soapies & coffee

a little assimulation story from this afternoon… i was relaxing, watching some tv this afternoon & one of the american soap operas was on. not sure which one.. didn’t recognise the people. but the one guys walks up to the counter & asks for a cup of coffee. the guy behind the counter sez he’s already clocked out but ok… he’ll make the guy a cofee cause he doesnt want the guy to think he’s getting bad service (said in a sarcastic way so u know they know each other & dont get along). and i’m thinking ‘clocked off & going to take the extra 4 min or so that it takes to set the machine up, grind the coffee, froth the milk. gee, dedication’. and then the guy picks up a coffee pot with the orange decaf bit at the top and pours it into a mug. argh!!!!! oh my god. i had forgotten ALL about that. the idea of pot coffee has been totally wiped from my brain. btw folks… a friend of mine was in the city a few months back & found a great coffee place. it’s on mott st. owned by a guy from melbourne. i’ll have to ask what the name was. but if u walk into a coffee place & ask for a flat white & they give you something, then you’re in the right place.

cupcakes

do
these cupcakes look familiar to anyone in the city? supposedly they’re a nyc thing but they don’t ring any bells with me.

i thought i’d give them a try though. they came out pretty well. i’ve surprised myself. the cake bit is really nice. the fluffy bit didnt turn out as nice as in the pix but the choc bit is great. see pix here (there’s also some of me w the thesis).

the last several weeks

friday at 450pm i handed over my 144 pg thesis (125 of text, rest appendix). wow. even though it’s monday nite, i’m still coming to terms with the idea that i don’t have something pressing to do. in the last month & a half, i spent pretty much every waking moment working on it (when i wasnt at work basically). the last week i was getting about 2-4 hrs sleep a nite.

this thing has definitely taken a toll. and not just sleep deprivation. there’s enough hair on my legs that i could dress up in drag & no one would even think i’m not a guy. and i didnt even realise until about thurs/fri last week. i’ve gained probably 10 lbs with all the ice cream & cookies & junk comfort food. and the worst… i’ve lost my ability to consume alcohol. went out friday nite, stuck to hard alcohol (except for a few sips of beer at the end of the nite) and had a great hangover on saturday.

in about 10 days or less i’ll be able to pick up my thesis with the examiner’s notes. fingers crossed i havent failed the thing. i’m sure i didnt but who knows. i know i’m not very happy with certain things that happened over the course of the project. the examiner will request changes, i’ll make those & that’s about it. amazing. at some point ill realise it’s about over.

in the meantime, we’re headed to sydney later this week for some relaxing.

about 36 hrs to go

i have about 36 hrs before i hand in my thesis. depending on the second you talk to me, i’m either optimistic about how this is going or i’m an absolute stress case. the only time i can remember being stressed like this before was when i moved to london & when i moved here. and those stresses were more like ‘did i pack everything? have i cancelled the electric? am i doing something silly by leaving?’. they were as long lasting as this stress and definitely not as dramatic. i really have been fine one second & the next i’m crying. not b/c anything really happened, just i’m freaking out.

i am soooooooo getting shitfaced friday nite.

but now i’ll fixing up my results discussion chapter.

what train are you taking?

i heard a few weeks ago mta was getting rid of the 9. shame. i mean what are u gonna say? you can’t say you’re JUST taking the 1, it’s got to be the 1/9.

ok. i am prob not making sense. i have 5 days til thesis due & working on discussion chapter & tired. the only reason i’m posting is cause i wanted to say this link made me homesick. what a cool idea. i wish i could have been there. and i wish i was enjoying the 31c heat instead of the grey 15c days here.

united pkg for melb/syd

united has a package deal from LA/SFO for U$1599. it’s 15 days with flights & hotels to melbourne, hobart & sydney.

it doesn’t include transfers btwn airport/hotels but it is all the flights & hotels so it’s a pretty good deal. it also sez you can customise the trip.

i’d recommend that as hobart was BORING. either spend more time in melb/sydney or see if u can add something else (like whitsundays or brisbane or ayers rock or something).

valid now thru sept 15 but w the dates… really it’s just august & september.

letterman & crowe

it’s 2pm here. on a thursday afternoon. which makes it midnite in nyc.

as i’ve noted before, letterman is on here anytime btwn 130a-3a. usually it’s a day behind. sometimes several days behind. lately it’s been very current. but check this out…

b/c russell – phone throwing australian – crowe is on letterman tonite, channel9 has preempted young & the restless to show an almost live letterman. i’m seeing this 1/2 hr after it’s started to air there.

man…. what a great diversion from writing the thesis.

voting while overseas

the Overseas Vote Foundation conducted a survey of americans living overseas about their voting experience in the 2004 presidential election. for those that don’t know, it’s pretty much a pain in the butt to vote this way.

you have to apply to your home state to get a ballot. first question… what is your home state when you haven’t even been in the states for 2 years??? after you apply, they eventually get around to mailing you one. You have to mail it back. There’s no tracking (unless you use fedex) and of course, no confirmation that if it was delivered, it was really counted.

the first time i gave this a try was 2000. i was in london & for some reason i had to go to the embassy. i think it was in order to get a ballot. but maybe it was to send it. i cant remember. i do remember thinking how i was hoping it would count & bush wouldn’t get in & that i probably shouldn’t have waited so late to do whatever it was i had to do.

this time i had read the overseas voter website and applied months before the election. still i didn’t get anything so i ordered the ‘emergency ballot’ from DC. turned out both NYC & DC showed up within days of each other. i can’t remember exactly how close to the election but i think it was like 2 weeks. considering mail takes about a week btwn here & the US, i put that baby in the mail right away.

according to this survey, 19% who applied for a ballot, didn’t get it until AFTER nov 2nd or NOT AT ALL. 24% were like me and got it late. lovely. a state by state break down shows 47% of NY-ers got their ballot late or not at all. sad.

fyi, 52% of the people in the survey were registered in just 7 states (including swingers fla & pa). 29% of the survey folks are from NY & CA.

i know i’m procrastinating finishing the lit review so i won’t go into wondering if it’s just cali & ny folks to take the survey or if we really are the bulk of the expats.

new fav t-shirt site

since t-shirt hell decided to remove their ‘worse than hell’ line … i guess prickwear will be taking over that market.

today is….

june 1st.

which is the first day of winter. don’t ask. i don’t understand why oh why australia doesn’t do the whole solstice thing & decided on some random date.

and it means i have 17 days til the thesis is due.

shoot me