Early Stages of a Great Adventure

Just sitting here at L'Espresso again fulfilling stereotypes. Today i am inadvertently fulfilling my personal view of a very stereotypical College student.

• Appearance: Orange Chucks, and a very brightly coloured  argyll sweater vest that i got from the Op shop for 2 bucks.
• Location: Coffee shop on the main street. Popular place, funky music with CD's lining one wall. Always bustling and a-happenin'. Table in the window to display to the world my Mac Book.
• Sustenance: Soy Cappuccino (i don't drink milk...that often) Free Range eggs poached, none of that cages-the-size-of-a-piece-of-paper shit.
• Language: Said "shit" in a blog post haha.

On top of that i am researching my next adventure, as college students, besides living pay check to pay check, live adventure to adventure. So far this adventure has already been months in the planning and won't happen until November if at all.

• The Plan: (Man i am into the dot points today haha fun.) In New Zealand they have opened a new trail stretching from the tippy-top to the very bottom, coast to coast. My plan, in the most simple form, is to walk it. Well the south island at least. 1500 Kilometres of coastline, plains, mountain passes, flat sheep stations, national parks, geyser fields, flightless bird infested terrain, mountain-top hot-springs and everything in between. The endeavour, if all goes to plan, should take 2 months...ish depending on detours, hitched rides and the like. Should be a great time there is just one small drawback...i don't have anyone to go with me. Sure there has been talk of mom wanting to come down for a week and Bud quitting his job to walk with me haha. But realistically i need a partner. Granted like the title suggests this mighty undertaking is still in its early planning stages and i still need to pass it by work, secure funding and and and and ooo i wonder if i could get sponsors, write a book, hmm this could be good haha i digress, i'm cold

Just Life...

MissEllaneous seems to be not nearly as invested in this blogging endeavour as yours truly (Jerry) but I hope we will hear from her in the nearish future. Alas, for the time being you must listen to me.

I have been left to my own devices this week, as Ally Q is off galavanting the countryside with her family. I am not bitter as she sees the sun shine, water skis and enjoys the cooking that only a grandmother can provide, no not bitter at all.

The weekend consisted and will continue to consist primarily of work (someone has to bring home the prosciutto). The little cafe in which i am currently employed L'Espresso is the greatest work environment ever. Just a little place with only seats for 48, it's a very happenin place. Sounds small but it takes 9 floor staff on a busy day to serve 200 brekkies before noon. One wall is completely lined in music, as the owner converted the space from a record shop. the tight space creates a fun and busy atmosphere. The coffee is well known to be the best in town and the amount of coffee grinding and milk frothing that is generated on a daily basis is atonement enough of L'Espresso's success. Reminds me of home being at The Cafe (Echo Lake), not due to appearance, rather due to the regular faces. Everyone knows everyone's name and coffee order, some don't even get in the door before their order is placed and prepared. Although the days are sometimes too long and i am utterly exhausted at the end of each day, there isn't much that i'd trade for new work family here in Ballarat.

Being alone isn't all that bad really. This bachelor week will give me time to do things like, admire the clouds, sing as loud as i want and go the bathroom in the night without first putting on pants! Woot Woot! Plus she Ally Q has a queen bed...haha joking that's creepy. During my first night of bachelorhood i did what every man alone does, went out to eat. As i sit here at my table for one, with my extremely large Parma (who let me order the main) i am facing the door and watching NOONE hold the door for this little old lady trying to exit with an armful of take-away. Thus i have felt compelled to include in this post "The Rules of a Gentleman". I found this list the other week and now have it as my desktop background. I find it to be the perfect list to live by and try my hardest to obey.

1) A Gentleman is always presentable.
2) Live a passionate life, with a compassionate nature, and dispassionate judgment.
3) Talent is God-given. Be Humble. Fame is man-given. Be grateful. Conceit is self-given. Be careful.
4) Opening door for a lady is not optional.
5) A Gentleman is one who puts more into the world that he takes out.
6) Nothing beats a good hat, so long as it is removed when indoors.
7) Anything worth having is worth working hard for.
8) A Gentleman will never instigate a fight, but he is permitted to end one.
9) A Gentleman reads and reflects.
10) The best suits are tailored (ties should never be a focal point).
11) A Gentleman means what he says and says what he means.
12) Be gracious in manner, humble in tone and thankful for what is given.
13) A Gentleman lives beyond his zone of comfort.
14) The line between confidence and arrogance is very thin, and a Gentleman is aware of it.
15) Drinks are not meant to be mixed.
16) A Gentleman can drive stick-shift.
17) A Gentleman can jump is need be.
18) Know the differences between courage and stupidity.
19)  A Gentleman is observant, and takes action without delay.
20) To a lady, a Gentleman will readily offer his coat and his hand.

I hope all will take this with them and remember just like Elvis, Hitler and 2Pac Chivalry is not dead. Haha

Just thought i'd update everyone on my happenings here down under. Stay tuned...leave a comment.

Caffeine, Culs-de-sac and Collective Nouns

As we sit here within the walls of L'Espresso consuming what many would label as "too many coffees" we are forced to recognise the randomness and incongruent nature of the deep spaces of our minds. While some "get a kick from champagne" I feel my inner thoughts come forth whilst under the influence of C8H10N4O2.  My mind goes walkabout and there isn't much to filter on the path to the mouth. Anything and everything that pops into the head will flow freely to the page.
Let us get serious here for a moment, a muse of capons? Is it very very necessary that we have proper collective noun for a group of castrated roosters that have been fattened for sale? Seriously folks. A flink of cows but only when more than 12 otherwise just a herd. If i were a cow i personally would never travel in groups of less than 12 for who would ever want to be referred to as a herd when one could be the deciding member of a flink? Most make sense, a flight of swallows, a cloud of seafowl, an ambush of tigers, a sneak of weasels, a plague of locusts, one of my favourites, an escargatoire of snails, an eloquence of lawyers, but really the one that takes the cake as best named collective mass of animalia is a congress of baboons.
Now to another educatioal part of this tri-paragraphical post...oh random parenthetical what a great word...pluralization of hyphenated words. Was just reading an academic journal article upon the inters-web (hehe jokes) for Uni and noticed at a few interspersed times the author, to make a hyphenated word plural, simply added an "s" at the end. This got me to thinking, and I post this without any research with which to support my tirades. The plural of a hyphenated or compound word should include the 's' following the primary noun. Id est, Mothers-in-law, courts-martial, passersby, major generals not majors general, and then we hit things like manservant becoming menservants and then all goes to hell haha.

Well if you actually read all that i am proud and i'm sure you have something to say concerning the subjects if not then just say nothing at all.

Good Morning And Good Day

Hello there friends and possibly family, or friends that are like family or perhaps family that I wish we're more friendly, today we, (the lovely Ally Q) and I have decided that we need to impose our opinions of the world upon as many others as we can and what better way to do this than via the good ole interwebs! I hope that you will enjoy your stay here on our blog and know that we don't charge that much. Hope there are many more interesting and even more uninteresting just plain confusing posts to come. Now just a word or two or three from my collaborator Ally Q!

Dear readers, as we sit here admiring the beautiful sunshine sipping our cappuccinos and giggling over froth mustaches I feel annoyed really that I am being forced to have an opinion. Now a quick word on ducks, they quack, they're scary really and smell quite funny. Thankyou and goodnight. (written with the use of a quick quotes quill aka Jerry)