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You know people say it's impossible to touch your elbow with your tongue?
And then they say that 70 % of people who read the above statement will go off and try it?
I have been sitting here for hours pretending to study for my micro final which is now in... 2 hours, extremely unmotivated to study.
But guess what? I can touch my tongue to my elbow!
Pretty legit, right?
But only on my left side.
How could he know?
I look at him with my head lowered, lips parted,
through my eyelashes caked with blue glitter.
My heart thunders while his stops.
How could he know?
I remember.
I can feel his skin pressed against mine, moist where we've been lying entwined for too long.
I can feel his breath playing over the skin at the base of my neck,
his hand thrown carelessly over the curve in my spine.
He always sleeps, after.
My hair drapes over my face,
and I move slowly to tuck a lock behind my ear.
The movement disturbs him ever so slightly, and he opens his eyes.
Until next time.
Dream: Ron, Sean, Andie, Jesse, myself. Walking along a fairly secluded river, very green and kinda soggy. We pass a group of people that are dismantling a car, salvaging parts. Carry on walking, get to a bend in the river, find something that looks like a giant dumpster. This is apparently what we were looking for. Mike is already there, and he and Ron start going through the stuff in this container, pulling out what we want. Most of the stuff seems to be old, but pre-packaged, food. Lots of bread. They pull out loaf after loaf of pre-packaged bread, discard some loaves that are yucky, and throw the good ones to myself and Sean. Jesse and Andie have scrabbled around finding wooden planks and something we can use for wheels, and have erected a rudimentary transport system for the bread. Sean and I stack the loaves on this wheely thing, and we all start to walk the bread back up the river until we get into town. Scene change: Ron has short hair, but a rat tail thing in the back that's up like a ponytail. We are in the city, trying to get into a bar to get a drink, but we spent too much time with the bread and all the bars are closed. Our last option is to go to a bar where Ron works, he thinks he may be able to get us in tha back. We go there with the bread, but the lady is just finishing cleaning up the place and won't let us in. End.
Tasmania: Alyssa is going to Tasmania!! Jesse and I have our last final on December 1, and we are flying from Sydney to Hobart, Tasmania on December 2. We'll be there for a week, and are going to rent a car and just travel around and see all there is to see! Plane back is December 9. Round trip ticket = $150. Not too shabby, eh?
Party: Went to a party! I don't do this often, as everyone knows. Kinda lame that way. But last night was a pirate themed goodbye party for all the international students. Tickets were $10, and you get two 'free' drinks. Manuel, Jesse, Silke and myself wandered around Sydney for a while, had a pizza and a bottle of wine, nice views of Darling Harbour and the opera house. Showed up at the party place a couple of hours late, in time for the real party to start. We were there from about 10 til about 2, when the last bus left for home. Soooo much fun! Blaring music and dancing til your feet hurt. And lots of guys and girls that don't really know each other practically getting it on on the dance floor. I still do not favor beer, so happily occupied myself with vodka and cranberry and vodka and lime. I wore a tie to the party (I was a well dressed pirate), and it was used as a hook for people to grab me with an pull me around. I had lots of different dancing partners, and names weren't needed because I had a string around my neck! Convenient, question mark? Our group generally consisted of the original 4 of us, the Mexican boys, Bonnie, a couple girls that remain nameless, and Patrick and Steve, the two guys from the bushwalk a couple weeks ago. It was good to see them again. Pat danced with us most of the night, and I greatly enjoyed his company. Steve, I think, enjoys being hot and takes advantage of that to go find all the ladies. I saw him a few times, and we were dancing in the general vicinity of one another. I got a thumbs up a couple times and some winks. (Guys, what does this mean??) Caught the bus home, in bed by 4 this morning. Woohoo!
