Hungry Hungry Hippos...well lions

Hungry lion
Originally uploaded by trojen_hoarse.

Today the man and I went to The Melbourne Zoo and it was brilliant. Admittedly after having ridden on an elephant in Thailand the one elephant that was saw lying down (possibly dead) really wasn't that interesting but we did get to see some other really cool animals! We saw animals like lemurs, turtles, Karma the Chameleon, a platypus, red pandas, bears, gorillas, tigers, jaguars and also lions!

We somehow managed to score a great spot during lion feeding time...they were really hungry too. The two we saw ripped off the meat TIED to a stump and a tyre with pretty sturdy looking rope. They looked really strong..not the kind of animals you'd want to mess with.

Since we have been together the man and I have been saying "one day we will go to the zoo".. and now we finally have!



- Jen

Santa found Berrigan!

Well I think as you get older Christmas definitely becomes less about the presents. This is definitely not a bad thing because I actually detest getting presents. Not as much as the man but I always feel awkward about getting them. Christmas is more about being merry, relaxing a little, eating a lot, remembering 39 other people's names (which becomes increasingly difficult the more merry you become) and generally having a good time. I went to the "Fankhauser" Christmas this year which was in Berrigan (uh oh now you know the man's surname) and it was a jolly good time. There were about 8 kids probably under the age of 7 who were very excited early in the day but prone to scooter crashes, falling over and tantrums due to excessive tiredness, soft-drink consumption and confectionary abuse later in the day.

The presents I did get were/are great! A gold necklace, a book, some clothes and 'the young ones' dvd which I haven't seen yet!
It was actually exciting/funny watching all the kids open their presents. Especially the man's nephew Zeke who hurtled into the loungeroom on Christmas morning before everyone was up..saw what he thought was a carrot half eaten by "rats" (according to him), threw it behind the t.v. and kept examining the rest of his presents. Very funny!

Now that I/we are back in Melbourne and the man has time off until after new years the days will be packed with adventures such as shopping, beaching, zooing and narnia watching (did I mention shopping?).

- Jen

Buddha my buddy

19 m high gold budda
Originally uploaded by trojen_hoarse.

As they say "a 3 day drive in a minibus in not complete without a visit to a 19m high gold buddha". Seriously though we visited Wat* Phanan Choeng which is in the Ayutthaya region and this buddha was pretty impressive. The picture doesn't really do the size of the buddha justice but if you look carefully you can see the top of people's heads...at the bottom of the photo.

* Wat = Temple

Thaied up!

Snake...sssss
Originally uploaded by trojen_hoarse.

Well no trip to Thailand is complete without a visit to the Mae Rim snake farm. Thats for sure. With guides who poke the snakes with sticks to stir them up (trust me let a sleeping cobra lie) and the curious lack of other visitors (perhaps they were all bitten* during the snake shows)..it certainly is an attraction NOT to be missed.

* Shell and I were nearly bitten twice when snakes escaped during the snake show...one snake MAY have been a piece of rope thrown at us...nonetheless we did nearly pee our pants.

Ch-ch-changes

I have to apologise to any readers that I have left. I have been back from Thailand for SIX days and haven't updated. Honestly I have felt a bit overwhelmed by everything I have to mention in here because so much has happened in the last 2 and a bit weeks.

I will get to Thailand later but in the interests of keeping with my blogs "mission statement' if you like I will begin with the most important.

Firstly I will not be moving to Melbourne and I will not be moving in with the man. Don't fret avid readers this is not what it seems. The lovely folks over at the ATO have offered me a position in their 2006 graduate program and unfortuantely for me it is in Albury (hopefully only for the first 6 months). This really is the opportunity of a lifetime what with the training and the salary is NOTHING to be sneezed at! Although I will admit I was more than a little upset intially not to be moving in with the man he did have a good point that we have done the 'long distance thing' for more than a year now so what is another few months or so?

Secondly and relating to the first piece of news is my uni results. 3 distinctions and 2 credits (the same as last semester). Which I was really really happy with.

Well I am in Melbourne until February at least (when I start work) and so far it has been great...except for the weather. If I was in Albury I could be WARM right now. Instead while not being 'cold', I am well 'tepid' I suppose.

I'm keeping this one short but will update soon with stories of Thailand and hopefully some pictures as well.

- Jen

Tolerance and Jen (a paradox?)

A couple of things happened to me today which started me thinking.

First of all Telstra (see post on Telecommunications companies and where they can stick their jobs) overcharged me $35 on my phone bill so I had to go down to the Telstra Shop and get them to fix it. After waiting in line for 15 minutes I was starting to get a little 'antsy in my pantsy' because I am not the most patient person in the world and was also having to endure being kicked by the screaming toddler behind me. Trying to be tolerant I ignored it the first two times (because who I am to judge others parenting skills right?) but the third time as they say was the charm and this time it actually hurt. Restraining the urge to kick the child back I turned around to the mother and mustered up my filthiest look (which must have said it all) and she said "did he do something to ya?". Quite calmly of course (albeit through gritted teeth)I replied he kicked me..for the THIRD time". She scowled at her child and didn't say anything to me so I turned back around and tried to ignore the throbbing in my calf. Her other child was swinging around on the sales reps chair despite her constant reprimands which consisted of her yelling "Byron! Don't make me come over there..you're cruisin' for it".

So while I was waiting I started thinking. I don't have any right to make judgements on this woman, it's probably hard looking after two kids, what would I know? I don't know what kind of day she has had...Telstra probably over-charged her too!

The second thing that happened to me was when I was driving home about half an hour ago and a car driven by a p-plater (it might have been a really old ford laser) was in the round-a-bout so I gave way to it and then nearly started out but then it came flying round again. I was ABOUT to get narky about it. Until I remembered best friend and I used to do EXACTLY the same thing when we were in high school. We used to think it was hilarious making people wait while we went round and round..and round. So I smiled and remembered that instead.

Most people who know me know that I am not the worlds most tolerant or patient person at the best of times. The 'bogan' woman in the Telstra shop annoyed me to no end simply because I would have dealt with the situation differently. Thats where my problem is. Difference. Everybody does things differently. Calling tacos 'tarkos' or 'tackos' is not right or wrong..(although of course it is 'tarcos'), the old NSW vs Victoria debate on castle being pronounced as 'cassel' or 'carsel'..well we all know who is right there (NSW) but again just a difference.

I suppose the most important thing today is that I was pretty tolerant (for me anyway) and that I did smile at those stupid bloody p-platers making me wait for a whole...TWO MINUTES while they drove around and around...and AROUND (hey I said I was PRETTY tolerant).

I won't be posting for a couple of weeks as I am off to Thailand tomorrow so I hope this one tides any readers I have over until then.

- Jen

Wow..ok

So I'm all done...and as I suspected am very much at a loss for what to do now. For the last four years of my life I have had study to do...and now I actually feel a bit guilty or something..I can't quite put my finger on.

I'm waiting for uni liz to get here so we can head up to campbell crt which should be fun. Then meeting up with the man and turtle-lips a little later on.

I got pretty sick the last couple of days but amazingly am feeling a LOT better since around 12:30 today..don't know WHY!

Well thats about all I have to say for now..I'm still in a state of shock really..

- Jen

These three years now just gone pt 2

The Housemates
Originally uploaded by trojen_hoarse.

Third year (2004) saw the arrival of 'The Americans', Kate, Liz, Leah and Colleen which really was a ton of fun (and 'got me out of my shell' as turtlelips puts it . O-week was terrific with toga-party (yes those really do happen), op-shop formal and possibly hawaiian night again (not too sure).

Just after O-week I moved
out of home and it was honestly the best thing I've ever done and the most fun I have ever had. Living with Tom and turtle-lips was an eye-opener thats for sure. We had the great
'lube fight of 2004', which Tom won, I somehow discovered a knack for exploding wine glasses simply by picking them up or looking at them (I think I was just really clumsy), I learned that rubbing your eye after cutting up chilli is never a good idea, that empty boxes of beer make great bins and that I couldn't live with two better people.
Not too long after O-week ended best friend returned from America and not too long after that I made that fateful journey to Melbourne and met the man . 2004 just got better and better for me. I did really well at uni, passing all my subjects including ITC237 (better known as JAVA 2) and of course ITC301 (software development project). About half way through the year I got a job at 'The LAN Mine', where I still work. New Years 2004/05 was the best New Years I have ever had. We didn't do anything exciting like bungee jumping off the harbour bridge at 11:59:59, just went to Melbourne with a few of the guys from 'campbell court' and stayed at the man's , drank coronas all afternoon and then headed out to Jimmy Rowes (pub which was just down the road) for the rest of the night.



Fast Forward to O-week 2005. I think I went to 3 or 4 out of the 5 nights. I remember op-shop formal, 'P' night and maybe traffic light night...it was a lot of fun. 'P' night involved dressing up as or in anything beginning with the letter 'P'. I went wearing my pyjamas and as a surprise the man turned up halfway through the night. At some stage at 'the globe' I had to surrender my pj top to 'the man' because I think he wasn't wearing a shirt or had a bluey..can't remember. I think/hope I had a singlet on underneath.

