Sydney meet-up

March 10, 2008 7:49 PM

Attention Sydneysiders! I will be visiting your city between the 14th and the 24th of March. I'd love to attend a meet-up. What say you?

I'm going there with my family and other than plans to drive to Melbourne and spend some days there are no hard and fast plans. What's a good day for a meet-up (Sunday March 16th, perhaps)? And more importantly, what's a good place for a meet-up?

posted by Kattullus to MetaFilter gatherings at 7:49 PM (60 comments total)

Hey, when the hell are you gonna be here again? Did I give you my cell number? I have a feeling it's coming up (I hope I didn't miss it, leaving you at the airport like a schmuck).
posted by klangklangston at 8:06 PM on March 10

I could do Sunday the 16th. (It's the day after my birthday!) Several of our previous meetups have been held at the Alfred Hotel in Camperdown. When Jessamyn visited, we had one down in the Rocks in the more touristy/historical part of town. What sort of experience are you looking for?
posted by web-goddess at 9:29 PM on March 10

some kind of server problem killed my previous comment.

keeping it short for now, i note that the 16th is the day before st pat's, so there are usually guinness & whiskey related events all over the place.
posted by UbuRoivas at 9:57 PM on March 10

I have a lousy history with actually attending, but I'll stick my head out and say I can make the 16th. Double if it's in Camperdown.
posted by arha at 10:01 PM on March 10

I was going to crash the Canberra meetup, but this is better. Count me in for Sunday.
posted by tellurian at 10:13 PM on March 10

damn it. I'm going to miss TWO meetups at the same time!
posted by dhruva at 11:02 PM on March 10

web-goddess: What sort of experience are you looking for?

Well, nothing too extravagant. Just the general meeting and drinking and eating unhealthy comestibles sorta thing.

UbuRoivas: i note that the 16th is the day before st pat's, so there are usually guinness & whiskey related events all over the place.

Guinness! The 16th sounds better than I thought. A dry stout Sunday seems excellent.

arha: Double if it's in Camperdown.

I'll let the locals choose a place. I'll be staying somewhere in Kirribilli, but I'm used to getting around strange cities, so anywhere is fine. Though I note from Google Maps that Kirribilli and Camperdown are only about 10 kilometers apart.

klangklangston: Hey, when the hell are you gonna be here again?

My 12-hour layover at LAX is Monday March 24th. I'll be in touch well beforehand.
posted by Kattullus at 3:23 AM on March 11

I note from Google Maps that Kirribilli and Camperdown are only about 10 kilometers apart.

yeh, but we wanna be on the harbour, not in the grungy, syringe-ridden inner west.

maybe the rocks or something, again?

see if the rooftop bar at the palisades hotel in the rocks is open...? the rocks should be full of celebration in honour of the Great Saint.
posted by UbuRoivas at 3:55 AM on March 11

The Palisade Hotel is less than 5 kilometers from where I'll be staying. Does anyone brook objection to having a meetup at the Palisade Hotel bar, Sunday March 16th? Better ideas? And what's a good time to meet?
posted by Kattullus at 6:17 AM on March 11

Hey! I like my grungy syringe-ridden inner west!

No problem with the Palisade tho.
posted by arha at 6:30 AM on March 11

Sounds good to me! I'm happy to go to the Palisade.
posted by web-goddess at 2:38 PM on March 11

web-goddess: no whingeing about the price of the beers, then!
posted by UbuRoivas at 2:55 PM on March 11

Is this going to be seven goddamn dollars for a pint of Guinness, then? *grumble grumble*

Hey, I just realised nobody put this on the sidebar calendar. And as I've never done that before, i'm going to!
posted by web-goddess at 3:06 PM on March 11

I feel a Black Velvet coming on. If we're settled, I'll send out a group email.
posted by tellurian at 3:47 PM on March 11

you go, girl! onya mate!

I feel a Black Velvet coming on.

listen to Captain Moneybags! Normal blokes like me have to get by on Black Tarpaulins - Tooheys Old mixed with Spumante.
posted by UbuRoivas at 3:51 PM on March 11

Super!

See you there Sunday.

Oh... and what time?
posted by Kattullus at 8:25 PM on March 11

hold your horses!

we can't discuss time until round 17, after others have weighed in saying they can't make it to the Rocks & we've had a dozen changes of venue mooted & knocked back.

other than that, maybe around 2-ish...?
posted by UbuRoivas at 8:50 PM on March 11

Damn me, I miss Sydney sometimes. I miss shit like sailing on the harbour and the subtropical plant life and the rain in January and Eagle Rock down in Royal Southern and Sydney Uni library and grounds.

I don't miss the outrageous rents for shoeboxes, the pissfight to get any endeavour that's a bit cultural up (given the expense), and the 4 million assholes all shopping on Saturday morning though. If I was an investment banker rather than a fringe arty type I'd probably fit better.
posted by Wolof at 12:06 AM on March 12

if you're a fringe arty type, why weren't you doing your shopping at 2pm on a thursday then?

or, more commonly, at about 3am from the 7-11 on King St, every night of the week?
posted by UbuRoivas at 12:12 AM on March 12

How utterly unfair!

