On my run...

I just went for a run around campus and on my way back I saw two wild cockatoos just chilling out on the lawn...they looked just like the ones in the pet store. White, big crest on the top of their head..a bit of yellow....very interesting.

Back from Christmas stuff

Well i'm back from my Oz family christmas. All went well and I don't think that I offended anyone..anyone that didn't deserve it that is. Speaking of offensive stuff, i've set my latest video to Private so that people can't see it unless I send it to them, which after a multitude of common sense emails from loved ones reminding me that people will actually expect me to be professional in the future and that it could contradict my credibility etc etc, I feel is a good idea.
 Anywho, christmas was a bit odd. Rather than christmas dinner, Australians have a christmas lunch, complete with a pork roast, potato salads and other cold foods. They have fake christmas trees, presents and sometimes stockings in the mornings like we do, but then they'll usually do something like go to the beach and surf or swim. I was swimming in a salt water pool christmas morning outside, thinking to myself what an odd thing to be doing this time of year. We then went up to a beach house in Coolum (which is on the sunshine coast). Unfortunately it rained constantly the entire time I was up there. Actually Queensland has been having terrible flooding throughout, as it's been raining consistently for about a week now. Most river towns have been flooded to the level that cars are submerged and they think it may affect food prices and delivery, as a great deal of crops have been destroyed.
  We did have fun in Coolum nonetheless. Played cards, watched movies, read etc etc. And yesterday we all went down to the beach while it was storming. The waves were crashing into the rocks wildly and had created vast amounts of foam. There was actually so much foam that the wind was creating meter high waves of it and we all were able to lay down and disappear underneath it. (by the way, this wasn't in an area where a wave could come in and sweep us away or smash us into the rocks). It was kind of gross, but most of the fun things in life are.

Love to you all and Happy New year!

Merry Christmas

Hey everyone. I'd like to wish you all a Merry Christmas (it's the 24th here now), and just let you all know that i'm thinking of you. It feels odd wishing everyone a merry christmas though, b/c it doesn't feel like it here. I'm laying in bed with the fan on sweating my @$$ off and various tropical cyclones have made their way through over the past week...so it doesn't really remind me of the christmas season. But if nothing else it is Liza's birthday tomorrow (her australia bday that is ;) ) so Happy Birthday to Liza...wow...19.  ...weird that the youngest bishop at the moment is 19 yrs old....man, that must make the parental generations feel very aged :D. I'm sure word has spread around but in case anyone didn't know, I have found someone crazy enough to let me into their family function for christmas so at least I won't be alone....it's kinda great, cause not only will I not be alone, but i'll be in a situation which is like crack to me. That is, an opportunity to make a whole bunch of people laugh nervously b/c they don't know if i'm joking and/or being overly familiar with my jests. ..ah santa, you fat custard of a man, you knew just what I wanted :D :D ;D

I love you all, and will likely be making the rounds of phone calls etc. on christmas. Any pictures or videos would be appreciated and would be an excellent xmas present.

cheers,

Check it out.

Hey, new video. Check it out ;)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5pmXLxojP1w

My world continues without me

  During a recent conversation with my father, who shall remain nameless, I had the realisation that my world continues to exist even without my presence slapped in my face. I know this is a roundabout statement, or even a platitude, but nonetheless it was new to me. The awakening story was short but sweet, and is as follows: by the way, my thoughts are described in parentheses.

Father:  "I'm not sure if you're going to want to hear this, but the other day Howie (liza's rabbit) was out loose in the house having a run around"

Me: "oh yeah" (wow...a story about howie..dad must be really bored)

Father:  "yes. I was doing something in the other room, not knowing where Howie was, and I hear some screams/meows from Tom (my somewhat overweight cat) coming from the back room"

Me: "oh yeah" (Crap...Tom has gone and attacked Howie and thrown him into shock and he's died and then tom likely made rabbit stew because he's a glutton and can't help himself and liza's upset and etc etc.)

Father: "I follow the sounds and open the door to the back room and ....(he paused trying to find the words to describe what he had seen)...he was on his back"

Me: (Great, howie was on his back in shock) "Howie was on his back?"

