Everybody, I'd like you to meet my Salsa Momma! Her real name sounds like... "Kachi" and I met her up in Wisconsin at a family reunion with Michelle. She's from Mexico and makes some tasty food (particularly salsa)!

Language is such a funny thing... I recently watched a pirated Chinese copy of the Bollywood Indian movie Jajantaram Mamantaram - dubbed and subtitled in English. The dubs are hilarious by themselves (not to mention the movie itself) but the subtitles are even better. The make an attempt at sounding like the right words even if the meaning is completely different!

Translation has a rich and humourous history. For example, Engrish.com and the Engrish wikipedia page...

Close to my heart resides a classic gaming mistranslation. The Sega game Zero Wing was famously butchered during the translation, leading to possibly the most famous (and hilarious) opening cutscene ever. Phrases such as "All your base are belong to us" (see picture above) and "Somebody set up us the bomb" have become internet legends now. Check the story out at wikipedia's page or watch the original intro and flash animation which made it so popular in the first place.

Most recently, I stumbled upon a brilliant non-legit subtitling of a Chinese pirated copy of Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith aka "Star War the Third Gathers: Backstroke of the West." This stuff is hilarious. Somebody took photos of some of the more amusing scenes and posted them on his blog with comments. Even people who are not particularly Star Wars nerds should find this hilarious. So, I leave you with these thoughts and sites to ponder. May the wish power are together with you!

Ain't no sunshine when she's gone.
It's not warm when she's away.
Ain't no sunshine when she's gone
and she's always gone too long
anytime she goes away.

Wonder this time where she's gone,
wonder if she's gone to stay
Ain't no sunshine when she's gone
and this house just ain't no home
anytime she goes away.

And I know, I know, I know, I know, I know,
I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know,
I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know,
I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know,
I know, I know, I know

Hey, I ought to leave the young thing alone,
but ain't no sunshine when she's gone,
ain't no sunshine when she's gone,
only darkness everyday.
Ain't no sunshine when she's gone,
and this house just ain't no home
anytime she goes away.
Anytime she goes away.
Anytime she goes away.
Anytime she goes away.
Anytime she goes away.

Sad... she left Sunday morning and I shan't likely see her for quite some time :(

Now for something completely different... I've recently become rather fond of Eddie Izzard's highly intelligent humour mixed with biting social criticism. An excerpt from the Dress To Kill transcript may show what I mean:

Stalin killed many millions. Died in his bed. Well done there.

Pol Pot killed ... million Cambodians.

Died under house arrest, age ... Well done, indeed.

They got away with it because they killed their own people.

We're sort of fine with that.

"Oh, help yourself.

"We've been trying to kill you for ages, so kill your own people."

Seems to be.

Hitler killed people next door. Ohhh. Stupid man.

After a couple of years we won't stand for that, will we?

Watch out, you Walla Walla College freshmen :) I just got a job as one of the Jump Start leaders this year. That means I'll be guiding these poor newbies through their transition from highschool to college life. I'll work for a week before college starts: showing my group around campus, answering questions, getting to know the students, attending "sessions" (whatever that means), leading social activities, and then following up throughout the quarter to make sure they are doing ok. It's really a pretty cool idea and I see a few major benefits for me:

1. Leadership. I'll be growing my leadership abilities whether I want to or not. This is outside my "comfort" zone, but I know it will be good and useful for me.
2. Friends. It's an easy way to scout for friends in the freshman crowd - they have to meet me :P
3. Money. Granted, it's not much, but I'm not going to complain about making some extra cash.
4. Time. It'll get me to college a bit early which means I'll have time to settle in to my room, time to hang out with friends (hoorah!), and time to get a routine of excercise/sleep/work together for the coming quarter.

It wouldn't be Australia without genuine kangaroos ;)

Here, you can see my very limited Aussie travels. Most of my time has been spent in Sydney (or near it). The green line indicates the roadtrip I went on with Jen a week ago, and the blue represents the travelling I will start tomorrow with Sharona. We are going: down to Melbourne for a few days, flying up to Brisbane for a few days, back to Sydney for a day, and then flying back home. Should be exciting ;)

Clearly someone stepped in kangaroo doo one too many times... Jen and I came across this piece of art in Kosciuszko National Park - this sight was almost woth the entire roadtrip in itself.

Ecclesiastes 3

A Time for Everything

1 There is a time for everything,
and a season for every activity under heaven:

2 a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to uproot,

3 a time to kill and a time to heal,
a time to tear down and a time to build,

4 a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance,

5 a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
a time to embrace and a time to refrain,

6 a time to search and a time to give up,
a time to keep and a time to throw away,

7 a time to tear and a time to mend,
a time to be silent and a time to speak,

8 a time to love and a time to hate,
a time for war and a time for peace.

Well folks, I'm back home. In Australia... I suppose home is wherever friends and family are, but there's something about the culture here that sets it apart.

I've tried writing this blog post many times and it never comes out the way I want. Sydney, friends, the wedding, the animals, the sounds - it's all fantastic, but I lack the elequence to write about how much it means to me. I'll keep working on it, but for now it is enough to say that I'm loving my time here in Australia and it is every bit as good as I remember and hoped it would be!

There are so many stories, memories, and adventures to tell. It's rather daunting actually. Oh yeah and pictures are on the way, of course ;)