Mood = EXCITED!!!!

Saturday April 25, 2009 (2 am)
ANZAC DAY

Hey kids. Have a couple cool things to talk about. First is I’m going to be doing a bit of traveling the next couple weeks. A couple days ago, Tom decided he wanted to head up to Brisbane for a long weekend, to check in with his superiors up there (his company, Sikorsky, has their “headquarters” up there). So since the hotel room is going to be footed by the company, I am going to tag along. I have already been looking up things to do in the Brissy area, they include, going to a koala sanctuary to “hug” a koala and maybe visiting a brewery. I also figure since I am spending the money (all of ~$120 USD) to fly up round-trip, I might as well stay for a bit and see what else is up that way since it’s not like I have to be back down here for any reason. I am thinking about headed down to the Gold Coast or up to the Sunshine Coast for a couple days and taking a surfing lesson(s). We shall see, I think we are going to get plane tickets on Monday, so I’ll have to figure out my plans this weekend. I have also been tossing around the idea of flying over to New Zealand for a week or so in May. Jetstar (a budget JetBlue type airline) has a sale on right now, for Sydney to Christchurch (on the South Island) for ~150 USD round trip, including taxes and fees.

The newest news is I will be headed back up to Sydney area next Saturday. So, I’ve been playing poker in Tuesday nights right, well every so often there are regional finals and tonight was the South Coast regional final. Technically I didn’t qualify, because I hadn’t played enough events to qualify, but both Tom and Dave did. So I thought I’d tag along while they played and just watch and lend my support. When we get there, Dave talks to the tournament director and not everyone who qualifies shows up to these things, so there’s space and I am more than welcome to play. So why not, I’m already here, I’d rather play then sit around and watch. There were like 130-some people there, so it’s not like I have any expectations, just wanted something to do. I’m playing pretty well, won the first 2 hands at my table. Make it to first break, doing pretty good. Tom gets out after 1st break (Dave was out in the first 5 minutes) and I’m still chugging along. I’m a pretty conservative player, only playing my hands when I have decent cards. I notice more and more people are dropping. Now, at the event, the top 15, not including those already qualified, qualify for the state final in Parramatta (a suburb of Sydney) the following weekend. I’m playing and I hear the director say there are 40 players left. I figure that’s pretty good, top 40 out of 130. Then another break, I’ve made it through. Play a bit more, down to 30 players, then 25, then 20 and I’m told I have qualified for the state final and I have to say right then if I want to play the next weekend, so I say yes, why not, when I going to be able to do this again? Then the announcement, we’ve hit 10 players, we’re down to the final table! Final table! I mean, I only really learned to play a month ago, and here I am making a final table at a regional final? What?! I have 2nd lowest number of chips starting the table and I was determined to finish at least 8th, because 8th and higher got a money prize. Well, I outlasted 4 people and ended up finishing 6th! I won $75 AUD (about $54 USD), not bad for a tournament I didn’t even pay or plan to enter! My final hand I was 2nd in line after big blind which was 30,000, I only had 26,000. I got dealt Ace/Queen of clubs so I had to go all-in. A girl at my table called. Then after the flop she went all in with her remaining chips and another older gentleman went all –in against her (he had been the small blind). She had an Ace/10 off-suite and had hit a 10 on the flop. Damn! I had the old man beat, but I had to hope for the queen on the turn or river and it didn’t come, so she took both of us out on the hand. If only no 10! Oh well, still pretty damn good for not even thinking I was going to play. And now I get to go to Parramatta next Saturday to play again. My hope is that I don’t embarrass myself. At any rate, it should be a pretty good time. I’ll let you know how it goes.

Today is Anzac day, a huge holiday here in Australia. It’s sort of like a Veteren’s Day type day. Servicemen march and commemorate members of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) who fought at Gallipoli in Turkey during World War I. There are march’s, remembrance’s, games and gambling and a whole lot of drinking. Should be a fantastic time. I’ll make sure I take pictures, if I’m not too drunk, but I can’t make any promises about that. It's 2 am and I gotta get some sleep now!


Cheers!

So you do need an account

So in order to view the pics on snapfish, I think you do need to create an account. It's free though and once you sign up, you can view my photos, or even post some of your own if you want to! I find this the easiest way to share my pictures, well, after Facebook , but not all of you have Facebook.

Snapfish website with photos

I have been unable to post pictures here because Tom's upload speed is so slow. I was however able to load some onto Snapfish, so here is the URL, so you can check them out, if I haven't already sent you an e-mail invitation.

http://www2.snapfish.com.au/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=460833013/a=97074149_97074149/otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink

Hopefully it works and you are able to view them. I don't know if you need to register or sign-in or anything. Hopefully not.

To the cinema...

