Currently viewing the tag: "melbourne"

summer always seemed to last too long

By On July 20, 2010 · Leave a Comment

I’ve been blogging here for a year, and nearly a hundred posts.

There have been two Kate-lyric exceptions (both for MBT fangirling) and this will make my 97th published post. In this time, I have:
-Used lyrics from “Caught in the Crowd,” “Dreams,” and “The Truth” six times each (fun fact: I don’t like “The Truth”!)
-Used lyrics from “Blah Blah Blah,” “Day After Christmas,” “Our Song,” and “Out and In” five times each
-These seven songs account for 39% of my post titles
-I’ve used 34 songs, 32 of which are part of the official discography (including Elsewhere, Kate’s previous band). Including Elsewhere there are officially 54 songs (not including multiple releases or versions of a song), and I have an additional 32 or so demos. I think I’m going to have to make an effort to use all of the released songs for a title in the coming year. No promises.

In less compulsive, more personal news, I’ve had a bunch of interviews for jobs. The one I like best is for a group home and assistance organization in Chapel Hill who work with kids and adults with intellectual disabilities, developmental disabilities, and some neurological disorders. In practice this means a lot of people on the autism spectrum, some with Down Syndrome, some with CP, many with more rare disorders and disabilities, and a huge variation in levels of assistance needed. I knew it would be a good fit when the interviewer went off on a long tangent about how their clients are people and have every human right we do (I guess I passed for NT yesterday), even if they also need some help with ADLs or holding down a job. He used some language I only hear in the disability rights movement and stressed that you have to respect everyone as an individual or it would never work. I have a follow up interview tomorrow (after the first yesterday), so hopefully it works out! I’ve also interviewed for an in-home counselling position, and didn’t get a job at a local bookstore–but I did get an interview at a sister store later this week.

AT NO POINT DID I BREAK DOWN INTO SOBS OF FRUSTRATION OVER THE AMOUNT OF MONEY I NEED TO SAVE TO SUCCESSFULLY MOVE TO MELBOURNE.

I credit the cat and his soft, soft tummy for this. Little known fact: sticking your face in a cat’s side and breathing deeply is incredibly good for destressing.

I’m looking for something that will keep my brain occupied. I love anagramming and the last phrase was very successful. I want a two or three word phrase (maybe four, if one is an article) that is easy to remember and has 20-25 letters. The last one was “the very hungry caterpillar” and it worked really well. Suggestions?

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all that we’ll have is this photograph

By On June 17, 2010 · Leave a Comment

Catching up on the last bit of Melbourne, the trip home, what I’m doing OMGRIGHTNAO and plans.

We went to Kate’s hens night, which involved thai and karaoke and a lot of overstimulation, and the wedding, which was beautiful.

We also went to a place trying to bill itself as molecular gastronomy coffee. It wasn’t, so much, but they did have test tube coffee:

looking pensive over coffee

Then I took some more pictures of flowers:

roses

I flew back to the US and it took forever, 10 hours of which I spent chilling in the SFO airport, which may be the most boring place on earth. I’ll make a point to go through LAX next time.

I did come back to my kitten, which is some consolation.

artfully backlit

under the covers

I got rid of GoDaddy hosting and signed up with ANhosting.com, largely because Hank Green told me to do it. It’s been a breeze and I’d reccomend them.

Currently, I am unemployed and living in Greensboro. Well, that’s a lie, right now I’m in Staunton visiting Stina and Dylan, but on the whole I am in Greensboro and loathing it, but it’s free and hopefully there will be jobs. There’s been a lot of drama about my car insurance and liscencing, but it’s over and I don’t want to rehash it.

ON JULY 1 I HAVE AN INTAKE APPOINTMENT WITH TEACHH, THE AUTISM PEOPLE IN NC. IT WILL BE FREE.

I’m super excited but also anxious for 2 reasons: 1. I worry it’ll be like Dr. Gaddis again, and 2. it might negatively impact my immigration. We’re waiting to hear from a lawyer, but this isn’t a full-on diagnostic appointment and nothing stays written, so I’m keeping this one and hopefully making the follow-up diagnostic appointment and then making decisions after Kitty has her surgery and can see again to visit lawyers. If I have to wait to get my papers before I can get my other papers, that’s fine. Australia has plenty of very good doctors in this regard and I’d be happy to see them. BUT THIS ONE IS FREE.

So…that’s all. Etsy sale on right now. I took lots of pictures that I hope will become my moo cards.

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and you've come back to me

By On May 28, 2010 · 2 Comments

In my head
I repeat our conversations
Over and over
Till they feel like hallucinations
You know me:
I love to lose my mind

It’s less than a week before I have to leave Melbourne, and so much has changed.

I landed and was whisked away to the Windsor Hotel, a beautiful, historic bit of miniature castle, where we had a gorgeous view of Parliament and breakfast in bed and high tea.

so tired...just got off the plane...

golden dawn light

We’ve been down to the beach…

contemplating the ruins of fish and chips

shaky lights

And I’ve taken lots of photos of flowers around our neighborhood:

roses

roses

roses

roses

We learned a valuable lesson (and watched a damn lot of Glee):

lesson learned

We went to the zoo.

kitten!

And then I learned about a medical program that will want me, no strings attached, in Sydney.

I want to go, very much, and could apply next year and sit the Australian version of the MCAT in February. We need to speak to immigration lawyers, I need to get Prosper cleared for immigration. Everything is suddenly on an impossibly fast timeline. I’m in a mild panic.

I wanted to maybe move with the wonderful Sarah to Baltimore, but I’m concerned I won’t be able to get a job that pays enough in just a few months in a new, big, expensive city. I wanted to move to Atlanta, though less than I did a couple months ago. I wanted to live with my mom, even though the idea mildly nauseates me, because it’d be cheap and require little effort. I’m not sure what I am going to do, but it’ll be something. So at least I’ve made the decision to act, and not let the inertia get to me–and that’s the most important step.

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time will not hold us down anymore

By On May 11, 2010 · 2 Comments

I’ve been trying to write a post since I landed in Melbourne. The city feels like home–well, maybe “feels” isn’t actually the word I want there. “Looks” is more accurate. I often have a difficult time noticing that I’m having feelings, let alone identifying them, until they’re big and overwhelming and scary. Melbourne looks like home–and the pieces that have changed were immediately noticable. A slightly modified tram map posted on the stop bench enclosures. A new poster. A finished building or three where I’d left unfinished wrecks. My favourite Safeway is now a Woolworths. Still, most of it is the same. Roses, endless gardens of roses. Cats and unfamiliar-familiar birds, and Kitty. Coffee. Friends and parties where I can’t understand a damn thing because my auditory processing is not up for the task of dozens of conversations at once–and friends who understand that, and seek me out to have quieter (or louder, to drown out the noise) talks. Friends. Plural, and more than just two.

I’ve been trying to write, and utterly failing.

I’ve been thinking about inertia, and how even though I want to write, I can’t make the words come together in any sort of order that makes grammatical sense, let alone sounds like me.

So. I’m well and happy. We’re going to the zoo! I may be able to take photos, if I can just get over the inertia.

ETA: Combined inertia plus spoons plus lack of funds means zoo later. Maybe tomorrow.

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you'll be walking somewhere very far away

By On May 3, 2010 · Leave a Comment

Where the sky is full grey…

I’ll be in transit to Melbourne for the next day and a half, and am travelling into the future (wooooooooooo). Here’s hoping to no airport meltdowns this time.

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