Patrick is coming home soon

Well, it's pretty much the end of the trip.

It's my last night in Melbourne and I get to spend all day on the train tomorrow (which means that I won't be able to follow the football games, but someone cheer the Pats and Saints for me) and then I have an early flight on Tuesday back home. I will, strangely, land in Edmonton only a couple of hours after leaving Australia. I get the sense that it will feel like longer.

Over the last week here in Melbourne, I have been lazy, but good-lazy, not feel-like-I-wasted-a-week lazy. I have gotten the drunkest I have been on this vacation (Thursday, off 4 litres of boxed wine that cost $6. Wine which contained traces of fish, milk, egg and nuts, apparently) and spend a night with Leah and Brittney at the casino and out across the river watching the gondolas row by and seeing the pillars in front of the casino spout bursts of fire, which they do every hour. Kind of reminds me of the Silver City dragon. I went to a day of the Australian Open with Raf and we saw Roddick beat Safin in a great match. I played a lot of cards, a lot of drinking games, and caught another movie. I had the majority of the hostel playing 'trapped'. We had to use seven decks at one point. I spent a little extra at the grocery store and made myself some nicer meals. Pork chops with mashed potatoes and gravy. Beef stir-fry. Met some new friends, including a couple of Irish girls that could drink me under the table with stunning ease. I mean, I know I've lost some of my drink-holding ability, but it was a little bit humiliating. Played a couple of poker tournaments in the hostel. There's some Americans and Canadians here now, which is new, as December was a month of British accents and German dialects. So, all in all, it was a good week.

Tonight is movie night, and I lucked into becoming close with the guy who picks the movies, and I talked him into The Departed, Little Miss Sunshine and Kenny. Well, Kenny was his choice. And there will be pizza, so I think it's a good way to go out. I was thinking of going out in a blaze of alcohol-induced fire, but a hangover on the train doesn't sound too appealing, and I went pretty hard last night anyway. This will probably be my last post from Australia. I might throw one more on once I get home just to chronicle the trip back, and I might even keep some sort of life diary going, but I somehow doubt that I will maintain the upkeep.

It's very bittersweet coming home. I'm pretty much flat broke, so, in that sense, it's a welcome idea. I don't fancy heading out and looking for work in Australia again, especially if, as Leah promises me, the job market at restaurants in Edmonton is still as green as it was when I left. I will certainly miss some people and make a conscious effort to keep in contact with them, and I know I will miss the weather (although this last week has been truly terrible. Rained out a few days of the Open) and I'm certainly excited to see everyone in Edmonton.

I'll look you all up when I get back, unless you look me up first. There was even talk of a coming-home party, but you'll have to talk to my Dad. He seems to be running the show.

See you all (really, really) soon!

Cheers. And g'day.

-P