Monday April 20, 2009

It was another nice day out. Went for a nice walk and worked on my cross stitch. Did head to the local cinema (that has one screen and sets maybe 200-250 people) to see “Confessions of a Shopaholic.” It was a movie I meant to see when it was in theatres in the US and never got around to, but since I have time to kill, I decided to take in a film. One of the coming attractions was for “Night at the Museum 2,”
which takes place in DC at the Smithsonian. It showed nice vistas of DC and the Mall and it made me a bit nostalgic. To see DC up on the screen and know how far away from it I am is a weird feeling. I’m used to be able to jump in the car and be there in an hour and now I am literally a world away. It’s still hard to believe sometimes that I am so far away from home. I miss being able to jump into the car and head to the mall or to the store, or wherever I want to go.

Random beef: So as I just mentioned, I saw “Confessions of a Shopaholic,” and it made me think of a beef I have with some movies. I understand they’re trying to fit a full storyline into a 2 hour or less movie, but sometimes time lines just don’t fit. So in this movie, Isla Fishers character gets a job at a financial magazine and it shows her turn in one article that gets a huge response. At the same time, her best friend gets engaged. Never again does it show the main character writing or talking about another article, she goes to Miami for a conference, parties in NY, goes on tv, but only does it ever talk about her writing or even referring to the one, initial article. Then at the end of the movie the best friend is getting married. Now either the best friend got a big fancy wedding planned in like a month, or the main character worked at the magazine and developed a relationship with the editor over the course of like a year, where no secondary or other subsequent articles are ever mentioned or referred to. It just that the time frames of the 2 story lines, don’t seem to make sense. It’s like they’re on their own separate time frames. Now I’ve noticed this happens often in movie and tv shows, where time frames just don’t match or make sense. Oh and you know what else bothers me? Romances, people meet and fall in love and are pledging their undying devotion for each other after like a month or less, even the span of a couple weeks. That is ridiculous and unbelievable. Anyway, those are my entertainment pet peeves for the day.

Also got to talk to my mom on the phone late tonight and expressed some of my concerns and fears about me being here, my plans and my future monetary situation and I am feeling better. Sometimes it just helps to vocalize how you are feeling to make you seem more relaxed and at ease.

Doubt

Sunday April 19, 2009

Another gloomy, rainy day spent inside, vegging around not doing much of anything. Did get the Sydney pictures posted on Facebook, yay.

I’ve been having a lot doubt today. Doubt about what I am doing here, what my plans are, if I did the right thing, etc. I mean, I’m not working and when I eventually do I probably won’t be making that much. I am still making my car payments back home and will eventually pay rent and I just have this scary feeling that I am going to end up using up all of my savings. I have been living at home saving up money and now I am scared than in this year all that money that I have been working hard and living at home to save will disappear. It’s a scary thought that I won’t have a big savings to fall back on anymore when I get home but I try to keep telling myself that this is why I stayed home to save money. So I could eventually spend it not on stupid material items, but on an amazing experience(s) and this is what that is. That if I spend a lot of my savings it will be worth it because I will have had an amazing experience that most people wish they could have. But that would involve getting the hell of Tom’s couch and actually doing something. People said it must be nice to have a relative here, someone to stay with but I think it can be a bit of a double edged sword. On one hand, I do have that back up to rely on, but on the other side, it is easy to become complacent. Am I not aggressively trying to figure out what to do in terms of work because I don’t have to? Of course. Whereas if I had no one to depend on here, I would have had to figure all this out before I came, work, living, etc and I wouldn’t have had the chance to become comfortable and lets face it, lazy. It’s just the whole money situation that scares me, about not having enough, or spending all I have and running out, it’s a scary situation. I know if I asked my parents to lend me money if I needed to, they would. I don’t want to do that though, I hate that thought. I’m too proud, I like to have my own money and not rely on people to financially support me (although I am all okay with living with family members for free). I just wouldn’t want to have to ask for a loan from anybody. That prospect really freaks me out. I mean, I am fine right now, but I can’t help but think that I may eventually be headed down that road. What else is freaky is when I see people my age, or younger, and they’re married, have kids or have successful careers. Here I am going to be coming back, with no career, no savings, no ideas about what she wants to do and feeling like I should be further along in life. By the way, on that note, movies suck. I’m watching National Treasure and here is Diane Kruger, who at the age of 28, holds this high ranking job at the US Archives with power and authority. How the hell does that happen? In real life that position is probably held by some middle aged overly serious man who knew somebody and sucked up to somebody for years. Not some young beautiful woman. I mean, what kind of message is that sending us 20-something women? That we should be having some unattainable career, in a position that someone our age would never have? It makes me feel like I am behind the times, like I am slacking in life, like I should be further along than I am. Same with tv shows, teens always get into Yale, Harvard or some other Ivy League school. Then they always get the dream job, when they have no experience or background. That doesn’t happen in real life. We struggle to get the entry level jobs crappy jobs, which always call for a couple years experience. How I ask are you supposed to get experience if no one will hire you if you don’t already have some? Luckily I was able to work at a reputable science company for a couple years, which hopefully will help me land a job when I get back to the States, so I can try to build up that saving account again.

Well I am over my ranting for the night. Sorry, I have just been stressing, but I can’t do that. I made my decision, I am here, I need to make the best of it and not worry too much about money. If things are meant to work out, they will. I believe things always happen the way they are supposed to. I am going to try to go to bed now and not let myself get into my head too much, don’t know how well that’ll work.

