So, here is an email I sent out. I am interested in your thoughts. Also, I just remembered Kill Bill.

( The Noughty Decade )

So, Cara and I fly out to Melbourne this coming Friday at 6:40PM. We would love to get a lift with someone, to get us there for around 5-ish. Maybe pick us up from our place at 4:30 or so? If not we can grab a cab, but I thought I would ask.

Also, we are returning on different days the following week. So I get in at 7PM on Tuesday 28th of July. Who wants to pick me up?

Once again, if all else fails I can get a cab (or ask my Mum), but airports can equal funtimes!

My arms and back are tired. Me and Cara have spent the last few days cleaning up this place in preparation for our first rent inspection. I feel so pooped!

This week I have been ridiculously productive at work, I have solved tons of bugs. I have also written up my Beauty and The Geek application form.

And I was going to visit Dave, Amy and Merri at the end of July. Work was sending me on a training expedition to Sydney, and it was only gonna cost me about $100 to fly from Melbourne to Sydney. So, cheap holiday. But the training was cancelled. So I had to decide if I could afford to still go visit Dave. But I have decided to go, and I have taken the Monday and Tuesday off to hang out in Melbs with Dave. It should be great.

It better be.

Melbourne, here I come.

Cara is totally gonna have to buy me dinner!

We made a bet. If Outkast - Hey Ya is in the top 20 of the hottest 100, then she buys me dinner at a place of my choosing.

Easiest dinner I ever won.

Of course if it isn't, then I have t take her out.

So, the unknown top 20 of the hottest 100 of all time comes out tommorrow. Here is my best crack at guessing what they will be. Tommorrow I will update and we will see how I did. It was a LOT harder than I thought it would be And I tried to put them in order, but it was basically all just guesswork:

( 20 songs )

Will Buddy Holly make it in and shock me? I hope so!

I think that perhaps people should come over on either Friday or Saturday night for Angel viewage.

Also, we bought extra Wii-motes, so 4 player games of Mario Kart could happen.

Anyone free?

P.S. I have been doing so much sport lately. Tonight I played mixed netball and basketball, yesterday I had a break, tuesday I went to Tonys and played basketball against work-mates, Monday I played floorball, Sunday I worked out, and all week I play Ping Pong at work. I am a little sore.

You Know What Really Grinds My Gears?

The new Kinder Surprise ad. Or more specifically, the song from the new Kinder Surprise advertisement. They rhyme "surprise" with "surprise" around 4 times. It shits me. A lot.

Also on the topic of songs, the first 21 songs from the Hottest 100 of all time have come in. I am quite pleased with the results so far. Sex On Fire is not too far up the list at 90, and so we don't need to worry about it doing too ridiculously well and reflecting badly on this era. A few of the songs I voted for have come in, which feels nice. I voted for Come Together, Every You Every Me, and Float On. If you haven't seen it yet, the list so far can be found here. And Nirvana's Heart Shaped Box came in at 101.

Talking about gears, I am watching le Tour de France, and it is great! One of these days Phil Ligget will die (or retire), and it will be like when the voice of F1 died(Murray Walker I think, and apparently he isn't dead?). It could never be the same. I am happy to enjoy the telecasts while they last. I feel the same way about Marv Albert.

I have fixed the internet, now things like torrents and WoW are moving closer to reality. Woo.

Also, I saw The Hangover with Cara, Adam and Nicola. It was awesomely funny. It reminded me of when we lost Nick in Florida, and also reminded me of my trip to Vegas earlier this year. Hehehe.

We have something vaguely resembling the interwebz here now.

Thanks for coming to my house warming party on the weekend.

This should be a big week. Ross Noble, Transformers, Year One.

And I just made an awesome stir-fry. W00t.

Cara and I have moved into our new place in Willetton. It is sweet, and will be great for parties, and TV nights and celebrity cooking challenges. Thanks to everyone who helped us move in.

We still haven't unpacked all of the boxes yet.

And we still don't have the internet.

Luckily we know people who do.

So, I was somewhat excited when I heard about Weezer with Fall Out Boy and Blink 182 touring together. Except for the Fall Out Boy part. But now this:

"...As for MORE Weezer tour dates, KNOW THAT Weezer will be touring with the freshly re-united Blink 182 in August and September! More details including exactly which shows they are playing together will be announced shortly. (note that Fall Out Boy is only playing the shows that Weezer are NOT playing). "

So if I go back to the US later in the year I could see Blink AND Weezer, and NOT have to sit through Fall Out Boy with my hands over my ears. It is really tempting, but I am in too much debt to really consider it, I think.

Fun. Full of awesome people. Not quite as good as an endless holiday though.

We are home. My feet are on Australian soil once again.

We woke up at 6:40AM in the Freedom Traveller Hostel in Italy. We checked out, lugged our bags downstairs, and made our way to Roma Termini train station. We caught a train to Leonardo Da Vinci/Fiumincino Airport, and spent the last of our euros on a couple of muffins and powerades(because hydration is important).

The trip from Rome to Singapore was 12 hours long, but didn't seem too bad. I watched three movies. The Wrestler (which was pretty awesome, but sad in the end), Valkyrie (which was pretty awesome, but predictably sad in the end), and Bride Wars (which Cara and I watched simultaneously, and was lame at the end). That killed about 5 hours, and I read some magazines, listened to my iPod and ate, which killed the other 7. I also had a Singapore Sling onboard Singapore Airlines (it seemed appropriate).

