Sadly lacking in Timbits

On Friday night, I went to a rather unusual event. Well, unusual for Melbourne at any rate. Australia's not really big with the winter sports, on account of a freezing cold day = 12 degrees C, which isn't exactly conducive to ice and snow. You know? So when I saw that there was going to be an exhibition ice hockey match between Canada and the USA, I jumped at the chance to go.

While it may have been a good 20+ years since I lived in Canada, this doesn't mean that I won't cheer for them when given the opportunity. Apparently the rest of Melbourne felt the same way. Because when the US team skated out, there was a smattering of polite applause and then some awkward silence. When the Canadians appeared? The roof practically lifted off the stadium.

Then they had some "promising local talent" come out to sing the two national anthems. She was not only flat, but forgot the words to both of them and kind of made things up that were vaguely right but not really to fill in the gaps until she worked it out. So that was cringe worthy fun... Thankfully, they shooed her off the ice and got down to business pretty quickly.

There were fireworks and staged fights and mostly I ended up being insanely impressed at how quickly the umpires were able to get out of the way of the puck and/or large men in tons of protective gear that were hurtling towards them.

At the end of the first period, Canada were ahead by a good four goals and things were looking good. Then they brought out the most ridiculous piece of equipment in creation. No, it wasn't a Zamboni. Apparently they didn't think it warranted finding one for a whole two nights of professional level ice hockey. Instead, a bunch of guys came out with ice scrapers, and skated around sweeping the ice for about ten minutes. Then they brought out some kind of golf cart looking contraption with a water tank on the back of it. Said water tank was connected by hoses to a bunch of (what appeared to be) towels, and they drove around the rink using the wet towels to smooth the surface of the ice.

It was probably the least effective method they could have found. And, considering it was like 23 degrees in the stadium (at least up where we were sitting!), play had to be delayed until the slightly ridiculous quantities of water they put down had frozen.

The US made a comeback during the second period, and the commentators interviewed an AFL player and asked well thought out questions like "What do you see as a the major differences between AFL and ice hockey?". The entire stadium did a confused dog head tilt at that, because:
1. One takes place on grass, the other on ice.
2. One involves kicking an oval shaped ball, the other hitting a puck with sticks.
3. One requires tiny shorts and a sleeveless jumper, the other 10 kilos of protective padding and a pair of metal blades strapped to your feet.

One might, in fact, say that the only similarities between the two sports is that they're played in winter and are fast moving...

During the second break, they claimed to have a special prize to award and called out a couple of seat numbers. Except it turned out to be less special prize and more "unexpected proposal", which ended up being insanely awkward because she a) nearly fell over on the ice in her heels, and b) didn't respond for a good three minutes. Nothing says romance like proposing in front of 10,000 complete strangers!! O.o

Then a bunch of very tiny children in very long hockey jerseys came out and skated around at top speed. And then they got to meet all the players, which was pretty adorable.

The third period ended up being the most exciting, because it ended up being a really close match, and it was only the last ten minutes or so where they were actually playing at their full capability. I'm not sure whether it was the ice or whether they'd been told to take things slow for the dumb Australians who aren't used to ice hockey, but I rather wish the rest of the game had been played with the same speed and skill.

As it was, Canada emerged victorious through some great work on the part of the goalie, and through a wonky power play by the US which saw them replace their goalie with an attacker, leaving Canada one player down but with an open goal to shoot at.

And then they made it snow in the arena. Because obviously...

On the whole, it was an excellent evening. I got to sing O Canada at the top of my lungs, boo a Collingwood player, and watch some pretty excellent sport. Now if only they'd had Timbits for sale, it would have been perfect... *sigh*

Have you been to see any unfamiliar sports? Did you have even the faintest idea what was going on? Because I sure didn't...

K xx

Thunder Mountain junkies

Iiiiiiiiiiit's time for another exciting installment of Kirsti Tells You About Her Trip to the US Four Months After It Happened. YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!!

Previously: velociraptors, Downtown Disney, and Jeremy Renner.

Bright and early the following day, Alice and Emmy came to pick us up from our motel, and we headed to Disney World. Now, the last time I went to a Disney park was in 1989, and I was *just* old enough to have worked out that there were PEOPLE inside the costumes. So I spent about half the day completely terrified because OH GOD PEOPLE LEGS AND CARTOON BODIES AND I'M BEING ENCOURAGED TO HUG STRANGERS DO NOT WANT. See?

That's the only photo of me with a character. Also, please marvel at my dad's stunning acid wash jeans. And my general toothlessness. And the many bumbags in the photo...

