Airlie Beach a.k.a The case for permanent sobriety

So we've been in Airlie Beach for less than 24 hours, we being me and Joey who got here for a visit two days ago. We're about to embark on a wonderful sailing trip of the Whitsunday Islands..yep this will be my second time in just a couple months but it's absolutely lovely so I'm going again. The problem is Airlie Beach which is where all the boats launch from. It's probably the drunk backpacker/sailor capital of Australia (with Cairns tied). Yesterday was particularly upsetting from about 2pm people were just completely off their faces, acting a fool, not being able to walk, being drunk and completely disorderly walking up and down the one street here in Airlie, Joey's like it's like Las Vegas stuffed into one 4 block street with nothing to do but drink, not even the gambling to distract people. Didn't help that it was the Australian Football League Grand Final yesterday which gave even more of an excuse than usual. I went home at 11pm but before that I saw several bare butts, people getting kicked out of bars, people barfing, etc. Thank god I missed all the various wet t-shirt contests going on around town..it's all too much, can't wait to get on the sailboat and out of this town!

Thank your lucky stars

Okay I know that I bitch about school because well it's stressful and I always have heaps of assignments to get done, etc. However I've decided that I really like the program I'm in and I'm learning lots. For example last week the assignment I was slaving over was a guide for US negotiators on how to maximise outcomes in Brazil, really interesting to read all the research about how culture effects negotiation styles and the tactics that each culture deem appropriate to use. This week I'm writing a foriegn currency strategy for a company on ways to minimise their risk from fluctuations in exchange rates, which believe me is as confusing as it sounds but in all honesty I'm learning alot and I'm beginning to understand things I never thought I would. Also I really like most of the other people I'm in the program with, now that we are in semester 2 everyone is starting to become friends which is cool, especially given everyone's completely different backgrounds. This past weekend Nico, a french guy in my program had a bbq with some others from class and it was fun, apparently Uno is a universal game, the norwegians, french, and thais all knew how to play. Also everyone is really smart which is a bit intimidating but for the most part every one is always glad to help out. Plus it's interesting to hear about everyone's backgrounds, we've got the Indonesian royal (who I don't like b/c she thinks she's smarter than everyone and is always trying to prove it in class), the super rich Russian (who I used to think was intimidating but is actually nice even though she's often wearing like 10,000 worth of clothes and jewelry), the super rich Thai (whose parents apparently own a billion dollar company in Thailand but you'd never know it, I just thought he was a funny little Thai guy that loved the Simpsons), soot face the crazy Dutch woman who really is endearing when it's not your project she's messing up and she does mean well, the French baseball fan who told me he loves the Cardinals and gets all the games on satillite over here so he can watch them, the Swedes who are all tall and good looking but really nice and don't mind how many times you ask them about it being dark for like 3 months during the winter and are always happy to tell me the stories about people who've gone crazy from it, and the norwegians--all of them who do love to have a party and then the Taiwanese and Chinese who sometimes don't say much but always smile and wave when they see you, and the outspoken Thai girl that told me she doesn't want to go back to Thailand b/c she can't voice her opinion over there--I feel for you sister..keep fighting the good fight, almost forgot the Germans who can always come up with a practical question and readily admit that they like order and efficiency and beer too--musn't forget the beer. So here's to all of them and to the unique experience I'm getting to have working with students from around the globe--I've truly broadened my horizons and I feel lucky to be able to do this, and thanks to Nico who I talked with about this on Saturday which made us both realize how lucky we are and helped us to quit bitching as much about all the work we've gotta do.

Mini-Poll

Today my friend Claire sent me a text saying;
As long as I live I will never believe that Ben would have dated Felicity in real life

I wrote back saying why because she was a doormat/stalker/pathetic

Response from Claire;

Don't forget whiny, pseudo activism and anal cleaning

Mind you I like Felicity we all do b/c well we can empathasize but sometimes you just wanna shake her and go dammit Felicity!! So mini-poll is this who thinks that Ben would have actually dated Felicity in real life?


