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

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

G.R.E.

The reason why I chose to pursue my masters degree in criminology was two-fold. First and foremost, I felt my employment status at the time did not reflect what I truly wanted to do in life or what I was capable of doing. Working security for a nightclub that had no room for promotion and a commissioned sales job reliant on quotas, led me to a very unhealthy lifestyle in which I gradually became depressed, exhausted and without a social life. The second reason for coming was I found myself always talking about ‘Australia this’ and ‘Australia that’ with friends and such. I wanted to continue with my education and felt not only could I go back to Australia and obtain my masters degree in Criminology but because universities in Australia did not require Graduate Record Examination (GRE) scores as do US universities for postgraduates.

I have always hated standardised testing and while many of my friends slaved away hours a day studying for the SATs for college in 2003 and taking the PSATs numerous times to prepare for the SATs, I went in winging it. I feel a standardised test is just that, standardised. Why try to cram for a test where you should either know the information or not? And because so many of my friends crammed for it, they obtained higher than average scores that did not truly reflect their true knowledge of skill level for a university setting. I took the PSATs scoring 800/1600, and then the SATs scoring 960/1600 and again scoring 1000/1600. No studying whatsoever and good enough to get into Washington State University and graduate with two bachelors degrees.

But at the time, I was also looking at Arizona State University (ASU) and University of Southern California (USC) because of their excellent criminal justice programs. However, all three universities wanted GRE scores of which I refused to pay for to take once if not two or three times on top of study materials if I chose to actually study. So I packed up, left and came here to do my graduate degree.

After obtaining my masters degree, I then contacted WSU, ASU and USC once again to possibly come back to the United States and pursue my PhD in criminology with an emphasis on crime prevention. And once again, all three universities advised me they needed my GRE scores even after obtaining my masters degree. So it looks as if I have to bite the bullet and go full guns blazing for this damn test.

I have signed up to take the GRE in Sydney Wednesday, July 4th (Happy birthday America!) at 1:30pm. I’ll be flying down to Sydney right after work Tuesday morning to give myself time to relax and unwind before doing some last minute studying before the 4 ½ test Wednesday afternoon. Afterwards I’ll do some sight-seeing and relax with friends living down there before coming back up to the Gold Coast for work Thursday night. A relatively quick trip nonetheless, but only with one purpose in mind that could re-shape my academic future.

I’ve also decided to do somewhat of a basic skim of the material, seeing how a lot of it is high school math that I not only failed twice in college, but also haven’t touched it since 2004. So for the next 2 weeks, in between work and sleep I’ll have my eyes fixated to a computer screen and in my GRE prep notes to prepare for this gruelling beast of an exam.

If I pass with acceptable scores, I am hoping to apply at ASU, USC and my alma mater WSU in hopes of pursuing my PhD in the US instead of here in Australia. While these plans are not set yet and anything can change pending what the scores will be and if Bond University ever gets back to me regarding the possibility of doing my PhD here, I don’t want to put all my eggs in one basket…

Until next time.

Cheers and 再见

-H

When the time comes...

At times I wonder if anyone even reads this, since I rarely post or don't seem to do much that is exciting. At the same time, I have fallen a bit behind on them as well (Ahem Japan blog) But I promise to get all that caught up in due time.

In the meantime...

I came to Australia under the plan to obtain my masters degree in criminology and then return home right afterwards to begin looking for work and possibly re-applying for the FBI. They had led me on a chase of employment for 5 months of flying back and forth between the branch office in Seattle and in Pullman where I was living and working (5 hours away). After the 4th cancellation of interviews, I advised them I would be withdrawing my name from the interview and pursuing a higher degree and attempting to find out what I really wanted to do with my life and if a government field job was the right move.

While I was set to return home right after my degree finished in January, a little birdy put this idea into my head that I could potentially stay and pursue my PhD and open great opportunities for myself. So I decided to stick around, swap over to a work visa and pursue my options.

In the meantime, I have done nothing but work 35 hours a week and thus eliminating my social life and shunning all friends out as I spend my two days off recovering and getting whatever I need to get done before I hustle out anothe 35 hours. But the more I work, the more I realise I have a masters degree in criminology and I should be able to get far better work than your average person with a high school diploma. Especially since all these security jobs that I work will hire anyone and those whom I have worked with seem to be stuck in the job for years with no possible advancement or promotion. Now this isn't to say that I hate my job, as I have been in the security industry since I walked out of Pizza Hut and started working at Stubblefields in April 2008. Every job that I have held since then has helped me to become a better equipped person with the knowledge and skill set neede to work in any security industry. But there are better jobs out there for someone like me. Jobs such as the FBI, CIA and NSA are lucrative with benefits and travel all over and they are looking for people like me whom have traveled and have the education and experience to back it up. So you'd think I would be able to find similar work outside the US? Sadly, no.

As a foreigner NOT in my host country, I cannot get the work I want as I am not a citizen. I could go through the process of becoming a citizen, but that is equating to more time, money and effort on my part. Especially since I am on a visa, the same would apply anywhere else I go throughout the world. Get on a proper visa, try to get citizenship, then find a decent job. Therefore, my options here in Australia (or anywhere for that matter) are very limited in what I want to pursue in life.

