Goodness gracious, time sure does fly! We’re already two weeks into May and I haven’t felt a thing! I have done a fair bit of stuff over the last few weeks and I apologize for not writing about it. I have been unbelievably busy. I had 2 midterms and 2 projects dues in the last few weeks and another research report due today. It has been quite the academic roller coaster if I don’t say so myself.
There have been some amazing things going on here. I mean, amazing in comparison to 8 hours of Friends DVD’s on weekends. I have been working a lot. It’s been really nice. It gives me something to do in the evenings. I am getting pretty good at being a hostess and waitress. Duncan, my manager, is still edgy when he’s stressed, but he’s stressed a lot less lately, so I don’t get told to fuck off as often while we’re working together. Plus, I’ll put up with anyone’s bull shit if I get money and free pizza every night. Thank god for that. Don’t know what I’d be eating if it weren’t for the pizza!
I went to the Brisbane Seafood and Wine Festival with Brittney and Karlie a week ago. It was a lot of fun. It is basically a day long street party where there is great fresh seafood being served and so much alcohol you could drown in it. Needless to say, it was a very fun day. I haven’t really been into the city of Brisbane, so it was really cool to wander the street and check out all the clubs and bars down there. I’m pretty sure we had a drink in every bar on the street and then some. We listened to this awesome band at the end of the day called Dukes of Windsor. If you like Muse and the Killers, check them out. Those are the only bands I can think of to compare them to. They put on a great live show. But after 9 hours of ridiculousness, I was pretty keen on coming home and going to bed.
The Tuesday after that, I went to band practice with a friend of mine from my Lifespan Development class. He said they were in need of a singer for back up or other and I was more than happy to check out the situation. We went to his friend’s house and just jammed for a few hours. They are AMAZING guitar players. I was blown away. I haven’t heard music like that since I left Jordan’s living room. It was a bummer we couldn’t get too loud because his friends adorable 2 year old daughter was sleeping. While I wasn’t singing, I was talking to his friend’s wife about being pregnant. She’s 7 ½ months and pretty much bursting at the seams. It’s funny, I mentioned to her that I have learned all about pregnancy and child development in the womb and stuff, but I have never really seen a pregnant woman’s stomach up close. It was mesmerizing. You could literally see the baby squirming around. He was kicking like a champ she said. She let me feel and I swear to god he was aiming to burst out like Alien. I can’t even comprehend what it is going to feel like to have something like that growing inside of you. It was really fun to talk about, mainly because it wasn’t me who was pregnant!
This past Thursday was a great night. We went to the Study Abroad get together at Melba’s, a really cool bar in Surfers Paradise. We got all dressed up and took a cab down there around 8:30. We got free drinks for being Study Abroad students and got in for free as well. It was fantastic. I didn’t drink too much, but I did have my first taste of absinthe. It’s pretty delicious actually! Libby, our friend from our apartment complex, was absolutely pissed and was dancing on stage for her boy friend. It was unbelievably hilarious. This girl is the cutest little thing. She’s 4’11” with heels and a total goofball, so you can imagine her up on stage getting all risqué. It was like watching the end scene of Little Miss Sunshine. Priceless.
Austin and Brandon were pretty intent on having me take pictures of them long boarding, so we went out one evening and did a really relaxed little shoot. It was nice just sitting in the middle of the road with my camera waiting for them to cruise by so I could take a picture or two. It’s the first time I used my camera for something inherently artistic since I went to the rock pools. I was happy to use their shenanigans as an outlet for my inner creativity. I even tried long boarding at one point, but I almost ate shit and decided not to try it again until I have someone to hold on to (*cough-cough, JORDAN!*).
Last Saturday I went with Karlie and Brittney to watch Michael play footy. Footy is like rugby only a little different and everyone just calls it AFL. It stands for Australian Football League. Look it up sometime, it’s a pretty brutal game. Anyway, we went to the field and talked crap to the opposing team and took pictures and had a really great day all around. Kar and Brit somehow had the strength to go out afterwards, but I was in bed pretty quick. I love waking up and feeling great and walking into Brit’s room at 11:30am to find she has JUST woken up completely hung over. Reminds me a little bit of home!
This week has been pretty calm. I finished a research report 2 days early. I am really happy about that. I don’t have any school work due now for 2 weeks. I don’t have plans for this weekend either though, so I am not sure what I’m going to do. I don’t have any money so that makes it hard. I’ve taken to renting movies on dollar rental day and partitioning people to watch them with me. I must have watched 100 movies so far this semester. I’m on a roll! Oh, if you haven’t seen the movie Hurley Burly, GO RENT IT. It’s this fantastic Sean Penn / Kevin Spacey film that centers on his addiction to coke and weed and preoccupation with the inconsistencies of life when he’s high. It’s a really fantastic movie. Real, raw, and extremely entertaining.
I’ve been looking forward to seeing Jordan so much lately. It is the one thought that has completely enveloped and preoccupied my mind. 19 days from now he’ll be getting off a plane and giving me the best hug ever. I absolutely can’t wait. I really miss home at this point. I’ve settled in, I love it here, and I appreciate everything I have done and seen so far, but there is a very large part of me that is just so ready to come back and have everything back to normal. I want to live near my best friends and volunteer at CAVE and work at Zumiez and just have everything back the way it was. I can’t wait to share all my amazing stories with everyone when I get home.
Because really, there's no place like home...
