January 2012
6 posts
The Australian Open
Once again, the weather gods have blessed Melbourne for the Aussie Open. It conveniently warmed and and dried up just in time for the tennis to start, stayed warm for two weeks, and ended on a hot note for the weekend of the finals. Then, on Monday morning, the day after it finished… it rained again. Today, it is cold again.
music to my ears
Just found the Pro Bowl on TV here. I’m not a huge NFL fan and don’t know half of these players, but the sounds of American football bring back memories of tailgates, Superbowl parties and college gamedays. It’s Tuesday morning here but it feels just a little bit like a Saturday in Ann Arbor. I have it on as background noise while I do my morning reading and it’s making me...
3 tags
(mis)Spelling Adventures continued
America: skeptical
Australia: sceptical
I’m a little bit offended that the letter ‘k’ is being discriminated against here.
And I'm Back
A month in the US was a long time. I experienced a sort of ‘reverse’ cultural shock and had to get used to the change in accent and the way things are done. I almost forgot to tip at my first meal out and I was constantly confusing people by trying to pass them on their left (this led to a standoff in the Auckland airport on my way home where I eventually just froze and let the poor...
December 2011
2 posts
Whoa
The checkout girl just asked me if I was from Australia. I have an accent.
5 Airports. 32 hours. 3 airplane meals. 1 kicking...
I’m home I’m home I’m home! It feels so good. For the next month I will be visiting various locations in the US- all which have snow- and seeing many people I love and miss. It is so good to be back. I almost don’t care that it’s winter here and summer back in Australia. First observations:
Holy shit it’s cold!
Everyone sounds weird…it’s my own...
November 2011
6 posts
“Thanksgiving Music is Soft and Satisfying”
– this awesome website
Design + Engineering = Strategy. Interesting... →
11.11.11@11
Whoa
October 2011
12 posts
One class down, three to go!
I did a cartwheel at the end of my presentation last night.
Adventures in Spelling in Australia
American English*: Traveler
Australian English: Traveller
*or according to Pages, the official “English”
I live in the city. Really.
A truck full of horses just drove by my house.
I don’t recommend coconut flavored m&ms
Why do I do these things??
Do I not understand how to use a calendar? I actually thought that Monday was the 14th and that I was going to have all weekend to analyze data and write this paper. Last night, I realized that it was already October 13th. Its a beautiful day outside today and I’m wasting it indoors trying to write a million words a minute so I can finish this thing before work. Grrr.
1 tag
Oh package...
Everyday I wait for you.
Listening right by my door.
Hoping you do
know who you’re for.
I dream of when
I ordered all of my things.
It seems so long ago
but I have faith someone will bring
you still to me.
6 weeks ago
I ordered new running shoes
new makeup
and new climbing shoes.
4 weeks ago
my dad received all three.
He packaged them up
and sent them to me.
Since then I...
September 2011
4 posts
procrastination
I’m sitting in the library attempting to do some work for my class that starts in 30 minutes. I have procrastinated all week and I still can’t seem to focus. I am fascinated by the lack of actual work going on around me as well. The guy next to me is watching Blink-182 music videos. There are 2 people on facebook in my direct line of vision. Nobody is actually reading anything. The...
"We need social science because social processes... →
I found a place here that sells Reeses pb cups and...
and it’s walking distance from my house. I can get one anytime I want! I was just singing the Almond Joy/Mounds song to my roommate a few weeks ago. Sometimes you feel like a nut, sometimes you don’t. Almond Joys have nuts, Mounds don’t…
August 2011
2 posts
Happy Spring!
Official first day. I found mangoes at the supermarket.
Victorian State Champs!!
I think the coaches and parents were more excited than the girls were. Got a gold medal of my own this time. I’m wearing it to practice this week.
July 2011
18 posts
Wow the exchange rate is now at $1.10
so I actually paid $3.42 USD for that bottle of water. Fantastic.
“A master in the art of living draws no sharp distinction between his work and...”
– L. P. Jacks (via soul-surfer)
I can't believe I just paid that
$3.10 for bottled water. A whole 600ml of it.
Hmm fireworks on my walk home for no reason. That was nice. If the train hadn’t been 20 minutes late I would have missed them. I like Melbourne.
using our imagination at gymnastics
Me: Ok, I want you to pretend to be a mermaid while doing your flip. What's the biggest difference between a person and a mermaid?
Mia: Mermaids have sparkles!
Me: ... hmm... ok. Do they? Not really what I was looking for. What else?
Yasmin: People have 2 legs and mermaids just have one tail that doesn't come apart.
Me: Right! So what are we going to do with our legs while we flip?
Mia: Put sparkles all over them!
Why coaching 5 year olds is worth it, even though...
[assignment was to climb the wall bars, touch the wall above the last one and then climb back down, counting how many times they could successfully do this]
Me: So, how many times did you reach the top Chloe?
Chloe: um... TEN! [obviously lying]
Me: Did you just make that up?
Chloe: yeah. I'm not really a counter. my sister's good at that.
Me: ...
help.
I need to write an abstract and then hopefully a paper to present at a conference in January on Participatory Innovation. Am I really qualified to do this? I don’t know anything. Time for some motivation. Tell me something about looking my fears in the face and stuffing them.
