:(
I took her to the airport and we checked in her luggage then went and got some Aporto's (which is the most amazing chicken franchise ever). And we played some cards and then she had to go. I took the train home.
Ok that is alot of updating. Ill finish up tomorrow.
Monday, June 7, 2010
More stuff happens
Im doing alot of stupid school stuff in this period of time (May 24th thru 27th,)
Annie is finding way to keep herself occupied. We go walking alot.
We went to get yamcha which is like a buffet except they come to you, and you pay for everything individually. There isnt a menu though. Annie got me to try chicken feet which were not that bad but not that great either. Alot of the other food was rally good including a coconut gelatin. Thursday night we saw Prince of Persia, which I liked buuuut it DID have some issues with the less than stellar acting. Overall I really enjoyed it.
Annie is finding way to keep herself occupied. We go walking alot.
We went to get yamcha which is like a buffet except they come to you, and you pay for everything individually. There isnt a menu though. Annie got me to try chicken feet which were not that bad but not that great either. Alot of the other food was rally good including a coconut gelatin. Thursday night we saw Prince of Persia, which I liked buuuut it DID have some issues with the less than stellar acting. Overall I really enjoyed it.
Wildlife Refuge
When Irma and Lorenzo picked us up we went to a wild life refuge. It was really cool. Unlike a zoo, there were places where the animals are just roaming around outside of cages. We got to pet kangaroos and koalas. Koals are SOOOOOOOOOOO lazy. They barely move when eating. We fed some kangaroos and then some Emus came over and started stealing the food.
We got to see alot of the birds of Australia. Kukaburras are smug birds. you could practically poke them with sticks and they just look at you with this glare like "uh.. what are you doing?"
Annie's favorite animal is the wombat. Its like half pig half stuffed animal with short thick fur. My favorite was the Dingo, it was really majestic looking for a dog. Lean but this wolf like quality to it. They had several albino animals including albino kangaroo and albino peacock. The peacock doesnt make ANY sense but whatever.
Australia also has these batlike things called flying foxes. They aren't bats, they are visual vegetarians. Their heads look quite literally like fox heads.
We got to see alot of the birds of Australia. Kukaburras are smug birds. you could practically poke them with sticks and they just look at you with this glare like "uh.. what are you doing?"
Annie's favorite animal is the wombat. Its like half pig half stuffed animal with short thick fur. My favorite was the Dingo, it was really majestic looking for a dog. Lean but this wolf like quality to it. They had several albino animals including albino kangaroo and albino peacock. The peacock doesnt make ANY sense but whatever.
Australia also has these batlike things called flying foxes. They aren't bats, they are visual vegetarians. Their heads look quite literally like fox heads.
Melbourne
Melbourne flight was a bit nice, we only had carry-on luggage. On the first day we walked around and saw Batman Park. Then we grabbed some lunch at some really nice place called Bee-have. We then checked in and went on an adventure through Melbourne. We went to the Royal Botanic Gardens, which were really lush. Then we went a Modern Art Gallery. And we were reaaaaally underwhelmed.
To finish the night off we walked around the shopping district, got some potstickers. We bought a game called Fluxx. Which is an amazing card game where the rules keep changing.
The next day we went on a wine tour. We got picked up at about 9 and drove for an hour to the Mornington Peninsula. The first palce was a mom and pop shop with a few acres under vine. It was called Tanglewood Estate. The wine here was probably the best of the entire day. The chardonay we had had a hint of honey that may it taste esquisite. We bought a bottle of the Caberonet as a gift for Irma and Lorenzo.
The next place was a much larger vineyard that had maybe 30 acres under vine. I think I liked the chardonays the most out of the wines at this place but overall I wasn't super thrilled. Annie was less than pleased also.
The final wine place was the most intesting, alot of the wines had really distinct flavors. I am not sure of the acreage but they had There were several I enjoyed. There was also a pink muscat that was very sweet, it tasted like juice almost. Afterwards we walked around the equipment and got to see all the barrels and vats. We tried 2 wines that were mid process. The first was the muscat, which was even sweeter and fizzy because of the yeast is still turning the sugar into alcohol (CO2 is the byproduct). The second was mostly finished but the sulfurous byproduct of its yeast made it smell like old eggs (although it tasted good).
Then we went to a chocolate factory which was bustling. It didnt have anything on the South Bend Chocolate Company but it was still really good.
Lastly we went to a cheese factory. We tried 10 different cheeses. Most of them were all really good. We liked one called Coolart Soft sooo much we bought a jar (its stored in oil with garlic and thyme). It was gone within the first week of coming home.
We got to see a nice sunset on the way home across the Peninsula.
Next day we flew home.
To finish the night off we walked around the shopping district, got some potstickers. We bought a game called Fluxx. Which is an amazing card game where the rules keep changing.
The next day we went on a wine tour. We got picked up at about 9 and drove for an hour to the Mornington Peninsula. The first palce was a mom and pop shop with a few acres under vine. It was called Tanglewood Estate. The wine here was probably the best of the entire day. The chardonay we had had a hint of honey that may it taste esquisite. We bought a bottle of the Caberonet as a gift for Irma and Lorenzo.
The next place was a much larger vineyard that had maybe 30 acres under vine. I think I liked the chardonays the most out of the wines at this place but overall I wasn't super thrilled. Annie was less than pleased also.
The final wine place was the most intesting, alot of the wines had really distinct flavors. I am not sure of the acreage but they had There were several I enjoyed. There was also a pink muscat that was very sweet, it tasted like juice almost. Afterwards we walked around the equipment and got to see all the barrels and vats. We tried 2 wines that were mid process. The first was the muscat, which was even sweeter and fizzy because of the yeast is still turning the sugar into alcohol (CO2 is the byproduct). The second was mostly finished but the sulfurous byproduct of its yeast made it smell like old eggs (although it tasted good).
Then we went to a chocolate factory which was bustling. It didnt have anything on the South Bend Chocolate Company but it was still really good.
Lastly we went to a cheese factory. We tried 10 different cheeses. Most of them were all really good. We liked one called Coolart Soft sooo much we bought a jar (its stored in oil with garlic and thyme). It was gone within the first week of coming home.
We got to see a nice sunset on the way home across the Peninsula.
Next day we flew home.
Lots of school work
In this section of time (May 19/20) Annie was chillin around Sydney and I was hard at work doing stupid school stuff.
White Water Rafting
First up I want to appologize for the lack of updates. I got really busy then really lazy. Now to the meat of it all.
White water rafting was unbelievable. it was 14 km of rafting down the Tully River. It took all day. It was raining but considering we were getting tossed around by 40-some different rapids, including many with a score of 4. The scoring system is kind of funny. 1 is ripples from a pebble getting tossed in. 6 is Angel Falls. Although it was really scary at times, our guide eased alot of the fear out of us. There were about 8 rafts, which were organized by the riders origins. Obviously we were the American group. Our group was the only group that didnt lose somebody along the way.
We stopped halfway for hot dogs and hamburgers, the rain really started getting to us about then, but once we got back into the boat and sloshing around we were fine. We went under a small waterfall. It was surprising how hard the water hits you. It wasn't painful but it was a continues weight like someone tossed a 40 pound blanket on you. I jumped off a giant rock with a group of other people and slapped my palms flat on the water on the way down. OUCH!
After may slides and falls and spins and tumbles we eventually made it to the calm bottom, where we had to all be sure to be inside in the rare occurance that crocs were swimming about, (yes they were quite serious). Then a long ride home and and nice restful sleep.
White water rafting was unbelievable. it was 14 km of rafting down the Tully River. It took all day. It was raining but considering we were getting tossed around by 40-some different rapids, including many with a score of 4. The scoring system is kind of funny. 1 is ripples from a pebble getting tossed in. 6 is Angel Falls. Although it was really scary at times, our guide eased alot of the fear out of us. There were about 8 rafts, which were organized by the riders origins. Obviously we were the American group. Our group was the only group that didnt lose somebody along the way.
We stopped halfway for hot dogs and hamburgers, the rain really started getting to us about then, but once we got back into the boat and sloshing around we were fine. We went under a small waterfall. It was surprising how hard the water hits you. It wasn't painful but it was a continues weight like someone tossed a 40 pound blanket on you. I jumped off a giant rock with a group of other people and slapped my palms flat on the water on the way down. OUCH!
After may slides and falls and spins and tumbles we eventually made it to the calm bottom, where we had to all be sure to be inside in the rare occurance that crocs were swimming about, (yes they were quite serious). Then a long ride home and and nice restful sleep.
Sunday, May 16, 2010
Horses and ATVs
Saturday we got picked up at 8:15 to go horse back riding and ATVs. It took 45 minutes to get to our destination. We got introduced to our horse, mine was called Stormy. Annie's was..... uh... boy horse.
Getting the hang of riding was easy, some of the trails were pretty steep so that was interesting. Trotting got your butt pretty sore. Amazing blue sky and gentle breeze.
After that we rode ATVs
Annie and I got sorted into different groups. It was challenging at times to keep going nice and fast and avoid dust and pot holes. It got so dusty at times. It made tarveling at 50k/hr pretty scary. The hills were much steeper than with horses. There were times I was simply amazed how physics can work in out favor. By the time everything was said and done, so much dirt was caked out it was rediculous.
We headed back to town, grabbed some terribly disappointing chinese food and caught Iron Man 2 at the local theatre. And tomorrow is white water rapids at 6:30 which gives me 4 1/2 horus to sleep if I'm lucky.....
Getting the hang of riding was easy, some of the trails were pretty steep so that was interesting. Trotting got your butt pretty sore. Amazing blue sky and gentle breeze.
After that we rode ATVs
Annie and I got sorted into different groups. It was challenging at times to keep going nice and fast and avoid dust and pot holes. It got so dusty at times. It made tarveling at 50k/hr pretty scary. The hills were much steeper than with horses. There were times I was simply amazed how physics can work in out favor. By the time everything was said and done, so much dirt was caked out it was rediculous.
We headed back to town, grabbed some terribly disappointing chinese food and caught Iron Man 2 at the local theatre. And tomorrow is white water rapids at 6:30 which gives me 4 1/2 horus to sleep if I'm lucky.....
Scuba doobin'
Man I don't even know where to start.
Scuba was soooo much fun.
We got to the boat at 8:15 after downing an overpriced breakfast. Annie got so sea sick on the boat. It was a big ferry boat. I gave her what I thought were motion sickness pills (only to find out it was just cheap ginger pills). Eventually we made it there. Scubaing was so amazing. The instructor was taking pot shots at the americans during the orientation. He was pointing out how americans like to touch things and that if anyone is pushing the blue button on the scuba gear, it is usually the americans. (The blue button makes you float) The fish and the coral were amazing. We got to pet some huge fish and touch sea cucumbers and this weird red wormy thing. We also fed some fish as well. We spent the rest of the day sun bathing and snorkling and went for another scuba dive around 1.
We got back to Cairns around 6. Annie insisted on getting me a necklace and bracelet which look quite snappy. We were so exhausted from everything we fell asleep at 9:30.
Scuba was soooo much fun.
