Seriously though, if they day ever comes that I wake up with one of these on my face... I will beyond freak out. I will straight up flip a pancake.
5.25.2008
5.19.2008
OOOoooh I wanna dance with somebody!
Last week I was rushing to finish some assignments and pack for Brisbane. The week ended with a cut-throat critique of my vocal abilities from my music teacher. Her assessment… my breathing was too shallow, my transitions poor, not giving enough support for my head voice/high notes, I wasn’t shaping my vocal tract correctly, my tongue was in the wrong position, I was pronouncing some vowels incorrectly, have to sing softer for lower notes because I am not a “belter” etc etc etc. I didn’t know I could do so many things wrong! But she told me not to worry about most of these things for the performance assessment because I wouldn’t be able to fix most of it by then! Oh good! So my focus is relaxing and having fun with it because that is all I can do!!
In my reading contemporary music class I am having an absolute blast. We will be analyzing songs from artists like Led Zeppelin, Ben Harper, Beatles, etc. for our final exam. How sweet is that!? Our professor was ranting in class about the annoying girl that has the ridiculously addictive song about “tickles my nose all the way to my toes” meaning that he was referring to Colbie Caillat’s Bubbly. I found this amusing considering our ensemble for vocal class would be performing this song. He actually ended up showing up to our performance. He sat next to me so I kindly asked him not to throw anything at us when we sang and he agreed. Then when my teacher read the set list and mentioned Bubbly he looks at me with horror and says "I thought you were joking!" I wasn't joking! My voice teacher told me in class the next day that she had also recently sent him an email saying that he just had to get her cd, oops. It went well though and was fun!
Sydney and I got up early on Friday to fly to Brizzy. 6:00am came much to early considering Sydney and I have been insomniacs for the past couple of weeks. I think she is excited about getting engaged but I am pretty sure I don’t have an excuse. We got there and found our hostel pretty easily. I met a couple on the train that was visiting Oz for a couple of weeks so I was trying to teach them some lingo while we were waiting. It was $20 to upgrade our 8 bed room to our own room for the weekend so we did and I was so glad because we walked by some of the rooms and they were so gross and people are weird. This also allowed us to make several really impressive music videos with out disturbing too many people. We explored the city for the rest of the day and found a really sweet artist doing a live painting. He made the coolest pictures using only spray paint and random materials to give it texture. It was really cool.
Saturday we got up early again for the Australia Zoo that is owned by the Steve Erwin family. It is huge, almost 100 acres. We had a blast!!!! I felt like a little kid. The first thing I got to do was feed an elephant and he slobbered all over me and it was awesome! It was literally the coolest thing ever because they are my favourite!
The tiger we saw was also incredible. One of the most beautiful animals I have ever seen! The keeper was leading the tiger around and he was sitting up on his hind legs and drinking milk from a little carton! 
We saw a show where they were feeding crocodiles as well. That was awesome. The guy was trying to entice the croc to eat the small piece of meat he was holding but he wouldn’t go after it he was just getting closer and closer. The man was actually getting a little nervous and was mumbling something about how the croc usually didn’t act like that and made note that his eyes were focused on his legs. I was thinking this man is going to get eaten alive right in front of us! Sydney and I were looking at a croc later in one of the glass-enclosed ponds and it was stalking us! It was insane! It was following the vibrations from out footsteps around the pond!
We also got to see a lot of snakes (including one I think Daniel and I saw in the Grampians, I asked about it saying “It was a small black snake with a red belly” and the guy says oh I reckon that’s a reb-bellied black snake. Which makes sense now doesn’t it! And they are really venomous and native to Eastern Oz! Eeek!) We also saw koalas, kangaroos, cassowary (the most insanely scary bird on the planet), wombats, tasmanian devils (they disproved their stereotype and were quite cuddly), dingos, tortoises, iguanas and more that I'm probably forgetting. Sydney was taking a picture of an iguana
and fell over almost in slow motion, it was hilarious and I am laughing out loud thinking about it. But we were on our way into the bird sanctuary and we had to enter into a separate protective cage that was a barrier to keep the birds in. We were all in the cage and the guide tells me to carefully open the door inside and I accidentally slammed the door, literally putting all of the birds into cardiac arrest. Ooops.
