Hello though and thank you for attempting to suffer through yet another installment of my blog. Okay so I'll start off with saying I am now the world's slowest long distance biker. I bought that 65 dollar bike from the pawn shop about um 3 weeks ago I guess. And, it goes alright and serves its purpose... but, man!, I feel sooooo slow. When I ride to work in the morning, everyone and their mom passes me. I'm talking people who are 20 years older, overweight, and probably heavy smokers. And they pass me like I'm going backwards. At first I thought this was because I just wasn't used to biking. But, almost 3 weeks in and my biking hasn't improved, and I'm now thinking it's because my bike doesn't have the need for speed (or the ability for speed) that these other bikes do. I mean, 9 of the 10 people who pass me couldn't run 2 miles if their lives depended upon it... it just makes me sad to feel so slows. But I do now have QUADS OF STEEL! and crazy amounts of lactic acid built up in my legs all the time. And well if it weren't for the ticket I got last sunday (yes, I got a ticket on my bike...) this would be a great money saver. However, I did get a ticket for not having my helmet on. Yep, it's a full blown law here. And it didn't matter that I could literally see where I was going from when I got on my bike. I still got "pulled over" and got a traffic ticket. Hmm, wow.
On a different note, and the main reason I wasn't overly concerned about said bike ticket was my new and mostly fantabulous waitressing job. I mentioned it in my last blog, but I am still quit enamored with this job. All my fellow waitresses and one fellow waiter seem wonderful and understanding and efficient (with one or two exceptions) and, I made 18 bucks in tips one night, plus 2 bottles of wine, plus a piece of cake... mm yum. And, every once in awhile (well pretty much every night I work) I get a free margarita. Hurray. So, as far as I can tell, this one is a keeper. Oh, and on Wednesday night, which was a fun, semi busy night at FIESTA, one of my co-workers Jade (who is like second in command I guess, but not really) told another one of my co-workers, Kim (who's very friendly and smiley, but also very good at the whole waitressing thing) to stop being so fidgety and running around so much, and Kim said, "Oh, I'm sorry, I just learned never to stand still at my old job. My boss, well she was like this Jewish Nazi" (she paused here) "Oh wait, that doesn't sound right...But well she was, she was a nazi... and Jewish" Apparently Kim used to work at a beauty therapy place.... hmm yeah, sounds like it caters to a certain income group for sure. And the woman who ran it was not very pleasant.
I let Ryan fill in for me today at the day job, and I am sitting at home on the couch at 1030 (don't think this has ever happened before). I'm going to an AFL game later today and I'm super excited about this. I do have to work tonight, but I look forward to working at FIESTA, so it's no big deal.
Now that I've covered the Jewish Nazi and my day off (hurray day off) I will discuss what I see as Karma's way of showing me I haven't done anything too bad, or what could just be one of the most amusing instances of irony in the history of life. So, the last blog I wrote was written at Mag Nation a magazine store, where i got a large cookie and coffee for 5 dollars. In order to get said coffee and cookie, I had to fill out a raffley ticket type thing. It was totally uninteresting to me, something about Melbourne Fashion Week, blah blah blah. I have very very little fashion sense and even less interest in fashion. So later when I looked at the raffle ticket stub i thought, "Hmm 500 dollars in shopping and 150 dollars to ALDO shoe store, and tickets to a fashion parade... If I won that I wouldn't even know what to do with it, that would be hilarious". Yesterday I was riding the world's slowest bike to my second job of the day (coaching) and i felt my phone vibrate. I thought it might be my coaching boss with information about practice or equipment or something. So I stopped an answered. At first I was sure it was someone either telemarketing or telling me I owed them money (neither one a very exciting prospect). However, it turned out to be someone from the Melbourne fashion department telling me, yes me the switzerland of fashion, that i had won the prize... uhhh. I don't think I gave her the excited response she was looking for. I pondered for a split second (unable to remember where and when I had actually entered into such an absurd raffle) and then figured it out, and in my uncultured American accent said, "Oh sweet, that's awesome, thanks". Yeah, she was probably thinking, "Oh god, who have we just given this prize to???" But anyway I have tickets for about every night this week for some sort of fashion experience, a one night stay in a hotel for next friday (i'm working unfortunately, and 500 dollars worth of vouchers to a ritzy shopping center in Melbourne...
haha, so first of all, if you don't see the irony and hilarity in this situation, you need help. Second of all, I've had some very dicey luck recently (the traffic ticket, losing part of my watch biking home from work, and other miscellany which I won't discuss here) so in a way, I think this is the universe's way of evening things out... i just hope nothing super terrible happens now... cause this is really too much good luck.
