New Year, New Hope.

Alright, I have failed at blogging lately. I don't really have to justify it, I just haven't because I just haven't wanted to. I wrote a big long one, then the computer crashed, I retyped it, it crashed, and I went SCREW IT! Oh well, no sense in doing a big catch up, because if I am honest, I'll have forgotten everything by now!
I am still working at Barbeques Galore, and I can tell you this: I am so thankful Christmas is over. Though, that said, it is Australia Day on the 26th so things are surely not going to die down right away... They will though, be nicer. Why does doing the right thing and spreading holiday cheer make people so fucking cranky and shitty? How is this even possible? I've been thinking, and I think that a world with no criminals or dickheads would be a very miserable world indeed, if being cheerful and helping a brother out makes us pissy, I vote we cut that shit out RIGHT now. I got a step counter at work, because my store feels like it is a mile long, and as it turns out, it may very well be lol. I got to almost 19000 steps in one 7 hour shift... woah. I really love my job, and it makes me very happy. I actually enjoy retail much more than I had expected I would.
As for what I have been doing, well, it has been substantially hotter than I am used to for this time of year (or any time of year on some days, holy crap) and we have been spending a whole ton of time at the watering hole. Swimming outdoors in December for the win! My roomies have played 2 shows since I've been here, and it's really awesome. I'm embracing my inner roadie, and enjoying every minute of it lol. I've gotten a camera, and been taking photos, which I have put up on facebook... I also have gone to see several movies in the theater lately, and I'm really into films all over again. My roomie Kev and Tim and I have been watching animes we downloaded, and that's been a slice too.
As for my future? Well I have tickets to Soundwave (like Australian Warped Tour) as well as Australia Day cricket! I'm really keen on Cricket, so I can't wait to go and see these international level players I've come to love on the TV. I'm also making plans towards the end of my visa, such as where to go from here. While I'd love to share those, it's best to keep them close to the chest so I don't feel like I have to choose. I'd like to make these choices without input.
Emotionally, I'm in a weird place. I've just passed the 5 months here mark, and I get random bouts of extreme homesickness, then I get extremely defiant bouts where I think fuck it, I'm never going home. It's really rollercoastery, and sometimes it is hard to bear. It'll all work out eventually, I'm certain.

I'm running out of things to say, because I'm pretty tired from last night's New Years stay-up-late-a-thon and I have to work tomorrow, but I will attempt to update much more often, seeing how we have gotten Tim's PC up and running for the most part.
Cheers!

The Pain! The Horror!

My back hurts like so many demons are running through my muscle sinews causing all types of havoc. After months of doing sweet dick all, I now have to build and left and move and haul and cart heavy things around. I spent today trying to fit metal tubes together to make ice box racks, too bad they were all welded together like shit, so they didn't exactly get put together easily. I feel like I can feel my muscles ripping apart in protest. I'm so sorry muscles! Today was so busy, and I just don't know enough stuff yet, so it was very frustrating, I tried to stay building, but every time i would go find someone to ask them a question, like 5 customer would ask ME a question, so i then had like 7 questions to ask, and I got lost and frustrated a TON. SIGH, it does *seem* to be getting easier...

Tim got a job near my job, so I may not have to take many bus trips, THANK GOD. Oh, Tim got a job! We can afford things again! Tuesday is pay day, so I am going to get new shoes that I can wear to work, new pants, and go for all you can eat pizza. I hope to do lots of other things too, like buy groceries, and go to shows and BUY BOOZE (holy shit.) I AM SO EXCITED.

All that said, I'm in hurtville, and I think I may be stinky (noone has balls enough to confirm this, though noone has denied it) so I am going to shower and hope for the best. Have fun kids!

Brain... Food?