Oh and I didn’t get to meet Bindi because she was probably making a fitness video or working on her clothing line. But it was an awesome day and we had sooo much fun!
We watched some movies that night and spent our last day in the city, checking out the contemporary art gallery, and taking naps on the grass in the sun. Sydney and I make a good pair, we fight like siblings and laugh way too much. When her mom met me at the airport she laughed and said “Sydney, you two will get along... she is your type!” So that is one of our jokes and she tells everyone I’m her type. Although today, I sort of accidentally hit her in the forehead with a tube of lip-gloss and gave her a welt and she came up behind me when I was writing and poured water down my pants. It’s rough love but it works for us.
... This is what the sign in the airport said. You can have a huge ego... but only a bag this size. Keep that in mind next time you are traveling with your ego!
In my reading contemporary music class I am having an absolute blast. We will be analyzing songs from artists like Led Zeppelin, Ben Harper, Beatles, etc. for our final exam. How sweet is that!? Our professor was ranting in class about the annoying girl that has the ridiculously addictive song about “tickles my nose all the way to my toes” meaning that he was referring to Colbie Caillat’s Bubbly. I found this amusing considering our ensemble for vocal class would be performing this song. He actually ended up showing up to our performance. He sat next to me so I kindly asked him not to throw anything at us when we sang and he agreed. Then when my teacher read the set list and mentioned Bubbly he looks at me with horror and says "I thought you were joking!" I wasn't joking! My voice teacher told me in class the next day that she had also recently sent him an email saying that he just had to get her cd, oops. It went well though and was fun!
Sydney and I got up early on Friday to fly to Brizzy. 6:00am came much to early considering Sydney and I have been insomniacs for the past couple of weeks. I think she is excited about getting engaged but I am pretty sure I don’t have an excuse. We got there and found our hostel pretty easily. I met a couple on the train that was visiting Oz for a couple of weeks so I was trying to teach them some lingo while we were waiting. It was $20 to upgrade our 8 bed room to our own room for the weekend so we did and I was so glad because we walked by some of the rooms and they were so gross and people are weird. This also allowed us to make several really impressive music videos with out disturbing too many people. We explored the city for the rest of the day and found a really sweet artist doing a live painting. He made the coolest pictures using only spray paint and random materials to give it texture. It was really cool.
Saturday we got up early again for the Australia Zoo that is owned by the Steve Erwin family. It is huge, almost 100 acres. We had a blast!!!! I felt like a little kid. The first thing I got to do was feed an elephant and he slobbered all over me and it was awesome! It was literally the coolest thing ever because they are my favourite!
The tiger we saw was also incredible. One of the most beautiful animals I have ever seen! The keeper was leading the tiger around and he was sitting up on his hind legs and drinking milk from a little carton! 
We saw a show where they were feeding crocodiles as well. That was awesome. The guy was trying to entice the croc to eat the small piece of meat he was holding but he wouldn’t go after it he was just getting closer and closer. The man was actually getting a little nervous and was mumbling something about how the croc usually didn’t act like that and made note that his eyes were focused on his legs. I was thinking this man is going to get eaten alive right in front of us! Sydney and I were looking at a croc later in one of the glass-enclosed ponds and it was stalking us! It was insane! It was following the vibrations from out footsteps around the pond! We also got to see a lot of snakes (including one I think Daniel and I saw in the Grampians, I asked about it saying “It was a small black snake with a red belly” and the guy says oh I reckon that’s a reb-bellied black snake. Which makes sense now doesn’t it! And they are really venomous and native to Eastern Oz! Eeek!) We also saw koalas, kangaroos, cassowary (the most insanely scary bird on the planet), wombats, tasmanian devils (they disproved their stereotype and were quite cuddly), dingos, tortoises, iguanas and more that I'm probably forgetting. Sydney was taking a picture of an iguana
and fell over almost in slow motion, it was hilarious and I am laughing out loud thinking about it. But we were on our way into the bird sanctuary and we had to enter into a separate protective cage that was a barrier to keep the birds in. We were all in the cage and the guide tells me to carefully open the door inside and I accidentally slammed the door, literally putting all of the birds into cardiac arrest. Ooops. Oh and I didn’t get to meet Bindi because she was probably making a fitness video or working on her clothing line. But it was an awesome day and we had sooo much fun!
