Lane's Ramblings

I guess the story really starts on Friday afternoon when I went to Trigger Brothers in St Kilda and finally bought a surfboard. I had my eye on this one for a few months, actually - it's a 7'6" stubby, 3" thick, white, and minimal graphics. It's a nice board and it was going take it's first dip in the ocean on Saturday morning.

I woke up early and went to get some breakfast and a coffee in St Kilda and drove across the bridge to Williamstown to pick up Lincoln and we made the hour drive down to Torquay - Jan Juc to be more precise. The surf was forecasted to be 3ft, which really isn't that bad for beginners.










The water was cold even with a wetsuit but I was able to get used to it pretty quickly. There were a lot of surfers out on the water but the beach was wide and there was a lot of room so you didn't feel crowded. The waves were manageable and there was a bit of a lull right where I got in, which was cool because I could get right over the waves to start up.







When we got to the clinic they wouldn't let him in for at least an hour because he didn't have an appointment. He was bleeding. How can you not let him in? I ended up dropping him off at his parents' house because his mother's a nurse and I went back to St Kilda. He did end up going to the hospital and got stitches - he's not allowed to surf for 10 days.

I went for a bike ride on the road for an hour and then met up with Paul at the Belgian Beer Gardens on St Kilda Rd. The Hoegaarden was flowing - well, at least for a little while until they ran out of kegs and we had to drink from bottles. How do you run out of one of your most popular beers on at Saturday night? It wasn't even night yet. Another 5 or so people joined us a few hours later before I stumbled home 8 hours after getting there. The Belgian Beer Gardens is a 'must go' in Melbourne, especially in summer.

Last Sunday I took an early morning tour of St Kilda, the town that I live in. I thought that people would want to see some of the things that you can see around town that early in the morning.

I woke up at 5:30 to watch South Africa beat England in the final of the Rugby World Cup, which was being played in France. I then went out to do the tour before the Red Sox game at 10. I went out at 8:30 and it was already hot on a day that was going to see 32C (90F), I first noticed when I was in line to get my coffee. The heat was evident in the sun but when you're in the shade it can be rather cool.

There were a lot of people out that morning. Some were buzzing around town for a coffee or paper, others were getting out in the warm weather for some running or biking, while others were stragglers still finding their way home from being at bars the night before.

Without going any further, here's the tour and my route:
http://www.kodakgallery.com/ShareLandingSignin.jsp?Uc=s8e95zp.9b9ljajl&Uy=davv96&Upost_signin=Slideshow.jsp%3Fmode%3Dfromshare&Ux=0

I've been a vegetarian for over 5 years and in that time I have never intentionally killed anything. Sure there were times when I accidentally ate meat due to misunderstandings, mistakes, or just pure ignorance. There was that time at a wedding in Jakarta where I ate a krupuk even though I knew what it was but I blamed it on being tired and the heat.. and then 10 minutes later I ate something that was certainly meat but they put it next to the brownies! Who puts meat on a dessert tray? One time I just bought the wrong spring rolls. But those are examples of animals that are already dead.