Pizza and Churches Tour 2004

That is pretty much what Italy feels like at the moment. Eat a pizza, see a chruch, have some more pizza, see another chruch, maybe a pasta in there somewhere.

So now I am in Florence which is pretty much what you would think when you think Italy. Pizzarias, mopeds and scooters down tiny streets, galleries of work from the renaisence. The expresso is nice and small and you stand around for 30 secs drinking it and then get the hell out.

Yesterday I went and saw michelangelos david which was pretty awesome. Apart from the fact that one of his hands is out of proportion (ametuer) it is amazing. Much bigger than I expected and you couldnt stop staring at it.

Been partying with some american guys in our dorm. Met some other americans at the Galleria Del Uffizi the other day and got ridiculously drunk and accomplished a euro goal in the gutters of Florence. The euro rule remains unbroken (a beer everyday) and my NY resolution (not to get arrested) and James (not to sleep outside) are still going strong.

Last night played some drinking games with the americans in our dorm and then went out clubbing at like 1 am. The hostel we are in has a curfew of 2am but so far the other night we got in at 330 and last night at 545 so I dont think they really care all that much.

The markets here are pretty crazy, there is like 2km worth of stalls that we walked around today with so much cheap but decent stuff it was crazy. A bit different to the markets in Prague (jeans, scarf, beanie, kalishnakov, throwing star, sex tory, bayenette, jeans) these are more like wallets and fake louis viton bags for 8 euro which Im sure liz and loz would love the sound of. Oh also the funniest thing is the dodgy african guys who set up little cardboard stores where the gaps are and they all sell the identical fake stuff like guici watches and sunglasses. They are all stuck to the table so when the polizia roll around they just grab the stall under their arm and run for their life.

Coffee is yummy over here and pizza isnt much different other than its thinner.

Went to Padova (pron. Padua, dont ask me) and saw the tomb of saint anthony. He is the saint of lost things. I resisted the urge to pray to him for my sunglasses which paris stole from me as it seemed a bit trivial for the grandour of the tomb.

Im almost certain I am coming back now on the 1st of aprilish cause I pretty much have enough money until then and no real reason to stay until the 8th like I had thought about doing.

From here I am going to Pisa to geeze at the tower and then onto Roma for a few nights. Then we got to Malta and relax and soak up some sun and the scorching tempuratures of 18 degrees. Havent been snowed on in a week and dont think I will from here on in.

You meet such awesome people travelling its a shame everyone has to go back to their respective countries. I hope PI went well and I expect to hear of some shanangans. I felt like I wanted to be there and drink some coops with the boys and have a BBQ but I am having fun anyway. Liz sent me a non sensical drunken rambling SMS that I think she passed out half way through typing so it sounds like it wasnt boring.

Well you arenàt supposed to be on the computers for more than half an hour so I should make a move. I will keep you all up to date and hopefully if I am not a retard I can send the 3 postcards I have written on and yet to send back home tomorrow.

Take it easy
Scott

Did you hear an Echo?

You don't realise how important it is to be able to feel your top lip until you can't anymore.

I'm told it's temporary, but thanks to some jaw surgery I had about two weeks ago, the nerves in my lip and part of my right cheek are "distressed". In fact, they're totally freaked out, and I can't feel a thing. It has led to some gross situations that I would rather not talk about. But hey, if you notice my nose running, tell me, because I have no idea.

I'm still swollen. I look like a cross between the Nutty Professor and Finding Nemo. And to make matters worse, my hair - in desperate need of a cut - is about three days from turning into a mullet. Sure, the 80s are coming back, but mullets? You have to draw the line somewhere.

Oh - some exciting and almost completely unrelated news: That newspaper I do, SAGE, has been renamed ECHO (I don't know) and is going to appear in The Sunday Age on March 6. (Radio ads will start soon - tell me if you hear one.) Twenty four glorious pages - most of which still need to be finished. In fact, I'm trying to write the editor's note right now. How do you write to 18 year olds without sounding like a total try hard?

Anyway, you're all ordered to buy every copy of The Sunday Age that you see on March 6 and wallpaper your walls with them in my honour. Got it? I'm serious, you know. House inspections will begin on March 7. If a guy with a mullet turns up at your place, you'll know it's me.

Peace out,
Puff Benny

Still Battling Through Europe

Hey you crazy fools, ok this keyboard wont let me go to another line so you will have to read in one big paragraph like a year 7s english assignment. I am now in Munchen in Bavaria, Germany. Prague and Cheski Kromlov in czech were both very cool. I think they would probablz be even better in the summer. Staying in a cool hostel called WOMBATS which sounds a bit aussie but I havent seen any aussies as yet. Not a huge amount has been going on with me. Met some cool people, partied, moved cities same as usual. Oh yesterday I went to get some Euro out and I dont know what my credit card (different to debit card) PIN is so that presents a fun challenge for me. Not hearing any new songs or writting anything new is pretty annoying (as is how many Ys there are in english and where it is on the kezbaord in Germany). Oh can someone please make sure that you forward my mails on to Lauren cause I dont have her addy so she probably thinks Ive snobbed her. Well have fun at the island and remember to get raging drunk and if there is a hospital in close prox try and beat my island record of 2001. For those of you reading who ARE tim cummins please disregard the last 2 sentences and erase from memory. Ok see all you punks sometime between now and when I die and old man. Scott

It's a Worrying Trend

Who ARE these people??

