Holla!

So, Tim and I got to the museum! It was awesome, I really enjoyed it. They ad a bunch of taxidermied animals, which, while creepy, was pretty cool. They had a huge whale skeleton too!! Lots of Pacific cultures (like Fiji and Solomon Islands etc) and aboriginal things. They had an exhibit on giant squids (squee!!!) and gems and meteorites stuff, as well as a small egyptian exhibit. Pretty fabulous. Even though part way through they had a fire drill, and we had to go outside for a while, which was weird! Overall, it was pretty awesome, and I'm glad we finally went.

Last night was our friends' Chad and Billie's engagement party... it was a REALLY good time, and a pretty epic party. 2$ beers, but when people started filtering out, there was a lot left on the tab, so Chad made it free for us, and we all got a bit too silly for our own goods. Chad was talking to a couple other friends of his, who aren't in our little circle, and they wanted to know where I was from in Canada, so I came over to talk a bit. Steve wandered over, and Chad was there, and we started talking about Henry Rollins, since Steve has been listening to Henry Rollins' stories in mp3 form... well the guys we didn't know didn't know who that was, so Steve said, "Nah don't worry about it mate" and the guy started bugging him about what he was wearing, and calling him a loser and shit... so Steve started crapping about his clothes... and then the dude pushed Steve, and punched him in the face (!!) so then in about .5 of a second it turned into these two faux tough guys, and our motley assortment of our 5 boy roomies, plus Laurie, plus Chad. Yep, thats right, they started a fight 7 on 2. Stupid fuckers. So the staff came out to watch and I was chatting with them, and I felt like it was my fault, because I was hammered, and I brought up Henry Rollins, and thats what started it, so I went and apologized to Billie and it was all ridiculous. We all got on our bikes separately, and rode home. It was crazy. We were all pretty retarded, and Tim and I don't exactly remember our ride home other than the fact that 1) I talked the WHOLE time, because I felt better when I wasn't paying attention to the ride, because I am terrified of riding on the street. In hindsight, this means I was probably riding like a fucking asshole, and very likely could have died. 2) I had to stop to pee behind a big gum tree in the park. I do not know how close or visible I was from the highways, as it was right near a major intersection.

Needless to say, we all had not-very-productive days. I, however, had a job interview at 3pm today at Bar-be-ques Galore. I think I turned on the charm enough that my hangover peaced out while I was there, so there is still hope!

In other news, both 30 Seconds to Mars, AND Greeley Estates, among others, are putting out new albums.... SOON. What fabulous news for me!

...Fail!

Tim and I, on Sunday, said to ourselves, ok, I know we've been talking shit about going to the museum for weeks, but tomorrow is a public holiday, so let's go tomorrow. It will be a nice sunny day and we can go on the bike ride through Torrens park to get there. Well, we didn't go. So we said, let's go tomorrow. We didnt go. We have made solid plans to go, every day, and it is now Wednesday, and we have not gone! Tim has been really unable to sleep, so I feel bad waking him up, and I'll be honest, I really loves my sleep and will get what I can, so we just sleep in later than makes it plausible to even ride in to town to go. SIGH, can't win them all, I guess. Maybe we'll go tomorrow... and tomorrow and tomorrow...

Most of our roomies have been on vacations out of town for most of this week or last, and the house has been pretty darn empty aside from Tim and I... well the last of them get home tomorrow, so the energy level (and noise level) should go up accordingly. I never thought I would say this, in a house with 5 boys and me, but I'll be kinda glad.

In other news... I read the Communist Manifesto, and I was incredibly disappointed by it. How was anything from that in direct influence of a political system used in two 'superpower' countries? I think this may be a classic case of people reading too much into something. Good on them, for their creativity; but bad on the writers, cause I'm going to be honest, I thought it was badly put together. Tim doesn't really agree, but, maybe North America has a different opinion on Communism since the US hates it... and Australia hears more news from China than the USA on their own news... Who knows.

Polar Opposites

So, many friends on Facebook today have been mentioning a downturn in the weather, even snow in some cases! I am REMARKABLY glad that I am avoiding winter. I would also like to mention, that while in some areas of Canada it is snowing, today it is 20 degrees, it is sunny as, I am wearing shorts, and hanging my laundry to dry on the clothes line.

