The Bluemont Files

The vending machine was givin' me sass so I roughed it up and stole it's pocket change. And an extra bag of M&Ms.

Let them eat cake!

Reason's why life is grand:
1. When I first moved in for the year, our frige was filled with wedding cake and beer.
2. The First week of school I saw the largest preying mantis ever. It was honestly almost as long as my shoe. Pretty Cool.



Areas that could use a little improvement:
1. The lawn of the house on the corner, which I have to walk by every day smells like cat feces. I mean it is bad. I didn't notice it till they mowed, but wowee. And since it's a corner lot, I've gotta deal with two whole sections of sidewalk that get progressively stinkier.



It's been several weeks since I first wrote this. The cake is gone, the beer is left and the neighbors haven't been mowing so things are still hanging basically in balance. Now if I could just find that preying mantis.

Here we go again...

Here are some notes on the first few days of school:

On Monday, my fears regarding Ad Sales were unfortunately confirmed. I'm in the class with a bunch of other people who all already know each other and have their "groups". (most of the people I knew who would possibly form my "group" have graduated) Great. I spent my one hour break sitting at the union, chatting it up, enjoying the people watching. Then I sauntered on over to Philosophy. Ok, so I didn't think it would be that bad. I mean sometimes it's kind of fun to go round and round in circles and never reach a difinitive answer. And the professor's accent, though slight, was something interesting for my ears. However, to jump up to the present, I really am not going to enjoy this class. It's like he's taking the dullest approach possible. Whew. Could be rough. Work was pretty dull, but I had no complaint there because I already had an assignment I managed to do a little work on. Gold Star for me.

On Tueday I left the house feelin' pretty frat-tastic. I was wearing the standard fraternity dress-code conforming attire: khaki cargo pants, flipflops, and a t-shirt advertising a witty sounding business (Dottie's Den - Lake of the Ozarks). Once I realized this, I felt pretty uncomfortable - as if I might somehow be mistaken for the wrong demographic. (male... greek.... alcoholic...) Anyway, I got to my first class and wham-o, the marketing dept. had pulled a doozy on me. I signed up for the 8:05 Business Strategy class, not because I like to get a nice intellectual jump start on my day, no I signed up for that section because I heard the professor was good. But oh, no, there was no James Bloodgood at the front of the room. There was a lady. And though I'm sure she'll be wonderful, this just really irks me. If they don't know who's going to be teaching the class, don't even list a name on there, so you don't enroll under false pretenses! Sheesh. I was still excited to take Sports Marketing, until I walked into the room and saw that it was completely packed. I had this professor before and I really enjoyed the class, however, there were only about 8 people in there so the dynamics were significantly different. I never realized just how differently I behave in these two situations. In a large class I will not speak up unless required. It just doesn't happen. It shouldn't matter, but apparently in larger groups I revert back to the 4 year old who stared at her shoes. Oh well, I happen to have very nice shoes that deserve to have a little optical attention every now and then.

Today was basically a repeat of Monday although today I did go for a rather disheartening run. Oh the hill is long and steep, but somewhere, up among the clouds, I think I can see the shadow of my former glory. And if I squint real hard I can see I'm wearing my cool green pants (Aubrie, their days in your closet are numbered, however do not fear, it is a very large number).

And now I'm at work for the next 1.5 hours. The year, is off to a start. What sort of start? The jury's still out on that.

Busy, Very Busy!

Since I've gotten home from Australia, I've had my roomate's wedding to look forward to and get ready for (I was in charge of the slideshow). And now it's all over. Despite a few minor hang-ups everything went wonderfully. The bride was beautiful, the groom was handsome, and one of the mothers wore her dress backwards all day. The flower girl broke her ankle at the rehearsal dinner but still carried out her duties like a champ. Just as their marriage is the beginning of something wonderful, it's also the end of something that was pretty darn good too. It's just a little sad to be in our apartment and know that Meredith isn't going to be living with me anymore. One more reminder that time keeps a steady pace and never turns around. Lives diverge never to meet up again in the same way - which for the most part is a good thing. Who really wants to go back to 7th grade? Honestly.

