chistoffer sorling has left the building

Watching his airport shuttle turn the corner was the hardest thing I've had to do so far this trip.

He's flying to Sydney, then off to Thailand for two months before returning home to Sweden. He's been like a brother on this trip, a best friend, maybe even more so than Matt and Drew. We had some great times. From B-boy battling at Soho, to Goon Pong in Cairns. From yelling "BOOOT!" on Mad Mondays, to just kickin it at the hostel repeating "You got to learn to take a 'yoke'".



If he lived in Port Moody, he'd be right up there with Day, and Finlay.

Wednesday night we had his going away. I cried at Mustang for about fifteen minutes. We took a whole bunch of pictures, lotsa hugs, smiles, laughs and a couple 'yugs' of beer.



He's trying to sign up for school in Sweden to become an electrician. It takes 2 years, but says when he graduates he is going to come visit us in Canada.

In the future, any picture I see of him where he is pointing at the camera, I'll defiantly feel a little bit responsible.
He'd been teaching me Swedish the whole time. I'm able to have flawless conversations to the extent of: Hi, How are you? I am good. My name is Steve, What is your name? You are cute. I want to get drunk.

On Wednesday he taught me how to say goodbye. Hej då.

Harrison

Woke up this morning... which usually happens, and jumped on the old computer. I went on facebook and saw that the pictures from the "Harrison May Long Camping Trip" had been posted. I'm so jealous right now. The hardest part of being away is going to be missing the camping trips. When we were booking our flight home I was going to plan it around camping so I'd get at least one trip in, but that's not happening anymore. Cody just started the 'event' group for 'Tulumeen Days' as well. That is the one trip I want to be on, more so than any of the rest. I was watching the video's from last year, and looking at the pictures posted. Man, oh man.

But back to this years 'may long'. Not only did I miss spending some quality time with my brother, but Matt Day, Cody Flesher, and Nick 'The Sasquatch' Finlay all were there as well. The four people I miss the most, with the one thing I miss the most. Depression is setting in.

I already know what happened even without asking. People got drunk, fell down, someone got thrown in the lake, songs were sung, good times were had. It's not the getting drunk part I miss, it's the times that are talked about after that I miss. Until next years trip, when this year is talked about all I can do is sit on the sideline and nod.

next year.

Paddy Mooney

Growing up, one of my favourite movies was "Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory". Now, being a bit older, I no longer dream about being in a factory, surrounded with free candy. So what could possibly be better than candy? Alcoholic beverages.

Yesterday was the hotel expo at the casino where company's show off new products, from hand dryers, to potato chips. The Shed got a certain amount of invitations, for managers and bartenders, but one for me didn't arrive, because I have only been working behind the bar a short time. Wait. Paddy's last day was Friday. He got an invitation. Say hello to the new Paddy Mooney.

"Hello, and your surname was?"

"Umm, I think it might be on there under Mooney."

"Paddy?"

"Yes Sir!"

Me and Ashling didn't show up until about 4:45, and the expo ends at 6pm. An hour and fifteen minutes to consume as much free stuff as we can. Shots of new 'Wild Turkey Honey', Aruma, Baileys Caramel, Canadian Club and ginger beer, the new 'Miller Chill', 7 kinds of daiquiri's, Wines, Jack Daniels, Smirnoff, Skyy Vodka with Peach ice tea, no sugar Cruiser's, the list goes on.

We kept getting in trouble from security because we were holding to many drinks at a time.

Now on a less up lifting note...

"The boons are depleting" - Nic.

Sebastian flew to Fiji on Tuesday. The group is slowly falling apart. First Matt, now Sebe, and next week Chris is leaving. We sure will miss Sebe's checkered slip on's floating around the dance floor. He, like most people we meet, plans to come to Canada on his next trip, and then you too will fall in awe of his foot apparel.

fizzy lifting drinks & vodka.

"Happy Mother's Day"

"Happy Mother's Day" means more
Than have a happy day.
Within those words lie lots of things
We never get to say.
It means I love you first of all,
Then thanks for all you do.
It means you mean a lot to me,
And that I honor you.

But most of all, I guess it means
That I am thinking of
Your happiness on this, your day,
With pleasure and with love.

love you.

the busker

I started another 'job' on Wednesday.
I am now a street performer. Legally.
I went down the the city hall and got my busking licence on Monday, which means I can legally play on the street for money without getting shut down. It costed $22 and it lasts for a month. It was nice on Wednesday so Drew, Nic, and I walked down to the city, to see if theres money to be made. I found a nice place and set up shop.

Sitting on a cooler, open guitar case in front, sun glasses on face, guitar in hand.

It started off a little slow. I think it took about 2 or 3 songs before anyone dropped anything in. First drop, a $5 bill. Now things are going better. Nic and Drew hung out around the city, and hung out around me, and scored some free hot dogs. I played for almost two and a half hours. Some songs I played 2 or 3 times. When we were packing up to head home we figured I had made about $30, which would have been awesome, but I waited until I got back to the room before I counted it. I emptied my pockets on the floor and began sorting. When I was at $25 I turned to Drew and said, I think were going to have more than expected here. In all i pulled home $68 bucks. I bought shots for Nic and Drew last night for their support of sticking it out with me. A few times Nic has just walked up and muttered "Sixty-eight bucks, you boon." We were going to head back out there today but it's raining a bit so I guess I will have to wait until next week.
Respect.

matt's day, fat day, phat day

Matt's day.

Matt flew to Sydney on Wednesday morning. We went out Tuesday night and had some drinks, then we got up for brekky at 9am the following morning. Not sure if I'll see him again this trip, but hopefully we cross paths on the east coast.

Fat day.

After three weeks of trying. Rob and I finally got to have our 'entourage marathon' He called me on Thursday morning and informed me he had bought Season 3 part 1, to go with his season 3 part 2. We met up with Liam at the pub at around 4pm then headed to the bottle shop, and then the corner store to pick up some 'guys night' snacks. I had been wanting to really treat myself by sitting down and eating a whole bag of Doritos, what a day to do it. We bought meat pies, chips, and some wobbly pops. We watched the entire season. 20 episodes. So satisfied.

Phat day.

Truth is, I couldn't really think of a better rhyme. But it was a 'phat' day. Drew had informed me that he had heard at work that 5500 members of the american marines and navy would be docking in Perth. From what I had heard at work a few weeks ago, when they come in its awesome because they tip. My first shift on Friday was 3-6. It was pretty dead in there till about 4pm when the first few small groups started showing up. When I was done at 6pm I had $27.50 in tips in my pocket. I had 2 hours off before I came back at 8pm. I was exited to get back to work because I wanted to see some more change coming back my way. I was working at the dance floor bar, which isn't as busy. I was sent home at 12pm because I had to start again at 11am this morning, but I still managed to bring home another $60. Jackie, the Canadian girl at work, who worked at the busy bar last night, took home over $200. I start again tonight at 8pm, so I'm hoping for some more 'skrillah'.
we'll all miss yah.