We got to the boat at 8:15 after downing an overpriced breakfast. Annie got so sea sick on the boat. It was a big ferry boat. I gave her what I thought were motion sickness pills (only to find out it was just cheap ginger pills). Eventually we made it there. Scubaing was so amazing. The instructor was taking pot shots at the americans during the orientation. He was pointing out how americans like to touch things and that if anyone is pushing the blue button on the scuba gear, it is usually the americans. (The blue button makes you float) The fish and the coral were amazing. We got to pet some huge fish and touch sea cucumbers and this weird red wormy thing. We also fed some fish as well. We spent the rest of the day sun bathing and snorkling and went for another scuba dive around 1.
We got back to Cairns around 6. Annie insisted on getting me a necklace and bracelet which look quite snappy. We were so exhausted from everything we fell asleep at 9:30.
Cairns
Friday was a bit exhausting since we had to wake up at 4 to leave at 4:45 to make sure we got to the plane on time. Annie and I grabbed some breakfast that totalled $30. The flight wasnt too bad. I slept most of the way. When we arrived in Cairns, the first thing we noticed was how hot it was. We were excited about getting to a beach. We hopped on a shuttle and rode to our hotel. It is called the Heritage Motel but it is definately the feinition of hotel. The staff was extremely helpful.
We went for lunch but ended up shopping along the way. Annie got a nice swimsuit and a great hat I expect she will wear alot. Lunch was a good deal, 10 dollar meal and pot of beer (8 ounce). We traveled to the much anticipated beach, only to find a sea of mud. We were devestated. The beach we couldnt wait to get to was a sea full of mud. We later asked about beaches and although they have them, they are a bit unsafe with crocodiles lruking around, and able to find their way into netted off areas.
We picked up some light groceries (GRAPES ARE SOO GOOD) and headed home to change for working out. The nearby gym had great equipment.
Finally annie and I went out for dinner. After wandering around for a while we settles on a palce called Raw Prawn. The food was a bit expensive but it was worth more than what we paid. We had phenomonal garlic bread, followed by a mind blasting coral trout with ruby grapefruit salsa. Finally we had a "Hop, Skip, Hump & Jump" which was Kangaroo, Crocodile, Camel, and Emu. (I've never seen a croc skip or a emu jump but that isnt important). It was paired with a sweet squash/potato mash and bok choy. The roo was delish, having a deep red flavor to it. The croc was suprisingly good as it tasted a bit like a less fibrous chicken breast. Kind of a cross between chicken tiny bit fish. The camel was meh. The emu was suprisingly good. It tasted a bit like a mix between turkey and beef.
To top off the evening we went to the night markets and looked at all the different stuff and got our picture taken with a snake.
Scuba tomorrow.
We went for lunch but ended up shopping along the way. Annie got a nice swimsuit and a great hat I expect she will wear alot. Lunch was a good deal, 10 dollar meal and pot of beer (8 ounce). We traveled to the much anticipated beach, only to find a sea of mud. We were devestated. The beach we couldnt wait to get to was a sea full of mud. We later asked about beaches and although they have them, they are a bit unsafe with crocodiles lruking around, and able to find their way into netted off areas.
We picked up some light groceries (GRAPES ARE SOO GOOD) and headed home to change for working out. The nearby gym had great equipment.
Finally annie and I went out for dinner. After wandering around for a while we settles on a palce called Raw Prawn. The food was a bit expensive but it was worth more than what we paid. We had phenomonal garlic bread, followed by a mind blasting coral trout with ruby grapefruit salsa. Finally we had a "Hop, Skip, Hump & Jump" which was Kangaroo, Crocodile, Camel, and Emu. (I've never seen a croc skip or a emu jump but that isnt important). It was paired with a sweet squash/potato mash and bok choy. The roo was delish, having a deep red flavor to it. The croc was suprisingly good as it tasted a bit like a less fibrous chicken breast. Kind of a cross between chicken tiny bit fish. The camel was meh. The emu was suprisingly good. It tasted a bit like a mix between turkey and beef.
To top off the evening we went to the night markets and looked at all the different stuff and got our picture taken with a snake.
Scuba tomorrow.
sorry for the delay
I have been really really really really busy. Sorry about the delay.
Monday
Annie got here safe and sound. Irma and I picked her up at 6:45 am. (man thats early for me). She looked more beautiful than ever. We spent the day enjoying the weather and going for a nice walk and then I finished the night off with a 5 page paper...
Tuesday
Annie and I met up with a professional stylist and walked around the mall and got some new clothes. It was really cool to get tips on looking like a million dollars for only a weeks worth of pay. Annie got her hair cut and style at Tribe Hair, a 5-star hair service. It was really fancy, they served tea. We raced home (thanks to Irma and her unbelievable generosity. We then went to The Meat and Wine co. It was delicious. It sucks not getting to eat the food I give people. After that it was a bit of a long night and we called it in.
Wednesday
I spent the entire day at school, then came home and wrote a 6 page paper...
Thursday
I had a really important presentation that I have no idea how I did. Then I met annie up and we walked around town and visited some shops and walked through a nice park. We walked through China town as well. Got home and called in an early night after I finished up some more writing I had to do.
Monday
Annie got here safe and sound. Irma and I picked her up at 6:45 am. (man thats early for me). She looked more beautiful than ever. We spent the day enjoying the weather and going for a nice walk and then I finished the night off with a 5 page paper...
Tuesday
Annie and I met up with a professional stylist and walked around the mall and got some new clothes. It was really cool to get tips on looking like a million dollars for only a weeks worth of pay. Annie got her hair cut and style at Tribe Hair, a 5-star hair service. It was really fancy, they served tea. We raced home (thanks to Irma and her unbelievable generosity. We then went to The Meat and Wine co. It was delicious. It sucks not getting to eat the food I give people. After that it was a bit of a long night and we called it in.
Wednesday
I spent the entire day at school, then came home and wrote a 6 page paper...
Thursday
I had a really important presentation that I have no idea how I did. Then I met annie up and we walked around town and visited some shops and walked through a nice park. We walked through China town as well. Got home and called in an early night after I finished up some more writing I had to do.
Sunday, May 9, 2010
Annie arrives tomorrow
So several things all kind of grouped together.
Thursday at work they had me waiting tables for the first time. (I had just been a runner/bartender/pass so far). I felt like a child. Lots of mistakes and poor time management. I did well overall since I have experience but I don't want to settle with that. lol
friday was busy as i juggled assignments and work.
Saturday was a bit more laid back but still I had things to do, as well as make sure annie doesn't forget anything and she has all the details she will need.
Saturday at work there was this gigantically muscular guy. His arms were LITERALLY the size of my head.
today I spent picking up laundry and stuff. I still have some dishes to do tonight as well as homework. Annie arrives at 6:25 a.m.
can't wait
Thursday at work they had me waiting tables for the first time. (I had just been a runner/bartender/pass so far). I felt like a child. Lots of mistakes and poor time management. I did well overall since I have experience but I don't want to settle with that. lol
friday was busy as i juggled assignments and work.
Saturday was a bit more laid back but still I had things to do, as well as make sure annie doesn't forget anything and she has all the details she will need.
Saturday at work there was this gigantically muscular guy. His arms were LITERALLY the size of my head.
today I spent picking up laundry and stuff. I still have some dishes to do tonight as well as homework. Annie arrives at 6:25 a.m.
can't wait
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
Cinco de Mayo
This is a combined wednesday and thursday post.
I saw a guy using a magnifying glass to view his ipod. Times are surely strange.
I took an exam for my stupid aeronatucs class and I am not feeling to good about it. like maybe 80% ish.
I FINALLY got the robot working like its supposed to. No thanks to my teammates. I love them to death because of their positive attitudes but they can be so difficult at times. I wrote the code for the robot and the C++ computer program. The problem occurs when the robot actually works too fast and reads the bus relay as its changing. The change occurs like dominos and the robot IMMEDIATELY sees the first domino fall and says "OK #1!!! GOT IT!!!!" and runs off to pin #1 instead of waiting for the whole message. One of my teammates insisted that we RECODE the entire thing so it goes like this:
pc: are you ready robot?
robot: I am ready.
pc: Here is a message
robot: I have your message. thank you
pc: no problem
robot: I am performing the act
pc: I'll wait
robot: I'm done with the act
pc: good to hear
robot: I'm ready for a new message now.
pc: ok here is the next message
and so on and so forth. Which works for people but this is a robot it should be as simple as:
robot: I AM READY GIEF MESSAGE
pc: HERE GO!
robot: I HAVE MESSAGE/ PERFORMING/ AND AS SOON AS I AM DONE TALKING GIVER ME MORE MESSAGE
pc: HERE GO!
repeat until done. And it works very very well and efficient. Its all the computer needs really. Adding all that other communication takes alot of time and is prone to errors.
But dont get me wrong, I am much happier that it is working flawlessly that frusterated at my team. I don't care as long as it all gets done.
I saw a guy using a magnifying glass to view his ipod. Times are surely strange.
I took an exam for my stupid aeronatucs class and I am not feeling to good about it. like maybe 80% ish.
I FINALLY got the robot working like its supposed to. No thanks to my teammates. I love them to death because of their positive attitudes but they can be so difficult at times. I wrote the code for the robot and the C++ computer program. The problem occurs when the robot actually works too fast and reads the bus relay as its changing. The change occurs like dominos and the robot IMMEDIATELY sees the first domino fall and says "OK #1!!! GOT IT!!!!" and runs off to pin #1 instead of waiting for the whole message. One of my teammates insisted that we RECODE the entire thing so it goes like this:
pc: are you ready robot?
robot: I am ready.
pc: Here is a message
robot: I have your message. thank you
pc: no problem
robot: I am performing the act
pc: I'll wait
robot: I'm done with the act
pc: good to hear
robot: I'm ready for a new message now.
pc: ok here is the next message
and so on and so forth. Which works for people but this is a robot it should be as simple as:
robot: I AM READY GIEF MESSAGE
pc: HERE GO!
robot: I HAVE MESSAGE/ PERFORMING/ AND AS SOON AS I AM DONE TALKING GIVER ME MORE MESSAGE
pc: HERE GO!
repeat until done. And it works very very well and efficient. Its all the computer needs really. Adding all that other communication takes alot of time and is prone to errors.
But dont get me wrong, I am much happier that it is working flawlessly that frusterated at my team. I don't care as long as it all gets done.
Monday, May 3, 2010
Burn!
I burned the bajeezus out of my finger today. An area the size of a dime. It will probably scar.
In the morning I woke up to a text saying: "Where are you? I hope you will be here for out presentation in an hour." Yea nobody knew but we had to present today. I got a hold of Irma and she drove me there as I completed some speaking points in the car. I got there 15 minutes before we had to present and it went fantastic. You never would've guessed that I winged the whole thing.
I was talking to my former friend Kelly last night. I use the word former because she dropped off the face of the world when she dated her now ex. We talked about how now that she doesnt have such a repressive force preventing her from beings friends (which was pretty rediculous in the first place, but hey girls are rediculous) that maybe we might be able to rekindle that friendship. Ill have to introduce her to Annie when I get home. Speaking of Annie, she leaves in 5 days and will be here a week from now!! I can't wait!