Today was my first day at work! I did a lot of training on the boring type learny stuff like health and safety and using the big-heavy-thing lifters, and stuff. But then I learned about BBQ's. My head is so jammed with BBQ information, I'm afraid if I fall and hit my head a whole pile of meat will spill out, as my brains have been replaced by steaks and burgers. I now know the difference between the types of paints (paint, powder coating, and viscous or some other v word enamel) and why the latter option is the best. I know why having enamel coated cast iron insides is better than just plain cast iron. Indeed, I am but one more 4 hour shift away from being the BBQ queen, as tomorrow is my full on BBQ learny day. I also have to learn how to fill propane tanks, which, while scary, should be alright. All in all, this job is AWESOME, and I am very very happy to have it. It even makes nearly 3 hours of public transport worthwhile. And no, I am not being sarcastic.

I also would like to point out there is a cereal commercial on the TV, that says "to see what (cereal brand) does, we'll have to go inside my insides!" she then transports into a weird pink room and says its a redecorated version of her insides. She then walks by two men one of which is gardening, and the other is sweeping and cleaning. Yep, this woman has two attractive men inside of her. One of them is planting seeds. None of the 5 boys I live with noticed this, until I pointed it out. Poor Will though, he didn't watch the ad as he was in the kitchen, and just heard me pointing it out... he was mildly concerned. One of those wrong part of the conversation deals. I hate to say this, but girls are RARELY laugh out loud funny, and I was actually quite content with myself for making everyone actually give a full on laugh. Go me!

Old World Underground, Where Are You Now?

Tonight Tim took me in a drain (squee!) since we haven't been exploring, and I really wanted to do that sort of thing when we came here, because that's all he could talk about! So we went. Its like, right down the road from our house, but it's been raining for the last week (it STOPPED and was WARM today, woohoooo!) so it was wet to the ankles. It was a bit cold, but not as cold as I would expect from Canada during this part of the season. My 'drain shoes' that we picked up at hard rubbish also apparently had some waterproofing issues, and as a result, I was pretty much one with the water from the get go. It was surprisingly therapeutic. There was a lot of graffiti, but Tim pointed out that a lot of the graf writers peter out in the first few meters of the tunnel, and then the explorers kick in. But, since there's been a bit of a culture swap, most people who explore now also do graf and vice versa, so you get some really awesome stuff on the wall right in the middle of the underground. I can't explain what makes drains so awesome, but it's like, when we think of being outside, we think of nature. I like nature, nature rocks. This was outside, but it was almost nothing to do with nature. That was really cool. It's also weird knowing there are like, things going on above you that are completely oblivious to your presence, but you are aware of theirs? I don't know... Anyways, the thing is, I just went in my very first drain, and I feel like a big girl now (even though, my pants did end up soaked).

Rain in Drought Land.

So, this is, as I've probably harried on about before, the driest state, in the driest country on this Earth, according to Tim. I believe him! But it is hard to believe when it rains like it has been raining. Australia does not muck about with its weather. It has rained so hard this week, that the river catchment where they gather water for the city proper (yes, the ENTIRE city, that has well over a million people in it) has become far too full. Full enough for them to open the floodgates and let 'er rip. My friends, being explorers, wanted to see this magical happening, and so we drove out into the hills and the naturey goodness to check it out. The drive out is brilliant, and so beautiful. I will never get sick of Aussie wilderness. The trees rock, the animals rock, the rocks rock, there is nothing shitty about this. The dam pouring out a whole shitload was pretty rad too. I'm saying this, because I have seem so many waterfalls that are apparently "spectacular" and thought "meh, could be better" but this was like "woah... thats a LOT." It was really cool to watch it change colors and patterns and shapes. To prove how NOT often this happens, on an out of town road, there were cars parked for ages. Old people, people with tiny kids, like, everyone and their dog was out to see this shit. Pretty darn cool.

So we drove even further out... and Tim took us to see something that noone else wanted to see just for me. A bit of back story first...

Australians have a collection of "Big" things. They make way massive statues of random shit, like oranges, or ants, or pineapples, or koalas... Then people climb up them and take photos of them for money. This is their passtime, this is what they do. There are dozens of these things scattered all around this country.

