Monday, June 29, 2009

Rain Rain GO AWAY!



Can I just say that the weather network SUCKS the big one for forecasting rain in Sydney? I arrived at work enjoying a bright sunny day, only to venture back outside four hours later to collect my bike and cycle home at the start of yet another unexpected and unforecast torrential downpour. When I say torrential I mean like dry to drowned rat in 3.5 seconds, ankle deep in water, and, if lucky enough to be inside, the roof sounds like it's going to cave in. One block into my ride I was well on my way to being drenched and, having just recovered from a string of illnesses and injuries, I didn't want to risk something else going awry. I jumped onto an approaching bus and then scrambled into the train station. For the record being relatively wet, cold and carrying a bike in Central Station during a downpour is not a fun situation. Of course my train had just left (of course it had) and so I waited for 30 minutes (don't even get me started on the train schedule) while the throngs of people gathered on the platform. I managed to squeeze onto the train and tried to avoid making eye contact with the people glaring at me. Come on people, give me a break! The train has three floors and if people who were mobile actually sat/ stood somewhere other than right by the doors I'm pretty sure we could all fit just
fine. 

I guess I should be used to this by now (or at least have learned to carry an umbrella no matter what.) Last weekend's downpour left my friend and me sopping wet from from waist to toe, our heads mercifully protected by Sarah's industrial strength umbrella and my flimsy reject store buy. We ended up having to buy dry socks and make the best of the hand dryers to dry our boots so as to not spend 2 hours sitting in a movie theatre soaking wet. Luckily the hand dryer idea worked out and we were okay. I am just so over all of this rain!


When I was in Australia in 2005 it rained twice in six months. Twice. TWICE!!! I'm not exaggerating. I know drought is bad and there were water restrictions everywhere but I am just not used to all this rain. I'd take a nice minus 5 snowfall over this any day. Maybe not minus 25, though... 

Sigh... Why is the grass always greener on the other side of the fence?



Saturday, June 27, 2009

RIP Michael Jackson and Law (In)Formal: Black n White Theme



It's happened to all of us: Hearing news so time-stopping and jaw-dropping we will remember forever where we were and what we were doing when we first heard it. Yesterday my number grew from 2 to 3. First the death of Princess Diana- whilst in my bunk bed at band camp, I was awakened at 4am by the noise of my counsellor coming into the cabin, having been out all night. Seeing that I was awake, she whispered the news to me. Then 9:11 - walking into the dining hall in residence my first year at uni, noticing that the usually noisy room was silent; everyone gathered around the big screen TV, eyes glued to the screen's images of the collapsing tower and frantic New York City emergency workers. The whole room was full of first years who were silently chewing their breakfast whilst hanging off every word the anguished reporter spoke. 

And now this: the untimely death of Michael Jackson. Despite his legal and personal troubles his legions of fans will always remember his amazing, unparalleled talent for singing, dancing, and song writing and his legacy for changing corporate music attitudes towards black recording artists - he was the first black artist to be played on MTV. I was introduced to his music in Grade 5 (1992) by my music teacher. I remember her enthusiastically teaching us the words to a few of his songs and showing us the Black Or White music video. Been a fan ever since! Also my sister Jane has this HIDEOUS Michael Jackson mask that's been a trademark of hers for forever... it's a standing joke in our family that she'll turn around and be wearing it at any given moment. No matter how many times she does this I always jump at the sight of it.... it's seriously freaky!! It's weird how for the past two weeks I've been going around wearing my "MJ Glove," that is, the white cotton glove the burn unit nurses gave me to wear over my hand. It probably wasn't 100% necessary as my hand is healing well but I just couldn't resist wearing it one last time at the Law Formal last night as a tribute to the late, great, King of Pop. 


What a fun night! The formal was black or white themed (creepily appropriate all things considered!) and I got to wear the most gorgeous black dress from Country Road (a chi chi Aussie brand). 
My friends Nissa and Bec came over for a glass of wine before we took the train to the Ivy.
We took some glamour shots (I, personally, haven't been this pulled together in quite some time!)

and we danced the night away!






Thursday, June 25, 2009

Update on the burn

Hand Update: My hand is doing well. The bandages are off and the scarring doesn't look too bad! I'm being very diligent with my vitamin A oil and antibiotic cream application. The good news: hopefully I won't be permanently horribly disfigured. The weird news: I finally know exactly what causes the old lady smell/ retirement home smell. The bad news: I now smell like said old lady. Oh well at least I am on the mend!
Nothing like some retail therapy to feel better. With some birthday money I saved I bought the most cozy pjs ever!
Paul Frank-The Julius Heart Glasses Jersey PJ Pant
I have the top too but can't find a picture!

Well better get back to the books!

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

My burning desire that didn't turn out as planned...

Hey y'all.... sooo it's been a while and let me tell you why:

Top 5 reasons for my hiatus:
5: I came down with a nasty lung infection. Trust me- you do NOT want to be the person who sounds like they're hacking up a lung on the bus during a swine flu outbreak. And you thought you knew what being glared at felt like after cutting in line at Wonderland. Well let me tell you something, even the ferrel looking homeless people with varying degrees of festering sores and livestock in their hair were shooting me get-off-the-bus death stares. The anxiety about coughing on the bus actually made the coughing worse to the point where I started avoiding the bus altogether. I even switched temporarily to the more expensive, yet within walking-with-groceries distance grocery store just so I wouldn't have to endure another episode of humiliation. Sigh. Even my classmates and teacher stayed just a bit farther away from me than they did each other... luckily it wasn't too serious and I got better just in time to...