My First trip to SYDNEY!!

Saturday April 18, 2009

Got up early today to head into Sydney. Left Husky about 8 am and pulled into the parking garage right next to Darling Harbour at about 11-ish. We grabbed some quick lunch at McDonalds (don’t judge, I’ve been here 3 weeks and this was my first McDonalds meal). Also, here everyone calls McDonalds Mack-ah’s and you can actually order a value meal in, get this, a SMALL! Unheard of, I know. After lunch we walked a bit around Cockles Bay in Darling Harbour, checking out some stores and restaurants. Then we jumped on a water taxi to head over to the Opera House. We started heading out of the harbor and I must admit I got super excited when I caught my first glimpse of the Harbour Bridge popping out over the skyline of the Rocks area of Sydney. We made a quick stop then headed towards the bridge and I was clicking away at the camera trying to get a good shot. Much harder then it seems I assure you. When you’re on a boat bobbing up and down with the waves, trying to stabilize the camera and get a well cropped shot, it’s a bit difficult. As we got closer to the bridge I could see all the dots of people doing the bridge climb. Which by the way is something I am DYING to do. Since we were only there for the day, I didn’t have time to do it, but I fully intend to return and do the climb. Unfortunately it is quite expensive, about $150 USD. I don’t know how many people do the climb per day, but from the amount of people I saw on the bridge, it’s quite a bit. That’s a high amount of money being made on this per day. But I’m sure they must have to pay some high amount of insurance in order to run the climbs, so maybe that’s what contributes to the high price.

Anyway, back to the taxi ride. If I was excited to see the bridge, then the moment I got my first glimpse of the Opera House I must have been downright ecstatic. More intense picture snapping going on, more difficulty to get a stable picture while bobbing in the water. It was definitely cool. I think it’s always amazing to finally see a landmark you’ve been seeing pictures for years. You see these things in pictures but they never really seem real and then when you view them in real life, it seems so surreal, like this isn’t really your life. A couple things about the Opera House, it’s not as big as I thought it would be. Also, it’s not as white as it looks on tv/in pictures. It’s more of an off-white/ivory color. Still magnificent never the less. Did a bit of a walk around it, took some pictures with the bridge in the background and took the obligatory handstand picture in front of the Opera House. For those of you not aware, some of us gymnasts have this habit/compulsion to do handstands, for me particularly in front of famous world places and monuments. After the Opera House, we headed through the Royal Botanic Gardens next door. Saw quite a few big scary black and yellow spiders which I thought were freaky enough, then I see a bat flying through the sky. Come to see when we looked up into the trees, the tress were covered in bats all hanging upside down. It was like something out of some freaky horror movie. We saw some bats that may have been fighting but we also think there was a high chance that there was some attempt at mating going on. In typical fashion, the male was trying to get some from the female, but she was having none of that and kept pushing him off. Way to go girl, you show him who’s boss.

We then headed up the street by Parliament House and Sydney hospital. Then into Hyde Park to pass by St. Mary’s Cathedral and see the ANZAC Memorial. ANZAC day is coming up here in a week and is a big holiday here, one of the major ones. We then headed back towards Darling Harbour. I popped into a souvenir shop and picked up a couple postcards and an Australia t-shirt. I wasn’t going to pull another South Africa incident where I lived there for 5 months and didn’t come home with anything that said South Africa on it because I kept putting it off thinking I had plenty of time. I wasn’t gonna let that happen again, so I bought an Australia shirt and now I will be coming home with at least one.

We headed over to the Star City casino and I watched Tom play a bit of craps, a game I still don’t really understand and honestly don’t really care to. We headed to a steakhouse for dinner and I have a delicious piece of filet mignon with some yummy garlic mashed potatoes. All in all a pretty good day. Since we only had the one day, we weren’t going to try and do a ton of things, just hit up the major things, bridge, opera house, Darling Harbour, you know then basics and those were done. We had originally planned to spend Saturday night, but with the schools being on holiday through the end of the month we were unable to get a room in the desired hotel, so we headed out of Sydney around 7 or 8. One the way we passed a bunch of Sydney Swans (the local AFL – aka Aussie Rules football team) fans and as it turns out there was a game in Sydney that night that if we had realized we totally could have gone to. I don’t think the Sydney games are usually sold out. Here’s a bit of information about Aussie Rules Football, it was originally called the Victorian Football League and was only played in Victoria (where Melbourne is located). So a lot of the AFL teams are from Melbourne and are associated with specific districts of Melbourne. So AFL is much bigger in Melbourne then it is in other cities in Australia. So if we had realized about the Swans game, we might have tried to get tickets, but apparently they lost so I guess it’s could we didn’t go. Got back to Husky late and went straight to bed after a nice day in Sydney.

Friday April 17th, 2009

The last couple days have been absolutely gorgeous! Yesterday I went on a long bike ride, probably about 9 or 10 miles, a nice bit of exercise. Today I did go on a walk down the beach a bit. It was just a great couple days to be outside.

