Its a beautiful day in this neighborhood

A beautiful day for a neighbor, Would you be mine? Could you be mine?
(btw, Go look up Mr Rogers on youtube . . . its a completely different perspective watching him at this age and he's absolutely creepy)

So, lets get to know some of my neighbors. (The correct Aussie spelling would be 'neighbour,' but I speak American, so take that teachers)

We all already know about the Australian next door that insulted my voice. (She's since gotten over her eating disorder) However, those same neighbors have reached a whole new level. Our house tends to be a party house and on the occasional Friday or Saturday night we do throw pretty big parties. That is to be expected on the weekends. But we all enjoy sleeping in on those weekend mornings. I can't really complain because Monday is the only day I have to actually get up before 11am. (don't worry, I don't sleep that late every day, I'm just saying I could) I didn't actually go out at all this weekend in an effort to conserve funds and catch up on school work. I had pretty calm nights that involved hanging out with the roommates and watching movies. That doesn't mean I actually went to bed early though. I was really looking forward to sleeping in Saturday considering I went out Thursday night and had to get up for class Friday and could really have used some extra sleep.

. . . It started with the French horn. Just a few notes up and back down the scale. Then he went up an octave. And then another and another. Once he got pretty high, he then decided to scale back down. It was 9:30am. By 10am, the rest of the band had joined in and we were forefront to a free classical concert. Number one, I don't like classical. Number two, I thoroughly enjoy sleeping. If I could have found a rock on my floor I would have gracefully thrown it through one of their windows. But when I realized they really weren't going to stop, I finally just got up. Their practice concert lasted over 2 hours. In the future, I will look into how musically gifted my neighbors are because I wake up to either the flute or the french horn most mornings and its getting pretty annoying.

And now for our not so human neighbors. The other night the roomies and I argued over what made the chirping sound outside every night. Viktor was trying to convince us it was the geckos while the rest of us said it had to be birds. Well tonight I learned that Viktor was entirely correct. We have a large family of geckos that lives here. They live mostly in the walls and at night they hang out around the lights on our back porch eating bugs. Occasionally they slither in through the open doors and hang out on our ceilings. But they're cute and I assume they eat spiders so they are welcome any time. Tonight I was washing my dishes after eating dinner and saw a gecko near the ceiling in our kitchen. We also have an issue with fruit flies and they were particularly annoying tonight so I decided to close the door in the kitchen and deal with the heat. Mr gecko did not like that. I assumed he had some other method of getting back outside but as soon as I left the room he started chirping, loudly. I walked back in the kitchen and watched him as he continued chirping at me. I reopened the door and he stopped. He then waited for me to leave the room again before making his grand escape. Who knew our lil geckos had such personality?

Our house has a lot of people in it, so any burning type smell causes some alarm. On a few random nights we've noticed a burning smell and gone on missions trying to figure out what it was. We've searched the house completely and couldn't figure it out. Well the other night the boys finally figured it out. Kamikaze bugs. In our living room, which is the main room we always hang out in, there is a big bowl light fixture that's open on the top. The other night I was watching TV by myself when I heard a sizzling sound. A large bug was burning on the flourescent blub. That cannot be a good way to go. I heard it for a good 5 minutes before it actually started smelling. Ew. I guess the main fix would be to keep the doors closed. However, this is Australia and its getting into the summer months and we are lacking in that American luxury of AC. An open door with a fabulous breeze feels brilliant. So, pretty much we're gonna deal with the occasional gecko, the fruit flies and our kamikaze bugs. They're becoming more like family than intruders really.

Today I headed down to Racecourse Road to meet Jackie and her boyfriend for some Brisbane Festival activities. The whole road was closed off with lots of vendors and concerts and food. The Hair Show people were there again, but Jackie didn't get picked. Guess she's not as savy as I am. Instead we had sno-cones and enjoyed a really cheap BBQ. Jackie and I then got to make our own hairbows. Granted it was a stand for little girls, but they said we weren't too old and my bow is pretty sweet.
This week its lots of studying for my test Thursday and project work . . . but this week can't go by fast enough. Saturday I leave for Spring Break with Hanne. Sydney, Adelaide, Cage Diving, OH MY! Trust me . . . that blog will be a good one.

Grad school, the kick in the ass we all need

QUT's motto: "University for the real world."

To put it simply, the point of this education is to get me a job. I'm expanding on my skills to make myself a better candidate when applying for jobs when I get home.

I'm really starting to like my he/she teacher. She is absolutely real and gives it straight. For the past few classes I wrote down some quotes from her.

When describing our job as advertisers, she said "We're creative prostitutes."