But yeah, today is a GOOD!!!! day. I'll relax for a bit longer. Then go to the footie (aussie rules football, the great cultural experience) then hang out in the city briefly perhaps (maybe some shopping ;)) then meet my uncle for our traditional saturday afternoon drinks, then FIESTA! then home late, and bed.
ANd tomorrow i get to go rowing on the Yarra (our first regatta is in 2 weeks!) SO yeah, things are spiffy.
On a totally unrelated note, I finally finished Don Delillo's The Underworld. I started it (with some interuptions) for the second time in June. Now I'm on to William Faulkner's A Light In August. I think Slaughterhouse 5 will be next. If you have any other suggestions for good reading while in Oz land, please let me know. Okay readers... that's all for me. :) be happy, life is good.
Friday, August 29, 2008
Saturday, August 16, 2008
i've been here for 2 months! hurray me! :)
Hello there, faithful blog readers (and not so faithful blog readers). It's been a few weeks I think. But I'm back with another addition of the "Exciting Times of Erica Tibbetts" (I didn't come up with that, I stole it from a very clever friend, but I like that it boiled down to the ET of ET, so I couldn't resist). Anyway, I'm sitting in a magazine shop eating a wonderfully sugary cookie and drinking a reasonabley sized coffee (both for the measly sum of 5 dollars) about 2 blocks from the center of Melbourne's downtown. Just got done with rowing practice, and will soon be off home to watch as much of the olympics as I can before I fall asleep.
Life has been, er interesting? for the last few weeks. Namely the last week. But I'll start where I left off like 2 weeks ago.
Since then I have a) bought a bike b) realized that my trip to and from work everyday encapsulates a small microcosm of society that could serve as a basis for defining most of human society c) gotten yet another job d) started to really enjoy coaching the little kiddies every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday e) realized how much I'm gonna miss Rollins f) really felt like I'm settling in here and g) um, lots of other things.
First of all, the days here are fantastic some of the time. Like today! It's cool- I think 10 degrees celsius, which is like 50 degrees F. But it's sunny and clear and there's very little wind and it's like the perfect day. I mean, for those of you who played sports when you were little, it's like those days when you'd wake up so excited to go out and run around and yell and win and run and just be content with the very moment in which you lived and the very act of playing, and there was nothing more to life than that day. I felt like that a lot growing up and playing soccer and just getting lost in single moments and games and days. Today felt like that, and Tuesday was the same. Just perfectly happy days.
But it's also really crappy here sometimes too. I got quite damp yesterday getting home from work at like 1245 am... gross.
Oh and on an entirely different note, I saw the coolest guy ever on the train that perfect tuesday earlier this week. He had an Australian Shepherd type dog (kind of grey and black and mottled and shaggy) and really eccentric clothing- like layers and raggy looking bits- he was unshaven, longish hair, but not too untidy or scary looking. And he had a little baby guitar looking thing that he was playing the whole train ride (only like 8 minutes for me, but still) and he had a skateboard. And I just thought he was the coolest guy ever. Really wanted to take his picture, but didn't have the guts to ask. Oh well.
Coaching has been great. The little devils have learned not to mess with me too much, and I've learned to have fun even when they're not listening or are unable to really grasp what I'm trying to tell them. But this last week has been kinda awesome and I actually look forward to going to practice. And apparently (or so I'm told by the parents) they look forward to coming too. Which is fun.
The day job is the usual- boring, repetitive, and I get barked at every single morning for something i didn't do or that is contradictory to what i was told earlier or something totally pointless. But i've learned to live with that. It's all good. And there are some regulars who know me now and who i have talking to.
I did pick up a night job, which was very exciting because a) i need a little more money and b) i never thought anyone was going to hire me. See, I don't have much experience doing anything except for scooping ice cream, answering phones, and thinking hard. And there's not much market for thinkers in the blue collar industry. And I'm too lazy (or something) to get a real job here. It would just be hard what with me not being here too long and not knowing where to start, and a part of me wants to be a hard working, coaching, starving artist type- at least til i get home in april.
