day 17 of 24 - in passing.

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i begrudgingly awaken to the ramble of a girls voice. after a few moments i realise its jenny. I open an eye and see aaron and aj awake and crowded around her like school children gathered around a teacher to hear a story. She's been up for 4 hours. crying and talking to her parents. apparently rob is upset with how loud we were, but more symptimatically by thinking jenny is a drunk. truth is. when she drinks. she has a big ol time. but she hardly ever does. in fact. we are her first visitors to town. ever. and she has no friends she hangs out with. the association seems confusing. But i really don't want to get in the middle with their domestic private affairs.

After a lot, A LOT, of dialogue...i convince everyone to go out for lunch, in the nearby china town. We leave and take a lovely stroll over. The aromas in the air are to die for. There are rows and rows of food vendors, all persuading us to dine with them. Despite all the competition, all the deals looks about the same. Jenny (in her crazy state) decides she likes the one that offers a happy day with the meal. case settled. We enjoy a delicious meal. There's a bizarre down the road known as paddy's market, and we decide to go shopping down there for knick-knacks. jenny has school in a couple of hours and goes home to study before class. The bizarre is fun, albeit, pales in its majesty to the queen victoria market (melbourne...bias...maybe...but it is better). The guys get a few things and then decide to go to toronga zoo. feeling still gutted from my foot injury i decide to go back to jenny's to rest up, still feeling unequal to the task of walking all day long.

When i get to jenny's she's still quite visibly upset. She really wants to talk. i don't know her very well, but i humour her into being involved in her troubles. She begins crying and i can tell she's on the urge of being completely overwhealmed. Instead, i try to take her mind off the issue and brighten her up with some humourous stories. She stabilizers. i feel like i should have gone to the zoo. I excuse myself and do a little writing on the balcony. Jenny leaves for school. I don't really want to be here when rob gets done with work. I figure i have a few hours since he didn't get in until 7.30 the night previous. after only a very short while, he walks in the door around 4.30. Shit. Its awkward and he just plants himself in front of the tv without saying more than 3 words. I get my things together and plan to hit the town, and wait for aj and aaron to return. At that moment, they call to say they are back and need to be let in. I go down to let them in. They come back and begin to freshen up for the night. Aj has some canadian girl he met in melbourne to meet up with, and aaron was going to follow. They invite me to go with them, but my old buddy stuart had called earlier and wanted to catch up for a beer tonight.

Rob leaves, and about and hour later the rest of us are too. aj and aaron leave first. I'm stuck behind looking for my tin of tobacco. I can't find it anywhere. After a short frenzy, i give up and leave for darling harbour. I stumble around trying to follow the directions of stuart and work my way down the port. Its pretty and a lot more developed than i remember it. I'm almost in the right spot when im intercepted by a man.
He tells me things about me. I guess he's like a palm reader or something. It's weird...and strangely affecting. I can't begin to tell you what he told me. or foretold. or advised. but it has since sunk in. I will finish today's story. But after this, i am done. Sorry guys. I've realised some things, and i don't think its appropriate for me to continue anymore. Not at least to any internal depth.

I meet up with stuart. He looks the same. And after a fun evening of same 'ol conversation, i realise he's the same inside too. But we've enjoyed each others company. We share 4 amazing aussie beers, and a large rack of pork ribs. He offers a job to me here in sydney, right on the bay. And i take note of it.

My friends call me, and tell me to come meet them. As i finish the night, rob informs me that they are only about 30mtrs away in the adjoining building. what a fluke! I say goodbye, and meet up with my friends. Aaron's already drunk. he's such a lightweight. Jenny is with them also.
We decide to leave the loud and crowded bar and head back up the harbour. The night is pretty. Its warm. calm. the harbour looks brilliant at night, and i only wish i had someone to walk it with. We stumble upon a large outdoor bar, the tokyo..something. i forget. We get a round of drinks, perch ourselves on some grand 'ol seats and soak in the view. Jenny informs us that it's over between her and rob of 2.5 years. We doubt it, but also feel a sense of corporate guilt...as though we are responsible. She repeatedly eases us by saying we are only the catalyst to problems that have always been there. Eventually the bar closes and kicks us on our way. The guys are too tired to go on. We stop by downtown and grab some kebabs. After a bit of talking and laughs we head back to jenny's for in the morning we head back home to melbourne.

I didn't do anything tourist-ie in sydney. and i'm glad. I had a good time. The vacation feels over, and it was far better than i expected. But frustrating too. frustrating to neglect everything going on in the usa, and in melbourne. i look forward to home. to relaxing. to sleeping. to eating free and eating right...and seeing that giant of a dog - i like to call big-bear. Goodbye sydney, australia.

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