In the morning I woke up to a text saying: "Where are you? I hope you will be here for out presentation in an hour." Yea nobody knew but we had to present today. I got a hold of Irma and she drove me there as I completed some speaking points in the car. I got there 15 minutes before we had to present and it went fantastic. You never would've guessed that I winged the whole thing.
I was talking to my former friend Kelly last night. I use the word former because she dropped off the face of the world when she dated her now ex. We talked about how now that she doesnt have such a repressive force preventing her from beings friends (which was pretty rediculous in the first place, but hey girls are rediculous) that maybe we might be able to rekindle that friendship. Ill have to introduce her to Annie when I get home. Speaking of Annie, she leaves in 5 days and will be here a week from now!! I can't wait!
Thursday, April 29, 2010
The more things change, the more the stay the same
So first off. I BOUGHT NEW SKATES!!! I was too impatient to use those funny things called "legs" so I bought another set of skates. Hopefully I wont lose these on the bus too.
I was told several things about a variety of people, and without naming names and violating their privacy, I will tell you that sometimes people rarely change. Some people are the kind of people that you aren't surprised by their latest exploits because they are that kind of person. And these exploits I speak of are not good exploits like climbing a mountain or running a marathon. More like still engaging in petty he said she said or following the wrong kind of crowds, etc. Im not saying people do not have the capacity for change, I'm just saying they they generally don't have the motivation or foresight to do so.
In other news, I have massive amounts of homework as the semester is coming closer to a close. It's getting cold now. It drops below 50 at night and we dont use a heater for the house (just room heaters) so if you need to pee your feet freeze.
I was told several things about a variety of people, and without naming names and violating their privacy, I will tell you that sometimes people rarely change. Some people are the kind of people that you aren't surprised by their latest exploits because they are that kind of person. And these exploits I speak of are not good exploits like climbing a mountain or running a marathon. More like still engaging in petty he said she said or following the wrong kind of crowds, etc. Im not saying people do not have the capacity for change, I'm just saying they they generally don't have the motivation or foresight to do so.
In other news, I have massive amounts of homework as the semester is coming closer to a close. It's getting cold now. It drops below 50 at night and we dont use a heater for the house (just room heaters) so if you need to pee your feet freeze.
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
Overworked and Underpaid
Ok well I'm paid rather well. BUT school likes to lump everything together all at the last moment. It is really troublesome.
Yesterday I worked on the pass at work. Relaying food and all that Jazz. It was pretty simple, it does have a bit of a learning curve, getting use to dealing directly with the chef and the servers. it was massively dead though. The weather became absolutely miserable so nobody wants to come out to eat.
I wish I had my xbox since Super Street Fighter 4 came out, but I guess I will have to wait until I get home when everyone is already really good at the game.
I am getting really tired of riding the bus for up to 4 hours a day. Can you imagine just sitting there waiting for the bus, then sitting on the bus waiting to get to the next bus, sitting waiting for that bus, sitting and waiting on the bus to finally get to where I need to go. I feel like I am losing it. The only reason I am still putting up with it is because I am saving massive amounts of money on food and rent. That money is going to Annie and my upcoming trip and also my safety net when I get back home and don't have a job.
Speaking of jobs, I'm not just sitting around on my butt. I have sent in 2 or 3 resumes while sitting on my butt.
Yesterday I worked on the pass at work. Relaying food and all that Jazz. It was pretty simple, it does have a bit of a learning curve, getting use to dealing directly with the chef and the servers. it was massively dead though. The weather became absolutely miserable so nobody wants to come out to eat.
I wish I had my xbox since Super Street Fighter 4 came out, but I guess I will have to wait until I get home when everyone is already really good at the game.
I am getting really tired of riding the bus for up to 4 hours a day. Can you imagine just sitting there waiting for the bus, then sitting on the bus waiting to get to the next bus, sitting waiting for that bus, sitting and waiting on the bus to finally get to where I need to go. I feel like I am losing it. The only reason I am still putting up with it is because I am saving massive amounts of money on food and rent. That money is going to Annie and my upcoming trip and also my safety net when I get back home and don't have a job.
Speaking of jobs, I'm not just sitting around on my butt. I have sent in 2 or 3 resumes while sitting on my butt.
Saturday, April 24, 2010
Drinks and Drunks
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On the bus on friday there was a large butch woman who was crazy drunk. She was falling over herself and she flagged down the bus and barreled in and faceplanted onto the floor. After slurring her destination to the bus driver she proceeds to fumble to the first few seats and sits between an indian woman and a guy. She then proceeds to pull out a lesbian handbook or guide of some sort and then fall asleep onto the indian woman. 10 minutes in, she jolts awake and starts screaming to the bus driver that she missed her stop. He assures her that her stop is coming up and that she needs to take a seat before she hurts herself. She announces she will stand, then she falls asleep standing up. I took a picture of her, but I got off before she did.
I went out on saturday night because it was some people from work's farewell party. I'm not gonna lie. I was bored out of my mind. I though alot of people from work were going to be there. There wasn't. There were 10 people there I didn't know any of them. I stuck around till about 11 then I gave in and went home.
I hate bars in sydney, I miss bars back home. I miss full sized billards tables and dart board and other fun things to do.
Thursday, April 22, 2010
FAIL (oh and coffee)
Ok
OH... KAY
I just got home from work. I left my freeline skates on the bus. The seat I was sitting next to. Right there. I am so so so SO pissed at myself. First I lose my brand new wallet and credit card and drivers liscense. Now I lose my (might as well be) one-of-a-kind skates. I just feel like giving up on trying.
So also I worked in the bar and they tought me coffee today. I would go more into how awesome it was to stretch the milk and fluff it up to put into the different coffees and how I have a long way to go before I can do the cool designs. But I won't cause I'm in such a bad mood.
OH... KAY
I just got home from work. I left my freeline skates on the bus. The seat I was sitting next to. Right there. I am so so so SO pissed at myself. First I lose my brand new wallet and credit card and drivers liscense. Now I lose my (might as well be) one-of-a-kind skates. I just feel like giving up on trying.
So also I worked in the bar and they tought me coffee today. I would go more into how awesome it was to stretch the milk and fluff it up to put into the different coffees and how I have a long way to go before I can do the cool designs. But I won't cause I'm in such a bad mood.
Monday, April 19, 2010
Grapes: the crack rock of australia
Australian grapes are so dang good. I have to be careful how much I eat because I sometimes overeat them and lose my appetite for food im SUPPOSED to be eating. It's probably because the vineyards are so close, not to mention how renowned australian wine is. But yeah, I throw em back like I'm trying to overdose on sleeping pills. They are THAT good.
In other news, I can't seem to find my wallet. I know its in the house (or I think I know) but I just can't find it...
tomorrow is a dumb meeting at work, some guy talks to us about the brand image.
Sometimes when I am on the bus, I really want to slap people for wearing clothes they shouldn't be wearing. Every once in a while (or more often than that) a person wears clothes that are just wrong. Today this woman weighed probably close to 200 walked around in 4 size to small clothes. Her pants were Superlowride style and her shirt was short enough you could see stomach and butt fat hanging off both ends. She was also maybe late 40s. That just is NOT appropriate.
Hmmm what else what else. Annie will be here in less than 3 weeks!!! I can't wait. There is a million things we have planned to do (half I have already paid for). There will be many pictures at that time.
I guess thats it.
In other news, I can't seem to find my wallet. I know its in the house (or I think I know) but I just can't find it...
tomorrow is a dumb meeting at work, some guy talks to us about the brand image.
Sometimes when I am on the bus, I really want to slap people for wearing clothes they shouldn't be wearing. Every once in a while (or more often than that) a person wears clothes that are just wrong. Today this woman weighed probably close to 200 walked around in 4 size to small clothes. Her pants were Superlowride style and her shirt was short enough you could see stomach and butt fat hanging off both ends. She was also maybe late 40s. That just is NOT appropriate.
Hmmm what else what else. Annie will be here in less than 3 weeks!!! I can't wait. There is a million things we have planned to do (half I have already paid for). There will be many pictures at that time.
I guess thats it.
Friday, April 16, 2010
Back to School
Getting back to school after the break was really tough. (Hence why I have missed a few days for blogs). There were many assignments due and not alot of time to do them in. I ended up losing alot of sleep which made work much harder to do. But I survived and I can relax a bit this weekend.
Lee Escalante (the brother/son who just had a kid almost 2 months ago) came into town on business. He was a pretty cool guy. He looked like a the stage between Jaime and Lorenzo except Lee is the shortest.
Lee took Fae, Jaime, and myself to see the movie Kick Ass. The movie was hilarious, entertaining, dark, and gritty. A good cross of Superbad and Sin City. I would NOT recommend this movie younger audiences.
I am getting more and more frustrated at the Australian school system and it's lack of effort on the side of the teachers. Outside of lecture hours they are unavailable and during lecture hours they are lazy, boring, and obviously don't care about the students. (save for the Nura Gili professor who happens to be the youngest, but I guess the school system hasn't drained him of energy yet). After finding out that I did not get into grad school, all I really care about is just passing classes. High marks or not, it won't really matter to the business world. They are high enough.
Lastly I made a videogame looking picture of myself based on Megaman and Megaman X
Monday, April 12, 2010
BLARGLE BLARGLE BLARGLE
So I don't know if I mentioned it all yet, but.
I didn't get into grad school. Purdue flat out said no. (well actually they said "if [200] other people decide not to go.") IUPUI said I need to basically complete at least 2 more years of Biomedical specific education (which may or may not be covered by financial aid). You know what? It's no big deal. It's fine. I was just trying to leave grad school as a viable option. The thing I'm pretty pissed about is A. how long it took for them to get back to me and B. that they told me to apply, spend the time, effort, and money to make the process go through even though they more or less knew I was not qualified. THAT is what pisses me off.
NOW I'm 6 months behind. I need to start looking for a job. AND/OR I need to contact electrical engineering to look at THEIR grad program. But to be honest I'm pretty pissed off at the whole system and just want to graduate already and find a job. I'll probably end up getting a mostly crappy job (IF I get one that is) for at least the first year or two. I am not entirely sure what the future entails all I know is I'm mad as hell.
I didn't get into grad school. Purdue flat out said no. (well actually they said "if [200] other people decide not to go.") IUPUI said I need to basically complete at least 2 more years of Biomedical specific education (which may or may not be covered by financial aid). You know what? It's no big deal. It's fine. I was just trying to leave grad school as a viable option. The thing I'm pretty pissed about is A. how long it took for them to get back to me and B. that they told me to apply, spend the time, effort, and money to make the process go through even though they more or less knew I was not qualified. THAT is what pisses me off.
NOW I'm 6 months behind. I need to start looking for a job. AND/OR I need to contact electrical engineering to look at THEIR grad program. But to be honest I'm pretty pissed off at the whole system and just want to graduate already and find a job. I'll probably end up getting a mostly crappy job (IF I get one that is) for at least the first year or two. I am not entirely sure what the future entails all I know is I'm mad as hell.
Saturday, April 10, 2010
Mom's B-day
Today is Mom's Birthday. So Happy Birthday mom.
Other than that, I can't wait for this week to end so I can get back in to school and don't have to work so much.
Except I'm behind on all my school work because I've had to work so much...
Other than that, I can't wait for this week to end so I can get back in to school and don't have to work so much.