Remembering April 16, 2007

Today is the 2 year anniversary of the shooting at my alma mater, Virginia Tech. I just wanted to remind everyone how proud I am to be a Hokie and how we as a VT family will never forget the tragedy that occurred in our small community in Blacksburg. We will never forget the 32 innocent lives lost that day and how we as a family came together to comfort each other and provide support. That's one of the things that makes me so proud to be a Hokie. How we handled the tragedy with grace, support and overwhelming pride to be a part of the VT community. Everywhere I go that I run into a Hokie, we all just feel a kinship with each other, an immediate connection. We truly are a family and I couldn't be more proud to be a part of it. I have run into other Hokies in Germany and Turkey and I am determined to find some here in Australia before I leave. There's always a sense of joy and camaraderie when meeting another Hokie. I love that. It is one of the best universities in the world and I believe all of us bleed maroon and orange.

In Remembrance ~ 4/16/07 ~ neVer forgeT

We Remember

* Ross A. Alameddine
* Christopher James Bishop
* Brian R. Bluhm
* Ryan Christopher Clark
* Austin Michelle Cloyd
* Jocelyne Couture-Nowak
* Kevin P. Granata
* Matthew Gregory Gwaltney
* Caitlin Millar Hammaren
* Jeremy Michael Herbstritt
* Rachael Elizabeth Hill
* Emily Jane Hilscher
* Jarrett Lee Lane
* Matthew Joseph La Porte
* Henry J. Lee
* Liviu Librescu
* G.V. Loganathan
* Partahi Mamora Halomoan Lumbantoruan
* Lauren Ashley McCain
* Daniel Patrick O’Neil
* Juan Ramon Ortiz-Ortiz
* Minal Hiralal Panchal
* Daniel Alejandro Perez Cueva
* Erin Nicole Peterson
* Michael Steven Pohle, Jr.
* Julia Kathleen Pryde
* Mary Karen Read
* Reema Joseph Samaha
* Waleed Mohamed Shaalan
* Leslie Geraldine Sherman
* Maxine Shelly Turner
* Nicole Regina White

HOKIES FOREVER

Employement Idea

So I had a thought today about employment. I was thinking what I could do for temporary employment, something that might be seasonal. I remembered that down in Victoria, they have ski resorts and obviously they have to hire seasonal employees. So I was doing a bit of research, and ski resorts are hiring for wait staff, ticket sellers, etc. Most of them come with accommodations, probably dorm style, along with salary. The ski season runs from beginning of June through September. So I figure if I were to apply and work at a ski place and get out beginning of October, I’d still have October, Nov, Dec, Jan, Feb and March to travel and go live somewhere else, somewhere warm, and have people come visit me (nod, nod, wink, wink). It feels weird to think I may have moved to Australia, after the US winter ended, to go hang out in snow for a few months. It would get me free skiing though. I definitely want to live in a major city at some point in time thought. So if I were to get out in October, I would still have 6 months to explore, travel and work in a major city. Plus I would have all of May to do something as well. Anyway, so that’s my newest idea. It might be cool to say, yea, I moved to Australia and I worked at a ski resort for 4 months. I figure there would be other young internationals doing the same thing as me, so I think I would meet some interesting and varying people. So stay tuned for any updates about that…

I drove on the wrong sideof the road! (April 13 & 14, 2009)

Monday was a dreary rainy day all day, so Tom and I (he had the day because it’s Easter Monday) just stayed inside all day hanging out. We did make one quick trip to the store, just to pick some things up and get the heck out of the house.

Tuesday was a nice day and I went for a nice walk in the afternoon, admiring the ocean and thinking how lucky I am to be here near the water and just be able to sit and watch the water. After poker tonight Tom let me drive home! I did ok, I did hit (more like a skim I would call it) a curb on the left side. You really have to think, stay left, stay left. Then on top of thinking about that you have to remember not to speed. One of the most difficult things though, is the turn signal is on the right side of the wheel and the wipers are on the left side. So a couple times I turned on the wipers when I was trying to put on the turning signal. Oops. I even backed the car into the very narrow garage, without hitting anything. It was definitely a bit strange, like learning to drive all over again. But of course I haven’t driven for 2.5 weeks so I think driving on any side of the road would take a minute to get used to. I can’t even imagine how it will be for my friend Eileen to drive in June, when she gets back from over 2 years in Ukraine in the Peace Corps.

Speaking of Eileen, her best friend and roommate from college, Lorrie, went to visit here last month and she herself has a blog as well. When I read her blog, I get a bit jealous. She’s quite a good writer and her stories always seem interesting. I feel like a bit of a fraud writing a blog, at least right now, because I’m really not doing much of anything. I mean, do you really care that I went for a walk and watched 2 episodes of “Sex and the City” today. No, you don’t. But people told me to get them updated, so I am, even though I’m not really doing anything of note. Aside from the occasional "saw a kangaroo today” or “drove on the left side of the road.” So I must apologize for being boring. I promise that the more time goes by here, the more interesting I will get (hopefully), because if not I may just have to hurt myself.