ANYWAY. We made it to Disneyworld and Lor and I started judging other people's outfits pretty much the minute we hit the car park. Because we're super nice like that. Eventually, we made it into the park - we'd decided to just do The Magic Kingdom - and headed up Main Street USA:

We headed pretty quickly over to Tomorrowland and headed into Stitch's Great Escape because there was no line. That wasn't all that exciting, and once it finished we jumped in the queue for Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin. The queue moved pretty quickly, and soon enough it was our turn. But shortly thereafter, the ride stopped. And the place where the cart thing that Lor and I were in stopped right next to a laser point. So I quietly sat there hitting the trigger on my laser gun and giggling to myself as my score increased. After a minute, Lor noticed my score going up, and was like "HOW ARE YOU DOING THAT NOT FAIR". The answer? "Taking advantage of the situation".

Our final scores. 

Mwahahahahahaha!!

From there, we foolishly decided to ride the Carousel of Progress, which was hilariously awful and which we snarked our way through because OBVIOUSLY. Snarking is what we do best. By that time, we were all pretty hungry (Lor and I had Pringles and fudge for breakfast), but in our search for a restaurant we found the Mad Hatter's Tea Party. And we figured it was best to ride that BEFORE we ate rather than after. Somehow, we managed to cram all four of us into one teacup, which caused rather insane levels of spinning. WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE.

After lunch, we headed up past the new section of Fantasyland (it was too crowded to actually visit) and ended up in the queue for Peter Pan's Flight. For some inexplicable reason, the queue took over AN HOUR AND A HALF, and by around half an hour in, Lor and I were into the giggly stage of "I have been standing in this queue for too long". So when we spotted a woman in the next row of the queue wearing a full body jumpsuit that was lemon yellow with grey and pink chevron patterns and bright orange running shoes, it was all over. We broke into hysterical giggles any time we passed this poor woman and her insane outfit. After that, the ride itself was something of a let down.

Our next stop was It's a Small World because apparently we're masochists. And you guys have probably already seen the results of our ride through that... After that, we stopped for Mickey Mouse shaped ice creams and a trip through the Haunted Mansion, then into Frontierland. Lor and I got express tickets for Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, which Emmy and Alice didn't want to ride, and then the four of us headed over to ride Pirates of the Caribbean while we waited. The movie-ification of the ride would probably disappoint those who are Disney classicists, but pfff. Captain Jack Sparrow is awesome, and I don't think they could really NOT include him after the success of the movies.

Then we rode The Magic Carpets of Aladdin, because apparently we're seven years old, and got pineapple Dole Whip, because OBVIOUSLY. Clever Girl enjoyed it rather a lot.

Once we'd finished our enormous ice creams, we split up: Lor and I headed towards Thunder Mountain, while Alice and Emmy headed back to Main Street to go and visit the princesses, with an arrangement to meet up in an hour and see the fireworks. We had a total blast on Thunder Mountain, so much so that when we got off and the wait time was only 10 minutes, we jumped straight back in the line again. We had just as much fun the second time around. We still had some time to spare before we met the girls, so on our way over there we jumped on the teacups and recorded some ridiculous video footage, because OBVIOUSLY.

Alice and Emmy had snagged a prime spot from which to see the fireworks, although I will admit that I saw a decent chunk of it through my camera...

Once the fireworks were done, we headed over to Main Street to grab a spot for the parade. Except that just after we found a prime spot, the security guards came through and ushered everyone back from the curb and into a much smaller area. So we grabbed a bite to eat from a nearby snack place (I'm pretty sure I had a bucket of chips), and then discussed what we were going to do. Emmy and Alice wanted to see the parade, while Lor and I had the following conversation:
Me: So...
Lor: So......
Me: Thunder Mountain?
Lor: SO. MUCH. YES.

So we raced back there and rode our favourite ride all over again, giggling hysterically throughout. The view over the park was rather spectacular, I must say.

Then we wandered back towards Main Street past the parade, which was kind of insane in parts:

And then we met the girls by the entrance to the Magic Kingdom and made our very weary way back to the car, then to the motel where Lor and I bid Alice and Emmy a reluctant farewell. And then proceeded to rearrange the furniture in our room so that we could vlog even though it was after midnight, because OBVIOUSLY.

Next up, the longest flight from Orlando to Phoenix of EVER.

K xx

Things I Like Thursday, Volume 11

Seen random stuff on the internet that you find hilarious or just want to share? Head over to Gina's to link up! 


So, it's Thursday again! (And apparently also 'state the obvious' day...) And the first item on the list for this week isn't something from the internet, it's just something that's awesome. Because this happened today:

Little Miss A: Hey, I have a song by that boy!
Me: Which boy?
Little Miss A: [points picture in at newspaper] That boy. The one with the silly hair!
Me: Justin Bieber??
Little Miss A: Yep. My friends made me download it. It's really REALLY bad. You can't even dance to it!! Stupid Justin Stupid Bieber...
Me: Atta girl.


So yeah. That was pretty fantastic. (Course, she then handed me half a croissant and said "It's soggy because of my spit. You eat it now, okay? I'll watch to see if you like it." That part was LESS awesome...)