Except I'm behind on all my school work because I've had to work so much...
Thursday, April 8, 2010
Surfing and Bartending
So today I went to the beach and had a surfing lesson. First off, the beach itself was amazing. The sand was really soft and I saw a few kids making small castles (makes me want to make some myself). Second, surfing is HAAAAARD. The wet suit chaffed a bit cause of the sand getting in. I use a foam board which is softer and easier to use than the smaller fiberglass ones. There were about 15 students. 3 other guys my age. 3 younger guys and then 1 old lady and 8 12-16 year old girls who all knew each other. It was pretty bad getting showed up by little girls. The waves were really good today. The instructor was stressing how nice it was today for us. I of course was smart and picked a day with good weather. The waves did get pretty big at times. Taller from peak to valley than I was. And when that hits you, it sends you flying back 20 feet, but its pretty awesome. It doesn't hurt its just stunning and you are shocked there is so much force.
The one thing I really learned was that there is ALOT of paddling with your arms. Paddle out to the water, paddle over the big waves you can't ride yet, paddle with the wave when the right size comes, fall off and repeat. Oh and now you've drifted so paddle closer. My arms were dying. Next time I go I'm going to eat lots of carbs and protein in the morning for energy. Overall though I had an amazing time. I would do it again in a heartbeat, if i had the time and the weather was decent.
At work today I was the main bartender for the first time. Making all the items as they come up. Although I did not work on cocktails or coffee (those take too much time for the main bartender) it went really well. I did have to ask for help when we got slammed but that is to be expected. I was really happy with the way today went, in fact even my trainer was impressed.
Now I'm exausted from everything so I'm going to sleep for forever.
The one thing I really learned was that there is ALOT of paddling with your arms. Paddle out to the water, paddle over the big waves you can't ride yet, paddle with the wave when the right size comes, fall off and repeat. Oh and now you've drifted so paddle closer. My arms were dying. Next time I go I'm going to eat lots of carbs and protein in the morning for energy. Overall though I had an amazing time. I would do it again in a heartbeat, if i had the time and the weather was decent.
At work today I was the main bartender for the first time. Making all the items as they come up. Although I did not work on cocktails or coffee (those take too much time for the main bartender) it went really well. I did have to ask for help when we got slammed but that is to be expected. I was really happy with the way today went, in fact even my trainer was impressed.
Now I'm exausted from everything so I'm going to sleep for forever.
Monday, April 5, 2010
Easter sunday and lazy monday
Easter morning started off with some boiled eggs to go with my cereal. After that around noon many parts of the Escalante family came over to Irma's and they had the family Easter party here. Fae and I being the two oldest tried to help out entertaining some of the kids although we tried to kill each other with a game similar to tether ball. I hung out with more of the boy kids and they put God Of War 3 on the tv, although I don't see why their parents bought them such a viscerally brutal and graphic game. Afterwards I skated off to the bus for work.
Work was probably one of the busiest Sundays we've had. Alot of people I guess wanted to celebrate Christ's Risening with a big plate of ribs. That and everyone has monday off.
I have monday off too. Because its a public holiday there is a huge surcharge to the service industry like restaurants, which means if I WAS working I'd make double time and a half but I didnt. :(
I went grocery shopping and bought some lolli snakes which are the Aussie answer to gummi worms. And they are amazing. I could eat them all day.
I am being weary of Fae though. She seems to be getting sick. I am trying to stay out of the same room as her for a bit cause I don't want to miss work again!
Work was probably one of the busiest Sundays we've had. Alot of people I guess wanted to celebrate Christ's Risening with a big plate of ribs. That and everyone has monday off.
I have monday off too. Because its a public holiday there is a huge surcharge to the service industry like restaurants, which means if I WAS working I'd make double time and a half but I didnt. :(
I went grocery shopping and bought some lolli snakes which are the Aussie answer to gummi worms. And they are amazing. I could eat them all day.
I am being weary of Fae though. She seems to be getting sick. I am trying to stay out of the same room as her for a bit cause I don't want to miss work again!
Friday, April 2, 2010
Austrlia has small balls.
So yesterday was good friday. Work closes 2 days out of the year. One of them is Christmas, the other is good friday. So every year work holds a big party on good friday. This year we went lawn bowling. I had never been lawn bowling before. It was really crazy. The ball is lopsided so it curves. And the object is to get close to the white ball out in the middle of the end of your lane. Kind of like a rolling version of horse shoes.
Nearly all of the floor staff was there. Id say the split is 60% guys 40% girls. and half of those girls are part of management and are in their mid thirties. It was interesting to see everyone outside of work. There was alot of drinking. I didn't drink so much because I wasn't crazy nor do I like paying so much. I did enjoy billiards and the bowling though.
I left around 9:30 and grabbed the bus back to QVB. By the time I finally got home it was around 10:30 and I just drank water watched a bit of tv. Talked to annie before she headed off to a group meeting and went to sleep.
oh yeah and both the billiard balls and the bowling balls are small.
Nearly all of the floor staff was there. Id say the split is 60% guys 40% girls. and half of those girls are part of management and are in their mid thirties. It was interesting to see everyone outside of work. There was alot of drinking. I didn't drink so much because I wasn't crazy nor do I like paying so much. I did enjoy billiards and the bowling though.
I left around 9:30 and grabbed the bus back to QVB. By the time I finally got home it was around 10:30 and I just drank water watched a bit of tv. Talked to annie before she headed off to a group meeting and went to sleep.
oh yeah and both the billiard balls and the bowling balls are small.
Thursday, April 1, 2010
Good... thursday?
So its the day before good friday. School today was slightly more tolerable in my aviation class because the information we gathered as a group finally shut up my idiotic professor. English class is akin to trying to fir a spoon in my nose. I really don't understand why it's necessary to relearn so many remedial things, but hey at least it isn't hard (unlike nose-spooning). I was rushed as usual ome to work and had to shave when I got there and only had 10 minutes to eat so I was a bit slower than usual being I didn't get as much energy. I mentioned to some people as we were changing to street clothes that I was trying to work out. The french girl innocently but very blatantly said "good you need it." Everybody laughed including myself, to which she followed up "So do I my arms are like Zpaghetti." Well I guess that means I just have to try harder at working out :(
Also when I was skating to the bus I had to bail because some jerks nearly tackled me. 2 other foreign (possibly italian or french) couples noticed my skates and were asking me where I got them from, after I said I'm American there was this "oh..." like you just found out that your best friend is dating a physically handicapped person. Anyhoo skated on my merry way.
Btw, Australia please keep your smelly people off of the bus. Three times today, pungently stinky people sat too close to my proximity. 5 minute ride no problem. 45 minute ride... This is just ridiculous...
Also when I was skating to the bus I had to bail because some jerks nearly tackled me. 2 other foreign (possibly italian or french) couples noticed my skates and were asking me where I got them from, after I said I'm American there was this "oh..." like you just found out that your best friend is dating a physically handicapped person. Anyhoo skated on my merry way.
Btw, Australia please keep your smelly people off of the bus. Three times today, pungently stinky people sat too close to my proximity. 5 minute ride no problem. 45 minute ride... This is just ridiculous...
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Gettin Better
I got my meds. The doctor visit was kind of interesting. I was really pissed that I went to what I thought was a doctor place but was actually a pathology place. Then I called up all the medical centers I might need to go to and found one that could see me within 2 hours of calling them. The catch is, its extremely japanese centered. Not that there was anything wrong with that, but all the forms were all asian characters with tiny english subtitles. It was all rather ammusing. I expected an asian doctor as well but to my surprise he was pretty darn white. Turns out I was right. I had a sinus infection. I took my prescription, got my meds, stopped by a pizza hut to try out aussie pizza hut (which was delicious) and then headed home. I took last night and this morning lazily and just tried to recover as the meds did their trick. I'd say I'm somewhere around 80% back to normal as of writing this so I'm almost all better.
School strike tomorrow so I only have to meet up with my group at 2 and don't have my 11 o clock class. Hopefully I will be feeling well enough to work out before I go tomorrow morning.
School strike tomorrow so I only have to meet up with my group at 2 and don't have my 11 o clock class. Hopefully I will be feeling well enough to work out before I go tomorrow morning.
Sunday, March 28, 2010
Sickness sets in
I have a sinus infection and it is incapacitating me. I get to try out australia's healthcare tomorrow instead of class. I will recount sunday's adventure at a later date.
Saturday, March 27, 2010
Tasty
So first off, sorry for the delay in blog posts. I was busy with mundane day to day life including studying and honestly nothing special had happened. That is, until yesterday. Yesterday was a tasting at work. Most of the menu was cooked up for the newer staff and shared so that we learned what they tasted like. They started with the entrees. The Peri Peri Prawns were really good but very spicy. The bbq wings where 3x cooked with steaming, frying, then grilling and the blue cheese sauce they were served with was amazing. There were some other ones I didn't like as much liike the boerewores which is a tradition african sausage. It tasted pretty tough and dry from what I''m used to.
Afterwards the salads came out. The only thing worth noting is the biltong which came on the house specialty salad. It is akin to beef jerky except not dried as heavily. It is extremely good. Its like the potato chips of the meat world.
The entrees came out. They didn't cook all the different steaks because that would be silly but they did cook a steak to share, beef ribs, lamb ribs, pork ribs, chicken breast, portuguese chicken, beef skewer, salmon skewer, giant prawns, lamb shanks, and maybe a few other things I might've missed. The portuguese chicken was delicious the marinade made it very rich flavor. The lamb ribs were probably the best tasting ribs as well as the most tender. The beef ribs were a bit tough and the lamb shanks were really underwhelming.
Then dessert rolled out. They was apple rubarb crumble, chocolate fondant, chocolate platter, pecan pie, and maybe another one. The crumble was so delicious but I guess I'm partial to appley stuff having been raised on apple pie.
At the end were were quizzed on our food knowledge.. It was pathetic. The manager got really pissed off how little information we retained. So now the next few weeks we are being heavily quizzed in briefings before our shift.
After tasting I went around sydney for a little bit. I went back to work at 5. It was along day. A very loooooong day. We probably had the largest shift we've ever had on. Close to 25 people on the floor. The restaurant also observed earth hour and dimmed the lights at 8:30 pm. At the end of the day, this one asian girl with slightly poor english was telling me as we were polishing silverware that she is a bit suprised to see how I work harder and harder when we get bust but still keep smiling and keep positive. She said it put her in a good mood too. I really took that compliment to heart. I always think that positive moods are infective and its good to see I can infect people.
Afterwards the salads came out. The only thing worth noting is the biltong which came on the house specialty salad. It is akin to beef jerky except not dried as heavily. It is extremely good. Its like the potato chips of the meat world.
The entrees came out. They didn't cook all the different steaks because that would be silly but they did cook a steak to share, beef ribs, lamb ribs, pork ribs, chicken breast, portuguese chicken, beef skewer, salmon skewer, giant prawns, lamb shanks, and maybe a few other things I might've missed. The portuguese chicken was delicious the marinade made it very rich flavor. The lamb ribs were probably the best tasting ribs as well as the most tender. The beef ribs were a bit tough and the lamb shanks were really underwhelming.