Snorkeling on Easter (April 12, 2009)

I went snorkeling in the afternoon with Barb, Ben and Nick. Luckily Tom has snorkel gear, so I just borrowed it. As I was walking through town, I saw quite a few places that sell snorkel gear, I may have to do some price checking here, tomorrow perhaps, while there are still Easter sales going on. Man, do I love being in the water. There wasn’t a huge amount of fish. Lots of grass and rock and coral. Saw a couple schools of fish, quite a few angelfish and one quit big fish, with green and blue. It was just so good to be in the water and I love seeing the underwater world, so it doesn’t really matter if we didn’t that many fish, it’s nice to just float on the water and see any life under the water.

Happy Easter!

Decided to fore-go church this morning (please forgive me Lord) to go bike riding. We had a nice bike ride down to Vincentia. I saw more people on the walk/bike path then I’ve ever seen total the whole time I’ve been here. There were also lots of people on the beach and the day is a lovely day. After returning home, Barbara, invited me to go to the beach with them later. I happily accepted because I have been meaning to go swimming while I’m here and I don’t think I can wait to much longer or the water will get too cold to go into without a wetsuit.

Town Festival and Quad Aces!

Tom and I spent the morning watching the Masters, so we didn’t venture outside until a bit before noon. Tom had a haircut to go to and when we opened the door to check the weather and we heard bagpipes. I had totally forgotten that there was a parade and festival going on in town today. So I got my shoes on and headed into town to check out the action. There were a bunch of stalls with people selling all sorts of things. There were also several street performers and street food. It was nice to walk around and see so many people in town. I wouldn’t want it to be like this all the time, but it’s nice to have the town “wake up” a bit. Lots of people watching going on. Since Dave next door has gone down to Adelaide to visit with his family, his sister-in-law, her husband and 7 year old son are staying at his place for the weekend. Tom stopped by and made plans to meet up with them tonight after dinner to play some poker. We had a good time, played 2 games, the second of which I won. Since I had this hand, I have to bring it up. I was dealt an ace and something else, a 5 or something. I was one of the blinds so I stayed in, then on the flop, were 2 more aces and a third card. There were no straight draws and no flush draws, so I knew I had the best hand. I can’t remember if I was first to bet, or if I called on someone else’s bet, either way we went to the turn then to the river. I can’t remember if it was the turn or the river, but another ace popped up. I GOT QUAD ACES! That is just insane. I had had quite a bit of wine, so maybe that’s my secret for better poker playing, more alcohol. There was some big betting and when we turned the cards, the other person had a full house, aces and I think kings. Then I pop over my 4th ace and just basked it in. I wanted to take a picture because that is just so rare. It felt good. Tom and I hung out for a bit and chatted with Ben and Barbara, with the time just flying by. We realized that it was midnight and we should probably go to bed. So all in all a good day, lots of activity downtown and good company at night. I was also invited to go bike riding with Barbara and Nicholas (the 7 year old son) the next day (Easter Sunday), and I would really like to go, so I may just have to fore-go church.

Thursday April 9th and Good Friday

Didn’t really do much the past couple days. Went to the meat raffle on Thursday night and saw more kangaroo’s on the soccer pitch! Tried to take some photos, but the photo’s wouldn’t work with flash because it was dark and with the lights on the field it just didn’t come out. Since I didn’t have my tripod with me (it was back at Tom’s), I couldn’t hold my camera still enough to take pictures without the flash. I was able to however take a video using my camera that came out pretty decent. Was able to post it on facebook, so check it out if you’re on facebook. I tried to upload some pictures onto this here blog, but unfortunately Tom’s internet connection has a really slow upload speed, so it takes forever to upload things. I was able to put the pics on facebook, but not on this blog. I will try again later when I have time to wait for the pics/video to upload.

Friday (today) is Good Friday. It was a nice day and Tom had off from work. We hung out at the house and watched the coverage of the Master’s. I had a real lazy/tired day, I actually napped most of the afternoon. I got really stir crazy and went out for a walk around 5 pm. People actually crowd this place on holidays (and Easter is a huge holiday here, I mean it, a lot of places were actually closed today for Good Friday). I saw more people on the beach then I have seen the whole rest of the time I’ve been here, and this was in the evening. I can only imagine what is was like during the day today or what it will be like tomorrow. There were lots of couples walking around holding hands and kissing. I hate couples, boo for them. Just stop flaunting your happiness in our faces. I have been watching quite a bit of ‘Sex and the City’ since I have been here, there are 2 episodes on from noon-1 pm every day. The “real” versions, not the CW/TBS edited versions (man did I not realize how much I was actually missing!) and I used to think I was a mix of Carrie and Charlotte. Charlotte, a believer in love, full of hope and optimism and Carrie, a “regular” gal just kind of “normal.” Now I think I am becoming Miranda, full of cynicism and sarcasm (although to be fair, I was always a bit sarcastic). Anyway, that’s neither here nor there. I saw a beautiful sunset and then when the moon rose over the bay, it was huge and orange and full and I only wished I had thought to bring my camera with me. I’ll have to go back out walking on the beach tomorrow. One thing that bothers me about here, and I don’t know if it’s because it’s a bay and not on the actual ocean or what, but it doesn’t smell of saltwater. One of the best things about going to the beach it getting that whiff of salt air and knowing the water is right there nearby. I can smell that salt a bit here but not like when we go to the beach every August. I miss it a bit. I did also walk by a church in town today and checked out when the services are on Easter. I realized today that I had no plans for Easter and I got this really bad feeling. I feel like can’t not go to church on Easter feeling. So I checked out the service times and I have plans to go to church Easter morning, we’ll see if it actually happened or not. Oh and on the way home from my walk I saw this group of ‘young people’ (my age or younger, probably younger) and there were these 2 girls that were dressed to the nines. In black dresses and heeled black boots and hair and make-up all done up and the only thing I can think is where the heck are you going? I mean, there is one pub here in Husky and it’s that, a pub. It’s not like you’re going to a dance club or something. Why the hell are you so freaking dressed up people? Urgh, anyway, that just got me a bit surprised that these girls were so dressed up to go to a bar. I mean, we’re not in downtown Sydney here, were in a sleep little beach town, tone it down a bit ladies.