We watched some movies that night and spent our last day in the city, checking out the contemporary art gallery, and taking naps on the grass in the sun. Sydney and I make a good pair, we fight like siblings and laugh way too much. When her mom met me at the airport she laughed and said “Sydney, you two will get along... she is your type!” So that is one of our jokes and she tells everyone I’m her type. Although today, I sort of accidentally hit her in the forehead with a tube of lip-gloss and gave her a welt and she came up behind me when I was writing and poured water down my pants. It’s rough love but it works for us.
... This is what the sign in the airport said. You can have a huge ego... but only a bag this size. Keep that in mind next time you are traveling with your ego!
5.03.2008
Yesterday and what we could be, it don't matter... gettin' more of what we don't need, it don't matter...
I had a GREAT break.. it was pretty chill except for after everyone had left the house, I am talking on skype and I thought I heard the door shut. So I go to wander out there and when I open my bedroom door I am face to face with the burly maintenance man and I about flipped a pancake. I spent a lot of time reading, swimming, watching house/learning about weird medical conditions, and worked on assignments. There wasn't too much to do considering everyone evacuated the international ghetto I live in to go on trips. Sydney and Josh went to Cairns, New Zealand and Fiji for break. Josh proposed in Fiji and Sydney came back with a ring big enough to knock someone out. I went to a BBQ with my friend Phing and we played ice breakers and stuff after lunch. Which is a (semi-)social introvert’s flippin nightmare, but I am getting the hang of this talking to new people thing. Had a good time, ate a chili pepper, then got a little car sick, good stuff. Before I left I caught up on some work, had a little Jesus time and was in high anticipation of going to Melbourne again for a visit.
The airport was quite the adventure. My domestic flight was cleverly disguised as a transfer flight to Bangkok. They send me to the international terminal, which was conveniently only about 300 miles away. And then, discovered that the stupid American girl didn’t have her passport. (Keep in mind that last time I went to Melbourne, I could of said hello my name is Charles and I’m planning on being a little hostile on the flight over and they would have said “Great! Would you like an upgrade, sir!?... I’m talking I didn’t even need my ID or know how to spell my own name last time.) Sooooooo I went back to the domestic terminal and they switched me around a few times until I got a flight. And you better believe after all that I bought a krispy creme donut to ease the pain. I am being dramatic because in reality even when I thought I was going to have to wait 7 hours for a flight I was sitting there thinking there is no way I’m gonna let this bother me because this is gonna be an awesome week and I’m in Australia… Hello!!?? It was well worth it though. The flight was good… slept the whole time and was so disappointed to have not met any cool old people.
Daniel picked me up from the airport and brought me back to Monash. We got to hang out for a couple of days and cook, play frisbee, volleyball, watch movies, had a little op-shop adventure and relaxed until our camping adventure could commence. We decided on a road trip to the Grampians, a mountain range/national park. We drove over on Wednesday night after class and found our first campsite which was sweet! We found a spot and made a good campfire to make dinner, and our own rendition of s’mores made with cookies. As the night went on more and more wallabies and kangaroos were making their way around our site. Finally we spotted one of them up on his hind legs, shopping for food in our car. He swiped our loaf of bread and we ran after him to retrieve it. We ended up luring them over to play with us by the fire by throwing marshmallows at them. It was so much fun! We found soft place on the ground to sleep and they hopped around us all night. It was sooooooo cool.
We did a lot of insanely awesome hiking the next day. The first mountain we tackled was Mt. Stapylton which was about a 4 1/2k hike. The cliffs on the way up presented us with an amazing array of red and orange shades and also saw some wind caves. The top gave us our first view of the park from up high. Of course we ate some food, cause that’s what fatties do.