Then dessert rolled out. They was apple rubarb crumble, chocolate fondant, chocolate platter, pecan pie, and maybe another one. The crumble was so delicious but I guess I'm partial to appley stuff having been raised on apple pie.
At the end were were quizzed on our food knowledge.. It was pathetic. The manager got really pissed off how little information we retained. So now the next few weeks we are being heavily quizzed in briefings before our shift.
After tasting I went around sydney for a little bit. I went back to work at 5. It was along day. A very loooooong day. We probably had the largest shift we've ever had on. Close to 25 people on the floor. The restaurant also observed earth hour and dimmed the lights at 8:30 pm. At the end of the day, this one asian girl with slightly poor english was telling me as we were polishing silverware that she is a bit suprised to see how I work harder and harder when we get bust but still keep smiling and keep positive. She said it put her in a good mood too. I really took that compliment to heart. I always think that positive moods are infective and its good to see I can infect people.
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Another day downunder
Sorry for the scarcity of updates. When nothing to peculiar occurs there isn't much I can do about it. Sunday I was exausted from work monday I had school. Today I had work again.
On other notes: I switched to a half protein half carb style of shake to test whether I see better results. After 2 work out sessions I already feel more energetic when I'm exercising and I don't feel quite so wiped out either. Down side is the shakes taste like I'm drinking Lucky Charms marshmallow mix. But results are showing. No six pack yet but maybe before June rolls around I might have a nice one. :)
Hair is growing back. All the multivitamins I'm taking also make hair/skin/nails grow faster. No tan yet but I haven't been burnt. Then again I haven't been to the beach and chilled yet... I reaaaally need to do that before the weather gets too cold. :(
On other notes: I switched to a half protein half carb style of shake to test whether I see better results. After 2 work out sessions I already feel more energetic when I'm exercising and I don't feel quite so wiped out either. Down side is the shakes taste like I'm drinking Lucky Charms marshmallow mix. But results are showing. No six pack yet but maybe before June rolls around I might have a nice one. :)
Hair is growing back. All the multivitamins I'm taking also make hair/skin/nails grow faster. No tan yet but I haven't been burnt. Then again I haven't been to the beach and chilled yet... I reaaaally need to do that before the weather gets too cold. :(
Saturday, March 20, 2010
And now I smell like booze.
Work today was a bit long. I wanted to work out but it was crazy hot out. I got some productive things at home finished. Annie and I are planning out our trip to cairns. It is subject to change but as of right now its a 4 day trip involving: shopping, scuba diving at the barrier reef, horse-back riding/ATVs, and island hopping.
So I didn't finish with work till 1:45 am. Saturdays last SOO long its crazy. I have a headache from being dehydrated and I didnt take my vitamins yesterday or today, so that didn't help. I did alot of polishing silverware in hot water with vinegar. A group of 21 women were having a Hen's night, which is a bachelorette party. They bought alot of wine they didnt like so there was lots left over. I took one of the good ones that is normally corked. I put a kind of fitting cap on it and saran wrap. When I got to the bus stop I kind of forgot it wasn't leak proof and laid my pack down. And about 8 ounces spilled into my backpack. Fortunately my work clothes in my bag soaked alot of it up. Unfortunately the clothes on my back soaked up the rest.
So I end up today smelling like vinegar, soggy fries, and expensive chardonay for tonight
So I didn't finish with work till 1:45 am. Saturdays last SOO long its crazy. I have a headache from being dehydrated and I didnt take my vitamins yesterday or today, so that didn't help. I did alot of polishing silverware in hot water with vinegar. A group of 21 women were having a Hen's night, which is a bachelorette party. They bought alot of wine they didnt like so there was lots left over. I took one of the good ones that is normally corked. I put a kind of fitting cap on it and saran wrap. When I got to the bus stop I kind of forgot it wasn't leak proof and laid my pack down. And about 8 ounces spilled into my backpack. Fortunately my work clothes in my bag soaked alot of it up. Unfortunately the clothes on my back soaked up the rest.
So I end up today smelling like vinegar, soggy fries, and expensive chardonay for tonight
Friday, March 19, 2010
bar night
I had plans to go out to a bar with the 2 people from my robotics team. A swiss guy named Raphael and a michigan girl who was likely going to bring her aussie boyfriend. Girl didn't come out. I met up with Raph at 9pm and he brought along one of his kiwi friends. (Who was very illegible btw). We first went to some bar called Pontoon Bar in Darling Harbor cause we heard there were pool tables. It was also one of the top 10 bars of Sydney. And we did find a pool table; there was one; as in one; off in the corner separated from everyone else. After a game, Raph had some girl texting him for all of us to meet up at some "dance" club called Ivy. After hopping the bus all the way over to the Rocks we wandered around trying to find it.
As we walked a bus pulled up to a red light called "the discobus". It was basically a gutted city bus with a dance floor installed and everyone inside looked very drunk. When we got to the Ivy it was packed. It took 15 minutes to find Raph's friend. It turns out the girl is from Purdue! Except she's a dumb spoiled sorority girl, who is staying here on "daddy's money". She was bragging how she couldn't believe she has spent $5000 in the last month. A good chunk of that she said was on alcohol alone. Bravo. I'm sure you'll make "daddy" proud. After 2 hours of boring talking and nothing else I decided to just up and leave. So I did. I grabbed a cab to my bus stop and bussed home.
Bars in Sydney are pretty lame.
You can't get drunk because bartenders aren't legaly allowed to.
Nobody was really dancing at the dance club.
Pool tables and other activities are nearly don't exist.
Oh and taxis cost more because of night-time tariffs and bus run once an hour.
no fun at all.
As we walked a bus pulled up to a red light called "the discobus". It was basically a gutted city bus with a dance floor installed and everyone inside looked very drunk. When we got to the Ivy it was packed. It took 15 minutes to find Raph's friend. It turns out the girl is from Purdue! Except she's a dumb spoiled sorority girl, who is staying here on "daddy's money". She was bragging how she couldn't believe she has spent $5000 in the last month. A good chunk of that she said was on alcohol alone. Bravo. I'm sure you'll make "daddy" proud. After 2 hours of boring talking and nothing else I decided to just up and leave. So I did. I grabbed a cab to my bus stop and bussed home.
Bars in Sydney are pretty lame.
You can't get drunk because bartenders aren't legaly allowed to.
Nobody was really dancing at the dance club.
Pool tables and other activities are nearly don't exist.
Oh and taxis cost more because of night-time tariffs and bus run once an hour.
no fun at all.
Thursday, March 18, 2010
Lots of new stuff
Hats off to my dad on his 50th b-day!
Thursday was a very loooong day at work. I didn't get out until 12:30 and I missed the last bus home so I had to call up a very sleepy Fae to come pick me up. While I was waiting another kid missed the last bus as well. (the timetables had tiny astaricks next to them indicating they didn't run on thursdays). As we talked a bit I offered him a ride home. Turns out he was a friend of a contestant of So You Think You Can Dance Australia and was on his way home from celebrating with her. She was voted off last week. This kid was only 17 though. Half the people here graduate high school at 17.
I heard back from Purdue about my grad program.... Bad news.
"My name is Dr. Mark Garrett and I am the Graduate Programs Coordinator over here in the Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering. You are receiving this email because you have applied to one of our graduate programs here in the Weldon School. I wanted to let you know that you are currently on our Waiting List for admission into our program. We have received a total of 264 applications to our PHD program along 125 applications to our MS program. Thus far we have admitted 21 people and are waiting to hear their decision as to whether they will accept our offer."
So 389 applicants and only 21 are getting accepted.. My chances look very dire. I am still waiting to hear back from IUPUI.
Thursday was a very loooong day at work. I didn't get out until 12:30 and I missed the last bus home so I had to call up a very sleepy Fae to come pick me up. While I was waiting another kid missed the last bus as well. (the timetables had tiny astaricks next to them indicating they didn't run on thursdays). As we talked a bit I offered him a ride home. Turns out he was a friend of a contestant of So You Think You Can Dance Australia and was on his way home from celebrating with her. She was voted off last week. This kid was only 17 though. Half the people here graduate high school at 17.
I heard back from Purdue about my grad program.... Bad news.
"My name is Dr. Mark Garrett and I am the Graduate Programs Coordinator over here in the Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering. You are receiving this email because you have applied to one of our graduate programs here in the Weldon School. I wanted to let you know that you are currently on our Waiting List for admission into our program. We have received a total of 264 applications to our PHD program along 125 applications to our MS program. Thus far we have admitted 21 people and are waiting to hear their decision as to whether they will accept our offer."
So 389 applicants and only 21 are getting accepted.. My chances look very dire. I am still waiting to hear back from IUPUI.
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
Tuesday
Work today. It went pretty well. I am enjoying it more and more as I get into the swing of things. Likewise, I enjoy when we are appropriately staffed. nothing too fancy goin on. My book STILL hasn't come in for one of my classes. But its not that big of a deal. I won't be able to do tomorrow's assignment but they lowest 2 of 10 are dropped anyways.
It was really hot today so I stopped by and got a gigantic slurpee before work and it was delicious. :)
It was really hot today so I stopped by and got a gigantic slurpee before work and it was delicious. :)
Monday, March 15, 2010
Dance frusterations
I was looking forward to dance for the past 3 weeks. I get there at 7:20 (10 minutes early) and ask where it is being held. They look at me like I'm crazy and say "did you sign up for it?" I tell them I was hoping to sign up for it and wanted to see what it was like. They then proceed to explain that it is a gym sponsored class and that I have to pay to go in. Not just pay, but pay cash. Of which I had none nor was I really expecting to have to pay immediately. I assumed there would be some sort of introduction or something. But no I was not allowed in to just watch even. so I had to go home. What a waste of my time.
and I can't wait for annie to come in may :D
and I can't wait for annie to come in may :D
Sunday, March 14, 2010
Sunday cut short
I got asked to come into work today. It took a fraction of a second to say yes. Why? Because it Australia sunday means time and a half. Thats right. So I make nearly $30 an hour on sundays. That is so awesome. I mean, once I can accept tips it will be even more awesome but still $30 over 6 hours is a ton of income.
I wanted to pull up a card from the pile of observations I've noticed. Alot of Australians seem to be a bit hypocritical as a society. Allow me to elaborate. There is the Sydney Bridge, a massive bridge that spans the harbor, and is located near the Opera House. You can walk across the top arc, but you have to wear gray jumpsuits so you don't distract drivers.
Ok that makes sense
But then you go through the much busier inner city traffic and there are ads everywhere including on the monorail that has these bright colors and flashes across your field of vision. That is WAY more distracting then tiny blips of color climbing a bridge.
There are other examples I could prolly find but its late and I have to wake up for class in 6 hours...
I wanted to pull up a card from the pile of observations I've noticed. Alot of Australians seem to be a bit hypocritical as a society. Allow me to elaborate. There is the Sydney Bridge, a massive bridge that spans the harbor, and is located near the Opera House. You can walk across the top arc, but you have to wear gray jumpsuits so you don't distract drivers.
Ok that makes sense
But then you go through the much busier inner city traffic and there are ads everywhere including on the monorail that has these bright colors and flashes across your field of vision. That is WAY more distracting then tiny blips of color climbing a bridge.