Canyon: Oh man. Jealousy would ensue if I actually had pictures of this canyon. Luckily for you guys, it was a wet canyon, and I don't have dry bag, so I couldn't take my camera. Michael, Al, Martina and I went to Rocky Creek canyon last week. It was a 6 hour slog through a sandstone canyon filled with freezing water. No rope work, but the water was deep enough that we were swimming in some parts. A couple of places the only way down was to stand on some rocks and hurl yourself off the rocks into the pool below (hoping it's deep enough...) The sides of the slot canyon part were overgrown with ferns and greenery of all sorts, and the light filtered down from the top... it was one of the funnest things I've ever done. The girls had a good time, I think. They were a little unprepared for the physically demanding aspects of the trip. Martina fell through some deadwood at one stage, and got all scraped up. She later did a faceplant into the dirt and wore a mask the rest of the journey. Al had bad luck with her shins, and managed to find all of the fallen logs in the water when we were swimming by running into them. We stopped for lunch a the end of the canyon proper, and paused for a bite to eat before commencing with the climb out of the canyon. The first bit of the climb out was about 1 km long patch of steep as hell ground, so overgrown you really couldn't see anything. Michael told us the start for this climb was over this 5 foot boulder, cause everything else was too crowded. So the girls and I moved over to this boulder and were trying to figure out how to get up it, cause there's no handholds or footholds, and the start is actually from about a foot of water. Al and Martina give half-hearted attempts, and then stand back, intimidated. Not to be undone, I actually manage to get my foot on the top of this boulder. My leg is about on the same level with my neck, now. But there is nothing to grab onto to pull myself over the top, so I lean over and try use my busom as a point of contact for hauling my rear onto this rock. (Sorry, minimally graphic for the uninitiated.) It actually works. Yay for being extremely flexible an having the chest to perform this amazing acrobatic feat! By this point, the girls are laughing ridiculously in the tone of laughter that says 'like hell I'm gonna be able to do that!'. Michael is standing back laughing in general because he lied! After watching me spend 10 minutes doing this, and getting stuck, and making progress an inch at a time, he leads the girls around the bend where they manage to scrabble up a bank under some trees. It was during this episode that I pulled a hamstring. Soreness ensued for several days. I am ok now. Thanks for asking.
Love!
Don't you love it when you are so busy that you don't have time to check your email? Especially when being that busy does not include homework? I just had my first weekend like that. Yay!
Friday night we went to a Black Seeds concert. These guys are a reggae band, which normally I wouldn't be into enough to go to a concert, but Jesse said they were awesome, so 7 of us ended up going all on her word. It was Jesse and myself, Wiebke, Bonnie, Silke, Manuel and Alex. Germany, the States, Korea, Mexico, and Spain all represented in a group of 7. The best part of the evening, though, was trying to understand everyone else's English. For example, Bonnie, from Korea, had difficulty understanding Alex's Mexican-Spanish accent. Lots of fun trying to understand one another. The concert was at 8 at the Metro Theatre in downtown Sydney, and didn't get out til like 2 am. There were 8 guys in the band, and their instruments included things like a trombone, trumpet, sax, and xylophone. Pretty awesome.
That next morning I got up by 6 to go catch a train to Katoomba, in the Blue Mountains, to do the Echo Point to Ruined Castle bushwalk. We arrived about 10.30 at our destination and began a 14 km bushwalk through the valley under the Three Sisters. The views on this hike were some of the most amazing sights I've ever seen. It was stunning. The terrain varied, from rocky outcroppings we had to hop over, to completely encompassing jungle-type ferns with aerial roots we could swing on. Who is we?? Again, we ended up with a group of 7. Matt, the only one from Sydney, and the leader of the bushwalk club on campus. Audrey, from Switzerland, only other girl on the bushwalk, code name: Kookaburra. Alain, the born-in-Germany-of-Welsh-decent-raised-in-the-UK-now-lives-in-Sydney guy, who has circus training and can unicycle and juggle and all that cool stuff. Code name: Mr. Itchy Beard. Andrew, from Colorado(!!!), lives in my apartment complex, code name: Mountain Sheep. Patrick, also from Colorado (!!!), who was really really awesome and has the unfortunate code name of Toilet Guy. Steve, from Pittsburgh, who has amazing taste in clothes and is possessed of a pair of the most blue eyes I've ever seen. And me, from Colorado, good ice-breaker for groups of people who have never met one another before. Code name: mother, due to a misunderstanding during initial conversations on the train. I apparently have 60 kids.
So, that was us. We got on really well, and stopped for lunch atop a spot in the middle of the park called Ruined Castle. Relatively difficult to get to, but once you're at the top...
You can see everything, going every direction. You can see for miles, off to the end of the valley. Pics on fb, again. It was an amazing spot, and one I would like to take certain people to if they ever make it out here to visit...
We all fell asleep on the train ride back, and it was nearly 8 by the time we rolled back into town.
That night was a party at a friend's house just across the street. Rather than a shower and sleep, which I really wanted, I headed off to this party to go say hello and hang out with people and see about a drink. Also, perhaps, because Steve and Patrick were supposed to be stopping by...
