Home sweet? home

[bop_radar]

Yesterday I got home from a three-week holiday in the States to find my country had a hung parliament and my electorate was the first in Australia ever to elect a Greens MP. My feelings are currently as conflicted as all Australians, I suspect. It was quite hard news to process at the end of 31.5 hour trip home. (LAX is my new Heathrow! If I never fly through there again it will not be soon enough--though I did have a blast hating on it with my fellow Aussies stranded in the check-in queue for 2.5 hours.)

In happier news I have a new little baby cousin Aeryn, and tickets to both Adam Lambert and Shukwinder Singh (my favourite Bollywood singer) in October. \\\o///

I'm sure I'll feel even happier as soon as the room stops rotating around me. Ah, jetlag! :)

Comments

[kassrachel.livejournal.com]

Welcome home!

[bop-radar.livejournal.com]

Thank you, dear! I hope the family was all safe and well and no worse for your absence after VVC. ;)

[anoel.livejournal.com]

Sorry about your LAX experience, I've never had any problems there but it's a big airport so I suppose shit happens.

Yay Adam Lambert concert! I'm going to mine tomorrow and I'm super excited. Anytime you're able, if you can send me that picture of me I'd really appreciate it :)

[bop-radar.livejournal.com]

Yes, I think that any of those enormous, older airports are a bit like roulette... I know people who've flown through Heathrow 20 times without a problem, yet every time I go there I seem to end up in some Kafka-esque hell tunnel or get stranded in some strange part of the airport for hours on end. ;) I'm sure LAX is similar. I have to say my first trip through was fine, but this one left me standing in a queue for 2.5 hours then waiting to get on flight for 1.5, then taxi-ing on the tarmac for another 1, then a medical emergency (unannounced) resulted in not leaving for another 1.5 hours... I didn't get dinner til 2am. :(

Adam TOMORROW?! Wow!! I hope you will post all about that! He's playing an awful lot of concerts, isn't he?

OK, I'm trying to find the thingammybob that transfers photos to my laptop.... workin' on it!

[cinderella81.livejournal.com]

Adam Lambert? Lucky!!!!!

I have never flown out of LAX (I live closer to John Wayne Airport in Santa Ana) and I hope I never do ...

[bop-radar.livejournal.com]

I know! :D I am interested to see how he goes in Australia--he's getting a lot of radio play here and he's playing one of the bigger venues in town (though not a stadium--I gather he's not doing stadiums in the States yet either though).

All the Australians I met while travelling wanted to talk about avoiding LAX! Since we all have to fly in to the west coast it's a major prob for us. ;) Next time I am paying more for the direct flight to San Fran, I swear! *says this now and will probably end up being a cheapskate and opting for LAX next time anyway and paying for it*

[queenofthorns.livejournal.com]

I had no idea you were a big Sukhwinder Singh fan - I have tons of his CDs!!! YAY! He's awesome!

And welcome back to Australia. I'm sorry you had such hassles getting home, but I hope you will come back to the US soonest!! It was so lovely to get to meet you :D I felt like we'd known each other for ages, which is a lovely feeling.

[bop-radar.livejournal.com]

Wheee!! You are?! Yeah, it's not something I talk much about on LJ... I mean I figured no one would know who I was talking about! But I'm so excited! I'm going with my Bollywood class (my teacher is a big fan and choreographs a lot to his songs). Exciting!!

Yes, I had that feeling too! Isn't it lovely when that happens? :) I shouldn't be surprised really given how long I've been drawn to you online! And it's very hard for me to imagine not coming back to the States soon, I had such a great time. Though I'm yet to break that news to my long-suffering boyfriend, who was counting the hours til I got home... ;)

[laurashapiro.livejournal.com]

Welcome home! I am once again so glad we got to meet! ::hugs::

[bop-radar.livejournal.com]

Oh yes! I've still got the warm glowy VVC happiness inside me from meeting you! I also have an Epic Post of Epicness to write about it all at some point... possibly several posts. ;) Seriously one of the most amazing experiences of my life. And I have to go gush over everyone's vids at some point too.... so much to do! But also, alas, work, knocking on my door. *intercepted by courier arrival and a crash-back to reality*

[laurashapiro.livejournal.com]

I am so, so eager to read your write-up(s). You have no idea. No pressure! But I am deeply interested.

Mostly, of course, I'm just thrilled for you. ::hugs::

[bop-radar.livejournal.com]

I have commenced writing! It's going to be loltastically long...

[shopfront.livejournal.com]

Welcome home! I suspect the least conflicted Australians at the moment are the major parties, who seem intent on sticking their heads in the sand and claiming the election results were a negative result against the other, rather than apathy with either of them. Urgh. I hope your jetlag eases up quickly!

[bop-radar.livejournal.com]

Ugh, yeah, for sure. Apathy is of course what Australians do best.... but even so it seems like we're more than usually fed up with the major parties. I think the most annoying thing about a hung parliament is it may prolong the shit-flinging campaigns. Although I'm finding the sudden power of the independents to be kind of fascinating. I'm sure I'll tire of it after another 24 hours though! :p

[kuwdora.livejournal.com]

boppyyyyyyyyy *HUGS YOU HARD*

[bop-radar.livejournal.com]

DARLING!!! ((((TACKLEHUGSS))) Did you get home ok? How has the VVC comedown been?