Between Thursday and today, I've been sleeping the way we've been getting rain - too little, too late. It's terribly annoying to go to sleep at 1:36 am only to wake up at 6:18 am and not be able to fall back asleep. The next night was basically a repeat of the first. I woke up looking like an extra from the set of FraggleRock which kind of appealed to me so I left it. So on Saturday I tried to take a nap but strangely couldn't sleep (this NEVER happens!). So I swept my room and went to Walmart instead. The two departments I visited were Electronics and Automotive. And I'll be honest, with my fragglerock hair, I pretty much owned the aisles. The great bias-cut skirt and beaded sandals I was wearing may have had something to do with it too. But 69 bobby pins later - my hair a post-fraggle rock disaster, my skirt in the dirty laundry, I'm just exhausted. Somewhere in the middle of all the craziness of the wedding and not sleeping and topping off my motor oil in the Walmart parking lot, I realized that for the first time in my life I felt like a bona-fide grown-up rather than a slightly heavier, more educated version of my 17 year old self.

It's great, but I'm exhausted.

Dust to Dust

It's hot in Kansas. The wind has been blowing like 47,000 hairdryers all turned on high and pointing in our direction. Everywhere I look, plants are in the process of dying. I watered the garden last night and the wind blew a fine mist back in my face. It smelled like rain and fresh tomatoes; a cruel dream that ended when I turned off the hydrant. The ground crunches under my old tennis shoes and dust collects around my ankles. I'm tempted to shoot firecrackers into the sky to try and shake down a little rain, like I've heard they did in the old days. Theoretically it should work based on chemistry and whatnot, but you'd have to ask my dad about that. I'd do a raindance if I thought it would do any good. But I'm stuck waiting for rain. It's a long line that stretches out far behind me. Countless generations of farmers and families who have stood, sometimes leaned back searching the sky, other times hunched over shielding their eyes, all of them with dusty ankles, waiting for rain.

Sizing 'em up

I went to a little league game tonight. There was a nice breeze and it was cool enough so that it actually felt good to be outside. We were watching the semi-finals of the peewee tournament. When I was little, the peewee's always seemed so grown-up and huge. Now, they are just little bobble head dolls standing bravely at the plate with an oversized head and scuffed hand-me-down cleats. Not so intimidating these days, but then I don't play tee-ball anymore either.

Wrapping Up

So the final days of our trip found us out at the Yulara Resort near Uluru and Kata Tjuta. It was nice during the day but got down to freezing at night which was not to our liking but hey, I guess that's what you get when you go to the desert in winter. We watched sunrise and sunset at Uluru and did a walk around Kata Tjuta. It's sort of misleading because it always kind of seems like these are the only rocks out in the middle of nothing, when actually if you look off into the distance you can see other rock groupings, it's just that they're not as easy to get to and don't have all the tourist hype. That said, it is still a very vast and empty place. You have to really respect the people who survived out there without all the modern conveniences. We didn't actually climb the rock because the owners of it didn't want us to. I was still surprised by how many people did climb it. There were signs all over stating that Uluru is a sacred site and to please respect Aboriginal culture and refrain from climbing the rock, but apparently no one really cared about how rude they really were being. Oh well I guess that's the way it goes.

After long flights we finally got home in the wee hours of Friday the 14th. I think I'm finally back in the right time zone and today was about 15 degrees cooler than it has been recently. It's good to be home.

Cairns

Cairns in a Nutshell thus far:

Adriane got a nosebleed in her facemask and kicked the reef.
Kristi kept breathing.
We held a stumpy three-legged crocodile,
Sailed the boat,
Fell in love with the crew,
Rocked some pretty wicked braids for a day,
Almost got robbed,
Caught a peeping tom,
Ate ice cream every night,
Watched Goldfish races,

And Kristi ate a dread.

Ciao Bella

Well Sydney has been interesting so far. We're staying in Kings Cross which isn't in the nicest part of town and the showers really really suck but we've been making it. Imagine showering under the equivalent of the kitchen sink sprayer and you basically have to be touching the wall in order to be under it... I can fit about one shoulder under it at a time. It's really pretty amazing. We've been walking all over the place and in our first day encountered all manner of unusual species. Most of the two legged variety.