In one class she showed us an ad with a lot of writing and said "Long copy like this is a creative's wet dream."

My point is she's funny. And she's realistic. On Friday she pretty much chewed out our class and asked us what we were doing. For a little background, our class doesn't speak, AT ALL. It's mostly foreign students and our teacher makes a huge effort to include us in discussion, but no one participates. However, I talk a lot in class. But I'm not trying to be that student that annoys everyone by always speaking up, so sometimes I say nothing to give others a chance, even if I have an opinion. The other day she was talking about how this is Grad school and we should be here because we're interested in the subject and the industry and we should have an opinion. When everyone remained quiet she said "If you're not interested in being in the industry, what the fuck are you doing here?" (Pardon her french) Somewhat blunt, but a wake up call for people in the class. She then asked the class who wanted to be in the industry. A few people, including me, raised their hands. She then asked those who didn't raise their hands what they were doing here. Response? Absolute silence.

I finally raised my hand and said I could tell her why I wanted to be in the industry. Here's my answer.

"My background is in graphic design, but when I was working I realized I don't want to spend my entire life in front of a computer. I thought that by getting into advertising I would get to work with clients and work on projects from start to finish so I wouldn't just sit behind a computer all day. Also, there are absolutely no jobs in America right now so I figured it couldn't hurt to go back to school"

She said that was a good answer. She also told us that to do well in this industry you have to love, breathe and live it. You have to watch commercials and read magazines and analyze them. You have to keep up to date on what is out there so that you can come up with the next big thing. She said there are a few people in class that she can tell love the industry and will do well . . . I'm hoping that includes me. I knew coming to Australia would be fun, but I'm really starting to think that this University is a perfect fit for me. I have no idea what it's gonna be like when I start applying for jobs in a few weeks, or where I'll end up but I know I'm not going to settle. If I have to waitress for a while to get by, that's fine with me. But I'm not gonna settle until I find a fabulous job I love in a city that I want to live in.

I watched Oprah today and it was all about visualizing what you want for the future and you'll get it. This lady showed her board she made years earlier about her life plans which included getting married and it even had a picture of some guy from a magazine that ended up looking like the man she actually married. Don't know if I'll be making a visualization board . . . but I have big hopes for the future and I won't settle until I get there. :)

I'm gonna be a supermodel . . .

I've said it many times before, but exciting things tend to just happen to me. Today was no exception. This afternoon I walked to the lagoon to relax on the beach with a good book. After about 2 hours I decided to wander around and see what they had going on for the Brisbane Festival.

I happened across the Osadia Hair Show (www.osadiaonline.com). The designers were dressed in kimonos and doing outrageous hair designs on people from the audience. I watched for a little while and then went to see if there was anything else exciting around. I walked down to the waterfront and saw the interactive billboards. They had spots you could knock to hear music or sayings that went along with the theme. There were some tents for face painting, circus tricks for the kids and some amazing photography. But I had a hunch I should go back to the Hair Show, so I did.

I sat down to watch and had my hair down and flowing in the wind. I knew I was going to get picked. When the designer was looking for a new person, so many people were raising their hands to get picked. I just smiled shyly and showed my massive amount of hair he could work with. He pointed to me and the rest is history.It only took about 20 minutes for him to create this jurrasic concoction. I definitely had my 15 minutes of fame. I was stopped every few minutes for photographs and people kept telling me how beauitful I looked. Great morale booster. I then called Hanne and my roomies and told them they had to come to the beach because there was NO WAY I could walk home by myself. My dinosaur was a big hit with the kids and tourists loved me. I even got approached by some ghetto guys who told me my hair was "wicked." It was somewhat awkward waiting for my friends to arrive, but once they came it was fine. I ran into lots of friends who saw me from a distance and came to hear about my ridiculous hair. I was starving and somewhat unable to eat because of the glitter and paint on my lips. I finally wiped it off and grabbed some lunch. The roomies and I caught a bus back towards home and then walked the last stretch. I got some great looks from drivers and even a few whistles. One lady walked by and asked if my hair was for the Broncos game . . . I don't think T-Rex looks anything like a Bronco, but I was polite and told her it was for the Brisbane Festival. She then made some comment about me being hungover and yelled some awkward obsenities. I was just thankful I had the guys with me. When we got home we did a photo session and then finally took my hair down. It took about 20 minutes in the shower to get all the hair spray and paint out, but it was completely worth it. I got some amazing pictures and had yet another exciting adventure.

In my mind I'm gone to Carolina . . .