>Tom had of course graduated and moved out and in an attempt to save some moolah turtle-lips had moved out as well. I was now living with Colin and Dani. Colin was like Tom, one of the nicest people you will ever meet and living with those two was a breeze as well. Dani and I shared our love of music especially Jack Johnson and became so good at procrastinating about doing assignments that while listening to the song 'Banana Pancakes', decided we should actually MAKE banana pancakes, and once we had mastered that decided we should learn the gee-tar (because every needs a hobby right?).

About July this year I decided I needed to save money and moved back home. I really miss living at Woodstock Crt, and I miss being able to go out and not worry about getting home, but being back with the parents is not so bad.

I've done (not counting any chickens), really well this semester. I have worked really hard for this Friday coming (I am nearly all out of whatever has kept me going this long). Last semester I did the best I have ever done with 3 distinctions and two credits and while I can't guarantee the same fantastic results this semester I know that I have worked really hard anyway.

University is not easy by any means. It's been a hard slog thats for sure, but you get out what you put in. Sure you can go through uni and get distinctions for everything, but there are not too many people the man excepted who can go through uni, have a social life AND do that well. It's all about finding a balance. After all what good is an employee who has a transcript full of HD's but can't relate to different people? You learn a lot about yourself at uni and a lot of it isn't in lectures.

I'd best be off now as it's getting late and I have my last full day (eep!) of study ahead of me tomorrow.

- Jen

These three years now just gone..

These three years now just gone, they are the legends of my mind

Where to start?

I thought seeing uni is finishing up I would give a bit of a brief overview of my time at Charles Sturt University. I'm almost finished and will graduate in April next year with a Bachelor of Business/Information Technology (International Business Management). Phew, what a mouthful. I am proud of myself though. I never wanted to give up but there have definitely been times when I've struggled (cough) java (cough) and thought I'm not going to pass this. Then there were the times when I didn't pass. Which was was tough but definitely deserved. To make up for it this past year I have been doing 5 subjects a semester so I can graduate at the same time as everyone else. I don't like to make things easy for myself thats for sure. Here goes.....

First year of uni (2002) O-week (orientation week). I hung out with best friend and met turtlelips and Tom at an underage barbeque (as I wasn't 18 yet). Little did I know in a couple of years I would end up living with them!
As I was at Thurgoona campus and best friend was at Albury campus it was time to cut the apron strings (so to speak) and venture out into the big wide world to find some friends I could call my own. After meeting a charming young lad who went by the name of 'Aza', I mistakenly (or was it?) introduced him to best friend. Unfortuantely for me, best friend and Az hit it off a bit too well.

Meanwhile I'd started to understand that uni was a LOT different to high school...where were the popular people?? You could talk to ANYONE, there were no 'cool kids' and anyone who thought they were (too cool) was ignored! First year I don't remember drinking much at all..of course the drinking that was done in the three years after that could have affected my memory. I managed to pass all my subjects (although had to re-sit one of my exams...the dreaded ITC129 (Fundamentals of Java).

Other subjects I did in the first semster included Introduction to Information Technology (ITC161), Organisations and Management (MGT100), Accounting Info for Business (ACC100) and the aforementioned ITC129.

The second semester I was not so lucky and realised during my Accounting 2 Exam that if I was referring to trees and recycling when talking about 'environmental accounting' then I wasn't going to do too well..so I suppose I knew that FL was coming. I also completed Business Statistics, Introduction to Data communications (where I had my first of many all-nighters completing assignments) and Object-Modelling Techniques (my first class with turtle-lips .

Second year (2003) arrived and this time we had Alex with us at O-week (she had just come back from America), and it was a blast. I seem to remember sewing together some kind of horrible skirt with a tropical motif (for hawaiian night) at the last minute, but it was a really great night. Highlights from 2nd year O-week included me diving head first into a bush and coming out with only one shoe. I am still not sure to this day whether I had the shoe on when I left 'the sloshed cod' (the uni bar) or not but we had to do some shoe swapping to get me into 'the globe'(pub) later with only one shoe on!
Again in 2nd year I failed a subject, macroeconomics no less which was not a hard and I'm really not sure what went wrong there. I did however happen to pass Accounting 2 the second time around! I also did Database Management Systems, Marketing Principles, Microeconomics and ITC125 the Information Superhighway.

In November, the great love saga between Best friend and Az ended and best friend went off to America for a few months. After intially being lost, I found fishing and how much fun all my other friends could be.

To be continued....

Hanging in there...just

cat
Originally uploaded by trojen_hoarse.

Well in less than a week it will be all over, no more exams, no more uni!

And thats about the only thing keeping me going right now. I'm tired, at work, trying to study but procrastinating by updating my blog..and on and on it goes.

It's not that bad, I'm on top of most of my study actually and am only a little stressed about one exam (International Marketing) but I do have Wednesday to study for that too.

The thing that is making me the happiest at the moment is going to bed and calling the man . Then all too soon I am getting OUT of bed and thinking how it seems like I just went to bed. I've been really good with sleep actually. Although I think its more to do with the fact that I changed my phone plan to 'my hour' so can call the man for free between 10-11. So I call the man for an hour and then get to sleep at 11 (calling him back every 20 minutes beats every 10 thats for sure).

Well seeing I'm writing this to procrastinate I'd best get back to the study (Risk Management:Assessing and controlling risk in information security..phun!)

- Jen

One step at a time

me!
Originally uploaded by trojen_hoarse.

Well I had a bit of a freak out today. I think again I started over analysing the huge amount of work I have to get done by next friday (4 exams in 5 days..in less than 4 days time and working on the weekend). Once I remembered the wise advice of my Dad (take everything ONE STEP AT A TIME) I was fine. In fact I worked really hard today. I studied firewalls (what they are and the different kinds), what cryptology is, how to manage personnel in information security, how to construct an ethical argument and revised some stuff on the European Union, the World Trade Organisation, globalisation and political risk.

Phew...no wonder I'm exhausted! And I still have a fair way to go tonight too. But I'm glad I got so much done today. Yay for me.

Anyway back to this one step at a time thing. I was reading some sage advice from 'billy-joe noodle bob' over at pumpkin diary to Bram his son and I remembered that the best advice my Dad gave me was to take things 'one step at a time'. It's good advice and it has worked for me pretty well so far. I have even passed it onto my friends! My housemate last semester was getting stressed by the volume of information she had to take in while studying for an exam, so I gave her the old 'one step at a time' routine.

So remember next time you are stressed, whether it's by the kids, the bills (or even your uni work) just take things one step at a time and you'll be right.


- Jen

"Everything is good for you..if it doesn't kill you"

I started my exams today with my most dreaded subject, International Finance. Now don't get me wrong, the SUBJECT is really interesting, it's just that it has NUMBERS in it. Which I don't do.

I see numbers and I freak out, just like I did in year 2 when my teacher brought out this 'maths' business. In kinder you don't do a lot of maths and I think I was fine then, but come year one, I did hardly any. I was taught reading and writing (comprehension etc) but little maths. While my classmates in year two were happily circling their amounts of oranges and apples, I sat there dazed and confused...where were the writing books with the kookaburras on them? When was reading time? What do you MEAN if I circle 2 lots of 2 oranges I have 4?

From then on it was English good, maths bad. Thats the way it's always been. It doesn't matter that it's only a 'confidence thing' because it definitely is. I proved that today.

Anyway so I have been studying really hard for this exam (my lecturer told me to STOP studying yesterday...which I DIDN'T) and I was glad I did (study hard). I hardly think you can be 'overprepared' for an exam (unless you are neglecting studying another subject).I got in and was happy to see the big mark question was what I had hoped and I was able to answer all the other questions with few problems.

In fact I had a problem where I needed to know the answer to something and had 2/3 variables so made myself up a little equation and bob was my uncle! (actually he is my father but shh). No dramas. A little confidence goes a long way. To you 'maths' or 'normal' people, its probably no big deal, but it is for me.

Tonight I had dinner with Dad, and have been in my room since, playing guitar. I am really starting to get the hang of 'Cold Day in the Sun' by the Foo Fighters and tonight started to learn the intro to 'Kryptonite' by 3 Doors Down which is fun, although I am a bit slow on it still.

So, tomorrow I'm back into it again with four days to study for my next exam...phew thats not long.

- Jen

Exam Countdown: x||||
Days till freedom: |||||||||

Sweet '18th'

the man & I
Originally uploaded by trojen_hoarse.

Yesterday was our 18th month anniversary. Much like our 6th and 12th month anniversaries, we weren't together for it.

But it was nice to be talking to him on the phone on Sunday night at midnight and have him say 'Happy Anniversary' anyway. I remember best friend scoffing at my excitement over our 6 month anniversary, and I remember my excitement over our 1 YEAR anniversary and now THAT seems a long time ago. Hopefully we will be able to spend our 2 year anniversary together.