4. Catch the sniffles that my housemates lovingly brought home... Yes the old immune system wasn't at its finest and just as the coughing/ fever/ nausea subsided on came the runny nose and sneezing!!! Luckily I didn't feel like I'd been run over by a mack truck like I did before so I was able to study for my exams. Which brings me to number...

3! EXAMS. First round of first year law exams and they don't call it the weeding out year for nothing. Yikes! The competition is INTENSE and I literally camped out in the library for three weeks to prepare for the two exams I had to do (they gave me an extension for the third due to the material I missed from being sick (see #5)

2. Other than the above mentioned items the intense amount of rain (aka daily monsoon type downpours) has made it pretty impossible to do anything remotely worthy of mentioning, oh other than a pretty cool garage sale I stumbled upon one Saturday a while back. I was thrilled to find the two things on my mental list of things to find...namely a birthday present for my house mate Anna and something in which to make coffee (at $4 a pop at a cafe I figured I'd recover my expenses in no time.) Anyhoo, I was delighted to find both items at this little sale, nay they were practically the only items AT the sale. The present was just perfect. Anna was very excited to be taking her first overseas trip to New York City where she and a girlfriend were celebrating their 30th birthdays but she didn't have a stitch of luggage to speak of! Imagine my excitement to discover the perfect black luggage set, reasonably priced ($15 for 2) and in excellent condition! The set comprised a larger size case with an expandable zip-out part and a smaller one that I think would just about make carry-on. Both had wheels and handles and I will never forget the look on Anna's face when I presented them to her. She was so shocked but very thankful. I hope they are working out for her as she is still living it up in NYC as we speak! 

And now for numero uno: Next we (the 'Royal "We"') purchased an Italian espresso maker, a type of which I had never seen before. It looked very elegant in its stainless steel and black finish and even had a milk frother to boot! I had been using said espresso machine without incident for about three weeks when the unexpected occurred. Just after finishing making my coffee I added a bit more water to the leftover already boiled water in the receptacle, to make steam for the milk. After completing the procedure and just as I was about to sit down to an impressive vanilla latte I heard a whistling sound, presumably from steam escaping from the seams of where the water receptacle joins the base of the machine. I thought I would just remove the lid to release the pressure and stop the annoying whistling. As I was unscrewing the lid I heard an ear-splitting bang and was stunned to realize the lid had exploded off the top of the machine (landing in the laundry room next to the kitchen,) along with all the boiling water and steam from inside of the machine. My whole right hand and wrist felt like it was on fire and I immediately ran over to the sink. The 15 minutes under the tap helped a bit but I was still in excruciating agony. To my horror I realized I was pretty seriously burned and should probably get myself to emergency. A quick call to the parentals confirmed the reason for the explosion (something about purified water and superheating...) and the decision to go to the hospital. Needless to say I had to ask for ANOTHER extension, this time for my exam that was meant to be today (the accident happened yesterday). On the bright side after the treatment at the burn clinic today they wrapped up my hand/wrist and then gave me a little white cotton glove to wear overtop. Next time I am walking with my black umbrella (which will be tomorrow as rain is forecast for the next century) I may have to break into a moonwalk (dance, a la Michael Jackson, in case you didn't catch the reference). 

Failing that...
I was thinking, maybe I'll go find a ladder to walk under whilst spilling salt and watching a black cat cross my path... perhaps then this bad luck will move on. Until then I am still studying, well into the Summer Break* whilst my classmates are on the 48 hour countdown to Summer* as we speak. 

*I know I know, technically it is "Winter" however it's still too warm to wear a toque, or even a jacket, other than that of the rain variety, and in light of that AND the absence of Christmas and New Year's I just can't make myself call July's school hiatus, "Winter Break." Sue me ;p

Monday, June 1, 2009

Blog

Sorry Loyal Readers. I've fallen off the blog-wagon! I've been up to my eyeballs in readings/ note-takings for my exams which are in two weeks and there is no end to the study in sight. The only thing keeping me going at such an intense pace is the occasional day dream about how amazing it will feel to complete my first semester of law school and to plan my month of fancy-free exploration of this amazing city in which I've been the ultimate hermit. It's shameful how little advantage I've taken of the amazing things to see and do that are right on my doorstep! Ok so I've had a glimpse of the Opera House here and the odd dinner in The Rocks there but mostly I've stayed within a two kilometer radius of my house since I began school in February. Top of the list to see? BONDI!! Obviously swimming won't be on the agenda until it warms up (Septemberish I've been told) but I'm still keen to go down on a sunny day with a picnic and a new magazine and people/ surfer watch at the famous beach! I'm also excited to use my student card to get free or almost free entry into the bevy of museums and galleries around Sydney. There are so many of them - should keep me out of trouble for a month until semester two starts in August!