I'm torn on this..on the one hand I say no b/c Ben was a popular track star and then Felicity follows him to New York and then reads his admissions essay and tells him why she came there..so embarassed..also lets be honest Ben wasn't that bright and was kinda flaky but he was hot..I think maybe he would have slept with Felicity but not dated her or made fun of her to his friends. Also why didn't Felicity like Noel he was the male her.

RANT

I just have a bit of a rant, today my sister just got a job working at a call centre in Arlington, TX and you know how much she gets paid an hour? $6 To me that's absolutely ludicrious, good on her for working for that much, I can't believe that there are so many low paying jobs at home, I think our minimum wage is disgraceful, someone can't live on $6 an hour even if they work 40 hours a week after they get taxes taken out of their check, much less support 2 kids which is what my sister has to do looking at what happened in New Orleans and knowing this I see why there are so many working poor the wages they get are ridiculous. I have a friend here in Brisbane that just started working for McDonalds last week and guess how much he gets paid?? $15 an hour, yep that's right that's what McDonalds pays here and they still make a profit the only people being paid less are those considered juniors which are workers under 17 and they still get a minimum of like $12.50 an hour. I fail to understand why wages for the lowest paid US jobs aren't a bit higher but I'm guessing it's b/c we wouldn't dream of making large corporations pay their workers more.

TAXES!!

Alright so if you thought filing US taxes were annoying try filing a foriegn tax return..not fun...I've just started and thought I'd share something amusing on the first page it asks name and all that of course but it also asks for Title, now on the US one it'd on give you options of Mr, Miss, Mrs, etc. here is a sampling of some of the choices for Title on the Australian tax form:
Abbot
Able Seaman
Baron
Baroness]
Bishop
Rabbi
Right Honourable
Count
Countess
Dame
His/Her Royal Highness
Vicar
Viscount

Not by any means an exhaustive list there are heaps more titles..wonder if you are his/her royal highness if you get a phatty tax return.

River Fire Pics

This is the Story Bridge (one of the 3 bridges that had fireworks going off on it during riverfire)
Here are some awesome pics from RiverFire the first two are the Dump and Burn, an F11 flies across the sky burning it's fuel mid-air, looks just like a rocket..so cool.
A View from Above--I didn't take this--got it from the river fire website but it was awesome looking..the whole display.