Father: "No no...Tom was on his back, quite relaxed, while Howie was on top of him giving him a ...special belly rub"

Me: .......................................What?

Father: "I entered the back room and Tom, sprawled on his back comfortably, just looked at me while Howie was straddled the top of him Humping his belly...(insert laugh track )...then tom decided to get up and leave the room...and howie went running after him"


    So there you go. The story that cemented the realisation that no matter how far away I am, or what I'm doing. Life continues as usual in the home whence I came.

Cheers.

The thing about birds is...

 The thing about birds is that they're beautiful and majestic...we marvel at their ability to fly and find inspiration in the freedom that it represents. But when they wake you up at 5 in the freak'n morning every day with their CAW CAWs and TERRWERP TERRWERP and whatever clucking/guttural sound chickens make...it makes you want to eat them. And thus ends the story of why we eat birds even though they hold the qualities mentioned above.

Campus

Hey everyone. So now that i'm up and running I can give you all a quick look at campus :). I took these pictures the day that my computer crashed actually.  What you're seeing is the main quad of the St.Lucia campus. All of the buildings in the quad are made with sandstone, both exterior and interior. I took a couple of pics of the engravings that are on the pillars just to give you the idea. It's a very photogenic area and is essentially central to the campus. My classes will be just on the other side of it with the exception of clinical stuff...obviously which take place in hospitals in the city. So enjoy these pics and i'm sure i'll have a post up soon about absolutely nothing that can be enjoyed...also I think I may start making posts that are directed a bit more toward people that are trying to get an insight into the international medical experience. I know it was a bit of a challenge for me to get a visual of where I was going.

cheers.

Annnnd I'm back

   Alright, here we go. I am back after having my computer crash and naturally the cost of fixing it was ridiculous. So I am proud to say that I am now the proud owner of a Mac...yes, yes..the switch has been made.
   I have some catching up to do on the old Blog and hopefully by throwing up a post a day or so for the next bit we can call it even. I find it amusing that "Random thoughts, with Harrison" was received so well...especially seeing as how for the majority of my life, my family has been trying to get me to stop expressing my thoughts...as they are either inappropriate or so useless that they actually detract from the world as a whole. Oh well, i suppose that's what you call ..something.
   For the past few days I've had a current/future classmate staying with me as he looked for an apartment here in Brisbane. My friend Ali and I are proud to say that our wolfpack has grown to three...there were two..the two of us..Ali and me to start..But then Trung came along and now we know...there are three. So that's fun.

 I should have some pics/video for the next post. And just for good measure here is a Random thought...with Harrison:

 Is it racist that they named the most fierce aquatic animal the "Great WHITE shark", even though really the majority of its body is Black...or are they just trying to avoid social backlash because it happens to be known for being more dangerous and untrustworthy than all of the other shark species?

Random thoughts, with Harrison Bishop

A bicycle with half a wheel could be called a semi-cycle. The distance around a semi-cycle wheel could be called a semi-circumference. And a precise measurement of this distance could be called a semi-circumcision.

Is a twinkie without the cream filling still a twinkie? Or is it just a piece of cake that can withstand nuclear forces?

I got a phone today that you only need to touch it to turn it on......  I spent half an hour trying to find the right spot and by the time that I did it was out of energy.

Isn't it ironic that Alanis Morriset ruined the term ironic trying to be ironic?

hmm....that's all for now.

To Byron and Back

Byron Bay is surfers town just over an hour south of Brisbane along the coast. My new friends Ali and Cassie asked if I'd like to go check it out for the weekend and I thought it would be unwise to say no. Heading out it was pouring rain, absolute bucket loads. When we got to the town it had been raining so much that the drains were full and there was full on flooding on the sidewalks. No joke, i was standing outside of a cafe up to my calves in water. I'll have a pic at some point. I think it's on Cassie's camera. So the rain subsided and the drains did their job within a half hour. Most of the first day was spent checking out the town and looking in shops. Ah, noah, I saw a really nice Uk for only $85 AUD...i was tempted...maybe even seriously conisdering ...but NO..there are more important things...like coffee and alcohol. We stayed at a backpacker's hostel which was really neat. They had their rooms set up in huge canvas tents and tepees as well as buildings. Waking up the next morning I noticed quite a few bearded dragons just roaming around. We spent the day at a nice little facet of the beach. Yes...I did go swimming...and yes...I punched a shark .....punched 'im right in the face. We didn't get to go surfing, but i'm thinking that next time i'll give it a shot for sure.
For your enjoyment I here are a couple of pictures and links to videos that I took this weekend.