We started out the day with a big walk through the Botanic Gardens which ended with a great view of the Opera House and Sydney Harbour Bridge. We followed that around and then decided to get tickets to see Romeo and Juliet that night at the Opera House ("well since we're here we may as well see something..."). We then wandered some more and saw a couple guys playing the bagpipes under a statue of Queen Victoria. A little further down the street we saw two preppy little boys picking a fight with 2 goth girls and a whole big group of both sides' friends standing around trash talking each other. The highlight of the exchange was when one unfortunate looking fellow from the gothic side shouted, (and I quote)

"I'd like to see you take as many bullets as 50 cent!"

What? We literally hid behind a sign laughing.

We walked on. Ended up by the Anzac memorial so we spent some time in there. We noticed that all the counter-culture kids (dyed hair and piercings, usually aged 11 asking us for cigarettes...)hang out around the stairs of major buildings and attractions. They had put a sign up around the Anzac memorial though that said no one could sit on the stairs so they had to be content to lurk around the edges of the reflecting pool instead.

We went back to our hostel and a crazy lady in green was talking to herself and moving about as if possessed. Slightly scary but we sort of wondered if maybe we were on Candid Camera.

We headed off to the Opera house and we were walking in a kind of dark area and this guy came up and said "?" (we didn't know what he said at first because, it turned out it was a different language. Italian to be exact) We kind of kept walking but stopped and said "What?" At which point he repeated it and it turned out to be "Ciao Bella." This then sparked a 30 minute long conversation that covered everything from the length of our legs and their attractiveness to sharks (they wouldn't bother us), what we should see and do in Sydney and Cairns, "What, only staying for 3 weeks?! You should stay for 3 months at least!", our long legs ("They're covered with jeans right now but I can just use my imagination."), flying foxes and probably 100 other things in between all of that. We also saw a bunch of bushy-tailed opossum, which are nicer to look at than our little rat-tailed fellas at home.

We then continued on to the show which was great except for the fact that I hate Romeo and Juliet. However during one of Murcutio's monologues he did throw in a little Chewbaca so all in all I think it was worth it. We made it back to our hostel and after another lovely shower, we decided against joining the four "ladies" on the corner and called it a night.

Today we started off the day heading in the direction of the bridge. We ended up underneath it so we had to backtrack a ways so we could actually get up on it. We did a quick walk across and ended up on the north side. We ate our PB&Js and took a nap on a concrete ledge. Oh it was amazing. We then decided, since I (Adriane) had picked the Luna Park nose in Melbourne, we should probably do the one in Sydney too. (Those pictures will be coming later, so try and be patient, cause I know it's hard to wait for gems like that)

(Sidenote: right now we are in a weird little internet place where there's way too many people wasting their lives away playing internet games, and some Asian in the back corner just said, "Oh my gah, Made in China!" This really is too much)

We took a ferry to Darling Habour went through Paddy's market (wow if you need a wig this is the place to go) and then went to a free didgeridoo performance at a cultural center. It was really really amazing. Probably one of the coolest things we've seen so far (apart from the street fight that is...). Seriously though, it was really cool and we learned alot actually. Turns out the little didgeridoos that you can get for $35 and manage to take back home in your suitcase don't actually work because they're way too short to be able to create enough vibration to make noise. So I won't waste money on that I guess. We had some food and now that brings us up to the present time. Creepy little internet basement. ("Paragon of ridiculous power" is what the kid that just walked by said... wonder what game he's been playing) Anyway we gotta go before we get sucked into the madness. More "members" keep strolling in and I feel like we're in someone's seat.

On that note, we'll make our merry way home.

Milky white goodness

Well folks, after my flight from KC to Denver was delayed enough for me to miss my flight from Denver to LA, I was able to fly standby on a flight that got me to LA minutes before my plane left for Melbourne. Luckily there was room on another flight that left later that night and I was able to board that plane at no additional cost and I actually arrived in Melbourne 30 minutes before my original flight did. I thought, "Wow, after all that worrying things turned out alright." As I was waiting for my luggage and everyone from my flight started to leave, I realized that although I had made it safely and on time my luggage had not. I had to talk to someone and they informed me that when the bags arrived, they would call me and deliver them. I arrived here on Saturday morning and they delivered my bags this afternoon (Monday). You may be wondering if I wore the same outfit the past two days and the answer to that is kind of. For the first day I wore the clothes I had on for the 30 hours of travelling. Then I changed to some sweats and a shirt of Ad's. I did not however wear any of Ad's underwear, so I will leave that to your imagination.