It's funny, at what point do you start thinking long-term in a relationship? I know I was excited at 6 months because I'd never been in a relationship that long before, but at the same time (and still do) never take what I have with the man for granted. I can remember it wasn't so long ago that best friend was talking about her man at the time and their plans for the future and from the way that ended...well. I will admit that the man and I's relationhip possess some qualities that best friends didn't. So at what point? At a year? Two years? Five? I guess when you start considering things 'as a couple' that it is a pretty good indication.

Best friend commented that the man and I spending Christmas with his family (we're going to mine next year) is like 'we are already married'. Yes this will be my first Christmas Day away from my family (we are going there for dinner on Christmas Eve though so they are not entirely neglected), but I love the man and his family. Both sides of his family are great, and I am really looking forward to spending Christmas in Berrigan (no lie!). I guess it depends on the relationship (as to when you look long-term). I think that we are both lucky that we get along with each other's families, I read lots of blogs out there where people are not so lucky, so I suppose this plays a part in it.

In the here and now everything is fantastic, even if we are apart. I look forward to talking to him every night and take an interest in the smallest thing that makes me feel closer to him (such as what he had for dinner!). Hopefully it will not be too long before we are together and I am (well we both are) hanging out for Christmas to spend some quality time with each other.

Love is the answer,
At least for most of the questions in my heart
Like why are we here? and where do we go?
And how come it's so hard?
It's not always easy and
Sometimes life can be deceiving
I'll tell you one thing its always better when we're together



- Jen

Tired Eyes

Well I think I worked hard today. I know I had the motivation because I TOLD the man not to come up with weekend so I wanted to make sure I got some study done so I wouldn't regret it.

I happened to destroy jentopia this afternoon during some 'minor technical modifications' but all is well now.

I'm a very tired Jenu at the moment but still have another 3/4 of an hour here at work, so here I am....with very sore eyes that are just hanging in there so that they can shut for a couple of hours.

Actually I don't have much else to write except to say to Rae over at Contemplating Albert that you guys should be very excited because I am adding you to my blogroll!! Yay! Well I think I'm more excited than you guys will be, but anyway!

Thats about it, wish me luck for Wednesday afternoon (International Finance) if I don't post by then

- Jen

With these two words I give to you.

With these two words I give to you...impending doom.

Impending doom if you are a broke uni student struggling to save the almighty dollar for a trip to Thailand in 3 weeks.

These two words are: Parking Ticket.

Oh yes you may laugh, you may want to punch yourself in the head like I wanted to, you may cry like I wanted to, you may berate yourself for hours like I DID, but for a struggling little mite like myself it sucked.

Sure $75 thats only what probably 10 squillion items of clothing in Thailand, a new pair of jeans, nearly a service on my car, enough to buy a couple of Christmas presents, a night out, another night out, enough to fill my car up with petrol and have money for another night out. Pocket change really.

Sigh. Not cool.

Although interestingly unlike the 2nd last time I got a parking ticket, there were no tears. Heck I wanted to, what a lousy thing to happen, how am I going to pay it etc etc. But hey, I will be able to pay it, somehow. I mean I shouldn't be a uni student if I can afford to be drinking beer instead of goon! So I'm okay. Maybe I'm growing up and one parking ticket in the big scheme of things is not a big deal.

Not that I'm not still annoyed at myself, unlike the last time I got a parking ticket in Melbourne (which wasn't REALLY my fault) this was my fault and I will admit I should have known better but honestly I did think the parking officer stopped checking at 12 on Saturdays. That'll learn me eh.

Things are also not going so well in the not stressing department. I will be a little more relaxed on Wednesday after my International Finance exam and in less than two weeks 13 (nearly 12 days) I will be Miss Relaxed 2005. In fact I have a feeling walking out of my Computer Management, Ethics and Security exam at 12:30pm on Friday the 25th of November 2005 I will truly happy.

Well I came home to make sure I learn at least one thing today (Currency swaps because I'm having problems with them). So I'd best be off.

- Sigh..(sorry jen)

Re-reading I think I might have actually learnt something at uni. At the moment when I take my 1AUD (thats Australian Dollar folks) over to Thailand, I'm going to get 30.0765 Thai Baht for it. Thats not all (heck you don't need to be smart to use google). So, if the Australian dollar appreciates relative to the Baht (say to 32.0765), my 1AUD buys more Baht and I can buy more in Thailand (because it takes less AUD to buy more Baht). This would be bad for people importing to Thailand to Australia though because while the AUD appreciates relative to the Baht the Baht depreciates relative to the dollar so they get less for their Baht here. Interesting hey.
So for all those people like best friend who wonder what exactly it is I do at uni, there it is (well some of it).

Cold day in the sun

Wish I could take it away
And save you from yourself
You get so lost inside your head like no one else
Are you looking for someone to blame?
Did you blame me all along?
You’ll take the heat
But you would never take the fall


It’s your cold day in the sun
Looks like your bleeding heart has already won



Well I finally learnt how to play the start of this on guitar. It's finger picking which I am damn near hopeless at but for some reason I was surfing through my favourites in my tabs and picked up the guitar and I could play it. Actually it's dead easy. Now I just have to remember how to read chords from tabs and I will be able to play the rest of it. It sounds cool. Like I know what I'm doing.

Today wasn't really a A + day for me. I was a bit slack, getting pretty tired of studying. I'm going to go and try and do a bit more now so the day isn't a complete loss.

Jen

Work it!

work
Originally uploaded by trojen_hoarse.

So this a photo of the LAN Mine team, from left to right we have James Evans, Leighton Weymouth, Jason Hinchcliffe, David Morris, and yours truly.

Just thought this is one of THOSE photos that you look back on and go 'awww those were the days'. And seeing how I won't be working there much longer if I move to Melbourne after exams, well I'm going to miss it. It's my home away from home, a bit like the Cheers bar where there is always someone you know there or something like that. And there is coffee. Anyway its an awesome place to work, in fact going to work is never like 'going to work'. Believe me I've had some poor jobs in my time.

Well not much else to say!

- Jen

Apology for 'mis-print'

I have been informed by some of my most 'avid' readers ('the man' and cam) that I have made an error in one of my posts. The story of the Berrigan Cup may have contained some minimal editorial errors/exaggerations. No the drive to Berrigan is not THAT bad, and for however uninteresting the town itself may be it is the people that truly make Berrigan the place that it is.


Also from here on in cam will be known as Peter Parker as he has requested that he be adorned with a ridiculous alias.
Peter Parker is the man's housemate in Melbourne and is another Berriganite.

- Jen

All the arms around you now

It's the little imperfections, it's the sudden change in plans, when she
misreads the directions
and we're lost but holding hands.

Well tomorrow is the day that best friends man, Dave leaves Albury on his way back to Canada (via Melbourne and Thailand) and understandably they are both a bit sad. I mean unless best friend moves over there (over there being the other side of the world), they are pretty much never going to see each other. Even if she does, it won't be for a little while and it's still going to be hard.

Being in a long distance relationship myself (even if it is 300kms compared to 3000) I can sympathise. Although the longest I have not seen the man for is probably 7-8 weeks absolute tops.

But the thing is, and this is what is going to make it harder for best friend is that the man and I's relationship has always been long distance, we don't know anything different! We are used to seeing each other for 2 days and then on average not for another 2/3 weeks. Where as best friend and her man have seen each other pretty much daily for the past month or so, AND they have lived together.

However the thing about long distance relationships (and this is very important to remember) is that if you love the person enough (and vice versa) it doesn't matter. You MAKE it work. If you can do that you KNOW you have something special because the relationship can handle ANYTHING you throw at it.

Lots of people our age do the long distance thing, it stands to reason that this point in life not everyone is going to be at the same stage (or location!).

In this day and age technology does make things a little easier. You have webcam and MSN, the phone, VOIP and cheap (or free) phone calls all these things that can make it a little easier.

Communication and how you relate to each other plays a big part in it, for instance I could talk ALL night on the phone to the man but can barely say 5 words on the phone to turtle-lips.

SO long distance relationships aren't a lot of fun and if there isn't a light at the end of the tunnel then its going to be even harder. BUT, if you love each other you MAKE it work. None of this too far away business, if you think they are too far away then it probably wouldn't work if you lived with each other either. Its definitely character building though!

A new look jenTopia?

Well it may not happen now, but it could happen soon! There is going to have to be an overhaul of Jentopia. Basically it's just getting too big and there is not enough room on the template I have now to fit everything (everything being the ads I want to put on).

I have two ads on at the moment but to test out this money making theory I really need a lot more, but the light green sides on the template are actually images and not editable so I have no room!

The other templates on blogger don't have the extra room either so I am either going to have to find a template from somewhere else or make my own. Both sound like a disaster.

I'm happy with the side bar I have at the moment, and I like my flickr badge so all that will stay...its a bit complicated. Basically I wanted to have my ads running as
skyscraper' ads down the left and right-hand side of the page but that doesn't look like its going to happen.

We will see.

Also, if I DID manage to make that happen, its going to look terrible, I think the site already looks pretty crowded and the aesthetics of what I'm planning, well it's nothing short of horrible. But like I said it would be only temporary to see if this money making thing actually works.