Well, just past the dam, was, the BIG ROCKING HORSE. Oh yeah. We didn't climb it, because noone gave a crap enough to pay, and I do not have a camera, so we opted out. But I AM going back, armed with camera and goofiness. I promise! It was awesome! We also saw some little white wallabies... Will and I thought they were giant bunnies, but theres no way a bunny is THAT big, then we figured it out, it was wallabies! Those cute little bastards! Oh man, I love how much wildlife here hops!

One Step Back, 3 Steps Forward

I got a much much much better job. I'll be working at Barbeques Galore, selling "typical Aussie blokes" bbq's. Sounds fun, right? I'm so excited, it should be nice to have people walk in and want what I'm selling, instead of me rocking up and being like here, buy something you don't want or need! I go in tomorrow for paperwork and training and such. The only down side is its like a billion miles away and will likely take an hour via bus, but that's ok, it will give me time with my iPod, and my notebook.

I was reading a small Vice magazine, Sumer Guide, and they had a thingy on how to make Halloween themed SNOWGLOBES. Stay tuned for some art and glitter-as-fake-blood themed creativity sessions!

Things otherwise have been going well, if you average it out over the last week. It started off sunny and hot hot hot and now it is raining (so hard of rain, you simply cannot imagine this rain, it actually hurts the skin if it hits you in the face.) The rain won't last long though, I hope. Tim and I had a big fight, but then we had a big patching up. Normally, this is yes, good news, but this time it feels much more resolved. Hopefully this is good. Moving across the world is so stressful, even when it doesn't FEEL like it is, it is. I realize that, even though its easy to make it about me and how hard it is for me, since I am the one out of my home and my familiarity and my friends... its hard on everyone who has to suddenly make room for this new chick they don't REALLY know that well. I mean, I did kind of invade a bachelor pad.

I'm really excited about having a job I am really truly excited about, and I think I will be getting up to much more mischief because of it. This should make my writing much more dynamic, so cross your fingers!

Nightmare of You

I had two nightmares this morning, and I have felt like shit all day because of them. Tim woke up at 10am, because he was going to go into the city. I then went back to sleep, and dreamed that he was going to go to a party and did not want me to go (we've been arguing over his excluding me from time to time lately, so it made me feel very badly that this is what started the nightmare off, and also made it that much more realistic and scary) so we fought, and I stole the car and drove off in it, so he couldnt drive, and I parked and hopped in the backseat to cry. Someone climbed in to the front seat, and started driving away, and i was freaking out because he was holding a knife at me. Eventually, he started cutting my legs and writing on them with the knife, and I was bleeding and screaming and trying to get away but there are no back doors so i was trapped, and eventually I bled to death. Then I woke up, and felt so fucking horrible, but I didn't think Tim was home, so I curled up in a ball and felt awful until I passed out again... Then the dreams started. I got mad at Tim for something entirely different, and I don't remember what it was. But I decided I was going to go for a walk afterward, to cool down because it was a very bad fight, with screaming. I was walking through the park where we always walk, and this person jumped out of the bushes and basically attacked me until I couldnt fight any more, and used a bike chain to attach me to a park bench, and then lit me on fire. I stayed asleep through the screaming and being burned alive, THEN as i was gasping my last breaths again I woke up. I again felt terrible, but knew Tim was not home, so I lay in bed shaking and upset being too afraid to get up until a while later, Tim came in and said he had been home the whole time. I was so scared, but he had errands to run and he was doing them out of the city, so he invited me along, and didn't try to comfort me at all, because we were in a hurry. Now he's gone out with his mum, and I feel awful, because we started to talk about it but then she came, and now I feel alone and frightened again. It was so scary that we HAVE been fighting about the same things in awake land, and then being upset with him cause me to be violently killed twice in one morning in dream land. I'm scared to be upset, I'm scared to even think of any bad thoughts even to make them go away. I'm just, in this horrible place mentally, and I just don't know how to get out!

I hate it when you dream something, and when you wake up, you can see fragments of where you were in the dream when you wake up, an you are not sure where you are exactly, and whether or not you are still alive...