Well How Do You Do, I'm the Language Police

I know that I use parenthesis and run on sentences far too often so I'm probably not in the best position to judge other's writing, grammar, punctuation, or pronunciation, but Come On! You guys are killing me! I've heard two different people at work say "pacifically" or "pacifics"....they aren't talking about someone doing something calmly and they aren't talking about two parts of the Pacific Ocean; what they are trying to say is Specifically and Specifics. Whenever I hear it, my hackles rise and I have to bite my tongue to stop myself from correcting them. The worse part is, they won't say it once. They will get on a role and use the word/s in their conversation in every other sentence. That's how I've been able to ascertain I didn't just mishear the word to begin with. They really like to remind me/the customer that they are using the word incorrectly!

Alright, take out your pens and proofread my posting now. Hahaha, oh man, you all must hate me at this point-no new entries to read for nearly a month and then I come on with a quick rant about pronunciation.

My apologies!

I guess I could leave you with a quick run down of what has been going on with me since my houseboat trip:

-My Christmas was not bad. We had a busy day going to different family members' houses and baking, but it didn't feel like Christmas so Nae texted me at 4:15 on real Christmas morning and I got to watch on the webcam as everyone opened their presents back home. My family sent us two different packages filled with some basic necessities we were running low on like Mexican food stuff and underwear (hahaha, we are spoiled! MOTH only wears Old Navy ones now and I only wear American Eagle...tmi??)

-We went nuts at the Boxing Day sale, but with our engagement present gift cards, we ended up getting a lot of stuff without being out of pocket (except for the bed and dryer we bought!)

-I got told my last week of annual leave got rejected so it's kind of thrown a spanner in the works for our trip to CA to wedding plan and visit family and friends, but I'm working on some solutions.

-Nae is leaving at the end of the month for her 2 year trip to South Africa to study sharks and I won't get to see her before she goes...pretty devastated! She has made up for it a little by sending us an 18 month calendar that is all about her that is pretty hilarious though.

-I got tentatively diagnosed with not full blown Celiac Disease but a "sensitivity" to gluten that the doctor thinks is causing all my stomach problems and headaches so I've started a gluten free diet (as of Tuesday) to see if a month of being gluten free cures me.

-We spent New Years with the majority of our friends at a pretty town called Forster about 3 hours north of where we live. We fished, we swam off of sand bars, MOTH Dude caught and then lost a fish, we tooled around on the boat, we watched fireworks, we walked...good times and very, very strange to be sweating on New Year's Eve!

-We've decided to start our trip back to the States with a stop over to Kauai with my parents (MOTH's can't make it due to MOTH Dad needing some intense shoulder surgery that he is hoping will be scheduled finally in April) and I just booked the flights from Kauai to Oakland tonight!

Tonight We're All Still Young at Heart

Image from barringtonriversideretreate.com.au

Saturday morning I woke up with a headache so bad it made my eyes water! I had to suck it up though as we had a 2 and a half hour drive ahead of us to it out to Gloucester, where the Runner and the Smooth Talker were getting married. I was able to find some headache medicine right before we left and that seemed to knock the headache out pretty well.

It was a pretty drive and MOTH and I had fun in the car and talked about how it felt like road tripping in America. We were the first to arrive at the cabins we were all going to be staying at for the night and had our pick of the 4 so we chose the one with the best view of the river below. Not long after, our bunk mates The Farmer and Tinkerbell (who hates this pseudonym and whom I still need to think up another one for) arrived and after them came LC, Bob Marley, the Hairdresser, the Soccer Player, Croc, and the Teacher. All the boys hung out on the porch drinking beer and making a trip down to feel the water while us girls took over the main bedroom of our cabin and the Hairdresser very nicely did all of our hair for us. We then got dressed and started to head out for the ceremony. I started to feel a bit headachey again before we left, but figured it was just because I was a little overheated.