That said, whatever the sky is doing where you are, I hope you are enjoying it as much as I am enjoying my bit of sky.

Love youse!

Misunderstanding

Well, since my last update, I've been working. I've also been not working. I've also had quite an inner battle, and some outer battles. This has, definitely, been a very hard week for me. I'll be completely honest, the job I got was an awful thing, and I have since quit. I feel so let down, by myself and by the job. I was so excited, that I failed to see that it was the exact opposite of what I came here for. The thing is, we all thought door-to-door sales would be good for me, I would get to see the town, I would get to meet people, and I would get outside in the summer. Unfortunately, I was not prepared for the reality of being driven to an unfamiliar location, dropped off to fend entirely for myself for 7 hours with no contact with anyone but strangers who;s lives I am intruding on and who, despite my talking to them, I am not MEETING. None of them wanted me there, and I hate absolutely HATE being alone and trapped. All that, and I was coming home miserable, frustrated, and sore from hours of walking after months of doing nothing. For commission only, no base pay. This means, that the 36 hours that I worked yielded me 15$, and frankly, it was sheer luck, and none of my own skill. Now, I don't feel that sales is not for me, and I also have no problem knocking on people's doors. The job, in essence, is a job I could do. But fuck, this is not what I came here to do, and it was a waste of time. On a great enough time line, sure I'd be making more than a normal job,as I'm sure I'd get better at it... but I'm on a timeline here, and I just can't afford to be spending more money on bus fare to and from work than I am making from it! So after a week of being so internally conflicted about how miserable I felt about this that it made me physically sick, I quit. I'm looking for other jobs that, while I may not like, they won't make me scared and miserable, and I won't be alone.

This has been pretty much the shittiest!

That said, today Tim and I went to the art gallery. I really liked it, they had some REALLY cool stuff in there. Tim had seen alot of it many many times, so I felt a bit rushed when he was a room and a half ahead of me, and not so sure that he would wait, and not wanting to get lost, but that just gives me an excuse to go all over again. They had these mod paintings, that I can't even describe... like they were just simple big blotches of bright colors, but there was so much to look at in so little variation, it was weirdly eye catching.

As I've been so shitty all week, I haven't felt very good about things that quite probably I have no reason to feel not very good about. Though there are a few people I've talked to on Facebook and email who probably don't know just how happy they have made me with such simple things. I really appreciate the frankness, and the familiarity. I miss being able to see someone who I have known for so many years that I don't feel I have to catch up, we just start from exactly where we left off. I guess this is what home sick feels like. :) Love you guys <3

A Change OF Pace

Well, we did go play cricket in the building I discussed in my last post (a TV studio)... and it just so happens that I am SHIT at cricket. I mean, I have the fear of balls (a long developed fear resulting from years of baseball, volleyball, and general ball sport mishaps) and a weak girly throw, so my initial odds were not staggeringly good anyways. I hit it twice, but the ball was thrown at me (lightly, as the boys took pity on me) far more times than 2. In the end, we decided that if they wanted to do it again (it was only 5 of us, noone else could make it) that I should either film it (Laurence was going to, but he wanted to play too badly) or be the referee, since I know the rules like no other now. I did climb a 2 storey ladder to the production walkways though, which was basically, one ladder followed by a plank, followed by another ladder. It did not feel overly stable, but I was very proud of myself for conquering it.

I have two jobs now, I think. I went through and interview for one, and made the other guy look bad (he was quieter, and I, being myself, was boisterous and loud) and got the job. I went in for training, and made the person I was training ith look bad because he was late both showing up and coming back from lunch, and I was early. My bosses even invited me to go to lunch with them, and after work we had beers. It was lovely. I go out on the field (I will be going door to door offering people the chance to switch to a new power company which has lower rates) on Monday. It is commission, and I am a little nervous about it, but I think I will do ok. The other job came as a surprise. I have been applying for primarily receptionist/admin jobs with the odd retail job, but the job that came to me is for an online auction company, where i will be doing 'admin' but it is basically helping people do money transfers internationally and such, and getting commission for it, plus a SWEET base salary. PLUS I can do this from home, PLUS it's only 3 hours a day, and I'm still making what would be sweet pay on a full time job.