Back to the luggage that arrived just hours ago. Adriane got a call from the cab and we were both excited to see that all of my things had arrived intact....or so it seemed. When we got them back to the room and opened them, I noticed the box of granola bars was opened but figured customs just had to look in there. Then I began to count them. Out of 24 bars, 9 of them made it. I could see if someone wanted a few bars, but 15?! They didn't even leave me half of them. Adriane gave them the benifit of the doubt and said, "Well maybe as they were opening the box, the bars just popped out and flew everywhere so they didn't pick them all up." However, as I looked at them I noticed there were exactly 3 of each kind left from the variety pack. So that little bit of evidence threw Ad's theory right out the window. Then I opened the side pocket and saw that the milky white goodness of my conditioner was spread all over everything. After I got it all cleaned up and thought back on all the trouble this trip has been so far, I thought to myself, "Heck, at least I'm in Australia."

True Class

Nothing says "Classy Lady" like doing a fake nose pick on the entrance to Luna Park...

Something tells me that's not what Grandpa had in mind when he said, "Keep making us proud." But I thought Curt would approve so I went for it anyway!

Not in Kansas Anymore

Here are the top 5 reasons I know I'm not in Kansas anymore

1. An overweight 50 year old man wearing a zebra patterned speedo taking trash out at 10:30 am wearing pink latex gloves. Now that's how I say welcome to Australia

2. Listen to a guy from Zimbabwe mimic the Australian accent. Thank you Tamu.

3. Way too many people who look to Billy Idol for fashion inspiration when getting dressed in the morning

4. A Snickers from a vending machine is gonna set you back $2

5.

Stick a fork in me

Well I finished up my exams today. I thought it would be a great feeling of elation but instead I just feel tired (could have something to do with me staying up till 5 am studying after watching the Brazil/Australia soccer game from 2:00-4:00am) and my room is a mess and I really need a shower. Ah, yes, I'm living the dream. The test went ok, I probably could have done better but I had pretty solid answers for the three questions so as long as I pass, I'm going to be satisfied. Now I just need to solve the problem of how to organize the next couple of days. There are a certain number of things I need to accomplish, but since the days are long and I have nothing to fill them, I probably won't get them done. It's my own special way of sabotaging my life.

And here's to the Big Fella

I think it's safe to say, my Dad is an original. In Aussie lingo - a top bloke, who never fails to be buffled and befaddled by my ability to be bawling my eyes out but still squeeze in a few laughs at the same time. He is a culinary pioneer, never knowing exactly what he uses or how things will turn out, and we've been lucky so far except for the unfortunate green eggs and ham breakfast incident of 1996. Let's not repeat that one. Stick to biscuits and gravy and we'll be just grand. That said, I'm eager to get home and see the new science room he's been talking about. Love ya, Dad.

Kicking into High Gear in Order to Better Wind Down

There is definitely a feeling about campus, especially among the international students that we are reaching the end of this particular road. While it may not yet be in sight, the road signs all definitely point in that direction with increasingly smaller kms before we get there. (just realized that's a bit of an oxymoron - increasingly smaller - nice work Adriane)
The past couple of weeks have been full of events that feel very much like end of the semester, goodbye it's been fun, never see you all again events. It's been fun and crazy, but in the morning you remember that people will soon be leaving. In groups of one and two the campus will slowly lose one face after another as each calendar day passes. Jill is leaving on the 6th, Kathryn on the 13th, Katie on the 24th and Laura on the 26th. And all of the others as well. I know this is the way it always goes and everyone here has been preparing for it in their own way. It seems to be a cruel joke however that the days when you really want to be living it up and reinforcing the bonds so they may stretch and remain strong when we are no longer in this place that we have exams hanging over our heads. Granted if I had put in a little more effort throughout the semester it probably wouldn't be such a big deal. Ah, hindsight. Anyway we have still been enjoying our time here and will continue to do so all the way to Tullamarine where we will board our long flights home.