I was considering escaping from under my quaking rock of me-fear and venturing out to meet you lovely folk... but I'm going to be out of town till next week.

I hope you'll all promise to miss me terribly and wonder about the enigma that is taff.

Or not.

Have a fabbo time anyway....
posted by taff at 4:10 AM on March 12

Alright, 2 in the afternoon, Palisade Hotel bar, Sunday the 16th. I'm leaving for the airport now and so will be out of reach until the evening of the 14th.

See ya!
posted by Kattullus at 7:31 AM on March 12

if you're a fringe arty type, why weren't you doing your shopping at 2pm on a thursday then?

Had to get a dumb job to pay the rent. Need to buy a used door? I know tons about doors. Furniture needs stripping? Yeah, I used to be that guy.
posted by Wolof at 3:45 PM on March 12

I was going to crash the Canberra meetup, but this is better. Count me in for Sunday.

I'm just going to go cry in the corner now ...
posted by barnacles at 11:56 PM on March 12

you have corners in canberra? i thought everything was round.
posted by UbuRoivas at 11:58 PM on March 12

Is that just a roundabout way of saying you wish you could be here?
posted by barnacles at 2:25 AM on March 13

So... in Sydney... brain barely functioning after 21 hours of planeflight... plainflight... playnflyte... that shouldn't be hard to spell... but ready for MeFistivities on Sunday. It's a lovely walk over the bridge for me to The Rocks and I'm pretty sure that I can find the Palisade Hotel without breaking down in tears. Anyway, I better get out of the internet café and back to my place of temporary residence before I go all jetlag zombie and start gnawing on electrical cables, brains. See ya Sunday!
posted by Kattullus at 8:30 PM on March 13

picked a nice day for it!

(altho just a little too warm & a little too humid)

i recommend brains first, cables later.
posted by UbuRoivas at 8:53 PM on March 13

Is that just a roundabout way of saying you wish you could be here?

Nah, we don't Harbour that kind envy.
posted by UbuRoivas at 9:00 PM on March 13

Hey, sounds like fun, see you there! Hope you're enjoying Kirribilli, and its fine Art Deco's apartments. Don't go throwing any firey rags over the Prime Minister's residences walls now, this is a PM we like!
posted by Deconstruct Now! at 12:37 AM on March 14

Rudd lives in the Lodge, no? In that city of many corners?
posted by Wolof at 6:47 PM on March 14

Oh yeah... as for being recognized: I look much the same as my profile picture. I'm wearing a cheerios t-shirt and if its chilly inside The Palisade Hotel or it starts raining or something I'll be wearing a white, black, cyan and grey hoodie. If I'm there before anybody else I'll be either reading or writing. Oh, and if I have some sort of hilarious cultural misunderstanding on the way to the Palisade I'll be wearing a skirt made of living kookaburras, apricot flavored blue body paint and a suspiciously powerful propeller beanie.

See you in three hours or so!
posted by Kattullus at 4:46 PM on March 15

Hilarious cultural misunderstanding?

Do you mean like failing to greet a police officer with the customary courtesy kick in the balls?
posted by UbuRoivas at 5:04 PM on March 15

Oh no! Heaven forfend! I've given every passing boobie (that's what you call them here, no?) a mock-petulant recital of the ol' Balzac. I wouldn't want to cause offense.
posted by Kattullus at 5:24 PM on March 15

Boobie, yes. A term transplanted from England, where you'd say "'Ello, constable! Why you wearin' that tit on yer 'ead?" and they would laugh and buy you a pint.
posted by UbuRoivas at 6:14 PM on March 15

Pictures.
posted by tellurian at 2:06 AM on March 16

Dude, you left out our peacay shout-out! :P

Here's that viral video thing I was telling you guys about. The DJ one is pretty good too...
posted by web-goddess at 2:31 AM on March 16 [1 favorite]

Thanks; and here's that awesome blog that we agreed was hella funny.
posted by UbuRoivas at 5:16 PM on March 16

That was a swell meet-up! Thanks for the sweet pictures tellurian. Also, I just found out that this past Saturday morning someone threw a couple of molotov cocktails into my apartment in Providence. No shitting.
posted by Kattullus at 9:59 PM on March 16

Ha! I can see right through that!

The entire meetup was just an alibi so that the real Kattullus can carry out his anti-semitic hate crimes back home!
posted by UbuRoivas at 10:41 PM on March 16

It looks like that squabble you mentioned is escalating.
posted by tellurian at 11:20 PM on March 16

Yeh, it's funny how these squabbles can get out of hand.

I've got this dispute going on with my neighbour, for example. She complained that a branch of my magnolia is hanging over her fence, so when she was out shopping, I burned down her garden shed.

