Nearing The Halfway Point

Really can't believe it has almost been six months since I have felt the sweet US soil on my feet.  The time is flying here, except from 8am till 4:30 every Monday through Friday, that is work time and work time is terrible.  In six months I have managed to do a number of amazing things, meet some great people, and attempt to make the rest of this planet hate the US that much less.  They do by the way, they hate us real bad.  I understand where a lot of that hate comes from:



As long as you are not an arrogant A-hole, then people will usually give you a fair chance to prove their US hate wrong.  Trouble is you have to act like a beta wolf and basically submit to their ideas and belief structures in order for them to not see you as a threat and start attacking all things USA.  Its a delicate dance and I have gotten pretty good at dancing it, unlike all other real kinds of dances.  This Syria business is not helping out either, but in reality we are damned if we do damned if we don't.  I'd compare peoples feelings towards the US as bandwagon hate.  Same kinda reason Dane Cook went up in flames.  He made some bad movies and probably got a bit full of himself, but his comedy never changed and was still funny.  Then some people turned on him, and that became the norm, hating Dane was in fashion and people without a real reason to dislike the guy hated him in the same way that a person who spent $20 to go see "Good Luck Chuck" or "Employee of the Month" did.  (My Best Friends Girl, was awesome, don't care what you say, Alec Baldwin was in it.)


That is the case with the world vs the US.  I am not sure how many of you have had the chance to really travel outside the US, but when you get the chance to, you will be captivated by the disdain the world has for your home country.  I usually take it as a challenge to prove them wrong, or I just agree with them and then passive aggressively insult them until I go to far and they figure it out.

Anyway, I was not planning on writing about this at all, but I guess its something new and interesting.  Life updates, I am still in the hostel as looking for rentals is a real hassle and with work and hoops and whatever else I can find to do down here there is not that much time.  I'll either end up living here until I come home, or finally get my act together and find a rental.  Hoping for the latter, expecting the former.  Work is good, bank account is getting back in shape, as am I...slowly.  A buddy in the hostel and I are doing Shape Up September.  Rules has been tightly followed and are:
-1 drinking session a week
-No fizzy drinks at all (EASILY THE HARDEST PART FOR ME)
-Daily workouts or sporting activites
-Cut down spending by making meals
The goal is to shape up the body and the bank account.  We are thinking Out of Shape October since the O was a tough letter to do exercise related word, but I would be willing to reexamine if anyone can come up with a better word.

Good Luck to the Dawgs today.  I got up at 6am to watch the game, its on at 8:30.......awesome.  Happy Birthdays to cousin Mykel and the girl next door since I was four, Michelle Gervin.  I am sorry I was not there to celebrate with both of you.  Next time I write, since not a lot of excitement is going on, I''ll answer any questions you guys have regarding my life down here or Australia in general.  I already have some good ones from Brenden Lawrence and Lindsay Bushnell.  The more the better.  Email me at scottmorrisonhall@gmail.com

Happy New Stadium Day

Its the best time of the year, unless you live in Australia, where it is still pretty good.  I have scoured the city and will not be legally watching the UW game as its not on any network up here.  Pirate websites it is for me...all season long...ugh.  It is kinda cool to be the biggest Dawgs fan in an entire country/continent.  Hope everyone has a great time, the stadium is awesome, and Dawgs win by 23.

As promised once I got my laptop, here is the mostly picture post.  Congratulations to my friend Bennett "such a good lawyer/Steffy belongs to the club now" Taylor and Lindsey "LGD 2" Stewart on their engagement.  Great people, very happy for them.

I still have zero skills at posting pictures, so these are in a random order (see above).  Ill try to give a little feedback on each.  UW kickoff in one hour, so I have 50 minutes to get this done.  Above picture is Ash Scott and me encountering yet another deadly Australian snake.  Ash was killed.

Sydney skyline at night, the picture is not blurry, the city is.  Australia doesn't do anything right

I just liked this one.  Then I drank it

The hostel in Airlie Beach had countries flags on each door.  This was ours.  Yep, 'Murica.

Repping my hoods.

"I want that"

This lady was a kick, and decided rules be damned she was going to let us try every wine they had.  Jessica, Karly and I drank a fairly good amount of each one of these bottles, which led to Kim's first experience driving in Australia.  There would be a 10th bottle later, but I must have taken this picture before that.  For the record I still dislike wine, but the results agree with me.

View from our airplane ride around Fraser Island.  It was about a 20 minute flight and Kim white knuckled it for about all 20 of it.  She was very excited to get on the plane, and then more excited when it landed safely on the beach again.  Amazing views, but as I said before, not a whale in sight.

I shipwreck, not really worth stopping the bus for.

Facial hair on display and some hometown love.

Really wish I would have been in Airlie Beach for this.  Having seen these people on the basketball court, I can assume they dont throw well either.  

This is my foot, it was weird.  Not worth the $15 cost

That is rain on my glasses, I was the only one laying out on a lawn that usually has about 100 people on it at all times.  I still managed to get burnt.

This place puts chocolate on everything.  Chocolate fries and chips were good, do we have these back home?

The skyline again, I didnt want to risk taking it off and mess this post up, so here it is again.  Contact me if you would like to come down and see it in person.

This is from the roof of my "hotel"  It was a 10 k fun run, about 100,00 people.  Is that a lot for a fun run?

I posted this on FB, but this is the billboard I see each night that is hypnotizing.  Wish it was Pepsi though.  Oh and they did not cost $3.00 a can.  1000% markup.

The other half of the billboard.  Its huge

Life on the road.  Upper left is the van with big Neil, slept next to him for nearly a month.  It was a tiny space, but no worries, we are both really big, so that was good.  When you travel with no power one of your biggest priorites is charging your electronics.  I spent about 5 hours in this laundry room charging my I pod, I pod, Kindle Fire, Shuffle, Galaxy, and cell phone.  The other picture you have seen.

This was a wallaby that creeped up on us.  He liked chips.

The overpriced ($25) Bundaberg Rum tour.  At the end they give you two drinks per pass.  I somehow was able to acquire 3.  Still not worth it, except a rum and coke is about $8 down here.  Downside is I was a bit tipsy at noon on a Wednesday and about to get back in a hot stinky van.

There is the yellow plastic again.  Come on!!!!!!

The boys at the waterfall.  We followed around the tour bus and stopped where they stopped.  The water was cold and it was raining.  But the sights were fantastic.

This was the boat in the Whitsunday's night two.  The better of my two sleeping spots.  Ash and I got up early to see the sunrise with some of the Germans on the boat.  Is it called waking up early if you never really went to sleep??   

That says USA.  The Brits made fun of me and then did it themselves, expect mine was bigger.  Everything is bigger in the US, And better.

The four of us at the beach.  Coolest place I have ever been

Mom and sisters first night in the country.  So glad they got to come down and see what this place is all about.

The family at the vineyards in Newcastle.

Jess, Danny and I at the Bondi Beach.  I could write an entire post or posts about Danny.  Hell of a lad. (English speak)

This is the watering hole where the infamous snake appeared.  Joey did a back flip off the tree and into the water.  I got one foot wet and went running for my life

The Stand By Me picture.  No train came, or probably ever comes.

Sadly that is all the pictures I have for now.  Working has cost me a ton of free time and Kodak moments.  I also lost a ton of pictures that were on my stolen phone.  I hope someone is out there enjoying them.  Either way the Dawgs rolled today, I found a way to watch it down here, and I remain the #1 UW fan on an entire continent.  

Hope everyone is well, 6am fantasy football draft this week.  CANT WAIT