So on that note, here's a few pics of all the cheery times we've been having.



Just a bit of red and white fun before the t-shirt signing party


Me, Mel, Flora, Laura and Suze at the t-shirt signing


The Barton Ball - kind of like prom, only semi-formal, you had to buy tickets, and there's alcohol. Never thought prom could be so fun for a 22 yr. old...


Jill and I at Aussie Prom 2K6


Josh (proudly sporting his "Prohibition Chic" red suspenders), Katie, Mo and Jake


Colin and I at Aussie Prom 2K6. Colin's from Iowa and has promised to come down for the K-State/Iowa State football game this fall


Scary close-up pic of Kathryn and I


Marty and I - Prom 2K6

Sorry for the long, drawn out picture display. I'm sure I could have done it better somehow but didn't want to really take the time to redo it all. My personal apologies go out to everyone's scrolling finger.

Tuesday Thoughts

Everyone talks about how the world just keeps getting smaller. Technology has made it accessible in a matter of seconds and kilobytes. But it is still physically a big place. Even as the oceans are rising and spaces are being filled with all manner of human existance, it is still a big world. There are events happening every day that matter not one bit in the general life/style of the average person. We make a donation and pray for peace and the end of suffering. We make grocery lists and do laundry. It is still a big world. But I have seen the other side of it and it is blue and green and brown much like home. The colours do not change, it is only the arrangement, intensity, and proportion of hues that changes, that and the names. So I think it's not what you see in a new place, but rather who you become. Some people change. For the better, for the worse, or maybe not at all. Sometimes you fall down, sometimes you lose an eye. Sometimes you limp around for a long, long time. Sometimes you are finally able to acknowledge and recognize who it is you see in the mirror. You miss a bus, you ride a unicycle and finally, in the end, you go home, taking with you the memories and scars of the person you were in that particular time, in that particular place. They'd better be good ones. They'd better be worth it.

The SoHemi Dispatch : The Food Issue

Well, I've attended my last tute and lectures are over as well, so it's nothing but free time and procrastination from here on out till exams. Neat. So here's just a few pics to give a little insight into the past 4 months. Yes this is another random listing of the daily events that color my days here in Australia.
So I finally buy some eggs one day cause we need to make some cupcakes. I open them up and viola (or walah as janell would say) they've got little smiley faces on them. My first thought was, "good grief, no wonder everyone's so laid back in this country, even the eggs are smiling!" I acutally didn't think that, because I was taken aback too much to do anything but stare incredulously. But it was a neat little surprise. They probably made me pay extra for it though!


This is RA Joe licking up the frosting drippings from the cupcakes we had made for him (with the smiley face eggs I might add - the lil buggers aren't smiling now are they!). We usually share them amongst other people in the block but in this case since there were 4 of us and 12 cupcakes, we decided we should each have 3. And this is why people (people = me) gain weight when they study abroad.

I think we all know what this is, well you should anyway, but I've run into a surprising number of people who are not familiar with the heavenly creation we call puppy chow. We have introduced it to both Australians and fellow American's alike and all have marveled at the peanut buttery, chocolate goodness that flows forth from the ziplock bag. And it wouldn't be complete if I didn't personally clean out the bowl. Meredith and Lacy, you've seen this pose before.... Basically me doing what I do best.
And then there's Stuart. My neighbor and birthday buddy. Proudly posing with some caramel and chocolate cupcakes.
He's a generally lovely left-wing bloke who thinks Howard is akin to one of satan's lesser personal assistant demons (ok, he's never used those words but that's the impression I get, lets just say he doesn't care for the fella - "Howard" and "fella" refering to the current prime minister). He sometimes listens to his music a bit loud for my taste but as it is generally during a reasonable hour of the day and not 3am, I really haven't felt moved to complain.

Mom asked me the other week about the food here. Well, it's alright and I generally clean my plate, so I can't complain. Everyone else seems to think it's way healthier here, but I don't really find that to be the case. Maybe I'm just stubborn and biased and wierd, but I ate way healthier at home. Regardless of all that, we get three evening meals a week and then money to spend on campus food during the day. It's annoying though because everything closes down on the weekends and that's when the busses have shortened schedules anyway so it's even more difficult to get anywhere when we really need to. But we have been surviving obviously.