Anyway, while I was there with Hayley and Liz and Jaz, I actually drank a beer! The whole thing! Anyone who knows me realizes what a feat this is for me.
Went to sleep relatively sober. The others went downtown to a bar, I think, but I was exhausted and wimped out.
Woke up Sunday morning only to head out again, this time to Lane Cove for a birthday party for one Diesel James. Got to see Annette and Les, and all the James's. AJ found a bike for me, which is super exciting, cause now I can transport myself around Sydney without having to rely solely on the bus transportation system.
Stayed in Lane Cove Sunday night cause I worked for Helen all day Monday, from 8-6. Let's just say I have a newfound respect for people who watch babies all day, every day. I was shattered after a 10 hour shift! Stayed the night again with Les and Annette, and had the most amazing food thing called Fisherman's Pie. Wow.
Anyway, kinda short tale of Alyssa's fun-ness over the last few days, but honestly, my inspiration is kinda lacking tonight. Back to classes today, already have more work. I just wanted to record this stuff before I got too distracted with class again.
Only 4 weeks left in the semester! Woohoo!
Yay for Spring Break!!
Today, Monday, is technically the first day day of my two week mid-semester break. Unfortunately, I do not really get a semester break because I am in two online courses, which means I have to study and go to class and have tests over the next two weeks. This does not, however, deter me from having fun where I can.
Enter one Jessica Kobbe. I met Jessica (Jesse) in my bioethics course. We have the same sounding last name, and that was a great conversation starter. She is from Germany. Recently, we had an assignment due for bioethics, and she was discussing with the professor the possibility of an extension because she was having difficulty with the language in the technical papers. Me, being the kind-hearted soul that I am, stuck around after class and offered to help her with her paper and the articles she had to read for it. We set up to meet the following day, Saturday, at her flat in North Strathfield. Saturday morning found me ventruting forth into the unknown... this was my first train ride in Australia. Got a little lost trying to find the place, but with the help of our trusty mobile phones, we got me there with minimal difficulty. Saturday afternoon we spent working on her paper and bonding. You know how sometimes you meet people and the personalities click? You just bond instantaneously and suddenly find yourself richer in good friends? That is Jesse and me. So besides finishing the content of her essay, we spent a fair amount of the afternoon and evening discussing girlie things, and generally getting to know each other better. Siblings, food, plans, hot boys... you know. Girlie things. It eventually got very late, and Jesse and her flatmate, Shirley, invited me to stay the evening. So I happily threw myself onto the ground and slept with great contentment until about 5 in the morning.
It had come to our attention during the previous evening that we had an opportunity to go to Canberra, the nation's capital. So, at 5 in the morning on Sunday, Jesse and I got ourselves out of bed and began the long drive south. Enter now a new member of our journey, Andy. Andy is a friend of Jesse's that she lived with for a brief period of time. Things did not work out for her to live there, so she moved to a new place with Shirley. Anyway, Andy is driving, Jesse's in the passenger seat, I am in the back. We drive for approximately 4 hours, and arrive in Canberra.
Our first stop in Canberra is at the Floriade. The Floriade is a a festival of flowers, only found in Canberra, and only on for about a month in the spring when the tulips are blooming. It took us several hours to walk around this park, and there were flowers everyewhere. Mostly tulips, but also poppies, iris, and some other pretty, nice smelling, colorful flowers. (Anyone interested, there are pictures on fb.)
After the Floriade, we were hungry, so we drove around until we found Canberra's main shopping center and stopped for a bite to eat (fish and chips!!). We went past the parliment building, but it was not even worthy of a picture. Good to see, but just to be able to say 'I've been there'. Not really very exciting at all. The national museum was kinda crowded, so we skipped that, but we saw a very nice fountain in central park.
Our next main stop was at a place called Black Mountain. The area was designed as a scenic tourist-y spot, so it's not really a proper mountain, but the area affords a nice view of Canberra and the surrounding country. At the top of the 'mountain', there is a tower steeple thing that you can pay to go inside and have even better views, but we decided that was kind of silly and decided to take a hike around the 'mountain' instead. (Again, see associated pictures of Black Mountain hike on fb.) There were lots of trees, lots of lizards, and lots of very pretty parrots. Most of them were red/purple or red/green. And they came in pairs. The parrots down here either mate for the season or mate for life, I'm not sure which, but the point is whenever we saw a single parrot, there was always a second one to be found in the bush.