Last time in Singapore we got Burger King, and Cara raved about the Rendang Burger. So this time through I got it too. It was really great, and stopped me feeling sick. Then it was time to go through security (for the last time this trip) and prepare for our 5 hour trip home to Perth.

The flight was uneventful, except that I slept for about one and a half hours on the plane. And I didn't feel terrible afterwards!

Mum, Dad and Nicola met us at the airport, and we had a coffee and debriefed. It didn't take too long to get through customs, and the new "thermal scanner technology" which is supposed to protect Australia from the swine flu seemed to be an ordinary video camera set to infra red mode.

I will probably post a few more pictures of our journey (along with accompanying stories) in the coming days.

Cheers,

Cameron

P.S. I forgot to thank Julie, Peter, Katie, Lin and Duncan for being great on the holiday too!

In Changi airport in Singapore! Nearly home!

Cara and I just got in from our last day in Rome (and the last day of our holiday before we start the long process of flying home). Man, our feet are tired.

This morning we got up at 8 and headed to the train station to organise our train to the airport tomorrow. We had discussed at length what time we would need to leave, and were thusly slightly disappointed when he told us our ticket would allow us to go on whenever we wanted. We then walked back to the hostel to dump off the ticket.

Then it was time to head across to the Vatican City - a tiny country inside of Rome filled with Nuns and art. We had already seen Saint Peters Basilica, the tombs (including those of the Stewarts from Scotland), and the view from the dome. Now it was time for the Vatican Cathedral, and the world-famous Sistine Chapel. They had it set-up so that we had to walk through a bit of modern religious art to get there, and a lot of that was very interesting (although not super modern in my view; a lot of it was from the 50's).

Then we entered a series of rooms which were painted and designed by Raphael. They were quite incredible, and very inspiring in their own right. One room, loosely translated as the Signature Room I think, contained my favourite piece. It covered an entire wall, depicting the School of Athens. Every major philosopher, mathematician and astronomer of Ancient Greece was pictured. Geniuses all. And cheeky Raphael slipped a little self portrait of himself in there too.

Then we saw the Sistine Chapel. It was really impressive, although it gave me a bit of a crick in my neck. There were curtains painted at ground level, with big frames of bible stories further up. That was followed by painted architecture and Rams Heads which separated images of God, The Heavenly Host and Adam & Eve. On one wall was a giant painting of Jesus and all the saints. Really cool place.

Then we explored some more and found other exhibits including the Carriage Pavillion which included a history of the evolution of the Pope-Mobile.

We left the Vatican after that and considered our options. Our feet and knees were sore, and we had packing to do, so heading back to the hostel seemed like a good idea. However we had not yet seen the River Tiber, Tempio Adriano, the Pantheon, the cool castle, or Piazza Navona. We decided we can rest on the plane and headed off. The river was green and gross, but we had a seat by its bank and watched birds and rowers float by in the afternoon sun. The sun has been a welcome surprise. While the weather earlier on our trip was occasionally inclement, Europe has been fantastically warm and Sunny. It will be strange to return to wintery Australia. The Pantheon was closing, but we managed to get into it to look at the tombs of Vittorio Emmanuel II (the first king of Italy), Umberto (The second king of Italy), and Margherita (the 2nd kings wife, who loved Pizza so much that a pizza is still named after her to this day.) Then we were thrown out, and we explored. We had more gelati near the fountains in Piazza Navona, and then headed home.

Later we headed out for dinner, and now we rest in the common room of our hostel, dreading packing everything upstairs. I think I may have lost my LA Clippers hat.

And now some ( random highlights )

So, tonight we pack. Tomorrow we fly. And when we get back I may post a few more pictures and stories, but suffice to say I am tired - and happy - and this has been two of the best months of my life.

Ciao, Arrivederci, Au Revoir, Adios, Hasta Luego, Seeya and Cheers.

Cameron Out.

We are in Bologna right now, in the middle of our Bus tour. The internet has been sporadic, so we have struggled to keep in contact.

New stuff:
- The northern part of Italy is beautiful.
- Buffets are great.
- Italian coffee is good.
- We saw the pope.
- So many cathedrals.
- I miss my friends, family, guitar, job, basketbal and Aussie food.
- And apprently there is some drama involving my tenants leaving my house in a bit of a mess.

Talk to you all soon, we are back next week.

Ciao.

Hi guys,

we are in Rome, and are still having a good time. We have seen the Colliseum, Circus Maximus, the Palatine hill, St Peters Basilica, the tombs of the Popes (and the Scottish Kings), and we have had Gelato. We have been run off of our feet. We are very much looking forward to our bus trip.

Ciao.

I totally have the cold. Boo!

We are in Nice. Do I dare to say it is nice? I do.

( **** )

Barcelona has been fun! However there is no wireless here, so I have to type this up on a common room computer.

We are starting to get to that point of the holiday where we need a little break from it all. Maybe 6 weeks is long enough. Instead of 8 weeks away, next time I will do 6 weeks away, and then 2 weeks in front of the TV watching Oprah and Dr Phil back at home.

Today we went and saw a bunch of Gaudi stuff. The Casa Batllo, and the Sagrada Familia. Really cool buildings designed by a really cool man. I liked the mushroom room the best. But the audio guide was a little pompous.

I had a Spanish Omelette for lunch today which was incredible, and last night we went out with a couple of American dudes and had some drinks at a little bar. Quisiera Un Jarre San Miguel y Un Vodka Y Fanta Naranja, Por Favor. I think I still speak broken Spanglish, but at least I can order drinks, with enough pointing.

Buenas Noches.