Tuesday April 7th, 2009

Went on a long walk today down to Vincentia. I had to get out of the house, I have been doing way too much lounging around. I did get Tom’s free weights out and did some lifting as to try not to lose too much of my muscle tone. Went down to Vincentia in the evening for the Tuesday night poker. I lasted longer than both Tom and Dave, yay, go me. I came in 13th again, just like last week. I guess 13 must be my lucky number. Unfortunately I got an e-mail saying the job I applied for had already been filled. Uh, then remove it from the damn website people. So my plan now is to in a few weeks just pack up and move up to Sydney and try to get a job waitressing or something. I was reading on a travel website, from people living here in Australia, in Sydney specifically, that even with the slow economy, there is still hiring going on in certain industries such as food service, travel and hospitality, so I think I might try that.

Sunday April 5th

Last night we changed the clocks back here, so we went from being 15 hours ahead of the US East coast to 14 hours ahead. We started the day buy watching some ESPN and seeing Michigan State pull out the win over UConn. We were rooting for M. State because that’s the only team Tom had left in his bracket, he picked them to win it all and since my bracket is total crap, I figured, one of us better at least do well. Nice to see they pulled it out though. Dave stopped by and mentioned he was heading down to the creek to do some fishing if I wanted to come join him. The creek behind Tom’s place, during low tide, there is a sandbar down the middle you can walk out to, so that’s where Dave fished from. I grabbed my hat and sunglasses and headed out while Tom went to the store to pick up a few things. It was a gorgeous day today! Sunshine and perfect weather. A great day to be outside. I joined Dave at the creek and kept him company while he fished. Caught a few little things, but nothing substantial enough to keep. Dave told me about his kayak and canoe he has that we’re more than welcome to borrow. I’ll have to take advantage of that while I’m here. He also has a sailboat that he mentioned we should go out on when he comes back from Easter holiday. See, Dave is here, in the military, while his family lives in Adelaide, so he’s going back home for a bit over the Easter holiday. Got back from fishing and saw the end of the UNC/Villanova game. Boo UNC (sorry Anne), I don’t want to see UNC win, if mostly to rub it in my friend Ryan’s face.
Went to another poker event tonight. Had a $10 dollar buy-in and I did ok, I’m still learning though. It was one of those foolish things though where if you go out, you can buy back in, so people just go crazy and are reckless and try to steal blinds and get everyone to fold, then if they go out, no problem, just another $10 to buy back in. I don’t like that. If you play bad, or go too crazy, that should be it, you’re done. Dave did well, came in 4th place, won $75. We got back late and Tom cooked up some yummy porkchops in the grill with veggies. We watched “First Knight” then I headed off to bed.

Saturday April 4th

Today we had plans to head into Nowra again for a noon heads up poker tourney Tom and his neighbor Dave were going to play in. We drive all the way into Nowra and find out the tourney has been changed to the 18th.

Now Nowra’s not far per say, about 20 minutes, but mileage wise, you think it would be shorter. I don’t know if I mentioned before though, but the speed limits on the roads are pretty slow, on the highway, it’s like 45 MPH, and there are only 2 lanes most of the way, with an occasionally lane for passing. Also there are these stupid driving license restrictions. When people first get their licenses, they have a L plate they have to put on their car and their not allowed to go any faster than like 80 KPH. After a year, they get a P plate (in green or red, I can’t remember) for a year and their allowed to go 90 KPH. After that year, they get a P plate in the other color and they can go 100 KPH. Then after that year, they have full abilities and no restrictions on their cars. Now this may seem like it’s to keep young people slow and under more control. Most people know though what happens in the US, when there are people going too slow on roads. They end up being a nuisance and just being an accident looking for a place to happen. Now here, they have people required to go slower, it just seems like a bad idea to me. Plus it gets people irritated when they get stuck behind them.