Next, we have this, which I found on Facebook the other day:

Source

There's also this piece of hilarity that I came across on Tumblr:

Source

And finally, we have this video. Apparently there was something of a problem with the Fourth of July fireworks in San Diego - they were meant to go off over 15 minutes, but due to a technical problem, they all went off at once. You have to admit, it's pretty awesome!! (Although it would be slightly disappointing to only have 30 seconds of fireworks rather than 15 minutes...)

Found something online this week that you desperately need to share? Head over to Gina's and link up! 

K xx

30 Days of Photography - Day 16

Oh, hey. Y'all thought I forgot about this again, didn't you? Yeah, I don't blame you - it's been nearly 2 months since I posted day 15 #umWHOOPS

Anyway, last night there were fireworks going on at a park down the road, so I figured I'd head down there with my camera and my tripod and see what I could come up with. You know what's not fun? Spending 10 minutes setting up your camera and tripod and getting everything perfect, only to find that you've pointed your camera in totally the wrong direction. And for some reason, turning the entire tripod around seemed to make much more sense at the time than turning the camera. DO NOT BE LIKE ME.

Still, I managed to get some decent shots (and a lot of really terrible ones). So here's day 16 - long exposure:

I'll try and do better than once every two months from here on in!

K xx

Chicago, the "catching up with old friends" edition

So while I was in Chicago, I got to catch up with a friend of mine from uni in Canberra. It was awesome, because I hadn't seen her since she moved back to the US at the end of 2008, and in the time since I last saw her, she's gotten married, had a baby and is almost due to have her second one! Let's call her Hello Wisconsin, because that's where she's from and because I'm a huge That 70s Show fan, so that's all that comes to mind when I hear anything about Wisconsin (and because I don't know how she'd feel about me using her real name on the interwebs).

I met up with Hello Wisconsin and her husband, G-Man, on Saturday night after the Summit. We went out to dinner at Russian Tea Time in downtown Chicago, and it was OMG SO GOOD. I hadn't had Russian food before, so I was a little hesitant that it would be all pumpernickel and vodka and beetroot. But while there was pumpernickel, it was delicious, and there were plenty of options that allowed me to avoid the other two!

We started out with the latkes, which come with sour cream and apple sauce. They were amazing. Sadly, I was so busy catching up with Hello Wisconsin (aka "We were so busy bagging the crap out of Canberra") that I neglected to take photos of anything. #bloggerfail We also shared the Russian dumplings, which were wonderful. The carrot salad that comes along with them was another highlight.

I followed up the entrees with beef stroganoff, which was insanely delicious. Sadly, the latkes and the dumplings proved much more filling than I'd anticipated, meaning I couldn't even get half way through my stroganoff before I was completely defeated. I can't remember what Hello Wisconsin and G-Man had for their main courses, but I do remember that they didn't leave much on their plates!

Hello Wisconsin and I declared ourselves too stuffed to even contemplate the dessert menu, but G-Man ordered the farmer's cheese blintzes. Despite our claims, once the blintzes arrived and the waiter thoughtfully turned up with three plates, Hello Wisconsin and I miraculously found room to try them. They were the perfect end to the meal - the cheese (which was kind of ricotta-y) wasn't too sweet, and the berry sauce gave them a nice zing. Basically? Dinner was awesome, and if you're ever in Chicago you should definitely stop by Russian Tea Time!

During dinner, Hello Wisconsin had mentioned that their hotel room overlooked the Chicago River, and that there were going to be fireworks going on later in the evening. So we headed back to their hotel (which was all kinds of fancy - gotta love a good deal plus a free upgrade!!) to wait for the fireworks. They eventually started, and we had a pretty great view of them. Well, we DID, up until the point where they became completely obscured by smoke. Apparently, despite being the Windy City (although I'm pretty sure I read somewhere that the nickname comes from politicians who liked to talk rather than windy weather!), Chicago couldn't muster up a breath of wind that night.

Me: Well. So much for the spectacular view.
G-Man: This looks like Baghdad or something...

It really did. I tried to find you a picture of fireworks hidden by smoke, but Google failed me. So I tried searching for a picture of missile smoke. Google gave me pictures of Kim Jong-Il, and Ewan McGregor as Obi-Wan Kenobi #wtf Basically? I gave up. I'm sure you all know what I'm talking about. Just watch Black Hawk Down if you don't.

The evening concluded with a stop off at the enormous Marilyn Monroe statue that's currently gracing central Chicago. Hello Wisconsin and I MAY have had our photo taken fondling her leg. Because we're mature like that.

So basically? It was a great evening, and I'm eternally grateful to the 20SB Summit for being in Chicago and allowing me to catch up with a friend I hadn't seen in forever!! Here's hoping it's not another three years before I get a chance to catch up with Hello Wisconsin and G-Man again.

K xx

Disclaimer: Russian Tea Time have no idea I exist. I just really liked their food.
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