So keep an eye out for a new look jenTopia. I have exams coming up so it probably won't happen until after they finish (25th November).

- Jen

Sell out with me oh yeah?

I need money, and the people over at dooce.com are making enough money off their blog to feed them and pay their mortgage and insurance premiums. Sounds pretty good to me. I thought I would give it a go, find out if you actually make money or not. I should hear back from the ad place in 1-2 days to find out if my site is good enough..

Maybe you need people visiting your site?

So the experiment begins. I'm sure jentopia is going to look horrible with ads all over it and yes I'm a dirty sellout. But I need the money for my trip to Thailand and this seems like an easy way to do it!

- Jen

Go you good thing!

Makybe Diva
Originally uploaded by trojen_hoarse.

So today was the Melbourne Cup! I got the man to put $5 on Leica Falcon for me as he was actually AT the cup (he lives right around the corner incidentally) and of course the damn horse came 4th.
I don't think a horse that I have ever had in a sweep or placed a bet on has ever done any good! I did go down to 'the star' with uni liz, best friend and best friend's man for a beer and to watch the cup which was a bit 'o' fun!

I also tried out the new donut shop across the street, the coffee was pretty average but I think they are still just learning (hey it wasn't exactly a jenLax so it can't have been too bad).

- Jen
p.s the photo is Makybe Diva...phh

Little Moments

I found this song today the lyrics are really sweet so I thought I would post it up here. The song is 'Little Moments' by Brad Paisely but I heard the song with John Mayer.
-------
Well I'll never forget the first time that I heard
That pretty mouth say that dirty word
And I can't even remember now what she backed my truck into
But she covered her mouth and her face got red
And she just looked so darn cute
That I couldn't even act like I was mad
Yeah I live for little moments like that

Well that's just like last year on my birthday
She lost all track of time and burnt the cake
And every smoke detector in the house was goin' off
And she was just about the cry until I took her in my arms
And I tried not to let her see me laugh
Yeah I live for little moments like that

I know she's not perfect but she tries so hard for me
And I thank God that she isn't 'cause how boring would that be
It's the little imperfections it's the sudden change in plans
When she misreads the directions and we're lost but holdin' hands
Yeah I live for little moments like that

When she's layin' on my shoulder on the sofa in the dark
And about the time she falls asleep so does my right arm
And I want so bad to move it 'cause it's tinglin' and it's numb
But she looks so much like an angel that I don't wanna wake her up
Yeah I live for little moments
When she steals my heart again and doesn't even know it
Yeah I live for little moments like that
----

It was this line that I really liked

I know she's not perfect but she tries so hard for me
And I thank God that she isn't 'cause how boring would that be

I always think thats the reason why the man loves me.

Well I liked the lyrics, but I have a feeling the real song may be a country and western tune.

-Jen

The story of the Berrigan Cup part two

After the races we went back to Cam's got changed...(I love you jeans and shirt!), had some food (I love you food) and eventually headed into the Berrigan Golf and Bowling Club on the bus.
The club was actually pretty good, I don't think I drank anything except water that I can remember but we met the man's sister, her husband and their baby there. So cute! (the baby). I got to hold her an the man was as well. And here was the surprise...he is a baby man! He was holding her did all the right things I was amazed!
We said goodbye to them and to a very sad looking turtle-lips, best friend and her man at around 10 and headed outside in the mud and rain to a tent with a DJ..and apparently a band was playing although I didn't see them!

About midnight we caught the bus back to Cam's and spent an hour giggling, eating cold sausages and ..giggling. It was really fun.
We headed off to our tent (in the rain still) and bunked down for the night. I woke up a short time later to water dripping on my head, thats right the tent leaked. So of course I woke the man up to tell him as well...everytime I got dripped on in fact. Apparently it went something like "the man! I'm getting dripped on again!". So we got very little sleep and woke around 6 (7 with daylight savings the next morning), we got up around then as well because our tent was so full of water and Cam's family has hundreds of chooks which were awake as well!
It was around 10 that everyone decided that seeing how they went home so early and were still in bed that best friend and man's tent should 'collapse'. And collapse it did! It was pretty funny actually. Although I was a bit annoyed when she came out some 10 minutes later and complained of being 'tired'. Try sleeping in a puddle man!

We pretty much all packed up after that and the man and I headed out to see his family for the afternoon which was alright. We saw the baby again and then went over to the man's mum and stepdad's farm as well.

We ended up getting back into Albury about 6:45pm and I had to work at 7 so only had time to get home, have a shower (love you shower) and get to work (only 20 minutes late!). the man came with me and played some F.E.A.R and then ate some chinese and then conked out on the couch while I 'worked'.

Got home around quarter to one and the parentals were still up so said good night to them and went to bed. Woke up to the man saying he was getting picked up in 5 minutes this morning (very sad thing to wake up to) and then saw him off.

That pretty much set the mood for the rest of the day for me, my mouse broke and the one I've got to replace it isn't doing much of a better job. Feeling a bit miserable at the moment because I need to get going on my last assignment...but I'm tired and miss the man a lot already.

The END.

Oh the weather outside is frightful: The story of the Berrigan Cup weekend

As all the good stories do I will begin at the beginning. About five on Friday I began to get ready for the Business Club Cocktail ball, best friend and her new man, Dave came over to pick me up as they had borrowed my car and dropped me off at Campbell Crt. Where I was shocked at my complete lack of 'girlyness'. And I thought I'd been getting better too! Double sided tape, concealer and whether your breasts looked 'perky' or not were the major issues of the afternoon but eventually the boys turned up and we began to get ready to leave (after consuming much champagne and mini pizzas of course). Here was the big surprise the man turned up, dressed up and all! I was so excited! I'd heard a rumour he may of been in town but had no idea he was coming to the ball.

Once we got the ball we had our first 'cocktail', some kind of chocolate cowboy concotion which tasted terrible to begin with but began to grow on you. I met up with uni liz not long after and so began a very fun night.
Some key events were:

- Being kissed hello by a polish student who was shortly after introduced to the man
- Later seeing uni liz and polish student pick-up
- Somehow managing to turn my shoes into skates (yet again) and (yet again) not fall over (this is the 3rd time this has happened in those shoes)
- Decide I was 'way more drunk than what I wanted to be' and then drink about 4 glasses of water in less than the same number of minutes
- Getting into some fun shenanigans with the man
- Have to drag uni liz away from polish student when it was time to go home (and felt really bad about it)

We went home to bed and I awoke the next morning to rain (damn!) and a headache.
After making sure I'd eaten heaps and getting everyone else out of bed (the man took the longest as he was curled up in the foetal position claiming he was never drinking again) we got ready for the cup and headed off to pick up turtle lips drop off uni liz and drive to Berrigan.

I have to say this, the drive to Berrigan SUCKS. I think it is because there is nothing remotely interesting about it, and at the end, well at the end you are in Berrigan so enough said.
Once we got to Berrigan we headed to Cam's house (the man's housemate) and met up with the rest of the gang and started drinking, watched the boys pitch the tents and then the girls drove to the racecourse (about 500m away). The man on the gate was most probably drunk or had something seriously wrong with him and we ended up driving half the way back and smuggling some champagne bottles under the fence to retrieve later, because we couldn't get a park in the racecourse.

I think I saw about 2 horse races the whole day and by about 4:00 had given in and was wearing Trents suit jacket because of the horrible rain. Seriously it sucked. And I think that guys have no idea how cold girls get. They walk around in their suits with their socks, pants, shoes, underwear, shirt etc while we have minimal underwear, shoes that you could kill a person with and usually dresses that tarzan's loin cloth are made out of more material than. I guess this is the reason why all the girls bar best friend and I went back to Albury. Pikers.

Continued: Next post to make reading easier

Robots ate my grandma

You Are an Emo Rocker!

Expressive and deep, lyrics are really your thing. That doesn't mean you don't rock out... You just rock out with meaning. For you, rock is more about connecting than grandstanding.

What Kind of Rocker Are You?

Sojourn to Sydney continued

So after finding a small cafe that didn't look like it was going to take my purse and eat its entire contents I had some croissants and a REALLY great coffee. Its a pity I cant remember the name of this fabulous coffee place otherwise I could start doing reviews! Of course stupid me chose I crumbly food like croissants so I was continually wiping crumbs off and checking I hadn't jammed* myself. At about 8:15 I headed across the road and began the pre-interview count down. I'm not sure if I've mentioned this before but (perhaps not so much in group assessments like yesterday)timing is a key thing to get right when attending an interview. Too early and it makes you look like you have nothing better to do, plus it can inconvienience the interviewer, but obviously you do not want to be late. Late = very bad and very bad = no job. I've found around 3-4 minutes is quite good and 5 minutes is ok. But you have to count for time in the lift. So I'd arrived with 15 minutes to spare, I went to the toilet (10 mins to spare), found the lift I'd have to get in (8mins to spare) went for a walk around the inside of the building (6 mins to spare) and got the lift up praying it was a slow lift. We shot to the 15th floor like a rocket but when I got out of the lift there was already about 4 people there. So I was quite happy with that. We all introduced ourselves which is the first time this has happened at an assessment centre. Eventually we all got given name badges with stickers on them. I was a bit concerned to find mine had a yellow sticker which meant I was being interviewed for IT positions, where as I'd applied for a generalist position (hadn't even filled out the section for IT). When I got to my interview they started asking me IT questions about this SYDNEY job. So I told them I'd applied for the generalist part so they asked me both questions and then I told them I'd put down melbourne as my first preference. So we will see how that goes. We also had a group exercise (which I didn't feel went as well as it had at Telstra), two written exercises and an in-tray exercise. Then we got to go home but not before I'd eaten an exorbitant amount of the free kool fruits (because hey they were free).