The second mountain we found was Mt. Difficult. We had to dominate this one because I mean, come on.. “Oh what did you hike? Oh nothing too much just Mt Incredibly Difficult! Mt. “ you have to be ripped to make it up this one” Difficult. Danny was joking that we rename it Mt’ Easy. Lol, Seriously though I pulled a groin muscle on this one. This hike was a good 9km and had 450 meters elevation change. It was literally the coolest trail though and we had to climb steep rocks to get through. It took us about 2 hours to get up there which was a short amount of time relative to the incredible view we had. After we left, we went back to Mt Stapylton for a good spot to see the sunset. I am disappointed now that I was incredibly distracted by my injury because I was hurting, but I was still so thankful to be there. It was so awesome. We were just being reminded constantly of how incredible God is and how much he loves us that he created that spot for us to sit and enjoy Him.
Friday morning we went to the top of Mt. William to see the sun come up. It was another great spot but it was so incredibly cold at the top! Despite the wind that was chaotic and blowing there were several eagles gliding around so peacefully. One came so close and just hovered right above us. It was so beautiful.
I liked the hike to the pinnacle because there was an incredible view of the small town below so you could reference how huge the mountains were. We sat for a while with our feet over the edge and looked as it dropped dropped dropped.
Next was hollow mountain. This was another one of my favorites because there were layers of rock shelves winding through a hollow cave. The interior was smooth and curvy. We also found a sweet spot were people were bouldering through a horizontal and narrow cave opening extending all the way through these massive rocks. All the rock climbing reminded me of the friends from home and I was happy to think about our plastic wall climbing days at school. We ended the day with a hike down to a really sweet waterfall. The weekend brought a lot of people there for the last couple of stops but it was still really cool.
On our last night we cheated and got some pizza for dinner (and brekkie.. this reminds me of my grandma always eating weird things for breakfast).
And oh my gosh we hit a kangaroo. I don’t care how tough people say they are, you still don’t expect that thing to come hopping out from underneath the car if you actually hit it! I am pretty sure I laughed out loud but it was definitely not funny, I just didn’t know what else to do! I was amazed when we skidded to a stop and that thing paused for about 3 seconds before it popped out and kept on going like a trooper! Pure beastly muscle I tell you!
Oooh and I got to drive on the wrong side of the road for a little as well! That was awesome because I miss driving so much. I am pretty sure I was probably a little scary though.
We headed back home as the rain looked like it was on its way and the temperature was dropping. I enjoyed being back at Monash again. There was a talent show that was really cool and we took over Abhi’s room (who is Danger’s hilarious RA) and watched some grrrrreat movies. On Sunday, we went to the city and ate some pancakes! I had so much fun with everyone on this trip, especially because I have the best road tripping buddy on the planet. And I really love my friend Faker that I got to hang out with (who might I add is an amazing chef and has some schmerious frisbee skills.) I was so sad to leave because I have such a good time there. Everyone has been asking me about my break this week and they are probably sorry they did because I go blabbing on and on about it. I told a bunch of people in class stories and about the wallaby stealing our food! People just laugh at me and are amazed because a lot of locals say that they haven’t done as much as I have in my short time here. Which makes me so stoked that I have been able to do so much and make the most of my time here! I know I am blessed and so thankful for it!
ps... Aaaahhh!!! I believe this is a Golder Orbweaver.
The airport was quite the adventure. My domestic flight was cleverly disguised as a transfer flight to Bangkok. They send me to the international terminal, which was conveniently only about 300 miles away. And then, discovered that the stupid American girl didn’t have her passport. (Keep in mind that last time I went to Melbourne, I could of said hello my name is Charles and I’m planning on being a little hostile on the flight over and they would have said “Great! Would you like an upgrade, sir!?... I’m talking I didn’t even need my ID or know how to spell my own name last time.) Sooooooo I went back to the domestic terminal and they switched me around a few times until I got a flight. And you better believe after all that I bought a krispy creme donut to ease the pain. I am being dramatic because in reality even when I thought I was going to have to wait 7 hours for a flight I was sitting there thinking there is no way I’m gonna let this bother me because this is gonna be an awesome week and I’m in Australia… Hello!!?? It was well worth it though. The flight was good… slept the whole time and was so disappointed to have not met any cool old people.
