Snarks and Ladders

What have I been up to the last few days?

Looking at flowers…  Sturt’s Desert Pea’s are very pretty

Looking at rock sculptures

Scoffing fruit like a mad woman…

Hanging out by the river…

More hanging by the river…

Learning how to set up my bargain swag ($50 from a friend, only used once… probably my buy of the year, considering a decent swag can cost around $250)… I’m halfway through setting up!

Watching the boys burn stuff…

And, of course, drinking!  Because that’s what you do when you camp, right?

I also went off a rope swing (without smashing the hell out of my leg this time!), but, alas, I do not have the photos.

One of these days, I’ll remember to set the settings on the camera correctly for the conditions.  Slowly slowly getting there… although half my rope swing shots are terrible after I forgot to increase the shutter speed.  D’oh!

So, I was flying back from LA (via Fiji), and about half way home I suddenly developed this weird itch.  I looked, and there were a couple of lumps on my hand.  I scratched them absentmindedly… but didn’t think much of it.  I was tired, I was run down, and a little stressed – getting a couple of lumps wasn’t all that weird really in the circumstances.

When I stopped at Fiji, I noticed that I had a couple more.  Again, didn’t think much of it.  By then I had been awake for well over 24 hours, it was hot, sticky and uncomfortable, and for some idiotic reason they made us all line up and get screened AGAIN.  You know, just in case we stole a butter knife off the plane or something.

Anyway, by the time I landed in  Sydney, I had lumps all up my arms.  I figured I was probably allergic to something on the plane.  Sure, I was itchy as all hell, but it would pass since I was off the plane, right?

Well… it just kept spreading.  My face got lumps.  My shoulders and neck got lumps.  My stomach got lumps.  So… I went and got it checked out, and it appears that some bastard gave me the chicken pox while I was away.  God damn it.

I always thought that you could only get chicken pox once.  Well, no, turns out you can get it more than once.  Of course, usually you get it as shingles the second time around, but I guess my body forgot that I had chicken pox when I was 7, so I caught them again.  So now I am dizzy, fevery, and can’t seem to resist scratching!

Which means I am stuck at Mum and Dad’s until I am feeling a smidgen better.  Very annoying, as I was looking forward to being home in my own bed, with my own TV and my own computer… I miss my little house!

/end whine

P.S. – still totally swooning.  Oh yeah, I’ve got it bad!

So, I don’t think I can adequately describe my holiday, since I kinda failed at writing about it as I went.  Instead, you get the fun Cliffnotes version!

Japan

The first important thing to note is that Japan is one of the most technologically advanced countries in the world.  However, this DOES NOT MEAN that they have the technology to put EFTPOS in their stores.  That’s right, everywhere in Japan is cash only.  Including the 7 Elevens.  EFTPOS machines and credit cards are waaaay too complicated for these people!

Of course, I would have loved to know this BEFORE I left Australia.

The second important thing to note is that, to dress to fit in while in Japan, you must abandon all common sense.

1.  It’s winter, so you should clearly wear miniskirts that barely cover your butt.

2.  No one cares if you can’t walk in those heels, wear them anyway!

3.  Remember when you were 5, and dressing up meant dragging EVERYTHING out of your mother’s wardrobe and throwing it all on?  Yep, that’s what you have got to do.  Bonus points for not matching!

However, even if you do manage to get the dressing thing down, you will never blend in.  People will slow down in their cars to stare at you as you walk down the street.  All fear the blonde hair!

Thirdly – skiing is hard when you are uncoordinated and have no balance.  Also – it is a bad idea to start skiing down a hill, and then realise half way down that you do not know how to steer OR stop.  I suggest in that situation, you do what I did – crash into the nearest relative.  Then roll around in the snow for a good ten minutes laughing at the hilarity of it all.

Finally… never ask what the food is in front of you.  Seriously.  You do NOT want to know.

Canada

Oh, definitely the highlight of my trip.  Vancouver has now kicked Melbourne off the top of my favourite cities list (a tough thing to do!), and if I wasn’t obligated to return to Australia, I would have applied for a working visa right there and then.

Canadians are like Australians who are too cold to bother being assholes.  I mean, Australians are nice people (some of the best people in the world, myself included, are Australian).  However, when you are icky and hot and sweaty, it’s hard to be nice. 

Also helps I guess that I spent some time with the most awesome person in the world.  Maybe THAT explains why I liked Vancouver so much.

However, in Canada, it’s really important to make sure you have an umbrella.  It rains a LOT.  But make sure you don’t rug up too much – I made that mistake when I got there and nearly died of heat exhaustion.  It’s not as cold as what people lead you to believe!

Another important thing to note about (well, where I stayed, anyway) Vancouver is that there are tattooists and piercing parlours EVERYWHERE.  If you are weak of will, like me, you may come home with an extra bodily addition.