There are other examples I could prolly find but its late and I have to wake up for class in 6 hours...
Saturday, March 13, 2010
Family Time
Today, I went with the family to see ALL of the family. It was someone's birthday. I can't recall all of the names. The food was reaaaally good. Alot of Phillipino food. The fresh prawns were a bit intimidating with the heads still attached. They had these AMAZING desert called cathedral windows. It was a bunch of different blocks of colored jello in condensed milk.I chatted up with people for a little while. Alot of people asked about Victore and how I knew him and what I was doing here. After dinner I went to hang out with the kids. There was me, fae, jaime, and this other dude then 8 kids at around the age of 15 and below. They were playing Modern Warfare 2. After a while we played some street fighter 4. I got to wow the kids by pully off crazy tricks and combos and being unbeatable.
host family pics
host family pics
host family pics
host family pics
host family pics
Oh yeah and I shaved my head for leukaemia :P
HAIR GONE
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
Work and Workout
I had to work today. It was quite a bit easier on me then the saturday was. My role was supposed to be Runner, which runs food, drinks, and checks bathrooms. It got really difficult because we were understaffed. The bartenders got behind on dishes so I got put in to help. I really didn't mind. I really hate running. It is a really miserable experience. I haven't quite gotten the hang of holding on scalding hot plates with fumbling rags. I have a suspicion that I was using the wrong rags. But anyways, the bar was easier but I didn't get out until 11:45. I was so parched I grabbed a mega-size slurpee from 7-11 and drank the whole thing. I wasn't paying attention and missed my bus so I had to get the next one that dropped me much further away from home. That sucked. Lesson learned.
Oh and on my way home, I decided to take the bike path because it was a more direct shortcut. Yeah.... not doing that again. It was super SUPER dark because of the woods and I always felt like something was going to jump out at me. Fortunately the phone I got has a built in LED flashlight. Nothing fancy but enough to get me home.
Also I have been working out with lots of determination. When I got here I weighed 72.5 kilos. I want to hit 80 before I leave. I want to look good enough that maybe once in a blue moon I get a compliment instead of never lol. I am already at 74 kilos but the first few are the easiest so I need to keep at it. I also am doing abs very often so maybe I might be able to tone up abit. Classes tomorrow and sleep for now.
Monday, March 8, 2010
Another Monday
UGH. Man getting up today was rough. AND I got on the wrong bus so I was 30 minutes late to class. Thats ok though, the class was starting 20 minutes late so I was only behind by 10. I'm afraid today was rather dull. It was really hot though. I started my english class and we discussed grammar. It seemed a bit silly. For some reason (probably because I've been working out alot) I was reaaaally tired physically today. Hopefully I will be better tomorrow. I work again at 5:30.
Saturday, March 6, 2010
2nd day of work....
Saturday was the second day of work. I had to take a RSA (Responsible Service of Alcohol) class in the morning. It was 6.5 hours long and basically talked about how its the waiter's responsibility if the patrons get drunk and break things. 2 guys got drunk and were throwing rocks off a bridge. Did they get in trouble when the killed a woman on her way home from picking up her kids? No. The bartender did, because he should've known that too much alcohol might make people do stupid things, and Australian's are really just children who need their hand held when they drink. It's so backwards.
On one hand I agree that the bartender shouldn't be pushing drinks on to people past their limit. But on the other hand, where is society's sense of responsibility? If a girl gets drunk, wonders off into a dark alley and gets raped, it's the bartender's fault and now he has to pay ALL of her bills. If a guy gets in an accident drunk driving and is now a parapalegic, well now the bartender has to surrender 20% of his wage for the rest of his life. It's retarded how irresponsible Aussies are.
Ok now about my 2nd day. It was miserable. It was really really really busy. And people were not exactly angry with me but they were being very urgent and doing it very loudly. I didn't appreciate the managers though. I liked thursday's manager, but saturday I had this large woman who always looked at me and was like "DO THIS!" even though I already had 2 other things that other leads told me to do. It was really tiring. A 4.5 hour shift felt like8 hours. I was exausted and it never let up until I left.
I think I'm going to relax today (sunday) and workout, drink some lemonade and study. It's nice weather today but it may rain later.
On one hand I agree that the bartender shouldn't be pushing drinks on to people past their limit. But on the other hand, where is society's sense of responsibility? If a girl gets drunk, wonders off into a dark alley and gets raped, it's the bartender's fault and now he has to pay ALL of her bills. If a guy gets in an accident drunk driving and is now a parapalegic, well now the bartender has to surrender 20% of his wage for the rest of his life. It's retarded how irresponsible Aussies are.
Ok now about my 2nd day. It was miserable. It was really really really busy. And people were not exactly angry with me but they were being very urgent and doing it very loudly. I didn't appreciate the managers though. I liked thursday's manager, but saturday I had this large woman who always looked at me and was like "DO THIS!" even though I already had 2 other things that other leads told me to do. It was really tiring. A 4.5 hour shift felt like8 hours. I was exausted and it never let up until I left.
I think I'm going to relax today (sunday) and workout, drink some lemonade and study. It's nice weather today but it may rain later.
Thursday, March 4, 2010
First day of work
Today was the first day of work at the Meat and Wine Co. It was a very bustling experience. It was by far busier than any other restaurant I've been in (save for grand Lux). I worked from 3:00 to 8:30. There was a lot of training. We talked about different aspects of the business. Then I got free dinner. Then I was off to do work once the patrons began pouring in about 6. I was a host's assistant, which means I help people to their seats. More than that though, I have to patrol the restaurant, counting tables available, clearing tables that are empty, resetting cleared tables, and polishing silverware. It was a bit crazy for a first night. But I can't complain THAT much. I am getting paid about $19.00 an hour (more on the weekends). And after training is over I will get tips too. Some Americans still tip, even though it isn't expected of them to.
I have to get my RSA approval for alchohol very soon.
Here are pics of my walk to and of Darling Harbor.
Off the bus
Darling Harbor Entrance from city
Panning View of the Harbor from the Bridge 1
Panning View of the Harbor from the Bridge 2
Panning View of the Harbor from the Bridge 3
Panning View of the Harbor from the Bridge 4
Panning View of the Harbor from the Bridge 5
Imax and Meat and Wine Co Zoom-In
Whales on my walk
Foot Traffic Bridge
Car Traffic Bridge and Trees
Harbor at night 1
Harbor at night 2
I guess some kind of discotek in a building that is supposed to look like the bow of a boat
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
School day 2
Today was a bit more interesting. One of my classes today was "Whiteness beyond color". A study of the way the world treats the "norm" as white. Australia is a particularly study source due to the extent at which they try to create a nation that is "homogeneous in culture and race". Today we learned about programs that still haven't been entirely dissolved that crush the Aboriginal people. Like the U.S. kind of did with Native Americans but 3x worse. The government can STILL take children away in the guise of "humanity" in an attempt to re-educate them that Aboriginal culture is uncivilised and wrong. In the U.S., Natives are recognized as a sovereign people. Sure the U.S. didn't always hold up their end of treaties, but here in the U.S. Aboriginals are not considered real people. Legislature treats them as objects or things the state has to take care of like flora or fauna. It was pretty eye-opening.The class was also invited to happy hour at the campus bar (yes alcohol is allowed on campus, and is even sold by it). I stayed for about an hour but everyone was either from Italy, France, or Germany. It was interesting to hear all the different accents... for about 15 minutes. The same small talk over and over is soooo boring. "Hi you are? Nice to meet you! Where are you from? That's really interesting! What are you studying? Yea I totally know what you mean."
rinse. repeat. snooze.
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
Birds
These are one of the birds that makes noise in front of my window in the morning. These guys are noissy, but they aren't the squawkers. I haven't been able to get a pic of the squawkers. This bird is only 4 feet from my window. It's THAT close.
Amusing things:
Teacher says:
"In the 1980s, the U.S. was one of the best manufacturers in the world. Nowadays countries like Germany, Japan, and others are currently booming while the U.S. is lagging behind. How do Europeans and Japanese differ from the U.S.? What do they have that the U.S. doesnt?"
Student: "Healthcare!!"
(the correct answer is that robotics shifted to those countries but that isn't as funny"
Teacher is introducing an important specific type of robot we are to get accustomed to using:
"This is a SCARA robot. SCARA stands for Selectively Compliant...... blah blah blah. I forget this every year."
Monday, March 1, 2010
First day of School
Today was frusterating. And tiring. I had trouble sleeping (excited? lots of stuff on my mind?) and didn't actually fall asleep til maybe about 2:30am. I had to get up by 6:30 so I could get ready for school. Ok I don't know if many of you know but I'm an 8 hour sleeper. If I don't get my 8 hours, I'm going to be broken for the rest of the day.The bus ride to school wasn't that bad, I arrived right when I needed to and made it to Robotics. The class was a 3 hour long lecture and I fell asleep cause I was so tired. I used my skates to get around campus. It was pretty enjoyable and they have good skating pavement
After Class I went home because my second class doesn't start till next week and I wanted to get a nap in before ballroom later. So I get back, sleep, Hurry up to catch the 5:55pm bus back to campus (nearly missed it). I get all the way there thinking about food the whole way because I slept to late to eat. When I get to the UniGym (as seen above) I find out that ballroom doesn't start for 2 weeks... I was so mad. I went to get McD's (it was a campus McD's was service was terrible) then got on the bus and came home. I more or less took an hour and 15 minute bus ride to get McD's and turn around to come back. I was pretty mad.
I ended up staying up until 1:20 am so I could call Purdue and check on my grad school status. They told me it could be another 2 weeks before they finalize the list of applicants.
Sunday, February 28, 2010
Local Market
My dad and Annie think I need to get more out of the house so I decided today I would go to the local market. It is about a 10-15 minute walk from where I will be working. (yeah so I more or less got the job if that wasn't already written here somewhere). It's called paddy's market. The bottom floor is a huuuuuuuuuuuge flea market (imagine the picture up top but 12-15 rows more). Tons of Asian stuff. The 1st floor is a mix of factory outlets and eateries. The 2nd floor is factory outlets and the 3rd floor is eateries and arcade.
There were alot of really interesting things there. I want to buy sean a croc hat, made from real croc leather (preferably with teeth). I know I'll have to get other people things but that is one thing that stuck out that I think Sean would really want. I ended up finding a wallet for myself. it was $60. Ironically it was more money than I wanted to put into a wallet but oh well, the last one lasted me 7 years-ish. As the colors fade and the leather has been stretched and stained, its probably time to retire it.
I got a chance to play Street Fighter at the arcade (since they are no arcades back home that have anything worth playing really) and even though the joystick controls were really rough, I whooped some serious butt against random other people.
Classes start tomorrow, it is gonna be so rough its not even funny. I have a feeling like Im not gonna be prepared. I have no idea what to expect, for all I know it could be like Hogwart's School of Magic like from Harry Potter.
Friday, February 26, 2010
Oporto
Expanding my pallet I tried some Oporto after my interview today. The interview went well. Next I will have to do some online orientation and then i will have a trial/training period. It will be in the Darling Harbor, which is a beautiful harbor. It was cloudy today so I didn't take pictures but I will when it is nicer.The chicken was pretty good, oporto specializes in chicken sandwhiches, wraps, and salads. The very tasty grilled chicken came as two breasts on a sandwhich with little bit of mayo and chilisauce. Yep chicken and chili. Other than that, it wasn't that fantastic of a day, it was pretty wet out. Not alot to see.