I am very sad I'm missing out on Carolina football. After living in Chapel Hill for over 5 years, I had gotten a little bored with it. Most of my friends had already moved on and although I loved my one bedroom apartment, I was lonely without roommates. I wanted out and I wanted a new adventure. Well, I did it and I am currently living an amazing adventure. Now, however, I miss the feeling of walking down Franklin St on a perfect summer day. Or the excitement on game days when the whole city turns Carolina blue. I want a burger and orangeade from Suttons and I want to get late night at Time Out. I want to walk through campus, tailgate with my roomies and cheer on the Heels at Kenan Stadium.

Next Saturday we play ECU . . . yet another noon game which means 2am Sunday for me. But, to watch them beat those pirates might be worth the late night. Bruhahaha.

This weekend has been quite an exciting one. Friday night we had our Heaven & Hell party for Hanne's birthday. People actually dressed up which made it that much more exciting. The house was festively decorated and as usual, we started out the night with a lil BBQ. This time, other people actually brought food too and BBQed with us. Drinking games, dance parties and photo shoots dominated the night. Just before midnight I got her cake set up, the champagne and the sparklers ready. We go all out down under. I had gotten her an ice cream cake and carried it out with the big 22 candles on top. After we got done singing and she blew out her candles, I leaned in for a hug. Unfortunately the cake leaned with me resulting in it landing face first on the deck. Lucky for me, people were pretty drunk by this point and didn't mind still eating the cake. Nice work Kennan. All in all I'd say the party was a complete success. Saturday morning Hanne and I woke up to Wolfgang blasting techno at 10am. After multiple attempts to unplug the speakers and his refusal to keep the music off, I threatened his life. He wanted to go to the lagoon and I told him to go while the rest of us got some more sleep. After a few more hours of sleep, I rallied the guys for an intense cleaning session. The house looked pretty bad in the aftermath, but that just means we had a good party.Saturday was the start of the Brisbane Festival which begins with Riverfire. It's a huge event and you have to get to the river early to get a good spot. Our original plan was to go about 3pm, which turned into 4:30pm and we finally left at 5:30pm. That was all the boys, I was ready at 4:30pm thank you. We then walked to Kangaroo Point and got a spot on the dock overlooking the river and the valley. There were also some party boats on the water playing really good music. We waited for about an hour for the fireworks to start, and when they did it was amazing. They had barges all down the river with 30 minutes worth of fireworks. They also had stations on top of the skyscrapers setting off fireworks as well. This show had to be worth millions of dollars, but it was absolutely beautiful. It started with two loud jets flying down the length of the river and then the fireworks started. They had all kinds and they were even coordinated down the river. We counted 8 different set off spots, but we could only see part of the river from our spot. The show ended with the two jets doing another fly by, this time though there was fire shooting out the back of both engines of each plane. What a way to end Riverfire.The roomies and I then headed to McDonalds for some dinner and then home. It was a long two days so we stayed in with movies instead of going out. Now its a beautiful Sunday afternoon and I'm about to head to Southbank for more Festival celebrating. Viva la Brisbane!!!!

"Ohana" means "family"

I've felt a little homesick lately so that's where this blog comes from.

There is one place I can go all over the world that makes me feel like home . . . the water. I was born in a city in North Carolina. We didn't have a pool or live by the water when I was really young, but we spent every summer at Atlantic Beach. And when I can smell that beach air and see that water, I just feel home. And now my parents live on the coast so technically, it is my home. Maybe I just always knew thats where we belong. I'm not on the coast here in Australia, but each time I go to the coast, I walk out into the ocean, close my eyes and for a few seconds, I'm home. And here in Brisbane the city thrives around the river. Its not the ocean, but it still makes me feel close to home when I see the water. And I absolutely love that its almost always sunny.

My brother and I have a lot in common. In the winter when its dark and cold, we get kinda depressed and sad. We crave the sun and need it to be happy. Same with bright colors too. We're drawn to yellows cause its bright and happy. Like me, he's drawn to the water too. He went to college on the coast and I love visiting him and seeing all the palm trees. Another weird quirk is we both have this weird nausea in the mornings. We can't eat breakfast early and if anything smells weird first thing in the morning, its not gonna end well. But I like that we have those things in common. Its weird, but its familiar. I guarantee he doesn't take the time to read my blog, but maybe if I tell him I devoted a paragraph to him he'll read this one.