At the end of the hike we were sweaty and grubby and very tired, so we opted to go home. Andy dropped us off at Jesse's flat around 6, and she and I ate some more and finished her paper, which I just needed to proof read for spelling and those annoying English-isms that I don't know how English-as-a-second-language people ever learn. We finished with that at a reasonable hour, but Shirley and Jesse again invited me to stay the night, so I did. We slept for like 9 hours last night, and it was wonderful.
This was a bit more narrative than I originally intended; mostly I just wanted you guys to know that I am branching out! I have a wonderful new friend, and have visited Canberra. Yay!
So I just watched a movie. It was good, but it made me think.
It used to be that we all watched movies together, piled into someone's apartment. It used to be an afternoon of homework, with a little bit of play time sprinkled through it. Rock-climbing, frisbee, tubing. The movie nights. Then dinner would happen, and back to the grind. That was the schedule. For years, that was the way it was, night after long night. Sometimes, there was less playing (junior year classes...). Sometimes we lost a member for a bit (after school activities or anti-social-ness...).
But we were all always there, you know?
It was us. We were the the Night Crew, the Meyer Crew, the Physics Crew.
The pomegranate juice. The chair races. The light-up frisbees. The all-nighters. The tears. The homework assignments with 18 names on them. The runs to Safeway and King Soopers in the small hours of the night. Charlie and Candy Mountain, The End of the World, Ultimate Showdown, 4 Men 8 Treadmills.
So many memories, wrapped up in few years.
And now we're moving on.
I suppose that was bound to happen, but I rarely thought of it before graduation. With Mines, it's usually one day at a time.
But now we're here. We've graduated (most of us!). We made it through Mines. Even if your GPA wasn't a 3.5, we made it through Mines. That is something in and of itself.
So now what happens? We have the rest of our lives waiting for us, but I'm not sure I'm ready for the rest of my life. I got so used to having you guys there with me, to help me through the long nights and the assignments, and the tests we all thought we failed, the emotional drama that comes with life.
Being halfway around the world kinda puts things into perspective.
Truthfully, I was terrified to move to Australia. Granted, I've moved around a lot in my life; Mines was the longest time I've ever spent in one place, at one school. I've learned how to adapt, and meet new people. But leaving never bothered me so much before I met you guys. There was a big part of me that didn't want to move, that wanted to stay in CO with you guys, find a job, settle down. Travel a bit, just for fun, but stay close to home.
Because home is where you guys are, for me. It's not about where I can find a job, where I find a house. Home is where I have people that I love, and that I know love me back.
So why did I decide to leave? Partly because I've wanted this program since I was in high school. Partly because, come on, it's in Sydney! Partly because I was worried that if I stayed, I would never have the guts to move again. If I was going to move, it needed to be then. When I didn't have a house or a significant other. If I waited for a while, I might be in a relationship or have some responsibility that kept me from moving. Partly, I left to prove to myself I could. And partly, I left for you guys. That big part of me that didn't want to move, that wanted to stay with you guys? If I stayed, someone else would have been in the same position in a few years' time. One of us needed to go. I decided I had the opportunity, so I would be the first one to boot myself out the door.
So it was scary to move down here. It's still scary, and I've been here for almost two months. Don't get me wrong, Australia is pretty much amazing. I'm not in hurry to leave, there's way too much to do.
I guess I just wanted to let you guys know that I love you. Life moves on, and we're all going to go our ways and do our own things. And they'll be great, and we'll meet new people and have a myriad of new experiences. But you guys will always be there. And I'll always be there for you.
A toast! (We're not together, so use your imagination, here... the next time you have a drink, whether together or individually, raise your glasses!)
To the many years behind us, and the many more ahead of us!
So I went to a party recently. It was an 80s party, disco style. Lots of fun, and free drinks from 8-10pm. Lots of scantily clad females, and lots of neon colored gents. I was there from 7.30 until about 11, when I left to come home (I had class the next morning). However, I got lost on the way home cause someone told me to get on the wrong bus, and it took me 2.5 hours to get home. Kind of drastic, but I'll spare you the details. The point of this post is to tell you a couple of funnies.
So, the joke of the year (not day, week, or month, but year):
Person #1: I want to give you an Aussie kiss.
Person #2: What's an Aussie kiss?
Person #1: It's like a French kiss except Down Under!
I laughed so hard I choked myself on my drink.
