united efares

begin booking aug 1 for travel aug 18-aug 28 lax-melb is U$866. good price but not much time in oz. see their efares page.

healthy!

i caught the 23:36 train home from school tonite & went to the groc store. made the mistake of walking down the chip aka chrisp aisle. this was after i had already picked up a toffee apple for dinner (they are actually the red candy apples and i love that they seem to be in all grocery stores). so now i’m polishing off an entire container of french onion dip (which isnt that good) with lay’s chips. think ill have the apple for dessert. while eating i realized i’ve been very healthy today…. a ton of coffee, corn flakes, few slices of toast, some cheese, 3 bananas and now this. i’ll be happy when i move this week & feel settled and am able to make some soup with my food processor!!!

semester 2 – wk 1

i started classes this week. tuesday i have finance and a biz plan class. thursday i have team dynamics and ebusiness. i’ve been thinking of skipping the ebiz class. rather, because it’s a required class, i wanted to get an exemption because of my experience. i spoke with one of the professors last semester & he informed me that the CEO of a software firm took the class & found it valuable. okaaaay. so i figured i’d wait & see what the class was like. i really like the teacher i have. seems like lots of real life experience and an interesting fun guy who seems to be able to teach. i spoke to him after class. and then i realized there’s no classes at the same time i could take and i’d have to totally rearrange my schedule to take something different. so i guess i’m in. hopefully i’ll be able to get a good grade here!

all of our classes are a combination of indiv & team projects. i managed to end up in 2 groups with people i definitely didn’t want to be in a team with. argh!!!

pilates

saturday morning i went to pilates and it turns out there was an instructor certification class going on in one of the other studios. i was sitting on the reformer reading when i glanced up & realized one of the guys from my mba program (who’s a personal trainer already) was in the class. you know… i think i’m starting to get used to this small world thing. this time i wasn’t even phased.

catch up 2

exactly a week from today i begin my second semester. i’m taking 4 classes and will probably try to get out of one of them (it’s an e-biz class & i think i’m going to be bored). i’m wondering how i’m going to balance working part-time and full-time school. hoping last semesters’ amt of work was just a shock to my system & i’ll be fine with the balance. actually what worries me more is my lack of free time. towards the beginning of last semester i was going out like 1x a week. during break i’ve been going out almost every nite. i enjoy that. always have. i’m really going to miss that. speaking of social life, i went out friday nite to this dance thing in st kilda. dance as in dj. and had a wonderful time. i don’t know why i don’t go dancing more often. oh yeah… student.

me me me

twice today, at separate times, by separate people, i was asked how old i am. and both times, as usual, i answered truthfully (btw, this also happened friday nite… so 3 times of late). and each time i got the “no way” look and speech. which is nice. really nice. but while i know i can pass for like 27, these folks thought i was younger. like 25. i know part of this is circumstances… they all knew i was a student … but wow!! 25!!!! wonder if this means i can date 18 year olds now??!!!

what i did on winter break

my intentions….
-begin my thesis (ie think about the topic, do some reading which would begin the lit review)

-get a full-time job. hopefully even in this IT thing

-move

-explore melbourne

-possibly go away & explore somewhere else

-meet new people

-begin reading required books for next semester

the reality…
-i began thinking about the thesis and checked out several books. the only one i really read was one about how to research & how to write. it was good but i havent gotten anywhere as far as i wanted to.

-no full time job at all. i did start waitressing but i don’t like the place and i’m hating the hours.

-move. accomplished. of course having a ‘you’re late in paying your rent’ note under the door the day i was moving in isn’t confidence building. i haven’t unpacked yet.

-explore melbourne. i’ve definitely been exploring the bars. seen a few movies. wandered around a bit. not as much as i’d like though.

-i haven’t gone outside melb except for this sunday when i classmate drove me up to the mountains.

-i’ve met a couple new people. mainly thru work. again, not as much as i had hoped for. but i am organising the non-ryze meeting.

-and of course i havent read any of the text books. oops.

catch up

didnt get around to posting… it’s been a busy few days.

on sunday it was sunny so i sat outside and had coffee and toast. yes, it’s winter. then i took a walk to a craft market and ended up in the botanic gardens. i took a bunch of pix which i’ll post later. when i first got there it was empty and i was wandering around pretty much by myself. very relaxing. course suddenly there were screaming kids & tourists. argh. i didnt realize how large the gardens were & ended up walking down past the vodafone arena to richmond and back. a nice long walk. then i met a friend @ the casino theatre so we could see charlie’s angels. a fun movie that made me want to look into taking martial arts (though im way to busy for that). after we made our way to their cigar bar (yeech) that happens to have a wonderful selection of vodka (yeah!). i’ve been meaning to check it out and it didnt disappoint. as i’m asking about their selection, one of the waiters brings over like 6 bottles of vodka & places them on the table next to me. heaven. did i mention they serve roasted almonds & choc covered coffee beans as snacks (free!)? heaven. it’s now my fav place as long as no one is smoking a cigar. after we watched the wimbledon final.

on tuesday i did a ‘trial’ at a juice bar. every food service place i’ve talked to is into this idea of a ‘trial’. they won’t just hire you. i liked the juice thing and hope that works out. of course after leaving i wandered across the street to this designer clothing shop and ended up buying a skirt they had in the window. a skirt which is amazing, my fav colors and fit me perfectly. and it’s a one of a kind. i had no business buying it but i did. cue the asshole song.

went out with a cute 22 year old wed nite. have another trial work thing early next week. it’s been getting colder and i’m not happy about that (say 40s in the evenings & high 50s day time). also realized that i only have a little bit over a week before school starts again. crap.

nite pix

again from the age’s “my melbourne” section, this is the city at nite. standing on the west side, looking east with southbank along the right side and the train station immediately on the left side. i’m working in southbank so i see this view constantly and it is breathtaking at nite. most of the bldgs in melbourne have blue neon which gives it a calm, beautiful sameness.

critter

the local paper, the age, has been doing this “my melbourne” photo thing. i pointed it out a few months ago in this blog. they keep updating it & tonite i had another look. which is how i found this pix

a few months ago i was on my way to a bar when i saw one of these things. it was right here in the city, on a side street & just sitting there. watching me as i walked past about a foot & a half away. i had NO CLUE what it was but now several people have informed it it’s a possum. this pix doesnt show u the size or the bushy tail though. it’s a weird animal. and truely bizarre to see one hanging out on the equiv of 12th st by ave a.