And that was Sydney. I honestly didn't like it, I didn't like it in March when I went their and it wasn't any better this time. The people are rude, its hard to get around and the thing I liked MOST was the weather so thats saying something. Melbourne literally has four seasons in one day and I still like it better.

Well thats about it.

Need to finish an assignment today.

Jen











*jammed - to jam is to cover oneself with jam (From the UK TV Show Black Books)

Sojourn to Sydney

I travelled up to Sydney yesterday and managed to catch a taxi to the hotel with no problems. Then my problems began. The hotel wanted an impression of my credit card...thing is, I DON'T HAVE a credit card. Then they wanted $100. Which I also didn't have. Why they don't tell you these things before you get there I don't know. So I had to go get $100 from the bank, which really annoyed me because it was considerably less $$ for shopping. Anyway that settled I was by now quite angry and annoyed, but when I unlocked the door to my room and stepped inside all my anger melted away. The room (sorry apartment) was huge with a kitchen, bathroom and huge living area, oh and a balcony that looked out over Sussex St with Darling Harbour in the background.

Once settled in I headed out "exploring*". I walked up a few blocks went through the Queen Victoria building and then through Myers into Pitt St Mall, had a look around there...looked in Borders the best shop in the world and then walked down to The Rocks. In all I'd been walking for around 2 hours by now and was quite far from where I'd started. It was starting to get dark so decided to head back up to the area around my hotel and search for something for dinner. I was pretty proud of myself I headed back in a completely different direction, ended up on Sussex St, sussed out the place where my interview was at and then walked past my hotel and up another two blocks to Chinatown.

Now the thing about Chinatown is that its really nice and all, but the waiter/resses stand outside their restaurants and try and entice you in. I remembered the very wise advice of the grandparentals and tried to choose a restaurant with lots of people. Now the thing was, there was lots of people...lots of people outside
I walked in...and there was no-one, having already told the waitress I would be ordering takeaway, I felt I'd gone too far into the lion's den to go back now. So ordered some long soup, chicken and cashews and steamed rice. I got back to the hotel $25 lighter and crashed on the couch with 'Everyone Loves Raymond' and my chinese. The soup contained things that resembled dim sims. I took a bite of one and glanced at the meat inside. I nearly died. I spat out my mouthful and threw the rest in the bin. I have to say, I've never eaten feline and/or canine related food before, but this was not NORMAL. It was pink and squishy and a round shape and reminded me of a certain part of human anatomy, that should definitely not be eaten (if any parts should).

The chicken and cashews were okay, not fantastic and not worth what I paid for them, but you get that. The rice was great though!

After dinner I had a bath with Harry (Potter), did some reading for the next day, headed off to bed and talked to the man for awhile and then went to sleep.

I woke up at 5:00am by sunlight streaming through the window..and tried to go back to sleep. I got up around quarter to six, got dressed, watched some news, read some more for the interview and then packed up and stowed my suitcase at the desk. I strolled down Sussex St in search of some breakfast.

..to be continued.






** exploring - wandering with the intention to shop

No matter what, no matter who somebody hates me!

Did I mention in my last post my job was giving me the poopies? I love my job. There is one customer in here who I know, and turtle-lips so I've got the music cranked to Reel Big Fish!

Love my job!

Over and Out!

p.s. It's true, no matter what, no matter who, somebody hates me and I hate somebody too!

When I grow up...

Having worked at The Lan Mine for more than a year now I like to think I have a relatively good grasp of what kids these days are like. I've got to tell you, its not good.

Granted a lot of the 'kids' are teenage boys who talk in monosyllables and who are probably just at a stage where they come across as rude, but the younger kids, the 10 year olds are just plain rude. Some things I've heard include:

- "Get me a milkshake"
- "Tag" (you need a tag to log on so this is their way of going "Hi, would I be able to get a tag please. When they're rude like this I get great satisfaction of being able say we are booked out)
- Various profanities and hitting on computer screens etc

So when I grow up, and have kids*, they're going to have manners, be able to communicate properly (including being able to make phone calls), play a sport (if they want to but will spend some time outside).

I'm just sick of parents sticking their kids in here for hours at a time, although often the parents are as rude as their kids. Try telling them that we have no computers free!

Thats my rant for today. I swear if I have to make another snooty kid a milkshake today I will scream.

Jen
p.s. I am not entirely a horrible person, I did recognise how polite two kids were before and gave them a free half hour card each.

* having kids may or may not happen.

Chuckle Chuckle

This bird flu thing is starting to be a bit scary. I'm not sure how many of my "readers" actually read the newspapers, but every day there has been bird flu found in some other country..

Did you ever see the movie 'Outbreak'? We had to watch it in yr 8 for science...of course that was monkeys and not birds but...well it wasn't pretty.

I did find this amusing ( From The Age Saturday 22nd October 2005) :

THE WORLD REACTS

AUSTRALIA The Federal Government is stockpiling antiviral medicines and said it would close all air and sea ports in the event of an outbreak.

BRITAIN Government to buy vaccine for entire UK population if pandemic breaks out.

GERMANY All poultry confined to pens.


I guess thats just my sense of humour...Australia stockpiling medicine, Britain providing the entire country with vaccine, and Germany are confining their poultry to pens....

I'd better start my assignment now.

Jen

Burning up..and out

So I am exhausted. I mean literally exhausted, I've got nothing left in me. I'm a bit fluey with a runny nose this morning but I don't think I actually have a cold, I've just been going so hard my body has come to a grinding halt. So today I'm not going to do any study. (I don't even have the energy to make my bed let alone write an essay). I have an assignment to start but I've only been just able to get moving..and its 2pm. So I'm going to submit my assignment due tonight and then maybe do some washing.

Speaking of washing...this is how bad my situation is..I have no clean clothes..more specifically underwear..oh yes I've gone through all the pairs of undies you get in 3 packs that you don't ever wear..you know you get two okay pairs and then there is a third (usually that tan colour you never wear). I've gone through them all. I am in fact WEARING dirty underwear as I write this. I had to go through two weeks of dirty clothes and rate my underwear from least to most wearable. At the moment I am wearing my grey snoopy undies. I am washing some clothes right now and will have some clean undies to wear later. Exciting stuff. A whole paragraph on laundry.

The man is a bit burn out too. He has been working every day for the past 3 weeks I think. And plans to work this weekend too. He doesn't HAVE too..at all. He just does. guys man guys. So the Berrigan Cup will be an awesome weekend for both of us to relax. I'm really (obviously) looking forward to it.

So I'm going to go and attempt to clean my room.

Jen

"I've been given my brush and paint, but where will I paint my life?" - Blueside (Rooney)

Warning: Contents may contain dodgy-ness

Warning: This post is very controversial, actually not so much controversial as perhaps slightly unethical on my part. I will avoid using names etc.

So a certain friend of mine tonight informed me of something tonight. Something I bet they hadn't now that I'm posting it on the internet.

A certain manager at a certain computer games store we will call him "Harry" and the computer games store "CG". Anyway Harry being decidedly 'dodgy' came into the shop at closing time, decided the staff working that day had not sold enough and then made the oh so smart decision of paying them for a smaller amount of hours (one staff member apparently worked from 10:30am - 5:00pm and was only paid until 2:30pm

I'm sure that certain people i.e. the person who told me will be outraged that I put this up here and to be honest I'm not entirely sure that it's right either. What I do know is that this is NOT RIGHT, that this manager is pretty much committing fraud.
Besides not paying the staff their correct amount (breaking the law btw) he is lying to the company. I will explain why this is.
Had the manager properly paid the staff, the shop may not have made budget for the day. And this looks poor on the managers behalf. By NOT paying the staff correctly it saves the business money yes, and yes the store perhaps would have made budget. But it is fraud because obviously head office is not getting the proper data for the day. I'm not sure how to explain this any clearer.
Head office makes decisions based on the sales figures and budget reports sent in every day. These decisions include how many hours should be allocated to each store, future budgets etc. By Harry not submitting accurate figures he is leading head office to make changes they may not have to do. I mean if this sort of thing was something that Harry regularly did, not saying that he does, but if it was, and it didn't only stop at short-changing employees, it is something that could seriously affect the store, and to an extent the entire company (for example budgets for the surrounding stores in the region).

Thats just my two cents. I think its very wrong. I really don't know where to go from here. No one really reads this, but as there is not much else I can do about this...here it is in case anyone actually decides to.