The second one to record isn't really a joke. We were playing drinking games on the bus on the way to the party, and Liam and Mark starting singing the following song. It's a repeat song, so they would sing a line, and then we would sing the line. I can't remember all the words, but a couple of the refrains went something like this:
I wish that all the ladies
were buns on a shelf.
And if I were a baker
I'd fill them with my cream.
I wish that all the ladies
were waves in the ocean.
And if I were a surfer
I'd ride them with my motion.
I wish that all the ladies
were bricks in a wall.
And if I were a brickie
I'd lay them by the mile.
It carried on like this for a while, but it got progressively harder to understand what everyone was screaming. A grand night, overall! Except the getting lost...
I am staying at Les and Annette's gorgeous two story house. It's all dark wood, and glass... very classy. Mum and Erin arrive from the States, and go upstairs with Les and Annette, and they give Erin a day long roller skating lesson. While they are all upstairs, they have me house-sit their puppy, Sassy. I go upstairs to my bedroom to go to the bathroom, but when I enter my room, Mike and Sean are there, going through my jewelry. They keep picking up necklaces and holding them against my throat. You guys were apparently looking for the 'best' necklace. I go back downstairs and sit on the front porch with Sassy. A while later, I hear the upstairs door open, and Les, Annette, Mum, and Erin all come back downstairs and everyone is excited because now Erin knows how to roller skate. Les starts to make dinner, and Mum goes to help him.
Fast forward to next scene. The house is the same, but now it is owned by Ron's mum, Margaret. There is no sign of Mum, Annette, Les, or Erin, but Margaret still has Sassy. I have just arrived at the house from overseas, but for whatever reason, I'm not allowed to stay in the house. There is a tool shed like thing out back, and that is where I put my bags and papers and stuff. I house sit again, while Margaret is upstairs. She is gone for the whole day, and then it becomes night. I go out to the shed to get some homework and bring it back to the house, and while I'm gone, I leave the back door open. I'm only gone a couple minutes, but while I'm gone, 4 feral cats get into the house. Sassy starts to bark ridiculously, and that triggers the return of Margaret. She comes down the stairs, and Sassy is still barking, and we scare the cats back outside. She starts screaming at me, cause apparently, the cats come in with a really stinky armadillo/skunk like thing, and now it's in the house, and if it sprays the house will be ruined. Enter a man I assume is Margaret's husband. He goes to the kitchen and finds the creature in the cupboard, and turns to Margaret and I, standing in the doorway. He tells us that yes, there is a creature, yes, it already sprayed, and it's also the worst smelling kind. Margaret is livid. She screams at me, asks me how I'm going to fix this, how much money do I have, how am I going to make reparation? She tells me to get out. Margaret's husband gets me a bag, and tells me to pack whatever can fit in the bag. I go to my shed, and pack my homework, some blankets, and some food. The husband comes outside and hands me a passport and a map. I put them on the top of the bag. I leave the house via a field out back, and start walking along the side of the shed. A little 12 year old girl, who looks kind of like Natalie Portman, comes running out of the bush wearing a red dress. She looks at me, then runs away again. I follow her.
Hand over hand. Watching your feet. Tight shirt. Numb toes. White flakes floating all around, settling in your hair, in your eyelashes, down your throat. Going higher, getting farther away from everything. A moment's irritation, aimed at the rope between you and the wall. Sweaty palms, slick hands. Your breath starts to hitch. Your muscles start to tighten and cramp at inopportune moments. Your foot slips and your rhythm goes. Catch yourself. Your body screams. Hair in your face. Look up. How far? A moment, to regain desire, edge, drive.
Go.
Wow. Two days into classes, and I'm ready for a weekend. In a nutshell:
9 am - Brain, Behaviour, and Evolution
9 am - General Relativity and Cosmology
9 am - Other Worlds
10 am - Barbarian Europe and Byzantium
10-12 - Ecology and Evolution
11 am - Microbiology
11 am - Ciceronian Rome
1 pm - Archaeology and Society
1 pm - Other Worlds Practical
2-6 - Molecular Biotechnology
2 pm - Advanced Astronomy
4-6 - Arabic II
6-9 - Ancient Egyptian Religion
This was my schedule for today (Tuesday). Monday was just as bad, but subjects were things like Conservation and Evolutionary Genetics, International Trade and Finance, and Middle Egyptian Hieroglyphics.
Obviously, since I don't have a time-turner, I had to pick which ones to go to. This means that all the ones I couldn't go to I was trying to find the prof. for, to talk to him/her and pick up a syllabus.