Don't get me wrong, I can find security work just about anywhere here, but they don’t care what degree you have, they’ll hire anyone and there isn’t room for advancement, travel or promotion. I feel if I am to waste 7 years on school to obtain two bachelor degrees and a masters degree as well as put myself in 6 figure debt, I might as well make use of it and come back to proper job that pays well without the need for a visa or being limited due to regulations as a foreigner.

And while the PhD would be nice and padden the resume/experience with the possibility of having full grants pay for it, I feel I can do without it instead of spending another 3-5 years in school. The PhD may or may not add additional pay to my annual income levels, but it would further open up employment for me in regards to teaching, something which I have no desire to do. Overall, I would be getting the PhD because I'd be getting it for free or relatively cheap while I wait for further job opportunies to become available. Which is the reason why I pursued a masters degree in the first place.

Unfortunately though, I dread coming home, because I fear there may be work that I don't want or feel qualified to do and I will be stuck in the same rut a majority of my friends back home are in. However, I would need to come home to find that said work if it exists. At the same time, there are these jobs that suit me but they take 9-14 months before getting hired on as an employee due to background checks, polygraphs and psychological interviews. Therefore, I would be looking at coming home and working a mediocre job for 2 years before I get anything solid that I want. But in order to apply for these said jobs, I must be in the United States to do it.

Having said that, and after contemplating it for a few weeks now and discussing it with numerous friends and family, I have decided it is in my best interest to not pursue my PhD here at Bond University or anywhere outside of the United States for that matter but instead come back to the US to pursue a career position with my degree and get the ball rolling on the hiring process. While I can leave and come home anytime, I still have much traveling that I want to do (China, South Korea, Thailand, India, Europe) and so will wait until the holidays before coming home for good. Potential dates being from Thanksgiving to Christmas.

I still have plans of coming home in August for a few weeks to see family and friends and determine if this is what I really want to do. At this stage, I feel there is no further need to be here and just being here is preventing me from starting the hiring process back home with potential employers. Another option would be to pursue a PhD in the US but most importantly somewhere close to home suggested universities being WSU, USC or ASU (all have heavy focus on criminal justice).

But for now, this is the path that I feel is right for me. It may seem a bit hasty at the moment and as I always believe, anything can happen that changes that path. But I haven't been happy these last few months with what I am doing with myself whether it is because I am in the wrong career or that I just need to come home and get things started. Either case, it is time for me to change that and move on to something better and higher paying.

Until then, Cheers!

-H

Visas, Kiwis and Germans

Sadly, my student visa expired on March 15th and I therefore had to either swap over to another visa or leave Australia and head back to the United States. Sadly though, I don't feel there is anything worthwhile for me back in the US (yet...) and have opted to stick around Australia and continue working while networking and scouring the world wide web for career choices and such.

The governmental system in Australia is absolutely ridiculous to say the least regarding visas for foreigners although I am told the American system is even worse. Because I have decided to apply for the PhD program at Bond University, I am waiting to hear back from the faculty to determine if I have been accepted or not. But because my visa for my masters degree is expired and EVEN THOUGH I may need to get on another student visa, I still had to leave the country and come back on a work visa. It is such a pain that I have to pay for my flight out of the country on top of a $270 visa only to have it for a week or two and having to leave the country again and get on another student visa (which is approximately $500 and thensome for flights).

So courtesy of my German friend Kim and her hospitable mother, I was able to head to New Zealand for a very short break and apply for an Australian work visa. So be sure to check out my New Zealand blog!

The work and holiday visa allows me to stay in Australia for up to a year and can be renewable once more at the end for another year. The purpose of the visa is to allow those in Australia to fund their traveling through work in Australia. I cannot study for longer than 4 months and I cannot work for the same employer for longer than 6 months. Unfortunately though, ABNs do not qualify for a work and holiday visa and must be applied for through a business visa. So any security work I do pick up, I have to be on the books with them and not issuing them an invoice every week. So far, so good!

Cheers and 再见！

-H

DCH

BAM! Been awhile since my last post. I've tried to make every conscious effort to fully revamp and update this blog but it's taken a lot of time. So have patience as I get everything merged over.

My lease at Varsity on Main ended December 21st and in the meantime, was looking at a place to live with my then current roommate Perri and our friend Craig. Long story short, Perri moved in with her girlfriends and we picked up Dom to find a place in Burleigh Waters to live for the next six months. We wanted something outside of the student accommodation and apartment nature and into an actual house where we had our own belongings without shared units, parking, etc etc. We ended up moving into a complex right behind Varsity Towers and a quick 3 minute walk from campus. Great two story place with our own small yard, single car garage with driveway and partially furnished.

I'm still in need of a bed frame and desk so in the meantime, my room is pretty bare. But I'm not really impressing anyone. Ha. The landlord is lovely, haven't met the neighbours and probably have no intentions on it either.