- Jen

I'm a MO chick!!!

movember
Originally uploaded by trojen_hoarse.

So as part of the lan mine's community spirit they have decided to participate in "Movember". All the guys from work will be growing a moustache from 1st of November in an effort to raise money to fight prostate cancer. As a 'mo girl' I am supposed to recruit mo growers and also encourage people to sponsor the mo growers we already have!!

Sounds like fun AND it's for a good 'cause!

-Jen


If you want to start your own team, go here
If you want to sponsor us we are team 'Team Lan Mo' (number #468)

A lack of colour

"And when I see you, I really see you upside down,
but my brain knows better, it picks you up and turns you around,
turns you around"

So like I mentioned in my last post I'm really liking this song. It's very much the kind of music I'm slowly getting into. I love it, discovering new music. Sure like turtlelips said he has liked this music before me...but I like finding this myself. Heck best friend tried to get me into Xavier Rudd and I wouldn't have a bar of it. But now I don't mind that 12th of September song.

Anyway I got invited to an assessment centre at ACMA today (they sent me a text message!) but it's in Sydney and its next Tuesday so I'm not entirely sure if I'm going to go. Will have to talk to Dad about that one. I have a couple of irons in the fire already..but I'd be spewing if they both fell through. Will post back later what happens with this.

Well I'm slowly but surely diving back into my usual uni end of year state. The bags under the eyes have started, the 6am mornings (soon to be 5am) have begun (although after I finished some stuff this morning I went back to bed for 40 minutes before uni). This is when I'm at my best and my worst. I'm at my best because deep down I love it, but I'm at my worst because I am so stressed, and I don't take care of myself properly. It was nothing last semester to study from 9-8 in the library and then walk home. But I'm hanging onto the thought this is the last time I will do this.

Yesterday I bought a dress! I like it and I'm really looking forward to the Berrigan Cup so I can wear it yay!!! best friend is lending me her cool necklace and we might be painting me some shoes! (green!)

Well better get back to it!

Jen

Dakota

Well I thought I haven't really done a music post before I thought it might be nice to do a regular 'what I'm listening to post'. So here it is!

Turtle-lips got me onto Dakota by the Stereophonics..its a really good song and I've gotten a few more of their songs since just to check them out...not bad!

I mentioned a few posts ago about Imogen Heap's song 'Hide and Seek', well on my quest for more OC songs I found 'Goodnight and Go', and I dont mind that either its a cross between 'Everyday is a winding road' by Sheryl Crow and a fraction of the whiningness from 'Hide and Seek'

"Why'd you have to be so cute
It's impossible to ignore you
Must you make me laugh so much
It's bad enough we get along so well
Say goodnight and go"

Really liked that bit and also the part

"One of these days
You'll miss your train, and come stay with me
It's always say goodnight and go

When the man and I were getting to know each other he missed his train on purpose so we could spend more time together. That line kind of reminded me of that.

Anyway I think David Gray has a new album on the way so I'm trying to dig up some of that to have a listen.

Also another great song is 'A lack of colour' by Death Cab for Cutie, check it out.

Two hot chicks

So best friend and I went out last night (well last afternoon to be more precise) we started at The Bended Elbow where we had a free sample of their beer of the month. Can't remember what it was. Then we strolled down to Paddy's enjoying the sunshine and started drinking pints of beer (this was at maybe 5pm or a bit earlier). I wasn't too excited about drinking pints of carlton (like turtlelips I am more of a boutique beer drinker or drink corona's)but they went down pretty well! We started getting a bit peckish so ordered a garlic and herb log thingo which for some reason also came with a bowl of potato gems, mini dim sims and spring rolls (hey we didn't complain!). We had nachos for dinner, all the while consuming more pints while getting hit on by guys (one of whom got kicked out for using the bar as a urinal). We ended up going home at about 11:30 which was great because I had a huge sleep and then woke up and was fine, I felt BETTER than I normally do in the morning.

I was looking forward to meeting up with other liz but it didn't end up happening because I piked so early. Anyway's I have a ton of study to do...so I'd better hit the books!

Jen

October - May = 5 months!

A picture of me!
Originally uploaded by trojen_hoarse.

So I owe the man an apology. He pointed out to me that 18 months will be the 14th of November..not October. He also promised that we will do something special then. Apparently the 17th month anniversary isn't a big deal (who knew!).

If you are reading this the man, I'm sorry I can't count.
And I feel like a bit of a goose..hence the picture

The Medical

So I had my first medical yesterday, I was poked and prodded (and not in a good way).

No surprises that I'm underweight with a BMI of 17.5. I did weigh less than I thought I did and that was fully clothed. The first doctor was really nice, she said according to the BMI thing I'm supposed to put on 10 kilos and she goes "but you don't want to put on 10 kilos do you?" and I said (predictably) "no". Then she busts out "well you don't see overweight racehorses do you?" Funny stuff. I took it to mean that I'm healthy not that I have an characteristics of a horse.

The hearing tests (while weird) were fine and the eyesight test was ok, but the NEXT doctor...I did not like.

I had to take off all my clothes (again not in a good way) and put on this gown and then he goes "now I'm going to have to get you to bend over". And I was about to get the hell out of there because no job is worth THAT much! then he clarified what he meant when he said "so I can check your spine".

PHEW!

Everything else was fine and that was the medical!

Jen

A plus and a minus = ?

So I think I may have mentioned way back in September how I had done an assignment for Ethics and that I seriously thought I was going to fail (really I did!) anyway I got the assignment back last night, ripped the envelope open...and a modest 92/100. Or a HD for the uninitiated! So yay! I was so happy I rang best friend and then the man. Best friend was excited but then when I got to talking to the man he said he isn't coming up this weekend.
Which you know.. is ok. He wants to save money or whatever, I'm not going to see him now til the Berrigan Cup (2 and a bit weeks away). I'm just really disappointed because we will have been together for 1 1/2 yrs on Friday (when he was meant to be coming up) and I had all these elaborate plans thought up, so I told him that that was why I was upset and he said how it's only 18 months, and what are we supposed to be celebrating that we've been able to stand each other for 18 months?

Best friend was a bit the same but she has never exactly been a beacon of positivity when it comes to the man and so I wasn't bothered.
I didn't think of it as.."wow we've been together for a while now good on us". I thought of me surprising the man and then us going out to dinner or something, not to celebrate how long we have been together but because we love each other (well at least I love him). But I guess it's not to be.

It's probably not really a big deal. But it sure dampened my excitement about my assignment :(

Anyway just got back from a bike ride and need to go and jump in the shower.

Jen

Tired Eyes

So I'm pretty tired right now. I had a little freak out last night when I started thinking how exams are soon and it feels like I haven't done any work for some of my subjects. Not cool.

Well this is just a quick post, just finished one assignment and am starting another one.

That is all!

Sorry...

333collins3
Originally uploaded by trojen_hoarse.

So this is the hallway to the lift bank where you walk along and each "set" of lifts e.g. to levels 1-10 has its own little hallway that runs off this big one.

I'm still in awe!

From Flinders

333collins
Originally uploaded by trojen_hoarse.

This is the building from Flinders St station, its the big one in the background with the dome

UNBELIEVABLE!!

333collins4
Originally uploaded by trojen_hoarse.

So I had a job interview today. Imagine that your best friend told you that she likes girls and then slapped you in the face with a dead fish.

Thats what my face would have looked like when I walked into this place. This is just a picture of the ROOF..I felt like I was Harry Potter walking along diagon alley for the first time. My jaw was on the floor.

I got there a couple of minutes too early...its so hard to judge the punctual but not TOO punctual thing. I like to go for right on 5 minutes..but anyway I thought 'hey I will go to the toilet I just walked past (I get pee anxiety when I'm nervous) so I walk in...again jaw drops everything is in black marble...it was AMAZING!

Anyway...gotta go...just had to share!

Jen! It's a bomb!

So I was sleeping peacefully next to the man last night when I felt him sit up so I half woke up....to him throwing his alarm clock at me and yelling "jen, it's a bomb"...

Nothing like that to scare the pants off you...

Especially when it was ticking.

This wasn't the first time something like this has happened.

I woke up a bit disoriented one night at the man's house and asked "where am I". To which the sleeping man replied "We're in Kokoda Jen"...I nearly fell out of bed and said "WHAT?"...then he started talking about how we have to "fall back"...so I ask him "WHAT ARE YOU GOING ON ABOUT?"...and of course "it's in the book Jen" like how could I NOT know that. (He was reading Kokoda by Peter Fitzsimmons at the time) Der Jen huh.

So my new pyjamas consist of a battle helmet, a sword, some armour and some flannelette bottoms with rabbits on them (just for good measure).

Jen

Oh you know I did it, it's over and I feel fine

Phew, so one assignment down. 5 to go...then 5 exams. But anyway, it's done which is awesome. I have class in 45 minutes so I've grabbed some food and am at the lan mine filling in time now that I've printed the assignment off.

I'm still a bit hungry actually...