Won't give you a blow-by-blow, but some things to note throughout the day:
--Physics profs are crazy whether you're at Mines or in Australia. My general rel prof told us how some guy got drunk, his friends threw him into a train carriage, he woke up the next morning and felt like playing a game of pool.
--The prof for con and evo genetics can read lips. I was talking to a girl asking her when the class technically started, and the prof came over from the other side of the room and answered me. He's a goofball, but I like him.
--The Hieroglyphs prof vaguely resembles a door post in speech and mannerisms. Except he's German. You guys remember Uwe Greife's accent? German, and then he tried to learn American English? Imagine someone with the same German accent, but now with an Australian accent. OMG.
--I got to hold up a rubber ball representing Jupiter for while. This poor rubber ball seriously needs to be retired. It has done its job.
--In micro, there were about 10 of us sitting in a room until 20 after the hour (class was supposed to start on the hour). I finally asked the room at large if anyone had a computer and we could look up the prof's number and call her to see if she'd forgotten about us. One of the girls in the class mentioned she had heard about another section of micro in another building. So all 10 of us unanimously decided to up and herd ourselves across campus. We found our class, but missed the majority of the lecture. Apparently, we were in the room we're going to be in the rest of the semester. But the first day we were meeting in this other room. No one knows why the 10 of us missed this information. Shrug.
--I wear my Mines sweatshirt in some odd defiance/unwillingness to conform thing on my new campus. People look at me and wonder...
--I have finally met two people that are potential hang-out buddies. One of them, Emily, is in my micro class, and was one of the lost 10. She also does the outdoors-y thing, which is exciting. The other, also Emily, I met because I was carrying too much stuff around and I threw paper on her.
I'm going to stop typing now, because I hurt and want to go to bed.
Oh! Mum and Erin just arrived in Oregon. They got there safely, and are in the new house tonight. Things are busy. Sadly, I cannot perform my daughterly duty and call to check in on her. Yet another drawback to being halfway around the world... But I thought I would let people know she got there, and life is moving on.
Love to everyone.
And fond thoughts.
And quirked eyebrows.
Me
Yay! I've spent three of the last five days on campus, running around in the cold rain, but now I have classes to attend! I've successfully signed up for my semester classes, applied for my overseas health insurance card, moved into my apartment, met my flatmates, and received my campus ID. And in between all this running around, Annette and Les took me touring.
The best place to begin, I suppose, is at the beginning.
Last Friday: First day of orientation! Sat in a lecture hall for over three hours, listening to a hoard of different people talk about why their campus group or organization is worth joining. GLP, volunteering, exchange programs, how to enrol in my classes, who my advisor is, why MQ is great, being an international student, the food on campus, etc. Lots of paperwork, lots of compulsory clapping. Afterwards, free barbecue!
Saturday: Trinity's 4th birthday party. Almost 50 people in attendance. 15 kids ranging in ages from 9 months to 9 years. Lots of prearranged games (go fish, treasure hunt, face painting, etc.), lots of food, lots of noise. I was elected cook for the day and got to avoid most of the people I don't know by staying in the kitchen and preparing all the food for the first hour or so of the party. Was a mermaid party. Lots of blue, lots of cardboard fish.
Sunday: Relaxing after the party of the century. Eating lots of leftover food from the party. :) Annette and Les tok me to Bondi Beach, right on the coast, looking out over the Pacific. We ate breakfast, meandered across the beach, saw some shops. Then we went to the South Head cliffs, saw Rose Cove, and Castle Hills. Lots of touring and pictures. And we went to a koala park!! We got to see all the creatures native to Australia, including, but not limited to, wombats, dingoes, dingo puppies(!), koalas, wallabies, kangaroos, wallaroos, wedge-tailed eagles, all sorts of parrots and echidnas. And penguins! I got to cuddle a koala and a whole mess of grey kangaroos. The koala was smaller than I expected, and smelled really good, actually. Apparently they smell good because of all the eucalyptus they eat. And the kangaroos were really very soft. I always thought their fur was coarse, but it's quite fine. And the tail is really one huge muscle. I know they use them for balance and stuff, but it was kind of amazing. Pictures will follow in a few days! Check facebook!