Back to the day, well we were already in Nowra, we decided to head up north to Shellharbour, which is a mall a bit farther up the coast. On the way we saw a winery right off the highway so we decided to stop and do a tasting. We rolled on in and tasted a few wines and the people (don’t know if they were the owners or what) were very nice. They had reisling that I enjoyed. Tom tried the Syraz and quite liked it, so bought two bottles. It was a nice area, the whole vineyard was in full growth, not the barren branches I am used to seeing back home. Apparently it is about harvest time here, it was nice to see all the green down the rows of vines. We got up to Shellharbour and walked around a bit, but I refrained from buying anything. I need to not spend money when I’m not getting any in. On the way back we stopped in Berry, which is a cute little town with a few block “downtown” kind of area. There were come cute little shops we popped into and then got back in the car and on our merry way. On the way home, just before we hit Tom’s road, we saw a couple of kangaroo’s on the side of the road! Yay, now I’ve seen some during the day. Of course though, my camera was in my purse and I couldn’t get it out in time. One of these days, I’m gonna see some ‘roos and have my camera ready for a photo op. I have to prove to you guys that I am actually seeing them and not just claiming to have seen them.

After returning home, we relaxed and I started my new cross-stitch I had picked up the day before. We watched a bit of tv and we saw this movie starring John Cena called “The Marine”. Um yeah…I think they just had Cena running around and things blowing up to distract what I can only assume is a lack of acting skills. I’ll go out on a ledge and say I don’t think this movie won any awards. I was trying to stay up because I had called my friend Anne that morning (so evening time in the Eastern US) and she was on her way out to dinner, so I was trying to stay up until it was morning in the US and she was on the road on her way back to her parents house. I just couldn’t do it though, I would have had to have made it to about midnight, but that just wasn’t happening. So sorry Anne, we’ll get in touch sometime.

Friday April 3rd

Ok, so I am writing this update on Sunday the 5th, and I can’t really remember much what I did Friday. Isn’t that sad? I remember just hanging out in the morning and Tom got home early, at about noon-ish. In the afternoon, Tom and I headed into Nowra to walk around town a bit and see what kind of places there were in there. Tom has just started brewing beer at home so he had to pick up some more supplies. I browsed around a few bookstores, trying to find some books so I have something else to do during the day. I didn’t really know what I was looking for, plus books can take up space and get heavy quickly. Paperback books are pretty expensive here. There were average paperback book listed at $30 AUD, which is like $21 USD, the same books that might be $13.95 in the states. So I refrained from buying any and decided I would just have to start working out more. That’s another thing that bothers me. I was doing so well the couple months before I left, going to the gym, doing Pilates, lifting weights. I was getting some serious arm muscles. Since I’ve come here, my exercise has gone down to a minimum. I really need to be better as to not lose everything I’d been working for. Tom does have some free weights and an exercise ball, so I really need to get my ass in gear and get some use out of them. Even though I didn’t buy any books, we did pop into a crafts store, because I was looking for any cute scrapbook stickers to use when I eventually make a scrapbook of this trip. No fun scrapbook embellishments, but I did decide to buy a cross-stitch to give me something else to do during the day. It’s of a koala and the Three Sisters rock formations located in the Blue Mountains outside of Sydney. I figured if I am going to do a cross-stitch I might as well have it be of something Australian, right? In the evening we headed down to the local RSL Club (Reserve Servicemen’s League) to go to another raffle and have dinner. It’s in walking distance but after we walked down, I went to sign in and they wanted to see an ID, did I bring me ID? No of course no, so we walked back to the house then back to the RSL. After “checking” in, we hit up the bistro, which has this Friday night special, beef or pork roast with veggies and either soup or a dessert, for like 8.50 AUD, which is like 6 USD, not to bad for a meal. It tasted pretty good as well, I got the pork, which came piled on, with the veggies and a lemon cake which was delicious. There’s a raffle that goes on, quite like the meat raffle from the night before, except other things are raffled off as well. This night there was a chest freezer, a set of bikes, pots and pans, a Nintendo DS, a hair dryer and straightener, and some other things, as well as some meat trays. Unfortunately nothing was won this night. We headed back home and it was another early night for me. I’m still not fully adjusted to the time change, I get really tired around 9 and head to bed and wake up by like 7 am. So not crazy hours, but a bit different then what I’m used to. You can get so much more done when you’re up by 7 am, too bad I’m not doing anything.

Random Things About Australia

- Still haven’t seen a kangaroo, although on the way to work on Monday morning Tom almost got taken out by one, and they call them roo’s.

- Australian’s shorten the word for everything, if it’s more than 2 syllable’s, they shorten it (Huskisson = Husky, Brisbane = Brissy, Fremantle = Freo, etc)

- Ate a Tim-Tam (it’s a cookie), haven’t tried the Tim-Tam slam yet, but will soon, if you don’t know what that is, google it.

- Very little stop signs, mostly yields (or as they are labeled here, give way’s)
- TV is less restricted. They air unedited versions of Sex and the City, are less restrictive with language and nudity

- Show some US shows, as well as entertainment news (ET, The Insider), some US sports (saw Hockey, NCAA Football)

- A lot of traffic circles, as opposed to traffic lights

- Way less commercials during tv shows

Thursday April 2nd, 2009: Confirmed KANGAROO SIGHTING!!!!