I'm really annoyed at the lecturer for this subject, he pretty much isn't available most of the time (it took him 5 days to reply to my last email) and there isn't anyone else at uni who can help (depsite dad telling me there is).

So with a little help from a student who has done the subject before, and my friend Liz we nutted out something that resembles an assignment.
Anyway, its done now.

I have till friday when the man gets home from work to finish another assignment (3000 word report) which I haven't started typing yet (done a fair bit of research though), then I have saturday and sunday at work (and possibly monday) to start and finish another assignment (as well as my weekly essay too). So I'm going to be pretty busy! (i.e. may not write in here till next week sometime).

I'm looking forward to Saturday night though, the man and I are supposed to be going to one of his/ours friends house for dinner and a movie.
I tried downloading (yes I know I'm bad) a movie (never done it before). Left it running overnight and was pretty excited to see it had downloaded when I woke up, I opened it up expecting to see "The Wedding Crashers" and got instead, 2 hours of "Ghetto Wars". It's two HOURS of black people fighting each other.

I learned my lesson!

Jen

Music that gets me moving

I just realised I really like the Black Eyed Peas! I noticed at work on Sunday night that there is a direct correlation between Black Eyed Peas songs and me dancing. I was dancing while I was making a coffee and "Don't Lie" was playing...I was dancing while I made a milkshake and "Lets get it started" was playing too!

Well its that time of semester. When I can see a small light at the tunnel. I know the next 2-3 weeks are going to be hell. But that light at the end of the tunnel which is the Berrigan Cup is keeping me going.

Off to melbourne tonight after hopefully handing a completed assignment in, attending class etc.

Then I have a job interview here on Friday, then hopefully hand another assignment in on Friday night, and another on Monday...(see this is the hell I was referring to!)

So I've gotta get moving....

Jen

Reprise: What..the..hell..is going on?

Where are we? What..the...hell...is going on?

I lashed out at an idiot on the uni forums today who told someone who had planned on going to Bali in the coming weeks that they would probably be safe because they've been bombed now so it won't happen again. Well that really got my goat because I'm pretty darn sure thats what the people who are over there holidaying now were probably thinking.

Obviously terrorism does strike twice in the same place.

I'm supposed to be going to Thailand in December and there are already DFAT warnings out for the lower parts of Thailand (we're not going there and they aren't advising against going there altogether), and DFAT warnings out for bird flu.

So it makes you a bit scared I suppose, its a crazy world we live in.

I read a lot of newspapers and watch a lot of news and so you hear a lot of sad things that go on like a teenager who was killed this week when a ute rolled on him. Its sad because you think how bad their family must be feeling right now, and with the first reported Australian death in the Oct 1 Bali Bombings a 16yr old..its just really terrible.

It's nuts that the people who carry out these crimes think that they are doing the right thing. It seems like most terrorism incidents these days are carried out by suicide bombers, so they'd REALLY want to believe in what they are doing.

Anyway, not much else to report. Went out last night it was great, I danced, I drank and not feeling too bad today. Also caught up with my old housemate Tom with turtle-lips which was great.

Better finish this assignment.

Jen

I'm a charmer

Your Personality Profile

You are dependable, popular, and observant.Deep and thoughtful, you are prone to moodiness.In fact, your emotions tend to influence everything you do. You are unique, creative, and expressive.You don't mind waving your freak flag every once and a while.And lucky for you, most people find your weird ways charming!

The World's Shortest Personality Test

Pretty spot on!...I'm hope people really do find my weird ways charming.

My future house!

matt's house
Originally uploaded by trojen_hoarse.

So if all goes well and according to plan this is where I will be living next year! I'm trying my hand at the photo blog thing from flickr.
Also I finally put word verification on my comments so no more people placing weird ads on this blog!

Jen

Jen-I-am

I do not like Chicken and Jam
I do not like them
Jen-I-am

I do not like them here or there
I do not like them anywhere
Not in a house, not with a mouse
Not here or there, not anywhere
I do not like Chicken and Jam
I do not like them Jen-I-am

----
In case you couldn't tell I've been really missing fruit (and to a lesser extent meat). I am very very sick of chicken as I have had it the past 5 out of 6 nights (last night I had fish for a change).

I am also sick of cereal, jam on toast and cheese.

So today I bought apples, bananas, grapes and a date scone to eat while I'm at work. The apples are chilling in the fridge they're going to be great!

Well I'd better go do some study, make the most of my day!

Jen
p.s. If you couldn't tell (and SHAME on you if you couldn't) the poem is green eggs and ham by Dr Suess with some slight changes.

What..the hell..is..going..on

Been listening to "hide and seek" by imogen heap. It's from the last episode of season 2 of the oc. It's a very good song. Besides Adam Brody and Mischa Barton the thing I love about the oc is the music. I was watching the special features on my dvd of S1 and the musical director was saying how her job is to look at the scenes and try and find a song (preferably new music) that fits it. I reckon they do a brilliant job, "hide and seek" is from the scene where the cars are coming around the coast after Caleb's funeral, and at the end where Marissa has shot Trey. I've discovered a lot of songs from bands I'd never heard of from the oc, it's great no more mainstream music for me, until they become mainstream like The Killers.

Well I'm pretty stressed out at the moment, I have an assignment which is absolutely killing me. It seems like everywhere contradicts itself. I have a job interview next friday which I suppose I should go and organise. Just thought I'd check in.

jen

You really do learn something new everyday

For instance, this morning I learnt that despite however good idea it may have seemed at the time, you can't use elastic bands as a capo on a guitar (I was trying to learn 'Babylon' by David Gray).
Just yesterday I learnt that telling a doctor you have blood in your poo is never a good idea. Now there is an extensive list of things I can't eat and have to poo in a cup for three days (luckily cereal is not on this list).

So not much has been going on, unless you count the pooping in the cup (which starts in 2 days time). I'm hoping the blood was from the Kangaroo I had for dinner on Thursday night (I'm not kidding) but the doctor wants to check its not coming from somewhere else.

best friend was very helpful when she told me I should "stop taking it up the arse". As turtle-lips and anyone who participated in the riveting conversation on that very topic that took place at The LAN Mine not so long ago knows, I don't play that way. In fact I firmly believe that this is perhaps one of the few exceptions to the "You don't know until you have tried it rule". I'd eat snails, worms, a bucket of parmesan cheese and run over hot coals naked before I would do that*

I think today I may be having lunch (although WHAT I am going to eat will be a mystery) with bestfriend and other jen, then I am working for a couple of hours, then it's steak night or perhaps beer and chips night for me....
Hopefully I can sneak some study in there somewhere ...eek actually scrap steak night I want to get some more preparation for my job interview tomorrow in.

Well thats about it,

Jen







*naked running over hot coals may not be entirely accurate

Grumpy old Jen

So I am in a filthy mood. Every so often I get like this, and there isn't really any way that I snap out of it easily either. The best thing is for me to be left totally alone.

My mood is getting worse and worse....because I'm at work.
Actually it's a combination of things,

- the man and I have been together (as in not having to talk on the phone) for about 2 weeks now, pretty much living together. It's been great, but now he's gone for a boys weekend in Berrigan, then tomorrow he is catching the train back to Melbourne...and I won't see him for awhile..

- I have assignments to do and I'm completely fed up!

- I am still a bit sick (brown pee anyone?)

- 7 kids who have no idea how to play computer games came in for 2 hours, and drove me absolutely insane. Why parents have a birthday party in a freaking computer cafe when none of the kids know how to play is beyond me. Sure its fine if its just one or two kids who need help but when there are kids younger than 10 who all need to be shown how to do absolutely freaking everything, I tend to get a bit short and snappish (despite my best attempts to remain calm).

- I have no food. the man was supposed to be getting me some cereal from the supermarket for me but he's skipped off for his boys weekend....I ate my lunch at 11:30 (a leftover homemade mini pizza) and my stomach is crying out for some cereal.

- Only 1 week of holidays left to do heaps of work that I know other people at uni will be ahead of me in and I'm so far behind.

All this adds up to a pretty filthy cranky Jen.

Well that's all my whinging done...better get back to ..something.

Grrrr

Jen

I'm a hard act to swallow

So, I've been pretty sick. Only for a short time and I'm well on the way to recovery now but I woke up Friday with a sore throat, by the time I got to the Royal Melbourne Hospital on Friday arvo (to pick the man up!) I was feeling very sick indeed. I thought I would climb the 8 floors of stairs to get to where the man works (for exercise purposes) got to the 2nd and was very wobbly and dizzy. I thought well hey now Jen, you're sick, better take the lift. So I jumped into the first lift I laid eyes on...and it was one going down...so I went down 2 floors...and then up 8 floors. At least I fitted in (looking sick).

After I met the man I protested that I was fine (damn fine some would say) and we headed over to the exhibition centre to look at motorbikes...and there were LOTS of motorbikes. I tried to maintain an interest really I did. But I am after all a girl. I mentioned I liked the.."blue ones" and then after an hour or so we jumped on a tram back to the man's house. Me looking sweaty and as if I'd swallowed a couple of golf balls (by this stage I was in quite a bit of pain, it REALLY hurt to swallow).