Sunday night was my first night of orientation for my apartment complex. Sat in a big room with 100 more people I don't know and listened to more people talk about more cool groups. But at least they were advertising fun activities to participate in. Apparently, throughout the semester, there will be trips and stuff, such as a cruise on Sydney harbour, a weekend in the outback, a toga party (?), an organized drinking game night (?), and something called Foreplay and Conception Day (???). Get ready for some fun activities!
Monday (today, 28th): Stayed in my apartment for the first night ever last night. Was very cold, cause the apartments don't have heating. Four blankets and a very small Alyssa ball later, I was asleep. Only to be rudely awakened in the small hours of the night by my flatmates, who apparently spent their first night in Sydney out drinking and partying. Two girls from Michigan, a guy from Texas, and some other guy. Woke up this morning, went to the fridge to see how my small food stash was, and, lo-and-behold, my small food stash had become even smaller. *Clears throat* Haven't tackled this one yet. That's ok.
Anyway, got up this morning, ate some stuff, went to academic advising at 9. Had to listen to another guy for about an hour, while he explained to us how we are supposed to enrol in classes. Then we were let loose to interpret and create our class schedules for ourselves. I was there until about 1:30. All the classes I wanted to take overlapped, and no one would sign me off on overlapping classes. So I wandered around campus until someone helped me figure out my schedule. Apparently, a couple of the classes I want are offered externally (which is like an online course in the States). So I've signed up for some online courses, and the rest are in my
schedule. But I have a schedule! Thus far, I have Immunobiology, Animal Function and Physiology, Microbiology, Bioethics and Biotechnology. I'm planning on incorporating Evolutionary Ecology and Arabic in there as well.
So, ya. Lots of listening to people, lots of planning, lots of animals.
And no you guys. Miss the lot of you.
Love.
"Come on, a single person in a queen size bed, and no sex? You don't need to wash the sheets." Annette OM, in response to a laundry query.
Greetings from down under!
I am safely ensconced in Sydney, currently residing in Annette and Les Mulder's home. I have a duna, and my own BIW. The morning birds look like jewels hanging from the trees, and there are other birds that look and sound like velociraptors. Slept for about 10 hours last night, and am already yawning. It is about 2:30 on Saturday afternoon for me, which means it's about 10:30 on Friday night for you guys.
We went to a breakfast place this morning, a chocolate cafe called Fink. The most amazing hot chocolate you've ever had, and you can get chocolate in any form for any of the entrees.
We've taken walks amongst the eucalyptus, driven across the Sydney harbour bridge, seen the opera house, and then I was terrorized by the guys with tales of the deadly funnel web spiders that will move into my bed during the wet season. They have a standard poodle named Sassy who seems quite taken with me. I have arrived in Sydney a week before an event called World Youth Day, for which the Pope and 140,000 Roman Catholic church people from all over the world will come invade Sydney. It is winter here, which means it gets to maybe 25 F during the night, but still warms up to about 65 during the day. I've met the neighboring family, Fiona and Anthony, and their kids, 4 year old Trinity and 9 month old Deisel. They are very cute, and Fiona took me to a shopping center to try and keep me awake. I had to stop by an electronics shop and get a new adapter. I brought one with me I thought would fit, but it didn't. Sad. Les was very helpful and took me to a place that he knew had adapters. Only AUD$8! The money here is slightly smaller bills, but they're made of plastic, and have clear bits! And there are $2 coins, which is awesome. Les made Indian food for dinner, and it was a meal to rival Robert's cooking skills. There were 13 people...
We are now listening to some of Les' music, and the song that just played was called "You Remind Me Of My Favourite Underwear".
I miss you guys already, but I know none of you were expecting anything different. Especially from me, of all people. Been talking to some people, and some have found tickets to AU from US for about $1300. I will send you the link later. And I've been looking at tickets to NZ, and I can get to and from NZ for about $300! W00T!
Lots of love from halfway around the world (Holy crap!!!)
I was staying with Ed and Meridee Cecil in the townhouse, but for whatever reason, they couldn't communicate with each other or be on the same floor. And they were both dying. Meridee was supposed to be having a stroke that killed her, but it was planned, and Ed has some debilitating disease that was supposed to kill him in the next couple of days. I was in the kitchen with Meridee, and moved into the next room to set the table, but I heard Meridee fall, and the silverware she was carrying scattered all over the floor. I went and put her head in my lap, cause I was sad, and cried on her, but she was already dead. So I moved downstairs to tell Ed, and he was looking up at me from the botom of the staircase. He asked me "is she gone?", and I nodded. It was obvious he was sick. He didn't look well. So he went to his computer and started playing a bomber/spaceship game. When he started playing, Mike, Ron, and Andie showed up, and all of us had our own computers set up and we were playing this game with Ed. To beat some level, we all had to simutaneously put ID cards into our machines, but we lost, because Ed had disappeared. I went to the garage to find Ed, and he had tears running down his face, and was putting on a bomber jacket type thing. He handed me his cell phone, got in his car, and drove away.