Anyway, the night job. I work at Fiesta, a mexican restaurant right next to a reasonably big train station and sort of on the ritzy end of town (not the dodgy end). Well, I have worked there for two nights, and I expect to be going back either tonight (crossing my fingers that they don't call me... i really don't want to work tonight) or Monday. The other waitress and waiter seem quite reasonable and the boss seems like well a typical slightly obnoxious boss. But I have had no trouble with him thus far, and hopefully if i work my butt off i will remain on his good side and not have to worry. The two nights I have worked, I've been doing mostly drink orders adn running up and down stairs. They have an upstairs "party room" as it were, and it was booked out to large parties. And a lot of the food was on a set menu, so i just had to worry about bringing up copious amounts of beer and margarita. Got home last night exhausted after working friday 11 to 230 at the day job, then 3 to 5 coaching, then 630 to 1130 at Fiesta and then yesterday 11-4 at the day job and 6-1130 at fiesta. So yeah, a couple of long days.
Like I mnetioned, I now have a b-b-bike which makes life a lot easier. No more worrying about missing trains. It's about 6 or 7 miles each way to work. So around 13 or 14 miles roundtrip- which i have done a few times, but which I'd probably prefer not to do everyday. So some days I will train it one way or the other, and some days I'll ride the whole way. The bike is probably the best one I've owned in years (the last couple I had were pretty shoddy). It has decent breaks, good gears, and a seat that i'm steadily getting used to. I had a little bit of a misadventure actually getting this bike. I went into "Cash Converters" a rather legitimate and large pawn shop. ANd they had a huge selection of bicycles. I moseyed around for awhile (this was at about 530- not long before they closed at 6). Eventually picked one out. but it had a flat tire, so i picked another one. The seat was a little high, but I figured they could adjust that or I could take it down to the bike store a block away and have it adjusted. This was like 4 minutes before closing. The guy tried to adjust the seat, but to no avail, so he gave me 30 bucks off and mentioned that I would probably need the breaks tightened too. No worries, I thought, shouldn't be that hard to take care of, and for only 35 dollars it's a deal!. Picked out a helmet and was ready. The guy said noramlly they would let me test drive it, but because they were closing soon I didn't have time. So I just took off. I realized 2 blocks later that the seat not only wouldn't go down further but that it twisted around and was too high for me to sit on and pedal. I got to the bike store where I was told that the seat didn't even belong to the bike and that it was a piece of crap and I should go back and get my money! Unfortunately it was now after 6 and the pawn shop was closed... I was slightly miffed- well quite pissed and disappointed, actually. Still I mananged to get the bike home (despite thoughts of just leaving somewhere for someone else to steal and try to ride) and figured I'd go back the next day to give it back and maybe get a little of my money back. To my surprise they let me exchange it, pay another 30 bucks and get the nice little thing I have now, which is by no means a nice bike, but it's very rideable. It's sort of turquoisey green and called Starwind (or something like that). I'm quite fond of it...Every time I lock it up somewhere I have a sneaking suspicion that when I walk back out it will have been stolen and I will again be at the mercies of public transport. But, so far so good.
Anyway, for those of you still reading, I'm sure I've bored you quite enough by now. I have other things to rant and rave about, but I'll save that for later. For now, wish me luck juggling 3 jobs, rowing, and working out like a maniac (and still sleeping occasionally) oh, and applying to grad school again (so i can go back to being valued just for thinking- i like that).
Later kids.
Life has been, er interesting? for the last few weeks. Namely the last week. But I'll start where I left off like 2 weeks ago.
Since then I have a) bought a bike b) realized that my trip to and from work everyday encapsulates a small microcosm of society that could serve as a basis for defining most of human society c) gotten yet another job d) started to really enjoy coaching the little kiddies every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday e) realized how much I'm gonna miss Rollins f) really felt like I'm settling in here and g) um, lots of other things.