...and can we get them struck from the electoral role?

The novel Jennifer Government described a future just like this, but it was supposed to be a warning, not like, parenting advice.

In happier news, after some not-subtle-at-all hints by a few people who weren't willing to let the dream die (Fish and Daka, you know who you are), Phillip Island is back on the cards, and more than just on the cards, it's locked in:

Thursday 24 to Sunday 27 February - that's the week after next. Put it in your diary, if you're working tell them you have to go back to uni, if you're at uni tell them you're joining the Witness Protection Program, whatever you have to do. It'll be HUGE.

SOLO

For those of you scum that didn't come out last night (You're excused if you weren't told about it, overseas or dead) I had my first solo flight yesterday!

That's right, I was in command of an aeroplane with no-one else in it... just me and the plane... I'm still trying to come to terms with this...

I had a crazy lesson, which involved flying the circuit pattern heaps of times (and doing some very dodgy landings) and how to deal with engine failures, then when we did a proper full stop landing my instructor asked if I was ready to do a circuit on my own, then got out of the plane!

Oddly enough I was very calm and didn't do anything wrong, I even landed perfectly!

BOOYAH

Most pointless 4+ hours of my life ever

Just got back from NOT seeing the Shins play at the Corner Hotel. I missed out on tickets, but I decided to go down there on the night on the off-chance that someone might have a ticket to sell, like if a friend had pulled out or something. Hey, they say these things happen. Buy their album, Chutes Too Narrow, and you'll understand why I was prepared to clutch at such straws as these.

Anyway, despite encouraging noises from the bouncer, nothing came up, and I spent the three hours between doors opening and their set in the front bar, reading Beat from cover to cover. I ended up listening to their first couple of songs, including the majestic Kissing the Lipless, while eating pizza out on the footpath, but self-consciousness got the better of me in the end and I headed home.

Moral of the story: pick your indie bands while they're still reasonably indie, and not featuring in the record collection of every floppy-haired boy who saw Garden State. Or get your act together and buy tickets as soon as they come out.

P.S. Go here for a much more entertaining (but equally idiosyncratic) review of a Shins show.

P.P.S. Get well soon Ben!

Eye See You

Just more flying related news.

This morning at 8:45 I had my class 1 eye test. God I hate people playing with my eyes! The good news is I don't have to go back there for another year. My eyesight is 6/5 or better, which is better than 20/20 (which would be 6/6 in metric). Also my light sensitivity is not abnormal, but a common occurance in blue-eyed people. They put drops in my eyes to make my pupils dilate and now everything is EXTREMELY BRIGHT ARRGHHHHHHH, they say that it should wear off in an hour or so. I hope so I'm almost blind at the moment.

Coffee in Beer

Does anyone remember the Drew Carey Show? You know that guy who was like a clone of Scott, but living a far less inspiring life. Working in middle management at a department store in Cleveland (OHIO!). You know...

Remember "Buzz Beer"? They brewed it in Drew's back shed. It was beer with coffee in it. The idea was simple (and admirable) - you avoid a hangover by drinking the cure with the cause.

Well, you might be surprised to read that a brewery in the US has just released a beer infused with caffeine - just like the goons on the Drew Carey Show prophesied. They don't promise it will stop a hangover but they do suggest it will counter act the lethargy brought on by booze. You can read more at the link above.

Sayonara fools.

Flying soon into a home near you

That's right people, today (7/02/2005) I passed my Pre-Solo exam!

Very soon (within the next two weeks most likely) I shall be flying an aeroplane, by myself.

I have two more lessons to complete before they let me do this, Circuits (on Friday) and Engine failures (simnulation on Friday also), so once again I shall be placing myself in harms way. Hey I'm not dead yet and not from a lack of trying. (For those of you who didn't know already, I was hit by a car on the night of Joy's party)

In other me flying related news, my RAAF interview has been set for March 1st. They sent me a stack of paperwork asking for just about every detail on the last 21 years of my life! Hopefully with the interview being so late I can avoid having to join up this year and by myself some time to decide what road... er flight to take.

The link above is to an awesome single engine Cessna (I wish I could afford one)

Summer in Melbourne

A quick post and some photos for those of you overseas who might not have heard how crazy the weather has been in Melbourne over the last few days. Yesterday was the coldest February day in history, and it rained in Melbourne for 30 hours straight.

It hasn't rained as heavily today, but the overnight deluge has left flooding everywhere. 120mm of rain fell in Melbourne, the highest level since records began in 1856. That's four times the regular February rainful in just 24 hours. The Yarra burst its banks. Pascoe Vale Station was flooded. Claredon Street too. It has been snowing in the alps and Moonee Ponds creek has gone from a trickle to rapids.

Click on the link above for a photo gallery on theage.com.au and check out below some of the pics I took after work today.