Scene change to Michael Young's office in some office building. Somwhow the cell phone Ed had given me was a key to Michael's office, and I had broken into the office with Ron. Michael had a HUGE stash of daily planner insert pages. The guts to peripheral brains. And Ron and I were there looking at all this, and deciding what would help, when Michael showed up. He was in a suit and told me I could take what I needed, cause he was going to a play and wouldn't need tham anymore.
Scene change to me amongst lots of people I don't know, filing slowly into theatre seating. Some play is about to start, and I am going because I think it will help take my mind off the Cecils. I am still sad that they are both effectively gone, but I am not ready to tell anyone what has happened. The seating is like that in a gym, with bench rows, rather than individual seats. I sit on a bench, and no one sits around me. Then Mike shows up, and he's wearing an outrageous hat with 'Raevsky' embroidered acrodd the top. And he has his bike, but somehow has put it in his backpack, which he has with him. While putting away his bike, he pulls out a muffin tin, the kind that has 12 little miffin holes, but only one hole has a muffin in it, and the container is made out of plastic. He sees me, walks over to sit by me, but places the plastic muffin tin with its single muffin between the two of us on the bench. He smiles at me, but neither of us say anything. Then the play starts. About 3/4 of the way through the play, they start talking about a blueberry muffin, and it becomes apparent that Mike's muffin was brought as a prop. There is some girl sitting directly in front of Mike, and she turns around and gets Mike's muffin out of its container. She turns back around to face front, and in so doing, moves the muffin (which is blueberry) over her head and in front of Mike's nose. Whithout letting the opportunity pass, Mike leans forward, and tries to bite the muffin as it goes by. He misses, and the muffin continues to crowd surf, passed from hand to hand, all over the theatre. Mike uses his finger to eat the crumbs left in the muffin tin. The muffin makes it to the stage, and the play ends. The audience rises, and we begin to file out of the theatre. Mike and I leave together, but we still haven't spoken a word to each other; I am still sad over Ed and Meridee, and Mike doesn't want to intrude by asking me what is wrong. The hall to get out of the theatre becomes the main hall in Alderson, on the CSM campus. I have found a quarter on the ground, and stop to pick it up. When I stand again, Mike is exiting through the side door of Alderson. I am sad he did not say goodbye or anything, but then it I realize that is the only way out of the building with a bicycle. I continue walking down the hall by myself, but find three more quarters, and then a quarter and a nickel, then a smattering of pennies strewn about the ground near to the front door. I look through the glass to outside, and it's dark, but I can see Mike, Ron, Andie, Sean, and Eric playing with a red light up frisbee. I go though the door, about to tell everyone what happened to Ed and Meridee, and everything dissolves.
My mum got the job!
Mum will be teaching for Pacific University in Hilsboro, Oregon, starting this fall. She'll be teaching Neurological Challenges for OTs, part of Occupational Analysis, and part of the Scholarship and Evidence Based Practice. And she got tenure track!!
No one especially wants to move to Oregon, because Colorado is home, but this is where she got the offer. Hilsboro has worse traffic than Denver and gas is over $4 a gallon. But Robert went to school here, so it's kind of a homecoming for him.
Yay for mum having a job!
CPC ~
Come back often and take hold of me,
sensation that I love, come back and take hold of me --
when the body's memory revives
and an old longing again passes through the blood,
when lips and skin remember
and hands feel as though they touch again.
Come back often, take hold of me in the night
when lips and skin remember...
The buzz has become a constant. The hum of the air conditioner, the whir of the refrigerator. The high pitched whine of the fluorescent lights.
She sits on the floor, back against the hardwood cupboards, legs splayed out in front of her. Her palms are sticky with summer sweat; wrap them around a container of ice cream. The fibers of the carpet tickle her calves. Almost a rug burn, but it doesn’t hurt yet.
She looks up as her life passes her by.
There are three of me.
As time goes to infinity, two collide.
But what of the third?
Left to wander the spiderwork of shadows alone?