[kuwdora.livejournal.com]

I am home a-OK since last Tuesday! I miss everyone A LOT but it's so good to be home.

<3 <3 <3

[bop-radar.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I feel the same way! I missed everyone tonnes even while my trip continued, but I have such good memories and it IS nice to be home. (My house is really lovely, and I do love Melbourne, and of course my boy, dog and kitty.) Plus I feel all rebooted in fandom! \o/

[norwich36.livejournal.com]

Yay! I'm glad you made it.

[bop-radar.livejournal.com]

I did! (Sorry, I thought I'd replied to this and then saw I hadn't... jetlag still making me wobbly!)

[svgurl.livejournal.com]

*hugs* I'm glad that you made it back home though that sucks about the horrible experience in LAX. 31 1/2 hours? Wow, and I thought my trips to India was bad! I used to have to deal with that airport all the time (because I was flying from San Jose to LA while was still in school there) but fortunately, I was able to avoid the international terminal, lol. My side was smaller. :D

Ooh, I love Sukhwinder Singh! Though I've only heard him in Bollywood songs, he has a great voice. And that's awesome you're going to see Adam Lambert too! He was in SF but the first show got sold out and the second show was on the day I was to traveling (ironically enough, to Australia!). But I hope you have a blast and I can't wait to hear all about both of them! :)

[bop-radar.livejournal.com]

Yeah... I had some issues getting home. ;) Sometimes it happens. *shrug* I had hoped it wouldn't be so bad but what can you do? Having to work today was a bitch though.

Yay, two Sukhwinder Singh fans and counting!! \o/ His voice is AMAAAAAZING! I could listen to him endlessly. I'm going to be in male vocal heaven between him and Adam in October. *imagines them in a duet and dies*

Ah that sucks that you missed him, but I'm sure there will be other opportunities! :) I'll definitely post about the concerts!

[amnisias.livejournal.com]

Glad to see you back, I was worried we'd lost you in transit!
As far as airports go, I've given up all my prejudices, I hate all of them in equal meassure. And air-travel in general. If it wasn't a necessity, in order to get to places, I could do with never flying again, ever.

Ah, hung parliaments. We ended up with a coalition between Conservatives and Lib Dems (spineless creatures, they toppled over at the smell of power). Not sure, I think I might have preferred a Green Prime Minister. But the Green Party in the UK only serves decoration purposes.

Congrats to the niece, and such a lovely name. Is Aeryn actually a proper Australian name - I mean predating Farscape? Or has it just made it's way from the show into RL?

[bop-radar.livejournal.com]

Hee! I was nearly lost in transit, quite honestly!

You're probably right to be democratic about hate of airtravel because the truth is delays and craziness can occur anywhere. But I kind of like having impersonal targets for my rage in the form of Heathrow, LAX and KL.

Our Green party is only really beginning to rise to power--they're at their peak right now, previously they've been only symbolic, but people were REALLY jacked off about labor's inaction on climate change among other things (gay marriage also helped swing the Melbourne vote I suspect).

Hee, well, my cousin is an astrophysicist and scifi nerd so I have my suspicions about the true source of that name. :p (Actually she is in the Netherlands and all my family are Scots but I gather the name is an American spelling of Ireland.

[brokenmnemonic.livejournal.com]

Welcome back to Aus :) Were cats, dogs and the bf glad to see you return? I'm sorry you had such a hard time at LAX. Was it one of those strange full-moon events, or just th euniverse conspiring against you?

The Aus election result was both interesting and worrying - I'd been hoping for a Labour majority, but the idea of Abbott running a coalition where the veto power is in the hands of the ultra-conservative minority party is downright scary.

I hope you're going to get plenty of rest after all the jetlag, and spend a few days enjoying the sofa of comfiness and devoted attention from those who missed you...

[bop-radar.livejournal.com]

Possibly full moon event... IDEK.

the veto power is in the hands of the ultra-conservative minority party is downright scary.
Is that how it was portrayed over there? The reality is more complex. Of course I'm terrified that Abbott may form government but I don't know... maybe it's naive hope but I think there's a chance for Labor to come good out of this. Also the three independents who are going to determine who forms government are not what I thought they might be. (And they're not a party--they each have their own priorities.) Plus the Greens had a phenomenal result across the board and hold power in the Senate. (Although that can be a BAD thing sometimes. I have a love hate affair with the Greens.) The worst case scenario for me will be Liberal House of Reps and Greens holding the power in the Senate because I honestly think that will gridlock the country into political inaction. No legislation will ever get through!! But I suspect that most people in Canberra don't want that either.

Bob Bob's reaction was underwhelming but Corin is being very affectionate. Andy was counting the hours til I got home (awww) but had to work a lot so we've (still!) not seen each other that much. I am big on the resting right now despite a minor work emergency because the jetlag is really rough this time.