Thursday, February 25, 2010
Levi
The 18 day old Levi is sick. Levi is Irma's grandson, through her son Lee. He is currently hospitalized. He stopped breathing at one point for 2 minutes. The entire family was rightfully hysterical. Irma is with Lee and his wife Sarita over in Perth. If things get much worse, I imagine that Lorenzo may take a leave from work and go visit.
On a bit of brighter news: A restaurant called "The Meat and Wine Co" called about an interview for tomorrow. It is owned by one of Irma's siblings so she put in a good word. It's near Darling Harbor and it's about a 35 minute bus ride away.
On a bit of brighter news: A restaurant called "The Meat and Wine Co" called about an interview for tomorrow. It is owned by one of Irma's siblings so she put in a good word. It's near Darling Harbor and it's about a 35 minute bus ride away.
Percy Jaskson
I started reading this series called Percy Jackson and The Olympians. If you recall, a movie was just released. Considering the movie was based on a book and reviews mentioned the movie did not do the book justice I decided (in some of my spare time) I would read them. I've gotten through 2 of 5 books and these are my thoughts:Unfortunately for the movie, it comes out after the immense success of Harry Potter, and as such, it is more than likely going to be judged by the Potter series. At first it seems a bit harsh to put the book up to Potter's standards but Riordan, the author, copies many ideas that Potter, and books before it, used much better.
Percy is your ordinary, everyday failure of a 6th grader. He gets in fights; he fails his classes; and always seems to be getting himself expelled. His educational failure is attributed to being ADHD and dyslexic, which is a good moral for children: "If you are failing classes then its not your fault!" But actually most children don't find out their father they have never met is actually Poseidon. That's right, the book says that being dyslexic and ADHD is attributed to his brain being hard wired for Ancient Greek and Battle. Suuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuure. Being the son of Poseidon he has insanely overpowered water-based abilities. They then go on to tell you that his entire life is more or less a series of lies to try to mask his heritage.
One of the main problems of the series is the lack of decent story telling. Sure the writing is very vivid and captivating, but at the end of book you are left with a "that's it?" feeling. Not a "oh wow! I'd love to read more!" kind of thats-it but rather a "what the heck kind of story was that?!" Throughout the book Percy undergoes trials which is typical of adventure stories, however in Percy's case, the word "trial" is very liberal. Most challenges he near immediately know how to solve and does so without and difficulty. The entire book is just a cake walk for this 6th grader. Foreshadowing is one thing, but its too blatantly obvious when Percy has a trial ahead of himself. He is either walking to a fountain, rain, toilets, river, bridge, water park, another river, the beach, and yet another river. His enemies are too stupid to fight him AWAY from water.
One of the biggest problems I have with the series is that the author is always force-feeding you morals. In the second book, percy gets a retarded half-brother who is a cyclops and a spoon full of "mentally hand-capped does not mean he isn't physically capable and a good friend too!" I near wanted to vomit. Among all of the "America is so great" propaganda, obeying authority, and dad always knows best (even if he never has seen you before you turned 13) I tried very hard not to vomit.
Of course once you get passed all of the bad story telling and unbearable morals, the book IS actually enjoyable. The characters (besides Percy) are more or less believable. The author is very good at description and the books are very easy, fast reads. Is it worth buying? no, not really, but if you have a friend who has a copy and you aren't watching a good tv show then its a decent read.
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Art post
This post is an art post. I'm not entirely sure what that means. Perhaps I will post more pictures as I draw them. But this particular picture is part of something I've been working on. I was debating on whether to post it but it turned out alright. The original sketch was a bit messy, It was obvious that I need to get back in to drawing if I can. Fortunately I'm still pretty darn handy at photoshop so minor adjustments the crappy eraser would not allow, I was able to do. Not much is happening lately since I've been mostly at home all week but as you can tell I've been finding ways to keep myself busy.ps. full size looks a million times better.
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
New Shoes
So I FINALLY got around to buying a new pair of shoes. I wasn't able to buy a pair in the U.S. before I left because I the amount of money I had didn't make the purchase feel that safe. After going to several shoes stores I finally went to one of those stores that analyze your stride. Apparantly my stride rolls in towards the ankles which is rediculously common. The woman was a very knowledgable salesperson, and I needed shoes, so I ended up buying these Asics. Here is the kicker. The shoes were $209. Yep just like everything else in Aus, shoes were double price also. I am currently looking into methods of mailing something from the U.S. to Australia so I can try to save a bit of money but haven't had fantastic luck yet. If I find a way to mail things here, I'll keep you posted. (hee hee get it? mail? Posted? I kill myself sometimes)
Sunday, February 21, 2010
Wicked
I finished Wicked and the AvP campaign. Wicked was very good. Although I felt the ending seemed a bit rushed, the writing was deep and vivid. Wicked is about how the Wicked Witch became known as such. Contrary to her name, she barely new magic. She actually studied life sciences. The witch's name was Elphaba. The story follows her birth, school years, and rise to infamy. The story also delves into how the Wizard of Oz wrested control of the entire kingdom and appointed himself as Emperor, ruling all of Oz with a greedy iron fist for over 40 years, finally leaving only because of fear of a coup de'tat. I won't spoil anything for you. Only that scarcely in the world is there any such thing as good and evil. Labels as such are placed as propaganda to incite hate and prevent humanization of characters.Is a man who walks into an office and shoots the chairmen of a multinational organization evil? What if I told you that the chairman himself was responsible for entire villages in 3rd world countries burning to the ground in the name of profit and as a result hundreds of people died? Now who is evil?
When you are driving down the road and an extremely inconsiderate driver cuts you off and nearly causes you an accident do you spurn them? What if I told you that studies show that if aggressive driver were out of the picture that more accidents would occur and traffic would be more problematic and slower.
Is such a thing as evil then? Are people capable of evil? To this I would say that children are a perfect example. On one hand they burn ant hills with magnifying glasses, but on the other they grab/steal things from one another with merely the purpose that "I wanted it" and did not truly consider the consequences of their actions. This I would say is not truly evil but merely adolescent ignorance. I guess the key here is perspective.
Saturday, February 20, 2010
Chest-Bursting With Love
I bought the new Aliens Vs Predator game; something to help tide me over till class starts. I finished the aliens campaign. The game itself is really fun. A bit spooky at times. Especially if you play as a Marine and you are getting swarmed by aliens. I haven't tried multiplayer yet, though I liked the previous iteration so I hope the game lives up to my hopes.Speaking of gross thing. A cockroach died in front my room. It pooped everywhere and then just bam, dead. It was gross cause it was still twitching upside down in front of its droppings. It makes me think it just pooped so hard it killed itself. Although I dislike bugs, I don't suddenly break down and cry out for help. I took the flyswatter and carried the bug (at a full arm's length mind you) and flung it outside.
Friday, February 19, 2010
Na na na na na
So aussie's seem to eat ALOT of fruits and vegetables. While chips and biscuits (cookies) are still present, the produce market seems to be much stronger than the U.S.. There are commercials for a variety of produce. One of the more prominent snacks is bananas. The commercial makes the distinction between nonos (candy, soda, and chips) and nanas (bananas). I personally think the lack of chips, biscuits, and lollies (candy) is attributed to the lack of High Fructose Corn Syrup. Junk food would have to be made from more expensive sugar. In other words, junk food costs much more to produce than produce does (especially when adding in the cost of advertising). There is still junk food here but the market is smaller and more niche with sure fire winners like Oreos.
Banana Commercial
Now don't get me wrong. I'm not trying to say AUS is magic land where everybody is fit.
Australia beats US to title of most obese nation, report finds
Although there is some dispute as of right now to which country gets to claim to be the fattest, Australia does not need Corn Syrup helping them out in any way.
Thursday, February 18, 2010
Shopping
So first off, sorry about no blog update yesterday. Very little happened. Of what did happen, it would be easier to add to this blog.
I went to the bank and shopping on Wednesday hoping that my money had been transferred over. It wasn't. So instead I just went window shopping around the mall. Target actually had some nice clothes. Some shorts that I really wanted to buy. When I came back for them on thursday, THEY WERE GONE. Apparently, Thursday evening is "Late Night Shopping". Stores are normally only open til 6 but on thursday they stay open til 9. Since its such a big shopping day, stores spend the day reorganizing stock. All the clothes I wanted got displaced. I even wanted to get some new underwear since Annie tells me you are supposed to get new underwear for the Chinese New Year. (Starting clean I take it)
Well I bought some singlets/A-shirts/Wife-beaters whatever you want to call them. I bought them for when it gets hot but its been disappointingly cool. (about 72 degrees right now).
I bought some shorts at some store called Cotton On. The picture up top is a reversible mask/hat that I found in a surfer/snowboarding shop. The reversible choices are A. a happy KKK member; or B. a sad black person. That is entirely what I interpreted it as.
They had a few other stores also. Big W is a bit like walmart but smaller and clothes also low quality. Myer is like Macy's nice stuff but expensive. Then there were the myriad of little stores that had some semi-interesting things and various prices ranges.
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
FINALLY
I'm finally enrolled in classes. It took soooo long, but after lots of running around and scavenger hunting for signatures, I'm done. They aren't the original classes I wanted, but they are Robotics, Aviation Evaluation and Design Appraisal, Whiteness Beyond Colour: Identity and Difference, and Communicating. I was to attend some mandatory orientation for the exchange program but almost 2 hours into the meeting there was a 10 minute recess that I used to duck out of the incredibly lame meeting.Oh oh oh yeah, I just remembered I bought some McD's breakfast that morning as well. I was shocked. Not because the food was different. It was actually entirely the same taste. But it was the menu that shocked me so much. The only had variations of the McMuffin, pancakes, and hasbrowns. No McGriddles, no Bagels, no Biscuits, no breakfast burritos, and no Mc Skillet. Well at least they have those delicious hasbrowns.
Monday, February 15, 2010
Preston's Passing
I mentioned this before but I was waiting for some better photos. Preston passed away on Saturday. He had kidney failure. We all saw it coming. He was slowly becoming less agile. I wanted to dedicate this post to him and his memory. He was close with my dad and step mom. I offered my condolences to them and this is what my dad wrote in response:
Hi Ryan,
Thanks for you message. I really appreciate your words of sympathy. I believe that everyone who knew
Preston, knew that he was a rare individual that touched the heart. I cannot look in a room or outside
on the deck or in the yard without thinking that he is there. It will take some time to get over it. He was
unique and special in the truest sense. As he became old and weak and more dependent on me, so I
became more dependent on him. His needs became my close concerns while his smile and affectionate
eyes became my reward.
At the Vet, we stayed with Preston to pet and hold him as he went to sleep. Then we wrapped him in a
blanket and brought him home. Sean and I excavated a grave in the woods about 4 feet deep, in a spot
that he often went to investigate and would come out covered with sticky seeds. Then Sveta, Sean and I
took his body to this spot on the wooden sled that he previously pulled. We carefully lowered him and
spoke about his virtues, said a prayer, and covered him with soil and a top layer of snow. Sveta and I
lit a candle and stayed for a while. Then, as it became dark, we went home.