First of all, the days here are fantastic some of the time. Like today! It's cool- I think 10 degrees celsius, which is like 50 degrees F. But it's sunny and clear and there's very little wind and it's like the perfect day. I mean, for those of you who played sports when you were little, it's like those days when you'd wake up so excited to go out and run around and yell and win and run and just be content with the very moment in which you lived and the very act of playing, and there was nothing more to life than that day. I felt like that a lot growing up and playing soccer and just getting lost in single moments and games and days. Today felt like that, and Tuesday was the same. Just perfectly happy days.
But it's also really crappy here sometimes too. I got quite damp yesterday getting home from work at like 1245 am... gross.
Oh and on an entirely different note, I saw the coolest guy ever on the train that perfect tuesday earlier this week. He had an Australian Shepherd type dog (kind of grey and black and mottled and shaggy) and really eccentric clothing- like layers and raggy looking bits- he was unshaven, longish hair, but not too untidy or scary looking. And he had a little baby guitar looking thing that he was playing the whole train ride (only like 8 minutes for me, but still) and he had a skateboard. And I just thought he was the coolest guy ever. Really wanted to take his picture, but didn't have the guts to ask. Oh well.
Coaching has been great. The little devils have learned not to mess with me too much, and I've learned to have fun even when they're not listening or are unable to really grasp what I'm trying to tell them. But this last week has been kinda awesome and I actually look forward to going to practice. And apparently (or so I'm told by the parents) they look forward to coming too. Which is fun.
The day job is the usual- boring, repetitive, and I get barked at every single morning for something i didn't do or that is contradictory to what i was told earlier or something totally pointless. But i've learned to live with that. It's all good. And there are some regulars who know me now and who i have talking to.
I did pick up a night job, which was very exciting because a) i need a little more money and b) i never thought anyone was going to hire me. See, I don't have much experience doing anything except for scooping ice cream, answering phones, and thinking hard. And there's not much market for thinkers in the blue collar industry. And I'm too lazy (or something) to get a real job here. It would just be hard what with me not being here too long and not knowing where to start, and a part of me wants to be a hard working, coaching, starving artist type- at least til i get home in april.
Anyway, the night job. I work at Fiesta, a mexican restaurant right next to a reasonably big train station and sort of on the ritzy end of town (not the dodgy end). Well, I have worked there for two nights, and I expect to be going back either tonight (crossing my fingers that they don't call me... i really don't want to work tonight) or Monday. The other waitress and waiter seem quite reasonable and the boss seems like well a typical slightly obnoxious boss. But I have had no trouble with him thus far, and hopefully if i work my butt off i will remain on his good side and not have to worry. The two nights I have worked, I've been doing mostly drink orders adn running up and down stairs. They have an upstairs "party room" as it were, and it was booked out to large parties. And a lot of the food was on a set menu, so i just had to worry about bringing up copious amounts of beer and margarita. Got home last night exhausted after working friday 11 to 230 at the day job, then 3 to 5 coaching, then 630 to 1130 at Fiesta and then yesterday 11-4 at the day job and 6-1130 at fiesta. So yeah, a couple of long days.
Like I mnetioned, I now have a b-b-bike which makes life a lot easier. No more worrying about missing trains. It's about 6 or 7 miles each way to work. So around 13 or 14 miles roundtrip- which i have done a few times, but which I'd probably prefer not to do everyday. So some days I will train it one way or the other, and some days I'll ride the whole way. The bike is probably the best one I've owned in years (the last couple I had were pretty shoddy). It has decent breaks, good gears, and a seat that i'm steadily getting used to. I had a little bit of a misadventure actually getting this bike. I went into "Cash Converters" a rather legitimate and large pawn shop. ANd they had a huge selection of bicycles. I moseyed around for awhile (this was at about 530- not long before they closed at 6). Eventually picked one out. but it had a flat tire, so i picked another one. The seat was a little high, but I figured they could adjust that or I could take it down to the bike store a block away and have it adjusted. This was like 4 minutes before closing. The guy tried to adjust the seat, but to no avail, so he gave me 30 bucks off and mentioned that I would probably need the breaks tightened too. No worries, I thought, shouldn't be that hard to take care of, and for only 35 dollars it's a deal!. Picked out a helmet and was ready. The guy said noramlly they would let me test drive it, but because they were closing soon I didn't have time. So I just took off. I realized 2 blocks later that the seat not only wouldn't go down further but that it twisted around and was too high for me to sit on and pedal. I got to the bike store where I was told that the seat didn't even belong to the bike and that it was a piece of crap and I should go back and get my money! Unfortunately it was now after 6 and the pawn shop was closed... I was slightly miffed- well quite pissed and disappointed, actually. Still I mananged to get the bike home (despite thoughts of just leaving somewhere for someone else to steal and try to ride) and figured I'd go back the next day to give it back and maybe get a little of my money back. To my surprise they let me exchange it, pay another 30 bucks and get the nice little thing I have now, which is by no means a nice bike, but it's very rideable. It's sort of turquoisey green and called Starwind (or something like that). I'm quite fond of it...Every time I lock it up somewhere I have a sneaking suspicion that when I walk back out it will have been stolen and I will again be at the mercies of public transport. But, so far so good.