:)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R28NNJ9seeU    

   And how about this one..................................

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XaNyQAAhPtw

Passing right to right

Interesting discovery, aussies don't only drive on the left side, they also walk on the left side. This is you pass someone right to right. I made this discovery while continuously running into people during my expidition to the central business district (downton or CBD) today. I learned through an extremely academic search (wikipedia) that archeological data from a roman quarry suggests that they also drove on the left. This was shown by the tracks leaving the quarry being significantly deeper than the tracks entering the quarry. i.e. carts were full of rocks on the way out and empty on the way in. Some historians believe that ancient travellers on horseback would also ride on the left so that they could hold the reigns with the left and have the right hand free to greet passing travellers (as the majority of people were/are right handed). Also interesting is that B.C. and the Maritime provinces used to drive on the left-side. And Nova Scotia only changed to the right in 1923.
hmmm....The more you Know ;)

Check it out :)

Hey. I just loaded up my first video onto Youtube...it's a website that allows you to upload videos...classically used for pornography, but I thought i'd try and change things and only upload something that could interpreted as soft core at most.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=07l3gFaf_ek

BBQ in Bris

So with the prospect of being in Oz for a month without knowing anyone I threw up a post on my classes facebook group seeing if anyone else was already here. As a testiment to their craziness an Aussie named Ali responded and invited me to a BBQ last night. Based on numerous pieces of advice from all of you I accepted said invite and found myself eating Kangaroo for the first time! Oddly enough it was a first for about half of the Aussies that were there too. It's a very lean meat, even more so than deer, and it has a distinct taste that I could describe as...umm...slightly smokey..maybe...damn, I dunno. I suppose distinct isn't synonymous with describable. Anyway, all went well and I didn't make a complete fool out of myself (which I credit the fact that I was tired and still jet lagged) and they invited me to join them on a trip to Byron Bay this weekend. So i'll be off to that destination as of saturday mid-morning (your friday night) and i'll do my best to bring my cameras.

Made it to Oz

Hey everyone. I've made it safely to australia. I'm tired, hot and already feeling homesick heh..sad. Anyway, hopefully I adjust soon, first things first i've got to get some groceries and things. Looks like i'll be in the house alone for almost a month, which right now sounds a bit daunting so i look forward to hearing from all of you frequently. :)

love you all.

Made it to NZ

So I've arrived in New Zealand safely. I have a couple more hours here and then I head to Brisbane. I'm supposed to be landing at about 10:00 am Wed 8th, Australian time...i'm a little too tired to figure out what that is for everyone back home, but i'm sure a quick google search would do it for you. I think i've watched more television and movies in the past 24 hours than I have over the past month but other than that the last flight wasn't full of much excitment. I'm looking forward to a shower and getting my circadian rhythm back on schedule!
Talk to you soon.

cheers,
   Harrison

In San Francisco

Hey everyone. So I found out that SF airport gives you 45 minutes of free wi-fi and thought i'd throw up and update :). The flight down was fine I suppose. I was sandwiched between two larger men...which left three of us being not so small people in a small space. Also, I think that the person to my right was a life time smoker cause he was mid aged and sounded like he had emphysema and also, i think he was a drinker judging by his red face and larger amount of central chunk...so that was neat. lol. I have a 7 hour layover here in San Fran which isn't too bad. Like most airports it just has stores and food, but i've got my book so that helps. I'm missing you all already but at least i'm through 1 of 3 flights :).
Talk to you later ya Nerds

love ya.

The Last Supper

So this is my first post of many. Hopefully everyone can enjoy sharing my travels and experiences with me through this blog. Hopefully i'll post lots of photos and videos so that we can make the time apart move that much faster.