Schoolies Week

Instead of spring break here they have schoolies week, schoolies week is for high school seniors on their spring time break..think spring break with all 18 year olds who are allowed to drink..in other words a mess! So the gov't has a website with schoolies week safety tips..good stuff here are some highlights:

Dealing with toolies
It's a sad fact of life that wherever there's a bunch of young people having fun, there's also going to be idiots there. 'Toolies' are non-schoolies who head to schoolies destinations hoping to cause trouble. If you're planning on heading to a schoolies hotspot, it's good to know how you can avoid toolies and keep your holiday safe and fun.

Keeping idiots at bay
Not everyone's a predator who's out to hurt or injure you. Sometimes toolies (or even other schoolies) are just being annoying. Even if someone seems pretty harmless, it's best not to encourage their behaviour and to get rid of them as quickly as you can. Here's some tips:
Don't take the bait - usually if you ignore any unwanted advances (even if they seem harmless) people will often get bored and move elsewhere.
Politely but firmly tell them to go away - there's no need to be rude or violent, but make it clear that you don't accept their behaviour and you don't want them around you or your friends
If someone's ignoring you and you feel unsafe, you could say you are going to be sick - people get out of the way pretty quickly if someone's going to vomit --this is my fav tip!
Get out of there - if the idiot just won't go away, do the next best thing and get away yourself. If possible, report them to a venue manager, security staff or police

There's also lots of other interesting stuff like sobering up and dealing with fights with freinds..here's the link..http://www.youthcentral.vic.gov.au/ViewPage.action?siteNodeId=835

Group Projects: OVER

Left: Jean-Francois, Drinky girl, and katya
Below: The group in happier times: Jean Francois, Nico (in red), Katya (at computer) and Me














So Friday I finished my last presentation for the semester. It was with my previously mentioned dysfunctional group..with the tempramental Russian. There was of course one final incident. About 15 minutes before our presentation we were all in the computer lab and had changed some of the slides then are running out to class and Nico says, hey katya did you print up the new slides? (because we have to turn in a printed copy) and she gives him a death stare and says, Vhy didn't you tell me to print them before I shut off the bloody computer..and he says I did I told you a minute ago..and she says again with the death stare..NO vhen did you tell me..you told me after I turned off the computer..and he didn't say anything b/c he was seething and she continues the death stare..then says..NICO you told me after I shut off the bloody computer and she sighs and throws her purse down on the desk and noisily logs back onto the computer and Nico says...go fuck yourself...good stuff..nice to have everyone mad right before the presentation..and good news is that drinky girl e-mailed me the pics from the other day..they're posted above.

The Hoff

David Hasselhoff is big here..well not famous exactly, but widely made fun of..until I moved here I'd never seen a hoff-mail or an e-mail with a pic of The Hoff as they call him superimposed on a movie poster or some other such picture..all the hoff-mails are super funny, here's one of my favourites..and here's a link to lots more..they are super funny...anyways all of Australia is excited b/c tonight The Hoff will be on Rove Live (night time talk show) should be good stuff. www.riphoffs.com

Christmas is Coming!

My friend Claire works in the Christmas Trim Department (think trees, gift wrapping, all things holiday) in Australia's biggest Dept. Store. Anyhow Christmas trim has already opened for the season--in OCTOBER but well no halloween or thanksgiving here so guess they gotta start the Christmas stuff early. So yesterday a slightly disturbed man came in and gave her his letter to Santa--here's the e-mail she sent me..funny stuff:

Was given a letter to santa from a slightly mean retarded man. Anyway my personal highlights included "in relation to the 100 smokes I will leave you as a reward for these gifts....I request you smoke them all". Thanks Kurt. Personally I do see that the christmas shop lady has pretty close ties to santa. would be my obvious choice. THought about trying to find out his last name and adress of his institution and then I could send the letter to australia post who then send a reply from santa. It would be like a christmas miracle/christmas special/christmas cartoon/telemovie all rolled into one. But then I thought maybe there was anthrax in the envelope adressed to santa that I opened and so I threw out Kurt's dreams for 50000 jet skis and washed my hands.

Feathers in my Hair

Here's a picture from the races where I went with the Aussie trend and put feathers in my hair..I was looking classy at the beginning of the day! This is the new dress that I had to buy about an hour before the races started because of a dry cleaning ordeal with my old dress that I won't even get into b/c it made me so very angry!

"Friended"

**"Friended" : when a guy/girl lets you know that you have been moved to friend status or that you are "just a friend" (almost always done indirectly by actions and not said outright). Usually this is a demotion from a higher status, such as, "talking" "seeing" "hooking up" to a friend.

The exact moment you have been friended can usually be pinpointed, some examples are:

Being called buddy, getting a pat on the back, or pat on the head (any pat really), being told you are like a brother/sister. I'm sure there are many other defining moments..just can't think of them offhand.

Anyways I was "friended" today..and really I think it's like being had..because obviously the only way you can be friended is if you thought there was something else there.