The ceremony was at a beautiful hill overlooking the whole valley and town of Gloucester. The Runner teared up as she walked down the aisle and I teared up with her. It was a short and simple ceremony, but by the time it was over, I was starting to feel really sick to my stomach so I told MOTH Dude I needed to go sit in the car in some air conditioning for awhile. Being a good guy, he left the after ceremony drinks, pictures, and canapes to check on me a few times. After a while, the air conditioning just wasn't doing it for me so I stumbled out of our car and very classily got down on my knees in my pretty dress and heels and puked behind a tree. I felt better for a few minutes so I went down and joined our friends again. But then I started to not feel so great again and MOTH offered to take me in to town to try and find some medicine so I wouldn't be sick all night. We made it in to town just as the last grocery store was closing. I explained to them how I had just been sick and could I please run in for some quick medicine. They don't have much variety in grocery stores here like they do in the U.S. but we grabbed whatever we thought might help me. I took some Alka Seltzer that was supposed to be for headaches and upset stomachs. About that time, our friends arrived in town to go to the pub to wait for the reception to start. MOTH got me a gingerale and I sat outside with the girls trying to get some air. I felt bad for MOTH having to keep missing out on the fun so he went inside to play pool with the other boys. Twice I ran out to in front of the pub to try and catch a bit of breeze to make me nausea go away. Finally, (TMI coming up so beware if you're squeamish) I couldn't hold it any longer and I did 3 big heaves in to a planter outside of the pub. I'm sure I just looked like a hot mess and a bad drunk to anyone who saw, but I couldn't help it, nor could I face puking in the pub's bathroom. MOTH came out just as I finished and I started crying. I felt so awful and just wanted to go back to the cabin to lie down. He convinced me to wash my face and grab some fries aka chips to eat and that seemed to do the trick.

It was then time for the reception. It was a fun night with everyone else doing lots of drinking (I was driving, plus nothing sounded worse than drinking on top of having already been sick) and dancing and taking scandalous and funny pictures together.

There was a tiny bit of drama at the end of the night when we went to say good bye to the bride. I told her that I know I'm flakey so it may have seemed that that was what I was doing the weekend before when I missed her bachelorette party, but that I had been sick with other stomach issues. I told her about being sick that night. She didn't seem to believe me and had some issues about our cabins, as well. It was sad to see her upset on her wedding night and upset at me/the other girls(?) specifically because we hadn't actually done anything wrong and it was a shame that people were telling her crappy things about us. I guess you can't be in a group our size without a bit of drama between everyone every once in a while, though. Hopefully she came away believing what we had said, but I'm not sure. I hope to speak to her when she gets back from her honeymoon to reiterate that we didn't say anything negative about her, her bachelorette party, or her choice of accommodation for us-there was just a lot of confusion and third party misinformation.

After the reception, we all headed back to hang out at the cabin and decompress from the night. At the stroke of midnight, we roused the Farmer from his room and sang Happy Birthday to him. The rest of us made it in to bed between 1 and 1:30.

In the morning, we got up waaaaaaay too early (7:30!!) and sat out on the porch again and watched the river. We then made breakfast, packed up, and all headed down to the river where MOTH and the Soccer Player took an unintentional, that turned in to intentional, dip in the river.

I don't think anyone wanted to go and we discussed getting a big house together somewhere at the beach to share sometime soon. We then got in to our separate cars and headed home. Other than being sick and the bit of drama that unfolded, it was a fantastic weekend away!

You Can Have the Best of Me

I got up with Boyfriend at 5:15 this morning...man, I had forgotten how early 5:15 is! Only a couple of weeks ago I was getting up on my own at that time while I was adjusting to being back in the time zone, but this morning it was a definite struggle and man, oh man, was it cold! I took a train and then a bus out to my old university and had over an hour to kill so I did some wandering around. I also went to check in at the graduation office to ask them how I go about getting my diploma (a year late, but minor details). Apparently it had been mailed over last May to my parents' new address, but we never received it so they are looking in to it for me.