I've been in Australia over 2 months and only have about 3 left. Its going by so quickly. I still have so much left I want to do and not much time to do it! The last 3 weeks I'm here I'll be traveling with my parents and with all the trips I already have planned, I only have about 5 weekends left to plan trips. Not to mention, at some point I'm probably going to run out of money. In college when I'd run out of money I thought it was clever to call my parents and sing that country song "Dear Mom and Dad please send money, I'm so broke that it aint funny. I don't need much just enough to get me through." Look out daddy, you might get that call in the future, but I'm gonna try to make it last until you arrive, and then rob you. Evidently everything is laid back in Australia, including responding to job applications.

I was so homesick the other night that I ended up skyping with my whole family. I talked to my sis and wished Gavin happy birthday. I got to see his parents and her mom and sister cause they were all celebrating together. Logan was excited to see me, but more excited about the birthday cake. I then called my momma and chatted with her for about 30 minutes. After that I decided, why not call Carter too. He could only chat for a few minutes but said he was sad I wasn't home to help him with designing some tshirts for his fraternity. After I explained that the internet is worldwide he got excited and told me about designs he was thinking about. I forgot about it until I started blogging so I just cranked that out for him real quick. Hopefully he likes my idea.

So pretty much I just wanted to tell my family I love you guys and miss you. Being here is such an awesome opportunity and I wish I could share it with you all. I have tons of friends here and I stay pretty busy, but no one can replace family.

"Ohana" means "family." "Family" means "no one gets left behind."

Whale watching at Hervey Bay

I woke up Saturday morning at 6:30am to get ready to head to campus and catch the bus to Hervey Bay. It was POURING rain. Absolutely miserable out, which made me a little nervous about the trip, but it is Australia and the weather usually clears up quickly.

As we loaded onto the bus we met Peter, our Scottish bus driver. He is the man. He was funny and completely entertaining. He explained that usually he wears a kilt for his trips, but someone stole his recently and his new one hadn't come in yet. We all slept for most of the 4 hours bus ride. We arrived in Gimpy for lunch, which was more like finger food. We scarfed down the mini sandwiches and then loaded back on the bus for the rest of the trip. We arrived in Hervey Bay around 1pm, quickly changed into our bathing suits and headed to the beach. We enjoyed some sun and met some new friends. It was perfectly relaxing.

After the beach we had our buffet dinner and then hit up some local pubs. We had to be up at 6am Sunday to go catch our boat so the plan was just a few drinks and then home early. Yea, that didn't happen. 6am was brutal, and after tryin to eat breakfast, I asked Peter for the key to the bus and went to lay down until everyone was done eating. A lil while later Peter came and gave me his pillow. What a sweetheart. By 8am I had had a little more sleep and was finally feeling better. Plus, it was whale watching time!!!!!
We loaded onto the Mikat and after headin out to sea, Jackie and I posted up at the front of the boat. I took another nap and somewhat remember Jackie saying "Are you asleep, cause there are whales." I sprung into action with my sweet camera. Quick shout out to the guy at Best Buy that convinced me to go with the Canon because it has continuous shot, meaning when you hold the button it keeps taking pictures. That allowed me to get some amazing shots. I got an awesome sunburn which is now just a beautiful tan too.
Now, the whales. I had some expectations. Like I hoped we'd get to see some whales and I could get close enough to get a picture I could then crop in closer. This exceeded all of those. Sometimes the whales were close enough that I could have reached out and almost touched it. And our captain was great and taught us a lot about them. We followed a mother and her calf for a while and he explained that the mom shoots milk out into the water for the baby to drink. And that whales come up to Hervey Bay to mate and have their young, and then once they are strong enough, they swim back down to Antartica to feed. After about 12 months, the babies are on their own. The adults can also hold their breath for about 40 minutes.

After a full day of whale watching, we loaded back on the bus to head back to Brisbane. While at dinner Peter told us an awesome story. Back in the day he did tours in Scotland. He had a group one time and when he saw one of the girls in the group he thought to himself, that is the perfect girl. They got to know each other during the tour and at the end he picked her up and said he wouldn't put her down until she agreed to marry him. After 11 days of knowing each other, he flew out to Australia and married her. 27 years later they're still happily married with 3 kids. Sunday was father's day here in Australia so we all wished Peter a happy father's day throughout the day. He also told us how excited he was that he got text messages and calls from all his kids. So dad, I know we already had father's day in America, but happy father's day to you too!!!

Only 3 short weeks until Spring Break!!!!!!

i am le tired

For the past two nights I've been battling with a slight case of insomnia.

