over the past 4 months, I did a complete 180 and forced myself to stop doing what friends/society wanted me to do and to start doing what I myself, wanted to do. I gave up on night club security because not only is it garbage, shit and employees are treated like numbers and not respected but also because the pay isn’t worth what one has to put up with on a nightly basis until 5am.

I have always had this hidden notion that because I spent 7 years studying criminal justice, law and mastering in criminology and crime prevention, that I needed to follow this road of government work, doing what is right and obeying the law at all times even if it was morally unacceptable. I’ve always been a believer that I would much rather love my job and make a mediocre living than hate my job but make a killing (my reason for coming to Australia in the first place).

My passion is entertainment and all things considered focusing mainly on music. A good friend of mine once asked me what my dream job was and I said without hesitation DJ. To be able to play music I love to someone in a way in which it gives him or her feel good attitudes and emotions has been something that has always kept its place at the back of my mind since 2005.

Becoming more engulfed in my own music, I also ventured out into the world of acting. At first, I felt it was something I needed to study up on, go to school and be tested about, but quickly realised I could gain all that knowledge by throwing myself into the industry head first. As of the writing of this blog and since getting into acting in July, I have been in two web commercials, 13 short films, 3 viral commercials, a music video and casted for two feature films being submitted to Cannes Film Festival, Tropfest, Toronto Film Festival and Melbourne Film Festival. All done by myself, without the use of an agent and over the course of three months while also studying and working on the side.

It has been exciting work and has given me the opportunity to showcase my personality and put my character through the ultimate test. Maybe it’s because I am a minority? Or maybe because I am an American accent among a population of 22 million Australians? Whatever the reason may be, it is working out extremely well and I am loving every minute of it.

And so the question again pops up asking: “what happens come December?”. I have always had this mentality to come back home in February after graduation but held off to continue doing my passion: traveling. And now, everyday I constantly re-hash my plan of going home for good in December to pursue other ventures: music and acting. I fear coming back home to the US, puts all that on hold (whether permanently or temporarily) and forces me to work in an industry that limits my passion, my free-spirit and my thinking. At the same time, staying here I can continue to find bigger and better roles while working part-time and re-focusing my attention on music. The only downside though is it’s a huge risk with JUST a part time job on the side (since I’m a foreigner). One that if it doesn’t pay off, leaves me thinking what have I truly been doing the past x amount of months/years. And this is the thought that scares me, not having the security of work but pursuing a passion and hoping it works out in the end.

I guess it is better to be 26 and enjoying life than what I constantly see everyday on Facebook statuses from friends from back home. Not having kids, being tied down by someone and being able to enjoy life and do the things I WANT to do is what makes my time here and my life so rewarding. But at the same time, I am continuously bogged down by when I am coming, how I am needed home and how I should just return home, as it’s been 2 years. At times, I feel instead of coming home for good, I should come home for a few weeks to feel if it is right for me or if it’s not my time yet. Maybe I’m scared to come back to the US? Or that doing so means it’ll be time to put everything else aside and start a career?

I seriously don’t know what I want in life or where I want to go with it. Whichever the path I choose, I cautiously hope to have the support of friends and family…

-H

Work>Travel

The feeling of disappointment washes over me like a child who doesn't receive that toy he's been asking Santa to give him on Christmas day. While most view traveling as a once in a lifetime opportunity and vacation, I view it as a new learning experience and a chance to keep me sane and from killing everyone around me (especially the stupid, arrogant and moronic group. You know who you are).

What I love about my current job is not only the fact that the pay/benefits is far, far better than previous jobs I held, but management and fellow employees don't treat each other like shit. There isn't a problem with drugs or staff hooking up with staff and that right there is an added bonus. Moreover, I am able to take time off or swap shifts so easily without having to fight for it or risk losing my job. Needless to say, taking a weekend off for New Zealand in March, a week for New Caledonia in May and a week off for Singapore in July is pretty lenient and amazing compared to what other employers would offer or say.

So it devastated me when I was told that I could not get the time off for Singapore July 24th-29th as this is the second week of classes at Griffith Uni and things would be a bit hectic until mid August. What I found annoying throughout the whole process of getting the time off, is we had booked this trip in March when I returned from New Zealand and while mentioning throughout that time that I needed it off, I was told to 'remind me as the time comes closer'. Unfortunately, as that time came closer, it was noticed I was attempting to leave during a busy time-frame. Whoops.

So I entertained the idea of quitting and going to Singapore before realising how stupid of a mistake that would be. To leave a job for a $250 flight or just eat the loss due to error and lack of checking dates? I chose the latter knowing that the trip will be waiting for me in August and as the semester proceeds into week 4, I can take more time off to add Malaysia (Kuala Lumpur), Indonesia (Jakarta) and perhaps Thailand (Bangkok) to the list over the course of 9-12 days. Plus I did not want to go through the same issues I did when I left for Japan back in November and returning without a job (and money).

But during this process it got me thinking, why I would resort to such an irrational choice of leaving a job to go experience 4 days of bliss only to come back to nothing? Probably because I'm stupid and crazy and when it comes to traveling, I absolutely love it. Or because I'm reaching that point where it's time for me to get out of town once again as the Gold Coast continues to diminish my faith in humanity.

Whatever the case may be, I will not be going to Singapore Jul 24th-July 29th but instead cancelling and going a few weeks later. I know, I know, this is devastating to all of you, but don't worry, I'll be in the air in no time and back to Asia for a 2nd round.

In the meantime,

Cheers and 再见！

-H