Soon enough it was time to head to the HR Department and do the interview. It was held on the Aussie 1st floor (but what I would call the 2nd floor) and it was sweltering in the waiting room. I thought maybe it was just me, sweating bullets, nervous about the task at hand, but then I overheard a few ladies walking by commenting on the heat, as well, and felt better. Luckily, when the main interviewer came to get me she assured me the interview room was much cooler and it was, though when I stood up after the interview I was sweaty behind my knees from being nervous!

I think the interview went fairly well. All three of the interviewers were really nice and gave reassuring smiles and head nods as I spoke so that made me feel more comfortable, too. I don't know if all of my answers dazzled them, but I did my best and answered truthfully and tried to dazzle them with my personality because I figure in a customer support role like that, that will be a deciding factor. As you always do after an interview, I analyzed every thing I had said and realized there were a few things I had wished I had added, but hadn't so when I sent my thank you email to them this afternoon I added those two clarifications. I've never sent a thank you note after an interview, but I have read a lot recently about what a good idea they are. If nothing else, if they hadn't seen my enthusiasm in the interview, they could see it in my follow through. They ended the meeting by saying they had a bunch of candidates to interview today (yikes!) and that tomorrow they would check our references and that I could expect to hear back later in the week or more likely, early next week. I'll be anxiously waiting it out and trying to think positively until I know. This job would do a lot to help me finally, finally feel settled here- I've got the family unit, I've got a little house we're settled in to, now all I need is a job like every other person my age has and I'll feel normal. Keep those fingers and toes crossed for me!

After I left Newcastle, L.C. and Lo came and picked me up from the train station since I can't get a car until I have a job (and getting a job would be easier I think if I had a car to easily get me wherever I needed to go, but oh well, that's how it goes I guess) and we went out to lunch at our local club. Getting to catch up with L.C. over good food and seeing little Lo's cheeky, smiling face was the perfect way to destress after the interview so thanks girls! And I seriously don't know how Boyfriend functions-getting up at 5am, not getting home til after 8pm- because after I got dropped off, I checked emails, sent the thank you email and then was out cold for about 2 hours! Haha, I'm in for a rude awakening when I get a job and can't sleep off my early mornings in the middle of the day anymore!

Little Dune Buggy In the Sand

As we were coming out of the dune area, this little guy was waiting in the road for us. He's a bearded dragon. Neat, huh? Croc spotted him just before we were about to run him over and jumped out of the car and picked him up and threw him in the bushes (check out how dirty his hands are!). It's the first time I've seen one.

The day at the Stockton dune's was fun and pretty warm. All the little watering holes (aka baby water) had dried up because of the lack of rains this winter. We saw two huge schools of salmon right off the beach and someone caught one as we were standing there and it was a good sized fish- probably about a foot and a half long. We also might have seen a shark near where the salmon were schooling! Most of the day we drove along looking for good hills to sandboard down and I had a go at the littlest hill possible while the boys were away to pick up Boyfriend from the airport. Croc's two young nephews joined us on our trip and they have a tendency to run down the huge hills as someone rides down on the board and then want to be carried back up. I got suckered in by the youngest one and carried him piggyback up half of one of the hills and he repaid me by pinching me on the fat underside of my arm and his little fingers really dug in and left me with a bruise! On the way home his nearly 4 year old self had had enough of our adventure for the day and he fell asleep on me in the most awkward way so we moved him over and his hot and sweaty little head rested against me for an hour and a half on the way home. It was the perfect day spent with friends and I can't wait to go back next year once the warm weather has passed again.