That's about all the food stories I have to relate, so I'll leave you with an image of the beans and weenies we made weeks back. Just to get the ol' appetite roaring..

Idol Ordeal topped off with a Cocktail

Last weekend: May 12-14 will go down in history as one of the most random, uncomfortable, and yet still fun weekends I've ever experienced. To start out, it was the weekend that Australian Idol was holding auditions in Melbourne. Dan, of Easter Buddy fame, has been waiting to try out since season 1, but has always had some obstacle that stopped him from making his dream come true. But this year it was meant to be. Auditions started on Saturday at 8:30 so his plan was to get there on Friday and camp out so we could be at the front of the line. And Katie and I were priviledged enough to be a part of the support crew.

The whole camping out thing didn't seem like such a bad idea until we realized we would be sleeping not on a nice grassy area but instead on a sidewalk surrounded by a bunch of idol freaks. Bless their little singing hearts, these people were for real! The people you see on TV do exist, and it is a scary scary thing to witness. We passed the 13 or so hours before the auditions by playing games, using my mittens as puppets, taking walks, and helping Dan and Joe (Collins RA who decided at the last minute to try out) rehearse their songs. I would say though that we were all a little sick of it long before the auditions started. (Except for Dan - he was in Australian Idol Heaven) It was cold and rained a little bit and some girl puked 3 times in the parking lot. Gross. Which was how we felt by the time the next morning when they started getting us all organized to start filming stuff. Needless to say, Katie and I looked a little rough around the edges, so we were thrilled to discover that once inside, Maybelline and Garnier, sponsors of Australian Idol had big areas set up where you could get your hair and make-up done. So we stepped right up for that. I ended up with the crazy little hairdresser guy who had some kind of accent that I really didn't understand, but who really loved Madonna and wanted me to sing something for him. Katie got her hair done by one of the ladies and wound up with a very high-fashion french twist thing and I got a braid. Of all the things I thought he would do, the little half up and slightly off center braid wasn't even in the top 10. I could feel it hangin off the back of my head like a separate entity. We had Dan take pictures of it but I haven't gotten them from him yet so I'll just have to add those in later. The makeup went well except for the people kept asking what my number was and what I would be singing and I didn't want to tell them I wasn't actually auditioning because then I thought they wouldn't do my hair and stuff, so I had to keep kind of telling lies and they didn't really all add up so I think they probably thought I was a big bozo. But I did score some sweet chapstick from the Telstra people who were running an online blog about the audition. There should be a couple pics of us on there, so if I can find the address, I'll send it out, cause I know it'd be a great way to kill a little time. Dan and Joe didn't end up making it to the next round so they were actually done before Katie and I were.

Then Katie and I were planning to go to the Victoria Market, but first we had to drop some stuff off at some friends' house so we wouldn't have to carry it around with us all day. There had been some talk about a cocktail party put on by their footy club, but then they specifically told us they wouldn't be going. Well this all changed when Matt got home with the good news that, yes in fact we were going to the cocktail party! This is great and all except, I didn't have any cocktail worthy attire and my hair was in a braid and I had only about 6 bobby pins with which to work some magic and make it all presentable. Oh the horror and awkwardness that then ensued. Just because of the situation there really wasn't any way I could gracefully bow out so I ended up wearing a dressy shirt and jeans, brown shoes and a smile that said, "even though I'm highly under-dressed I'm going to pretend I don't notice and have a good time hanging out in a room full of people who are noticing I'm highly under-dressed". Even though it started out pretty painfully, it ended up being a fun night all in all. First of all, Matt and Ben, the guys who took us to the cocktail party went off to mingle and told us to stay there and wait for them. Well this is even worse because with them gone, Katie and I didn't know anyone. So we decided that in order to make this bearable we might have to play some games and do a few missions. We decided that by the end of the night we both had to dance with a guy wearing a bowtie and Katie had to wear the drummer's hat and I had to hold the guitar. Katie managed to get the drummer to let her try his hat but I wasn't brave enough to ask to hold the guitar. We failed on the bowtie front as well, although one bowtie-wearing gentleman did kiss my hand and compliment me on my accent and tell me that it reminded him of a Canadian lover he had once years ago. Meanwhile, back at the ranch, Matt had came back, however, Ben, my "date" has been snatched up by the footy coach's wife and daughter. Apparently Miss Paula had a thing for Ben and Momma was gonna help her make it happen... at first it was a bit awkward, but then once I found out Ben didn't like her at all, it got to be quite funny. The Mom would casually walk up and ask Ben if he could hold Paula's drink for her... then Paula would come to fetch it and would confide to me that Ben was keeping his eye on her and was her "babysitter" for the night... Poor fella, between the two of them he could rarely catch a break, but I told him if he ever needed to be rescued to just give the signal and I'd come save the day. Since he was usually busy fighting Paula off, I had ample time to have several deep and meaningfull conversations with some of the other footy players, all the while thinking, "Well isn't this about the most bizarre place you've ever ended up, Miss Adriane Ohlde".

