Let us bow our heads...

Well after a night like that, one must be saying to themselves, "it can't get any worse than that! It's all uphill from here!"

Wrong.

Wrong. Wrong. Wrong. Wrong. Just. Plain. Wrong.

I woke up about 9am, ready to take on another glorious, sunny day in Australia. I had made plans yesterday to "treat" myself to the Museum of Contemporary Art in The Rocks (near the Sydney Harbour).

After getting my ass in gear, I was on my way to Circular Quay, listening to my ipod and rocking out. My lip still hurt and it'd worsen during the night.

But I carried on and was ready to take in some Art.

I hopped off the bus, gathered my things and decided to walk through the train station. At Circular Quay there are a ton of musicians and street performers, which the train/bus/ferry station is known for. I looked up, saw the Museum and decided this would be an opportune time to capture the moment. I stopped near the railing along the Harbour Bay and began to put away my ipod, unload my camera and check my phone all at once.

DISASTROUS COMBINATION.

Take a guess -- which one was it? Oh. No worries, wasn't an important one at all.

JUST. MY. CAMERA.

It jumped right out of my hand, cracked against the concrete and *SPLASH*, right into the lovely Harbour water. You know when people say things happen in slow motion. Yup. That's the same thing that happened here. I gasped, I watched and *plop* it was gone. GONE.

If that camera was waterproof, I would've seriously jumped right in there after it -- not one 2nd thought.

I stood there for about a minute. Looked around to see if anyone else noticed (which, of course, no one did) and walked over to the museum. This is one of those moments you really just need to talk to someone. Especially with someone that you can tell repeatedly how effin' stupid you are.

Yup. I called my mom.

I sat down on the stairs of the museum and cried. Again. This is starting to become a daily ritual. Not a healthy one either.

She calmed me down and before you knew it, I was off, walking along Pitt St to find an electronics store. Sorry, but I really can't go a day without my camera....or at least a camera. Bought myself a new Sony - nothing fancy, just something decent enough to get through my time here in Australia. Which I'm starting to question how long I'll really be here. "Stick it out" says my adventurous, masochistic side. "Get the H outta here" says my brain...and my self-esteem.

And. FYI. I'm glad I didn't jump in after my camera. I walked back to take a picture of my camera's new resting place and saw a sh!tload of jellies swimming around.

That situation could've easily gone from bad to worse in .25 seconds.

I walked back to the museum because by golly -- that's what I came into the city to do damnit!! I was really glad I did too because I saw some really F'd up art. I loved it. Especially this one.

All of the artist's statues lacked heads. It was something else. Very intriguing. That's a picture of a postcard, by the way. I only was able to take 4 pictures on the camera's internal memory stick.

I also really thought this art struck home.

There were four mirrors on the wall -- each were broken in their own way and distorted your reflection differently. It spoke to me -- it helps explain my emotional state right now and all my crazy experiences I've been having since coming to OZ. Sometimes the pieces fit, make sense, other times, I feel like an incomplete puzzle.

Afterwards, I hopped a bus to go to Bondi since Melanie and I needed a few supplies for our "camping adventure" happening tomorrow. Little did I know what big ticket items we were in need of -- ugh -- and I ended up carrying around big bags of groceries. I felt like a total tool. However, I will let you know that I am an amazing bargain shopper and I win when it comes to spending very little on items that are usually more expensive.

After that extravaganza, I finally was en route to Coogee. Yay. Home away from home. Well, I hopped another bus and picked the best seat "in the house." Whoops. Wrong again. It started to downpour, which made me happy because I missed walked around in it, however, the bus decided it wanted to take leak. And it wanted to take a leak on my head. That bus, basically, pissed all over me. Some old lady was sitting next to me and kind of just looked and smiled. WTF?! Once the bus came to a stop, I told her to get her ass up so I could move. Jerk. My ass was completely soaked. Everyone just looked at me with a pitiful smile. Way to go me.

So. Let's take a few minutes and mourn the loss of one of my very good friends, Mr. Camera. He was really, really good to me, but I guess his time was up. After purchasing my new camera, I reflected on why bad stuff keeps happening to me. But, perhaps, this is a sign. A sign that I need to let go of what I know, what I remember about how things are supposed to be, and open myself up to new opportunities. New, Australian opportunities. I'm stuck in this, "well, back home..." phase and it's just not working out for me. How about, "Well...here in Australia, they do it this way and that way rocks." Oh boy. I think I have some learning to do.

Anyway. The nice folks at Sony were kind enough to find a few pictures taken with me and my camera. We grew very close over this past year so it was hard to lose one another. Here's a slide show of a few events we attended.

Mr. Camera and I betting on horses at the Randwick Races, Boxing Day, 2008.

Mr. Camera lounging on a beach chair in Anguilla, The Carribbean, January 2008.

Our favorite passtime, napping, Sunday Afternoons, circa 2008.

Meant for each other, December 2008.

In loving memory
Mr. Camera.
Devoted Camera, Devoted Friend.
Thanks for capturing all the good times.