Anyway, for those of you still reading, I'm sure I've bored you quite enough by now. I have other things to rant and rave about, but I'll save that for later. For now, wish me luck juggling 3 jobs, rowing, and working out like a maniac (and still sleeping occasionally) oh, and applying to grad school again (so i can go back to being valued just for thinking- i like that).
Later kids.
Friday, August 1, 2008
week 7 i think (on selfish tram riders, baby dragons, and other miscellany)
Hello there faithful blog readers (all three of you). So we've been in aussie land for just over 6 weeks. It's hard to believe. Time has flown in places and stood still in others. And for you lucky rolly colly kids you'll be going back to school soon. Man, I'm actually jealous. I'm not going to miss classes- not just yet anyway- but I already miss the place and the people. And, I realized the other day that when I'm homesick, it's not for a place, it's for a certain feeling. I miss walking into a room, or walking up to someone and seeing them smile. Yep, I miss making people smile just by being me. No one here gets excited for me. And that makes me feel really weird. Yes yes, I realize how self-important and egotistical this all sounds.... but it's the truth. A guy walked up to the food court/cafe thing that I work at the other day and he smiled (and looked excited) when he saw me. And that made me happy. And that was how I realized the whole smiling reaction. Maybe in a few months I'll have found a new niche, but for now, I miss the old one.
Anyway, on to the main part of this blog- Selfish Tram Riders, well train riders too. Anyway, I ride a tram and a train to work every day, and then back again. And I've realized that some people, no matter how busy the tram, will sit on the outside seat, the one on the aisle, and put their bags on the seat next to them. And on the train someone will sit on the outside seat in a row of three. This means that a) people cannot sit even when 1 or 2 seats are open or b) they have to push past knees and bags and other stuff. And, this makes me angry. Why can't you just sit next to the window and let someone sit next to you. Most people on public transport don't bite... (most). Some look like they might. It just erks me, thats all.
Now, on to baby dragons. I had one living in my chest for about 3 days at the beginning of the week. I woke up Sunday morning (my day off) at about 11... yes, i slept in for once. And i had a sor throat. You know one of those that feels like someone has been rubbing sand paper up and down it for an hour. And this was a surprise because I hadn't felt sick the night before. Anyway, I drank lots of water and felt better. I then went running, and was having a very nice run along the nearby river when i realized I had forgotten to wake Ryan up for her job interview (I served as her alarm clock for about 2 weeks) she now has one thanks to bailey who sent her a nice little baby one all the way from Florida (that's love). Anyway I sprinted (well, jogged quickly) the 4 miles home only to find her already gone, to my relief. She was slightly annoyed with me later, but realized that it was not really my job to wake her up, so she couldn't get too mad.
Back to the small dragon. So monday night I didn't sleep very well, coughing, trouble breathing through my nose, even worse sore throat, etc. But I survived. Worked out Monday morning (pulled a 10k on the erg, be jealous Kim D.) And worked my cafe job, and coached soccer to obnoxious little kiddies and did everything i normally do. But then, I woke up tuesday and a little dragon had taken up residence in my chest, and he was compressing my lungs so i couldn't breathe, and he was blowing flames up my throat and out my ears, and he had one claw pinched on my nose and his tail wrapped around my forehead. It was rather a dreadful feeling. I slept in til 8, longer than usual. Didn't work out at all and drank lots of tea before trudging out of the hosue to work. The syrians who i work for were very concerned (the other main girl who works for them was off skiing). They gave me some sort of pain killers and instructions to get lots of rest and drink tea with lemon.