Sat around watching tv all day. Did come across American Idol, the episode from this previous Tuesday, so know I know that I can watch the current weeks episode, granted it’s an hour or so after the results air in the US. And the results show airs tonight. LOST airs on Wednesday night, but the episodes are about 2 weeks behind the US, so me being the spoiler whore I am, will totally read online what happens and not get to watch the episode until 2 weeks later, but it’s better than being a season or 2 behind. Thursday evening Tom and I headed to the Husky Bowling club (it’s another social club and it has lawn bowling) for the weekly meat raffle. Basically you go in, buy raffle tickets and then they raffle off things. There are two raffles, one to go towards the local soccer club and one to raise money for the bowling club. I bought $5 worth of tickets for the soccer club and lo and behold, my number got called! When your number gets called, you can go up and pick out what you want out of what’s left. When my number got called, what was left was either a bottle of port wine or a crate of fruits and veggies, so I took the fruits and veggies. It had half a pineapple, carrots, apples, oranges, a banana, onions, potatoes, cabbage, a pear and a green pepper. Tom won 2 trays of meat and of course, he picked 2 T-bone trays. There were other selections as well, some had roasts, some had lamb chops, but Tom is a fan pf the T-Bones, so that’s what we got. One our way out of the club, there they were, on the soccer pitch, 5 KANGAROOS! Of course, I hadn’t brought my camera with me! But yup, sure enough there were 5 of them. There were 2 really big ones, definitely much taller than me when standing on 2 feet. But then again, what’s not taller than me? I even saw them hopping around! Yay, so I caught them, tagged ‘em and will be tracing them to figure out their feeding and migration patterns. No just kidding, but now I know where to look, I may have to visit that area again (which is not far from where Tom lives) at night, with my camera, to take pictures and have people look at me like the crazy American that I am. So…pretty much I am content for the night, got free food and saw kangaroo’s. My life is pretty much complete.
Till next time, C.

Job Update

I have checked a few websites, including Kelly Scientific, for temp/contract science positions. There is an opening for a temporary food microbiologist in Melbourne that was just posted. I am thinking about applying. But it would mean being in Melbourne during winter and since it is farther from the equator it can get pretty chilly there during the winter, and I mean, I just left winter, I want to be warm for a bit. I might send an e-mail to learn more about the position but it is something I am definitely thinking about. Applying anyhow, who knows if I would even be considered?
Also today I did apply for a Tax File #, I guess you don’t have to have one, but if you don’t, businesses can take up to like 45% tax out of your pay! I assume if you have one, the tax rate is considerably less. Although since I feel like I have still just arrived and want to stay here at least through Easter holiday it’s weird to be thinking about finding a job. I know it’s good to have this fall back with Tom, but sometimes I feel like it might have been better if I didn’t know anyone, that way I would be forced to find work right away. I feel like I could get complacent and comfortable here and not want to leave! That’s why I left home, I was getting to comfortable, I can’t have that happening here, sitting around for months, I’d go mad! I don’t really want to think about working though, boo!

Wednesday April 1st: Happy April Fool's Day

Today was another overcast, slightly rainy day. I did get up the energy to take Tom’s bike and go for a ride down to Vincentia. Unfortunately it started raining during my ride, nothing too heavy, just slight rain. But it was good to get out and get some exercise. I was doing so well going to the gym before I left, it’s weird to not have a gym to go to. Tom does have an exercise ball and some free weights, so I guess I’ll have to make due with that and do some pilates on my own. One of these days when it’s nice I want to ride even further down the bay, to Hyam’s Beach which is just south of Vincentia. According to the Guinness book of world records, this beach has the whitest sand in the world, so I’ll have to check it out for myself. We just grabbed some pizza for dinner because the porkchops Tom got out weren’t fully thawed. Ate pizza and watched the world cup qualifier of Australia vs. Uzbekistan, of which I fell asleep half-way through because I was so tired. So all in all, a pretty non-exciting day.

Tuesday March 31st: Possible Kangaroo Sighting?

So Tuesday I just pretty much sat around all day doing nothing. The day was kind of overcast and it started to rain in the afternoon. In the evening Tom and I headed over to the Vincentia Golf Club to grab dinner at the Chinese/Thai place before playing poker. There is a Texas Hold ‘Em free game every Tuesday, so that’s what our plan for the evening was. I was just hoping not to embarrass myself. I actually did OK, I came in 14th or so out of like 35, I’m just glad I wasn’t the first person out! I don’t feel like I embarrassed myself so that’s a plus. Plus was it was nice to just get out of the house after being cooped up all day. It’s so weird not having a car, especially being in a place where you can walk to a little strip of shops/restaurants, but really need a car to get anywhere significant. I look forward to living in a city where I can rely on public transportation. On the way home from the club at about 10 pm, I saw what may or may not have been a kangaroo. I definitely saw some sort of animal on the side of the road, but it was all balled up like it was licking itself, so all I could see was a ball of grey fur. Could have been something else, I don’t know, but it was definitely some sort of animal. I stayed up a bit when we got home and was actually able to stay up till about 11 pm, shocking!