Daniel picked me up from the airport and brought me back to Monash. We got to hang out for a couple of days and cook, play frisbee, volleyball, watch movies, had a little op-shop adventure and relaxed until our camping adventure could commence. We decided on a road trip to the Grampians, a mountain range/national park. We drove over on Wednesday night after class and found our first campsite which was sweet! We found a spot and made a good campfire to make dinner, and our own rendition of s’mores made with cookies. As the night went on more and more wallabies and kangaroos were making their way around our site. Finally we spotted one of them up on his hind legs, shopping for food in our car. He swiped our loaf of bread and we ran after him to retrieve it. We ended up luring them over to play with us by the fire by throwing marshmallows at them. It was so much fun! We found soft place on the ground to sleep and they hopped around us all night. It was sooooooo cool.
We did a lot of insanely awesome hiking the next day. The first mountain we tackled was Mt. Stapylton which was about a 4 1/2k hike. The cliffs on the way up presented us with an amazing array of red and orange shades and also saw some wind caves. The top gave us our first view of the park from up high. Of course we ate some food, cause that’s what fatties do.
The second mountain we found was Mt. Difficult. We had to dominate this one because I mean, come on.. “Oh what did you hike? Oh nothing too much just Mt Incredibly Difficult! Mt. “ you have to be ripped to make it up this one” Difficult. Danny was joking that we rename it Mt’ Easy. Lol, Seriously though I pulled a groin muscle on this one. This hike was a good 9km and had 450 meters elevation change. It was literally the coolest trail though and we had to climb steep rocks to get through. It took us about 2 hours to get up there which was a short amount of time relative to the incredible view we had. After we left, we went back to Mt Stapylton for a good spot to see the sunset. I am disappointed now that I was incredibly distracted by my injury because I was hurting, but I was still so thankful to be there. It was so awesome. We were just being reminded constantly of how incredible God is and how much he loves us that he created that spot for us to sit and enjoy Him.
Friday morning we went to the top of Mt. William to see the sun come up. It was another great spot but it was so incredibly cold at the top! Despite the wind that was chaotic and blowing there were several eagles gliding around so peacefully. One came so close and just hovered right above us. It was so beautiful.
I liked the hike to the pinnacle because there was an incredible view of the small town below so you could reference how huge the mountains were. We sat for a while with our feet over the edge and looked as it dropped dropped dropped.
Next was hollow mountain. This was another one of my favorites because there were layers of rock shelves winding through a hollow cave. The interior was smooth and curvy. We also found a sweet spot were people were bouldering through a horizontal and narrow cave opening extending all the way through these massive rocks. All the rock climbing reminded me of the friends from home and I was happy to think about our plastic wall climbing days at school. We ended the day with a hike down to a really sweet waterfall. The weekend brought a lot of people there for the last couple of stops but it was still really cool.
On our last night we cheated and got some pizza for dinner (and brekkie.. this reminds me of my grandma always eating weird things for breakfast).
And oh my gosh we hit a kangaroo. I don’t care how tough people say they are, you still don’t expect that thing to come hopping out from underneath the car if you actually hit it! I am pretty sure I laughed out loud but it was definitely not funny, I just didn’t know what else to do! I was amazed when we skidded to a stop and that thing paused for about 3 seconds before it popped out and kept on going like a trooper! Pure beastly muscle I tell you!
Oooh and I got to drive on the wrong side of the road for a little as well! That was awesome because I miss driving so much. I am pretty sure I was probably a little scary though.
We headed back home as the rain looked like it was on its way and the temperature was dropping. I enjoyed being back at Monash again. There was a talent show that was really cool and we took over Abhi’s room (who is Danger’s hilarious RA) and watched some grrrrreat movies. On Sunday, we went to the city and ate some pancakes! I had so much fun with everyone on this trip, especially because I have the best road tripping buddy on the planet. And I really love my friend Faker that I got to hang out with (who might I add is an amazing chef and has some schmerious frisbee skills.) I was so sad to leave because I have such a good time there. Everyone has been asking me about my break this week and they are probably sorry they did because I go blabbing on and on about it. I told a bunch of people in class stories and about the wallaby stealing our food! People just laugh at me and are amazed because a lot of locals say that they haven’t done as much as I have in my short time here. Which makes me so stoked that I have been able to do so much and make the most of my time here! I know I am blessed and so thankful for it!
ps... Aaaahhh!!! I believe this is a Golder Orbweaver.
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