It's kindof shocking to think that I went, in one day, from having no job and being upset about it and in tears and home sick and feeling like a failure to having 2 jobs, and what seems to promise, a stack of cash.

Wish me luck!

Today Tim and I woke up later than we had hoped, so we axed our plans to go to the art gallery, as it was likely to close around the time we would get there after showering and riding our bikes all the way into the city. It's not that far, but I am still very very nervous around traffic, so I go slow, and poor Tim has to wait and go slow with me, even though his bike is a fixie, and it is hard. A fixie, is if you don't know, a fixed gears bike, where when the bike's tire turns, the pedals turn. There are no brakes. To stop, you simply pedal backwards. Instead we opted to head to the botanical gardens and wander in there until sundown. We rode our bikes in, though I had to leave Lace at home and try a different girls bike just to see how it went, and that bike was shit. We wandered the gardens, and it was awesome! There are the typical paved paths, but there are also little sawdust and dirt paths through the bushes, so you feel like you're really IN the bushes. There were so many pretty flowers I haven't seen before, and lots of the Australian common flowers I always gawk at when I'm walking past people's lawns and gardens. There were also several trees that, I'm convinced, if there is a God, he made them SPECIFICALLY for humans to climb, they are THAT perfect. I am starting to get a cold though, so i felt achey and brain-foggy, so we went home without climbing. We didn't see much of the garden, only a small part, and we were there for just over an hour! I can tell there is much adventure to be had there. Hopefully with my new jobs I will be able to afford a camera soon, and fix Tim's laptop so not only will I be able to post our photos from our trip to the States and the first few weeks of Australia before we smashed the camera at the wedding, but I will also be able to take and post NEW photos. Oh also, I decided to wear the shoes we found in hard rubbish to be my exploring and drain shoes, just to see if they were any good, and they were comfy!!! Yess, old school adidas hi top kicks.

That said, we're going to an old-school homemade ice cream shop in North Adelaide tonight, so I'm gonna go get ready. ICE CREAM!

Art in Still Motion.

Our roomie Kev has a sister, Steph, that Kev, Tim and I go to visit every week or two. Steph is really rad, and it's neat being able to hang out with a girl sometimes. Well, anyways, Steph is a wicked good artist, and she had 2 paintings in an art show, in the upstairs area of a local bar. While some of the art there was really freaky... some of it not so good, three of the artists were really cool. Steph's paintings were amazing, I love her style, as were two different boys named Jake One and Jake Two. Jake one had this really cool cartoon style, and he had some pictures he drew on random items, then he also had two older scenery paintings that he has cut out his own characters and glued on, they were soo neat! The other Jake is a comic book style artist, and his characters were all really unique and well done. Lots of details even where they didnt need to be, they were excellent.

I've been so gung ho on the cricket the last few weeks, that I have gotten the roomies more into it that they were as well. There's a big abandoned building they love, and are quite sure it would be perfect for an indoor cricket game. I am very excited about this!!!

Tonight for dinner, I made sushi, and it was delicious, and I was very proud of myself. Go team!

I want to ride my bicycle, I want to ride it where I like...

Today Lace and I went on adventure with Tim and his bike.

We took our bikes to St Peters park, on the Torrens River. (Map below shows the end of the River St cul-de-sac, just below it is a small green blob, which follows the river to a BIG green space, which is all around the City proper (or CBD, Central Business District) We didn't make it all around, but we went through the Uni area. It was so awesome. The zoo is across the river from part of our ride, and since they are building (for the pandas!!!), the close side was blocked off. I still got a pretty neat look see. There were tons of black swans (I know, cool) and lots of parroty local birds, including some that look sortof like monsters from Silent Hill. They also have Quails, which are different from quails back home, since ours have flopped over round bobbles on their heads, and these ones have straight up, nazi helmet style feather spikes. Pretty awesome. Did I mention that they have BLACK swans?! Part of the river has this HUGE fountain, and it has fake origami boats, It was absolutely the cutest thing. There were a lot of people lazing around on the grass and enjoying their day, it was really cool that its right beside the huge bustley city, but everything in this park is just calm and slow.

That said, one of the panda's names is Wang Wang.

Have a great day!

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