Flashbacks

So today I was trying to fill out a job application for when I graduate, mind you that's a year off but some places make you apply by Oct. this year to start in 2006..don't even get me started but hey I'm gonna be in desperate need of a job by the time I get out of here. Anyhow the point is this, I had to fill in all my classes and grades from A&M on the application form..yep that was fun..so I went to the TAMU website and pulled up my unoffical transcript and proceeded to copy the contents into the application. Let me just tell you that this was not a fun exercise for several reasons
1.0 I totally forgot about half the classes I took, like literally I couldn't even remember who the prof was or what classroom it was in much less any of the content.
2.0 I had also blocked out those classes I never should have taken that I got D's in--such as all the finance ones and for some reason I vividly remember those classes..vividly!!
3.0 Then there were the classes I got F's in..luckily there were only 2 and I have valid reasons
3.1 Business Math
3.1.1 It was my first semester and I was amazed by the fact that no one cared if you went to class or not, turns out I'm not so good at math if I don't go and learn it then I do bad, in this very bizarre case class attendance was directly related to grade.
3.2 Bowling
3.2.2 A disproportionate amount of this grade was based on actual performance in the game of bowling, therefore when I missed class or was late and got points taken off there was no chance to pass unless I was an excellent bowler--I'm not, although every once in a while I got lucky and made a strike it just wasn't enough to save me from the gutter.
4.0 I took some class called Culture and Peoples, I don't remember anything about this course or what it was about or why I would have signed up for it..if anyone was in this class with me..drop me a line and remind me..it sounds like something that I would have been interested in taking, so why dont I remember?
5.0 I was reminded of all the classes I dropped (not more than 4 in my college career as dictated by our friends at Texas A&M) but I had really forgotten about those classes. Lets revisit my Q-drops shall we?
5.1 Medieval Europe 300-1300
5.1.1 Honestly have you ever heard of such an absurd course for me to sign up for, why in the world did I sign up to take this..it has disaster written all over it, not to mention I had no prior knowledge of the era, not that it couldn't have been interesting but I can't imagine why when I was looking through the course catalog for ELECTIVES I would have picked this one out of about 1,000 courses I could have taken. Also i couldn't understand the professor and we had to read all these long boring history books..I just couldn't take it anymore.
5.2 Funding International Business
5.2.1 I'm not sure why I decided to take this after I had previously done so poorly in other finance subjects but well at least I came to my senses before I got another D and dropped the course.
5.3 Strategic Management
5.3.1 I'm not sure why I dropped this I can't even remember being in the class, I took it again though (because it was required) and got a B, so I'm guessing I just couldn't be bothered to go to class that particular semester.
5.4 Wonders never cease--BOWLING
5.4.1 Given my previous failing in the course and my inability to bowl, I as a glutton for punishment signed up for the course AGAIN and had to drop it before I failed AGAIN using my last allowed drop for my college career on a PE CLASS!! Although rest assured I'm not totally turned off bowling..anyone who wants to invite me to the bowling alley I'm up for it!
6.0 Finally I was forced to relive the horror of my freshman year psychology course which I had entirely blocked out due to the fact that as a condition of passing the course we were forced to participate in psycological experiments, yep, I'm not even sure if that's legal, I mean you got to choose which ones you wanted to do but hell there's a limited number available so you're gonna have to do at least one you don't want to. I ended up in one that tested effects of violence and you know what that one did..I sat in a room with a TV and a videocamera pointed at me while I watched a video of disturbing images..honestly!!! You can't do that to a poor freshman!!

Also can you tell that I've done this while procrastinating on doing an assignment..yep that's me, also I took 2 Anthropology classes my first semester..I think I wanted to be an anthropologist..I still kinda like that idea.

The State of Things

So I can honestly say that with the events of the past week or so occcuring in the US I'm not exactly dying to go back. The events in New Orleans are sad, tragic and downright unacceptable..not only the people who picked up guns but the government who wasn't prepared for a disaster on our own soil, the rescue efforts are worse for this than they were for the tsunami which occured in some of the poorest areas of the world..there are lots of people who should be ashamed by the whole mess. Also I've had endless questions from foriegners who don't understand why so many people had guns and why they were shooting and rescue personnel and each other and I can honestly tell them I don't understand either b/c I don't, but I can say that I'm embarassed that I have to be asked these questions to begin with and that the image of Americans as gun-toting lunatics is constantly being reinforced. My Swedish roommate simply said this is what happens in a society where the government doesn't take care of its own. I tend to agree as the wealthiest nation on earth we leave a large number of our citizens to fend for themselves, the poorest among us which only exaserbates things like crime and creates a cycle that's hard to break. I don't know how to fix it or if it can be fixed but I think it's worth a try..to make the world a better place by starting at home. Didn't mean to preach today but I'm frustrated, frustrated of trying to explain to others, and frustrated of trying to understand myself, most of all though I can say that I do love home and even though I may chose not to live there for a while I do want to see America grow and prosper and change for the better.

River Fire

This weekend was RiverFire an annual huge fireworks/airshow over the river which is one of the biggest events in the city..people camp out all along the river to see the show. Luckily a friend of mine lives in a high rise along the river so I went over to watch the show and enjoy the party. There were 2 house parties on his floor so I was able to go back and forth for the best view. So here's a tip..don't go to watch a fireworks show from a house where there's a Swedish party..I swear I walked onto the balcony and couldn't see anything for all the tall Scandanavians standing out there..even the women are super tall, luckily some kindly Swede let me stand in front..fine for everyone involved since everyone was at least a head taller than me.