That didn't shut her up, though, and she threatened to complain to the police, so I just went around and slit her Jack Russell's throat. I doubt that it'll be the last I'll hear from her, the whiney old cow...
posted by UbuRoivas at 3:30 AM on March 17

Pictures
posted by arha at 2:00 AM on March 18

W0000t! Remember me telling you guys about the jumper I entered into this year's Easter Show? I just found out I got a "Highly Commended" ribbon. So now you know an award-winning knitter. I'll have to wear it to the next meetup. (The jumper, not the ribbon. Although maybe the ribbon.)
posted by web-goddess at 4:13 AM on March 18

was that the jumper (sweater, for y'all overseas) shaped like a dalek?
posted by UbuRoivas at 5:18 AM on March 18

oh, and congratulations! :D
posted by UbuRoivas at 5:20 AM on March 18

That's fabulous that you got an award. Way to show them Aussies who's boss :)
posted by Kattullus at 3:55 PM on March 18

actually, web-goddess *is* an Aussie.
posted by UbuRoivas at 5:12 PM on March 18

Thanks guys! But Ubu, if you keep talking about Daleks, I might have to knit you one.

Here's a picture, if people want to see what it actually looks like...
posted by web-goddess at 5:48 PM on March 18

Hey, thanks! Wish I coulda been there.
posted by languagehat at 6:03 PM on March 18

Daleks really are fascinating things. Invented by the mad genius, Davros, they apparently actually have human brains beneath their harsh & forbidding exteriors. They'd have to be smart, if you think about it, because they manage to terrorise the universe even though no more than three have ever been seen in one place at the same time. Not only that, but they can colonise planets in spite of the fact that not all societies are equal-opportunist enough to install wheelchair ramps everywhere or pave all rugged outdoor areas.

Daleks also show signs of genuine human sportsmanship - the noblest of all qualities, the apotheosis of which might be found in great institutions like Eton, Harrow, oxford, Cambridge and Hull. The sportsmanship of which I speak is that they give their opponents an advantage & handicap themselves by the fact that they choose to view the world through a long tube, so that you can always tell where they are looking. This allows their opponents to sneak up on them from behind.

Dalek society is quite stratified. Davros is the clear leader, and other daleks are divided into ranks, by the colours of the dots on their skirts. Lower ranking daleks always defer to their superiors, and the leader is always the one to cry "Exterminate! Exterminate!" first, after which his subordinates repeat the famous dalek war-cry.

The social stratification of daleks could be read as an interesting parallel to certain events in recent European history. Their belligerence, militarism, hierarchical society and coldhearted desire to exterminate, along with existence of the mad leader, Davros, suggests an allegory for Nazism. This becomes all the more suggestive if one considers the Doctor's long-standing alliance with the quintessentially British officer, the Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart, not to mention the fact that the Doctor is an Anglophone.

In recent years, daleks have developed the ability to fly, without any visible means of propulsion, and nor with any kinds of fins or rudders allowing them to control their trajectories through the air. This shows signs of advanced intelligence & technology, although it's possible that they were always hiding this talent all along, just so people wouldn't realise that they could ascend & descend staircases, after all.

In conclusion, I would just like to say dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek dalek.

Thank you for your time & attention.
posted by UbuRoivas at 6:07 PM on March 18

you could say thanks, dickheads.
posted by arha at 4:40 AM on March 19

go root a wallaby, howard-lover!*

* in the shire, that was slang for "thanks"
posted by UbuRoivas at 5:23 AM on March 19

That's the nicest thing anyone has ever said to me! Thanks :D
posted by arha at 2:15 PM on March 19

You're welcome, like a boatload of baby-throwers.
posted by UbuRoivas at 2:34 PM on March 19

Thank you arha. As an aside, we get crap hits when we post in the old thread instead of making a new post. Previous meetup pictures where I've started a new post have been anything from 300 to over 600 hundred views. Posting inside the old thread - double digits.
The user from the first meetup was soi-disant. Looks like he disappeared for a couple of years with a brief resurface in November.
posted by tellurian at 4:35 PM on March 19

As an aside, we get crap hits when we post in the old thread instead of making a new post. Previous meetup pictures where I've started a new post have been anything from 300 to over 600 hundred views. Posting inside the old thread - double digits.

Yeah, I think this new system is terrible. I never see meetup pictures any more. Sure, I could check the listing and look for the little symbol, but I don't, and I don't think many other people do either.
posted by languagehat at 5:18 PM on March 19

Personally I think that meetup pictures should be sent in the mail to EVERY SINGLE REGISTERED MEFI USER. On the other hand, people tell me I'm clinically insane.

And thanks arha!
posted by Kattullus at 5:32 PM on March 19

Good idea Kattullus. I'll see if I can organise something with wendell.
posted by tellurian at 5:55 PM on March 19

no, that's a great idea. the photos on my snarkboard get peppered with holes so quickly, it's bankrupting me!
posted by UbuRoivas at 5:55 PM on March 19

Eeek! I've been shouted out at!
I think I'm blushing.
posted by The Great Big Mulp at 8:33 AM on April 7