There are more pictures of him if you interested:
Hagan Family Album
Sunday, February 14, 2010
Happy Valentine's day!
I surprised Annie for Valentine's day. I thought about using 1800flowers.com but I wasn't sure when Annie would be home so I asked Tiffany to drop them off. Annie and I have played several games while skyping back and forth. I have learned not to play scrabble against her because I always lose by a large margin.The rest of my weekend has been pretty laid back, it's one of those "I'm waiting for A to happen so I can do B and C". I am waiting for tuesday so I can email my professors my transcript and ask for approval for these dumb classes. I'll let you know how it goes.
Saturday, February 13, 2010
Chinese Food
Not alot happened on Saturday. I finally beat a game called Psychonauts. It's a hilarious little game but you play the role of a kid going to psychic summer camp. The way you deal with problems in the game is delving into someone's mind and traversing their tangled thought patterns. These scenarios include a Circus, a Theatre, a Dance club, a Settlers of Catan-esque game, even a Tokyo-like city where you are like Godzilla. The writing is very witty, I enjoyed that entire game start to finish.
Today was the first time I ate Chinese food here. I must same I was really impressed by the local restaurant here. The cost was about 18$ average but the cost of living here is double so like $9 US but they had 10% off for take away. Id say it was a real deal then. The food was very rich. I got Szechuan chicken, Jaime got Garlic 'Prawns' (Shrimp), Fae got Sweet and Sour Pork. The food didn't come with rice, so we had to get a side. I just realized as I'm writing this that I didn't use chopsticks. :( I missed an opportunity to play with my food.
Friday, February 12, 2010
Now its just getting rediculous.
I went around campus today trying to collect signatures. Sure, it felt like a bit of a waste of a day (not to mention expensive bus fare) but at least I'm getting some progress on my situation done. Today was about 100 degrees and sunny. Throwing Sun screen on is second nature to everyone here by now. I walked from building to building attempting to collect some signatures to get into some of my classes. I say attempt because it's 1:00pm and 3 faculty heads (who I was told should be here) went home early because it was hot and friday and "blah blah we don't care about students" is all I really heard. I went back to the advisor and she just said to me, "At this point it might be just easier to email them." It took everything not to shoot daggers out of my eyes at her. So now I have to wait until the Purdue system to come back online on Monday to be able to link them my transcript.On a sad note: my dad informed me that our dog Preston's kidneys are failing and that they will have to put him down on saturday. I asked my dad for some photos so I might be able to post some nice pictures of him because he deserves it. He was the nicest, most caring dog, I've ever EVER seen. He will be missed greatly.
Thursday, February 11, 2010
I miss my cheeses!
I tried some typical cheese here. Most cheese is labeled as "tasty" (you can see it behind the black magic marker). I would like to point out that they have deceived me in every sense of the word. It is NOT tasty. It is headache inducing skunky cheese. I miss my beautiful cheddar and mischevious swiss cheese. Monterey jack, how I long for your marbled whites and yellows. I even tried on the wrapped cheese like we have for American Singles. Ick.. it was just a plastic version of the larger block.
Anyhoo, for non-food related news. Mom is helping me out with the wire transfer paperwork and such. UNSW still didn't appologize for screwing me over, however they did say they sent an email that I never got. Oh and they never followed up on the email. But I digress, I have to play scavenger hunt tomorrow for signatures to try and attempt to get these classes that I want.
Speaking of skunky cheese. They don't have skunks here. They have no idea how bad they can smell. I tried to describe it when my dad's dog got sprayed but I don't think it captures the essence of the funk.
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Miss Communication
Well wednesday could not have been more of a roller coaster. I woke up early in the morning to get a hold of Purdue to check possible solutions and talk to my bank. The good news is, I may be able to find substitute classes for the ones UNSW failed to inform me weren't offered. I just have to run around campus collecting signatures like an Easter egg hunt. Down side is I won't be able to go until friday.My bank was being incredibly difficult as well. The woman on the phone (at $.88 a minute mind you until unlimited skype kicked in) told me that the only way to get my money here is to wire transfer it and that I have to recieve a fax from her... What?... I don't have a fax machine in this country! I went to my Aussie bank to se if they can help. The dumb woman had me use my debit card in the atm several times with a stupid look on her face when I told her that my US bank has a withdrawl limit of $210 and that I want to transfer my entire account over. She ignored me and pressed buttons and I got $200 out of the atm minus $3 atm fee and about$10 currency change fee.... What an idiot..
I went skating later briefly to see how the local bike paths are. Holy crap they are hilly. I can do most of it, but every once in a while there is just something too steep or too hard of a turn. I didn't crash but I did get dirt or a bug in my eye. So I had to turn around and skate back and flush out my eye.
Overall its just been a weird day.
ps. the picture is a chinese based water clock from the 1000s. The clock was outside of the mall where the bank was.
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
My world has just come crumbling down.
Today was tuesday. It started out like any other day so far: birds waking me up at 7:30 am; a bowl of Kellog's Sultana Bran Crunch (sultana = raisin); and a shower. I went off to the MacQuarie mall from earlier and picked up a phone from the network "3". It is a snazzy little beast with wifi and unlimited facebook and skype. I also spoke to the bank and set up an account to transfer money into. The interest rate on savings accounts is somewhere at around 5.5% (gigantic compared to U.S.). I still have yet to transfer the money but I have a number that will make it all very easy.
I felt on top of the world. Like, that I am glad all this karma is paying off from trying to be extra nice to everyone. Then I got to school for registration...
I attended this hour long boring meeting telling me things I've already learned in the few days I've been here. Afterwards I gathered my student info and went to speak with the advisor to ensure that i was enrolled in the correct classes...
I'm not.
Not only was I not enrolled, but they aren't offering ANY of the courses this semester. The course I NEED to graduate. Not only am I not enrolled in these classes but they have known since november that these classes aren't offered and completely neglected to inform me. I'm super pissed right now. I may not be able to graduate on time. I may not be able to get into grad school on time. My entire direction on life just got smacked in the face.
I'm mad.
I'll let you know how it goes when I talk to Purdue tomorrow and try to grovel to get ANY classes that might be able to count.
Monday, February 8, 2010
"University" and "bad chicken"
Irma asked Fae (the host daughter) to show me how to use the bus system and make it to school. Good thing I had a guide because there are so many buses that go so many different ways that it would be easy to get lost. Here is the part where my jaw dropped. A single, one-way, non-transferable ticket cost $5.10. So that means with the 2 buses I would take to school, and the 2 buses I would take home, I would pay $20 A DAY. That is really unsettling. Once I get my student ID card I will be able to purchase week passes at $23 but still that is pretty expensive coming from indiana.
Uni (Aussie's shorten University) is actually kind of nice. It is about 1/2 the size of Purdue's campus but many of the buildings are very close together. It's a very lush campus. I am glad I got to see it a bit before I have to go to the international exchange office on tuesday.
Campus building
We stopped for some lunch, Fae had a grilled chicken sandwich and I had fried. We walked a bit to see Circular Quay (pronounced Key for some odd reason). A crazy aboriginal looking man was playing the digereedoo. But he sounded a lot more like a DJ selling cd's with digeree-accompniment.
Aboriginal
We stopped by the opera house to get some pictures of the inside since Rashika was so interested it what it looked like inside, but it was Asian language tours day so I would've had to pay to go on a tour that I didn't understand.
Bridge
Opera House
On the way back, it started getting pretty hot abd both Fae and I were starting to feel a bit sick. We stopped in a library place that had a model of the city and also escape the heat.
City Model
The ride home was a long way. On the way, Fae threw up on the bus. Fortunately she had a bag to puke into instead of into her purse or on the floor. We met her mom at the MacQuarie mall I previously had pictures of. Fae went to the bathroom to throw up several more times as I helped Irma with the groceries.
Oh and I sneezed for the first time since I got here, which is only notable because I sneeze all the time back home. All in all I hope to have a phone on tuesday or wednesday. It is a bit frusterating not being able to easily get a hold of Annie. But anyone else that would want to call me I suppose is more than welcome to hahaha.
Sunday, February 7, 2010
Cityscape and Chocolate store
Irma and Lorenzo (Host mom and dad) took me around town to see some of the sights. Apparently the suburb I live in is called North Ryde and it's about a 1/2 hour to 45 min drive to get to the heart of the city, (pretty reasonable for a big city). They drove me to see the Opera House and the famous Bondi bridge. They pointed out bus locations along the way.
Cityscape
Cityscape
My impressions of the city is that is is very green and architecture is more diverse and some of it much older. A good simile for the city would be to compare it to San Francisco but with much brighter and greener plant life. It's no surprise the flora is so lush considering its rained every day since I got here, including this day. The rain is actually pleasant. It's very warm compared to what I'm used to.
We stopped by the famous Bondi Beach. Although there were many surfers there, the water, I hear, is pretty cold :(. Lunch was a mixture of Fish and Chips and McDonalds. I had a double cheeseburger to compare to back home. The fish was really good because of how fresh it was and the batter was equally tasty. The chips (or french fries) were average. The double cheeseburger threw me off because: first, the beef was not as fatty and greasy; second: the cheese was real cheese and not bland American cheese. It was really tasty, albeit more expensive.
Bondi Beach
We briefly stopped by this small island thing that they shot part of Mission Impossible. It was cool, there were alot of fishermen. The water eroded the limestone away into some interesting formations.
Island thing
Island thing
Island thing
Island thing
Island thing
Island thing
Island thing
Island thing
Finally we walked a bit around the marina. Stopped by the restroom, which would've been boring and pointless to mention if it weren't for the crazy pee trough! We stopped by the Lindt chocolate store for biscuits (cookies) and cappucino. There was a really long line to place orders. I took some pictures of some ice-cream sandwich cookies in the window. I thought Annie might like to see them so I took a bunch of pictures.
Stork thingies
Crazy Pee Trough
Ice-cream sandwiches
Ice-cream sandwiches
Ice-cream sandwiches
Ice-cream sandwiches
Ice-cream sandwiches
Ice-cream sandwiches
We walked around a little bit more before having to return. When we got back to the car we found out we parked in a bad parking spot. We got a ticket for $120. They were a bit bummed but were happy they at least got to show me alot about the city.
Spiral fountain
Giant historic anchors
Saturday, February 6, 2010
"It puts spring in your step" and "I hate birds"
So this is Kangaroo. My host mom cooked three steaks pieces of it. By the time I ate 2 I was stuffed. The meat itself does not really have much of a flavor. It's very lean (98% or higher) but the texture is pretty good. Just adding some simple salt and pepper mixed with the Roo's own juices make for a tasty meal. It tastes more like lamb and less like beef. It's a bit heartier and more dense but is still very tender.Birds wake me up everyday at 7 am. The stupid aviary wildlife is noisy as hell. On one hand its calming to hear the sound of nature but when they fly right outside your window and start croaking rather than chirping, I really want to throw a shoe at them. I have yet to see a Kookaburra seeting in the old gum tree, but I'll let you know if he leaves some gum for me.
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