#1 Mum

Just want to take a moment to honor my momma. She's a great lady who works hard and makes me laugh. She makes the best green bean casserole and I sure am looking forward to having some of that when I get home. If you see her today, give her a hug for me.

We're gonna have to send Grandma (aka Sidebar Stories Vol. 2)

Well I bought some dried apples on Sunday. I had some reservations just because mass produced dry fruits are never quite as great as you expect, but I thought I'd give them a try. They were made in Tasmania, "straight from the Huon Valley", which if you know your business, and your business happens to be Australian Apple Growing Regions, you know that this is one of the best. So I gave them the benefit of the doubt, tore into the package, and the apples taste like rubberbands. I know you're wondering, "What does a rubberband taste like?" Well find an old nasty rubberband that's been in your desk drawer since 1993 and put it in your mouth and then you will know the depth of my despair. Grandma could show these imposters a thing or two. The thing is, I'm going to continue eating them because:
1. I paid good Australian plastic money for them
2. If a snack is bad, I won't overdose on it like I would if it was cookies
3. They've got some nutritional value and it's better for me than most other things

So they are my new study snack (as long as they last that is, I'm not gonna waste more money on the nasty things) and it actually works out quite well. Like I said they keep me from eating things that are bad for me and since they taste bad, I drink more water because of them. It's a win win situation I guess.

(cue triumphal interlude music)

Last week on Thursday, caf. was a glorious experience. I had missed caf. earlier in the week, so come Thursday I had a swipe left on my card (I get three meal swipes per week) and we were having chicken enchiladas! Now these aren't like the chicken enchiladas you'd have in the states, but they're still pretty tasty. So, what did I do? I went through once and ate my meal. Then since it was so darn good, I boldly went back through the line again. Oh yeah, victory was mine. Two enchiladas, two desserts. It was the gastronomic equivalent of winning the lottery. (ok, maybe not quite that good, maybe more like getting your tax return back)

(cue jock jams interlude music)

Some of the boys from the block have invented a new game which goes by the name "Hammerball" apparently it combines elements of soccer, cricket, and croquet and is played with a large rubber mallet. So far no one has been injured so we'll consider it a success.

(cue something, maybe a polka if you've got one handy)

OH, and now, for the REALLY BIG NEWS! Ok, now that you've all picked up on the sarcasm, you can back away from the edge of your seats. So one long evening in the computer lab sparked the implementation of a new goal for my life. Yes, you guessed it, I decided that I would listen to my "The Grind" (as in the daily grind) playlist on my ipod all the way through, without switching to anything else because that makes the counter start all the way back over at one. You have to understand there are 717 songs on this playlist. On May 5th at 3:30 pm Australian time, I finished. The accomplishment is slightly marred by the fact that, since I had it set to "random", I have the sneaking suspicion that I heard some songs twice. I'm a little disturbed, but I mean there's always tomorrow. I can always do it again, now that I know it can be done, it seems so much more conquerable than in the past. And next time, I'll be smarter, I'll go in alphabetical order so I'll KNOW if it's trying to mess around on me. Also, I am a loser. (just in case you hadn't picked that up in the prior paragraph)