Did you know it’s REALLY HARD to get used to eating with a giant piece of metal through your tongue?

United States

Not much to say about here, since I spent all my time so far in the States sick as a dog.

OH, except this.

It fricking god damn SNOWS in the Grand Canyon.  I didn’t know that.  Consequently, my Canyon photos are all misty, foggy, snowy fail.

AARGH.

But yeah, highlight of the trip?  Awesome Canadian guy.  /swoons.

Now please excuse me while I go turn into a giant puddle of mush for an hour!

Yeah… it has sure been a while.  What with the last term of the year being crazy, some messy stuff with the ex that I just didn’t feel up to blogging about, and a general lack of time… nothing much has been written. 

The crazy thing is it feels like so much has happened, but I can’t think of a way to express it all.  Guess I am out of practise (practice?  is this a verb or a noun in this sentence?  It’s waaaay too late for my brain to work these things out).

So, in brief:

The Good of the last while

– Going on overseas holiday in TWO DAYS!  That entails the following things:

catching up with sister and her hubby in Japan for 9 days, with 5 days of skiing thrown in (I shall try not to die);

a little over a week in Vancouver, where I get to spend a little time with someone who is very dear to me, and also get to catch up with a friend who I haven’t seen since New Year’s Eve 08/New Year’s Day 09!  Every time I come home for a visit he is travelling… this time we happen to be going to the same place!

a little under 2 weeks trekking down the west coast of the US… doing whatever takes my fancy, and whatever I can afford.  Just me and my backpack baby!

– School excursion (camp for a week at the beach) bloody rocked.  Kids were great, no sleep was had, I drove the bus for an hour and managed to speed at least 5 times…. oops…. got an epic case of sunburn, ate some fuckawesome Greek food… oh yeah.

– Rapidly falling in love with the ‘person who is dear to me’ mentioned above.  He may or may not know that.  Not even sure if he reads this place.  Now I hope he doesn’t.  Shit.  Anyway, this is currently under good… but could very quickly move to bad.  Quite frankly, I know that I won’t get what I will end up wanting, and that will suck at that point.  For now though, everything regarding him is still firmly lumped under ‘awesome’.

…. think I mentioned the blog to him once… for some stupid reason.  Not sure why, but oh well.  Haven’t updated in so long that he may not even see this.

– My pets rock.  Seriously… they have settled down awesomely and keep me company through some rough nights.

– My timetable (at THIS point) for next year has NO JUNIORS.  Fuck yes.  Of course, it will probably change.

The Bad of the last while

– epic sunburn was truly epic.  Lip burnt so badly I couldn’t eat or drink for 2 days.  Boo.

– Fucking broke.  No money, debt up to my ears, oh kill me now.  Oh well, can’t take it with you, right?

The Ugly of the last while

– Broke it off with the ex (hence him being the ex) properly.  Now it’s all awkward conversations, while I wait for him to move on.

– My immediate superior at work got a new job.  Great for her, sucks for me, since the 2 people who would replace her are both toolbags of the highest degree.  Going to be a fun year!

So… that wasn’t so brief.

Might get some posts done while travelling, might not. <3!

At the moment, I am back at Mum and Dad’s.  Now, this may just be me, or it could be the rest of the world, but being back at home with the parents is FRICKING PAINFUL when you are used to having your own space.  It takes them, oh, maybe 2 days to get back into ‘While I know you’re actually an adult, I am not going to treat you like one’ mode, and start nagging you.

“Oh, when you book your holiday, make sure you go on an organised tour, because you are not travelling in Canada on your own!”

“You haven’t gone into debt over this, have you?”

“Make sure you feed the animals, clean your car, and this that and the other”

“Put on a bloody jumper before you catch cold!”

“Have you eaten today?”

AAAAAARGH!

Then, there’s the fun of getting the animals used to one another.  Cats are god damn sadistic evil animals who know when there is a lame one around.  The new cat is half blind, totally deaf.. and the other two take advantage of this by sneaking up behind her, beating the shit out of her, and then spitting in her face.  It’s like one of those kung fu movies… if the ninjas decided it would be more fun to beat up grandpa in a wheelchair.  Actually… didn’t that happen in one of those 3 Ninjas movies?

Of course, I made this all better the best way I know how: I went shopping.  Got myself a couple of dresses (since I am most definitely going through a ‘Yes I am a fucking girl, just because I don’t act like it and swear like a trooper and watch football and car racing *Rage!*’ phase).  And a shit load of stuff more my house, although I still want more.  Yeah, yeah, so I like decorating, but hate cleaning.  And…

I booked this year’s BIG trip.  Japan, Canada, and the US, here I come!  More on that… next time.  Perhaps.  Until then, hey, let me know what mischief a girl can get herself into on the west coast of Canada and the US.