Now, Jeff, I know you blogged about your insomnia and I want to acknowledge that and state that I am in no way feeding off of your previous post. Mine is quite a puzzling case. Usually there is some reason for not being able to sleep. Maybe you're fighting a pointless war in Iraq and going slightly insane with boredom, or maybe you don't feel well, maybe you're worried about someone, or you're stressed about upcoming events. I have none of these. I got in bed around 11pm Sunday night after a day of lounging around and doing homework, and by 2:30am had had enough. I took a sleeping pill and sometime around 3am I finally fell asleep. Of course Mondays are my only early day of class, so getting up at 7:45am wasn't easy. But I made it to class and made it through the rest of my day without napping so that I would finally sleep Monday night. No dice. Luckily, I recognized how awake I was and took a sleeping pill around midnight and finally dosed off around 1am. Tonight I actually feel tired but I've had quite an eventful day so I should be.

I awoke this morning to the ringing of my cell phone. It was a private number. That, of course, means a call from home. And seeing as only a few people have my number here, there is only one person that would use it outside of an emergency. As I answered my mothers voice rang through saying "There you are, we're ready to skype!" Reluctantly I agreed, and groggily answered her skype call. However, I refused to turn on the video camera because she had just woken me up and I didn't feel like seeing anyone yet, or rather anyone seeing me. Her response?

"Turn on your camera, I like seeing you. Why, is someone in the bed with you? Turn on your camera!!!"

Good to know my mother thinks my Monday night was so eventful. When I retold this story to Hanne, she gave me what should have been my response. "Should have told her yes its Hanne and we plan on gettin married in Fiji." If only I was a quick thinker first thing in the morning. Love you momma :)

After a little breakfast I headed down to the washer to hang my now clean clothes on the line. Its a pretty uneventful task, but one that had to be done. As I was standing under the lines securing my clothes, I heard what sounded like someone dragging a box along the pavement. As I listened closer, I realized it sounded more like scales dragging along pavement, and it sounded entirely too close to where I was standing. I slowly looked down to my left foot and about two inches away was a lizard about two feet long dragging himself across our driveway. I slowly stepped away, my mouth agape and kicked myself for not thinking to bring my camera down to hang my laundry because this is Australia and things like this are always possible. He didn't bother me, and really barely noticed me. I watched him drag himself around the side of the house and out of site. Next time, I will be prepared.

As for the rest of my day, I got quite the workout. I motivated myself to go for a run in the afternoon. I found a great trail that runs by a creek and found a few more parks around my house that are perfect for picnics or a game of rugby . . . not that I know how to play, but I could learn! A quick shower and I was out the door to get to the bank and pay rent. I took the bus to campus to save time, but decided to walk home. I rarely take the bus here, not because I don't like it, but because its free to walk AND I get at least an hour of exercise every day walking to and from campus. Having been in the working world, I've lived the routine where I had to get up at 6am to workout before work and then sit at a desk all day. In college I never appreciated how much time I had to get in shape, or read outside or lay out on the quad. I definitely appreciate that now, and I'm using my time to the fullest. After returning from campus I decided to sit outside and enjoy the sunset while painting my toenails. Unfortunately, as I set my left foot down and lifted my right foot for its second coat, I placed my foot on top of a black ant. I've been bitten by little ants before, but this was no little ant. It got me right between the two pads on the bottom of my foot and hurt bad enough that I limped back upstairs to avoid further encounters. I finished painting my toenails and then took a quick powernap in the hopes that when I woke up the throbbing would have subsided.

I got up promtly at 6pm to get ready for my pole dancing class. The foot was still in pain, but I powered through it. Tonight, I was bumped from the beginner pole to the advanced pole. It was just me and one other girl so I got an intense workout and learned things that I've watched the other girls do with a pang of jealousy. Let me be the first to tell you that it is NOT as easy as it looks. Sure the spins are easy once you learn the steps, but it takes practice to make it look good. Tonight, I learned to climb the pole. Although I didn't get far, I learned how and with a little more strength training with my arms I'll be able to go all the way to the top. I then learned how to throw my body upside down, latch on with my legs and completely release my arms. I need a little strength training in my abs as well, but that was awesome. I also got an insider tip. Obviously buying your own pole would be expensive. Carmen Electra sells some cheap ones online, but the teacher told me if I buy one under $300, it will fall at some point and I will get hurt. So, apart from buying my own $300 pole one day, she said the best place to try to practice is a playground. Now, I'm not gonna whip out the stripper moves with a bunch of kids running around, but I can do pull ups on the monkey bars, practice my footwork on the firemans pole and of course enjoy a time or two down the slide. And lucky for me, I passed a great playground on my run today. Woohoo!

I ended the night with Inglorious Bastards with the roomies. Great movie, a lil gruesome but it is Quentin Tarantino so would you expect anything less?