The housing complex is called 'This', but I found the name to be too boring, lame and well, stupid. So I drafted DCH ([D]om, [C]raig, [H]ardy). The order is significant as Dom found the place, Craig helped follow up on it and I just sat around and said "when do we move in". Plus anything else (CDH, HDC, etc) just sounds like a viral disease...

And so here we are. At DCH for the next six months and possibly the final stretch of my time here in Australia. While it's been great, I won't make any preemptive calls yet as I could stick around a bit longer or go somewhere else other than back home to Seattle.

In the meantime, thanks for reading!

Cheers.

-H

Japan

I realise I haven't taken the time to update my blog much since I've been swamped with my final semester at Bond Uni. Matter of fact, I've completely blown it off! In an effort to make things easier on myself and anyone (and everyone) that reads my blog, I'll be migrating all three (Japan, Australia, Pre-Depart) into one blog with different sections. This will also help with future efforts in blogging about my other adventures I go off on (Bali, China, New Caledonia, New Zealand, etc etc etc).

Much has happened since my 17 days here in Japan (should have only been 7...) and I plan on filling you all in on that. Just as soon as I return... Stay tuned and thanks for reading!

Arigatō

-H

Melbourne Video

Varsity on Main

I know its been a while, but been busy with moving and whatnot. So here we go!

Finished with exams on Monday with Media and Crime being my last one, which was great as I had a few hours to prep my body in time for End of Semester Bash. It was pretty much one giant party to celebrate being done with classes for the semester (even though some students still had exams the next day). Australia is religious to the point that come midnight on Good Friday, the sale of alcohol is prohibited (weird, I know). So the bash was held on Wednesday. Luckily for me I went and I had a blast. The theme being, "You wore that?", we all looked like backup dancers for Justin Bieber, haha.

The next day was a bit rough being hungover but Thomas and I moved out of Varsity Shores and into our new place at Varsity on Main (VOM) with Julia. The place has never had tenants and was extremely nice for the price we pay, which is far cheaper than Varsity Shores (VS). Because 2nd semester is winter, not many study abroad students will be venturing over, so it will be a bit quiet. Overall, VOM is extremely nice and has that upper class feel to it. The first couple of days we cooked together before Thomas and his brother, Alex drove off to Cairns for the holiday period. Just Julia and I to fend for ourselves which in turn, she has a boyfriend so just me to fend for myself.

We have a 6 month lease on the place until October in which case we can either move out and agree to a month to month lease. It's a bit early to tell what we will do but will cross that bridge as the time draws near. I've decided to withhold the address as I've forgotten about the stalkers and psychos (ex girlfriends, you know how they are) that are out there, so if you want to get a hold of me, just Facebook, text or shoot me an email and I'll give you my address. In the meantime, looking for a job!

Cheers and 再见！

－H

Miitaristic testing

Today I had my first ever university controlled test. I say this because last semester, the test either consisted of a take home essay or one that the professor administered in class because the class size was so small (Chinese, 8 people). The experience was completely nerve-wracking to say the least.

I found out that day, that I had a reserved seat for the test: N-5. I found this awkward to have assigned seating but thought nothing of it. Normally I strolled there with my iPhone, earplugs in, and listening to my jam session before a big test (Linkin Park). I look inside to see the sport gymnasium lined with chairs and tables, roughly 200 give or take. Each chair corresponding with a different row and column number. On the doors leading inside the room were numerous signs that stated "no cell phones allowed" "no backpacks allowed" "no food or drink" "assigned seating per student number" and lastly "no baseball caps". It was as if I was walking through a military checkpoint. But my biggest concern was I had my phone on me and the attitude given off by the instructors leading the examination process ensured if your phone was noticed or made any type of noise, you were failed, barred and given swift punishment to Bond University and Australian authorities.

Once inside and wandering around looking for N-5, we heard a voice on the loudspeaker detailing instructions and barking orders at us. When to start, what to do, how high to raise your hand if you have a question and the sign in/sign out procedures if you needed to use the restroom. After the orders were given, we were allocated 15 minutes of 'perusal time.' I have NO idea what perusal means and even after taking the test, still don't know. You'd think the university would clarify this as half of us were sitting there blankly looking around as what to do (do we start taking the test?).

From what I observed, perusal time is 15 minutes allocated before the start of the exam to go through it before you actually take it. This would be extremely beneficial if they THEN allowed 5 minutes to go through your NOTES before taking the exam. I don't see the benefit or need of a perusal time as I am already psyched and/or doomed of taking this test, why do I need 15 more minutes of pain and suffering (perhaps someone can better explain the efficient use of perusal)?

Overall, throughout the process it was very strict and militaristic. It def had a private school feel to it with instructors walking up and down the aisles, two timers up front to monitor time and 8 more people at the front to watch over student's wandering eyes. When I was finished, I was extremely glad to be out of there.

We'll see how I did come May when grades are released, but am really glad the test taking procedures within the US are far more lax. By enabling procedures of letting students know just by looking around they will fail due to attempt to cheat, makes it more worrisome then just a simple "hey here is the test, take this". And the day someone aces an exam because the answers are written inside their baseball cap is the day I bring two baseball hats to an exam (haha).

Cheers and 再见！

-H