Well, i got off work and felt well enough to go to the movies with Ryan. We saw the new x-files movie. I was an x-files junkie at one point so it was very exciting for me. It wasn't a great movie, but it was entertaining and mulder and scully end up living together which is very cute for any x-files fan... so it was good enough for me.
And then i got lots of sleep and drank tea (no lemon though) and by the next morning my little dragon had said his farewells and moved on to someone elses chest. Hurray!
The rest of the week had been fine. Coached 2 more groups of obnoxious preppy little kids, went to a spinning class this morning, slept some and am going rowing tomorrow with Richmond Rowing Club. If you know me, you will understand how exciting this is... They go to head races til about december and then sprint regattas in the summer and then the season ends around march. WHich is when i will be about ready to return to the US of A. So it sounds pretty darn good to me!!!
Anyway, I'm off to wander the streets of Melbourne. Wish me luck with fending off future dragons and learning how to succesfully entertain and deal with obnoxious little kids.
Anyway, on to the main part of this blog- Selfish Tram Riders, well train riders too. Anyway, I ride a tram and a train to work every day, and then back again. And I've realized that some people, no matter how busy the tram, will sit on the outside seat, the one on the aisle, and put their bags on the seat next to them. And on the train someone will sit on the outside seat in a row of three. This means that a) people cannot sit even when 1 or 2 seats are open or b) they have to push past knees and bags and other stuff. And, this makes me angry. Why can't you just sit next to the window and let someone sit next to you. Most people on public transport don't bite... (most). Some look like they might. It just erks me, thats all.
Now, on to baby dragons. I had one living in my chest for about 3 days at the beginning of the week. I woke up Sunday morning (my day off) at about 11... yes, i slept in for once. And i had a sor throat. You know one of those that feels like someone has been rubbing sand paper up and down it for an hour. And this was a surprise because I hadn't felt sick the night before. Anyway, I drank lots of water and felt better. I then went running, and was having a very nice run along the nearby river when i realized I had forgotten to wake Ryan up for her job interview (I served as her alarm clock for about 2 weeks) she now has one thanks to bailey who sent her a nice little baby one all the way from Florida (that's love). Anyway I sprinted (well, jogged quickly) the 4 miles home only to find her already gone, to my relief. She was slightly annoyed with me later, but realized that it was not really my job to wake her up, so she couldn't get too mad.
Back to the small dragon. So monday night I didn't sleep very well, coughing, trouble breathing through my nose, even worse sore throat, etc. But I survived. Worked out Monday morning (pulled a 10k on the erg, be jealous Kim D.) And worked my cafe job, and coached soccer to obnoxious little kiddies and did everything i normally do. But then, I woke up tuesday and a little dragon had taken up residence in my chest, and he was compressing my lungs so i couldn't breathe, and he was blowing flames up my throat and out my ears, and he had one claw pinched on my nose and his tail wrapped around my forehead. It was rather a dreadful feeling. I slept in til 8, longer than usual. Didn't work out at all and drank lots of tea before trudging out of the hosue to work. The syrians who i work for were very concerned (the other main girl who works for them was off skiing). They gave me some sort of pain killers and instructions to get lots of rest and drink tea with lemon.
Well, i got off work and felt well enough to go to the movies with Ryan. We saw the new x-files movie. I was an x-files junkie at one point so it was very exciting for me. It wasn't a great movie, but it was entertaining and mulder and scully end up living together which is very cute for any x-files fan... so it was good enough for me.
And then i got lots of sleep and drank tea (no lemon though) and by the next morning my little dragon had said his farewells and moved on to someone elses chest. Hurray!
The rest of the week had been fine. Coached 2 more groups of obnoxious preppy little kids, went to a spinning class this morning, slept some and am going rowing tomorrow with Richmond Rowing Club. If you know me, you will understand how exciting this is... They go to head races til about december and then sprint regattas in the summer and then the season ends around march. WHich is when i will be about ready to return to the US of A. So it sounds pretty darn good to me!!!
Anyway, I'm off to wander the streets of Melbourne. Wish me luck with fending off future dragons and learning how to succesfully entertain and deal with obnoxious little kids.
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