Silverchair, karaoke and illness

Sorry for the long silence, I’ve been waiting to post photos but haven’t got round to it yet…soon I promise.

Since I last posted I’ve been working (boring) and going out a lot (fun). This included an impromptu St Patrick’s day visit to Seoul Karaoke bar (well, everywhere else had huge queues and crowds of stupid drunk backpackers. Karaoke was far more civilised, with sober young Asian guys giving fabulously polished performances – one guy was so professional I had to go over and shake his hand – and the odd out-of-tune tourist. The latter group including, I have to admit, me and Mike. Yes, there was singing (sorry, Victoria) but if it’s any comfort, I don’t think my mic was plugged in properly). Our hostel has also acquired a karaoke machine recently too, and there’ve been many impassioned performances.

Then there was Rock It – a one day music festival where we saw Grinspoon and Silverchair. This was one of the most last minute plans ever – I was happily doing some handwashing in the hostel on Sunday morning when I got a phone call from Laura saying she and Chris were now pretty close to Perth and did we want to go to Rock It? I was pretty easily persuaded, and it turned into a charming day: reunited with Chris and Laura, we sat on the grass in the blazing sun (desperately reapplying the factor 30 ever 5 minutes) drinking craftily smuggled in vodka. It was a very little festival, with just the one stage and minimal amounts of stalls and other entertainment, which made it nice and calm – none of that usual oh-god-what-am-I-missing? that you usually get. The major dampener was that, as at many Australian events, alcohol could only be served and consumed in one area (admittedly a big area with a good stage view) which you had to flash some 18+ ID to get into. Additionally, the area directly in front of the stage was fenced off, as at Big Day Out, with a separate queue and bag searches to get in there. With all these security measures, I see what they’re DOING – this extra barrier would make it significantly harder to have the overcrowding/injury-inducing crushes and violence that sometimes occur in mosh pits. The problem is that it significantly damages the atmosphere. This might have had something to do with why Silverchair’s performance somehow didn’t live up to my expectations…their choice of songs was wrong somehow – too weighted towards the slow, Neon Ballroom/Diorama era – and the crowd was pretty lacklustre and devoid of energy. However, I’m glad I’ve seen them now…yet another thing to tick off my list of “things to do in Australia”.

In other news, I’ve been ill with a rotten cold for the last week or so, which caused me to spend Thursday and Friday off work and in bed. I’m pretty much recovered by now, and went out last night for yet another hostel outing.

Speaking of the hostel, the major news is that Laura and I have found ourselves a room in a houseshare and we move in on Saturday!! Our landlord, who seems a bit weird but uber-helpful, is actually going to pick us up in his car to help us move…too good to be true?! It’s high time to be out of the hostel as the communal bathrooms and kitchens have really started to get me down, as has sleeping in a huge dorm whilst having to get up early for work, etc. I’ll miss the people, though. Our houseshare is with (shock horror) real people who are NOT backpackers!! None of them are Australian, but they’re all a bit older than us and working here in a longer term way. Should be interesting, anyway, and the house is gorgeous – huge living room with doors opening onto the patio, gleaming kitchen and bathroom…it’ll be such a change.