Make It Last

Last night Boyfriend (that’s what I’m calling him now instead of S) and I met up with his friend Turk (cause he looks like the guy from Scrubs, Donald Faison, except white) and his wife Stylez (cause she’s got amazing style, that looks so effortless and so wow on her, she also makes handbags-I might ask her if I can put a link up to her stuff on here: http://rejenerate.blogspot.com/). They just moved in to the coolest house. It is three levels and the top level is Stylez’s work studio and from the windows there you can see all of Sydney and the Harbour Bridge. The view is breath taking. We caught up with them about their recent wedding, that unfortunately Boyfriend had to miss in order to come to California for Christmas and about what’s been going on since the last time we had seen them. Stylez is awesome because she’s not afraid to say, “Food, I need it now, and lots of it,” I obviously appreciate a girl that doesn’t just sit there eating celery while everyone else has a real meal. We decided on Mexican because I’m always down for it and Stylez and I were both in the mood for margaritas. Turk called around to all the Mexican food places we could find online, but they were all booked out. We were pretty disappointed until Boyfriend said he knew a little place we could go to. We ended up in King’s Cross at Guzman y Gomez, which was near where the show we were going to was anyway. Here’s a link to it (http://www.guzmanygomez.com/)(the picture is an example of their burritos, but the rice is something I made) because if you are ever in Sydney and in need of cheapish, fast Mexican food, this is the place I’d recommend! The place had real Mexican people working (I’ve never seen a Mexican in Australia before!) and it tasted like legit Mexican food, and although they didn’t have authentic Mexican style red rice, it was still good. We got margaritas even and you could tell there was alcohol in them; I think they’ve just gotten their liquor license so they are fairly liberal with their shots. Also, the guacamole was spot on, spicy with chunks of avocado and cilantro and tomato in it. Really good food, other than the minor rice gripe I have, the only thing I was like “What the funk?” about was that they use corn tortillas for their quesadillas. You can also get flan and those fruit juice drinks in a can by Goya. I think they also did rice bowls. The guy at the corner was super nice and really talkative. The Aussies had trouble understanding him, but it was nice to hear that accent again. I’m going to get Boyfriend to start either bringing me burritos for dinner on Friday nights from there or just bring me a few of their tortillas, because they taste authentic, not like the too thick, cardboardy things that are available here. Probably too much information, but on the drive home way later that night I was burping a lot and it all still tasted like awesome Mexican! Haha! So once again, if you are in Sydney and craving decent Mexican food, go to Guzman y Gomez. They also have locations at Bondi Junction, the CBD at the Australia Square food court on George St, and Newtown so look them up!
From there we walked over to the venue, it wasn’t very far, but the night was muggy so I was sweating away and felt so gross. We had a little hill to hike up, and it didn’t make me huff and puff or anything, but it did make me sweat a bit more and then we were at the venue. So I get in and I’m already sweaty and there’s no air conditioning and a million other people standing around so I kept sweating. I put my hair up and that helped, but then my bangs were falling apart from the humidity, and I thought I had started the night looking half-cute and by that time I felt like a gross beasty. We missed the first opening band, but came in just in time for the second. They were from Sydney and the lead singer was this chubby, obnoxious guy. Boyfriend said he looked like Meatloaf. His voice was all right: nice but generic, and he was all about posturing- constantly trying to clap to the beat of his own songs, doing all these “cool guy” moves with his hands and it really took away from his music. I think he’s been watching Saosin or Anthony Green videos too often and was just trying to copy them. Also, his cut off jean shorts were about 2 sizes too small so he had a full on muffin top and his gut hanging over- I thought that was something only girls did. Not in Sydney, not when you’re a cool guy! Stylez started not to feel well and went out and got some air. I desperately had to pee, but the venue had a lame design, where there was only a double door space between the stage and the bar to get through to the bathroom and it was packed at that end of the bar and people wanted to be next to that part of the stage so it was nearly impossible to get through everyone. Frustrating! Kris Roe (do you think his parents spelled his name that way? He was born in Indiana and they aren’t known to be really happening there. I bet he changed it from Chris so he could be “different”) the lead singer of the Ataris came out looking like Ben Folds. He played a lot of really old songs and it was just him and his guitar and that was pretty awesome. He then decided to “rock out” and got the Sydney band to come up and play some songs with him. The Meatloaf look-a-like was yelling over Kris’ singing in some spots and it kindof ruined it. We then walked in to the city and caught a cab back to Turk’s and Stylez’ place. From there, Boyfriend and I drove home (yay for no trains for once!) and we blasted the music the whole ride home and I sang and danced in my seat to keep Boyfriend awake and entertained while he drove. It was a really fun night!