When we got back to the man's he decided we should prolong our departure back to Albury until I felt better (around this time I was thinking I'd feel better in a hearse but anyway) so I settled down in front of the heater in a bean bag and was fed water and gourmet chocolates and then I was sat in a bath until I felt fractionally better.

Some Nando's got me feeling a bit perkier and the man settled in for a long drive back to Albury (I drove maybe the last hour and slept the rest of the way). The man's mates were having a night out (including turtle-lips) and he was keen for me to come out with them (even if I did look like death), I however resisted any attempt to move and dropped him off and went home, took some cold and flu tablets, shivered in winter pj's, under a doona in bed in a 30 degree house and decided that no, I am definitely not a hypochondriac and that I was, most probably, dying.

Spared by death, I was however not spared a slurred phone call at FIVE AM from the man who was dropped off by his friends and whose breath smelled remarkably unlike beer...of course not he'd been doing lots of shots ("I don't fink I shoulduv done so many shhotss") and drinking smirnoff blacks...it was at this time I looked back on my "big cup night" and was thankful that however close to death I may have imagined myself to be, it wasn't alcohol related.

I'd passed off my shift at work to James who was more than happy to do it, which was great (thanks James) and slept most of the morning along side smirnoff breath (aka the man). We got up around 12:30 and headed into town and met up with a few of "the boys" for some "breakfast" (I had a few bites of nachos). I was starting to feel quite lightheaded again and the man and I ended up driving over to Wodonga to find him some snowboard boots. Here's the thing..this BUG that I had. It messes with your head. I slowed down and nearly came to a complete stop at a green light (and got a very strange look from the man)
We found his boots, and headed back to see Charlie and The Chocolate Factory (we actually saw it this time) in Gold Class and it was great. I really enjoyed it, it seemed truer to the book which was good..unless you are a Roald Dahl fan you won't pick it though.

We stopped off (for some insane reason) at a party (at my old place) on the way back. I was plied with beer which the mere sight of made me feel sick. I don't care what they say that is one horse I am NOT getting back on in a hurry.
The man had a beer though and was nearly finished it when my shivering, swaying and generally state of..un..well..ness had people at the party advising the man to "er I think you should take Jen home dude"..and not in a good way (if there even IS a good way).

Once I got home the shivering continued until I fell asleep..and woke up at 6:30am to take the man to turtle-lips' house as they were off snowboarding for the day. I went home...dosed up one some more night time tablets and slept ALL DAY. I worked for a grand total of an hour and a half, before being whisked off for a pub meal, then exchanged clean sheets for chicken schnitzel puke stained ones with best friend and headed back to Melbourne (I drove felt pretty perky).

So today, I'm feeling much better. Throat is still a bit sore, but I can dig it. At least (for now) I'm not dying..which is always good.

Taking today very easy, then might finally try some study tomorrow.

Jen

Seedier than a bird aviary.

So Monday night was the event turtle-lips and I have been hanging out for "big cup night" up at Falls Creek. After scouring Albury for a "big cup" (we found a nice 2L model, no spout, no measurements, and with a handle).
We headed up Monday afternoon and while we waited for best friend to finish work we had a beer at the Bogong Hotel, then headed into Mt Beauty.
After turning down a warm beer at best friends house and drinking lots of water to eliminate a headbuster of a headache that was building, we grabbed some dinner then headed up the mountain.
We took a [sarcasm] leisurely stroll [/sarcasm] through the snow to reach "The Man" (no not the man unfortuantely) where we proceeded to the bar only to have them tell us that they wouldn't fill up our big cups because they were "plastic". Much grumbling from me ensued with turtle-lips dumping half his cup into mine leaving me with the impression that he has never poured a beer in his life!
I was especially annoyed that they would fill up other people's thermoses (plural?) and not our cups. Apparently they also discriminate between different types of plastic.
After discovering the [sarcasm] wonders of a "jager bomb" [/sarcasm] I ended up being very very VERY intoxicated. A little help from turtle-lips was needed for forward motion in the legs (aka walking) and we headed home..

I awoke the next morning to a somewhat embarrassing question from best friend. "Does your mouth taste like spew". I mean my mouth always feels nasty after a night out so I didn't question it. Until I saw what look somewhat like a chicken schnitzel roll...and smelt a little bit like jagermeister.
Oh dear.

Anyway I'm in melbourne and we are off to see Charlie and The Chocolate Factory...gotta run

Jenu.

How to throw up on your friends (get away with it) and influence peple

This is the official Jen "how to " guide part one: "How to throw up on your friends (get away with it) and influence people.

1. Do not answer yes to any question the same or similar to: "Does it taste like spew in your mouth?"
2. Do not admit to fact that you had a dream about throwing up (previous no-puking while drinking records will be deemed invalid)
3. Do not attempt to blame said "puke" on only other friend sleeping next to you...when they know they haven't done it.
4. NEVER EVER drink jagermeister (sp?) and red bull...separately OR together!


Unfortuantely for me, I failed all 4 of the above steps....and so have resigned myself to being known as "Jen - the girl who threw up on her best friend". Yes you read that correctly, I threw up on best friend as if this relationship needed anymore "help"

All should be well, have washed doona cover, sheets and will get the doona dry cleaned.
There is one thing I am glad of...that I have already turned 21 and will not have to endure best friend making a speech involving the time I threw up on her and for that I can be truly grateful.

Jen

50 Things about me!

1. My name is Jennifer Kathleen Unsworth
2. All my names have 8 letters (which I like because it is nice and neat)
3. I was born in Wagga Wagga, NSW
4. I now live in Albury, NSW
5. I'm planning to move to Melbourne, VIC in December/January
6. To live with my boyfriend, the man
7. We are currently in a long distance relationship
8. Which sucks
9. I am also in my last semester of a four year university degree (BBus/BIT (International
Business Management))
10. I don't play any sport
11. I'd like to play a sport (suggestions anyone)
12. I like mexican food..a lot!
13. Scrap that...I just like food a lot!
14. Except parmesan cheese...that makes me very very nauseous.
15. I don't have any real hobbies as such, although I am trying to learn the guitar
16. I am going to Thailand in a couple of months for two weeks
17. I still have to go and get the shots for the trip
18. I should probably do that soon
19. I like drinking with friends, even though I don't do it very often anymore
20. Last year (2004) was the first new years I have enjoyed
21. I currently live with my parents
22. No, I am not a loser I just moved back home to save some $$ (you judgey judge judger)
23. We have 2 cats and 2 dogs (which I like because it is nice and neat)
24. The dogs names are Tammy (black lab) and Pip (Golden lab), the cats are Tibbert (tabby)
and Maggie (I don't know WHAT she is...crazy and chubby)
25. I'd like to own a cat OR a dog at some stage (but I'd be too sad if I had to get them put
down or if they got skittled
26. I'd like to have kids someday too..but the chances of me having to have them put down are
slightly smaller
27. I absolutely love music..almost any kind except for death metal and dancey dance music
28. I work at and internet cafe/LAN gaming shop in town, the work is pretty easy and most of
the time I enjoy it
29. I used to be a purveyor of video games at Electronics Boutique
30. I used to be a purveyor of grocery items (I HATED IT)
31. I'm running out of ideas fast
32. My favourite song is...I'm not sure anymore. It used to be everlong by the Foo Fighters
33. My favourite album is still "The Colour and The Shape" - by the Foo Fighters
34. I don't smoke or particpate in any drug taking etc
35. My parents are still together (well it's not so common these days)
36. I hate it when people don't listen
37. I extremely dislike bossy people
38. I am (or according to the myer briggs type indicator test) an introvert, of type ISTJ
39. I think my mum is ISTJ as well, and my dad is ESTJ!
40. I am a lot happier than what I used to be
41. I attribute part of this happiness to the man and part to having a lot more friends. It's hard
not to be happy when people care about you.
42. I'm going to try to get to 50
43. I like vegemite on fresh bread rolls
44. Like most kind of seafood
45. I am never eating okonomiyaki (japanese style pizza) again!
46. My head hurts
47. I really like my blog
48. It means I whinge to less real people
49. Which I'm sure they appreciate
50. Thankyou for reading!

But then he's like a greyhound...toned

So just chatting to some guys at the lan mine, one guy was discussing his fiancee and how "as soon as we got engaged...she cut her hair!" Apparently though it's when people keep up their appearance in a relationship that its worrying because it means they're not comfortable. Well if you think I'm going to stop doing my situps (well I have to start doing them again now I'm on holidays, because I've started to go back to Miss Squishy Stomach again) well you can just forget that! Hey just because I'm comfortable, doesn't mean I don't want to look good!

I realised that I pretty much completely screwed up my ethics essay, I mean the essay was okay but I don't think I really got the point of what I was supposed to be doing. I wrote about the government being like big brother to protect the community but I didn't really argue enough which is what was the whole point. I think I will be very lucky to pass actually...which isn't very good. I will have to check out what the next essay is and make sure I do a really good job on that.

Not much else to report, scouring the net for some good stuff to read, having a few days off and I'm bored already!

Jen