Finally--I just remembered what used to be my favorite quote freshman year in college I even had it posted on my mini-dorm fridge--"Players only love you when they're playing"

**This term was coined by a "friend" of mine, a very funny and wise man.

What Aussies think of Americans

By far the most common comment I get is I thought you'd be louder or more obnoxious, apparently Americans are thought to be both.

Also the general feeling or experience with Americans has been that we are arrogant or think that our way is the best way to do things. Or that we are stupid..a former roommate of mine proved this time and time again--being American and all, always speaking before thinking and making themself look dumb, although I don't think it's a totally American trait perhaps we are just louder about the fact. In addition the feeling is that we don't know much about what happens outside our own country which is true..I agree with that one..I feel I've gotten alot better on that one..most people know lots about our politics and country while I realized I knew nothing about huge european or asian countries and their politics or way of life..I suppose we aren't innudated with it like other countries are with American entertainment/news..I think this is what gives people the most warped view of Americans..they see the bad way more often than the good.

Finally I'm always being asked if I'm Canadian, the reason for this? Canadians are offended when someone asks them if they are American and since there are heaps of Canadians here people just automatically ask if you're Canadian. It's not hard to tell whose Candian though..they love to wear the Canadian Flag everywhere and are even fond of wearing shirts that say I'm NOT American--nice of you neighbors to the north!!

Also in a typical Ugly American incident--on the sailboat we went to the reef there were about 25 people from Isreal, Holland, Ireland, England, Norway, Sweden and of course the US. Besides Joey and I there were 3 other Americans, sorority girls if I've ever seen them who didn't socialize with anyone but each other--we're stuck on a boat people at least try to make friends. The bar we had our after boat party at was hosting a wet t-shirt contest and I turned to Joey to tell him they were the 3 #1 candiates to enter but before I even finished the sentence one of them stumbled over and shouted that they'd went and signed up for a wet t-shirt contest. Then at the boat party tried to get everyone to come and cheer for them, of course all 3 of them entered and figured they had a better chance of winning that way..they were acting like they were on girls gone wild..much to the amusement of especially the Irish girls who thought they were acting like every bad US tv show they'd ever seen..so embarassed for them. Also I ran into 2 of them here in Brisbane last Friday and no they didn't win, got naked for nothing!

Crazy Foreigner Antics

Yesterday I had a group paper due in my Business in Australia class at 10am, at 9 we met to put final touches on everything and of course one person couldn't be there and we didn't have his part, said he'd get to school by noon at the latest. So we go to class and tell the prof and she says when he gets there we can leave class early (class ends at 1pm) and get the paper to her by 1pm, so Jean-Francois (yep..French, actually from Mauritus which used to be a French colony) shows up about 12 and let the mad dash begin, our group, Me, Nico (French), Katya (Russian and angry at this point), Jean-Francois, and Shirlee (the girl I mentioned in my blog that used to be a drinky girl in China) set off to the computer lab..once we get there Jean-Francois is on one computer trying to get his part together and Katya is on another while me and Nico look over her shoulder and try to help her get an extra section added..where is drinky girl you ask..just sitting there with a grin on her face..and it gets even better b/c as it gets closer to 1pm and we get more frantic..I swear everyone is sweating at this point drinky girl hops up and starts taking pictures..yep photo time..it was so random and sooo funny (well now anyways) but the best bit was after she took her first round of photos she then taps Nico and tells him to take a picture again with her in it, so he takes a photo (she targeted the right person b/c he is so nice he wouldn't tell her to fuck off like the rest of us probably would have) and then after he takes it and looks at it on her camera..he says to Katya..you are looking very Russian in this photo..and she says..Does that mean I'm looking extremely pissed off. Yep that's exactly what it meant and yep she was extremely pissed off..I think she was ready to deck drinky girl. I'm gonna e-mail drinky girl and see if I can get copies of the photos to post..they are priceless I"m sure.

Couple of Sailing Photos

Here are some photos from sailing--that one above is paradise, whitehaven beach.

That's me chilling on the boat.

The Stress of it all!!!

So not only do I have heaps of assignments due the next 2 weeks but now I've found myself in the midst of an employment tug of war. My current job is alright I like it and it's in the middle of the city so close to everything, sucks b/c I have to work Mon-Fri though and I have class. Then yesterday afternoon my old employer called me and asked me to come back said they'd pay me more than I am making now. Only drawback is that A--I just promised my current employer I'd stay there through the end of November the day before. B--The other job is kinda far I have to take the train there and I don't really like working there but they told me that I could come back after I go home for 2 months and they'll pay more..uhh I don't know what to do and I'm under the gun just got a voicemail saying that they want me to start next week call to discuss my pay rate--dammit I feel like I"m being railroaded!!

Thought for the Day

Every step that you take
Could be your biggest mistake
It could bend or it could break
But that's the risk that you take
--Coldplay

So true everytime I make a decision or try to do something I'm always worried it will be a mistake but well nothing good ever happens without the risk so it's best to take the leap.